>> reporter: chris, this new law passed city council this afternoon with the vote of 14-two in favor of passing it. let's tell you how it works. if you are caught with a small amount of marijuana police officer that catches you can choose to write a citation payable to the city the exact same way that you would pay for a speeding ticket. >> majority of the members voting in the affirmative the bill passes. >> reporter: that a major change in marijuana law in philadelphia people in possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana can be issued a to 25th dollars fine and be sent on their way. proponents say it means a soup i had mistake won't show up and cost you in the future. police can arrest if they choose to do so but councilman jim kenny hopes they will spend their time more efficiently. >> to me it isens isible way to do it. then police officer stay on the street. >> reporter: but critics say policy promotes a mixed message. >> we pursue people, put them in the jail but if you have a little bit, it is okay.

>> reporter: mayor nutter offered his opinion on the bill. >> i don't know that at the the local level we can actually, in fact, decriminal ice something that the state deems to be an illegal substance. >> reporter: new law is part of the growing push statewide to ease marijuana laws, starting with medical marijuana at the the state level. >> my fight has been to help educate people on this magnificent plant that has a lot to offer. >> reporter: state senator mike folmer is push legislation that legalizes marijuana for medical use. it is in committee but will be voted on in the next two weeks. from there supporters are optimistic it could be law. >> we are working hard to help educate other members, here in the pennsylvania general assembly and educate them on this very important issue, and my goal is and i do believe we have votes to get it finished. >> reporter: back here in philadelphia new citation law is scheduled to take effect in three months.

live outside city hall, matt rivers, cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >> what are your thoughts on council's move today, connect with us on the cbs philly facebook page, and tweet us at cbs philly. >> afternoon showers moved through, so what can we expect as we head in the evening a lot of people asking that question. meteorologist kate bilo joins with us answerness her first forecast, kate. >> if you look outside you can see things have gotten better, we are seeing sunshine across the area as showers move to the south. you can see clear skies and much lower humidity, dry air, filtering in to the north. we are seeing sunshine in the poconos and lehigh valley. worst of it is off to the south, in fact, that is where severe thunderstorm watch and a number of severe thunderstorm warnings remain in effect around richmond, virginia area one nasty cell there over portions of the chesapeake bay but back closer to home showers are moving out, we have seen kathy in atlantic city sun coming out down the shore as showers move off the coast. turning out to be much nicer

this evening then it was earlier today. it has been a gray, glummy, steamy day but dew point dropping overnight. temperatures pretty comfortable. 95 degrees at the the the airport. seventy-six in reading. seventy-five at the airport. seventy-five allentown. yesterday it was in the mid 90's and look at this 24 hour temperature change. we have dropped almost 20 degrees from this time yesterday at philadelphia airport. we have dropped 20 degrees in millville. cooler weather for tonight does it last for weekend i'll have details in a bit, jessica, back over to you. well, some are cleaning up after wild storms overnight left their mark around the region. lets look the at the lightening strikes in margate this video was sent from larry boarden, quite an impressive sight out there lightening can be dangerous and cause damage. chimney of this home in doylestown was blown to pieces by lightening, fortunately in one was hurt. remember fit is safe to take a photo during one of our sum are storms we do want to see it. send us your picks on facebook or twitter just use the hash

tag at cbs-3 storms. investigators now say driver who slammed his tractor trailer in to trace i morgan's limo van on the new jersey turnpike was speeding. the the june 7th crash seriously injured actor and killed another man, "eyewitness news" reporter jane carabao has more on the just released. >> reporter: reporter that striking new image that show a impact the of the deadly accident on the new jersey turnpike in cranberry township this crash that left comedian tracie minister again injured and one of his good friend dead. now federal investigators say driver of the tractor trailer truck that caused this wreck, was traveling 20 miles an hour faster. >> on the main highways, nobody does the speed limit. people just don't take that stuff seriously enough. >> reporter: often to disastrous results. the national transportation safety board says truck driver kevin roper was going 65 miles per hour right before the crash. the speed limit where the the accidents happened is just 45, because of a construction project. authorities say roper failed to notice traffic slowing

ahead of him and that is when he slammed in morgan's limo bus. >> he is a fun guy and i'm sorry he was involve in that. >> reporter: preliminary report is renewing calls for patients, veg lance in tri-state work areas. >> we want to make sure workers in the work zone whether they are department force or contractor employees come home safely just like the the traveling public. >> reporter: just a week before morgan's accident a pennsylvania turnpike worker was killed in west pike land township when a tractor trailer entered a lane closed for maintenance. not following rules can be deadly and costly. >> those are traveling 11 miles an hour or more above the posted speed in the work zone automatically lose their license for 15 days. >> reporter: not to mention fines are doubled in active work zones. meanwhile ntsb investigators say roper logged 13 hours and 32 minutes at the time of the collision, that is actually under the maximum 14 hour consecutive duty period allowed for commercial drivers. however ntsb is investigating

how much rest truck driver got leading up to the crash. live, jane carabao for "eyewitness news", cbs three. a child porn crackdown in burlington county nets 13 arrests, 12 men and 17 year-old are facing charges. they come from different walks of life but they all face jail time. authorities spent a year and a half conducting the sweep. >> possessing images of child sexual abuse is a heinous crime and will not be tolerated in berks county. >> one of the men steven schwartz is a neurologist and employees at the his wyo missing office would not comment. anton fauxman is face ago digsal child sex abuse charges. three more children came forward and accused him of showing them sexually explicit the photos. fauxman was a music teacher at malvern school of music. chester county prosecutors originally charged the 44 year-old after boosting three, six year-old students.

collinswood man is under arrest for a pair of armed robberies in south jersey, authorities say that the 31 year-old charles walls is charged with a hold up at this evesham 7-eleven on june 12th, and another store, in gloucester township. he is also suspected in seven additional 7-eleven robberies, including one back in january in pensauken in which a clerk was shot, and paralyzed. new at 6:00 the burlington county bear, is spotted again, lets take a look the at these photos from mansville police. they show the bear stralling through town in west hampton yesterday. residents are urged to stay away from bears that they sianni also to move bird feeders, trash cans and pet food indoors while that animal is in the area. developing right now more trouble for the the revel casino hotel in atlantic city. the it is telling staff it will shut down this summer if pit cannot find a buyer. warning letter given to employees say staff could be let go as soon as august 18th.

revel posted a first quarter operating loss of $21.7 million, the casino's owners gained control during bankruptcy last year. new at 6:00 tonight, new jersey governor chris christie signs a bill guarantee disabled students equal access to athletics at school. as "eyewitness news" reporter cleve bryan shows us the signing came on the last full day of a special olympics competition in mercer county. >> reporter: national special olympic games are going strong in central new jersey this week with the athletes like joe hail from westville, new jersey racking up the medals. >> i'm having fun. meeting new friends. that is what it is all about competition. >> reporter: athletics have not been easy, as a child coaches wouldn't let him sign up because of disability. >> all i do is cry to be honest with. >> fortunately, his experience may not have to be repeated.

>> with special olympic, athletes, and equal access to playing sports, in the the school. they must get a chance to try out, and, reasonable accommodations to play. >> everybody should have an opportunity to experience things that i experience. >> every single person has value, every person, every person, can make us better. >> reporter: olympic swimmer darrah torres attended and said athletes are athletes no matter their ability level. >> these athletes are amazing, every athlete is a favorite and just really neat to watch. >> besides having more opportunities with students for disabilities with regular school teams the new jersey the athletic association can work with the special olympics to develop teams that bring together athletes of all abilities to play together n trenton, i'm cleve bryan, cbs-3 "eyewitness news". it has been a year of hard work and recovery from one police officer who lost part

of the the leg in the motorcycle crash. mike braxton returned to duty, "eyewitness news" was there for his emotional first day back. plus a sprawling estate on the main line goes up for auction, we will tell you who once called this 3,000 square foot mansion home, kathy? we are in atlantic city, on pennsylvania avenue, right at the beach for world championship of sand sculpting, here is welcoming piece right off the boardwalk where we're expecting thuses of have people to come to check out the next eight days have of the best the the world has to offer, i'll have that plus forecast, down the shore, coming up, hi beasley. the the eagles are flying solo, the flock dispersed until they meet again july 25th for training camp i'll tell you what the coach told the bird. and just our luck, the third pick reduced to the fourth best player available because one of the top three players, in next weeks nba draft is injured, and headed for surgery tomorrow those stories and more when i join

you for sports.

, that is nasty. >> sit concerning as a parent.

>> very concerning. >> it is a problem no parent wants to hear about and some cab not bear to see. teachers say is what happening at a local school is putting both staff and students at risk. an iteam exclusive tonight at 11:00, photos and find out why teachers are turning to the iteam for help. well, an injured atlantic city police detective returned to work today after a life changing motorcycle accident. >> round of applause greeted investigator mike braxton at public safety building. the the detective lost his leg a year ago while riding in an organized motorcycle ride with other officers. since then he has benefited with a prosthetic and today was his first day back on duty. >> it was great, there is no word to describe how i feel to be back again today. i set my goal a year ago to be back this month, and it looks like it was far-fetched, in the beginning but to get here and to be here now it feels amazing. >> detective braxton is a seven year veteran of the the atlantic city police

department. bidding is underway right new for a piece of main line history. the honey stone estate is up for auction as we speak. the prestigious estate on the 500 block of hudson road in wayne once belonged to ed snead snyder and was previously in the hand of the schmidt's beer family. it is a 13,000 square foot home that sits on 2.7 acres. >> it looks like, and, move it out of the and it looks different when we started the newscast, things cleared out and it looks good this evening. we have summer starting this evening and we are entering in the really nice weather pattern as we head through friday, and into the upcoming weekend just a chance for a shower, on that first day of summer, on saturday. lets look outside, you can see the difference, we have blue sky, sun shining, as we look at our roof cam shot here on

sky cam three from the cbs broadcast center. it looks great in center city. nice night for a walk. get outside. temperatures in the mid 70's. whole lot more comfortable then it was this time, yesterday: things have really moved to the south. you can see front across the area, showers cleared the coast, worst of it is missing it to the south. this areas has had fewer clouds in the course of the morning hours heated up quickly, got to 95 and higher and that is what storms are feeding off of. our areas stay cloudy and cool, cloudy and cool conditions stabilize the atmosphere as well as rain does the same thing. that is why temperatures didn't rise above the 70's and showers came through and moved on out. here's picture from last night, from steve men somers point. an a nation shot of the lightening that lit up the sky across the entire region. thank you as always for the photos a lot of people were woken up by nasty storms that came through during the overnight hours.

our high yesterday 94. the high this afternoon just 78, and the official high will be in the lower 80's with you that is in the after midnight before storms rolled through. temperatures in the low to mid 70's. humidity levels are dropping. tomorrow high pressure noses in, less humid, really nice day. weak system that could touch off a shower here on saturday but otherwise we are in the upper 70's. very confidentable start to summer. sunday looks great. high pressure returns. mostly sunny. we are right back in the 80's. heading to the poconos for the weekend, boy, doesn't get much nicer then this in the lake or mountains. 77 degrees on friday. seventy-five saturday. seventy-six, mostly sunny, on sunday. for the the rest of tonight, maybe give air conditioning a break, electric bill a break here clearing skies, cooler, and less humid at 63. and for tomorrow, sunny, nice, comfortable, a beautiful friday, it is a lot like monday, we started, and ended the workweek on a really nice note here. your seven day forecast, also, looking good now, saturday is cooler, a few more clouds and

there could be a chance for a shower but right now the majority stays to the the south. sunday monday looking great, tuesday looks good at well and as we head into next week we are looking at a chance for thunderstorm perhaps on wednesday but today is thursday, it is thursday and we know what thursday means that means kathy orr is at the shore and she jones us live from atlantic city. it looks nicer there then dit a little bit ago. hi kathy. >> we have had a few sprinkles and sun and clouds again but at least it is comfortable, we're feeling a refreshing breeze because it was fair liz humid. we are at the world sand sculpting championships and it is amazing. i'm joined by a world renowned sand sculpture his name is matt diver. i will tell you, matt, this is just amazing today and i have to mention you are an ac boy. >> i am an ac boy grew up in atlantic city, life guard, now

a fireman, cannot get sand out of my shoes. >> i wouldn't if i didn't to have. >> tell us about this welcoming piece that all of the sculptors work on together. >> yes, this is the grand piece, the welcome the people off boardwalk into the event. one of the advantages to thinks all 20 sculptors come and they work on this piece. they get the opportunity to try the the sand, see how it works. every sand is different when we travel. how much what the tore mix. we have a lot of fun. there is a lot of bonding that goes on at the same time. >> lets see what everything represent, tell me about it. >> as we are looking here thinks diving bell. i remember when i was a kiddy was in this. i took it down to the bottom of the ocean. hear people on the boardwalk. it was great. >> awesome. >> awesome ride. >> again here we have salt water taffy, and right in front have of us we have an old fashion rowing chair. we filled that down with the miss america crown, and of course, monopoly board as we look at the different properties and the corner, and little car, we will follow it down and then we will see a

big jit any and then finally, life guard boat that means beach is closed but when it is upside down and beach is open. >> fantastic. good luck. competition is about eight days. >> it is good luck to you. if you are in ac or anywhere in the delaware valley come down because it definitely is a sight to see. our audience loves it, yes, that very latest from the beach here now back to you you in the studio. thanks, so much kathy. that was coolest thing i have seen all day. >> well, i would say rush hour is still heating up and still a lot have of volume on top of sun glare is what we're dealing with today. take a look at the vine street expressway, traveling east or westbound we are jammed river to river, a lot of that volume has to do with delays on the schuylkill and i-95 but also down wires situation on delaware avenue which is still, out there blocking the right lane, as you maneuver your way around dock street. keep that in mine. traveling on 476 northbound we are dealing with delays between schuylkill and mid

county, southbound dealing with the delays from the schuylkill down toward i-95. seven is your average on the schuylkill. traveling on i-95 around philadelphia international is a bit have the squeeze but stay with us on cbs-3 "eyewitness news" at 6:00

the eagles held their final mini camp of the off season today, they are off for five weeks and report to training camp on july 25th at novacare complex. chip kelly told the team to enjoy the time off, be smart, stay in shape. >> i don't want a bunch of guys i have to worry about when we're away how they are supposed to be behaving. i think they understand. anything that they do has ramifications whether it is positive or negative. they have to understand how that effects not only themselves but how it effects

the teams. >> the to the phillies now and st. louis to start four game series. david buchanan on the mound. fightins president earth gay way city riding three game winning streak and five games out of first place. ryan howard is returning to his home town red hot, five for 13 in the series against the the braves with six runs batted in. he loves playing in bush stadium, in 26 games he has bat .368 with nine home runs and 35 rbi. nba draft is one week from tonight and sixers draft board is a mess. our third overall slot guarantied us joel embid, andre wiggins, jabberi park are but he has a stress fracture in his right foot and headed for surgery tomorrow. if the sixers want wiggins or parker they may have to trade up. world cup news, u.s.a. forward will miss sunday game against portugal. he strain his left hamstring in monday's win over ghana. on the pitch today,

seventh fifth minute, britain down one minute. the manchester united star scores to tie the game. now eighty-fourth minute, our way's, gets behind the english defense and scores his second goal of the game. they won two-one. that is sports.

thanks for watching "eyewitness news" at 6:00 "eyewitness news" rush at ten on wpsg the the cw philly and we are back here on cbs-3 at 11:00. "cbs evening news" is next. tonight the the president announced his plans, for combating the violence in iraq, plus, we're dozens of government scientists exposed to anthrax? big question tonight. sharon alfonse reports on that and more on the "cbs evening news", next.

>> alfonsi: tonight, hundreds of u.s. special forces are headed to iraq. >> it is in our national security interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of iraq. >> alfonsi: the president says targeted military action is is possible but no combat. reports from major garrett, clarissa ward, and holly williams in iraq. violent weather hits the midwest, including floods and tornadoes. >> it just hit something. oh, no! >> alfonsi: dr. jon lapook reports dozens of government scientists may have been exposed to live anthrax bacteria. and david martin with a humble hero. kyle carpenter risked his life to save a fellow marine. >> ien if you put a thousand marines in that situation, they would all do the exact same thing for me. captioning sponsored by cbs