♪ "action news." delaware valley's leading news program with rick williams, sarah bloomquist, and meteorologist david murphy.

good afternoon. rick and sarah are off, i'm matt o'donnell. in the news a small explosion sends employees rushing out of a chemical plant in south jersey. detectives speaking to a man suspected in a reported sex assault in the spring garden neighborhood. the big story, escalating in the middle east. hamas firing rockets and some of them aimed at the airport in tel aviv. israel responding. and it is the fourth day of air strikes, neither side backing down. people are gathering in center city to show support for israel. a live look at the action cam at a solidarity rally on j.f.k. boulevard infront of the israeli consulate. let's get the latest on the

conflict. abc news correspondent karen travers is live in washington. >> moments ago israel prime minister said no amount of international pressure will prevent them from responding with force. a significant escalation of violence in the middle east. the israeli defense forces says hamas fired more than 44 rockets at israel overnight, 11 intercepted by the iron dome, israel's defense system against rocket attacks. they are targeting what they say is more than 150 terror sites in gaza. and hamas' military wing declared war launching four rockets at the international airport, the first such strike. that's where abc's has landed and she and her crew were sent

to a below ground shelter as rockets were sounded. and the military taking positions along the edge of gaza. and the tanks and troops are ready to go when the i had really government decides to go in. the prime minister said today they will intensify air strikes incoming days. not a single israeli life is lost during the escalation but gaza, 100 palestinians have been killed. and the medical sources say nearly 700 wounded and among the dead at least 22 age 16 or younger. today the u.n. high commissioner for human rights says the reports of palestinian children being among civilian casualty raises serious doubts that the israeli air strikes are condition international law. karen travers, channel 6 news." >> thank you. other news, a man found dead at philadelphia's hotel monaco

reportedly the boyfriend of a star on "glee." and they are trying to figure out how he died. and chad pradelli has more on what we learned so far. >> the body found in a room here at the hotel monaco yesterday afternoon. at this point police are calling it a sudden-death investigation. and at this point there doesn't appear to be anything suspicious. a hotel monaco housekeeper found matt bendik dead in his hotel bed around 1:00 yesterday afternoon. investigators say no signs of fall play or drugs or drug pair fear -- in the room. and the boyfriend of becca tobin on "glee." and they are trying to retrace

his steps to see what may have caused his death. obtaining surveillance video to assist in the investigation. >> conducting interviews with anyone who may have been with him. doing the background investigation. the medical examiners office with no information to release at this time. and the toxicology and other tests could take several days. live in old city, chad pradelli channel 6 "action news." >> thank you, chad. homicide detectives with many unanswered questions with a beating death. someone who witnessed it said someone was carrying a metal object beating a 53-year-old man to death in front of his house on fair hill street late last night. the police are searching for a killer, a motive and trying to figure out what the murder weapon was. it was clear the weapon in another homicide case was a gun. a man on a bicycle fired spots

at two people on waterloo street after midnight. and one killed, one in critical condition and the killers sped off on the bike. and the reported sexual aassault near 16th and callhill streets, a woman in her 20s says a man pulled her behind bushes and inappropriately touched her last night. she was taken to the hospital for evaluation and a man taken into custody, no charges announced yet. from the delaware news room a search underway for the woman accused of using a taser to problem another woman. christina harding used the weapon to subdue the victim and steal her money in yesterday afternoon and she left possibly heading towards her home in dover.

a truck carrying a carnival ride caused a huge back up. the ride seen from chopper 6 towed behind the vehicle fell off along the southbound lanes in mercer county. no one was hurt but the back up extended some nine miles as they worked to clear the scenes. and hazmat teams evacuated a plant after a small explosion this morning. as the employees stood over the plant in west debtford the general manager says that three employees were examined and one sent to a hospital as a precaution. local officials have given the all-clear for people to go back in the building. the company is still evaluating the situation. they work with chemicals and precious metals. accuweather setting us up for a decent start to the weekend. sky 6 with a live look at the jersey show where folks are set up for a day at the beach in cape may, new jersey. there is still a chance some of us could see a thunderstorm

today. david murphy outside with a preview from accuweather. >> the sun behind the clouds a moment ago and it felt pretty comfortable. the cloud cover off the coast now but a lot of fair-weather cumulus in the region. in terms of precipitation today it is not entirely out of the question going through the afternoon that a couple of us will see a spotty shower and maybe a rumble of thunder. most south of i-95 or south of philadelphia, but keep your eye us out for that mainly dry and warm. 82 in wilmington. 81 in allentown. cooler down the shore, again getting a break near to the cooler ocean water. if your headed to the pool this afternoon that's a pretty nice pool right there, 84 degrees by noon, 86 by 4:00. sunburn in about 15 minutes today. even if the clouds come out occasionally keep the sunscreen

going. the high this afternoon is 87 degrees, which is right on the nose in terms of our normal high for this date, and 68-degree low is very close. stepping outside we head towards the weekend and not only at the shore and poconos, but also in philadelphia. and it is a good start to the weekend as you mentioned with some changes towards the second half. i have the details coming up. >> thanks so much. and remember, keep track of the accuweather forecast any time by downloading our free stormtracker 6 app giving you access to live radar, the hourly forecast and weather alerts posted for your area. still to come, the slithering culprit behind a driver's break down on the side of the road. and a floating tribute to the rubics cube. and david murphy will return

>> witnesses say they heard explosions or fireworks but no alarms when a fire broke out in an apartment building in massachusetts leaving seven people dead. the fire yesterday was the state's deadliest in 20 years. four adults and three children were killed, five from the same family. relatives say one of the victims stored fireworks in his apartment. the authorities are deeply concerned of reports that fire alarms never went off.

a wildfire in central washington state burned through 18,000 acres in just two days. about a dozen homes evacuated since the mills canyon fire started tuesday. another 200 homes considered under threat by the flames. a second wildfire will 40 miles away while they deal with hot and dry conditions. a florida man facing charges for feeding a bear in his orlando neighborhood. and it shows him feeding a black bear from his hand, maybe not the first time. they found an animal trail leading to his yard and a large amount of bear waste. and charges were filed after one of his neighbors was attacked and nearly killed by a bear outside of his home. he denies doing anything wrong. a passerby stopped and got

the scare of his life. he found a 20-pound 7-foot-long python under the hood. an officer with an snaked helped. and the park officials sheet down fire hole lake drive, the road taking them past geysers. saying extreme heat is making the road dangerous nor driving and repairs will take several days. people in new york city seeing a puzzling sight on the hudson river, a giant rubic's cube floating on a barge, marking the anniversary of the cube and the birthday of the man who invented it it will be on display at the liberty science

center through the end of november. download our app with traffic r

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story for you. the federal trade commission filed a suit against amazon for billing parents without permission allowing the children to make charges and failing to make password requirements and other parental controls. and asking them to reimburse for those bills. and amazon denies the allegation. and the website hate thousand miles.com let's people vent. there is a character limit so they must be short and sign up for a spirit account. and giving you miles in exchange for your opinion good or bad. and the boeing planes coming with more space with overhead

luggage bins storing 6 bags instead of 4. and they are lower you and don't have to lift bags as high. alaska airlines the first to get them next year. a little girl from mississippi thought to be cured from having the virus called aids shows signs of h.i.v. and the doctors immediately gave her powerful medication thinking they eradicated the virus in a medical first. and recent tests show h.i.v. in her blood. it is a setback hoping that early treatment will reverse treatment. the girl is back on treatment responding well. local athletes given the gift of life headed to the 2014 transplant games of america. 13 children between 7 and 17 years old boarded a bus in wilmington bound for the airport. each received organ or tissue transplants at the hospital for

children and they join 2,000 others in houston, texas to celebrate their transplant success and compete in 12 sporting events.

>> topping our people scene, jimmy kimmel a dad again. the late-night host confirmed they welcomes a baby girl named jane. it is the couple's first child children. he already has adult son and daughter from a previous marriage. and david murphy joins us rumbling in here, kind of a j jik -- jekyll and hyde weekend.

>> yes. and i am feeling good, i just gave blood this morning, the first time this year. i feel good. if you can help the american red cross you should and i do. and double scan here, what are we talk being here? no rain, that's for sure. looking outside, beautiful pictures aboard chopper 6 earlier as the chopper was flying over the delaware river with the early sunshine. the battleship new jersey in the foreground and i love that picture, nice hd view of the city from a little earlier. the temperature is warm, 85 degrees currently in philadelphia. the dewpoint at 63. just a little bit over what we would say is humid. just a tad humid out there, not too bad. winds out of the northeast at 9 miles an hour. the numbers across the region pretty warm. allentown in the low 80s anden trenton. and upper 70s at the shore in wildwood and at the airport in atlantic city. looking at satellite and radar,

almost looks like no clouds at all overhead, of course we know that sometimes the satellite misses the small little cumulus clouds that pick up and fair-weather cumulus around. the main clouds off the coast and watching this afternoon to see if some of it comes you up the coast making it cloudier to the east than in philadelphia. and in terms of precipitation. most of you aren't going to see anything. there is a chance and futuretracker suggesting this, of a little shower that pops up here or there this afternoon, maybe this even. there could even be a thunderstorm in a couple of spots as well. again, this isn't real long-lasting and not the order of the day, but something we have to look for the next several hours. sunburn alert in evekt. when the u.v. is up a chance of that. and less humid than earlier in the week, partly sunny skies. philadelphia a high of 87, partly sunny allowing for a spotty shower or thunderstorm. hopefully most of you miss out on that.

partly cloudy and any other othery -- other spotty precipitation. and decent amount for baseball. 73 for the ninth inning and you might check out radar and "action news" with adam at 4:00 and cecily beyond that before you led down to make sure there isn't any of the shower activity popping. and saturday night, it is the 6abc at ppl park. and 75 in the 90th anyone. colorado in town. i will be down there, and say hello in you see me. and union playing a lot better lately. as we set ourselves up for the weekend, in the poconos today 78, partly sunny. no issues. saturday, 78. could be astray storm in the poconos. and same at the shore my newspapers the issue saturday. today maybe the scattered thunder shower.

and sunday, humid and a chance much at least late-day thunderstorm high of 84. and get in off the beach sans -- as soon as hear thunder. and partly sunny saturday, 87, summer-like but not oppressively humid. more humid sunday high of 90 and a chance of a thunderstorm or two or sunday afternoon and night. and the cold front starts approaching the area monday and may be to our west tuesday. a chance for afternoon thunderstorms both monday and tuesday, and at times they could be strong storms. we will keep our eyes on those two days. after the front out of here wednesday, thursday, may friday, too, all looking looking delightdeligh delightdeligh delightly with highs below average. this just in, "sports illustrated" reporting lebron james made a decision and is heading back home to the cleveland cavaliers. we have much more on this

beginning on "action news at 4:00." and looking to work and looking to sue, what she is accused of saying to customers after 24 years on the job. if you ever hesitated to leave a car with a value -- valet this story will not happen. and a live look at center city, a growing rally in support of israel. the conflict is growing more violent and people gathered at 19th street and j.f.k. boulevard in front of the israeli consulate. a full report on "action news" tonight. and for david murphy, sarah bloomquist, rick williams and the entire "action news" team, i'm matt o'donnell. have a great afternoon and a great weekend. ♪ what can i get you?

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