A man stabbed his 48-year-old ex-girlfriend to death with a "machete-type knife" in her car in Midland Park, New Jersey, then threw himself in front of a subway train in New York City hours later, authorities say.
Authorities had been searching for Arthur Lomando in the stabbing death of Suzanne Bardzell, a mother of two and a special education teacher, after she was found stabbed inside her car in her driveway Thursday, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said.
Molinelli later said in a tweet that Lomando was at Harlem Hospital with severe injuries to his head and legs and was undergoing surgery after he threw himself in front of a train at Amsterdam Avenue and St. Nicholas.
Lomando was estranged from Bardzell after a three-year relationship. Bardzell had filed a restraining order against Lomando on Oct. 5, and he violated the order days later, the prosecutor said.
The two had a history of domestic issues, according to Molinelli.
Neighbors told NBC 4 New York there had recently been police activity on the victim's street several times in the past few weeks.
Bardzell had two children, ages 18 and 16, according to the prosecutor.
Lomando worked for the NYPD at some point, according to Molinelli, and had filed a petition in 2005 to be reinstated. According to a law website summary of the case, the petition stated Lomando was a probationary employee when he was terminated for "making false and misleading statements to police department psychologists and to a ranking officer."
Democratic incumbent Vincent Mazzeo and Republican incumbent Chris Brown have been running attack ads against one another in the race for Atlantic City's 2nd Legislative District seats.
A dark-colored car drives by a group of young men, the next moment, the men fall down in a hail of gunfire.
Philadelphia Police released surveillance video Thursday of the shooting along 18th Street, near W Tioga, in the city's Nicetown section Tuesday night.
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A police vehicle crashed while in pursuit of a suspect Thursday night.
The crash at 59th and Master Streets in West Philadelphia happened after 19th District officers tried to pull over a Cadillac for having dark-tinted windows around 9:50 p.m., said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Chester County Residents are warned to beware of bogus phone calls from people pretending to be police.
Sheriff Carolyn Bunny Welsh has warned residents of phone calls from impostors, threatening arrest by deputy sheriffs for failing to report for jury service. The callers allegedly then tell the resident to go to a local pharmacy or convenient store and purchase Moneypak cards in varying amounts. Sometimes the caller then asks for personal information leading to identity theft.
“All residents should be warned to never share sensitive information with anyone you don’t know,” Welsh said. “Unfortunately there are criminals who use many types of scams and frauds to take advantage of individuals and families. We need to provide all information possible to protect our citizens.”
According to officials, Chester County court does not require anybody to give personal information over the phone or to purchase any kind of “monetary device” to avoid arrest.
People receiving calls should not provide any information, should hang up, and then call the police department. They can also notify the Jury Services Office 610-344-6174 or the Chester County Sheriff’s Office at 610-344-6850.
Click here for more information on Moneypak cards and avoiding fraud.
Visit Bucks County has finished their month-long adventure with Google to capture off-road scenery in the county. Now, those images are accessible online.
According to visitbuckscounty.com, team members captured 13 outdoor locations that weren’t accessible for Google Maps trucks.
To get the images, team members had to wear a 50 pound backpack camera that took panoramic pictures, then those were sent to Google to get stitched together to be accessed from Google Maps, according to Paul Bencivengo, vice-president of Visit Bucks County.
"Starting today, people all over the world are able to explore the beauty of Bucks County in Google Maps," said Deanna Yick, Google Maps Street View Program Manager.
The boy's body was found in Cooper River Park about a half-mile from his home in Haddon Township on October 13. Authorities say the results of the autopsy remain pending.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that there was no indication of forced entry at the father's home after the boy went missing. And there was no indication the boy was sexually assaulted.
The boy's father, D.J. Creato, obtained Philadelphia lawyer Richard Fuschino Jr. to represent him just hours after Brendan went missing.
"I became engaged with this case on the day of the boy’s disappearance, DJ's friend advised him, and I agree it's a smart move when you have something like this because it's a complicated process," Fuschino Jr. told NBC10.
When University of Oregon senior Laura Hanson was sexually assaulted by a fellow student a couple of days after New Year's 2013, she said she felt violated and later shunned by her friends and sorority sisters.
The university's drawn-out investigation of the incident -- which substantiated her allegation -- only added to her trauma.
University students have less privacy for their campus health records than they would have if they sought care off campus. Schools say they are trying to seek the right balance between privacy and safety. Read the story.
Hanson's ordeal wasn't over. Last year, as she pressed forward with a claim against the university, Hanson learned that the school's attorneys had obtained her confidential counseling records -- her most intimate thoughts about what happened -- without her permission.
"They were faster to mount their opposition to me than they were to support me," she said in an interview. "That's the part that I still can't grasp."
Hanson said she was nearing graduation from the Honors College of the University of Oregon when she was raped on the night of Jan. 3, 2013. At first, she said, she didn't know what to do and didn't report what happened. Within two weeks, she went to the University Health Center, where she was tested for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, and a nurse discussed counseling with her.
Over the next four months, she told others, including professors and sorority sisters, about what happened. She officially reported the assault to the Office of the Dean of Students in May 2013, prompting the university to begin contacting other students to ask about the matter.
Months passed with no outcome -- until the university informed her in January 2014 that it had concluded that the student who she accused of the assault was responsible for sexual misconduct. It placed him on probation, instructed him to have no contact with her, and required him to complete a "Sexual Misconduct Journal," a five-part process that "encourages education and reflection."
Hanson's lawyer, Jennifer Middleton, requested her medical records in March 2014 and received what "we thought was everything."
"Then we were talking more to the university lawyers and they said, 2018We have some information that you don't have,'" she said, alluding to the counseling records.
The university settled Hanson's claim for $30,000.
Doug Park, the university's deputy general counsel, said that he could not discuss Hanson's case. He said the university may review a student's counseling records to defend itself against an allegation of wrongdoing or if a student alleges a violation of Title IX, the federal regulation that outlines how universities should respond to accusations of sexual assault.
"I am unaware of any records that were ever reviewed by any lawyer [for the University] prior to that record being sent to an outside lawyer," Park said in an interview. "I'm unaware of that ever happening, not just in this case but in any case."
The University of Oregon has since issued a new, interim policy that restricts its lawyers' ability to review students' counseling records. Specifically, the university said it will use a subpoena "whenever possible" to access records in the event of a legal action against it. Otherwise, the university said it will notify students of its intent to review the records and give them an opportunity to object.
Hanson said the experience left her feeling that "nothing I do is private anymore."
"I don't blame the University of Oregon for a rape," she said. "It's not their fault. I blame them for how they responded to it. I found out months later that every single meeting I had with a therapist, she took detailed notes on, and the University of Oregon had read these notes before I had even seen them."
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During her senior year at Yale University, Andrea faced spiraling depression and anxiety. She sought treatment at the campus health center, where she received medication and therapy.
By the final week of classes, though, her struggles had grown more intense. Andrea was drinking heavily and contemplating suicide. She was hospitalized against her will for a week.
Andrea, who asked that only her first name be used to protect her privacy, was 21 years old, just a few weeks shy of graduation. But when she was sent to the hospital, the university's mental-health center decided to notify her parents 2014 even though records show her health providers knew she had a broken relationship with them. Andrea said her parents didn't even know she was receiving treatment.
When they got the news, her parents flew to New Haven. Andrea said she felt pressure from Yale's counseling center to leave campus immediately and fly home with them.
Had Andrea not been a student, the clinicians treating her would have sought her permission before sharing information on her condition or medical care. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the landmark federal law known as HIPAA, patients can limit who has access to such information.
Andrea's records at Yale were subject not to HIPAA; they fell under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA, the federal law that provides privacy protections for student records.
Under FERPA, the fact that Andrea was no longer a minor did not matter. FERPA allowed the university to share information with her parents. Both laws allow providers to share information in an emergency, but even then, HIPAA tells them to seek permission from patients first.
Yale Health's website informs parents that they cannot access their child's health information without a signed written consent form. Andrea said she does not recall signing that document. When she recently asked to see any such form, she said, she was told by the counseling center's chief that there was none. "Most of what happened while I was in the hospital happened without my knowing it," she said. "I got an update every day or two about where my life was going."
Andrea's case is a vivid demonstration of how weaknesses in state and federal laws 2014 and the often-conflicting motives of students, parents, and college officials 2014 have left patient privacy vulnerable when students receive medical treatment on campus.
Universities walk a fine line when providing that treatment or mental-health services to students. If campus officials don't know what's going on or disclose too little, they risk being blamed if a student harms himself, herself, or others. If they pry too deeply, they may be accused of invading privacy, thereby discouraging students from seeking treatment.
Even after mental-health treatment ends, privacy issues persist. Disputes have erupted over whether colleges can consult patient records to defend themselves, such as when they are accused of not properly investigating a sexual assault.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the schools are trying to strike the right balance," said Paul Lannon, a Boston lawyer who advises colleges on legal issues. "They care for the students. They want the students to do well. They want the students to be healthy."
If Yale's health center hadn't shared information about her condition with her parents, Andrea said, she would have moved in with a friend or a friend's family while seeking continued treatment.
Instead, once she returned home, her parents did not allow her to see a psychiatrist or therapist. Her mother refused to accept that Andrea was experiencing psychiatric problems, she said. Andrea wrote about her experiences on a blog about dealing with mental illness at Yale.
Andrea graduated on time, but she was allowed to return to campus only if accompanied by her parents. She remains angry that details of her condition were shared. Yale may have complied with the letter of the law, she said, but university officials could have done a better job of respecting her wishes and including her in decisions.
Thomas Conroy, a Yale spokesman, said in an email that the university does not discuss individual students' records, "whether or not the student gives permission or has no objection." (Andrea said she was willing to sign documents allowing Yale to talk to a reporter about her case.)
Conroy pointed to a regulation from Yale's undergraduate college stating that it will notify a student's parents when there is a change in that student's enrollment status, such as a withdrawal from school, voluntary or involuntary.
Exemptions and Loopholes
Deciding who has the right to know what's going on with the health of college students presents tricky questions.
College is "absolutely a very challenging time," said Dr. Victor Schwartz, medical director of the Jed Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit that works to promote emotional health among college students. "The students are almost inevitably legal adults, but there are a lot of other parties that have skin in the game and really have concerns and to one degree or another legitimate involvement."
These concerns are not easily reconciled, either by laws or by institutional policies. FERPA, passed in 1974, gives students and their parents access to their education records, which schools and colleges had sometimes denied them. FERPA also dictates when and how those institutions can obtain or share information that identifies individual students.
If students are under age 18 or are claimed as dependents for tax purposes, the law allows colleges to share educational information with their parents without their consent.
Within a campus, education records such as transcripts, schedules, and disciplinary records can be shared with anyone who has a "need to know," such as a dean, registrar, or residential adviser. Treatment records generally can't be shared, and they are handled more securely. But if those records are shared for any reason other than treatment 2014 if they're given to a lawyer or even to a student herself 2014 they effectively become education records. At that point, the typical FERPA standards apply.
FERPA also includes a health-and-safety exception: If a student is seen to be in danger, or to be putting others in danger, information can be shared with "appropriate parties," including the student's parents, regardless of whether they claim the student as a dependent.
If a student seeks help off campus or at a university hospital, HIPAA, the more-restrictive law, typically applies. In those cases, university officials have no right to obtain the information. If a patient asks for his or her own records, it doesn't strip them of protection. Indeed, some providers and insurance companies won't share health information with the parents of minor teenagers without their permission. When a patient is over age 18, health providers that share information with a parent can be subject to fines.
The intersection of these rules leaves considerable room for subjectivity. Andrea, for example, was treated at Yale-New Haven Hospital, a private institution, and her stay was covered by HIPAA. But because Yale Health clinicians sent her to the hospital and visited her there, some information was subject to FERPA.
Colleges also have very different views about when and how to invoke FERPA's health-and-safety exception.
These differences sparked fierce debate after Seung-Hui Cho, a student at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in 2007 before killing himself. Students and professors had raised concerns about Cho's behavior before the shooting, and he had had contact with the university's counseling center and police. But, a state review panel concluded: "the university did not intervene effectively. No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots."
A subsequent federal report cited privacy laws as a "substantial obstacle" to sharing information about students' problems. "Throughout our meetings and in every breakout session, we heard differing interpretations and confusion about legal restrictions on the ability to share information about a person who may be a threat to self or to others," a report from three federal agencies said.
Still, years later, university policies are "all over the map," said Darcy Gruttadaro, director of the Child and Adolescent Action Center of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "I'm not sure that there's an easy answer here."
Conflicts of Interest?
Students sometimes discover their medical records have been retrieved without their permission when they find themselves in a legal dispute with their universities.
That happened in a pair of high-profile cases at the University of Oregon.
In one case, Laura Hanson, who said she was sexually assaulted by a fellow student at the University of Oregon in 2013, pursued a claim against her alma mater over what she saw as a drawn-out investigation of the incident, which ultimately substantiated her account. Hanson learned that university lawyers had obtained her confidential counseling records without her permission, not as part of their investigation into her sexual-assault allegations, but in response to her claim that the school hadn't investigated urgently enough.
"I felt like they were trying to undermine me," she said.
The university eventually settled Hanson's claim for $30,000. Doug Park, the university's deputy general counsel, declined to discuss particulars of the case. But under rules in place at the time, since changed, he said the university was permitted to review a student's counseling records to defend itself against charges of wrongdoing including alleged violations of Title IX, the federal regulation that outlines how universities should respond to accusations of sexual assault.
A second University of Oregon student, identified in court records as "Jane Doe," also accused university lawyers of improperly obtaining her counseling records after she faulted officials' handling of an alleged rape by three Oregon basketball players. The University of Oregon settled Jane Doe's case for $800,000, but its lawyers insisted they had collected the records only to comply with a request from her lawyers and didn't review them.
After the Oregon controversy, the U.S. Department of Education proposed guidelines in August for the use of students' counseling records. Its message: University lawyers should view those records only if the treatment itself is at issue in a legal case, if they have permission, or if a judge's order gives them access.
"Institutions of higher education have a strong interest in ensuring that students have uncompromised access to the support they need, without fear that the information they share will be disclosed inappropriately," Kathleen Styles, chief privacy officer of the Education Department, wrote in a blog post.
Students share their personal details with campus health centers as would any other patient with a health provider. But while students are the clients at campus health centers for treatment purposes, colleges rely on the centers' advice to decide whether the students should be allowed to stay on campus or be allowed to return.
"It seems like a conflict of interest," said Karen Bower, a lawyer who represents students and their families feuding with universities. "It's not clear who the client is."
The University of Oregon announced on October 1 that it plans to tighten its rules. It will now seek a subpoena if lawyers want to review a student's health records or, if that's not possible, notify students of the university's intention and give them an opportunity to object.
One of Jane Doe's lawyers, John Clune, said they learned only from her therapists that the university's lawyers had obtained their client's records. Without more-consistent notification from universities, there's no way to know how often students' privacy is being violated. "We would never have known from the university," he said, "had our client's therapists never told her about what happened."
2018My Socks Were Just Knocked Off'
For all of the concerns about violating students' privacy, there is also a risk to choosing discretion over disclosure. Some parents have argued that, if anything, colleges should release more information to them about their children.
Margaret Go's son Brian committed suicide in 2009 while enrolled at the California Institute of Technology. Two deans and three psychologists at Caltech were aware that he was under significant stress or had had suicidal thoughts, according to pleadings in his parents' lawsuit against Caltech. Yet Caltech never conveyed that information to his parents; in court records, the university said it was honoring Brian Go's request not to do so. Margaret Go said she learned about Brian's troubles only after his death.
"I was just a mom, and my socks were just knocked off because it seemed to me such a complete lack of common sense and human decency not to call us," she said. "I entered in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of privacy rights and mental-health law."
Margaret Go and her husband pursued a lawsuit against the university and the counseling staff. A medical malpractice claim involving the counseling staff was settled, but a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed a negligence claim against the university, saying it had no legal duty to protect Brian Go from harming himself because he was an adult. (He was 20.) A state appeals court agreed.
"Brian did report that he had contemplated suicide but denied that he continued to have suicidal feelings," university officials wrote in a statement. "Nonetheless he was immediately referred to and seen by the counseling center, and Caltech administrators followed the advice of the mental health professionals."
Caltech adopted a series of changes based on the recommendations of a 2011 mental-health task force, including increased access to psychiatric care for students, expanded hours at the campus counseling center, and training for resident advisers on mental-health issues. Judy Asbury, a spokeswoman for the university, said in an email that the task force was not a specific response to Brian Go's death, "but the tragic event was a factor. The Caltech community was deeply affected by Brian's suicide; he was an engaged student, president of his 2018house' (which is like a dorm community here) and well-liked."
Brian Go's parents have suggested a way forward: Create an environment of transparency and open communication much earlier. In November 2014, they started a MoveOn.org petition asking that every university include forms for students to fill out before they arrive on campus, laying out how much information can be shared with parents or emergency contacts. More than 1,300 people signed the petition.
The idea is to deal with potential problems during a moment of calm, rather than in a crisis, Margaret Go said. "It's really practical. It's really common sense. It doesn't hurt anybody. In fact, I think it would help."
The Philadelphia Zoo said goodbye to one of its longest-living companions Friday. Klondike the Polar Bear, who at 34 was the oldest polar bear in the country, was euthanized after zoo officials noticed a serious decline in her health and quality of life.
Klondike was born at Bronx Zoo in in 1980, and lived at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1981.
According to Kevin Murphy, general curator, Klondike was among the most popular animals at the zoo, constantly entertaining visitors by diving into her 125,000 gallon pool.
"She will be greatly missed by our staff," Murphy said in a release. "In addition to the joy she brought guests over more than three decades, she has been an important ambassador to wild polar bears, who are increasingly threatened by climate change and resulting shrinkage of polar ice."
Zoo staff noticed Klondike's health deteriorating about two weeks ago and kept a close eye on her. Despite treatment, her health did not improve.
Klondike far surpassed the average lifespan of polar bears, which is 24 years. Zoo staff felt Klondike had little to no chance for a high-quality life and it would be best to "humanely euthanize" her.
A Montgomery County family is asking for help after their beloved dog was hit by a car Wednesday and is in critical need of surgery.
Krystal Fear was outside closing her gate so her one-and-a-half year old pitbull, Diesel, could run around. Diesel darted out the gate and into the road and was struck by a vehicle. The driver sped off.
Doctors at VRC say Diesel is also suffering from pulmonary contusions and pneumothorax, which is air in the chest cavity and needs surgery.
Diesel's treatment and recovery bills will top $8,000. VRC offered Krystal a payment plan for services, but she will still need at least $6,000. Krystal set up a GoFundMe account to help with the bills.
In addition to fundraising, there are organizations that offer assistance with vet bills, such as Red Rover.
Financing through organizations like Care Credit, is another option. The company pays the medical bills and the pet owner works out an installment plan with Care Credit.
According to reports from TMZ Sports, the Los Angeles area home of former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver and currently injured Washington Redskin, DeSean Jackson, was "stormed" by a group of 4 or 5 individuals with guns.
That's when an altercation with those inside the house allegedly ensued.
That all seems crazy enough, but the details keep getting wilder. According to the same report, investigators believe the gun-toting intruders had actually been in the home before and knew where security cameras were located. And that it could all potentially be gang related.
People surely don't forget the rumblings about Jackson's ties to gangs that arose shortly before his tenure with the Eagles was ended prematurely by Chip Kelly and the organization.
DeSean had been able to keep his name out of the news for negative reasons -- aside from repeatedly getting injured -- for most of his tenure in Washington, but regardless of the facts around this latest incident, it certainly doesn't bode well for his future in the NFL. There are already rumblings that the Redskins could part ways with him and his lucrative contract after this season.
New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone wants to know if two popular online sports betting sites are monitoring the people who play and wants to know if NFL players are involved and wants to make sure if they are, their winnings comply with league policies.
