A local little league is desperate for funds after a frozen pipe burst and flooded its clubhouse, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
On January 9, a pipe burst in the clubhouse of the Bristol Township National Little League in Croydon, Pa. The flooding damaged $10,000 worth of baseball gear. Helmets, gloves, bats and baseballs had to be thrown out due to fear of mold.
Officials with the league say it will take three to four months before they receive any claim reimbursement. The Little League is required to supply a minimum amount of equipment per team to give all children in the community a chance to play. There are currently 280 children who play on 22 teams in the league. Many of those children don’t have their own gear.
“It was very devastating,” said one player. “It’s like my second home here.”
Officials say that they barely get by as it is on fundraisers and clinics. Having to replace the equipment and gut the clubhouse will put the league under a significant financial strain. The league is now trying to raise money but they don’t have much time left. Baseball clinic is in two weeks and opening day is April 5.
So far everything remains on schedule, according to the league website. Money donations can be mailed to BTNLL, P.O. Box 195, Croydon, Pa, 19021.
You can also call League President Bill Findlay at 215/669-9367 or email him at williamfindlay70@gmail.com with any questions.
A man died from his injuries after a fire broke out at a Center City high rise.
Investigators say the fire started on the tenth floor of the Walnut Square apartment complex on 201 S 13th Street on Wednesday around 4 p.m. The fire was inside unit 1004 but did not spread or damage other units, according to officials.
All of the residents were evacuated from the 12-story building, which contains 132 units. Firefighters were quickly able to bring the fire under control. The evacuated residents were allowed back in Wednesday night.
A man in his 60's was injured in the fire, according to NBC10 sources. He was taken to Jefferson Hospital where he later died from his injuries. According to sources, he died from smoke inhalation and a heart attack.
Officials have not yet revealed his identity.
Several of the residents say they didn't take the alarm seriously at first because a false alarm normally goes off in the building every few weeks.
"I was sleeping because I work nights," said DJ Devine, one of the residents. "So I woke up, heard the alarm and kind of ignored it because it goes off all the time. It usually goes off then nothing comes of it."
Another resident, Ryan Kelly, says that the false alarms are so frequent that he and other residents normally ignore them.
"Then today a real fire actually happens and someone dies," Kelly said. "It's sad."
Sources working with the investigation tell NBC10 there have been eight other fire alarms at the building since August 1 but all of them turned out to be false alarms.
Kelly says he and other residents have complained to the building's property manager for months but nothing has been done.
"We never get a clear answer from them," Kelly said. "It's kind of like, it's an error or we're dealing with it."
NBC10 called the property manager and company that owns the building. We have not yet heard back from them.
Comcast Corp. announced Wednesday that it’s building a new, iconic skyscraper that will redefine Philly’s skyline, create thousands of jobs and shift the city’s image from a Rocky, blue-collar town to a city of innovation that rivals the Silicon Valley.
“It will be a melting pot of talent and people who want to change the world in the businesses that we are in,” said CEO Brian Roberts.
Comcast is partnering with Malvern-based Liberty Property Trust to erect the 59-story Comcast Innovation and Technology Center at 1800 Arch St.
The $1.2 billion development will be home to up to 4,000 employees dedicated to developing new apps, software and business services for the Philadelphia-based company.
“We laid out a vision for what our technology could become,” Roberts said. “Where you could get whatever you want on whatever device whenever you wanted.”
Inside the 1,121-feet-tall tower, a slew of “technology geniuses” will be working together in a collaborative environment to ensure Comcast and Philadelphia steadily advance in the 21st century.
DESIGN
Set to break ground in summer 2014, Roberts envisioned “an urban vertical loft.”
Five world-renowned architects competed and Lord Norman Foster, who designed the 1,214-feet long London Millennium Footbridge, prevailed.
Roberts says, the 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use property will aim for LEED Platinum certification - an ambitious undertaking for such a large building.
Once construction is complete, the Comcast Technology and Innovation Center will be the tallest structure in Philadelphia, surpassing the company’s current headquarters by 150 feet, and among the top 10 tallest buildings in the country.
The top 13 floors will be the new home of the Four Seasons, which is relocating from Logan Square.
Guests staying at one of the more than 200 luxury rooms will check in on the top floor, where the hotel’s restaurant will be located.
Featuring a 360-degree view of the city, the eatery will be open to the public, who can also visit the shops filling 2,682-square-feet of retail space. The stores will line an underground concourse, an extension of the current link between Suburban Station and the Comcast Center that will include the Technology and Innovation Center when construction is complete.
The NBC10 studios, after 62 years on City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, will relocate to Arch Street. Its existing headquarters was the first building in the United States constructed for television production. Comcast acquired the local affiliate along with 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York and the Englewood Cliffs-based CNBC headquarters when it completed its purchase of NBC Universal from General Electric in February 2013.
“There won’t be any other television station like it in the country,” David Cohen, executive vice president, said.
Noticiero Telemundo 62, the Spanish-language news program which recently was acquired by NBC Universal and relocated to the NBC10 studios, will also move to the new building. The station is partnering with NBC10 on the production of their daily 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
The studios will not be ground-level, so passersby will not be able to watch live newscasts like they do with The Today Show in New York. But reporters can use the outdoor plaza for live shots.
“It will be one of the exciting destinations in Philadelphia,” he said.
Like the Comcast Center’s video wall, the new building’s lobby will also have a feature that attracts visitors. Roberts declined to name specifics, except to say it will be “inviting.”
“We asked Norman Foster to try to bring a design and a building that would be alive," he added. "A place where things get invented and things get imagined.”
The Pritzker Prize-winner’s creation fused a modern, open floor plan more common among tech-startups with the height of a traditional office building.
“We’re competing for talent with Silicon Valley,” said Cohen. “We want to have a building and a facility and a feel that is competitive with that.”
Foster situated the all-glass elevator along the tower’s exterior on 19th street – a dramatic shift from the more typical placement in the center of a building.
“Every time you get off a floor,” Roberts said, “you’ll be looking right through the building back to either the [Arch Street Presbyterian] Church or the Comcast Center.”
The contemporary design includes a water element along the ground floor and an atrium every three floors, further generating the feel of a youth-oriented, shared workspace.
“We transformed ourselves into a software company,” Roberts said. “That sensibility and vibe and culture wants hip, cool, young loft-type space.”
EVOLUTION
Since taking the helm as Chief Executive Officer in 2002, Roberts has navigated the company - founded by his father in 1963 – through a myriad of technological advances.
“We used to be a cable company,” said Roberts.“We would not call ourselves that any longer.”
The Fortune 500 firm began as a single-system cable operator in Tupelo, Miss. The company, which went public in 1972, morphed throughout the 20th century as it incorporated telecommunication services, introduced the regional sports networks known as Comcast SportsNet and added other broadcast channels like E! Entertainment.
In 2002 the corporation launched high-speed Internet services and Video On Demand and DVR services became available the following year.
Comcast pushed the envelope again in 2009 by offering the initial version of Xfinity TV, which allowed customers to stream video online.
More recently Comcast's cloud-enabled television platforms X1 and X2 allowed subscribers to send a video from their mobile device to their television with the push of a button.
Today the company operates Universal theme parks, creates original films and oversees national and regional programming, while continuing to hold true to its roots with subscriber-based cable, high-speed internet and voice services.
“We have completely transformed …the definition of who we are,” said Roberts, who added the company is now situated at the “cross-section of technology and media.”
And the transformation means more than new products. It means new jobs.
ECONOMY
The skyscraper, scheduled to be complete by the end of 2017, will house up to 4,000 Comcast employees.
“We are trying to contribute to our city in the best way we know how,” he added. “And one of those ways is employment.”
Approximately 1,500 of those workers will be new hires, while the remainder will relocate from other offices in the greater Philadelphia region and other lab spaces throughout the country and world, Roberts said.
Engineers, product and software designers, and marketers will make up the bulk of the long-term positions.
He estimated the project will add 20,000 temporary construction jobs to Philadelphia.
While the city stands to gain from the $1.2 billion project, it will also contribute $10 million in grants towards construction. The Commonwealth will chip in an additional $30 million in grants.
The $40 million in total assistance is just shy of the $42.75 million in financial incentives the city and state provided for the construction of the $540 million Comcast Center.
The taxpayer monies will be dedicated to public infrastructure improvements, such as the concourse, Roberts said.
But, he adds, the tax revenue generated during the construction phase will pay off the investment and then some. The city will receive about $15 million in taxes, while around $60 million will be returned to the state, Roberts said.
“I think it is a net win right off the bat for everybody,” he said.
Long-term, the project will have an even more dramatic impact on a city widely known for its underdog mentality.
“The goal was to build a technology and innovation center unlike anything in the world,” Roberts said.
The building’s design and central location is meant to attract the talented and tech-savvy to a city that has steadily lost white-collar jobs since 1970.
“The heart and soul of the company is based here in Philadelphia,” Roberts said.
The announcement of the new Comcast skyscraper comes amid something of a construction boom in Center City. NBC10's George Spencer looks at the big picture.
Philadelphia Police are searching for suspects who they say were captured on surveillance video pickpocketing a woman as she ate at a Center City restaurant.
On January 10, at 8:45 p.m., two men and a woman entered the Rice & Mix Restaurant on the 1200 block of Walnut Street. Police say the man and woman distracted a clerk while the second man walked towards a 32-year-old woman who was eating.
Surveillance video shows the man sitting directly behind the victim as she ate, placing his jacket over her purse which was hanging on the back of her chair, and stealing her wallet. Police say the man then walked over to the other two suspects and had a brief conversation before all three fled the scene in an unknown direction.
Sources tell NBC10 the same trio used the same method during a theft at the Metropolitan Diner on South 19th and Spruce Streets last September. They also say they may be connected to other crimes, possibly as far as Wilmington.
“Your pocketbook, your belongings, you should always keep it in front of you,” said Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Patrick Doherty. “If you can’t see your belongings or your handbag you’re at risk of becoming a victim of this type of crime.”
Police say they’ve seen a recent increase in pickpocket crimes in Center City in the past few months with thieves going after iPads, laptops, iPhones and cash.
The first suspect is described as a 40-year-old man with a full beard standing between 5-foot-9 and 6-feet. He was last seen wearing a blue Jeff hat, blue quilted pattern jacket, dark blue argyle print sweater, blue jeans and white sneakers.
The second suspect is described as a stocky, 40-year-old man standing between 5-foot-9 and 6-feet. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored baseball cap, dark-colored North Face jacket and blue jeans.
The third suspect is described as a 40-year-old, medium built woman standing 5-foot-6. She was last seen wearing glasses, a dark-colored baseball cap, dark-colored north Face jacket and blue jeans. She was also carrying a tan-colored pocket book.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of the suspects, please call Philadelphia Police or 911.
An overnight fire spread from a store to the apartments above leaving at least five families out of their homes.
The blaze broke out around 11 p.m. Wednesday inside the Rose General Merchandise Market along Main Street in Darby, Pa.
The blaze quickly spread to two-alarms as firefighters battled the flames from spreading to the apartments above the store. It took firefighters about an hour to bring under control.
No one was hurt.
The fire displaced 31 people from 13 different households, according to the American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Many of those people were staying with relative or friends but nine people wound up spending the night at the Red Cross House in University City.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation Thursday morning.
An out-of-control car took down light poles and left a trail of debris along Main Street this morning.
The car was headed westbound on the 4000 block Main Street in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia around 6:30 a.m. when it hopped the curb and rammed into some light poles in front of the Starfinder Foundation building.
After the wreck the driver reportedly ran away from the scene.
As SkyForce10 hovered overhead a short time later the car could be seen up on the sidewalk facing away from the Schuylkill River lodged between a building and utility pole.
PATCO has been slapped with a citation by the Federal Transit Administration for on-going troubles with broken escalators and elevators at its stations.
The FTA issued the citation this week following what government officials call a routine “triennial review” of PATCO facilities and operations. Other media outlets reported that a rider’s complaint prompted the review, but the FTA says, while timely, the complaint did not elicit the probe.
During that review, FTA officials say the agency found “major deficiencies” that demonstrated “PATCO was not maintaining its elevators and escalators in good repair, not performing preventive maintenance as needed, and not accommodating passengers when elevators were out of service.”
With the citation, PATCO will now be required to provide maintenance reports every month to the FTA outlining the status of elevators and escalators, officials say. Those reports must also explain why the lifts are not working, what is being done to fix them and when they will be operational again.
PATCO will be required to provide these reports until its elevators and escalators meet “a high standard of service” for three consecutive months, the FTA says.
The FTA also asked PATCO to provide an updated plan detailing how they will better accommodate riders with disabilities when elevators are broken at a station.
PATCO, which ferries an average of 38,000 riders to one of 13 stops from Lindenwold, N.J. to Center City Philadelphia, has had many issues with its people movers over the past few months. Last August, the transit authority apologized to riders saying they "let PATCO customers down" after an escalator maintenance contract lapsed. At that time, escalators were only working 56-percent of the time, officials said.
Tim Ireland, spokesman for the Delaware River Port Authority, which runs the high-speed line, says all of the DRPA-owned elevators are working and six of the line’s 14 escalators are currently out of service. Four are broken and two are in the process of being replaced.
The two escalators currently being replaced are at the 12th and Locust Station in Center City Philadelphia and the Woodcrest station in Cherry Hill, N.J., according to Ireland. He says a second escalator at Woodcrest has already been fixed.
“We work every day to maintain compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Moreover, the DRPA/PATCO five-year capital plan allocates more than $20 million to take us beyond compliance,” he said. “While the act does not require us to install elevators in every PATCO station, we have made it an institutional goal to make every station completely accessible to people with mobility-related disabilities by 2017.”
Ireland says the DRPA installed elevators in the Ferry Avenue Station in Camden, N.J. and the 9th and Locust Station in Philadelphia late last year. He says the DRPA has been working with SEPTA to help fix the broken lifts and that the PATCO board has also approved maintenance company work on one of the escalators.
Hundreds of people are searching for a missing 55-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who left his New Jersey home for a walk on Saturday and never came back.
Sources close to the family told NBC News Thursday that the missing man's credit card was used in Mexico Wednesday night. The family believes that his coverage of OPEC may be related to his disappearance.
The Journal said 55-year-old David Bird covers energy markets for the paper. He has also worked for The Associated Press and the Trenton Times.
Bird was last seen wearing a red jacket, jeans and sneakers, and left his home without his phone "for a short walk," according to the Journal.
He and his wife had been putting away Christmas decorations in the afternoon when he said he wanted to get out for a quick walk, the Journal said. Bird's wife called police two hours after he left the house.
Authorities say the father of two regularly hikes the trails along Hick's Tract in Millington. Hundreds of volunteers on foot, helicopter and horseback have been searching the woods in that area. The Morris County dive team is also searching nearby waterways.
"It's a miserable job but somebody's got to do it and somebody's got to get this guy so his family can have some closure," said volunteer Tyler Sims of Boonton, N.J.
"I'll be out here all night if they ask me to," he added.
Logan Hill Township Police Chief Michael Mazzeo said: "We're going to stay optimistic because we have no received any information that would show us anything otherwise."
Bird's sister-in-law said the family could not make sense of his disappearance.
"It's completely not like David," Chris Fleming told NBC News. "He's a very loving family man. Worked in the city, Boy Scout leader. Everything, it just makes no sense."
The Journal said Bird ran the 2013 New York City marathon and is an avid hiker and camper.
"This is so unlike him it's unbelievable to me," Jim Caparoso, a friend, told the newspaper. "If he was stuck somewhere, he knows how to shelter himself enough out of the elements. He knows how to signal if he can."
Gerard Baker, managing editor of the Journal, said, "our thoughts are with his family and we are working with the Long Hill Township Police Department as they continue their search."
In video released Thursday, a woman is seen taking a wallet from a pocketbook of a diner at the Metropolitan Diner at 264 S 19th Street in the posh Rittenhouse Square section of the city on Sept. 20. About one hour after that theft, the woman and two men who allegedly served as lookouts, are seen at a South Philly Home Depot store buying $15,00 in gift cards with the victim's stolen credit card.
One of the men who served as a lookout in the earlier theft allegedly did the taking last week. On Jan. 10, at 8:45 p.m., two men and a woman entered the Rice & Mix Restaurant on the 1200 block of Walnut Street. Police say one man and woman distracted a clerk while the second man walked towards a 32-year-old woman who was eating.
Surveillance video shows the man sitting directly behind the victim as she ate, placing his jacket over her purse which was hanging on the back of her chair, and stealing her wallet. Police say the man then walked over to the other two suspects and had a brief conversation before all three fled the scene.
Sources told NBC10 that the same trio could be connected to other crimes, possibly as far as Wilmington.
“Your pocketbook, your belongings, you should always keep it in front of you,” said police Lt. Patrick Doherty. “If you can’t see your belongings or your handbag you’re at risk of becoming a victim of this type of crime.”
Police say they’ve seen a recent increase in pickpocket crimes in Center City in the past few months with thieves going after iPads, laptops, iPhones and cash.
The first suspect is described as a 40-year-old man with a full beard standing between 5-foot-9-inches and 6-foot tall. He was last seen wearing a blue Jeff hat, blue quilted pattern jacket, dark blue argyle print sweater, blue jeans and white sneakers.
The second suspect is described as a stocky, 40-year-old man standing between 5-foot-9-inches and 6-foot tall. He was last seen wearing a dark-colored baseball cap, dark-colored North Face jacket and blue jeans.
The third suspect is described as a 40-year-old, medium built woman standing about 5-foot-6-inches tall. She was last seen wearing glasses, a dark-colored baseball cap, dark-colored north Face jacket and blue jeans. She was also carrying a tan-colored pocket book.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged health care providers to stop writing prescriptions for pain relievers containing more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.
The agency's announcement was aimed primarily at popular prescription medicines that combine acetaminophen with a more powerful opioid such as hydrocodone. Agency officials said they had determined that "there are no available data" to show that the benefits of having more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen in a single pill outweighed the risks from taking too much of the drug.
The announcement followed up on a similar 2011 FDA admonition to drug makers and was the latest turn in a long-running deliberation over the regulation of acetaminophen.
As documented in a ProPublica series last year, the FDA has delayed for decades enacting tougher rules on acetaminophen. While generally considered safe when taken as recommended, relatively small overdoses have been shown to cause liver damage and even death. Each year, the drug accounts for about 150 accidental deaths, half of all cases of acute liver failure cases and tens of thousands of emergency room and hospital visits, according to federal data and scientific studies.
As far back as 1977, a panel of outside experts convened by the FDA recommended the agency set the standard dose of over-the-counter acetaminophen at 325 milligrams per pill, citing the possibility of liver damage. But the agency allowed 500 milligrams and even 650 milligrams single doses of the drug for sale. Today, the most commonly sold form of over-the-counter acetaminophen contains 500 milligrams in a single pill.
A 2008 FDA review found that the agency's approval for such a dose was based on "few and limited" studies submitted in the 1970s by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson and Johnson unit that makes Tylenol. Two studies showed that two 500-milligram pills were "marginally" more effective than two 325-milligram pills, while two other studies showed no difference.
Ninfa Redmond, a toxicologist who helped carry out the 1977 panel's exhaustive, three-year study, said she was surprised that such big doses continued to be sold 40 years later.
"It never occurred to any of us that you make a product with that high a dose," Redmond said. "I use the drug when I travel, but I use 325 milligrams," she added.
Tuesday's recommendation only applies to prescription drugs, not the over-the-counter products that make up about 80 percent of the market, according to the FDA. That means that you will still be able to walk into a gas station or grocery store and buy pills with up to 650 milligrams of acetaminophen, while your pharmacist is now discouraged from dispensing any product with more than half that amount.
One reason for this is that the FDA has more power to regulate prescription drugs than over-the-counter medicines.
In June 2009, an FDA advisory panel urged various limits on both over-the-counter and prescription drugs. But over-the-counter drug makers, led by McNeil, resisted efforts to reduce pill strength. In a 2009 letter to the FDA, McNeil noted that 500-milligram pills accounted for 92 percent of U.S. acetaminophen sales. McNeil suggested that removing the pills from the market would "burden" consumers by blocking access to pain relief.
The company also noted that reducing pill strength would require a "significant amount of time" in the over-the-counter regulatory system. If the agency decided not to pursue such a reduction, McNeil pledged it would add language to their drug labels recommending a lower total daily limit of 3,000 milligrams 2013 or six extra strength pills.
"Other proposals could take significantly longer to implement," wrote Lynn Pawelski, the company's vice president for regulatory affairs.
In 2011 the company changed its label on Extra Strength Tylenol to reflect the lower recommended maximum daily dose.
McNeil, in an emailed statement, said the company still opposes any reduction in pill size for Extra Strength Tylenol and is committed to the health and safety of its patients.
"As the makers of Tylenol ... the health and safety of consumers is our number one priority," the statement said. "Our position was on OTC medicines and that position has not changed."
Even with prescription drugs containing acetaminophen, the FDA has moved slowly. In 2011, the agency warned manufacturers to stop making prescription pills with more than 325 milligrams by January 2014. In this week's announcement, the agency said more than half of all drug makers had complied with the three-year deadline, but acknowledged that some continued to sell prescription combinations with more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen.
ProPublica found that many of the largest pharmaceutical companies had dropped the amount of acetaminophen in their combination products to meet the FDA target, including the popular pain killer Vicodin, by AbbVie Inc.; Percocet, by Endo Pharmaceuticals; and Tylenol with Codeine, by the prescription drug unit of Johnson and Johnson.
In response to questions, the FDA was unable to say how many companies had failed to comply, or what percentage of the market they represented. The agency said it would now start to crack down on the remaining combination pills. "If manufacturers have not voluntarily withdrawn these products from the market, the FDA will take the necessary steps to withdraw them," Morgan Liscinsky, an FDA spokesman, wrote in an e-mail.
When? "In the near future," the agency announcement said.
The first half of the Obamacare open enrollment period is over, and Tuesday, federal health officials announced sign-up figures from the first three months.
After a disastrous start, HealthCare.gov (which handles enrollment for 36 states) began functioning properly. It, along with state-run insurance exchanges, netted more than 2.1 million signups between Oct. 1 and Dec. 28.
But are sign-ups on pace to meet the Congressional Budget Office's projection of 7 million this year? And is there an adequate balance between young and old, sick and healthy, to keep costs in line? That's harder to say.
Here's what we know:
Some states are performing much better than others. Connecticut has already exceeded the target the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wanted it to have by the end of March, according to acasignups.net. New York and Rhode Island are also on pace to beat expectations. But other states are lagging. They include Maryland, Oregon and Massachusetts, which run their own exchanges and continue to be plagued by website problems. Also far behind are New Mexico and Mississippi, which rely on HealthCare.gov.
Enrollees are skewing older. Currently, 33 percent of enrollees are 55 to 64 years old, compared to only 30 percent who are under 35. In Arkansas, Maine, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, at least 40 percent of enrollees are over 55. A higher proportion of younger enrollees are going to have to sign up before the end of March in order to help offset the costs of older ones. CMS officials say younger enrollees tend to sign up later in the process, as they did several years ago when Massachusetts implemented its individual mandate.
The vast majority of those signing up qualify for financial assistance. About 79 percent of the early sign-ups will receive financial assistance, just a bit less than what the Congressional Budget Office estimated (86 percent 2013 see page 3). That ranges from an implausible low of 9 percent in Washington D.C., to 100 percent in Oregon.
Here's what we don't know:
How many of those who signed up for coverage previously had plans canceled by insurance companies If the policies are merely replacing coverage that individuals already had, the law won't make the dent in the uninsured that proponents hoped for. In New York, for example, only 44 percent of the early enrollees had been uninsured.
The health status of early enrollees. While some people consider age a proxy for health status, in truth, it isn't a very effective stand-in. Experts say they need to know more about the health of those who enrolled to know if the insurance risk pool will be balanced, keeping premiums from exploding in the years to come. Health insurer Humana reported last week that the mix of its early enrollees was "more adverse than previously expected," in part because the Obama administration gave those with canceled policies the ability to stay in them for another year. That assumes those who chose to stay were healthier than others.
Whether enrollees have paid their first month's bill. Coverage does not take effect unless consumers pay their initial bill. There has been plenty of confusion about the deadline to sign up 2013 and confusion about when the first payment is due. Dates have changed and vary from state to state, insurer to insurer. Some insurers set a deadline of Jan. 10; others have set other dates in January for coverage that began Jan. 1. "It's been pulling teeth," Shaun Greene, chief operating officer of Utah-based Arches Health Plan, told the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported that, as of Thursday, Arches had collected about 60 percent of premiums for people who signed up for coverage that took effect Jan. 1.
How many people have signed up for coverage outside of the exchanges. In order to receive a premium tax credit to offset the monthly cost of coverage, individuals have to sign up using one of the health exchanges created under the law. But those who do not qualify or don't want to bother can sign up directly with an insurance company. Ultimately, those figures will be publicly reported, but that will take months, or even years.
Will the open-enrollment period close strong as it did in Massachusetts? Supporters of the Affordable Care Act regularly point to the experience of Massachusetts, which implemented a similar individual mandate in 2007, and saw a late surge of enrollment, particularly among the young. The open enrollment period for Obamacare runs through March 31, leaving plenty of time for folks to sign up.
Editor's Note: This post is adapted from Ornstein's "Healthy buzz" blog. Have you tried signing up for health care coverage through the new exchanges? Help us cover the Affordable Care Act by sharing your insurance story.
Police say they have arrested the so-called “Swiss Cheese Pervert,” the man accused of using Swiss cheese to sexually proposition women in the Philadelphia area.
Christopher Pagano was arrested at his home on Noble Street in Norristown on Thursday afternoon as part of a joint investigation between Philadelphia and Norristown Police, officials tell NBC10 Philadelphia.
The 41-year-old has allegedly been spotted driving up to women and asking them if they would like to get paid to see him put Swiss cheese on his genitals.
"He was a weirdo," neighbor Rae Dean told NBC10's Deanna Durante. "He used to come outside in his underwear with no shirt.
Pagano was arrested around noon on suspicion that he is the man caught on camera holding up a piece of cheese while wearing no pants, officials said.
Thursday night police confirmed that Pagano was charged with stalking and harassment as well as open lewdness.
One woman who said she was approached by the suspect talked publicly about her experience.
"He told me he liked to put Swiss cheese on his private area," said Priscilla, who asked that her last name be kept anonymous.
The woman said she was sitting at a light along busy Henry Avenue near Philadelphia University in the East Falls section of the city in early December when the man allegedly propositioned her.
Recording part of the incident with her smartphone, you can hear her asking the man "Why do you have Swiss cheese in your car?" She also snapped a picture of the alleged suspect -- holding up the cheese, just like in other pictures captured of him.
Priscilla, who was driving in the car with her cousins, said she thought it was a joke at first, but when they reached another light at Fox Street, the man allegedly had his pants down. Upset by the sight, she quickly drove off.
"Now I'm freaked out because I know it wasn't just a joke," she told NBC10 on Monday night.
The woman is the latest victim to come forward and detail the alleged indecent exposure by the man. Investigators say the suspect also exposed himself to other women while offering them money to watch him put Swiss cheese on his privates in several neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Montgomery County. Neighborhoods include Port Richmond, Norristown, Mayfair and now East Falls.
The suspect was described as a heavy-set male between the ages of 40 and 50 with a goatee. Police also say he was driving a newer model silver sedan but was also been spotted in a black colored sedan.
"Some people think this is a joke," said Milt Martelack of the Mayfair Town Watch. "But it's no laughing matter."
Martelack and the town watch are conducting their own investigation and working with police. He said they've spoken to several victims.
"This is not just a Mayfair thing," Martelack said. "This gentleman has been all over the place doing this and I'd characterize his acts as very disturbing."
Priscilla agrees.
"What if he said that to a minor?" she asked. "I think he should be taken off the streets and I think they need to take it a little more seriously."
Sears announced on Thursday it would be converting the part of its King of Prussia department store into a Dick's Sporting Goods.
The second floor of the two-level Sears store in The Plaza at King of Prussia Mall will become home to the sporting goods chain, company officials said in a statement.
Sears is currently in a long-term lease with the mall's owner, Simon Property Group, and chose to sublet the upper floor of its 215,000-square-foot space to reorient the space and save money, officials said.
Dick's Sporting Goods will take over the store's upper-level interior mall entrance. Sears will keep the lower-level entrance inside and both exterior entrances, the company said. New exterior entrances for the sporting goods store will also be built.
The company did not offer a timeline for construction or opening.
The King of Prussia Mall is the largest mall on the East Coast with more than 2.9 million-square-feet of retail space and over 400 retailers.
The change at Sears comes at the same time the mall is undergoing a major expansion that will add 40 additional stores and connect two sides of the mall -- the Plaza and the Court. They are currently separated by a parking lot forcing shoppers to walk through traffic to get from one side to another.
A Philadelphia Police officer and a school district officer have been hurt after responding to a large fight outside a Northeast Philadelphia high school that resulted in several teens being taken into custody.
The fight broke out around 3 p.m. Thursday at a bus stop near Samuel Fels High School in the Summerdale section of Philadelphia, officials tell NBC10.
A witness who was inside the nearby Summerdale Pharmacy tells NBC10 there was a large number of students waiting at the bus stop at Summerdale and Sanger Streets when the melee began.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said a large police presence descended on the neighborhood. He says he saw a police captain, two police lieutenants and undercover cops respond to the scene. He did not see any ambulances, however.
Police could not say how many officers responded to the scene, but a three officer assists were made over police radio.
One police officer and a school district officer were injured in the fight, but the extent of the injuries is still unclear.
Officials say responding officers went on a number of foot pursuits and a number of suspects were taken into custody.
Fels High School was put on the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Persistently Dangerous Schools list for the 2011-2012 school year. The school has since been removed from the list.
