Philly building collapse

NEW JERSEY 101.5 The contractor who oversaw a botched building demolition that killed six people in a Salvation Army thrift store in Philadelphia was charged with murder, manslaughter and reckless endangerment on Monday.

A new contractor is preparing to begin demolition work at the site of a Philadelphia building collapse that killed six people.

A veteran Philadelphia building inspector who apparently committed suicide had inspected the site of a deadly building collapse twice in February, and an adjacent, related project in mid-May.

Philadelphia officials have identified an inspector who fatally shot himself a week after a building collapse that killed six people as a dedicated 16-year veteran of the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

A heavy equipment operator with a lengthy rap sheet accused of being high on marijuana when a downtown building collapsed onto a thrift store, killing six people, turned himself in on Saturday to face charges in the deaths, police said.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says the city is changing the way buildings are demolished in response to a demolition gone awry that killed six people and injured 13 more this week.

A four-story building being demolished on the edge of downtown collapsed with a thunderous boom Wednesday, raining bricks down on a thrift store, injuring 12 people and trapping two others, the fire commissioner said. Rescue crews were trying to extricate the two people who were trapped inside the adjacent shop, which was severely damaged by falling debris, city Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.