. >>> and i'm liz cho. coming up at 6:00, an mta driver accused of taking a city bus on a joyride and driving drunk talks exclusively to eyewitness news. we will tell you what he was saying, what's really going on. >>> and with polls showing donald trump's lead in the republican race for president shrinking, he unveiled a new tax plan today. we've got the details on who trump believes should be paying more and who should be paying less. 6:00. i'm bobby flay and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world. come fall, i like to get a taste of everything the state has to offer. like this famous winery nestled in the hudson valley. or the award-winning vineyards of long island. this cooperstown brewery belongs in every beer lover's hall of fame. you can even try new york's exceptional cider and spirits. this fall, drink in the beauty of new york state. plan your trip at iloveny.com. >>> if you have a credit or received a new card in the mail recently. now it has a high tech chip to help reduce fr

. >> and i'm liz cho. shirleen is off today. we're going to begin this half hour with new video of cars that may have been set on fire intentionally. >> overnight, two cars went up in flames on long island. now police are trying to figure out if they were intentionally set. this happened in hicksville in nassau county. >> kristin thorne is in hicksville with much more. >> reporter: nassau police tell me they believe the same person is responsible for doing this, that is something the owner of these cars also believes. look, you can see one of the cars here that was set on fire early this morning. if you look there. this is -- these two cars are the family's only two cars. a neighbor tells us that she saw someone pouring gasoline over these cars early this morning. we obtained this exclusive cell phone video which shows the cars on fire. this happened on morgan street in hicksville around 2:00 this morning. a local fire department did have to respond to put the flames out. neighbors tell me they did see a suspicious person around

. >> i'm liz cho. a high school in new jersey takes action against a football player caught on video hitting helmet. also, the high school science teacher charged after his drone crashed into the u.s. open faces a judge. his attorneys reveal new details on where he planned to fly the machine. >> meet some really excited kids practicing to sing for the pope n take a look at these bbq trophies: best cracked pepper sauce... most ribs eaten while calf roping... yep, greatness deserves recognition. you got any trophies, cowboy? whoomp there it is uh, yeah... best insurance mobile app? yeah, two years in a row. well i'll be... does that thing just follow you around? like a little puppy! the award-winning geico app. get this. i was at my shop tied up with a customer when i realized the time. i had to get to the bank before it closed, so i made a break for it. when i got out it was almost closing time. traffic was bad. i knew i was cutting it close. but it was ok. i use td bank. it's got the longest hours and

. >> i'm liz cho. new at 6:00, the mta unveils changes on more than two dozen arrives in new york city. i'm michael douglas, and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world. and there's no time to see it like the fall. take metro north to take in the beautiful fall foliage from high above the hudson. swing a club at one of america's greatest courses... see spectacular sights underground... ...or thrilling sights above it. there's so many incredible ways to experience the fun of fall in new york state. plan your trip at iloveny.com. so, i needed to deposit a check. i was about to head to the bank, but out of nowhere it just started to rain. like really rain. [clap of thunder] i did not want to go out. [clap of thunder] but then i was like duh, just use your phone. mobile-deposit-techno-thingy to the rescue. >>> new at 5:00 a heartless theft in new jersey. ramp inspect front of his home stolen. >> when his neighbor in garfield heard about it, he got to work. new jersey toni yates spoke to

good evening at 6:00,ing i'm liz cho. >> i'm bill ritter. the plane reporting engine trouble then the engine stopped before 5:00 tonight. >> landed then crashed into trees behind the swim club in rest skill which is in per again county. we know the plane took off from lyndon. two coast guard volunteers were on board. they were surveying the hudson river at the time. an eyewitness news viewer tftd posted this video of rescue workers on the ground after the crash. >> right now those rescue workers are at the scene. this is a live picture from newscopter 7. it has been over the scene since this happened. this is 11 miles north of the nearest airport to the south, teterboro. new jersey reporter anthony johnson is on the ground for us with the breaking news. >> bill, we did get word there was a plane in trouble heading to teterboro airport. it never made it there. we talked to a couple of witnesses out on the scene. they said when the plane was traveling over the field there was no power, no engine, the propeller was not moving. let's show you wh

. >> i'm liz cho. at 6:00, pope francis expresses his unhappiness over a proposed security plan that will separate him from crowds during the public during his visit to new york city. plus, a strike threat by school bus drivers that could affect thousands of students tomorrow. >>> tonight eyewitness news gets the first look inside a safe school. it was outfitted for free with high-tech security to protect students and staff in the event of an attack. >> this school doesn't feel like a for trees. the safety features blend right in. here is eyewitness news reporter tim fleischer. >> reporter: as parents pick up their children at st. elizabeth catholic academy, they can take comfort in knowing this pre-k school is one of the safest in the city. >> one of the reasons i went to this school is because of the security system. >> reporter: parents are seeing extraordinary safety measures installed here making each of eight classrooms a safe room against a potentially intruder. >> take a closer look. you can se

good evening, i'm liz cho. >> i'm bill ritter. lots of talking about hurricane joaquin. it's been a decade since a cat 2 hit the u.s. but lee says it's too early to know the path. >> some communities are taking precautions. in belmar, new jersey, to long beach on long island they are shoring up the beaches there. but before joaquin we have other problems in the form of heavy rain heading our way friday. >> we have two reports. new jersey reporter anthony johnson but we begin with lee goldberg with a new storm track. >> more support for a targeted

i'm liz cho. >> i'm bill ritter. >>> first breaking news, another night of train problems on the lirr. this after a week of troubles. >> right now cancellations and delays in both directions, the cause this time signal problems. shannon sohn is in newscopter 7 and over the scene with the latest. shannon. >> reporter: you can see the trains here are stopped at the best they are stopped moving slowly past us, at the worst cancelled but these are the signal problems west of jamaica station. you can see the train starting to creep forward. because of this you can expect 30 minute delays both ways on lirr, new york city transit is cross honoring but only at the atrium heading westbound towards penn station from sutton boulevard and again delays systemwide. reporting live from the lirr, shannon sohn, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. >>> now to the pontiff's visit. the pope trying to spread his message of caring for the environment and caring for each other but for millions of people the logistics of this visit could dramatically alter their daily routines. >> tonight we will spell i

i'm bill ritter. >> i'm liz cho. much more on those stories in just a minute. >>> we are beginning tonight with the weather and the heavy rain that is now heading our way. >> of course, yes, we need the rain but too much too fast, it's not a good thing. the worry is possible flooding so in belmar, new jersey they are now building sand dunes to protect against rising water. >> meteorologist lee goldberg is tracking the storms and he's outside our studios on the upper west side. >> four days with wicked onshore winds and water piling up along the coast regardless of the interaction with joaquin. bigger umbrella tonight and thursday, small umbrella on friday. flood watches on well to our north and west and that gives you an indication, that's where the heaviest fall tonight and into tomorrow morning. rainfall is going to be light and intermittent for the next few hours. this batch of rain starting to bend toward the area later

. >> i'm liz cho. world news is up next with david muir. eyewitness news returns at 11:00.

. >> i'm liz cho.

. >>> and i'm liz cho. coming up at 6:00, an eyewitness news exclusive. >> i can't tell you where he was but i know he was nowhere in front of the bus. >> for the first time we hear from an mta bus driver who was arrested after he accidentally hit and killed a pedestrian. this as the city makes changes that could lead to fewer arrests. >>> plus, stunning charges tonight against day care workers. how they allegedly abused infants and toddlers. it's all coming up n it took serena williams years to master the two handed backhand. but only one shot to master the chase mobile app. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank. >>> it's shocking video, a driver strikes a woman with his car, gets out to look at her, and then just drives off. that suspect's picture caught clearly on surveillance video. now police are trying to track him down as the victim describes the cold hearted crime. eyewitness news reporter darla miles has the story. >> i remember, i saw him, i was laying down and i s

i'm bill ritter. >> i'm liz cho. >>> delays and headaches for long island railroad commuters heading home tonight. >> this after a freight train derails west of hicksville this afternoon and that put one of the two lirr tracks out of service for the evening rush. >> long island reporter kristin thorne is at the scene tonight with our lead story. kristin. >> reporter: liz and bill, crews are here on the scene, you can probably hear them right now trying to remove this train from the tracks but that is going to take all night, so, yes, eastbound customers on the port jefferson and ronkonkoma branches are facing 30 to 40 minute delays. it happened around 1:00 this afternoon, two cars of this new york and atlantic railway freight train derailed. it was just west of the hicksville train station. >> i heard the screeching of brakes and originally i didn't think much about it and then a few minutes later i had realized that like the train [000:59:58;00]

. >> i'm liz cho. eyewitness news with david muir is up next. eyewitness news comes up at 11:00. we leave you in central park. look at that. >> not the great lawn but the great om. these are yoga gurus doing it including my wife.

. >> i'm liz cho. world news with david muir is up next with more on his interview with hillary clinton. eyewitness news returns at 11:00. have a great night.

. >> i'm liz cho. world news with david muir is up next. eyewitness news returns at 11:00 after the 301 million- dollar power ball drawing.

. >> and i'm liz cho. world news with david muir coming up next. eyewitness news returns at 11:00. have a great night. >> bye-bye.

. >> and i'm liz cho. world news tonight with david muir is coming up next with the very latest on that urgent manhunt for a cop killer that

. >> and i'm liz cho, sandra bookman is off tonight. the mass tomorrow will cap off pope francis' whirlwind and historic visit to the u.s. destination philadelphia this morning. and a busy action packed day. got underway. he immediately rushed off to celebrate mass at the cathedral basilica of safeties peter and fall -- saints peter and paul. and then a group of people serenaded pope francis outside the seminary where he will stay. >> later, standing at the lectern once used by abraham lincoln for the gettysburg address, the pope spoke about religious freedom and emigration outside independence hall. >> but it was his appearance tonight at the world meeting of families that drew the biggest crowd. the biggest applause. and the biggest laughs. eyewitness news anchor bill ritter and reporter josh einiger both in philadelphia tonight. bill, we'll begin with you. >> reporter: it was quite an evening, joe and liz. i tell you, here in the benjamin franklin parkway, a long and exhausting day for the 78-year-old pontiff. but tired, this guy? ps

. >> and i'm liz cho. >>> world news tonight with david muir is coming up next. eyewitness news returns tonight at 11:00.

i'm liz cho with bill ritter. you are looking at live pictures at wall street. that p if you look in the back seat, you can see pope francis. >> that is a fiat. >> you can see pope francis sitting in the back seat with secret service with him as they get ready to begin this motorcade heading north and up to st. patrick's cathedral. >> the pope left washington about ten minutes. he was supposed to leave at ten to four. he left about 4:25 landing at j.f.k. about 5:09. we don't believe, we didn't see it land but we believe it came in around the same time as the delta flight. now that we begin "eyewitness news at 6:00" the pope's leg of the first trip ever to new york city with quite a view of the skyline, association l he is driving in are a car sandwiched between secret service s.u.v.'s. i'm sure it's secure. a small car, modest by any standard but in keeping with the pope's philosophy and his vows as a jesuit of poverty and i'm looking. looks like there are three secret service on board this little car and the pope there. they are talking to him. apparently the f

. >> we pulled a clip of you and i and liz cho covering the last pope, pope benedict, when he was at yankee stadium. there we are right there. it was kind of magical, and i would say the politics of benedict are not necessarily in keeping with a lot of politics, certainly jesuit politics and a lot of politics in new york. but the outpouring of emotion was wonderful of this man. one out of three people in new york city are catholics. this pope has touched people who are not catholics. he has gone outside the religion, and i think we're gonna see a lot of people who are not catholics coming to see this guy. >> well, and we already know a lot of people who aren't catholic who really like him. there's something about him that transcends these categories, and certainly political categories, but even religious categories. he was very comfortable when he was in argentina working with rabbis and imams and people from all different faith backgrounds, and he himself has also reached out to agnostics and atheists, which i think is totally appropriate. >> he was in cuba. he's in cuba this weeken

liz cho takes a look back at his life. >> reporter: he was born hooray mary jolt. he grew up in a modest neighborhood. at 43 he was ordained as a priest and in 1998 he became the archbishop of buenos aires. march 13, 2013 he was named the 266th pope becoming the first pope from the americas and first jees you it priest to be the spiritual leader. in another first, he was the only pope to adopt the name pope francis. as pope, francis refused to live in the luxurious papal palace. he chose a simple two bedroom apartment. he shunned the extravagant custom made pope mobile preferring a version that allows him to be closer to the people. it is the people and the plight of the poor that francis made a priority. in fact, he caused a bit of controversy within the vatican when he washed the feet of two women and two muslims at a juvenile detention center in rome. >> he had a deep understanding of human frailties. he talks about his own sinfulness personally and openly. >> reporter: francis has not shied away from deviling into some of the vatican's taboo topics like homosex

i'm liz cho. later on eyewitness news, we will talk about taking mass transit while the pope is in our area. new details how new jersey transit is planning to get everyone to and from the different events. >>> a word of caution about apps to help improve the way you look in photos. that is and more at "first at 4:00". >>> time for stories popping up on social media feeds. we call it the feed. a heated dust up between a taxi driver and uber. the video was posted on facebook and going viral. >> if i see you again you are dead meat. follow the law and get a real job. >> the taxi driver threatened the uber driver and lashed out at a passenger. the mayor in ottawa wants the taxi driver fired. the driver has agreed to stop driving until the investigation is completed. >> that probably happens all the time but caught on camera once. >>> how many of you have put your kid on you thebe and go oh, look at him singing a song. a mother's battle after a judge ruled in her favor against universal music. you tube

i'm liz cho. later, artifacts from ellis island saved after superstorm sandy being returned for the first time. we are there as they are put back on display. plus, a home buyer's trap that almost cost one couple 12,000 dollars. the shocking bill that they received after buying a house and how to make sure that you don't get caught with the exact same bill. we will have those stories and much more beginning at "first @4:00." >> nina pineda to the rescue again. >> yep. >>> it's time for the stories that are popping up on your social media feeds. we like to call it the we begin with the uproar over facebook's decision to remove a post about an antipolice t- shirt with profanity on it. a sheriff in michigan asked his online friends if they thought the shirt was appropriate for sale. facebook flagged it as a hateful message and took it down. critics say that limits free speech. facebook has not issued a statement. >>> another controversial thing going on, virginia team has started a campaign to get the

good evening at 6:00, i'm liz cho. >> i'm bill ritter. we broke a heat record but this was the hottest day of the summer. >> temperatures soared into the high 90s. not an easy day to work outside. these guys were in midtown. some schools in connecticut without air-conditioning ended early. norwalk were among those dismissed two hours ahead of schedule. >> no question the place to be today the beach if you got off work. this is a live picture of asbury park on the jersey shore. we have two meteorologists working this story. jeff smith and lee goldberg are covering the heat. lee is outside the studios. >> reporter: feels finished july 4th. it's roasting out here. look at the highs. not only the hottest day of the summer but hottest in new york [000:59:58;00]

. >> i'm liz cho. more on those stories in a minute. we begin with breaking news. a child left alone in a park in brooklyn. >> police now say he went there with his day care group in sunset park and he was left behind. eyewitness news reporter jim dolan at the 72 precinct in sunset park with the breaking news. >> reporter: what a nightmare for the parents. they drop their son off at day care and the next time they see him or picture is in a tweet from the 72nd precinct talking about an abandoned child left at a park. take a look at this little guy, little 2 or 3-year-old boy in the superman shirt. the day care center took him and his classmates to the sunset park playground this morning and when they left, according to police, they miscounted the children and this little guy was left behind there at the playground. someone saw him, called police. police brought him to the 72nd precinct and for a while nobody came to claim him because the parents didn't know he was missing. they sent out the tweet then the parents came running to the precinct.

i'm liz cho. >> i'm sade baderinwa. what a moment, liz, you were talking about the charm of the event. pope francis loves children. and some of the messages that he was echoing. father,ly get you in here in a moment, was about dreaming. you know. this is a message he talked about before while he was in cuba with the youth the dream. to keep on your path of hope. right now, we are actually looking at a live shot of thousands of people are. and liz, you have been talking about this in the last hour or so. there. they don't have enough security to get all of the people there is some talk that everyone is not going to get through. it is now 5:00 and the pontiff is on his way there. let's go to diana williams who is at central park with a look at the situation there. diana? frustrated people i'm sure. >> reporter: hey sade and liz, we are surrounded by people here. everybody can sense that the pope is going to be here shortly. we can feel the excitement is growing here. everybody knows standing up for the most part, you have

. >> this is new york's number 1 news, channel 7 eyewitness news with bill ritter and liz cho. >>> the nypd stages a major security drill involving city and federal agencies with the pope's visit to the united states now just about one week away. >>> and today we learned new details on the widespread security planned for new york city. >>> but first, exclusive video of an mta driver accused of driving drunk and going for a joyride in a new york city bus. >>> good evening, everyone. i'm joe torres. liz and bill off tonight. >>> tonight the mta has suspended the driver who now faces serious charges. police size hi blood alcohol -- say his blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he drove erratically on the northern state parkway on long island. so how did he get inside the bus on his day off? eyewitness news reporter kristin thorne in jamaica/queens with our lead story. chris tick. >> reporter: joe, police say alexander copeland simply took the bus from outside the bus depot here because it was parked on the street. the mta will not discuss how its bus drivers get ont

. >>> good afternoon to you, i'm liz cho? and i'm david novarro, this is eyewitness news first at 4:00, just a few minutes ago, pope francis stepped off his plane to cheers arriving in the u.s. for the first time in his life. he's just the fourth pope to visit america. and the first since pope benedict xvi in april of 2008. now washington is the second big leg of the pope's tenth foreign visit. >> it was a remarkable scene and this was the scene earlier today. he was in santiago, cuba after traveling through the down area in the pope mobile, he told cubans to strengthen the bonds of families saying the break up of families fragments society. he left cuba following a fare well ceremony that the president castro attended. >> after washington the pope will come here to new york city. today, the nypd installed more security cameras near central park and our coverage begins right now with political reporter dave evans in pope has a very busy couple of days ahead. >> reporter: good afternoon david. as you know, it is always importa