A security worker is charged with setting eight fires in two Manhattan hotels where he worked, Fire Dept. officials said.
Mariano Barbosa Jr., 30, allegedly set three fires between 2009 and 2010 in downtown's Soho Grand, where he was a security officer, and five fires between 2011 and this year in midtown's Yotel Hotel, where he was the director of security.
Officials said the fires were set in hallways, stairwells and in front of exit doors in order to block people from escaping and impede firefighter access. All of the fires were quickly brought under control, the FDNY said.
Fire marshals believe Barbosa set the fires while he was working so he could slack off on the job.
Information on a lawyer for Barbosa was not immediately available.
A spokeswoman for Yotel said the hotel was cooperating with the FDNY and NYPD and that the hotel was "deeply concerned by the allegations" against Barbosa.
Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor is set to speak at a Philadelphia charter school on Monday to meet with students and deliver a major policy speech on school choice, according to a spokesperson.
Cantor has been a supporter of school choice, which offers students alternatives to public schools. Some school choice programs offer students the option of using a subsidy from public educational funds towards private school tuition.
Occupy members claimed the purpose of the march was to “bring awareness of corporate greed to Congressman Eric Cantor.”
Prior to the scheduled appearance, Cantor made headlines when he stated he was “increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and other cities across the country.” Cantor later backed away from those comments but still claimed the Occupy movement was divisive and pitted Americans against other Americans.
Cantor canceled his scheduled speech after claiming the audience could no longer be controlled.
"The Office of the Majority Leader was informed last night by Capitol Police that the University of Pennsylvania was unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met," Cantor spokeswoman Laena Fallon wrote in an email to Philly.com.
A member of the Republican party, Cantor became the House Majority Leader on January 3, 2011. He also served as House Minority Whip from 2009 to 2011.
The longtime radio legend and civic leader died suddenly Sept. 9 from a heart attack while surrounded by family and friends, announced Radio One -- the company where Collins worked as Director of Urban Marketing and External Relations and hosted of his weekly show, Philly Speaks on Old School 100.3.
Collins, affectionately known by friends as "E", was 58.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter called the "tremendous loss" of his friend "hard" to take, an "immeasurable" loss.
"I don't know when I met him... but certainly will never forget him," Nutter said.
"Collins was a consummate professional in terms of communications but also he knew how to communicate with people, he connected with folks," Nutter said.
Nutter was among 6,000 mourners at Sharon Baptist Church in the Wynnefield Heights section of Philadelphia for what organizers called a celebration of Collins' life. Other dignitaries and celebrities expected in attendance included Rev. Al Sharpton, radio host Tom Joyner, music legend Kenny Gamble, U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and many others.
The memorial included speeches and music in honor of the well-known and loved radio personality. Collins was buried at an earlier private ceremony.
Radio One founder Kathy Hughes talked to NBC10.com about Collins legacy.
"I've worked with a lot of the greats in my day and nobody I have ever seen in my entire career had the type of connection to the community, the type of trust the community has...but more importantly the commitment he had to this city," said Hughes.
NBC10 social media editor Sarah Glover knew Collins through the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and was friends with Collins even spending time with Collins and his family at a pool party this past Saturday at his Glenside, Pa. home.
"He was upbeat, entertaining friends, his jovial self" Saturday, said Glover.
"He's just the type of person who is a friend for life, very supportive," Glover said.
"He's been in the radio business for four decades. He's touched so many lives in the media, developing the careers of young people. It wasn't just that he was invested in the journalism industry he was also a bridge from the media to the community. He was just as invested in the community."
Collins worked his way up from spinning records to becoming a voice in the community.
“Collins was a valued member of the Radio One Family for over a decade, and brought together the corporate, civic, clergy and overall community for a positive good,” said Radio One chairperson and founder Catherine Hughes. “I personally recruited E. and firmly believe that it was one of the wisest hires of an exemplary executive and broadcaster.”
Colleagues remembered Collins as the “Unofficial Mayor of Philadelphia.” He was “a true leader who cared immensely about his family, his community and his co-worker,” said Radio One regional vice president Christopher Wegmann.
Hot 107.9 radio host Laiya St. Clair remembered Collins as "a rare individual that truly brought joy to all that he touched:"
"Joy is a simple word but quite complex," St. Clair told NBC10. "That was E. When I heard of his passing all of a sudden my back felt heavy from the weight that he left behind for us to carry. We have to all take a piece of him and continue his legacy of uplifting our community."
Collins’ accolades included work on local television, as an analyst on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews as well as work for CNN, PBS and other media entities. He also sat board for Ivy Legacy, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Multicultural Affairs Congress, the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications and Mayor Nutter's Commission on Literacy.
Nutter says he hopes to name a school or scholarship for Collins.
"Anytime you asked him to do anything E. Steven Collins was right there," said Nutter.
Collins was also involved with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the Urban League of Philadelphia, the African-American Museum and Concerned Black Men of Philadelphia.
Collins spent nearly 30 years however working at WDAS radio before moving to Radio One.
Collins is survived by his wife Lisa, and sons Rashid and Langston as well as relatives, friends and legions of listeners around the region and beyond.
Donations for Temple University's E. Steven Collins Memorial Scholarship fund are being accepted online.
Investigators a small plane that crashed into a wooded area in Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, leaving the pilot dead, was an experimental plane.
Emergency crews responded to the intersection of Columbia Road and Cypress Street, which is close to Exit 17 off the Atlantic City Expressway. The plane went down around 5:00 p.m. Friday.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board say the plane was assembled from a kit. The pilot, who has not been identified, did not assemble the plane, according to investigators.
NBC10's Ted Greenberg was the first reporter on the scene. He talked to a nearby resident who says she heard a low-flying plane and then heard sirens in the area.
The wreckage from that plane is scattered in the area. What appears to be a red tail of the plane was discovered about a mile away from the main wreckage site.
The plane was on fire, but authorities tell NBC10 that fire was quickly contained.
Since the crash happened in a wooded area, the NJ Forest Fire service also responded to the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate what caused the crash.
The identity of the person, who died in the crash, has not been released.
Bears Hall of Famer Gale Sayers said Saturday that he did not consent to a lawsuit filed on his behalf Friday in the U.S. District Court in Chicago that alleges the NFL and helmet maker Riddell failed to prevent repeated head injuries to the former running back, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.
Sayers told the Tribune he spoke with an attorney last Thursday after a request from former Bears safety Shaun Gayle, but that he did not agree to sue the NFL.
Sayers reportedly said the attorney is John F. Winters of Winters, Salzetta & O’Brien, LLC in Chicago.
A spokesman for the NFL did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Rosemont, Ill.-based Riddell declined to comment.
Last month, in a deal with the players association, the NFL agreed to pay more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to settle lawsuits from thousands of former players who developed concussion-related health problems.
The parents of a young woman whose body was found in a water tank on the roof of a downtown hotel in February are suing the establishment’s owners.
David and Yinna Lam, father and mother of Elisa Lam, filed the wrongful death suit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Cecil Hotel Management Inc. They are seeking unspecified damages as well as compensation for the burial costs of their daughter.
The Cecil Hotel operators had an obligation to make the premises safe for Lam and “inspect and seek out hazards in the hotel that presented an unreasonable risk of danger to (Lam) and other hotel guests,” the suit states.
The hotel staff did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
The 21-year-old's body was discovered in one of four 4-foot-by-8-foot tanks on the roof Feb. 19 during an inspection after reports of water pressure problems at the 15-story hotel (map).
Lam's death was was ruled accidental due to drowning, according to the Los Angeles County coroner. The report also listed "bipolar disorder" under other significant conditions.
Lam, of Vancouver, was staying at the hotel on Main Street on LA's Skid Row when she was reported missing. Her parents called police after they had not heard from her for a few days.
A 3-year-old boy who was shot in the head during Thursday’s mass Chicago shooting is “doing better,” a family spokesman said Saturday.
Deonta Howard -- known as "Tay-man" -- was shot in the jaw and listed in critical condition after witnesses said several gunmen opened fire at a group gathered at Cornell Square Park, on the 1800 block of W. 51st Street, shortly before 10:15 p.m. Thursday.
The victims included 10 males and three females, including Howard, who was with his mother at the time of the shooting.
The family's pastor, Rev. Corey Brooks, a spokesman for the family, said the toddler is “doing OK” after two surgeries but is not able to eat or watch TV yet.
The crime statistics hit close to home for the family of the youngest victim of the city's latest high-profile shooting. Howard's grandmother, Semehca Nunn, said she lost her son to gun violence earlier this month.
"It needs to stop," Nunn said as she broke into tears. 'Y'all are out here killing these innocent people: kids, parents, grandparents, mothers, fathers. It's got to stop. Y'all need to stop."
Thursday's shooting happened nearly three weeks after a deadly Labor Day weekend left dozens injured and at least seven people were killed, including Howard's uncle, the family said.
"I just buried my son, and now I'm going through something else," Nunn said.
Leggett asked that anyone who knows of anything that can help with investigation calls police.
"I just want a person, anybody that knows anything, to help," she said.
Two of the major players in the passage of California's now-defunct same-sex marriage ban are backing a campaign to overturn a new law allowing transgender students to choose which school restrooms they use and whether to play boys' or girls' sports.
The National Organization for Marriage announced Friday that it was working with another group that is trying to repeal the law at the ballot box. NOM provided early funding and organizing for the 2008 ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriages, known as Proposition 8.
Opponents of the transgender student law have until Nov. 8 to gather the 504,760 signatures needed to get a referendum that would nullify the statute on the November 2014 ballot.
The political strategist who ran the successful Proposition 8 campaign, Frank Schubert, has signed on to manage the effort.
According to a tweet posted by a La Jolla-based organization called the New Leaders Council, local Elaine Dang was injured in the mall shooting in the Kenyan capital, but is expected to survive.
The message posted to the group's Twitter page Saturday read:
“Prayers to @NLC_LA alum Elaine Dang, injured in Nairobi. She expects a full recovery. #muchlove #NLCFamily”
A tweet posted by another company called Eat Out Kenya also referenced Dang in connection with the deadly shooting spree.
“Sadly @eladang was wounded in the incident. She's in hospital but so far we're hoping for the best.”
Later, another tweet posted to the Twitter page for Eat Out Kenya read:
"Our team who was at #westgate today are safe and recovering at hospital. RIP to all the victims. Thank you for all the messages."
Upon researching, NBC 7 San Diego learned that Dang currently serves as the general manager for Eat Out Kenya, a website that helps visitors and locals find the best restaurants and bars in Kenya.
A social media profile belonging to Dang indicates that she's worked for the company in Nairobi since June.
On Saturday, the company posted the following statement on their Facebook page:
"The EatOut Family is shocked and horrified at the incidents that have taken place today at Westgate Mall. We send our condolences to everyone who was in the Mall today, and to all the families of those who have been hurt and injured. Members of our team who were at the Mall are all stable and being looked after. We have lost friends today."
The company also said they would be "closed until further notice."
Address records indicate that Dang once lived in San Diego County. Her social media profiles say she graduated from Torrey Pines High School and then went on to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dang also appears to have worked for several humanitarian groups in California, including Teach for America and the National Leaders Council.
Meanwhile, NBC News reports that the U.S. State Department has confirmed that at least four American citizens were among the 150 victims injured in the shooting at Westgate mall in Nairobi. There have been no reports of American casualties, according to NBC News. The mall is a popular shopping destination and is frequented by Westerners.
NBC News reports that the Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened additional strikes, saying it was in retaliation "for the lives of innocent Muslims" killed by Kenyan forces leading an African Union offensive against al-Shabab.
The mother and father accused in the beating and neglect death of their 6-year-old son, a case that launched a review of how the Philadelphia Department of Human Services operated, went on trial today.
Tina Cuffie and Latiff Hadi are accused of murder, assault and child endangerment in the March 2012 death of their 6-year-old son Khalil Wimes.
It was ruled that Wimes, who weighed just 29 pounds at the time of his death, died due to blunt force trauma and malnutrition, which prosecutors say was the culmination of months of starvation and abuse.
During a preliminary hearing about a month after the death, details about eh alleged abuse emerged. An assistant medical examiner took the stand and described the boy’s body at the time of his death. He claimed it was covered with scars, both old and new.
Police say Cuffie told them on March 19, 2012 that Khalil fell when getting out of a tub. She allegedly hit him on the back of the head, causing him to become disoriented. She also allegedly told police that she often hit him because he was misbehaving or messing up. Finally, police say she confessed to not letting him out of the house for a month and that he was underweight because he wouldn’t drink water.
In court Monday, Cuffie's lawyers disputed that alleged confession.
Hadi allegedly told police they never took Khalil to the doctor because they were afraid they would call the Department of Health Services. Their five other children had already been removed from their care because of an alleged history of drug abuse, neglect and child abuse. Khalil himself was removed from the couple and lived with a foster family for three years. That family claimed a family court judge forced them to return Khalil to the Wimes after he turned 3 however.
“I’m horrified,” said Alicia Nixon, Khalil’s foster mother in the days after his death. “I couldn’t believe they could be those kinds of people.”
“He was defiant, they tried to break him and they couldn’t,” said La Reine Nixon, Khalil’s foster grandmother. “That’s why they did this to him.”
Investigators say a DHS worker had been in Wimes' home before Khalil died to check on another visiting child. After the incident Mayor Michael Nutter announced that worker had been relieved of duty pending an investigation.
“I find it extremely troubling that someone from the outside would have seen this child within a few weeks of his death and not made any reports,” said Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann.
A manhole cover blew off this morning as dozens of area buildings lost power and a school closed.
The underground blast shock the 3100 block of Orthodox street in the Birdesburg section of Philadelphia around 10:45 a.m. sending smoke into the air.
The blast happened in front of Cablenet Services Unlimited. An employee at the company said it sounded like a subway going underground and they he saw the manhole cover come off.
No injuries were reported.
Nearby Franklin Towne Charter Elementary School on the 4200 block of Richmond Street had to close at 11:30 a.m. because it had no power.
On its website, PECO showed more 1,700 outages in the northern region. PECO said that by 11:35 a.m. all the underground cables were repaired and power was back on in the neighborhood.
Crews remained on the scene to figure out what caused the blast.
It was five years ago on Monday that Philadelphia Police Sargent Patrick McDonald was gunned down in the line of duty on a city street.
Sgt. McDonald was conducting a traffic stop along North 17th Street in North Philadelphia at 1:45 p.m. on September 23 when two suspects inside the car fled on foot.
The sergeant gave chase and was riddled with gunfire by the car’s passenger Daniel Giddings along nearby Colorado Street, police said. Giddings, a felon who had recently been released from prison, stood over the severely injured officer and fired several shots into him, according to authorities.
Giddings was eventually shot and killed by fellow police Officer Richard Bowes, but not before being hit by Giddings’ gunfire. Ofc. Bowes was critically hurt, but survived the gunfight.
A 1996 graduate of Archbishop Ryan High School, Sgt. McDonald was an eight year veteran of the force assigned to the Highway Patrol Unit. He was 30 years old.
A hero plaque was dedicated in Sgt. McDonald’s honor at the Liberty Bell Youth Organization in Northeast Philadelphia in 2010. The plaque was installed along with another for his father, the late Philadelphia Fire Captain Larry McDonald.
Sgt. McDonald was the fourth Philadelphia Police Officer to be killed in the line of duty in 2008.
Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was shot and killed after responding to a bank robbery on May 3, 2008. On September 8, 2008, Police Officer Isabel Nazario died after her cruiser was hit by a stolen SUV. Police Sgt. Timothy Simpson was killed on November 17, 2008 after a driver slammed into his cruiser as he responded to a robbery call.
The sound of "Taps" filled the air at Arlington National Cemetery Monday as the families of two missing Air Force pilots who died together during the Vietnam War finally laid their loved ones to rest.
James Sizemore and Howard Andre were friends at Georgia Tech University and later reunited as the crew of a Douglas A-26 invader. The two died in July 1969 when their bomber crashed over Laos.
Their caskets were interred as they stood during the war - side by side.
"It's very meaningful. They flew together, they died together and they ought to be buried together," James Sizemore's brother Gene Sizemore said.
Seizemore was the pilot and Andre, the navigator during that fateful nighttime flight over the Plain of Jars region of Xiangkhouang Province, according to pownetwork.org. The A26 invaders were deployed to perform "hunter-killer missions against truck convoys" in Laos.
Their plane was shot down by hostile fire, and military officials were told they couldn't have survived the crash. The two were classified as "Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered."
Three years ago, a joint U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republic team recovered human remains, personal effects and military equipment at the site of crash; and in April, scientists with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command task force identified the remains as those of Sizemore and Andre.
"I think we'll finally get some closure -- at least I'm hoping," Sizemore's nephew Bill Sizemore said.
Passerbys found a woman slumped over inside a pickup truck and authorities are investigating the death as a homicide.
Two people walking along Peach Street, an alley between Pine and Ferry Streets, in Easton, Pa. saw the woman’s body inside the driver's compartment of a green pickup truck around 11:30 p.m. Sunday and called Easton Police.
Police arrived on the scene and found the woman shot dead. Easton Police didn't reveal how many times she was shot.
By early Monday morning, investigators said the death appeared to be a homicide.
Investigators didn’t identify the woman citing the "ongoing investigation."
Around 5 a.m. police towed the green truck from the scene shortly after removing the woman's body.
Northampton County investigators joined local police in the investigation. They asked anyone who might have information or possibly heard and/or saw something last night to call Easton Police detectives at 610-759-2200, 610-250-6656 or 610-250-6635.
A 3-year-old girl died after she was caught inside a sofa bed where she and another child were sleeping in their Harlem home Sunday, police said.
Police responding to a 911 call at the home on West 140th Street around 6 p.m. found Aissante Diallo unconscious. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said she and a 10-year-old sibling were on the bed when it somehow folded up, trapping Aissante. The 10-year-old was able to escape.
Two other younger children were in the room at the time, but not on the bed.
The children were in the care of their mother's boyfriend, who flagged down a police officer on the street for help after the child was caught. He has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Neighbors were horrified.
"Can you imagine?" said Fatsu Matza, crying. "She just stay right there and strangle herself to death."
The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
It was one week ago today that a massive electrical fire tore through the Jaggers’ Frankford home taking with it thousands of dollars in clothing and furniture, and a lifetime of memories.
"This place is everything to us," John Jagger said. "My mom and dad bought this place and left it for us. We can’t afford rent. This is literally all we’ve got."
"It means everything to me. Now, it ain’t nothing left. Baby pictures, everything, my whole life is gone," Charles Jagger said.
Now, John Jagger, 25, the oldest of three brothers who have lived together in the small, three bedroom home on the 1400 block of Imogene Street since they were boys, is on a mission to rebuild -- room by room, if need be -- to keep the only home they’ve ever known from becoming a vacant lot.
"There used to be a house down on the corner. They had a fire and the City knocked it down, and that’s what I’m afraid of them doing. Coming by here and seeing a lot, I can’t imagine that. That would be crazy. Or they board it up, and it becomes a crack house; I don’t want that," John Jagger said.
Though the fire reduced their home to piles of scalded wood and metal, the brothers say they’re determined to make the crumbled unit a home again.
"It’s a perfectly good house, I think. We don’t want money, we don’t even want a place to stay; we just want to fix our house," John Jagger said.
This is not the first time the brothers were at risk of losing their home.
When John Jagger was only 16, and his younger twin brothers Charles and Frank Jagger were 14, they lost both of their parents to illnesses, forcing them all to grow up pretty fast.
“My mom had a brain aneurysm and my dad died of a massive heart attack eight months before my mother died. DHS tried to come and take us away, but I got emancipated by the state to take care of my brothers,” John Jagger said.
John Jagger says he had been taking care of his younger brothers and their sick parents for so long, that he grew used to handling the adult-like responsibilities.
"To be honest, it was kind of normal because my mom and dad were sick so long before that. My dad got paralyzed, so we were used to helping them. My mom was sick for maybe 6 years, and my dad was sick for at least 10 years," John Jagger said.
"None of us graduated high school or nothing like that. We all just worked. I’m the oldest. It just came natural."
The Jaggers’ cousin, Angie Campbell, said the brothers shouldered a lot of responsibility in their youth, but her father stayed close to them to provide some support after their parents died.
"They basically had to raise themselves. They had to act like grown-ups because there were no grown-ups there. My father lived next door to them. He didn’t move for that purpose, because they didn’t want to move and have to live with anybody," Campbell said.
"They buried their parents. It doesn’t get any worse than to bury your parents at such a young age. They had to go to work and become adults in order to survive. This is what they have left, this house. If they take that, what do they have left?"
Department of Licenses & Inspections spokesman Rebecca Swanson said her department's primary concern is public safety, and that they are willing to work with homeowners as long as the homeowners are willing to work with them.
"L&I routinely responds to emergencies such as fires when requested through 911 and/or Municipal Radio. However, we are not always notified to respond to the majority of residential fires, especially in single family homes. This appears to be the case in this situation, as we have no record of an inspector visiting this property. If we had responded to this fire, the inspector would have written an unsafe or imminently dangerous case on the property (depending on the condition) and a violation notice would have been sent to the owner with detailed requirements for repair and/or demolition and information on how to appeal the violation. No such case has been written," Swanson said.
“We deal with these situations on a case by case basis, but we’re always willing to work with homeowners. We never want to take away a property that someone is willing to and has the means to fix.”
According to Campbell, the Jagger brothers are more than willing, but they have no supplies, and very little construction experience.
Campbell says she’s been posting messages on Facebook, and calling everyone that she knows to try to get help for the brothers, who despite their now being homeless, are mainly concerned with saving their parents’ legacy.
“You can see that they’re not giving up. They've done so much, so far, and they don’t even have tools. They’re just in there trying their best and they have nothing. So anything anyone can give them, a dumpster, paint, lumber; anything helps,” she said.
John Jagger, a father of three, works as a tattoo artist. He said he’s been missing time at work all week, because he’s been working from sun up to sun down with his brothers, removing debris from the house.
"I tattoo for a living, that’s why you see me covered. I don’t pay for any of this. I tattoo my brothers and stuff. Now being here, I’m missing money. I mean it’s not the type of job I could get unemployment or medical from. It’s strictly a cash business," he said.
The body art, John Jagger says, sometimes leads people to pass premature judgments. That’s something, he hopes, won’t deter people from wanting to donate tools or work on the house with them.
"We don’t go out and make trouble or nothing. I guess it looks like we would because we’re all tattooed up, but it’s my work. A lot of people look at it and they hold it against you," he said.
"We’ll do the work. If people have work, we’ll work for them for the extra cash to buy supplies with. I mean, we’re willing to work nonstop."
"We’re gonna try our best. Hopefully we can do it, with us together, our cousin and everything. I mean we need more people and supplies, but I think we can do it," Charles Jagger said.
Late Sunday, the brothers shared a small victory when they successfully installed three windows and a door in the front end of the house and repainted the exterior. John Jagger maintained his steel resolve to finish the job they've started, and to lead his family to better times.
"Everything here is fixable; I know we can do this. I mean, you can’t go any lower than this, literally. So, the only way to go from here is to go up. That’s what we’re gonna do."
“Dr. Patrick mentored generations of young scientists and served as a remarkable role model for women eager to establish professional careers in the natural sciences,” said Academy President and CEO George Gephart Jr. “She will continue to serve as an inspiration for generations to come.
“Over her long, productive life, Dr. Patrick assembled the definitive collection of diatoms, and it is a major resource here at the Academy of Natural Sciences.”
Patrick, a native of Kansas City, Mo., became interested in science when she got her first microscope at the age of 7. She first came to Philadelphia in 1933 to study diatoms (single-celled plants that Patrick determined indicate environmental quality) while she was earning her doctorate from the University of Virginia, according to the Academy.
Harvard University biologist Dr. Edward Wilson called Patrick "a pioneer environmental activist, one of America’s premier women science leaders, and has been a major influence in stimulating multiple generations of scientists.”
Dr. Patrick returned to the Academy as an unpaid assistant curator of microscopy in 1937 at a time when there were few women in science and few scientists focused on environmental impacts, according to the Academy.
The Academy put Patrick on the payroll in 1945 and she would go on to establish the Department of Limnology, later called the Patrick Center for Environmental Research, where she began to investigate how pollution affected organisms like aquatic plants and animals.
“Basically she demonstrated biological diversity can be used to measure environmental impact,” said conservation biologist Dr. Thomas Lovejoy. “I call that the Patrick Principle and consider it the basis for all environmental science and management.”
Patrick, who resided in Chestnut Hill for decades, worked with both the environmentalists and industrialists because she believed they could work together to gain mutually beneficial results, according to the Academy.
She worked closely with political figures. She advised President Lyndon Johnson and President Ronald Reagan, worked with Congress in the 1960s to help draft the Clean Water Act and was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton in 1996.
She was the first woman and first environmentalist to serve on the DuPont Board of Directors in 1975 -- one of the many boards, including the World Wildlife Fund, that Patrick was a part of. She also was the first woman to chair the Academy’s Board of Trustees.
Besides her work at the Academy, Patrick taught limnology and botany at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 35 years -- publishing more than 200 scientific papers as well as a number of books.
She earned 25 honorary degrees including UPenn, Princeton and many other schools and was named “Alumna of the Century” by Coker College in Hartsville, S.C. where she earned a bachelor of the sciences in 1929. She was also inducted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009 and science education outposts in South Carolina, Georgia and New Jersey bear her name.
Despite her national recognition, Patrick always remained close to the Academy, even into her centenarian years. The Academy honored her 100th birthday with a gala that included a tribute from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and she was often a fixture in the museum café “anonymously” eating lunch among schoolchildren visiting for the day, according to the Academy.
Patrick said that she tried to live her life by the virtues instilled in her by her father Frank Patrick: “Leave the world a better place for having passed through it.”
Patrick was married to the late Charles Hodge IV and to the late Lewis Van Dusen, Jr. She is survived by her son, Charles Hodge V, and several stepchildren and grandchildren.
Two people were charged Monday evening in the Chicago basketball court shooting that injured 13 people Thursday, including a 3-year-old boy.
Bryon Champ, 21, and Kewane Gatewood, 20, both faces felony charges in connection with the shooting at Cornell Square Park near 51st and Wood.
Each man faces three counts of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.
According to a Chicago Police Department news release, both offenders played significant roles in the shooting, but neither is believed to be an actual shooter. The investigation into the shooting continues, according to police.
Police say Champ is a "convicted felon and documented gang member" who was convicted of Unlawful Use of a Weapon by a Felon in July 2012 and sentenced to boot camp.
Earlier in the day, Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters arrests would be made "in the near future" thanks to what he called great cooperation from the community.
Deonta Howard -- known as "Tay-man" -- was shot in the jaw and listed in critical condition after the shooting. Family friend Mekiya Menefee said she was "thankful" after hearing about charges in the case.
"They need to think for a very very long time about what they did," Menefee said. "The violence, the guns, the crime needs to stop."
The family's pastor, Rev. Corey Brooks says Tay-man is expected to make a full recovery and is communicating with his family by nodding his head, although he's not able to speak yet.
"The baby is still in intensive care. He's had surgery, he'll have more surgeries, he's awake, he's alert, he's attentive, however he's still in a great deal of pain as anyone would be," Brooks said.
Brooks says the boy is still in pain and will be left with some scarring.
The victims included 10 males and three females.
McCarthy said an assault-style rifle with a high capacity magazine was used in the shooting at Cornell Square Park, on the 1800 block of W. 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Witnesses said several gunmen fired at least 20 shots at a group shortly before 10:15 p.m., and the spray of bullets sent a mass of people to the ground on the basketball courts.
McCarthy used the incident to renew his call for "three-year mandatory minimum sentences for illegal gun possession and truth in sentencing for gun crimes in Illinois."
The shooting revived the city's reputation for violence and drew plenty of commentary over the weekend.
"Senseless and brazen acts of violence have no place in Chicago," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, "and betray all that we stand for. The perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I encourage everyone in the community to step forward with any information and everyone in Chicago to continue their individual efforts to build stronger communities where violence has no place."
Emanuel reportedly canceled his appearance at a rally for U.S. Senate cadidate Cory Booker to deal with the shooting.
In shootings following Thursday's attack, at least 25 people were shot, five of them fatally, in Chicago between Friday and Sunday, police said.
On July 10, my wife gave birth to a seemingly healthy baby boy with slate-blue eyes and peach-fuzz hair. The pregnancy was without complications. The delivery itself lasted all of 12 minutes. After a couple of days at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut, we were packing up when a pediatric cardiologist came into the room.
We would not be going home, she told us. Our son had a narrowing of the aorta and would have to be transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia, where he would need heart surgery.
It turned out that our son was among the first in Connecticut whose lives may have been saved by a new state law that requires all newborns to be screened for congenital heart defects.
It was just by chance that we were in Connecticut to begin with. We live in New York, where such tests will not be required until next year. But our doctors were affiliated with a hospital just over the border, where the law took effect Jan. 1.
As we later learned, congenital heart problems are the most common type of birth defect in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about one in 555 newborns have a critical congenital heart defect that usually requires surgery in the first year of life.
Many cases are caught in prenatal ultrasounds or routine newborn exams. But as many as 1,500 babies leave American hospitals each year with undetected critical congenital heart defects, the C.D.C. has estimated.
Typically, these babies turn blue and struggle to breathe within the first few weeks of life. They are taken to hospitals, often in poor condition, making it harder to operate on them. By then, they may have suffered significant damage to the heart or brain. Researchers estimate that dozens of babies die each year because of undiagnosed heart problems.
The new screening is recommended by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Yet more than a dozen states — including populous ones like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and Washington — do not yet require it.
The patchy adoption of the heart screening, known as the pulse oximetry test, highlights larger questions about public health and why good ideas in medicine take so long to spread and when we should legislate clinical practice.
Newborns are already screened for hearing loss and dozens of disorders using blood drawn from the heel. The heart test is even less invasive: light sensors attached to the hand and foot measure oxygen levels in the baby's blood. This can cost as little as 52 cents per child.
Our son's heart defect was a coarctation of the aorta, a narrowing of the body's largest artery. This made it difficult for blood to reach the lower part of his body, which meant that the left side of his heart had to pump harder.
In the hospital, though, he appeared completely healthy and normal because of an extra vessel that newborns have to help blood flow in utero. But that vessel closes shortly after birth, sometimes revealing hidden heart problems only after parents bring their babies home.
Depending on the heart defect, the onset of symptoms can be sudden.
This is what happened to Samantha Lyn Stone, who was born in Suffern, N.Y., in 2002. A photograph taken the day before she died shows a wide-eyed baby girl lying next to a stuffed giraffe. The next morning, her mother, Patti, told me, she was wiping Samantha's face when she heard a gurgle from the baby's chest.
Before her eyes, Samantha was turning blue. Blood began to spill from her mouth. Ms. Stone dialed 911, and minutes later, a doctor who heard the call over a radio was there performing CPR. Samantha went to one hospital and was flown to another.
But the damage was irreparable. Samantha had gone 45 minutes without oxygen: She lapsed into a coma and died six days later.
It wasn't until several years later that Ms. Stone learned about the pulse oximetry test. "This could have saved my daughter," she told me. "There is no parent that should ever have to go through what I went through."
Pulse oximetry is not a costly, exotic procedure. Most hospitals already have oximeters and use them to monitor infants who suffer complications. You can buy one at Walmart for $29.88.
A recent study in New Jersey, the first state to implement the screening, estimated that the test cost $13.50 in equipment costs and nursing time. If hospitals use reusable sensors similar to those found on blood-pressure cuffs, the test could cost roughly fifty cents.
As medical technology advances, few screenings will be so cheap or simple. Recent years have seen controversy over prostate cancer and mammography screenings. Medical ethicists have to weigh the costs of each program and the agony caused by a false positive against the lives saved.
But with pulse oximetry, the false positive rate is less than 0.2 percent — lower than is seen for screenings newborns already get. The follow-up test is usually a noninvasive echocardiogram, or an ultrasound of the heart. A federal advisory committee came down in favor — three years ago.
"There's really no question, scientifically, this is a good idea," said Darshak Sanghavi, a pediatric cardiologist and a fellow at the Brookings Institution. "The issue is, how do we change culture?"
Opposition has taken two forms. One is from doctors who believe policy makers shouldn't interfere with how medical professionals do their jobs. The other is from smaller hospitals, which worry about access to echocardiograms and the costs of unnecessary transfers.
These concerns can be addressed fairly easily. Nurses in New Jersey and elsewhere have been able to work the test into their normal routines. A rural hospital should already have a protocol to transfer a newborn in serious condition. If Alaska can do it, less remote states can, too.
But this is not simply a rural health care problem. Cardiologists and neonatologists I've spoken with said they knew of hospitals in New York City, Boston and metropolitan Atlanta that weren't screening newborns for heart defects.
"It's completely the luck of the draw of where you deliver," said Annamarie Saarinen, who has pushed for the screening since her daughter narrowly avoided leaving the hospital with an undetected heart defect.
Fortunately, our son's condition was also caught and corrected. The only lasting effects are a three-inch scar on his side and checkups with a cardiologist. He will live a normal life. He will be able to play sports and climb things he's not supposed to.
Officials at the school let students out early and canceled all afterschool activities as a precaution.
The Cherry Hill Police Department searched through the building and declared the school was safe. Cherry Hill East will open tomorrow as scheduled.
"Students should report to their Period F classroom tomorrow at 7:30 am to collect any belongings that were left there prior to the evacuation," wrote school superintendent Maureen Reusche in a message to students. "Students will then proceed to Period D and continue with the school day. The deadline for homework assignments originally due on Tuesday, September 24, is extended to the next time the class meets. Likewise, tests originally scheduled for tomorrow will be administered the next time the class meets."
Police continue to investigate the incident. School officials say the person or people responsible for the message will face disciplinary action and possibly criminal charges.
NBC10's Ted Greenberg was the first reporter on the scene. He talked to a nearby resident who says she heard a low-flying plane and then heard sirens in the area.
Besides her work at the Academy, Patrick taught limnology and botany at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 35 years -- publishing more than 200 scientific papers as well as a number of books.
The shooting revived the city's reputation for violence and drew plenty of commentary over the weekend.
