mitch blacher with the nbc 10 investigators. when we went back to ask johns about his business, he again told us to call his lawyer but wouldn't give us a number or tell us who his lawyer is. >> are you working as a funeral director? you're not doing funerals? you're not preparing bodies for burial? >> reporter: it's not the first time recently we've seen unlicensed activity in a pennsylvania funeral home. last summer we saw it twice in one week in philadelphia. first police discovered decomposing bodies in blair hawkins' unlicensed funeral home. days later, they found three decomposing in an unrefrigerated philadelphia garage. state records show janet powell-daley ran an unlicensed funeral home for three years. both powell-daley and hawkins were charged with abuse of a corpse and are awaiting trial. hawkins said he wouldn't talk to us until his trial ends. powell-daley and her lawyer haven't returned our calls. how does a situation like that happen? >> you know what, i don't know. i just -- i don't know. i mean, this is a tough

here's investigative reporter mitch blacher. >> reporter: it's 3:00 outside goppers elementary school. >> should be out playing. >> reporter: brandy holloway waits for her niece. she has no idea the school only reported doing two fire drills last year. >> definitely not enough. we need to do more. >> reporter: the nbc 10 investigators uncovered less than 15% of all philly schools followed the fire code and reported doing ten fire drills. >> no, i did not know that. >> reporter: superintendent william hite only found out when we crunched the numbers and told him, but building inspection records show someone besides the nbc 10 investigators knew schools failed to follow the fire code. checking school fire drill logs is on the department of licenses and inspections' school inspection checklist. >> what we found time and time again in inspection reports is they passed schools that didn't do enough fire drills. >> unfortunately, i'm not surprised, but, you know, something has to be done. >> reporter: lni deputy commissioner looked through dozens of his office's school inspection reports wi

now investigative reporter mitch blacher's finding have the superintendent promising a change. >> look both ways. don't just walk. you're walking with me. >> reporter: brenda has high expectations for her grandkids. >> not supposed to be 88 %, it's supposed to be 100%. >> reporter: if a "b" isn't good enough for her, imagine what she'll say when she sees the grades philly schools get on fire drills. philadelphia fire code clearly says schools should do monthly drills. one for every month school's in session. ten total. it's a standard set by the national fire protection association. robert solomon is with the nfpa. >> this is one of the most important things you can do for the students and the faculty. >> reporter: through a public records request, rereceived reviewed and tracked philadelphia school fire drill logs. 171 out of 218 schools responded. and it became clear most schools aren't doing or documenting ten drills per school year. according to logs we analyzed, last year the school district got an "f." less than 15% of its schools whose fire drill logs we reviewed follow the fire

for the investigators, i'm mitch blacher, nbc 10 news. >>> about 20 minutes past 5:00 a.m.e to get another look at traffic. >> let's get you to work. nbc 10 traffic reporter jessica boyington has what you need to know as you head out the door. >> we're starting to see volume here on 95, nothing that's really increasing the drive times yet. we're looking live at 95 around girard avenue. you can see no real problem here. and a southbound drive time from woodhaven road to the vine street expressway and that takes you about 13 minutes. average speeds into the 60s. more updates for you and i'll check in with mass transit when i'm back in the next ten. >>> now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> clouds are here. you can see them in a live view, looking across the delaware at center city. and a nice breeze, too. those winds going to keep things dry for the most part. there are a few showers that have not reached into philadelphia. they're staying farther north and west. if you're heading out the door, south jersey, cloudy, cool this morning. no sign

for the investigators, i'm mitch blacher, nbc 10 news. >>> some of philadelphia's finest police officers were recognized for their contributions tonight. the annual police month order of police awards were held. jesse hartnett one of several officers honored who continues to recover after the ambush attack by a man who allegedly pledged allegiance to isis. >>> the owner of the former revel casino needs your help to complete its revival and willing to pay up for it. considering a $10,000 reward for a person who can rename the casino. however, he tells nbc 10 he hasn't officially launched a way to submit your proposals. he says 40% of the resort will re-open by june 15th. >>> a horse once paint covered and headed for slaughter is getting a fresh start thanks to comedian jon stewart. he's bringing lily the horse from chester county to this new animal sanctuary in new jersey. lily was found abandoned at an auction in march emaciated, blind and covered with welts from an apparent paint ball attack. doctors at the university of pennsylvania's new bolton center in kennett square treated her and

congress set a limit but mitch blacher found some in philadelphia are making more. >> it's way out ofine. it's a racket. >> reporter: this u.s. senator helped set the federal executive salary limit at $157,000 per year. we found philadelphia public housing executives making over that amount. >> salaries are ridiculous. >> it raises concern. >> reporter: as president of philadelphia's housing authority, calvin jeremiah earned $243,000. >> this is by no means an easy gig. >> reporter: tonight at 11:00, where the extra money is coming from, and the salaries are needed and a call for a stricter limit. for the investigators, mitch blacher, nbc 10 news. >>> now, your nbc 10 first alert neighborhood weather with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> well, the summer-like warmth is going to continue as we go into tomorrow. and even into memorial weekend. that's good news especially for those of you who plan on being outside. don't forget with our neighborhood weather, seven-day forecast scrolling at bottom of the screen, no matter pennsylvania, new jersey, delaware. temperatures now in the 80s. lo

>> of course, we can tell them the statutory requirement is ten. >> mitch blacher joins us with a closer look at the reporting on the philadelphia city fire drills. story's coming up at 11:00, but you've uncovered some schools don't conduct enough fire drills. what have you found? >> you saw the grade. if we look at last year, they'd get an "f," 15%, percentage of schools that followed the fire code. one fire drill every month at a school in session, that's ten a year. we found schools doing two, three fire drills during the course of the year and we had to tell the superintendent his schools weren't doing enough fire drills. he didn't know. >> we'll be looking for the report at 11:00. >>> also, one more thing you mentioned there's another city agency that should be involved in this? >> yes. that's the report tonight. we're looking through all of this documentation, finding that another city agency, licenses and inspections, new the fire drills weren't being done. yet inspectors continue to pass the schools. that is our investigation tonight. talking to lni, why are we ones who have to b

nbc 10's investigative reporter mitch blacher is live above the crash site. mitch? >> reporter: jim, this is the site of the deadliest rail accident since 1997. a.m. rack 188 hit this curve at more than 100 miles per hour, and while it took days to fix the track, it's going to take years to lace the country's rails with technology to prevent future accidents. the carnage and chaos from a year ago faded away. the lessons have not. >> this has been an incident that's affected every person at the fra, and it really drives our work on safety today. >> reporter: as the head of the federal railroad administration, sarah fineberg demanded railroads install ptc, positive train control, within months of the 188 track, amtrak had it on every line owned in the northeast corridor. the train safety system automatically slows a speeding train and helps avoid a collision. yet, in april, amtrak 89 crashed into a backhoe in chester killing two maintenance workers, raising questions about whether the technology could and should have stopped the train. >> we know that ptc is on the no

investigative reporter mitch blacher is in washington, d.c. as pmgs learned exactly what happened. >> e relive it pretty much every day. >> temple university professor was just one of the more than 200 injured when amtrak 188 flew off thes. he says philadelphia police pulled him from the wreckage, and he needed to get to the hospital. >> being cut, bleeding from the head, the pain that i was in, the need to get to someplace safe. >> reporter: the ntsb reports 24 of the injuries were taken by ambulance. it rems that philadelphia police and fire officials update mass casualty plans and the major ensure they practice it. they concluded windows separated by the passenger cars, fur were killed when ejected from the train. amtrak's ceo took responsibility. >> regulations were not adequate for what we needed to do when the cars were built, and that needs to be changed. we support that. >> as for the overall cause, human error is now officially to blame for the carnage from a year ago. the investigation found the train's engineer, brandon bosain, was

mitch blacher went to the philadelphia zoo to see what safety features are in place to prevent this accidenteporter: this is video of a 400 pound gorilla helping a 4-year-old to his feet. >> you heard the splash, and people were yelling, you know, there's a boy in the water, a boy in the water. >> reporter: today at the philadelphia zoo, the lesson was for the family. >> talking about that in the car, like, we have to be careful. >> reporter: jeff feels the same here. >> doing things are super safe, you know, life happens. >> reporter: in cincinnati, zoo officials only rescued the boy by killing the gorilla. the man in charge of philadelphia's zoo says it was the right call. >> we have ours set up in a way making it difficult for this incident to happen. >> reporter: and this is the gorilla exhibit at the philly zoo, major difference between what we saw in cincinnati, and here they are sealing the gorillas in, people could not access them if they wanted to. an inspection in 2015 found philly's main wolf enclosure was not sufficient to protect the public. the zoo immediately added extra fenci

nbc 10 investigator mitch blacher will be in washington tomorrow for the needing of the national transportation safety board. watch for his report on nbc 10 news and the app. >>> a construction worker is dead after he was hit by a car on i-95 near wilmington. police say it happened around 7:30 in the northbound lanes na near the brandywine river bridge. the two right lanes are still shut down causing a massive backup as you can see here. the driver remained on the scene. no word yet on what caused the crash. >>> caught in the act. a man taking pictures up a woman's skirt while she stood at a food counter. he got away but not before the victim fought back and a camera got his picture as well. >> nbc 10's denise nakano is live in upper darby where it happened. denise, police say this woman stalked his victim. >> reporter: that's right, jim and jacqueline. the suspect followed the victim for several blocks into the philly pretzel factory. she walked up to the counter, he was right behind her. what happened neblxt was caughtn camera including a confrontation that sent him running off. it doesn't ge

mitch blacher will be there with reports at 4:00. now to nbc 10 responds.aged couple ran into costly trouble when they bought their first home together. >> they hired an unlicensed contractor off craig's list to help with renovations. guess what, didn't go as planned. they reached out to harry hairston. >> a couple paid hundreds of dollars up front for some home repairs. problem is, the repairs are not done. the contractor has not come back. >> come here. >> reporter: they say getting their dogs to do what they want is no problem. getting the contract they hired to finish repairs on the house is another story. >> three days to get the job done, turned into -- bad weather, give you that, but it turned into being over a month. >> reporter: he says the contract, nick, did complete most of the work. what do you think about the work? >> horrible, absolutely who. >> some of the work neetsds to be redone like gaps in the wood work. >> he charged 1650. total cost for everything. >> reporter: he hired him after seeing an ad on craig's list. >> did you do research on

one eager to prove his school was safe, inviting mitch blacher to this morning's fire drill. >> reporter: when the alarm sounds at fox chase limit ri, robert says his kids know what to do. >> you guys are awesome. >> reporter: the principal invited us inside after the investigators revealed the school documented two drills last year. building fire code says schools haved too ten. >> it is my job to keep my and school safe. i take responsibility for that, unfortunate, the number does not reflect what we did do. fox chase elementary, one of 94 schools analyzed that failed to follow the fire code last year according to records provided by the philadelphia school district. >> this is one of thee most important things that you can do for the students and the faculty. >> reporter: we showed the national fire protection association, robert solomon, what schools documented. he's not surprised since our investigation, parents asked about fire drills. >> those are legitimate questions for them to be asking, why wasn't it done? >> did a great job. >> reporter: this praps principal said his kids pra

. >>> breaking news from skyforce10, mitch blacher is live over cherry hill. there's a brush fire. what do you see, mitch in. >> reporter: keith, we are just over route 70 in the new jersey turnpike in cherry hill. there's flames, a growing brush fire along the new jersey turnpike. we zoom out, you can just start to see the scope of this thing. must be at least a mile long, goes between route 70 and crystal road where cherry hill water tower is. we've seen fire crews arrive in the last couple minutes, seemed this brush fire was condolencing to smolder, thick white smoke from the trees, and you can see the fire crew there responding to this. the traffic seems to be continuing to move and unaffected at this point, but a very long stretch of the new jersey turnpike has a brush fire going right now and we'll watch it for you live from skyforce10. >> not only close to traffic, but close to those buildings. we'll watch it. nbc 10 is following breaking news now from washington. the secret service has lifted a lockdown at the white house after a man was shot near t grounds. witnesses saw a

mitch blacher is in washington, d.c.where they released the findings today. >>. >> reporter: the ntsb says he was distrabcted by the radio traffic. it involved a train near his location that was hit by a rock. >> the engineer lost track where he was before accelerating to a high rate of speed. >> reporter: amtrak 188 was going 106 miles per hour around a corner built to handle a train going 50. they concluded windows separated from passenger cars and four died being thrown from the train. he was aboard the train. >> nobody knows what it's like to be in a train wreck until -- a literal train wreck. >> reporter: he was in the last car and here today. >> i don't think of it as closure, but another step in the process. >> reporter: the amtrak ceo was here as the crash was blamed on human error on an engineer. >> we immediately said we were responsible, taking responsibility. >> reporter: from here in the washington headquarters, the ntsb recommended for the 30th time that positive train control be installed, they repeatedly

. >> investigative reporter mitch blacher went to the state leaders for answers. >> reporter: aloe pez goes out of his way to avoid solicitors. >> trying to protect myself from outside sources. >> reporter: address and phone number unlisted, but if a solicitor calls, he has a plan. >> it won't let the call come in. >> reporter: computer guarded by a popup and blocker, another program makes his browser history untraceable, but somehow he says since moving to pennsylvania, solicitors keep finding him. >> the only place you give up information is to broadwapply f driver's license? >> a pennsylvania driver's license. >> reporter: lopez like many drivers had no idea penn-dot sold the information on his license and driving history. he's not the only one. the nbc 10 investigators found penn-dot sold millions of driver records to more than 32,000 private companies and government agencies. we tracked pennsylvania drivers' information to companies in every state in the country. credit agencies, insurance companies, and car dealerships. do you know why a car dealer in honolulu, hawaii needs acces

nbc 10 investigative reporter, mitch blacher, in washington for the hearing speaking to the ntsb about the findings. agency told him they have concerns about the way first responders took people to the hospital, and they are recommending the city change its practices. mitch will show us why coming up on "nbc 10 news" at 7:00. >> at 5:00, twin brothers set off bombs on winter break from college. daniel and caleb tate had a two-week crime spree while home from school in december. they blew up five mailboxes and sheds throughout lancaster and chester counties. this is damage caused by the blasts. no one hurt, but authorities say because that's because no one was nearby. >>> police searching for whoever shot a man in the back of the head this afternoon killing him. skyforce10 above the scene af r after, and police recovered two guns at the scene. they have not yet identified a victim. >>> we have new information now about a construction worker kill on the job along i-95 in delaware. he's been identified now. it's 36-year-old alexander of wilmington, and skyforce2010 was over the scene, and

here's mitch blacher with a preview. >> we'll hold people accountable to this. >> failing philly firells got by the superintendent but another agency is charged with checking school fire logs. >> you know they're not doing ten drills in every school. >> yes, we know they're not doing ten drills in every school. >> you can't tell them to do ten fire drills? >> of course. we can tell them the statutory requirement is ten. >> reporter: that's tonight on nbc 10 news at 11:00. >>> a vineland couple calls nbc 10 responds when they said a mattress company never explained their warranty. >> $1,500 out the window. >> find out what happened when harry hairston and the nbc 10 responds team got involved and got action. >>> good morning, everyone. jessica boyington with your first alert traffic. we are watching out 55 in millville, new jersey. right along route 49. not a lot of cars on the road. looks look a hazy commute as well. we'll check in with 95 when i'm back in the next few minutes. >>> a little bit of light fog in the area. not everybody will see that. not everybody will see the clouds al