PHILADELPHIA —

One firefighter has died after being trapped in a building that caught fire in Philadelphia and then collapsed early Saturday, fire officials said.

The fallen firefighter was not immediately identified, but Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said he was a 27-year department veteran.

The building had caught fire just before 2 a.m. Saturday, Murphy said. The fire had been put out, but then the building collapsed at 3:24 a.m.

Four other firefighters and an inspector with the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections were also trapped at the time of the collapse. One firefighter jumped from the second story of the rubble, Murphy said.

The others were pulled out at various times. They were taken to the hospital and said to be in stable condition. The inspector has since been released.

Numerous firefighters were at the scene as the rescue effort unfolded, and some were seen hugging or wiping tears from their eyes, multiple news outlets reported.

“You can’t predict this,” Murphy told reporters at a news conference. “This was just a catastrophic accident that (has) really hurt our department.”

Investigators were looking into what caused the collapse. Murphy said the building had been affected by the fire, but it was unclear what caused it to come down.

A police dog is credited with helping find three boys.

“They're trained on human scent,” said Alex Molnar of the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office. “We give them a specific scent article and they're trained to track that specific human scent."

The boys got lost while riding their bikes in the woods outside Philadelphia.

After walking for about a mile, Shiloh the bloodhound picked up their scent.

“Come around the corner, through the creek and there's these three kids standing in the creek like Lord of the Flies, just hanging out,” Molnar said.

The boys’ grandmother said they won’t be allowed to ride their bikes in the woods anymore.

“In the car, I was like, ‘Just so you, know you are confined to the backyard and the house for the rest of the summer,’" Cherese Evans said.

PHILADELPHIA —

A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the "Creed" movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar thrum of another mass shooting.

Five people in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia were gunned down Monday in what became the deadliest among a rash of U.S. shootings that occurred around the July Fourth holiday. A gunman in a ski mask and body armor appeared to fire on people at random while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said.

Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting.

Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also wounded.

The alleged shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges including five counts of murder.

The victims' families remain shattered as they now cope with the feeling of senseless loss.

Ralph Moralis: The "go-to-guy"

Ralph Moralis' daughter was to be married Sunday. But instead of focusing on the joy of her wedding day, she is now planning her father's funeral, said Karen Gleason, his sister-in-law.

All the joy they had been feeling leading up to the momentous occasion was torn away when Moralis was shot outside the childhood home where he lived. The entire family, including Moralis' two brothers, have not stopped crying since hearing the news.

"It's unfathomable," she said. "It's so unbelievable that you can't even go out your front door."

The 59-year-old had been prepping for weeks on what he would wear, making sure he wouldn't mess up during his first child's wedding rehearsal. Moralis was always the one willing to go out of his way to help.

"He was the go-to-guy whether you needed a bike put together for one of the kids or his cousin was saying: 'I need to get to Florida. Can you drive me?'" she said. "He would do that. He was just there always for family and always willing to help."

Joseph Wamah Jr.: Aspiring actor with deep artistic talent

Joseph Wamah Jr. knew acting was his calling. The 31-year-old studied psychology at Chestnut Hill College but he became active in the local Philadelphia acting community, said close friend Terrance Harden. He even got a role as an extra in one of the "Creed" movies, starring Michael B. Jordan.

Harden, who has known Wamah since high school, said the two bonded over their love of filmmaking. Before Wamah was found dead inside a home early Tuesday, Harden had imagined the two would grow old as friends and achieve the level of success that they both wanted for each other.

"With such a great attitude, such a positive outlook on life, it almost seems like good fortune ought to come your way," he said. "That's why it was so hard to believe that this could have happened to him."

Wamah's twin sister Josephine and another sister, Jasmine, were full of anger Wednesday as they spoke at a news conference of a brother who had a smile and hug for everyone.

"I just still can't believe that my brother is gone. And I just don't understand why this happened. He was a kind soul. He was nice to everyone," Josephine Wamah said.

Wamah also loved to cook — despite having little culinary talent. But his real gift was as an artist, his sisters said.

"He had the worst cooking. We still ate it because he just... he tried. He couldn't cook, but he could sketch his butt off," Josephine Wamah said. "It was so detail-oriented and so passionate. It was so rooted and down to earth. It was just spiritual. You could feel this man's emotions in every brushstroke."

Josephine Wamah said she plans to find all of her brother's artwork and share his talent with the world.

"I just don't understand how someone could just do that to my brother. I really loved him," she said.

Lashyd Merritt: A good kid

Lashyd Merritt's mother told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that her son was a good kid who loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He loved buying them gifts at Christmas.

Marie Merritt said Lashyd Merritt, who would have been 22 in September, was out buying a snack while on a work break Monday.

"I don't understand why people just — whatever anger they have within themselves— I don't understand why someone in the neighborhood would have that type of stuff, like guns -- I don't understand that," Marie Merritt said. "And you're just taking good people away,"

She wants the suspected shooter to "rot in jail." She also is thinking about how her son would feel.

"(My heart) is broken. I feel him saying, 'Why me?'"

Dajuan Brown: Killed while helping a friend

DaJuan Brown's mother, Nashaya Thomas, told WCAU-TV her teenage son was walking to a store when the gunfire started. Brown was helping a 13-year-old friend who had been shot twice in the legs when he was gunned down.

He was someone people couldn't help but fall in love with.

"He lost his life trying to do a selfless act," she said, "and that's how he was when he was here."

A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire along several blocks in southwestern Philadelphia before police apprehended him on Monday evening – a shooting that’s left four people dead and two children injured, authorities said.

A second person who investigators believe picked up a gun and returned fire also was in police custody following the violence in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle M. Outlaw said.

Investigators don’t immediately know what led to the shooting, in which several vehicles were damaged and officers were running after the first suspect even as he was firing, Outlaw said.

“We have absolutely no idea why this happened. … But thank God our officers were here on scene and responded as quickly as they did,” Outlaw said.

Video below: Man arrested after Philadelphia shooting was wearing bulletproof vest, police say

The names of neither the detainees nor those shot were immediately released. Three of the four killed ranged in age from 20 to 59, police said. The age of the fourth wasn’t immediately available.

Outlaw described the conditions of the two children who were shot – ages 2 and 13 – as stable.

The first suspect is a 40-year-old man who had an AR-style rifle and a handgun, said Outlaw, who did not have an age for the second detainee.

Earlier, police said eight people had been injured.

Officers became aware of Monday’s shooting around 8:30 p.m. when they were flagged down at an intersection and found some gunshot victims, Outlaw said.

“As they were scooping up victims and preparing them for transport to the hospital, they also heard multiple gunshots up the street,” Outlaw said.

“At some point they locate the suspect, and they were able to pursue this male who was on foot. The officers were on foot as well, and they followed or pursued this male,” she said.

Officers eventually apprehended that suspect in an alley.

“When they did, this male was wearing a bulletproof vest with multiple magazines in the vest. He also had a scanner and an AR-style rifle and a handgun underneath his body,” Outlaw said.

About 50 spent shell casings littered the shooting scenes, she said.

“At this point, we don’t see a connection to any of the victims and the shooter,” Outlaw said.

“We’re canvassing the area to get as much as we can to identify witnesses, to identify where cameras are located, and do everything that we can to figure out the ‘why’ behind this happening,” Outlaw said.

The shooting occurred a day after gunfire erupted at a holiday weekend block party in Baltimore, about 100 miles to the southwest, killing two people and wounding 28 others. The wounded in that shooting ranged in age from 13 to 32, with more than half of them minors, according to officials.

The Philadelphia violence marks the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

So far this year, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year.

There have been more than 550 mass killing incidents since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

PHILADELPHIA —

Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman delivered big hits and the Houston Astros advanced to the World Series again, finishing a four-game sweep of New York in the AL Championship Series with a 6-5 victory Sunday night aided by another defensive gaffe from the Yankees.

Taking advantage of a costly error by second baseman Gleyber Torres to produce the go-ahead rally in the seventh inning, the Astros won their second consecutive pennant and fourth in six years.

Rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña hit a three-run homer off ailing Yankees starter Nestor Cortes to help the AL West champions overcome an early 3-0 deficit. Peña was picked as the ALCS MVP.

Houston will open the World Series at home Friday night against Bryce Harper and the wild-card Philadelphia Phillies, who beat San Diego earlier in the day to close out the best-of-seven NLCS in five games.

Harper broke up the Phillies postseason party on the mound and directed his team to where the true revelry was about to begin for the National League champs.

“C'mon, let's go inside! Let's go!” he ordered.

With that, Harper walked toward the dugout and raised his arms in jubilation to the soundtrack of Phillies fans screaming “MV3! MV3! " The Phillies scrambled inside for the Broad Street Bubbly that awaited in the clubhouse.

Harper made the scene possible because he rose to the moment Philly demanded of him from the time he signed the richest free-agent deal in baseball history. Harper has made the monumental feat of hitting a baseball look so easy in the postseason and with the NL pennant at stake, he delivered with the defining moment of his four-year Philadelphia career.

Harper slugged his fifth homer of the postseason, a two-run blast in the eighth inning that turned Citizens Bank Park into a madhouse, and the $330 million slugger powered the Phillies past the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Sunday and into the World Series for the first the time since 2009.

One swing. One opposite-field shot. One game-winning home run that about seemed destined from the moment he came to the plate in the eighth inning with the Phillies and their fans beckoning Bryce to deliver in the clutch just one more time.

“I hit the ball, and I just looked at my dugout and kind of it’s for all of them,” Harper said. “It’s for this whole team. It’s for this whole organization."

Rhys Hoskins also hit a two-run homer in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series to spark Philadelphia’s improbable run to the pennant and a shot at its first World Series championship since 2008.

Harper, Hoskins & Crew are coming for a most improbable World Series championship.

Houston held a 3-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Game 4 is Sunday night in New York. The World Series will begin Friday night at the home of the AL champion.

Harper was named NLCS MVP and he as parked the trophy on a dais, he made it clear the personal awards meant nothing to him without a ring.

“I don't really care about this but MLB is making me do it,” Harper said.

Philadelphia trailed 3-2 when J.T. Realmuto began the eighth with a single off reliever Robert Suarez. Harper then lined a 2-2, 98 mph sinker the opposite way, into the left-field seats as another sellout crowd of 45,485 shook the stadium.

Harper hoped the homer set the stage for other highlights on deck in the next couple of weeks.

“We’ve got four more,” the two-time NL MVP told the fans during an on-field celebration, and they roared again.

The lefty-swinging Harper connected off a righty — the Padres had left-handed closer Josh Hader warming in the bullpen, but didn't bring him in.

“It’s a thought at this point, but that wasn’t what we were thinking,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “We were trying to get to four-out position for Hader, and we had a lot of confidence in Suarez.”

The Phillies felt the same way about Harper.

“Pure chaos, right? I don’t think anybody was surprised,” Hoskins said. “This guy has a knack for coming up in the biggest moments. It’s just what he’s done his whole career, and we’ve seen it plenty of times.”

Remember, too: When Harper's thumb was broken by a pitch from San Diego's Blake Snell in late June, there were some concerns that he might not return this season.

Instead, the star who signed a 13-year contract to play in Philadelphia delivered — in this season, in this game.

Even after Harper's homer put them ahead, it wasn't an easy ending for the Phillies.

Reliever David Robertson was pulled after a pair of one-out walks in the ninth. Ranger Suárez made his first relief appearance of the season and retired Trent Grisham on a bunt and got Austin Nola — brother of Phils ace Aaron Nola — on a routine fly to finish it for a huge save.

The Phillie Phanatic swayed a National League champions flag as the postseason banger “Dancing On My Own” blared throughout the stadium. Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos stripped off their shirts and danced in the clubhouse. Cigars were let. Cheap beer was sprayed. The alcohol puddles on the carpet went deeper than the ones caused by the rain in a sloppy, gusty Game 5.

Philly, get ready.

This sixth-seeded Phillies — yes, that is a thing this season — feel they're just getting started.

Harper, who turned 30 last week, is batting 439 (18 for 41) with six doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs and 10 runs scored over 11 postseason games. He has hit in 10 straight and has reached base in 11 straight.

And the feared designated hitter can keep those streaks alive when he plays in his first World Series.

“To a certain degree, it’s getting overlooked because of who he is and the star that he is,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s a guy that’s a big star that’s delivered. Can’t say enough about that.”

Philadelphia finished third in the NL East at 87-75, a full 14 games behind the 101-win Braves this season, and were the last club in the majors to make the 12-team playoff field. After a 2-0 sweep of NL Central champion St. Louis in MLB’s newly created wild-card round, the Phillies needed only four games to knock out Atlanta, the defending World Series champs.

Now they'll try to become the first team that finished in third place to win a World Series.

The Padres took a 3-2 lead in a sloppy seventh inning as rain pounded Citizens Bank Park and turned portions of the infield, notably around third base, into a mud pit.

But it was Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez’s slippery grip that almost cost the Phillies.

Starter Zack Wheeler was fantastic again and struck out eight over six innings. He was lifted with a 2-1 lead after Jake Cronenworth's leadoff single in the seventh.

Dominguez couldn’t find his feel with the ball as the rain picked up, puddles formed near third base and the infield dirt turned to mush. He threw one wild pitch and Josh Bell lined a tying RBI double to right that made it 2-1.

Dominguz then threw two more wild pitches that allowed pinch-runner Jose Azocar to scamper home for the 3-2 lead. The righty reliever threw only three wild pitches in 51 innings all season -- then uncorked three in the seventh.

Things got tense in Philly.

But they always had Harper in their back pocket like a lucky charm.

“Harper had a huge moment there,” Padres slugger Manny Machado said. “You just have to tip your hat.”

Hoskins, Harper, Wheeler have left a trail of indelible moment at Citizens Bank as they improved to 5-0 at home, where they will play World Series Games 3, 4 and 5.

Game 5 of the NLCS was no exception.

The Phillies caught a break in the third when NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber was called out on a two-out stolen-base attempt. The call was overturned on replay, and the Phillies had new life.

Hoskins, who came hitting a quite memorable .171, smashed one into the left field seats off starter Yu Darvish as the crowd went wild. He hopped down the line as he mouthed some words to his teammates in the dugout and twirled his bat -- not unlike the steadily-spinning rally towels -- as he gave them a 2-0 lead.

Wheeler gave up Soto’s solo homer in the inning that made it 2-1. Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove snapped a Polaroid picture of Soto in the dugout.

Try as they might, the Padres weren’t ready for their close up.

The Phillies were picture perfect. Second baseman Jean Segura cleared a path on the infield as the rest of the Phillies sat near the mound, took off on a running start and slid head first into the team photo.

Then it was time to party.

Harper demanded it.

PHILADELPHIA —

An elevated section of Interstate 95 collapsed early Sunday in Philadelphia after a tanker truck carrying flammable cargo caught fire, closing a heavily traveled segment of the East Coast's main north-south highway indefinitely, authorities said.

Transportation officials warned of extensive delays and street closures and urged drivers to avoid the area in the city's northeast corner. Officials said the tanker contained a petroleum product that may have been hundreds of gallons of gasoline. The fire took about an hour to get under control.

The northbound lanes of I-95 were gone and the southbound lanes were "compromised" by heat from the fire, said Derek Bowmer, battalion chief of the Philadelphia Fire Department. Runoff from the fire or perhaps broken gas lines caused explosions underground, he added.

Some kind of crash happened on a ramp underneath northbound I-95 around 6:15 a.m., said state Transportation Department spokesman Brad Rudolph, and the northbound section above the fire collapsed quickly.

The southbound lanes were heavily damaged, "and we are assessing that now," Rudolph said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who said Sunday evening he planned to issue a disaster declaration Monday to speed federal funds, said at least one vehicle was still trapped beneath the collapsed roadway.

"We're still working to identify any individual or individuals who may have been caught in the fire and the collapse," he said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Video from the scene showed a massive concrete slab had fallen from I-95 onto the road below. Shapiro said his flight over the area showed "just remarkable devastation."

"I found myself thanking the Lord that no motorists who were on I-95 were injured or died," he said.

Video below: Pennsylvania's governor talks about the situation with I-95 during a press conference

Mark Fusetti, a retired Philadelphia police sergeant, said he was driving south toward the city's airport when he noticed thick, black smoke rising over the highway. As he passed the fire, the road beneath began to "dip," creating a noticeable depression that was visible in video he took of the scene, he said.

He saw traffic in his rearview mirror come to a halt. Soon after, the northbound lanes of the highway crumbled.

"It was crazy timing," Fusetti said. "For it to buckle and collapse that quickly, it's pretty remarkable."

The collapsed section of I-95 was part of a $212 million reconstruction project that wrapped up four years ago, Rudolph said. There was no immediate time frame for reopening the highway, but officials would consider "a fill-in situation or a temporary structure" to accelerate the effort, he said.

Motorists were sent on a 43-mile (69-kilometer) detour, which was going "better than it would do on a weekday," Rudolph said. The fact that the collapse happened on a Sunday helped ease congestion, but he expected traffic "to back up significantly on all the detour areas."

Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Michael Carroll said the I-95 segment carries roughly 160,000 vehicles per day and was likely the busiest interstate in Pennsylvania. He said work would continue through the night to remove the collapsed section as rapidly as possible.

Shapiro said he had been spoken directly to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and had been assured that there would be "absolutely no delay" in getting federal funds quickly to rebuild what he called a "critical roadway" as safely and efficiently as possible.

But Shapiro he said the complete rebuild of I-95 would take "some number of months," and in the meantime officials were looking at "interim solutions to connect both sides of I-95 to get traffic through the area."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a Twitter post that President Joe Biden was briefed on the collapse and that White House officials were in contact with Shapiro and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's offices to offer assistance. Buttigieg, in a social media post, called it "a major artery for people and goods" and said the closure would have "significant impacts on the city and region until reconstruction and recovery are complete."

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to investigate the fire and collapse.

Most drivers traveling the I-95 corridor between Delaware and New York City use the New Jersey Turnpike rather than the segment of interstate where the collapse occurred. Until 2018, drivers did not have a direct highway connection between I-95 in Pennsylvania and I-95 in New Jersey. They had to use a few miles of surface roads, with traffic lights, to get from one to the other.

Officials were also concerned about the environmental effects of runoff into the nearby Delaware River.

After a sheen was seen in the Delaware River near the collapse site, the Coast Guard deployed a boom to contain the material. Ensign Josh Ledoux said the tanker had a capacity of 8,500 gallons, but the contents did not appear to be spreading into the environment.

"As far as waterways go, it's being contained, and it seems like things are under control," he said.

Thousands of tons of steel and concrete were piled atop the site of the fire, and heavy construction equipment would be required to start to remove the debris, said Dominick Mireles, director of Philadelphia's Office of Emergency Management.

The fire was strikingly similar to another blaze in Philadelphia in March 1996, when an illegal tire dump under I-95 caught fire, melting guard rails and buckling the pavement.

The highway was closed for several weeks, and partial closures lasted for six months. Seven teenagers were charged with arson. The dump's owner was sentenced to seven to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $3 million of the $6.5 million repair costs, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

More recently in Atlanta, an elevated portion of Interstate 85 collapsed in a fire, shutting down the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city in March 2017. A homeless man was accused of starting the blaze. But federal investigators said in a report that the state transportation department's practice of storing combustible construction materials under the highway increased the risk of fire.

___

Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.

PHILADELPHIA —

The driver of a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline lost control on an off-ramp and flipped the tanker truck on its side in a wreck that set it afire and destroyed a section of the East Coast’s main north-south highway, Pennsylvania's top transportation official said Monday.

In the first official accounting of a wreck that threw hundreds of thousands of morning commutes into chaos and disrupted untold numbers of businesses, state Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said the driver was northbound “trying to navigate the curve, lost control of the vehicle, landed on its side and ruptured the tank.”

The driver was feared dead, and a relative of a New Jersey truck driver who has not been heard from since Sunday told The Philadelphia Inquirer that investigators had contacted the family in an effort to identify human remains recovered from the wreckage.

Pennsylvania State Police said a body was turned over to the Philadelphia medical examiner and coroner, but did not identify the remains or respond when asked if they belonged to the driver.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, speaking of those on the roadway and not the trucker, said he “found myself thanking the Lord that no motorists who were on I-95 were injured or died.”

Interstate 95 will be closed in both directions for weeks as the summer travel season kicks into high gear. The elevated southbound portion of I-95 will have to be demolished, as well as the northbound side, Carroll said. Motorists should avoid the northeast corner of the sixth-largest city in the country, transportation officials said.

The accident also disrupted the automotive route from Canada to Florida through the Boston, New York and Washington metropolitan areas, increasing Americans' dependence on air travel and on the interstate rail network.

Videos shared on social media showed a number of close calls around the accident, with people driving through the area as flames licked upward from the fire below.

The National Transportation Safety Board was on the scene Sunday night. Federal investigators have been collecting information about the truck and talking with the company and emergency responders in order to understand the sequence of events. They are expected to make a preliminary report within weeks.

The damaged I-95 segment carries about 160,000 vehicles daily, Carroll said. State police don't know if the driver was speeding, and no other vehicle has been found. Officials said they had been in contact with the trucking company, but they did not identify it.

Carroll said the highway span was 10 to 12 years old, had appeared sound, and officials blamed the damage on the heat of the fire, which took about an hour to control.

Video below: Shapiro speaks on the collapse at a news conference

Shapiro signed a disaster declaration Monday, saying it gives state agencies the ability to skip normal bidding-and-contracting requirements so the span can be repaired faster.

He said a flight he took over the area showed “just remarkable devastation.”

High heat from the fire or the impact of an explosion could have weakened the steel beams supporting the overpass, according to Drexel University structural engineering Professor Abi Aghayere. Bridges like the one that collapsed don't typically have fire protection, like concrete casing, he added. It could have been coated in a fire-retarding paint, but even then the beams could have been weakened.

“It just gives you time,” he said.

Among many transportation changes across the region, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said it was operating three extra morning and late afternoon trains on its Trenton, New Jersey, line, and adding capacity to regularly scheduled lines during peak hours following the collapse.

The collapsed section of I-95 was part of a $212 million reconstruction project that wrapped up four years ago, state Transportation Department spokesman Brad Rudolph said. PennDOT rated the 104-foot span as in “good” condition earlier this year, with another inspection set for 2025.

Shapiro, a Democrat, said the complete rebuild of I-95 would take “some number of months,” and in the meantime officials were looking at “interim solutions to reconnect I-95 and get traffic through the area."

Joseph L. Schofer, a retired professor of civil and environmental engineering from Northwestern University, said a big challenge for PennDOT in quickly replacing the bridge could be getting heavy-duty steel beams of a hundred feet or more.

Ensuring the precise length necessary — either by finding the construction records or taking measurements — and finding a fabricator to make them could take time, he said.

“You can’t go online to Amazon and order it and have it delivered the next day,” said Schofer, who also hosts a podcast on infrastructure.

In California, a similar situation happened with a highway ramp in Oakland. It was replaced in 26 days, he said.

“Now that’s almost a miracle,” Schofer said. In Atlanta, an elevated portion of Interstate 85 collapsed in a fire, shutting down the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city in March 2017. It took authorities there 43 days to replace it, Schofer said.

In Pennsylvania, officials were also concerned about the environmental effects of runoff into the nearby Delaware River.

After a sheen was seen in the Delaware River near the collapse site, the Coast Guard deployed a boom to contain the material. Ensign Josh Ledoux said the tanker had a capacity of 8,500 gallons, but the contents did not appear to be spreading into the environment.

From Kansas City and Philadelphia to the Super Bowl crowd in Phoenix, Arizona, football fans are ready for this year's big game between the Chiefs and the Eagles.

"It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Adam Kurth, a Chiefs fan who made plans to attend the Super Bowl.

With fate on their side, some fans bought their plane tickets months ago before the football season even started.

"We just hoped and prayed and here we go," said Stefanie Wirths, who bought her plane tickets in June 2022.

While others waited until the Chiefs made it in.

"Our friends said, come on down, tickets showed up, and we’re on our way," said Joe Gilmartin, who's headed to Super Bowl.

Philadelphia fans also found their way to Phoenix.

One "die-hard" Eagles fan in particular got a surprise trip to the game.

As great of a year as it's been for her favorite team, Linda Linderman is missing some of her favorite fans. Her parents both died in the last year.

"On my mom's death bed, I said, 'Mom, look over all of us and our Eagles,' and here we are," she said.

Linda was in Arizona last week, but only because she has some family in the area and not because she had Super Bowl tickets in hand.

When asked where she was going to watch the game, she said, "We're not sure yet. We're still trying to figure that out."

But Linda was in for a shock: It turned out her son already had it figured out.

"So actually, I've already bought Eagles tickets or bought Super Bowl tickets for us. So, we're going to the game," John told her.

Linda has never been to a Super Bowl. And of course, she said she would only ever want to go to one the Eagles are in.

"I really wanted to kind of give this experience to her. I've been going over to her house and watching the Eagles all season, every week, because I know how important it is to her," John said.

A viral Chiefs fan also made the trip to Phoenix, courtesy of Lay's Potato Chips.

Nicki Conrad went viral at Arrowhead Stadium while eating a potato during the AFC Divisional Round game against Jacksonville and was later named Super Bowl LVII's "Lay's Potato Girl."

Two unlikely friends, one a Chiefs fan and one an Eagles fan, will be sitting together at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

John Gladwell and Billy Welsh first met each other while serving together in the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Although they didn't like each other back then, that dynamic all changed when Welsh reached out on social media in desperate need of a kidney and Gladwell responded.

"Never in a million years would I have ever thought that dude would’ve given me a kidney,” Welsh said.

After that kidney donation in October 2020, Gladwell faced his own health crisis.

About a year ago, COVID-19 sent Gladwell to the hospital’s intensive care unit with stage four kidney failure.

Now the two men are embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime trip together.

Even though they’re rooting for different teams, their bond is now much bigger than football.

Lastly, no fan was more ready for this matchup than Donna Kelce, the first mom ever to have her children face off in an NFL Super Bowl as players.

The mother of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce has stolen the show ahead of the big game in Arizona for her sweet interaction with her world-famous sons.

This Super Bowl, mama Kelce is staying neutral. Her combined Eagles and Chiefs shoes and jersey say all you need to know.

"Obviously, I want each boy to do the best that they can, put it all out on the field so that they have no regrets,” Donna Kelce said.

This week, Donna Kelce was in Phoenix and delivered handmade cookies to her sons while they were on stage Monday night during Super Bowl festivities.

A Philadelphia man who served 37 years in prison was cleared on Thursday in a 1980 murder case that was tainted by perjured testimony and he promptly sued the city over his conviction.

Willie Stokes left prison this month after a federal judge overturned his conviction. At a court hearing Thursday, city prosecutors said they would not retry him.

Stokes' lawyers say that prosecutors at the time never disclosed they had charged his chief accuser with perjury after the trial. The 60-year-old Stokes says he is not bitter and is "just excited to move forward" with his life.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said that prosecutors were aware of the lie that a witness told in a statement accusing Stokes of confessing to the crime. Philadelphia homicide detectives working on the case at the time are accused of threatening that witness and bribing them with sex and drugs, the paper reported.

Matthew Stiegler, a supervisor of the District Attorney’s federal litigation unit said, “After a thorough and independent review, the federal court determined that Mr. Stokes was the victim of an egregious violation of his constitutional rights, and we are convinced that the federal court’s ruling was correct.”

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stokes was previously convicted in the 1980 fatal shooting of a man named Leslie Campbell, during a dice game in North Philadelphia.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a January statement, “This remarkable case is marked by prosecutorial and policing practices that were too pervasive during the so-called tough-on-crime 1980s and 1990s, and unfortunately persist in far too many jurisdictions today.”

Domestic workers like nannies and gardeners could soon start earning paid sick time in San Francisco.

The new bill would set up an app for domestic workers to log their hours with their employers. For every 30 hours worked with one employer, they would earn one hour of paid sick time that could accumulate to a full day off across all employers.

It's something that San Francisco law has covered for years now, but there has never been a way for domestic workers to prove they've earned the time.

"Employers don't even know they have this obligation," said Hillary Ronen, the city supervisor representing District 9 in San Francisco. "Many are individual homeowners and domestic workers. Whether they know or not, it's not practical for them to make use of this benefit in the workplace that they're entitled to."

"So if (the workers) became ill or their loved one their child became ill, got COVID for one reason or another, they had no choice. And they're the only choice was they either go to work, or if they don't go to work, they don't eat," said Kimberly Alvarenga, the director of the California Domestic Workers Coalition.

San Francisco is considering the new law as several other cities, including Philadelphia, have been pushing for more domestic worker rights.

Leaders in San Francisco hope the idea of banking time in an app for paid sick leave will expand to other benefits and act as a framework for other cities to follow.

"This portable benefit concept could really be expanded, not only to include other benefits for domestic workers, like potentially retirement funds or health care or other types of workplace benefits that other workers get that that they never received," Ronen said.

"The next phase will be this education and outreach to employers and the 10,000 domestic workers who work in the city of San Francisco," Alvarenga said. "If we can accomplish all these three phases, I think, we'll be in our on our way to to be in an example to other folks."

San Francisco's measure has already passed the board of supervisors and will likely be signed into law. The app is expected to be operational by late 2022 or early 2023.

When Philadelphia's mayor signs landmark legislation as soon as this week, the city will become the first major U.S. city to ban police from stopping drivers for low-level traffic violations — stops that studies show target Black drivers at disproportionately higher rates.

The Driving Equality Bill, passed 14-2 by the city council on Oct. 14, categorizes certain motor vehicle code violations as "primary violations," which allow officers to pull people over in the name of public safety, and "secondary violations" that don't meet the criteria for a lawful traffic stop, according to the office of Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who authored the bill.

The bill will take effect 120 days after Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signs it into law, which his office said he intends to do.

While Philadelphia is the largest city to ban such traffic stops, some local and state governments have also enacted similar policies.

In September, Ramsey County, Minnesota, announced prosecutors will no longer pursue cases against people who are unfairly targeted and detained during non-public safety stops. The new policy comes five years after former St. Anthony Police Department officer Jeronimo Yanez fatally shot Philando Castile seven times during a traffic stop in 2016 over a broken tail light, prosecutors said.

In Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey announced in August that the city's police officers will no longer conduct pretextual traffic stops for low-level offenses as part of his 2022 budget proposal. Officers are prohibited from making pretextual stops for "expired tabs, an item dangling from a mirror, or an expired license," according to a city news release.

In March, Virginia became the first state to prohibit these stops within three months of the bill's introduction. Law enforcement officers cannot lawfully stop motorists for driving without a light illuminating a license plate, without brake lights or a high mount stop light, and with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, according to the legislation.

"The bill also provides that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop, search, or seize any person, place, or thing solely on the basis of the odor of marijuana," the Virginia bill states.

The police department is on board

Dennis Jay Kenney, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told CNN that there are "risks in both directions" in allowing police to make traffic stops for minor violations and prohibiting them altogether.

"The danger of not eliminating them is that it drives a wedge between the public and the police," Kenney said. "If you're tired of driving while Black, you're less likely to cooperate during these stops."

"The risk in the other direction, in the case of traffic safety, is that we prohibit some behavior and require you to have taillights because it's safer, people can more readily stop behind you. So, by saying these violations no longer matter, then to the extent that they impact public safety, then public safety will be negatively impacted," Kenney added.

Kenney said Philadelphia has decided that pretextual stops are disruptive and the risk to the relationship between the police and the community "is greater than the likely pay off of getting a bad guy every now and then."

Once the Driving Equality Bill is signed into law, the Philadelphia police will work on directive amendments and necessary training. Max Weisman, a spokesperson for Councilmember Thomas, said the police department has exhibited support for the bill and has negotiated in "good faith."

The bill was informed by the development of the Bailey pilot program, a result of the 2011 settlement agreement of Bailey v. City of Philadelphia, which requires the police department to collect data on all stop-and-frisks and store it in an electronic database. The lawsuit alleged that thousands of people in Philadelphia are illegally stopped, frisked and detained by police officers.

Low-level offenses such as registration plate and bumper issues will now be categorized as secondary offenses, which bar officers from conducting traffic stops, unless there is an additional high-level safety violation, according to the Philadelphia police department.

"We believe this is a fair and balanced approach to addressing racial disparity without compromising public safety," the department said in a statement. "This modified enforcement model for car stops furthers the Department's priority of addressing the issue of racial disparity in the Department's investigative stops and complements the Department's efforts to address these same issues in pedestrian stops."

'A traffic stop is a rite of passage'

Councilmember Thomas introduced the bill with nine cosponsors in October 2020, aiming to address "the tension between police and community members by removing negative interactions," according to his office.

"I am humbled by every person who told my office of the humiliation and trauma experienced in some of these traffic stops," Thomas said. "Too many people who look like me, a traffic stop is a rite of passage — we pick out cars, we determine routes, we plan our social interactions around the fact that it is likely that we will be pulled over by police."

The legislation is also part of a package including his companion bill that mandates a public, searchable database of traffic stops that will be published monthly. The police department will be required to compile digital records of which officers conduct traffic stops, who was stopped, the reason for the stop, and other data that will be included in the database.

"These bills end the traffic stops that promote discrimination while keeping the traffic stops that promote public safety," his office said in a press release. "This approach seeks to redirect police time and resources towards keeping Philadelphians safe while removing negative interactions that widen the divide and perpetuate mistrust."

The new legislation does not change the motor vehicle code that drivers are legally required to follow, but those who commit minor infractions now only receive a warning or citation by mail.

The bill only removes the enforcement mechanism of a traffic stop, according to Weisman. It designates seven secondary violations that prohibit traffic stops, including bumper issues, minor obstructions, broken lights, and a license plate that is not visible or clearly displayed.

Minor infractions such as broken taillights, the smell of marijuana, improperly displayed registration stickers or hanging items from a car's rearview mirror have been criticized as a pretext for racially motivated traffic stops.

Black drivers, which comprise 48% of Philadelphia's population, accounted for 72% of the nearly 310,000 traffic stops by police officers between October 2018 and September 2019, according to data from the Defender Association of Philadelphia. As of this year, Black drivers account for 67% of stops compared to just 12% of White drivers, the data shows.

Alan Tauber, the acting chief defender for the Defender Association for Philadelphia, said the legislation is a "great first step to building more trust between our police and communities of color," adding, "We're hopeful that passage of the Driving Equality Bill is just the beginning of informed and meaningful conversations about positive changes to our justice system that will benefit all Philadelphians."

PHILADELPHIA —

Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction was thrown out Wednesday by Pennsylvania's highest court in a ruling that swiftly freed the actor from prison more than three years after he was found guilty of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion.

Cosby, 83, was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, and his conviction was seen as a turning point in the movement to hold powerful men accountable for sexual misconduct.

Here's a look at the case against Cosby and the court's decision:

WHY DID THE COURT TOSS HIS CONVICTION?

The split court found that Cosby was unfairly prosecuted because the previous district attorney had promised the comedian once known as "America's Dad" that he wouldn't be charged over Constand's accusations. Cosby was charged by another prosecutor who claimed he wasn't bound by that agreement.

The court said that's not the case. The justices found that Cosby relied on that promise when he agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought against him by Constand.

The court concluded that prosecutor who later brought the charges was obligated to stick to the nonprosecution agreement, so the conviction cannot stand. The justices wrote that "denying the defendant the benefit of that decision is an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade."

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE NONPROSECUTION AGREEMENT?

The promise not to prosecute Cosby was made in 2005 by Bruce Castor, who was then the top prosecutor for Montgomery County. Castor was also on the legal team that defended former President Donald Trump during his historic second impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

During a court hearing weeks after Cosby's 2015 arrest, Castor testified that he promised Cosby he wouldn't be prosecuted in the hopes that it would persuade the actor to testify in a civil case brought by Constand and allow her to win damages. Castor acknowledged the only place the matter was put in writing was in the 2005 press release announcing his decision not to prosecute, but said his decision was meant to shield Cosby from prosecution "for all time."

His successor noted, during the appeal arguments, that Castor went on to say in the press release that he could revisit the decision in the future.

Castor had said that Constand's case would be difficult to prove in court because she waited a year to come forward and stayed in contact with Cosby.

The first jurors who heard the case may have agreed with him, as they could not reach a verdict in 2017. But a second jury empaneled after the #MeToo movement exploded found him guilty at his 2018 retrial. Constand settled her civil case against Cosby for more than $3 million.

Castor's successor, District Attorney Kevin Steele, charged Cosby in 2015 after a federal judge, acting on a request from The Associated Press, unsealed documents from her 2005 lawsuit against Cosby, revealing his damaging testimony about sexual encounters with Constand and others. Castor has said Cosby "would've had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could've been prosecuted."

HOW RARE IS THIS?

Extremely rare.

Wesley Oliver, a Pennsylvania law professor who has followed Cosby's case closely over the years, said he has never heard of a high court in Pennsylvania or anywhere else grappling with a prosecutor's informal promise not to prosecute.

"It breaks new ground entirely," said Oliver, who teaches at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh. "It sets precedent not just for Pennsylvania but probably other states."

He said the ruling should drive home to prosecutors the risks of suggesting at news conferences, in press releases or verbally in private that they will not prosecute.

"They should at least add three words — 'at this time,'" he said. "If you add that qualifier, which wasn't done in Cosby's case, you should be good to go," Oliver said.

CAN COSBY BE TRIED AGAIN?

It's highly unlikely. The decision on Wednesday bars Cosby from being tried again over Constand's complaint, finding it to be the "only remedy that comports with society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system."

And the accusations raised by dozens of other women, including the five who testified at his 2018 trial, often go back decades and are most likely too remote to prosecute.

Cosby turns 84 next month. However, his lawyer said he remains in good health, except for vision problems that render him legally blind.

The trial judge deemed him a sexually violent predator who could still pose a danger to women given his wealth, power and fame, and ordered that he be on a lifetime sex offender registry and check in monthly with authorities. However, the decision negates that finding.

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Michael Tarm contributed to this report from Chicago.

PHILADELPHIA —

Wei Lin always had a reputation for helping others.

"He was so kind," said the 28-year-old's wife through a translator. "Whenever his friends needed help, he tried his best to help them."

And it was while helping a friend that Lin became the victim of a deadly attack.

It happened on May 24 as an employee of his restaurant was making a food delivery in Philadelphia.

"During the delivering process, he got into a car accident," said the victim's wife, Mrs. Zhang, who only wanted to use her last name due to safety concerns. She spoke with WPVI-TV through a Mandarin translator.

The employee who got into a car crash didn't speak English and called Lin to help him communicate with the other driver.

Lin's family members say he called the police and exchanged information with the woman who was driving the other car. What happened next was a complete shock.

"The suspect came out of nowhere," Zhang says of a man who arrived on the scene when police weren't there.

"It was a fist and a really heavy hit at my husband's head," recounts Zhang of the story the delivery driver told, detailing how a man who was a relative of the other driver approached Lin and punched him in the head.

"My husband collapsed," said Zhang, who got a call about the incident at the couple's restaurant.

She says, initially, it was reported that her husband was involved in the car crash.

John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, substantiates that claim.

"At the beginning, police just treated it as a fender bender," said Chin. "Our agency notified police and said, 'Hey this fender bender became a very violent incident against a male victim.'"

Lin was hospitalized for three days before succumbing to his injuries on May 27. His wife says he was unconscious the entire time suffering from severe brain damage.

Police have arrested a suspect, Jose Figueroa of Hunting Park. He's charged with manslaughter.

Lin and his wife had a three-month-old and a 19-month-old together. A GoFundMe page has raised more than $100,000 for his family.

PHILADELPHIA —

A Philadelphia restaurant owner celebrated his birthday and a return from lockdown in the most Philadelphia way possible -- a 510-foot-long cheesesteak.

Rene Kobeitri, owner of Rim Cafe, said it was the longest Philly cheesesteak in the world, breaking the previous record of 480 feet.

Kobeitri told CNN that chefs from across the United States came to help prepare the feast, bringing their own international take on the classic sandwich.

"Each chef had his own station. We had Brazilian. We had Australian. We had Chinese," Kobeitri said. "They made ravioli cheesesteak. I never saw it in my life."

Kobeitri said it took 500 pounds of meat and two hours to prepare the record-breaking sandwich, which shut down three blocks.

But the food didn't last long.

"Less than one hour -- everything gone," Kobeitri said.

This was more than a birthday party, though. Kobeitri said rather than focusing on breaking a record, he wanted the celebration to be a chance to bring people together after more than a year of isolation.

"The only competition for me -- make people happy and bring everybody together," he said.