Philadelphia and other sanctuary cities are again on high alert after being threatened with revoked funding over their sanctuary city status. NBC10's Lauren Mayk has the story, including Mayor Kenney's response.

After President Trump hinted at ending aid to Puerto Rico, some Philadelphia residents are reacting. NBC10's Aundrea Cline-Thomas has their reactions.

If you think you're an Eagles super-fan, you may have some competition. NBC10's Keith Jones is in North Carolina ahead of the Eagles and Panthers game catching up with one fan who went all out to show his Philly pride.

Thieves targeted a charity organization in Cumberland County, and now officials are asking for your help to find the criminals who got away with little money. NBC10's Ted Greenberg explains.

Former Eagle Jon Dorenbos became a fan favorite in Philadelphia for his big smiles and locker room magic.

Then he captured the entire country's imagination with his sleights of hand and great life story during a second-place finish on "America's Got Talent."

So, of course, he had everyone rooting for him when he found out he needed open heart surgery a couple months ago. On Thursday, he posted photos from his days after the operation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It marked one month since he had the critical surgery.

Two men killed each other in a shootout Wednesday night in the troubled city of Chester, police said.

One victim, Robert Roberts, 47, died at the scene of the gunfire, which occurred about 7:15 p.m. at Ninth and Grace streets, police said.

The second victim, Kaneef Dennis, 23, died at Crozer Chester Medical Center a short time later after arriving at the hospital by private vehicle. Both men were shot numerous times.

They are the 25th and 26th murders in the city of roughly 35,000. Police said a motive for the shootout remained unknown Thursday.

A third man, 26, was wounded in a separate shooting about 4 p.m. Thursday. The 26-year-old man was in critical condition at Crozer with numerous bullet wounds.

This is the first installment of NBC10 First Alert Weather chief meteorologist Tammie Souza’s story of her son Caleb battling a brain tumor.

Read Part 2: Picking Up & Going

Read Part 3: 'Then There Were Angels'

This may be the most difficult thing I have ever written about. I have tried dozens of times over the past few months, but each time I simply stare at the computer and begin to cry. No parent ever wants to hear the words “your child has a large, life threatening brain tumor,” yet we heard those exact words last July. It was the worst moment of my life.

This is a story of tragedy, bravery and a very big miracle. So many people were involved and so many things needed to fit perfectly in place for this story to end well.

Caleb is our only child. He is a funny, sweet 8-year-old boy who loves baseball, fishing, swimming, soccer, Transformers, animals, music and pizza … lots and lots of pizza. His story began last spring. I had just started my new job at NBC10 in Philadelphia and Caleb was finishing second grade back in Chicago. My husband, Greg, and Caleb planned to join me in Philadelphia by summer.

We spent weekends together and made lists of what we would do and see first in Philadelphia. Caleb listed the Liberty Bell, so that was top of the list.

I remember Greg calling on a weekday morning in early April. He said Caleb had woken up screaming about a headache, then vomited and went back to sleep. That had never happened before and Greg was ready to head for the doctor’s office when Caleb woke up and said he felt fine. Strangely, my first thought was a brain tumor, but he suffers from seasonal allergies and so we convinced ourselves that was the cause. We were wrong.

Over the next few days I will share from my journal what we experienced in the hope that this will help other parents to recognize the warning signs and know what steps to take. I also want to draw attention to the fact that pediatric brain tumor research is near the bottom of all tumor research and funding -- yet it is a major cause of death in children.  

Meet Caleb's Doctor

Dr. Amanda Saratsis, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Brain Tumor Research at Lurie Children's Hospital

Modifying the Future

Research Highlights

CHOP's Neuro Oncology Program

Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium (Lead by CHOP)

Donate to Lurie Children's

Brain Tumor Research

General

Donate to Neurosurgery Work at CHOP

This is part one of a three part series. Watch Part 3 of Caleb's story on NBC10 News on Wednesday afternoon.

Many in three small Montgomery County boroughs are disgusted by white supremacist flyers that showed up in their mailboxes.

Here are the top news stories you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.

TODAY'S TOP STORY 

NE Extension Closing Friday for 55 Hours: For 55 hours this weekend, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will close a stretch of the Northeast Extension so crews can demolish and replace a deteriorating 60-year-old bridge. That's a huge interruption for the 30,000 drivers who use the road each day -- including residents of the Lehigh Valley and people on their way to the Poconos. The turnpike commission will close the Northeast Extension (also known as Interstate 476) at milepost 57.6, near Allentown, at 9 p.m. Friday night through 4 a.m. Monday morning. Crews will replace the existing steel I-beam bridge over Crackersport Road in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County with a new steel plate girder bridge. Photos show rust, decay and cracks to the bridge, which spans 131 feet. It carries around 30,000 drivers daily, the turnpike commission said. It normally takes crews about 18 months to replace a bridge but this project will take just one weekend.

• MORE ON THE CLOSURE
  

WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

Body Found in Schuylkill River with Gunshot to the Head: A body pulled from the Schuylkill River along the popular Schuylkill River Trail in Center City had a gunshot wound to the head. Philadelphia police investigated the incident along the path under Walnut Street shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday as a case of homicide. The man appeared to have been in his 50s. He had one gunshot wound to the forehead, police said.

• MORE ON THE BODY
  

YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

Friday may see some scattered showers and cooler temperatures in the 60s. Saturday is expected to be partly sunny with a chance of showers and temperatures should be back in the 70s. Sunday could see 80 degree temperatures and sun. Monday could see some showers and temperatures are expected to return to the 60s. Tuesday and Wednesday could also see 60 degree temperatures. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

Dorenbos Posts Pics, Thanks Month After Surgery: Former Eagle Jon Dorenbos became a fan favorite in Philadelphia for his big smiles and locker room magic. Then he captured the entire country's imagination with his sleights of hand and great life story during a third-place finish on "America's Got Talent.” So, of course, he had everyone rooting for him when he found out he needed open heart surgery a couple months ago. On Thursday, he posted photos from his days after the operation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It marked one month since he had the critical surgery.

• MORE ON THE SURGERY
  

AROUND THE WORLD

Trump Signs Health Care Order: President Donald Trump directed his administration Thursday to rewrite federal rules so consumers can have wider access to health insurance plans featuring lower premiums. He called his new executive order a "beginning" and promised more actions to come. Frustrated by failures in Congress, Trump is moving to put his own stamp on health care. But even the limited steps the president outlined Thursday will take months for the federal bureaucracy to finalize in regulations. Experts said consumers should not expect immediate changes. "This will cost the United States government virtually nothing, and people will have great, great health care, and when I say people, I mean by the millions," Trump said in announcing the order in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. But the changes Trump hopes to bring about may not be finalized in time to affect coverage for 2019, let alone next year.

• MORE ON THE ORDER
  

That's what you need to know to Catch Up Quickly, but we've got more stories worthy of your time. Click here to check them out. 

A New Jersey man is facing a number of charges, including making terroristic threats, after he allegedly mailed threatening letters to police officers and hateful letters to several businesses.

Two weeks ago, 34-year-old Nikolay Levinson mailed the letters to officers from Paramus, Fair Lawn and Garfield, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Around that same time, several businesses received letters with racist, homophobic and threatening messages, prosecutors say. Two more letters containing anti-Semitic and racist remarks were sent to businesses in Englewood and Allendale.

All of the letters appeared to be written by the same person and contained similar threats, according to prosecutors.

Levinson was arrested Tuesday in Palisades Park.

He faces charges of making terroristic threats, bias intimidation and harassment.

He was being detained at the Bergen County Jail pending a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.

It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney who could comment on the case.

Rob Jones never liked running. He didn’t like running when he grew up on a farm in Lovettsville, Virginia, and he didn’t like it by the time he graduated from Virginia Tech in 2007.

The 32-year old former Marine said he only ran to prepare for the test to join the United States Marine Corps.

All of that hasn’t stopped Jones from embarking on an ambitious journey of running 31 marathons in 31 cities — in 31 days.

Running multiple marathons back-to-back is remarkable but not unprecedented. A couple in Australia reportedly ran a marathon every day in 2013 and a man ran 401 marathons in as many days to raise awareness about the effects of bullying.

But Jones is not only planning to run a combined 812.2 miles in a month. He is doing so without his legs.

After kicking off his first run in London on Thursday, he's set to visit Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas and other cities in the coming days and weeks. His last run will be on Veterans Day in Washington, D.C.   

Jones’s life changed forever in 2010 when he was critically injured as part of a team of combat engineers, whose primary task was detecting IED’s in a heavily Taliban-controlled area in Afghanistan. He came across a landmine that detonated and resulted in both of his legs being amputated.

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After hours of surgery and a year and a half of rehabilitation, Jones was ready to get back to his life, though he couldn't picture exactly where his recovery would take him.

“I wasn’t sure exactly of the specifics,” he said. “All I knew was that I was going to do everything I could to get back to being able to take care of my own, be self-sufficient.” 

After his accident, Jones rehabilitated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he was fitted with prosthetics. He recalled having to learn to walk again, but this time with bionic knees.

“I also used the time to relearn how to do other things with my new challenge including riding a bicycle, running, and rowing," Jones wrote on his website.

Running a marathon wasn’t something that Jones had on his mind, following his accident. He wanted to do more weightlifting or rowing, which he took a liking to.

After being honorably discharged from the military in 2011, he trained for the 2012 Summer Paralympic games in London, where he won a bronze medal for Team USA in mixed double sculls.

Despite being an Paralympic medalist, he wanted to do something for veterans. He set a goal to raise money for wounded veterans and thought that running successive marathons was a great start.

Jones said it was important to dispel the myth that all veterans are physically and mentally damaged.

“What I’m setting out to do here is to be an example for other veterans and millions alike,” Jones said.

He is a veteran who went to war and is still in the fight, he said.

He started training a year and a half ago by doing running an hour a day, three to four times a week, until he got to a point where he was able to run five back-to-back marathons in as many days.

“There are plenty of people who have done similar stuff and run similar distances,” Jones said. “It’s about preparation.”

Jones doesn’t know anyone who has done this type of ultramarathon, but he’s watched a lot of documentaries on people who have and said he is ready for the challenge.

While most marathoners run nonstop, Jones is taking a different approach once he starts on Oct. 12. He plans to pace himself while completing each leg of his run and could break up his run over the course of a day. He will monitor his distance by using fitness watches with GPS functionality.

Jones said he knows he couldn’t do this alone and is relying on his family for support. His wife, Pam, helps get his story out to the public, and his mother, Carol Miller, will be her son’s massage therapist.

“My wife is my number one supporter,” he said.

He also is working on a way for fans to watch his amazing run online, whether through Facebook Live or other live streaming services.

Jones has also received support from his prosthetists, physical therapist and other runners who were inspired by his story, among them Mirna Valerio, a runner and author of the book, “A Beautiful Work in Progress.” 

“He’s going to get up there and do it and challenge his body and spirit,” Valerio said. “They’re using their bodies and showing the world that despite what somebody might see as a challenge they’re just doing it anyway.”

Jones maintains close friendships with those he served with in Iraq and Afghanistan and knows they back him, even though they may be tired of his antics.

“I think they probably expect it at this point,” he said jokingly. “They’re not that impressed anymore.”

He is glad for his continued relationship with the Marines.

“You know the saying in the Marine Corps is, ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine,” he said. “It remains to be a tight-knit brotherhood for me, and that is what the Marine Corps is all about.”

The Trump administration is once again taking aim at Obamacare with his latest executive order. NBC10's Matt DeLucia explains what it remains.

The Brandywine SPCA is now caring for 60 more cats after officers removed the animals from a West Whiteland Township home.

Sick of traffic on the Blue Route and I-95? The shoulder could soon help alleviate the pain and the government wants you to use it (at certain times).

The Wolf Administration joined PennDOT Friday to announce plans to allow part-time shoulder use of Interstates 476 and 95 in Delaware County.

"We consistently look for creative ways to deal with congestion on Philadelphia regional expressways, and this new plan is aimed at alleviating bottlenecks on the Blue Route and on the stretch between the junction with Interstate 95 and the Commodore Barry Bridge," PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards said in a Friday news release.

What stretches of highway can drivers use the shoulder as an extra lane?

• About a 9-mile stretch of the Blue Route (I-476) from the West Chester Pike (Route 3) Interchange and the junction with I-95 in both the northbound and southbound directions.
• Less than a 3-mile stretch of I-95 southbound from the Blue Route to the Commodore Barry Bridge (US 322 East).

When can drivers expect to use the shoulder?

PennDOT will work with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to work out the implementation, development and payment plans for the project over the next four years. Planners will also determine the best times for shoulder driving.

The earliest that construction could begin is early in 2020, PennDOT spokesman Brad Rudolph told NBC10. No word on when exactly drivers will actually be allowed onto the shoulder.

Similar shoulder-usage plans are planned for the Schuylkill Expressway (Interstate 76) in Montgomery County. That implementation is expected to take place ahead of the Blue Route plan, Rudolph said. [[395040201, C]]

"Constrained resources restrict our ability to add capacity to Philadelphia area expressways, but that does not mean we can’t look at ways such as dynamic part-time shoulder use to alleviate the congestion," Richards said. "This technique is in use across the nation and has been shown to be a safe and effective way to improve traffic flow."

The City of Philadelphia is taking aim at the opioid epidemic. Roland Lamb,deputy commissioner of Philadelphia's DBHIDS, and certified peer specialist Ramon Cruz Jr. share how you can take advantage of free training that can equip you to save lives.

The uber-popular game Minecraft was born in Sweden but the record-setting festival celebrating the video game was born in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Bucks County's Chad Collins and Gabe Young first planned the block party along their Warwick, Pennsylvania street, now the duo plan dozens of events around the country as part of their Open World event group.

But, their proudest achievement is Minefaire, an event about everything and anything Minecraft.

"We consider our Philadelphia show our flagship shows so we try to come out with the biggest bang," Young, 44, told NBC10.

A year after setting the Guinness World Record for the largest convention for a single video game, Minefaire returns to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania Saturday and Sunday.

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The family draw of Minecraft led Collins and Young to co-found Minefaire last year.

"Minefaire is a chance for parents to connect with their kids through their favorite game and have a blast," Collins, a father of two, said.

"I have four kids and they all play Minecraft," Young said.

“It’s not just a game,” Young said. “While you’re making dinner and your kids are playing Minecraft, they’re experiencing the huge educational and inspirational aspects that are driving them to become an engineer or an architect -- to think really, really big.”

So what’s the hype about the block-like game? Minecraft, created by Swedish designers in 2011, is the second-highest selling standalone video game of all time with more than 122 million in sales.

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The expo features 150,000 square feet of Minecraft goodies including multiple stages and a Lego sculpture of Minecraft main character Steve, organizers say.

"We were determined to create a one-of-a-kind Minecraft experience you won’t find at home," Collins said.

The second-annual expo (backed by Minecraft's parent company Mojang) featuring tips from Minecraft mentors, hands-on attractions, plenty of renowned and up-and-coming Minecraft YouTubers (the rock stars of Minecraft players), and parent-child challenges.

"We want to make sure that when folks walk out of here with a smile that they are inspired to do more," Young said.

The dad duo plan to scoot (literally on scooters and skates) around the expo that is expected to draw up to 14,000 or more (last year’s record attendance was 12,140) children and adults.

Some tickets starting at $29.50 do remain for Saturday afternoon and Sunday sessions.

The Bucks County dads will hold four Minefaire's around the country this year. It's all part of being full time event planners after a couple decades working in corporate America.

As for what's next for Collins and Young: They will plan on putting on Lego, STEM fair and other events.

"The idea to inspire more kids and have a really great time with things that we do," Young said.

Only Temporary Cooling

Even though the average high temperature in Philadelphia in October is 68 degrees, we’ve had more days in the 80s than in the 60s. Actually, it’s THREE TIMES as many 80s as 60s! So far, temperatures are running close to 9 degrees above average for the month. In Allentown, it’s more than 10 degrees above average.

A couple of days in the 60s Thursday and Friday are not putting much of a dent in the abnormally warm month. And even some more 60s early next week won’t have much impact. The overall pattern has been warm, not only around here, but for the entire eastern half of the country.

Here are the maps for the past 2 weeks:

The bottom map clearly shows colder than normal air in the west along with the warmer air in the east. That is obviously a sign of a particular weather pattern. And, here it is-at about 18,000 feet up, which is the main level meteorologists use to analyze weather patterns: 

The red areas represent above normal pressures, and the blues, the opposite. This is a warm pattern, no matter what time of year. In summer, it’s the pattern of heat waves. In winter, it’s a pattern where no snow is possible.

Of course, these weather maps change from day to day. But if a pattern is "locked in", after each time it changes significantly, it changes right back to the prevailing pattern. That’s how we can get a couple of chilly days, but then warm right back.

Is This 'Indian Summer'?

You may have already heard this pattern described as "Indian Summer." But in our part of the country, meteorologists consider it: "a spell of warm weather after the first frost." That term supposedly goes back to 1778. It’s hard to describe our current weather that way, since our temperatures haven’t even gone below 49 degrees yet! A frost? Not even close.

Will the Pattern Change Soon?

Not in the next week, at least. Even though we’ll cool off Monday and Tuesday, the rest of next week should feature above normal temperatures. Here’s that upper-air pattern for next Saturday:

Look familiar? That’s a lot like the current pattern. As long as all those blues are near Alaska, the reds will continue in the Eastern U.S.

Here is another model showing surface temperatures compared to normal next Saturday:

Warm in the east; cold in the west. Again.

After a family cat was taken to an animal shelter, the family was ecstatic to go pick up their four-legged-friend.

Then the story took a tragic, fatal turn.

Less than 24 hours after the cat came to the shelter, an employee at the Animal Rescue League of Berks County euthanized the cat.

The interim executive director of the shelter blamed an "egregious misjudgment" by the employee and said that person had been fired.

"Very sadly, in this case, we had an employee who did not follow our policies and procedures and made an extremely poor decision without authorization from management that resulted in a family pet being euthanized. As a result, the employee is no longer employed by our organization," the interim executive director, Tom Hubric said in a statement. "The ARL does not support or condone their actions. Please do not let the egregious misjudgment of one individual over shadow the love and compassion of all others involved in the organization."

He asked that the community not judge the shelter on the single incident, but that people look at its long history serving pets and owners.

"We are extremely saddened by the terrible incident that occurred and many tears have been shed," Hubric said in the statement. "Our staff is devastated by what happened and our hearts go out to the family whose lives have been so profoundly affected."

Some warmer temperatures will return to our region for the weekend, but how long will they stick around? NBC10 meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz has your forecast.