with the death of ed snider. snider died early this morning after a two-year battle with bladder cancer. but snider is a philadelphia icon who has carved a special place in the history of this city and the entire region. snider single-handedly brought the flyers and the nhl to philadelphia in 1967. 50 years ago. and his cherished team became the first expansion team to win the stanley cup in 1974, the first of two successive cups but snid snider became not just the face of his team but one of the true faces of philadelphia. ed snider was 83. "action news" reporter john rawlins is live at the skate house in cobbs creek and john snider himself would say that his greater evident accomplishment might just have been his commitment to providing athletic and educational opportunities to under served youth. >> reporter: well, jim,

we're told with his death that ed snider left a very large endowment to keep his philanthropic efforts secure. friends of ed snider say this is his legacy, his youth hockey foundation, a $4 million a year project focused on 3,000 kids. the hockey is the focus. the goal is to help kids with everything from homework to winning at life. >> hockey is a terrific sport to use for that because it engenders hard work, honest effort and teamwork. >> reporter: ed snider arrived in philadelphia in the mid 60's as part owner of the eagles but soon his focus was on an nhl expansion franchise. then in 1974 came the stanley cup. >> the flyers win the stanley cup. the flyers win the stanley cup. >> reporter: the next year snider's flyers did it again. >> thank you fans. you're the greatest. two years in a row. >> reporter: a player snider but

tough brutal teams that fans loved. >> he understood i think that this was blue collar lunch bucket town where people enjoyed a hard play and hard hitting and he thought he could build a hockey team around that and he digit long time ticket holder franny foy says the flyers just fit. >> they were the toughest team on ice. when they played the russians and the russians refused to come out again. >> reporter: he's recalling when the red army team left after a hard body check of one of their players. >> they are leaving. they are walking out. >> reporter: snider an unabashed capitalist quickly got involved. >> and they said they went and come back on the ice. i'll tell me we're not going to pay them if they don't come back. they rumbled to each other in russian and they came back on the ice. >> reporter: even under old soviet system money talked. that was in 1976. it was all televised to an international audience and the flyers won that game four to

one. live in cobbs creek, john rawlins channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you, john. mayor jim kenney remembered snider today as a visionary who brought the flyers franchise to philadelphia. kenney said the team brought him many happy days while he was growing up in south philadelphia. >> flyers have a special place in my heart because what they did in 74 and 75 and in 2016 we should do it again for ed. >> representatives of the other philadelphia professional sports teams offered that condolences to snider and the flyers family today. philadelphia eagles ceo jeffrey lurie released this statement saying ed was a true visionary and a pioneer who did tremendous things for our city and for the sport of hockey. he was driven by a relentless pursuit of winning and passion for the sport was genuine. josh harris managing general partner of the philadelphia 76ers said "ed continually poured his heart into making the difference in

the lives of those around him and he stopped at nothing to make the city of philadelphia a better place for everyone. he leaves behind legacy of civic pride charitable acts and philanthropy that is truly unmatched ." the phillies asked their opening day crowd to pay tribute to snider today before the start of the game today. snider's picture graced the big scoreboard in left field in a sense saying goodbye to the thousands of fans who came out today to cheer on the phillies. "action news" reporter chad pradelli is live at citizens bank park where the phillies game just ended. phillies edged by the padres. chad, nice to have baseball back in philadelphia. >> reporter: yeah, jim, baseball is back. the game didn't end the way phillies fans wanted but it was a great day nonetheless. the phillies home opener had not one but three first pitches. first philadelphia police officer jesse hartnett who was

injured in an ambush earlier this year. after the throw, though, he used the moment to propose to his girlfriend. [cheers and applause] >> it's a once in a lifetime experience i think to go out there and i wanted to utilize that time as best that i could. >> reporter: national champions ryan arcidiacono and daniel ochefu followed that throw with a few on them, yes, opening day had some excitement. >> 48 hours ago it was snowing. here we are in philadelphia, skies are beautiful. >> go phillies! >> welcome back, folks. programs here. >> reporter: pregame took place on citizens bank way outside the stadiums. the party was on at noon. >> ♪ >> reporter: go go gadget rocked the mic, smoke billowed from the grills in the tailgating lot. the smell of opening day was in the air. >> this is my favorite day of the year. anything could happen. i mean, the expectations are not high for the team but, you know, anything could happen.

>> reporter: the team marched down tenth street into the stadium. it was a moment for fans to get up close to the 2016 fightans and they enjoyed it. >> a lot of people aren't expecting much this season but i'm keeping my hopes high. i think it's going to be a good season. i think we're going to surprise a lot of people. >> reporter: and the phillies are three and five on the season. they lost today four to three to the padres. i'm live outside citizens bank park, chad pradelli, channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you, chad. philadelphia schools and saving money is the topic of discussion at city hall today. council members heard from solar industry representatives. philadelphia's considering installing solar panels on public schools. a report found that the district could save $13 million for the cash strapped school system. >> ♪ politics now the democratic congressional candidates for pennsylvania's second district squared off today in a debate in philadelphia. it took place this morning at

the studios of whyy in center city. during the debate embattled congressman chaka fattah once again denied federal corruption charges. state representative dwight evans lower merion township commissioner brian gordon and attorney dan muroff are challenging fat today. voters head to the polls for pennsylvania's primary election on april 26th. "action news" has learned that the woman killed this morning by a septa train was a student at the university of pennsylvania. 21-year-old olivia kong studied finance at wharton. kong grew up in philadelphia, graduated from central high school. philadelphia police say kong jumped into front of the train on the market frankford line. the incident happened underground near the 40th and market street station. penn officials are encouraging students to seek counseling if they need to. and police continue to investigate the death of a cabrini college student tonight. the body of the 22-year-old

male student was found in a west conshohocken home after a party. that on the 200 block of moore head avenue saturday night. "action news" reporter walter perez is live at that location and walter, what are investigators saying tonight? >> reporter: well, jim, investigators also tell us that that victim was a member of the lacrosse team at cabrini college and grief counselors have been made available on campus. the victim's name hasn't been released because some family members are not yet been notified but people who knew him describe him as a good young man with a bright future. people who live along the 200 block of moore head avenue describe the victim and his roommates as quiet respectful young men. >> it's devastating to hear anything like that. and i think it's just devastating to hear a young life cut short especially when it was obvious he had a lot of potential. >> reporter: authorities tell us the cabrini college students who rent this home held a small private party on saturday night. early sunday morning, a couple

of the roommates found the victim on the living room couch. >> thought he was asleep on the couch. realized he was not breathing. they contacted the police department. lafayette ambulance showed up. the police officers conducted cpr. >> reporter: still the victim was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. investigators tell us that while an anti-opioid was administered to the 22-year-old victim and drug paraphernalia was found inside the home the cause of death hasn't been determined. an autopsy was performed early this afternoon. neighbors and local officials say regardless of investigation's outcome this case is a real tragedy. >> it's a real shame. somebody so young with their whole life ahead of that em. >> it's sad for the family, 22-year-old male cabrini college, from my understanding played on the lacrosse team so it's sad. it's sad to deal with young people. >> reporter: chief sinclair also tells us they found no signs of foul play inside that home and as of tonight no charges have been filed in this case.

reporting live from west conshohocken, walter perez, channel6 "action news." jim. >> walter, thank you. coming up on "action news" tonight strike deadline looming. mourn 35,000 verizon employees are prepared to walk off the job. and remembering ed snider. members of the flyers organization speak out on the passing of the team patriarch. >> tracking another round of rain. details on the timing and a pretty nice string of comfortable spring days to follow in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> those stories and much more when "action news" continues. this ii got to see my dad, die on national tv.

they don't know what they took from us. people are dying. we need a president that's going to talk about it. i believe bernie sanders is a protestor. he's not scared to go up against the criminal justice system. he's not scared. that's why i'm for bernie. i'm bernie sanders and i approve this message.

>> on the labor front the deadline has been set. thousands of verizon workers are ready to walk off the job if they don't get what they call a fair contract. "action news" reporter sarah bloomquist has that story. >> all i want to do is keep my fair wages. >> reporter: sherri lane worked at verizon for 17 years managing government and federal accounts. she's among the 36,000 employees prepared to walk the picket line starting wednesday at 6:00 a.m. the top issues for her, wages, job security, healthcare. >> the retirees that have set the path for us, they want to raise their medical costs which is just not fair at all. >> reporter: edward mooney is the international vice president for the communication workers of america district 213 and a verizon employee involved in the negotiations which stalled last week. he says the union can not allow jobs to be outsourced or sent overseas.

>> the work that the company has that is generated by the customers in this area we believe and the customers agree with us it should be done here. >> reporter: pension and healthcare are are also issues still on the table. >> the company wants to put our retired employees in jeopardy with that healthcare. we will not stand for that. they are the employees that built this company. >> reporter: in a statement verizon's chief administrative officers said we've tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal. verizon has been moving the bargaining process forward but now union leaders would rather make strike threats than constructively engage at the bargaining table. >> keep getting increases increases and they want to us keep giving back and giving back and i just don't think it's fair. >> reporter: the last verizon strike happened back in 2011 and lasted for two weeks. verizon says if there is a strike, it's prepared by training nonunion workers to replace its employees for the duration. in chinatown, i'm sarah bloomquist channel6 "action news."

>> the trenton school district has reopened its search for a new superintendent. mayor eric jackson and board of education officials made the announcement this morning. they said the two finalists for the position are are no longer in the running. lucy feria will stay on as interim leader. the district has been looking for a permanent superintendent since francisco duran resigned in september. the world a president has to grapple with. sometimes you can't even imagine. that's the job. and she's the one who's proven she can get it done. ...securing a massive reduction in nuclear weapons...

...standing up against the abuse of women... ...protecting social security... ...expanding benefits for the national guard... ...and winning health care for 8 million children... the presidency is the toughest job in the world and she's the one who'll make a real difference for you. i'm hillary clinton and i approved this message. katie mcginty for u.s. senate, calling her "a champion for working families." the 9th of 10 kids, her dad's union pension and social security made all the difference.

in pennsylvania, mcginty helped implement obamacare and expand coverage. trump and toomey have attacked obamacare and social security. to fight back, president obama wants mcginty in the senate to protect women, families and seniors. vote in the democratic primary, april 26th. mcginty: i'm katie mcginty and i approve this message. >> i guess the first time i met ed snider was 35 years ago and you know, he was a man of such passion, such elegance and he loved philadelphia. he just adored his flyers. he adored philadelphia. >> absolutely. he was that way until the end. ed snider's children shared the news this morning, their father died after a two year battle with cancer. snider left a huge mark on the sport and philadelphia. >> ♪ ed snider was raised in washington, d.c. but he made his mark in philadelphia. after being a minority owner

of the eagles in 1960's, he set his focus on bringing hockey here in 1967. less than a decade later snide's broad street bullies taking on their owner's personality had two stanley cup championships. >> ladies and gentlemen, the flyers are are going to win the stanley cup. >> reporter: snider wasn't just a man at the top. he was as passionate as any rabid flyers fan you'd meet. he cared. but his caring was not limited to just wins and loses. he often without fanfare supported former players if thisly long after that playing days were over. snider also cared tremendously about children. he created the ed snider youth hockey program which introduced the game to inner city kids and has built or refurbished several youth rinks. ed snider mr. snider was 83. >> our jaime apody has spent the better part of the day gathering reaction to snider's death. she joins us live. >> reporter: ducis it's going to be hard to watch a

flyers playoff run and realize ed snider is no longer with us. the team told us today they will play with heavy hearts but they'll try to wip a stanley cup for him. ron hextall who was both his player and his gm summed up the man this way. >> when you think of the philadelphia flyers and everything that we're about, every trait, passionate, we work hard, we're greedy, we're tough, we have a lot of will, when you think of all those traits, that's ed snider. >> he loved the flyers. he's a philadelphia flyers. he started the whole thing and he would always be the guy that kind of brought that to the city and he's a really good man. >> the. >> reporter: the flyers flag at half-staff here at the wells fargo center in memory of mr. ed snider, the flyers will begin their playoff run

thursday in washington and services will be private. live at the wells fargo center jaime apody channel6 "action news." ducis. >> jamie thank. to baseball. today was time for home cooking. it's the home opener against the padres. phillies continue the tradition of walking in through the stands. aaron nola had some trouble but strikes out a career high nine batters aloud four runs through seven innings. phils down three-two, no one out darin ruf pinch hitting for ryan howard. a pop up, short stop is tracking it. that ball rolled into the outfield. not sure okay tube bell herrera saw the signal. game tied at three. pete mackanin not happy that. phillies lose four-three. >> i would have looked to have won for the fans that showed up and you know, you always want to win those games. we were in striking distance the whole game and came back

and just fell short. >> 300 infield pop-up. >> umpire did not have a good game. >> apparently not. an elementary school in bucks county celibated the excitement of the home opener today. students at saint joseph's saint school enjoyed a ballpark lunch, hot dogs, chips all while wearing their phillies gear.

>> week ahead from accuweather maybe spring is actually making an appearance settling in. >> yes, it will be its a gate looking seven-day forecast. little bit of a hiccup with rain in the short term but that's it.

then it's really nice. storm tracker6 live double scan showing that we do have a few showers just hanging on in the northern suburbs right now. green lane you had one batch move through. it's crossing the northeast extension, the pennsylvania turnpike right now heading towards quakertown. this is one renegade batch well ahead of the main line of rain that will be moving through really early tomorrow morning. let's go on sky6, though, taking a look in cape may and seeing filtered sunshine but look at the ocean. we've got white caps there an angry sea thanks to very strong winds out of the south. we have wind gusts at about 30 miles per hour right now in cape may but those winds out of the south also brought us a very nice warmup. friday the high only 51. saturday 43 with that accumulating snow. yesterday 50 degrees. today almost 20 degrees warmer, 69 degrees which is 7 degrees above normal. tomorrow, though, some rain is on the way and future tracker

rainfall amounts showing that this is a pretty quick hit of rain, anywhere from a little more than a tenth of an inch of rain to close to a half inch in wildwood. generally most areas about a quarter inch of rain that will really will be in the first half of the day. right now still mild in philadelphia, 67 degrees. trenton 64. cape may 63. cooler in the northwest suburbs. allentown and reading 59 and wilmington currently 60. satellite6 along with action radar slowing we had a warm front move through early today. that bought us clouds in the morning with light showers. that's now lifted up to the north but now there's a cold front waiting in the wings and that's what moves through tomorrow. the morning rush hour, allow extra time. it's going to be wet with periods of rain, temperatures, though, not bad at 6 o'clock and 8 o'clock already 55 degrees. future tracker showing rain generally west of philadelphia around 5 o'clock. the bulk of it moving through around 8 o'clock. this is when we could have some heavy rain along i-95 and south jersey but then it moves out very quickly.

by lunchtime the bulk of the rain east of the i-95 corridor and then it clears out completely by the evening hours and even a good amount of sunshine. that high pressure begins to build on wednesday. what this will do is bring us winds out of the north-northeast so that's a cooler flow of air so it will be cooler with temperatures only in the upper 50's. 58 degrees but that high pressure had maintain control of our weather right into the weekend and that will bring us a lot of sunshine and a gradual warmup. so, the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, rain tomorrow morning but the sunshine is back by the afternoon. the afternoon high, quite a bit cooler than today, only 60 degrees and we drop down to 58 degrees on wednesday, mostly sunny skies. thursday a few morning clouds and mostly sunny. it will be milder, 62 degrees. ly 64 degrees on friday with sunshine. and look at this weekend. we deserve a nice weekend and we've got it. saturday 68 degrees. on sunday, temperatures back

up to 70 yo you want it a little bit warmer. on monday 72 degrees, that is 7 degrees above normal so a little bit of rain tomorrow morning and then the rest of the forecast looking really nice. >> i'll take it. >> it's about time. >> yes, it is. >> yup. >> thank you, cecily. abc's "world news tonight" with david muir is next on channel6. "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 channel6. 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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tonight, trump's tirade. donald trump now calling the nomination process rigged and corrupt. sending out this video, somebody burning up their voter registration. and ivanka trump revealing she did not register as a republican. she cannot vote in the primary. and the new poll tonight, right before the new york primary, where trump stands, where hillary clinton stands. the severe weather outbreak. powerful thunderstorms, possible tornadoes at this hour. we're watching the system from the south all the way up to the northeast. the airport meltdown tonight, and one mother who had enough. >> if there's no flight, just say there's no flight. >> tonight, why she was so upset. the super bowl champ shot and killed. new reporting this evening. authorities say he was shot in the back. what that could reveal. and did road rage play a role? and the new alert