Tens of thousands of people will take on the Philadelphia Marathon Sunday and for a father and son team from South Jersey, they’re not focused on how to get from start to finish, rather how they'll reach it together.
The medals hanging on the wall of Josh Goldstein's Voorhees, New Jersey home are proof that he takes running seriously.
His father, Dave, is just as serious and proud.
“Training is tough but worth it,” he said.
The only difference: Dave uses his legs, while Josh cannot.
“I thought, ‘Why should Josh be on the sideline watching when he can be included in these runs too?’” the father said.
Josh has been disabled since birth and 20 years later he finds pure happiness in getting to ride — with others who run.
“He’s lived a rough life and had it hard, but he smiles like this 24/7,” he said. “He's always happy. Anything that goes wrong with me how can I complain when he deals with what he deals with? I just draw off his happiness. It just inspires me.”
Never one to back down from a challenge, the Army veteran, bought a special racing chariot, added he added a little Eagles green and the rest comes naturally.
“When he's out on the course he's happy. The runners are great with him — fist bumping him — and people are so motivated so it makes me proud to have him with me and we're a team,” he said.
But Dave wants to see more teams — more chariots out on the course. He’s working to prove, that disabled or not, it's about having fun and doing something you never thought possible.
Dave is working to bring a chapter of Ainsley’s Angels of America, a nonprofit hoping to build awareness about all aspects of life, to the Philadelphia area soon. Learn more about the organization here.
A man working under a West Philadelphia street was killed when a minivan ran him over Thursday night, police said.
The 27-year-old man was doing plumbing work in a 4-foot deep hole at 63rd and Arch streets around 9 p.m. when he was hit.
Police said a woman driving a minivan barreled through orange safety cones and caution tape before landing on top of the man as he climbed out of the hole.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
The driver is cooperating with police. Investigators said it's too early to know if charges will be filed.
It’s the secret that was hidden in a crawlspace on Staten Island for years until broadcast executive Carl Sabatino discovered it tucked underneath his aunt’s sewing machine.
The New Jersey native found the possible Pablo Picasso piece after his aunt, Jenny Verastro, mentioned the artwork while lying on her deathbed in 2004.
He said he moved the sewing machine, and “it just came flying out, literally in my lap. And I began to cry."
Sabatino's uncle Nicky Verrastro had bought the piece on a street corner in London for £10, or roughly $10, while serving as a soldier during World War II. Sabatino recalls seeing the picture of a lady in a fuzzy hat hanging on his aunt’s wall during his childhood but never thought much about it.
The lady turned out to be a recreation of Picasso’s “Woman with a Cape,” which has been hanging at the Cleveland Museum since 1956. A top executive at a New York auction house dismissed Sabatino’s “find,” saying it was a $10 poster.
“She threw it back at me, just left-handedly, I’ll never forget it,” he said.
That was 11 years ago. He set out to prove her, and any other critics, wrong.
“And the journey began with, what the heck is it?” he said.
Sabatino worked backwards in time, studying Picasso and his life in Paris in the years before the war. He says he found evidence that in 1936, Picasso had experimented with a fine art photographic technique called gum bichromate.
Gum bichromate combines photographic techniques and original coloring with pigments to create a new work. Sabatino turned to science to analyze the chemicals in the portrait and verify his story.
Dr. Kenneth Smith, president of the Center for Art Materials Analysis in Westmont, Illinois, said his team extracted small amounts of pigment from the artwork with a fine needle.
“An area about the size of a period out of a sentence was removed and transferred to a microscopic slide,” Smith said.
He found pigments consistent with the place and time that Picasso would have produced the work: Europe in the 1930s. Smith was intrigued by something else: a partial right thumbprint on the side of the work that could be from the artist himself.
“You would clearly see that it was a partial fingerprint, which would have occurred as the artist picked up the piece before that surface coating was completely dry,” Smith said.
If verified, it’s believed that print would be the first of Picasso’s ever left on one of his works. The piece has now been sent down to a forensic lab near Washington, D.C. for verification.
Richard Beau Lieu, an internationally known Picasso expert and art appraiser in Boynton Beach, Florida, agrees that the finding could be life-changing. He’s now appraised the art for $13 million due to the current evidence, but if more evidence comes through he believes the figure would go even higher.
Part of the appeal is the medium, since this would be the first gum bichromate piece by Picasso ever discovered. “It’s terribly significant,” Beau Lieu told the I-Team.
Beau Lieu is paid by the hour and receives no financial interest from sellers, but he knows he is still taking a risk on his reputation with this estimate.
“Wait and see. There’s always going to be skeptics. I’m convinced this is the real deal,” he said.
For now, Sabatino has the work safeguarded in a fireproof case in a secure location in the tri-state area. He sees the piece as redemption for his working-class Italian aunts and uncles, who struggled to get by but always loved the arts.
“It’s a treasure hunt. But a treasure hunt with emotion,” he said, “And what you’re left with is: it’s Picasso.”
Here are the 10 things you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.
TODAY'S TOP STORY
Minivan Crashes into Work Site, Killing Underground Worker: A man working under a West Philadelphia street was killed when a minivan ran him over Thursday night, police said. The 27-year-old man was doing plumbing work in a 4-foot deep hole at 63rd and Arch streets around 9 p.m. when he was hit. Police said a woman driving a minivan barreled through orange safety cones and caution tape before landing on top of the man as he climbed out of the hole. The man was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
Friday will bring a dry morning commute as the rain moves out but the wind moves in. Saturday is expected to be colder and breezy through the day and should last through the weekend. There is a slight chance of showers on Sunday, which is expected to be the coldest day of the weekend. Monday is also supposed to be cold with temperatures in the 40s. High Temp: 56 degrees. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.
WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY
Philly Man Calls 911 After He Say He was Profiled on Flight: A Philadelphia pizza shop owner and his friend had to call 911 in Chicago's Midway airport Wednesday night in order to get on their flight home. Maher Khalil and Anas Ayyad said they were profiled — asked to step aside during the boarding process because a fellow passenger said he was afraid to fly with them. "If that person doesn't feel safe, let them take the bus," Khalil said to a Southwest Airlines gate agent. "We're American citizens just like everybody else.” Khalil, 29 and Ayyad, 28, moved to Philadelphia from Palestine 15 years ago. Khalil now owns the Feltonville pizza shop — Pizza Point — that gave him his first job. The friends were in Chicago visiting each other's families and met back at the airport Wednesday night to take the same flight home. The gate agent told them apologetically they wouldn't be allowed to board because a passenger was afraid to fly with them after overhearing the men speaking Arabic. The flight was delayed and the two men were ultimately allowed to board after being questioned again by airport security and police. The airline issued a statement acknowledging a brief disagreement with two customers. A second Southwest flight from Chicago to Houston was also delayed Wednesday night when passengers refused to allow six Muslims on the flight. The Muslim passengers had to be rebooked on another flight.
AROUND THE WORLD
Gunman Takes 170 Hostages at Mali Hotel: Gunmen took at least 170 people hostage at a Radisson Blu hotel in the former French colony of Mali Friday, U.S. Embassy officials and a hotel spokesman told NBC News. The raid on the upscale hotel, near government ministries and diplomatic offices in the capital Bamako, comes a week after attackers killed 129 people in Paris. "They have locked in about 140 guests and about 30 employees," said a spokeswoman for the Carlson Rezidor group, which owns Radisson, told NBC News. "So the hotel is locked down and there is no possibility to go out or come in.” A security source told Reuters that 10 gunmen attacked the hotel, but that report could not immediately be confirmed by NBC News. Witnesses in the area said police had surrounded the hotel and were blocking roads leading into the neighborhood, it reported. The U.S. Embassy in Mali said it was aware of an "ongoing active-shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel."
N.J. Man Finds Possible Picasso in Attic: It’s the secret that was hidden in a crawlspace on Staten Island for years until broadcast executive Carl Sabatino discovered it tucked underneath his aunt’s sewing machine. The New Jersey native found the possible Pablo Picasso piece after his aunt, Jenny Verastro, mentioned the artwork while lying on her deathbed in 2004. He said he moved the sewing machine, and “it just came flying out, literally in my lap. And I began to cry.” Sabatino's uncle Nicky Verrastro had bought the piece on a street corner in London for £10, or roughly $10, while serving as a soldier during World War II. Sabatino recalls seeing the picture of a lady in a fuzzy hat hanging on his aunt’s wall during his childhood but never thought much about it. Eleven years ago, a woman told Sabatino it was a recreation of Picasso’s “Woman with a Cape,” which has been hanging at the Cleveland Museum since 1956. A top executive at a New York auction house dismissed Sabatino’s “find,” saying it was a $10 poster. But he set out to prove her, and any other critics, wrong. He says he found evidence that in 1936, Picasso had experimented with a fine art photographic technique called gum bichromate. He found pigments consistent with the place and time that Picasso would have produced the work: Europe in the 1930s. A partial right thumbprint on the side of the work that could be from the artist himself was also discovered. If verified, it’s believed that fingerprint would be the first of Picasso’s ever left on one of his works. The piece has now been sent down to a forensic lab near Washington, D.C. for verification. Richard Beau Lieu, an internationally known Picasso expert and art appraiser in Boynton Beach, Florida, agrees that the finding could be life-changing. He’s now appraised the art for $13 million due to the current evidence, but if more evidence comes through he believes the figure would go even higher.
SPORTS SPOT
Flyers Lose to Sharks 0 to 1: The game was scoreless after the first and second periods with many goalie saves. The goalie saves continued in the third period and the game went into overtime, where the Sharks eventually scored. Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
See more Top News Photos here.
THROUGH IGER'S EYES
@diivineshots snapped this cool and colorful image of the Philadelphia skyline.
Have an awesome Instagram photo you'd like to share? Tag it with #NBC10Buzz.
TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO
Here's three easy breakfast recipes that can be made in a mug. Watch the video here.
Facebook Addes Break Up Tool: The heartache of a broken relationship may soon become less painful on Facebook. "Starting today, we are testing tools to help people manage how they interact with their former partners on Facebook after a relationship has ended," wrote Facebook product manager Kelly Winters. The world's largest social network is trying to help people who have split up with a spouse or lover, offering a new feature that spares them from constantly seeing their former partner's posts and pictures in their news feed. Facebook will begin testing the breakup protection on mobile devices in the U.S. before deciding whether to offer it to all of its 1.5 billion accountholders worldwide. Find out more about the break up tool here.
That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out.
More than 60 business leaders from across the Philadelphia area spent their night on cold asphalt — sleeping on the street — to raise awareness and money to put an end to youth homelessness.
The group, which included executives from companies like Toll Brothers and the Philadelphia 76ers, took part in Covenant House Pennsylvania’s Executive Sleep Out overnight Friday. In its fourth year, the annual event challenges company leaders to share in the challenges homeless young people face every single day trying to live without a home.
Each participant is given a cardboard box, sleeping bag, trash bag and some newspaper and offered a spot on the ground outside Covenant House's Germantown crisis shelter. The supplies are sometimes much more than homeless youth have to shelter themselves while living on the street.
“We have folks that have done it all four years, that have come back every year because they care about helping Philadelphia’s homeless youth,” Covenant House Pennsylvania Executive Director John Ducoff said.
Hundreds of Philadelphia youth are homeless, surveys show. But government officials, outreach workers and experts all agree those numbers are likely much higher. A national point-in-time count conducted in January by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found 180,760 people under age 25 were homeless. Those were the kids that were found and self-identified.
Young people between ages 18 and 24 are among the most vulnerable thanks to a lack of services tailored specifically to them. They’re legal adults, but lack the social skills, education and emotional support their peers with stable homes and families get. Adult shelters are focused on the chronically homeless — many who have mental and physical health needs — who young people are scared to be around.
Covenant House is the only shelter in Philadelphia that serves this community exclusively. They offer shelter, food, education and job training, but the facility only can serve 60 people. The shelter turns away 30 young people, on average, every month because of a lack of space.
An NBC10 Digital Exclusive investigation — Faces of Homeless Youth — delved into the issue recently. In the two month long probe, our team spent time on the street and in Covenant House speaking with 17 current and formerly homeless youth.
“Youth homelessness is a silent epidemic. We need to name it. We need a community of people who wraps around our kids and says we’re going to help these kids transform their lives and build a bridge from homelessness to hope,” Ducoff said.
Events like the sleep out puts the issue in front of people and, just as importantly, raises money to help provide programs and services. This latest sleep out raised more than $250,000, Ducoff said. Additional donations are still coming in.
A funeral home owner is facing charges after bodies were found rotting in a Strawberry Mansion garage this summer.
Janet Powell-Dailey, 72, was charged Friday with Abuse of a Corpse and Theft following an investigation into the discovery, police said.
It was a steamy August morning when a foul stench floated out of a red-brick garage along the 2600 block of W. Hagert Street. Concerned by the smell, neighbors called Philadelphia Police.
When officers arrived, just before 10:45 a.m. on August 25, they found a coffin and two cardboard boxes with decomposing bodies inside. A source told NBC10 at the time that all three of the deceased were in their 80s.
Investigators traced the garage back to Powell-Dailey who also turned out to be the owner of Powell Funeral Home. Powell-Dailey told police she knew the bodies were in the garage.
Residents said the funeral home had been closed for about a year, but called the business a staple in the community.
Detectives said families paid Powell-Dailey for funeral services that were never rendered.
An attorney was not immediately listed on court documents for Powell-Dailey.
Presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was involved in a security incident on board a flight from San Francisco to Boston on Friday morning, according to a spokesperson for Christie's campaign.
Campaign staff confirmed that the presidential candidate was on a United Airlines flight when a passenger was removed before takeoff.
According to San Francisco police, the flight crew on board United Flight 1108 was alerted about a passenger taking cellphone photos of the crew. The crew asked the passenger to delete the photos, which he did, police said.
A second passenger saw a picture on the man's phone that showed a second cellphone, which appeared to be rigged with wires, according to police. The second passenger informed the flight crew of the photo, and the man with the cellphone was removed from the plane.
All passengers and luggage were re-screened, including the hand-wipe test for explosive residue, police said.
San Francisco police detained the passenger and ran a background check on him with the help of the FBI. According to police, the man has no criminal history.
All other passengers were allowed to board the flight, which took off around 1 p.m. The man who was held for questioning boarded another flight to Boston.
"United Airlines flight 1108 departed at 1:59 p.m. PST, just over five hours late, following a delay that resulted from a passenger not complying with crew member instructions," United Airlines said in a statement. "We will be reaching out to our customers individually to apologize."
A Christie spokesperson said the passenger did not interact with the governor or threaten him in any way. The governor had been in California for a fundraising event.
"Governor Christie, an aide and a member of his security detail were traveling on a United flight from San Fransisco to Boston this morning when a passenger was removed from the plane before takeoff at the request of United Airlines," Christie's campaign said in a statement Friday afternoon. "At no point did Governor Christie interact with this passenger nor did this passenger pose a verbal or physical threat to the Governor. Any other inquiries about this matter should be directed to United Airlines."
There is no word on why the passenger was removed.
Christie was expected to land in Boston later Friday night. He will be in New Hampshire for campaign events Saturday and Sunday. Click here to see our interactive tracker for candidates' visits to the Granite State.
After the Paris attacks, a secure zone and extra precautions will be in place for this weekend's marathon in Philly, which is expected to attract close to 100,000 people.
As they have each year since the Boston Marathon bombing, all runners and attendees who enter the secure zone around the race start and finish areas on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be screened and their belongings subject to a search.
Checkpoints into the area open at 5 a.m. and will be set up at 18th, 20th, 22nd, 25th and Kelly Drive.
"Do not try to open, move or touch any item you feel is suspicious, but please report it," Mayor Michael Nutter cautioned in a Tuesday news conference, emphasizing the weekend and marathon Sunday will still be a great time for runners and families. Nutter said runners were already made aware of enhanced security measures and he urged spectators and the public to keep up with security updates — along with information what is and isn't allowed — on the marathon's website.
The race attracts close to 100,000 people: 30K runners, 60K spectators and 3,000 volunteers according to the marathon website.
This Sunday's race starts and ends on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The 26.2 miles winds first down to the Delaware River along Columbus Boulevard, up through the City's historic district and into University City. The bulk of the run is along the Schuylkill River and stretches through Manayunk before coming back down Kelly Drive to the finish line at Eakins Oval.
Road closures begin Friday, Nov. 20. Major areas impacted include:
Friday, November 20
The inner drives of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be closed, from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., on Friday, November 20. At 3:30 p.m., the westbound lanes will be opened for the afternoon rush hour. At 6:30 p.m., the inner lanes of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be closed continuously, from 6:30 p.m. on Friday, November 20 through the completion of Marathon Weekend on Sunday, November 22, and will reopen on Sunday, November 22 at 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 21
Street closures will be in effect for the Rothman Institute 8K and Kids Fun Run on Saturday, from 4 a.m. until 2 p.m., along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 18th to 25th streets, and also on Martin Luther King Drive. Signage labeled “no parking” will be posted in the Parkway area, and elsewhere, along the racecourse in advance. On Saturday, the vicinity near 18th Street and the Parkway, and the Logan Circle area will be closed to vehicular traffic until 11 a.m.
Sunday, November 22
For the Half and Full Marathons, due to enhanced security, City of Philadelphia “no-parking” regulations will be enforced strictly and all vehicles on the race route will be towed, beginning at 2 a.m. on Sunday. In addition, on Sunday, the Parkway, from 18th to 25th streets, will be closed, from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. Other streets along the racecourse will reopen as runners pass
by and the streets are cleaned.
The following streets will be affected across the city on November 22:
Motorists and pedestrians can expect significant delays when trying to cross roads or streets that are adjacent to the course. Police will allow traffic through intersections along the course, when possible, depending on the flow of the race participants. All streets are scheduled to be reopened by 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 22.
