‘Finding The Light Within’ Mural To Spread Suicide Prevention Awareness

‘Finding The Light Within’ Mural To Spread Suicide Prevention Awareness

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – At first glance, it’s just a mural full of people holding on to a quilt.
But these people, of all races and ages, are holding on to memories. The faces on the quilt are of loved ones who’ve taken their own lives.

“The moment of crisis is apparent in the center with the person in the boat,” said mural designer James Burns. “The immediate life ring being thrown to that person and the external life ring is the community of individuals who surround that moment of crisis.”

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Newspaper: Malvo felt like 'worst piece of scum'

Newspaper: Malvo felt like 'worst piece of scum' 

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2003 file photo, sniper shooting suspect John Lee Malvo is escorted from court after his preliminary hearing in Fairfax, Va. Convicted D.C. sniper Malvo said in a newspaper interview published Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012, that the devastated reaction of a victim’s husband made him feel like “the worst piece of scum.” Malvo expresses remorse in the interview with The Washington Post and urged the families of victims to try and forget about him and his partner John Allen Muhammad so they can move on. Tuesday, Oct. 2, marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the deadly spree in the Washington area carried by Malvo and Muhammad. The pair has been linked to 27 shootings across the country, including 10 fatal attacks in the Washington area.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Convicted D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo said in a newspaper interview published Sunday that the devastated reaction of a victim's husband made him feel like "the worst piece of scum."

Malvo expresses remorse in the interview with The Washington Post (wapo.st/SrLk9I) and urged the families of victims to try and forget about him and his partner John Allen Muhammad so they can move on. Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the deadly spree in the Washington area carried out by Malvo and John Allen Muhammad. The pair has been linked to 27 shootings across the country, including 10 fatal attacks in the Washington area.

Malvo, 27, told the Post in a rare interview that the look on the face of victim Linda Franklin's husband right after she was shot stands out in his memory of the rampage. Franklin, a 47-year-old FBI analyst, was killed as she and her husband loaded supplies outside a Home Depot in Falls Church, Va.

"They are penetrating," Malvo said of Ted Franklin's eyes. "It is the worst sort of pain I have ever seen in my life. His eyes ... Words do not possess the depth in which to fully convey that emotion and what I felt when I saw it. ... You feel like the worst piece of scum on the planet."

Malvo is serving a life sentence with no parole at a prison in southwest Virginia for killing Franklin. Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009

The sniper-style attacks all but paralyzed the nation's capital, as people were shot at random while going about their everyday life - pumping gas, buying groceries, and for one young boy, as he went to school. The shooters used a high-powered rifle, firing from the trunk of a modified Chevy Caprice until they were tracked down at a Maryland rest stop.

Malvo also repeated previous assertions that he was manipulated by the older Muhammad during the string of attacks that took place when Malvo was 17. But he acknowledges: "I was a monster."

Malvo has declined to respond to many media requests, including letters from The Associated Press. He was interviewed in 2010 for a cable TV special.

When asked by the Post what he would say to victims' families, the remorseful Malvo said there's no way to properly convey an apology.

"We can never change what happened," Malvo said. "There's nothing that I can say except don't allow me and my actions to continue to victimize you for the rest of your life."

He added: "Don't allow myself or Muhammad to continue to make you a victim for the rest of your life. It isn't worth it."

Linda Franklin's father, Charles Moore, was incredulous about the idea that victims' relatives would be able to forget about what Malvo and Muhammad did.

"There's no way. I can't believe that. No one can go through something like that," Moore said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Moore said he believes his daughter's slaying contributed to his wife's death several years later.

"What he did just destroyed my family. I'll never be able to put it aside. Never," he said.

"There are things that stand out in your life that you think about. I'm 83 years old and I'll carry it to my grave."

McCoy-Umenyiora Heat Up Eagles-Giants Rivalry

McCoy-Umenyiora Heat Up Eagles-Giants Rivalry

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Lady Gaga vs. The Ballerina. LeSean McCoy and Osi Umenyiora can renew their hostile name-calling on the field when the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) host the New York Giants (2-1) Sunday night in a matchup between NFC East rivals.

There’s always been plenty of animosity among these opponents, but McCoy and Umenyiora have taken it to a new level. Their verbal sparring sounds more like The Rock and John Cena preparing for a WrestleMania fight.

“I think he thinks that he is better than what he really is,” McCoy, the Eagles’ All-Pro running back, said this week. “I think he is a ballerina in a Giants uniform. Other than that, that is all I got to say about Osi.”

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Chester Police: All 6 Female Suspects In Videotaped Beating In Custody

Chester Police: All 6 Female Suspects In Videotaped Beating In Custody

(Chester, Pa. police initially released mug shots of
three of the teen girls arrested.)


CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) — Authorities in Chester (Delaware County) say all six suspects have been arrested in connection with the videotaped beating of a mentally challenged woman.


It was an attack “for fun,” according to police. Authorities say a group of girls, ages 16 and 17, punched and kicked the 48-year-old mentally challenged woman as she was sitting in front of her home.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Regular refs back; Goodell apologizes to fans

Regular refs back; Goodell apologizes to fans 

FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2012, file photo, officials walk towards the field for an NFL football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins in Orchard Park, N.Y. The NFL and referees' union reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday, Sept. 26, to end a three-month lockout that triggered a wave of frustration and anger over replacement officials and threatened to disrupt the rest of the season.

 NEW YORK (AP) -- The replacement officials are gone and the NFL is sorry it took so long. Now fans can go back to complaining about the calls made by the regular refs.

The sport's experiment with replacements ends Thursday night when a veteran crew works the Browns-Ravens game. Referee Gene Steratore, a 10-year veteran, strolled onto the field at M&T Bank Stadium with little fanfare about 2 1/2 hours before kickoff, still wearing a coat and tie as he paced along the sidelines. Among his other routine tasks was a brief talk to a stadium official about the wireless on-field microphone the referee wears.

"Show me how this one works," Steratore said as he examined the unit.

Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized to fans for the anxiety of the last three weeks while denying that using replacement officials increased the chances of flagrant mistakes.

After two days of marathon negotiations - and mounting frustration across the league - the NFL and the officials' union announced at midnight Wednesday that a tentative eight-year agreement had been reached to end a lockout that began in June.

The return of the regulars couldn't come soon enough for many players, coaches and fans.

"Those guys might mess up every now and then, but we can live with that happening with professional guys out there," Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson said.

Goodell insisted the timing of the deal was not a reaction to the outcry over Monday night's game, when a missed call cost Green Bay a win against the Seattle Seahawks. The two sides had been in "intensive negotiations" the last two weeks, he said, although he acknowledged it "may have pushed the parties further along."

For the Packers, Redskins, Lions and other teams who voiced their displeasure with calls that might have swayed games, the agreement doesn't change their records.

"Obviously when you go through something like this, it is painful for everybody," Goodell said. "Most importantly, it is painful for our fans. We are sorry to have to put our fans through that, but it is something that in the short term you sometimes have to do to make sure you get the right kind of deal for the long term and make sure you continue to grow the game."

The commissioner was watching at home Monday night.

"You never want to see a game end like that," he said.

But Goodell repeatedly reminded reporters that the regular officials have botched plenty of calls over the years.

The players don't necessarily disagree on that point.

"Everything is fine until there is a call that decides a game and then people - players, fans, reporters - are going to be complaining again," Lions receiver Nate Burleson said. "If you thought there was a microscope on the replacement refs, just wait until people start expecting the regular refs to be perfect."

The new agreement will indeed improve officiating in the future, Goodell asserted, reducing mistakes like those made Monday and making the strains of the last three weeks worthwhile.

Goodell acknowledged "you're always worried" about the perception of the league.

"Obviously, this has gotten a lot of attention," he said. "It hasn't been positive, and it's something that you have to fight through and get to the long term. ... We always are going to have to work harder to make sure we get people's trust and confidence in us."

The agreement hinged on working out pension and retirement benefits for the officials, who are part-time employees of the league. Goodell said the NFL's offer to increase the deal's length from five to eight years spurred some concessions from the officials.

The tentative pact calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019. The current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service.

The defined benefit plan will then be frozen. Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution arrangement.

Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials on a full-time basis to work year round, including on the field. The NFL also will be able to retain additional officials for training and development and can assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.

The tentative deal must be ratified by 51 percent of the union's 121 members. They plan to vote Friday and Saturday in Dallas.

Coaches and players began griping about the replacement officials in the preseason, but the tension seemed to boil over this past weekend. Scuffles after the whistle were frequent with players appearing to test the limits of the new officials, and coaches were fined for berating them.

"Guys are going to have to play with a lot of technique now," said Bengals cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones. "You're not going to get away with the touching down the field."

The football world fretted that a mistake by the replacements would decide a game, and that fear was realized on the prominent stage of "Monday Night Football," with the ensuing uproar reaching all the way to the White House.

The Seahawks won 14-12 on a desperation pass into the end zone on the final play after Golden Tate got away with offensive pass interference. Packers safety M.D. Jennings had both hands on the ball for what would have been a victory-clinching interception, but the officials on the field ruled he and Tate had simultaneous possession.

That call was confirmed by instant replay, and the NFL supported that decision the next day - while acknowledging Tate should have been penalized, which would've handed the win to Green Bay.

Unlike the replacement officials used for one game in 2001, who generally came from the highest levels of college football, this year's group was from lower college divisions or other leagues such as Arena Football.

No longer, at least, will critics say the officials on the field aren't accustomed to the speed of the game.

The longest contract with on-field officials in NFL history was reached with the assistance of two federal mediators. Referee Ed Hochuli told The Associated Press that he had yet to see full details of the deal, "but we're excited to be back."

"And ready," he said. "And I think that's the most important message - that we're ready."

The NFL players' union, which had protested that using replacements jeopardized health and safety, heartily welcomed back the regular officials.

"Our workplace is safer with the return of our professional referees," its statement said.

Goodell disputed that players' health and safety were ever compromised. He said he never heard any objections from sponsors pressuring the league to resolve the impasse.

The commissioner even tried to put a positive spin on the fact that the furor over Monday's calls was so widespread it drew opinionated tweets from athletes in other sports, Hollywood stars and President Barack Obama.

"Not much surprises me about what happens in the NFL and the influence and attention that it gets," he said. "That is a reaction not only of our passionate fan base, but this moved quickly into mainstream media. That is a signal of the influence of the game in today's society."

Phillies Go For Second Straight Win Vs. Nationals

Phillies Go For Second Straight Win Vs. Nationals

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – After taking a 6-3 decision over Washington in the opener of this three game series, the Phillies will give the ball to Kyle Kendrick tonight as they look for a second straight win over the National league East leaders.

The Phillies are 78-76 on the season and still mathematically alive in the postseason race.  They are 5 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wildcard, but with just eight games left to play, the chances of a sixth straight postseason in Philadelphia are remote at best.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Perjury Case Against 2 Penn State Officials Proceeds

Perjury Case Against 2 Penn State Officials Proceeds

 

Gary Schultz, left, and Tim Curley leave a courtroom 

in Harrisburg, Pa. last December.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday upheld perjury charges against two Penn State administrators accused of lying to a grand jury that investigated allegations ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused children.

Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover ruled against the motions by former vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley that would have thrown out the count of perjury against each man.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

'Moon River' crooner Andy Williams dies at age 84

'Moon River' crooner Andy Williams dies at age 84 

FILE - In a May 12, 1961 file photo, Andy Williams performs a song on a television show. Emmy-winning TV host and "Moon River" crooner Williams died Tuesday night, Sept, 25, 2012 at his home in Branson, Mo., following a year-long battle with bladder cancer. He was 84.

BRANSON, Mo. (AP) -- For many Americans, particularly those on the older - OK, squarer - side of the generation gap, Andy Williams was part of the soundtrack of the 1960s and `70s, with easy-listening hits like 

"Moon River," the "Love Story" theme and "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" from his beloved Christmas TV specials.

The singer known for his wholesome, middle-America appeal was the antithesis of the counterculture that produced rock and roll.

"The old cliche says that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren't there," Williams once recalled. "Well, I was there all right, but my memory of them is blurred - not by any drugs I took but by the relentless pace of the schedule I set myself."

The entertainer, who died Tuesday night at his Branson home following a yearlong battle with bladder cancer, had a plaintive tenor, boyish features and clean-cut demeanor that helped him outlast many of the decade's rock stars and fellow crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. He remained on the charts into the 1970s and continued to perform into his 80s.

Williams became a major star in 1956, the same year as Elvis Presley, with the Sinatra-like swing number "Canadian Sunset." For a time, he was pushed into such Presley imitations as "Lips of Wine" and the No. 1 smash "Butterfly."

But he mostly stuck to what he called his "natural style" and kept it up throughout his career. In 1970, when even Sinatra had temporarily retired, Williams was in the top 10 with the theme from "Love Story," the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records, three platinum and five Grammy award nominations.

Williams was also the first host of the live Grammy awards telecast and hosted the show for seven consecutive years, beginning in 1971.

Movie songs became a specialty, including his signature "Moon River." The longing Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini ballad was his most famous song, even though he never released it as a single because his record company feared such lines as "my huckleberry friend" were too confusing and old-fashioned for teens.

The song was first performed by Audrey Hepburn in the cherished 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's," but Mancini thought "Moon River" ideal for Williams, who recorded it in "pretty much one take" and also sang it at the 1962 Academy Awards. Although "Moon River" was covered by countless artists and became a hit single for Jerry Butler, Williams made the song his personal brand. In fact, he insisted on it.

"When I hear anybody else sing it, it's all I can to do stop myself from shouting at the television screen, `No! 

That's my song!'" Williams wrote in his 2009 memoir titled, fittingly, "Moon River and Me."

"The Andy Williams Show," which lasted in various formats through the 1960s and into 1971, won three Emmys and featured Williams alternately performing his stable of hits and bantering with guest stars.

It was on that show that Williams - who launched his own career as part of an all-brother quartet - introduced the world to another clean-cut act - the original four singing Osmond Brothers of Utah. Four decades later, the Osmonds and Williams would find themselves in close proximity again, sharing Williams' Moon River Theater in Branson.

Williams did book some rock and soul acts, including the Beach Boys, the Temptations and Smokey Robinson. On one show, in 1970, Williams sang "Heaven Help Us All" with Ray Charles, Mama Cass and a then-little known Elton John, a vision to Williams in his rhinestone glasses and black cape. But Williams liked him and his breakthrough hit "Your Song" enough to record it himself.

Williams' act was, apparently, not an act. The singer's unflappable manner on television and in concert was mirrored offstage.

"I guess I've never really been aggressive, although almost everybody else in show business fights and gouges and knees to get where they want to be," he once said. "My trouble is, I'm not constructed temperamentally along those lines."

His wholesome image endured one jarring interlude.

In 1976, his ex-wife, former Las Vegas showgirl Claudine Longet, shot and killed her lover, skiing champion Spider Sabich. The Rolling Stones mocked the tragedy in "Claudine," a song so pitiless that it wasn't released until decades later. Longet, who said the slaying was an accident, spent only a week in jail. Williams stood by her. He escorted her to the courthouse, testified on her behalf and provided support for her and their children, Noelle, Christian and Robert.

Also in the 1970s, Williams was seen frequently in the company of Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's widow. The singer denied any romantic involvement.

He was born Howard Andrew Williams in Wall Lake, Iowa, on Dec. 3, 1927, and began performing with older brothers Dick, Bob and Don in the local Presbyterian church choir. Their father, postal worker and insurance man Jay Emerson Williams, was the choirmaster and the force behind his children's career.

When Andy was 8, Williams' father arranged for the kids to have an audition on Des Moines radio station WHO's Iowa Barn Dance. They were initially turned down but kept returning until they were finally accepted. The show attracted attention from Chicago, Cincinnati and Hollywood. Another star at WHO was a young sportscaster named Ronald Reagan, who would later praise Williams as a "national treasure."

The brothers later worked with Kay Thompson, a singer who eventually became famous for the "Eloise" children's books. She had taken a position as vocal coach at MGM studios, working with Judy Garland, June Allyson and others. After three months of training, Thompson and the Williams Brothers broke in their show at the El Rancho Room in Las Vegas, drawing rave reviews in New York, Los Angeles and across the nation and as much as $25,000 a week.

After five years, the three older brothers, who were starting their own families, had tired of the constant travel and left to pursue other careers.

Williams initially struggled as a solo act and was so broke at one point that he resorted to eating food intended for his two dogs.

A two-year TV stint on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" and a contract with Cadence Records turned things around. Williams later formed his own label, Barnaby Records, which released music by the Everly Brothers, Ray Stevens and Jimmy Buffett.

Williams was a lifelong Republican who once accused President Obama of "following Marxist theory." But he acknowledged experimenting with LSD, opposed the Nixon administration's efforts in the 1970s to deport John Lennon and in 1968 was an energetic supporter of Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. When Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968, just after winning the California Democratic primary, Williams sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" at his funeral.

"We chose that song because he used it on the campaign trail," Williams later said of Kennedy, who had been a close friend. "He had a terrible voice, but he loved to sing that song. The only way I got through singing in church that day was by saying, `This is my job. I can't let emotion get in the way of the song.' I really concentrated on not thinking about him."

After giving up touring, he settled in Branson, with its dozens of theaters featuring live music, comedy and magic acts, and was among the first wave of national entertainers to perform there regularly.

When he arrived in 1992, the town was dominated by country music, but Williams changed that with his classy, $13 million theater in the heart of the entertainment district, where he did two shows a night, six days a week, nine months of the year. Only in recent years did he cut back to one show a night. His most popular time was Christmas.

Not everyone in Hollywood accepted his move to the Midwest. "The fact is most of my friends in L.A. still think I'm nuts for coming here," he told The Associated Press in 1998.

He and his second wife, the former Debbie Haas, divided their time between homes in Branson and Palm Springs, where he spent his leisure hours on the golf course when Branson's theaters were dark during the winter months following Christmas.

Retirement was not on his schedule. As he told the AP in 2001: "I'll keep going until I get to the point where I can't get out on stage."

Williams is survived by his wife and his three children.

Bizarre tumor case may lead to custom cancer care

Bizarre tumor case may lead to custom cancer care 

This 2008 picture provided by Georgetown University shows Richard Schlegel, M.D., Ph.D., left, and research associate Aleksandra Dakic, Ph.D., in his laboratory at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. A discovery allows doctors to grow "mini tumors" from each patient's cancer in a lab dish, then test various drugs or combinations on them to see which works best. Although the approach needs much more testing, researchers think it could offer a cheap, simple way to personalize treatment without having to analyze each patient's genes. "We see a lot of potential for it," said Schlegel, one of the study leaders. "Almost everyone could do it easily."

It's a medical nightmare: a 24-year-old man endures 350 surgeries since childhood to remove growths that keep coming back in his throat and have spread to his lungs, threatening his life. Now doctors have found a way to help him by way of a scientific coup that holds promise for millions of cancer patients.

The bizarre case is the first use in a patient of a new discovery: how to keep ordinary and cancerous cells alive indefinitely in the lab.

The discovery allows doctors to grow "mini tumors" from each patient's cancer in a lab dish, then test various drugs or combinations on them to see which works best. It takes only a few cells from a biopsy and less than two weeks to do, with materials and methods common in most hospitals.

Although the approach needs much more testing against many different types of cancer, researchers think it could offer a cheap, simple way to personalize treatment without having to analyze each patient's genes.

"We see a lot of potential for it," said one study leader, Dr. Richard Schlegel, pathology chief at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington. "Almost everyone could do it easily."

An independent expert agreed.

For infections, it's routine to grow bacteria from a patient in lab dishes to see which antibiotics work best, Dr. George Q. Daley of Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute said in an email. 

"But this has never been possible with cancer cells because they don't easily grow in culture," he said.

The new technique may reveal in advance whether a person would be helped by a specific chemotherapy, without risking side effects and lost time if the drug doesn't work. "Pretty nifty," Daley wrote.

In the case of the 24-year-old, described in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, lab-dish tests suggested that a drug used to treat a type of blood cancer and some other unrelated conditions might help.

It's not a drug that doctors would have thought to try, because the man technically does not have cancer. But his lung tumor shrank after a few months of treatment, and he has been stable for more than a year. He still has to have operations to remove throat growths that keep coming back, but only about once every five months.

The man, an information technology specialist in suburban Washington who asked to remain anonymous to protect his privacy, has recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, or RRP. It's usually due to infection at birth with certain types of a virus, HPV, that causes genital warts.

The condition causes wartlike growths in the throat, usually around the voice box. These growths usually are noncancerous but can turn malignant, and even benign ones can prove fatal if they spread to the lungs. The main treatment is surgery, usually with lasers to vaporize the growths and keep them from choking off the airway or making it hard to talk.

About 10,000 or more people in the U.S. have the disease, said Jennifer Woo, president of the RRP Foundation. Woo, 29, is a medical student at Georgetown and one of the researchers on the study. She also has the condition but said it is confined to her throat and has required only about 20 surgeries so far.

The man in the study has a much more serious case.

"I was diagnosed when I was 3 or 4. At first, I had to have surgery every 7 to 10 days," the man said in a phone interview. "I get short of breath and my voice will get more hoarse."

Two years ago, the growths to his lungs became extensive and life-threatening, and his physician, Dr. Scott Myers, described the condition at a meeting of Georgetown hospital specialists. "It's crushing the airway," Myers said.

Doctors suggested that the new lab method pioneered by Schlegel and others might help. It borrows an idea from stem cell researchers: adding mouse cells for nourishment, plus a chemical that prevents cell death to an ordinary lab culture medium. That enabled healthy and cancerous cells to keep growing indefinitely.

Researchers grew "mini tumors" from the man's lung mass and from healthy tissue and screened various drugs against them. One proved ineffective. Another worked against the tumor but at too high a dose to be safe. The third did the trick.

A similar approach could let doctors screen drugs for cancer patients.

"What could be more personalized than taking this person's cell, growing it in culture, finding a drug to treat them and then treat them?" said Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. The Georgetown method gives an answer quickly enough that it could save lives, he said.

Tyler Jacks, a cancer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former president of the American Association for Cancer Research, said the next step is to show that this could work for many different cancers and that it leads to better outcomes in patients.

"It seems to have worked in this one instance, but other tumors might prove to be more challenging," he said.

The National Institutes of Health paid for much of this work and has already sent research teams to Georgetown to learn the method. About a dozen other universities have done the same, Schlegel said.

So far, his lab has grown prostate, breast, lung and colon cancer cells.

Georgetown University is seeking a patent on the method.

Delaware Valley Jews Set To Mark End of High Holy Days as Yom Kippur Arrives

Delaware Valley Jews Set To Mark End of High Holy Days as Yom Kippur Arrives

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, begins tonight at sundown.
The tenth day of the year 5773, this Yom Kippur (the “Day of Atonement”) proceeds like it has for millenia — with fasting and prayer in temple.

Rabbi Lance Sussman of reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, in Elkins Park and Blue Bell, says the fasting during this observance is mandated for all but the young, the ill, and the pregnant.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Eagles Get Dumped By Arizona, Lose 27-6

Eagles Get Dumped By Arizona, Lose 27-6

Phoenix, AZ (CBS) — No one bothered looking up at the scoreboard. They all seemed oblivious. The Eagles were drubbed into such a dazed stupor on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals that the whole offense began walking off the field at one point in the second quarter getting ready to punt.

On third down.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Holocaust Survivor Reacts To Nazi Probe Focusing On Philadelphia Man

Holocaust Survivor Reacts To Nazi Probe Focusing On Philadelphia Man

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — At the Klein Jewish Community Center in Northeast Philadelphia, seniors gather for activities and conversation. It’s where Rita Silberstein talked about a part of her past that she has in common with other survivors of the Holocaust.

“They put us on the train and we arrived to [the camp],” said Silberstein.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

‘Sudden Cardiac Prevention Act’ Requires Child Athletes To Get EKGs

‘Sudden Cardiac Prevention Act’ Requires Child Athletes To Get EKGs

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – You seldom hear about perfectly healthy teenagers going in to get their “tickers” checked, “just in case”. So it was an unusual sight at Upper Dublin High School, Sunday, as hundreds of student athletes showed up for EKG’s.

It was part of a growing effort to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in children (See related story).

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Giant panda cub born Sept. 16 at National Zoo dies

Giant panda cub born Sept. 16 at National Zoo dies 

FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2011 file photo shows Mei Xiang, the female giant panda at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington. The panda cub born to Mei Xiang on Sept. 16, 2012, after five consecutive pseudo pregnancies over the years, died Sept. 23, 2012. Panda keepers and volunteers heard a distress vocalization from Mei Xiang, at 9:17 a.m. and notified the veterinarian staff immediately, according to a statement by the National Zoo. Veterinarians immediately performed CPR and other life-saving measures but the cub did not respond

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The giant panda cub born a week ago at the National Zoo in Washington died Sunday morning, saddening zoo officials and visitors who had heralded its unexpected arrival.

The 4-ounce cub, about the size of a stick of butter, showed no obvious signs of distress and made its final recorded noise shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday, zoo officials said at a news conference.

The cub's mother, Mei Xiang, then made an unusual honking sound at 9:17 a.m. that her keepers interpreted as a distress call, and she moved away from where she had been nesting with the cub. About an hour later, one keeper distracted her with honey water while another used an instrument similar to a lacrosse stick to pick up the cub.

The cub, whose gender could not be determined externally, was not breathing and its heart had stopped. A veterinarian attempted CPR before it was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m.

"This is devastating for all of us here," National Zoo director Dennis Kelly said at a news conference. "It's hard to describe how much passion and energy and thought and care has gone into this."

Four American zoos have pandas, but Washington's pandas are treated like royalty. The zoo was given its first set of pandas in 1972 as a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to the country.

Mei Xiang's first cub, Tai Shan, born in 2005, enjoyed enormous popularity before he was returned to China in 2010.

The new cub, born Sept. 16, had been a surprise at the zoo. Fourteen-year-old Mei Xiang had five failed pregnancies before giving birth.

Panda cubs are especially delicate and vulnerable to infection and other illness. The first weeks of life are critical for the cubs as mothers have to make sure they stay warm and get enough to eat.

Panda mothers are about 1,000 times heavier than their cubs, and sometimes they accidentally crush them. On any given day in the first two weeks of life, cubs have a mortality rate of 17 to 18 percent, zoo officials said.

A necropsy was being conducted to determine the cause of death, and preliminary findings were expected Monday, said Suzan Murray, the zoo's chief veterinarian. The cub showed no external signs of trauma, she said.

"The cub was just beautiful. Beautiful little body, beautiful face, with markings just beginning to show around the eye," Murray said.

As they did after Tai Shan was born, keepers had been leaving Mei Xiang alone with her offspring, monitoring her on video feeds that were also streamed on the zoo's website. Mei Xiang was resting comfortably after the cub's death, officials said.

The zoo's first panda couple, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, had five cubs during the 1980s, but none lived more than a few days. One of the cubs was stillborn; two others died of pneumonia within a day; another died from lack of oxygen after birth; and the final cub died of an infection after four days.

Atlanta has had three cubs, and the San Diego zoo has had six, including a cub born this year. A panda couple in Memphis has yet to have a cub, despite several tries.

The cub had not yet been named in accordance with Chinese tradition - it was to receive a name after 100 days on Dec. 24. Had the cub survived until then, it would have been roughly the size of a loaf of bread and weighed around 10 pounds. It will not be named posthumously, Kelly said.

Kelly said it was too soon to know if the zoo would attempt to breed Mei Xiang again. She was artificially inseminated with sperm from the zoo's male panda, Tian Tian.

"These bears are so critically endangered that every panda cub is important," Kelly said.

The panda exhibit was closed indefinitely. Early Sunday afternoon, there was still a sign outside the panda house announcing the cub's birth, and many visitors were unaware of the death.

At the zoo's panda-themed gift shop, Diana Salguero, 24, of Manassas, Va., was trying on a headband with panda ears when she learned from a reporter about the cub's death.

"I want to cry right now," she said. "I'm heartbroken. I've been excited all week. That's why I came out today."

 

Man jumps off Bronx Zoo train, mauled by tiger

Man jumps off Bronx Zoo train, mauled by tiger 

CORRECTS THAT MAN DID NOT LOSE LEG, ADDS NEW INFO ON HIS CONDITION- FILE- In this Sept. 20, 2010 photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, three Amur tiger cubs rest by a fallen tree limb at the Tiger Mountain exhibit at the Bronx Zoo in New York. Authorities say a visitor at the Bronx Zoo leaped from an elevated monorail train and plummeted into an exhibit, where he was mauled by a tiger. New York City police say the man suffered puncture wounds to his back from the mauling. Police say he also has a broken ankle and a broken arm.

 NEW YORK (AP) -- A visitor to the Bronx Zoo was mauled by a tiger on Friday after he leaped from an elevated monorail train and plummeted over a fence into an exhibit, police and zoo officials said.

Police, who initially reported the man had lost a leg in the mauling, later said he suffered puncture wounds to his back. They also said he suffered a broken ankle and a broken arm, possibly from the jump.

The attack happened at around 3 p.m. in the Wild Asia exhibit, where a train with open sides takes visitors over the Bronx River and through a forest, where they glide along the top edge of a fence, past elephants, deer and a tiger enclosure.

Passengers aren't strapped in on the ride, and the 25-year-old man apparently jumped out of his train car, with a leap powerful enough to clear the perimeter fence.

Details of what happened next were unclear, but police said the tiger attacked. The zoo's staff used a fire extinguisher to chase the tiger off, and the man was instructed to roll under an electrified wire to get to safety, zoo director Jim Breheny said in a statement. Zookeepers then called the tiger into a holding area.

The man was conscious and talking after the mauling, Breheny said.

"If not for the quick response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency situations, the outcome would have been very different," he said.

Police said the man was hospitalized in critical condition.

The Bronx Zoo, one of the nation's largest, sprawls over 265 acres and contains hundreds of animals, many in habitats meant to resemble natural settings. Its exhibits include Tiger Mountain, Congo Gorilla Forest and World of Reptiles.

The Phillies Playoff Chances

The Phillies Playoff Chances

Ryan Howard


PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It’s only been a week, but the Phillies playoff fever seems like it was a million years ago. After seven straight wins, the Phillies found themselves three games out of the final wild card spot, and most of Philadelphia believed there was a legitimate chance at some post-season baseball for the home team.

And then of course, Houston happened.

Now, with 13 games to play, the Phillies are four games off the pace of the second wild card spot, and the likelihood of them making up that ground is small.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

UPDATE: Missing Gloucester Teen And Baby Found Safe

UPDATE: Missing Gloucester Teen And Baby Found Safe

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ (CBS) – Police in Gloucester Township have found a missing 16-year-old and her infant safe and sound.

Police haven’t yet said where Kayla Maven, from the unit block of Noble Rd. in Gloucester Township, and her son were discovered.

Kayla was reported missing by her mother on Sept. 18 after she left the house with her two-month-old son, Jeremiah, and didn’t return.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Amish guilty of hate crimes in Ohio hair attacks

Amish guilty of hate crimes in Ohio hair attacks 
 

Amish women exit the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Cleveland on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. The jury found all 16 Amish people guilty in the hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish in Ohio.

 

 CLEVELAND (AP) -- Sixteen Amish men and women were convicted Thursday of hate crimes for a series of hair- and beard- cutting attacks on fellow sect members in a religious dispute that offered a rare and sometimes lurid glimpse into the closed and usually self-regulating community of believers.

A federal jury found 66-year-old Samuel Mullet Sr., the leader of the breakaway group, guilty of orchestrating the cuttings last fall in an attempt to shame mainstream members who he believed were straying from their beliefs. His followers were found guilty of carrying out the attacks, which terrorized the normally peaceful religious settlement that aims to live simply and piously.

Prosecutors and witnesses described how sons pulled their father out of bed and chopped off his beard in the moonlight and how women surrounded their mother-in-law and cut off two feet of her hair, taking it down to the scalp in some places.

Prosecutors say they targeted hair because it carries spiritual significance in their faith.

The defendants face prison terms of 10 years or more at their Jan. 24 sentencing. Prosecutors plan to file a request Friday to revoke bond for defendants who had remained free pending trial.

All the defendants are members of Mullet's settlement that he founded in eastern Ohio near the West Virginia panhandle. The Amish eschew many conveniences of modern life, including electrical appliances and automobiles, and embrace their centuries-old roots.

Federal officials said the verdicts would send a message about religious intolerance.

"The victims in this case are members of a peaceful and traditional religion who simply wanted to be left to practice their religion in peace," U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said. "Unfortunately, the defendants denied them this basic right and they did so in the most violent way."

Members of the Amish community who sat through the trial hurried into a hired van without commenting, some covering their faces.

Defense attorneys said the defendants were bewildered by the verdicts and said likely appeals would be based on a challenge to the hate crimes law.

"They really don't understand the court system the way the rest of us have, being educated and reading newspapers," said Joseph Dubyak, whose client, Linda Schrock, has 10 children with her husband, who was also convicted.

Attorney Rhonda Kotnik said the verdicts would destroy Mullet's community of about 25 families. The defendants, including six couples, have a total of about 50 children, she said.

"The community is going to be ripped apart. I don't know what's going to happen to all their children," she said.

The suspects had argued that the Amish are bound by different rules guided by their religion and that the government had no place getting involved in what amounted to a family or church dispute.

Mullet wasn't accused of cutting anyone's hair. But prosecutors said he planned and encouraged his sons and the others, mocked the victims in jailhouse phone calls and was given a paper bag stuffed with the hair of one victim.

One bishop told jurors his chest-length beard was chopped to within 1 1/2 inches of his chin when four or five men dragged him out of his farmhouse in a late-night home invasion.

Prosecutors told jurors that Mullet thought he was above the law and free to discipline those who went against him based on his religious beliefs. Before his arrest last November, he defended what he believes is his right to punish people who break church laws.

"You have your laws on the road and the town - if somebody doesn't obey them, you punish them. But I'm not allowed to punish the church people?" Mullet told The Associated Press last October.

The hair cuttings, he said, were a response to continuous criticism he'd received from other Amish religious leaders about him being too strict, including shunning people in his own group.

Defense attorneys acknowledged that the hair cuttings took place and that crimes were committed but contend that prosecutors were overreaching by calling them hate crimes.

Witnesses testified that Mullet had complete control over the settlement that he founded two decades ago and described how his religious teachings and methods of punishments deviated from Amish traditions.

One woman testified that Mullet coerced women at his settlement into having sex with him, and others said he encouraged men to sleep in chicken coops as punishment.

Mullet's attorney, Ed Bryan, maintained that the government had not shown that Mullet was at the center of the attacks. The defendants who cut the hair and beards acted on their own and were inspired by one another, not their bishop, Bryan said.

In one of the attacks, an Amish woman testified that her own sons and a daughter who lived in Mullet's community cut her hair and her husband's beard in a surprise assault.

Final Farewell For Fallen Plymouth Township Police Officer Bradley Fox

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. (CBS) — Family, friends and fellow officers said a final goodbye Wednesday to a Montgomery County police officer who was killed in the line of duty last week.

A funeral mass was held Wednesday morning at the Epiphany of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church for Plymouth Township Police Officer Bradley Fox.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Inmate Charged With Rape And Murder Of University Of Delaware Student Resentenced To Death After Retrial

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A former death row inmate charged with raping and killing a University of Delaware student in 2005 has been sentenced to death again after a retrial.

James Cooke Jr. maintained his innocence and decried what he said was a corrupt judicial system after being sentenced Monday.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Pennsylvania Man Sentenced To Die October 3rd Fails To Get Clemency Approved

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) – A clemency board in Harrisburg today failed to approve a clemency request for a former Philadelphia man who, in less than three weeks, is scheduled to become the first person executed in Pennsylvania in 13 years.

And, it would be the first contested execution in the state in 50 years.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Troops pack up gear to ship out of Afghanistan

Troops pack up gear to ship out of Afghanistan

In this Thursday, May 24, 2012 photo provided by the U.S. Army, various military vehicles are seen parked after being cleaned and stripped of sensitive items for shipment as part of drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops by Sept. 30, 2012 at the Kandahar Air Field south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S. military has started the process of moving out thousands of MRAPS, Humvees and other vehicles as part of the drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops by the end of September. It is a massive logistical undertaking involving on bases around the country.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- It was nearly 2 a.m. when U.S. Army Pfc. Zach Randle jumped out of his bulky armored vehicle in southern Afghanistan for what he hoped would be the last time.

"I don't want to see it again. It's been through a lot," Randle said of the 19-ton (17-metric ton) vehicle that was his ride - and sometimes his bed - during a six-month deployment to volatile Kandahar province.

"It protected us, but I'm just in a hurry to turn it in to be closer to going home," said Randle, who has now left Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama's drawdown of 33,000 U.S. troops by Sept. 30. The pullout - 10,000 last year and 23,000 more this year - will be finished within days. That will leave 68,000 American troops in this country to fight militants and help prepare Afghan forces to take over security nationwide.

While some service members go home, others are busy preparing thousands of vehicles and other equipment for shipment. It's a laborious task that's more difficult than it was in Iraq because of landlocked Afghanistan's tough mountainous terrain, lack of roads and its mountain passes that will soon be covered with snow.

Between now and the end of 2014, when most U.S. troops will have left, the Americans will move an estimated 50,000 vehicles, including tens of thousands of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles like the one Randle drove into the equipment yard. They'll also ship an estimated 100,000 metal containers - each about 20 feet long. End-to-end, the containers would stretch nearly 400 miles (600 kilometers).

Shipping has picked up in recent months, as base closure teams have spread out across Afghanistan to help soldiers sort, pack and load up their gear. As of the beginning of September, 208 U.S. and NATO coalition bases have been closed, 310 have been transferred to the Afghan government and 323 remain open, according to the coalition.

The packing up is going on as the war still rages. Just since Friday, insurgents attacked a base in neighboring Helmand province, killing two U.S. Marines and destroying six Harrier fighter jets. Afghan police gunned down four more American service members, and a NATO airstrike mistakenly killed eight Afghan women looking for firewood.

As American forces keep fighting, thousands of civilian and military personnel will continue prepping vehicles for flight, taking tedious inventory of bullets, night scopes, radios and even recreational baseball bats. They'll also clean and crate tons of other gear, anything from bags of nails to generators.

Brig. Gen. Kristin French, commanding general of the Joint Sustainment Command in Afghanistan, likens the teams to "wedding planners" helping to organize the move.

"We are trying to take the burden off the war fighter and give it to our folks who have the mission to do it," French said at her office at Kandahar Air Field. "If we're busy trying to clean up our backyards, we're not doing what our focus is and that is to continue to transition security to the Afghan security forces and partner with them."

Vehicles are being gathered in Kandahar, Bagram Air Field near Kabul and Camp Barmal in northern Afghanistan. Containers are being staged for shipment at nine locations around the country, she said.

Some equipment is taken by truck, train, ships or planes to military depots in the United States. MRAPS are rolled onto airplanes. Some Humvees sit in shipping containers for a test trip on a railroad leaving Afghanistan via Uzbekistan to the north. Other equipment will also go north through Central Asia or else be trucked into Pakistan - some of it down to the port of Karachi, where it will sail back to the United States or other destinations.

Various items will stay in Afghanistan to be used by the Americans troops not going home - yet. Still other materiel will be transferred to the Afghan government, tossed out, taken to a scrap heap or shipped to other countries for use by U.S. forces.

For now, Randle and several dozen other U.S. Army soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, are happy to get rid of their vehicles and all the equipment.

The late-night arrival of their convoy late last month stirred up dust in the equipment yard at Kandahar Air Field. The heavily armed personnel carriers and utility trucks slowed to a halt, then sat idling noisily as the soldiers gathered their gear inside and began climbing out and into formation in the yard.

"They are part of the 23,000 soldier off-ramp," said Lt. Col. Stanley J. Sliwinski, Jr., who assumed command of 401st Army Field Support Brigade in Kandahar in July and was waiting for the convoy when it arrived. "Most of these soldiers will turn in their equipment tonight and they will fly home within the next three days."

Home, that is, after about three weeks at Fort Bragg.

When Randle, 20, returns to Clarksville, Tennessee, he will climb behind the wheel of a black sports sedan he's buying from the family of an American service member who was killed in Afghanistan. "It was his car, a Mazda 6, black," Randle said, standing under a three-quarters moon.

One of Randle's fellow soldiers at the equipment yard, Army Capt. Matthew Cahill, said they would offload about $18 million worth of equipment.

"I'm glad to get rid of it. It's a lot of stuff - a lot of stuff to keep accountable for. It's nice to finally start making the process back home," Cahill said.

The troops spent hours turning in their equipment and chatting about going home.

Cahill, 31, has a daughter turning 1 this month back home in Newburyport, Massachusetts. "I was at home when she was born," he said. "Now, she's standing up on her own so I got to get back."

Pvt. Kevin Patterson, 21, of Carson City, Nevada, was craving his grandmother's "famous tacos."

He was also happy to be alive.

"Every night when you go to bed and you're in one piece, you think `Thank God, I'm still here,'" Patterson said. "And when you finish and when you're on your way home like this, you think `It's amazing. I made it through.'"

It was after midnight when the troops finished unpacking their gear in the gravel yard.

After that, four of the vehicles were driven to another yard overseen by Capt. Nicholas Tommaso, 27, of New York state.

His job involves sorting through a myriad of electronic vehicle identification codes, transportation control movement documents, green stickers and bumper numbers. When he figures out where a vehicle is going, it is weighed and measured so others will know if it will fit on the plane ordered to fly it out. Then it is moved across the street to another yard to be washed and inspected by customs workers.

"We've been moving everything by air now," Tommaso said. "We moved out about 200 pieces in August alone."

The stuff that's not on wheels ends up at still another yard.

There, inside a giant white tent, soldiers unload boxes filled with everything from rubber O-rings and speedometers for military vehicles to paper plates and bags of grommets.

"It's like you opened your garage and you hadn't cleaned it out in a couple years," said Lt. Col. Michelle Letcher, commander of the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. "We are busy now. We came in July and now we are really ready for people to start pushing the stuff through."

Every item needs to be checked for dirt, bugs, mold and anything else that would prevent it from passing customs inspections in the U.S. or other nations where it's headed. Each has an identification number that's jotted on a pad, then entered into a computer that tells the military what it is and where it's needed. A printer spits out a shipping label, and the item is readied for its journey back to the U.S. or elsewhere.

A few days earlier, the soldiers at the tent opened a box arriving from the battlefield and found Louisville Slugger baseball bats.

They decided to keep one, and when they need a break from their tedious work, they go outside the tent and bat stones into the yard.

Eagles Beat Ravens 24-23 On 4th Quarter TD Drive

Philadelphia, PA (CBS) — It’s two games into the season and it’s become commonplace already. Figure on four or five turnovers. Figure on Michael Vick scrambling around and throwing into coverages he can’t dissect. Figure on the Eagles to be both fun and terribly agonizing to watch.

Then figure on Vick swooping in to make a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback despite the myriad miscues to win by a sliver of a point.
The Eagles were able to get away with it in their season-opener against woeful Brandon Weeden and the Cleveland Browns. Against the far-better Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the Birds were just as fortunate.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Phillies Lose To The Astros 7-6, Lose Three Of Four To Houston

HOUSTON (AP) — Justin Maxwell hit a two-run double and Matt Dominguez added a two-run single in Houston’s four-run seventh inning as the Astros rallied for a 7-6 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.

Philadelphia lost three of four against Houston to fall 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis and Los Angeles in the National League wild card race.

Carlos Corporan and Scott Moore homered for the Astros, who remained one loss away from reaching 100 for the second straight season.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Manning throws for 510 as Giants edge TB, 41-34

Manning throws for 510 as Giants edge TB, 41-34

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Eric Wright (21) breaks away from New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (80) after intercepting a pass and running it back for a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Eli Manning needed a near-record performance to make up for his own mistakes.

Manning threw for 510 yards, second most for a Giants quarterback, and Andre Brown's 2-yard run with 31 seconds left lifted New York to a wild 41-34 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Manning overcame a miserable first half with a monster 295 yards passing in the second half, tying for the eighth most in NFL history and 3 yards short of Phil Simms' Giants record. After his three first-half interceptions staked the Bucs (1-1) to an 11-point lead, Manning helped the Super Bowl champions avoid a dreaded 0-2 start.

He threw touchdowns of 23 yards to Hakeem Nicks, 80 to Victor Cruz and 33 to Martellus Bennett with 3:59 to play to give New York a 34-27 lead. Andre Brown scored on a 2-point conversion run to tie the game after the Cruz score that ended with his trademark salsa.

Josh Freeman tied the game with a 41-yard pass to Mike Williams, but Manning drove New York 80 yards in four plays to win it. A 50-yard completing to Nicks led to Brown's score, which came one play after he knelt at the 2 when Tampa Bay was letting him score.

Only the 1951 Rams had a 500-yard passer and two 150-yard receivers in the same game.

There was an incident between Giants coach Tom Coughlin and former Rutgers and current Bucs coach Greg Schiano at the end of the game. Coughlin yelled at Schiano about a scrum when Manning took a knee after Michael Boley intercepted Freeman's pass in the closing seconds.

Manning was not hurt, but there was shoving and maybe even punches in the scrum. Coughlin contended that someone might have been injured on a play in which teams typically go through the motions.

Manning finished 31 of 51 in helping the Giants gain 604 yards in total offense. Cruz, who attended his grandmother's funeral on Friday, and Hicks, who has battled foot injuries all season and had a foot stomped on in the Giants' 25-point fourth quarter, both had career games.

Cruz finished with 11 catches for 179 yards, both career highs, while Nicks had 10 catches for 199 yards, with the yardage a personal best.

Lawrence Tynes kicked four field goals for the Giants, who played a lot better after a dismal effort in the season-opening 24-17 loss to Dallas 10 days ago. But they were trailing for most of the game.

Freeman finished 15 of 28 for 243 yards and two touchdowns. The first score covered 29 yards to Vincent Jackson, who had five catches for 128 yards. Doug Martin (20 for 66) ran 8 yards for a TD and Eric Wright returned the last of Manning's interceptions 60 yards for a touchdown just :08 before halftime.

Trailing 27-13 early in the second half, the Giants scored 14 straight points. Manning caught safety Ronde Barber cheating for a pass underneath and Cruz ran right past him for his long score. Brown, who carried 13 times for 71 yards filling in for injured Ahmad Bradshaw (neck), tied the game with the 2-point run.

After a three-and-out by the Bucs, Manning drove the Giants 67 yards in four plays, hitting Bennett in stride for a go-ahead touchdown down the right sideline.

The lead didn't last long. Tampa Bay drove 80 yards in five plays, with Freeman hitting Williams with a 41-yard strike in the end zone. Williams seemed to catch it off the helmet of cornerback Justin Tryon.

The Buccaneers turned Manning's three first-half interceptions into 21 points, with the most crushing pick being Wright's 60-yard return for a 24-13 lead. Manning was moving New York into position for a field goal when Wright simply reached up and snatched Manning's short pass to Cruz. He then weaved his way through a logjam and down the sideline.

Linebacker Mason Foster got the first interception at the Giants 28 early in the second quarter when Manning didn't put enough air under a touch pass to Bennett.

Three plays later, Freeman showed poise under pressure and lofted an arcing pass that Jackson caught in stride for a touchdown.

Backup cornerback Brandon McDonald got the second interception as the replacement officials missed a holding call on Barber against Cruz. McDonald returned it 40 yards and a personal foul moved the ball to the 13. Martin scored two plays later.

Manning's 23-yard touchdown pass to Nicks closed the gap to 17-13, but Wright ended the half with his big play.

Delaware Man Arrested After Stealing His Own Truck

NEW CASTLE, Del. (CBS) – A Delaware man was arrested after stealing his own truck from a repair shop using a front end loader with fork lifts attached and crashing into a retention pond.

Shorty after 12:30 Saturday morning, police responded to a theft at the Stop-N-Go located off of Christiana Road in New Castle, Delaware.

According to police, someone notified the business owner that part of the fence surrounding his complex had been torn down.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Thousands of striking teachers rally in Chicago

Thousands of striking teachers rally in Chicago

Teachers from Wisconsin and Minnesota join striking Chicago teachers during a rally Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012, in Chicago. Union president Karen Lewis reminded the crowd that although there is a "framework" for an end to their strike, they still are on strike.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Thousands of striking Chicago public school teachers and their allies packed a city park Saturday in a boisterous show of force as union leaders and the district tried to work out the details of an agreement that could end a week-long walkout.

Pushing strollers, toting signs and towing wagons of children, thousands of red-shirted teachers cheered and chanted as speaker after speaker urged them to stand firm until they have a deal in writing. They told the teachers that their strike was a symbol of hope for public teachers and other unions that have been losing ground around the nation.

"I'm pretty confident that something will come together that both sides will agree on," said Ramses James, a sixth-grade math teacher. "I believe this is a very strong turning point when you have so many people coming out to fight alongside (the teachers union). That means a lot."

Months of contract negotiations came down to two main issues: job security and union opposition to a new teacher evaluation process the union felt was too heavily weighted on student test scores.

Union leaders who announced a framework for a deal on Friday said they would not end the strike - the first in Chicago in 25 years - until they see a proposal in writing. Saturday's talks were aimed at settling on the exact language, and both sides were hopeful that the nearly 800-member House of Delegates could vote Sunday to suspend the strike so children could be back in class on Monday.

Addressing demonstrators Saturday, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis cautioned that "we are on strike" and that classes won't resume until the delegates see an agreement they can support.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson also addressed the crowd, saying the strike was a "struggle for working people everywhere" and that there was still a long road to ensuring all residents of the city have equal access to quality schools, especially in neighborhoods beset by gang violence and poverty.

"Our mission is very clear: we fight for equal, high-quality public education for all," Jackson said. "When school opens again there will be 160 schools without a public library. ... When school opens again, there will be schools yet without books. So we fight today for schools on the South and West Side to look like schools on the North Side."

Saturday's talks took place at the offices of union attorney Robert Bloch. On his way into the talks, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey was optimistic that timetable was still possible.

"We're hopeful that we can do it but frankly like I said, the devil is in the details of this contract and we want it in writing," he told reporters. "We're going to go in today and hammer (out) the details."

Union members from Wisconsin, Minnesota and elsewhere joined Saturday's rally in show of solidarity. For Wisconsin teachers, the rally also served as a moment to celebrate a judge's Friday ruling striking down nearly all of a contentious state law championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that had effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

Walker's administration immediately vowed to appeal, while unions, which have vigorously fought the law, declared victory.

"People are energized by this," said Marty Horning a high school social studies teacher from Milwaukee who came to the rally with a busload of others. "I think that the line has to be drawn in terms of teacher bashing, union bashing and privatization of education. These forces and factors are not just in Chicago, not just in Wisconsin, but across the nation and (Chicago) happens to be the spear point."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has blasted the union for engaging in a "strike of choice," sounded optimistic Friday, saying "the tentative framework is an honest and principled compromise that is about who we all work for: the students."

The walkout in the nation's third-largest school district canceled five days of class for more than 350,000 public school students who had just returned from summer vacation.

Until this week, Chicago teachers had not walked out since 1987, when they were on strike for 19 days.

Phillies Stretch Run Takes Them To Houston

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The red hot Phillies are in Houston tonight to open a four game series against the worst team in baseball, the Astros.

The Phillies have won seven in a row and 15 of 19 to surge to within three games of the National League’s second wildcard playoff berth. They also have moved above .500 for the first time since early June, as they currently sit at 72-71.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Former 76er Dikembe Mutombo Praises Muhammad Ali, Urges Others To Civic Duty

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Boxing great Muhammad Ali is to receive the Liberty Medal this evening during ceremonies at the National Constitution Center (see related story).

Earlier this afternoon, a forum highlighted athletes and sport and their contributions to social causes.

Among those on the panel was Dikembe Mutombo, the former NBA center who had two stints playing with the Philadelphia 76ers.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/