they say they will not have a definitive cause until their investigation is complete. >> just watching this all go down. >> volunteer firefighter left for work at his other job 90 minutes before this. he says friends quickly texted him cell phone videos of the flames that tore through his apartment above judge john jordan's law office. chief a.j. cummings already at work across the street. >> this morning, small explosion, enough to rock the police station. we felt it. >> reporter: a block away, mark ran to his window. >> in bed. little after 8:00. i heard a boom. >> reporter: he showed us burnt insulation he says rained down on his home and others ten minutes ahead of the intense flames. >> just coming down.

then the fire started. it's not ash. it's from the blow up. >> reporter: from sky force 10 you can see the enormity of the devastation. police say construction crews working to install new gas lines hit a line, forcing the gas to fill up in the home's basement. >> obviously, there was nobody in there. nothing was left on. we do know the fire started in the basement, an explosion. >> fire engines got here, tried to put it out. there was no saving it, you know? it was a shame. >> reporter: thankfully, a secretary had not yet arrived to work downstairs. chief cummings says this stretch of broadway was lucky. >> if you think about that whole house filling up with gas and exploding, you're looking at maybe the block, it could have been a lot worse. >> it sunk in. i mean, try to act all strong. i just keep thinking about it. >> reporter: he lost everything within an hour all gas lines in the area were capped and remained capped. demolition crews meantime taking apart this building. the law office and apartment

above it we're told the debris will stay put, and not be removed until the investigation is complete. he doesn't have any renter's insurance, he's just simply glad he wasn't home. sydney long, nbc 10 news. today the trial began for a desperate police officer charged with murder. police say james stewart was off duty when he shot david compton in january of 2013. compton died several days later. stewart pleaded not guilty earlier this year. two girls are dead this afternoon, at least three other people injured in a school bus crash in houston this morning. happened on a highway in houston. the school bus rolled right off a freeway overpass on its way to a local high school. in addition to the two students killed in the crash, the bus driver and two other students were seriously injured and the community is mourning this unexpected loss. >> i know the four students personally, i know the parents personally. and it goes without saying, they

already know, how much i care about those students. they were all students who were serious students wanting to get a good education. >> police say a car hit the bus, causing the driver to go over that overpass. the crash is still under investigation. the man hunt is over in yesterday's deadly shooting on a mississippi college campus. investigators say that delta state university instructor shannon lamb, whom you see right here, shot and killed himself last night after officers were following him saw him run into the woods. police believe lamb killed his live-in girlfriend on monday morning. hours later, police say lamb killed a fellow instructor at delta state. while investigators try to piece together a possible motive, delta state cancelled classes today. a vigil is planned for tonight to remember history professor dr. ethan schmidt.

>> i knew ethan schmidt very well. i met him in that corner two years ago when he and i were newbies on this campus. i had just come here as president, and mistook him for a student at first. he's youthful in his appearance and his actions. he's a wonderful fellow. >> many colleagues are calling professor schmidt a star of the delta state faculty. the corruption trial for u.s. senator bob menendez from new jersey will likely be pushed back until next year. >> the defense has filed a motion to vacate the current trial date of october 13th. prosecutors don't plan to oppose the motion. senator menendez is accused of accepting cash and gifts in exchange for political influence. both sides are due in court thursday to argue about why the indictment should be dropped. two pennsylvania men are now facing charges in two separate child pornography investigations. attorney general kathleen cain announced their arrests earlier today as part of her office's ongoing efforts to crack down on

online child porn. 29-year-old matthew seibel of fayette county and andrew wilcox jr. of lehigh county are facing nine criminal counts. so far this year prosecutors in the state attorney general's child predator section have arrested more than 120 suspected child predators. today philadelphia police are warning people to watch where they point lasers. they say somebody at temple university could have blinded a police pilot. according to investigators, someone pointed a laser at tack air, the police helicopter, around 11:30 last night. the lieutenant of the police department's aviation unit tweeted this photo showing the laser coming from the top floor of a temple dorm. someone shined the laser twice a few seconds apart. police are not planning to charge the person responsible at this time, but they do want to remind people that pointing lasers at aircraft is illegal, because it can temporarily blind the pilot. today we're learning more

about the languages pope francis will be using to address the crowds of people when he comes here to the u.s. it turns out most of what he says will not be in english. we've learned pope francis will only deliver four out of his 18 speeches in english here in america. the rest will be in spanish, as officials say the pope simply finds it easier to express himself in his native tongue, however, those who don't speak spanish will be able to follow along at the events on independence hall and the parkway. jumbotrons will caption the speech in english. and we're getting a sneak peek at the stages where the world will see pope francis during his visit to philadelphia. take a look at this. the production company putting together the world meeting of families has unveiled these renderings of the stages pope francis will stand on. the pope will address a crowd here at independence hall saturday afternoon. >> count on nbc 10 for your complete pope coverage and his visit to philadelphia. for more information on how that will impact you, just tap on the

nbc 10 app. you'll find details on detours and road closures, mass transit changes, and, of course, the pope's full itinerary. talk about a disappointing start to the season for eagles fans, as the birds fell short against the falcons in atlanta last night. last night's game did not turn out the way players, coaches, or fans had hoped. for more we check in with john clark. john, tell us what coach chip kelly is saying about it. >> reporter: yeah, just back from atlanta, really, really tough loss last night. the eagles defense gave up 244 yards in the first half, got down 20-3, but everything settled down in the second half and the eagles defense gave up two field goals the rest of the game and the offense looked alive. sam bradford had the most completions in his career, third most yards ever in his career, 336 yards, but this is how the falcons sealed it. the interception, it went right

through the hands of jordan matthews. sam bradford had an x-ray after the game as a precaution, he says he's fine. take a look at this, sam bradford 52 times, only 16 carries for the running back. chip kelly said today it is all just about scoring points, not about how you do it. >> moving the ball down the field, so at the end of the day, whether we rush it for 399 yards or pass it or whatever, that's not my concern. whether it's what's the distribution, it's are we moving the football and getting the ball into the end zone is what we're concerned withment how we get it there isn't a concern for us. >> reporter: and now the eagles have a short week, the cowboys are coming to town on sunday and they are coming to town banged up. they are going to miss their stud receiver dez bryant and a bunch of players on defense. hopefully, the eagles rebound with a great effort on sunday.

coming up at 5:00 we'll hear from sam bradford. i'm john clark live in pinehill, new jersey, at ed snyders youth hockey golf tournament. more on that, as well. back to you. >> thanks, see you then. even when games aren't on nbc 10, you can count on us for exclusive coverage you can't get anywhere else. join us for our pre and post game shows for expert analysis and exclusive interviews with players and coach chip kelly. don't forget to vote for our high school football game of the week. here are this week's choices. west catholic at haveerford, to cast your vote, go to nbc10.com or call or text your vote to 610-624-4111. voting closes on thursday and we'll announce the winner thursday night on nbc 10 news at 11:00. in southern utah recovery efforts continue for five people still missing after deadly flash

flooding last night. this incredible video shows the fast moving floods, a wall of water swept away a van and suv with 16 people inside, eight of their bodies have been found, five others may be buried under several feet of mud and debris. at least 24 wildfires are waging out west right now, the most dangerous one, the so-called valley fire, has already destroyed 585 homes in northern california and another 9,000 are threatened. residents forced into evacuation centers are wondering whether their homes are even still standing. one woman was found dead in her home and at least four firefighters have been hurt. right now overseas hungary is effectively sealing its borders as the country declares a state of emergency over the migration crisis. the country is enforcing tougher rules on migrants entering illegally. some 200,000 migrants have reached hungary so far this year. sometimes thousands every day. a government spokesman says only

a third of them are from syria, so it appears to be more than just a refugee crisis. the hungarian military is constructing and putting up new border fence and is arresting anyone who tries to cross illegally. north korea says it's planning to increase its production of nuclear weapons one day after threatening to launch long range rockets. today north korea announced it has upgraded and restarted all its atomic fuel plants so it can increase production. officials in washington fear that each north korean rocket and nuclear test puts it another step closer to its goal of long range missiles that can hit the u.s. pennsylvania governor tom wolf talked budget this morning, revealing what it would take to get him to sign a stopgap spending plan. pennsylvania's new budget year began july 1st and this 11-week old budget stalemate has been a contentious fight for the governor. today he said he'd only sign the

plan if he has a general budget agreement with lawmakers. wolf went on to say it will take some time to get the details and agreement in place. he says he won't sign a stopgap plan that's an alternative to the budget. either way, school districts are hoping to get much needed funds back soon. budget battle also impacting children in foster care. today a child welfare advocacy group filed a lawsuit asking for a court to release money for the children. the money's needed to keep services running for about 15,000 kids. the wolf administration says the state can't make county child welfare payments until a budget's approved. tonight, the superintendent of camden public schools will hold a meeting focused on the challenges parents face in the school listen. the listening tour will specifically focus on challenges when it comes to enrolling students in camden public schools. a second meeting will be held this thursday. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist sheena parveen.

>> still perfect weather across the area, sunny skies, low humidity. today, though, little warmer than it was yesterday. we'll be getting warmer even as we go into tomorrow and the rest of the week. temperatures more in the mid 80s. now we keep the sunshine in the forecast for a lot of the next seven days, only over the weekend will we expect some cloud cover, but that's going to be because of a cold front. so it's going to essentially cool us down again as we go into the second half of your weekend. i'll show you that in just a second. live look at center city, beautiful conditions, another sunny day, not one cloud here in the picture and most of the area just staying cloud free this afternoon. philadelphia sunny skies, low 80s, but very low humidity, only 27%. that west/northwest wind, in fact, is making it feel like 80 degrees, so that's the first time we've seen it feeling a little cooler than it actually is. temperatures through the lehigh valley in the low 80s. 81 in reading. 79 lancaster, also in

westchester, pottstown 80 degrees. and the low 80s still through south jersey and delaware this afternoon, so warmer than yesterday at this time. we were in the 70s yesterday afternoon. and tomorrow we'll be in about the mid 80s at this time. now, the average high has gone down to 78 degrees. yesterday we got to 77. today so far 82, so warmer than yesterday. tomorrow and thursday will be in the mid 80s, even going into the weekend and you might notice some humidity starting to move. take a look at the northeast, the midatlantic, all the way off towards chicago, even farther out than that. a lot of dry air is in place. the closest rain is all the way down in florida, and that's going to stay down in florida, too. we don't waexpect it to move up. take a look at future weather here, this big area of high pressure is going to meander around for the next several days and that's going to keep us sunny, dry, humidity's going to stay low. by friday, slowly it starts to move offshore and it's going to start to change our wind

direction a bit. sunshine for friday and going into the weekend you might notice a humidity going up saturday, nothing unbearable at all, but that's going to be ahead of a cold front. that front should be a dry front. don't expect much in the way of rain chances with this. behind it, though, just in time for the eagles come sunday, cooler and breezy. i think you will notice a change from saturday to sunday across the weekend. for tonight, low temperatures areas north and west, low 50s through the lehigh valley. could be in the mid 50s for millville, philadelphia area about the low 60s. and tomorrow, still a sunny day, nice day, warmer, though, temperatures right around the mid 80s for most of the area. so the sunshine continues through the end of the week. look at that, 85 and sunny through friday. saturday looks great, too. then the cold front moves through. sunday you'll notice some changes, by monday and tuesday morning lows in the upper 50s for the philadelphia area, afternoon highs could only be in the 70s.

20 minutes of nonstop news continues with this center city fire that forced more than 100 people out of their apartments and hours later dozens remain displaced. this fire broke out around 4:30 this morning around 13th and chancellor streets. that's where we find george spencer. he has new information on the investigation. first, tell us the latest on those forced out of their homes. >> jim, most of those residents have only been alouded back inside to get the essentials of what they would need to get through the next 24 hours. right now you can see contractors who are cutting boards to cover the windows that were broken out by these flames. and as we pan to the left, on the other side of the building you see the huge orange truck that just arrived to begin removing some of the fire debris, even at this hour, though, investigators still do not know how this blaze started. by early this afternoon we got our first look at the charred

construction site and the windows next door, broken out from the intense heat. but early this morning we saw the fierce flames and watched as firefighters worked in orange haze. >> i was frantic. i was frantic. >> reporter: neighbor melissa moony was among the first to notice the flames shortly after 4:00 this morning. she ran out of her building, the 24th story chancellor, to warn residents in a building even closer. she watched the flames grow quickly and heard loud pops. >> that was really scary and the fire just went whoosh so fast. >> you watched that happen? >> yeah, i was standing outside. >> the fire scene was a construction site for a bar and restaurant. neighbors say it had been a work in progress for the better part of a year but tell us they've never noticed any construction practices that seemed unsafe. until the huge fire today. >> 21st floor i could see the embers were licking up the side of the building. >> we watched investigators

working with the philadelphia fire marshal today, standard practice for this type of fire. many neighbors on higher floors will return to their apartments, but for those on lower floors, the damage is too severe. >> at least a couple days. they have a lot of windows to fix. they say they might have some smoke damage. >> reporter: really looks like the dividing line in this apartment building is going to be about the eighth floor. residents above that should be allowed back in. below that the apartments are simply too damaged. it does look like most of the permits from this construction site were good. more on that part of the story coming up tonight at 6:00. right now we are live in center city, george spencer, nbc 10 news. really put people's lives at risk. >> coming up, what the pennsylvania health department doesn't know that's putting your child at risk in the classroom. then, how this west philadelphia man is taking crime fighting into his own hands to stop violence in the neighborhood. and almost every home has

one. what local police are warning you not to use due to a spike in crime. coming right up on nbc 10 news.

a formerly vacant lot is transformed into a new apartment building. >> the building opened today in north philadelphia. the gordon apartments are along gordon street in the strawberry mansion neighborhoods, part of the philadelphia housing that is right authority's push. 42 positions for limited income people. this energy efficient apartment complex is the second such building opened by the city in the last 45 days. here's a look at the interiors. and city council president dallas clark says he has more projects keyed up already. >> it's a wonderful day in the neighborhood. i'm not talking about this, i'm talking about strawberry mansion. >> officials with the philadelphia housing authority are hoping this project inspires

more businesses to invest in the strawberry mansion neighborhood. before kids start going to school, they go to the doctor first. >> that's right, getting them vaccinated is a requirement in pennsylvania, but how do state health officials really know who's following the rules? the nbc 10 investigators have been digging into it. we'll find out what they discovered after the break. also, it's the popular way presidential candidates reach voters. they spread their message on twitter. now they are using the social media sites to reach your wallet. we'll explain coming up.

here in vineland, new jersey, home of progresso, we love all kinds of chicken soups...

but just one kind of chicken. it's white breast meat chicken every time. because white breast meat chicken releases its flavor into the broth and absorbs more flavor from it. and in vineland, it's all about flavor so if you're not going to make your own chicken soup tonight, do what we do...make it progresso. this is nbc 10 news. >> it's something many parents don't want to hear, health officials in charge of

protecting your kids have no idea how many students will show up to school unvaccinated. the nbc 10 investigators made this discovery as they reviewed vaccination records in pennsylvania. >> state health officials tell investigative reporter mitch blacher they are working on the problem but will not see a fix until next year. >> school back in session in the commonwealth, we were looking through thousands of health department vaccination records, but the deeper we looked, the more rerealized that the numbers did not add up. >> oh, wow, you took that great. >> while kids across the commonwealth get their back to school shots -- >> what are you hungry for? >> some moms are joining a growing number of parents who refuse to vaccinate. >> it's an issue of who has the right to make medical decisions for your family, and are we going to turn that completely over to the government? >> from harrisburg, the state department of health is supposed to track whether kids like the mcgowans get vaccinated.

they are supposed to track all 1.7 million school kids in the state, but look through the latest numbers from the end of last school year and you'll discover most of the state school kids are not tracked. holly senior, special assistant to state health secretary karen murphy. >> does the state know how many kids are vaccinated? >> we have a great idea, we have cdc requirements that we have to meet. we do know, again, there are inconsistencies with the data. >> the state's latest data from the 2014-2015 school year shows pennsylvania counties reported on 293,000 school children's vaccination rates, while individual schools reported on 278,000. both leave more than 1 million school kids unaccounted for. >> honestly, i'm not sure why the discrepancy is -- there is that discrepancy, but what i can tell you is, we've been looking very closely at this data and

the data collection process, and we are doing everything we can to improve it. >> according to the available state information, southeastern pennsylvania has more unvaccinated kids than anywhere in the state. the area also has the most students in the commonwealth. the nbc 10 investigators found more than 3,000 school kids unvaccinated in each philadelphia, montgomery, and bucks counties. the data we do have show 84% to 85% of pennsylvania school-aged children are vaccinated. >> sure looks like he needs it. >> that's not nearly good enough for pediatrician andy younger, especially when the cdc says the national average is 94%. >> what we have is too many kids who aren't vaccinated. >> he said knowing exactly how many kids is key, so if there is an outbreak, we know who is not protected. >> we have different reporting standards for different issues really throughout the state and it creates a lot of problems and if done the wrong way can put people's lives at risk.

>> state representative from allentown is concerned with the differences in the computer systems used to report vaccination rates and the experience of those entering the information. >> is there anything that you can do to fix that issue? >> well, ideally you make reporting simpler and uniform. i think uniform reporting is very, very, very important. >> parents like joanna mcgowan agree. >> yeah, we need to know those rights so we have all the facts. >> the department of health says they are working with schools to get more accurate and complete reporting. some of the reasons so few kids are tracked is because of mistakes inputting information and because there are few consequences for those mistakes. for the investigators, i'm mitch blacher, nbc 10 news. >> thanks, mitch. right now you can find a breakdown of vaccinations in your county and how many kids have been vaccinated at your school. check out nbc10.com or tap on the nbc 10 news app. we are following a breaking traffic situation along the

schuylkill expressway right now. the exit to route 1 is shut down because of a crash and we have just learned that a woman is dead. sky force 10 was over the scene just about 30 minutes ago. you can see that the accident is causing a major backup and looking at the traffic map, the backup extends from university city, little bit before that, west on 76th as you approach roosevelt boulevard. anybody leaving philadelphia, heading out of philadelphia west, you're going to encounter this. we will continue to keep you updated throughout the newscast. news from our jersey shore bureau, an update on a story we told you about last week. police have arrested two men in connection with a robbery at a walmart. michael bowerman and brandon miles are both behind bars on $10,000 bail. bowerman is accused of ripping a gold necklace off an elderly woman's neck in a walmart parking lot. miles is charged with conspiracy

to commit theft. one west philadelphia man is taking crime fighting into his own hands to try to stop the deadly violence in his neighborhood. he says earlier this year a young man was killed here and a police officer was held up by an armed robber and those crimes prompted douglas to spend more time outside with a love your block campaign. he's mentoring kids, as well. some of them featured in a documentary that premiered in philadelphia about progress in the promise zone. >> that was kind of awesome, just to see some young people that you're talking with, working with, kind of change and be a part of something positive in the neighborhood. >> douglas hopes his mentoring efforts are contagious for other adults in his neighborhood. be prepared to pay more to cross two bridges heading out of new jersey. right now most drivers pay $2 to cross the tacony-palmyra, but starting tonight that fare will increase to $3 for drivers with

e-z pass and $4 for those who pay cash. the burlington county bridge commission says the higher tolls are needed to help fund improvements. come on, too early to start your holiday shopping. well, not according to millions of consumers. >> that's right, coming up the data released that reveals how many people are not just starting, but have already finished. they are done. >> there's no way. >> they are done apparently. first, here's nbc 10's deanna durante. >> before you drop the letter in the mail, a warning from suburban police about a crime they say could happen anywhere. also coming up, there's new research on the battle against the bulge. why the plate you use to serve dinner may make all the difference.

i'm michael douglas, and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world. and there's no time to see it like the fall. take metro north to take in the beautiful fall foliage from high above the hudson. swing a club at one of america's greatest courses... see spectacular sights underground... ...or thrilling sights above it. there's so many incredible ways to experience the fun of fall in new york state. plan your trip at iloveny.com. there's something for everyone.

here's something to think about if you want to eat less, maybe you should buy smaller food packaging and use smaller

plates. >> according to a new british study, portion control is key to getting obesity rates under control. researchers found people ate more when they were offered larger portions. no surprise there. or ate from bigger plates. the results suggest eliminating larger sized portions could reduce americans calorie intake by nearly a third. a new study links vitamin d deficiency with cognitive decline among older adults. a study of about 400 seniors finds that vitamin d levels were lower among people with dementia, as well as african-american and hispanic people. five years later those with insufficient vitamin d levels had faster declines in memory and brain function compared with those with adequate levels. new ads targeting republican front-runner donald trump. >> but it's not democrats going after him. we're going to tell you who's behind the ads and why. and apparently people aren't the only ones getting a craving for pizza. we're going to tell you what happened when this bear cub wandered into a pizza shop.

and we're seeing a gradual warm up across the area, but we'll stay nice for the rest of the week. i'll tell you my nbc 10 first alert seven-day forecast. at longhorn, steak is all you need. its not all you get. longhorn's great american steak dinner for $12.99. perfectly seasoned sirloin with your choice of side. plus, an appetizer, or a dessert. all with fresh salad and unlimited bread.

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now to our coverage of decision 2016. a new antidonald trump campaign will feature at least $1 million in tv ads criticizing the donald. >> trump wants us to think he's mr. tell it like it is, but he has a record. and it's very liberal. >> a conservative advocacy group called club for growth announced its plans today to spend at least a million bucks on attack ads. the club's president says the billionaire real estate mogul would be terrible on economic growth. some say this group is bitter because he refused to give them a $1 million contribution.

in the meantime, donald trump and all 15 of his fellow gop candidates are preparing for tomorrow's big debate at the reagan presidential library in california. as a front-runner, trump is predicting a rough and tumble debate with the rest of the candidates targeting him, but trump says he's not going to be laying off the competition either. >> carly is giving me a hard time, even though her poll numbers are horrible. jeb, nice guy, really a nice guy. jeb -- hillary -- [ booing ] jeb's more popular than one person. >> debuting on the main stage tomorrow night is carly fiorina in her first face-to-face appearance with trump since his comments about her looks. >> on the democratic side, hillary clinton is trying to lock up support from women, a group that's key to her campaign. clinton has been sliding to the polls and her support among white women in one poll fell from 71% in july to 42% now,

that's a 29% drop in only eight weeks. she's been hammered, of course, with questions about her private e-mails and now clinton is trying to turn the conversation to her plan for women's rights. >> i want to expand a woman's right to choose and fight against defunding planned parenthood. >> yesterday clinton down played her slip in the polls to bernie sanders, calling it a normal part of any campaign season. meantime, you can start tweeting cash to political candidates you believe in starting today. twitter is offering a new feature that lets candidates raise money on their twitter feeds using the twitter app. democrat bernie sanders and several republican presidential candidates are really using this as a way to pull in small donations. it is just barely starting to feel like fall and already 32 million people are beginning their holiday shopping. that's according to a new survey from creditcards.com. about 1 in 7 people are already crossing gifts off their shopping lists, and about 4.5

million people are already finished with their shopping. this is a good one, a hungry bear cub is getting nursed back to health after she wandered into a pizza shop and not surprisingly chowed down. >> got a little indejegs. staff say they always leave the front door propped open and that's how this bear wandered in yesterday afternoon, but she wanted something sweeter. >> they said there was a bear in there eating all the icing. >> got into our icing cups and she was eating them. >> the baby was orphaned, malnourished, and injured, as well. the cub is now being rehabbed and if all goes well she'll be released back into the wild in time for hibernation. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> another beautiful day, low humidity, and we're going to have a lot of these days before the week is over.

here's a live look out towards the art museum, schuylkill river, beautiful conditions, sunny skies, no clouds again, but we are warmer today than yesterday, still very comfortable. we'll keep getting warmer through the week, more like the mid 80s tomorrow. today we're around the 80s, low 80s. the dry stretch continues all the way through the end of the week and into your weekend and over the weekend we're going to have another cool down coming from the second half of your weekend. here's a look at the temperatures, warmer than yesterday at this time, 82 in allentown, 81 in reading, pottstown, westchester 82 in philadelphia. not many areas in the 70s like yesterday at this time. low 80s for millville, glassboro, atlantic city. through the rest of your evening we keep the clear skies in the forecast. by 6:00 p.m. around 81 degrees, staying sunny and nice to end up your night, 8:00 p.m. around 76 degrees and cooler by 10:00, temperatures right around 70

degrees. will be another cool night overnight tonight, but then tomorrow again we'll be warming up more than today. warmer temperatures, very comfortable temperatures across much of the eastern half of the country stretching all the way into tampa. temperatures there in the mid 80s. this is the reason why we're all under the same air mass pretty much. big area of high pressure. this is going to keep us dry through the end of the week. so we're going to keep all that sunshine in the forecast. live look out at cape may now, beautiful along the shore, not one cloud in the sky, and the water's actually really smooth, too. you can tell the winds are light, not breezy like yesterday. we're going to keep the lighter winds in the forecast overnight. there you see it to our west, a lot of dry air in place, the closest rain is, in fact, around florida, but as we go into the weekend we'll have maybe some more clouds moving in, but we're really going to stay on the dry side. tomorrow morning, a look at your low temperatures, 52 in allentown and reading, 61 for northeast philly, 59 for doylestown. south jersey, vineland, mid 50s

closer to the shore about the low 60s. philadelphia area and surrounding suburbs around 60 degrees by tomorrow morning, but we keep the clear skies in the forecast and sunshine through tomorrow afternoon. little bit warmer than today, temperatures in the mid 80s. same thing thursday and friday, looking good going into the weekend, mid 80s saturday. cold front moves through. by sunday cooler and breezy, just in time for the eagles. there's a warning this afternoon for anyone who pays their bills by mail. >> thieves are stealing your personal information before the postal worker comes to your house. after the break, we'll explain where the crimes are happening and why one victim is guaranteeing the police will do something about it.

we have an update on the breaking traffic situation we've been following on the schuylkill expressway. the exit to route 1 roosevelt boulevard is shut down because of a crash. one woman is dead and another person is injured and in the hospital. sky force 10 was over the scene earlier this afternoon over 76 where it meets the boulevard. this accident is causing a major backup from grace ferry west on 76, all the way to roosevelt boulevard route one, so keep that in mind if you are leaving the city. now to a stolen mail mystery. members of one community have seen their outgoing mail vanish in recent days. >> from rent checks to credit card payments, they've seen it all disappear. many of them not realizing what happened until the bills go unpaid. this is all mhappening in an ara of lansdale. >> even the police chief has

been targeted by mail thieves. >> reporter: it's a rare item that donna leaves in her mailbox. >> i take it to the post office, it's inconvenient, but i do it, because you just don't know. i don't want to guess did my mail get to where it needs to go or not. >> reporter: residents began exchanging e-mails about mail thefts in late summer. it was trash day when one man here was surprised to see his cans were not empty. >> he looked and saw in the bottom of his trash can mail, opened mail, started looking at it, it was from his neighborhood. >> reporter: calling police is an important step all too often people brush off a case like this and can't tell if this one crime or series of crimes is what happened. >> it occurred to me, i got a call about an rsvp that didn't get returned. >> reporter: take it to is secure mailbox or post office, and police say thieves are not just out to steal gifts and cash

anywhe anymore. >> it's progressed more to the identity theft piece of it more than just the pure trying to get cash or other valuables from your mail. >> reporter: investigators are also taking a look at the case and remind you stealing mail is a federal crime with up to five years in prison and police ask you if you think you've been a victim, don't just call your bank, remember to call police. deanna durante, nbc 10 news. nbc 10 news at 5:00 is next. >> here's jacqueline london. >> next all new tonight at 5:00, a good samaritan loses his life trying to protect a mother and her baby daughter. and for the last year and a half nbc 10 has followed the criminal case against a former colin police officer. he was charged with stalking and harassment, now murder. tonight prosecutors have decided if he will face the death penalty. and we have more nice weather in the forecast and warming temperatures, too. some changes across the weekend. i'll show you those coming up.

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nbc 10 news starts now. >> right now at 5:00 a good samaritan loses his life trying to protect two strangers, a mother and her baby daughter. >> wilmington police say this man right here was threatening the mom and baby with a knife and that's when thomas cotti cottingham stepped in. >> tim furlong has more on his heroic action. >> he saved an innocent child. >> police say that's exactly

what thomas cottingham did last night here in rodney square. when he saw this man, calvin hooker iii pull out a knife while chasing a young mom and her baby he ran out to help them. it cost him his life. >> he didn't know the woman, from what i understand. he didn't know her. he was just doing the right thing. >> police say hooker stabbed cottingham repeatedly. this afternoon old friends from high school are putting up balloons. everyone seems to know him in rodney square. he was unemployed and between homes but would skateboard through the square every day chatting up old friends and making new ones. calvin hooker is locked up. police haven't identified the mom and baby in this case, but none of cannibal's high school friends are surprised he gave his life to save theirs. >> he was generally a good person. i'm sorry. same crap out here, i hate this city. >> in