into the region on the first alert neighborhood radar. >> meteorologist erika martin has the timing of when this rain is going to fall and exactly where. >> keith and erin, we are tracking those showers moving in tonight and early tomorrow. you can see that the clouds are thickening up really quickly, and that's ahead of that system approaching from west to east. otherwise your temperatures mainly in the 40s. we topped out at 46 degrees another philadelphia international airport. west mt. airy, 42 degrees. mid 40s for the most part. port richmond at 46. otherwise your holiday headlines include tracking some rain after midnight, but it will clear before the morning. here it is, your system approaching from the, moving

through the ohio valley, you can see just how quickly and thickly those clouds are starting to develop through the overnight hours. hour by hour forecast, starting at 5:00 p.m. you can see that those showers will be here again midnight, i certainly don't expect much of a changeover, a wintry mix for the lehigh valley, but certainly worth the mention, will change over to widespread rain, so we certainly do have a warm front and temperatures at the surface. we'll talk more about your hour by hour. back to you. right now at 5:00, last minute shoppers are dealing with nearly perfect weather conditions as they rush in and rush out of stores. >> experts say 12% of us wait until today to buy their holiday give its. >> mitch, what's the scene like at king of prussia today? >> reporter: this is as busy as we have seen the king of prussia mall all day, it's not nearly as busy as what we saw on the

thanksgiving holiday, that perception can be deceiving. in the heart of the second largest mall in the country, shoppers, and those working here, are proving what historic holiday trends tell us. first, there are more seasonal holiday workers than ever before according to the national retail federation. nearly 700,000 nationally and up 30% at the king of prussia mall. >> we have stepped up security, guest services, housekeeping and the majority of stores also put on anywhere from 10% to 40% more employees. >> reporter: the retail spending totals are also spiking over what we saw over the thanksgiving weekend. lee is one of the people helping that trend. we met him shopping for his fiance. today is her birthday. >> she can't get everything all at once, but it's difficult having a birthday the day before

christmas. >> reporter: but he's not having trouble picking out that gift. >> of course not. of course not. >> reporter: we're starting to see where holiday spending is going, we're showing that department stores, discount stores and electronics stores are now leading the list. we're life at the king of prussia shore. if you have to head out tomorrow to shop, here's a look at some of the malls and their hours on christmas eve. king of prussia, cherry hill and plymouth malls will be open tomorrow, but their will close by 6:00 p.m. >> this could be a record breaking stretch. about 103 million people are expected to travel over the course of the holidays, about 6 million are traveling by air. about 94 million by car, and of course you've got your busses and trains. juan gomez is headed to mexico to spend christmas with his

brothers and sisters. >>'s special, i could go anywhere, but christmas time is pretty special for us. >> one of the key factors is the way the holiday fall this is year, we have christmas day and new year's day on sunday. so it allows people to travel on saturday. >> aaa says travelers are take advantage of lower gas prices and the great weather. we are following some break news from the entertainment world. actress carrie fisher has been rushed to the hospital after going into cardiac arrest. jim rosenfield has more from the breaking news center. >> a law enforcement source session her condition is, quote, not good. fisher of course best known for her role as princess leah in the "star wars" film. she went into cardiac arrest on plane from london to los angeles. after landing in l.a., the 62-year-old was taken to the

hospital. we don't have anymore more information about her condition. but that law enforcement source telling nbc news the outlook is not good. again, actress carrie fisher hospitalized after stuffufferin heart attack on a plane. the aing for who played chubaka in the "star wars" series saying, we're praying for our princess now. shot on the job, a u.p.s. driver was forced off his route when he was hit by a bullet inner. police say it doesn't appear to be a random shooting, but it's not clear why the driver may have been targeted. he was shot in the shoulder just after making a delivery to a rite aid store at 9th and high

ra land streets. that driver expected to be okay. a bucks county mom is now out of jail after being named a person of interest in her daughter's arrest. sarah packer was arrested yesterday for misleading investigators and child endangerment. the both of her adopted daughter, 14-year-old grace packer was found dismembered in lieu luzerne county. sources tell nbc10 packer also worked in social services in northampton county. police say this man in the video broke into a car that belonged to a philadelphia police officer, it's what the man got away with that has police concerned. the officer's car was parked on coral street in kensington. the thief stole two bags with riot gear and ammunition inside.

now the united states broke with tradition today allowing the united nations to condemn it's long-time al lye israel. the u.s. abstained from a u.n. security council vote. the u.s. typically casts a veto to support israel in council resolutions on the israeli-palestinian conflict. president-elect trump criticized the move. bob casey of pennsylvania says he is disappointed. he released a statement saying resolutions like the one offered at the u.n. security council this week have the potential to move peace further from our reach. holiday hosts are running out of town to get prepared for their feasts this weekend. they were stocking up on everything from vegetables to seafood and while some find the last-minute dash stressful, we

found one woman who said the last' minute rush is all part of the holidays. >> everyone shopping for their families, friends, get togethers, it's a wonderful time. >> there will be many more out there tomorrow, which is christmas eve, of course. >> for one lehigh valley town, this is truly the most wonderful time of the year. nbc10's randy gyllenhaal dropped into bethlehem today talking to people in christmas city, usa. >> reporter: in the little town of bethlehem, everything looks and sounds like christmas. but for the second year in a row, it comes with mild temperatures and melting snow on the ground. tough for some families to get into the spirit, but all you need is a quick stroll down main street, do some window shopping and smell the cinnamon. >> the music, the shops so decorated nicely.

>> reporter: then head into the historic hotel bethlehem where workers spent weeks putting up christmas trees. and despite the lack of snow, it feels like christmas in here. >> we could use some snow. >> reporter: breath ethlehem em it's christmas identity, a perfect blaplace for families t get together and feel that holiday spirit. >> being with people you love and just sharing in the feeling. >> randy gyllenhaal, nbc10 news. speaking of the holiday spirit, santa arrived by minivan to a shelter in southwest philadelphia.

the catholic philadelphia outreach helped santa bring in a load of toys, there were 20 children waiting for him. >> in northeast philadelphia, the young and the young heart celebrated hanukkah. nbc10 at claim life seniors and preschoolers came together to light the large minora to officially start the festival of lights. a plane was hijacked full of passengers on board. plubut first, dance on inauguration day or lose your job. that's the ultimatum posed to

members of the rockettes, one of the dancers explains her concerns next.

the prime suspect in the truck attack in a berlin christmas market is dead. >> two officers in milan noticed

the suspect acting suspiciously and they approached him. that's when he shot one of the officers and police fired back killing him. earlier today isis also released a video in which it says it shows the suspect pledging allea allegiance to the terrorist group. frightening moments for travels aboard a libyan special plane heading from libya to tripoli today. two hijackers threatened to blow up the plane with hand grenades. the two hijackers eventually surrendered peacefully, no one was hurt. meanwhile, vladimir putin said he would not be drawn into

an arms race with the u.s. at all costs. plkt donald trump said the united states must expand it's nuclear capabilities. vladimir putin did the strength of russia's nuclear arsenal. we have learned that putin sent president-elect trump a letter sending him the warmest holiday greetings, he said he wished to restore the frame work of bilateral cooperation. one of the scheduled performers at donald trump's

inauguration, the rockettes said they would be taking part. some of the rockettes are not happy about it. >> reporter: the radio city rockettes bring in the crowds. the line wraps the block moments before their shows, this one leading up to their 2:00 performance this afternoon. now the rockettes, some are not happy with the next gig they have been booked for. one even posted on instagram that she was embarrassed and disappointed. and she said after hear the news, some rockettes were performing with tears in their eyes one of the rockettes wanted to anonymously tell why tsome o the rockettes feel that way. >> i think a lot of women are worried that because of the things that have been said, that

we would be sending the wrong message. >> reporter: the rockettes are part of the madison square garden company. for a rockette to be considered for an event, they must voluntarily sign up and are never told they have to perform at a particular event, including the inaugural. it is always their choice, in fact for the coming inauguration, we had more requests to participate than we have slots available. we have learned that union e-mailed them. meanwhile thousands of american airlines flight attendants say their new uniforms are making them sick. they rolled out the new uniforms in september and since then flight attendants have been

reporting health problems. american airlines responded with this statement, it reads, quote, our primary objective throughout the whole process has been to ensure that the uniform is safe for our team. we are confident our uniforms are safe. i'm first alert meteorologist erika martin, a live look outside, it's dry right now, great night to get that last-minute shopping in. we are seeing clouds moving through the area. in fact the piedmont also seeing some light rain showers moving through. notice how quickly those clouds are starting to develop from west to east. locally all we are seeing right now are thicker clouds developing, especially through the overnight hours, i do expect those rain showers to get her by about 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m.

pemberton, currently 43 degrees. temperatures above average for this time of year, robbinsville at 43 degrees. if you look at the bottom of your screen, you will see your local neighborhood forecast. otherwise for the suburbs, seeing some upper 30s, fleetwood 38 for you, for the most part conditions right now are really mild. that will really trend that way for the next couple of days. however it's all about those rain showers in the mix working their way in west to east. so hour by hour forecast by 5:00 p.m., and getting this into motion. we are seeing some light pink on the screen here for parts of mt. pocono, lehigh valley, i don't think that's going to be a big issue because notice how quickly everything changes over to rain showers. we do have a warm front moving on from the southwest toward the northeast. we could get one or two heavy pockets, but the great news is

everything clears about by 2:00 p.m. so definitely the second half of your saturday improves greatly. tomorrow, temperatures will be pretty comfortable, mainly in the 40s east and seeing those rain showers. pa suburbs seeing mid to upper 40s. philadelphia seeing pretty much really mild temperatures, again, upper 40s, low 50s, fairmount 50 degrees for you, byberry, hadden field 51 degrees. notice this trend, the issue will not -- the good news is everything will clear for the afternoon horse. rehoboth beach 52 and dover are expected to see 52 degrees. a sunny christmas, 40 by 10:00

a.m., so overall, a very pleasant christmas by 3:00 p.m., seeing upper 40s to low 50s. your 10-day on 10 does bring a change by later next week. we are tracking this mild trend in the works, so it looks like thursday brings those temperatures in the 50s. here we are added some showers, breezy on tuesday, sunshine on wednesday and adding some showers on thursday, and new year's eve, what can we expect? it will be dry, however it will be much colder. coming up, pre-k spots are up for grabs for philadelphia children because of the new soda tax going into effect until new year. we'll explain how to get one of those slots all new at 5:30. how one little girl's stuffed toys made it through the friendly skies all the way back home after getting lost at the airport.

now to concerns about the avian flu. cats may have been expose to the virus in new york city shelters.

they are being quarantined right now, right now none of the cats have tested positive for the avian flu. the tigers in the brandy wine zoo will be looking for love. early next month, zana will move to the wildlife conservation center in. the tigers are losing their habitat due to logging and poaching. this is video of a very special labrador in our area, and it's plowing up on facebook. meet tugger, he's a therapy dog. he made his surrounds dressed as santa. it's already received more than

64,000 views. speaking of posting, we'll be asking you for holiday photos, this video was sent in by judy morgan, it looks like santa has a backup plan in case rudolph gets sick. santa says he has magic oats for these two ponies. and of course if you want to bring something for these two to eat, they prefer apples and hay. use the #nbc10holiday. you can send your photos through the nbc10 app, by the way it's free. we'll be showing them right here on nbc10. an 8-year-old girl who lost her teddy bear at an airport. he went on an amazing adventure all documented by the man who found him. there's teddy in the cockpit of a plane, there's teddy hanging

out in the airport gift shop. all of these photos taken by an airport employee who found the bear. turns out he's a facebook friend of the little girl's mother. she posted that her daughter lost her beer, he posted pictures so the little girl knew he was safe and sound. >> i went down to the spirit ticket counter and asked if there was a bear left there. >> my buddy from high school made it happen. it was pretty cool. >> i was happy. >> teddy had quite the adventure there. to show her appreciation for finding teddy, the little girl gave him some kanca candy and a card. you will be paying more for soda when the calendar turns 2017. >> and that money is creating more slots for pre-k.

new this hour, not everyone is going home for the holidays, why some are spending christmas at the casinos for a glitzy take on the holidays.

right now at 5:30, ice skaters enjoying this nice weather. take a look at this grocery

store in audobon. some signs of sun, but just about everyone still had on a winter jabcket. >> the rain is headed our way. the wet weather will arrive for christmas eve morning. and we have first alert team holiday weather coverage. erika martin is mapping out your holiday forecast. >> but glenn "hurricane" schwartz is tracking the christmas eve rain. glenn? >> you can see this area of moisture increasing across pennsylvania, the clouds have come in late in the day and the rain isn't that far behind. this isn't exactly a huge storm, but there's enough moisture to provide several hours of a steady rain. as we go through the evening hours, there's real threat of any rain, but later on tonight, especially first thing in the morning, here comes that.

it's possible it could start off as a little bit of a mix in the poconos, a little bit of light snow, a light wintry mix, but it's mostly rain, and it is raining in much of the area, 6:00 a.m., look at 8:00 a.m., starting to peak and delaware and new jersey getting more rain than our pennsylvania counties. and that will last longer as well. by 10:00 a.m., it's raining relatively hard at the shore, but it's already starting to dry out in some of the areas north and west and by noon that rain is gone. we'll see if the travel conditions across other parts of the area are doing well. erika martin has that. >> we do have a couple of issues for chicago. temperatures expected to hit the upper 40s, 50s by sunday.

good news for pittsburgh, once those showers clear on saturday, as that rain batch moves from west to east, we're going to see temperatures pretty much in the 40s all weekend long, christmas you will see partly cloudy so a good amount of sunshine there. otherwise washington, d.c. seeing 50s on saturday, with widespread showers moving through, then sunny skies on sunday. mt. pocono, you will see that light wintry mix very early morning, keep that in mind, everything changing over very quickly, as that rain moves on through, then a mix of sun and clouds for christmas. it looks like new york city will see 40s for the most part on christmas and boston will see a mix of sun and clouds on christmas. no matter where you are heading this holiday weekend, make sure you take the nbc10 app with you on your phone. get up to the minute traffic updates and your neighborhood

forecast from the first alert weather team. drivers will see rain tomorrow morning and if you're heading east, you'll see new jersey state troopers over the next several days. an additional 80 troopers will patrol the highways, they'll be looking for distracted and aggressive drivers and of course people driving drunk. january 1, philadelphia will start taxing you more on the sugary drinks you buy. it's a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on sugar sweetened and diet drinks. and a big legal victory for that tax is clearing the way for pre-k kids in philadelphia to attend for free. there's still hundreds of open seats. here's how to sign up.

>> reporter: abbey page loves cinderel cinderella. her mother knew she was ready for pre-k. but she didn't know she had to sign up. >> if it wasn't for this program, she would not be going to preschool. >> reporter: thanks to philadelphia' philadelphia's free pre-k, little abbey still has a chance. a little victory earlier this week means the program can move forward without any concerns. >> one call to a case manager can guide parents through the process. about 100 seats are still available. a few questions can determine eligibility for other programs as well. including heating assistance and before and aftercare. >> we're starting off with 2 ,000, but our goal is to add students every year, but also move the sector to increase the

number of providers across the city. >> in less than two weeks, abbey will set foot in a classroom for the first time. the single mother has been unemployed and hopes this change can benefit her too. >> especially with no income, i have to do what i have to do. so if she starts school, i can go find a job. new at this hour, a fight against the new jersey school test cost the state more than a million dollars, the states's largest teacher's union and parents group encouraged students to opt out of the testing saying it was unproven and confusing. some 60,000 english and maths were not taken. mpbls let's talk about the new jersey bridge gate scandal. the judge refuses to reconsider her earlier ruling.

a citizen filed a misconduct complaint seeking a special prosecutor to help determine whether governor christie would have to stand trial. but the governor moved to have the complaint thrown out. back in november, a jury convicted two of christie's former aides in connection be the bridge gate scandal. they were found guilty of orchestrating traffic jams on the bridge in 2013. the governor has never been charged. a major neck injury for ryan matthews after the birds win last night. doug pederson with what it means for matthew's future. your odds of buying counterfeit present this is holiday season.

when it comes to detecting dementia, the nose may know.

the sense of smell takes a nose dive during the early stages of the disease. more than 700 elderly pages took a cognitive test. then they smelled 16 everyday scents. researchers could accurately predict early dementia from that smell test. a person who bought counterfeit items may not know it. almost one-fourth of shoppers have been dupedbuying a counter fit item this year. he sees you when you're speeding. in one maine town, it's not just police officers looking out for speeders, so is santa claus. just look at that sign out on i-295. it's telling you that santa is watching, you could get a

speeding ticket and get on the naughty list. santa is already working up an appetite, he's taking off from his headquarters in finland and heading over to his barn to assemble his full reindeer team. >> he's reportedly assigned rudolph to lead his team this year, rudolph will be assisted by his cousin dasher, he's known as the fastest reindeer and he propels the team. children are wondering if and when santa claus will slide down their chimneys. you can track santa on the norad tracker. keeping the evil giants from punching their playoff tickets. danny bopommells joins us.

i'm tracking widespread rain through the overnight hours for your saturday, but will it be a washout for your christmas eve? i have details coming up on the other side of the break. plus a 4-year-old's day in court. why the storm troopers helped make a special moment inside the courthouse. that's all new at 6:00.

the man who allegedly shot and killed a child has now been caught. >> garry holmes surrendered to little rock police last night.

holmes is now facing two counts of a terroristable and murder charges. a serial burglar is hitting stores in two counties. so far he's broken into six stores in the city. he uses a hammer to break the glass on the front doors to get inside. his string started in no and police want to stop him before he strikes again. you see him driving that mercedes-benz sedan and own a chrysler or dodge caravan. and it's intercepted and the eagles will not let the giants clinch a playoff berth on their field. >> just like that, the eagles kept the giants from getting a ticket to the playoffs for christmas. it's a game you saw right here on nbc10. >> since the birds can't make it to the postseason themselves, they played spoiler instead.

danny pommells joins us right now, it was a big blow to the giants. >> the eagles won the game but lost their most productive receiver. the injury happened on this very play at third down run at the goal line toward the end of the third quarter. matthews actually stayed on the field on fourth down but lost a yard. and pederson was asked about the severity of the injury at his press conference. >> i don't think it's career. again i don't have all the information. right now they're -- what i got from our doctors this morning is that it looks like surgery is in the near future but nothing that's -- it just has to get fixed. >> here's the minutia, money matters might prevent them from

bringing him back next season. well snow falling in parts of northern california, this is what it looked like along the interstate in the sierra mountains, the area expected to get up to two feet of snow by the end of the day tomorrow. >> no thank you. no snow in the holiday forecast here, but we're tracking rain for your christmas eve. >> erika martin is timing it out for us. >> conditions are not going to be all that bad. we have very mild conditions for your christmas, we're seeing low 40s, with winds at 7 miles an hour. your forecast for the philly troe area, we're seeing 40s, kensington currently at 43 degrees, west mt. airy at 42 degrees. conditions right now are mild

the shore also seeing very comfortable temperatures, 41 for summer's point, may's landing. and holgate at 40 degrees. we have been trending pretty warm. satellite and radar image picking up on that system on the approach, so it's moving through the tennessee valley, the ohio valley and notice how we kind of zoom on in a little bit closer, not much going on right now, but those clouds are developing very quickly through the overnight hours. and your hour by hour forecast picking up on the first signs of that moisture getting here by early tomorrow morning. about 1:00 to 2:30 a.m., we're seeing light pinks on the screen here, we'll see a couple of flurries, perhaps a light wintry mix and then everything changing over very quickly, as a warm front dominates, we're seeing a couple of yellows on the screen here, one or two pockets of heavy rain showers. otherwise everything clears

offshore by the afternoon hours, you can see everything clears out offshore by the afternoon hours. we start off with those showers, upper in the afternoon for philadelphia. by 4:00 p.m., the sun sneaks on through, same deal for the most part across the entire delaware valley. pa suburbs also seeing those rain showers through 1:00, temperatu temperatures -- by 4:00 p.m. so the great news is the second half of saturday will certainly be fantastic and we do need the rain, so we'll take it for the first part of the day, and of course we have that better saturday, second half of saturday in the works, so christmas eve and hanukkah, we definitely have a great evening in the works. 10:00 p.m., seeing low to upper 30s, so again, a very mild night. so new year's eve, a quick look

ahead, penn's landing, chillier temperatures in the upper 20s. temperatures topping out for christmas in the upper 40s to low 50s. we are going to trend warmer monday and tuesday. mid to upper 50s by tuesday, it will be breezy, tracking some rain showers here. lots of sunshine on wednesday. mid 40s wednesday and thursday. a windy friday. and it looks like saturday, well, new year's eve, looks like we're going to see some 30s, overnight lows in the 20s. again, much chillier than we have been feeling, however, the great news is it will be dry for the fire works. up next, all new at 5:00, spending christmas at the casino. >> reporter: getting set to spend christmas at the casinos.

i'm ted greenberg in atlantic city, why some folks are choosing to spend the holiday here. ú

people looking for something other than a traditional holiday meal, denny's will serve

breakfast, lunch and dinner. appleby's and starbucks will also be open but the hours will vary by location. >> for some the holiday is a per time for a get away to atlantic city. ted greenberg shows us how some are spending the holidays at the casino. >> reporter: christmas time casino style in atlantic city. all the holiday glitz and gambling. elaine savaged the christmas season by checking into tropicana. she's spend the holiday in a.c. several times before. >> the first night on hanukkah

on saturday is also part of the sun. >> it's a celebration this weekend. my husband's birth, hanukkah and the christmas season. >> reporter: tropicana's holiday light show comes complete with holiday snow. gary paul knows it could be much worse during the holiday. his brother and sister-in-law just drove in from wisconsin where there's real snow on the ground. >> reporter: tropicana's general manager tells me they're to being fully booked this weekend, but you have a better chance of getting a room now than this weekend. >> new year's eve, we're occupied and then some, we have waiting lists of people. >> elaine savage plans to try her luck, with low expectations of getting a gift of casino cash this christmas.

ted greenberg, nbc10 news. i need some kiss. that are pretty good. >> santa popped in to see some children at the elementary school in kensington. of course santa had gifts for all the good little boys and girls, they adopted the classes as a way to give back this holiday. and forget about the sleigh, volunteers used a party bus to deliver gifts to families in need this holiday season. the international athletes academy teamed up with the brockwood foundation to surprise dozens of families with gifts for the holiday season. nbc10 news at 6:00 is next. and another big gift tonight, a new permanent home for a 4-year-old girl.

we are inside the courthouse as darth vader and the storm troopers made an adoption very special. and more information about a wounded u.p.s. driver. what's the weather going to be like for your christmas? i'll have the warmup that's headed our way for the weekend.

a u.p.s. driver shot as he was delivering christmas packages. and carrie fischer has a heart attack on a plane. first up at 6:00, a u.p.s. driver delivering packages two days before christmas, shot along his route this afternoon. the driver managed to get to a safe place and fortunately medical help was already there. it all happened this afternoon in chester, delaware county. nbc10's george spencer joining us live from there. and george, the driver expected to be okay? >> reporter: that is the good news out of all of this that driver was shot about half a mile away from here, but he was able to drive to this ford car dealership for safety and because of some lucky timing an emt happened to be inside and ready to help. from sky force 10 this afternoon

we could see the brown u.p.s. truck temporarily stalled from its holiday delivery route, parked at this ford car dealership where it's driver had rushed for safety. >> i heard the fire engines. >> reporter: tara denny lives just across the street and heard the police arriving. we now know the driver was shot around 1:30, just after he had made a delivery to this rite aid pharmacy at 10th and highland. he had apparently stopped to let a pedestrian cross in front of his truck. and as he started to leiave, he heard a bang and realized he had been shot. but he continued to this car dealership where there was an emt to help them. you service their vehicles? >> we service their vehicles. we took care of him and shipped him off to the hospital. >> reporter: the