what special day -- oh, lori's birthday. you know, bill, the earth stands still on this day as you have your accuweather forecast. >> because it is miss lori's birthday. >> thank you. >> happy birthday, lori. >> thank you, billy. >> have a happy birthday and so many more. me and ken on the other hand -- >> not so much. >> great day on lori's birthday. the sun always shines on lori's birthday. comfy temperatures, 67 degrees. a wind out of the southwest. humidity in check. 53 kingston and poughkeepsie. 62 bridgeport and 55 around wrightstown and 59 to we will warm back up to the mid- 80s quickly. by afternoon, it will hit 87 degrees. what a nice day. heather, we can thank lori for the beautiful weather. >> already have. let's go to the maps. we will talk about mass transit and the situation with long island railroad. there was a freight train derailment. so, the port jefferson ronkonkoma branch is running wearing 10 to 15-minute delays. service changes eastbound after 6:00 a.m. hicksville expect delays. track work at 14th street. street cleaning rules are back in effect. ken, over to you. >> thank you. now, more on the problems on the l.i.r.r. big ones. crews worked through the night to remove a derailed freight train in hicksville. kala rama is live with the latest. this impacts two other lines, doesn't it? >> exactly. even though the freight train has been removed, there is about 200 feet of track to repair. no one knows how long it will take. now they are down to one track. take a look here at what the issue is. you can see the work done from overnight. the two derailed cars carrying construction material was removed around 2:00 this morning. the derailed freight cars were blocking one of the two tracks shared by passenger trains for ronkonkoma and port jefferson. the repairs for the track will last through the morning commute. how much longer through the day, we are not sure yet. service would mirror last night. basically no eastbound train service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson from now until later this morning. in addition, some westbound trains may bypass westbury and corral place. if you are an l.i.r.r. customer heading out here, tune in to here on channel 7. we will keep you updated throughout the morning. there will be delays and cancellations all morning long. live -- back to you, ken. >> kala, thank you. this morning dozens of 9/11 first responders are heading to the nation's capitol to push for an extension to the james a zadroga act, the 9/11 health and compensation bill for first responders. dray clark is live in lower manhattan. >> reporter: more than a dozen are joining other firefighters to rally and push congress to extend the health benefits for 9/11 first responders. the benefits fall under the act that became a federal law in 2010. it provides health care, medical monitoring and other financial compensation for 70,000 first responders and 9/11 survivors. all of the recipients have reported becoming ill after working at ground zero during the rescue and recovery phase after the attack. the act is named after james adroga, annd detective that died from a respiratory illness. today's rally is about extending the act and making it be more effective. last tuesday, daniel any grow spoke to a house committee about how december fright it is that the act remain in place. >> the losses continue to mount. we have 15,000 people registered in the world trade center health program. we have more than 1,000 cases of cancer among those people and we have many sick members retired and active to take care of. >> reporter: the act is set to expire in 2016. part of the push and rally today will be to ask congress to make this permanent. no expiration date at all on the act. these firefighters and first responders and their supporters have big name support. jon stewart will be among the big names in d.c. rallying with the firefighters pushing congress to do the right thing and make the zadroga act a permanent law. dray clark, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. now on to a developing story out of brooklyn. police say this man tried to rape a woman after choking her with a video chord. the pair walked to a rite aid. he offered to buy a soda and cigarettes. he attacked her with a cord and tried to cut off her clothes with a nice. he ran off when she screamed. police hope to hit the jackpot in their search for two suspects that swindled tens of thousands from an elderly woman in a queens lottery scam. the suspects approached the 80- year-old woman last wednesday on jamaica avenue. the man and woman reportedly asked her to help them cash a winning lottery ticket. after the victim agreed to help, she withdraw $90,000 handed it to the suspects who then drove her back to her house. it was a bloody night in newark. four people were shot near springfield and irvin turner boulevard. by the time police arrived, the victims were gone. they had driven themselves to the hospital. the car was hit by bullets. not clear if the wounded people were the intended targets or bystanders. doctors say the injuries were not life threatening. a blockbuster disclosure from a new york city police officer was supposedly looking for what he mistakenly took down james blake. he talked to eyewitness news from australia. he said he wasn't in new york last week. he was in australia. the photo the nypd had of him was posted online by his brother. >> my name is clearly tagged on the original photo. ism this whole -- i think this whole mess if somebody did research on google prior to the manhunt. >> he apparently looks like the real credit card suspect police were searching for. the officer that tackled blake has been placed on desk duty while the department and civilian review board investigate. you can see the interview on our facebook page and on the home page of abc7ny. the stage is ready. the republicans with the highest approval rating at tonight's second gop debate will probably be reynold reagan. the debate will be held at his presidential library and virtually every candidate spoke favorably of reagan. there will be a debate at 6:00 p.m. for the lowest polling candidates. the debate at 8:00 p.m. for the leading candidates. 400 people will be there through personal invitations. donald trump made the biggest predebate splash. he spoke with supporters aboard the uss iowa in los angeles. he promised a massive military build up and subsidized health care for veterans and claimed that illegal immigrants get better care than the nation's wounded speaking about drug traffic, he lashed out at the obama administration's lack of leadership. >> the drugs come in, the money goes out daily. i saw it. i was on the border. i was there and we saw it and everybody sees it every day. we have the kind of people that can do something about it. but we have no leadership. >> folks, the american people are with us. i know it doesn't feel that way. but i'm telling you, i'm telling you, the american people agree with us. we are going to take a while -- >> reporter: vice president joe biden attacked trumps antiimmigrant policies comparing it to the no nothing movement that targeted irish catholic immigrants more than a century ago. in southern utah search crews are set to resume their work at daybreak as they look for survivors of two flooding tragedies. a person is missing after waves swept away two vehicles carrying 16 women and children. 12 people were killed, three were rescued. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic and meteorologist bill evans with the accuweather forecast. >> all right. we take a look from our camera in midtown manhattan looking south. a clear morning. no fog around here. as we go through the mornings the next few days, some of the valleys in the suburbs could experience fog. be on the lookout for that. that is because of the warm temperatures through the day, cooling overnight and the clear skies. that cool overnight makes for fog. temperature is 67 degrees. nice and comfortable. low humidities. clear skies. i see a few clouds around. that might be a little fog in northern new jersey and around the hudson river valley. we are basically clear all the way back to the great lakes. 8:00 temperature about 70. we are looking at about 78 to 82 by noontime. 87 this afternoon. very warm for this time of the year. temperatures will be running 10 to 15 degrees warmer than normal. the humidity remains very low because, lori, our queen has be quoted it -- bequethed it. >> oh, all right, that is sweet. >> we shall dance around the may pole. >> and talk about traffic at the same time. let's go to a webcam and show you how things are looking as you travel on to the staten island expressway. this is near victory boulevard. not too much of a delay. on the left side of the screen there is construction. where is it? we will head to the maps. westbound clove road into the goethals. this long island railroad freight derailment will cause problems. port jefferson, ronkonkoma branch 10 to 15-minute delays. one track between hicksville and westbury. throughout the morning rush, expect cancellations and delays as a result. alternate sides effect today. ken and lori, over to you. >> thank you. still ahead on "eyewitness news this morning," police are looking for two men who broke in an upper east side apartment. how was the owner alerted to the break in and able to call police immediately. >> members of the european union will meet again to figure out what to do with thousands of refugees trying to find new homes. >> a terrifying incident in one home in the way of a crane where an attempt to move a tree didn't go exactly as planned. new video. a close call for one cincinnati ohio homeowner when a crane came crashing down on her house. the machine was trying to lift a tree over the home when some of the bolts attaching it to the truck snapped. the crane then smashed into the garage barely missing the owner's car. incredibly, no one was injured. the damage is estimated to be about $100,000 to repair. in brooklyn, a garr ban truck that nearly fell through a hole in a parking garage is out and on stable ground. the driver said he was making a routine trash pick up when the weight of the truck punched a hole through the top floor of a parking garage. the city building inspectors are looking into that accident. >> we watched that unfold, didn't we. >> yes, we did. >> let's check in with meteorologist bill evans. a beautiful view on your birthday, lori, from astoria queens, right over to roosevelt island and the fdr. all the way down you can see one world trade. the east river glass. a pretty morning outside. how about we go to the beach. it will be a pretty day for it. a wind out of the west southwest. here we are asbury park looking nice here down the beach. great morning for a walk on the boardwalk or on the beach. humidity dry. wind are calm and the pressure has been at 30, 33 which is strong high pressure right over us. the high yesterday 84. the low 62 which is well above normal. well above 75-61 the numbers for this time of the year, the average high and low. sun up at 6:37. gorgeous sunrise. today we are looking at more of a feel of midsummer. for the rest of the week. fog is possible in the mornings from the warm days and cooling overnight. the next shot at a shower maybe on sunday and maybe not. looks dry right now. 65 around north port and massapequa. hauppauge 63. the hamptons 69 where the weather is nice the next couple of weeks. the rentals have ended. 57 at belmar. 50 toms river. 50 monticello. what a great morning with a light northwest wind to a west wind. other areas are calm. through thursday, we have this high-pressure ridge that will kind of pump up the warm air. it's dry. it will be this kind of west flowing wind here that will bring the warm air in and keep temperatures in the 80s. at the same time it keeps the humidities low. we have clear skies all the way back to the ohio valley. boating forecast today, we have a northerly winding east at 5 to 10. waves in the atlantic just a foot. i had to look at that boating forecast several times. waves are a foot. it will be great. at the beaches the rip current risk is low. warm today with this high- pressure ridge right over us. we have a light southwest to a west wind. the high backs a little more tomorrow. we will have more of that wind out of the southwest and it will be at 87. plenty of sunshine, even warmer today. the high 87 degrees. 10 to 15 warmer than normal. tonight clear and comfy, lows 60s around the five boroughs. outside the city it's in the 50s. 60s well north and west. then sunni, warm afternoon. high 87. here is the accuweather seven- day forecast. because lori's birthday kicks off what we call a whole month long -- >> of course. >> festivus for the rest of us. it's nice into the weekend. i took the rain out of sunday. there is clouds around, moisture -- >> you are so powerful. >> oh, you have no idea. >> it's your birthday. >> this is your festival. are you going to do something fun on your birthday? >> no, low key. something with alley pooh. >> her daughter. she has something cooking. >> 500 people in her town waiting. a line of people with olive branches doing this. >> not true. every restaurant in tenafly. >> you got issues, don't you? yeah, a freight train derailment that you heard kala talking about. we will reiterate what has been happening here. as we go to the maps, long island railroad, a freight train derailment. port jefferson, ronkonkoma branch between midnight and 6:00 a.m. only four trains run. two of those were canceled. the other two are running with delays. so, at this point, they are reporting 10 to 15-minute delays eastbound but it's safe to say there may not service eastbound throughout the morning rush. one track between hicksville and westbury. expect cancellations and delays. a and e downtown delays because of track work. this is at 14th street. then new jersey transit trains, metro north on or close to schedule. then construction at the george washington bridge and street cleaning rules are back in effect. lori, over to you. >> thank you. a manhattan man finds out the hard way that his apartment security system works. police are hunting for a pair of burglars. this video was shot inside danny wheeler's upper east side apartment while he was at work. an app alerted him that something was moving inside. so, he watched as first one then another man grabbed his stuff. wheeler called the police but he was livid. >> i just was really, really angry. i can't believe this is happening in my apartment right now. well, a neighbor saw the second suspect entering through the apartment. he called out to them and that scared both of the men. police are asking anyone with information to call crimestoppers. moving now to the migrant crisis in europe, european union calling a meeting to find ways to relocate 120,000 refugees. a similar meeting fell apart with four eastern nations rejecting the proposal and spreading them across other nations. some refugees are trickling into this country. a small group arrived into scranton, pennsylvania. a syrian family that arrived earlier is helping them settle in. >> he started to work here and he feels that, you know, the united states is like his main country. so, he is so happy that his family is safe here. they are living in comfortable way and they can do whatever they want. >> the refugees hope more syrians will move to the u.s. catholic social services says they aren't scheduled to bring any more families to this another any time too. >> a collection of art belonging to some of my competitors plan to reduce the use of antibiotics over the next few years. but what are you having for dinner tonight? try perdue simply smart and harvestland . two trusted perdue brands of chicken raised with no antibiotics ever. everyone is saying, "hey! you gotta get fios!" but why? well, fios is a 100 percent fiber optic network to the home, so you can get access to the fastest internet and in-home wi-fi available. and fios gives you big capacity too. so everyone in the house can get online. but the main reason to get fios? we're rated number 1 in customer satisfaction. ultimately, that's why. get 50 meg fios internet, tv & phone starting at $79.99 a month. plus get $300 back. hurry, offer ends september 19th. get out of the past. get fios. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic on "eyewitness news this morning." a nice start to your day. let's take a look at the beach. this is down to the jetties. you see the lights out there, that is the booys off the shore. the temperature is going to 87 today. 70 at laguardia. comfy. that's because we have a north, northeast wind, east wind. look at the humidities. 80% around jamaica queens is not bad. that will dry out fast. a great ride on the ferry from jersey city to staten island. wrap to heather. >> we will talk about barnegat, heading to ocean county, you have a closure on route 9. it's both directions between east bay and water street. this is an accident. a downed pole, downed wires as a result. long island railroad freight derailment occurred. 10 to 15-minute delays. that will change at 6:00 a.m. street cleaning rules are in effect. lori, over to you. >> heather, thank you. a new study reveals that young people may not be digesting the healthy eating message. the report from the cdc finds one out of three americans between the ages of 2 and 19 eats fast food on any given day. the largest consumer, so to speak, are kids 12 and over. they get 17% of their daily calories from fast food. that is twice the amount of i children. the art collection of celebrated writer and civil rights mia angelo fetched more than a million bucks. a paint quilt commissioned by oprah winfrey for her 61st birthday sold for $161,000 at the swan gallery sale. angelo's estate consigned the quilt along with 50 other pieces of artwork to the auction house following her death at age 86. closing in on accuweather forecast. just ahead we are watching -- 5:00 we are watching devel on the l.i.r.r. railroad. it's not about hugging trees. it's not about being wasteful either. you just gotta find that balance. where taking care of yourself takes care of more than just yourself. good morning. 5:00 a.m. we are following a commuter alert for the thousands of passengers that rely on the long island railroad. expect delays and cancellations due to that freight train derailment. happening today, 9/11 and first responders heading to the nation's capitol to push for an extension of a key piece of legislation. >> you will experience a rise in the temperature as we head into the beginning of fall. and good morning, i'm lori stokes. >> thank you for joining us, i'm ken rosato. it's wednesday, september 16th. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic and meteorologist bill evans with the exclusive accuweather forecast. >> right you are, lori, speaking of that, fall begins a week from today at about right now is the vernal equinox. next wednesday the beginning of fall. down the jersey shore we go, temperatures are comfy this morning. 67 degrees. clear skies, great morning. today 69 by 9:00. 81 by the time we get to the lunch hour and this afternoon, 84 at 3:00. somewhere in there we hit 87 today. 87. 10 to 15 warmer than normal for this time of the year. heather is looking at the commute. you have the problems on the long island railroad this morning i take that will be a problem for commuters. >> this will be a problem for commuters, especially those that travel eastbound using long island railroad. we will head to the maps. no service eastbound into ronkonkoma. no service to huntington and no service to port jefferson because of that freight derailment that occurred. westbounders expect delays as well. a and e downtown delays due to track work at 14th street. all new jersey transit train lines are on or close to schedule. same with path, metro north is doing okay. if you are going to the george washington bridge, construction cleared from both levels. minor delays george washington bridge, lincoln and holland. the overnight construction is being picked up and put away. then traveling into ocean county to barnegat, both ways closed between eastbound and waters street. that is because of an accident with a downed pole. street cleaning rules are in effect. lori, over to you. >> thank you. we continue our coverage of the commuter alert in effect for long island railroad riders after a freight train derailment. kala rama is live in hicksville with what you can expect this morning. >> reporter: good morning. i will be heather's echo and tell you that the bottom line is eastbound service is basically chopped off. no eastbound service. westbound service will be delayed quite a bit. there is about 200 feet of track that needs to be fixed. that means everyone is down to one track. that is what is causing all these delays. let me show you what the repairs look like overnight. at 2:00 in the morning, you can see the two derailed cars were removed from the tracks. they are carrying construction material. the derailed freight cars were blocking one of the two tracks shared by passenger trains for ronkonkoma and port jefferson. the repairs to the track will last through the morning commute. we don't know how much longer it will last. service would mirror last night basically. no eastbound train service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson until later this morning. in addition, some westbound trains may bypass westbury and carle place. everyone taking the l.i.r.r. should know there likely will be delays. passengers are waiting for the train here. it will be like that most of the morning and for the morning commute once again, no eastbound service there and westbound service expect delays. live in hicksville, kala rama, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> kala, thank you. new challenges on capitol hill for new york city firefighters and others who are suffering from 9/11 health problems. they are heading to washington to push for the continuation of coverage under the zadroga act. it is set to expire and that would end the health benefits for 70,000 first responders and attack responders. they will be joined with jon stewart. we will get a live report at 5:30. new details in the shooting of an aide to governor cuomo. in the hours before the west indian parade, nypd is using facial recognition software to track down the gunman that left carey gay bay -- gabay in a couple may. he is in critical condition. developing this morning, a float plane that crashed in alaska overnight. the plane carried fishing guides and their clients. it crashed near a scenic lake 175 miles southwest of anchorage. the crash killed three visitors in california and pennsylvania. another 7 were injured. some critically. >> time is 5:05. the stage is set for the republican presidential debate. 400 people will be in the audience by personal invitation. cnn is saying it expects a large audience. it is charging 40 times the usual rate for advertising time. 6:00 p.m. debate for the four lowest polling candidates. at 8:00 p.m. the 11 leading candidates will get their chance on stage. donald trump has scored with a predebate spectacular. >> we will make the military so big and so strong and so great and it will be so powerful that i don't think we are ever going to have to use it. >> trump promised that he would lead a massive military build up and complained that illegal immigrants get better care than the nation's soldiers. trump promised to deliver sub sigh decided -- subsidized private care. >> he has a record. he is liberal. he is laying us for chum's. >> the conservative group club for growth is spending a million dollars for two attack ads attacking the front-runner in iowa. "good morning america" picks up our coverage with a live report from los angeles that begins at 7:00. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic and bill evans with your accuweather forecast. >> we take a look around midtown manhattan southward. we are looking at a great morning. clear skies, comfy temps, beautiful start on this wednesday, hump day. by 8:00 the temperatures will warm up into the 70-degree range. we have clear skies all the way back to the ohio valley. our noontime temperature at lunch, we should take lori to lunch because it's her birthday. >> oh, my gosh. >> yes, we should. >> run lori says -- lori says, lunch with you people? it will be great to sit outside and have lunch. speaking of miss sassy at the bus stop, it will be comfy. warm, 87 later on. we will talk about the rest of the week's weather and the weekend. heather is looking at the commute. >> you say 86 so, lori, don't wear the clothes you are wearing at the bus stop. wear the clothes you are wearing right now. traveling on to the b.q.e., a little slow. on to the staten island expressway, you can see that we have construction set up near bradley avenue. we will head to the maps again just to tell happening at long island railroad and the freight derailment. no eastbound service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson. westbound experience delays as well. street cleaning rules are in effect today. lori and ken, over to you. >> thank you. still ahead on "eyewitness news this morning," high school football player's actions are under investigation after he grabbed his opponent's helmet and hit him in the head with it. it's what didn't happen that has parents concerned. >> everybody is lost, never going to be about one person. >> also, the devastation left behind as an army of firefighters continue to battle a massive wildfire. the progress they have made so welcome back. memories up in smoke for a california man surveying the remains of his childhood home destroyed by wildfires over the weekend. drought continuing to fuel the raging inferno blazing a path of destruction in a rural area north of san francisco. the flames did not reach gary's house but miles away the flames gobbled up a home where he grew up and his brother still lived. >> everybody that moved away is still connected to this town. and there is a lot of good people here and -- it's a ghost town now. it's eerie. >> authorities say the fire destroyed hundreds of homes. that was a thriving community a few days ago. they expect the numbers to rise as about 9,000 homes remain threatened. police in new jersey are investigating a vicious hit on the football field that had nothing to do with a tackle. take a look at what happened. this is friday night at lyndon high school. lyndon is in the black. imacculata is in the white. number 1 for lyndon relationships the helmet of number 73 then hits him in the head. parents are concerned because the lyndon player was not the imacculata player received ten stitches. >> when things like that happen, there is a breakdown in coaching and in the team. any team player that does that should be automatically taken off. >> the lyndon school and the governing body for new jersey high school sports are looking into the incident. immaculate take received an apology from the lyndon administration. >> wow. one heck of a bang with the helmet. meteorologist bill evans joins us with the exclusive forecast. >> we have clear skies, a great morning outside. a beautiful day today again and it will be even warmer as we look at this morning. there is one world trade. it's almost like glass. pretty through midtown and much of the tri-state as we start out with clear skies and a very comfortable temperature. 67 degrees, dry humidity. calm wind. pressure way up above the normal mark fair weather on the par rom tear. pressure would be 30.00. 30.33 which is what i call extra credit, way up there. u.v. index a 6. two hours is all it takes to get a sunburn. we are heading to fall, still enough to give you a sunburn. sayreville 57. long branch 56 around wrightstown. nice morning 54 poughkeepsie. 64 coastal connecticut and out to long island. an east to sometimes a northerly to northwest wind this morning. everything is quiet. there is a couple of clouds around. i haven't seen reports of fog. all the visibilities are i think maybe tomorrow morning or friday morning maybe fog in the valleys and suburbs. winds are north going east today in the atlantic. waves with a foot out in the atlantic. kind of like the light rollers in the atlantic and the harbor and quiet up the hudson and east rivers. rip currents are low. warm, 87. that temperature is 12 are above normal for this time of the year. more of the same tomorrow. summery sunshine as we close out summer and head to fall. fall begins next wednesday at 4:30 in the morning. plenty of sun, warmer, 87. tonight a great night. 69 in the five boroughs to low 60s outside the city to 50 ts in many suburbs north and west and we have a sunny and warm afternoon tomorrow, high of 87. here is the accuweather seven- day forecast. 86 friday. 84 saturday. 81 saturday. gorgeous weather into the weekend. i think we have a few more clouds on sunday. there is the outside chance of a shower or thunderstorm but not really a big deal. we are into the 70s next week which is, you know, 78 is still warmer than normal even next week. we will have very nice weather. right into next week dry. it has really been a dry summer. >> that's good. a great summer. >> it has been great. >> it has been a bad commuting season and it continues with a bad commuting season. what is going on. >> seems to be a lot of mass transit issues. let's go to our mass transit chart. we will talk about long island railroad. we still have the service disruptions and they may be with us for all through the morning. this is long island railroad because of that freight train derailment. you have no service eastbound to ronkonkoma to huntington or to port jefferson. in addition to that, you have trains bypassing westbury going westbound, bypassing carle place. there is bus service to mineola. from there hop on a train. that will get you around the problem but, again, you want to pack your patience, leave yourself extra time. a and b trains downtown delays track work at 14th street. we have street cleaning rules back in effect. ken and lori, over to you. >> 5:16. still ahead this morning, the big move by mayor de blasio today in an effort to get more than one million new york city public school students prepared for higher education. >> three months before the holiday season. wow, it's coming fast, right? two big companies announce how many additional workers they want to hire. but the news, not so good. 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. there's something for everyone. 5:19. happening today, mayor de blasio is set to unveil a major new school plan. we have learned part of that plan is to have computer science available to all students in the next 10 years. the mayor wants to bring advanced placement classes to all of the city's 400 high schools for the first time. the estimated cost $51 million a year. for the younger grades, increased emphasis on reading in the second grade with plans to hire 700 new reading teachers. that cost will be $75 million each year. it is 5:20. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic and meteorologist bill evans with the exclusive accuweather forecast. >> well, just checking out sky conditions and temperatures here. we are kind of looking to see if there would be fog around this morning. it doesn't look like that is happening now. 67 around the five boroughs. morristown 48. it cools off outside the city. that's where you would find in the city fog. 62 jamaica queens, j.f.k. a northeast wind will make for a great day. we are looking at a lot of sunshine today. temperatures will get in the low 80s quickly early this afternoon to the mid-to-upper 80s this afternoon. should be beautiful weather around. the kiddos will be getting up in a minute. when they get up, they need the comfy clothes. breezy and nice. warm, 87. i give it an a. >> i do too. i think that is wonderful. >> let's go to the mass transit chart. things are not wonderful long island railroad. you have train service bypassing westbury going westbound and bypassing carle place. so, bus service to mineola, hop on a train. the other mass transit systems are on or close including subways and street cleaning rules are in effect. ken and lori, over to you. >> thank you. still ahead and new this morning, the predator on the run after an attempted rape in brooklyn. police say the suspect was armed with a cord and a knife and we have the video police want you to see. >> also ahead, the move in the works to create a it took joel silverman years to become a master dog trainer. but only a few commands to master depositing checks at chase atms. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank. apple is releasing its new mobile operating system today. ios 9. it uses much less space than previous editions and that should ease the fears of folks worrying about an upgrade wreaking havoc with the iphones and ipads. this upgrade will not give old hardware the special 3-d and 4 k video features found on the new 6-s phones. wow. i am so far behind. seriously. on the money this morning, stocks finished higher in asia overnight. >> nikkei closed slightly higher. hong kong hang seng index closed more than 2% higher. a crucial meeting of the federal reserve gets underway today. >> reena ninan and kendis gibson have the headlines. >> topping america's money, all eyes on the fed. >> federal reserve starting a two day meeting. will interest rates be rising making it harder to afford a mortgage or car loan? >> wall street not too concerned. dow, nasdaq and s&p higher. some fewer holiday jobs. ups plans to higher about the same number of seasonal workers, toys r us won't hire as many. >> it will give the holiday temps more hours. that's what they say the workers want. with christmas 1 a 0 days away -- 100 days away, i can't believe it. >> how would you like a ford under the tree. >> it includes ford's most powerful production engine ever and delivers 525 horsepower but it comes at a price nearly $50,000. >> that's america's money. facebook gives a thumbs up to a thumbs down button. the company ceo mark zuckerberg hesitated to introduce a dislike feature because he doesn't want see ber bullying but facebook users want to express empathy on unpleasant news. the official dislike button will be a test. i guess he got into doing it. coming up in the next half hour, we continue our coverage of the commuter alert in effect on the long island railroad. we received new details about the delays and cancellations and how long they will last. a live update is minutes away. >> the temperatures are warming back up again today. meteorologist bill evans returns with your exclusive accuweather forecast. when you booked this trip, you didn't know we had over 11,000 local activities listed on our app. or that you could book them right from your phone. a few weeks ago, you still didn't know if you were gonna go. now the only thing you don't know, is why it took you so long to come here. expedia. technology that connects you to the people and places that matter. now at chili's, try the delicious lunch double burger. then tap, swipe, and go. details on the delays following a fright train derailment. >> 9/11 survivors and first responders are on their way to washington to fight for extended health benefits. >> summer is standing strong today with temperatures on the rise as students head back to class. >> good morning, i'm ken rosato. >> i'm lori stokes. thanks for joining us. it's wednesday, september 16th. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic and meteorologist bill evans. >> here we go. we take a look outside. we have a pretty morning. we will look at a great day. i think temperatures today are going to be about 3, 4, 5 warmer than yesterday. we are starting out warmer than yesterday. 67. we were around 60 starting the day yesterday. 62. low 50s north and west. a few degrees warmer. we are minus the humidity. kingston and poughkeepsie 54. carmel and putnam county 53. new city, rockland county 61. that is -- 57 at belmar. today we are looking at 81 by the time we get to about noontime. then 84 at 2:00. 87 will hit this afternoon and tomorrow. we will talk about that in the accuweather seven-day forecast. heather has a bagful of troubles already. >> no major problems in rockland county. >> not in rockland. let's talk about l.i.r.r. changes are happening throughout the morning. no service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson. a lot of canceled trains. a lot of delays. they won't fix the tracks until later after the rush hour. so, westbound you are business passing westbury, business passing carle place. take a bus to mineola from there and hop on a train. new jersey transit, path, metro north on or close. a and -- a and e earlier track work has been completed. minor delays across the board george washington bridge, lincoln and holland doing fine. heading into barnegat a closure on route 9 between east bay and water street because of an ongoing accident. a downed pole and downed wires. street cleaning rules are in effect today. ken and lori, over to you. >> heather, thank you. we continue our coverage of the commuter alert in effect with what you need to know before you head out the door. long island railroad commuters can expect delays and cancellations for eastbound service. eyewitness news reporter kala rama just spoke to commuters and she is joining us live from hicksville. kala? >> reporter: lori, good morning. i have commuters talking to me. people are getting off the train. let me show you this. we timed this for you. this got here at 5:09. people were running up to the train trying to get on thinking it was about to leave. it has been sitting on the tracks for 20 minutes. that is a westbound train heading into manhattan. people are getting off and getting breakfast. they don't know what is going on with the delay. that's the story. 9 trains are canceled eastbound. 13 are being canceled westbound this morning. that is between the hours of 6 to 10. already we are starting to see major delays. about 200 feet of track that needs to be repaired including a technical piece of equipment. that is what is causing the hold up. they are down to one track this morning. you can see the work from overnight. two derailed cars carrying construction material was removed from the tracks around 2:00 this morning. the derailed fright cars were blocking one of the two tracks shared by passenger trains for ronkonkoma and port jefferson. the repairs to the track will last through the morning commute. we don't know how much longer it will take because there is that technical piece of equipment that needs to be fixed. service would mirror last night. no eastbound train service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson until later this morning and in addition you heard that some of those westbound trains have been canceled. basically everyone on the l.i.r.r. should expect delays from at least 15 minutes as we timed this morning and expect them to be crowded. live in hicksville, kala rama, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> thank you. happening today, dozens of city firefighters will rally in washington to push for extended federal health benefits for 9/11 first responders. one of the groups left from lower manhattan in the last hour. eyewitness news reporter dray clark is live with that story. dray? >> reporter: good morning, ken. congresswoman carolyn maloney who helped cosponsor the zadroga bill said if the bill is not extended, more firefighters around first responders suffering from ground zero related illnesses will die. more than a dozen of those first responders and firefighters boarded a bus heading to d.c. for a rally asking congress to extend the zadroga bill enacted in 2010 and set to expire in 2016. the bill recipients have reported becoming ill after working at ground zero conducting rescues and recoveries. a number of people have already died or are currently dying and they a contribute their illnesses to their work at ground zero. the zadroga act survivors say if the bill is not extended, more people will die. >> these people didn't question whether or not they would be sick in the future. the future is now. we need help. we don't need charity, we need help. >> it's frustrating. not anger, frustration. the answer here is as plane as the nose on anyone's face. they should realize that the l.i.r.r. workers, everyone involved in the recovery and rescue over here at ground zero gave it their all. >> reporter: the zadroga bill is named after james who was an nypd detective who died in 2006 from a respiratory illness believed to be linked to his work at ground zero after attacks. later on this morning, jon stewart will be among those firefighters lending his name and some of his power to convince congress to go ahead and extend the zadroga bill. dray clark, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> dray, thank you. now a brooklyn. police say this man tried to rape a woman after attempting to strangle her with a cord after the pair walked to a rite aid earlier yesterday morning. the woman accepted the man's office to buy her cigarettes and soda. he choked her after they walked out. he tried to cut off her clothing with a knife and he ran off when she screamed. police hope to hit the jackpot in their search for two suspects who swindled tens of thousands of dollars from an elderly woman in a queens lottery scam. the suspects approached the 80- year-old woman on jamaica avenue. the man and woman reportedly asked her to help them cash a winning lottery ticket. after the victim agreed to help, she withdraw $90,000, handed it to the suspects who then drove her back to her house. happening today, the high school science teacher whose drone crashed at the u.s. open at the side of the building is due in court. police say daniel verily was operating the drone white sailed into the stadium. the aircraft did not hit a person. he is a teacher at the academy of innovative technology in brooklyn and faces reckless endangerment and other charges. in connecticut, newtown, the school district are fighting a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of two children killed in the sandy hook elementary school massacre. lawyers for the town and school district are questioning whether the lawsuit was filed on time and are objecting to information request by the parents attorney. it allegation inadequate security measures in the school when gunman adam lanza killed 20 first graders and six educators in december of 2012. a blockbuster disclosure from a man that a new york city police officer was looking for when he violently took down former tennis pro james black. he talked to eyewitness news via skype from australia. he said he was not in new york last week. in fact, he was in australia. he says the photo that the nypd had of him was originally posted online by his brother. >> actually my name is clearly tagged on the original photo. i think this whole mess could have been avoided if somebody spent ten minutes on google prior to the manhunt. >> he apparently looks like the real credit card suspect police were searching for. the officer has been placed on desk duty while the department and civilian review board do the investigation. you can see the entire interview on our facebook page and home page at abc7ny. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic and mr. evans with your accuweather forecast. >> why thank you, birthday lady. here is is what happening today. we will have a lot of sunshine. a pretty morning. clear skies as we look from the camera in midtown south. a temperature of 67. that's where it's hanging around. a light southwest wind here. clear skies. hudson river valley, new jersey, pennsylvania, all the way back to the great lakes. we are looking at beautiful weather today. 70 by 9:00. 75 by 10. noontime temperature 82. 87 this afternoon. 12 to 15 warmer than normal for this time of the year. a great day today. boating today, waves in the atlantic only about a foot and around the sound and less than a foot around the sound and a foot around the harbor today. rip current risk at the beaches low. heather is looking at the commute. whether then heather every seven minutes. how is it going? >> it's a mess. you heard kala talking about long island railroad. she is on the scene. let's talk about what we have on the chart. long island railroad eastbound service at 6:00 a.m. no service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson. you will find the westbound side bypassing westbury, bypassing carle place and you have bus service to mineola from there you can pick up a train. you can expect a lot of delays, cancellations, overcrowding, confusion. all of the other mass transit times, new jersey transit, path trains, metro north on or close to schedule. subways are doing just fine. street cleaning rules are back in effect. ken and lori, over to you. >> thank you. still ahead on "eyewitness news this morning," rising death toll as devastating floodwaters sweep through utah. the very latest on the search for survivors coming up. >> plus, before graduation it's hope and circumstance for 12 lucky high school students set to greet the pontiff when he visits new developing in southern utah, search crews resume work at daybreak as they look for survivors of two floating tragedies. four people are dead and three missing after a group of hikers were trapped in a park. in the meantime, one person is missing after a wave swept away two vehicles carrying 16 women and children. 12 were killed, three children were rescued. local officials -- a group of 12 high school seniors, i should say, will have a special honor when pope francis arrives in our area. they will serve as greaters. the archdiocese of new york introduced us to the seniors looking forward to welcome the pope when he stops by our lady queen of angel school in harlem. it will happen next friday. the archdiocese is recognizing the dozen seniors for their achievements. we asked daniel what he would like to tell the pope when he meets him. >> i will be awe struck in the first five seconds. after the shock, i will tell him he is a breath of fresh air, inspiring, not only me but inspired tons of people both believers and nonbelievers because he is accepting of everybody and keep doing what he is doing. >> awe. >> they will be in a hallway when the pope arrives. they have a short time to meet with the pontiff before he meets with the younger children. >> something tells me he will spend time with them. the teens tell us they are grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime. >> be sure to stay with eyewitness news leading up to and during the pope's visit. we have an entire section on our web site, abc7ny where you can find his schedule and traffic information -- traffic information. did i have to say that terrible word. >> a lot of it. let's check in with the weather. >> let's take a look outside, shall we. our roof camera to the beautiful art deco chrysler building brought to you by chrysler. today is a great day to get a new car. let's look to flushing bay. we are looking at great weather. here across the east river, great weather. this is one world trade. brooklyn bridge is here up to empire and the chrysler building not far from there. humidity is dry. winds are calm. a temperature of 67 degrees. great weather. pressure at 30.33 which is way up there in the fair weather category. anything above 30.00 on the bottom is extra credit. normal low about 61. 67 right now. a little warmer today. not going to break any record highs but a warm day. sun up at 6:30, sets at 7:04. you are correct, the daylight hours are getting shorter. feels like midsummer the rest of the week. fog is possible. i don't see any around this morning. there may be some in the valley. next shot at a shower is late sunday. that is iffy at best. look at hanover, 48. montclair 56. hopatcong 61. 60 hackettstown and beautiful centenary college. bridgeport 61, 63 to long island to the eastern end. we have a wind across here out of this high-pressure ridge. this will hang around. nothing coming along to push this out of the way maybe until sunday of this weekend and maybe into monday. as this hangs around, a wind light out of the southwest dry, gorgeous, a lot of sunshine. a great day today. so, at the bus stop kiddos, ring wear the comfy close, breezy, nice, 70. later on 87. after school sports and exercise and practice, drink a lot of water. great boating forecast, low rip current risk at the beaches. a warm day,ing 87 today and we will be at 87 tomorrow and this will get us into the weekend in style. so, 87 will run 12 warmer than normal for this time of the year. 69 in the five boroughs. low 60s outside the city. 50s well north and west. warm tomorrow afternoon, 87. here is the accuweather seven- day forecast. friday it's warm, 84 degrees. saturday a great day, sunshine and 81. and we are looking at what will be temperatures back into the upper 70s as we get to monday and tuesday. >> nice. >> i want to point out there were a few big moments in history, the big bang, then elvis of course came upon and changed huh sick history. >> wait for it. >> here it comes. >> and then the heavens gave us -- grazed the -- greased the planet. today is her birthday. >> far too dramatic. >> if you will excuse me, back here we have a garden. back here we have a garden. we grow roses. happy birthday, lori. >> this is stunning. >> that was the big bang all >> right. >> ken, thanks for picking those up for me. >> happy birthday, partner. >> thank you so much. >> i like to say i can never forget your birthday because my brother steve's birthday. gorgeous arrangement. >> kind of feel like you have to look -- are you there, lori. >> this lady came in the flower store, i would like to have some of those baby's teeth in my flowers. >> baby's breath. >> happy birthday, lori. let's talk about long island railroad. if it's your birthday and you have to take l.i.r.r., i feel for you. at 6:00 a.m. eastbound service, no service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson. this was because of a derailed freight train. they still have to fix the tracks. they will wait until after the rush. so, in the meantime, westbound service will bypass westbury, carle place, take the bus to mineola from there. hop on a train. >> street cleaning rules are in effect. heather and lori, over to you. >> still ahead on "eyewitness news this morning," the search for a man's therapy dog after it was left tied up outside of a harlem store. the mix-up that may have lead to its disappearance. >> from the hardwood to runway, the harlem globetrotters prove they are always in style. a search is on for a therapy dog that vanished in harlem. james pardella says his dog precious, a 19-year-old thy way way was tied to a fence outside a store on 125th street friday when someone took her. he says that he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder has posted fliers around harlem hoping someone has seen precious. >> i haven't slept looking for this dog since friday. you see a dog, posters of dogs missing all the time in this area and you never think it will happen to you. it happened to me. >> well, his brother forgot he tied the dog outside the store. precious was outside crying for hours before someone took him possibly thinking she was abandoned. it was a whole new ball game for the harlem globetrotters at fashion week. they walked the runway to unveil a 90th anniversary fashion line. fans can visit the harlem globetrotters web site to vote on which uniform style they want to see the team wear at its upcoming tour. >> i can imagine them in the uniforms with on the fingertips. cool. >> it is cool. you may want to give yourself extra time this morning if you plan on traveling on the long island railroad. >> a live look at the hicksville station where commuters can expect delays fo i'm sigourney weaver, and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world... like our state parks. the adirondacks are my favorite. for hiking, fishing, camping, you name it. niagara falls is the oldest state park, but visiting it never gets old. the readers of a national newspaper voted letchworth the #1 state park in america. watkins glen, #3. new york state parks are a gift. plan your vacation at iloveny.com. there's something for everyone. you are never more than seven minutes away from weather and traffic. i'm meteorologist bill evans. happy wednesday. >> clear skies from the camera in brooklyn to the lower east side. 66 degrees will be your 6:00 a.m. temperature. we are looking at a calm wind to a little light northeast wind. so, it will feel very nice with the mow der rate humidities that will drop off today. comfy clothes kiddos at the bus stop. breezy and nice this morning. it will be warm, sunny, 87 later on. i give it an a. drink a lot of water after school. heather is looking at the commute. how is it going? >> we have an issue with long island railroad. a freight train derailment that occurred yesterday. in a couple of minutes, no service to ronkonkoma, huntington or port jefferson eastbound. as far as westbound, they will bypass westbury, bypass carle place. take a bus to mineola from there, hop on a train. i have been reading tweets and people are saying the trains are overcrowded. pack your patience. street cleaning rules are in effect. lori, over to you. >> thank you. a manhattan man finds out the hard way that his apartment security system works. now police are hunting for a pair of burglars. it's one of the top stories on the free news app. take a look at the video. it was shot inside danny wheeler's upper east side apartment while he was at work. an app alerted him that something was moving inside. he watched as first one then another man grabbed his stuff. wheeler called the police and he was livid. >> i was really angry. i can't believe this is happening in my apartment right now. a neighbor saw the second suspect, called out to him then that scared both men off. >> new this morning, two homeless men are behind bars facing charges in connection with nine bank robberies in manhattan. police say michael santonella robbed one bank and attempted to rob five others last week. he reportedly got away with a thousand bucks in his successful robbery attempt. the other man hit three banks in the past two weeks making off with nearly 5,000 bucks. detectives say the two men know each other but were not working together in the hold ups. we are closing in on 6:00. just ahead this morning, developing story on the morning commute. canceled trains and delays on multiple branches with the long island railroad because of a derailed freight train. anything. anywhere. anytime. anyone. spread the delicious taste you know and love. hershey's is mine, yours, our chocolate spreads. non-profits ghi and hip, now called emblemhealth, have been connecting my family with a world class network of doctors for over 50 years. who's caring for you? emblemhealth: what care feels like... in the neighborhood. good morning. 6:00.

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