kristin thorne channel 7 eyewitness news. centers. testing is being offered to anyone who traveled to latin break. the mosquito born virus has been linked to birth defects and miscarriages in latin america and the caribbeans. so far five people in new york have tested positive for zika. would return to the u.s. from russia if he could be guaranteed a fair trial. snowden told a skype audience he would be willing to be extradited if he could make a public interest defense and have jurors decide his case. the former nsa contractor leaked secrets of government surveillance in 2013 before leaving this country. he faces up to 30 years in prison if he were to be convicted. >>> the acting head of new jersey transit is slamming a proposal, one that could possibly avert a strike next month. dennis martin says a recommendation by a federal labor panel that calls for a platinum level health benefits is unreasonable and excessive. union rail workers are threatening to strike after a cooling off period ends on moore 13th. a tentative negotiating se

kristin thorne is live. good morning to you, kristin. >> reporter: good morning, ken. thankfully, they shouldn't have to worry now. they say everything is perfectly fine. i can show you the platform here. they say the biggest problem is being careful on the platforms. of course they are out there clearing but they are reminding people don't run to get on the train. the trains are running fine. you'll get one. just don't slip and fall. i want to show you a bit of the roads. if you are driving, most schools are closed on long island, so you shouldn't have to worry about getting your kids to school, but if you have to head to work, the roads are i mean, the snow has really been accumulating quickly. the town of brook haven says what they are doing is just treating the roads. they will wait until they get action thrice get the plows there. -- 0 -- wait until they get some snow out there before they begin clearing. most of the schools are closed today so the kids have a snow day. i'm kristin thorne, channel 7 "eyewitness news." >>> new york city has issued a winter weather

i'm kristin thorne with details coming up. >>> thank you. also more details emerging about that hours long deadly shooting rampage in kalamazoo, the man they have in custody after he allegedly killed seven people. >>> plus zika virus testing saturdays in nassau county where you can get screened for the rivus this weekend if you -- for the virus this week if >>> welcome back to eyewitness news, a live look at lower manhattan, and a sunday morning, february 21st it. still nice and crisp outside, and man yesterday was glorious. >> it was nice. like a little spring teaser. >> we're getting there. >> we are. >> march begins the psychological easing, you know, seasons. so we're getting there. thanks for being with us, early on sunday morning, i'm rob nelson. >> and i'm michelle charlesworth. meteorologist amy freeze you delivered. >> it was nice yesterday. 61 degrees. comfort that rob finds in the word march. and let him know coming up in the full forecast, i'll show you march in the top snowstorms of history. that's what i'm going to do for you.

kristin thorne is in suffolk county. jeff smith is on the jersey shore. we'll begin with meteorologist lee goldberg outside our studios and he is tracking it all. >> you're not going to be digging out from the snow like we are in parts of long island earlier in the day. the next 24 hours, not talking about big accumulations, but like this, we had light snow return to new york city. a bit of a sheen on columbus avenue. that could make for slippery spots. some snowfall amounts, obviously the east end the jackpot. 5 and a half inches orian point. had a that melted. 2 and a half inches in norwalk, danbury close to 2 inches. new jersey totals, only a trace in newark. we're 32 degrees right now. visibility has gone down a bit with additional light snow. the winter weather advisories and warnings for the most part have expired but the new advisory for central new jersey will now go in to wednesday morning. i think it's tuesday night in to wednesday morning when we can pile up several inches across central and southern new jersey. meanwhile coastal flooding, we'r

in nassau county, kristin thorne, >>> the search for a deadly hit and run driver. the victim, a patient who jumped out of a moving ambulance. eyewitness news at 6:00 starts right now. >>> the son of a former aide faces charges on killing a teenager in new jersey. we've got new information on what led to that deadly confrontation. >>> first, caught on camera, a pickup truck hits three children and then keeps going. good evening at 6:00. i'm liz cho. >> and i'm bill ritter. right now the search is on for the driver of the truck that hit those children. >> the children were rushed to the hospital this afternoon in newark. michelle charlesworth

kristin thorn is live. kristin? >> reporter: hi there, ken. sorry if i turn away from the camera because whatever's coming down right now really hurts. i think it's mostly ice so we're going to turn away and show you looking back at the l.i.r.r. station. you can see we definitely have the snow and ice coming down right now, and it absolutely is sticking. this is a little earlier than we expected for this amount of, to happen. so it is coming down a little bit earlier. school closings, delays, that could be an issue this morning so you want to stay tuned to those as they come in. town officials have asked people to try to stay home today. of course, today is a workday and a lot of people just have to get to work. >> i like the winter, but i hate having to travel to work, nurse, police, firemen, all of the guys that have to be out, even you guys. we have to be safe and get things ready for our family as well. >> reporter: yes, even we have to be out here. she has that right. in terms of l.i.r.r. service, everything is running absolutely smoothly

kristin thorne is live in union square. >> reporter: good morning, ken. at 10:30 this morning, parents of the success academy union scare are planning to hold a rally outside of the building in union square to demand that mayor de blasio assign the office of emergency management to take over repairs here after a fire so the campus can open back again. it was last thursday when an electrical panel in the pavement of the 11 story building caught fire. thankfully no one was hurt. the building was evacuated and since then the school students have been reassigned to other city. the department of education says crews, more than 30 workers, have been working repairs. but they say the damage was so significant that at this time eye taking them a lot of time. parents asked the city to put generators to at least get students back into the building. severe that the generators will do no good. live in union square, kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> the post oscar parties are wrapping up in hollywood. >> some of the biggest stars are going home with the g

kristin thorne channel 7 eyewitness news. >> definitely take it easy. thank you. >>> winds and high tide brought tidal flooding to queens. and the rock aways entire 2 to 3 feet deep in places. a school bus driver forced to shut down as the bus wades through a flooded road right there. wow, well, in new jersey, flooding was also a problem. in new millford, there it was the hackensack river that overflowed its banks. as we head into the evening, residents on the jersey shore are hoping flooding that they saw this morning isn't made worse by another round of high tides. >>> and whether it is snow or flooding, the accu track weather alert app has you covered with the latest weather forecast in your area. you can download it for free by searching abc7ny in the app store or google play store. >>> the site of the crane collapse in tribeca now reopened. however, a section of worth street where the crane fell remains closed while crews continue their repair work. the accident prompted mayor de blasio to add new restrictions on cranes when winds are high. proper

kristin thorn is live as reaction starts to fill in. kristin? >> reporter: dave and shirleen, yes. james ryan found not guilty of the top charges of aggravated vehicular homicide but found guilty on many other charges, including manslaughter and aggravated criminally negligent homicide. he faces up to 15 years in prison. the attorney for james ryan says, yes, of course they are pleased that he was found not really, they were hoping he would get dismissed on many of his other charges. 10 in total he was found guilty of. he was found guilty first of all of driving drunk on the l.i.e. causing a multi-vehicle accident that nassau county police officer joseph oliveiri was responding to. the officer acrossed the l.i.e. to get to some of the cars when he was hit by a different car. that driver is not being held responsible in the death. ryan's attorney says they will be appealing the jury's decision. >> we were obviously very hopeful all along that this would go our way. the appellate issue is still a significant one. i believe the poll lat courts will look at this and change what happene

kristin thorn is live in belmar with the details. kristin? >> residents have been complaining to town officials for years that the spots at the lirr stations are constantly being taken by people from outside of the town from suffolk county, for example, and they say obviously that is not fair to them as taxpayers. so town officials announced that they have a plan to increase the amount of spots available to town residents from 2400 spots to 6400 spots. these are the parking lots, the lirr parking lots that will have the additional spots. these are the sticker permits that will be available to town residents for $10 a year. this plan still has to be on by the town board on february 9th, but it is expected to pass. the new parking rules, again, if this passes, would go into effect april 1st. it will leave only 1200 spots for people who live outside of the mayor says he needs to protect his taxpayers. >> too many times we've heard from people and unless you take a very early train in the morning, if you come any time after 7:00, 7:30, it is virt

kristin thorne is live in union square. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ken. at 10:30 this morning, parents of the success academy union square are planning to hold a rally outside the building to demand that mayor de blasio assign the city's office of emergency management to take over the situation here to make repairs go quicker than they are going and to get the campus open again. it was last thursday when there was a fire in an electrical panel in the basement of the 11 story building on irving place nobody was hurt. the building was evacuated and have been reassigned to other school buildings throughout the city. the department of education says that crews, more than 30 workers, have been working around the clock to make the repairs. they say that the damage is so significant to the electrical gears that it's just taking them a lot of times. some of the parents have asked the city to put in generators to running. the city says the damage is so severe that the generators would do no good. live in union square, kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>

eyewitness news reporter kristin thorne live in hampton bays with how they're coping in that area. >> the east end of long island seems to be the lucky one here. it's actually blowing off the trees and power lines and things like that. has stopped. i want to show you montauk highway. still a little bit slushy but they're used to dealing with this amount of snow in hampton bays. >> i think it's a winter wonderland. >> yes, it is pretty, but it can also be such a nuisance. >> are you sick of it yet? >> yeah, i'm tired of that stuff. >> i think it's horrible. i guess december never came. march wants to come now. it's okay. we're all geared for today. >> reporter: the east end of long island took the brunt of the storm. 6 to 8 inches falling in the hamptons. conditions got treacherous as the full force of the snow came through in the morning but eventually the plows were able to catch up. >> i think the roads were pretty good. you've got to drive carefully but the roads are not bad. you go too fast, it's slippery. the plows are doing a good job though. everything is getting cleaned up. >>

now a reporter kristin thorne tests the boundaries. >> reporter: james ryan was found not guilty of the top charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, but he was found charge and faces up to 20 years in prisonp. >> he was 25 years old and look what happened. >> what happened is james rai and not even 30 years old is facing the next two decades of his life in prison. the father of police officer joseph olivieri, jr. is now without his son. >> we'll be there family and members of this department. >> reporter: prosecutors argued he should be responsible for drinking and daveing and causing a multi-vehicle accident in 2012 the officer was coting the highway to get to stranded motorists when he was hit and killed. that driver is not being held responsibility for the officer's death. ryan's attorney continues to should be facing charges, not ryan. >> i don't think we've heard the last of this case. i certainly hope we haven't. >> we would never been in the situation that officer olivieri found himself in had it not been for the actions of the defendant. >> reporter: ryan is due back in court ma

kristin thorne live in the wood haven section of queens with the story. kristen. >> reporter: dave, wady perez lives in wood haven queens and he is one of the last survivors of this crash who was still in the hospital today. meanwhile, the search continues for one of his fellow passengers, 23-year-old gerson salmon negron is from elm hurst queens. on his facebook page, it says that he is a courier from fedex and graduated from the city university of new york, studying business administers. suffolk police divers continued their search for him around setauket harbor. that's where the small plane went down around 11:00 saturday night. three of the men on board were rescued by responding officers locate salmon-negron. investigators tell us at this perez says his brother had to stay an extra day in the hospital because he has a blood clot. >> they found a small blood clot in his head, and they said it's not life threatening, but, you know, he's going to be able to recuperate. >> and did you talk to him? how is he doing? >> he's doing okay. he's a little shocke

kristin thorne with how it works and the reaction. >> for years town of hempstead residents have been complaining to officials that everyone who lives outside the town ends up taking their spots like the one here in wantagh. soon they may only need a new parking sticker to solve that problem. >> reporter: this parking sticker is a beacon of hope for town of hempstead residents, for nonresidents it could mean some new headaches. >> i will strongly encourage the strict enforcement by the nassau county police department and the town of hempstead public safety to ensure town of hempstead parking compliance. >> reporter: the hempstead board will take up a proposal tuesday that would expand the amount of five lirr stations from approximately 2400 spots to more than 6400. >> you think parking at a parking lot doesn't dictate your lifestyle, it does. because you learn very early on that if you're not there at a certain time, forget about getting a parking spot. >> if approved that parking regulations would go in to effect april 1st at the lirr stations, the regulations would be in effect from

we're live in elmont, i'm kristin thorne channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> also in long island, one police department's new crime fighting tool is taking criminals off the streets. police say they have made dozens of arrests and handed out thousands of violations, all thanks to license plate readers. the cameras have viewed 15 million plates in 90 days, equal to 2000 plates per minute. >> since the inception of this project, we have impounded 548 vehicles, 2008 summons have been issued. returned to the owners and 25 persons arrested. >> officials say the cameras helped them track down a man wanted for burglarizing several churches in nassau county. >>> the state of new york ordering increased security at homeless shelters in manhattan after two recent stabbings. one of them deadly. 62-year-old devin black was stabbed to death on january 27 january 27th inside the boulevard homeless shelter in east harlem. over the weekend, there was a stabbing at a men's homeless shelter in midtown. the state has ordered investigators into both of those attacks. police are still searching for mr. black's k

kristin thorne, eyewitness news. >>> now to vote 2016, and a key endorsement today for hillary clinton. political action committee says it will back the former secretary of state. 90 percent of board members voted to support her. clinton's democratic rival sanders did not receive any votes. >> there's no question that the person that has obtained the most results and benefits for communities of colors and everyone in america in my opinion, but especially getting democrats elected, there's not even close. it's not even close, it's hillary clinton. >> well clinton and sanders return to the debate stage in wisconsin tonight. >>> meanwhile on the republican side, nine days before south carolina's republican primary, candidates converged on that state. marco rubio says he'll keep his campaign going until the republican nomination is decided. kasich. he says while his rivals are ramping up attacks against him, he pledges to run a positive campaign. >>> and the falling price of oil driving down stocks, the price of crude a barrel below $27. >>> as we continue with eyewitness news on this thur

i was watching kristin thorne, meanwhile, what a fantastic sunset. how beautiful is that, we have this beautiful backdrop. when you get a powerful storm, in its wake, there's sinking air and dry air, and deep blue skies and a beautiful sunset. nice colors with the empire they list it as a retro speculative for super bowl 50. maybe the colors of the various teams that have played in the super bowl. 37 degrees. westerly wind at 13. gust to go 21. pressure is recovering. i showed you the new york snowfalls before we went to break. how about new jersey freehold at 6 inches. we highlighted in monmouth and ocean county the possibility of getting to 6 inches. touching at 4 inches. ridgewood new jersey at 3 1/3, and west millford did pretty well. easton connecticut at 9 inches. fairfield 5 1/2, dan bury the low amount at 3 inches of snow. look how much colder we are because of the snow pack here. long island is going to drop into the low 30s and mid 20s by later on tonight. we will have refreezing here. poughkeepsie at 38. 36 in belmar. mainly clear skies ov

a winter storm is slamming the kristin thorne is live where several inches of snow have already fallen. kristin? >> reporter: good morning, ken. well, it's definitely coming down now. very windy out here as well. most of the school districts on long island will be closed today. i want to show you video we got from around the lirr station a short time ago. the plows doming through there and definitely out there this morning. again, most of the school districts will be closed. we are going to show you a little bit here to give you a sense of the road conditions. you are seeing very, very slushy, and the is still coming down heavily. if you are heading out to work, be careful. kristin thorne, channel 7 "eyewitness news." >>> meteorologist bill evans with the forecast. >> if you look in the distance, we can't see any of the buildings down toward fordham or the alfred. gusting 20 miles per hour. temperatures are at 32 degrees. feels like 20s here. 36 toward the east. that's where the temperatures are starting to drop now. winter weather advisories until noon today. winter storm warning unti

eyewitness news reporter kristin thorne is in the section of queens with the story. >>> perez' family say he's still in the hospital recovering. they say he was in the plane coming back from massachusetts after celebrating his birthday there. they're on their way back to long islan changed. >> reporter: on his facebook page, 23-year-old gursen negron says he works as a courier for fedex and that he recently graduated from the city university of new york studying the search for the elmhurst resident is now a recovery mission in the waters of the long island sound around setauket harbor. that's where a small plane carrying him and three other passengers went down around 11:00 saturday night. the plane's engine lost power. police officers were able to rescue three of the men from the frigid waters but they were never able to find salmon negron. his family was too emotional to speak with us on camera today but told us they just want him to be found one way or another. emanuel bobadilla is the brother of one of the surviving passengers. perez. perez was still in the hospital today. >> they

we're live in elmont, i'm kristin thorne channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> just heartbreaking, thank you. >>> there's new information tool in long island that's not making everyone happy. freeport police say new license plate reeders have read 15 million plates in the past few months and the aclu is now speaking out, and saying the program is a significant intrusion into the lives of millions of innocent people. >>> still ahead on eyewitness news at six, uber drivers protesting over the new reduced fares at a 15% price cut. we'll show you how drivers are fighting back. >>> and warm today, really kind soaking rain is heading you like being picture perfect. you should want your banking to be too. stop into td bank and we'll help set you up with picture perfect banking. new customers, open a checking and savings account and you can get a polaroid cube+ video camera on the spot. i do everything on the internet but, it's kind of slow. my friends say i should get fios because it's the fastest. i just downloaded 600 photos in 60 seconds. that's seriously better. (husband) we're out of 2%! i won

kristin thorne, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> thank you. apple now officially fighting the court order to help the fbi unlock the iphone of the a filing today asking the judge to deny the order. the request raises serious issue. >> >. i think conversation and negotiation is the key to resolving this. this is the hardest question i've seen in government, and it's going to require negotiation and conversation. >> he said the questions the case raises should be decided by congress eventually, not the courts. >>> right now parts of virginia are under storm warnings after severe weather turned deadly there. over the past two days violent storms have ripped through the south, at buildings in pennsylvania, destroyed. amazingly no one hurt, but i tornado? >> yes, several tornadoes. over 20 to 30 tornado reports. >> which is unusual in that >> yes, in that area, very like a march system, and the problem with the power outage, we have the cold air coming in tonight, and a lot people searching for heat and don't have power. that's a concern into some

kristin thorne. >>> let's talk about mass transit and we have some changes subway status at 56th street. downtown changes on a saturday it is a weekend major holiday schedule. saturday for metro north, also have a sunday schedule for staten island, and two and the three subways. >>> all right. thank you heather. >>> dress warmly it is cold and we have snow on the way as our camera roof camera cross the park, 17 degrees. >>> we have this winter weather advisory that is in affect for this the snow that is to our south and then you could see it goes to ice and rain the further south and west. that's what we'll have today. and east coast to connecticuit, down the jersey shore a little to nothing on the eastern and long island, pretty quick but we could have 1 to 3 inches of snow north and west. that gets going after lunchtime. we have a cold rain tonight, heavy rain tomorrow could be flooding possible. >>> thank you. >>> we have more local news in 25 minutes in the meantime good morning america is up >>> good morning, america. a battle brewing over the supreme court. the race to replace jus

in nassau county, kristin thorne channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> man, talk about something you may have never imagined they were out there doing. bizarre. very important. >> csi-li. >> come over here, swab. >>> it is big dog sunday. >> hey, you. >> you know what guys, this little guy, no matter how long your legs are, and how deep the like this, what does it matter. it's going fast. >> cameron spelled run on the end. i love it. this is big red chilling by the fire. what a huge dog, right. big red is definitely dutch. another one sent in during the snowstorm. love to see the dogs trolling around in the snow. ready for the next storm, rudy, and nicholas sent in by twitter. and harley, wow, what a huge dog, good looking one, too. and go broncos, a lot of dogs ready for the super bowl. that tongue, though, right. doug matthews sent it in. you like being picture perfect. you should want your banking to be too. with picture perfect banking. new customers, open a checking and savings account and you can get a polaroid cube+ video camera on the spot. >>> coming up in a few minutes, gm a's weeke

kristin thorne. >>> streets were packed in new orleans for fat tuesday, the crowd going wild for the parade. chilly temperatures couldn't keep thousands of people away from bourbon street, but the elaborate float, coassume, bands and more will be a distant memory by tonight, it ends at midnight, lent starts tomorrow. >> oh, yeah, lirr. apparently they had signal problems. >> bad news for commuters is what's happening overnight into tomorrow morning. you know what the light snow fall did this morning. we could do that again tomorrow morning. now visibility is going down a little looking to the south, light snow into new jersey and snow flakes in staten island, nothing heavy, and the temperatures are above freeze, but the snow showers are expanding across the area. high today in the mid-30s. four degrees below average. last year on this date we had a trace of snow fall, and it was 29. look for periods of snow developing through the evening hour, steadier overnight, and going into the morning commute, of sun and gusty winds tomorrow during the day. the snow showers try to make it into n

ishg kristin thorne is live with the very latest. >>reporter: police have identified the victim here as 63-year-old jose contrares of the bronx. he was crossing webster avenue when he was hit and killed by a black suv. detectives are canvassing the area, trying to talk to anyone who may have seen anything or looking through surveillance footage from the area to see if they can see what this suv was involved in and what the license plate of that vehicle is. it happened around 1:30 this morning around webster avenue along the entrance ramp to the cross bronx. when ems responded, they found the victim with severe trauma through his body. he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. this incident, one of four hit and runs in this city just last night. we're live in the mount hope section of the bronx this morning. >>> police are investigating the murder of a beloved business owner in new jersey. friends and family held a candlelight vigil for jamal gains outside the sneaker store that he owned in raw way. the 21-year-old was shot and coa

kristin thorne is there. >> the town of hempstead says they're dedicating an entire unit just to deal with potholes. they're calling it their pothole s.w.a.t. team. time of year again when you have to watch the road, not just for other cars, but for potholes. the town of hempstead is strategy. >> this includes placing additional workers on pothole response teams as well as using foremen to proactively seek out potholes in addition to fielding residents' calls. >> reporter: the town is increasing its number of hot boxes from nine to 24. >> two other departments have joined the highway team in the battle for smooth roads. parks department and sanitation department workers have been cross trained to do the roadway repairs. >> reporter: according to aaa, americans spend $3 billion every year repairing their cars because of pothole damage. that damage can cost anywhere entire suspension. >> this program that we're implementing today gives us the opportunity to be proactive in hempstead town. obviously our goal is to provide the very best services to our community and to our residents. >> t

kristin thorne. >>> thank you. still more news ahead. >> eyewitness news news at 5:00 starts now. >>> now, new york's number one news. channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> a rescue unfolds 62 stories above midtown when two workers are trapped in a stalled scaffold, but tonight not everyone is praising the fdny for the swift response, and tragedy in brooklyn, a toddler killed in a fire, the big question tonight, was she home alone? and an angry passenger takes new information on how she knew thousand operate it. i'm sade baderinwa. >> i'm diana williams, and it's a nasty day outside. snow and rain moving through now and get ready for more. >> that's right. lee goldberg is outside our studios on the upper west side with more. >> reporter: good afternoon, we're down to a light rain in new york city, to the north a different story, temperatures close to freezing and still wet snow. look at central park right now, rain fall and gusty winds out of the east niese gusting over -- north east, so even in the bronx just north of gw

kristin thorne is live. now structurally unsound. we are hearing i'm going to show you a little bit what's going on here, really not a lot of movement left at the scene the department of buildings has to come in here and give firefighters permission to go the investigative work they nee to do. you may be seeing ice on the trees there. the cold really did not affect them at all that they are used to working in these conditions, just was uncomfortable. street. spread to two neighboring homes. four people suffered minor injuries. the cold this deputy chief told me really did not have an affect on the firefighters. they are used to working in these type of conditions. >> the cold is always a challenge but didn't cause any problems fighting the fire, uncomfortable. >>> i was so cold, eventually i they'd take us in. >>> you are taking a live look street. speaking of the cold because they had to use so muff water to put out these fast moving street here. you'll have to be moving around engines and stuff like that, they have to make sure thi