right now, center city philadelphia is a secure zone in preparation for the pope. we are down to the final count down, before pope francis arrives here in philadelphia a. and happening right now, a moving moment a as the pope is visiting ground zero, we are looking live at a multi faith

services that he is participating in right now, that is a jewish cantor who is singing at the scene, we're live and we will listen live to the pope's message, also from this historic speech at the united nations. i'm pat ciarrocchi. i'm erika von tiehl. we are in the final count down less than 22 hours until pope francis arrives here in philadelphia. >> and in fact this time tomorrow, what you are going to see will be a sea of people, beginning to flood into ben franklin parkway, everyone, eager to see the pope. >> as we look over our shoulders you can see people are gathering right the now, setting up chairs, media is arriving in town, lots of people getting those final touches on the area. >> this is very exciting. we have a spectacular day to be able to a share with everyone today but one of the key factors as we have been most concerned about in philadelphia has been security. security is now, stepping into high gear, on this eve of the papal visit. if you are traveling in center city philadelphia a, you need

to know many traffic restrictions are in place and security checkpoints have been activated right now. >> we want to check with our walt hunter in spring guard when more on the police stepped up security, walt. >> reporter: if you tried to drive or walk, anywhere in center city this morning whether you are a resident or coming to work, chances are, you will run into a lot of these, barricade, seemingly every where, on almost every street and sidewalk. the it was a challenge to get to center city. you had to search for a route and after walking you got searched again. the center city right now a sea of barricades and it is growing as security for the papal visit gets ever tighter. the normally bustling canyons of center city, more resembled the december lacing of the grand canyon on this morning. no cars, no buses, and few people, as a security net of screening stations, sprung up

on streets from city had hall to the art museum. fences and barricades a along every street and sidewalk. >> this is a different version of a walkable city. you don't see something like this a at any point in time. >> reporter: as everyone entering the area was carefully searched, the mayor, greeted those who had made their way on foot, and while there were a a lot of inconveniences, we heard, few complaints. >> how are you. >> then we woke up this morning with them lifting the concrete barriers at 6:00 o'clock. but we found our way through the checkpoint over there and now we are trying to get the the heck out. >> it is not really an inconvenience when you think of all of the things that have happened in the past when large masses of people gather. i like the fact that philadelphia is keeping us as safe as possible and even and the pope as well. >> reporter: now trust me i'm born and raised in

philadelphia whether you are a resident or visitor you have never seen anything like the kind of detours and walking issues you will have if you come into center city. it is a beautiful day. it will be a beautiful event but take a deep breath, have lots of patients, you will meet friendly federal officials and police there to help you take advantage of. that live at 16th and hamilton, i'm walt hunter, cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >> don't forget comfortable shoes either. city has been preparing for weeks getting ready for this wonderful event but one of the parkway has been highlight with a lot of preparation. >> it has been. our greg argos is on the other side of the parkway from where we are positioned right now and he got an opportunity to get an exclusive look about those last minute preparations, actually, happening on stage where the pope will be celebrating mass and standing tomorrow night. greg, what can you show us. >> that is exactly right there, pat and erika. what a beautiful afternoon it the is here in philadelphia as we are less than 24 hours until pope francis arrives

here in the city of brotherly love. right now it is a all about as you mentioned those last minute preparations. take a a look, this entire area of the art museum transformed thousands of white chairs, these will be will be ticketed guests are for saturday's festival of families and sunday's papal mass here in philadelphia expected to hold more than a million people, throughout the region. now we're also getting an inside look at the last minute preparations, the the actual stage itself, an exclusive look at the the stage and is what being donnas pope francis is less than 24 hours away, lets take a look. >> we're here on the papal stage giving you a exclusive look as to what is happening in the last few hours before pope francis arrival. this in fact these workers right here you can see putting together the papal stage, pope francis will be sitting right up here tomorrow, during the festival, and then on sunday this entire thing transforms, this video wall behind us we're told will be removed and mass will be held here for

potentially over a million people. so back here live i can tell you, view pope francis will have is incredible, 1 mile long stretch straight to love park. you can see network folks setting up cameras. these will be cameras that will videotape the entire festival of families and sunday's mass. we will have a complete coverage on cbs-3, throughout both saturday and sunday, and of course, interact with us, social media, hashtag, cbs philly pope. we are live at eakins oval i'm greg argos for cbs-3 "eyewitness news". >> these moments are really exciting greg thanks very much. in our continuing coverage, we want to give you a live look up in new york where the pope is at right now attending services at ground zero, this is a memorial service in new york city, and it includes pope francis and other leaders of other faiths. the just one of the many stops for pontiff today. he had as lot of work.

>> we are not able to find solutions for the common good. it is walter that remind us that yesterday's fears and today's fears. a few minutes ago i met some family of the first responders that fell. when performing a service and in this meeting, we see how this is never i am personal, it is not about things. above all destruction, have the faith and history, it is specific, it has names, and

the family members, who have been faced with pain, leaves them speechless but that screams to heaven. but a at the same time they were able to show me the other face of this attack. the other side of the pain. the power of love and remembrance. the memory that does not leave us empty. on behalf of so many loved ones, in life and death, towers so we can see them and so we can touch them. we can never forget them. among this pain, we can also

feel the capacity of heroic goodness that the the human being is also capable of, and that will be left. a time of great and pain and suffering you have witnessed the greatest acts of giving of themselves and have of yourself and help a stretched out hand, lives given, may seem i am personal and... >> the holy father is a at ground zero speaking at a inter faith service right now. it is a most touching moment as he stand a at ground zero. >> pack here in philadelphia less than 22 hours until he arrives, the preparations are

underway for quite sometime now, including here, workers busy setting up the stage for pope's speech at independent mall. >> so taking a look live at chopper three, traffic is still moving on the highways. >> he will be speaking here about immigration at 4:45. you can see that speech right here on cbs-3 with all of the major events, here, once again, so many accessibility here in town. >> there certainly is. i jumped just ahead a little bit. lets take a look now at chopper three, we want you to have a good idea what it is going on the the roads. we know traffic is still moving on the highways right now. some are in center city, however things look like it is a absolute ghost town because of the all of the closures. >> you can see from the traffic cam traffic is moving smooth thely right now but looking in center city,tive rent story. some of those closures went up hours in advance. it happened last night instead. some folks had a rough time getting into work. our meisha johnson has ways to get around those detours right

here. >> hi, you guys here's what you need to know this afternoon as you you navigate around the pope closures in center city. first here's some major closure in effect right now. vine street expressway, off ramps, east and westbound at broad street, and ben franklin parkway, as well as eastbound at eighth street. then, starting tonight at 10:00 p.m., the closures in effect are the vine street expressway, in both the the east and westbound directions, the the schuylkill eastbound from the blue route, to 95, the schuylkill westbound from 95 to report route one, ben franklin bridge and martin luther king drive and for those traveling from new jersey, into philadelphia, admiral wilson boulevard westbound, and 676 north and southbound will also be closing a at ten. also, don't forget the ben franklin parkway is now closed and has been for a while. these closures remain until effect until monday september 28th. in the world of mass transit, these septa stations are also

closed to day until monday at 4:00 a.m. the regional rail line at suburban station, market frankford at 15th and sixth street stations, the broad street line at city hall station, and the trolley line at 15th station moving in both the east and westbound directions. moving on, all septa regional rail lines are operating on a saturday schedule today. septa buses are running with detours and the the patco speed line is running on a special schedule also today. new jersey transit buses are suspended, today starting at 5:00 p.m. but, patco will be cross honoring all tickets and passes. so with all of these changes, make sure to check your local schedules and i'll also be tweeting out updates at meisha at cbs-3. no doubt as we gear up for pope's arrival there is a lot going on in the world of will travel today and throughout the weekend. i will have all of the update between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. as well as on the saturday and sunday. from the traffic center i'm

meisha johnson have a great afternoon, drive safe out there and i will see you again soon. so meisha will be extremely busy tweeting over the weekend. the big question that everyone has on their mind at this point, big question is what will the weather be like? there is a a possibility of rain on sunday if we can about on the this will weather, pat, we would be all set but possibility of weather on sunday. lets check with kyla outside on the sky deck. >> if anything make going those road closures more bearable is the fact that this weather is so gorgeous. just a stunning day, lots of sunshine. we are not going to car think weather forward into our papal visit weekend. the as we look at the forecast you can see saturday we are expecting clouds to move in, breezy conditions, high of 74 degrees. cooler on sunday high of 72. that is a chance of showers coming in. sunday a afternoon. check this out future weather, track this forward and as you can get to 7:00 a.m. sunday that rain very close to the south of us as we work in the a afternoon, remember

4:00 p.m. is when pope is planning to hold mass. it is close to what the models is showing. we have to prepare the fact we could see showers as we roll into our monday morning, more expected. that is not the best i know to hear for this weekend this is low pressure system that is over north carolina moving towards virginia, that is where trouble lies. the it is to our south and heading north. right now though it is gorgeous out there, 75 degrees already in philadelphia, today will be lovely. we will see cloud start to move in later in the evening. ladies, back to you. >> all right, kyla thanks very much. our continuing coverage this noon we want to give you a a live look at ground zero up in new york city where pope francis is speak nothing lower manhattan. >> holy father is speaking there, multi faith services at ground zero, and there are at least seven different faith, traditions that are represented here today, he is an extremely moving in his remarks especially as he spoke about the people who lost their lives at ground zero.

this is just one of the few stops that the holy father is making in new york. cbs news correspondent danielle nottingham joins us live from lower manhattan with more on the holy father's day, danielle good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon. this is certainly a busy day for pope francis. this morning he spoke at the u.n., addressing more than 100 world leaders, and diplomat. pope touched on a variety of issues including environmental abuse, rights of the pour and what he called a self less boundlens search for money. >> for power, and material prosperity, the the misuse of available resources, and to the the exclusion of the weak. >> reporter: and, after his u.n. address the pope place aid flower on the 9/11 memorial and met with family

members of the victims kill in the world trade center attack. the pope still has some events on his schedule, including a mass later today at madison square garden and he will also ride through central park. 80,000 people are expected to attend that event. live from new york, danielle noting ham, pat and erika back to you. >> thank you. stay with "eyewitness news" for non-top coverage of the event, all of the major event starting tomorrow when pope arrives right here in philadelphia we have you covered on cbs-3 and also on the cbs philly.com. you can stream it at cbs philly.com. right now we will take a quirk break and come back with more live coverage at ground zero. >> but there are also some other important news to report to you this noon a major shake up in the congress, john boehner a announced his resignation, why he is suddenly stepping down. also we will give you a a live picture of the ben franklin bridge keep in mind that is shutting down later on tonight, we want to let folks

visiting in town know that you have to check on line to get around these detours. we will have more on that when we come right back. good afternoon.

and we still have no limits on carbon pollution which can lead to more asthma attacks in children but senator toomey has voted repeatedly to let polluters keep releasing unlimited carbon pollution into the air. and took more than one million dollars from the polluters. tell senator toomey to vote for the clean power plan, because unlimited pollution shouldn't be a right. but playing outside should be. this is happening at ground zero as part of the memorial service at ground zero in new york city that i pope francis

is taking part in one of the many stops for the pontiff today. >> there is other important news coming out of the congress today, our nicole brewer is back in the cbs-3 studios to tell us more about that, nicole, good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon to you pat and erika. in the news this after noon a stunning shake up in g.o.p. leadership, house speaker john boehner is stepping down from congress the at the end of next month. boehner delivered the news of his pending departure to fellow house republicans this morning, and an aid for congressman tells cbs news that boehner will resign his speakership as well as his congressional seat effective october 30th. law makers from both side of the aisle weighing in on that decision. >> speaker announcing his resignation, that resignation is a indication of the disa array of the house republicans. >> i think we will miss him. >> i'm very sad. good man. >> the news comes one day after boehner, a catholic, hosted pope francis in washington for an address to congress.

boehner had has been under criticism from conservatives of the defunding of the planned parenthood and working to avoid a governmental shut down. thirteen term ohio republican took over speaker ship in january of 2011. he was first elect to the house in 1990. right now 12:20. we will have much more coverage from the benjamin franklin parkway coming up but first lets check that forecast, kyla. >> i'm keeping an eye on it the because all eyes are on our papal visit weekend. we have wind, we have clouds, and we even have a chance of rain coming our way, stay with us, everybody i'll have your weekend forecast and plus look at the next seven days, "eyewitness news" will be right back.

live look at ben franklin parkway and a beautiful day out there, pat. >> it the is, our kyla grogan is keeping a close eye on the weather. we love today to stretch out, kyla just a little bit longer. >> bottle it up lets keep it for a week end. >> in a phrase no such luck my darling friend. let me tell what you we have to look for to. i don't think it will be a complete disaster but it will be inconvenient looking at weather. on saturday we have cloudy and breezy. to temperatures there in the mid 70's. low to mid 70's. that is your saturday forecast. you should stay dry. the rain chance on sunday, remember this is when people will be out listening to the mass at 4:00 p.m.

we have that shower chance. right now, it is staying to the south of us, according to the models but getting ever so close that we have to be mindful of it. is there 11:00p saturday. it moves further north. it is just south of philadelphia we could certainly see a little bit of action from that as we go into our weekend. thinks where this system is right now and you can see it is moving to the north, low pressure system very traditional set up here, currently we are doing fine. 57 degrees in philadelphia, as you can see here wind are picking up particularly down the shore they are at 18 miles per hour, and so today we are looking at a high of 76 degrees, and clouds will move in, our papal visit will be cooler, we will have breezy conditions and sunday we do have that chance of rain, and so we are looking at unfortunately for things to get unpleasant as we head in the weekend. saturday we will stay dry and start to see those clouds but rolling into sunday that is when we could start to see more trouble there on our afternoon. now lets head over to jill schlesinger with our business

report. >> september is national life insurance awareness month and an opportunity to stress the importance of protect ago begins unforeseen events. because most people are reluctant to confront topic alone, insurance agents are key in fostering this kind of conversation. insurance agents earn a median annual wage of $63,730. but the commission based pay scars off many from what could be a lucrative career. if you are looking to get in the field most employers require agent to have a bachelor degree. highest often agents receive the underwriter designation. it is considered to be equivalent of the masters degree in insurance. this designation is offered through insurance institute of america but you must have a eight courses and five foundation courses. to learn more about the insurance industry and how you can earn the c p.c. u designation here the in the philadelphia area, go to philadelphia dot c p.c. u society.org.

i'm jill schlesinger for cbs-3

so you don't have to stop., tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. that is "eyewitness news" at noon i'm erika von tiehl. i'm pat ciarrocchi. we will give you one more look at this spectacular scene as we look at the philadelphia museum of art, it is the backdrop for what is going to be a most spectacular, visit of the holy father here in philadelphia, and that begins first thing on saturday morning. we will bring it to you, live. have a great day everybody.

>> dylan: [ sighs ] >> mariah: hey, what's going on? is it sharon? >> dylan: sharon gave me a call this morning and said she's looking forward to her next therapy session. >> mariah: who looks forward to therapy? >> kevin: somebody who wants to get out of fairview, fast. what? it's a psychiatric hospital, not turks and caicos. >> dylan: i'm just proud that sharon's doing what she has to do. aren't you, mariah? >> mariah: yeah. yes. yeah. y-- very, very proud of sharon. yay, sharon. uh, noah and i are actually going to visit her today. >> kevin: wasn't he supposed to meet you here? >> mariah: yeah, and that boy is usually as punctual as the 6:00 news. something must be keeping him. >> marisa: looks like you've already prepped for the first shift. >> noah: yeah, it's all set. uh, i'm on my way out, so -- >> marisa: noah, can' t