nina pineda, channel 7. >>> what a difference. >> if you want to save money on energy in your home, go to our website for the energy grants and rebates that are available. plenty of them in our area. it will definitely safe you money. >> always a good thing. so you got your jog in for the night? >> i sure did, i sure did. i saw some officers in their suv going around making sure the park is okay, stay warm, get back in the studio! it's cold but the wind hand picked up yet. the empire state building will be like an icicle tomorrow. the high today 27, so here are the frozen facts. the coldest so far this winter, we should match that sunday morning. coldest ever in new york city 15 below, not that low, but wind chills that low. our numbers still in the upper teens and lower 20s at this hour. this wind chills about 10 to 15 at this hour. by morning a few snow showers around. 8:00 a.m. probably east of new york city, gusts over 30 miles per hour. temperatures dropping through the teens with a mix and clouds and sun. wind chills early will drop to about 0, just after day absolutely daybreak,

one long island customer got creative and tells nina pineda how she's set to knock nearly a thousand dollars off her annual oil bill. >> reporter: pattie stillwagon saved a bundle by asking her oil provider to match a competitor's price. >> they had $1.99 a gallon. i'm paying close to $3 a gallon now and my contract was almost up. >> reporter: she called pitro which allowed the long-time customer to break the contract giving her the rock bottom price. savings on her last fill-up, $244 and her in at a lower price. she was at $3.16 for a gallon. now she'll pay $2.09. >> reporter: in westchester consumers can log on to the county website and compare. what area providers are charging every week. >> to understand what price you're paying and what price you can or should be paying. >> i think the consumer should know what's really out there with full service companies and be able to really feel it out. >> reporter: eddie says his company will match any long-term service provider price. but you have to ask. in pattie's case, the question really paid off. >> if you don't call and you don't a

how investment in energy efficiency pays offer, nina pineda and 7 on your side with a two-year experiment proving the point. >> reporter: just having been here two years ago it was draff if i and -- drafty and cold. you could feel the wind inside the house two years ago literally. flames flickered out, smoke sucked out by crack, all costing hundreds of dollars this lost heat, but now no more freeze or money blowing out the window. >> you can feel the warmth. >> reporter: you can feel it and see it through an infrared camera. the bedroom wall used to be freezing. >> reporter: what a big difference. >> it's a 20-degree difference almost. >> reporter: after a 49-dollar heat awed did i showed the trouble -- audit showed the trouble spots, they pumped in cellulose insulation. >> we had a crew of five to six people every day in here. >> reporter: new jersey offers a $5,000 rebate if you qualify then a 0 percent interest loan. the bill is just 83 bucks a month here. >> the energy bill went down. >> reporter: the proof in the paper, a savings of nearly 700 on the next bill. >> the cost of the loa

in maplewood, nina pineda, eyewitness news. widespread plastic pollution throughout the waterways surrounding new york city. the group nynj bay keeper collected samples from several waterways including the east river, the passaic river and raritan bay last year. the study estimates that there are at least 165 million plastic particles floating in the harborrest chair at any give --est area at any given time. >>> the bragging rights belongs to the girls' swimming can diving -- and diving team for carmel high school team in indiana. the team won its 30th consecutive state sham ship. the coach -- championship. the coach said the key is continuing improvement. >> you know the girls here are -- this is only their fourth one with and while it's 30 for the program, every year you know there's hay i need to do it. and honestly no one wants to be the team that loses. so there's a little bit of positive pressure there too. the team won nine of 12 events at the state meet last night. >> that is pretty impressive. >> my oh my. >>> stay are

nina pineda, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> a bus driver involved in a pileup charged. new developments just in on this next, what the driver was doing seconds before the collision. >> a prison guard pleads guilty in the escape of two inmates. what he admitted to helping with for their escape. >> and the battle brewing between broadway shows and i hope we have a buyer for the house. me too! what are the neighbors doing here? bill! hey! come in, come in! i didn't know your home wifi could stream so many devices at the same time. dad, it's time warner cable. 300 megs. crazy-fast. and we were right across the street the whole time. the whole time. make your home as connected as possible with time warner cable. with speeds up to ultra-fast 300 megs. get 50 meg internet for $39.99 per month. call now. anybody? dad! you can get wifi all over this place. cool! switching is easy. i know, right?! you get a one-hour arrival window, no contract to sign, and a money-back guarantee. do you want to take a look-- pizza-rolls are done! take a look at the kitchen... get 50 meg internet

. >> reporter: nina pineda, eyewitness news. >> the wine was just for a prop i'm told [ laughter ] >>> so the headline here is no digging out. >> yes, just a little snow overnight. that's not to say we won't have slippery condition, we could have that again tomorrow morning. outside vizzibility not great looking -- visibility not great looking downtown, but the snow hasn't really reached the ground in new york city with intensity, just failurelies. 34 -- flurries. 34, the humidity climbing throughout the night. the high above freezing. some snow showers in the morning commute tomorrow, then winding down. mission of clouds and sun. winds -- mix of clouds and sun. still gusty into tomorrow night. snow has been. cooing down across new jersey, moving into northern new jersey. keeps trying to get to staten island and falling apart, but a few showers survive the trip, and some rounds over ocean county to toms river. we're still in between two lows here and the front is going to cause snow showers for us, but eventually it becomes the primary storm. the lightning there pulling all of the sno

. >> reporter: nina pineda, channel 7 eyewitness news. >>> a wayward dog lost in a storm tonight back home. but only after a dramatic rescue. >> all the way up. all right. >> firefighters pulling sky to safety today after he spent two days down a 14-foot sinkhole in pennsylvania. he fell in during a snowstorm monday. sky was a bit shaken up during the ordeal but fortunately was not hurt. >>> meanwhile another dog rescue. this time in virginia after a dog broke through the ice of a frozen lake. firefighters using a ladder to get out to the dog. they grabbed the scared pooch, trying to get it on to the it on to shore. two dog rescues for you. both dramatic, both with good endings. >> always nice. >>> we've got amy freeze in for lee goldberg. did i hear a mention of possibly snow coming up around the corner? >> yes. there's a few showers scattered and isolated west of the city but there's a major storm next week and that's one we'll be talking about down the stretch. we've got a few bumps in the roller coaster ride. what a beautiful night. temperatures falling near freezing. we're curren

nina pineda, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> go now. i even found some money myself. >> she's taking us to dinner tomorrow. >>> so we've got a mixed bag tomorrow. we've got rain, we've got snow, and possibly some freezing in the evening hours. >> we've got big time snow. that's what we're concerned about as we go in to the morning commute. george washington bridge looks a lot better than it will in about four or five hours. we've had light rain in new york city. northeast wind at 12 to 21 and high near 60 earlier in the day. so hard to believe. especially in this area, comack, ronkonkoma, 6, 8 inches in these areas tomorrow. 34, monticello. cold air diving in from the north. right now you can see it. as the low moves up the coast and the north winds continue to increase, it valley and we'll get even colder. by 8:00 in the morning, peak time. north wind 15 to 30 miles per hour. sun is coming out just after lunchtime and the evening commute will be a lot easier. this is putnam county. just got a tweet from there saying could we be a littl

. >> nina pineda is here with more. >> >. and we'll be shelling out more than ever before, the price going up 40 percent in the last two years, so we put together a chocolate checklist so you get the best bang for your buck and your bite. at mindy's it's crunch time. >> it's sweet, it's simple, it's delicious. >> reporter: but some chocolate isn't this simple anymore. they have number, term, wild ingredient, and prices. this box of real gold encrusted chocolate, 14,000 for six precious pieces. so we came to the chocolate lab at the institute of culinary education for answers, is all that high end chocolate really shaped box for a hershey bar for 71-cents? >> as with most things in life you get what you pay for. >> reporter: he runs the bean to bar lab like a scientist, and says cost varies are on where the chocolate comes from. you'll also pay up for bars made according to community- minded manufacturing rules. >> certainly something like organic fair frayed and rain forest -- trade, and rain forest alliance are evidence of c

in the newsroom, nina pineda, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> changes to protect everyone from here on out. that's great. wow. >>> still to come on eyewitness news at 5:00, another troubling incident involving a hot toy. one family claims a hoverboard caused major damage inside their home. more and more new york city i hope we have a buyer for the house. me too! what are the neighbors doing here? bill! hey! come in, come in! i didn't know your home wifi could stream so many devices at the same time. dad, it's time warner cable. 300 megs. crazy-fast. and we were right across the street the whole time. the whole time. make your home as connected as possible with time warner cable. with speeds up to ultra-fast 300 megs. get 50 meg internet for $39.99 per month. call now. would anybody like to see the kitchen? anybody? dad! you can get wifi all over this place. cool! switching is easy. i know, right?! you get a one-hour arrival window, no contract to sign, and a money-back guarantee. do you want to take a look-- pizza-rolls are done! take a look at the kitchen... get 50 meg internet with u

nina pineda with the story. >> despite the trauma of the incident, the 24-year-old had the courage to call out chase bank. chase refused to refund the rape victim after it allowed her attackers to recash the checks she had already mobile deposited. the bank blamed her for the fraud, in her words, she felt kicked while she was down. >> they treated me like garbage. like i felt like trash. >> reporter: it happened days before thanksgiving, jessica philips was walking home from her subway stopped when she says she was lured into a basement apartment and sexually assaulted by a group of men. >> it was bad, and it was violent. >> the first thing she said to me, mom, i've been raped. >> reporter: her mom got the shocking call in dallas, learning the man who attacked her daughter also stole her she called her daughter's bank, chase right away. >> she had the debit card from her checking account and two credit cards. >> reporter: also stolen, these checks, two weeks earlier jessica it deposited them using chase's app on her phone and wrote deposited on each. a week after the account was restr

nina pineda is here now with the story. >> the clients say they didn't even know the landscaper had a beef. they recall paying him a thousand dollars two years ago then say he never showed up to finish the sprinkler job and collect the final $100. then this hit-and-run that left a rather large clue behind, but that only left part of the problem solved. >> reporter: they're enjoying a quiet saturday at home when their oldest daughter heard a >> oh, my god, a car hit a tree. >> i think i was in just shock. just shock. tree. it was a car that smashed right in to her mom's suv. >> it was driving down the street and as he was driving he threw a pipe, hit the back of the truck, smashed the glass, and then drove right in to my wife's truck. >> reporter: police say this man bashed then bolted. because of this. he left it at the scene. right behind my wife's truck. >> reporter: the suffolk county police report states the suspect even confessed. >> that he crashed in to parked vehicle one then took off because he knew he was at fault. >> reporter: he was charged with criminal mischief, reckless

. >> nina pineda is here with what you need to know. >> last year we had the refunds direct deposited in to our bank accounts. it seems easy, right? until things went way wrong for a staten island couple. their refund got sent to strangers and getting their money back turned in to mission impossible. >> it was a lot of frustration, a lot of stress, and a lot of sleepless nights. >> reporter: taxing. that's what linda mcmann calls it. trying to get her federal tax refund. >> i was out $3,688. >> reporter: unbeknownst to her, her accountant efiled her 2014 taxes using one gargantuan glitch. >> he never had our account numbers. i wanted a paper check. >> reporter: they blamed a computer crash that sent the money to another client. >> when they realized they got the money, did they return it? >> no, they didn't. they spent it. >> reporter: before the money was all gone, new york state was able to grab its portion out of the account and return it to linda but the federal irs, despite letter letter, was no help at all. >> the irs at the end told me the accountant was responsible and he was

and that's why we have 7 on your side's nina pineda here with your february buying guide. >> and diane here's a good tip, if you have a nice dinner in mind, look for deals on groupon. it may not be romantic to bust out a coupon, he or she may think you're super smart to save money. this month is not shy on sales, big ones. >> this year, honoring our presidents comes a day after you have satisfied your sweety's sweet tooth. >> this month has great holiday shopping. >> president's day, valentine's day,. >> descending prices will begin by this week, says ben glazer of deal news.com. >> look for store wide discounts at kmart, 20 to 70% off. >> reporter: you'll be good as gold to save money on jewelry. but not so much on other valentine's day gifts. >> you're not going to see a lot of deals on chocolate february 14th. >> reporter: winter outer wear is all priced to get out the door. >> the fall and early winter were mild weather wise. people weren't buying winter apparel, and that left retailers with a ton of unsold coats and scarves and hats. >> bedding and mattresses, if you sleep through

nina pineda. >> they're called porch pirates. thieves who trail behind delivery men then pounce and bounce, making off with precious packages. how do you protect yourself and how do you stop them? one victim was lucky enough to go to the videotape. >> reporter: this surveillance video shows how it takes seconds to do a package grab and go that netted these guys hundreds of stolen goods. >> they're out in 10 seconds. >> there it goes. >> reporter: holding in their 22-year-old and her neighbors. caleigh arrived to michigan arriving with just a couple suitcases. her mom sent necessities in a care package. >> comforter. i had blanket. >> reporter: all jammed in to a box weighing nearly 20 pounds and shipped out via ups. >> i remember when she first sent it, she said she had to sit on the box and tape it up. >> reporter: when her belongings went awol she surveillance cameras. after 4:00 in the afternoon the ups man comes in and drops off packages in the front hallway, visible to anyone looking through the glass front door. less than a