ate destination of independence mall. mlk day of action resistance and empowerment. live at independence mall is "action news" reporter sarah bloomquist. sarah, it seemed like the themes today were justice jobs and education. >> reporter: jim, that's right, thousands turned out on this martin luther king day to march for all kinds of social justice issues. many who took part in this demonstration told us they saw it as the embodiment of what dr. king stood for peace equality and activism. thousands gathered in center city this afternoon to take part in today's martin luther king day march and rally that followed. people of all ages races and religions joined going in the name of social activism. >> it thrills my heart to see this kind of action and you know what really turns me on, the fact that this is interracial. i mean its no the just african-americans, it's not just whites.

we're all here together. >> especially during this time of everything that has been going on it seemed extra important to do something to mark martin luther king's birthday. >> i can't breathe, i can't breathe. >> reporter: a large number of participant protested police. >> i don't see how elected officials in harrisburg can stand and look in the mirror at themselves at were they allow to happennism police said this was easily the largest of recent demonstrations in the city. >> i think it's safe to say there's at least 2,000 people out here. >> reporter: biggest one you've seen so far. >> it is definitely. >> reporter: there was a huge police presence. the demonstration was peaceful. many note it was the kind of demonstration dr. king promoted. >> he not only promoted peace

he promoted justice. that's what we're here to do, to raise awareness a round that. >> reporter: there were groups from synagogues, mosques, churches, labor unions, colleges, high schools and of course grassroots activist organizations. it was an impressive assembly on this martin luther king day. live on independence mall, i'm sarah bloomquist, channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you sarah. thousands took part in day of service projects today to honor dr. king. for the sixth consecutive year girard college hosted the region's signature event. more than 5,000 volunteers took part. projects included making scarfs for needy children, promoting exercise and helping people understand their voting rights. >> ♪♪ and the 30th annual national bell ringing ceremony opened with a performance by the united states coast guard academy cadet choir. earnest evans better known as chubby checker and meredith l.

henderson the north atlantic regional director of the alpha kappa alpha sorority served as official bell ringers today. the symbolic ringing of the bell honors dr. king's legacy. our coverage of all the martin luther king day events continues on 6abc.com. we have photographs and videos of today's ceremonies and service projects in honor of dr. king. there is also a look back at his life and legacy. it is there at 6abc.com. authorities are still trying to find out what caused a fire this morning that killed a 34-year-old woman in cheltenham. "action news" reporter john rawlins is live on south russell circle at the linwood gardens apartment complex. john. >> reporter: hi, jim. since this was a fatal fire, both state and county investigators have been brought in to aid the cheltenham fire officials here to do their investigation. the fire marshal's office here in cheltenham.

so far no word on a possible cause. the victim's apartment was very heavily damaged. the first call something was wrong at the sprawling linwood garden apartments came before 4:30 this morning. first responders found an intense choking fire that appeared well under way in the first and second floor apartments of 2049 south john russell circle. >> also had report of one person possibly trappeddism the first floor apartment was unoccupied. upstairs firefighters made a grim discovery. the victim 34-year-old rakeisha harrison was identified by close family members. the long time certified nursing assistant was described by her grieving loved ones as kind hearted loving a true jewel. fire investigators and detectives remained on the scene for hours. at this point officials aren't saying what sparked the fire or even where it might have started. >> it's under investigation right now by the state county and local fire marshal. >> reporter: is this a suspicious fire. >> everything is still to be determined. >> reporter: a lost investigators here.

>> yes, sir. >> reporter: oddly the first 911 calling of heavy spoke in the area came from residents down winds of the two apartments. others who lived literally next door in adjoining apartments were unaware until a knock on the door. >> no idea whatsoever. didn't have a smoke detection actor 58 nor did they know it was a fire. >> reporter: a short time ago we spoke with the nearest neighbor to miss harrison's apartment. he confirmed there was no smell of smoke in his apartment. he was completely unaware there was a blaze just 50, 60 feet from his bedroom basically until somebody came along and knocked on his door and incessantly rang his doorbell. that woke him up about 4:30 and he was able to get out and everything was fine. live in cheltenham, john rawlins channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you john. pope francis has personally confirmed that he will visit washington and new york city in addition to philadelphia when he comes to the united states in september. the pope spoke of his plans today on the flight back from

the philippines. frances will attend the final days of the world meeting of families in philadelphia that is scheduled to take place from september 22nd the 27th. we have learned more about yesterday's chaotic events that saw three people killed during a morning of flash icing on area roadways. "action news" reporter chad pradelli is live in king of prussia tonight. chad, what's the latest information on the accidents and the victims? >> reporter: well, jim the latest is several families are now mourning the death of a loved one while those who escaped the wrecks without -- with no injuries, well, they're feeling blessed this morning and i spoke to two of those drivers earlier this afternoon. >> i just said a quick prayer and then a few smashes later i'm in the middle of it all. >> reporter: just before 7:00 a.m. sunday a flash freeze event caused multiple crashes. the chain reaction on the schuylkill expressway left a trail of piled metal and shattered glass. state police say 60 vehicles were involved including ron

brig's ford fusion. these are photos he took of the wreckage. he said he prayed when his car began to spin. >> it's surreal. i seen the video several times. i can't believe i was there. i've never been through anything like that before in my life. >> reporter: he was uninjured but 31-year-old eric blau was killed. 30 others were hurt. state police say blau got out of his vehicle and was hit by another car. other drivers tried to help him as other cars collided. >> watch the cars coming the other way. >> reporter: this was the scene of another fatal accident on the blue route near route three. a tractor-trailer jackknifed. three drivers couldn't avoid the big rig. two drivers identified as thomas brennan of lansdale and jason anderson of dover delaware died. volunteer firefighter joe bardroff says he came within 10 feet of hitting the tractor-trailer himself. he tended to the two men while waiting for paramedics.

>> i was with both of them for about 20 minutes trying to stabilize them and talk to them. >> reporter: were they conscious? what can you tell me. >> they were in and outism anderson worked at dover international speed way as director of ticket sales and operations. the speed way released a statement that reads in part "jason was a dedicated husband, father, employee and friend. he will be greatly missed ". and state police say most of the roughly three dozen injured have been treated and released from local hospitals. and talking to those drivers they really credit police, firefighters and emt's for the quick response. i'm live in king of prussia clad pradelli, channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you chad. coming up tonight preparations are under way for the swearing in of tom wolf as pennsylvania's next governor. and the nfl is investigating new england patriots for potential tampering with equipment. cecily. >> storm tracker 6 live double scan showing a developing clipper that will bring us

some midweek snow. i'll have details on the timing and amounts in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> those stories, much more when "action news" continues tonight. >> ♪♪

it doesn't get much easier than picking 2 things. you pick 2, and... you're basically done. look for pick 2. coming soon from the pennsylvania lottery. easy to play. simple to say. >> one day before his inauguration tom wolf has tapped ahead of the lancaster school district to be secretary of education. pedro rivera has headed the school district of almost 12,000 students since 2008. he is a philadelphia native and worked in the philadelphia school district for 13 years. meanwhile "action news" reporter walter perez is live in harrisburg tonight where wolf will be sworn in as

pennsylvania's 47th governor tomorrow. walter, how is the capital getting ready? >> reporter: very quietly jim. harrisburg is a virtual ghost town because of the holiday but everything going on here from the scheduled ceremony to the post inaugural party to events that tom wolf attended today all seemed to resemble the man himself low key. on the day before he's inaugurated the forty seventh governor of pennsylvania tom wolf took part in day of service events here in harrisburg all while the stage is being set for tomorrow's ceremony. inaugural committee spokesperson beth molina said don't look for wolf to get too specific during his speech about his plan for the first 100 days. >> expect some broader themes and they can we can wait until we get into the administration until we get into some of the nitty-gritty. >> reporter: that will include working with a republican led legislature to close a projected 2 billion-dollar state budget deficit. it will be a challenge for the

businessman turned politician who went from being a virtual unknown to winning the democratic primary and then becoming the only candidate in the u.s. to topple a sitting republican governor this past november. he did it by portraying himself in a tv ad campaign as a jeep driving outsider from york pennsylvania. the 10 million-dollar campaign connected with the voting public and quickly positioned him as a front runger. brooksbut many analysts say you cannot overstate the impact made by wolf's promise to push for a 5 percent extraction tax on marcellus shale gas drilling to help fund schools. all combined to convince nearly 55 percent of voters to buy into the york county democrat's campaign slogan. >> tom wolf, democrat for governor a fresh start for pennsylvania. >> reporter: and so we will be here, of course, for tomorrow's noontime ceremony which we'll stream live on 6abc.com. reporting live from harrisburg, walter perez channel6 "action news." jim.

>> thank you walter. all six schools in the chester-upland school district joined forces for one mega martin luther king day of service event today. chester high served as the hub for hundreds of volunteers and families. improvement projects included landscaping, painting and a community information workshop. martin luther king's legacy of service and faith was celebrated in camden today. pews were packed at saint john baptist church for an annual tribute. this year's theme, now is the time to recapture the dream. in addition to worship service, church members and community advocates were recognized for breaking barriers and leading the revitalization of the city of camden.

>> flyers at the new york islanders today. tough game. >> it was an ugly game for the flyers. good news bad news situation with the flyers. good news they're scoring goals once again. bad news no one is minding the net. flyers and islanders.

better play between the pipes. matt read's shot is blocked. that starts the rush the other way. nikolay kuehl man one-on-one with rob zepp. three-nothing new york. still in the second josh bailey off the rebound falling down. the flyers are in a four-one hole. zepp is yanked. ray emery comes in late in the second period aisles on the power play. emery thinking i thought high the day off. tavarez 21st goal of season. lower body injury. flyers are really thin in defenseman now. they lose seven-four. >> we knew they were going to come out hard. we knew they would get off to a good start and they did and they got too far ahead of us. >> every time we got a little momentum by scoring a goal we always get scored on. it was tough. >> 12 nba games on this

holiday we use the term game very loosely in regards to the sixers-wizards matchup this afternoon. the two teams playing not too far from the martin luther king, jr. memorial in d.c. first quarter former roman catholic standout butler. sixers down 16 points. second quarter kevin seraphin. sixers playing no defense sixers down 23 at the half. third quarter andre miller goes to that to otto porter. so-called game is a joke. the sixers lose 111-76. villanova will face georgetown tonight in the same arena where the sixers and wizards played. cats number four in the nation. while the phillies unload the nationals are loading up. according to multiple reports the nats are signing free aged pitcher max scherzer. he went 18 and five last season for the tigers. the year before he won the al cy young award.

ball tampering. that's not a term you hear two too often in football. nfl investigating whether the patriots deflated footballs. the pats won in a blowout 45 so seven to advance to the super bowl. tom brady threw three touchdown passes. new england got production from its running game. blunt rushed for 148 yards and 3td's. this will be the patriots' fifth super bowl appearance since the 2001 season. >> it's hard to compare year toker 82. every situation is different. we had a lot of good teams in the past. this one is going to have to win a very important game to kind of leave our legacy so we got two weeks to prepare for it plan playing a great team. won't two pretty tough games here at home and now we got to go on the road and win another one. >> in the nfc championship game the seahawks completed a stunning come back. win with this jermaine kearse td. seattle beat green bay 28-22 in overtime.

the seahawks were down 16-zip at the half. they'll try to become the first repeat super bowl champion since the patriots. seahawks-pats february 1st in arizona. rafael nadal the third seed in the near court. good rally in the third set. hard to believe but it's been six years since the nadal won the aussie open. he cruises in straight sets. ducis students returning to a north philadelphia school tomorrow will have a whole new view. volunteers from city year greater philadelphia painted dozens of murals around the william d. kelly elementary school. paintings feature motivational sayings about education and profile celebrities who graduated from local high school and colleges.

>> finally saw the sun a little bit today. >> little bit. more clouds than sun but temperatures relatively mild for this time of year. didn't feel like it with wind but all eyes on wednesdays. some snow on the way. storm tracker 6 live double scan showing we have dry conditions this evening and the sky 6 right now is taking a look at the blue cross river rink at penn's landing. a lot folks out there enjoying this holiday evening and taking advantage of weather that is not all that cold and it's dry. we're in between storm systems right now. the accuweather highlights show that, yes temperatures soared into the mid 40's today but i am tracking some light snow by the middle of the week. the high today though hit 45 degrees. that's 5 degrees above normal but that's the warmest we've been in two weeks. so, we have had a cold january.

didn't feel like 45 degrees with the winds and the clouds. it was a pretty damp afternoon. i'm tracking some light snow that will be moving in wednesday afternoon and wednesday evening. it's a clipper system which typically really can't gather a lot of moisture so we're looking at generally 1 to 2 inches across the i-95 corridor areas north and west and then there will be some mixing extreme southern new jersey and southern delaware could get a coating of snow. these are early numbers and may have to finesse this as we watch that system develop and it gets a little bit closer. right now 41 degrees in philadelphia. millville 39. trenton 39. allentown 38. wilmington 40 and reading 39 degrees. we still have winds generally about six to 12 miles per hour so just enough to create a bit of a wind chill factor. feels like 35 degrees in philadelphia, feels like 33 in millville, 31 in allentown and 32 degrees in lancaster. satellite6 along with action radar showing we saw some sunshine early today but then the clouds were rolling in. you can see we have a pretty

good stream of clouds out of the northwest so tomorrow once again, we'll see more clouds than sunshine. then i'm tracking a system that's starting to develop across the northern plains. you'll look there you say it doesn't look like much. there's really not much there right now but what that low pressure will do as it tracks to the east, it will be gathering more moisture as it gets closer to us. so, tomorrow again a day like today. we'll see a mix of clouds and sunshine. more clouds than sun. temperatures not all that cold, just slightly above normal with a high of 43 degrees. on wednesday that's when this low pressure moves in. it moves in pretty quickly and that will bring us some snow right in time for the evening commute. i think it's more about timing than the amount of snow because it will be a relatively light event but a lot of people will be out on the roads when it hits. so the next 12 hours tonight though it's a quiet night. partly cloudy, brisk and cool. overnight low 23 degrees in the suburbs, 30 for center city. and the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast tomorrow clouds some peeks of sunshine 43 degrees.

wednesday afternoon and evening that's when that light snow will be developing. 35 degrees. so the evening commute you do want to be very careful. that snow will be falling reducing visibility. the roads will be slick especially the bridges and overpasses. so do allow time for slow travel. i think wednesday evening is going to be a problem. behind this system on thursday mostly cloudy with a high of 40 degrees. friday looking pretty good. partly sunny, on the chilly side 38 degrees. on saturday, at this point calling for partly sunny skies. i'm tracking a storm system to the south. looks like it will be heading off the coast of cape hatteras and moving out to sea. keeping my eye on that though in case that changes. sunday 42 degrees and monday the chance of rain and snow showers with a high of 38 degrees and i, of course will have an update on wednesday's system coming and on "action news" tonight at 11:00. >> thank you cecily. the philadelphia orchestra performed its own tribute to martin luther king today. >> ♪♪

the conductor led a performance at the girard college chapel. the concert coincided with the end of the day of service for hundreds of volunteers here. this is the 25th year that the orchestra has honored dr. king by demonstrating the unifying power of music. abc's world news tonight with david muir is next on channel 6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taft shirleen allicott adam joseph and ducis rodgers. please join us for "action news" at 11:00 on channel 6. for cecily tynan ducis rodgers and the entire "action news" team i'm jim gardner. we hope you'll join us at 11:00. >> ♪♪

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on this monday night, the deadly black ice on american highways. the tractor trailers losing control. in the east this rig barrelling towards the back of that car. tearing right across the interstate. and from the west the pickup pinned between two tractor trailers. that is the driver, right there. and ginger zee on the next storm coming. the close call. the jet blue flight tearing down the runway about to take off, when another plane pulls out in front. the super bowl match-up. but tonight the nfl investigating. was the football deflated? patriots quarterback tom brady speaking out. the ufo files from the u.s. air force. now posted for everyone? the controversy tonight. and on this martin luther king jr. day, we look back. the images suddenly united families in living rooms across americ