news" tonight is a big puzzle for philadelphia police. they're trying to answer the question who is setting fires in a residential highrise. the building is the sterling apartments at 1815 j.f.k. boulevard. the building has been the scene of six fires in the last two weeks. the most recent one, overnight. "action news" reporter bob brooks is live outside the building tonight. bob, what do we know about the arsonist and what's been going on there? >> reporter: well, jim, this is no doubt a major major problem here. plain and simple whoever is doing this needs to be caught accused of igniting six fires again at the sterling building just behind me. and atf tells us they believe it's a person who has access to the inside of the building. it's not the first or second but around midnight this has become the seventh call for a fire at the sterling building. law enforcement says they

believe it's arson and the arsonist is someone likely a resident living inside. >> it's an individual that has an ax to grind. we believe it is somebody from within that building. >> reporter: the calls started july 13 the last one overnight. resident joseph teague describes the scene. >> about midnight the fire alarms went off. you can't take the elevators so we had to take 18 flights back down. >> reporter: residents are scared and thinking they might have to move for safety. >> let us out of our leases and get to somewhere safer or start doing something about this. >> we're kind of in a tough spot right now with staying here. >> reporter: as you can imagine, residents worst fear is what if one of the fires spreads out of control and they're trapped near the top floor. what's your worst fear. >> i live on the 19th floor and getting down in time. >> reporter: investigators say so far the fires have been small in nature and don't believe the suspect is trying to burn the building down but as fire commissioner adam thiel says every fire starts small. >> this is very dangerous.

all fires are dangerous. even small fires are dangerous. >> reporter: law enforcement also says extra security measures have been implemented to ensure safety but as for a motive. >> i think it's more of an issue that he may have with somebody in the building or even the management company. >> reporter: now jim this person needs to be caught before something catastrophic happens here. if you or someone out there knows who is behind these fires immediately call your local law enforcement. you can get that $10,000 cash reward. for now reporting live in center city, bob brooks channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you, bob. a deadly crash sparked an intense fire at a pool supply store overnight in springfield township bucks county. police say the driver lost control and careened into the building in the 1600 block of route 309 at 1:45. the driver was killed. firefighters say the fire burned hotter and was more intense because of all the chemicals sold at pool pro. hazmat teams had to dee --

decontaminate the crews. >> thieves targeted the avis car rental at philadelphia international airport. the thieves stole four vehicles. one of the suspects was armed with a handgun. the incident happened at 4:00 this morning at the lot near terminal d. the guard is expected to be okay. we are looking at the beach in cape may live. perfect opportunity to bring up the possibility of a thunderstorm early tomorrow. mainly at the jersey shore. but we are looking at the prospect of a great summer weekend. let's go live to meteorologist cecily tynan and the full weekend outlook from accuweather. cecily. >> hi, jim. and temperatures will be cooling off. humidity will be dropping this weekend after a pretty warm and humid work week. take a look at this. four of the past five days temperatures above the normal high of 87. technically it wasn't a heat wave it fell short of that but still it was warm and it was

humid and now things are going to change. double scan live showing a system that's bringing a pretty good line of thunderstorms across central pennsylvania. that will be sweeping east as we head through the overnight hours and there's a big change in the air mass. once you get that system through. right now the dewpoint in philadelphia 62. that's slightly humid. baltimore 71. and a lot of our suburbs to the south do have dewpoints in the 70's. that's oppressive. take a look at the air mass, though. west of that front, dewpoints are in the 50's. that's a very comfortable air mass. that's what will be moving in for your weekend. so, tonight it's friday night. first night of musikfest in bethlehem santana playing tonight. being introduced by vernon odom. good reason to go up and see it at 8 o'clock 78 degrees, by 10 o'clock 74 a nice night with just a threat of an isolated thunderstorm. i'll have more details on your weekend including the shore and the poconos and talk about a stormy start to next week coming up in the full accuweather 7-day forecast.

jim. >> and cecily this reminder. you can get the updated forecast any time on your phone or tablet including realtime views from storm tracker6 live. the 6abc app is a free download for your mobile device. james collins of sharon hill was sentenced to prison today for selling drugs that resulted in an overdose death. collins pleaded guilty last month. collins sold heroin laced with fentanyl to a 28-year-old man who died last october. a judge sentenced collins to 19 to 38 and a half years in state prison plus seven years probation. delaware county district attorney jack whelan says the narcotics task force is continually working to track the source of deadly drugs and prosecute dealers. president trump has left washington for a 17 day vacation at his bedminster, new jersey, golf club. with the president there, the secret service has imposed flight restrictions within a 10-mile radius of the club.

and that's having an impact on a small airport in bucks county. "action news" reporter john rawlins was there today. >> still operating, you bet you. very limited. >> reporter: eisenhower runs the air field. a kind of flying museum its pride and joy made of wood and fabric. the big draw booking sight seeing drives. among eisenhower's best customers motorcyclists. >> they want to go for a ride. they love bikes, they run airplanes. they want a hot dog, hamburger. >> reporter: the post 9/11 world is impacting this antique air field. with the president staying at his golf club in bedminster there's a temporary flight restriction. no private planes can fly in the 10-mile red zone and operations are tightly controlled in the 30-mile orange zone. planes must have radios and a radar tracking device called a transponder.

most of vanzant's fleet do not. only three of eisenhauer's planes are so equipped. after filing a flight plan they'll exit the circle before they can do any sightseeing. >> i'm going to go by the rules. i'll do it exactly like they want me to do it and see how it works. >> reporter: still with most of his fleet on the ground eisenhower is asking the feds for a waiver, a pie shaped wedge of air space that would allow planes without radios and transponders to fly in and out of the ring. >> if i get a 2-mile wide corridor, shoot straight out i can deal with it. if you give me 5,000 feet i can deal with it. eisenhower made his request a month ago. so far he's not gotten a reply. john rawlins channel6 "action news." >> the philadelphia school district will open registration for new multi lingual students on monday. from august 7th until august 25th staff will be available to assist families in the registration process and to screen students in need of language services.

last year 800 students from 70 countries who speak more than 40 languages registered during this period. elected officials in new jersey got a firsthand view of the new paulsboro marine terminal today. senator cory booker and state senate president steve sweeney were among those touring the facility. the paulsboro marine terminal is the first new marine terminal on the delaware river in 50 years. the terminal opened in may. already it employs about 100 people. it is hoped that in the coming years the facility will create at least a thousand new jobs. 210 medical students just took the next step on their path to becoming doctors. this is tradition. the lewis katz school of medicine at temple university presented its newest medical students with their white coats. today at the performing arts center. the ceremony is the official welcome to the class of 2021.

coming up on "action news" tonight, the 10 day musikfest is just tuning up. we'll take you to bethlehem as the big acts get set to take center stage. the start of the new nfl season is coming closer. ahead we will look at how eagles quarterback carson wentz is making strides for season number two. cecily. >> a front will bring us refreshing air for your weekend. it will also bring us storms overnight. i'll have details on the timing and the weekend including the shore and the poconos in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> those stories and much more when "action news" continues tonight. >> ♪ how would you like to earn four times gas reward points?

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bethlehem. the crowds are arriving tonight the first night of musikfest a 10 day extravaganza of food, music and fun. this is a live picture as we get ready for santana at 8:30, the first superstar act of the festival and introducing him tonight will be "action news" reporter vernon odom. vernon has been there for much of the day getting ready for his and santana's big moment. >> ♪ >> reporter: one of the featured bands tuning up for tonight's grand opening of musikfest 17 the nation's largest free music festival. it's bigger than ever, more than 550 performances on 17 stages by well over 400 artists. they come from 29 states and eight different countries. >> we're really proud to be here. we're actually standing beside the main stage. we're playing on the one next to it but next year i want to be there. hopefully if the closing song

goes well and they dig the l.a. hustle we'll be here next year. >> reporter: this is the 34th annual musikfest. the festival has become a great performance venue for many of the top musicians of their time. headlining tonight carlos santana. for the organizers this is a nonprofit labor of love. >> we do this 365 days a year. musikfest is one of 11 festivals we run. we 23,000 concerts classes a year and nearly 40 percent is free to the public. >> this couple drives up from their home on the south carolina coastline every year for musikfest. >> there's such a wide variety of music, of acts, you know, all different things street performers, comedy shows. >> when i came first, when it first opened up in 1984 curiosity. thought a music festival, what is this in bethlehem pennsylvania and i'm actually shocked that it's grown to what it's grown into.

>> reporter: so tonight the headliner the legendary carlos santana. top billing here tomorrow night the legendary band chicago. and the beat just goes on from there. i'm vernon odom channel6 "action news" at musikfest in bethlehem. >> and you can get all the details about this year's musikfest at 6abc.com. you can find out more about the performers scheduled to appear and how you can win tickets to musikfest. members of the variety children's charity took a much needed break this afternoon after taking part in the annie madden sunshine games. the games took place today at the variety club camp in worcester montgomery county. more than 200 young people with disabilities took part in a host of events. some of which targeted camp counselors with a pie in the face or in dunk tank. the games now in their 18th year. >> ♪

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>> eagles back to work. some people are getting just a little concerned about the number one receiver. >> for now we will take the eagles at their word. he's okay. >> okay. >> call it an abundance of caution. the eagles say alshon jeffery's shoulder sprain is behind them. despite that declaration the receiver was a bystander again today. jeffery missed his fourth straight day of practice today with the players off tomorrow coach he'd son says -- pederson says he wants to give him a day of rest. blunt back after missing two days to attend to a personal issue. >> eagles quarterback carson wentz spent the off season working on his throwing mechanics and foot work with a specialist who has also trained tom brady now in camp wentz says slight changes are second nature although doug pederson and the other eagles coaches will remind him from time to time. >> you trust your coaches. sometimes when you seek outside sources and different things you got to try and find

the happy medium. i don't just trust everybody that has an opinion. >> even your agent says go back to what you know. the thing with carson he can press on with the new teaching and the information that he's been given and that's the growth he's going done a great job. >> wentz is noticeably more comfortable in the pocket and with his drops so far in training camp. >> his progression is way passed. he's more comfortable in the pocket. knows where everybody is going to be at. it's night and day. >> this has allowed went and the eagles to open up the playbook and everyone is open to brainstorming idea. >> what can we tweak. what can we improve. i'm bringing ideas to coaches. everyone kind of does their own thing brings back some ideas. >> speaking of wentz's progress and developments he's been without his number one receiver alshon jeffery for four days because of a shoulder injury but wentz is not worried about timing and chemistry. >> i wish he would have been out there but things happen so

i'm excited to get him back. >> wentz is hoping to have jeffrey back thursday in green bay their first preseason game to see how all the changes come together. jeff skversky channel6 "action news". >> to baseball. let's try our luck in colorado. the phillies will begin a series with the rockies tonight. vince velasquez will be asked to stop the pleading. phils swept out of anaheim last night. luis garcia uncorked a wild pitch. what is that? the go ahead run came in, the phillies lost five-four. they'll try to end the three game skid tonight in colorado. temple football is going through its training camp as well. the opener at notre dame is four weeks away. the owls are in a transitional period with a new head coach in jeff cole lanes the players need to get to know him his style and his way of doing things. that goes both ways. coach says he isn't waiting any time he's going full speed. >> we got to get these kids ready and find different

things to make us unique and make it hard for other teams to prepare for on saturday. >> i know it's going the take a lot of hard work 'cause we got a bull's eye on our back i feel like right now. going to take more preparation and things like that. >> check the line. temple a 14-point dog. i like temple. if you're into that kind of stuff. >> i do, too. >> you into that stuff. >> yeah. young athletes in north philadelphia now have a new place to learn a new sport. city officials cut the ribbon on refurbished tennis courts at penrose recreation center today. and to make sure people know how to use them, they've got some tennis clinics going on. the lessons come courtesy of the down the line and beyond foundation. the facility is a part of the city wide effort to rebuild abandoned tennis courts.

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comcast business. >> we have a great summer forecast. >> a little bit cooler than normal, low humidity. good amount of sunshine. we have a few storms overnight to get through. all in all a pretty nice weekend. today not bad. action cam taking a look in franklin square where it's a pretty nice day to go out and play, nice weather in the shade, that sunshine was pretty hot a little bit on the muggy side. storm tracker6 live double scan showing the system i'm tracking it is bringing some thunderstorms near state college. that's the cold front. it rolled through overnight and that is what brings us some refreshing changes right in time for your weekend. so, the accuweather highlights show you we do have some isolated thunderstorms that will roll through overnight.

behind it we get a wind shift out of the northwest turning less humid. all in all a weekend winner. right now it's pretty warm out there. philadelphia 85 degrees. down from our high of 87. allentown 87. trenton 85. atlantic city airport 80 and dover 84 degrees. satellite6 and action radar showing that we're seeing a good amount of sunshine right now. that front to the west, a lot of activity is moving to the north, so we could get a few isolated thunderstorms. the lehigh valley, the poconos this evening but generally most of the activity waits until the wee hours of the morning when that system pulls through. tonight partly cloudy, a late night thunderstorm, 68 degrees in the suburbs, about 72 degrees for center city. so future tracker timing out. the good thing about this, it comes through in the middle of the night. we've lost the sunshine. the heating of the earth. so that means it really weakens. around 3 o'clock in the morning when most of us should be creeping of sleeping we have some scattered thunderstorms across the western suburbs and then early tomorrow morning around 8:30 showers or thunderstorms could

linger right along the shore but then sunshine is back full force across our entire viewing area by the afternoon. enjoy it. morning shower east of philadelphia and the sunshine is back. less humid with those winds out of the northwest 84 degrees the high. sunday very nice as well, high pressure right over us, loads of sunshine, low humidity, 83. the next system waiting in the wings will move in on monday. so, if you are down the shore, waking up tomorrow morning, there will be some clouds, a few lingering showers. sunshine is back by the afternoon, 83 degrees. you're getting a land breeze. not a sea breeze so the green heads will be biting. sunday sunny and pleasant with a high of 80. that ocean temperature 75. heading up to the poconos, very comfortable, breezy, temps a bit on the cool side for august, 72 degrees on saturday. sunday partly sunny with a high of 72. so, the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, looking good. lower humidity tomorrow, little bit cooler, 84 degrees. morning shower possible,

generally east of philadelphia. then the sunshine is back. sunday wall to wall sunshine, pleasant 83 degrees. monday, though, find the umbrella. the clouds are here. it's humid with a threat of some heavy thunderstorms. could be a real intense soaking. 79 degrees but behind that system it cools off even more than over the weekend. tuesday we drop town to 81 degrees, low humidity. wednesday looks beautiful. may have to head to the zoo on wednesday, 83 degrees with sunshine. thursday not bad, more clouds with a high of 81 and friday more humid with our next threat of some thunderstorms and a high of 80 degrees so the storms rolling through while most of us are sleeping. the rest of the weekend looks great. >> all right, thank you cecily. finally tonight some future medical professionals took a big step forward in their careers today. this is graduation day for high school students attending cooper medical school of rowan university's med academy. the program is highly competitive and parallels the

lives of first year medical students. youngsters attend lectures demonstrations and even take part in hands-on clinical work. your future doctors. abc's "world news tonight" with david muir 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 for "action news" at 11:00. >> ♪

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tonight, severe storms hitting as we come on the air. three children just hit by lightning. the emergency calls coming in now. in ohio, a mother killed as trees come down. and at this hour, a major system now moving into the northeast, lightning and damaging winds. more than 1,000 flights cancelled. also tonight, after we learned special counsel robert mueller is now turning to a grand jury in washington, president trump lashing out. >> are there any russians here? >> and tonight, the new warning from his attorney general. the verdict late today. the man once accused of hiking lifesaving drugs 5,000%, from $13 to more than $700, in a new case. what the jury has now decided. the new images tonight. the passenger plane just seconds from disaster. the fire in the engine about to take off. and twin jackpots up for