. >> this week it's robert e. lee, i notice that stone wall jackson is coming down. i wonder is it george washington the next week and thomas jefferson the week after. you do have to ask when does it all stop. >> president trump getting criticism this morning. meanwhile overnight more confederate statues coming down. >> one statue standing for now

is this one of former philadelphia mayor frank rizzo. calls for its removal continue to grow. >> parts of the area are socked in right now with fog. like here in the lehigh valley and we are headed up into the 90s today. going to be another hot one. today is wednesday, august 16th. i'm jan carabeo in for jim donovan. >> and i'm rahel solomon. katie keeping an eye on things. >> we're looking outside. a couple of accidents out there, it's hard to see them. >> it's hard to see your neighbors on the roadway. you really need to keep in mind that it can come up on you like that. so with that in itself it's probably going to be more of an issue for people because you don't walk out the door necessarily and immediately see the problem. so if it's coming up on you and you're flying down the highway, that's an issue.

keep that in mind that it's something you need to be wary of. meanwhile what you're not going to necessarily see is fog. it's hard to see that on a satellite because it's so low to the ground. a little veil of gray. but when you see some of the cameras that meisha is going to have throughout the morning and one that i'll show you now, it's patchy in nature. the dense fog advisory, is pretty widespread. that's your initial issue. take a look, you can see completely clearly the center city skyline. so there's no visibility problem here, but meisha, i know you've got your fog cameras. what do you have going on out there? >> yeah, we do. this is going to pose a problem for us. not yet. not so much as you head into center city just some of those outer suburbs. first i want to pull your attention to this accident involving a tractor-trailer. schuykill westbound past gerard.

now it looks like they have the lanes blocked. all these people outside their vehicles right now they have completely stopped traffic. right behind that we were looking at a backup shot. take a look at this as you approach this is where you're going to have to put on your brakes and now you're going to be stopping probably temporarily as they make room for you. overall if you can avoid this area you certainly want to do so. we'll be talkling about some fog cameras coming up. jan and rahel back to you. >> reactions from republicans and democrats a lot are pouring in. >> the president insisted both sides were responsible. an marie green has the story. >> i think there's blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it. >> reporter: president trump again on tuesday insisting the fault needs to be shared for the

violence this weekend in charlottesville, virginia. >> you had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. >> reporter: the president had a heated response when asked by cbs about the alt right's role in the incident. >> define alt right to me. define it. >> define them as the same -- >> what about -- excuse me. what about the alt left that came charging at, as you say, the alt right? do they have any semblance of guilt? let me ask you this, what about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs. do they have any problem? i think they do. >> reporter: reaction from both sides st of the aisle was swift and strongly worded. there's no moral equivalency between racist and americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry.

the president of the united states should say so. >> the commonwealth and our country needs to heal and that means you need to call out the violence creators. >> racism, bigotry, anti-semitism of any form. >> former kkk leader david duke tweeting in part thank you president trump for your honesty and courage to tell the truth about charlottesville and condemn the leftist terrorists. president trump leads trump tour to head back to his golf course in new jersey to continue his working vacation. >> margaret brennan was at the press conference yesterday. she has a live report coming up on cbs this morning. >> there will be a memorial service today in charlottesville for the woman killed in saturday's protest. 32-year-old heather heyer was

plowed down. heyer's family said she died fighting for what she believed in. the man behind the car is charged with second degree murder. >> overnight baltimore officials moved quickly to remove confederate monday umths in that city. this video into our news room shows crews tearing down one of four statues overnight. the removal comes after city council voted to remove monuments. there's no consense is on what to do with the statues now that they're taken down. back at home some folks are fighting to take down a statue dedicated to frank rizzo. >> good morning, what can you tell us. >> good morning, rahel and jan. the statue has since been cleaned up but there was an anti-trump sign taped to i

its torso and eggs pelted at it. nearly 40 years since frank rizzo last held office, his legacy continues to be the subject of heated debate among philadelphiians. that debate is turning to a statue of former mayor and commissioner. >> memorials shouldn't just be about what happened in past. that's not really what they're for. statues are about who we choose to honor today. and the stories we choose to up lift. >> councilwoman-at-large called to remove the statue in the wake of a violent weekend in charlottesville, virginia. they say they're troubled by allegations that the african-american community was targeted and even brutalized during rizzo's tenure from the

late '60s to 1980. she tweeted this monday. all around the country we're fighting to remove the monuments to slavery and racism. philly we have work to do. take the rizzo statue down. >> i never remember my dad being anything but a fair person. if you broke the law no matter what color you were, he made sure that philadelphia was protected. >> reached by phone in florida, rizzo's son called the effort misguided. >> frank rizzo shouldn't be in the same conversation as a confederate general. >> nearly 7,000 people agreed by wednesday morning, lending their names to a petition to keep the statue in place. those wanting to bring it down also breaking their voices heard, taping a political message to the statue tuesday night and pelting it with eggs. a mayor kenny spokeswoman released this statement last night we think now is a good

time to have that conversation about the statue's future. we need to figure out the proper forum but now is the right time. taking a look at the statue here, it was erected in 1998 using private funds. the city now owns it and now will have to decide its fate. i'm trang do, cbs3 eyewitness news. >> in other news this morning, a police standoff ends peacefully overnight. eyewitness news on the scene on the 2100 block of homer street. police say they were responding to a call from a woman who claimed a man inside a home threatened to open fire if police were called. >> when police arrived on location, they saw a 43-year-old female on the second floor roof of the house. she was on the roof hiding from a 46-year-old male that she had just served the protection order on. >> no shots were fired and the

man surrendered without incident. an update now, philadelphia police say they have found the vehicle in last week's deadly hit and run in center city. they located the jeep that struck and killed 53-year-old ann broderick who was crossing the street at 13th and race. a source tells eyewitness news the jeep's owner may not have been the one driving during the hit and run. if you in any information you are urged to contact police. >> another lawyer wants to leave bill cosby's defense team before his november retrial. angela agrusa is the second attorney to try to get off the case. cosby's lead attorney told the court he wants out earlier this month. prosecutors say the requests are delaying justice. >> we'll tell you just how high the jack pot is for tonight's power ball drawing.

>> and elephants to the rescue. the singer pink is about to get a big honor at the mtv vmas. we'll be right back.

back now on cbs3 eyewitness news this morning with some very cool video. elephants rescuing tourists in nepal. the death toll from the flooding stands at at least 218 people. international rescue agencies are setting up shelters to try to get fresh water and food to millions displaced by the rising water. former new york city mayor rudy guiliani is recovering from surgery after falling while on vacation. he was rushed to the hospital sunday after his knee gave way and he fell to the ground.

it happened on the first day of his vacation on long island. guiliani is up and limping around and will be in the hospital for a few days. >> do you dare to dream big? tonight you have a chance at one of the largest jackpots in history. tonight's jackpot of more than $430 million is up for grabs. now if he take the cash option you will walk away with only $273.4 million before taxes. >> always cash option though. >> really. i think that says a lot about a person. >> i don't know how i feel about that. >> we've got to unpack this. >> you want it and you want it now. >> guaranteed. >> i'm totally with jan. because then you are able to invest it, you hire yourself a financial planner, you get jill

schlessinger on the phone. >> today is going to be one of those days where you want to make an excuse to find a pool near you, go to the beach, go to a lake or find the air conditioning because it's going to be pretty hot outside. so if you're like us and you've got to be in the office at least you've got a climate controlled space. it's going to get hot out there. not too much to see here. you can see a lot of cloud cover pushing away from the shore. that's gert it's note going to have any impact to north america's coast line. but we've got fog issues in the meantime and the high pressure is trying to build in. until we get rid of the moisture and until the wind picks up, one or the other has to give here.

we need the time and in the meantime if you're just about ready to hit the road, this is what you run into. now, i don't want you to rest on the fact that it says 5 miles visibility at philly international. keep in mind patchy fog is just that, very patchy. it could come up on you quickly. the countryside really finding poor visibility. all you can make out is a street lamp. granted you don't have much daylight yet but we usually can see off in the distance to the school. it's pretty poor out there your visibility and it's going to mess with you for the next couple of hours. looking ahead i expect that we are going to eventually heat up today with time the more thunderstorms are on tap however. come friday especially a steamy day with showers and storms and some of those storms could be locally strong. meisha? >> all right, katie thank you so

much. what we've been talking about all morning long is what katie just said that fog. the good news is we were looking at an accident involving a tractor-trailer the schuykill westbound that is already moved out of our way. usually when we have an accident involving a tractor-trailer that's out there for quite some time. the good news is crews are working hard to move anything that happens out of our way and it's working. the schuykill west, you can see headlights out there already. overall looking good there and the vine all open westbound and eastbound. back to you. >> >> the reading eagle reports on a public meeting last night that's expanding route 422. penn dot wants to add one more lane in each direction. the plan received mostly positive support except for the

fact that it won't be done until 2032. >> the mercury details the case against a science teacher was facing charges for elicit behavior with a student. she's facing several charges. the case does remain under investigation. >> the news journal profiles a contractor who made a historic find. he found a newspaper and three bibl bibles. >> going to go on the antique road show there. >> the phils continue their west coast road trip in san diego and a pair of rookies came up big but was it enough? we've got the highlights next in sports. >> and this is one of two dogs their family says are heros. find out what they did

back now on cbs3 eyewitness news this morning. there's some afternoon baseball on tap for the phillies in san diego. >> the phillies first hit in last night's game was the first ever home run for the catcher. the padres came right back in the bottom of the fifth and they never looked back. padres win 8-4.

training camp for the eagles now officially own. >> here's a look at what's next for the birds. >> the birds will have a walk-through this morning then head to the team hotel and they host the bills tomorrow night at the link. they held a practice after an opener that included four turnovers in green bay. >> to do better. i want to see us take care of the football better. i felt like we were sloppy and loose in the second half. >> we've got to stay ahead of the change and i think just be sharp with the little things. >> now with jordan matthews in buffalo, nelson aguilar moves up on the depth chart. >> i'm older, i'm more aware. i've played more football. comfortable in this league

understanding what's going on in this league. >> i think his confidence level is at an all-time high right now. and is something that he's worked extremely hard on. and again just looking forward to him playing and getting a lot of time with carson these next couple of weeks. >> some other news for you the eagles release running back ryan matthews after he passed his physical. that's all for sports, i'm don bell. have a great day. >> check this one out. two florida pit bulls are being called heros this morning. >> after the pets saved two young children from a poisonous predator. the dogs teamed up against a venomous copperhead snake. that's when the dogs jumped into action. both pups were bitten and rushed to the hospital. the owner says she is overwhelmed with gratitude. >> that absolutely would have been one of my grandchildren whether it be yesterday, today

or tomorrow. paco now doing well running around. slayer is still recovering at the vets. not a surprise dogs are loyal. >> from dogs to bears now, it appears this play house was just the right size. three small bears stumbled upon a backyard play house in connecticut and decided to have a little bit of fun. the homeowner captured the video. you can see the bears climbing around the play house and even going down the slight. connecticut has its hands full with the bears. >> i can barely stand it. do you think they had porridge after? >> why not. >> coming up in the next half hour of eyewitness news, the national theater cin very unhappy over movie. >>

good morning. i'm rahel solomon. >> and i'm jan carabeo in for jim donovan. katie and meisha will be along in a moment.

first here's what you need to know to start your day in a minute today, wednesday, august 16th. >> you look at both sides. i think there's blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it either. >> president trump faces growing backlash this morning for his latest response to the violence in charlottesville. >> new overnight, vandals target a statue of former philadelphia mayor frank rizzo amid calls to remove the statue. >> it's about confronting our own past and moving forward. >> meanwhile a petition to keep the statue in place gained momentum overnight. >> a major break in an unsolved case. police locate a jeep involved in the deadly hit and run. >> power ball fever is heating up. a $431 million jackpot is up