weekend, traffic is already a mess in the area of the papal altar. the inner lanes of the ben franklin parkway have been closed and eakins oval has become a choke point. somebody once said you ain't seen nothing yet. "action news" reporters john rawlins and jeff chirico are on the beat tonight. >> reporter: what a difference a few hours make. if you can look behind me traffic is actually moving along at a good clip here on the parkway but this morning, this was extremely hectic. it was packed. drivers were frustrated and it's all because of what's happening to your left. the inner lanes of the parkway are shut down to start the construction here for the papal visit. this was the scene within the past hour on the ben franklin parkway. traffic jammed in some spots but cruising along in others. >> it's a little congested but it's moving. >> reporter: the morning commute, however, a fiasco he. >> traffic is a nightmare.

>> i think it's crazy like why couldn't they do this at night advertisement as crews began setting up for next week's papal visit and world meeting of families the city shut down the inner lanes of the parkway from 20th street to eakins oval. the anticipated delays led septa to detour bus routes that lamar bonner didn't know about. >> i was standing on the corner waiting for the bus and i happened to look at the sign and it was a detour sign and i was standing there for about 45 minutes. >> reporter: it's all to make way for the construction needed for the festival and papal mass which will take place on the parkway. the stage worker thinks the public got the message. >> i think people tried to get around the best they can. you know, the information come out over the newscasts and over the radio and i think people adjust to whatever's going on. philadelphia, we adjust. >> ? he have chirico on the parkway. we are two days away from the first phase creating a vehicle free zone in parts of center city. come sunday night at 6 o'clock, vehicles parked in the designated security zones

will be towed unless they have a special city-issued pass. that first phase stretches from the art museum southwest to beyond city hall. let's go live to "action news" reporter john rawlins in center city. john, two words we will hear the pope say repeatedly when he's here are mercy and compassion. two other words we'll hear a lot of from other people, security and communications. >> reporter: that's true. two top federal officials in town today, jim. their take on the rather complex and to some controversial steps that have been taken and announced for security is that they strike the right balance between safety for the pope and for impact on the citizens of the city. as for any specific threats at this point in time... >> we know of no specific credible threat directed at the pope's visit here to this city and so we fully anticipate a successful and safe visit for the pope and for the public. >> reporter: the homeland security chief in town today

to meet with his troops and help roll out the feds new papal visit communication center tied to the growing network of cameras blanketing the city. at three square miles in terms of sheer geography philadelphia's restricted traffic box is the largest anyone can remember. as for those who think the box and closing down ben franklin bridge as far as miles of major highways for multiple days is overkill the head of the u.s. secret service had this to say. >> you have to have structure. if you don't have structure, you have mayhem and you have to have routes available so if there is an incident we can certainly get the holy father out of the city. >> reporter: mayor michael nutter also down played the restrictions and naysayers who predict pilgrims arriving by mass transit would face barriers, pedestrian cattle chutes and gridlock. >> obviously there will be a police presence but there will also be kind of almost i think a pilgrim welcoming squad from the thousands of volunteers that are going to be out on the street as well. so, i mean, this will be a very, you know, well coming,

warm, happy environment. >> reporter: you're looking at a live picture right now of the enclosure canopy at eakins oval part of a complex that's grown up in the last day or two. it's grown quite quickly. the mayor also made the point today as he has many times before folks are coming down for the papal visit weekend, they need to be prepared. they need to plan ahead. they need to know of the restrictions and other factors that have been put into this situation here. they need to bring water and to in fact be prepared for being in a large crowd. live above the parkway, john rawlins, channel6 "action news." jim. >> john, thank you. 6abc.com will be your home for live video during the papal visit. we will be streaming our "action news" coverage of every major event along with live feeds from cameras across the area. you'll also be able to watch our online only digital updates as we said the pope is coming. we have learned much more

about a despicable social media assault against a group of girls at radnor middle school. "action news" reporter trish hartman has that story. >> reporter: tonight radnor police met with parents of juvenile girls they say were victimized on an inappropriate instagram account. detectives say they're hoping not only to catch the person behind the instagram account but also to spread a message about safety and social media. >> on a class trip. i'll probably have the conversation when he gets home. >> reporter: that's theresa from radnor. her son goes to radnor middle school where they are cooperating with police into an investigation into a lewd instagram account that's now deactivated. according to the district's web site, the account featured pictures of radnor middle school students. police say the girls posted the pictures of themselves fully clothed to their own instagram accounts. then investigators say the suspect reposted the pictures to a different instagram account adding sexually explicit captions. police met with parents friday

and brought in resources. >> and advised them of the services there they offer for the young ladies if they need to speak to someone and also provide maybe a little bit of education as far as different types of crimes that can take place on the internet. >> reporter: the radnor township school district released a statement friday part of which says "radnor township school district has been at the forefront of educating our students and parents about digital citizenship, internet safety and positive online behavior." >> reporter: police have not said whether the girls' instagram accounts were private or public. police do urge parents to keep an eye on what your kids are posting on social media. if you have any information radnor detectives would like to hear from you. in radnor, trish hartman, channel6 "action news." >> all right. police are looking for suspects who broke into a woman's home and robbed her while her children were upstairs. it happened at 2:00 a.m. in northeast philadelphia on the 2800 block of shipley road. investigators say three he

masked men got in through a basement door forced the woman onto the kitchen floor and ransacked the house. they made off with $800. the women's two and 10-year-old children were asleep. fortunately nobody was hurt. police increased their patrols today in wilmington's rodney square, that in the wake of monday night's deadly stabbing. killed was a good samaritan trying to protect a woman and her baby. "action news"'s sharrie williams is here with the full story. >> yeah, jim, city officials are really trying to help calm the concerns and fears of the residents. in the meantime the heroic actions of this man ma who was stabbed to death are now being recognized nationally and today we are hearing from a witness who watched all of it play out. new castle county mounted patrol officers were out in force in rodney square today in the wake of the stabbing death of 27-year-old thomas cottingham. this was the scene monday night where cottingham was stabbed to death while trying to stop a man from attacking a young woman and her baby.

dart bus driver renaldo epps witnessed the incident. the woman fled onto his bus. cottingham helping her with the stroller. >> he was explaining to the assailant you don't know her. leave her alone. at that point the gentleman then stabbed mr. cottingham in the throat right there in front of the door. >> reporter: epps called 911 as people sought shelter on the bus to get away from the horrific attack. he was given the department of transportation challenge medal yesterday for his actions. >> i feel as though mr. cottingham is the real person here that should be honored. >> reporter: wilmington's mayor agrees. >> it was heroic. most people don't get involved in situations at all, won't even pick the phone up and call police. for a plan to give his life i take my hat off to him and his family. >> reporter: police were blocks away and quickly took 25-year-old calvin hooker the third into custody. he's charged with first degree murder and other related crimes. wilmington police chief says the mounted patrol will help out for about a month or more

as other units will help in other parts of the city. but for those who frequent rodney square -- >> there are some concerns for sure but i'm comfortable. >> police should be up here all day every day. >> reporter: and the mayor says the city is organizing an official way to honor cottingham for his brave actions. we've learned that the state is planning to help the family out by paying for his funeral. >> thank you, sharrie. all right, tonight we know who is buying the former showboat casino in atlantic city. developer bart blatstein of philadelphia will spend $22 million to acquire the shuttered gambling hall. stockton university purchased the property in december but is now selling it after scrapping plans to use it as satellite campus. it wasn't clear what blatstein plans to do with the property. the deal is expected to close in november. coming up on "action news" a grand opening that had people lining up around the block. the announcement from wawa as

it cut the ribbon on its flagship store in center city. and we'll hear from sam bradford ahead of sunday's show down with the cowboys. >> it certainly hasn't felt like football weather lately with temperatures in the 80's but i'm tracking cooler air arriving by sunday right in time for the game. i'll have all the details in the accuweather forecast. >> those stories and much more when "action news" continues tonight.

>> this is surveillance video of a $50,000 jewelry heist in south philadelphia. it was monday evening when two men robbed h and y royal jewelers on the 2400 block of

south 23rd in philadelphia. they punched a 53-year-old employee in the face, tide his hands at knife point and forced him into the back of the store. they proceeded to empty the safe. they left in a gold hyundai sonata with temporary tags. if you recognize them you are urged to call philadelphia police. a highly anticipated wawa store is now opened for business in center city philadelphia. the first customers lined up and down the block for the chance to get through doors at 8 o'clock this morning. the philadelphia orchestra and mayor michael nutter helped celebrate the new location at broad and walnut. the store opened two months ahead of schedule just in time for the world meeting of families and the papal visit next weekend. wawa is hoping to serve pope francis a hoagie of his choice. and in his honor, the company has established a special fund to help fight hunger in the philadelphia region. >> all six of wawas center city locations starting with

this one today will donate a portion of all proceeds from hoagie sales up to $15,000 to the francis fund as well. >> special fundraiser runs from today through september 28th and by its way this new location is the first wawa to offer indoor seating. if you've ever wanted to be on the game show wheel of fortune here's your chance. the wheel mobile is at the claridge hotel in atlantic city and this special visit is extra special because it marks the vehicle's 500th event. 6abc president and general manager bernie prazenica was on hand. >> in may of next year we'll have on the air and this will be national so everybody will get to see this, all the contestants on wheel will be from the delaware valley. all of them. and the backdrop will be delaware valley, everything will be about it so all the good things that we know about where we live are going to be

for everyone to see around the country. the wheel mobile is a 36-foot long winnebago that gives viewers an up close and personal look at the show. most of the contestants who appear on wheel of fortune were selected after visiting the wheel mobile. >> ♪

>> whatever it takes. eagles have to avoid zero and two. >> absolutelily don't want to fall in that big hole. 2011, that's the last time the eagles beat the cowboys here at home. that's far too long. chip kelly and the birds can either go this way or this way. one and one or zero and two. zero and two would mean falling two games behind dallas in the division with the next two games on the road. this will be sam bradford's first taste of eagles-cowboys. >> i think i'm learning quickly that there's not a lot love lost between the two sides. you know, i think a couple of guys were, you know -- they

had choice words for dallas. obviously it was our first day in practice they had the banner flying over the stadium. obviously we know this is a big game for both teams. >> it's really great 'cause we got to get our first win. and then, you know, obviously it's at home. we got to get our first win and i've never opened up against dallas since i've been here, so i know everybody around town is excited. >> espn analyst ron jaworski is anxious to see how the birds bounce back from that loss to atlanta but jaws has concerns for this game and the season. first and foremost, the secondary. >> ♪ >> the eagles gave up five pass plays of 20 yards or more against the atlanta falcons. that's far too many. last year they gave up 72 pass plays of 20 yards or more. that was most in the national football league a year ago. you look at 16 games, times

five big plays like they gave up against the falcons, that's 80. they're on pace to play worse in the secondary than they were last year. so, clearly that's anker that billy davis, the defensive coordinator and obviously chip kelly, they have got to shore that you secondary. >> get it fixed. phillies begin their final road trip of the season tonight in atlanta. soon the insanity will be over. hockey open for business. flyers and their new coach dave hakstol opened camp. the season open less than three weeks. coach is going to have to implement his ideas slowly. >> it's okay. i can't do everything at once. you know, i think everybody knows how to play the game and we'll -- we worked on a couple of systems areas today but the main focus was our work level, our compete level and playing together. >> we touched on a couple things. i think tomorrow we'll touch on another subject but i think

it's day after -- another day after we're he going to kind of get the -- see he what kind of team we want to be. >> college football, temple was in the middle of three straight road games. tomorrow they visit u mass. temple is close to cracking the top 25. despite the two and zero start, the owls have gotten off to slow starts in each game. coach matt rhule would like to reverse that trend. >> two games in a row we waited for the second quarter to get ourselves playing. we have to come out a lot hotter early on. i think our kids are learning. usually it's not what the other team is doing it's just we're not doing what we trained do. we weren't early on until we settled down and got things going. >> high school huddle comes your way tonight at 11:30 here on 6abc. jeff skversky will bring the action from more than a dozen games and jeff has a brand new suit and we were complimenting him earlier today. >> very attractive. cecily tynan with the accuweather forecast when we continue in just a moment.

>> weekend accuweather forecast. here's cecily tynan. >> it's looking really nice. temperatures cooling off a little bit by the second half of the week. storm tracker6 live double scan showing that we have dry conditions out there yet again tonight and the action cam on the campus of haverford college and seeing bright blue skies above the duck pond today. loads of sunshine and yet again it felt like summer. the past four days temperatures have been in the 80's. today's high 84 degrees. that's 7 degrees above averag average. tomorrow will likely make it a fifth. but if you don't like temperatures in the 80's in late september, well,

temperatures will be cooling back down into the 70's by sunday and really all of next week. right now, though, still 82 degrees in philadelphia. allentown 83. trenton 82. reading 82. millville 77. and wilmington 79 and sea isle city 75 degrees. and we have winds out of the southeast. so what that does, it brings in a little bit of moisture right along the shore so this is where dewpoints are higher. cape may the dewpoint is 68 degrees. but inland when you get away from the ocean, dewpoints generally 60 or below so that's a dry air mass but it will get a little bit more humid tomorrow. the dewpoints generally in the low 60's. the reason why, satellite6 along with action radar showing here's a cold front that will be moving in tomorrow night and sunday morning a heads of it we get the winds out of the southwest. there's low pressure down over florida and that will meander up off the shore, off coast early on monday but right now we've got clear skies and that really will hold for tonight. so, beautiful friday night. a little bit of patchy fog late tonight. nothing widespread. 55 degrees in the suburbs, 64

for center city. so another pretty nice night for sleeping. tomorrow summer warmth, one more day. 86 degrees with winds out of the southwest. slightly muggy. that cold front rolls in late saturday night, early sunday morning. generally just with some clouds, maybe a sprinkle early in the morning and then the clouds will push east by the afternoon. 78 degrees so feeling more like fall is just a few days away and lots of sunshine right in time for the eagles game. 4:25, the eagles cake the cowboys at the linc. it will be great football weather. mostly sunny and pleasant, not too hot. kickoff temperatures 77 degrees and by the fourth quarter, 72 degrees. go eagles. so, the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, it's a pretty nice weekend. if you like summer warmth you'll enjoy tomorrow. mostly sunny with a high of 86 degrees. on sunday, we drop temperatures back down into the 70's. 78 degrees. morning clouds, afternoon sunshine and monday and tuesday a little bit unsettled. with that low pressure off shore, we'll see clouds with

some peeks of sunshine both days about a 20 percent chance of a shower, so nothing widespread. 74 degrees on monday. 76 on tuesday. yom kippur begins at sundown and wednesday autumn officially arrives early in the morning and it will be a tad brighter a little bit warmer, 79 degrees. thursday and friday both looking good. partly sunny with temperatures in the 70's so if you like the summer warmth, it holds on one more day and then it will start feeling more like fall. >> thank you, cecily. finally tonight if you can't get to the pope, why not have the pope come to you. that's what one elementary school in delaware did today. a pope francis cardboard cutout visited saint edmund's academy for boys in wilmington. it was part of the school's day long celebration to learn more about the pope. the boys even dressed in white and blue in honor of the argentine flag. abcs are world news tonight with david muir is next on channel six. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taff

sharrie williams adam joseph and ducis rodgers. then please join us for "action news" at 11:00 here on channel six. for cecily tynan, ducis rodgers and the entire "action news" team, i'm jim gardner. we hope you'll join us at 11:00. >> ♪ more kids are suffering from asthma

and we still have no limits on carbon pollution which can lead to more asthma attacks in children but senator toomey has voted repeatedly to let polluters keep releasing unlimited carbon pollution into the air. and took more than one million dollars from the polluters. tell senator toomey to vote for the clean power plan, because unlimited pollution shouldn't be a right. but playing outside should be.

tonight, donald trump under fire at this house. you will hear what one of his supporters said about muslims and the president. and trump's response causing an uproar. hillary clinton wasting no time. tonight, judge for yourself. the outrage tonight. this moment recorded on video. the police officer, the baton. >> he's just a kid. >> and then the take down. outrage on both sides. we have breaking news tonight in the case of baby doe, followed by tens of millions. the toddler now has a name, and what we know about her mother. we'll take you to the news conference. the air scare. more than a dozen passengers injured after their plane hits severe turbulence. and an abc news exclusive. the two high school football players, and that moment on the field. blindsiding the ref. did someone tell them to do it? the players right here tonight.