Switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for 79. 99 a month online for the first year. Plus hbo for one year and multiroom dvr service for two years, all with a twoyear agreement. And switching has never been easier. Get out of your contract with up to a 500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. Go to fiosgigabit. Com how about this. American idol will be back on air in 2018 right here on 6abc. Host Ryan Seacrest back at it. And even though the show is still several months out the audition process is well under way. Thousands of singers waited for hours today hoping to get their big break. Our Alicia Vitarelli was right there with them in annapolis, maryland. Reporter colby swann of chester delaware countys golden voice is one of thousands vying for a golden ticket. Are you the next american idol. Yes, i am. I want to be a singer and thats my dream. Reporter as they gear up for idols first season on abc producers spent the day in annapolis looking and listening for star power. They want to immediately if they move on to the next round or not but it all starts right here today. Reporter michael heartily from fredericksburg virginia looks familiar. Yeah, i made it to the celebrities in 2011 and then i was actually i made it to hollywood week in 2014. Reporter the crowd talked him into singing his original song and it worked. Yeah, so you said i was going to make it. Youre my little good luck charm. Reporter thank you. I like to say we have excellent taste in talent. This was emory bartons very first audition and she, too, sailed through. It feels really awesome but i had no idea that i would even get through like the first round. Reporter also heading to the next round. Dream a little dream of me. Reporter caleb folks from williamsburg, virginia and his ukulele. Im ready to go. I want to be the next idol. Reporter so is deja burnett from annapolis. Its remarkable. Its something i cant really describe with words. Great to have my family supporting me and having fun. Reporter us, too. We can say we knew you when. Unsee that there, the next idol. Use it on social media to audition online. Producers say they are scouring social media and of course meeting people at these bus stops in person all to find the next american idol. In annapolis, Alicia Vitarelli, channel6 action news. A lot of raw talent. Wish them the best. I love it. Cant wait. Much more ahead when action news comes right back. Ostriches dont really stick their heads in the sand. A peanut is not a nut. And a real john deere. Is actually real affordable. You learn something new every day. The surprisingly affordable john deere e series tractors. Now you can own americas tractor for just 99 a month. Learn more at your john deere dealer. Action news continues with meteorologist adam joseph, Alicia Vitarelli, Sharrie Williams and brian taff. Its 4 30 and action news continues with an update on that extremely dangerous hurricane heading towards florida right now. Plus, a warning for students today. If youre late to class, its going to cost you. How much theyre charging and why. And a mother has a request for strangers. Please dont ignore my kid when he tries to talk to you in public. Why she felt the need to issue that appeal online. But were going to begin here at 4 30 with the very latest on that south Philadelphia Block Party that turned into a Demolition Derby by suv on a rampage yesterday. Eight people ranging from children to the elderly were struck. Action News Reporter bob brooks talked to the husband of one of the victims today. Hes now live in south philadelphia with the details. Bob. Reporter well, brian that man says hes hopeful that his wife will simply be able to walk again, thats how serious of a situation this has become. That is the reality now for some of the people that were hit here yesterday. When we spoke with alphonso free land around 3 oclock today he just came home from the hospital. His wife, flora is there. He says her legs are hurt bad. Both of her legs is having difficulty so hopefully shell be able to walk. Reporter his wife is one of the many victims hit after this suv came speeding into their block party in the 1500 block of ringold street in south philadelphia. Freeland says his first instincts was to help his wife but says there were so many others hurt even worse. It was a pretty harsh scene to see all these bodies laying all over the street and one was worser than the other and you didnt know which way to go. Reporter it was just after 4 00 p. M. Yesterday a woman in the suv as seen in Surveillance Video going around cars and through tape. She doesnt stop until she crashes into the tent in the street. You even see her trying to back away. Almost a dozen people from a sixyearold child to a woman in her 90s were hurt. We spoke with several witnesses at the scene. Someone said their legs couldnt move. Others bleeding out their head. I never seen anything like that before in my life. Reporter neighbors say the block party is an annual labor day tradition. The real purpose of it is to give kids back to school supplies. I hope the children are okay because they were here to just get their book bags. They was excited and then this happened. Reporter thats ivory robinson. She says the woman behind the wheel needs to be held accountable but like so many around here theyre for giving. But i pray for her, whatever that was. Reporter you pray for her. Yeah, like something had to be i dont think it was intentional. I hope it wasnt. Reporter freeland adds he has a message for his wife watching in the hospital tonight. High flora hi flora. God bless you. Reporter we hope flora makes a full recovery. A woman is in custody right now. Police say she will be charged whip dui but no word yet on her identity. Reporting live in south philadelphia, bob brooks channel6 action news. Sharrie. All right, bob, thank you. Well, firefighters made quick work of a house fire in philadelphias germantown section today. Chopper6 hd was over the 5400 block of hexall street. Firefighters got it under control within 30 minutes. No one was hurt. Investigators are still looking for a cause. Philadelphia police are asking for the publics help identifying a man who broke into a trucking business in port richmond. Surveillance video shows the accused thief inside that facility on the 2400 block of east venango sometime between august 30th and september 3rd. Police say the man stole more than 2,000 worth of power tools. If you have any information on the break in, youre asked of course to call east detective police. Penn state apparently plans to sue the charity founded by exfootball coach and convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky. The university reportedly filed paperwork friday indicating that it might eventually sue the second mile. The charity was that founded by Jerry Sandusky and has since been dissolved. Sandusky is serving 30 to 60 years in prison for child sexual abuse of young boys he helped some of them through that charity. Now some of the victims were molested on campus. The scandal has cost the university 10s of millions of dollars in legal fees and other payments. Amid the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey we are learning of yet another Good Samaritan helping total strangers. Camden county freeholder bill mullen just returned to new jersey after cleaning a flood damaged home in texas. He originally planned his trip to houston to celebrate a friends birthday but after the storm he felt compelled to volunteer. He wound up using a web site to track down a family in desperate need of help. A single mother who had three children, one who has autism, went to home depot, went and got some equipment such as gloves and masks and went back out to the house i joined with a few other volunteers and we ended up cleaning, removing dry wall and basically gutting the home to the standards that fema has suggested. Mullen is now urging local residents to get involved in the disaster relief. Harvey still top of mind but of course we are also now watching another hurricane thats developing and weve got Severe Weather moving in our area as well. Thats right. Meteorologist adam joseph tracking all of it joins us now at the action news big board with the latest. We have irma, we have jose out in the atlantic but were also dealing with Severe Weather that is moving through right now. This warning continues until 5 oclock for northern parts of berks county north of reading in Kutztown Allentown up to slatington bethlehem easton right on the fringe of this warning. Winds near 60 miles an hour and some hail with this storm. As we take a look at it kind of lining up here just to the south of i78 and starting to bump over i78 into Lehigh County right now allentown, a downpour just erupted with some downpours and also some thunderstorms and some lightning strikes but the most severe storm right now is just to the east of leesport east of 61 along 22 here west of fleetwood. This is hail on storm tracker6 live anywhere between Mount Pleasant and leesport. The hail has been under an inch in diameter but still a dangerous storm passing through parts of berks county and more will be pushing in. As we take a look at this line this is trying to bow out here just to the south of State College and south of harrisburg. Theres aor this storm as its heading towards Lancaster County right now. These storms are moving rather slowly, so its not going to push through philadelphia, at least the main line until a little later on this evening, so we do have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 9 oclock for areas around media, philadelphia, trenton, all points to the north and west, any of the storms could have dangerous winds as well as some hail and vivid lightning. Again there could even be a Tornado Warning that pops at some points in this area. Well continue to monitor this and also have the very latest update from the National Hurricane center on Hurricane Irma coming up in that full accuweather forecast in just a little bit brian. Lots to watch adam. Thank you. Just in time for students to head back to school there is new evidence of benefits to pushing back the start time of classes. Action news anchor Monica Malpass live in the news room with one that probably wont be popular with students. Maybe not. All right. Well, brian, thats right, studies have always touted the Health Benefits of getting kids to school later but now a new study is also talking about the impact of a. M. Clock shift on the nations economy. Ali gorman breaks down the new research coming up for that you tonight in health check. Plus a chilly competition in south jersey. Coming up youll meet some of the local butchers hoping to make their name on national stage. What kid wouldnt want to sleep in. I would think most kids except their parents. You got it. Monica, thank you. The winners of a Scavenger Hunt were treated to lunch with a cop today. The Monroe TownshipPolice Department and papa johns teamed up to throw the kids a pizza party. It was their reward for finding one of 10 rocks hidden at various Historic Sites throughout the township. Now police wrote anticrime messages on each rock in hopes of teaching the children a positive less s the winners also got to see a k9 demonstration. Pretty cool. George Washington High School had two special visitors today to kick off the first day of class. Philadelphia mayor jim kenney and School DistrictSuperintendent William hite ate lunch with the ninth graders in the northeast today. The two leaders also checked out the diversity mural at the school on bustleton avenue. It was a rousing start to the school year for students in southwest philadelphia. Dozens of men lined up to cheer on and welcome the youngsters back to class at william c. Bryant elementary. And they brought supplies. Back packs pence sills and notebooks for all who needed them. The heartwarming show of support for the students was organized by the church of christian compassion and muslims for humanity. Good stuff there as well. Yeah. Here in the market for a used car stick around. From reliability to Customer Satisfaction well run down which preowned vehicles the experts are recommending. Plus, get to class on time or pay up. Thats the ultimatum one utah school has now and issued. How much students will be fined for being late coming up. And a mother has an unusual message for strangers. Please talk to my child. What made her issue that unusual public appeal. And before we head to break you are now looking at just some of the back to School Photos that our viewers have been sending and sharing all day. So send us yours as well and use the 6abcaction. Well be right back. Been trying to prepare for this day. And im still not ready. The reason im telling you this is that there will be moments in your life that. Youll never be ready for. Your little girl getting married being one of them. At longhorn, tonights special, the Great American steak dinner for 12. 99. A centercut sirloin with a side, plus a starter, or dessert. And for lunch, try one of our new burgers. Like the bbq bacon burger. You cant fake steak. The Defense Department says its sending 200 active duty soldiers to join the fight against several wildfires out west. The troops will undergo several days of train brag heading to battle 14 fires raging in washington state. Overall 80 large fires have sparked in nine states out west torching 2200 square miles so far. A number of houses have also been destroyed in utah. But there is some good news here. One of the biggest fires still burning outside of los angeles is now up to 70 percent contained. Brian at the big board with todays big talkers beginning with the controversial way one Utah High School is trying to curb tardiness. As of last tuesday, students who show up late are getting fined. The first offense is a warning. But if students are caught a second time, well you need to pay up three dollars. From there, the fee goes up to five dollars each time the student is late. Stance Bury High School says the goal of the new policy is to teach students personal accountability and responsibility but many parents say, wait a minute, that logic is flawed because theyre the ones who will wind up having to pay. A lot of families out here that are economically stretched. Theyre not going to be able to pay these fines. Were not after the money. We just want our kids to be in class. The principal says if students cant pay the fees, well, they can take lunch detention or show a clean tardy attendance for a few weeks. Any money thats collected will go into a special school fund that that school has set up. Now a message for adults. Or shall we call it a request for grownups to consider. If a child tries to strike up a conversation with you, could you please oblige and take a moment to communicate back. One mom says shes a bit frustrated with how much her toddler gets ignored and heres why. Audra rogers is the mother of a threeyearold son. In an article on babel. Com she writes nothing makes her son happier than running up and talking to every person he sees. She says that may be a little jar for strangers but says the little boy is bright eyed and bushy tailed and has a passion for talking. She adds hes not overly bothersome just outgoing but some adults respond to her thirty four yield with complete silence or simply walk away so she writes hes simply a child that is excited about life and he likes to talk about it and i want him to hang on to that as long as he can before the world tells him to be quiet. She says adults consider please acknowledging children when they talk to you may be a quick polite smile maybe could work in that case. Your response helps shape their view of the world she says. This one getting a lot of reaction and some strong ones. Some support this mom, others say well, they ignore a lot of people and that your kid isnt that different so what do you think about this . You can weigh in on our Facebook Page at 6abc. Com. All right. Brian, back over to you. Sharrie thank you. Time to get another check on the roadways. Mr. Matt pelman standing by in the action news traffic center. Hey, matt. Drone6 live over shafer road right by route 202. Watching the big sinkhole that resulted from the water main break early this morning since about 8 30 this morning. Yeah, there it is and wow, what a big sinkhole it is that resulted from that water main break. So, this is all happening just across from the mall, across from sullivans steakhouse. This is shafer road thats blocked off. If you want to cross 202 it would be mall boulevard. On this side its shafer road a residential street that is closed indefinitely because of this big sinkhole so wilson road or crockett road would be some alternates. Shafer road though out of commission for the time being here in king of prussia. Lets go to the maps. Not so far off in conshohocken were watching a motorcycle crash this afternoon. Its along cedar grove road close to spring mill road there by the cedar grove recreation center. So you want to avoid that as the emergency cre still on the scene. And near Worcester Elementary School theres a bad crash giving us some big delays along 73 near 363 valley forge road. Sliding into hatfield we still have that awful pedestrian accident with the public works employees that were injured along west broad street. This is close to the west broad street Elementary School so thats all bloc