nbc 10 news starts now. right now on nbc 10 news today, strong storms left their mark on the region and one viewer sent in this video that appears to show a turn in berks county. we're live on the scene of storm damage in new castle county. a live look outside shows a much different story this morning. we see a nice breeze out there, the flags blowing. clear skies to greet you and sunshine and lower humidity on tap for today. we'll have details ahead in your first alert forecast for the weekend. and the forecast in the big apple calls for a 100% chance of ticker tape falling from the sky. new york city gearing up for a parade to honor the u.s. women's soccer team. good morning. almost to nbc 10 news today on this friday, i'm chris cato.

let's begin with meteorologist bill henley and his first alert forecast. you were right on the money with the timing of those storms last night. >> we're feeling the dry air that was pushing the storms our way. that wind that's blowing the flags in center city bringing the temperatures down finally. some of the lowest readings we've seen in days. 63 in the pocono mountains. 75 in philadelphia. we will see sunshine bright sunshine and with the northwesterly winds that will be blowing through the morning, the humidity will keep coming down. by lunch time we're up to 80 degrees and cleemimbing. let's check in with first alert traffic reporter jessica boyington. >> we have good news for friday morning. on the vine street expressway typically with the ongoing construction we've been dealing with we have both directions closed east and westbound. today we only have westbound

closed. all traffic still being diverted on to the broad street exit. we have an eastbound drive time still two minutes from the schuylkill up toward 95. no real problems there. as for the rest of our drive times in and out or the philadelphia area southbound on 95, no problems a 13-minute trip. same for the schuylkill headed southbound on the blue route. if you're headed out the door on the p.a. turnpike all the cars are moving just fine. 20 minutes from route 1 to valley forge. chris? a lot of that last night, thunder and lightning rolling through delaware county. this video taken by patty dunn. cleanup crews are working in new castle county one of the hardest hit areas of the region. a funnel cloud there, tore the roof off an apartment building

snapped power poles and damaged buildings in an industrial park. matt delucia joins us live. >> reporter: first came the storm, now the cleanup agains. we got close enough up to where the damaged spots are to be able to show you what is happening right now and the repairs going on. first, where are we? we're on new castle avenue by ryan avenue. right across the street, you can see delmarva power crews, they've been working for several hours trying to fix the utility pole that was slit in half. there's no power out here. there are no lights on the side streets. up the street they do have power. this is what we can see in terms of damage. there was a funnel cloud spotted around 7:45 last night a mobile home park barely a block away has severe damage roofs blown

off, one home was knocked four feet off its foundation. we'll head over there right now. we'll show you the damage try to talk with anyone out there. for now i'm told about a dozen people are the at william penn high school. 16 folks are over there right now. there's a shelter set up in that location. a lot of work ahead. you hear a lot of that beginning on hammering, saws a lot of the trucks out here. they even have some of the units with light. they're flying to flood this area with light. live in new castle i'm matt delucia nbc 10 news. >> we'll check in with you later. there was damage in other pars of the area as well. in berks county this is all that's left of blue mountain elementary school. there were reports of a funnel cloud in that area last night. the storm caused the roof to collapse and tore the brick building in pieces. the principal was inside when

the storm hit. she was the only person in there. she managed to make it out safely. in montgomery county thunder and heavy rain made their way through hatfield. in king of prussia, also montgomery county storms moved in fast packing a punch. strong winds brought down trees. look at this photo here, light neck lit up the sky. >> big crash and it came around after a car accident and hit a pole. the tree was just down. i guess lightning struck it. >> emergency crews were busy pulling several drivers to safety after vehicles got caught in floodwaters on roads there. switching gears now, happening today, the people will line the streets of new york city for a first of its kind celebration, a parade honoring the united states women's soccer team and their world cup championship. nbc 10's tracy davidson live in our digital operations center with a preview of this rare ticker tape parade.

tracy? >> everyone is very excited. this is the first time the city will honor an entire women's team with a ticker tape parade. delran native carli lloyd led the u.s. team it a 5-2 thrashing of japan in the world cup final on sunday scoring three times, becoming the only player to knock a hat trick in a world championship. later this morning, the big apple will honor lloyd and the rest of the team. workers have been collecting confetti and building floats for the parade. the players will roll down broadway through the canyon of heroes and it comes to an end with a ceremony at city hall. the parade begins at 11:00 a.m. we'll stream the entire parade live on nbc 10 news app and nbc10.com. the city last honored a group of national athletes in 1984 following the olympic games. in recent times, ticker tape parades have been used to

celebrate local teams like the yankees and the giants. 4:06. new from overnight, philadelphia firefighters rescued a woman from a burning home. crews responded to a fire around midnight. she has second and third grae burns and is in critical condition. investigators are looking for what caused the fire. the market worker who's alleged of mow leaving a teenage girl faces a preliminary hearing today. he was caught on camera groping a 14-year-old girl inside a market on north 18th street. surveillance video was used to charge him. he's charged with felony indecent assault. septa cameras helped police capture a man suspected of trying to lure girls into his van. shorts arrested 55-year-old isaac dougba minutes after he tried to abduct a 13-year-old girl. these new septa cameras played a

crucial role in that arrest. looking at the video here from the cameras, officers were able to zero in on dougba's van just minutes after a 13-year-old girl told her parents that dougba tried to abduct her. >> 21st century police work. the camera's not there, we don't know where the truck is. >> when police tracked down that van, minutes later, police say dougba was driving around the same neighborhood that was filled with kids. prosecutors announce murder charges against todd west yesterday. police arrested him in allentown earlier this week. versions say in may west shot to death his cousin in elizabeth, new jersey and in june they say he murdered three more men in elizabeth. on send prosecutors say west shot and killed a man in easton. they say 45 minutes later he shot and killed a man and woman in allentown where he was

arrested. >> he was a total different kid a couple weeks ago. with this happening, i can't even understand why. >> prosecutors believe the killings in easton and allentown were random just shooting whoever he saw on the street. two other men are also charged in those murders. police say one of them bought ammo and the other drove as west shot at people. happening today, we'll learn more about the naacp's national convention in philadelphia. the gathering officially starts tomorrow at the pennsylvania convention center. you can expect talk about the big development this week coming down of the south carolina confederate flag on the state capital grounds there, something the naacp has fought for for years. it's expected to draw more than 8,000 people. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> coming up on 4:10. the temperatures are coming down, the showers and

thunderstorms are out of here. the humidity is falling. it's been so steamy the last couple days. you'll feel the different today and this weekend, too. plenty of into inthis weekend, may get hot over the weekend but the humidity won't be bad. it turns next week. that's when we'll have our next round of showers and thunderstorms. the weekend for most areas should be dry. 70 right now. a few clouds in allentown, no rain with those clouds. northeast philadelphia 74 and 74 degrees in atlantic city. a clear view looking across the delaware from the adventure aquarium. we'll see plenty of sunshine during the day today. the temperatures will be climbing. this is our friend today, the winds coming out of the northwest, that's the dry air coming into the area. humidity is already dropping even with a 5 or 9 mile-an-hour wind that's going to be with us through the day today. it's helping also to push the clouds out of here. clearing skies. stand by for sunshine. it will be a warm afternoon.

typical july weather. 86 today for norris fwntown, trenton and mt. holly. dover and vineland, 86 this afternoon. plenty of sunshine for westchester, wilmington and philadelphia, into the 80s today. we could hit the 90 degree mark this weekend. get a look at the weekend forecast when i come back in ten minutes. chris? 11 minutes after 4:00. we also love to check out traffic this early morning to see how your friday morning drive is shaping up. anyplace's jessica boyington is looking at that for us. >> we're dealing with ongoing construction here. this is actually from our camera on schuylkill expressway right above spring garden street. these are blocking off the entrances towards the schuylkill right now with this ongoing work. they are allowing vehicles to go through the area. there is one lane getting by in really both directions. follow the signs and crews in the area directing traffic. you will do just fine. as for the schuylkill expressway, there's no problems there as well. if you're heading out the door

on 422 in montgomery county you're dealing with an eight-minute trip headed eastbound from 29 towards the schuylkill expressway and you're moving 61 miles per hour there. westbound currently no problems as well. for the area breaths you're heading into philadelphia no problems for the betsy or the tacony palmyra. you have ongoing construction on the ben with two lanes blocked heading into philadelphia. chris? >> it's coming down today. we will take you to south carolina where the bill has been signed and a divisive symbol of the south will no longer fly outside the statehouse. and chris, behind me st. lawrence's church in fishtown catholic church has been closed for more than a year. there are serious structural problems. why are people in the neighborhood fighting so hard to save it? coming up, i'll explain.

4:15. history in the making. happening today in south carolina, the confederate flag is coming down in front of the statehouse. at 10:00 this morning, officials will lower the flag. the rebel banner was put up 54 years ago during the civil rights movement. people applauded yesterday when governor nikki haley signed is the bill into law that removes the fñ it will be moved to a state relic room on a museum on capital grounds. teacher at the center of a catholic school controversy is sharing the story hen her firing which she says happened because she is in a same-sex marriage. margie winters says she was forced out because she is married to a woman. she told the school about her same-sex marriage when she was hired. administrators told her she

could share the information with faculty about the don't discuss it with parents or students. winters believe a parent upset about a curriculum decision went to the school to complain about her marriage and then went to the archdiocese. >> the principal had a conversation over what their options were. so you know she said that if i refuse to resign you know, they would need to fire me. >> the archdiocese has denied any involvement with waldron mercy's decision because waldron mercy academy receives state funding, that means the school has to follow discrimination laws. winter says she's still thinking about her options moving forward. today the community is hoping to make a final push to save st. laurentius church in fishtown from demolition. this has been an ongoing battle. you're explaining how a key vote today about that church what could happen with that historic

church. right? >> this has been going on for a while. there's a major vote that will happen today. in just a few hours from now, several dozen people are expected to board a bus outside st. laurentius catholic church here in fishtown. they're going to head down to the city of philadelphia's historical mission meeting where members of the commission will vote whether or not this church is historic. the hope from this grass roots group called saving st. laurentius is that it will not be torn down. over the last year the city has identified serious structural problems with it. keep in mind there have been no prigs parishioners in the church for over a year. in 2013 the archdiocese announced st. laurentius was to merge with a nearby parish. >> i think it will be a blow to the city of philadelphia because if we can so quickly tear down such history with such

vibrancy behind it, who's to say what's next? >> coming up at 5:30 i'm working on a story about how the fight to save st. laurentius catholic church has gone national. that's coming up in an hour. reporting live in fishtown, katy zachry, nbc 10 news. 4:18 now. as we've told you, there's a new push to make preschool available and affordable for every child in america. the university pre-k effort is being led by a senator from our area. senator bob casey from pennsylvania we're talking about. the bill would be a part of a rewrite of the no child left behind program that's being debated by congress now. the five-year pilot program would cost about $30 billion. casey proposes paying for the plan by closing tax loopholes for corporations who claim to be headquartered overseas. >> we should at least make that tax avoidance strategy more difficult to achieve. that's what this would do. >> now, some local school districts that we talked with say they worry after the

five-year pilot program, the program will no longer be fund and that the districts will be stuck paying the bill. in pennsylvania almost 94,000 children could be helped by casey's strong start amendment. in new jersey the number is more than 42,000 and in delaware more than 15,000 children would be impacted. 4:19 now. happening today, former president jimmy carter will offer a glimpse into his past during a book signing at the free library of philadelphia carter's book "reflections at 90" takes a look back at the life and legacy of our 39th president. the event starts at noon and is open to the public. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> down to 74 degrees at 4:19. and the temperatures are coming down even more. start to make our the sky just a little bit as we're getting closer to sunrise, a live view looking past citizens bank park this morning. 75 degrees. the humidity is at 84%. that's going to come down in a

big way today. the temperature we're running 2 degrees cooler than yesterday at this time. sunny skies, no sign of any fog and the storms they're all long gone today. the temperatures are falling. now seeing 60s for doylestown coatesville is 68 degrees. 70 in westchester. 71 in phoenixville. these numbers will be falling into the 60s before the sun comes up. 69 degrees in coatesville and then heading into the 80s this afternoon. it's going to be a typical warm summer day. but we're already clearing of the clouds. the storms are well offshore. still affecting new england, boston getting rainfall this morning. we are completely dry and will be drying out during the day today. the winds blowing out of the northwest will continue today. the humidity stays low right on into the weekend. you'll see lots of sunshine, less humid conditions afternoon temperatures in the 80s today. the weekend is looking warmer into the upper 80s it near 90 degrees saturday low 90s

sunday. lots of sunshine for both days. and the humidity stays low for both days. seven-day forecast to show you how long this lasts when i come up with that in the next half hour. chris? about that weekend, if you work monday through friday you're preparing for your final trek to work this morning. let's get you there safely. jessica boyington watching her cameras. any problems out there yet, jessica? >> we're not dealing with volume, chris. the blue route around mac dade boulevard and the southbound side. all traffic moving along nicely northbound having no problems there as well. the drive times on the schuylkill expressway, right through the conshohocken curve. you can see the cars are green which means right now they are moving average speeds of 62 miles per hour. if you're headed eastbound from the blue route to the vine street expressway, about a 12-minute trip in either direction. mass transit, currently no problems or delays. when i come back in ten minutes, we'll check in with new jersey cameras. chris? still ahead sex on the roof

of a federal courthouse. there's an investigation going on in harrisburg after photos surfaced. and you can fly high and watch your ball game, too. what jetblue is offering for free to passengers. if you've ever wondered what happens behind the scenes near at nbc 10 news today, wonder no more. we can show you. interact through periscope. logon and follow us on periscope, our address is nbc philadelphia. you can see what goes on during commercial breaks. we'll try to answer your questions and feel free to share with us what you're doing. our address is nbc philadelphia on periscope. see you there.

i'm whoopi goldberg and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world and no better place to lean about the people who shaped who we are today. hear about the lives of slaves in colonial new york and about the fight to abolish slavery. pick a stop on the underground railroad and visit the home and grave of one of new york's most controversial citizens. a journey in new york is a journey through history. plan you next trip at iloveny.com/summer. there's something for everyone. 4:24. listen to this one. the u.s. marshal service and other authorities are

investigating after photos surfaced showing a couple having sex on the roof of the federal courthouse in harrisfg. not really clear yet how the couple got access to the roof or when those photos were taken. the u.s. attorney's office was made aware of the photos on wednesday. this morning, new jersey transit is a step closer to a possible strike. engineers have voted to walk off the job if their contract dispute is not resolved. but union members are hoping that the federal government will set up a panel that would help get an agreement in place. the engineers have been working without a contract for more than four years now. we called nj transit for a response but at this point we've not heard back from them. in montgomery county veterans can ride a free shuttle service to the veterans health care administration starting july 20th. it includes facilities in hary s inies

in horsham and coatesville. researchers found that older drivers were involved in 14 million accidents in the past year. in terms of who should determine whether they should be driving currently, the study found seniors preferred that decision be made by family over a doctor or the dmv. if you fly jetblue, you can now watch phillies games in flight for free. passengers can stream games on their laptops, smartphones and tablets through the mlb's at-bat mobile app. that app is giving complimentary access to major league baseball tv which usually requires a subscription subscription. the service is available on jetblue's fly-fy equipped aircraft. the wind is blowing. and that direction will help us out today. that's a northwesterly wind. dry air is already moving in. the temperatures are ah&ittle

lower this morning. right now it's 74 degrees here at nbc 10. here at nbc 10 in the first alert traffic center jessica boyington is standing by. >> we're looking live at wilmington, delaware. you can see no problems, no accidents. things moving along just fine. we'll check in with new jersey roads coming up at 4:30. i'm matt delucia live in new castle delaware. the cleanup begins after last night's storm. we'll walk you through the damage, next.

nbc 10 news starts now.

a lot of that last night. this morning, people are recovering from rough weather that tore through the region last night. we're live with a look at the damage and efforts to clean it up. >> look at what it looks like right now outside, calm storms are over. ben franklin parkway. today we expect to see sunshine and it should be less sticky out there. better hair day today. all looking forward to that. good morning, this is nbc 10 news today. i'm tracy davidson. >> i'm chris cato. it is a nice change today. stars in the sky, skies are clear out there. it was rough last night. meteorologist bill henley standing by with his first alert forecast. you told us yesterday morning those storms would be intense and they were. >> they were right on schedule. fortunately they kept on going, now we're in the clear. no sign of them on the radar. the temperatures have been coming down cooler this morning and the humidity sç still elevated but it is starting to fall along with the temperatures thanks to northwesterly winds. cooler in roxborough at 71