>> i'm worried that it could attack him. >> reporter: on wednesday morning here on 16th avenue a six - year-old boy walking with his mom was attacked by the racoon. >> please, there's screaming call 911. >> i imagined that was my son. and instinctively it took over and i just knew i had to kill the racoon. >> reporter: the racoon died soon after. once test results came back that the racoon was rabid. police issued these fliers being handed out to the community. >> just because one animal came back positive for rabies does not mean that there are other animals that are positive for rabies. the health officer actually told me it's rare to find that more are. but that doesn't mean we're not going to be diligent in our efforts to try to educate the public and try to see if there's any other animals that exhibit that type of behavior.

should still be diligent, secure your garbage and anything else that could possibly attract animals to your home. as for that little boy you mentioned him, 6-year-old aaron gavali was releaseed from the hospital last night. he's on antibiotics and he will need a series of rabies shots but other than that this little boy should be okay. we certain now to that wildcat strike. a dispute over pay prompted hundreds of shore men to walk off the job. it affected five port terminals in new jersey and staten island. >> reporter: there's 4,500 shoremen who work here at the marine terminal. not all of them wept on strike but it was clearly enough to shut down operations for the day. >> reporter: not even their own

1,000 longshoremen who walked off the job friday morning to go back to work. a spokesman for the international longshoreman's association would only say it was their action. action that caught everyone at the marine terminal by surprise. the terminal was forced to stop to pick up or drop off cargo. and the spokesperson said it was trying to understand the reason for what appears to be a walk out and will take every measure available to assure work resumes. those who walked off around 11:00 friday morning, believe they have good reason, sources tell eyewitness news the tipping point is when the longshoremen were told they weren't getting paid for the two snow days earlier this week. and workers have had an ongoing grievance with the independent agency task with stopping corruption. the waterfront commission of new york harbor. over interference in their collective bargaining

the port of new jersey shares the task with the port of new york. both handle 3.4 million cargo containers combined in 2014. there's 4,500 shoreman at port elizabeth. and at this point it's unclear how an extended strike would affect goods coming to the area. both the immediate impact was felt by the public. the people here say they're only paid if they drop off and pick up cargo and not paid by the hour. reporting live at the port elizabeth terminal. we want to go down to breaking news. back ups after a car went off the road in keneworth. shannon werth is live in copter 7. >> reporter: you can see they're trying to get the car out of here but it went through a tree and a fence in between

portway and gulf driveway. we want to bring this camera out to give you an idea of how bad this accident was. this guy landed here but came off the parkway all the way over there. so a real mess here. the good news is they managed to get all of the emergency crews off the parkway right by galloping hill. you can see the delays are easing out from front to back. as you pass through this accident not bad anymore but look at how bad this delay was because the tail end of this delay is going to be the last thing to disappear and it is bumper to bumper. it takes you back to 142. this is about a four hour jam up all because of this accident. shannon sloan, eyewitness news. police making a number of arrests today. four people arrested for a string of bank robberies. the suspects was behind seven robberies after an attempted robbery last week in comack.

police to one of the suspects. the suspects face robbery charges. authorities believe heroin was the motive for the robbery. 37-year-old ras nerowith sur -- surrendered to police. the nypd is stepping up subway patrols. and finally, an arrest in brooklyn. this one in a robbery of a verizon store in bensonherth. the third remaining suspect is in custody. they shot one of the suspects who they say was armed after he bailed out of a get away car that crashed in mid-wood. he's now recovering in the hospital. two guns were also recovered. sade. concern over the zika virus. the international committee now sent a guideline.

advice concerning zika. the ioc says all committees should follow the guidance ahead of the olympic games. >> if someone is bitten and comes back to the united states and gets bit by another mosquito, it could infect the other mosquitoes. a new poll out toad -- out today and it maintains hillary clinton ahead of bernie sanders. >> reporter: even though he wasn't in it, donald trump may have won last night's debate. his closest rival ted cruz took lot of hits and much of the

trump predicted that fox would not have great ratings without him on stage. he was almost right on that one. of all the debates it was second to the last of all tv viewers. donald trump in new hampshire was on a role attacking his closest debate performance last night. >> cruz is in second place. he got pummeled. he got pummeled wow. >> when you're born in canada you're not supposed to be running for president of the united states.

>> the last four questions have been mark please attack ted, marco please attack ted, jeb please attack ted. >> reporter: in trump's absence, ted cruz took a lot of incoming fire especially on immigration. and today's headline in the des moines paper pointed out last night got rough for cruz. >> the truth is ted, throughout this campaign you're been willing to say or do anything. now you want to trump trump on immigration. >> reporter: also in iowa, governor christie said he felt good about last night's debate. >> i felt like i need a washington english dictionary converter. ted could change his mind, marco can change his mind. let's stop the washington bull and get things done. >> the latest polling shows trump leading in new hampshire and south carolina the other early voting states. if trump does win all of those states he may be unstoppable. diana and sade.

iowa, look for him beginning sunday right here on abc news. nearly two dozen e-mails have been declared top secret. we've also learned that 18 other e-mails from exchanges with clinton and president obama will be with h*eld -- withheld when president obama release other e-mail. huge gains for stocks on wall street. u.s. stocks rose sharply after a surprise interest rate cut by japan. stocks suffered significant losses early in the week. the nasdaq climbed 107 points and the s & p500 gained 46 points.

spending 36 days trapped under ground in a collapse in china. in the days that followed rescuers detected the force more than 600 feet below the surface. 11 other people in the mine made it to safety earlier. still ahead, one of the three inmates who escaped in california is now back in custody. coming up next, how police captured him. >> and police are looking for new clues in a cold case. >> uber is slashing prices. how much the price will drop and why some protested the change. and at the sunset today from the accu weather center. beautiful sky tonight as we lose sunlight. the winds are still strong, when chills now feeling like

we have new information tonight in the disappearance of lawrence spear. we're now hearing from the owner of a home that was searched for clues about the 20- year-old from west chester. she attended indiana university and she simply vanished after a night out with friends more than four years ago.

>> reporter: investigators digging up the yard of a sexual offender. and the father of that suspect coming to his defense saying that he has nothing to do with the disappearance. >> i hope that they look for answers. >> reporter: for hours fbi agents and police officers searched for evidence linked to the disappearance of erin spear. spear hasn't been since she went out on a night with friends. >> we did in fact, assist the fbi in morgan county as part of an ongoing investigation. >> reporter: the search took place in the home of a sex offender. arrested for allegedly exposing himself in the presence of a minor. his father denies any

>> i want them to i want them to do a thorough investigation. do an investigation, do it. >> reporter: no comment at the spear home this morning. but sharlene spear did speak to our indiana affiliate via phone. >> wherever she is, that's my one and only goal. >> reporter: after numerous exhaustive searches failed to turn up any evidence. >> i think the worse pain on earth would be to lose a child so it would be great for them. >> i have a college age daughter, you know, do i want to know? don't i want to know? closure, it's just a sad situation. >> reporter: and justin wager's lawyer also claiming that his client has no involvement in

if anything was found in that yard. so for now, the mystery continues. we're live in scarsborough. marcus, thank you. vice president joe biden joining new york governor in grenich village today. >> there's a we we can make a significant dent in the gender gap. there's a way we can do all of these things that are totally in our wheel house and within our values that aren't radical at all. >> reporter: the governor hopes it will serve as a model for the rest of the country. meanwhile president obama is increasing the pressure on congress and american

on the seventh anniversary of the signing of the lily ledbetter pay act, the president said that more has to be done to get women into better jobs. >> we're looking to collect pay data for race, age and gender. >> reporter: u.s. women still make just 79-cents for every dollar a man makes. michigan governor rick schneider has signed into law the water crisis in flint. this is the second round of state aid for the city. the governor says the funding will provide immediate resources for flint and he says this is not the end of state

that bill could go even higher. the survey found that beach elevation fell 10 to 15 feet in a section of brent beach. >> that's a lot of sand. >> huge waves. 20-foot waves there in the middle of the storm. >> we have annie in for leigh. i'm watching the waves get smaller and smaller and smaller. are we in for a snow melt. >> we are. we get even warmer on sunday. look at this gorgeous shot. this is our brooklyn camera looking toward the battery. you can see a last little sliver of sun. we always love it when you tell

weather in your neighborhood. west winds are still gusting up to 21 miles per hour. so we will feel the chill through tonight. the northwesterly winds. they've been on and off throughout the day today. once the gusts get going they really do bring the temperature and the feels like on the skin down pretty rapidly. make sure you have the scarves if you're going out tonight. grab the hats if you need it. the winds are pushing all the precipitation that showed up in the form of light showers or light snow flurries coming through the area. that's all pretty much disappearing and pushing off to the south and east. planning the rest of this evening temperatures do fall pretty quick past sunset. we go down to below freezing. next 24 hours will be down to 20 degrees. we'll see winds getting stronger. you wake up to temperatures the that do feel a little cooler when you factor in the winds. but they lessen quite a bit. so that's just an early morning chill. during the afternoon, the

start to feel some improvements. i think once those winds start to let up even though our temperatures could stay below 40 degrees it still feels a lot better with so much sunshine. more mild on sunday. that allows for our temperatures to really change once we get the westerly and southwesterly winds happening. we have one storm out to sea. in between we're sandwiched with high pressure. what that means is very little clouds forming during the day on saturday. the flow of air coming in. that's going to draw a lot of mild air into the area. that takes us all the way through the close of the weekend. temperatures are easy too take. down the stretch we have the potential for a 60-degree day. the warm up continues and we roll into february with a midday shower. on wednesday it's very mild temperatures near 60 degrees. so checking these numbers all

average by several degrees. so that chance wednesday we could definitely have at least a 60 on the map. so we'll be watching for that. as long as you can get the accu weather map. back to you guys. okay, thank you amy. breaking news right now. police on the scene of a woman found murdered in north arlington new jersey. shannon live in news copter 7. >> and police are up and down the scene in the garden view apartments. you can see police tape literally everywhere here. they've got the essex county prosecutors office telling us that police responded to a call just before 2:00 this afternoon. we're just bringing the shot out to give you an idea just how big the scene is. they did find a woman's body here. her identity has not yet been made known. as this point they're telling us that they have no suspects in custody so they're going door to door here but a huge

figure out the details around this woman's death. reporting live, over riverdeal, shannon sloan, channel seven. >> we'll keep our eye on that one. the apple power adapters being recalled. and dozens of mall workers who's cars were illegally towed while they were on their job. seven on your side helps them get their cars back. and it's mango salsa i've been a turkey farmer my whole life... and i raise turkey for shady brook farms . we don't use growth-promoting antibiotics, that's just the way things should be done.

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i'm sure you remember the story, mall workers who were illegally tows while at work are getting their money back. >> they were initially told they would be getting those toll charges back. but when that didn't happen they called nina paneda. >> reporter: officials say it broke four laws of the predatory act by towing 40 employees. the young woman who blew the whreus -- whistle and many others still have not gotten

>> i got toyed -- towed back in the middle of november. now they still want me to wait another month. it's ridiculous. >> i didn't know that so many laws were broken. >> reporter: the part time broker at michael kors and nearly 50 other employees were towed. >> $150 is nothing to them but to the employees it's a big deal. >> reporter: we contacted bergon and they agreed to reimburse them. the lot near best buy before, and after.

signs lack critical information and we pointed out they were too small. >> they are in compliance at this time. >> reporter: new signs were spotted in every entrance, but when it came to paying back the employees. >> it's like they're hiding their mistake. they're saying you can get reimbursed, , here's your money. >> employees were offered gift cards or told they would have to wait. >> you guys championed this from the ground up. >> reporter: the mall is now in compliance with all signage regulations. but you know what management never apologized to all the

the mall manager refused an online camera and never explained why it would take so long to print those checks when it took that long to tow them out of there. they first need signage. >> i'm sure consumer affaired jumped in to help. and a surprise for people who use uber. the car service announcing it's slashing their prices immediately. the problem is, not everybody is happy about it. >> one down, still, two on the run. one of three escaped inmates is back in custody. we're going to have new details on his capture. a new jersey family's decade long battle to get

our top story this half hour, the battle for your money heating up. the popular car service uber slashing their prices. uber users had a pleasant surprise seeing their fares reduced by as much as 50%. the new prices went into effect today without any warning. >> taxi drivers protested outside of uber headquarters in this video. tim fleischer posted this for us. >> uber put that latest cost cuts early this morning. at the same time in doing so they brought out an angry protest from regular taxi drivers. >> reporter: protesting outside of uber's long city office, drivers accuse the for hire

>> we call on uber to reinstate their fares. we call on the city council to legislate a minimum fair. >> reporter: uber is cutting fares by 15%. and taxi drivers say they can't compete. >> uber says i'm a millionaire. they're the one who makes the money. >> reporter: uber's base fair goes from $3 to $2.55. the per mile rate goes from $2.15 to $1.75. the minimum fare drops from $8 to $7. a similar price cut 18 months uber officials say prompted this cut.

went up in that terms. and from astoria to long island city it will cost $10.29 versus the old fare of $12.09. >> now we're going to get busy. we're going to get more money. >> reporter: mayor deblasio spoke out. >> we want to make sure there's fare competition, that there's accessibility and our drivers are treated properly. >> last two weeks the city council speaker has introduced a package of proposed legislation that is aimed at leveling the playing field in this industry. reporting live on the upper west side, tim fleischer. >> members of the city council are expected to pay soon. according to published reports, the council is expected to work next week to raise member's pay to $148,145 a year.

the proposal would also limit council members outside income. council members last increase was back in 2006. and the latest on a deadly stabbing inside a homeless homeless shelter. authorities say he was stabbed in the neck in east harlem wednesday night. black was a city public school teacher and librarian. authorities are searching for anthony white, black's roommate. major developments today in california. one is back in custody. this as we learn new details on how the men made their escape. marci gonzalez has the latest. >> reporter: one of two escaped custody. >> contacted a civilian on the streets of santa ana and stated he wanted to turn himself in.

else about twon's capture as they continue to search for rivera and chuo. the three accused violent criminals broke out of the central men's jail last week with help from this woman who thought english as a second language at the jail. >> no i just heard from you guys. very shocked. >> reporter: police arrested rabagi yesterday saying she gave the men maps and other information essential to their escape. which investigators believe may have helped the inmates get to a specific address or given them a better understanding of surrounding buildings and the jails roof. authorities say robagi denies providing anything beyond the maps. >> we don't realitily know what her mind set was. she's provided some information. there's other information she has not and again we are still still pursuing, pursuing that and trying to obtain more information from her. >> reporter: police say they are still searching for this white van.

been driving and living in since he stole it saturday in los angeles. investigators believe the other two men are likely still in that area saying they have strong ties to local gangs there. there's a $200,000 reward for information leading to their capture. marci gonzalez, channel 7, eyewitness news. a court appearance in texas today for the so called affluenza teen. there was no decision from the judge considering whether ethan couch should be transferred to adult jail or remain in a juvenile detention center. the teen went on the run with his mom showing couch at which appeared to be a boozie party. and the county is giving away cribs.

who live in up state new york will be available for pack cribs. and apple issues a recall. and a couple arrested for locking their children in the bathroom for days at a time. from football great to criminal.

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a couple from connecticut is accused of child abuse for allegedly forcing their children to stay inside a bathroom. the accused are george and nancy barnes of watertown. they have four children and they are the guardian for another child. right now all five are in protective custody. investigators say they forced the children to remain in a bathroom for days only allowing them to leave for school and to sleep.

that they were to stand in the bathroom and read books. the parents had a baby monitor system set up so they could see what the child was doing. >> police say one child was literally in the bathroom for months from sometime in september until mid-december. the parents are due back in court on february 21st. a first grade teacher is in trouble after putting students in a dangerous situation and telling them it was just a game. the teacher put duct tape over the mouths of 20 students. the teach er was fired after alleges came to light. parents say they do plan to sue the school. there is a new theory about oj simpson's mental state and

the doctor is credited crediting cte. the disease is a result of numerous blows to the head. and the doctor says that simpson is a victim. >> he was exposed to thousands of blows in his head. impulsive behavior, impaired judgment. criminallalty. >> it is important to note that the doctor has not examined symptom personally and cte can only be examined after death. the company said it's aware of 12 incidents of malfunctioning adapters that were shipped. you can find additional details

it is under the featured section. >> i have to check mine. a warm up just in time for the weekend. your exclusive accu weather update is next. >> the family's decades long fight over why their campaign to be reunited with this now 14-year- old has gone viral. >> i'm lori glasburg, we're in montclaire people are surprised at how easy and affordable it is to get insurance through new york state of health.

that suits their needs. working with so many consumers, you begin to develop a kind of kinship or friendship, a bond and you see them on a consistent basis, so it becomes almost like a big family, it's fulfilling and it gives me, you know, hope that there is a better future

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last week was a big blizzard. operation melt down has begun. sunday is looking really warm and delightful to start the weekend. wind gusts still strong in central park. the pressure is on the rise. we will continue overnight to see the temperatures fall down to the freezing point. there'll be some clearing of the skies. the winds that are been out of the northwest all day today will be gusty still. especially for long island and new jersey we could see gusts at nine to 10 miles per hour. in the next seven hours, dropping off the freezing pork brings a chill tomorrow to start the day. but that doesn't last all day. the sunshine will really make it feel a lot better. peak wind gusts still at the 30- mile-per-hour gusts. so these brief gusts that are coming in, will start to lessen overnight. still around with the chill tomorrow but sunshine sort of

then it gets a lot more mild on sunday. as our temperatures go up significantly. there's a storm system well offshore. there's another one well to the north of us. in between we're sandwiched with pretty good weather for the weekend. lots of sunshine. once we see the winds start to come out of the west and the southwest, what these lines are indicating are mild patterns. then by sunday we'll be pushing the mid- to upper 40s monday we could hit the 50-degree mark. over the next several days the melting should continue. on schedule. clear and cold tonight. winds do die down. 26 is the overnight low. tomorrow still a bit of a chill. tomorrow we get to 38 but a lot of sunshine early on that should feel pretty good. here's the accu weather seven day forecast. by monday there's the temperature climb. we also could get a midday shower. this looks to be a little more chilly. 38. i would take it to 45 here by the time we get into the 6:00

see if we can bring that down. i think that should be a cooler day. we could even see parts of the area hitting a 60-degree mark. what's going to happen with this pattern is it's going to allow the warm air from the south to overtake the region. so while we could get a warm shower coming in, that warmth really pushes us well above maybe as much as 20 degrees. thursday and friday we go back to near the average which is 40, 42. punxsutawney phil making his prediction as we go into the month.

weather is download the weather app. >> the happy five minutes continues because something we haven't seen in a while. >> yeah, mon. today we take you out for jamaican food. >> we are doing jamaican. i would love to take you guys to jamaica right now but we can't. >> we would love to be taken to jamaica. >> we're doing the next best thing we're eating jamaican in new jersey. the name of the place is vital dining. it is located at 387 bloom field avenue. montclaire and the emphasis on vegan and vegetarian. >> the good vibes, everything tied together you should feel like you're on vacation.

quame is the chef. you will find jerk portabelo and jerk chicken wrap. >> i have my favorites like the jerk chicken wrap, the vital hummus. sirloin. >> you have a lot of favorites. >> i do. >> but the favorite is the salmon burger: cilantro and cumin the salmon before it goes in the oven. and there's ahi and salt fish. vegan mac and cheese and juices. >> we love the ingredients, healthy ingredients. we love jamaica and we love the spices. >> i have a jamaican heritage but they do it like no other. it's healthy jamaican food. >> and elevated. >> it's very different than you

>> and they're doing it in montclaire. >> so many different cousines it was just perfect for jamaican to fit right in. >> the recipe for the salmon burger is on our website. it's pretty easy to make if you want to make your own. >> and cauliflower for you. because i know you like the vegan. >> we love having neighborhood eats back. and a family is fighting to be reunited with their foster child. >> it's been going on for 10 years now. why a trip across state lines is at the center of this battle. >> and i'm liz cho, growing evidence and a man accused of murder four years ago didn't do it. so will the charges be dropped? >> good samaritans collecting

water to help folks in flint

new at 5:00, a local family's fight over their foster child has gone viral. >> this is such a compelling story. dwayne was taken away when he was just 3 years old and since then he has been in and out of various foster homes. eyewitness news reporter rob nelson has the story. >> reporter: hilda ramos mother became dwayne's foster mother in the bronx when he was just 5 days old. she passed away when he was three and wanted dwayne to be cared for by hilda in her home in the parks. >> it's about giving any child a chance at life. >> reporter: because dwayne was a ward of new york and not new

back in foster care and eventually back in the hands of his buy -- of his bilogical father in the bronx. >> dwayne has been removed from his father several times, which is public record for neglect, abuse. >> reporter: the ramos' who have continued to take care of dwayne say that turbulence has led dwayne to be back with the ramos. >> they haven't taken into consideration the bond that's between that child and our family. you don't have to give birth to a child to be his father. >> reporter: hilda's daughter dedra posted about the case.

family is defined by more than just blood. >> some of the most touching messages i receive are from people who were formally in foster care. and who have been through dwayne's situation. >> reporter: the acs is still actively investigating this case. but meanwhile, late this afternoon we did talk to dwayne's father. he denied any charges of neglect or abuse. he says he is being harassed and that the ramos have no right to his child. meanwhile the ramos because of social media now have a lawyer working for them for free. and a court hearing has been set for next month. >> reporter: reporting from manhattan, ron nelson, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> we'll let you know what happens after this case goes to court. we'll see. an outpouring of generosity to help people in michigan. >> they're collecting thousands of bottles of water in our area.

to those people who need it. he was hoping for justice, hoping he would be cleared tonight. but despite growing evidence on the eyewitness news investigators that anger javier has been falsely accused of murder, prosecutors today refusing to drop the charges. but first the most disturbing story at an elementary school. a pe teacher tonight charged with having sexual contact with a 10-year-old girl. good evening everyone it's 6:00 i'm bill ritter. >> and i'm liz cho. everett clark is accused with sexual contact and endangering the safety of a child.