>> announcer: "nbc10 news" starts now. the battle for peace this time in philadelphia ramps up again today as some state lawmakers try to erase the city's new law. changes for the commute. the upgrade that thousands of riders will notice today as patco tries to innovate its ageing speed line. more heat and storms over the city of philadelphia. today will feel even hotter than yesterday as a new round of showers moves our way as well. good morning on this thursday morning, this is "nbc 10 news today." i'm chris cato. yes, it's a steamy one out there already as we begin with meteorologist bill henley and

his "first alert" forecast bill. >> good morning. we're starting off with high humidity again today. that's a live view from center city. showers are avoiding us at this hour. they're farther north and west we will start the day dry. but a bit muggy, too. 71 degrees in philadelphia. you want to see fog in the allentown area. the rest of the area is fog-free. 69 in roxborough but that's a temporary 69 degrees. we'll be heading into 90 degrees this. 71 by 6:00 85 at lunchtime with winds out of the west-southwest at 80 miles an hour. hey jessica. >> is bill, we're going to start off on 295 with active work here on the southbound side. you can actually see some road blockages up here in the top

left corner of your scene right there. that's just ongoing construction. not taking out any lanes, mostly taking out the shoulder. you can see the drive time is passing by that scene, 13 minutes at the black horse pike at that point. we check on the p.a. turn tyke. drive time doing okay. we do have patches of ongoing construction. there's still no volume. westbound, eastbound, currently no problems up towards valley forge. we'll check with more drive times coming up now. 4:02 now, will state lawmakers overturn a big paid sick leave law. tracy davidson with a look at this. tracy, paid sick leave is the law in philadelphia for now? >> right in philadelphia. businesses with ten or more employees have to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked but last month, the state senate voted to make

philadelphia's new law invalid. those lawmakers say it's actually necessary to have uniform laws for businesses. that bill is in the house. they will chair today's hearing at 10:00. they both support paid sick leave for workers. sponsors of paid sick leave for philadelphia say it benefits 200,000 philadelphians or 40% of the workforce. we'll keep you posted on what is happening. live in the digital operations center tracy davidson "nbc10 news." new from overnight, a man is in the hospital after a fire started in philadelphia's neighborhood. they quickly put the fire out, but the victim did suffer from smoke inhalation he's expected to be okay. police want to find the gunman who shot a man in the mayfair section of philadelphia. a man was walking along cottman

avenue while shot in the arm. police say they know one of the suspects. we have new information now on a rape case in atlanta city involving two law enforcement officers. prosecutors have dropped charges against a new york city police officer in that case. andre torres is the officer's name. he was accused of attacking a woman last april. yesterday, the atlanta county police department say they dismissed the charges. officer torres and a new york state trooper were arrested in october for the alleged attacks. the sexual assault charges are still pending against the state police trooper devin thomas. today, a judge will officially sentence raphael jones. this man, who murdered moses walker jr. a 19-year-old police veteran and a deacon at his church. in 2012 officer walker was

walking to a bus stop when jones and another man tried to rob him and shot him. jones waived his right to a trial, a deal that spared him the death penalty. well police detectives now have this new clue in search for a predator who they believe attacked two women inside her home in philadelphia. this shows the attacker after he sexually assaulted a woman and stole her car. they believe he's the same man wanted in this attack in march. and new new information an attempted home invasion that you saw first at 10:00 here. police think that break-in happened at the same house where monday's sexual assault took place here on rosewood street. versus, still looking to see if there's a connection. meantime neighbors here told us that they're working to keep their community safe. >> we're going to eve and every

door, make sure your door's lock. make sure your door's locked. >> william brown told us in regard to that sexual assault on monday. he said nothing like that has happened on this block in the 23 years he's lived there. 4:06 happening today, a long awaited unveiled of patco. patco will unveil its next generation of cars. matt is live in cherry hill. we've been talking about these cars for a long time now. >> reporter: yeah chris, some of these cars have been in operation since 1969 and this is the first major overhaul since then. the new cars will be rolled out the beginning of $190 million rehabilitation plan. after today, the remaining 114 cars in the patco fleet will be

upgraded as well. patco says the systems on these trains are just outdated. now new modern interiors, and drivers who so to philadelphia and vices versa. it's going to open after 10:00 after they are officially re-entered into the fleet. live in cherry hill matt delucia, "nbc10 news." the board will go to get the rights to develop a new train station at ninth street and a new parking garage. here's an artist's rendering of that. septa hopes to have that station built by fall. the board will vote on parking stations near the station. the septa board will take a vote to change a policy on ads. this san ad. septa was forced to run the ad

when a federal judge ruled that they must do so because they accepted other political and controversial ads. last night, thunderstorms did bring rain to the area the overall dry conditions are beginning to impact produce at local farms which could obviously impact your wallet at the grocery store. nbc10's katy zachry is live for us. katy, did last night's rain make a difference? >> reporter: well chris, farmerers here will take whatever they can get but it really did not make a dent here in hammonton. it's so dry, farmers here are having to water their crops 18 hours a day. the blueberries are not being harvested yet but hopefully they by mid to late june. the problem with the fruit, the summer like conditions we've had, they're ripening them way

too fast. and without enough water, the fruit is not growing to its size. what you're left with is a fruit that tastes the same but much smaller. it's a much more dire situation for tomatoes eggplant peppers, things that just went into the ground. i'll explain why and what farmers are trying to do to fix that so it doesn't become more of a problem. that's coming up in the next half hour. reporting live katy zachry hammonton. "nbc10 news." meteorologist bill henley told us yesterday we would get some showers. we did see a little bit of rain bill, of course week at a bit of a deficit and could use more. >> we had thunderstorms yesterday, too we're likely to see thunderstorms this afternoon. a better chance that new jersey will see thunderstorms. clouds and no fog in philadelphia but that the not true in allentown. thick fog right now and 64 degrees. atlantic city at 66 northeast

philadelphia back in the low 70s today. you can feet humidity. light fog showing up in the camera blue mountains, pocono mountains. any fog will disappear as temperatures climb and we'll be back in the upper 80s for much of the area possibly 90 degrees. for identification allentown, half a mile visibility. under two-mile visibility for coatesville. and the area is mainly fog-free. but you can feel the humidity in the air and that could very much fuel more showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. this morning, showers pushing north and west and these will completely miss us. but as things heat up this afternoon, more showers and thunderstorms are in store. they'll be scattered around this afternoon. hour-by-hour forecast shows breaks of sunshine while clouds linger in new jersey and delaware. and noon time today, you'll see the first showers starting to pop up this afternoon. we'll see more of that activity

2:00 in the afternoon, new castle county delaware county in pennsylvania. and there are pretty good showers in parts of new jersey but not everybody is getting the rainfall at the same time. some will get heavy downpours. others will get hot and humid conditions. today, the temperatures will rocket off from the 70s into the middle 80s by lunchtime and still climbing. a look at the weekend forecast when i come back in ten minutes. 11 minutes after 4:00 you may have condensation on your windshield from the humidity. let's find out what awaits you on the roads. nbc10's "first alert" traffic reporter jessica boyington has more. >> you can see no real problems in the westbound lanes or eastbound. total drive times, the most we're driving 13 minutes from center city area from the blue route. so no problems there. we are watching a problem that popped up yesterday in berlin and the black horse pike.

they're doing construction due to a sinkhole. that's blocked. you want to take the local detours that they have posted around the area. as for mass transit, currently no problems for amtrak new jersey transit or septa. we'll check in with more drive times coming up. chris. the pentagon is responsible for a homegrown threat this morning. next the mistake that sent anthrax on the door steps of labs in new jersey and delaware. plus caught on tape during the second leg of his crime spree. what police said he did first. the first place he robbed and then another.

take a good look at this man. he left a lot of evidence for you to look at.

philadelphia police say he's one of two thieves wanted for beating and robbing a food store man. police say two men attacked him in his bedroom tuesday morning beating him with a baseball bat and they stole $8,000 from the store. the store owner spoke to him. >> we hope they catch him. >> his worker suffered a fractured skull and broken ribs. investigators believe the robbers live in that neighborhood. new this morning, two lawsuits filed in the shooting death of michael brown in ferguson missouri have been moved to federal court. the former police officer who killed brown and ferguson's former police chief requested that move. they say that a federal court could better deal with constitutional issues in the case. michael brown's parents are suing the see for wrongful death. a man walking with brown filed a personal injury suit. the shooting of course sparked

racial unrest protests and violence. also new this morning, attorneys for the six baltimore police officers chargeded with the death of freddie gray are asking to move their case out of the city. the attorneys say it will be impossible to select an impartial jury in baltimore. gray's death while in custody last month sparked a wave of protests. the officers change in charges from assault to second degree depraved heart murder. and it's recommended that four lab workers get preventive treatment after working with anthrax spores that may have been live. the pentagon said live anthrax samples were mistakenly shipped to nine states it's unclear if any labs are in this area. but the cdc says it does not believe there's any risk to the general public. new information now on that cyberattack on the irs. the agency now believes that the

thieves who hacked personal tax information from a website are from russia. the irs say that the crooks stole data from more than 100,000 u.s. taxpayers in a scheme to claim bogus refunds. the irs says it will notify you and provide you with free credit checking. on to decision 2016 now, today's former pennsylvania senator rick santorum will begin his presidential campaign tour in iowa. santorum announced his candidacy yesterday near his childhood home in butler county. santorum says americans don't need a president tied to government and big money. >> their priorities are process and power. my priority is you, the american worker. >> and, of course santorum is joining a crowded republican race including senators ted cruz rand paul and marco rubio.

ben carson carly fiorina and former arkansas governor mike huckabee. and new jersey governor chris christie who has not yet announced his decision to run, says rand paul needs to toughen up. christie said paul was getting particularly sensitive over their disagreement. they're at odds over the patriot act. paul said that christie's comment, quote, wasn't very nice. now to the democratic side in the race for the white house, hillary clinton was in south carolina yesterday, her first presidential campaign stop there since losing to barack obama in 2008. vermont senator bernie sanders is the only declared democrat challenging clinton so far. all right. new video in this morning of a tornado that touched down last night in texas. a meteorologist filmed this twister near the town of

canadian texas. three people were hurt when a tornado hit yesterday. areas were closed for downed trees and flooding. there are now calls for more evacuations near ft. worth and houston. as floodwaters start to recede in some areas ss of texas, crews are looking to clear away debris. at least 23 people have died in historic flooding in texas and oklahoma. in the meantime this recent graduate said she feels helpless watching that flooding in her home state of texas. laura garcia said she feels helpless. >> i feel helpless because i'm all the way here in new jersey there's nothing i can do.

>> garcia's parents are now staying at her sister's house. they did not have flood importance. garcia said she'll fly home monday to help her family start over. below average weather season which begins month, noa released their forecast yesterday. outlook shows we will get 6 of 11 named tropical storms half of those may turn into hurricanes. of the possible hurricanes two or fewer will become major storms of category 3 or higher. of course it's been several years since the u.s. mainland has been hit with hurricanes. meteorologist bill henley with more on that. bill it feels kind of tropical out there this morning. >> that steaminess will stay with us all day. we will have some thunderstorms again this afternoon. we're watch something clouds move through the city right now. 71 degrees, the humidity is

higher this morning. 87%. it's going to be a steamy one today. you can seat clouds over center city this is a live view here at the studios, just a gentle breeze blowing. we're seeing southwesterly winds. even temperatures up overnight. look at the readings 71 in philadelphia. not much kooshlgs north and west wilmington is 69 degrees. gloucester county upper 60s for logan county swedesboro. 68 degrees right now so is a steam ary start. we have clouds we're tracking. we've seen breaks of sunshine that we're tracking. this round of clouds will move in. and a chance of showers and thunderstorms. it's going to do that in a hurry. look at the hour-by-hour forecast. 9:00 this morning, 80 degrees in philadelphia. lunchtime today, middle to upper 80s in the area. at noon time we could see the first showers starting to develop in the area. scattered showers and

thunderstorms, some heavy downpours possible. look at that cell. that forecast for ocean county that's at 5:00 this afternoon, storms will push across new jersey, heavy downpours in the atlantic city area at 7:00 this evening, just scattered showers for philadelphia. so a steamy day today into the upper 80s into the low 90s this afternoon. if we hit 90 it will be the first time this year. warm muggy conditions for today. the weekend is start off very warm too. 88 degrees the high temperature with another start coming down. 81 degrees with a chance of showers returning sunday. but cooler weather than that on the way. the seven-day forecast with the timing when i come back in the next half hour. all right. something to look forward to. 4:22 time to get a check of the roads. let's see if there's anything out there to slow us down. constructionwise or any problems. nbc10's "first alert" reporter jessica boyington has more on that. >> yeah chris, on 422, not

active work but you'll see signs posted around the area taking out a part of the right-hand shoulder but traffic moving along just fine. typically where we see the jam-ups on 422. a little early in the morning, towards the schuylkill expressway. for the rest of the drive times, no problems heading into the center city area. 95 on the schuylkill the blue route, up towards 95 still a nine minute trip there. the tacony-palmyra the ben, the bristol or the waltman. the gesture that one man made that saved several businesses that were at risk of closing for good.

4:25 now. environmental activists say new jersey's settle over pollution is nothing more than a dirty deal. today's concerns the oil terminal and the plant in pauls boro. it's set to happen today at ft. billings park today at noon. in montgomery county dozens of businesses evicted from a farmers market will soon have a new home. merchants lost their leases in january. the developer brian halligan though stepped in his own deal to lease the space for a restaurant fell through, so he offered the space to the merchants. the cost of building space say big one but halligan and the county are pitching in to help. >> i don't want to see all of these people without jobs. >> now, the county will help

with a $250,000 loan. farmers market is set to reopen in its new home in august. >> announcer: now your nbc10 "first alert" weather. 4:27. 71 degrees, we have a few clouds overhead. but no sign any of showers, not yet. heading out the door jessica boyington and the "first alert" traffic center jessica. >> right now on 95, right through an active work zone as you can see, not affecting the work times northbound or southbound on state road but we do have conditions out of new jersey i'll highlight those coming up.

>> announcer: "nbc10 news" starts now.

well the calendar says may, but it feels more like mid-july. more heat and storms are ahead today as the 90s loom once again. good morning, it's 4:30 this is "nbc 10 news today." i'm tracy davidson. >> and i'm chris cato. if you thought yesterday was humid, this morning when you open the door, it's really weather that you can wear. >> and it feels on your hair. >> a lot of hairspray in use around the nbc10 studios this morning. let's go to a man who has used a little bit of in his time meteorologist bill henley. bill, another sticky one out there? >> yeah i'm tracking fog. dense in allentown area. dense fog will be easy and cape may, a live view from the lafayette de marquis hotel. allentown has quarter-mile visibility. the rest of the area though fog-free. not not humid-free. it's