"action news" delaware valley's leading news program. with rick williams, sara bloomquist, and meteorologist, david murphy. good afternoon in the news septa riders arecil facing a

train car shortage on the market frank ford line. and the senate is voting on the nominee for education secretary and the outcome to be split down the middle. but the big story is the calm before the storm. and as we look from sky 6 hd at the jersey shore, gray skies tell the story and on and off showers give way to milder conditions. until then keep the umbrellas handy and you may need your snow booted late this week. something for everyone. let go to david murphy monitoring storm tracker radar. >> today the story is the rain and heaviest rain that came through in the late morning hours pounding part of the region is now over to the east. you see that downpour activity

with the yellows and oranges and some decent showers in burlington county and ocean county new jersey. expect wet roads in and around here and these showers are breaking up at cape may and the northern tier of the region we have a line of off and on showers. every now and then you get a steady drop out of that and probably will come through over the next couple hours. stormtracker 6 live double scan shows you shower activity due west has a chance of popping through especially the northern part of the region over the next couple of hours. and later tonight some stuff in a southerly latitude pops through and the heaviest rain ask the stuff that came through and the rest of it should be spotty and lighter overall. 36 is the temperature we struggle to get the number up in and around the i-95 corridor. you don't have to go south to millville to find 60 degrees, once we get a frontal boundary,

we'll start to transition these sorts of temperatures up the i-95 corridor and allentown gets up to 50. i expect to get to 60 in philadelphia today. here is how numbers go. 48 by 3:00 and 58 by 4:00 and we may wait for it to happen but the high of 60 looks good for late today and early this evening. another mild day tomorrow before a crash if temperature and yes, snow on the way for thursday morning. sara i'll have more on that in a rather weird seven-day forecast. >> i was going to use the same word. weird week. right now a senate showdown for president trump's pick for education secretary is underway. a confirmation vote for betsy devos is expected to get under way now. democrats spend the last 24 hours holding a talkathon in the hopes of taking apart supfor

devos and it is expected to tie 50-50. mike pence is expected to cast a vote for devos to break the tie. >> meanwhile, a confirmation vote for betsy devos is underway and we'll have the latest from washington coming up in just a bit. in other news a federal appeals court will hear argument on the appeal to block the immigration ban. the federal government wants it reinstated but individual states suing trump says his executive order violates the constitution and both sides will present arguments to the nine circuit court of appeals in san francisco and whatever comes out of this is likely to brought to the u.s. supreme court.

william thomas issued a flat denial to his preliminary hearing this morning. katherine scott joins us live with more. >> reporter: sara that is right. william thomas was arraigned today and bail was set at $750,0 $750,000, 10%. investigators call thomas a parents worst nightmare. a serial rapist with crimes over decades and thomas expressed fear over his safety and his treatment in prison so far has been awful. >> william thomas was arrested late last week on child pornography child and five counts of child rape were filed on monday. and he told the judge i am

scared to death that he never n inflicted pain on a child. nor would he want to. and doesn't have an attorney the judge urged tim to contract them at the prison. he went on to tell the judge they haven't let me sleep in days and weeks whatever. thomas ways handyman atville able trailer park on bristol pike where he lived in this mobile home. that he was been assaulting children for the last 40 years, they know of six victims including a relative and that thomas kept details notes about his victims and what he did to them. and prosecutors confiscated nude photos and more than 1,000 pairs of girls underwear and the evidence they found took days to process. >> reporter: investigators

believe there are more victims out there and urging them to come forward. as for thomas, the judge reached out to the public defenders office regarding his safety. >> thank you. police are on the lookout for a man who was robbing women in philadelphia. they believe this man has struck at least four times in the last week, in each case the suspect approached a woman and knocked her to the ground and stole her purse, all the victims are between the ages of 33 and 37 years old and investigators believe the man drives a maroon sedan with a broken side light. >> septa drivers are dealing with delays again after dozens of train cars were removed from service for repairs. annie mccormick joins us live now from the girard station.

>> reporter: yes, yesterday septa did not have the normal amount of riders, maybe because of people taking a long weekend because of the super bowl. or because people knew there could be cars out of service and today was the first test, to see the impact on riders and septa with the loss of the rail cars. it's day to without operating with dozens of rail cars. >> the delays mountain morning were not bad but the afternoon was rough. >> it was packed but they were still running on time. >> septa is monitoring from their command center and keeping stations staffed to help riders. >> we are accommodating, our riders, the market frankford line is very resilient. >> there were delays and a septa

spokesperson says that between 7:15 and 8:15 this morning. >> it was crowded and i got out and walked. >> the whole train was packed. the driver said there were shuttle buses. >> we were able to catch up. we did a better job at managing so many people. >> the 8 inch crash discovered this weekend promised the removal of dozens of cars will not be an easy fix. but septa hopes they will have a better idea how long the cars will be out of service. >> we are going through a rough spot and willing to do whatever they can to help us help them. >> and they are talking about their riders, like we said they should have an update in a couple of days on how they will fix the cracks and if and when they can reintroduce the rail cars back into service but until

then septa will operate on a modified schedule much like today. rick back to you. >> thank you. pennsylvania governor, tom wolf is releasing his budget plan at the state capital building in harrisburg, proposing $2 billion in cuts and cost savings to eliminate the large deficit without imposing a large tax hike or cutting social programs. they are seeking more money for schools. read more about the governor's budget address by going to our website at 6abc.com. still to come on "action news" at noon. double the number of law enforcement officers are patrolling the florida panhandle because two suspected killers are on the run. and a truly raining and snowing on the patrioted parade in boston. >> we'll get a check of the seven-day forecast with meteorologist david murphy when

"action news" comes right back.

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a to alarm fire races through a row home in kensington, philadelphia this morning. an "action news" viewer caught the flames engulfing the home here on jasper street. firefighters were called to the scene at 1:00 and it took 35 minutes to get the scene under

control. two homes were damaged and no word on what sparked the blaze, a full scale manhunt is underway for a man in the panhandle. the two allegedly shot and killed two women at a hotel last week and a third victim was killed over the state line if alabama on friday. police say that a young woman survived being shot in a home invasion near pensacola they believe that the pair may be hiding out in the woods. police say that an officer in texas made a split second decision that likely save aid suspect's life. dash-cam video shows the tense encounter with jeff pain and a man that refused to pull over. the office determined it was a

flashlight and not a gun. and ordered his k-9 to take him down. an 80-year-old man was pulled alive from the wreckage of a plane in north carolina. he survived the plane crashing into a tree slamming into the ground and bursting into flames. the pilot was the only person on board and taken to the hospital in charlotte. federal authorities are heading to the crash excite to begin investigating the cause. the super bowl champions are taking their victory lap despite the wet and gloomy weather, the quarterback tom brady and the rest of the patriots are parading through boston. after they came back to beat the atlanta falcons in houston on sunday. they are riding in duck boats. this is the patriots fifth super bowl victory. >> now that the super bowl sunday is over the light is on

oscar sunday. among the nominees two delaware valley natives. two songs from lala land were nominated and cowritten by ardmore neighbor, ben kasich on the left.

pet owners in 15 states

including pennsylvania are being warned about a dog food recall, some packages may be contaminated with a drug used to euthanize animals. five dogs got stick and one has died and it impacted cans of hunk of beef flavor. they are offering to pay the bills for any dogs sickened by the contamination. and today's journey between new zealand and doha takes more than 17 hours making it the longest flight measured by flying time and they are expected to serve 1,000 meals during the duration of the trip and flown by four rotating pilots across 10 time zones. a ride sharing company hoping to take their passengers into the skies. uber hired a former nasa engineer to research flying

cars. researching takeoff and landing technology. >> well, a diamond may be one of the biggest purchases you make out side of your house and car. and with that we have a money saving must see. here is nydia han with the preview. we could be saving you thousands of dollars, the undercover looking into diamonds. >> some are selling them $6,000 to $7,000 less for essentially the same stone. similar carat, cut, clarity and color. how to arm yourself before buying. only on "action news" at 11:00. >> better watch that one rick. health check this noon, a classic workout with a twist is providing big fitness results. the new york city gym is

providing strength training on water, all exercises are done on an aqua base a floating exercise mat in a pool. every move is more difficult because the base is constantly moving. >> it creates the unstable service and you are forced to stabilize just to keep yourself uprig upright. it's an amazing core workout. it cranks up with burpies and mountain climbers and jump squats. i think someone fell in. >> the "action news" team is out working on news stories tonight at 4:00. alicia vitarelli is here with a look ahead. >> reporter: coming up today at 4:00 whether are you shopping online or swiping your card at the store. there are many ways hackers can get your identity information, we are talking about identity theft insurance, inexpensive to

buy but is it worth it. nydia han reveals what consumer reports found. and meet the philadelphia man who is a barber giving back. instead of handing him money he gave him a much needed haircut and since then his good deed as grown in a big way. we'll share his inspiring story. and you can take us with you on the go. watch us streaming live. see you at 4:00. >> thank you. we'll check accuweather.

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meteorolog ist, david m urphy is here now with a closer look at the forecast that has everything but the kitchen sink. >> i love that. >> stormtracker 6 live double scan showing you it's a little damp after we got hit with heavy

rain this morning. as i go into tighter you see the northern suburbs now seeing some of these showers and they are popping through off and on over the next several hours, but eventually we expect more drying and philadelphia we are seeing that. lets get you outside on the action cam earlier we were at the gazebo we had drying but still a lot of clouds. 46 degrees, it's a struggle to try to get the numbers up there, you don't have to go too far south from philadelphia to about millville to get to 60 than is parked just a few miles south of the city will be popping up to the north and winds from the northeast 7 miles per hour at the surface. 43 in trenton and 48 in wilmington and 60 i talked about in millville and 61 in dover.

future tracker 6 showing you that the rain continues to push on out. by 5:00, 5:30 the skies may brighten a bit and we'll be dry with a little drizzle around or a spotty showers, up in the lehigh valley, mostly cloudy skies and periods of 50 and not as widespread as we saw this morning. 56 and cloudy skies and perhaps a sprinkle or clouds popping through as well. most of what i saw you is pushing off the coast. we'll see if anything else develops. today in philadelphia prepareds of rain and drizzle and 60 is the high and once you get past 2:00 chances of additional rain goes down and the high of 60 may not happen until 5:00 or 6:00. overnight tonight it stays mild a low of 55 degrees, still possible that we see the spot withy shower and winds getting breezy and tomorrow with the winds coming out of the west and behind a cold front we are still mild with a record tying high of

63 degrees, the thing about that, is that a front is pushing off the coast pretty quickly and behind it we'll get cooler air coming down from the northwest. you'll see clouds and breaks of sun and then mild for a while and late in the afternoon and evening temperatures absolutely plunge and look what happens as a result. we are down in the 30s overnight and wednesday overnight into thursday morning, you see how snow alives, 6:00 it's snowing just about everywhere and the heaviest gets out of town at 11:00 and but on the ground when this is done there say possibility of 2 to 4 inches i-95 corridor and more to the north and 1 to 2 down south. this could mostly melt on the roads but again that is thursday morning. tomorrow 63 with temperatures

absolutely plunging overnight and then we get the morning snow on thursday with afternoon drying. thursday high is only 35, 35 on friday. and mother nature doesn't know what they she wants to do this winter so we get up to 50 on saturday and 52 on sunday. maybe a saturday morning shower. crazy weather. >> thank you david. much more "action news" when we come right back.

"action news" at 12:30 continues with sara bloomquist, david murphy. >> here are the stories we are following for you at 12:30. the hunt is on for a man suspected of roughing up women and stealing their purses in philadelphia. and it's a rainy mild day we are tracking the potential for record warmth and after that? snow. a man is on the run from police, we got a picture of the guy they are looking for and learn wrg police say he targeted his victims. "action news" reporter bob brooks live in east oak lane with the latest. >> reporter: rick, this is one of the areas where police say this man is attacking women. again, targeting women and beating them and choosing to do it in neighborhoods like this one, you see wide ope