As Penn State mourned a student killed in a Pennsylvania Turnpike crash that left six other PSU student hurt, her sorority remembered her as "remarkable," "trendy" and "gorgeous."
The Beta Mu Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega posted a memorial to Vitalya "Tally" Sepot on its Facebook page Monday morning.
The sophomore graphic design major was a passenger in a car traveling westbound on the Turnpike Sunday afternoon when it lost control and crashed near milepost 319 in Charlestown Township, Chester Count. Sepot, who hailed from Branford, Connecticut, died and six other students Victoria Barrett, 18, from Gibsonia, Pennsylvania; Sarah Bixby, 18, from Flemington, New Jersey; Claire Fountas, 19, from Barrington, Illinois; Matthew Hrynkow, 20, from Annandale, Virginia; Brooke Kalodner, 18, from Voorhees, New Jersey; and Max Titlebaum, 20, from Merion Station, Pennsylvania were hurt, said the university.
The students, all members of AXO and Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) were in the Philadelphia area "canning" for Penn State's THON charity.
A Penn State student died from her injuries while six other students were hurt following a crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Sunday afternoon.
"We are terribly saddened by this accident and our hearts are with the friends and family of Tally as well as other students who were involved in the accident," said THON 2016 executive director Katie Mailey. "The loss of one of our volunteers and the injury of others is a tragedy and we know this will be felt throughout our community. No words can express our sorrow when learning of this accident and of Tally's passing. We will do all that we can to honor her memory and dedication to THON."
Penn State's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) unit offered counseling sessions for students, according to school officials. Students can also call the CANHELP crisis line at 1-800-643-5432.
"The Penn State community and all who know the good work done through student involvement in THON are deeply saddened by this tragedy," Student Affairs vice president Damon Sims said. "Our hopes are with the students injured, whose release from the hospital we are eager to see, but our hearts are with Tally's family and friends, whose terrible loss we mourn."
The cause of the wreck remained under investigation Monday.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sue Beyer, Lehighvalleylive.com
Students from Allentown School District walked out of class Monday as part of an organized protest against the school district's leadership.
The walkout was arranged by Michael Frassetto, who, according to LehighValleyLive.com, says he lost his job of five years at Roberto Clemente Charter School in Allentown for trying to "support his students." He currently teaches at the Medical Academy Charter School in Catasauqua, where he was caught on video encouraging students to participate in a campaign against the district, which would involve protesting at school board meetings and walking out of classes every day for a week. Students from William Allen and Dieruff high schools as well as Roberto Clemente and Medical Academy charter schools participated.
Frassetto is hoping for all nine school board members to give Superintendent Russell Mayo a "vote of no confidence" and force him to resign. Protesters are concerned with the district's high school graduation rate, with both Dieruff and Allen's rates falling below 77%.
Their list of demands includes the implementation of a summer employment program and a representative on the school board chosen by the students.
The turnout at the Thursday evening board meeting was overwhelming; at least 50 students and parents were locked out of the venue in the interest of safety. The crowd reacted negatively to being kept out, and students began rattling glass windows and demanding to be let inside.
"If the [district] was aware that a large number of people were expected, they should have made arrangements to accommodate them in advance of the meeting," Melissa Melewsky, the media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, told The Morning Call. "The board locking citizens out of a public meeting is disgraceful."
The movement did not stop there. About 400 students walked out of class at Dieruff High School Monday at 9:15 a.m. to the MLK statue in downtown Allentown. Frassetto led the pack, initiating chants like "they don't care, but we do" and "we're young, we're strong, we're marching all night long." Students carried signs with messages that read "we have the right to be heard" and "stand together for education."
Professors from Lehigh University and Kutztown University came and offered 30 minute classes during the walkout. The United Youth Party, a youth group in Allentown, was able to provide the movement with $2,500 for the week for expenses like food.
Cops showed up at the walkout to protect participants and maintain the peaceful nature of the protest, but Assistant Chief Bill Lake was clear about the police department's stand on the issue.
"We do not actively support kids leaving school. Children should be in school learning, going to class," he told The Morning Call.
Students' parents were informed ahead of time that anyone who left school to participate would receive an unexcused absence. Frassetto promised that no repercussions would follow in a video posted on his Facebook page. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) states that peaceful protests are okay, but schools may punish anyone who skips class to participate.
"We are not endorsing any walkouts at any school," said Jose Rosado, CEO of Medical Academy Charter School, in a statement to The Morning Call. "We've spoken with the teacher in his role and made it very clear that he needs to be able to separate his role as a teacher at the Medical Academy Charter School and his role as a community youth advocate."
Local firefighters received the call of a lifetime when a small fire started in the elevator of the seminary where Pope Francis was staying during his historic trip in Philadelphia.
The fire was reported inside the elevator of the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary Saturday around 10:45 p.m. Chief Francis Dixon of the Narberth Volunteer Fire Company called the moment he received the call "surreal."
"It starts to dawn on you, there's a fire and the Pope is somewhere else in the building," Chief Dixon said. "The magnitude of the situation comes to the front of your head."
Chief Dixon was among the two dozen firefighters who rushed to the seminary after the call was made. It was the first time in five years they had to respond to a call there.
"I thought we were going to go down there, be up for 30 hours and nothing happens," said Lower Merion Township Chief Fire Officer Chas McGarvey. "And here we go in the middle of the whole night, we receive a fire alarm and go."
Chief McGarvey told NBC10 he started planning for the Pope's stay in July and had his firefighters stationed on the seminary grounds during his visit.
By the time firefighters arrived the flames were already out. No one was evacuated or hurt during the incident. Authorities say it appears an electrical malfunction in the wiring was the cause.
After getting the call Saturday, the responding firefighters received an even bigger surprise the next day, a personal thank you from the Pontiff himself.
"We were invited with the catering staff as the Holy Father was leaving and got to kiss his ring and shake his hand," Chief McGarvey said. "He has an effect on you. They call it the Francis effect. I don't know if I've ever felt that way in my life."
Pro Bowl kicker Cody Parkey’s season is over with a groin injury, a league source tells CSNPhilly.com on Monday.
Per the source, the Eagles plan to replace him on the active roster with former Dolphins kicker Caleb Sturgis, as Parkey lands on injured reserve, ending his second NFL season after just three games.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport first reported the news.
Earlier in the day, head coach Chip Kelly said Parkey got hurt during pregame warmups and said the team brought in six kickers Monday for tryouts as a “precaution.”
Kelly said Parkey's injury was unrelated to the groin injury that sidelined him for much of the preseason.
Parkey, a Pro Bowl kicker as a rookie last year, struggled throughout the season. He missed an extra point and two field goals in the preseason and missed a 44-yarder in the Georgia Dome on opening day in a game the Eagles lost by two points to the Falcons.
Sturgis, 26, made 55 of 71 field goal attempts in his two years with the Dolphins, and his 77.5 percent accuracy over the two-year period from 2013 and 2014 ranked him 28th out of 31 qualifying kickers during that span — ahead of only Sebastian Janikowski, Garrett Hartley and Alex Henery.
However, he is 6 for 13 in his career from 50 yards or more.
Sturgis was the Dolphins’ fifth-round pick in 2013 after an All-American career at Florida. He’s been out of football since the Dolphins released him earlier this month.
Last year, Parkey set an NFL rookie scoring record with 150 points, most in Eagles history. He made 32 of 36 field goals, and tied former Eagles kicker Alex Henery as the third-most accurate rookie in NFL history.
In his career, Parkey is now 35 for 40 on field goal attempts for 87.5 percent. That makes him the third-most accurate kicker in NFL history among kickers with at least 40 attempts, behind only Dan Bailey of the Cowboys (90.1 percent) and Justin Tucker of the Ravens (89.7 percent).
A man is in custody after his girlfriend was found stabbed to death inside a Philadelphia home Monday afternoon.
The 25-year-old woman was found inside a home on the 800 block of Solly Avenue at 12:07 p.m. with stab wounds to her face and neck. She was pronounced dead at the scene by medics.
The woman’s boyfriend was later taken into custody though no charges have been filed against him.
Police continue to investigate.
A man was arrested and charged in the death of his girlfriend inside a Bensalem apartment Monday morning.
Investigators say a woman discovered the body of her daughter, 25-year-old Dilara Ozen, inside the bathroom of an apartment at the Berkley Trace Apartments on the 3800 block of Bensalem Boulevard. The woman called 911. Police determined the circumstances surrounding Ozen’s death were suspicious and that foul play was involved.
Ozen’s boyfriend, 29-year-old Andrew Messner, was also inside the apartment at the time, according to investigators. He was taken to police headquarters for questioning. He was then charged with criminal homicide and other related offenses. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday night.
AN EAST COAST STORM THREAT….
The 2015 Atlantic hurricane season has been “quiet” overall-plenty of storms, but generally weak ones. This can be traced back to the near-record El Nino taking place in the Tropical Pacific. But, as we often say: “All it takes is ONE to make for a bad hurricane season." This one has the potential to be bad-for some parts of the East Coast.
AN EXTREME PATTERN….
Of course, people want to know exactly where a storm is going to hit, how strong it will be, and how bad the rains will be. It’s too far ahead of time to go into those details. But that doesn’t mean we should stay quiet about “potential” and the overall pattern that is setting up. Let’s look at that pattern.
When we talk about “patterns," we’re usually talking about conditions high up in the atmosphere. Meteorologists use the level close to 20,000 feet above the ground (for reasons not important here). We also look for “anomalies," changes from the average pattern. With that in mind, here’s the upper-air map for Saturday morning from the European model-the world’s overall best.
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The colors show the extremes. The red and purple in Canada represent extremely high pressure. And the dark blue in Georgia represents extremely low pressure. This is a classic “blocking pattern." Past patterns like this have led to disastrous flooding in many parts of the world. Meteorologist Stu Ostro of The Weather Channel has done a lot of research into these patterns, which seem to be happening more in recent years. No one should want this pattern to verify. Even a weaker version would likely lead to serious flooding somewhere along the East Coast. We can’t say WHERE the floods will occur, but the POTENTIAL is there.
The main U.S. model, the GFS, like other models we saw today, shows an extreme pattern too-but not AS extreme as the European.
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OH, YEAH…THE STORM….
We often get so focused on a storm or hurricane that we overlook the pattern. So that’s why I started with it. The storm gets too much “credit” for the disastrous results. If it weren’t for the extreme blocking pattern over the North Atlantic, the name “Sandy” would be just another one of hundreds of names of hurricanes that curved out to sea. The block is what caused the left turn that led to the disaster.
This storm is still being affected by the El Nino, as so many others have this season. The “wind shear” becomes too strong in the Atlantic storms, when there’s just too much wind at high levels in the atmosphere. So, “Joaquin” will struggle to strengthen, even though it’s over very warm ocean. But with massive high pressure to the north, the pressure difference (or “gradient”) will be big, leading to strong east winds up and down the coast. They’ll be piling water up to the coast. The stronger the winds and the larger stretch of ocean they cover (the “fetch”) will determine how much coastal flooding and beach erosion will result. And it doesn’t help that we’ve had already huge amounts of coastal flooding and beach erosion in some parts of the East Coast in the past week.
Stay tuned for another update Tuesday.
Now that Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia is over, we've asked you to describe his historic trip in a single word. We've gotten more than 1,000 responses and the word cloud below visualizes your thoughts. The larger the word, the more often it was used.
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A Delaware councilman is calling for a federal investigation of a caught on cam incident in which police fatally shot a man in a wheelchair who investigators say was armed with a gun.
New Castle County Councilman Jea P. Street sent the request to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware Charles Oberly III Monday.
Video surfaced last week of an encounter with police and 28-year-old Jeremy McDole. The 1-minute-and-19-second-long video, recorded by a witness on a smartphone and posted to YouTube, shows a man being shot on Sept. 23 along the 1800 block of Tulip Street in Wilmington.
Multiple gunshots can be heard in the clip.
Police said they responded to a 911 call at 3:07 p.m. of a man suffering from a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound. When police arrived, officials said officers found McDole — who was paralyzed from the waist down — was armed with a handgun. They also say a shooting ensued shortly after.
"He pulled out his gun. He was trying to shoot himself up there," witness Sean Owens said Thursday. "I think he may have shot himself once or twice, but he shot the other shots in the air.”
McDole later died at the scene, police said.
The video begins with an officer, armed with a shotgun, shouting for McDole, who was sitting in his the wheelchair behind a silver Mercedes, to show his hands.
A single gunshot can then be heard. The video does not show who fired the shot as the camera dropped toward the ground.
"Show me your hands! Drop the gun! Drop the gun!" officers continue to shout as McDole moves in the wheelchair. Additional police can be heard, but are blocked from view by a wall. It's not possible to see in the video the handgun witnesses and police said McDole was holding.
McDole appeared to be bleeding profusely as he adjusted himself in the wheelchair. It's not clear if he was hit by the first gunshot heard on the video or had been previously injured.
After 57-seconds, the man could be seen putting his hand into his pocket and then a flurry of gunfire ensues. At least 10 gunshots can be heard. The shooters are blocked from view by the wall.
Then McDole rolls to his left and falls onto the ground.
Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings said he's watched the video and believes the officers acted professionally. A .38-caliber handgun was recovered, he said.
"The officers perceived what was a threat and they responded and they engaged," Cummings said. Four officers were involved in the shooting, officials said. They have all been placed on leave.
McDole's family questioned the use of deadly force.
"Why couldn't you tase this man out of his wheelchair," asked his sister, Letesha Green. "Why couldn't you use rubber bullets to get him out of the wheelchair?"
Bishop Anthony Slaughter, who lives in the Wilmington neighborhood where the shooting happened, said he counseled McDole and disputed the man was suicidal.
"He didn't show any signs of being depressed or anything of that nature," he said.
Cummings, the police chief, said authorities do not believe any other video exists of the incident. NBC10 asked retired ATF agent Matt Horace to review the video. He said police gave McDole just warning.
"The subject in the video had clearly been identified as armed and he was given lawful instruction on more than one occasion to drop the gun," he said.
The Delaware Department of Justice is handling the investigation as is required by state law. In a statement, officials said they will work quickly to provide an account of the incident to the public. They will determine whether charges should be filed.
Three people, including an 8-year-old girl, are recovering after a gun went off inside a home in the Feltonville section of the city Monday night.
Police say an unidentified man brought a gun inside a home on the 5000 block of Boudinot Street. A person inside the house then grabbed the weapon, causing it to go off, according to police.
An 8-year-old girl and two women inside the home were struck in the shooting. They were taken to the hospital where they are all in stable condition. The man who initially brought the gun inside grabbed the weapon and left the home, according to investigators.
No arrests have been made. Police have not yet revealed whether or not the initial shooting was accidental.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
An apartment complex in Northeast Philadelphia was evacuated Monday night due to a gas leak.
The leak was reported at a complex on Grant Avenue and Blue Grass Road. No injuries have been reported. Firefighters are at the scene and PGW officials are responding as well.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
A Delaware County woman is searching for a group of people who she says came to her aid following a crash on the Blue Route last week.
Jessica Hagerty of Folsom, Pennsylvania says she was driving on Route 476 Thursday around 7:20 p.m. when she was clipped from behind by another vehicle.
“I spun out of control and ended up flipping my car 2-3 times and over the median and landed upside down in the Northbound shoulder,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Hagerty says she crawled away from the wreckage and was met by ten people who jumped in to help.
“I was able to crawl out of the car and after standing up saw there were 10 people, 10 strangers, 10 angels around me with open arms helping me,” she wrote.
Hagerty says she suffered a broken pinkie, cuts and bruises and was treated at Penn Presbyterian. She wrote a Facebook message Sunday thanking everyone who helped her while expressing her desire to meet with them.
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If you were one of the people who assisted Hagerty following the crash or know someone who was, email us at PhillyWebTeam@nbcuni.com or tips@nbcphiladelphia.com.
Temple University alerted students after a robber sexually assaulted a female student near campus.
The assault took place along the 1400 block of N Carlisle Street – that’s about two blocks south of the North Philadelphia campus, said a TU Alert sent out by the university early Tuesday.
The victim had left Temple's library around 11:15 p.m. Monday as walked with a friend until they separated near Broad and Cecil B Moore, said Philadelphia Police
Minutes later, a man came up behind the victim and told her to be quiet as he hit her on the arm with a silver handgun, said investigators.
The man then pushed the woman up against a wall and sexually assaulted her, said police.
After the assault, the woman used an emergency light to call police. Officers arrived to find the shaken victim, said investigators.
Temple asked that anyone who spots suspicious activity should call 215-204-1234.
A demolition contractor charged with murder after a building collapse killed six people inside a thrift store is set to go on trial in Philadelphia.
Jury selection begins Tuesday in the trial of 51-year-old Griffin Campbell.
Campbell's lawyer insists that his client is being made a scapegoat in the 2013 collapse that also buried 13 survivors in rubble.
Investigators accuse Campbell of leaving a towering wall brick wall unsupported before it collapsed on the adjacent one-story Salvation Army thrift store.
Subcontractor Sean Benschop pleaded guilty in the case and could testify against Campbell.
Campbell is charged with third-degree murder in the deaths.
The building owner who took his cut-rate bid for the job has not been charged.
Victims' lawyers accuse the city of lax oversight of demolition work.
Waking up will be a little easier for caffeine fiends Tuesday.
Several coffee shops and chains around the Philadelphia region are offering free cups of joe or special promotions to celebrate National Coffee Day.
Here’s where you can get your fix:
Wawa: Free cup of Joe, any size!
Dunkin Donuts: Free medium hot or iced dark roast coffee
Krispy Kreme: Free small coffee and original glazed donut
Whole Foods: Stores nationwide are offering 12-ounce cups of coffee for $0.25 through September.
Starbucks: Celebrate National Coffee Day with the launch of “Starbucks One Tree for Every Bag Commitment” which honors the families and farmers behind your cup of morning coffee. Over the next year, every time someone buys a bag of coffee in a Starbucks store, a tree will be planted in a community that needs one on their behalf. Starbucks is also planting 1 million coffee trees in farming communities that need help.
Plenty of other coffee shops around the region may also be offering free or discounted coffee today so don't be surprised if you find a deal.
