Today, a gunman opened fire on an exercise class in a suburban Pittsburgh fitness center, killing three people and himself, he was said to have hated women and had been planning his attack for months and “chickened out” during an earlier attempt, he wrote in a blog.  FNC Reporter Rick Leventhal and FNC Producer Kathleen Foster are on the scene reporting LIVE!

We met up with Richard Walker who was playing basketball at LA Fitness in Bridgeville, PA when a gunman opened fire inside a room filled with women in an exercise class. He carried one woman, who was shot in the leg, to safety.

The 27 year old woman Walker carried lost a lot of blood in the parking lot of LA Fitness before he placed her in an ambulance.

Click here for more info on this tragic story!

Everyone seems to know the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby is the Mint Julep. But did you know the Belmont Stakes has its own cocktail too?  No? Perhaps that’s because the recipe was too complex.  Last year, while covering the the triple crown race with Correspondent Laura Ingle we had to keep triple checking the ingredients: a shot of this, a jigger of that…
This year it was  pared down to just three ingredients: bourbon, lemonade and pomegranate juice … making the “Breeze” … well, a breeze! Celebrity chef and mixologist John Ashton showed Senior Correspondent Rick Leventhal how to make them on Saturday. It’s pretty much a third of each.  So catch a “Breeze” while relaxing this summer at the racetrack!

How would you like to send your kid to college for just $1,000 dollars per year? That covers everything – tuition, books, even room and board.  Now, what if I told you the rest of your kid’s costs were paid for by gambling?

That’s PA Governor Ed Rendell’s latest plan for off-setting the high cost of higher education. He says there are up to 20,000 illegal video poker machines operating in bars and social clubs across the state. He wants the state to get a cut of all those $1s and $5s, by legalizing the machines, taking 50 percent of the profits, and putting the money toward education.

Students or parents making less than $100,000 a year would qualify to cash in.

PA State Representative Duane Milne is a political science professor who teaches at West Chester University, one of the state schools that would benefit from the governor’s plan. But Representative Milne plans to vote against the proposal, saying it teaches students that their education goals can be obtained through a “cheap fix”.

Rep Milne would like to see the people of Pennsylvania vote on the proposal in a referendum. But that’s not likely as the Governor hopes to pass the plan in time to help college freshmen starting school in the fall.

What do you think? Is the plan worth betting on?

done

PS – A special thank you to all my Philly friends and family who tried to help me find those illegal and apparently elusive video poker machines!

The people of Coatesville, PA are sleeping with one eye open, fearing that at any minute their house could be set on fire. At least one arsonist is on the loose, and it’s most likely one of the town’s own.

There have been 30 arsons in this small city since the beginning of last year. 15 were set in just the past month alone.  At first, the fires started small, mostly in trash cans.  Then sheds started burning.  Then abandoned houses. Now homes filled with sleeping people are going up in flames in the middle of the night. This past weekend a string of 15 row homes was destroyed, leaving dozens of people homeless.

The town is on edge.

People are filled with fear, anxiety and suspicion.  With no known suspects and no recent arrests, everyone is a suspect.  Townspeople are offering to do their own patrols. But because Pennsylvania is a “right-to-carry” state, Coatesville’s Chief of Police doesn’t want any bloody accidents.  He is urging people not to take matters into their own hands.

The most recent fire happened at 6:30 yesterday evening. Photographer Rob Ginnane and I were driving around town taking pictures of people removing flammable furniture from their porches when a firetruck zoomed past us, sirens blaring.

We followed it to Coates Street where we found a young man standing in front of his house. He was clutching a fire extinguisher to his chest, a look of fear in his eyes.  Minutes after coming home last night he heard a blast in his back yard and found his trash can on fire. “I had just seen a show on tv about escaping fires and all I remembered is they said to stay real calm,” he told me.

He put out the fire himself and called 9-1-1.

Everywhere you go people are talking about the fires. Rumors are spreading almost as fast as the flames, and you can almost smell the smoke coming out of the fuming people writing into the editorial page of the local papers. People want the firestarter(s) caught before they can strike again, and want to know why it’s taking police so long to do it.

Philly Fans Going WILD!

After the Philidelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 2008 World Series last night, many family and friends all began to cry. This is truly a historic night in the city of Brotherly Love!

As fans were cheering in the streets of Philly I was on the Septa on my way home from this exciting event. When the conductors came around they refused to collect tickets from us.  They called it “a free ride in honor of The Phillies!”

GOOO PHILLIESS!!!!

Check back for more exclusive photos and videos from my exciting night in Philly!