they cool down a bit, warm up a bit more. it's just dropped four degrees in the last hour in philadelphia, now 61. 59 in northeast philadelphia. still very mild air for this time of year. the cold spot is allentown at 53 degrees. normally, it would be in the upper 30s this time of year at this hour. 59 degrees at 7:00. by 9:00, you'll see the clouds, you'll see some sunshine, and that will warm us up to 66 degrees at lunchtime. as far as showers are concerned, you can see them north and west. your neighborhood-by-neighborhood forecast when i come back in less than ten minutes. but right now, let's check in with first alert traffic reporter jillian mele. good morning, jillian. >> good morning, bill, to you at home as well. still no accidents to report on the highways this morning. looking really good. starting in northeast philadelphia, woodhaven road out near knights road. you can see just a few drivers out there. this is what it looks like pretty much across the board this morning. 95 looks good. the blue route is clear. 76 is also quiet. this is 76 right near university

avenue. a few drivers out there, and that's all we are dealing with. of course, aside from some of that normal long-term construction, especially we're dealing with some in the northeast extension in normal spots. drive times quiet. 76 westbound from the vine to the blue route about 14 minutes. blue route southbound from 76 to 95 will take you 17 minutes and 13 minutes on 95 southbound from woodhaven to the vine. 5:01 right now. negotiations to head off a septa strike resume today at noon. septa leaders won't make a decision until friday, but if there is a strike, it would most likely start on monday. and a strike would halt buses, trolleys and subways. it's public transportation that many philadelphia students use to get to school every day. nbc 10's katy zachry is live in frankford to look at that part of the story this morning. katy? >> reporter: hi, tracy. here's a situation many students can identify with. they live in the northeast, but they go to school in south philadelphia, and they rely on buses, trolleys and subways to get them there. now, if those transportation methods are out of service, they

won't have a way to get to school. so, the district says for those students, if they're late, it is excused. if they cannot get to school during the strike, they'll have a packet of school work sent home. the district is stricter with staff, though. they are expected to be at work on time, which means teachers who take the bus will have to drive or carpool in the event of a strike. the district is also working with police and the philadelphia parking authority to relax parking rules around some schools. what can we expect to see with regards to staff, cars and bicycles, and where would they park those things? >> depending on the school. there will be some schools where there's no parking. therefore, they will have to use the schoolyard just as an emergency. >> reporter: so, with the district putting these plans in place in case of a potential strike, why are parents still so upset? well, i talked to several of them and i'm working on that story for 5:30. reporting live in frankford, katy zachry, nbc 10 news. meantime, happening today,

the school district of philadelphia will hold a public hearing on whether to revoke the charter status of walter palmer charter school. this comes just days after the high school suddenly shut down because it says it ran out of money. recently, the pennsylvania supreme court ruled that palmer violated its charter by overenrolling students and the state department of education stopped paying for the extra students. football coaches at central bucks high school west are receiving plenty of support in the midst of a hazing scandal there. >> a lot of people in that community upset by this. those coaches have been suspended and the rest of the team's season canceled. at a board meeting last night, school officials said the incidents in question happened during a preseason team picnic. they said some players were subjected to humiliating rituals like water boarding and having their private parts slapped. >> no one's doubting that what happened was wrong, and the boys should have been punished. they should have been punished in an educational way, not in a punitive way. >> can't ask for anything more than the support we got in that

room tonight. >> now, all of the coaches spoke last night. they all defended themselves, saying they weren't even there when the alleged hazing happened. and former head coach mike pa teen, a legend in pennsylvania highway football, released this statement -- "from my view, it appears the school district gave little forethought regarding the ramifications of their overzealous, knee-jerk, overreaction when confronted with the hot-button topic of hazing." and a hazing investigation confirmed at cheltenham. it happened september 23rd involving the boys' soccer team. school officials say players used a hazing technique called ripping, which is forcefully pulling up the victim's underwear. now, this morning, investigators will continue sifting through the wreckage of this rocket that exploded just seconds after takeoff last night, looking for clues as to why that disaster happened. nbc 10's vai sikahema is live for us in our digital operations center now. vai, actually there was a project by some south jersey

high school students on board that rocket, right? >> yeah, that's right, chris. that unmanned rocket, as you mentioned, was carrying supplies and also science experiments, including one, as you mentioned, by a group of students from cape may county. six students from ocean city high school were in virginia last night to watch that rocket explosion. their families tell us they were about a mile and a half away from the launchpad on wallops island when it happened. their science project aimed to test the effect that microgravity had on e. coli bacteria. astronauts that were expected to have performed the experiment in space. but seconds after lifting off, the rocket burst into flames. what was left came crashing down on area beaches. officials are investigating what caused the explosion. no one was hurt, luckily, but the launch was damaged and does need to be fixed. and that rocket, by the way, was supposed to launch on monday. we reported that yesterday morning, but it did not happen. just minutes before the launch, it was stopped because there was a boat in the hazard area. live in the digital operations center, vai sikahema, nbc 10.

and of course, you can stay with nbc 10 and nbc10.com for continuing coverage of the rocket explosion. we actually have some great viewer video of the lift-off and explosion posted there on our website. check it out. it is 5:06. today president obama will meet with his ebola response team, which includes members of his public health and national security teams. they will discuss the government's response to ebola. later, the president will speak at an event with health care workers who are on the front lines in the fight against the deadly virus. this afternoon, delaware governor jack markell will give an update on how his state is preparing to deal with a possible case of ebola. right now there are no known cases in delaware. nbc 10 has learned that 105 people are being monitored in pennsylvania, but the three pennsylvanians that were on a flight to cleveland with a nurse who was infected with ebola have shown no signs of the virus. we've also reached out to new jersey health officials for their numbers but have not yet heard back. and that texas nurse with ebola

who flew to cleveland is out of the hospital this morning. she is ebola-free. amber vinson hugged her doctors and nurses before she walked out of an atlanta hospital yesterday. she was diagnosed after caring for a liberian man who eventually died of ebola at a dallas hospital. seven minutes after 5:00, as we turn our attention to "decision 2014," and time is running out in the race for pennsylvania governor with both candidates trying to capture residents' votes, especially those undecided voters. democratic candidate tom wolf will continue his fresh start bus tour, which will bring him to coatesville, chester county, today. and governor tom corbett has not released his schedule of events for it did. we'll follow that for you. with less than a week until the election, the gap in the race for governor is widening, at least according to one new poll. the latest ugov poll shows tom wolf with a 52%-39% lead. last month's poll had corbett down just nine points. coming up this afternoon, nbc 10 is taking a closer look at where

those candidates stand when it comes to philadelphia schools and its funding crisis. that's right here on nbc 10 starting at 4:00. happening today in trenton, mayor eric jackson will swear in six new cabinet members approaching 100 days in office now. jackson says his priority is to fix the government and rebuild community relationships damaged by former mayor tony mack, who is in prison on corruption charges. eight minutes after 5:00. today, new jersey governor chris christie will mark the second anniversary of superstorm sandy with visits to four counties. he'll start in bergen county to meet with people who are actually still working to rebuild homes there. then he'll head to ocean and monmouth counties to visit businesses, residents and volunteers. and lieutenant governor kim guadagno will honor first responders today for their work during superstorm sandy. she will hold a thank you luncheon at the little egg harbor community center. later today, she will tour a home in brigantine, one of the 1,000 homes in the state approved for an elevation grant. and today, the mayor of toms

river, one of the hardest hit communities during sandy, will give an update on the progress that town has made. mayor thomas kelleher will hold a meeting outside town hall to talk about the rebuilding work that still needs to be done there. coming up in ten minutes, we'll hear from homeowners in cumberland county about why they believe the rebuilding process is taking so long. now, your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> take an umbrella with you if you're heading out the door for later today. you won't need it this morning. we're actually seeing some clouds, and that's led us to a mild morning, 50s and 60s right now, much warmer than what we saw earlier in the week. we are tracking some showers. they'll be here later today. once they leave, here comes the cold blast for the weekend, especially. the wind will be blowing and it will not be dry. right now, dry in the pocono mountains, clouds and 61 degrees. 61 degrees in the pocono mountains at the end of october. almost unreal. 57 degrees in trenton, and wilmington in the 60s this

morning at 63. there you can see it is dry now in center city. this is a view from the comcast center. we'll see some sunshine before the showers take over late this afternoon and before that rain arrives. now, when the rain gets here, it's just going to be light rain. heading out the door right now, 19 degrees warmer to start with in parts of new jersey. delaware's running 14 degrees warmer. in fact, everyone is warmer this morning. the clouds will prevent us from reaching the 70s today. we were up to 76 yesterday. today you'll more likely see the clouds take over completely, and that will lead to this, the rain, which is farther off to the north and west this morning. so, the forecast is calling, neighborhood by neighborhood, for temperatures 60 degrees this afternoon in mt. pocono. 63 for allentown, quakertown and reading in the 60s with scattered showers during the later afternoon hours. and the evening commute may see some scattered showers for trenton, northeast philadelphia and mt. holly. sunshine at the shore. showers will hold off until late this evening.

during the day it's going to be dry for rehoboth, cape may and atlantic city. and sunshine and clouds, the temperatures upper 60s this afternoon. late-day showers and then the cold starts moving in. the seven-day forecast when i come back in less than ten minutes. it's 11 minutes after 5:00. every morning you can count on us to help you be aware of any problems or lack of problems on the roads before you get going. >> nbc 10 traffic reporter jillian mele has you covered. jillian? >> good morning. starting off on 422 where things are quiet right now. the headlights you see, that's eastbound as drivers pass route 29 and head out to oaks. 422 is very quiet the entire length right now. this is good news. i had a lot of people tweeting me last night asking if this is going to be reopened this morning. there was a pretty big water main break in northeast philadelphia on southampton road, right near the boulevard. that was closed for much of the afternoon and into the evening last night, but that is reopened this morning. it reopened around 10:30 last night, so that is good news for you there. heading to 76 right near the conshohocken curve, heading

eastbound, you can see average speeds pretty much the entire length. they're in the mid-50s right now. no accidents to report on the majors in pennsylvania, delaware or new jersey. tracy? 12 minutes past 5:00 right now. happy to be headed home. >> really, really, really excited. >> this delaware girl attacked by a dog is waking up in her own bed for the first time in more than a month. later this hour, we'll hear from that little girl and what she remembers from the moments it happened. and laid-off casino workers finally catch a break. the decision that will allow them to keep their insurance coverage for at least a little while longer.

hurricane sandy two years after the storm. this is what it looked like in a part of downtown cumberland county days after sandy came ashore. piers were ripped apart, roofs ripped off houses and water running down the street. as we mark the anniversary, we wanted to know how communities have recovered since the storm, so nbc's jesse gary is live there. jesse, still a long ways to go for some of those people. >> reporter: tracy, that's right, and members of the local community have stepped in, taking time out of their rebuilding efforts to try and save the charlesworth hotel. co-owner jim fonnish says he considered demolishing the five-bedroom bed and breakfast that's been a community staple for decades. sandy put 2 feet of water inside and destroyed the decking outside. cumberland county's location

prompted officials to leave it off the federal disaster list, since it isn't on the ocean, so residents pitched in, volunteering to do much of the needed repairs to help the hotel reopen. >> we have some volunteers coming in to help us do some painting, a little carpentry work, work in the kitchen. >> reporter: the result is much of the damage has been repaired. there's a large volunteer effort this morning at 9:00 to finish what remains. so, what about the rest of the properties in this town and beyond the hotel that are still damaged? well, i'll have that part of the story coming up in the next hour. we're live in downtownship cumberland county, nbc 10 news. a new poll shows a majority of new jersey residents hit hard by the hurricane are still pretty unhappy with recovery efforts. in fact, just one in three storm survivors feel their needs are being addressed. many residents say they've been forgotten by the system and that new jersey leaders have failed to communicate details about

recovery assistance programs. the only group of residents showing overall satisfaction, to be expected, are those whose sandy-damaged properties have been rebuilt. and you can count on nbc 10 for special reports marking the second anniversary of the storm. nbc 10 jersey shore bureau reporter ted greenberg has been covering sandy and its aftermath since day one. today he's headed back to the hardest hit areas and you can watch for his reports this afternoon on nbc 10 news at 4:00. at 5:17, now to the atlantic city casino crisis and there is help for former employees at one of atlantic city's casinos thabs that is threatened to close. unite here health is giving two months of extended insurance coverage to workers at the taj mahal casino resort. that's because a bankruptcy judge canceled the contract, which terminated health insurance plans. coverage was due to expire on friday, but now workers will be covered through december. and the battle over legalizing sports betting in new jersey is headed back to court on november 20th. a temporary restraining order

that stopped the state from allowing it will expire the next day, the 21st. major sports leagues and the ncaa are seeking a permanent ban. and mayor michael nutter is urging the board to vote on the second casino license for philadelphia. nutter strongly favors another casino to help the city grow by creating new jobs and bringing in revenue. it's been eight months since the board heard from applicants. 5:18 right now, and bill's been talking about rain moving in, so the afternoon rush might have wet roads, but dry this morning. >> let's hope it stays that way. nbc 10 first alert traffic reporter jillian mele has a look at everything. >> the roads are dry and quiet right now. taking mass transit, including septa regional rail lines, on or close to schedule, so no big issues to deal with right now. heading out to chester county, route 30 bypass at route 322, traffic is moving along. no delays to report. we will see a delay there eastbound later in the morning. i'll keep you updated on all of the delays as they form.

heading into delaware, 95 at the newark toll plaza, no problems there. and if you plan to travel the burlington bristol bridge and say you're leaving the door in the next few minutes, just be warned that we are anticipating a bridge opening around 5:20 this morning, so in the next few minutes traffic will be stopped out there. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> we started the weekend cold, temperatures in the 30s in the morning but not this morning. no, clouds are moving into the area. it's a much warmer morning. we're talking 60s in center city. right now 61 degrees at philadelphia international. the wind has died down, ten degrees warmer than yesterday morning. and yesterday was warmer than monday. right now we're seeing no wind here at nbc 10, but there are some scattered clouds starting to move into ra the area. we will see some sunshine, but not the brilliant sunshine we enjoyed yesterday. 63 right now in wilmington. wrightstown and new jersey is 61 degrees. there are some cool spots north and west. bluebell is down to 55.

and look at collegeville, it's down to 49 degrees, while eagleville is 59. and it's in the 50s farther inland for pottstown and gilbertsville, right in the middle 50s this morning. this afternoon we'll be watching the radar screen. the rain is north and west and into central pennsylvania, getting moderate showers. but by the time it gets here, it's going to be scattered and light. so, clouds, some breaks of sunshine, 60s this afternoon. not as warm as yesterday. and late-day showers will usher in colder air starting tomorrow. the chill will be with us for thursday. high of 58 degrees. friday, halloween! we will see the temperatures climb into the upper 50s, but then it gets chilly as the evening progresses. and a cold, wet and windy saturday for the ada walk in the morning and for the temple game in the afternoon. set your clock back on sunday and stay in and enjoy the view outside, which will see some sunshine. it will be a chilly one and the wind will be blowing, high of 50

degrees, but it will be the beginning of a warming trend, which will have us in the 60s by tuesday afternoon. >> election day tuesday, looking good. thank you, bill. well, there's a new warning for parents this morning. we'll tell you how thieves could be ruining your child's credit before they're even old enough to have a credit card. and at&t is accused of throttling. the experts at cnbc explain exactly what that means and what it means for your cell phone bill. this is ceo tom macarthur's world.

in macarthur's world, he opposes new laws to ensure women receive equal pay for equal work. and macarthur opposes a woman's right to choose backed by a group that would outlaw abortion even for rape and incest. for us in the real world, aimee belgard. aimee will fight for equal pay and protect a woman's right to choose. aimee belgard's on our side. i'm aimee belgard and i approve this message. 5:23. the philadelphia flyers have

signed a five-year deal with the rothman institute and thomas jefferson university hospital. that tops our business headlines from the "philadelphia business journal." under the partnership, rothman will provide all orthopedic care for hospitals and jefferson will provide a doctor for home games. also, the children's hospital of philadelphia and temple university received a $4.3 million grant from the national institute for mental health for hiv research. today is the deadline for those opposed to the comcast/time warner merger to file their responses with the federal communications commission. earlier this month, shareholders for comcast and for time warner approved the $45 billion deal, but regulators still have to clear that decision. comcast is the parent company of nbc 10. it is 5:24 right now. today investors are hoping for another strong day for the stock market. courtney reagan is here with that story in this morning's "cnbc business news." courtney, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, tracy. futures are mixed after a rally on wall street.

markets shrugging off weaker durable goods orders, focusing instead on better earnings and a sharp jump in consumer confidence. today investors await the latest announcement from the federal reserve on their bond-buying program. also, earnings reports from sodastream, kraft and dreamworks animation. the feds are suing at&t. the ftc says at&t misled millions of smartphone customers about its unlimited data plans, stating the company didn't let customers know it would cut data speeds if they went over a certain amount of data used. the practice is known as throttling. at&t says the charges are baseless. back to you. >> courtney reagan with cnbc. thanks. now your nbc 10 first alert weather. >> don't need to bundle up this morning. temperatures are much milder, 50s and 60s right now. but clouds, they're going to be moving towards center city with some rain for later today. right now it is dry and 60 degrees at 5:25. first alert traffic reporter jillian mele, good morning. >> good morning to you, bill. we have a minor problem here on

the vine street expressway. take a look to the left side of your screen. it's a disabled vehicle. penndot just got to the scene. that's the eastbound side right near eighth street. it's not blocking anything, but i am getting word of an accident in chester county. i'll have details in a few minutes. we're also talking about challenging the charter. >> the next step in deciding the fate of a philadelphia elementary school just days after the high school closed. >> reporter: i'm katy zachry live in frankford. septa workers say we could be days away from a strike. we're looking into how that will affect philadelphia school students, tens of thousands of them who rely on this public transportation every day. and another potential sighting. where police believe accused cop killer eric frein was seen this time and what happens next in the search.

what's the truth on taxes? factcheck.org says it's tom corbett who's being dishonest. they say tom wolf has a plan to reduce income taxes for the middle class

and cut local property taxes. and tom corbett? it's corbett who slashed education by a billion dollars... ...and now almost 80% of school districts plan to raise property taxes. and it's corbett who's increasing gas taxes by 28 cents a gallon. tom corbett. desperate and dishonest. a fiery end to an unmanned rocket launch. the local connection to the explosion and where the investigation stands right now. a high school closed, and now the future of its sister elementary school is also in doubt. we're live with the next steps for a philadelphia charter school that's already causing quite the controversy this week. and tracking showers. count on the nbc 10 first alert team of weather and traffic to help you prepare for our next round of rain, but right now it is clear outside and warm, 60

degrees. good morning and welcome to "nbc 10 news today." i'm tracy davidson. >> and i'm chris cato. let's check in with meteorologist bill henley with his first alert forecast, and quite an unusual warm start for the end of october, right, bill? >> especially compared to the beginning of the week, when temperatures were in the 30s. it is unusually warm, and part of the reason it is warmer is because we have showers on the way and getting a surge of warm air ahead of them. a dry view of center city. the entire region is dry and warmer than yesterday. philadelphia 61 degrees, 63 for mt. holly and wilmington with warmer temperatures in delaware and south jersey. even where it's cooler, allentown 53 degrees. normally, this time of year it would be in the 30s at this moistu hour. look for clouds to be in and out during the morning hours but dry. 57 degrees at 7:00. by 9:00, 61 and 66 degrees later this afternoon. we'll be seeing those showers moving in. we'll go through it neighborhood by neighborhood in less than ten minutes. first alert traffic