Slideshow: Western wildfires

Sara Delano Roosevelt was a doting -- and, at times, overly protective -- mother to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Presidents have at least two things in common: They love their country and they love their moms. From John Quincy Adams' overbearing Abigail to Barack Obama's single-mom Anne Dunham, our presidents tend to be the products of strong, confident women who made life-lasting impacts on their sons. 

"If you look at the families of presidents, it's the momma's boy who is most likely to be president," said Doug Wead, author of "The Raising of a President: The Mothers and Fathers of Our Nations Leaders." 

Sigmund Freud theorized that the child perceived to be a mother's favorite is empowered for life. The close connection between presidents and their mothers could be due to absentee fathers who weren't around while the future leaders were growing up.

Whatever the reason, behind nearly every great president was a great mom.

"In virtually every case, it was the mothers who raised their sons to be president, and developed their character and will to get there," said Bonnie Angelo, author of "First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents."

In honor of Mother's Day, here's a look at some of the most prolific momma's boys to ever occupy the White House:

John Quincy Adams
When it comes to being a momma's boy, John Quincy Adams did not have much of a choice in the matter, Angelo writes. His mother, Abigail Adams, decided early on that she would play an active role in her son's life. Her husband, the second president of the United States, spent much of his career as a diplomat, clocking in serious time overseas before becoming president. And while he was away, Abigail Adams had the responsibility of molding and educating the children, along with instilling a strong sense of morality.

When 11-year-old John Quincy traveled to Paris to spend time with his father, Abigail expressed her concern about the seedy underbelly she thought the city to have. "I would rather see you find a grave in the ocean you have crossed, than see you an immoral, profligate or graceless child," she told him.

Abigail Adams prohibited John Quincy's first engagement, and later in life when he wrote from London to say he was looking to marry, she said urged him to think about his future and stay single. When she found out the girl was British, she wrote "I hope for the love I bear my country that the Siren is at least half-blooded." Fortunately, the father of future first lady Louisa Catherine Johnson was the American consul in London.

William McKinley
The Ohio native at first disappointed his mother by not becoming a preacher. But she quickly forgave him. As president, he had installed a special wire to her home in the Buckeye State so that he could pray with her daily, said Wead. When she was on her death bed, McKinley rushed out of Washington on his presidential train to be by her side. During her illness and death, McKinley was "inconsolable," Wead writes.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Sara Delano Roosevelt, the first mother ever to vote for her son for president, would not let him take a bath alone until he was 9 years old. In fact, she kept FDR in dresses until he was six, as was custom of the day. When he went off to Harvard, his mother rented an apartment in Boston to oversee his social life. 

Though a privileged child, FDR did not fit in well growing up. He was unathletic and socially awkward, which some historians cite as a result of his domineering mother. Her heavy involvement in her son's life did not end after his childhood. She was a staple of the FDR White House, sitting next to her son as he delivered his first fireside chat. She even delivered her own address to the nation on Mother's Day. 

"She was a force to be rekoned with," said Angelo. The author noted that because of FDR's health complications and troubles as a child, he easily could have chosen a privileged life out of the public eye. But his mother pushed him to directly confront the challenges he faced.

Her strong manner also made for a contentious relationship with famed First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Angelo notes that FDR could take on labor leaders, big business and stare down Hitler -- but he could never say no to his mother. It meant he was largely mute when she bullied his wife. "The momma's boy willingly made his wife second fiddle to his mother," Angelo writes.

FDR also became the first president since Woodrow Wilson to not issue a presidential proclamation on Mother's Day. Instead, in 1935, he said the the holiday held such significance that a proclamation was unnecessary, and called on Americans to honor their mothers with tributes that “come simply and spontaneously from our hearts.” 

Harry Truman
Harry Truman's father, John, was a largely unsuccessful entrepreneur with a temper, Angelo writes. Growing up in Missouri, Truman formed a close bond with his mother, Martha Ellen Young Truman.  She lived to see her son's appointment to the White House following President Roosevelt's death, but told reporters that her son's death was no cause for celebration in the wake of a national tragedy.  

In her book, Angelo writes that after Truman's 1948 election, he lamented: "I wish my mother had lived long enough to see me sworn in as an elected president. When I succeeded Franklin Roosevelt, my mother so wisely said it was no occasion for her to rejoice. But now that I have been elected president in my own right, it would have been a great thrill for her to be present as her son took the oath."

His mother had passed away one year earlier. Truman had been keeping vigil by his dying mother's bed for two weeks in 1947 before he had to briefly go back to Washington. On his way back from the White House to return to Martha Ellen Young Truman's side, his mother appeared to him in a dream. Shortly after he awoke, he was handed a message the pilot received over the radio. Without even reading it, Truman said he knew its contents. "I knew she was gone when I saw her in that dream. She was saying good-bye to me," he recalled. Her parting words, he said, were, "Goodbye, Harry. Be a good boy." 

John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy's father, Joe, is largely credited with building the family's political dynasty. But his mother, Rose Kennedy, turned out to be one of JFK's best allies on the campaign trail. She was an avid campaigner during her son's 1960 presidential run, and biographers note her interest in the back-room deals and nuts and bolts of politics. 

Julian Wasser / Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

President John F. Kennedy and his mother, Rose.

Rose Kennedy's interest in politics stemmed from a passion for history. The well educated mother of nine made it point to ensure her children loved learning in the same way she did. In her memoir "Times to Remember," she wrote, "I looked at child rearing not only as a work of love and duty, but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world."   

Some historians have noted her to have been cold and removed, notions her children have since rejected. Angelo described her as "the strong spine of that family." 

But she remained engaged with JFK during his presidency, at times to a fault. In 1962 she wrote to Soviet Premier Khrushchev asking for a signed photo. It prompted a response from her president son asking that she check with him before reaching out to other heads of state.

"When I ask for Castro's autograph, I will let you know in advance," she replied.

Richard Nixon
He didn't go out on top, but in his farewell address, Nixon made sure to give proper thanks to the woman who reared him: "Nobody will ever write a book, probably, about my mother. Well, I guess all of you would say this about your mother -- my mother was a saint. And I think of her, two boys dying of tuberculosis, nursing four others in order that she could take care of my older brother for three years in Arizona, and seeing each of them die, and when they died, it was like one of her own. Yes, she will have no books written about her. But she was a saint."

The Bushes
Wead, who served as a special assistant to President George H.W. Bush, recalled an emotional moment in the Oval Office when someone asked the president how his ailing mother, Dorothy Walker Bush, was doing. "He had a weird expression on his face, almost as if he was choking. Then he just burst out and started sobbing, and we all scattered," he said. She passed in 1992, just 16 days after Bush lost re-election to Bill Clinton.

AP

First lady Barbara Bush is shown here with son George in 1989 at the family home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

In a statement, the senior Bush said his mother, "Was the beacon in our family -- the center, the candle around which all the moths fluttered -- she was there, the strength, the center, the power but never arrogance, just love was her strength, kindness her main virtue."

His wife, Barbara Bush -- mother to President George W. Bush -- once said in an interview that her mother-in-law had "10 times more" influence on her son than his father. 

Barbara formed a close bond with Dorothy, and developed a relationship with son George similar to the one her husband had with his mother.  Angelo writes that at a commencement address at Southern Methodist in 1999 during his presidential campaign, Bush jokingly told the graduates: "Remember that no matter how old you are or what your job is, you can never escape your mother." Throughout his presidential run, Barbara continued to give her son motherly advice -- like stand up straight and to make sure his socks were pulled up during an appearance on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show."

First lady Laura Bush would later say her husband is much more like his mother than his father. "Both are feisty," she said.

Barack Obama
Mothers continue to have an indelible impact on their politician sons. In his book "Dreams From My Father," President Barack Obama called his mom, Ann Dunham, "The kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her." She had him as a teenager, and Obama was raised both by her and his grandparents.

She passed away in 1995, but in an interview with the Chicago Tribune during his 2008 campaign, Obama said she was "the dominant figure in my formative years. . . . The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics."

CAMARILLO, Calif. - A flow of damp air from the Pacific Ocean helped firefighters in their battle against a huge wildfire burning through coastal mountains in Southern California.

Fire crews on Saturday worked to create miles of containment lines as the high winds and hot, dry air of recent days were replaced by the normal Pacific air, significantly reducing fire activity.

The 43-square-mile blaze at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains was 56 percent surrounded. The progress made led authorities to lift evacuation orders for residences in several areas.

"The fire isn't really running and gunning," said Tom Kruschke, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman.

The humidity level rose so much that an overnight effort to burn away fuel at one section of the fire did not work well, Kruschke said.

There was more good news for Sunday. The National Weather Service said an approaching low pressure system would bring a 20 percent chance of showers in the afternoon, with the likelihood increasing into the night and on Monday.

"Anything we get is going to help us," Kruschke said.

Nearly 2,000 firefighters using engines, bulldozers and aircraft worked to corral the blaze.

Firefighting efforts were focused on the fire's east side, rugged canyons that are a mix of public and private lands, Kruschke said.

David Mcnew / Getty Images

A firefighter surveys burned hills near Hidden Valley at the Springs fire on Saturday near Camarillo, California.

The change in the weather was also expected to bring gusty winds to some parts of Southern California, but well away from the fire area.

Despite its size and speed of growth, the fire that broke out Thursday and quickly moved through neighborhoods of Camarillo Springs and Thousand Oaks has caused damage to just 15 homes, though it has threatened thousands.

The fire also swept through Point Mugu State Park, a hiking and camping area that sprawls between those communities and the ocean. Park district Superintendent Craig Sap told the Ventura County Star that two old, unused ranch-style homes in the backcountry burned. Restrooms and campgrounds also were damaged. Sap estimated repairs would cost $225,000.

The only injuries as of Saturday were a civilian and a firefighter involved in a traffic accident away from the fire.

Residents were grateful so many homes were spared.

"It came pretty close. All of these houses — these firemen did a tremendous job. Very, very thankful for them," Shayne Poindexter said. Flames came within 30 feet of the house he was building.

On Friday, the wildfire reached the ocean, jumped Pacific Coast Highway and burned a Navy base rifle range on the beach at Point Mugu. When winds reversed direction from offshore to onshore, the fire stormed back up canyons toward inland neighborhoods.

The blaze is one of more than 680 wildfires in the state so far this year — about 200 more than average.

East of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a new fire that broke out Saturday afternoon burned 650 acres of wilderness south of Banning. It was 20 percent contained. Banning has been flanked by a nearly 5-square-mile fire to the north which destroyed one home shortly after it broke out Wednesday. That fire was fully contained late Saturday.

In Northern California, a fire that has blackened more than 10 square miles of wilderness in Tehama County was a threat to 10 unoccupied summer homes near the community of Butte Meadows, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Thunderstorms Saturday were expected to bring erratic winds but little rain to the area about 200 miles north of San Francisco.

Nearly 1,300 firefighters were on the lines and the blaze, which started Wednesday, was 20 percent contained.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related: 'Long, hot, incendiary summer': Early wildfires bode ill for California

This story was originally published on Sun May 5, 2013 8:57 AM EDT

Courtesy of the McMahon family

Ryan McMahon (middle) suffered fractures to her back and wrists when she fell off the VIP grandstand in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. She is flanked by her father, John, and her mother, Donna. She is seen taking her first steps after the attacks.

BOSTON – Nearly 20 people out of the more than 170 wounded in the Boston Marathon bombings were hurt so badly that they had to have one or two limbs amputated -- while another 50 other injured runners and spectators are still in the hospital a week after the blast.

But another group of hurt survivors are beginning the long roads to recovery at home, with hospitals releasing more people each day. Though they are leaving, they may spend months or more recovering from multiple broken bones, damage caused by shrapnel or painful ruptured eardrums.

Ryan McMahon, 33, is one of those survivors. Suffering from fractures to her back and wrists, she left the hospital on Monday a week after the attacks to embark on the next part of her journey to recovery, which will include physical therapy and possibly mental health support.

"I want my Boston back … I just want to see my town, you know, and like I feel like they stole it," she said through sobs. "I love this city. ... It just has a lot of heart."

But as eager as she is to get back to normal, McMahon was anxious about her release, too. “I actually don't know what's going to happen, so (I'm) just setting up all of the support."

"I know how lucky I am. … I am going to be fine,” she said. “It was just really hard, especially being in the ER and just seeing how many horrible injuries there were and just hoping that everyone is going to be okay and get through this."

Ryan's mother has watched the injured forge ahead in the hospital as she tended to her daughter.

"The strength that they have moving forward, it’s been really quite something to see. ... They're survivors," said Donna McMahon, a 57-year-old nanny who lives in western Massachusetts. "It's a real lesson … the human spirit and how you just, you know, fight back and go on."

Ryan is one of those fighting back from her injuries, both emotional and physical.

Over the last week, she watched TV reports of the manhunt for the two suspects – Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a gun battle with police and his younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who was captured late Friday.

Ryan sent a lot of "angry texts” as the authorities searched for the pair — which isn't like her, she said.

"I'm still trying to understand all my feelings about this," she said.

She ended up in the hospital after watching the first blast go off directly across from where she was sitting with friends at the top of a VIP grandstand. The group nervously looked at each other and decided to get out.

As they did, the second explosion tore through the air and a frenzied exodus began from the riser.

Ryan looked under the bleachers and thought her best chance would be to climb down, but the thunderous shaking as people ran from the stands caused her to lose her hold and she was tossed into the air, landing on her back.

Though she also had a concussion, adrenaline gave her enough fuel to propel her through the streets, running, as she and her friends sought help.

"I definitely knew I hurt my back when I fell, but my friends said ‘we’ve got to get out of here,’ and that was the main thing," she said. "I just knew that ... if there was another blast I would be by far worse" off.

Kind strangers picked up the group in a cab and dropped them off at the hospital, where Ryan was among the first to arrive and had a front-row seat to see other patients rolling into the emergency room.

Ryan had surgery on her right wrist, which was seriously damaged and is now tucked in a cast, and has braces on her other wrist and her back. Doctors have said it could take six months to a year to recover, but she can walk.

“She came out of the surgery fighting, feisty. She was a big sister bossing her brothers around,” said her dad, John McMahon, 58, who works in sales.

Though they know she has a long journey ahead, her release was “awesome,” Donna said.

As for Ryan, she has some plans for this time next year: She intends to run in her first Boston Marathon.

Related:

Classmates of bomb suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev suggest 'brainwashing' by brother

Terrorists may leave 'digital breadcrumbs' for investigators

Boston nurses tell of bloody aftermath

In a Supreme Court test of whether a company can be granted a patent on the genes in the human body, a majority of the justices indicated during Monday's oral arguments that the court is likely to rule that a human gene can’t be patented. 

It would be one thing, several of the justices said during Monday’s oral arguments, for a company to seek a patent on a test for breast cancer that was developed by analyzing a human gene, but it would be going too far to be awarded a patent on the gene itself.

"What's the difference between snipping off a piece of the liver or kidney, and seeking a patent on that, and seeking a patent on a piece of a gene?" asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Justice Samuel Alito made a different analogy, to someone seeking a patent on a plant found in the Amazon rain forest that bore leaves containing a cancer cure. "You could patent the process used to get the chemical out and the use of the result, but you cannot patent the plant," he said. 

Stelios Varias / Reuters file photo

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington

The case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, involves a test that has helped guide more than a million women in their medical decisions. The test can determine whether the composition of their genes makes them more likely to get breast or ovarian cancer.

Myriad Genetics, a Utah company, owns patents on two parts of human genes known as BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, named for the first two letters of the words breast and cancer.

Women with mutations in those genes face up to an 85 percent risk of getting breast cancer and up to a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. Because of the patents, Myriad has a monopoly on performing all diagnostic tests related to BRCA 1 and BRCA 2.

In the past three decades, the federal government has granted nearly 3,000 similar patents on genetic material. Without such protection, Myriad argues, companies would be less willing to spend the money required for making genetic discoveries.

"Countless companies and investors have risked billions of dollars to research and develop advances under this promise of stable patent protection," according to Gregory Castanias, a Washington, D.C, lawyer who argued the case for Myriad.

The idea of patenting DNA material has provoked a strong debate among scientists, and many have lined up on opposite sides of the case.

"Human genes should not be patented," says James Watson, the Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA.

"Life's instructions ought not be controlled by legal monopolies created at the whim of Congress or the courts," he says.

But a group of researchers at the University of Maryland is among those arguing just the opposite. "The costs are outweighed by the benefits stemming from the fruits of increased inventive activity," they say in their friend-of-court brief.

In the 220 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote the cornerstone of U.S. patent law, the courts have agreed on a general principle: patents protect inventions, not products of nature. A central issue in this case is whether Myriad has obtained a patent on something already in the body or has created something new.

The ACLU, representing a group of scientists, doctors, and cancer patients, claims that Myriad has merely removed from the body something that was already there -- the DNA sequence making up the BRAC 1 and BRAC 2 genes. Because it is a creation of nature, the ACLU says, it cannot be protected by a patent, even though Myriad claims that removing it is what makes it useful.

"Gold does not become patentable once taken out of a stream because it can be used in jewelry. Kidneys do not become patentable once taken out of a body because they can be transplanted," says the ACLU's Christopher Hansen.

Myriad's exclusive patent, says the ACLU, creates a monopoly that denies women the ability to seek a second opinion, based on another test of the genetic material, and dissuades other laboratories from pursuing research on the patented genes.

The ACLU also contends that because the test costs roughly $3,000, many women cannot afford it or lack the necessary insurance coverage. If the gene was not under patent protection, the ACLU says, competition would make the test cheaper.

But Myriad argues that removing the gene sequence from the body requires breaking chemical bonds that lock it into place, thereby creating a new chemical entity.

The resulting genetic materials, the company says, "were never available to the world until Myriad's scientists applied their inventive faculties to a previously undistinguished mass of genetic matter."

Myriad cites a line of cases finding patent eligibility for naturally occurring substances that were isolated and purified, including aspirin, vitamin B12, and adrenaline derived from cows.

As for availability, the company says the cost of the test is covered by private insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid. It also says many other labs provide second opinions regarding the company's test results and that thousands of researchers have done studies on the gene sequence involved, unimpeded by the patent.

The Obama administration has urged the court to be deeply skeptical of Myriad's broad claim of what can be patented. The Justice Department's brief in the case says the public interest has consistently been given precedence by the Supreme Court "in avoiding undue restrictions imposed by patents that effectively preempt natural laws and substances."   

NBC's Tom Curry contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 15, 2013 4:17 AM EDT

A tour bus crashed off an embankment near Yosemite National Park, leaving 16 people with minor injuries, California Highway Patrol said.

The bus was about 40 miles south of the park when the accident occurred around 6 p.m. Saturday, the Merced Dispatch office said.

Of the 17 people on board, 16 were transported to local hospitals, the patrol said.

No further details were immediately available.

NBC 4 New York

Eady Rothstein hopes to meet Larry Brickman, who was a 21-year-old lifeguard when he saved then 5-year-old Rothstein's life.

A woman who was rescued by a lifeguard when she nearly drowned in a pool as a 5-year-old has found her hero, almost 50 years after her brush with death.

Eady Rothstein, from Ramsey, N.J., was sitting on the edge of a pool at a club near Lido Beach on New York’s Long Island in 1964 when she suddenly slipped in.

"I can picture being underwater, screaming," recalled Rothstein. 

A young lifeguard jumped in and gave the little girl mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for several minutes. He persisted until she regained consciousness, saving her life. 

"I've always said I wanted to thank him, and I should do it," said Rothstein.

Larry Brickman, who now lives in Florida, was a 21-year-old medical student living in Long Beach for the summer, working as a lifeguard to pay for school. He knew CPR -- training that most lifeguards did not get back in the 1960s. 

Read more stories at NBCNewYork.com

"If no one was there to do this, I'm afraid she would have succumbed," Brickman said from his Boca Raton office Wednesday. 

Rothstein and Brickman had only met in person that one fateful summer day. Recently, Rothstein came across an article detailing their encounter in a family scrapbook while moving to her new home in Ramsey. So she decided to track him down, and a simple Google search put them in touch.

"I got his phone number. I got his answering machine, and I left a message," said Rothstein. 

Brickman returned her call.

"My final words to her when I hung up that day, after I called her back, were, 'You know, I guess we just got very lucky, you and I both,'" said Brickman. 

Rothstein said after the trauma, her father made her get back in the water with swimming lessons. Now she regularly swims laps in the pool each summer.

An in-person reunion is in the works. For now, words on the phone will have to do. 

"I owe my life, and it's a very nice feeling to finally be able to say, 'Thank you,'" said Rothstein. 

A wind-whipped brushfire spread over 170 acres overnight in Ventura County, Calif., destroying two homes and threatening about 100 more, and was still not contained as of early Tuesday morning.

The fire began with a fire in a mobile home around 3:15 p.m. on Monday, fire officials said. That home sustained damage to its roof, but was not entirely destroyed. About 400 firefighters responded as the blaze spread, with officials saying that they hoped slackening winds overnight would help them control the flames.

“I can see flames and some smoke and helicopters coming in and dropping of their water,” Judi Ortiz, an employee at a local gas station, told NBCLosAngeles.com. “You couldn’t see anything at the beginning but smoke. It’s horrific.”

Driven by 40-mph winds, the city engulfed an orchard near the city of Fillmore, north of Los Angeles.

“A couple years back we had some pretty bad fires, but nothing that came close to homes like this,” Fillmore Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Minjares told NBCLosAngeles.com. “This is pretty significant.”

No injuries have been reported as a result of the fire. Authorities lifted a mandatory evacuation order on about 160 homes early on Tuesday morning, saying they hoped to have the fire contained by sun up.

WAVE

The Army base in Fort Knox, Ky., remained on heightened security late Wednesday.

Investigators were hunting a male suspect Thursday after a civilian employee died in a shooting at the Army base in Fort Knox, Ky. Officials described the shooting as a “personal incident.”

The base was briefly locked down and remained on heightened security Wednesday night.

The victim, who was an employee of U.S. Army Human Resources Command, was transported by ambulance to Ireland Army Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from the public affairs office of the base.

The incident was “not a random act of violence," said Chris Grey, spokesperson for the independent Army investigative agency.

Police are looking for a 5-foot, 9-inch black male with black hair and brown eyes, the statement read. It is believed he may be using a black Yamaha motorcycle for transportation.

The victim's name is being withheld until family members are notified.

The shooting occurred shortly after 5 p.m. ET. The base was placed on full lockdown, but it was lifted early Wednesday evening, the official said.

The military base, which sprawls over 170 miles in three counties about 30 miles south of Louisville, Ky., is separate from but adjacent to the famous federal gold depository.

The incident came less than two weeks after a U.S. Marine shot two colleagues to death at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, before killing himself.

NBC News' Courtney Kube and Becky Bratu contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 9:45 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES- Guards at a downtown Los Angeles jail fired rubber pellets and pepper spray to swiftly quell a racially charged brawl involving more than 60 inmates, and several injured prisoners were taken to a hospital, a jail spokesman said.

The altercation between Hispanic and African-American inmates erupted shortly after noon local time in a third-floor recreation area inside Tower One of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail.

Whitmore said corrections officers fired rubber "sting balls" and pepper spray into the fracas, managing to break up the disturbance in one or two minutes.

"This is something that does occur throughout our jail system from time to time," Whitmore said. "People in our jails are under a lot of tension ... and it does regrettably happen."

Whitmore said four of the inmates were taken to a hospital with cuts, bruises and other non-life-threatening injuries.

But Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott told Reuters six patients were transported to the hospital, two in serious condition, though he did not know whether all of them were inmates.

The precise cause of the fight was under investigation, Whitmore said. The Twin Towers facility, one of eight detention centers run by the sheriff's department throughout the county, houses roughly 4,500 inmates, Whitmore said.

The jail system as a whole, the largest in the United States, comprises more than 18,000 prisoners and has long been plagued by overcrowded conditions. 

Wyatt Erb couldn’t look away when he and his wife spotted a dog clinging to life as they walked near a creek in north-east Pennsylvania, Saturday. The lab mix was tied to a rock while inside the rising water.

“The leash was actually hooked to a stone in the ground,” said Erb. “It’s not something the dog could have done by itself."

Erb quickly took action and went inside the Neshaminy Creek, in Bristol Township, north-east of Philadelphia, to get the dog out. Sergeant Thomas Gaffney of the Bristol Police Department believes the action saved the animal’s life.

“She would have drowned more than likely if the water got high enough,” said Gaffney.

Read more stories at NBC10.com

Gaffney says the dog suffered years of abuse and had a tumor on her hind leg that was never treated. He also believes it was the owner who left her tied up inside the creek in an attempt to kill her.

If the dog’s owner is found and has no history of animal cruelty, he or she could only be charged with a fine. Gaffney believes that punishment is not enough however. He vows to work with the District Attorney to stack charges of neglect and abandonment against the owner.

“You could adopt it or humanely euthanize it,” said Gaffney. “You can do many other things but to do what the person did makes no sense.”

In addition to the tumor, the dog also suffered eye infections and is extremely emaciated. She will be taken to the Bucks County SPCA later this week where she will be available for adoption. Police also believe the dog is between 8 and 11 years of age.