SNOW for Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston
The winter weather conga line continues to train across the country today. The pattern seems to be a 'pop pop pop BAM!' Light snow, a few weak impulses, and the a big one hits, like this morning.
I’m watching a storm pull off the NC coast this morning spreading rain and snow up to the NE. The trailing upper-level storm, a cold pocket of spinning air really, is lagging behind over TN and AL. The snow is starting to get heavy, and it’s pushing to the OH valley. I think the major cities along the east coast see rain and sleet/snow mixed today, with a change over to all snow this evening and tonight. DC should get 2-4”, Baltimore about 3-6”, Philly and NYC about 4-8”, and Boston 5-10” tonight. I’ll show you all the warnings for the winter stuff.
FL is recovering from damaging winds yesterday, and the rain and storms are still hanging around the southern part of the state. I’ll have the radar.
Just a quick note here, since it’s a busy day, but the rest of the country is storm-free and quiet. Traveling to the East half of the nation will be awful today, so that is the main story here. See ya out there.
Philadelphia Abortion Doctor Charged With 8 Counts of Murder
An abortion doctor who catered to minorities, immigrants and poor women was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, prosecutors said. State regulators ignored complaints about him and failed to visit or inspect his clinic since 1993, but no charges were warranted against them, District Attorney Seth Williams said.
Gosnell, his wife and eight other colleagues were arrested overnight Tuesday following a grand jury investigation, MyFoxPhilly.com reports.
According to the district attorney's office, Gosnell is facing murder in the third degree for the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar. The patient died Nov. 20, 2009, when she was overdosed with anesthetics prescribed by Gosnell, according to the station.
Williams said during a press conference Wednesday that Gosnell "induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord."
The district attorney also said patients were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society.
Authorities went to investigate drug-related complaints at the clinic last year and stumbled on what Williams called a "house of horrors."
"There were bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses scattered throughout the building," Williams said. "There were jars, lining shelves, with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose."
The clinic was shut down and Gosnell's medical license was suspended after the raid.
Workers, some of whom were also charged with murder, were untrained and unlicensed, including a high-school student who performed anesthesia with potentially lethal narcotics, Williams said.
Gosnell has been named in at least 10 malpractice suits, including one over the death of a woman who died of sepsis and a perforated uterus.
"I am aware that abortion is a hot-button topic," Williams told reporters. "But as district attorney, my job is to carry out the law. A doctor who knowingly and systematically mistreats female patients, to the point that one of them dies in his so-called care, commits murder under the law." News From: www.foxnews.com
(CNN) -- A gas main explosion in Philadelphia Tuesday evening killed one utilities worker and injured five other people, a fire department official said.
Philadelphia Gas Works employees were responding to a gas main break in the city's Tacony neighborhood when the explosion occurred, fire department spokesman Jim Smith said.
"Th ey were trying to control it and found a source of ignition," according to Smith, who said four PGW employees and a firefighter were among the injured. He said some of the gas workers' injuries were serious.
Wrong Man Shown in Wanted Photo for Philadelphia 'Kensington Strangler'
Vigilantes forced a scared Philadelphia man to flee his house last night after flyers and Facebook postings with his name and picture labeled him the "Kensington Strangler."
Philadelphia police have been on the hunt since November for a man connected to at least three murders and possibly several sexual assaults of women in the Kensington neighborhood. DNA evidence has linked the deaths of the three women, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported tonight. All were strangled. All had been sexually assaulted. According to the Inquirer, police say the murderer now fits the definition of a serial killer.
The community thought it had gotten a break in the case when a group of people began sending text messages, posting flyers and even writing on Facebook walls that the strangler was 24-year-old resident Triz Jefferies.
Philadelphia police said that they became aware of the misinformation Monday. "Everybody has to be very leery of photos of a wanted person on Facebook," Lt. Ray Evers said. "Because of social networking and how big this fan page is growing ... if somebody shared it with their friends, the multiplier effect ... it's pretty damning."
More than 8,000 people belong to the Facebook group, "Catch the Kensington Strangler, before he catches someone you love," which showed Jefferies' picture. The posting was removed after Philadelphia police said that he was not a suspect in the case. But for Jefferies, the drama didn't end there.
"He had people milling outside his house. He actually called police to take him to the special victims unit to be interviewed," Evers said.
Afraid of the crowds surrounding his house, the man submitted to a DNA test and was cleared in the case. He told police that he thought somebody was "trying to mess with me."
Police are investigating who was behind the false information.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey reiterated the man's innocence at a press conference today.
"He is not a suspect, he is not connected with this," Ramsey said.
Curtis Sliwa of the Guardian Angels, a group of volunteers helping police patrol the neighborhood, said his members received more than 200 flyers with Jefferies' picture, name and address.
"On Sunday, two women and two men that were fairly well dressed ... looked like they could be undercover cops, gave us the information with photos of this guy," Sliwa said.
Sliwa said the photo looked official, like a prison release picture or an I.D. photo.
The flyers began to be posted next to the police department's official sketch. After Sliwa saw the flyers, he said something didn't seem right.
"Everybody got all excited. ... I said hold on, there's no official markings on here from the D.A.'s office, police department or county," Sliwa said. "I told our guys and gals, we destroy what we've given and we go around and pull them down."
Philadelphia police said this likely won't be the last time that social networking leads to misinformation in investigations.
"There's really no vetting process, you can put any photo out on Facebook," Evers said. "The only one that should be giving out a photo is the police."
