the white house. it is monday afternoon. i'm sharrie williams. >> and i'm rick williams in for brian taff. the electoral college vote is taking place today and last ditch attempts to alter the outnumb many states including pennsylvania. "action news"'s walter perez is live in harrisburg where tons of demonstrators made their voices heard today to no avail, though. walter. >> reporter: hey, guys, it was a very interesting process to observe and in the end the 58 electoral college of pennsylvania through its unanimous support behind donald trump but as mentioned some people were happy about that. other people were not. >> just absolutely delighted. it went beautifully. >> reporter: that was center county elector joyce hawes describing today's ceremony that secured pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes for done trauma tally that conjured some cheers. >> president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> reporter: and some jeers.

>> shame on you, shame on you. >> reporter: as you can see a few hundred protestors gathered and chanted at the statehouse. none of the picketers we spoke with really believe their presence would sway the members of the electoral college. many said they simply wanted to express their opinions one more time before that the inauguration. >> i think he's going to be dangerous president and i think that he inspires a lot of hail. it electors say in the end their responsibility was to express the will of the voters. >> more people in the commonwealth voted for donald trump than they did for secretary clinton so i think that the decision was very easy quite honestly. >> reporter: but that's not to say that clinton supporters didn't try to change the electors minds. the electors we spoke with say the last few weeks were overwhelming. >> getting 1500 e-mails a day and when you get one from work it's hard to sort through and find them. it kept my staff busy. many phone calls at home. >> reporter: lawrence tabas the only elector from

philadelphia says this vote was never in doubt. >> it was so assured that if you had gone to vegas to bet that we would all cast our votes for donald trump you would have enough money now retire. >> reporter: and donald trump is the first republican presidential hopeful to win pennsylvania in nearly 30 years and so now the next step of course the inauguration on january 20th when donald trump will become the 45th american president. reporting live from harrisburg, walter perez channel6 "action news": sharrie. >> walter we'll stick with politics to delaware now where hillary clinton is the official winner of the electoral college vote there. the three democratic party electors cast their ballots during a meeting at legislative haul in dover. and in new jersey the 14 electors there have also spoken. late this afternoon they cast their votes for hillary clinton. who defeated donald trump in the garden state. at least 50 people rallied outside the statehouse in trenton to call on electors nationwide to deny trump the

presidency. >> turning to other news now a death investigation is under way in the holmesburg section of philadelphia. police say a woman was found dead in a kitchen of a home here on the 8600 block of gillespie street. a man is being questioned but right no charges have been filed. police are still investigating how the victim died. >> police are looking for three men who robbed a local restaurant owner and his wife at gunpoint when they arrived home from work. surveillance video shows the armed men forcing 64-year-old corn fau into his own home around 3:30 a.m. they pushed him and his wife to the ground and stole a bag full of $3,000 and also the couple's handgun. his son believes the men followed his parents from their west philadelphia business to their home on godfrey street in olney. >> this is just very scary to happen to my parents. especially i worry about them coming home at night and they're planning to retire shortly.

>> reporter: uh-huh. >> and this all happened before they plan to retire. >> reporter: investigators say their attackers took off in a silver or white ford type of vehicle. >> all right. time now to check temperatures on an important week, a busy week as we count down christmas. meteorologist melissa magee is in for adam and she's outside with kind of a chilly accuweather forecast, melissa. >> for sure, rick and sharrie. it's certainly on the chilly side well below average so if you're stepping out you know what you need. you need the extra layers, the scarves and the gloves and the hats. we'll show you the wild swing in temperatures really since last friday. we had a high temperature then of 26 degrees, saturday to start the weekend with all of the snow, the ice and rain, a high temperature of just 36. yesterday we peaked to 60 before temperatures started to tumble throughout the day and today only at the freezing mark for a high well below normal of 44. here's satellite6 along with action radar. you can see we've got high pressure that's bringing in

all of this cold air from canada situated across much of the northeast so that's staying put for the rest of tonight. in fact as we look at the evening planner 7:00 p.m. a temperature of 29 degrees. a few thin cirrus clouds on the way. once those move out we've got a mostly clear sky for the rest of the night and the temperatures for the most part in the middle and upper 20's underneath a mostly clear and cold sky. so it's mainly dry this week. temperatures pretty close to normal and if you're hoping for a white christmas, you may want to hope a little more because it does look like it will be on the mild side. we'll take a closer look at that coming up in the full and exclusive accuweather forecast. sharrie. >> melissa thank you. as the official start of winter approaches be sure to check 6abc/weather. there of course you'll find storm tracker6 radar and the hourly forecasts so you won't be caught off guard this holiday season an effort to block philadelphia's controversial beverage tax has failed. members of the beverage industry filed a lawsuit to stop the 1.5 cents per ounce

tax from taking effect next month. they argue the tax duplicates the state's sales tax. but today a judge dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety. mayor jim kenney called it a victory for the schools and neighborhoods that will benefit from the tax revenue. >> well, christmas is quickly approaching believe it or not the holiday is only five days and seven hours away. and the rush is on to get those gifts delivered to loved ones across the country. today is the busiest day of the year for the postal service. "action news" bob brooks is live a sorting facility in bellmawr camden county with how the carriers are keeping up with the high demand. >> reporter: did you happen to see my gift while that you were? maybe not. >> reporter: no, i don't think -- i don't think anyone got you anything, did they? >> i didn't. >> reporter: no, i'm kiddin kidding. there's a lot of hard work determination and preparation to make sure we all have a

happy holiday this season. according to the u.s. ps it is the busiest mailing day of the year chances are you might find yourself at a post office. if you did so today you probably waited in one of these, a line. but not everyone thought that was such a bad thing. do you you two know each other. >> no, no. >> reporter: while they were waiting in line. these two made friends. >> might get invited to her house for dinner. >> we discussed menus. >> reporter: in south jersey if you were sending a package most likely it's coming through here, the massive usps processing center in bellmawr. >> we expect to cancel about 1.2 million letters today. we put the postmark on and move it on to its next step. we expect to process about 100,000 originating packages day. that's more than 360,000 square feet with almost 8:30 employees. >> i've been ear almost a year. i'm the best.

>> reporter: you're the best. >> i'm the best. me and her, we the best. >> reporter: they process 8,000 packages an hour with the automated packaging processing system. it's pretty cool. today marks crunch time. >> make sure that everyone get their gift, they get their gifts on time and they come like they supposed to nice and easy. >> reporter: this group seems up to the task. a a lot of happy holidays depends on them. when you stick with somebody like charlie crawford you understand why that's so porn. >> package for my son he's in kuwait. kevin eyeing wish you were here. me and mom miss you. your brothers and sisters miss you. man, we love you and we're proud of you. >> reporter: nice to see that there and everyone take a look at this full screen right now. these are the deadlines for the usps mailing december 20th for firings class, december 21st for priority mail and december 23rd priority mail express and back out live here they say in bellmawr the work is going to

go on all night to make sure we all get our packages and again rick, i didn't see anything for you, man. [laughter] >> reporter: might be out of luck. >> if you see one with my name on it put it on my desk. if you see one with sharrie's name on it put it on my desk. thanks bob. see you later. shipping deadlines for other carriers are also quickly approaching. wednesday that's december 20's first is the deadline for ups' second day option with fed ex you have an extra day. shipping by thursday december 22nd will guarantee delivery in time for christmas. >> my rick, he's so desperate for gifts. someone please give this man something. >> well, you know, i've peanut too. what you going do. time for a check of the traffic report. >> let's go live to matt pelman who is going to help us get back on course here with the "action news" traffic report. >> how was your weekend. >> the weekend was good. traffic is not behaving in a bunch of spots already this afternoon rick and sharrie. of course a lot of people aren't having things shipped

they're picking them up at the area malls. this is the scene by the king of prussia mall this afternoon. it could be worse. we expect extra traffic around the malls all week long. right now on 202 at mall boulevard not doing too badly. there was northbound crash by the schuylkill out of view but that's cleared out of the way. there's a new crash on 76 just popped up in the westbound lawns by the boulevard starting to stack up there pretty quickly. we've got a broken down truck along 95 northbound right by the airport taking out a lane but that one isn't causing a huge delay luckily and in mayfair we're watching a crash along cottman at leon by the double tree market. a wreck in mercer county southbound on one patrick lynn corner road, the lane is out of commission so speeds are in the teens and in gloucester county coming up 55 trying to get onto 42 there's a lane blocked because of an accident there so just 16 miles per hour as you come north of deptford. throughout the day we've had major issues on the septa regional rails because of a downed wire near jenkintown.

that's bee been fixed but delays remain. hope you enjoyed you were weekend. that crash on the schuylkill westbound by the boulevard taking out a lane so we are seeing a ah it stacked with speeds in the teens coming out of center city. we'll check it again rick and sharrie, coming up in the next half hour. >> thanks matt. >> still ahead on "action news" a gathering at an art gallery erupts in violence. new details about an assassination that took the life of a russian official during that very public appearance. >> also a local elderly man falls victim to scammers not once but twice and it cost him thousands of dollars. hear how they targeted him coming up in a live report at 4:30. >> and later new technology is making a big difference at a philadelphia school. we'll show you how it's helping lessons come to life right after the break. >> ♪

>> ♪ >> a chilling picture shows the gunman who opened fire assassinating russia's ambassador to turkey. andrei karlov was killed today while giving a speech at a photo exhibit in ankara. russian officials are calling the incident a terror attack. witnesses say the gunman who was later killed by police shouted don't forget aleppo, don't forget syria. russia has backed syrian president bashar as sad during the conflict in syria. a new united nations resolution seems to be holding up in syria. un officials say more than 100 humanitarian staff are on the ground to monitor evacuations from eastern aleppo. that area of the war torn city was controlled by rebels but recently was reclaimed by the as sad regime. thousands of civilians and firefighters are still stranded in aleppo. they cheered as dozens of buses arrived to start

bringing them to safety. >> well, back here there's new effort to protect philadelphia children from lead exposure. mayor jim kenney announced the lead free kids campaign today. the plan calls for stronger enforcement of a law passed in 2012 that requires landlords to certify homes as lead free. the initiative also calls for the city to remove sources of lead from buildings including paint. philadelphia is still benefiting from the democratic national convention months after it came to town back in july. today the dnc host committee gave a $750,000 donation to the school district fund. a lot of that money will pay for books. former governor ed rendell helped present the giant check to superintendent dr. william hite at james ludlow elementary today. >> new technology is giving visually impaired students a new outlook on learning. it's part of a program showing great results at overbrook school for the blind. alicia vitarelli shows us how it works.

>> what do you see? >> 10, 10 an five. >> reporter: isa is working on his math skills just like any other eight-year-old would in class. the only difference isa is visually what. paired and using technology to work with numbers. >> it has a special space that communicates with the ipad and then a reflector you put over the camera and it causes the cram to look down at the space in front of the ipad. >> reporter: it's called ogmo a program that blends the physical and digital world. >> what do you say. >> a star. >> a star. >> yes. >> nice. >> reporter: kelly lauer has been a teacher and specialist at overbrook for 13 years. she recently brought osmo into her classroom and says the results fantastic. >> they're able to have some vision or we'll add a video mag any of fire so they're

able to put the letters under a ma magnifier. >> reporter: overbrook school for the blind currently has about 200 students on campus between the ages of three and 21. next year they will celebrate 185 years and over close to two centuries of working with the visually impaired they've been turn month ago tour mainstream technology. >> it's just providing so many things that we had to rely on specialized devices for before. now so many things are accessible and much more reasonable price-wise. >> reporter: and fun t lauer uses all kinds of osmo programs from animation to numbers and letters. >> we're seeing a lot more retention of their spelling words. >> kids love it, yeah. they're kids. they just like that kind of stuff and the fact that it works for them is a real treat. >> reporter: and they're able to use those tiles with the letters and numbers in

conjunction with brailles sons by adding the braille to the back of each of those cards. pretty amazing stuff. alicia vitarelli, channel6 "action news." >> yeah, pretty cool. >> that is amazing. >> all right. time for another check of the accuweather forecast. >> all right, meteorologist melissa magee in for adam joseph dan she's got the latest on the cold snap we're seeing but not necessarily christmas could be more wet than white, hm. >> yeah, i mean it's certainly going to be mild so if you're hoping for a white christmas, you may want to ask santa for a little bit more in your stocking this christmas. we'll tell you what's going on outside. sky6 live in hd from our spring mountain cram there in montgomery county you can see some snow on the slopes and some skiers as well. pretty cold and cold conditions across much of the delaware and lehigh valleys. right now the temperature coming in at 30, the dewpoint at 10 so the air is really dry. winds out of the north-northwest at 9 miles per hour. the wind chill coming in at 22 here in philadelphia and the ocean temperature in at 43.

most spots right now are either at the freezing mark or below. it is 32 in atlantic city at the airport, 30 in philadelphia. the upper 20's north and west from allentown down reading and lancaster and 32 degrees in dover. here is satellite6 along with action radar. you can see it's pretty dry across much of the eastern half of the u.s. we've got high pressure anchored across the northeast so we're staying dry but cold tonight and you notice weak frontal boundary that is stalling out just to the south. you can see those showers in raleigh and to the north of jacksonville florida. they will stay well away from our region for the rest of tonight. here's the call from accuweather over the next 12 hours. turning clear, cold and calm, 17 in lancaster for the overnight low. we drop down to 14 in allentown, 22 in philadelphia and 24 degrees in cape may. here's the setup for us as we go throughout the day on tuesday. again, it's sunny, it's dry. the sun a bit deceiving. 7 o'clock in the morning it's mostly clear, a temperature of 22. by 1 o'clock tomorrow for

lunchtime only 35. and we're back down into the lower 30's as we get into 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on tuesday night. so, the forecast across the region tomorrow again we're below average, typically for us this time of year we should be in the lower 40's. the high in philadelphia 37. 36 in allentown. 35 degrees in lancaster. so here in the city we're about 7 degrees below normal. 39 in cape may and 38 degrees in dover for the high. if you're looking for any precipitation, well, hard-pressed to find it tomorrow. no chance on tuesday. 0 percent chance once again on wednesday. thursday app 30 percent chance of finding some precipitation and as we get into saturday for christmas eve some slight precipitation on the way but again we're certainly going to be on the mild side. here is that four day at 4:00 and you can see tomorrow sunny, still chilly, high temperature of 37. on wednesday, town clouds for the first day of winter a high of 44. thursday clouds and sun with the eagles at home at the linc.

sunny and seasonable friday 46 degrees. so we're cold right now but notice those numbers are starting to warm up as we get closer to the holiday. >> thank you melissa. the action cam in chester for a priceless holiday surprise for some young students. >> if you're still looking for christmas gift or maybe you want to treat yourself, we have an idea from a local spa. details about app special winter facial treatment in today's what's the deal? fios is not cable. we're wired differently. that means incredibly fast 150 meg internet for the holidays.

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>> ♪ >> the philadelphia phillies are stepping up to the plate in the battle against hunger in the city. members of the phillies front office including phils president andy macphail helped to serve up hot holiday meals to hundreds of homeless residents here at one of the largest shelters in philadelphia. price right grocery stores in camden donated much of the food and of course the philly phanatic was on hand helping to serve a bit of laughter and good cheer. today's event was part of the phillies organization season of giving. >> app special christmas

delivery -- a special christmas delivery surprise. chester community charter school this morning. >> one, two, three,. [cheers and applause] >> fifty two look at that. san tan his elves handled out gift to each and every one of those 1,000 kindergarten through second graders. it was hot wheels baby dolls and candy canes galore and the student's reactions were priceless. >> the biggest thing and the main reason why we do this because you saw the smiles. you saw those huge smiles and you saw the way it made the children feel and the way it made us feel. >> well, the gifts were made possible by a donation from the gergan foundation funded by the ceo of the school's management company. this is the 17th year for the big santa surprise. >> well, old saint nick is having a pretty busy day. he was on the move in delaware where he traded his sleigh in

for a motorcycle. rocco may slapped bartender by trade but today the 28-year-old is on a toy run throughout wilmington. he handed toys and gifts out to unsuspecting adults and children. a majority of the toys though will be donated to a.i. dupont children's hospital. he started this christmas quest last year with about 30 toys. this year he has 300. all in part from donations from a go fund me account he set up. >> very nice. >> still to come on "action news" at 4:00 a new warning about a scam that's targeting the elderly. you'll hear from one local man who lost thousands of dollars and we'll till how the scammers managed to trick him to get him to pay up. >> a doctor says children should not use technology like ipads or video games at all. but of course not everyone agrees. those stories and more when "action news" continues. >> ♪

>> ♪ >> "action news" continues with meteorologist adam joseph, alicia vitarelli, sharrie williams and brian taff. >> ♪ >> 4:30. we continue to follow breaking news in germany where at least nine people are dead after a truck slammed into a christmas market. at least 50 others have been injured. >> officials say a suspect has been arrested near the scene. german newspapers say police are working under the assumption that the attack was deliberate. the crash happened tonight in the center of berlin where a large crowd was gathered.

witnesses say the truck drove through a christmas market tearing through tables and toppling over a large christmas tree. stay with "action news" as we continue to follow the story as it unfolds and we'll bring you any new developments. >> closer to home police are outweigh warning after a tredyffrin township man was scammed out of thousands of dollars. investigators say the scammers posed as police officers. "action news reporter nydia han is live at tredyffrin police headquarters with the details there. nydia. >> reporter: sharrie unfortunately this is a very common scam and this time the target was an 89-year-old grandfather and yes, it all began with a call from an alleged police officer. >> he said we have some bad news for you. your grandson's in big trouble. >> reporter: the caller said sam's grandson had been the passenger in a vehicle carrying illegal drugs and needed bail money. sam believed at one point

during the call he was even speaking directly to his grandson. >> he's in tear barely able to speak. he said to me don't call my dad. don't call my dad. you can't call my dad. >> reporter: the alleged bail money was $8,000. sam was told to load wal-mart and itunes gift cards with that amount and read off the codes on the back. >> as soon as they give them the code numbers, then the money is gone. >> reporter: after sam had already given away the $8,000 in codes he told his son what had transpired. >> he said you were scammed. no, no, no he's been with me all week. he never left the house. >> reporter: tredyffrin sergeant todd barretta says to of a have i had the situation all families should have their own code. >> so if you have a family code word if somebody is in trouble they'll be able to tell you what it is. >> reporter: police advise if you have caller id and an

unknown number pops up let it go to voicemail. always verify or vet any story like this before sending money. also know no legitimate agency will have you use this payment method. live in tredyffrin township i'm nydia han channel6 "action news. >> upper darby police arrested john fisher the third on child pornography charges after a routine check from his probation officer police say they found image of child porn on his computer. he faces felony charges. investigator its say fisher was released from prison in march for the same charges. >> investigators have determined that an overnight fire at a south jersey assisted living facility started in the basement. firefighters had to evacuate about 70 residents from the brandywine living at moorestown estates before 4:00 a.m. they say the fire was in a utility closet and smoke spread into the main floor of the building. there were no reports though of any injuries. philadelphia police say a

woman fought back after a man tried to attack her early this morning in germantown. this happened after 6 o'clock in the save a lot supermarket parking lot on pulaski avenue. the woman told police a man tried to stop her from going into the store. then tried to hit her with a large stick and threw hot coffee on her. that's when she pulled out a gun and fired two shots hitting a nearby security guard in the leg. the suspect ran off unharmed but was quickly located and arrested. the security guard there is expected to be okay. >> all right. in the meantime meteorologist melissa magee is here now with another check of the work week forecast and bundle up all this week. >> yeah, it's really cold. i mean temperatures are really below average but we've got a bit of a change on the way later this week guys. we'll talk about the trend that's going on. here's the picture outside. sky6 live in hd from our city hall camera looking at dillworth parent you can see the christmas tree all lit up as we are getting closer to christmas.

currently in center city we're coming in at 30, dewpoint at 10, winds out of the north-northwest at 9 miles per hour. that wind chill it's cold just 22. over in easton at the nurture nature center the temperature coming in at 28. that north to northwesterly wind brings there that cool air at 7 miles per hour and the wind chill in the lower 20's. the northern half you were to dissect sis map in half, a little milder atlanta, 44 sticking out like a sore thumb jacksonville florida 67 degrees. a change on the way milder air heading our way as we get into the latter half of this weekend into the holidays. so we'll talk about the details coming up with the full and exclusive accuweather forecast. is it wet? is it white? i have the answers coming. >> be sure to check 6abc.com/weather. storm tracker6 radar and the

hourly forecasts are there for you so you won't be caught off guard this holiday season. >> new jersey lawmakers are expected to vote on a controversial bill that could in end costing taxpayers millions of dollars. the measure would allow governor chris christie to profit from a potential book deal before he leaves office. well, governor christie agreed to support pay raises for a number of government employees in exchange for their support for the book provision. but a nonpartisan group says the plan would cost taxpayers $7 million next year alone. new jersey correspondent nora muchanic is following the debate and she'll have the update with a live report at 5:30. when delaware a new agreement was signed this afternoon benefit stubs elementary school. christianian officials gather at the library in wilmington to make it official. the partnership between the district and the university of delaware's college of education will support the school's students and teachers

there. >> a four-year-old girl from lehigh county is giving back to the friends she met at children's hospital of philadelphia. little jillian massey was being treated at chop for brain cancer but a few week ago her doctors deemed her strong in you have to go home and that's when she and her family decided to do something for the patients who will be spending the holidays in the hospital unlike her so they put out a request for toys and the donations poured in. today they brought at least 3,000 gifts to the hospital. >> the general public in their generosity has just been -- i'm going get all emotional. yeah, it's been incredible. i said it was kind of like christmas morning for me today waking up to all this and just seeing all the people that have come out and just knowing what all these toys are going do for all the families at chop. >> it is incredible. ridley township police escorted jillian and her family as they brought the hightoys to chop.

>> sassy mass z pretty cool. hundreds of children enjoyed the archbishop's annual christmas benefit in center city. the choir sang car rolls to welcome the guests of honor to the cher tan hotel. archbishop charles chaput greeted the children before the catholic community choir performed the songs from how the grinch stole christmas. at the end of the day, santa's elves presented gifts to all of the children right there at the party. >> uh-huh. well, the holiday is upon us. that means plenty of people will be baking treats for parties all week long. substituting one ingredient could keep those treats a little more guilt free giving them a little health boost instead. ali gorman explains coming up in health check tonight. also at 5:00 this evening an alliance between two major u.s. airlines broken off. the tension between delta and alaska airlines there has ended one of the closest deals in the business. >> well, merriam webster has revealed its word of the year. the company chose surreal as

the best word to sum up 2016. the word was chosen because of a dramatic increase in the number of searches for surreal on the merriam webster web site throughout the year often in the aftermath of tragedy. >> spiked when the terrorist attacked brussells and then again in nice and also the turkish coup and november 9th and 10th after the american election. >> well, the other top words of 2016 were xenophobia chosen by dictionary.com and post-truth which was chosen by oxford dictionary. >> signs of the season fill the air outside of a delaware county courthouse in media this morning. >> ♪ "action news" was there as more than 75 third, fourth and fifth grade seventy nine ridley elementary performed

christmas classics and some even wore santa hats in the spirit of the season and perhaps to stay warm, too. >> that's a good idea today. [laughter] >> still to come on "action news," a soldier from philadelphia has the ultimate surprise for his mother just in time for the holidays. >> plus, a crash in california sends packages and mail flying across a busy highway. >> also a doctor is out with a warning today about letting young children use technology like ipads and video games. >> and meteorologist melissa magee has been giving us a taste of what to expect this weekend but not the full answer but she will give it to us in the full forecast from accuweather when "action news" at 4:00 continues next. >> okay. >> ♪

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for any sort of discomfort in yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it. >> ♪ >> the driver who crashed a truck carrying united states postal service packages this morning has died. boxes ended up on a california highway after police say the driver flood an abandoned car on the side of the road. crews had to pull the driver from the crushed cab.

he died at the hospital a postal inspector was called to the scene to deal with the mail that was left behind. there are new concerns today about kids and screen time. one doctor is warning that the technology could be as addicting as drugs. the article on addicts to smartphones tablets and video games has gotten millions of views. he says any screen time for young children could lead to adhd anxiety and depression. he says it's because it's simply too much for children's developing brains to handle and argues that it affects normal development. >> most of us are going the drive a car at some point but i'm not throwing my seven or nine-year-old the car keys just yet because they're not neurologically equipped to handle driving a car yet. >> but not everyone agrees. the american academy of pediatrics says that some screen time is okay for children and that some educational programming is actually beneficial. >> all right rick the big talkers this monday. >> yeah. >> we begin with a heart warming surprise just in time for the holidays. a soldier from northeast

philadelphia who has been stationed in alaska secretly new home and surprised his mother last night. [cheers and applause] >> merry christmas. >> well the family says there wasn't a dry eye in the place as sean showed up during a holiday party. as he walked up to his very surprised mom, the dj began to play proud to be an american. this all happened at the cadie o'donnell ire rush pub in the city. sean's dad and sister were in on this big surprise. sean a recent graduate of archbishop ryan high school and has been stationed in alaska since june. he's now home until the end of the month. >> wow. >> pretty cool. >> uh-huh. >> as president barack obama's presidency winds down his staffers had a bit of fun with the official white house holiday decorations. friday white house photographer pete sousza snapped photos of their attempt to prank the president

with a set of decorative snow men if you see it over his shoulder there. in the last three weeks they have been on display in the rose garden but some staff members moved all the snow men so each one was peaking through a different window in the oval office. one photo shows the president signing end of the year bills as a snowman peaks through the one dough. another photo the president realized the prank and had some fun with it. what makes the prank even better is that the president admitted earlier this month that he thought those snow men decorations were a little bit creepy as far as where they were located. >> on the other sifted world even wild animals are getting into the holiday spirit. these two tasmanian devil babies at the australian reptile park had some fun in a especially built winter wonderland in their enclosure and the video is going viral. park officials gave them ice and surrounded it with festive red and silver garland. they threw in some bows and

mini christmas tree ornaments for good measure for these little devils to play with. you can see the two had a lot of fun digging in the ice and sniffing around. the video has been viewed more than 11,000 times on facebook. >> something tells me they're going to have their own show. >> one day, right. >> let's get another check on the highways and byways for your monday night. >> all right, matt standing by with the update for us. hey, matt. >> they're a whole lot calmer than the looney tunes tasmanian devil i'm used to. good afternoon rick and sharrie. the schuylkill expressway always a little bit of a devil as we try to head home in the afternoon. last i spoke with you there was crash here in the westbound lanes by the roosevelt boulevard. accident is here no longer but the westbound traffic is still extra heavy as you come away from the vine street expressway through this point at the boulevard on out to gladwyne. eastbound travel time a little bit slower but on that side it's just a lot of volume. 95 northbound side still have that broken down truck by the airport block lane but there are so many lanes there that it's not causing big delays.

our crash in mayfair along cottman at leon has cleared but there's a crash that brought down a pole in feltonville at fourth and bristol. also fifth and thompson. meanwhile there was a wreck along 309 this afternoon and even though it's gone now we're still looking at single digit speeds there in the hatfield area as well a crash along forty foot road near welsh road by ralph's corner shopping center. in lower providence watching an accident along trooper road near stinson lane. but the good news is in south jersey our wreck on 55 northbound approaching 42 has cleared it. however there's one on williamstown road at sicklerville road. we'll check it again rick and sharrie in the 5 o'clock hour. >> thanks again matt. >> meteorologist melissa magee has the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast next. >> okay.

>> ♪ >> a discussion about christmas gifts is what we're having in the commercial break. >> yeah, what did you get us? >> that's a surprise. >> oh, can't wait. >> i know what it is. >> what we got last year. >> exactly. >> a lot of weather it's on the cold side. sky6 live in hd from our temple university camera. looking at a beautiful shot of the center city skyline. you can see a lot of cars southbound. they're headd that way, at least if you're looking at city hall on broad street. we've got a mostly clear skyway few high thin cirrus clouds overhead. that means it's going to turn colder later tonight. here's storm tracker6 live double scan radar. you can see it's dry, it's quiet no issues with precipitation. high pressure is dominating our region but it's bringing in a lot of cold air. currently in philadelphia after a high today of 34 we're sitting at 30. below the freezing mark in the city. 28 for allentown, the teens up in the poconos. 32 at the coast in cape may

and 31 for millville and dover. looking at the 24 hour temperature change it's about 17 degrees colder in philadelphia than it was the same time yesterday. 21 degrees colder for atlantic city and wildwood than it was just 24 hours ago. here's satellite6 along with action radar. you can see it's dry and quiet, a few high thin clouds streaking across the area but we're staying dry for the rest of tonight. you notice a little bit of precipitation to the south of richmond virginia with a stalled frontal boundary. that will stay to the south of us as well. so for tonight it's turning clear. it's calm. it is cold, just 14 in the suburbs for the overnight low and we'll drop down 22 degrees here in philadelphia. here's the setup for us on our to us. we have this cold high pressure that has been dominating our area. this moves a little farther to the east tomorrow so lots of sun. still below average by 5 degrees. we're coming in at 39 degrees here in philadelphia and again that area of low pressure staying to our south. area of high pressure from the south, though, by the middle half of our work week works into our region so for the first day officially of winter

on wednesday, it will be mild with a high temperature of 44. it's a bright start, a cloudier finish as we track this area of low pressure that moved through as we get into the latter half of our work week. but there will be a change in the pattern. if you look at the six to 10 day outlook across the region so really starting christmas day you notice the colder air out across the pacific northwest, even down into the southwest as well but the above average temperatures moving across the eastern half of the u.s., above normal here in philadelphia, and the greatest above across areas in the southeast and atlanta is included in that so even though it is chilly right now conditions will get a little milder as we go throughout the end of our work week and into the holiday this weekend. here's the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast. tuesday sunny still chilly high temperature coming in at 39. and on wednesday sun to clouds for the first day officially of winter, arrives at 5:44 in the morning and we'll have a temperature of 44. thursday clouds, some sun, maybe an isolated shower. the eagles at home at the linc

and the temperature during the day coming in at 46. on friday sunny with a gusty breeze 46 for the high. saturday is christmas eve, the high of 48 with hanukkah beginning at sundown. the clouds will be thickening up. on sunday it's mostly cloudy with a shower around, a temperature of 49 and it's very mild for kwanzaa that starts on monday, high temperature in at 55. so, looks like san today at a doesn't have any issues getting those presents to all the boys and girls 'cause it looks pretty mild across the region but we might see some reindeer. still to come -- >> right. >> still to come on "action news," holidays can be stressful but a local spa is sharing tips to relax up next in what's the deal. find out what some of the best winter treatments are for dry winter skin. >> ♪

>> ♪ >> all right in today's what's the deal the holidays can be

fun but they can also take a lot out of you. >> a local spa has some ideas to refresh yourself or maybe someone else on your gift list. >> tracy simon always thought app facial peel meant days of red itchy skin before she would start to look better until she tried the peel perfect custom skin care in wyncote. co-owner gigi walk says it's a gentler version of rhett florida or vitamin a. >> you get the benefits having a stronger peel without burning the skin. >> it stays on the skin for eight hours. then you wash it off. >> you can come in lunch town lay down have it cleaned have the peel on and then leave afterwards and go back to work. after about five days, it's usually punished exfoliation. >> tracy says her skin went from flat to glowing. >> it feels a little bit more alive less dry. >> for winter's chapter lips custom skin care makes its own

lip balm which has honey in it. >> it stays on a long time. it doesn't have that waxy fee feel. >> paying gon,paying gone worksr beauty from the body out. acupuncture releases tension. >> we're promoting full circulation. >> after sen sessions over five weeks they may not see a dramatic effect. >> but the people around them in their lives will say wow, like you just -- you've got something different about you. >> and megan says she feels heavenly. >> after i leave complete relaxation kind of like jello. >> she also consults with patients on nutrition regular skin care and overall health. she says you can't have a healthy face without a healthy body. >> i'll say. all right. an extreme deep freeze in the midwest is causing water to freeze almost as soon as it hits the cold air.

a meteorologist in sioux falls south dakota went out in minus 24-degree temperatures this morning for an experiment. he blue bubbles onto a frying pan and only took them a few seconds to completely freeze and that he shattered them. it got as cold as negative 33 degrees in north dakota yesterday morning. >> hm. no thank you. >> for an experiment. >> experiment there you go. >> that will do it for "action news" at 4:00 now for rick williams melissa magee brian taff alicia vitarelli and adam joseph i'm sharrie williams. be sure to join me along with brian adam and ducis rodgers tonight and every night for a full hour of "action news" at 10:00 on phl17. >> "action news" at 5:00 is next. >> ♪

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than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 150 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business. >> ♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with jaime apody, meteorologist cecily tynan, rick williams and monica malpass. >> ♪ >> good evening. we begin with breaking news out of berlin germany tonight. that's where at least nine people are dead, dozens of others hurt after a truck plowed into a packed christmas market in one of the city's main squares there. police said they arrested a suspect near the scene but they do not know if that person was driving the truck at the time.

as we look live now at the scene you can see the truck is still sitting on the plaza right there. the rest of the area has been evacuated. a passenger in that truck died in the crash. germany officials say that federal prosecutors who handle terrorism cases are taking over the investigation but they have not yet said definitely if this was an attack. david muir and the world news team are closely following this story. abc news will have the latest on the investigation coming up at 6:30 tonight following "action news" at 6:00. meantime, it's almost official. donald trump will be the 45th president of the united states. local electors gathered in harrisburg, trenton and dover today to complete the next step of the election process. now the countdown is on to inauguration day as the spotlight remains on russia's potential role in trump's victory. monday night monica is off sharrie williams is joining us and as we mentioned today was the final vote from the electoral college won