August 2011 Archives

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that Ride the Ducks International review its safety program and ensure its employees are properly trained on safety procedures to avoid a repeat of last year’s fatal crash on the Delaware River.

Last year, a duck boat carrying 35 tourists stalled in the middle of the river. As the boat lay motionless, a tugboat pushed a barge into the boat. Many of the tourists were thrown into the river and two Hungarian tourists drowned.

English honors teacher Thomas DiPatri landed the Cherry Hill School District in trouble after giving a student the nickname “Handy Mandy.” As a result, the high school student claims that she was subject to relentless teasing and was ultimately forced to leave school.

DiPatri allegedly instructed his honors students to call the girl Handy Mandy — in reference to masturbation — reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s unclear what prompted the nickname, but the student says that after being given the name she was subject to taunts and insults, and that the taunts were seemingly encouraged.

Morey’s Piers in Wildwood is not having a very good summer vacation. Last Friday night, there was another amusement ride accident. This time, a 13-year-old girl was injured along with several other passengers on the Sea Dragon ride. This latest accident follows the death of 11-year-old Abiah Jones who fell off a Ferris wheel in June.

The unidentified teen was riding the Sea Dragon pirate boat ride when the accident occurred, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. A steel mast on the ride snapped and struck the girl and four other passengers. The girl was hospitalized and the extent of her injuries has not been reported. The other passengers were treated for minor injuries.

The newest scam hitting consumers may be the home improvement scam. The Illinois Attorney General recently warned residents of contractor fraud. Now Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly is warning consumers to watch out for home improvement scams.

The scam often involves traveling contractors who go door-to-door offering services like home improvement or lawn care. The contractors may offer a "free" consultation and describe the services they will perform. They will oftentimes require an up-front fee. Once they have your money, the contractors may perform shoddy work, stop halfway into the project and demand more money, or simply disappear without ever even starting the work.

A woman struck a stopped police car. The police officer was seriously injured. Then the woman's employer had to cough up over one million dollars for employer vicarious liability.

Officer Kenneth McMillian was on a routine patrol visiting a recently robbed bank, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. With his dome lights flashing, McMillian stopped at a red light. A few moments later, Jane Golden rear-ended his patrol car.

A Greyhound bus accident just outside Lancaster resulted in the injuries to 14 passengers. The Pennsylvania bus accident occurred on a bus from New York City to St. Louis, reports the Associated Press.

The accident occurred shortly after the bus stopped in Philadelphia and was reportedly being driven by a Philadelphia bus driver, Kareem Edward Farmer.

Farmer lost control of the bus while traveling down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the AP reports. Farmer apparently struck a concrete barrier and swerved across lanes before hitting an embankment and flipping over. 29 people were aboard the bus, and 14 were hospitalized. It has not been determined why Farmer lost control of the bus, but his father said that it was Farmer's first accident in the eight months he's been on the job.

Driving at 1:30 in the morning can be hard enough. You're dealing with fatigue, darkness, and other drivers who are out in the a.m. hours. And when the Philadelphia Phillies are on a West Coast road swing, you also have to deal with texts regarding wins and losses.

In another car accident caused by texting, 39-year-old Phillies fan Claudio Kuhn was driving in Rose Valley when a friend sent him a text saying that the Phillies just beat the Dodgers. After hearing the good news, Kuhn apparently lost control of his car and ran into a butternut tree, reports the Philadelphia Daily News. No injuries were reported and the accident appears to be a single-car accident.

King of Prussia resident Lo Wah Chu boarded a double-decker Megabus as he headed from Philadelphia to Toronto. A couple wrong turns by the driver later, the bus was being decapitated by a low hanging bridge. Now Chu is suing for personal injuries sustained in the Megabus accident.

Last September, the 56-year-old Chu took a seat in the upper level of the Megabus as he prepared for a long bus ride from Philly to Toronto, reports the Philadelphia Daily News. Chu was already well settled in as the bus crossed the halfway mark somewhere outside Syracuse, New York.

Tianle Li is charged with poisoning and killing her husband Xiaoye Wang. Now Wang's family has sued University Medical Center and Bristol Meyers-Squibb in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Li was charged with the murder of her husband four months ago, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. The couple was going through a contentious divorce. Wang thought he had things under control, but on the day the divorce was to be finalized, Wang checked himself into University Medical Center in Princeton with abdominal pains and numbness in his hands and feet.

The U.S. government and giant meat-manufacturer Cargill have announced the ground turkey recall of 36 million pounds of meat. This is one of the largest recalls ever and affects Pennsylvania residents as one person in Philadelphia and four people in other parts of the state have reportedly become ill with salmonella poisoning after eating the tainted meat. The recall could be a boon to Pennsylvania product liability attorneys.

According to the Associated Press, Cargill is recalling the meat manufactured at its Springdale, Arkansas plant from February 20 until August 2. The ground turkey is believed to have led to the death of one person in California, as well as 76 illnesses nationwide, including the five in Pennsylvania. There have been no reported illnesses in bordering New Jersey or Delaware.

Maybe phone cramming isn't the newest phone bill scam, but it's probably the most prevalent. Now there's talk that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) might get involved and shut down the practice.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, phone cramming is a common practice that occurs when third-party providers slip hidden charges onto your phone bill (generally ranging from $1.99 to $19.99 a month) for services you never order and never use. These services can include mysterious items like "enhanced service," "other," or "miscellaneous."