eyewitness news reporter kemberly richardson has been following this story, she is in east new york with the late details. kemberly. >> reporter: an about face in a disturbing case that has shined a ugly spotlight on five teenagers here in brooklyn. among them 17-year-old travis beckford, he lives here. he did post bail last night but is now getting a refund. three other suspects have been released from jail because at this point there simply is not enough evidence to keep the young man behind bars. >> i think in this case that is certainly the case, going to prove to be the case. >> reporter: from the beginning police commissioner bill bratton said this was a complex case and proving to be just that. the brooklyn district attorney had until tomorrow to secure indictments against the five suspects but that's not going to happen. there's still a lot to do with this case in terms of dna and video analysis. in fact, today we spotted

victim's home, no doubt doing interviews with the 18-year-old young woman and her father. he told police that thursday evening the suspects surrounded him and his daughter, pulled out a gun and ordered him to leave osborne park just after 9:00 in the evening. sunday i spoke with the pair. >> i told the officer, that's her right there, that's her right there. and she just you know, she collapsed. >> reporter: the victim told me the five men ranging in age from 14 to 17 then took turns raping her. >> i was just real scared. i didn't know what to do. i was in a panic mode. >> reporter: but at least one of the suspect's attorneys says cell phone video of the victim shows the act was more consensual than prosecutors allege. one of the suspect's mothers tells me her son insists he never touched the victim. >> i'm asking god to let the real truth come out, no matter what, let the real truth -- they are making them out to be monsters. >> reporter: now prosecutors

that may or may not lead to an indictment. tonight district attorney ken thompson saying, quote, we are determined to get to the truth about what happened in that park. the victim was unable to pick any of the suspects out of a lineup. >> identification is critical to us but certainly to the victim is also the concern of the misidentification of not wanting to make a mistake. >> reporter: and that's why the dna evidence is key to this case. again, the charges still remain. late today i spoke with the mother of one of the 15-year- old suspects, she tells me her son is is at home -- is at home and doing okay. as for the fifth suspect, he's a second 15-year-old, he's still in jail tonight not because of the charges in this case but because he violated the terms in a separate case. for now live in east new york, kemberly richardson, channel 7 eyewitness news.

and we are learning more about three columbia university students who died on a trip to honduras. two of the women have deep ties to new york growing up here. tonight we are hearing from family and friends who knew them best. eyewitness news reporter stacey sager is outside the university with new information. stacey. >> reporter: sade, incredible sadness around columbia university tonight and just so many students who will be returning here after their winter break with heavy hearts. school officials say 25 students went on this trip to honduras. it was sponsored by global brigades, that's a nonprofit group dedicated to helping people. and now this. >> they were going to honduras to work with people who were poor, people who had no access to healthcare. >> reporter: and the cruel irony, they lost their lives in a bus crash heading home wednesday. three students from columbia university killed after honduran officials say their

heading to the airport and tumbled 260 feet down into a ravine. we now know barnard, jr. daniela grew up on manhattan's upper east side attending the raimentaz school. amelia earhart from cincinnati was an aspiring scientist. >> recently gained some interest in studying the space exploration, rockets and things like that. >> reporter: and so did 45-year- old abigail flanagan of spark hill, here in rockland county where her sister-in-law spoke briefly this morning. >> she was doing what she always does, what's best for everybody. >> reporter: abigail had a doctorate degree in nursing but had returned to school here at columbia along with her 19-year- old son patrick, also on the trip and seen here in the white shirt at the accident scene. his mother died a short time later.

comprehend she is not here. it's still a shock to all of us. >> reporter: at least a dozen others on the bus were hurt. eight, including columbia student hannah bender of scarsdale in critical condition. and regarding the crash, colombia's president states this terrible and tragic loss is all the greater because these individuals were dedicating their passion and very special talents to serving those in need. now, sources tell us there's a private vigil going on here at colombia this evening, a schoolwide vigil will take place on tuesday of next week. also some details on the funerals for these students now coming in. we understand daniela moffson's funeral is on manhattan's upper east side. we will continue to provide details on the funerals as we get them. we will be live again at for now we are live outside columbia, i'm stacey sager, channel 7 eyewitness news.

jetblue's data center is back up and running after the airline system was out for several hours this afternoon. a passenger at laguardia tweeted this picture when the system went down and you could see the backup it caused at the terminal. jetblue says a verizon power outage knocked out the airline's computer system. there still may be delays so check the status of your flight before heading to the airport. powerball now and no more billion dollar dreams. there are winners in the powerball jackpot. the $1.6 billion is going to be split three ways. now, so far no one has stepped forward to claim their money but we do know where the winning tickets were sold. tickets were sold in chino hills, california, munford, tennessee and melbourne beach, down in florida. and speaking of out in california, the owner of the 7- eleven in chino hills that sold that winning ticket, he's getting a huge payday. today lottery officials handed him a $1 million check. the store literally turned into an overnight sensation with a

hours of the morning to celebrate with that store owner. what a sight there. meanwhile, the munford, tennessee store that sold one of the three jackpot tickets, they got a $25,000 the -- from the state lottery. the owner says it will be shared with store employees. the jackpot winner has 180 days to come forward. and further south, the winner down in florida also has 180 days to come forward. the winning ticket was sold at a publix grocery store in melbourne beach. sales for that jackpot generated money for the state's education fund. >> even though no tickets matching all the numbers turned up in our area, there are still some new millionaires. tickets with 11 and -- rather, one and $2 million jackpots were sold right in the tri- state. new jersey reporter anthony johnson is in jamesburg where one of the tickets was sold. anthony. >> reporter: sade, you know when you sell a winning ticket, the next day a whole lot of

lottery here at this 7-eleven in jamesburg. we have seen a lot of people coming in here today because word is out there is a millionaire winner right here, probably in this community and we have been standing out here for most of the afternoon simply waiting to meet a millionaire. these leftover lottery tickets are not so lucky, but someone who purchased a ticket in this store is holding a $1 million prize ticket, so neal patel sold the prized possession to one of his customers. >> yeah, i sold that ticket but who got it, i don't know. >> reporter: you don't know yet? >> yeah, i don't know who is the lucky person. >> this morning i got the contact from the new jersey lottery person, actually personally they came to the store and then let me know, you sold the $1 million ticket. >> reporter: the second place prizes were sold all over our area. there was two in new jersey and three in connecticut. there were five winners in new york, one each in rockland and nassau counties.

of queens is home to three brand-new millionaires. >> people buy a lot of lotos and i tell everybody good luck. >> you can't help but feel good for a group of 76 workers including teachers and a principal from this elementary school in clifton, they won a $50,000 prize which amounts to just over $650 apiece before taxes. they were overjoyed. >> when i walked in, i couldn't believe it. i was in shock, especially since we were only one off from winning the big jackpot. but we will take it. >> reporter: but the biggest jackpot for new jersey was down in burlington county where one person won a $2 million prize. so while our area didn't get a piece of the monster payout, it does have some lucky lottery players and a few new millionaires to boot. >> we get a percentage of it, it goes into a fund and more importantly it goes to associate meet fund, that fund is used for our associates and also managers in time of need. >> reporter: and so everybody

asking one question down here in jamesburg, who is the lucky millionaire in this area? that's the latest live from jamesburg, anthony johnson, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> okay, anthony. so while we wait for the local winners to come forward, still doesn't hurt to check your ticket, just one more time. the winning numbers once again are four, eight, 19, 27, 34 and the powerball, 10. we go back now to breaking news that we told you about a little while ago. a midtown office building has been evacuated because of a gas leak. >> eyewitness news reporter tim fleischer just arrived on the scene and joins us with an update from the ground. tim. >> reporter: let me set the scene for you here. this is seventh avenue and west 37th street. what they have evacuated is this large office building here behind me. you can see the fdny has responded with a number of engines, firefighters, they were able to evacuate what i'm told are several hundred people from the building. con he had sob is also -- con

well and you can even smell a faint bit of gas out here on the street. whether that's coming from what is a confirmed leak that we are told, but we are not sure at this point. now, the building itself is actually 23 stories, it's an office building, we are told, and, again, there were at least several hundred people still in it at the hour that it was evacuated within the last hour. so they are all safe. they have now cordoned off the block and kept people away from it. con ed is on the scene and trying to determine where that leak is and how they are able to shut it off. we will stay on top of this for you and bring any new updates as it warrants. reporting live on seventh avenue, tim fleischer, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you, tim. we go in breaking news to sports news. the giants have a new head coach. he is ben mcadoo, the 38-year- old one of the internal favorites to replace tom coughlin.

coordinator under coughlin for the past two seasons. rob powers has more. >> he's going to be introduced as the next head coach tomorrow morning. ben mcadoo officially handed the keys to the giants' big office this afternoon. mcadoo officially the choice to replace tom coughlin who left big blue after 12 seasons last week. this is his first head coaching job. mcadoo, the offensive coordinator the last two years. the team hopes he's going to give the giants stability in this transition while still providing much needed change. the playoffs have been nothing but a memory for a while now. the quarterback likes the move. eli manning in a statement earlier today, i enjoy this offense, i enjoy working with coach mcadoo, i'm excited about that staying the same. the big introduction tomorrow, then the big job starts getting the giants back to the playoffs. that job is ben mcadoo's now. in sports at 6:00 we have reaction from the new coach. diana. hundreds of children staying home from school in queens, an illness spread quickly. we will tell you what the school is doing to keep other students healthy. also what an inspector

theater and what workers there are doing now to keep it open. and a woman gets fined and could even go to trial, all because she helped some baby squirrels. i'm meteorologist lee goldberg. back above freezing today but with the clouds and brisk wind still felt chilly and also a little snow earlier in the morning and, yes, that's a january hurricane. we will tell you what's going on there with alex, a couple of storms over the weekend as

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you're looking at live pictures of that gas leak, the building that's involved at 37th and 7th avenue, we have

been shut off in the building. the building, of course, was evacuated, impacting hundreds of people. as you can see, firefighters are still on the scene. they have cordoned off that area. right now con ed is trying to really figure out the source of that leak but right now, again, the gas has been shut off in the building. we are going to keep an eye on this. tim fleischer on the scene with any new developments and, of course, again we are going to check back in with this story. >> absolutely. all new at 5:00, a quick thinking police officer stopped an elderly man from becoming a victim of fraud and it happened just in the nick of time. the 79-year-old man was at a cvs, he was wiring money to a caller who said that they had kidnapped his grandson in puerto rico. after the grandson's mother verified her son was perfectly safe and not even in puerto rico, she called police and police worked quickly. they tracked the cell phone to the cvs where an officer literally walked right up, right as the gentleman was about to complete the money transfer. >> wow.

on the phone asking for the pin, kind of demanding the pin and i could hear the victim, he's an older guy, letting them know to -- going to have to be patient and he needs his reading glasses to read the pin so whatever time it would take for him to put his reading glasses on and read the pin, because the money had already been sent, i'm sure the money would have been -- would have been gone. >> yeah. >> that's amazing. officer scott harsiny -- >> don't fall for this kind of scam. >> we hear about this all the time. so good he stopped him. >> quick work. >> indeed. it is cold but it's not really too bad. >> the edge is coming off of it. we are on the way up right now. lots of ups and downs as we head into the weekend and then we have this january hurricane we have to talk about too. >> i know. >> no impact for us but pretty wild, right? outside we go tonight, cloudy skies, look from astoria back into the manhattan skyline looking pretty and the visibility is very good right

wind at 8, has been a little feisty gusting up to 20 at times and the high 30 today is now up to 37. our current temperature average high 38 so pretty close to that. sunset was at 4:51 last year on this date, partly sunny skies and 32. speaking of 32, that's where we are in newburgh, in middle town and a little fresh coating of snow feels chillies in parts -- chilly in parts of the hudson valley. 37 in yonkers right now. long island at 36 and 39 belmar, west orange coming in at 38. wind chills, you know, not too far from freezing, it's felt a little milder monmouth, middlesex, ocean counties have a little more sunshine today. partly to mostly sunny skies -- temperatures holding steady if not bumping up a little bit toward dawn because a warm front has come through wind coming out of the south- southwest. by tomorrow afternoon even though the clouds are thickening in the mid and upper 40s, should feel pretty good. that's where we have had the clearing, toms river, points south, stafford and barnegat

island and connecticut, northern new jersey but there's a warm front here, continues to lift to the north and our temperatures will respond. that warm front is connected to a low over the dakotas and then there's a low in the gulf. the two of these are headed in our direction, this is the more dominant feature and it gives us a decent soaking friday night into the day on saturday. but we go all across the atlantic, rarely do we do this in january but there it is. that's hurricane alex, the first atlantic hurricane to form in january since 1938. alice. but this is the first one to form in january, headed toward winds of 85 miles an hour, that will be tomorrow, the big impact on the azores and then toward greenland as a subtropical low as we go into the weekend. closer to home, patchy clouds overnight, a chilly evening, steady temperatures into tomorrow, increasing clouds, more of a filtered high veil of clouds during the day and then that will thicken during the afternoon and then you will notice the rain coming in tomorrow night. have your umbrella after 9:00 or 10:00, it will be milder as we go through the overnight,

west but there could be icy spots but a good dose of rain into saturday morning that should leave the scene in the afternoon and have a shot at 50 during the day. partly cloudy, 34 tonight, 20s north and west. tomorrow 39, filtered sunshine, the day finishes on the cloudy side and then tomorrow night the rain arrives. watch out for a few slippery spots traveling off to the north and west. could we get over an inch in parts of the area friday night into saturday morning? the amounts are trending up. 50s in spots saturday afternoon only to be followed by the chance of snow and frigid temperatures early next week. your seven-day accuweather forecast after 5:30. >> thank you, lee. dozens of gyms busted here in new york. coming up, what they did that has them paying up. also a baby injured in a freak accident. what went wrong from flying from the kitchen that injured a little boy and other people in the apartment? and the oscar nominations announced tonight, the academy's president responding to concerns about a lack of

plus, hear what president obama told a 10-year-old about a cure for ca

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it is that time of year when hollywood has to get up really, really early. >> the oscar nominations were announced this morning in los angeles and tonight the

responding to concerns about a lack of diversity again this year. >> our entertainment reporter sandy kenyon is live for us in los angeles with more. sandy. >> reporter: i got up early this morning. behind me is the delky theater -- dolby theatre where the ose cores will be given out on february 28th. lots of discussion between now and then. trade paper variety saying a big boost for the picture that earned the most nominations here this morning. as the "revenant," leonardo dicaprio is left for dead and the star had described making this money as among the toughest tasks in his entire career. this morning he was rewarded with an oscar nomination, one of an even dozen the movie received, more than any other film, though "mad max: fury road" is right behind with 10. both titles are up for best

our city, brooklyn, "bridge of spies" and the big short. "room" is in the running for the top award and so is spotlight and "the martian," for the second year in a row there was a lack of diversity in the acting category. the president of the academy is trying to address this. >> what can you do in a concrete way that we are not reporting this story three, four, five years from now. >> we are at the academy looking at all of our initiatives and certainly one that is at the forefront of discussion is membership and bringing in even more of a diverse membership. >> reporter: in the meantime chris rock hired as coast and he will preside over a field that includes jennifer lawrence up for best actress playing joy, a long island housewife who made a fortune, up against saoirse row nan in brooklyn -- ronan in brooklyn brooklyn. rounding out the category is

about 45 years of marriage. among the men. >> bryan cranston in trumbo, matt damon in "the martian," leonardo dicaprio in the "revenant," mike fast bender and steve jobs -- in "steve jobs." >> sylvester stallone again -- >> let it happen. two kids. >> reporter: rachel mcadams, his co-star in spotlight is also up for a nod as best supporting actress. so plenty to talk about. no wil smith for "concussion," no selba for beasts of no nation and by the way, where was "star wars: the force awakens"? the picture got five nominations in technical categories but fans of course wanted to see a best picture nomination. it wasn't to be. the original got a best picture nomination, won six oscars, not

a lot more on our internet website, the anchors will tell you more about that in a second. for now, reporting live from hollywood boulevard, i'm sandy kenyon. >> r2d2 deserves something, don't you think? >> yeah, why not? >> after the nominations came out, sandy and entertainment reporter george pinocchio from our sister station in los angeles discussed the nominations and you will see their initial reactions, you can see what they had to say at abc7ny.com. i'm curious about that. >> don't forget, channel 7 is your source for everybody about the oscars, stay with us leading up to the awards and for the big night when they are handed out on february 28th. meanwhile, hundreds of kids home sick from a school in queens. what went wrong with them and what the school is doing to try to keep other kids healthy. also new research reveals a medical condition that many 9/11 responders have been diagnosed with, an illness that's not covered under the zadroga act. and the largest dinosaur

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we are back and we continue to follow breaking news in midtown, a 23 story building has been evacuated all because of a gas leak. con edison is on the scene at seventh avenue and 37th street. crews have shut down two natural gas valves and they are taking readings in that area right now. the building has stores on the first floor and offices above and hundreds of people in those offices had to leave the building all within the last hour or two. we are going to stay on top of this story and bring you any new information here at wabc and at abc7ny.com. our top story this half hour, hundreds of students sick at a school in queens, all

more than 200 students stayed home today. >> officials believe the norovirus making its way through the elementary school and now ps12 in woodside is being scrubbed and disinfected. stephancefaan kim has more. >> reporter: some parents wondering should they send their kids to school tomorrow. >> they told us that the viruses are spreading a lot in our class and we should use more hand sanitizer. >> reporter: this little 7-year- old says teachers here at ps12 in woodside queens sent her home with helpful tips on how to prevent the spread of norovirus. the second grader says five of her classmates sent home sick and that has her worried. >> i hope they will be better. >> reporter: officials say over the past two days dozens of students here have been sent home complaining of nausea and

yesterday, another 28 today with at least 210 students staying home today. parents were given these letters as they picked up their children, notifying them of the situation. some parents concerned, others not so much. >> i ignore it. >> yesterday i was a little bit worried because my daughter said out of school that 50 students vomited. >> reporter: what are the symptoms of norovirus and how do you prevent its spread? >> the symptoms of norovirus infection are vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, may have a little bit of fever. it comes on about a day after you're exposed to the virus and it doesn't last very long, usually one to three days. hand washing can help a lot. if you're -- if you touch a surface that has norovirus but then you wash your hands really well with soap and water, you're not going to be infected. >> reporter: as for ps12, the mayor says he's ordered the school to be disinfected twice, today and again over the weekend. and the patients have -- if parents have any doubt, the

>> our message to any students and staff who are not feeling well, they should stay home. we want to help them get better and we want to get a handle on this. >> reporter: to be clear, the school is not closed but the question is, how many students will show up tomorrow? reporting live in woodside, queens, cefaan kim, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thanks, cefaan. a common household cooking product is blamed tonight for sparking an explosion that burned three people in brooklyn including a toddler. investigators say a can of pam cooking spray was too close to a stove, that can exploded this morning in an apartment on 15th street on coney island. three people in the home were burned including a 1-year-old child who was sitting on a nearby couch. >> everybody crying, everybody, they don't know what happened. they are like going in shock. so i come over here and then

the baby too. >> the little boy suffered burns to his face and his arms. two women also suffered minor injuries. two men are being charged in that bank robbery and police chase across a long island expressway. police say murray hawkins and kevin highland robbed a capital one bank on sunrise highway in suffolk county yesterday morning. when police spotted the getaway car, the two took off leading police on a chase into nassau county. it ended when they crashed into a police vehicle. and also on long island, a disturbing link tonight between 9/11 first responders and neuropathy. >> it's a hard word. >> thank you. >> it's a really difficult thing to deal with and doctors at winthrop university hospital in nassau county and emergency workers from the september 11th say they are meeting today and say 15 times more likely to have this really irritating nerve damage. first responders say they are not surprised because they

>> every illness that we have is higher than the population because of the absorption due to nose, mouth and skin and because we lied when they -- we relied on them when they said the air was safe to breathe. >> the symptoms include a numbness in your extremities, burning pain and muscle cramps also in the feet and legs. but neuropathy is not among the conditions covered by the zadroga 9/11 health and compensation act. meanwhile, isis claiming responsibility tonight for a suicide attack in indonesia's capitol that killed two people and injured at least 20 others. police say five attackers set off bombs near a starbucks cafe in the downtown area. that's a short distance away from the u.s. embassy and presidential palace. then they opened fire on police, all of the gunmen were killed. the lawyer for a man accused of killing an american woman in florence, italy, says his client left the victim alive after they had a fight.

cher for the murder of 35-year- old ashley olsen. she suffered a fatal head injury and was strangled. diaw's lawyer says his client pushed olsen to the ground where she hit her head after she tried to push him out of her apartment following consensual sex. he says he left her alive on the bed. still prosecutors say they have a lot of evidence against him. >> this case is rich in evidence between dna, probably fingerprints, surveillance cameras and i think witnesses. >> investigators say they have identified the suspect from surveillance images taken at a club that the two were at earlier that night. they say they also found his dna at her apartment and under her fingernails. dozens of gyms busted in new york state, what they did to customers that has them paying. plus a movie theater ordered to clean up its act. what an inspector found and what the theater has to do now.

obama told a little girl who asked about findings a cure for cancer. and i'm meteorologist lee goldberg. bundled up on the west side tonight, although i'm not seeing as many scarves in the -- temperatures are above freezing. standing at 37 degrees in new the west. it's actually a warm front that's working through the area just to the north here but that's going to bring in a lot of rain down to the south so eventually you're going to need your umbrella over the weekend,

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in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades,

like in the hudson valley, with world class biotech. and on long island, where great universities are creating next generation technologies. let us help grow your company's tomorrow, today at business.ny.gov and, of course, this is a popular time of year for people to join the gym and tonight new york state reaching a settlement with nearly 100 health clubs. 96 clubs including planet fitness, gold's gym, curves and others will pay penalties and fees. the attorney general says they are accused of a number of violations including failing to make required disclosures to customers. the a.g. says under state law you have

a contract to cancel it. you can also cancel if you move 25 miles away or have a physical disability that lasts mosh six months -- more than six months. a classically trained british actor known to legions of harry potter fans is being remembered tonight. alan rickman died today of cancer. he played the mysterious professor snape on the harry potter films. he notably played other villains about had so many varied roles throughout his career. also appeared on broadway a whole lot of times earning two tony nominations. rickman was just 69 years old. and heart break tonight for celine dion and her family. her husband rene has died after a long battle with cancer. he passed away this morning at his home in las vegas. he had been her manager for years. they married back in 1994. he stepped down as her manager in 2014 after his throat cancer returned. he was 73 years old. in a state of the union

announcing a new effort to defeat cancer. today a 10-year-old girl in louisiana asked if he thought there's going to be a cure. >> my name is noel and i'm in fourth grade. >> it's going to be young people like you that are going to help cure cancer so you better study up on your math and study up on your science. it probably won't be cured in my lifetime, but i think it will be cured in yours. >> oh, let's hope so. >> uh-huh. >> the president was at a town hall forum in baton rouge. he also got a question about first lady michelle obama, he said, no, she is not running for president. well, how caring for squirrels has a woman in new jersey facing hefty fines tonight. plus meteorologist lee goldberg tracking a storm for this weekend. he's got the accuweather forecast coming up next. something so big you can hardly contain it. i'm aime aime a-- i'm amy freeze at the american museum of natural history.

at the dino debut. coming up tonight the terror attack similar to paris, westerners, starbucks targeted. we have pictures coming in. the nor'easter bracing up and down the coast tonight as we near the weekend.

we are back and a movie theater in white plains slapped with a violation. the buildings department says it received multiple complaints about an infestation at the cinema deluxe which houses 15 theaters. an inspector was sent out yesterday and issued a notice of violation. the theater operator has 30 days to address the problem before the city issues a summons. in the meantime, the theater will remain open. >> ewww.

of powerball hopefuls on long island. the pool started by moms from plainview and old beth page ended -- bethpage ended up getting more than 12 participants, they won, each person walked away with less than a dollar so the organizers decided to donate the money to various charities including an animal shelter and a fire department. good use of money. that's what you do. >> they did that fast. they had to go through 6000 tickets last night so -- >> oh, yeah, they did. >> pretty cool. congratulations. >> hadn't thought about that. >> yeah. i'm thinking about that storm down in the azores, isn't that amazing that we have a hurricane this time of year? >> you know, it speaks to the ocean temperature. the whole warm pattern is not just here, obviously the east coast and into the atlantic. named alex. first one to form in january since 1938. first one to just be in the atlantic since '55. that will go toward greenland

to a storm over the weekend that, boy, its track should be a rainstorm -- should be a snowstorm but it's going to be a rainstorm but because of the ocean temperatures. there's our studios on 66th and the west side. it's actually a good parking spot available. 37 degrees, a westerly wind at 8 miles an hour. clouds will thin out at times. i want you to notice the temperatures, how they go steady through much of the night, a warm front coming through and holding numbers steady. still below freezing in places like ramsey, new jersey. there are places north and west that got a coating this morning, there's still a little bit of snow around especially near the sides of the roads. might be black ice tonight north and west. be careful of that. tomorrow morning starting out near 40 in new york city, partial sunshine. sun fades during the day tomorrow but a south-southeast wind will help us get into the upper 40s during the afternoon. take it from 3:00 tomorrow afternoon where the clouds are thickening and after a cold morning, 42 newburgh, 48 islip and 49 in belmar. then the rain starts to move in and that's after about 9:00 or 10:00 tonight so have your

and temperatures are a little too close for comfort here in terms of freezing in places like sussex and monticello, might be a few slick spots off to the north and west and maybe even a small accumulation in the highest elevations of the catskills overnight into saturday morning. so good dose of rain, a big difference between the east end of long island over an inch of rain and lighter amounts off to the north and west, maybe 1/4 inch of rain. that gets out of the way by mid- morning saturday. hopefully we will get thinning clouds. you're 49 tomorrow, the rain on saturday morning and hopefully clearing in the afternoon hours, projected rainfall amounts on this futurecast near 1/2", i think that that's actually underdone. i can see places especially east getting over an inch. some flurries coming in on sunday, especially at night. i think the daylight hours actually look dry. on monday it looked like this storm is offshore where we have been looking at that all week long. i think a light accumulation is possible in the morning hours. look at the frigid air, though, no matter what type of snow we get, it's only going to be in the 20s both monday and

so really cold stretch to start early next week and then we will climb above freezing by midweek. again, no big snows with this cold but starting to see snow pop up so some folks had to deal with a little coating this morning and they will probably do it again sunday night into monday. >> thanks, lee. got a new guy in town, the museum of natural history unveiling a new dinosaur and it's a big guy. >> that's right. it is the largest ever discovered and this guy so big, he doesn't even fit entirely into one room. you got to check this out. our amy freeze posed with the dino today, posting this photo on facebook. >> yeah, that's just a little tip of it. she has more on its debut. >> reporter: heads up, everybody loves dinosaurs, but to see the biggest ever right in your own back yard, that's huge. >> gigantic, supergigantic. >> very big. >> reporter: monster talk from fourth graders at ps197 to got the first look. alan calaway says it's a must see. >> it's like 2 inches from

>> this would dwarf an elephant. >> reporter: actually it weighs as much as 10 elephants around 70 tons and measures longer than a blue whale at 122 feet. during the 18 month long dino dig they found 70% of the skeleton, such a tremendous specimen took away a sizable amount of guesswork but the whopper fossils were too heavy to mount. the life size display is 3d prints of fiberglass. it roamed 100 million years ago but fitting this enormous fossil display into a modern building even as vast as the museum took an epic effort. >> there was a moment when we didn't think part of it would fit in the garage. there was another moment when it was having trouble getting in an elevator. >> reporter: a massive project leaving the dino ducking its head out the door. >> we struggled with fitting him in and in order to do it, we had to crouch him down but he's actually taller than this. >> reporter: they did a tremendous job for the world exclusive dino debut. >> sharing that with the people of new york and the people of

kids are going to go wow. >> reporter: another shocker, even scientists are skeptical this will be the last big shot find. >> it's not even full grown, so there may be bigger dinosaurs know. >> reporter: so two thumbs up? no way. think bigger, much bigger. >> these were all thumbs down, 10 thumbs up for each of us. >> yeah. because we have toes. >> and if you'd like to interact with the dinosaur, we have 360-degree video posted on our facebook page, check it out, it's very cool technology and you can move your weight around the room and check up the guy up close. >> hard to believe he may not be full grown. amazing. still ahead, she was just helping out animals in need. >> now one woman in new jersey is facing a trial all because she helped care for these squirrels. hear from her next. i'll bill ritter -- i'm bill ritter new at 6:00, the public battle between mayor de

heating up again over the governor's plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for the city for education and healthcare. and where's a cop when you need him to say thanks for helping me. tonight one man's desperate

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new at 5:00, a woman in new squirrels. >> she says she was trying to help an injured squirrel but then to her surprise this injured squirrel gave birth and now this woman is facing a trial because she helped to squirrels. new jersey reporter toni yates has her story. >> you sitting up, buddy. >> reporter: maria says no way they could have survived without their mother so she waited for her to return. >> so we left the babies out hours. she never came back. >> reporter: she says when registered wildlife eastbound at a timers could not -- rehabilitators could not take them in, she became their mom,

>> good morning, good morning and there's lola. >> reporter: they became their foster family, her son, her husband, october 31st the division of fish and wildlife came knocking. >> and asked me if i had squirrels and i said yes, i had no problem telling them the story. i was proud. >> reporter: what she says she didn't know was that this was illegal. >> they said i couldn't have them, that they had to be rehabilitated. i complied. i said no problem. >> reporter: she says she even gave the officers the cage. she received days later a ticket in the mail. >> $500. >> right, well, when i was in court wednesday, the judge told me up to $1000 fine. >> reporter: she says the judge also said up to six months in jail because having the animals was a criminal offense. >> but you didn't know that? >> no. >> reporter: you were doing something out of your heart? >> thought i was. >> reporter: she pleaded not guilty, back in court january 27th.

in laughs, promises and hope are -- >> especially wasting our taxpayers' money to go to court over helping two squirrels. it doesn't make sense. >> reporter: toni yates, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> i think a lot of people are saying it doesn't make sense. >> i think you're right about that. one man on a desperate search for a new york city police officer. >> but it's for good reason. he wants to thank him. >> eyewitness news at 6:00 starts right now. >> this is new york's number 1 news, channel 7 eyewitness news with bill ritter and liz cho, rob powers with sports, and lee accuweather forecast. now eyewitness news at 6:00. >> that threatens our ability to serve our people and it would certainly put us in the dangerous fiscal situation. >> new at 6:00, new york's two most powerful politicians tonight battling again.

governor cuomo's plans to cut funding for education and health in new york city. and a developing story, prosecutors with a stunning admission tonight, they don't have enough evidence to indict five teenaged boys with gang raping a young woman in a park in brooklyn. good evening, everyone, it's 6:00. i'm bill ritter. >> and i'm liz cho. much more on those stories in just a minute. but we are going to begin tonight with some breaking news, that hundreds of people forced out of a building in midtown manhattan after a natural gas leak. >> con edison says the gas has been turned off in the building, it's on seventh avenue and 37th street. but people are still not being allowed back in. >> eyewitness news reporter tim fleischer is there with the latest. tim. >> reporter: liz, let me set the scene for you here. we have actually moved down on west 37th street from seventh avenue as a precaution here. what is happening is con ed crews are focusing on this spot in the street here where they started to jackhammer a large hole and are starting to look

that they have shut off gas to