Pennsylvania
Nursing assistant one of two killed in deadly Pennsylvania blast
An explosion at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center outside Philadelphia killed at least two people, including nursing assistant Muthoni Nduthu.
Pennsylvania nursing home explosion causes damage
An explosion at Silver Lake Healthcare Center in Bristol, PA, left the building in ruins and at least two people dead.
BUCKS COUNTY, PA ‒ A day after multiple explosions at a Pennsylvania nursing home killed two people and injured 20 others, authorities surveyed the extensive damage and began identifying the victims.
Muthoni Nduthu, 52, was named by the Bucks County Coroner’s Office as one of the two people found dead inside the Silver Lake Nursing Home, also known as the Bristol Health & Rehab Center, after a pair of explosions partially collapsed the facility on Dec. 23.
Nduthu, a nursing assistant at the facility, was a mother of three who was featured in news stories over a decade ago when she bought her home through the local branch of Habitat for Humanity. Clinton Ndegwa, one of Nduthu’s sons, declined to comment when reached by phone, reported the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The deadly incident began around 2:20 p.m., when the first blast trapped dozens of residents inside the two-story building and triggered an intense search-and-rescue effort. Firefighters arrived on the scene and pulled frightened residents from windows, stairwells and elevator shafts as the building erupted into flames.
After first responders rescued two people from the building’s collapsed basement, a second explosion rocked the facility, producing another ball of fire and spewing more smoke into the air, said Bristol Township Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito.
Two people, including Nduthu and a resident who has not yet been publicly identified, died from their injuries. At least 20 others were injured and over 100 residents have been displaced. The facility has more than 170 beds, though it’s not clear how many residents and staff were in the building at the time of the explosions.
Search teams ceased their operations hours after the explosion, after all residents and employees were accounted for. The next day, officials seemed to still be surveying the scope of the damage as members of various government agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board, walked through the scene and snapped photos.
Nursing home explosion aftermath: A view from above
Here’s a drone view of aftermath of the fatal explosion at the Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol on Dec. 23, 2025
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said authorities believe a gas leak led to the “catastrophic” blast. Crews for PECO, the local energy company, were responding to reports of a gas odor at the nursing home just before the first explosion was reported.
“PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the company said in a statement. “It is not known at this time if PECO’s equipment, or natural gas, was involved in this incident.”
An investigation into the cause of the blasts remains underway.
Shapiro and other officials described a heroic rescue effort that saw first responders hoist residents over their shoulders and carry them away from the burning building.
“In the immediate moments after the explosion, you saw what real heroism is all about,” Shapiro said. “Firefighters rushed to this scene in order to contain the explosion, in order to put out the fire, and most importantly, in order to rescue people.”
Residents who live near the facility said they could feel the explosions from inside their homes.
Joe Westergon, who lives a few blocks from the facility, told the Bucks County Courier Times that he helped carry six injured residents to safety.
“I was taking them over to the curb and sitting them down,” Westergon said. “I was trying to keep them as calm as possible … They’ll live, but they were pretty tore up, some were bleeding.”
Christopher Cann reports for USA TODAY. Chris Ullery and Jo Ciavaglia report for the Bucks County Courier Times.
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, Amanda Lee Myers and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY; Lacey Latch, JD Mullane, Jess Rohan, and Michele Haddon, Bucks County Courier Times.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
RADNOR TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — Three winning scratch-off tickets totaling $7.5 million were sold in Pennsylvania, lottery officials announced on Monday.
One winning “MONOPOLY Own It All” ticket worth $5 million was sold in Delaware County at the GIANT on the 500 block of East Lancaster Avenue. The grocery store will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
“MONOPOLY Own It All” is a $50 game that offers top prizes of $5 million.
In Erie County, a $1.5 million-winning “Cash Spectacular” scratch-off was purchased at a Sheetz on Perry Highway. “Cash Spectacular” is a $30 game that offers top prizes of $1.5 million.
And in Luzerne County, a $1 million-winning “Millionaire Loading” scratch-off was sold at Schiel’s Family Market in Wilkes-Barre. “Millionaire Loading” is a $20 game that offers top prizes of $1 million.
Scratch-off prizes expire one year from the game’s end-sale date posted at palottery.com.
Winners should immediately sign the back of their ticket and call the Pennsylvania Lottery at 1-800-692-7481.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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A new report from U-Haul shows where Pennsylvania residents are leaving to and where new residents are coming from in 2025. Here’s what to know about U-Haul’s top 10 states with the most and least growth numbers.
Eight warm weather states made U-Haul’s top 10 growth list for 2025, while eight states in the colder Northeast and Midwest filled out the bottom 10, including Pennsylvania and neighboring New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. Delaware ranked 21 out of 50 states in growth for 2025.
U-Haul also noted besides geography, that seven of the 10 states with the most growth featured Republican governors, nine of which went red in the last presidential election, and 9 out of 10 in the bottom growth states featured Democrat governors, seven of which went blue in the last presidential election.
“We continue to find that life circumstances — marriage, children, a death in the family, college, jobs and other events — dictate the need for most moves,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president in press release. Adding, “But other factors can be important to people who are looking to change their surroundings. In-migration states are often appealing to those customers.”
U-Haul ranks states growth based on their one-way customer transactions that rented trucks, trailers or moving containers in one state and dropped it off in another state. Their growth index included over 2.5 million annual one-way transactions across the United States and Canada.
Texas holds the number one U-Haul growth state for the seventh time in the last 10 years while California ranked last for the sixth year in a how.
Pennsylvania’s growth rank for 2025 remained at a low 46 out of 50 states, same as 2024, and compared relatively similar to its growth numbers over the last 10 years, according to U-Haul’s data, with the exception during 2022-2023 when its highest growth numbers hit 24 out of 50 in 2022 and 38 out of 50 in 2023.
Oregon, Mississippi, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Louisiana and Montana were among the biggest year-over-year gainers in 2025 compared to U-Haul’s 2024 rankings, while Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, Delaware and Nebraska saw the biggest drops.
While the national average rent in the U.S. sits at approximately $1,623 per month (0.4% higher than this time last year) the Keystone State boasts a lower rent average at approximately $1,526 per month (1.9% higher than last year), according to Apartments.com. It is ranked 34th least expensive rent by state.
Here’s what to know about Pennsylvania and what states saw the most and least growth in 2025 according to U-Haul.
Top 10 U-Haul growth states of 2025
In 2025 Pennsylvania ranked 46 out of 50 states on growth as reported by U-Haul.
- Texas
- Florida
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Washington
- Arizona
- Idaho
- Alabama
- Georgia
U-Haul reported the 10 states with the lowest growth numbers were lead by California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, and Michigan.
Where are Pennsylvania residents moving to and from?
According to the company’s semiannual U.S. migration trends report, based on the one-way rental data after the summer’s high moving season, it revealed that while Pennsylvania remains a top destination, Pennsylvanians are also packing up and heading out. Here’s where they moved to:
- New York
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- Massachusettes
- Ohio
- Michigan
- Florida
- California
- Washington D.C.
According to this report, here’s what states new residents came from:
- New Jersey
- New York
- Maryland
- Florida
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- Delaware
- Massachusetts
- Ohio
- Texas
- West Virginia
- Michigan
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