A drone will be making sure everyone -- especially first responders -- is safe when Pope Francis is in the Philadelphia region next weekend.
Montgomery County Sheriff Russell Bono unveiled the unmanned aircraft Friday.
“We want to take every precaution that our bomb unit is as safe as possible when conducting their investigations of suspicious and dangerous materials,” said Bono. “The drone is a great tool, which allows the unit to gather preliminary information on a robot inaccessible site or object, before taking the risk to send in a bomb technician.”
The Draganflyer Guardian quad copter weighs only three pounds and can quickly be dispatched if needed during the Pope’s visit to Philly and Montco.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman donated $10,000 for the purchase of the drone, said the sheriff’s department.
“Protecting the public is my top priority, and that includes making sure that our law enforcement officers and all first responders have the best tools available to ensure their personal safety as they undertake very dangerous jobs,” said Ferman. “The benefits to using drone technology in this limited way is that it maximizes the safety of our bomb techs, and enhances their capabilities without any infringement on citizens’ personal privacy.”
Gunfire rang out in South Philadelphia Friday night leaving one teenager clinging to life and another hospitalized.
A gunman opened fire at 27th Street and Snyder Avenue near Point Breeze Avenue around 9 p.m. striking a 19-year-old woman in back and leg and a 16-year-old boy shot in the abdomen, said Philadelphia.
The shooting left the woman in surgery in critical condition and the boy in stable condition, said police.
Officers nabbed a suspect and recovered a gun nearby shortly after the shooting. They didn’t name the man they arrested.
The shootings were part of a violent night in the city. A 34-year-old man died in a shooting around 9:30 p.m. along the 2600 block of N 7th Street in North Philly; a 30-year-old man was shot in the back along the 2100 block of E Orleans Street in Kensington; and a drive-by shooting along the 2500 block of Nicholas Street in North Philly around 10 p.m. left a 46-year-old woman shot in the back and stomach.
When his 2-gauge shotgun was stolen, a husband and father of three replaced the gun with a .40 caliber handgun he got from a friend.
Joseph Jenkins returned home with the handgun in the early hours of Aug. 30th, and did not realize the gun was loaded when he was showing his wife how to use it, according to delawareonline.com.
As he was showing his wife how it worked, a bullet was fired and shot their youngest daughter, Victoria Lynn, in the leg. The bullet traveled up her leg and lodged in her hip.
“It was a moment of complete silence and then just chaos,” said Heather, Victoria Lynn’s mother, to Delaware Online.
Victoria Lynn is expected to make a full recovery. Since she requires full-time care, her mother Heather cannot work. With her father being in prison and no income flow, Heather set up a Go Fund Me account.
“Life in a single parent household is never easy, and is complicated further by having a parent in prison, but with the injuries caused by Tori Lynn’s father and the ramifications from these injuries, this family has been both emotionally and financially devastated,” Heather wrote on the page.
Heather says she believes Victoria Lynn’s recovery is a sign from God that she is meant to do great things, but they need the help to get her there.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, or D.E.P., is trying to find the owner of a World War II memorial that washed up on the Jersey Shore earlier this summer during their annual "Barnegat Bay Blitz" cleanup.
"We normally just find trash and debris," said David Glass, Deputy Commisioner of the D.E.P. "We felt that it's the right thing to do to get this back to the family members."
The memorial consists of an American flag, PVC pole and a laminated tribute sign to two World War II veterans: Charles Novara and Jay Waltman. The items, depicting a medal presentation, likely washed up on the island, and its origins are unknown.
"This is an area that's a little bit transient," said Bob Considine, Press Director for the D.E.P. "It could be somebody nearby. It could be somebody who is here for the summer."
So far, they've been unsuccessful in finding the rightful owners, but they knew the memorial photo and American flag needed to be saved. Officials have learned Novara was buried in New York, but have no other clues.
“We’ve been trying to find the family that planted (the flag) or the owners of the flag with no luck," added Glass. "We’re hoping that someone will see the story, recognize the flag, recognize the photo, and reach out to us to we can return it to its proper owners."
Due to the flag's relatively unweathered condition, the D.E.P. believes it was planted recently, perhaps in the last year. It sits folded for now, ready for a reunion.
Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia is still a week away, but the place where the biggest events of his visit are already being set up and that means more than a week of traffic woes for drivers.
The outer lanes of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from Logan Square (19th and Race streets) to Eakins Oval (in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art) closed Saturday morning. The closure comes after the inner lanes were already closed to set-up for the Festival of Families concert and papal Mass.
The closure will last well past the Mass, not returning to normal until Sunday, Oct. 4, said Philadelphia Police.
During the closure, motorists will be diverted from the Martin Luther King Drive inbound onto I-676 and won’t be able to get onto the MLK Drive from Eakins Oval. They will also need to transverse Fairmount back streets to get onto or off the Kelly Drive, said police.
“There will be officers assigned to direct traffic at key intersections,” said a police news release. “However, traffic will still be extremely heavy since the streets around the Parkway are not large enough to carry the volume of traffic that would normally use the Parkway and the river drives.”
The Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) could also be used as an alternate to the river drives.
People who normally park near the Art Museum will also need to clear out their cars as early as Sunday at 6 p.m. as the Philadelphia Parking Authority plans on towing vehicles (and hand out $250 fines) from the parking zone around the area of 22nd Street and the Parkway.
The PPA website has more details on parking restrictions leading up to and during the papal visit.
The road closures comes as officials have lowered some estimates of how many people will actually show up to see Pope Francis.
A Main Line fortune teller should have seen her arrest coming, but police said she wasn’t actually looking into the future but rather ripping off an ill woman of $24,000.
Semeinta Siganoff, who went by “Samantha,” is a 36-year-old self-proclaimed spiritual adviser who offered her services through “Main Line Psychic” at 719 Lancaster Ave. in Devon, Pennsylvania, said police.
The victim went for a consultation in hopes of getting guidance as she dealt with declining health and a pending divorce from February to December of 2014, said Tredyffrin Township Police.
Samantha told her victim that there was “a lot of darkness and negativity” surrounding her and a “block” prevented the victim from having a successful relationship, said an affidavit of probable cause.
Samantha then offered the woman a $200 Chakra balancing. As the sessions continued, Samantha convinced the woman to give her $3,000 for a wedding dress – that the victim could never see – that would be kept in a special prayer altar so that a new relationship could thrive, said police. She also received $1000 for 112 special prayer candles to be burned at the altar.
The psychic then offered to “cure” the woman’s health issues through meditation, said police. Some of the meditation sessions included one where the woman gave Samantha thousands of dollars that the psychic then spread over the woman's body while praying for “more money in your life.”
The woman told police that come fall 2014, that Samantha kept “hounding” her for more money despite her life not improving. Samantha even would show up at the victim’s home, said police.
The victim told police that she kept supplying the psychic with money -- $24,000 in total – until a Christmas Eve meeting where the victim said she had seen no change in her life and Samantha said these things take time, said police.
This past June, the victim told Samantha that she felt taken advantage of. They agreed that Samantha owed the victim $20,000 and Samantha eventually hand wrote a “contract” where she promised to repay the victim $1,000 a month but the victim refused to sign the deal, said investigators. Samantha managed to repay $2,600 in any case, said police.
People who know Siganoff said she appeared to be living a comfortable life, driving a nice car, the entire time the alleged thefts took place.
Siganoff posted $10,000 bail and faces a theft by deception and fortune telling – a rarely implemented misdemeanor charge – at an Oct. 1 formal arraignment, according to court records.
If you have a child safety seat, you can get it checked by professionals for free Saturday.
The check-ups are happening across the country and are part of "Child Passenger Safety Week."
Experts want to make sure parents and caregivers properly restrain their children in cars.
Free safety seat checks are available today around our region.
All below events are scheduled for Saturday, September 19, 2015:
Plymouth Fire Company
1323 Colwell Lane
Conshohocken, Pa.
8:00 AM-12:00 PM
Schedule an appointment online at www.chop.edu/kohlschildsafety.
Elmwood Park Zoo
Booster Seat Distribution
Only-Paid Zoo Admission Required
1661 Harding Blvd.
Norristown, Pa.
10:00 AM- 1:00 PM
Walk-Ins
Kelly Chevrolet
600 Nutt Road
Phoenixville, Pa.
11:00 AM -2:00 PM
Walk-Ins
Babies R Us
330 Commerce Blvd.
Fairless Hills, Pa.
10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Schedule an appointment online at www.chop.edu/kohlschildsafety.
Middletown Fire Company
425 South New Middletown Road
Media, Pa.
9:00 AM -11:00 AM
Appointments preferred, but walk-ins accepted as time allows
610-558-7074
Keller Williams Realty Company
542 North Lewis Road
Limerick, Pa.
12:00 PM-4:00 PM
Appointments preferred, but walk-ins accepted as time allows
610-584-2832
PA State Police -- Philadelphia
2201 Belmont Avenue
Philadelphia
9:00 AM-3:00 PM
Appointments preferred, but walk-ins accepted as time allows
215-452-5208
Two people were injured after a crash sent a car careening into the front door of a business in Philadelphia Saturday morning.
The crash happened about 1:30 a.m. at the intersection of 5th Street and Roosevelt Boulevard.
Police say a sedan and SUV collided. The SUV slammed into a utility pole and flipped over on its roof.
The sedan was sent flying into the front door of Yeny Appliances.
Investigators say a man and woman were taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center in stable condition.
Inspectors with the city’s Licenses and Inspections Department were called to the scene to check the building’s structure.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
The Bomb Squad was brought out Saturday after two grenades were found in a bag that was delivered to a thrift shop in Philadelphia, police said.
The incident played out about 9 a.m. at the Village Thrift Store along the 2900 block of Kensington Avenue in the city’s Kensington section.
Investigators said a female employee called 911 after finding two grenades inside a plastic bag.
The Bomb Squad was called to the scene.
It was initially believed that the grenades were live, but it was later determined that the devices were hollowed out and inert.
There were no injuries.
The incident remains under investigation.