An inmate at the Delaware County prison has tested positive for bacterial meningitis and remained hospitalized Tuesday night, officials said.
The inmate at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Thornton tested positive on Sunday after being transported to a local hospital, officials said.
The Delaware County Health Department is advising prison administrators on identifying close contacts of the inmate among other incarcerated individuals, staff members, and any other people who may have had close contact from Sept. 2 through Sept. 12, officials said.
The county did not identify the inmate.
“Close contacts that are considered higher risk include people who have had direct exposure to a case’s oral secretions through frequently eating or sleeping in same dwelling as a case, kissing, and/or sharing toothbrushes or drinking water bottles, eating utensils, or cigarettes,” the county said in a statement.
Staff members and inmates who had close contact with the individual are being supplied with preventive antibiotics and information about monitoring symptoms, the county said.
Meningococcal disease is an infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, also known as the meningococcus bacteria, the county said.
“The bacteria is spread from person to person by respiratory and throat secretions and is not spread by casual contact. Symptoms of the disease include sudden fevers, headache, stiff neck, altered mental status, and light sensitivity. Additionally, symptoms of chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea can occur. In later states, a dark purple, brown, or black rash may appear,” the county said.
People with questions about personal health should consult with their health provider, the county said. Anyone with general questions about bacterial meningitis and public health may contact the Delaware County Health Department at 484-276-2100 or delcowellness@co.delaware.pa.us.
Twelve people have been charged in connection with an alleged multimillion-dollar operation to sell high-potency marijuana products in stores across Pennsylvania “under the guise that they were legal” using large distribution warehouses, including one in Bucks County, state Attorney General Dave Sunday said Monday.
Marijuana products are being sold at vape shops, convenience stores, and gas stations because of what has been described as a loophole in federal law. This is separate from the laws passed by states, such as New Jersey, approving the sale of recreational marijuana with strict regulations.
In the Pennsylvania case, investigators traced about $18.7 million to the alleged illegal proceeds, Sunday said.
“We have closed this operation by raiding the main source warehouse locations, three of them, and by removing products from those warehouses and many convenience stores or smoke shops across Pennsylvania,” Sunday said at a news conference in Westmoreland County.
“The defendants in many cases went from being renters of homes and apartments to owners of giant warehouses and lavish residential properties,” Sunday said.
The investigation got its first “big break” in January 2025, when authorities conducted a vehicle stop in Chester County and discovered the driver was “hauling loads of THC products to these stores, illegal products, all being paid for with cash, and that was a tipping point,” Sunday said.
Three warehouses were raided as part of the statewide investigation into “legal weed” sold at gas stations and vape stores, state Attorney General Dave Sunday said.Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office
“So our investigation showed that this criminal organization began as a small-town, small-time operation that grew into something massive,” Sunday said.
A few months later in Westmoreland County, a related investigation was launched after authorities found that “kids at school” were consuming marijuana products sold from these stores, Sunday said.
“We know that these products can end up in the hands of children, but also adults who consume them, sometimes without knowing what they contained. The charged traffickers, however, knew what they were selling and they knew that the products were illegal,” Sunday said.
Investigators then allegedly connected the statewide operation to three main warehouses, and search warrants were executed last September in Bensalem, Pittston in Luzerne County, and Plum Borough in Allegheny County.
“These warehouses were hubs for distribution to storefronts where the products were sold, and those transactions led to consumption by kids and adults alike. From those warehouses, we seized more than 40 pallets full of illegal products,” Sunday said.
Hundreds of types of products were sold, including pre-rolled joints and candy-like edibles, and investigators seized nearly 150,000 total items, Sunday said. Some were also legal products, such as snacks and sodas.
Sunday said some of the defendants owned stores where the products were sold.
“The storefronts were also scattered all throughout the commonwealth, but the pieces and the players were all working together,” Sunday said.
Search warrants also were executed at some of the stores.
The 12 individuals charged are Albina Kumar, Duttkumar Patel, Dharmeshkumar Patel, Madhav Patel, Nirav Patel, Palak Patel, Divyesh Patel, Ketankumar Patel, Niravkumar Vora, Roshniben Patel, Ankitkumar Patel, and Mitul Patel.
“Many of them are also charged with felony drug trafficking charges as well, because that is precisely what this was — a high-level drug trafficking empire disguised as legitimate businesses,” Sunday said.
Agencies that assisted the attorney general’s office in the case include the district attorney’s offices in Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties. Also assisting were the police departments in Bensalem Township, Bristol Township, Lower Moreland Township, and other municipalities.
In the meantime, Pennsylvania lawmakers are still struggling with how to close the so-called loophole.
Under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp became legal if it contained less than 0.3% Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) after harvest. The legislation was meant to help a struggling agricultural sector.
However, entrepreneurs began extracting trace amounts of intoxicating THC variants from those legally grown hemp flowers and turning them into powerful, alternative cannabis products.
A 25-year-old man was fatally shot early Friday evening in the parking lot of a shopping center in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, police said.
Around 5:20 p.m., police were called to the shopping center on the 2800 block of Fox Street and transported the victim to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:48 p.m., police said.
A Pennsylvania state constable who was working at the shopping center as a security guard told police he saw an altercation at a parked SUV and went to investigate, said Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace.
The state constable found the man shot inside the SUV and attempted to provide aid before police arrived, Pace said.
A new motion filed Friday in the controversial case that has roiled Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office argued that a federal judge should not overturn a man’s murder conviction.
The filing from the District Attorney’s Office — which would have to be accepted by U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond — was the latest development in a legal fight that has focused primarily on the conduct of lawyers in the case.
Jean Peters-Baker and Thomas Gaeta wrote in their motion that Dennis Johnson, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison without parole, should not be provided relief on his multiple appellate claims. The prosecutors also argued that Johnson had not yet exhausted his remedies in state court.
Peters-Baker, a longtime prosecutor from Missouri who previously led the prosecutor’s office in the county that includes Kansas City, was hired by Krasner’s office to handle the case as an outside attorney. Gaeta is Krasner’s civil litigation supervisor.
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said in court documents that Krasner should be barred from continuing to oversee the post-conviction case in federal court — and that his office should be kicked off the case as well.
Prosecutors for Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday argued that drama about the Johnson case has consumed the District Attorney’s Office, and that Krasner has “placed his personal interest in protecting the office above the Commonwealth’s interest.”
Krasner’s office said that the DA had acted in legally appropriate ways, and that his office should be allowed to continue overseeing the case.
Krasner’s own staffers have accused him of questionable conduct in the case, including by saying he told them to “protect the office” and that they could face “consequences” if they didn’t.
In a Tuesday filing, Gaeta wrote that Krasner had taken pains to ensure the case was handled “with competence and integrity.”
Diamond has sought to learn more about how various attorneys connected to the case have behaved while the matter has moved through federal court.
The case began as a routine appeal, but in recent months has led to a series of explosive accusations about the inner workings of the District Attorney’s Office.
Several prosecutors said they advised Krasner to refer the case to the Attorney General’s Office, and Krasner allegedly responded angrily or suggested tactics they thought were legally inappropriate.
The tactics allegedly included keeping the case in-house, potentially seeking to assign blame to a line prosecutor while protecting her supervisor, and taking steps to “protect the office” in court.
At one point, Diamond suggested he viewed the allegations as potentially criminal, saying if they were true, they could amount to perjury, conspiracy, or obstruction of justice.
The judge did not specify who he believed might be at fault.
Two men have been charged in the sexual assault of a student at Eastern University inside a dorm room earlier this year, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced Thursday.
Dontae Williams, who turns 20 on Friday, and Chase Thompson, 19, surrendered to Radnor Township police on Thursday to face charges of rape of unconscious person and related offenses. Bail was set at $150,000 unsecured for both men.
The assaults allegedly occurred in the Kea Hall residence of Naeem Turner, a friend of the victim, Rouse said. Turner was issued a summons to appear in court on three counts of invasion of privacy for allegedly recording video of the victim.
Robert C. Keller, a lawyer representing Williams, said his client “has been cooperating since the beginning.”
Keller said he will review the criminal case against Williams and pursue an appropriate defense.
No lawyers could be identified Thursday evening for the other two men.
Eastern University, a private Christian institution located in St. Davids, said in an emailed statement Thursday evening:
“Student safety remains our highest priority. Sexual assault is not tolerated at Eastern University. The university took this incident very seriously, acting swiftly and fully cooperating with the Radnor Police Department throughout their investigation.”
Eastern University continued: “We are grieved by this situation and the impact it has had on those involved. As a Christian university, we are committed to the safety and well-being of our students.”
The university said Naeem Turner was no longer enrolled at Eastern.
On Feb. 1, Radnor Township police responded to Eastern University for a report of a rape, Rouse said. The officers met with the student, who said that after a night out drinking, she reached out to Turner, her friend.
Turner said he had cousins visiting his dorm room, but she could come over, the police criminal complaint said.
The student, who already was intoxicated, arrived at Turner’s residence and was given tequila to drink, the complaint said. The student then said she fell asleep.
She was then allegedly sexually assaulted by Williams and Thompson, the complaint said.
Investigators collected DNA evidence that matched both men, the complaint said.
Turner had recorded video of himself engaged in sexual activity with the student, and twice the victim is seen pushing the phone camera away and indicating that she did not want to be recorded, the complaint said.
Turner, who was not charged with rape or any other assaults, said he had consensual sex with the victim, the complaint said.
The student said she did not remember having consensual sex with Turner and that she did not consent to being recorded, the complaint said.
Turner later allegedly sent two video clips to a contact on his phone, the complaint said.
“This incident is an appalling violation of a person’s safety, dignity, and trust,” Rouse said in statement.
“No one should ever have to fear being sexually assaulted by someone they know, and especially not by someone they consider a friend. It can be frightening to come forward after an experience like this, and we commend the victim for having the courage to report what happened,” Rouse said.
“Sexual violence is never acceptable, and my heart goes out to a young woman that will live with this trauma for the rest of her life. No one should have to fear that someone they trust will violate their safety or boundaries. There will be accountability,” Rouse said.
A pilot was injured when his plane flipped upside down Wednesday night at a small airport in Montgomery County, authorities said.
The plane accident happened around 7:20 p.m. at Heritage Field Airport just outside Pottstown, authorities said.
The pilot, who did not appear to have life-threatening injuries, was briefly trapped upside down inside the plane but was extricated by emergency responders, authorities said.
A man allegedly shot his wife and then himself in what authorities said was a domestic dispute that unfolded Wednesday afternoon inside a car on Broad Street in North Philadelphia.
In a separate shooting about 40 minutes later, a man was fatally wounded on the 4900 block of Old York Road in the city’s Logan section, police said.
Just before 2:50 p.m., police responded to the 2900 block of North Broad Street near West Glenwood Avenue for a shooting and found a 36-year-old woman who had been shot twice, including in her face.
Police took her to Temple University Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition.
The gunman, 41, was taken by SEPTA Transit Police to Temple, where he also was listed in critical condition with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, police said.
Police said the man shot his wife inside a Volvo on Broad Street. A gun was recovered from the scene.
No other details were immediately available.
In the shooting on Old York Road, the man who was shot was taken by private vehicle to nearby Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:37 p.m.
A man arrested in connection with a stabbing Sunday on the Blue Route in Montgomery County during an altercation with another motorist was wanted for a 2022 armed robbery in Delaware County, court records show.
Samuel Marquez, 40, of Philadelphia, was taken into custody by Radnor Township police after a brief search Sunday evening that led to the 100 block of East Lancaster Avenue, according to police and court records.
Pennsylvania State Police were handling the stabbing investigation, Radnor police said.
“Our thoughts are with the victim and their family,” Radnor police said. No information about the victim was released.
In 2023, Upper Chichester Township police said Marquez was wanted for a Nov. 11, 2022, armed robbery at a Royal Farms convenience store at 3314 Market St.
Court records show that Marquez on Tuesday night was being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility because his bail was denied. Court records also show that a bail amount had been set at about $1 million.
Villanova University’s campus was briefly under a lockdown Sunday evening as police searched for the stabbing suspect.
The lockdown was lifted at 6:41 p.m. after a suspect was arrested off campus, according to the university’s alert system. The school issued the lockdown at 6:10 as a “precautionary measure due to the proximity of the search,” the alert said.
NBC10 reported that Marquez was driving a U-Haul as part of a caravan of vehicles when a dispute arose. Marquez allegedly struck the victim’s vehicle, then got out and started hitting the victim. Marquez then got a knife from his U-Haul and stabbed the victim in the back, NBC10 reported.
Pennsylvania State Police recovered a knife that was being tested as part of the investigation, NBC10 reported.
Dale Caldwell, lieutenant governor of New Jersey, is reportedly under internal investigation for allegations involving his behavior toward women and possible ethics violations.
The New Jersey Globe reported Friday that Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration called on Christopher Porrino, a former New Jersey attorney general, to conduct the investigation.
Porrino served as attorney general under Republican Gov. Chris Christie. The New Jersey Globe reported that Porrino and a former federal prosecutor who is now one of his law partners have been conducting interviews for the investigation.
Sean Higgins, spokesperson for Sherrill, said in an emailed statement Friday that the administration “cannot confirm or deny potential personnel matters.”
Higgins also said: “The Governor would take any reports of inappropriate behavior or misconduct extremely seriously and expects our public officials to hold themselves to the highest standards.”
Caldwell could not be reached for comment.
Anthony Bucco, the Republican leader in the New Jersey Senate, said in a statement posted on social media that Caldwell “should temporarily step down from his duties as Lieutenant Governor.”
Bucco said the reported allegations against Caldwell “are deeply concerning and disappointing. Our elected officials must hold themselves to the highest possible standards of conduct, character, and integrity. The public deserves transparency and timely information about matters of this magnitude.”
Bucco added that “there are legitimate questions about why this information was not disclosed sooner and why we are just learning about this late on Friday heading into a holiday weekend.”
The New Jersey Globe reported that the investigation had already begun when Caldwell assumed the duties last week of acting governor while Sherrill was out of state.
The allegations include a purported offer of state jobs, the news outlet reported. No other details were provided.
Sherrill selected Caldwell as her running mate in July 2025. He was the first Black president of Centenary University, a small, private institution in North Jersey, and pastor at Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield, Union County. He also served on the New Brunswick school board for 26 years, including six as president.
“Mikie Sherrill and I represent a different kind of leadership that sees possibilities, not a blind commitment to doing things the way they’ve always been done,” Caldwell said after his selection was announced.
Caldwell graduated from Princeton University in 1982 and from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1988. He received a doctorate in education administration from Seton Hall University in 2017.
