lot of cars who did not know about this accident going eastbound found themselves really stuck. as you said, traffic is being diverted on to 28th street. folks can't get back on the expressway, so if we go to the scene now, you see that multiple tow trucks are on the scene. the dump truck that was on its side is being hoisted on to a flat bed truck, so it could be hauled away. that's good news for drivers. the scene is getting closer and closer to being cleared. crews put sand on the road just as a precaution just in case gas leaked. a tow truck has already removed a pickup truck from the scene that was also a part of this accident, but as you can see, crews are working very hard to clear up the scene, but advice is to still stay away from i-76 east. we are not quite sure when all of this will be cleared up.

we're live tonight in sky force 10, i'm aundrea cline-thomas, nbc 10 news. to our other big story now. a psychiatrist murdered inside her home. tonight police say a college student obsessed with the doctor stabbed her repeatedly. good evening, i'm jim rosenfield. the suspect called 911 early yesterday morning and confessed to the crime. christopher frick is now charged with the murder of caroline ekong. delaware bureau reporter tim furlong has the latest on the deadly encounter. >> no indication this was going to happen. >> reporter: police say dr. caroline ekong had no reason to expect she'd see this face again. the doctor, most recently a psychiatrist, worked with christopher frick three years ago when he was 18. police say he's been obsessed with her ever since, although they point out it was not a romantic obsession. a half after her daughter discovered her body, frick called police saying he broke into the home and stabbed her to death. they took him into custody not

far from the murder scene at his parents' home. >> physical altercation occurred and frick stabbed the victim numerous times, where she succumbed to her injuries. >> reporter: police aren't saying much about frick's professional interaction with dr. ekong, what might have been going on in frick's life he needed to see dr. ekong three years ago. on paper it looks like he had it together, a senior at the university of delaware, on the dean's list. clearly, something was wrong if he tracked down a doctor to murder her. >> yes, he had been planning this event for approximately three years. his intention was to commit homicide. >> reporter: investigators back on the scene gathering evidence, but other residents don't need to worry. they say they've got the man who killed their neighbor. tim furlong, nbc 10 news. new at 6:00, a south jersey crossing guard is accused of distributing child pornography. detectives arrested 80-year-old rudolf kube at his home.

he's a member of the magnolia school district board and a crossing guard at magnolia school. a major shift in the military involvement in afghanistan. today president obama announced a new plan to keep american troops in the country past the withdrawal date. nbc 10's keith jones is here with details. keith? >> jim, the new plan is to keep 5,500 troops in afghanistan even after the president leaves the white house in 2017. as you recall, president obama promised to end the war during his second term of the the reason for the change, the president says the afghan military still isn't strong enough. now because of the increased threat from terrorist groups, american troops will stay longer than expected, conducting counterterrorism attacks in the country. according to u.s. military officials this was not an easy decision for the president to make and took several months of convincing. >> i do not send you into harm's

way lightly. that's the most solemn decision i make, but as your commander in chief, i believe this mission is vital to our national security interests in preventing terrorist attacks against our citizens and our nation. >> back here at home, ocean county marine nicolas ott gave his life in afghanistan more than four years ago. today we spoke to his mother. she's convinced her son would want u.s. troops to remain in afghanistan as long as necessary. >> i believe any mother of any man or woman who has ever gone into military would say, no, they would not want their child going into war. of course, none of us do, but we do not make that decision. our children made that decision, and we have to honor their decision no matter what our opinion is. >> corporal ott was 23 years old when he was killed during a combat operation in afghanistan. here's a breakdown of how many troops have been in afghanistan over the past decade. january 2002, 4,100, may 2009,

44,700. that number then jumped september 2010, 98,000 before troops reaching the peak level in june 2011, 101,000. if you zoom ahead to last december 2014, back to 9,800. the conflict in afghanistan has been our longest war. keith jones, nbc 10 news. jim, back to you. nbc nightly news with lester holt will have complete coverage on tonight's decision right after this broadcast. to our weather, if you thought it was a little chilly today, wait until this weekend. nbc 10 meteorologist sheena parveen has your, shall we say, frosty forecast, cssheena? >> quite literally. some areas will be seeing frost into this weekend. we'll be colder than today. right now in the mid 60s, upper 50s through parts of the lehigh valley. tomorrow cool like today, then cold air moving in through the

weekend. here's a cold front around chicago, rain with it, so tomorrow this cold front is going to get closer. we'll see some more clouds around, maybe a couple showers and then the cold air mass behind it moves in just in time for your weekend. here's what it looks like, the air mass is in place. right now we have a cool air mass going to last for your friday, but just in time for your saturday and sunday, all this cold air from canada is going to spill down and we are talking about morning temperatures in the 30s, widespread freeze and frost, the first of the season. more about that and who can expect the coldest temperatures coming up. more traffic troubles for drivers in penn's landing tonight. right now crews are working to repair a four-foot crack on a column under the chestnut street bridge. nbc 10's aundrea cline-thomas reports. >> reporter: under the chestnut street bridge crews begin to dig, creating scaffolding to provide temporary support for the ramp while this four-foot

crack in the column is repairs. meanwhile, on the bridge inspectors take pictures to document just how much damage has been done. >> age and elements took its toll on this particular support column. >> reporter: the pennsylvania department of transportation first noticed the crack during an inspection in april. >> i think they should fix it, completely fix it, not patch it up, fix it, because that's dangerous. >> reporter: plans were in place to begin repairs next week, but last night a pedestrian spotted the damage. when police arrived, they closed the intersection of chestnut and front street just to be safe while drivers have to detour, pedestrians are still allowed on the bridge. >> oh, the traffic, yeah, that's going to be bad, really bad, i think. >> reporter: it's an $80,000 project that's coming from penndot's budget for now. officials say this is the very reason why bridges are inspected at least once every two years. those with weight restrictions are inspected more frequently. >> if we find a bridge or aspect

of a bridge that we find to be unsafe, we don't hesitate to close the structure. >> reporter: thankfully in this case, it will only last a couple of days. >> aundrea cline-thomas there. that bridge is expected to reopen this weekend. a bridge inspection on the new jersey turnpike found a different problem on the exit ramp. the turnpike will shut down the southbound car lanes to interchange 7a for a month. this impacts drivers who want to exit at 7a from the southbound lanes. an inspection found the steel plates under the bridge's deck were not built correctly. it should reopen by thanksgiving. tonight, a man wanted for raping and robbing a temple university student is now in custody. police tracked down bennett in north jersey yesterday. going to show you surveillance video police released of the suspect wanted for the attack on september 28th a block from temple's campus. the victim was on her way home from the library when she was attacked on carlisle street. two of the three suspects

accused of beating up a gay couple in center city will not spend a day in jail. one victim suffered a broken jaw and cheekbones. philip williams and kevin harrigan pleaded guilty toing a aggravated assault and conspiracy charges and will get probation, but they must stay out of center city for their entire probation and do community service with the lgbt community. williams and harrigan say the attack was not motivated by sexual orientation. katherine knott refused a plea deal and will go to trial. a trial date has not been set for her. jury selection under way in the federal tax and bank fraud trial in chaka fattah jr. fa ka jr. claims the prosecution case is weak and will prove it himself. he's acting as his own lawyer. deanna durante spoke with fattah jr. today. dee ya ya? >> he says he can better defend

himself than a defense attorney. so far the challenge has been seating a jury because potential jurors are familiar with the fattah name, but he maintains he and his father have done nothing wrong. >> i've done nothing wrong, there are 23 allegations, they deal with a long period of time, but, you know, really going back almost ten years. >> reporter: chaka fattah jr. say federal prosecutors unfairly targeted him. >> it's a long period of time, but it's been a while, so, look, i haven't done anything wrong. i think that, you know, anybody who's following this case closely, you know, could see that, you know, that these charges should have never been brought in the first place. i work with an organization with 115 other people, you know, nobody else has been charged. >> reporter: now the 33 year old plans to defend himself. he says he knows the facts the best. >> i've never done anything wrong, you know, we had a, you know, i had a business

relationship with a vendor for the school district of philadelphia, it's a multiyear relationship, and, you know, i earn money for work that i perfo performed. >> reporter: prosecutors alleged he didn't pay taxes and i asked about his case and his dad's separate federal charges. in july congressman chaka fattah was charged with misusing campaign and federal grant money. >> i don't think it has so much of an effect. obviously, you know, obviously that's my dad and, you know, i don't believe that he did anything wrong. >> fattah jr. is using a standby council for the duration of the trial, but he'll represent himself and select his own jury, but could be days before a jury is seated. in the digital operations center, deanna durante, nbc 10 news. >> all right, deanna. meantime congressman fattah is married to nbc 10's renee chenault-fattah. renee is referenced in the complaint against her husband, labeled as person e and an affiliate of the fattah

enterprise. the feds allege she took part in a scheme to fraudulently sell a car in order to pay closing costs on a vacation home. she is not charged and denies wrong doing, but renee is on leave from nbc 10. next on nbc 10 news at 6:00, aggressive bears targeting people at a new jersey state park. what experts say is the reason why. also, protecting atlantic city's boardwalk. a look at the operation to build a new seawall. sheena? and a cool end to the week, but colder into the weekend. we're talking about freezing temperatures. i'll show you which areas will get the coldest and when coming up.

aggressive bears forced a state part in new jersey to shut down in mahwah. nbc's michael george reports. >> reporter: there have been 13 cases of bears approaching or chasing humans in the last month. the bears in the park used to be scared of people, but something's changed and humans may be to blame. bears are a regular sight for people living nearby. >> loud noise will make them run into the woods, but they've never been aggressive. >> reporter: now hikers say bears are turning aggressive. in some cases chasing after people. more than a dozen cases in the

last month. there have been some close calls. >> makes me kind of nervous, actually. now i definitely don't want to go in there. >> reporter: what's leading to the close encounters? fish and wildlife experts believe hikers are feeding bears. now the bears aren't scared of people anymore. >> probably a human issue. human beings have caused the bears to no longer be so frightened of them. >> reporter: bear encounters are on the rise across new jersey, moving closer to populated areas over the past 20 years. as a precaution the forest and nearby reservation are closed to the public. four bears have been euthanized by fish and wildlife staff after they showed aggression. many locals and environmentalists disagree with that decision. >> i would think it was a case of moving to an area that's not populated. >> the bears would be a danger no matter where they were placed, saying we could not take any chances when it comes to protecting members of the public.

>> that was michael george reporting. work began today on a multimillion seawall to protect the northern end of atlantic city. the $32 million project will put a seawall along the inland. the seawall will provide protection for that inlet during storms. the project will also restore atlantic city's historic boardwalk. it had already been condemned before it was further damaged by superstorm sandy nearly three years ago. now your first alert weather with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> thanks to sky force 10, a beautiful look at the sun about to set here. we are seeing clear skies across the area. this is a live look at sky force 10 right now right at the horizon, sun about to go down, clear skies, cool temperatures and we're going to stay this way even as we go into tomorrow. maybe not so clear as far as the skies are concerned, but temperatures will be in the 60s for your friday, so jacket weather as we go into tomorrow. if you needed it today, at least a light one, you'll need it for

your friday. a cold weekend, though, once we get past tomorrow, temperatures will be dropping about 10 degrees from tomorrow afternoon to saturday afternoon. then they keep going down for sunday. we are talking about our first frost and freeze of the season, so i'll show you those numbers in a second. beautiful look at center city, mid 60s right now in philadelphia and clear skies, and it will stay like that through most of the overnight hours. 58 allentown, 59 pottstown, 62 degrees wilmington. most of south jersey and del delaware around the low 60s at this moment. different saturday and sunday, even going into next week. it's going to feel a little bit more like winter, especially when you wake up in the morning. right now, though, we have clear conditions, nice and dry off to the west, where we find rain over the great lakes all part of a cold front around chicago. that will be swinging through tomorrow. so we have a slight chance for a shower. i think most of the area will stay dry, though. here's future precip and temperatures. overnight we drop down, cool again in the 40s and low 50s,

then tomorrow afternoon we'll still be topping out in about the mid 60s, but there's a chance we could have an isolated shower in the afternoon hours. then we go into saturday. saturday afternoon highs only about the mid 50s for most of the area. it is going to be a colder weekend, then saturday night, into sunday morning, this is when the real cold sets in. we are talking about temperatures below freezing north and west, possibly even some of our new jersey suburbs, but you see widespread 30-degree temperatures here sunday morning. then sunday afternoon only around 50 degrees. by 3:00 p.m., and we're going to keep our eye on a possible disturbance moving in from the great lakes, but as of now partly cloudy skies. the coldest areas sunday morning, lehigh valley areas north and west of philadelphia, we could be at our below freezing so landsdale 31, allentown, kutztown and this is early sunday morning. frost likely in these areas and again into monday morning. same thing for new jersey suburbs, right around freezing as we go into sunday morning and

this leaves us also into monday morning so make sure you bundle the kids up at the bus stop into the beginning of next week. tonight not that cold just yet, about the mid to low 40s north and west. 50 for the low in philadelphia tonight, then tomorrow we'll see more clouds around, slight chance of a shower, about the mid to upper 60s. there you see a big temperature difference friday to saturday, going to last for sunday, too chilly for the eagles game monday night. we stay in the 50s starting next week and finally warm up by the middle of next week. danny? >> thanks, sheena. coming up in sports, what does chip kelly think about the usc rumors? plus, why it's taken time for sam bradford to become a leader with the eagles. that's next. patients across the country have spoken.

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this is the xfinity sports desk brought to you by xfinity, your home for the most live sports. >> good evening, danny pommells from comcast sportsnet with you once again. michael kendricks did not practice today, nursing an injured hamstring. aguilar also sat out with an ankle injury. chip kelly brought on plenty of speculation the birds head coach would leave the nfl to go back to college now that the usc job is open. today, kelly was asked directly about those rumors. >> i understand it, it's going to happen, we're not successful and we're not winning, i came from college, i'm going to go back to college. i hope some day to be like coach coughlin and that speculation ends, i understand you have to ask the question, but i answered it the same way a year ago and my first way here. it's an unfortunate part of the game. >> kind of hard to tell if he was sarcastic, but nonetheless, quarterback sam bradford seemed to find his groove last week throwing for 333 yards and two

touchdowns. the bigger story, though, emerged after the game when players talked about a meeting held before the game, signs of an emerging leader. >> anybody coming in new to an organization or a team, there's got to be, you know, you got to establish yourself before you can start to say, hey, why is this guy telling me something to do, he just got here. >> a lot of times times people question my leadership because i'm quiet, but they don't see what i do behind the scenes and the relationships i've built with those guys. i'm very comfortable stepping up and saying something when i felt it needed to be said. >> giants will enter the link banged up. odell beckham jr. did not practice today. beckham injured his hamstring on sunday. no word on his status for monday night football. don't you forget to vote for our high school football game of the week. cast your vote, go to nbc10.com, you can also call or text your vote.

we'll announce the winner tonight on nbc 10 news at 11:00. less than two weeks away from the start of the nba season. seems the sixers will limp into the upcoming campaign. jahlil okafor will not play against the wizards. okafor has been dealing with a sore knee that kept him out of monday's game. that's sports, danny pommells from comcast sportsnet, we'll be right back. your immune system doesn't work the way it did when rock was young. so we made fluzone high-dose vaccine... for people 65+.

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pack your patience if you know someone who takes the schuylkill home. 76 eastbound still closed. two people taken to the hospital. this is two and a half hours after this accident in university city. and it's also going to be time to unpack the sweaters. >> yeah. i think a lot of people are going to have to pull the jackets, the scarves out of the closet, maybe wash them. i know mine were a little stuffy since they haven't been used since last season. it's going to feel like winter as we go into this weekend. got to make sure you have all your jackets ready. 30s sunday morning and monday morning, high temperatures in the 50s across the weekend. it is going to be a chilly

eagles game monday night. >> enews continues now with nbc nightly news with lester holt. have a great evening. tonight -- staying in afghanistan. a stunning about-face from the president who promised to end this nation's longest war. why american troops are being kept there with no end in sight. is he headed to prison? former speaker of the house dennis hastert, once one of the most powerful men in america cutting aeal over charges he paid millions in hush money toe cover-up allegations of sex abuse. going to new extremes. the new forecast for winters released. there are big changes from years past. why millions are in for a roller coaster season. credit card warning. complaints piling up about those new cards with security chips meant to protect you. what you should know and why you should be checking your bills even more closely than usual.