"action news" delaware valley's leading news program. with rick williams, sara bloomquist, and meteorologist, david murphy. good afternoon sara bloomquist is off.

a disturbing social media threat has parents and students on edge in south jersey. >> and a former aide to the president is expected to plead guilty. but the big story on "action news" is the inferno that destroyed or damages dozens of school buses in the lehigh valley. it tore through a bus garage and forced the entire parkland school district to cancel class. >> bob brooks is live with the lightest. >> reporter: hey there rick, officials up here think this has caused quite a few dollars in damage and in excess of $20 million in damage behind me. we are up next to it. you can see how charred the buses are. 16 damages and totally destroyed and 14 others around here badly damaged bought of the heat coming off the fire. but the good news is no injuries. let take a look.

officials say within minutes the bus garage on stadium drive was fully engulfed. 16 buses and plenty of fuel for a fire to burn and our crews captured the sounds of explosions inside. the end result 16 buses destroyed burned to the frame. and the parkland school district superintendant says that 14 other buses parked around the building sustained damage. the buses make up one-fifth of the district's fleet. they hope so have back in session by monday. >> and we have a tight group of superintendents and many colleagues have reached out to us with overing us their surplus buses to utilize. you know we feel we should have ample number of buses by monday. >> the good news is no one was hurt. right now the superintendant estimates between the damaged buses and property there is likely more than $2 million worth of damage. >> we had 10 year warranty on

the buses if they were new buses and all 16 in this garage were. so it shouldn't impact the general fund budget. >> a look live you hate to see that happen to 16 new buses but the good news they have insurance and any activities scheduled for tonight in the district. they are set to go as planned and they have other school buses up here and not a guarantee that school will be back in session by mon. they could take as long as until sunday to make the decision. so families should be on stand by. bob brooks, channel 6 "action news." >> all right, bob, thank you. now breaking developments in the russian investigation, rick gates is now expected to plead guilty. this is a major turn of events after gates entered a not guilty plea last fall. facing charges into russian

meddling in the 2016 election. in a letter gates says he will better serve his family by pleading guilty. we'll have more coming up in a full report later at 12:30. a disturbing threat has students and teachers on edge at the gloucester county institute of technology. police are looking into social media posts warning of a school shooting today and classes when on as scheduled and police say that the students are not in danger and jeanette reyes has more on that and similar threats at two other local schools. >> the the florida high school where 17 people died last week is reopen for teachers today and the community is reeling from word that the only armed guard at the campus did nothing. he stayed outside.

>> reporter: as stoneman douglas high school opens back up we are learning disturbing new details about what happened that day. >> for the first time teachers are returning to stoneman douglas high school and first responders are sharing heart breaking moments from last week's school shooting. many barely able to describe what they saw. >> my wife is a teacher there. an assist director -- now new details from that day are raising red flags, the shocking admission from the sheriff's office. when the shooting broke out an armed student resource officer was on campus in uniform and the deputy arrived as the shooting was occurring and he stood outside for four minutes. >> i saw a department arrive outside of the west side of building 12, take up a position and he never went in.

>> when it came time to get in there and do something, he didn't have the courage or something happened. but he did a poor job. there is no question about that. >> the president bashing the deputy but doubling down on the call to arm teachers. >> schools have to have some form of protection. gun free is a chance for these crazy people to come in and shoot. the teachers remain mixed. >> that would be way over the top. this is not stone man prison. it's a high school. >> if i can carry a gun in school and protect anyone in my classroom then i will. >> the students are able to go back into the high school on sunday for orientation for families and start out on modified class schedule you'll with law enforcement and counselors on hand. new today at noon the trump administration is hitting more

than 50 vessels and shipping companies and trade businesses with sanctions on the latest bid to turn up the pressure on north korea on the nuclear program. he made the announcements during the speech at the conservative action conference in maryland. and once again called for armed teachers in schools. he spoke to reporters about the importance of this earlier this morning. >> if there is gun inside held by the right people. highly trained professionales, will you see this end. >> the white house has invited democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut next week. and is out spoken advocate for more gun restrictions after the sandy hook shooting. keep your umbrella handy we are dealing with on and off rain throughout the day. sky 6 hd showing you the view of center city and a murky misty friday afternoon. meteorologist, melissa magee, is

tracking the latest conditions from the weather center. happy friday rick. as we go throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the weekend we deal with on and off precipitation. here is sky 6 hd. look agent philadelphia international airport one flight just took off but you may want to check ahead for weather related travel delays, visibility down to two and a half miles, as we go throughout the rest of our february, looking at what we typically city as far as rainfall. little more than 2.5 inches of rain and so far for this month, we have seen more than 5 inches and we add on top of that through the rest this have afternoon and into the weekend. the chance of rain certainly persists, we have a 90% chance of finding precipitation later on today. and 80% saturday and sunday. and then the chances dip down as we get down into next week with the sunshine returning by then. here is stormtracker 6 live double scan you see we are tracking a lull in the activity now and more mist our off to the west in western pennsylvania and

tracking the rain out through the ohio valley and that heads our way into the rest of our weekend. something else to keep if mind a winter weather advisory that stays up for carbon and monroe counties for 1:00 today. freezing rain say big concern and monroe county they have seen a half inch of frozen precipitation. as far as the temperatures are concerned with an easterly wind coming in off the atlantic it's a raw and chilly day. currently in philadelphia coming in at 41 and 38 in reading. and looking at the weather headlines a damp and dreary weekend and keep the up brels and wet weather gear on stand by the next several days. brighter skies prevail next week and the good news no snow in the next seven days. more details in the full accuweather forecast. >> i'll take rain over snow any time. thank you. of course get the latest on the forecast for the weekend and check stormtracker 6 live double

scan live any time on your phone or tablet. a massive fight broke out at a high school basketball. video shows referees and coaches and police officers pulling players and what appeared to be fan as way from each other, at this time it's unclear what sparked the violence and officials ended the game early. today is the last day for philadelphia families to enroll their family in free prekindergarten for the 2018-2019 school year. the school district of philadelphia will offer extended hours today until 6:00 p.m. to help the families complete their applications and reminder to be eligible children must be at least 3 years old on or before september 1st. a full list of what you need to enroll a child can be found on

our website at 6abc.com. still ahead on "action news" at noon, the latest casualty of the nationwide epidemic a teenager from pennsylvania. and we hear the message from his heart broken parents and two men are charged in armed robberies of local wal-mart stores. and melissa magee is back with a closer look at the seven-day forecast from accuweather.

a teenager from monroe county, pennsylvania, has died from the flu. robert welter was a student at the school. he died of complications after being admitted last friday. he had a few minor health issues but was a relatively healthy teenager. >> people if you are live with this, save your children so you don't have to go through what me and my husband are going through. >> the teen's father says his son got the flu shot two weeks ago and it takes two weeks for the vaccine to kick in and start providing protection. two men are charged in connection with armed robberies and thefts at wal-mart stores. 28-year-old john beverly and

28-year-old marquise foreman face 40 counts of stealing $50,000 of merchandise during 10 instances. some of the crimes occurred at the wal-mart stores at pots down and king of prussia and norristown. during one of the holdups police say they put a gun to an employee's head. more lawmakers are calling for the governor of missouri to resign now that he is facing felony charges. he is charged with felony invasion of privacy that he took a compromising photo of a woman without her knowledge. the indictment was announced yesterday the day after he admitted to the affair with his hair dresser and the 43-year-old vowed will he not step down. and a number of famous faces take to the stage on hollywood's biggest night.

they have announced the list of performers including mary j. blige and common, they will be performing oscar nominated songs and you watch all the action during the 90 and academy awards here on 6 abc march 4 and at 8:00. and here on "action news" at noon a milestone for general hospital. the hit soap is celebrating their 14,000 and episode.

health check this noon.

america's childhood obesity epidemic appears to be getting worse. a new study finds the significant rise in the rate of severe obesity among preschool children at ages of 2 to 5 years old. and increasing from 1999 and 2016. and african-american children and hispanic had higher elevations of obesity than white and asian children. and we had a chance to catch up to two stars of general hospital. alicia vitarelli spoke with them about their upcoming live show for charity. >> general hospital is the longest running scripted show in the history of television. and today at 3:00, right here on 6 abc, the show is celebrating a landmark. it's 14,000th episode. monoco is on the show for 20 years, a philadelphia native born and raised in the frank

ford section of the city. the dedication gh have especially here in philadelphia it's something that is passed down a family tradition of sorts. as for miller he quickly learned how passionate our city is as you take to social media to chat with the stars districtly after each ep today. >> there are fan wars and discussing and very, very serious. >> very series especially in philly. >> i don't want to mess with a phillies fan or a soap fan either. >> they have a unique chemistry and took their show on the road this weekend for a live event. they are hosteling killy live. raising money for next gen face. for children with severe facial deform tis. >> hopefully we have a cool

interactive experience for our fans. >> some fans get to reenact scenes. >> it's not just your typical q&a and smile and leave. >> we have a great rapport and many of you have noticed the chemistry. tickets are available. we have a link at 6abc.com. alicia vitarelli, channel 6 "action news." the "action news" team is working on news stories for later today including an edition of freebie friday including free pancakes and cheese burgers and also delivery damage, and several amazon customers contacted "action news" with video showing drivers hurling packages at their doors. what the company is saying today at 4:00. and the fictional nation of origin and the other is a small mid-western town but that

doesn't seem to matter to some fans we'll explain. in the meantime accuweather is around the corner, meteorologist, melissa magee, with a closer look at the accuweather forecast.

it's dry now in philadelphia and mist and drizzle overhead and the visibility is down to two and a half miles in the city. and allow some extra time especially if you catch a flight this afternoon. you can see light rainfall to the northern and west and mixed precipitation and frozen rain there in carbon and monroe counties in the poconos. here is a picture sky 6 hd we are looking at bloomington, delaware low level clouds than

is the case with the easterly wind off the atlantic and because of that it's raw and chilly outside. currently if philadelphia coming in at 41, 38 in allentown and lancaster and up in the poconos 30 and 42 in beach haven and 42 in cape may and 42 in dover, factor in the windchill with the easterly component and feels like 35 in the city and 32 in allentown and 20 in the poconos and at the coast in cape may the upper 30s in dover. here is what is going on satellite 6 along with action radar showing you we have rain overhead, look off to the west and we are tracking rain moving out of western pennsylvania. and ripples of energy that is what we are tracking into the weekend. moving along the frontal boundary. more activity fires up this evening. another round of precipitation moves into as we get into saturday night. future tracker 6 showing you at 2:00. mostly cloudy and drizzle

scattered about the delaware and lehigh valley. and moisture moving across reading and allentown and we are dry for the rest of tonight and make sure you have a plan b for the plans outside. on this friday night. 9:00 in the morning a mostly cloudy start and once we get the moisture. and especially tomorrow night. and saturday night into sunday. we can pick up an inch to half inch of rainfall. that is when the heaviest of the rain moves in. in the poconos the best skiing weekend and high temperature tomorrow at 47 and the morning soaking on the way by sun and mild high up to 52. here is the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast cloudy today and rain and drizzle on and off and high temperature of 46. milder tomorrow. and mostly cloudy start to the day up to 58 and the rain moves in up to saturday and especially early sunday morning and rainy

by then and high of 62 and the pattern starts to break into next monday and breezy and sun and high temperature of 56, and mostly sunny and nice and brighter skies move in by tuesday, and a high up to 56. wednesday increasing clouds a high up to 54 and thursday clouds with some rain around once again and a high at 52 degrees. we are tracking the rain on and off throughout the weekend. >> thank you. there is more ahead on "action news" in the next half hour at 2:30. get ready for a great meal at a great price we have more on the east passyunk restaurant week. and as we get ready to celebrate black history month we'll take you inside of the museum in south philadelphia.

"action news" at 12:3 0 continues with rick williams, sara bloomquist, and meteorologist, david murphy. >> hello again sara is off and here are the stories, we are following for you now at 12:30. president trump's one time aide richard gates is expected to plead guilty in the ongoing russia investigation. a school district is canceled because the school buses are destroyed by fire. now the details, a former adviser to the trump campaign is

expected to plead guilty in robert mueller's russia investigation and the charges stem from past activities and not directly related to his work for the trump campaign. linda lopez has more. >> reporter: after weeks of speculation that president trump's one time campaign aide was close to a deal. gates told family and close friends this morning. he plans to plead guilty in the special counsel's criminal case against. the latest insider to assist in the investigation into the russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election. gates saying the reality of how long this will take and the cost and circus like atmosphere of a trial is too much. the guilty plea could change the dynamics of the investigation, just one day after gates and