air station in patuxent river. they lit up social from new jersey to long island nearly 700 posts about earthquake, sonic and boom right after they happened. some residents in far rockaway also feeling the booms. >> i was just behind my building and i don't know what happened but i felt the building shake. then my girlfriend sitting outside enjoying the weather, you know, like all of a sudden it started shaking. so while i sat there, you know -- then it happened again. so i got a security guard, then the firemen and police came. so we just -- i don't know, just shook, you know. >> a lot of folks said that. we have learned what kind of aircraft made those booms. a defense official says that a u.s. military f35 joint strike fighter was conducting flight tests along the coast.

of nearly 1200 miles an hour. mystery solved. >> a lot of nerves rattled. a lot of nerves rattled also about the zika virus. the world health organization describing the spread of the mosquito born virus as their words explosive and it could infect up to 4 million people in south, central and north america. >> the virus is linked to birth defects. so far there are seven cases in new york state, three of those in new york city, two on long island. in new jersey a woman visiting from columbia was diagnosed with zika and she is back home and has now recovered. >> now there are serious travel warnings to women who are pregnant and women trying to get pregnant. eyewitness news reporter n.j. burkett with the story. he's at jfk for us. n.j. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely right, bill, the risk to pregnant women is apparently substantial but, no, zero risk of getting the virus here. it is of course the middle of winter. the more immediate concern is for americans traveling to the affected regions, whether as tourists or latinos or west indians visiting relatives.

is to travelers headed to destinations where the virus is already present. new york city health commissioner mary bassett. >> new who travel to countries which have zika transmission are potentially at risk and they should take measures to protect themselves from mosquito bites. >> reporter: the bite from an infected mosquito is not serious for most people but for pregnant women it's potentially devastating. in brazil where zika was first identified, infected women are giving birth to children with severe neurological defect. the virus has now been identified in mosquitoes across the caribbean in central and south america including puerto rico, haiti, the dominican republic, el salvador, honduras and mexico. a nassau county resident already recovered from the virus. >> we expect to see more cases because we see those cases, those our population of patients that come to nassau university medical center and we are prepared for it. >> reporter: the illness is spread exclusively by one

spread by person to person contact. it produces a mild flulike illness and is not fatal to adults and children. but there is no vaccine. many airlines are refunding or crediting tickets for passengers cancelling their trips, but russell smith and his pregnant wife rosemary are booked on a norwegian cruise and furious because they were offered a voucher good for one year. >> this is our first time around. i don't want anything to happen to put the child at risk. >> reporter: the county executive of nassau is pushing for a law that would force companies to issue refunds to expectant families, again to recap, seven cases identified in the state of new york, all of them contracted elsewhere. live tonight at kennedy airport, n.j. burkett, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. the weather the good news is lee goldberg is not forecasting a blizzard but he is tracking some bands of snow, light snow that will fall in various places in the tri- state. it is this close to mucking up

lee is outside tracking it all. lee. >> so my heart rate, yeah, is not as fast paced as last week at this time, however some interesting stuff going on with the sonic boom this afternoon, then we will get to our forecast. want to show you a graphic just a quick explainer here to show you why you may have heard and felt that boom because of the way the temperature was in the atmosphere. normally it goes from warm to cool as you go higher, toot different story, an inversion, ceiling created by the way the temperature is and that sound may have reverb berated along that ceiling, allowing us to hear it farther away and obviously amplifying it. sometimes during the summer when the inversions are low we hear the thunder more. on radar we may have sensed it with that little blip near new brunswick. 40 degrees right now, we've got cloudy skies, our numbers are dropping below freezing north and west we are concerned about the refreezing and icing routine we have been going through the past couple of nights. the clouds haven't even thickened up yet but they will overnight. there's the clipper off to the west. you see the snow showers and

our north but those areas near cleveland back to chicago, detroit, that's going to swing through the area but i think it happens mid to late morning tomorrow. if you watch, the only areas i'm concerned about for the latter part of the morning commute, catskills, poconos, northwestern new jersey then all bets off. if you're traveling around late morning, slick spots north and west and a brief rain or snow shower that could reduce visibility and then start kick up the winds during the afternoon. that's one thing we will get in on in the afternoon is the gusty winds going up to 40 miles an hour as skies begin to clear out. ice patches overnight, especially outside of new york city, snow showers tomorrow morning, earlier north and west we can have slick spots and then 40-mile-per-hour gusts and feel-like readings in the 20s by late day so a very volatile changeable day coming up and we will have the rest of the seven- day accuweather forecast right into the upcoming weekend. back to you for now. >> thank you, lee. by the way, you can get the latest forecast tomorrow morning starting at 4:30, traffic and, of course, the weather. and if you want to see how lee puts all this together, his

day, you can get our weather app, it is, after all, free. charges of rape tonight against a man in new jersey. police say the youngest of his three victims just 13 years old and they say he followed her home. the rape happening in irvington in newark. toni yates is in newark tonight with much more on this disturbing story. >> reporter: yes, liz, and that 13-year-old was in her home, in her bedroom, in her bed where she should have been safe, another of the victims was right at her doorstep when she was snatched and there are at least two more victims. >> one was ab conducted from -- abducted from the street and brought into her house while she was holding a small child in her hands and was sexually assaulted. >> reporter: the prosecutor's office says 35-year-old curven joseph michelle is the suspect that they have linked to the vicious attack. and another they say as a teenager left an apartment, the suspect went to the unlocked door and confronted the teen's

>> had her come out into the hallway and took her to the stairway where she sexually assaulted her today. >> reporter: after he broke into her home and snuck into her bedroom. the november 2nd rape of the 29- year-old irvington woman who was holding her child, the november 4th rape of a 21-year- old woman also in irvington, her boyfriend walked in, scuffled with the suspect before he got away. and an attempted sexual assault outside this gas station convenience store on south orange avenue in newark where the suspect jumped into a woman's car when she went into the store, she was forced to drive to another location but she managed to fight him off. their break in linking the crimes came in evidence left in the 13-year-old's bedroom. >> he left a knife and socks and underwear and shorts in the apartment and a profile was developed from that evidence. >> reporter: investigators say michelle's relatives convinced him to turn himself in. he's in custody on $1.3 million

>> various counts of first degree aggravated sexual assault, also charged with attempted sexual assault, charged with burglary. >> kidnapping? >> yes, of the last case. >> reporter: michelle is due in court tomorrow morning. the essex county special victims unit at the prosecutor's office says if anyone thinks they have been a victim of this suspect they can call the special victims unit at 973-753-1130. for now we are live here in newark, toni yates, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. a mess of a commute on the west side highway, a disabled car there, really messing up the evening commute, delays all the way to the gw bridge. shannon sohn in newscopter 7 above it all. shannon. >> reporter: yeah, this has been just a disaster but a little bit of good news here. look at this. this car right here was brought to the rescue and got our disabled out of the way. he is now pulling away. so you are seeing it live here

this common ramp to the george washington bridge and the cross bronx expressway. we want to show you what it has done to traffic because this west side is a bumper-to-bumper nightmare that takes you all the back to the 50s, that disabled was there for over an hour. reporting live over the george washington bridge, shannon sohn, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> that's going to take a while to clear. shannon, thank you. we are learning new details in a robbery in brooklyn where a cop opened fire less than an hour ago police released new photos of the weapons that they recovered. police say two of the three suspects used a semiautomatic handgun to rob a wireless phone store in bensonhurst. when the suspects made their getaway, an employee followed them and then alerted police. the suspects hit two cars when their green jeep crashed into a parked car, that's when police say one of the suspects got out and waved a gun. that's when an officer opened fire. one suspect was hit in the chest, all of the remaining suspects were arrested. as we continue with eyewitness news at 6:00 on this very busy thursday night,

school and now a parent is accusing a school employee of acting as a referee. and a postal worker just eight days into her marriage loses her wedding ring while delivering the mail. how it was found, well, that's the story. and the knicks get some pretty bad news about one player named carmelo anthony as the team gets ready to you like being picture perfect. you should want your banking to be too. stop into td bank and we'll help set you up

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shocking video to show you that surfaced online of a brawl between two students at a middle school in queens while their coach just watched. that school employee, marcus cruz, has now been fired. you can see him in the video that was taken at ms53 in far rockaway. the far of one of the boys tells us his 12-year-old son was encouraged by cruz to fight the other student to resolve their differences. >> he told me that the coach said let them fight, at the end of the day this could be your child that's in that program that has to deal with these people that are not there for their safety. >> the department of education says cruz is not a d.o.e. employee ask that he has been removed from his position. new at 6:00, imagine losing your wedding ring just eight days after you got married. >> it happened to a postal worker in new jersey. she lost the ring on one of her routes delivering mail. >> it was found at a home on that mail route. the challenge was to find the

>> yeah, eyewitness news reporter kemberly richardson tweeted a picture of the found ring while covering today's reunion. >> i think i almost broke a rib from how tight i hugged her. >> reporter: friday, january 8th nancy was at work delivering mail in midland park. the 32-year-old was a blushing bride had just said i do two weeks earlier on new year's eve. but suddenly nancy realized her white-gold wedding band which was a little bit big was gone. >> in the cold weather, your off. >> reporter: you never felt it >> no. >> reporter: across town mary ellen was here at her mom's house on an emergency call on january 10th. a first sponsored spotted the ring in the driveway and gave it to mary ellen and i said, oh, you know, okay, and i literally, i took it and put it in my pocket, said this is the last thing i'm going to think about or worry about now. >> seven days later she pulled out that ring, wanted to find out who it belonged to. she posted this message on her

>> i left out some details, so like if somebody claimed them i was going to ask them what initials were in there but there were no numbers in there so a trick question. >> reporter: by then nancy had alerted people on her route. those people on high alert saw mary ellen's post and connected the dots. january 19th the strangers met. >> she is holding something in her hand and i glanced and oh my, god, no way. >> reporter: she isn't wearing her ring right now, not until she has it resized. and now this, it's a big surprise. mary ellen has no idea but nancy just left these sweet treats at her home, a big thank you for all she has done. >> i just felt it was the right thing to do. i wouldn't have thought of doing it any differently. >> reporter: in midland park, kemberly richardson, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> wow. >> love it. love the trick question too. >> great, great, great. just ahead, lee returns with much more on the little bit of snow that we are expecting tomorrow.

it's going to impact the

the centers for medicare and medicaid services recently asked patients to rate the quality of over 3.500 hospitals. fewer than 6% received 5 stars. among them was cancer treatment centers of america in philadelphia.

we it's just remarkable how weather plays into the whole sonic boom thing. >> i knew it did. that's amazing if you're just joining us now, it's the way that the temperature profiles and the atmosphere puts a cap on things and it was very low today. >> it makes perfect sense. >> really wild. >> you're smart. >> what did you say? >> you're smart. >> what did you say? >> outside we go tonight. [ laughter ] times. >> that's going to be my new ring tone. you see the sunset, oh, it's gorgeous over new york harbor. how nice does that look? look at the boats around manhattan. the snow piles continue to shrink. the snow depth in central park down to 6 inches, 40 degrees our temperature right now, a southwest wind at five and the high today was 42. that's 3 degrees above average and again way above freezing. headlines, snow showers could sneak into the far northwest

and that's why late in the morning commute far north and west some slippery spots. the showers shut down and they can be rain or snow showers midday and the wind picks up in the afternoon and then there's more melting as we go into the upcoming weekend, we could be near 40 degrees on saturday with a flurry north and then you're talking about temperatures, there could be in the upper 40s to near 50 on sunday. so it's another night where it's 32 in caramel, 29 andover, the snowpack taking temperatures down again so there will be some refreezing and some ice patches overnight. clouds will continue to thicken, the wind will remain light through tomorrow morning, the snow shower well north and west at 8:00 a.m. anywhere rain or snow through the midday and then the wind is cranking late day into your evening commute. clouds starting to increase but still clear patches. this storm is incredible down to the south with heavy rains and even an tornado confirmed in south florida, that is going offshore. we deal with this front coming from the west and snow showers that will sneak into the area tomorrow morning.

couple of ice patches and then snow showers that could quickly reduce visibility, they may get a little squall where the visibilities go down briefly, only last for a few minutes but there could be isolated dustings especially north and west. by the time the showers are a little more widespread midday, numbers are above freezing, roadways would just be wet so then it becomes a brief visibility issue and some wet spots on the roads and then those showers move out and the wind picks up, accumulations unlikely unless you're in the highest elevations but you have to watch out for a couple of slippery spots to pop up in a hurry. winds calm early but gusty later with 35 to 40-mile-per- hour gusts. partly to mostly cloudy skies, icy spots around especially outside of town, 34 for tomorrow, a high of 41, never feels that warm, snow showers maybe even a mix rain or snow shower midday, gusty in the afternoon. clear and brisk with the blustery conditions early down to 26, will feel like teens at time, your seven day shows a pretty nice weekend for february here in late january, early february. 39 on saturday, near 50 on saturday, into the 50s on monday with a late shower.

55 to 60 with a good soaking that will wash away the remainder of the snow unless you're talking about parking lot piles. >> have we seen the last of the snow until next year? >> absolutely not. >> okay. rob is up next with sports. >> wishful thinking on that side. knicks take on one of the big teams from the east tonight but once again they will not be at full strength. straight ahead, carmelo anthony is out again. you will hear from the nicks

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so i'm guessing this is not a good thing when your star player is injured. >> against a good team. the knicks play in toronto tonight. they are up against the raptors

10th straight win of all of that is bad enough and to make matters worse without carmelo anthony, continues to be hampered by the sore knee. anthony hopes to be back in the lineup tomorrow. that doesn't help tonight. all in all it does not bode well for the knicks north of the border. >> very confident that this is nothing but some fatigue, a little bit of soreness, general soreness, you know, probably just an overload of, you know, just work, feel much better. on now to manningfest destiny, that's how bronco fans and more specifically peyton manning fans see the super bowl 50 as manning's swan song like would be just plane wrong if he didn't win but let's get this straight. enever come out and -- he's never come out and said the r word, retirement. on the other hand, there was that microphone at the afc title game that picked up his conversation with patriot coach bill belichick, something about a last rodeo. >> i mean, i don't know if it's

know, what happened to private conversations on the 50-yard line? they don't exist anymore. so no confirmation on that whatsoever, you know, as we are onto carolina, we are onto carolina. >> practice for the panthers underway as well. they too will soon make their way to california but not before installing the game plan, figuring everything out at home. carolina the favorite to win the game but hand it to this team, confident, yes, overconfident, doesn't look like it right now. >> you know, for us to overcome so much this year and not be distracted, you know, come sunday, it's been great to see. >> so while peyton manning looks for yet another super bowl title, his little brother will have to settle for the pro bowl. giant quarterback eli manning will play in that game on sunday but eli already has his focus on next season, giants figure to have plenty of new faces. don't forget they have that new head coach with everybody looking to get back to the playoffs.

command of the team and i think we will be able to do great things so i'm excited for the future of the new york giants and look forward to getting back into action and see what we can do. >> thumbs up on the shades or -- >> i loved them. >> like those? >> nice addition. maybe a new year at the australian open but looks like last year. defending women's champ serena williams, one match ajuan from another grand slam title. novack djokovic out of the finals today after he took care of roger federer in the semis. he earned -- five time australian champion. he needs one more for a sixth. finally from us a bizarre incident on the ice last night in calgary, dennis weisman takes a hit in the corner in their game with nashville. as he heads back to the bench, he cross checks linesman don hander son. the officials stays down several minutes.

no penalty handed out on the play. wideman said he had his head down, he was unable to avoid contact. said it was unintentional, apologized but minutes ago suspended pending a hearing next week. >> i would hate to see what intentional looks like. >> absolutely no way, right? i'm not buying that. >> no way. >> when will the criminal charges be filed? >> yeah. >> just asking a question. serious, that was an assault. >> that was a rough one but you could probablythal in every -- >> every game in that sport of hockey. >> thank you, rob. for a look at some of the stories we are working on for eyewitness news at 11:00, sade is here for that. >> our political reporter dave evans will be watching tonight's final republican debate before next week's iowa caucuses. also could driverless cars soon be helping the blind get around? we are going to tell you where it may become a reality. and an intense exercise may not be the best way to lose weight. we will tell you what may work better tonight on eyewitness

>> pizza?