Back in 2012 sharon rearicks son john was killed on new falls road. An addition to that road has been improved in hopes that what happened to him will never happen again. Trish heart assemblyman in middletown township tonight with the full story. Trish. Reporter well, rick, monica, this busy stretch of new falls road is where john rearick lost his life in 2012. A memorial still stands across the street and plans to make this stretch of road a little bit safer are under way thanks in large part to rearicks mother. We got the approval and i got the standing ovation. Reporter sharon spoke with action news in her levittown home her granddaughter on her happen less than a day after the vote she had been waiting for for four years. I started it as a grieving mother but everybody else helped make it happen. Reporter with the unanimous vote from Bristol TownshipCouncil Plans will move forward to install signs along a stretch of new falls road where her son was killed by a hit and run driver. Police say 23yearold john was walking home from a bar in july of 2012. Jonathan simmons later turned himself in and pleaded guilty but sharon wasnt satisfied. In the beginning they told me many other families have tried to do this. And have been unsuccessful. John was special ed. I learned how to fight in the very beginning. Reporter for years she collected signatures and went to countless meetings. In december she made another attempt out of desperation. I wrote a letter to the secretary of transportation. Luckily richard is on facebook. Never, ever expected her to respond. Reporter but richards did respond. Then in january, news that penndot would pay 1. 7 million for the sidewalk as long as middletown and Bristol Township agreed to maintain them. Those votes came this week. We actually had customers come and sign petitions. Reporter the stretch of road includes penn jersey. Huge difference people can walk down new falls road without walking down the middle of the street. Reporter now rearick has started a Nonprofit Organization advocating for more sidewalks and pedestrian safety. Penndot says the project is now in the design phase and if everything goes smoothly construction will be under way by next year. Were live in middletown township, trish hartman, channel6 action news. Monica. Thank you. Dupont says it will keep a major presence in delaware after its merger with dow chemical. Once those companies merge, they will then be split into three separate sectors. Today the Companies Announced their agricultural spinoff will be headquartered in wilmington. Vernon odom will have more on what that means for local jobs and how delaware leaders are reacting to the news. Thats coming up tonight at 6 00. Right now thousands of people are paying their final respects to the Late Supreme Court justice antonin scalia. Lets take a live picture from the Supreme Court here in washington. Scalia is lying in repose at this hour. All morning long eight of his Supreme Court colleagues visited his casket and just 90 minutes ago the president and first lady bid farewell as well. In trenton, scalias birthplace flags flew at halfstaff in his honor. Scalia died last weekend at a resort in texas. He was 79 years old. Our coverage of Justice Scalias final farewell continues online at 6abc. Com. Well stream tomorrows funeral mass in washington live on our web site and that begins at 11 00 a. M. A philadelphia man is recovering after he was beaten with a baseball bat during a robbery. It happened about 1 30 this morning at a home here in the 1800 block of east cambria street in port richmond. Police say the man had invite add woman from the neighborhood inside but moments later two men also forced their way in. Police say they began hitting the man way bat and a gun. The woman joined the suspects in that attack. All three were able to get away after taking cash and two video game consoles. From our new jersey news room tonight, local democrats say theyve agreed on a plan to make the states minimum wage 15 an hour. Senate president Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker vincent preyacht tow initially had competing plans. Today they announce add compromise. The plan would gradually raise the minimum wage to 15 an hour over six years. This afternoon new Jersey Business leaders bashed the plan saying would it have a chilling effect. Governor Chris Christie has also said he does not support such a measure. Two local leaders took a pledge today to stop hate that divides our communities. Pennsylvania state senator Arthur Haywood and Philadelphia City councilman david oh signed an anti bigotry pledge in north philadelphia. The pledge created by the Arab American Institute promises to uphold civil discourse and not engage in bigotry and also to speak out against those who do. It was an inspiring day for some north Philadelphia High School students. Today they watched a documentary detailing the fight for integration at Girard College during the 1960s and it centered around cecil b. Moore a philadelphia lawyer civil activist and Freedom Fighters. Annie mccormick has more. Reporter a History Lesson came in the form avenue documentary played before the students of crystal ray high school. Cecils people follows the cecil b. Moore Freedom Fighters and their Vigorous Campaign to open Girard College to blacks in 1965. It includes the stop Martin Luther king jr. Made. Now is the time to straighten up Girard College. Girard college was a complicated legal problem in which to overturn a will that denied access to school to people of color. Reporter the film truly came to life in the schools auditorium. Reporter you can see Freedom Fighter kenneth featured if the piece as a teen and today he came in person along with a panel of Freedom Fighters still alive. Im really surprised and thankful that i lived this long so witness this. Reporter several on the Panel Including civil rights leader cecil b. Moores daughter spoke to the students. If you want to participate in saving our community, theres a role for you. That you dont have to have a famous name but you can serve. We love those children before we knew them and to see them now having more opportunities than i had when i was their age and to see them now having access to things that it was denied me. Reporter and the kids here left with a reminder to pass on the legacy and to be proud. Ive always been proud of philadelphia but this just look took it up a notch. We couldnt believe all the politics. We as young people have powers of our own over our own life. We can get our message out and affect change in our country. Reporter in logan Annie Mccormick channel6 action news. We are less than an hour and countering until the kickoff of thon at penn state university. The 46 hour dance marathon is the largest student run philanthropy in the world and were looking live inside right now. The stage is set for a weekend of fun and inspiration. Last year the event raised 13 million for children battling cancer. And 6abc is once again a proud supporter of thon. Well have continuing coverage throughout the entire weekend. Were also streaming all 46 hours of thon on our web site at 6abc. Com. An incredible effort. Good luck. Well, time right now for a check of the action news traffic report friday night. Matt pelman in the action news traffic center. Happy friday to you, matt. Same to you guys. On a friday afternoon were always dancing around a few traffic troubles but this afternoon suppose it could be worse here along the blue route 476 slow northbound from the schuylkill to the midcounty tolls. Theres friday afternoon volume. There are people heading to the poconos and there was an earlier crash on the eastbound pennsylvania turnpike thats now long gone but some slow speeds linger coming east of valley forge. Still have the wreck in whitemarsh, township by p and i automotive along ridge pike at crescent avenue. On the big picture slow speeds, no accidents or anything on the schuylkill and 95. But some of those speeds are quite slow, 15 Miles Per Hour. Monroe township a crash along the black horse pike, 42, between pine street by the red carpet inn and sicklerville road by the walgreens and septas 101 trolley running with delays because of mechanical issues. Well check it again, rick and monica, in the next half hour. Okay well see you then. Thanks matt. Much more still to come on action news at 5 00 tonight. New details in the fight between apple and the fbi. The increasing pressure on the tech giant over its stand for personal privacy amid a terrorism investigation. Plus down playing the zika virus. In health check a renewed confidence from Health Officials about safety in brazil ahead of this summers olympics. That when action news comes right back. The Justice Department moving forward with its legal fight against apple. Today they filed a motion to force apple to comply with an order to help the fbi crack a phone used by one of the San Bernadino attackers. The fbi sings thinks there could be key evidence inside the phone. Farook and his wife launched that deadly at thank killed 14 people. Apple executive tim cook argues the decision is an overreach of government power. This case could work its way up to the u. S. Supreme court monica. The literary world is mourning the loss of an icon tonight. Harper lee author of to kill a mockingbird died this morning. To kill a mockingbird was published in 1960 and to date sales have topped 40 million copies of the book. Lee was a private person who lived a quiet life in alabama. She didnt release another novel until just last year. Five decades after mocking bird was published. Today the president of lees publish Company Harper Collins remember the author as a Brilliant Writer extraordinary woman of great joyfulness humility and kindness. She was 89 years old. Energy stocks edged lower. The markets wavered through the trading day as the price of crude oil continued to retreat. A surge in oil prices fueled a spike on the markets earlier this week, the dow losing 21 points by the closing bell today, the nasdaq picking up about 17 points on the day and the s p 500 stayed nearly even. West chester based qvc says about a hundred employees at its pennsylvania offices could be out of a job as it establishes a new office in poland. Qvc called the move crucial to its long term strategy. The new office will support areas in finance, had. R, it and legal. Health check tonight a top official with the World Health Organization says the zika virus will not ruin the Olympic Games in brazil. He says brazil will host a fantastic olympics. Health reporter and registered nurse ali gorman joins us with more on this story tonight. Ali. That that official dr. Bruce al ward is in charge of the zika response team. He says the mosquito borne virus will be way down by the time the games begin for two reasons. One it will be brazils winter so the number of mosquitos will go down and two, he says the venues are in confined areas so it will be easier to control the mosquito population. He also expects Many Brazilians to have developed some immunity by then. The country has recorded more than 1 million suspected cases of the virus. The concern is whether it leads to a serious birth defect in babies born to women exposed when theyre pregnant. Meanwhile the house is rejected president obamas proposal for 1. 8 billion to fight zika virus. The lawmakers want the cdc to use money left over from the ebola fund. Federal Health Officials say thats against budget rules and they still need the ebola money for ebola. Cdc Officials Say theyll continue their work to protect americans while the funding is being worked out. Also today, a message about cardiac rehab. After someone suffers a heart attack or has heart surgery, theyre prescribed a cardiac rehabilitation program. It can be life saving but less than 13 percent of people actually participate. Cardiac rehab is typically a 12week program where patients are given an exercise class with doctors and nurses monitoring your progress. They gradually build back unyour heart capacity. Studies show people who do these programs are less likely to suffer another heart attack, less likely to go back into the hospital and more likely to live longer. Its really crucial because its not just about exercising. Its about learning how to eat, learning to stop smoking, controlling your stress factors. Its really a crucial part of having a healthy life after your heart event. Cardiac rehab is covered by most insurance plans after youve had a heart event or surgery. Dozens of hospitals in our area do offer the program. Rick and monica. Okay, thank you, ali. Much more still to come on action news tonight. A new look at an out of this world sight that is bigger than a hundred sunny skies put together. Hard to imagine. Plus Richard Branson takes another crack at space tourism. The new ship he unveils today when action news comes right back. Listen up im here to get the lady of the house back on her feet. And give her the strength and energy to stay healthy. Whos with me . yay the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure. With 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. Ensure. Take life in take a look at this. The Hubble Telescope took this image avenue massive black hole 300 million night years away from earth. You cannot see the black hole because it pulls in all the light around it. Sigscientists look at the star nearby to determine how they behave and how big the black hole s this one is larger than 100 of our suns combined. Can you even imagine. A new space carrier could turn regular civilians into astronauts. A short time ago take this look Virgin Galactic rolled out a new version of its spaceship two rocket. The company is preparing to resume flight testing for the First Time Since an accident destroyed the original rocket killing one of the pilots in 2014. Well, it is now designed to fly with two crew members and up to 66 passengers. Those lucky few will travel to the fringes of space with a view of earth below if all goes as planned this time. Wow. Well, the Philadelphia Flower Show is just around the corner and to celebrate one local high school has created quite a display of springtime. Highland elementary in abington is holding its annual junior flower show. Students created their own artistic and floral designs which will be judged by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and winning entries will be on display at the Philadelphia Flower Show next month. Many of the students attended special workshops to learn how to create these works of wonder. Very nice. One Pennsylvania LotteryTicket Holder has won a thousand dollars a week for life. A ticket sold at the wawa on gay street in west chester matched all five balls but not the green cash ball on last nights drawing. Those numbers are 21, 24, 37, 38 and 49. The cash ball was four. Its just the second time a pennsylvania ticket has won a thousand dollars a week. The winner has a year to claim that prize. Now they have to stay healthy so they live a long time. More money. Right. Still ahead on action news a check of that accuweather forecast. As we look live outside sky6 hd showing you the river rink at penns landing on a friday. Few people out there enjoying the ice. Meteorologist cecily tynan says it wont be icy this weekend, though. Shell have a check of that warm weekend forecast when we come right back. Time now for accuweather at the action news big board. Meteorologist cecily tynan here with the accuweather word for the upcoming week. Were looking good. The word is warm. Warm exactly if youre heading to the slopes this weekend, get ready for spring skiing. Were live taking a look at Spring Mountain right now. Great conditions for skiing with temps in the 30s. Little bit of wind chill factor but compared to last weekend, it certainly feels a lot better. Currently in philadelphia 37 degrees. Allentown 36. Cape may 37. Atlantic city airport 35. And wilmington currently 34 degrees. Satellite6 along with action radar showing that we did see some sunshine earlier today but then the clouds rolling in. All this cloud cover in advance of a warm front that will be moving through tonight and what that will do is usher in a surge of aprillike temperatures tomorrow. So, tonight mostly cloudy with that warm front moving through. Temperatures essentially holding steady, not dropping much. 32 degrees in the cooler suburbs, about 34 degrees for center city, winds out of the southsouthwest up to about 14 Miles Per Hour. And tomorrow winds could gust up to 30 Miles Per Hour but theyre southwesterly so this is going to be pulling up unseasonably warm air. What a difference a week makes. 62 degrees in philadelphia. Allentown 58. Cape may 54. And dover getting