minutes apart. rosemary connors has been following the search for this attacker. rosemary, you just saw video from one of the incidents. >> i did, denise and jim, we're waiting for police to send out surveillance video, but this is what i saw. in one case here around 21st and arch street, a man wearing a button down shirt, had a cross body briefcase with him looking like he was going to work, coming down the sidewalk here when the alleged attacker passed him, made some kind of remark, the victim kept going but police say the suspect went after him and slashed his face and at this point investigators are baffled by all of this. >> right now, no motive as to why this individual is doing this, but again, something that's disturbing when you see somebody slashing, you know, the faces of people out there for no apparent reason and they don't know this individual. >> reporter: philadelphia police are also investigating whether the attacker is responsible for a second slashing near 23rd and walnut street.

in that incident a jogger encountered the suspect around 5:30 this morning and suffered stab wounds to his torso and hands. neighbors tell me they are disturbed by what's happened but it's a reminder to always be prepared. >> i do carry pepper spray with me, as well, to protect myself in the event something was to happen. >> reporter: just within the past few moments my photographer passed me information that came down from philadelphia police. they have not put out the video yet, but did give more description about what happened this morning. in this case here at 21st and arch street the alleged attacker yelled an obscenity and said keep walking, and again, as police tell us, that's when the attacker went after him and slashed his face. as soon as we have that surveillance video we'll make sure we pass it along so you can see it. reporting live, rosemary connors, nbc 10 news. right now at 5:00, philadelphia police say they are investigating raw meat left on a muslim man's front steps as a

domestic incident. he says he was praying on a neighbor's porch yesterday, he believes someone left the raw meat this morning. price believes it was pork wrapped in a muslim newspaper to intimidate him. he calls it a hate crime, even if police won't say that. >> i didn't touch it, i didn't know what it was. i felt disgusted, disrespectful, i thought, and as i said, hate crime, that's what i think it is. >> he and his family have not been allowed back in their home all day as police are searching inside. police say the medical examiner's office is now examining the meat. this all comes about a weak after another possible hate crime in our area. someone threw a pig's head at a north philadelphia mosque. this surveillance video shows someone in a pickup truck tossing it at the islamic society building. no arrests have been made in the case. new at 5:00, a jersey shore man is blaming an atlantic city

restaurant for putting him in the hospital. the man claims one drink of beer changed his life and he's filed a lawsuit against the restaurant, as well as two local beer distributors. ted greenberg spoke with him today and, ted, this man claims he had some very serious medical issues from this incident. >> yeah, jim. that man says that the beer was contaminated with a caustic cleaning solution. he's speaking out for the first time since this happened more than three years ago, an ordeal that he says left him permanently injured. >> no one would ever expect to go into a restaurant and have this happen to them. >> reporter: richard says he felt searing pain, then began vomiting blood after taking a single gulp of draft beer. >> it was direly wrong and i knew i was in trouble. >> reporter: the retired ocean city police officer says he was poisoned that night in 2012 by a cleaning product remaining in a

beer dispensing line at mccormick and smick's restaurant. >> lucky to be alive. >> reporter: he was hospitalized for a week with burns to his digestive tract. he says the injuries continue to cause discomfort and require medical treatment. >> my future's uncertain as far as the medical side of it goes. >> you think when you go out to eat that what you're going to ingest is safe. i never questioned that before. >> reporter: washart and his wife cynthia, an emergency room nurse for nearly 30 years, have filed this lawsuit claiming the restaurant and two local beer distributors hired to regularly clean the beer lines were negligent. the defendants did not respond to my request for comment, but in court documents deny any wrong doing. >> nobody's admitting responsibility. that's why we're asking people, somebody out there that knows what happened, to come forward

and let us avoid a full blown trial. >> reporter: richard washart also wants those involved in the food and beverage industry to be more careful. >> please, do it the right way. we don't want this to happen to somebody else. >> reporter: if the case goes to trial, i'm told that will likely happen early next summer. live at our jersey shore bureau, i'm ted greenberg, nbc 10 news. now to your first alert weather. we saw gusty winds and cooler temperatures today, but we are still not anywhere close to what december should feel like at this point. >> meteorologist sheena parveen is tracking some big changes. much colder weather moving in and more rain? >> pretty much both of those. we have the rain coming first, not until thursday, though, then behind it a big cool down in time for your weekend. right now, though, it's a little bit cooler than it was at this time yesterday. temperature mid 50s philadelphia, mid 50s northeast philly, low 50s in allentown, mid 50s millville, but this is

still above normal for this time of the year, so today we got to 69 degrees, that was a little bit after midnight. early this morning, but that still counts as the daytime high temperature, that was a record high. many days now in a row of record high temperatures. tomorrow around 57 degrees. where we should be this time of the year is 45 degrees. so we are still staying above average as we go through the next couple of days, then we get the rain moving in. as we go through the evening, the wisconsnds will lighten up. temperatures will start to drop off, so by 11:00 p.m. in the philadelphia area we should be around 50 degrees, poconos around 40 degrees and along the shore temperatures in the mid 40s. coming up, a look at the timing of the rain later in the week and how cold your weekend will get. breaking news now just into nbc, a massachusetts teenager has been convicted of raping and killing his high school algebra teacher two years ago. he was just 14 years old when

prosecutors say he stabbed 24-year-old colleen ritzer with a boxed cutter, then used a recycling bin to dump her body in the woods. the defense attorneys claim the teen was in the throes of mental illness when he killed her, but prosecutors rejected the claim, saying chizham knew right from wrong. he was tried as an adult and could face up to life in prison. the son of a former new jersey military couple says his parents should get the maximum sentence for abusing his younger siblings. the son speaking out today at a sentencing hearing. the jacksons were convicted in july on several counts of child endangerment. prosecutors say the couple's three foster children, all toddlers, were left with broken bones and other health problems. we'll bring the outcome to you as soon as we get it. two men from our area are charged with possessing child porn, one man allegedly used social media to contact underaged girls. michael lees lives in lehigh

county. investigators say he used facebook and kick to request naked pictures of young girls. agents say they found several pornographic pictures on his phone. and 28-year-old ruben ramos is in jail, as well, tonight. he was sharing child porn on his computer. after confiscating it, they found numerous files with photos of naked minors. graduation rates in new jersey are among the highest in the country in the 2013-2014 school year. iowa came in at number one, nebraska number two, new jersey tied with wisconsin for the number three spot. now, 82% of high school students graduated around the country last year. that's a new record high. 88% of new jersey students received their high school diplomas last year, 87% of students in delaware, and 85% of students in pennsylvania graduated. still, the numbers show nearly 1 in 5 students left high school without their diploma.

honors today for some teachers who helped delaware's youngest children while continuing their own education. governor jack markell helped congratulate participants in the teach program. it allows teachers who work in early childhood education to get financial help to go back to school. participants say without the program they wouldn't have been able to pay for a degree. >> even if i would have done it and had to get student loans to do it, i would not have been able to stay in the early child care field to pay back the loans. payoff teach, i can remain doing what i truly love. >> the state says most participants are women earning less than $15 an hour. nearly half of them are women of color and almost half of them are the first in their family to attend college. no teaching for one big district out west today. 640,000 students all sent home. school leaders in los angeles said there were threats of an attack, but now some are wondering if they overreacted.

plus, a mysterious death at the jersey shore. what led police to a body in cape may county and how it might be connected to a missing teenager. and if you think online shopping will make things easier this christmas, a word of warning, why online orders are taking longer to get delivered and what you should do to make sure gifts arrive on time.

♪ this holiday season, my good friend gave to me ♪ ♪ 7 powerball tickets ♪ 6 match 6 chances ♪ 5 cash 5s ♪ 4 cash4lifes ♪ 3 pick 3s ♪ 2 mega millions (joe) happy holidays, rita. (rita) thanks, joe! (man) what a great gift! (announcer) pennsylvania lottery tickets make great gifts, like the new holiday millionaire. (joe) happy holidays! ♪ and best wishes from the lottery ♪

right now at 5:00, a threat forces more than 600,000 students to stay home from school in los angeles today. the l.a. district shutting down every school there. the threat raised fears of another attack like the one in nearby san bernardino, of course, earlier this month. >> new york officials received the same threat, but as nbc's jennifer bjorklund reports, their reaction was much different. >> reporter: just after 7:00 a.m. parents started getting notifications to keep their kids home, the immediate concern, terrorism. >> we're wondering if this is actually real, so right now i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one that's afraid. >> reporter: a threat which law enforcement confirmed appeared to come from overseas was credible enough for the superintendent to shut the district down and send s.w.a.t. teams to some schools. >> based on past circumstances, i could not take the chance as it relates to one student or our

staff that serves our students. >> reporter: another threat sent from the same i.p. address and containing some of the same wording also was sent to new york city schools. new york police commissioner bill bratton, the former los angeles chief of police, says his department is investigating the e-mail as a hoax, a vastly different reaction than his cross-country counterpart. >> this is not a credible threat, it is not something that we are concerned with. what we would be concerned with is overreacting. >> also very easy to criticize the decision when you have no responsibility for the outcome of that decision. >> reporter: lapd chief charlie beck defends the decision to leave hundreds of thousands of potentially unsupervised students out of school. >> southern california has been through a lot in the recent weeks. should we risk putting our children through the same? >> there's been a lot of school shootings and i was just worried about my brother. >> reporter: and happy to be holding loved ones just a little

bit closer. jennifer bjorklund, nbc news, los angeles. jurors in the trial of baltimore police officer william porter told the judge they are deadlocked today, but the judge told them to keep deliberating. that is porter on the right. he faces manslaughter charges in the death of freddie gray. the jury got the case yesterday. prosecutors say porter was negligent for failing to buckle gray into a transport van and for failing to call a medic when gray asked to go to the hospital. topping our decision 2016 coverage this afternoon, hillary clinton is calling for a 360-degree strategy to prevent domestic terror attacks. the presidential candidate just laid out her counterterrorism strategy at a speech at the university of minnesota. the plan aims to shut down isis recruitment in the u.s. and prevent foreign fighters from coming here. in just a few hours the republican presidential candidates will take the stage for 2015's final gop debate.

the final preparations are under way at the venetian in las vegas. nine candidates in all will take part in tonight's debate. >> joining us now with a closer look at the topics for tonight's debate, jim schultz, regional field director for george w. bush's campaign in 2004, also st served as general council for the state of pennsylvania and worked for the east district. obviously, donald trump still the most talked about candidate, most popular in the polls right now, and all that despite his controversial proposal to band muslims from coming to the u.s. how do you think that issue will play out in tonight's debate? >> i think it will be a central theme in this debate with some of the candidates this evening. you've seen republicans and democrats alike come out against the ban on muslims coming to this country, and mostly find it reprehensible and most criticizing it, find that it's contrary to the principles and

foundations of this country. the question becomes, is it legal, and some like carly fiorina said that it's illegal. i think the argument there is it probably is, while reprehensible to most, it's probably legal because the supreme court gives great deference to the federal government as it pertains to who comes in this country and who doesn't come in this country, and the federal laws on the books which specifically give policy makers, namely the president, the ability to make the determination as to whether it's in the best interest of the country for someone to enter. >> all right, perhaps somebody will point that out tonight. let's talk about chris christie, he's had an up and down campaign, now he's regaining some momentum. he'll be back on the main stage tonight, how will he try to stand out from the pack? >> well, 60% of the country focusing in on terrorism and national security is a top priority. i believe that's more christie's focus and that's going to be largely a focus of all of the

candidates this evening. christie has a real opportunity here to use his experience as united states attorney following 9/11 to talk about his experience and his abilities to lead this country at these times, when all of the candidates are portraying this president, president obama, as feckless on the issue and ineffective. >> all right, jim schultz, thanks so much for joining us tonight and for your insight. as we get closer to the debate, "nbc nightly news" will have more analysis and in-depth coverage coming up at 6:30. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> well, little bit cooler this afternoon, but mostly because that wind made it feel cooler, but the wind is going to be lightening up overnight tonight. tomorrow will be a nice day, then we're tracking heavy rain mostly as we go into thursday, so make sure you have your umbrella before the week is over and followed by the rain we have

a cold blast of air just in time for your weekend. now, aside from the weekend, so far it does look like it will be warmer as we go into christmas, which is going to give us a warmer christmas, and it does not look like a white christmas either, so we'll show you that in just a minute. right now in philadelphia, 56 degrees, mostly clear skies, the wind is still up gusting through most of the area around 20 miles an hour, but sustained closer to 18 in the philadelphia area and we'll see the winds lightening up tonight. then the temperatures will drop, but take a look what's been going on since the weekend, including today. record high temperatures saturday, sunday, monday, and today. we hit 69 degrees early this morning, but that beat the record high temperature. the average high is 45 degrees, so, yeah, unseasonably warm outside and it's going to stay like that even worm, but then get cooler after that rain leaves by thursday. wind speeds right now anywhere from 10 to 20 miles an hour, so it's still windy, but the wind will lighten up through the

overnight hours. here's the cold air, it's not here, it's well back off to our west and parts of canada. warm air is around the southeast. look at the cold temperatures out west, 17 degrees in denver and locally in the mid 50s in philadelphia. we have temperatures near 80 degrees down in florida. nice and dry on the radar. the snow is way back off to the west where you saw the cold air, but here's future weather. we will be getting colder after rain, at least it will feel more like winter this weekend, but this is tomorrow 2:00 p.m., pretty comfortable, more clouds move in in time for thursday morning, light showers around for the morning commute, then you notice the rain moving in, still mild, so we only expect rain thursday afternoon. this is 1:00 p.m., some of this rain could be locally heavy. it lasts through the afternoon and then starts to clear out just in time for friday and that's when we get the colder air in time for the weekend. so you will notice that. tonight, though, once the winds start to die down, temperatures dropping into the mid 30s for the lehigh valley, low 30s for

the philadelphia area, around 37 degrees for some of our suburbs. tomorrow mostly sunny, temperatures the mid to upper 50s. when you compare it to the high of 45 degrees, still mild. mild and rainy for thursday, then we cool down to near 39 degrees as we go into saturday. >> all right, sheena, thank you. all she wanted was cards for christmas. that led to an outpouring of support for this young girl who was badly burned in a fire. how one group is posing to brighten her holidays even more. the special trip she'll soon be taking. plus, they call it food as medicine. how one program is helping people tackle their diabetes and improve their lives. this is the best block of all.

it's like candy cane lane. i know. oohhh. oh, holiday ferris wheel. i kind of love it. look at those reindeer. jeffrey, you're awfully quiet back there. i was just thinking... maybe it's time we finish this test drive and head back to the dealership? that is so jeffrey... soooo jeffrey... so jeffrey...

oh. elves.. it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. the volkswagen sign then drive event. zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on a new passat and other select models. imagine getting a prescription for a meal plan to help you heal when you're really sick. >> it's an approach tested by a local health insurance company in partnership with a philadelphia-based nonprofit, and as rosemary connors reports, the food as medicine appears to be working. >> reporter: it takes careful coordination preparing these meals, making sure the portions are appropriate is only part of this equation. the hand-picked ingredients are just as important. >> i was diagnosed in '91. >> reporter: diabetes has been a daily struggle for tanya farmer of north philadelphia, but the mother and grandmother tells me her diet has improved since

receiving these meals. >> before the program, it was pretty hard. my major weakness was portion size. >> the only organization in the country to have the complete meal program that's delivered to the home to the clients completely free of charge to help them with their fight against disease. >> reporter: sue, a licensed dietitian and nutritionist is the ceo of manna, a nonprofit that serves the philadelphia region. >> manna is in its 26th year as an organization and we're all about food is medicine and we've been fighting and advocating to get food as medicine recognized for many, many years. >> i've been asked why we're even doing this. to me, sort of like a no-brainer. >> reporter: phil george is the president of health partners plans, a health insurance company with members in the delaware valley. earlier this year he decided to give the food as medicine model a try, a pilot program was born with manna providing education

as meals three times a day for about 12 weeks to diabetics. diabetics like tanya farmer who are member of hpp's medicaid plan. for bill george, whose father had diabetes, he understands how necessary nutrition is to managing the disease. >> as a child growing up, i learned working with my mother that when you have someone living with diabetes in the family, it's a family operation. >> before manna, my blood sugar was 14 plus, now i'm down to 9.2. >> reporter: tanya has also lost 20 pounds and visits the emergency room less frequently. the goal is meant to be a win-win, saving the insurance company costs, while improving the health of its members. >> this is literally, as our tag line says, doing the right thing, this is how you manage someone's medical condition. >> reporter: manna hopes to expand the program. >> manna is actually moving next

year, so we are in the middle of a capital campaign and currently maxed out in our facility. we can only do a million meals a year, it sounds like a lot, but the need is great and in our new facility we'll be able to do 2.5 million meals. >> reporter: meals that nourish and heal. reporting in center city, i'm rosemary connors, nbc 10 news. so far this year the nonprofit has provided 800 hours of education and has served 80,000 meals to hpp clients. >> hpp tells us the program is paid for by medicaid payments from the state and rosemary is proud to serve on the board of manna. next at 5:00, an officer hit by a car, his head smashing into the windshield. tonight we have new information on the driver police are looking for. plus, the search for a missing teen leads to a deadly discovery at the jersey shore. live on the scene next on nbc 10 news at 5:00.

brendan tate brown during a traffic stop last december. investigators ruled the shooting was justified, but tate brown's family insists otherwise. we'll continue to follow the protest and let you know the impact on traffic, as well. also tonight, a mysterious death at the jersey shore.

police searching for a missing teenager found the body yesterday in cape may county. >> they still aren't saying if it is, in fact, nicole angstadt or how the person may have died. cydney long is following the developments. >> reporter: jim and denise, i can tell you police and prosecutors are trying to piece the puzzle together. the prosecutor tells me he will share additional information once an autopsy is complete, but it's neighbors meantime who say detectives were in this area showing them a photograph of the missing teenager yesterday afternoon. that unfolded just a couple of hours before the major crimes unit became focused on this vacant home. >> none of the police would tell me anything about what was going on. start to get a little concerned that the next morning they are still here. >> reporter: anxious for answers, neighbors watched as investigators carried giant brown bags from this home. police say there is an exhaustive amount of evidence found near the body of a white female discovered in the

basement last night. what made you come here? >> well, obviously, somebody told us to come here and that's why we came here. >> reporter: neighbors have been hoping for a positive outcome since 15-year-old nicole was reported missing to police by her family who lives nearby two weeks ago, but prosecutor robert taylor will not confirm the body is that of the missing girl or whether or not it appears to be murder. >> we're not going to comment on anything like that until we hear what the medical examiner has to say. >> it's a little scary when you see them going through a pool and cutting out the drainpipes of a house, so they are looking in the plumbing. >> reporter: greg just recently moved in across the street. he didn't know the house was abandoned and said he noticed people there just last week. >> i couldn't tell you who they were, i just seen a guy and a girl over there and the guy was hammering boards up, boarding up the windows. >> reporter: she was last seen the saturday after thanksgiving and reported missing to police that monday. taylor described the crime scene as one that will take hours upon

hours to process. >> i'm not going to talk about what kind of evidence we're finding. it's a long process. >> reporter: victims advocates with the prosecutors office did tell us they consoled loved ones here today and neighbors say at least two of the young women who rushed to the scene this morning were related to nicole angstadt. we have not been successful in touching base with the family just yet today. live in middle township, cydney long, nbc 10 news. we have new information on a hit-and-run crash that injured a philadelphia police officer last night. this is the man investigators say was behind the wheel. his name is maurice taylor and police are now trying to find him. the officer was responding to reports of a person with a gun, that's when taylor allegedly drove directly towards the officer. the officer hit the windshield of the car, broke his leg and had cuts to his head. neighbors on the block ran to help before police could get there. >> one of those indications that

it's not all bad when it comes to the community and policing. this is actually a great example of how the community stepped up and helped this officer in need. >> police say an 18-year-old woman and 11-year-old boy were in the car with taylor at the time of the crash. taylor allegedly ditched the car and his two passengers nearby on 22nd street before running away. the officer will need surgery at jefferson hospital. right now at 5:00, a jury will soon decide if this woman is guilty of assaulting a gay couple in center city. closing arguments wrapped up this afternoon in the trial for kathryn knott. she also took the stand today in her own defense. nbc 10's deanna durante was in the courtroom and joins us live with more on her side of the story. deanna? >> reporter: yeah, knott's defense attorney says it is horrible that these men were victims of a crime, but he also says it is bad to falsely accuse someone, telling a jury that his client did nothing wrong. her lawyer says she could have chosen to stay silent, but

kathryn knott chose to take the stand to tell a jury she did nothing wrong on the night of september 11th, 2014. but prosecutors say the 25-year-old doesn't like gay people and the assault on two gay men that night was a hate crime. knott was in center city with more than a dozen others, they ate dinner and were walking when prosecutors say two men fought with the victim. they say knott got involved and punched the victim. knott is the only woman charged and of the trio, the only one to reject a plea deal and go to trial. prosecutors used tweets she posted against her, some using homophobic slurs, but the defense attorney says those tweets are a distraction because the prosecutors have no real witnesses to place knott as an aggressor in the fight. telling a jury that four people came forward and told them a woman wearing a white dress did throw a punch at one of the men. however, knott's attorney says there was no dirt, no blood, nothing, on knott's clothing

that night. reporting live, deanna durante, nbc 10 news. watch this guy right here throwing rocks at a home in penny pack park. philadelphia police say he was trying to break into the home on lexington avenue. an elderly couple was inside at the time. they told police they woke up and found window screens cut and two windows broken. police say the guy saw a surveillance camera and then took off. he is still on the loose tonight. and a warning this evening for residents in new castle county. there's been a rash of break-ins. five homes, in fact, burglarized yesterday alone in nordic dell, sherwood green, police are reminding residents to lock doors and windows to homes and cars. 400 people will be losing their jobs in the lehigh valley just after the holidays. mack trucks incorporated announced the layoffs today at its manufacturing facility. the job cuts take effect january 25th. officials with mack trucks say demand for trucks is down.

the lehigh valley plant has more than 1,800 workers. philadelphia mayor michael nutter likes the work done by the commission on african-american males, and today he took a step to make the group a permanent fixture in philadelphia. >> this question will be on the ballot in april of 2016. >> mayor nutter signed an ordinance today asking voters to decide on the matter. the commission was founded by mayor wilson good in 1991. the group is made up of educators, business owners, and religious leaders. together they create a report with recommendations on how to improve conditions for african-american men and boys in the city. a new home just in time for the holidays. nbc 10 in germantown where the philadelphia housing authority held a grand opening celebration for the new queen lane apartments. the new apartments replace this old high-rise building, which

was demolished last year. the new complex is a mix of two-story flats, walk-up apartments, and three-story town homes. >> over 5,000 applications were submitted for these units, so we know the need for affordable quality housing is definitely out there and this is going to be very, very helpful. >> and local leaders believe the new housing will provide an economic boost to the area. her story spread across social media, a young girl badly burned in a fire asked the country to send her christmas cards, but now one group is sending her somewhere special. that story is next on nbc 10 news at 5:00. and i'm tracking rain heading our way before the weekend, but then a huge cool down just in time for your weekend. a look at the timing of the rain for you coming up.

when a moment spontaneously turns romantic, why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use, is the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right.

plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. insurance coverage has expanded nationally and you may now be covered. contact your health plan for the latest information. i said i'm expiring, you better change the locks on the door, i've retired twice before, you know. >> the man being called the

heart and soul of the "today" show hung up his hat today. willard scott stepped down after 65 years with nbc. he started as a page at 16 years of age and spent 35 years at the "today" show. to honor the 81 year old, a stretch of rockefeller plaza outside the studio was temporarily renamed willard scott way. just call it a dream come true. a young girl who overcame tragedy got the surprise of a lifetime. sapphire terry was shocked to find out she is going to disney world thanks to the kindness of strangers. it's just the latest surprise for the 8 year old who put out a request for christmas cards. she wanted a little comfort after so much sadness. sapphire survived a suspected arson that killed her father, sister, and two brothers. it left her with burns on three-quarters of her body. >> finally just go, have fun, just have fun for a whole week.

i can relax. >> since sapphire's wish went viral, she's received nearly 200,000 cards from around the world and more than 4,000 packages. well, next on nbc 10 news at 5:00, why a south jersey animal shelter is under scrutiny from the state. plus, the new attraction in philadelphia that has people literally climbing up the walls.

new information in the vtech hacking case that compromised the personal information of more than 6 million kids around the globe. police in the uk say they arrested a 21-year-old man on hacking related charges this morning and seized a number of electronic items. last month the technology maker was hacked and not only

compromised the personal information of millions of children, but also their parents' accounts. a south jersey animal shelter euthanized hundreds of animals before they had to. that's according to a state health inspector. the inspector visited gloucester animal shelter in october. more than 300 cats and dozens of dogs were found improperly euthanized, many killed before the holding period was up and some of the animals had microchips and weren't scanned before they were put down. the county says the issues have been fixed. a new outdoor education center is open for business in philadelphia. nbc 10 at the discovery center at the city's east fairmount park reservoir in strawberry mansion. the reservoir was abandoned for more than 45 years and now there's classrooms, public trails, a climbing wall, and bird watching platforms. it's the brain child of outward bound and the national audubon society. >> to work with young people so they can see a better future, so they can understand the natural

world, so they can bond in their time in this beautiful space is a wonderful, wonderful commitment and one that we should all applaud and be grateful for. >> the facility is the nation's first to combine environmental conservation and outdoor education for kids of all ages. well, eagles fans had a lot of questions about sam bradford when the season started, and at first things only seemed to get worse. >> seems the eagles' new quarterback is starting to win people over, right? comcast sportsnet joining us now from comcast sportsnet. john, quite a turn around. >> sam bradford is really leading the eagles back into this playoff push. the birds have won 6 of the last 8 games that sam has started and he's been more of a vocal leader. sam spoke up again before sunday's win over the bills, gave another good speech, saying he's more comfortable in the offense, more confident, and he's normally quiet but now sees when he speaks up his teammates

listen. chip kelly says he wants sam to be here for years to come and today offensive coordinator pat shurmur knew this was all just going to take some time. >> i'm starting to see the things in him i remember seeing when he was a rookie. takes a while to come back from what he went through, and, you know, getting more and more used to the way we're doing things. certainly was easy to connect the dots when he first got here and he's very well aware of what we try to do offensively, but it just takes a little bit of time. >> you know they say it started with his footwork and lower body and that sets up everything else. the eagles were underdogs sunday against arizona on nbc 10. even if they lose, the birds could win the division in the final two weeks. the playoff push has begun. back to you. >> skins and giants, no problem, john. thanks. >> divisional games, good. >> all right, nbc 10, of course,

your official eagles station. we have you covered for sunday's big game. all starts at 6:30 with playoff push, our pregame special. kickoff is at 8:30. after the game don't miss the highlights, interviews, and reaction on nbc 10's eagles game day final. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist sheena parveen. >> well, temperatures today not too bad this afternoon, but early this morning we were warm, so we had another record high temperature today of 69 degrees. but now we're going to be watching rain as we go over the next couple days. it's not going to be until about thursday, but tomorrow will be getting closer, even though tomorrow is going to be a nice day. once the rain leaves we're talking about cold temperatures in time for your weekend. finally feeling like winter after we've had so many record high days in a row. and we are going to see another warmup in time for christmas, so don't let the weekend fool you, going to be a quick blast of cold air, next week we start to warm up again.

temperatures through the lehigh valley, low 50s, mid 50s in philadelphia and mostly temperatures still in the mid 50s, but it's still windy. once the wind dies down, temperatures will start to drop off. by early tomorrow morning we'll see temperatures around the low 40s by 7:00, so right around sunrise and that will be the coldest with some areas north and west in the mid 30s with much less wind tomorrow than what we have today. right now it's still windy, winds sustained near about 15 to 20 miles an hour, but these will be lightening up tonight. we're nice and dry, too, with the wind and the wind is giving us the dry air moving in and also after the rain last night, slightly cooler temperatures this afternoon. any rain is down around florida and any snow is way back up to the west and that's where the cold air is. cold air not here until the weekend. here's what future weather looks like, tonight nice and dry, tomorrow is going to be a nice day, temperatures in the mid to upper 50s, sunny skies, less wind tomorrow, then the clouds

move in for thursday, thursday 8:00 in the morning, so you will notice more cloud cover for your thursday morning commute, maybe some showers around for the morning hours, but don't forget the umbrella, because through the afternoon we have a lot of heavy rain moving in. this is 1:00 in the afternoon, so right around lunchtime we could see some pretty heavy areas of rain. that's going to last through part of the evening commute, then quickly clears up in time for at least most of thursday night. but we could see some lingering right along the shore for friday morning, that clears out in time for friday evening, and then we get that colder air moving in as we go into the weekend. saturday will feel a lot colder than what we've seen all week. low temperatures tonight, low 40s around philadelphia, 37 degrees possibly for millville and once those winds die down that's when we'll notice temperatures dropping even more. tomorrow mostly sunny, mild, mid to upper 50s through the afternoon, but we're still above normal for this time of the year. average high is 45 degrees. we go into thursday, rain and 57

degrees still, but by friday and the weekend we're going to get a lot colder. >> thanks, sheena. kate snow joins us with what's coming up on "nbc nightly news." good evening, kate. >> good evening, hi, guys. we have a lot of news tonight. 900 schools across los angeles shut down today, but was that threat a hoax, was it an overreaction? also fight night in vegas, the final gop debate of the year tonight. and targeting brain cancer, a promising new device that doctors say could be the best advance they've seen in years. it's a really exciting medical story coming up on nightly news. >> thank you, see you at 6:30. >> okay. online shopping supposed to make things easier. >> but that package you ordered may not arrive as fast as you had hoped. people slowing down deliveries across the country.

great time for a shiny floor wax, no? not if you just put the finishing touches

on your latest masterpiece. timing's important. comcast business knows that. that's why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. even late at night, or on the weekend, if that's what you need. because you have enough to worry about. i did not see that coming. don't deal with disruptions. get better internet installed on your schedule. comcast business. built for business.

just ten days till christmas, and today is the last day to ship a package through the u.s. postal service with guaranteed delivery by december 25th. >> but shipping delays are already out there and now there are new fears the gifts may not make it to everyone's house on time. nbc's olivia stearns has the details. >> reporter: this year's christmas miracle might be getting all the presents under the tree in time. online shopping is far outpacing shipping this holiday season with nearly 1 in 10 ups

customers not getting their cyber monday orders on time. the average delivery date, 20% slower than last year. with an estimated 1.2 billion packages expected to be delivered across the country this season, that could turn a lot of would-be santas into scrooges. >> consumers are frustrated their packages are just not arriving when promised. >> reporter: fedex saying in part, as online shopping patterns continue to shift, we are experiencing volume surges earlier than ever before. a lot of that volume comes from black friday and cyber monday breaking sales records, but insiders say it's ordinary orders from the other days of the week adding to the holiday hassle. >> this has been the tipping point for online shopping. people caught on to the fact that they can order everything online, from their drugstore supplies, to their groceries, to their dog food. >> reporter: and the wild weather is only making it worse, from west coast snow, to an east

coast holiday heat wave. >> both of those things prevent people from going to the stores, either you want to be outside or don't want to be in your house, people shop online. >> reporter: mark your calendar, today is the deadline for orders with basic delivery from the post office. the 19th is the priority deadline, and the 22nd is the last chance for paying a premium and shipping your items express. but experts say your safest bet is ditching the online orders and going old school. >> if you don't have to ship a package across the country, i would absolutely go to the store, pick it out, bring it home with you, wrap it yourself, and hand it over. >> we wanted to find out options for people who aren't shopping online, so we sent doug shimell to a local shipping store. what he found out coming up at 6:15. also ahead on nbc 10 news at 6:00. >> center city slashings.

just a short time ago nbc 10 obtained surveillance video from this morning's attacks. we're live with the information. plus new at 6:00, a confederate flag at a local university, why school officials changed course banning flags next at 6:00. we work weekends here.

because it works for our patients. here, at cancer treatment centers of america in philadelphia, we give our patients the freedom to make appointments that fit their schedules, even on weekends. because we believe in being here when our patients need us, so they can keep living their busy lives. weekend appointments are now available here. learn more at cancercenter.com/eastern. nbc 10 news starts now. >> right now at 6:00, center

city slashings. two people randomly attacked on the sidewalk and just minutes ago, nbc 10 obtained this police surveillance video. good evening everyone, i'm jim rosenfield. >> and i'm jacqueline london. the first attack happened around 5:30 this morning around 21st and arch. 30 minutes later a man was slashed in the face at 23rd and walnut. police say the victims were jogging and walking. >> rosemary connors joining us live in center city tonight with the new video. rosemary? >> reporter: jim and jacqueline, we have incident from the incident showing some of the encounter with the suspect. take a good look here, this surveillance video is from the river loft apartments at that intersection of 23rd and walnut streets. here's what we know from philadelphia police. the suspect yelled something at the jogger as he was passing by, then the suspect knocked him to the ground and stabbed him with a three-inch blade in his arm and back, just superficial wounds, so the jogger was able to be treated and released at

the hospital earlier this morning. police hope somebody recognizes this suspect maybe by the shopping bag he was carrying or what he was wearing, because at this point there's no motive, and the victims in both cases have no idea who this suspect is. in the meantime, neighbors around this area of center city say they are not necessarily surprised because it can happen anywhere and for that reason they say it's important to be vigilant no matter where you live, run, or walk in philadelphia. >> today's world you have to be watching everything very carefully. >> have city it's more heavily patrolled, tend to see more protection down in this area regardless of what's going on. >> reporter: the second incident happened just about here where i'm standing on 21st street near arch. the victim in this case was slashed in the face. there is surveillance video of some of that encounter, i watched it earlier today and not too long ago spoke to police, they say they are going to take a second look at