the storms that roll through our area last night knocked down a pole and wires near the bryn mawr train station. nbc 10 was on the scene just before 11:00 last night. peco reported scattered outages from last night's stormy weather but we just checked and almost all the power is back on this morning. how's it beginning to look today? let's start with meteorologist bill henley and his first alert forecast. >> improving conditions already. the showers have already moved offshore. still damp roads in cape may but in philadelphia, it's dried out nicely. the clouds are quickly clearing. we will see sunshine take over today. and the temperatures will be nowhere near as hot and steamy as what we had yesterday. there you can see the storms are offshore. now clouds, they're thinning out and the temperatures are cooling as a result. it's 69 in pottstown,ç very lo 70s for wilmington and trenton. 75 at philadelphia international. the temperatures will be claiming. it will be a warm one today. still summer. 78 agrees and 9:00 by lunch

time, sunny and 84 degrees. the humidity will be much lower. neighborhood by neighborhood forecast when i come back. first, jillian mele has traffic. >> good morning, bill. that construction finally cleared off of 95 southbound near bartrum avenue. it was taking out the two left lanes in this area. but as you can see, it's wrapped up. this is the 42 freeway at creek road. northbound sides adrivers pass 295 and head out to the bridges. we still have construction on the westbound side of the bend as drivers make their way into philadelphia. we also have construction on 295. this is in both directions between route 168 and the 42 freeway. this is expected to be out there, active construction until about 6:00 this morning. tracy? we continue to follow breaking news in philadelphia. fire crews are wrapping up following a fire at what was to be a day-care center. they were just about to move in in the east oak lane section. this is a live look at the scene

at wadsworth. he told us a day care rented the space but had not moved in yet. it was empty at the time. investigators are looking for the cause. it is the first day of school for catholic schools in philadelphia. public schools don't start until next week. the budget crisis plaguing philadelphia school is already being felt by other schools in our area, that includes private and charter schools. katy zachry tonights her series on education in our area. she has the impact the budget cuts are having on other schools in our area. >> we know philadelphia public schools are opening on time. they open on monday. but there are serious cuts. one of the concerns in delaying the start of philadelphia public schools was that more kids would transfer to charter schools. here at the school behind me, that's already happening. >> we have around 200 kids on thqç waiting list now. >> reporter: 200 students are waiting to get into west philadelphia achievement charter

elementary school. founder stacey phillips says they likely won't. because unlike philadelphia public schools, here they don't have kids looking to leave. >> most of the feedback we're getting from parents is they're concerned about the classroom size and they're concerned about schools. >> you can unpack, put your lunches away if you need to. >> she's been getting calls from concerned parents, even state representatives on behalf of kids trying to transfer from their public school. school security has been cut, so have sanitation services, transportation and additional layoffs are expected according to superintendent dr. william hite. >> they're afraid for their children. the safety situation is very serious. and also the academics, how much are they going to learn and are they going to be able to keep up with our society. >> reporter: phillips says this year they're getting $600 less than the state per student.

she's working with the school's vendors to reduce costs and says she'll let administration go before cutting a teacher. their average class size is 25, compared to the district's which can be over 30. >> what really attracts them at this point is a better opportunity. >> reporter: and today is the first day of school for schools within the frz archdiocese. we do know that this year's freshman class is larger than any other class. i talked to a spokesperson but he tells me at this time, they don't know if that's because students are transferring from philadelphia public schools. they hope to have that information in the next few weeks. reporting live in overbrook, katy zachry, nbc 10 news. count on nbc 10 to help you get ready for back-to-school, every morning from now until monday, katy zachry will report on our schools. tomorrow morning, we'll check in with her -- with a teacher that we spoke to this time last year to find out if things are better or worse this time around. remember, get more information

on ourç website at nbc10.com. logon to our website, our special section for tips, trends and news about the new school year. delaware schools will be required to comply with new safety drills a lot sooner. governor jack markell will sign a law that was supposed to take effect in two years but was moved up to next week. it requires schools to conduct several emergency exercises including two lockdown or intruder drills a year. they'll have to submit verification of those drills to the department of homeland security. new developments in the atlantic city casino crisis. the new jersey department of labor is preparing for thousands of unemployment politics today. more than 5,000 casino workers lost their jobs in the past three days at both show boat and revel as they close their doors. also starting today, services will be offered at the atlantic city convention center to help those displaced casino employees file for unemployment, develop resumes and find new jobs. close to three dozen staffers

from the state labor department will be helping the unemployed casino workers for the next week. several thousand casino workers are out of work because revel shut down just yesterday and show boat just down on sunday. the atlantic club closed back in next casino to close on september 16th. egg harbor township, hosting an information session for residents who have been left jobless by the casino crisis. there will be representatives from several agencies who help with job retraining, applying for unemployment and other social services. it will this be evening at the egg harbor community center. for continuing coverage, go to nbc10.com for an entire section devoted to the impact on atlantic city's economy and the resources available to those unemployed. if at first you don't succeed, the determined criminal caught on camera, plus, mo'ne is money and takes her magic to the west coast. the warm reception for the little league pitcher from philadelphia who's captured the

hearts of baseball fans across the country. bill? a warm day ahead. but it's going to be muchç mor comfortable and it's going to be drier, too. cape may still a few puddles on the ground. the showers have ended. right now, holding at 74 degrees here at nbc 10. our dad's a plumber. a business manager. and a stickler for homework. i'm john kane running for state senate. dad says the road to a good job starts in the classroom. [ lori ] he's a great dad who sees taxes going up but schools not getting the funding they need. [ john ] so i'd put back the billion dollars

corbett cut from education and make sure corporations and natural gas drillers paid their fair share. time to close the loopholes for the tax cheats. dad thinks a lot about education. i'm john kane and it's about time harrisburg did too.

now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> things are clearing out this morning. we're going to see a lot of sunshine today and overall it's going to be much more comfortable and drier, too. showers ended overnight. no showers in the forecast for today. less humid conditions is what we'll experience this afternoon with bright sunny skies and not as hot as yesterday. but that changes as we move toward the weekend. the heat, humidity and a chance of storms returning for saturday and into sunday. right now clearing out. allentown 67 degrees. scattered clouds northeast philadelphia at 7. millville is 71 degrees. you can see some of the scattered clouds from this view,

the mellon bank building center city. plenty of sunshine today. it will be coming up in less than an hour. 7 degrees cooler in mt. pocono, philadelphia, pottstown, trenton, northeast philly running cooler this evening and the temperatures will stay lower all day long. you will be able to lower your umbrellas today. the showers, thunderstorms pushed offshore and that's where they'll stay for today. the clouds thinning out to the south. you'll see a cloudy start to begin with in parts of delaware and south jersey. sunshine for philadelphia and allentown at 9:00 this morning as we go into the afternoon hours. nothing but sunshine and more comfortable conditions for today. neighborhood by neighborhood, you'll see sunshine and 80 agrees this afternoon from mt. pocono, up to 84 for allentown and quakertown. 85 degrees for doylestown while northeast philadelphia and mount holly warm up to 87. you'll see clouds thin out with sunshine this afternoon for rehoboth and cape may.

87 for vineland and dover. 86 degrees and no sign of the 90s that we had yesterday for westchester, chester and glassboro. can't be said for the seven-day forecast. the heat will return, timing within i come back. 5:41 this wednesday morning. time to getç another check on traffic. looks like we had a problem or two earlier but looks cleared up. >> let's check with jillian mele. >> we had overnight construction but we're used to that. a lot of construction has cleared. it didn't create any delays. here's what's happening, no accidents and no delays to report on the majors. we have construction on the westbound side the ben franklin bridge as drivers head into philadelphia. the right lane is blocked there. 202 is quiet as you can see in both directions. 76 is also clear. you're traveling 422 everything is looking great right now. on the eastbound side, arm and hammer boulevard, the on and off ramps are expected to close from

today through november. as i mentioned, the highway itself on 422 if you're heading out that way, that is looking good right now. we have overnight road work we're following in new jersey. 295 in both directions between 168 and the 42 freeway. that is expected to wrap around 6:00. a mom accused of faking her 5-year-old's cancer. >> heart breaking to think that a mother could do that to her own child. >> how investigators say she tricked friends and family and the motive behind her alleged lie. and the debate over medical marijuana. one lawmaker's push to make it legal in pennsylvania and where you can weigh in.

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the cleanup work is all done along benç franklin parkway afr the music festival last weekend. 14 people were cited for underage drinking, 10 issued on sunday. most of those cited don't live in philadelphia. one man was charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. the contestants for the miss america pageant make their debut in atlantic city. today they join new jersey lieutenant governor and atlantic

city's mayor on the boardwalk. this is video of last year's winner, miss new york, accepting the crown. this year's competition beguns in less than a week and a new woman will be crowned at boardwalk hall on sunday the 14th. the red flags were up in south padre texas because of tropical storm dolly. but waves and rip current threats should lower today. rains have already soaked up mexico's gulf coast where school was canceled and shelters were open. the storm could bring up to a foot of rain in that region. and the napa earthquake may have shattered a lot of things last month but one artist is helping people pick up the pieces and put them back together. a stream of pictures and stories were up and posted online by sherri tobin's friends, showing what they lost in the quake. she decided to throw an earthquake art party. people brought whatever was destroyed and tobin helped them create a work of art with it. a brand new piece that carries some cherished old memories.

>> they can just make a new keepsake out of their precious things that they have to throw away now. tobin also led the group on a communal piece, a statue that will eventually be covered by pieces destroyed by the earthquake and placed in a community garden. now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> skies are clearing this morning. we will see bright sunshine today. look closely. this is a view of the sky from hereç at the nbc 10 studios. thin clouds are starting to appear as we get a little bit of light. still a ways away from sunrise. 75 degrees right now, the humidity is lower. the temperatures a little bit lower this morning and it is dry now in cape may. still some puddles on the ground but no rain falling from the sky. the clouds overhead will be thinning out. these clouds not producing any showers north and west. allentown and harrisburg, actually seeing more cloudiness

than philadelphia to the south, the brighter clouds are producing a few showers. they're already starting to dissipate. it's unlikely they'll make it into delaware or south jersey. drying conditions during the day and less humid, too. the humidity will come down as the day comes on. sunshine will be bright after clouds this morning. temperatures into the 80s today with the northwesterly wind. that's the dry air that's pushing into the area and will be with us tomorrow. 67 to start with, 88 in the afternoon. comfortable day but a warm one. a warm summer day for thursday. the heat, humidity return for friday and into the weekend. 91 degrees friday afternoon. a steamy day saturday with a chance of late day and evening showers and thunderstorms. and showers will continue into sunday but it turns much cooler sunday and nice weather ahead for monday and tuesday with the humidity coming way down. >> 5:48 right now. back into the routine. it could be the school routine

with a lot more schools going back today. >> yes, school buses and the like. jillian mele here with a check on traffic. >> good morning. if you're traveling the blue route, everything is looking great in both directions. this is near the midcounty toll plaza. no problems. drive times looking good, about 17, 18 minutes both ways between 95 and 76. speaking of 95, average speed right now, southbound near girard is 52 miles an hour. no delays to report just yet. that will change in the 6:00 hour. arm and hammer boulevard, the ramp expected to close today for november through construction. don't forgq if you travel the norristown manayunk line, track construction started yesterday. the trains will be leaving about five minutes earlier and between 8:45 and 2:30, you are supposed

to board from the outboard platforms. >> we need mummers banjo music for this. ♪ fly eagles fly philadelphia buildings going green for the start of the philadelphia eagles season. this is the city towers. bet house row and oth-- boat ho changing colors as well. backup quarterback mark sanchez, defensive tackle bennie logan and wide receiver jordan matthews helping coach some drills with the cecil b. moore youth football stingrays last night in north philly. while the kids likely had a great time, the players say it might be more enjoyable and memorable for them. >> this is an incredible experience. and the most important thing is i get more out of it than they do. you know, it seems selfish and they think they're having a good time but this makes us happy.

>> this is part of the eagles effort to get a better understanding about youth football in the city and grow the game among the kids. >> and speaking of the game, time now to vote for our high school blitz game of the week for friday, september 5th. the choices are counsel rock north at simon gratz and holy spirit and south jersey will take on malvern prep in pennsylvania. or upper darby on the road against garnett valley. go to nbc10.com or our took page to vote. just once a day. just one once. or call or text your çvote. the best highlights anywhere every saturday night at 7:00 right here on nbc 10. there's still no shortage of long for mo'ne davis and the taney dragons. the star pitching has a following out on the west coast. she threw out the first pitch at

last night's dodgers national game in l.a. look at that. of course, right down the pipe. the strike. she even took time to sign autographs and pose for pictures. get this, with the dodgers players that's how big she is. philadelphia celebrated the taney dragons third place finish last week in the little league world series with a parade on broad street to honor the team. are your kids into rainbow loom bracelets? there's a warning about popular charms. the cancer-causing chemical found in the materials and where these charms are sold. plus an annual event to raise money for a local children's hospital. it's just minutes away from starting. we'll tell you how you can help out all next on nbc 10 news today.

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look at that beautiful shot with the nod to brent musburger, you are looking live at lincoln financial field where the philadelphia eagles will host the jacksonville jaguarsç this sunday. forget about that.

meteorologist bill henley will have his first alert forecast coming up in just a moment. in kansas, authorities are looking for thieves who crashed their van in a business six times, trying to steal an atm. one guy eventually gets out and tries to crack the atm to get the cash. a princeton university worker is on leave for a medical marijuana battle. the campus dining manager told he could not work at princeton if he uses medicinal marijuana even when he's not on the job. the worker who was running for congress in the legalized marijuana party says his health issues qualify him for the drug. the school released this statement to nbc 10. princeton university is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for employees who have a disability. the individual met with university administrators tuesday morning to discuss the process. employers in new jersey do not have to accommodate medical marijuana use in the workplace. and medical cannabis will be

the hot topic at a forum in montgomery county. the event will discuss any risk linked to legalizing medical marijuana in pennsylvania. legislation to legalize the use of medical cannabis is being considered in harrisburg. tonight's forum take place at the lower providence township building at 7:00. more charges are filed against an iowa mother who allegedly claimed her daughter was suffering from terminal cancer. police say the woman took extreme measures for financial gain, including a trip to disney world. she's accused of possessing and injecting her 5-year-old daughter riley with a cancer drug and administering cannabis oil through a feeding tube she inserted through the girl's nose. authorities say she shaved her daughter's head. community members held several fund raisers to support the little girl. >> it's heartbreaking to think a mother could do that to her own

child. go forever. >> police believe she may have pocketed anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. an investigation by the bbc finds loom band charms sold in the united kingdom contain high levels of a cancer-causing chemical. chemical used to make the plastic flexible. brightly colored loom bands are woven into bracelets and the charms are added on. authorities are talking to retailers and suppliers to see where the products are coming from. from our delaware bureau, an annual fund raiser to benefit the dupont children's hospital, several radio stations will be there today and tomorrow for the fourth annual help our kids radio-a-thon. from our delaware bureau, the brand new early college high school at delaware state university is open in dover. a ribbon cutting was held yesterday. the free charter school allows

high schoolers to take college classes for college credits that they can use anywhere. a delaware county college wants to honor supreme court justice sewn i don't sot -- son sotomayor. hepburn medal. am actress graduated from bryn mawr in 1928. sotomayor will receive the medal next april. new information about plans to build a natural gas pumping station and pipeline in chester county. west goshen township officials voted to toughen the zoning rules for pipeline companies they passed a series of amendments to zoning laws that could impact sunoco's plans to build that propane pumping station and pipeline through residential neighborhoods. most of the township and residents say the station would be unsafe. in july, judges ruled sunoco is

not a public utility and is not exempt from zoning. the state public utility commission has the final say buç generally takes the recommendation of the judicial panel. you're watching nbc 10 news today. nbc 10 news today at 6:00 a.m. starts right now. we are gathering new information and we're live on the scene. >> waking up to cooler temperatures. today we get a brief reprieve from the intense heat and humidity in the delaware valley. this is nbc 10 news today. i'm tracy davidson. >> i'm vai sikahema. let's get to nbc 10 first alert meteorologist bill henley with his forecast. >> it was a hot one yesterday. felt like it was up to 98 degrees yesterday when you factor in the humidity. today the humidity is already dropping and the temperatures are running a bill cooler and