holiday heartbreak. a local woman and her 5-year-old granddaughter go missing. the family's desperate search to find them. food bank bounty. how a pennsylvania man is using his battle against cancer to help others in need. and conquering the canyon. the driving force behind a local woman's fight to save her stranded family. >> announcer: nbc10 news starts now. good evening. i'm keith jones. what started as a trip to be with family for the holidays as turned into an all-out search for a missing grand mother and her young granddaughter. barbara briley and her 5-year-old granddaughter la'myra were supposed to spend christmas with their family. loved ones say the two left mays landing headed for north

carolina when the 71-year-old woman got lost in virginia on friday. the two haven't been seen since. nbc10's brandon hudson spoke to a relative and has the story. >> reporter: a very stressful christmas for the family of a 71-year-old woman and her 5-year-old great granddaughter. that older woman lives in this neighborhood here. her grandson says she always keeps her phone on her and calls wherever she is, but she hasn't called in the last few days. tonight nbc 10 got these photos of barbara briely and her great granddaughter la'myra. the two were last seen in a car barbara drove from may's landing to an exxon gas station in ruther glen, virginia, christmas eve. we spoke to her grandson, who told us about the family's last phone conversation with the 71-year-old. >> they spoke to her while she was in traffic, and then she said that she was lost. but she takes that route all the time. >> reporter: this man says a group of relatives drove south to search foretheir missing loved ones on kroil.

they're looking for a toyota rav4 with the new jersey license place c 80 els. checking out a map it appears barbara and la'myra made it halfway through their strip. the last place they were seen was roughly five hours from their supposed final destination. >> i'm hoping her phone just died and she don't know where her charger is. >> reporter: he describes his 5-year-old cousin as really friendly. he says his grandmother is kind ask soft-spoken. >> she's do anything for anybody. she's really a church lady. >> reporter: township of hamilton police are working with state police in virginia, new jersey, and the morven police in north carolina. in mays landing, brandon hudson, nbc10 news. turning to your first alert weather, rain and a warm-up is on the way. this was the scene at the philadelphia art museum tonight. you can see the fog covering much of the skyline back there. very easy to see. changes on the way though in the form of rain and rising temperatures. chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz has more in

your neighborhood forecast. light rain, though, glenn, right? >> mostly light rain but also some fog. you cannot see the tops of the buildings in center city as the temperatures continue to rise overnight. it's up to 49 in philadelphia, 51 in dover. compared to last night at this time, 16 to 21 to 22 degrees warmer. and by morning, it's even going to be more extreme. the nearest rain, though, is still pretty far away back in wester, pennsylvania. it's not going to come while you're asleep. it will jenly come when you get up in the morning, but it's also going to be mild. 53 degrees at 5:00 a.m. and going up from there. we're talking about temperatures getting up near 60 degrees, but a wet morning followed by a sunny, very warm, unseasonably warm afternoon. then things are going to change a lot more. i'll get into that plus the new

year's day weekend in just a few minutes. >> glenn, thank you. tonight the murder of an elderly south philly store owner has the community and police searching for answers. no motive has yet been determined in the christmas eve shooting death of 81-year-old marie buck. investigators say a man in dark clothes shot buck 12 times inside the grocery store. she's owned it for more than four decades on south 6th street. the victim's daughter says the murder is beyond explanation. >> she was murdered. she was murdered, and i saw my mother when i went in there, and i just couldn't believe somebody would do that to her. >> a memorial is now growing outside that store. buck's family says she was set to retire next month. a man is accused of trying to lure teens in his car in new jersey. florence township police say taroth singh approached a group of buys walking on broad street on christmas. he then allegedly attempted to get them to perform sexual acts on him. the victims were able to get

away. singh was arrested a short time later. meanwhile, down the jersey shore, search is under way for the driver who hit and killed a man on christmas day. 45-year-old keith elliott was struck at the intersection of highland parkway and herflicker boulevard in toms river yesterday morning. investigators believe he was trying to catch a bus to his sister's house for the holiday. tonight his family is hoping for answers. >> somebody to hit you and not even have a heart to stop, it's just heartless. >> absolute animal. >> terrible. that's an animal that does that. >> police have been searching for surveillance video and other evidence, but so far they don't have a description of any vehicle. a drexel university professor is under fire tonight for a controversial tweet. drexel university professor george meyer was summoned to a meeting with school officials after he tweets, quote, all i want for christmas is white genocide. the professor told us the term is an imaginary concept which he

was mocking. the phrase "white genocide" is now a top trending topic in the united states. drexel released a statement saying, quote, while the university recognizes the right of its faculty to freely express their thoughts and opinions in public department, professor meyers' comments are utterly p reprehensib reprehensible, deeply disturbing and do not in any way reflect the values of the university. a lehigh valley mother is recovering in the hospital tonight. that is karen klein there. she survived more than 30 hours in the freezing cold in which her family was driving. the car was there stuck in a ditch near the grand canyon. klein said her wilderness survival training was a big help, but it was her family that helped keep her alive. >> i kept thinking of my 10-year-old and thinking, i have to help. >> it was vacation, then a nightmare. >> i'm not going to make it. i'm just going to lay down and die. >> 47-year-old karen klein, whose car was stuck in the

forest of the grand canyon left her young son and husband to find help, a move that didn't surprise her twin sister. >> just knowing karen as her twin, knowing her as i do, i'm with her wilderness training and with her strong mind and fortitude that she was going to take care of this. >> but karen's cell phone lost service and died. a foot of snow fell. it was cold and windy. she would walk about 30 miles, lose a shoe, and eat twigs. >> but i didn't want to fall asleep because i knew if i fell asleep, you hear stories that you would freeze to death. >> eventually she found a ranger station, and they found her and her family back in the disabled car. >> we both got on the phone, and we just both sobbed that she was still alive. >> all told, karen spent 30 hours in the cold. >> i'm just going to check your pulses, okay? >> her doctor says she suffered severe frostbite and will monitor her recovery. >> i don't think we're going to be doing too much traveling. maybe we'll pick a beach destination next time.

turning to this, president obama sparking backlash from president-elect trump tonight. in an interview with the former adviser, mr. obama said he is confident he could have won the 2016 presidential race if he were allowed to run for a third term. he went on to say he believes he could have rallied many americans behind his vision of a tolerant and diverse nation. president-elect trump responded on twitter saying, quote, president obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. he should say that, but i say no way. jobs leaving, isis, ocare, et cetera. this comes as mr. trump sparked an international controversy after backing israel in a heated u.n. vote. today israeli officials blamed america for orchestrating the resolution. president obama denies those claims. last week the president-elect urged the u.s. to block a resolution that reprimanded israel for its west bank settlements. instead, the u.s. didn't vote, and the measure passed. tonight the japanese prime

minister is in hawaii where he's set to make history. his plane landed in honolulu today. tomorrow he and president obama will visit pearl harbor together. it will be the first time that a japanese prime minister has visited the site of the 1941 attack. earlier this year, president obama visited hiroshima to honor the victims of the atomic bombing. we want to tell you about this tonight. pioneering astronomer vera rubin has died. the philadelphia native studied the rate at which galaxies rotate. her findings supported the theory of dark matter. her scientific achievements earned her numerous honors, including becoming the second female astronomer to be elected to the national academy of sciences. vera rubin was 88 years old. ♪ i guess it would be nice if i could touch your body ♪ and the tributes continue to pour in to honor the life of music icon george michael. the singing legend died over the

weekend in london. george michael's manager said he died suddenly from heart failure. fans have left flowers outside the singer's home since the news broke yesterday. george michael was 53 years old. taking a quite right-hand turn. the hanukkah celebration lit up the streets of philadelphia. hundreds of cars topped with menorahs made their way to independence mall tonight. after the parade, a huge menorah was lit to mark the third night of the jewish holiday. the event included music, dancing, and traditional jewish food. today also marks the beginning of the 50th year of kwanzaa. it's a week-long celebration of african heritage within african-american culture. each day the celebration carries a core principle such as unity and responsibility. today nbc10 talked to someone who worked with the men who created kwanzaa. she says the holiday brings millions of people together. >> people of african descent are dispersed around the planet.

it has united us. it has united us across land, across water, and it's one of the only holidays we have that does that. >> kwanzaa runs until january 1st. a celebration to mark the holiday will also be held at city hall tomorrow. a holiday plea for help. a local family is about to be out on the street after fire destroys their home. how the community is coming together to come to their aid. a local cancer patient wins a holiday pizza give-away contest. i'm george spencer in north hampton. pay it forward, coming up. and pennsylvania drivers are in for some more pain at the pump. why the price to power your vehicle is about to go up. we've got rain and rising temperatures. how long that's going to last and what's in store for the holiday weekend.

new at 11:00, a local

grandmother's asking for help after a fire destroyed her mount airy home. sheila johnson is the main caregiver for three grandchildren. they now have just five days left before they have to leave the red cross. the family's been there since a fire destroyed their home back on december 9th. johnson says right now they have nowhere to go. >> because this is everything that we had is gone. it's really traumatic. >> tomorrow night, a fund-raiser is being held for the family at a's place on main street in manayunk. it runs from 5:00 until 9:00 p.m. gassing up in pennsylvania will cost you more in the new year. the state already has the nation's highest gas tax. when you fill up on january 1st, you'll pay an additional eight cents in tax per gallon. penndot says the money will be used to fix thousands of old bridges and roads across the state. and new at 11:00, a northampton county cancer patient paying it forward this

christmas. the man won a holiday contest give away from his local pizzeria, but the contest was free pizzas for a year. but as nbc10's george spencer reports, he won't be keeping any of those pies. >> reporter: for josh katrick, this christmas is truly a season for gratitude. he was diagnosed with colon cancer in july, had surgery in august, and has been getting by ever since on the support of family and friends. >> it was a fast time. it still feels like a blink of an eye. >> reporter: by the time the holidays rolled around, josh felt better. and when his favorite pizza place, mario's, offered a giveaway contest, two free pizzas every month for a year, he took a shot in the dark. so early december is when you found this out? >> yes. >> only to find out weeks later, he won. >> i was overcome. >> reporter: but the 36-year-old says he knew immediately after the year he had had, he couldn't keep his winnings. he donated the pizzas to his

local food bank. >> everybody was so grateful and paying it forward to me, i felt this was an opportunity to pay it forward to other people that are down on their luck or going >> reporter: turns out the owner at mario's loved the idea. he rewarded josh's generosity with generosity of his own. >> he's going to get 24 pizzas too. >> reporter: in addition to the food bank? >> in addition. 24. >> reporter: a holiday lesson for all of us. >> when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. life gave me pizza, so i made peace. >> reporter: as for josh's health, he is expected to make a complete recovery, and he's already much of the way there. he's completed 7 of his 12 chemotherapy treatments. the next one is coming up on wednesday. reporting in northampton, george spencer, nbc10 news. >> of course we wish him the best. what a jen ross thought. let's talk about this weather now. a lot of you are still home from work.

here's chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz. glenn, there's a lot of fog to contend with. >> yeah, you can't see the ben franklin bridge very well. and farther to the north, the fog is even more dense and may be dense by morning. it's also going to be warmer by morning. it philadelphia had a daytime high of 45. now it's 49. the southwest wind keeping warming things up. how much? look at pittsburgh. it's 65 degrees there right now. 11:00 at night in the wintertime. so obviously some of that warm air is coming in. but we also have some fog that's developed. downtown is a half mile visibility, but we're starting to see some improvement farther to the south as some of that warmer air does come in. we have the showers still in western pennsylvania. haven't even hit pittsburgh yet. so it's going to be several hours before they would make it in. mostly on the lighter side. and just for the morning hours. and watch the temperatures go up

as the showers approach. 5:30 in the morning, we're in the 50s. even in allentown. and it's just a few showers here tomorrow morning. and then we dry out and the sun comes out, and the temperature is near 60 in the afternoon. really an incredible day. from midday through the afternoon, it's going to be really nice to be outside. but then thursday it's a different story. watch what happens here. thursday morning we've got some snow threats for parts of the lehigh county, berks county, the poconos, and rain coming into the philadelphia area. that's a whole lot colder system than what's coming in tomorrow. look at tomorrow. 60 degrees. the morning showers, the afternoon sunshine, a fair amount. sha wanksville at 58. even allentown to 56 degrees. voorhees to 60 degrees. egg harbor township to 62.

but it's not going to be that warm for new year's. these temperatures are very close to average for this time of the year. i expect it to be dry, not too windy. 42 for the first fireworks, and by midnight, we're talking about 34 degrees, even in some of the cold spots. 34 at 6:00. 29 degrees at midnight is not bad for the last day of the year. ♪ think of your fellow man.

♪ lend him a helping hand. ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪ ♪ take a good look around... ♪ ...and if you're lookin' down, ♪ ♪ put a little love in your heart. ♪ ♪put a little love in your heart.♪ ♪ in your heart. (avo) the subaru share the love event is happening now and will have given ninety million dollars

to help real people like these.

a lot of people may have gotten a new pet for the holidays. if you didn't, there's still plenty of pets in need of a new home. this is alana. she's with the animal care and control team of philadelphia. she's one of many pets looking for a forever family. the animal care and control team is holding an adoption event all this week called bark in the mew

year. there are different special offers every single day. for instance, on wednesday you can pick your own adoption fee. and on friday, all puppies and kittens are free. we've posted a link to more information on the nbc10 app and nbc10.com. trenton sun national bank centers undergoing a major overhaul. 100 truck loads of dirt was dumped inside the building today for this week's monster jam truck series. starting wednesday, colossal trucks with navigate the dirt track and make their way around an obstacle course. the event runs through friday. tickets are still available. how about the temple football team? they're trying to do something for the first time in school history tomorrow, we're going to hear from the owls. and joel embiid, an all-star candidate? here from coach brett brown. he makes his plea next. and some friendly competition tonight. that's next. fios in the house!

dave this fios party is da bomb! fo shizzle! it's tv totally ahead of its time. yo, let me check that. oh snap. that x1 voice remote is crunk! and it lets me search with the sound of my voice. what should i watch? things have come a long way since you got fios. [nervously laughs] what's fios? fios has fallen behind. don't fall with it. xfinity x1 will change the way you experience tv.

>> announcer: this is sports desk, brought to you by xfinity. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. hey, i'm john clark from csn. today in sacramento, coach brett brown said rookie joel embiid should be considered for the all-star game. remember this year players and media will also vote with the fans, so it's a whole big process with the all-star voting now. and players can even vote for themselves. i think i know who joel is voting for. >> there is no doubt in my mind that he is a serious consideration for that. i mean he -- he hasn't done much wrong for him not to be legitimately considered for that game. >> tonight in scram, joel and demarcus cousins, okay, i got you, one more for joel.

these guys like each other, i guess. early on, embiid pump fake. gets to the basket for the lay-in. eight points for joel. actually 11 right now. but things going the kings' way early on. look at jhalil okafor. he accidentally tips it in his own basket. right now the sixers are losing. penn state football, one of the reason why the nittany lions became a big play machine, joe moorhead. reports say he is a leading candidate for the uconn head coaching job but yahoo reports says he is happy in happy valley, and he is staying there. we will see. the temple football team. they're in the holiday spirit, prepping for the military bowl tomorrow. they spent christmas in the nation's capital. temple is in back-to-back bowl games for the first time ever. and if the owls can beat wake forest, it would be just the third bowl win in temple history and the first 11-win season in school history. >> it's something that we had the whole way through, even the

day matt left, you know, we talked about we're going to go to class. we're going to go to finals. we're not going to jeopardize anything in terms of our jiblt, and we're going to be the best temple team ever. >> anybody that's been into the program for as long as i have, we gave everything we could coming off that 2-10 season. now it's coming to an end and we got the chance to make history yet again, it's just crazy. i'm glad that it's all ending the way it is. >> we'll have that for you tomorrow. the dallas cowboys are crushing the lions right now, 42-21. all the cowboys' starters are still in, so it's going to be interesting to see if the cowboys play their starters sunday in philly in the season finale. this sunday before the season finale with dallas, we're going to sit down with carson wentz. you won't want to miss that one-on-one with carson, sunday on nbc10. now, there's tons of triblgs on social media media these days. how about this girl, she's left

handed, using a right-handed golf club, chipped the ball to the top of the christmas tree, into the cup. very impressive. how many takes? we don't see any holes in the wall behind her, so it looks like one take and a great new beer pong game. got to try that. i'm john clark. we're right back.

all right, glenn. it's foggy out there but the warm-up is impressive. >> it's going to be amazing. you're not going to need any kind of heavy coat. 65 in pittsburgh right now. >> crazy. >> it's going to be much colder wednesday and set to suffer some

rain thursday morning. snow in some of the northern areas like the lehigh valley and then seasonably cold for new year's weekend. and next week gets pretty active and potentially stormy. and by thursday, it may be cold enough for snow. >> new year's eve, those are fireworks. that's not rain, right? >> it's not rain. it's not snow. it's not thunderstorms. it's dry for new year's eve. but next week's a different story. we've got a new blog on our website on the changes in the pattern as we go into january. january is not going to be like december. >> oh, boy. nbc10.com. that's nbc10 news at 11:00. i'm keith jones. for glenn and all of us, thank you so much for watching. "the tonight show" is next. make it a great night. >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- vin diesel, norman reedus, musical guest, christine and the queens.