ilana gold is live. >> reporter: mary, the people who live on this block tell us that the fire was a huge set back after sandy and here's why. take a look at the damage. the scene out here is just incredible. the flames jump from home to home but this house in the the fire leveled the structure and now it's a giant pile of rubble and some of the families lost absolutely everything. you can't miss the piles of burned up rubble and charred homes after a wind-driven fire spread through the neighborhood on wednesday. chopper 2 captured the fast- moving flames. embers torched a nearby wildlife refuge across the way. thick smoke and ash filled the area. what is it look to walk out and see this damage? >> it's like something, you know, something from a movie happened. it's surreal. >> reporter: this picture shows the house where the fire started when it engulfed in flames. investigators say an electrical short in a wall-mounted air conditioner is to blame. a mother and child inside ran out as soon as they smelled smoke and now they have nothing left. this place is leveled. neighbors tell us

in tribeca, ilana gold, cbs 2 news. >> the city says the penalty for a first offense is up to $1,000. now, i understand what the parents are saying. my kids don't. that's great. that's the best sound they have heard all day. >> have you ever tried to distract them from the sound? >> the kids? they're not having t [ laughter ] >> they're not having it. >> i tried in vain. >> a whole block in vain let's go back! >> i used to start singing and dancing to try to distract them. >> very popular songs, da, da, da, da! [ laughter ] >> it never worked! >> nope. [ laughter ] >>> it is a sign of the nice weather and we have the nice weather in place. let's check in with the weather watchers to see the sort of temperatures they are reporting around the area. 60s and 70s. the pictures must have been more clouds in the area. bruce captures it perfect. this is your sunset in northport. looks nice out there. what we see in new york city as of right now similar shots of sunny skies. you will see wispy high cloud out there. 69 degrees. current high temperature was 73. 10 degrees above average of 63. no

cbs 2's ilana gold explains what they are dealing with. >> reporter: you can't miss the mess on level 4 of the parking garage at laguardia airport for terminal b. various parking spots now coned off where a waxy substance hanging from the ceiling is dripping down. not all the danger spots are blocked off. it didn't take us long to find that unknown liquid hitting the hood of this car leaving behind a chalky film that doesn't wash off. and it's not an isolated incident. >> my car looked like it was covered in paint. >> reporter: rebecca took covered in white spots after being parked here last month. she returned from a trip where her plane got struck by lightning and made an emergency landing. >> i said this cannot be hang. >> reporter: the next day she reported the damage to the garage management company called abm parking. that company sent her an email saying you will need to have your vehicle professionally detailed for the removal of calcium line and it's a known issue at laguardia airport. she was also told to file a claim with the port authority because it's responsible. it owns

cbs2's ilana gold reports. >> reporter: a walk along the water in riverside park turned into a frightening one for ross kennedy and his friend when they got mugged at 8:00 last wednesday. >> this is kerrie. >> reporter: two teams on a bench starting talking to them, then suddenly showed knives on their waistbands and demented wallets and cell phones from their pockets. but the robbery didn't stop here, the criminals stayed in contact with the victims were longer than most holdups. >> the entire time, i was just waiting for it to be over. >> reporter: he tells us the crooks made sure the iphones they were about to steal couldn't be traced. they forced the victims to delete find my iphone and turn off their settings. that way kennedy and his friend accounts from another device and find the phoned -- phone location. it's an app people use if their phones are lost. kennedy says the thieves also made them hit reset on their phones and wipe them clean for possible resale. though the basically got a brand-new phone. kennedy tells us he used a stranger's phone to call 911. then canceled the line w

ilana gold, cbs 2 news. >> he faced a judge in connecticut on monday in connection with a break-in there. police say he woke up a 66- year-old woman held her at knifepoint and then stole her jewelry. >>> a search in brooklyn for a man who tried to rape a woman while jogging in prospect park. a 23-year-old woman told police the suspect armed with a knife grabbed her from behind and then threw her to the ground. he then allegedly threatened to sexually assault her. she said he ran off when she the attack happened about 5 a.m. near the garfield entrance. police have now beefed up patrols. >> we must catch a rapist. there is no other way to look at it, a person who has attempted to rape must be apprehended. >> the woman said she struck her finger when she struggled to get away. >>> a car hit an overpass in southern state parkway. an ambulance driver and patient were killed. the em. it had a broken leg and concussion. the ambulance belongs to a private medical transport service. >>> a crash in queens a driver died after his car went off the whitestone expressway about noon. police say the man

ilana gold spoke with the victims. >> reporter: surveillance cameras at nick's express auto in floral park shows the suspecte d robber at ###-###6 last night while police say his accomplices, a man and woman, distracted the attendant in the parking lot. he goes behind the counter and straight for the register and allegedly grabs $600. and starts quicking him quick -- kicking him. one of one of them intervened. they get into a struggle that moves into the garage. this suspect loses his shirt while the worker tries holding him down and seconds later pipe? >> he tried to hit me. then he -- i try to hold him he hit me. >> reporter: he says the suspect grabbed a hammer, broke the garage window and you see him crawl out and run off. they chase after him and drag him back to the property and hold him down until police arrive. why did you go after him. >> i can't let him go. >> reporter: nassau county police arrested three men in connection with the crime. police tell us this convenience store in franklin square was targeted by those same three suspects two weeks ago. the owner here says they

cbs2's ilana gold shows us why. >> >> reporter: this ice cream truck has drawn plenty of attention in tribeca. and it's not for the treats. >> i thought i was losing my mind. >> reporter: the familiar theme blasted most of saturday and sunday night until 11:00. one of them recorded from their apartment on the 16th floor. others tell us they heard it windows shut. how long was this truck? >> well, i'm almost on the top outside. >> reporter: families claim this was going on for a half- hour at a time. that's a violation of the new york city code because ice cream trucks are not allowed to play music while parked. >> i think this is ridiculous. >> probably going to wake up kids in the neighborhood and be hard to put them back to sleep. they hear it so loudly. >> reporter: many of the people say they want to know what they can do to get the storms to stop. we took this question to the city. the city says call 311 when you hear the music or report it to the website, nyc.gov. there's actually a section called noise from an ice cream truck. give the time, location and truck description so in

cbs 2's ilana gold reports new at 5:30. water at riverside park and 72nd street turned into a frightening one for ross kennedy and his friend when they got mugged at 8:00 last wednesday night. >> it was scary. >> reporter: kennedy says two teens on a bench started talking to them, then they suddenly showed knives on their waist bands and demanded wallets and cell phones from their pockets. the criminals then stayed in contact with the victims for longer than most holdups. >> the entire the entire time i was waiting for it to be over. >> reporter: he said the crooks made sure the iphones couldn't be traced. they forced the victims to delete the app called "find my iphone" and turn off their icloud settings. that way, kennedy and his friend couldn't log into their accounts from another device and find the phones' exact location. it's an app people commonly use if their phones go missing. they made them hit reset and wiped them clean for possible resale. so they got a brand-new phone. >> pretty how much. >> reporter: kennedy u

cbs 2's ilana gold shays consumers love it. -- says consumers love it. >> reporter: customers couldn't believe the cost of a stamp will go from 49 cents to 47 cents. >> i think it's going to be great. we're not going to have to pay as much for our stamps and we mail a lot, a lot letters. >> that's wonderful. my boss will be very happy where i work that we're finally reducing a stamp price. what's attributing it? >> reporter: the cuts on stamps, postcards and international letters is the spike hike to 49 cents congress approved two years ago to help stem the billion- dollar losses of the postal service. in response they said about shaving back prices: despite strong growth in package deliveries, the postal service continues to record unstainable losses and we continue to seek legislative reform. >> i read somewhere about they have to fund the pension system for a certain amount of years which is one of the only systems that does that requires by law that they have to do that. >> reporter: plainview english teacher is right about congress forcing the postal service to overfun its pension

cbs 2's ilana gold explains night. >> reporter: pseg crews working nonstop since 1:0 this morning along university avenue in newark to repair a failure. it caused this manhole rutgers university campus and students captured the flames on camera. broken pieces of that manhole cover now scattered across the sidewalk. >> it was just like flames literally just shooting out of like the ground. i was pretty scared like i was like it's a fire like in school. >> reporter: 140 classes had to be canceled. >> but assignments are still due so we still have to go and go out of our way and try to find a building that has wi- fi. >> reporter: that left hundreds of students scrambling for a solution. two of the dorms had been in the dark, too. >> no power so the showers there's no lights or anything so you have to go in there with flashlights. >> reporter: the power also knocked out at st. michael's medical center that's been using backup generators so patients aren't affected. five other nearby locations including the new jersey institute of technology and even the pseg building have no electricity. >

ilana gold, cbs 2news. >> and there is no word on when the bank will re-open. >>> if you have used a td bank coin counting machine, you may have been shortchanged. the recent tests of 17 machines the penny and now the bank is taking the machines out of service to improve accuracy. anybody with a piggy bank they would like to empty out, you can find a coinstar machine for a fee of 11%. >>> new at 5:00 tonight, two basket ball players are under arrest accused of an on campus smash-and-grab robbery. they are accused of breaking into a fellow student's car and taking $5,000 cash and are charged with criminal mischief and grand larceny. both played in stonybrook's ever tournament game, a loss to kentucky. >>> officials in a new jersey town are trying to get rid of a boat. the 38-footer was left abandoned along the shore in atlantic highlands three weeks ago. a texas man bought the boat on attempting to go to florida when the storm hit and the boat sunk. according to maritime law, whoever touches the boat first owns it and will be responsible for removing it. >> we are trying to work with

cbs 2's ilana gold explains what may have prompted the attack, new at 5:00. >> reporter: a breakthrough in the case of alexandra dyer seen in this picture taken acid outside her office on skillman avenue on august 19 in long island. police call it an attempt to cover up an embezzlement scheme at her company where she is the executive director. people put out a sketch. it left her with severe burns. police arrested the suspect as 32-year-old jerry mohammed. they say he work with two accomplices who were also in custody. we went to alexandra dyer's home in queens. >> we wanted to see how she is doing. >> reporter: her husband answered the door. he and dyer didn't want to talk and when it comes to her coworkers, are you relieved to know there's an arrest? >> yes. >> reporter: the mastermind is kim williams. they say she worked as an accountant at dyer's organization that provides art services to students at the less fortunate. williams is accused of stealing $750,000 from the workplace between 2012 and of that illegal money to her friend pierre and then williams allegedly tried concealing

ilana gold, cbs 2 news. >>> turning to the weather, weather picture lonnie quinn -- we have a weird one come we have severe thunderstorms and feeling like winter before the weekend is over. outside right now, the clouds are starting to thicken up. there's the empire state building. the temperature 78 degrees. new york city. okay? right around bridgewater right warning in effect for hunterdon county and for portions of mercer county, as well. the storms are making their push off to the east. looks like they would get to city about 8 p.m. we'll keep an eye on that. they were moving quickly. maybe earlier than that. just know that they are out there off to the west of our area, west of new york city, that is. unsettle saturday. chance of rain. strong winds will be kicking in saturday night. those strong winds, it's even more so sunday with the big winds. they are going to bring in cold temperatures. it feel really cold waking up early sunday morning. some of could you see some snow. believe it or not the models are starting to pump out some snow accumulations anywhere north of the city pos

he spoke with cbs2's ilana gold. >> reporter: why did you go after them? >> i don't know. it's just my instinct, you get punched, you go after the guy who did it. >> reporter: the teenager who punched spritzer got away. police are charging a 17-year- >> remorse from a man arrested from road rage. pictures show shattered glass from a car window. rosemary iglesias and her wife were sitting at a stoplight in rozelle park when the man got out of his suv accused them of cutting them off. >> he punch at the window. >> i couldn't tell you why i got out. i had my little girl. she is 16 months old. i overreacted. unfortunately, i can't take it back. i probably should have stayed at the scene. when a window explodes in front of you and you know you did something, my first reaction was to get out of here. >> one of the woman was covered in broken glass. she has multiple cuts on her hands, face, and also in her eye. >> the search is on for the person poisoning cats in queens. hundreds of feral cats living there. died after eating chicken laced with rat poison that was left out. an ani

in brooklyn, ilana gold, cbs 2 news. >> right now, state police say they don't have any leads on the other teenagers. >>> a bombshell today surrounding sheldon silver! the man who was once one of the most powerful lawmakers in new york, federal prosecutors say that former new york assembly speaker had affairs with two women and abused his power to help them. now on the circus in albany. [ music ] >> reporter: it was a secret sheldon silver's lawyers fought to keep private but a judge made it public friday releasing documents prepared by federal prosecutors heavily redacted. they outline two extramarital affairs the u.s. attorney was prepared to enter as evidence in silver's corruption indicated under certain conditions. they say he had an affair with a woman who lobbied him on a regular basis on behalf of clients who had business before the state. and an affair with a second woman, who got a state job after silver contacted an agency over which he exercised a particularly high level of control. >> i think the whole district feels very betrayed. >> reporter: she lives in his district

cbs 2's ilana gold shays consumers love it. -- says consumers love it. >> reporter: customers couldn't believe the cost of a stamp will go from 49 cents to 47 cents.