In the wake of President Donald Trump signing an executive order banning travel and immigration from some predominantly Muslim countries, Philadelphia-area university leaders spoke out against the ban and offered advice -- mainly not to travel outside the United States -- to impacted students and faculty.

Penn State University monitored over the weekend if the order could impact PSU students studying abroad, said PSU President Eric Barron in a statement posted online.

"Fortunately, to the best of our knowledge, none of our students or scholars who are from the named countries are currently traveling abroad," said Barron. "But the problems that are surfacing with the order are clear, and we join the Association of American Universities and universities all across the country in asking that the order be ended as soon as possible."

The AAU's called for an end to the travel ban "to make clear to the world that the United States continues to welcome the most talented individuals from all countries to study, teach, and carry out research and scholarship at our universities."

In a letter to "Penn students, faculty and staff," The University of Pennsylvania also expressed concern for the potential impact of Trump's order.

"Recent changes to federal policy suspending immigration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen have raised concerns for many members of the Penn community," said the statement from various provosts. "We share these concerns and are working with outside counsel to clarify the implications for nationals from these countries who are currently at Penn and for those who might be planning to travel to or attend Penn. We advise all nationals from the affected countries to defer travel until there is some clarification of the situation. We urge passport holders, citizens, nationals, dual nationals, etc. from the impacted countries and their supervisors and advisors to reach out to the Office of International Student and Scholar Services for guidance on travel outside the United States and to discuss additional specific questions resulting from the immigration suspension.

"... Penn remains fully committed to these valued members of our community, and to engaging globally to bring the best scholars and students from around the world to our campus. At the same time, we will be working to express our concerns about the effects of recent policy actions on our community, as well as our view that rapid changes in immigration policy create uncertainty for those who are eager to come to the United States to learn and to participate in research and the global exchange of knowledge."

Temple University President Richard Englert said in a statement that the order "has caused uncertainty and anxiety for members of the Temple community and all of higher education."

The North Philadelphia school advised anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to not travel until more can be known about the order.

"We hope the coming days and weeks will provide greater clarity, for the benefit of you as individuals and for Temple and other institutions of higher education," said Englert.

"Temple prides itself on being a community of diverse scholars, many of whom come to us from foreign nations. We are committed to enabling our faculty, students and visitors—both from the U.S. and from locations around the globe—to contribute to the vitality of the education we provide and the role we play in the local, regional and global economy. We embrace diversity as integral to our mission of education and discovery. Temple is a better university because of this diversity."

Princeton University also "strongly advised" its impacted students and scholars to avoid traveling outside of the United States until more is revealed about the executive order.

"We do, however, want ... to express our deep concern about any potential impact on the ability of this and other American universities to engage in teaching and research of the highest quality," wrote Deborah Prentice, a professor of psychology and public affairs at the Ivy League school, in an email to her colleagues.

Drexel University President John Fry assured students from the Philadelphia university that the administration planned to support international students and staff "by every measure possible." They also echoed other universities' suggestions for students from the banned countries not travel until more is known.

"The chaotic implementation of the presidential order over this weekend - with key provisions modified, and others halted by federal judges on Saturday - has only intensified our shared concerns," said Fry. "As evidenced by statements issued across the landscape of American higher education, such a blanket ban is antithetical to many of the values we cherish. Drexel believes in inclusion and equality, and we are committed to celebrating and recognizing the fruits of diversity and global engagement."

In a statement Sunday, La Salle President Colleen Hanycz advised students from the impacted countries to avoid international travel for at least 90 days.

"La Salle has throughout its history welcomed students from countries around the world, and is deeply concerned with their wellbeing," said Hanycz. "We encourage students from the seven affected countries to contact the Multicultural and International Center at 215.951.1948 or stop by their offices located at 1900 West Olney Avenue (directly across the street from College Hall) for additional information."

Students and staff at other universities should contact their university’s international affairs office with any questions about college policy about the immigration ban.

A Muslim-American woman felt uneasy while waiting at Philadelphia International Airport for her husband to arrive on a flight back from the Middle East Monday morning.

Samira Todd paced back and forth under a large American flag in the international arrivals area as she waited with her daughter for her husband, returning from a month-long visit to the Middle East.

"It's very scary not knowing what's going to happen when he gets here," Todd said.

Todd's husband arrived on a Qatar Airlines flight from Doha to Philadelphia. It's the same route that two Syrian families took before being detained in Philadelphia over the weekend and sent back to Qatar in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Qatar isn’t included in the list of countries and the executive order doesn’t target anyone with an American passport, like Todd's husband, who wound up quickly making it through customs to get a hug from his wife.

Both Todd and her husband are born in American and practice Islam, dressing in traditional Muslim clothing. The uncertainty of Trump's travel ban on people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen has caused unease for Todd. [[412059543, C]]

"It's a personal attack — we're not foreign," said Todd, who saw the order as an assault on those following Islam. "I was born here, lived here all my life."

"We don't know exactly what immigration or Homeland Security has planned for anybody… it's not what's going on with the immigrants, it seems to be a Muslim situation," Todd said.

Todd's husband, tired from his flight, declined NBC10's request for comment.

Many Philadelphia-area political leaders have come out in opposition of President Trump's temporary ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, while others expressed their support.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., released a statement Monday morning backing the administration's decision to "increase vetting and temporarily suspend the admission of certain individuals from states that sponsor or provide safe havens to terrorists."

But, Toomey questioned the order calling it "flawed" as "it was too broad and poorly explained."

"It is crucial that our nation strike the right balance between defending our people against the deadly threat of international terrorism and providing a safe haven for innocent refugees seeking peace and freedom," he said. "I have long been concerned about our ability to distinguish between predominantly peaceful and innocent refugees, and the likely rare, but lethal, terrorists in the midst of those refugees coming from terror havens and lawless lands."

Toomey's counterpart Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., opposes Trump's executive order and says it won't ensure safety in America.

"This reported executive action is contrary to our values and our security," Casey said Friday in a statement. "Preventing these vulnerable people from resettling in the U.S. as refugees does nothing to make our nation safer. Further, lowering the level of overall resettlement will make it harder on our allies who are already absorbing the bulk of the refugees fleeing conflicts around the world. This reported executive action appears to be driven by politics and discrimination, not by recommendations from national security professionals."

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, D-NJ, agrees with fellow Democrat Casey.

"National security experts from across agencies and political parties have repeatedly affirmed that refugees are already the most aggressively vetted category of people coming to the United States and top Pentagon officials tell us this ban will be used as a rallying cry for violent extremist movements seeking to attack Americans and American interests," Menendez said.

Fellow New Jerseyan, Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, said Friday "President Trump's fundamentally un-American executive order today stands in painful contrast to our ideals."

Other senators representing people in the greater Philadelphia region expressed their discontent with the immigration ban.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., labels it as "illegal, unconstitutional and un-American," and believes it feeds on to ISIS's mission.

"I frankly think it will be a propaganda bonanza for ISIS," he said. "It has outraged a number of our close allies on whom we are relying to be our partners on the war on terror, and it has sent the wrong message to our allies around the world about what we stand for as a country."

U.S. Senator Tom Harper, D-Del., said the ban "jeopardizes our nation's ability to lead the world."

"President Trump's ban on immigrants from Muslim countries is wrong and jeopardizes our nation’s ability to lead the world with moral clarity," he said. "We can make Americans safer without categorically denying safe haven for those who need our help the most."

Governors John Carney, D-Del., and Tom Wolf. D-Pa., also oppose the executive order.

Gov. Carney suggested the nation should help refugees instead of turning them away.

"That is part of our duty as Americans. And we should not impose a religious test on anyone attempting to gain access to our country, which was founded on ideals of liberty and religious freedom," he said.

Wolf said the ban does not align with Pennsylvania's values -- let alone America's.

"This is not who we are," Wolf said. "Pennsylvania is a place of welcome. The United States was set up to be a place where people could escape oppression; this is not a place where people come to experience oppression."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and Trump supporter, didn't immediately make a statement about Trump's executive order.

Several congressmen, however, were vocal about their stances.

U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-NJ-6th, came out in support of the ban, saying the security of Americans "must come first as we combat radical Islamic terrorism." 

"This is a temporary pause in the refugee resettlement program so that we may strengthen the screening process to prevent Islamic jihadists from coming to our country to attack us," said the South Jersey congressman Monday.

Also aligned with the belief that Americans should be kept safe, Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa. 6th, expressed his support for a "comprehensive review" of people coming into the U.S., but "green card holders and those assisting us in the war on terror should not be denied entry," he said.

Fellow U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.-15th, said that Americans should be kept safe but that he doesn't agree with the way it is being done.

"This order appears to have been rushed through without full consideration to the wide-ranging impacts it will have," Dent said. "As a result, I fear that this order may imperil lives, divide families, and create uncertainty for many American businesses that operate internationally."

Philadelphia-based Rep. Bob Brady, D- Pa.-1, took offense to Trump's immigration ban.

"It is outrageous that after they were apparently vetted for years, and finally having been approved for permanent residency in this country these families were held and returned to a third country within hours of deplaning," Brady said. "This action may be a death sentence for them and is another example of how brain dead policy is dangerous and destructive."

Delaware's lone state representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., quoted a famous icon to show solidarity with the Muslim refugee community impacted by the executive order.

"The Statue of Liberty famously reads, 'give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' It's an inscription that reminds us of the values and ideals our democracy was built on, and inspires us to continue fighting for those values every day," she said. "President Trump's executive order goes against those values and greatly threatens our national security. We should be opening our arms to refugees fleeing war-torn countries, regardless of their religion, not banning them."

A local family has been denied a resolution that would bring them back to Allentown from Damascus, Syria, where they were ordered to return after briefly landing at the Philadelphia International Airport Saturday morning.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection rejected the resolution Monday, said Joseph Hohenstein, an attorney for the Assali family. They will be filing an action in federal court Tuesday asking that the family, which had previously obtained visas, would be allowed to return to the the United States and not be further detained upon arrival.

“There is a history of the U.S. government acknowledging mistakes and errors after they have removed people and assisted in their return,”  Hohenstein said. “When it hasn’t done its job right, they’re willing to fix it. That’s what we’re asking them to do here.”

The families were detained and deported through an executive order signed Friday evening by President Donald Trump that immediately restricted travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily halted a refugee program for Syrian immigrants.

Six members of the Assali family - comprising of two brothers, their wives and two children - were detained by Customs and Border Protection officials after disembarking a Qatar Airways flight at 7:25 a.m. Saturday, hours before a Brooklyn federal judge issued a stay on deportations initiated under Trump’s executive order.

As a result, the six relatives were forced onto an 18-hour flight to Doha and are currently in Damascus, said relative Joseph Assali from Allentown. One of his relatives experienced heart problems on the flight and was given oxygen.

“It was probably from the stress,” he said. “The hardest part is getting through a war zone to cross one border to make it to another country and then fly into America only to find out the laws changed while you were in the air.”

A crowdfunding campaign has been created on behalf of the family, which liquidated its assets in order to pay for visas, security screenings and other legal documents that were issued before their planned departure to the U.S.

“This poor family sold everything and used those funds for this trip and now that’s gone,” said Jonathan Grode, an attorney who is helping on the case. “If they ever make it here they will be coming with not a penny to their names.”

The Assalis initiated their immigration attempts in 2003 while living in Syria. In December 2016, they were approved to join relatives in Allentown, including Joseph’s father and mother who have been in the United States for more than 20 years. Dr. Ghassan Assali has a dentistry practice and received his degree from New York University.

The family decided to postpone their move to Pennsylvania until January in order to spend Christmas with their family in Syria. When they landed, their passports and visas were revoked and canceled.

On Sunday, Dr. Ghassan Assali appeared alongside Gov. Tom Wolf decrying Trump’s executive order.

"America is not America," Dr. Ghassan Assali said. "Like ISIS now, they ask, 'Are you Christian? What do you believe?' And if they are not saying what they believe, they kick you out and they cut your head off. So America, same thing. They ask you are you Muslim? You've got to change your religion. Thank you."

Dr. Ghassan Assali and his family live in a well-established Syrian and Lebonese community in Allentown that dates back more than 100 years, Hohenstein said. The community is predominately Christian and houses several churches. Dr. Ghassan Assali's son, Joseph, is a sophomore at Temple University studying biology and Spanish.

The Assalis "were legal American immigrants to the point where the U.S. embassy in Syria shook hands and congratulated them,” Grode said. “All that remained was to fly and get here.”

This story is developing. Check back for updates. 

A day before the Affordable Care Act deadline, Mayor Jim Kenney and City Controller Alan Butkovitz sent joint letters to three congressmen and two senators claiming more than 220,000 Philadelphia residents would lose their health insurance if Obamacare was repealed without an appropriate replacement.

Kenney and Butkovitz sent the letters to Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA 13th district), Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA 1st District), Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA 2nd District), Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) Monday. The mayor and city controller wrote that the total number of people who would lose their health insurance amounts to about 22 percent of Philadelphians between the ages of 18 and 64, according to data from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

“While the direct impact is evident for those who face losing their healthcare, the indirect impact is much greater as repealing the act would also mean a loss in hundreds of millions of dollars through Medicaid expansion funding,” Kenney and Butkovitz wrote. “This is money the city utilizes to fund more than a hundred healthcare entities and community organizations that provide mental health and substance abuse services for 517,000 Philadelphia County Medicaid recipients.”

Kenney and Butkovitz warned Philadelphia could see a large financial loss in important healthcare services that are critical in the fight against the opioid epidemic across Pennsylvania. They urged the five politicians to address the potential impact an Obamacare repeal with no replacement would have.

NBC10’s Drew Smith spoke with a local Republican about the mayor’s warning. He urged that everyone wait and hear about the replacement plan before jumping to conclusions.

An Allentown family who is fighting to have their relatives return to the United States after they were detained at Philly International Airport and sent back to Syria under the immigration order, admitted that they voted for Donald Trump during an interview with NBC Nightly News.

“I understand he wants to make America safe,” said Sarmad Assali. "We're all on with this. I definitely want to be in a safe place. But people need us and we need to be there for them."

Sarmad and her husband Dr. Ghassan Assali, who has a dentistry practice and received his degree from New York University, are originally from Syria but have been in the United States for 20 years. Sarmad's two brothers, their wives and their two children initiated their immigration attempts in 2003 while living in Syria. In December 2016, they were approved to join Sarmad and Ghassan in Allentown after the couple bought and furnished a home for them.

Early Saturday morning, after they landed at Philadelphia International Airport, Sarmad's relatives were detained. They were then sent on an 18-hour flight back to Syria.

The detainment and deportation occurred only hours after President Trump signed an executive order that immediately restricted travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily halted a refugee program for Syrian immigrants.

"Two security guards were waiting for them," Assali said. "They took them. They said, 'Are you Syrians?' They said, 'Yes.' They said, 'Come with us.'"

Sarmad's relatives, who are all Orthodox Christians, had visas and proof of green cards. Even though White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus announced that the order would not extend to green card holders, the six Syrians were told they had to go back on the next flight and return to the Middle East, according to Assali.

They went on an 18-hour flight back to Doha and are currently in Damascus, according to the Assali family. One of Assali's relatives has heart problems and was given oxygen.

Tawfik Assali, the 21-year-old son of one of the deported Syrians, told NBC News he came to the United States three years ago and was waiting for his mother to join him.

"I was one hour away from hugging her," he said. "Seeing her."

Only hours after the six Syrians were sent back home, a federal judge granted an injunction on the order in response to a request filed by the ACLU and other legal organizations. While the stay blocks anyone with a valid visa who is being held at airports from being deported, it only applies to those currently within the U.S., not anyone who tries to come to the U.S. going forward.

The six Syrians remain in Damascus. Joseph Hohenstein, an attorney for the Assali family, told NBC10 Monday they were denied a resolution that would bring them back to Allentown. Lawyers from the ACLU of Pennsylvania, HIAS Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association will file a federal lawsuit Tuesday morning on behalf of the families.

A crowdfunding campaign has been created for the family, which liquidated its assets in order to pay for visas, security screenings and other legal documents that were issued before their planned departure to the U.S.

“This poor family sold everything and used those funds for this trip and now that’s gone,” said Jonathan Grode, an attorney who is helping on the case. “If they ever make it here they will be coming with not a penny to their names.”

On Sunday, Dr. Ghassan Assali appeared alongside Gov. Tom Wolf decrying Trump’s executive order.

"America is not America," Dr. Ghassan Assali said. "Like ISIS now, they ask, 'Are you Christian? What do you believe?' And if they are not saying what they believe, they kick you out and they cut your head off. So America, same thing. They ask you are you Muslim? You've got to change your religion. Thank you."

Dr. Ghassan Assali's son, Joseph, is a sophomore at Temple University studying biology and Spanish. The family lives in a well-established Syrian and Lebanese community in Allentown that dates back more than 100 years, Hohenstein said.

The community is predominately Christian and houses several churches. Despite what happened, not everyone in their community disagrees with President Trump. NBC News spoke with Reverend Anthony Sabbagh, an immigrant, who voted for Trump partly because of his promise to make national security a top priority.

"I admire a president that protects his people and tries to make America safe," Reverend Sabbagh said.

The Assalis say they voted for Trump as well. During her interview with NBC News, Sarmad had a question for the man who she helped put in the White House.

"Why?" she asked. "Where is your human side to send somebody to a war zone?"

Here are the 10 things you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.

TODAY'S TOP STORY

Mayor: Obamacare Repeal Could Leave 220K Uninsured in Philly: A day before the Affordable Care Act deadline, Mayor Jim Kenney and City Controller Alan Butkovitz sent joint letters to three congressmen and two senators claiming more than 220,000 Philadelphia residents would lose their health insurance if Obamacare was repealed without an appropriate replacement. Kenney and Butkovitz sent the letters to Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA 13th district), Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA 1st District), Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA 2nd District), Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) Monday. The mayor and city controller wrote that the total number of people who would lose their health insurance amounts to about 22 percent of Philadelphians between the ages of 18 and 64, according to data from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. “While the direct impact is evident for those who face losing their healthcare, the indirect impact is much greater as repealing the act would also mean a loss in hundreds of millions of dollars through Medicaid expansion funding,” Kenney and Butkovitz wrote. “This is money the city utilizes to fund more than a hundred healthcare entities and community organizations that provide mental health and substance abuse services for 517,000 Philadelphia County Medicaid recipients.” Kenney and Butkovitz warned Philadelphia could see a large financial loss in important healthcare services that are critical in the fight against the opioid epidemic across Pennsylvania. They urged the five politicians to address the potential impact an Obamacare repeal with no replacement would have.

• MORE ON THE REPEAL

YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

Light snow is also possible for Tuesday morning, which is expected to be cold. Rain is possible for the afternoon. Sunshine is expected to return for Wednesday and Thursday but temperatures will stay cool. Friday and Saturday are expected to be cold with temperatues in the 30s but sunny. Sunday could see some snow. High Temp: 42 degrees. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

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WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

Local Family Denied Resolution to Return from Syria: A local family has been denied a resolution that would bring them back to Allentown from Damascus, Syria, where they were ordered to return after briefly landing at the Philadelphia International Airport Saturday morning. U.S. Customs and Border Protection rejected the resolution Monday, said Joseph Hohenstein, an attorney for the Assali family. Lawyers from the ACLU of Pennsylvania, HIAS Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association will file a federal lawsuit Tuesday morning on behalf of the families. “There is a history of the U.S. government acknowledging mistakes and errors after they have removed people and assisted in their return,”  Hohenstein said. “When it hasn’t done its job right, they’re willing to fix it. That’s what we’re asking them to do here.” The families were detained and deported through an executive order signed Friday evening by President Donald Trump that immediately restricted travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily halted a refugee program for Syrian immigrants.

• MORE ON THE FAMILY

AROUND THE WORLD

Trump Fires Acting Attorney General, Saying She 'Betrayed' the DOJ: Accusing her of betrayal and insubordination, President Donald Trump on Monday fired Sally Yates, the acting attorney general of the United States and a Democratic appointee, after she publicly questioned the constitutionality of his controversial refugee and immigration ban and refused to defend it in court. The dramatic public clash between the new president and the nation's top law enforcement officer laid bare the growing discord and dissent surrounding Trump's executive order, which temporarily halted the entire U.S. refugee program and banned all entries from seven Muslim-majority nations for 90 days. The firing came hours after Yates directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend the executive order, saying she was not convinced it was lawful or consistent with the agency's obligation "to stand for what is right." Trump soon followed with a statement accusing Yates of having "betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States.” He immediately named longtime federal prosecutor Dana Boente, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as Yates' replacement.

• MORE ON THE FIRING

Philly Man Fights to Keep His Boxing Gym Open: The owner of a boxing gym in Kensington says he's been ordered to pay more than $100,000 or his gym may close for good after more than 45 years.

• MORE ON THE GYM

SPORTS SPOT

Sixers Beat the Kings: The Sixers won 122 to 119 against the Sacramento Kings. Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

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See more Top News Photos here.

THROUGH IGER'S EYES

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@bennett_cornelius captured this photo outside a Philadelphia church.

Have an awesome Instagram photo you'd like to share? Tag it with #NBC10Buzz.

TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO

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Floating down a river without a paddle. Watch more here.

High School Raises Money for Charity: Students at Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill raised money for a boy with a rare disease. First the girls’ field hockey team were accepting donations, and now the boys are getting involved with a fundraiser they call "Manuary.”  Read more.

That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out. 

Fire tore through Old City Philadelphia apartments early Tuesday and residents raised questions about if they were given proper warning.

The blaze broke out around 4:45 a.m. along Letitia Street near Front and Market streets. NBC10 cameras could see flames shooting from the roof.

Residents from the top two floors of 14 S Letitia Street were evacuated and one person suffered minor injuries as he attempted to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, said crews on the scene.

The fire spread to an adjacent building but firefighters got the blaze under control after about an hour, said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel. Firefighters expected to be on the scene dousing hot spots for at least a couple of hours

Expect traffic trouble in the area as Market and 2nd streets were closed and SEPTA detoured its route 5, 9, 17, 21, 33 and 48 buses.

Residents told NBC10’s Pamela Osborne that they didn’t hear the fire alarms going off and helped each other get out of the home.

"The neighbors banging on the door got me up, I knocked on my neighbors door, got him up," said resident David Moran, who lives on the fourth floor.

A woman who lives on the top floor said the fire appeared to start on the roof and began melting skylights. No official word yet on a cause of the blaze.

Thiel said that when firefighters entered the building they could hear fire alarms going off.

Moran said the roof of the building also caught fire about a decade ago.

An 8-year-old New Jersey transgender boy who sued his local New Jersey Boy Scouts' Council after he was kicked out of his Cub Scout troop says he's thrilled with the Boy Scouts announcement Monday that it will allow transgender children to enroll.

The Boy Scouts of America says it will now allow transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys only programs.

The organization says that it had made the decision to base enrollment in boys only programs on the gender a child or parent lists on the application to become a scout. The organization had previously held a policy that relied on the gender listed on a child's birth certificate.

A spokeswoman for the organization says it made the decision based on states and communities changing how gender is defined.

"Starting today, we will accept and register youth in the Cub and Boy Scout programs based on the gender identity indicated on the application," said Effie Delimarkos, director of communications for the Boy Scouts of America.

Eight-year-old Joe Maldonado of Secaucus, New Jersey, was asked late last year to leave his Scout troop after parents and leaders found out he is transgender. The boy sued his local New Jersey Boy Scouts' Council for discrimination. 

"I really don't know why. It's just no fair," he told NBC 4 New York in December, excitedly recalling the science experiments he performed in the Scouts, and the barbecues they had. 

Now he's proud of what his fight has led to.

"We weren't just fighting so I could go in, we were fighting so this doesn't happen to anybody else," Joe told NBC 4 New York Monday. "And now it looks like it won't happen to anyone else. It better not." 

His mother said Joe has identified as a boy since he was two years old. She says she's still angry with the local Scouts leadership and isn't sure Joe will return right away.

"It didn't make sense to me why my kid, why he couldn't be in the Scouts," said Kristie Maldonado. "If everybody else can, why can't he?" 

But she's still proud that her smart, outspoken son is making change at such a young age: the third-grader turns nine years old on Wednesday.

"I'm so happy that he could stick up for himself, because I know it's not going to be an easy life for him," she said. "So if he could do it at eight, it's going to get easier for him." 

Essex County investigators are working to piece together the puzzle surrounding a triple homicide in Maplewood over the weekend.

Two men and a woman were found dead in a Van Ness Court apartment when firefighters went to the home for a wellness check Sunday morning, authorities have said.

The victims have been identified as Michael Davis, 45, of Maplewood, Roshana Kenilson, 30, of Paterson and Lance Fraser, 44, of Newark. Prosecutors say all three victims had been shot, though a medical examiner is expected to conduct autopsies Monday to confirm how they died. 

Law enforcement sources tell NBC 4 New York there was indications of criminal activity, possibly involving drugs, but the investigation remains fluid.

No suspects have been identified in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Essex County prosecutor's tip line at (877) 847-7432.

Health officials in New Jersey say that an infant with measles may have exposed people in Passaic County to the highly contagious disease.

The New Jersey DOH said that the 7-month-old infant traveled internationally before returning to the state in mid-to-late January.

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Locations of potential exposure include:

• St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital, 224 Hamburg Tpke., Wayne, NJ 07470:

o Jan. 21, between 6:50 a.m. and 1 p.m.

• Pediatric Emergency Department at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, 703 Main St., Paterson, NJ 07503:

o Jan. 23, between 6:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m.

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Health officials said that anyone exposed to the infant could develop symptoms as late as Feb. 15.

The infant was recovering at home on Monday. Officials said the case is not related to the Hudson County man who got measles while traveling internationally.

The airborne illness can cause serious complications such as pneumonia and swelling of the brain in 20 percent of patients. Measles symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes.

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Health officials say children younger than 5 years old and adults older than 20 are especially at risk. Pregnant women who contract the virus can suffer a miscarriage.

Anyone who hasn't been vaccinated or hasn't had measles is at risk if exposed to the virus, officials said.

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For more information on what to do if you've been exposed to measles, take a look at this PDF or visit the state's website to learn more about the illness.