bacterial meningitis. classmates identified him as 15-year-old jonathan briggs. the ninth grader died yesterday of a brief illness. sara bloomquist is live outside of the school tonight. what have you learned about this tragic situation? >> parents are going into the school right now for this meeting with school officials and health experts they are hoping to get more information about what happened. this came as quite a shock to this community. 15-year-old jonathan briggs was in school just this past monday morning and he died yesterday of bacterial meningitis. >> after school today students released balloons into the sky outside of john carver high school of engineering and science, their classmate jonathan briggs went home earlier feeling ill. a ninth grader at the school he died of bacteria meningitis at

the hospital. >> he is one of the coolest kids i have met as a freshman. >> was a cool kid. >> this day is devastating, the past two days have been -- there is really not words to put in place what the days have been like. >> students were informed yesterday and the letter went home to parents explaining that bacterial meningitis is contracted through very close can't but parents have concerns they hope are concerned. >> she is a little concerned. i had reservations sender her because she is stressed. >> i am concerned and i plan at being at the meeting today at 6:00. >> briggs was remember today as a happy young man and an athlete would played on the jv team this year. >> i feel for his mother, i can't imagine what that is for

her. they are such a great family, they are thinking about these kids, they are wonder if these kids are okay? >> the coach added she plans to retire briggs number, number 44, again that meeting going on right now, parents meeting with school officials and health experts hoping to get their questions answered. we posted the hot line number to the health department on our website at 6abc.com. live in north philadelphia, i'm sara bloomquist, channel 6 "action news." >> thank you sara. we have been seeing scattered thunderstorms passing through the tri-state area tonight. and we are getting some lightning and thunder lets get right to double scan live radar and meteorologist, cecily tynan. >> jim, lightning, thunder some heavy rain and even small hail. the reason why, double scan live radar showing a frontal boundary moving through most of the action is across new york state heading into new england but we are on the tail end and that is

bringing scattered thunderstorms, nothing severe but it has been complicating the evening commute, this has heavy rain, this cell moving through woodbury and haddonfield and moving east at 40 miles per hour so depford and spring dale and marlton you'll get this very heavy rain as it continues to push through and a cell that is tracking to the east, it's really starting to fall apart, but this right now is moving across northern ocean county, just to the south of jackson mills. and this has lightning, six lightning strikes in the past 15 minutes. if you hear the rumble of thunder you want to get indoors. part of the reason we see this dynamics is the fact that it's pretty warm out there. 71 in philadelphia, richmond, virginia, 83 degrees, and we will stay on the mild side tomorrow for st. patrick's day. this is what is ahead.

another mild day tomorrow but friday everything changes and a strong cold front moves through and could bring us more storms and more showers however the bigger impact will be a very cold air mass right in time for the weekend and with a coastal storm that means the possibility of spring, snow on sunday, yes i said it, i'll talk more about that coming up in the full accuweather forecast. >> all right cecily, a fire is under investigation in chester county, chopper 6 hd was over the two alarm blaze at 7 west township. it consumed the home and took firefighters more than an hour to bring it under control. we have developing news in the death of a maryland police officer. who grew up in delaware county. investigators revealed this half noon that a fellow officer that shot officer jacai colson apparently mistook him for a

suspect because colson was wearing plain clothes. the man accused of sparking the gun battle in the first place is charged with second degree murder, authorities say that 22-year-old michael ford opened fire on police with the intense of committing suicide by cop. to politics now, in the wake of his victory last night in ohio, governor john kasich brought his presidential campaign to pennsylvania today. in fact to the campus of villanova university. john rawlins live at villanova tonight. pennsylvania primary april 26th, kasich looking ahead tonight -- >> reporter: yes, he didn't end up here by accident that is for sure. there say scenario that pennsylvania along with some northeastern states could play a role in denying either of the front runner a first ballot victory in cleveland and that would give a long shot chance to the ohio governor to try to

write in on one of the sub subsequent ballots. the emphasis is on long shot. >> kasich running third seems up beat and relaxed and enjoying this villanova crowd. >> i'm running for president i have to do a bunch of things and figure out what to do about all of your student debt. >> and ramp up the economy while not killing jobs and doing something about climate change. >> let me just say on the environment, i'm the only one that said yes, i think human beings do effect climate. i do [ applause ] that has gone over great for me in the republican party. >> as for defeating isis, katz

we'll have to be in the air and on the ground, you know why? because nobody else will do this. >> and on immigration, no deportations but a pathway to citizenship. >> i like how he is moderate and not as polarizing as some of the other candidates are. donald trump is extreme and bernie sanders is extreme. >> with trump so far ahead does kasich have a chance? >> his only hope is to win enough delegates maybe win a few more states and deny the delegates to donald trump and go to a deadlocked convention and present himself as an alternative. >> a long shot chance at best. the kasich camp got good news in pennsylvania. there was a ballot challenge against kasich by the rubio camp that was dropped late this afternoon presumably because the florida senator is now out of the race, mr. kasich will be on

the april 26th ballot here in pennsylvania. john rawlins, channel 6 "action news." >> talking about the possibility of a contested convention, frontrunner donald trump said today that if the gop establishment or conservatives try to deny him the nomination there will be riots, those are his words. republicans meet tomorrow to find ways to stop trump and attendees will figure out a strategy for a contested convention. >> on the democratic side hillary clinton's victory yesterday in four states left her with more than 1100 delegates and bernie sanders has just over 800 and sander was have to win 66% of the delegates through june. and three local basketball teams are on their way to march madness, the temple owls and the

villanova wild cats left their campus for brooklyn, and st. joe's has a longer journey to washington. walter perez is live at temple tonight. walter, three teams and three schools filled with high hopes -- >> reporter: st. joe's head coach phil martelli says he is hoping to ride the momentum of his team's championship right into the naacp tournament. >> we took the championship trophy up to the cafeteria for about a half hour. and there must have been 600 or 700 students that took a picture with the trophy. >> members were there this morning as the team began their trip to spokane, washington for first round action against cincinnati. >> i love the team i am a hawk through and through and they need our support, even though we can't be there, they need our support. three hours later the wildcats

hit the road -- >> lets go nova! >> over the years head coach, jay wright as taken villanova no the turny several times but he says it never grows old. you have chills and you have to pinch yourself and say i'm so lucky to be a part of this and last but not least, temple jumped on i-95 for the short trip to brooklyn. >> it's super hype, a lot of home games, a couple sold out. >> we are not in the bubble anymore but in the naacp, i am so quited to be a part of this it's great. >> head coach says after being snubbed last year going this year is fantastic. >> when your name is called on sunday the next week is as good a week as you can have. jeff skversky will be in

brooklyn covering temple and villanova. smiles as local soldiers return home after a year long deployment. and a coalition is backing jim kenney's said soda tax proposal. i am tracking the chance of spring snow on sunday. i'll have the accuweather forecast. >> that is totally unacceptable. jaime apody has more on march madness when "action news" continues tonight.

a coalition of civic leaders are joining together to back mayor kenney's proposal to tax sugary drinks. they argued his case, and the tax would in part fund investments in universal pre-k and community schools and rec centers and libraries and proponents say the tax would hit the poor the hardest. >> we are looking to take some profit and put it into the neighborhoods and improve the lives for the people that live there. >> the individuals that are in the communities without transportation, they will not be able to get outside of the city limits to purchase these drinks, they will be the ones left with paying for this tax. >> kenney says the 3 cents per ounce tax will raise $400 million. it needs to be approving by city council.

and it was a happy homecoming in cherry hill as more than 100 soldiers return from their deployment. >> friends and family greets the families of the honor guard and military this afternoon with cheers for the national guard armory. they spent the last year at guantanamo bay. pet moments are beautiful, unless you have allergies.

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now three teams on their journey to great success. >> lets get is started. the three local teams had their departures. nova came out with iphones in hand, to face 15th seed unc ashville. everybody is hoping this is just the beginning of their journey. >> i know everybody in philly is desperate for a deep run and i

hope we can do it for them this year. i know philly basketball needs it and i know that everybody is good enough to do it and the tournament is the tournament and there are match-ups. >> and now a match-up with the 10th seeded owls, they gathered with fans to wish the team well as they headed out to take on iowa. can they make the big five big dance game happen? >> it depends on guys making shots and not making shots, how you play defensively and how you assume your responsibilities, and every game is a separate entity and we expect iowa to be an unbelievable opposition. >> and st. joe's coach was joined by his more famous grandson and players, they head to spokane, washington for their game against cincinnati. >> are you ready?

>> not 100%, we have things to do and we practiced this morning and we had a couple of guys that were thinking about the trip as opposed to the preparation -- we got better the longer we went today. >> they better get ready. sticking with the birds, the eagles signed a wide receiver, of his four seasons in the nfl chris givens' rookie season was the best with the rams working with sam bradford. >> we had a real good chemistry and we worked together every day after practice and one of those things, the coaches and everybody else saw the connection. >> keep it going, the flyers huge win last night won't mean as much if they can't do it again tonight. the flyers pulled within a point of a playoff spot with a

statement win against the red wings. and it was a 4-3 victory and the flyers won seven of their last nine games. >> all right exciting thank you jaime. coming up on "action news" -- cecily tynan with a problematic accuweather forecast. when we continue in just a moment.

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the accuweather forecast cecily tynan. >> i put you in a bad mood talking about sunday. >> the good news is we don't

have snow falling now just storms out there. i'm trying my best. storm-showing that we do have a broken line of some thunderstorms moving across south jersey right now, glassboro just to the south a heavy band of rain and the heaviest though is right around medford lakes and 16 lightning strikes in the past 15 minutes, if you live in medford you hear the thunder and it's rolling across route 70 and 206. and this is a frontal boundary and bricking us hail, and eileen tweeted this to me in broomall and the hail was not all that big the size of pebbles and pennies, and enough cold air in the atmosphere we see scattered hail with these storms. it's warm out there, 65 from a high of 71 and philadelphia and allentown and trenton 64 and cape may 52 and wilmington 60 degrees, satellite 6 along with

action radar showing the bulk of the action is heading into new england and we are just in the tail end of the system, it's moving through quickly and tonight partly cloudy and once the evening storms roll off the coast, not that cold for this time of year, 47 degrees in philadelphia, cape may 46 and reading 39 and wilmington 42 degrees, tomorrow happy st. patrick's day the luck of the irish, partly sunny and mild and temperatures rising up into the low 60s in the afternoon though could have a pop-up shower or two. i think that most of the day though will be on the dry side. then heading into friday, calling this a sun sandwich, i think it should be a shower sandwich because the sun is the bread. and sunshine late in the afternoon around mid-day the front rolled through and brings us the possibility of showers and what that will do is open the door for arctic high pressure to move in. arctic for march and it could be cold enough to deal with snow.

cold is one ingredient we need and we'll have that, we need moisture and that will be supplied in the developing nor'easter, a lot of questions though four day as head. and moisture thrown inland. and that depends on how close to the coast it tracks, if it tracks close to the coast we are looking at the potential for accumulating snow and the possibility it will develop later and target new england. or head out to sea. we are looking at the potential for accumulating snow for sunday afternoon and sunday evening. it looks to be cold enough for snow the big question is the track of the storm. the exclusive accuweather forecast until then tomorrow a nice day for st. patrick's day a brief shower and a high of 65 degrees, friday and blustery as a front rolls through a mid-day shower and 55 degrees, look what happens for the weekend temperatures tumble and saturday sunny and chilly the high of 46, sunday the potential for the

spring snow again, again it's in the afternoon and evening, and whatever falls going to melt quickly on monday 48 degrees and temperatures back up into the 50s and last year on the first day of snow, we got close to 4 inches and it can happen, it's not that unusual. >> the first day of spring. >> close to 4 inches of snow i'll have an update at 11:00. >> lets not try to top that this year. >> thank you. >> finally tonight the dogs and the cats at the montgomery county spca will have one less thing to worry about while they wait to find a home. district attorney kevin steele donated 200 boxes of flea and tic medicine and collars to the shelter today. these boxes were seized from local pawnshops. he made the delivery with turks, he helps witnesses and victims at the county courthouse in

norristown. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl 17 with brian taff, sharrie williams adam joseph and ducis rogers and this is coming up on "action news" at 11:00 -- >> reporter: an emergency airtrans port could be the ride that saves your life but some patients tell us they were left with sticker shock after receiving unexpected bills. >> $54,000 and something. >> that is why we have insurance you don't go after the little people. it's part of our abc news brian ross collaboration on "action news" at 11:00. for cecily tynan, jaime apody, ducis rogers and the entire "action news" team i'm jim gardner we hope you'll join us for "action news" at 11:00.

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tonight, the supreme court showdown. the president names his pick. a judge who took on timothy mcveigh after oklahoma city. who took on the unibomber. but now he faces republican leaders who have intention of taking any action. tonight, the phone call the republican leader who called the judge. the race for the white house. fresh off major victories for donald trump, tonight, trump's new warning. could there be riots if republicans try to block him at a contested convention? new details emerging tonight. the young, undercover detective shot and killed by a fellow officer. pierre thomas, standing by. the deadly storm hitting in the middle of the country. drivers losing control. and now five confirmed tornadoes. and the young american, sentenced tonight to 15 years of hard labor in north korea. his tearful plea.