"action news" delaware valley's leading news program. with rick williams, sara bloomquist, and meteorologist, david murphy. this is a very sad day.

across the state of delaware. with the loss of one of our brave correctional officers. >> a 20 hour hostage situation at a delaware prison has earneded in tragedy. it is thursday afternoon. we are following breaking details about the dramatic end to a standoff after the james t. vaughn correctional facility in delaware. katherine scott has more on the investigation but first gray hall joins us to break down how the situation unfolded. >> reporter: well, it's been very intense and dangerous situation in delaware for the last few hours or sox this came to an end earlier this morning as you mentioned sadly one

prison employee will not make it home to his family. the over 15 hour standoff came to an end when they believed the c center where the standoff took place. >> it's with great sad nness i stand before you, we lost one of our family members and it pains my heart to make these statements. >> offices were atemmed to free the last two hostages, one a doc employee was rescued and take and to the hospital to be examined. she was alert and talking and a doc employee, steven floyd did not make it out alive. >> the fourth hostage sergeant steve floyd was found unresponse ive and sergeant steven floyd

was with the department for 16 years. was pronounced dead. >> the disturbance started 10:30 wednesday morning when a corrections officer inside of building c that housed more than 100 inmates radioed for assistance and the employees were taken hostage. >> at this time i cannot give you a motive for at tack. >> plans were put in place to free the hostages and it appears to be political with them mentioning the oppression of the inmates. 100 are believed to be involved. a hostage was released yesterday afternoon and one last night. they breached the building using a backhoe early thursday morning to bring the violence to an end. >> we used the backhoe after the door was open and they knocked it down and the tactical teams

entered and nodes teams quickly located the female staff member and had her removed safely from the building in less than two minutes. >> hearts are heavy here in delaware, we got a picture of sergeant steven floyd. the picture coming into "action news." as we show the picture and remember this employee here at the correction facility. we can tell you he was a husband, father and grandfather and had three children. and neighbors described him address a friendly and jovial man. that picture of sergeant floyd into "action news." hearts are heavy here and the governor of delaware ordered flags flown at half staff in honor of sergeant floyd. >> thank you. lets switch live now to katherine scott outside of the

prison. katherine all 120 inmates inside of that building are considered suspects. >> indeed they are rick. and even as law enforcement is mourning the loss of one of their own. the investigation continues and the governor says it's important to get all the facts to make sure nothing like this happens again. lets go to video from earlier this morning. chopper 6 hd was over head. the james t. vaughn correctional center here in environ. you see the inmates lying facedown and state police nearby and all 120 inmates i side of building c are considered suspects. the inmates came out even voluntarily they were taken into custody and people were able to come out early and they are carefully weighing the information. all the s&ps left in the building were taken outside and searched and taken to the

infirmary and then put into a new cell but this building is now a crime scene and the layout is three narrow hallways with a central hub. and investigators are going cell by cell processing information. >> right now what we are going through is processing the crime scene that is doc and delaware state detectives going cell by cell to collect evidence. at this time i can't give you a motive for the attack or a description of the weapons other than to know we are aware that some had sharp instruments. >> reporter: we are starting to hear more about what was going on during the negotiations, officials say that the inmates were using a number of stall tactics, one of their demanded was turning the water back on and that was because they were filling foot lockers with water

and blockading them against the door to make it difficult for entry and they mentioned they used a backhoe to get into the building and authorities stopped short of say if this was a planned attack yesterday and under investigation how sergeant floyd died. his body was taken to the medical examiners office for an autopsy. >> thank you? and our coverage of the delaware prison investigation continues on line at 6abc.com. and you can read the latest reports and hear the police radio as the standoff unfolded yesterday. and photos from the scene. the search is on for a man that drove his car on to someone on purpose at the jersey wal-mart. it happened in west windsor, police say that a cadillac driver took off after he intensely hit a pedestrian this morning on nassau park boulevard.

he is believed to be a wal-mart employee and is now being treated at the hospital. a cold snap is taking over for the next couple of days outside as we look live from sky 6 hd a pretty picture of the center city skyline but we have seen a mix of clouds and sunshine on a brisk thursday afternoon. david murphy joins us from the big board with the latest. >> reporter: you may have seen in the picture how the cloud cover was sort of lining up in lines across the region and indication of breezes blowing in from the west northwest and cloud cover with breaks on satellite, pretty much what we just saw on our sky 6 hd picture and radar picking up lake-effect snow showers making it over from michigan and pushing through the region. there is not a lot of these and they are mainly up north but they are indeed snow showers outside of reading and as they move east they could put down a coating on grassy surfaces and you may see a slick spot

developing. be careful if you find yourself driving in some of this. it doesn't look to last much longer and as it comes close toward reading and pottstown and places like that it changes to rain. in addition to the clouds and sun mix we are on the chilly side. temperatures 44 in philadelphia for the last 90 minutes and i don't expect the numbers to change much. we may go to 45 or 46, but as with you look at the numbers either way it doesn't matter much. the winds are running in the teens across the region again coming in from the west and adding to that chilly feel. current windchilled making it feel like the upper 30s in most neighborhoods. well be back with colder air in the seven day for tomorrow and saturday and the latest on the precipitation for super bowl sunday. things are looking better there. >> david thank you. president trump spoke this morning at the national prayer

breakfast in washington and addressed his recent phone call with mexico's president in which he was ready to send u.s. trooped down to quote, stop bad hombres and the white house says the comments were lighthearted and about fighting drug cartels and securing the border. >> you hear about the tough phone calls i'm having don't worry about it. they are tough. it's time to be a little tough. we are taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. it's not going to happen anymore. >> trump says he is working to develop a new immigration system one that ensures people working in the u.s. fully embrace our values of religious and personal liberty. >> and coming up on "action news" at noon, doctors announce a new vaccine for the zika virus. and families are heart broken and losing thousands of dollars after an adoption agency shuts

down. and more and more older adults are heading back to college. we check out the trend in this week's art of aging. and david murphy has your seven-day forecast.

the coast guard is searching for a missing scuba diver in the florida keys. 37-year-old rob stewart was working on his next shark documentary, when he disappeared on tuesday. he came to the surface and signalled he was fine and when the boat turned around stewart vanished. the national police officer that fell into the river trying to rescue a woman has been found. 44-year-old eric fell into the cumberland river trying to rescue a woman this morning, the woman and second officer fell into the river and they were both found and pulled to safety. he was an 18 year veteran of the dep. two 16-year-olds in southern california are accused of planning a mass school shooting, they bragged the attack would be

bigger than columbine and they were overheard at an athletic event talking about shooting up the school. and the unidentified students were detained for making criminal threats and conspiracy to commit a felony. president trump is questioning whether the university at berkeley should be granted federal funding. after an appearance by milo, the editor from breitbart news. and they set fires and broke windows. trump tweeted quote, if uc berkeley doesn't allow free speech and threatens violence, no federal funds. and an adoption agency closed all its offices in several states, clients say they invested thousands of dollars to try and adopt a child and now

left with nothing. the center declared bankruptcy this week and the couple says they paid as much as $15,000 to the agency money they fear they will never get back. how safe are you when you take a taxi or uber ride. how some vehicles being used for transportation on our roadways may not be safe and passengers don't have any warning. here is wendy with the preview. >> reporter: all of these taxis may look the same but some may be concealing dangerous recalls and now "action news" has learned there is little oversight to make sewer you are getting around safe. >> when i hit bumps it clunks a little bit. it's not what i view in danger of falling apart yet. >> but what if are you in the car from taxis to ubers? >> it may fracture while driving. >> we find recalls on airbags

seatbelts and doors that open without warning. >> how you can check for yourself before you get in your next ride and the details you need to know. what's more heart-pounding than playing cupid's cash... with top prizes of 50 thousand dollars? how about winning... on the spot.

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health check at noon,

researchers at the university of pennsylvania are reporting early success with the new zika vaccine. made with a different portion of the zika virus and tests done on lab animals doctors say the new version generated stronger immunity than the others and may be fast toward produce, we'll have more on the new vaccine coming up on health check tonight on "action news" at 5:00. the idea of being a senior in college is taking on a whole new meaning as more and more adults are heading back to school. tamala edwards checks out the trend. >> reporter: john hill is a pulmonary administrator at deborah heart and lung center. zpli wanted to pursue a higher said case and life gets in the way of doing it when you are young. >> and like students over the age of 50, the goal is career

advancement. >> after i graduate with my mba i am hoping to tie everything together the course work to make me a better manager. >> and mary jean says the campus is a mix of young and old. >> it brings richness and depth into our conversations, and we have more and more older adults coming back to school. >> la salle is encouraging the trend for older adults looking to advance their career and those that enjoy the idea of lifelong learning. >> we are programs on campus not just for credit, we have guest speakers and invite the community often on to campus. >> and older adults are considering a return to the classroom, john hill has advice. >> don't be intimidated by going back to classes. the youth can learn from you and you can learn from the youth. >> hill says that going back to school was not just beneficial

but necessary. >> classroom stimulated my mind. >> i like to learn and be competitive. the "action news" team is working on news stories for tonight beginning at 4:00. >> coming up today at 4:00, anyone planning to get their party on in houston during the super bowl weekend be ready to pay up. some parties cost up to $20,000 unless you have the look, why some clubs are letting certain women in for free after check ougt their facebook page. and if you are looking for love free apps and paid websites, we navigate the wide world of dating sites. all of that on "action news" at 4:00. >> thank you alicia. more "action news" when we come right back.

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nope. nope. what is this thing? sir, have you looked in the basement? huh. oh, yeah. no wonder. it was hidden behind all of my free weights. if you're not an expert, peco can help. we have lots of ways to help you save energy and money. peco. the future is on.

my fai thfu l followers i clearly see a perfect clear shadow of me. six more weeks of winter it shall be. >> hurray. and with that pennsylvania's most famous groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter. punxsutawney phil saw his shallow in front of a large crowd at gobblers nob. and he is not always right. unlike david murphy records show his predictions are only about 39% accurate. >> are you like 68%. more than 38. >> it will feel windchill like? >> in terms of phils look at lonk range for the next week or two weeks no big snows. >> heard that phil is on his way

to florida. >> four of those next six weeks. stormtracker 6 live double scan right now shows you we are dry across most of the region, but as we hone in on the northern suburbs there are light showers over the mountains and heading toward quakertown. but you may see a little bit of snowflake or sleet pellet in some areas to the north. slow it down if you see it. outside sky 6 hd clouds aplenty over cape may. sunny breaks and you see that if philadelphia but overall clouds doing battle with the sun today. 44 degrees is your current temperature and winds out of the west northwest and windchills feeling like the mid up toer 30s and winter coats outside and extra gear. 45 in wilmington and 45 in millville and i doubt we add too much to the temperatures, maybe a degree or two. and we start to slide again

cloud cover up north with breaks in between. sunshine is not out of the question, we call it clouds and sun and breezy and cold with a high of 39 degrees and feeling chillier than that. jacket and coat weather 45 is the high in philadelphia and breezy and winds from the northwest gusting at times in the mid-20s and that is adding to the feel. 24 for your overnight low, windchills in the 30s and brisk and colder and high of 36 with windchills in the 20s and 34 and cold on saturday. 41 is the high that is just looking like a weak system right now not calling for shrinkles or flurries on sunday afternoon and evening. that is good news for you trying to travel around from the super bowl parties and monday 41 and 51 on wednesday with rain.

>> that is warmer. >> still ahead in our next half our of "action news" at 12:30. more and the end to the nearly day long standoff at a prison in delaware resulting in the death of a 16 year veteran of the department. and those tore stories and more still ahead.

the big story on "action news" at 12:30 is breaking news.

a sad day for the department of corrections in delaware. one of their own is dead and now investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a nearly day long standoff with inmates. chopper 6 hd was high above the prison when the standoff was coming to an end just before daylight. they were led into the prison one by one. and now the task of gathering the evidence givens as officialed try to pinpoint who is responsible. >> "action news" reporter gray hall joins us live in delaware where state officials have given an update on how the standoff started and ended. >> reporter: as you know the last 20 hours or so have been dangerous and intense here in delaware. let take you to the video we shot moments ago of those prisoners being escorted out as