new from overnight, fire killed a philadelphia man and injured four police officers who were trying to save him. and tracking rain. the nbc 10 first alert radar shows it will be a very wet monday. let's show you what it looks like outside. a dreary scene for the morning commute as the morning commute gets under way. good morning. this is "nbc 10 news today." i'm tracy davidson. >> and i'm chris cato. yes, it's a monday. wear the rain coats and the umbrella and all that other good stuff. they'll get a workout throughout the day. meteorologist bill henley is standing by with his forecast. good morning. >> good morning, chris. we can expect to see rain in our area through the morning and into this afternoon. right now, the steady rain extends from delaware and new jersey, where it's coming down a little bit heavier than the rest of the area, into philadelphia as well. ooh, north and west, if you go far enough past the lehigh valley into the pocono mountains, and it's starting to taper off there. good thing. that's where the temperatures are coldest this morning. we've seen some freezing rain in the pocono mountains.

32 degrees, no surprise for mt. pocono, but the rest of the area, above freezing for reading, allentown, mt. holly, trenton, and it's 41 in philadelphia, and that's up a degree in the last half hour. and the temperatures will be climbing. clouds hanging in there with rain this morning. a steadier rain by lunchtime, and that's when the temperatures will be at 50 degrees, at least, and they will be climbing. your hour-by-hour forecast when i come back in less than ten minutes. but right now, first alert traffic reporter jillian mele standing by with a rainy monday. hey, jillian. >> good morning to you, bill. definitely wet roads all over the area. we have two problems -- actually, three problems right now that we're following. this is an overturned truck. you can barely see it but you can tell we have some activity out there. this is the ramp 295 southbound from old city, from the front street and market street intersection, so that ramp is blocked right now. in north philadelphia, we have fire department activity on north 17th street. that's blocked off between westmoreland and ontario. you can take 15th or 20th streets to get around that. and finally, for drivers in new jersey, we still have this

accident on the turnpike northbound right as you approach exit 2, which is route 322. the right lane is blocked so traffic can get by, but you can expect to see a little slowdown there. chris? at 4:32, we are following this breaking news from rome this morning. pope francis officially has confirmed that he is coming to philadelphia next year for the world meeting of families. that announcement happened just within the past 90 minutes at a small gathering in rome. nbc 10's matt delucia is live outside of the cathedral basilica of saints peter and paul. now, this was expected. in fact, the pope has mentioned in public several times in the last few months that he does plan on coming to philadelphia, but now it's official. >> reporter: yeah, chris, there was plenty of speculation over the past several months, but now that's been put to rest. pope francis made it official earlier this morning in rome, saying that he is going to come to philadelphia for the world meeting of families next year, and that will be in september. and archbishop charles schaap you and a delegation from our area, they were in rome as well

to get that news. now, archbishop schapu says that the announcement here made him overjoyed, and he believes that the pope's presence next year will electrify the gathering. now, the world meeting of families is scheduled to be held september 22nd to 27th, and detailed plans, i'm told, are not finalized. but as of right now, the schedule does include a papal mass on sunday, september 27th. and you might recall, there was a strong push from local leaders to get pope francis to make the trip to philadelphia for this event. it will be pope francis's first papal trip to the u.s., and it's only the fourth time that a reigning pope has come to this country. so, it's an historic moment indeed. and as we look live now on a wet ben franklin parkway this morning, the plan right now is to hold that papal mass right here on the parkway, which is also, coincidentally, where now st. john paul ii held his papal mass back in 1979.

now, in the past hour, i've been making phone calls to the archdiocese. i'm gathering reaction to this decision. the communications staff, i'm told, has been up all night waiting for this official word to come down. i'm told that some of the church leaders here should be made available at around 5:30 this morning, so i will be working on that. for now, we're live in center city. i'm matt delucia, nbc 10 news. yeah, matt, we're also working on a live talk with the executive director of the world meeting of families. we'll try to have that for you in ten minutes or so. count on nbc 10 to keep you posted on plans for the pope's visit to philadelphia. we have a special section dedicated to this story on our website, nbc10.com. 4:34 right now. new overnight, a philadelphia man has died in a fire as four police officers made a frantic attempt to save his life. nbc 10's jesse gary is live at einstein medster where one of the officers is being held overnight just for investigation. jesse, tell us more. >> reporter: tracy, one of these

officers is a rookie. the others have various lengths of service, ranging from about a half dozen years to two decades. these officers made a frantic attempt to save an elderly man from a fire. this is on a boarding house on cheltenham avenue late last night. fire investigators say the flames started in a second-floor, middle bedroom. >> they did have smoke alarms. the smoke alarms alerted one of the residents and he got everyone else out of the building. >> reporter: made it out alive, except for the one that the police officers were not able to rescue. coming up in the next half hour, i'm making calls, investigating the cause of this fire. both lni and the fire marshal are investigating. i'll have more live in 30 minutes. live outside of einstein medical center in olney, jesse gary. a show of support is expected for police officers in franconia township who are losing their jobs because of

budget cuts. in fact, they're already laid off the job. the union representing the officers is urging residents to come out to tonight's township meeting. last month, the board of supervisors unanimously approved laying off four full-time police officers, two part-time officers as well as a police administrative position. the union has filed a grievance over those layoffs. the township board is expected to present next year's budget proposal at tonight's meeting. the hearings continue today over whether to revoke a philadelphia school's charter because of academic and financial concerns. walter palmer charter school is also the subject of a federal investigation. a court recently ordered the school to return more than $1 million to the philadelphia school district after finding that it had enrolled twice the number of students allowed. walter palmer already shut down its high school last month. a decision on their charter status is expected by early december. the eagles will try to put yesterday's loss behind them and get ready for their next game against the titans. that's about all you can do after what happened yesterday at lambeau. the packers took an early lead,

never looked back. it was an offensive show for rodgers and the packers. green bay taking a 30-6 halftime lead, kept piling it on in the second, and then the eagles offense didn't help matters. mark sanchez throwing two interceptions, losing two fumbles. final score was 53-20. the packers scored just about every way you can. it was the first time in franchise history that the packers have scored more than 50 points in back-to-back games. >> got really tired of seeing that lambeau leap. really tired. >> yeah. they leapt enough, that's for sure. well, a change in blueprints for one of philadelphia's next big developments. >> next, the new plan to turn one of the city's vacant lots into a self-contained community. plus, dealing with delivery demand. the change that means you might see your mailman a little bit more starting this week. you won't be seeing bono a little bit more this week. the injury that is setting back the singer and his much-anticipated week-long late-night gig.

it's 4:39. happening later today, we'll find out more about the future of a vacant lot at the corner of broad street and washington avenue in center city. developer bart blattstein will present his plans for a mega project at a meeting tonight with the hawthorne empowerment commission. back in june, he said he would turn it into a piazza in the sky complete with 800 apartments. now your first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> a steady rain falling this morning. this is the view from the nbc 10 studios. no wind right now. not going to see a lot of wind with this system moving through today, but wind arrives tomorrow, and that's when the temperatures will be going down. this morning they're actually already going up. 41 degrees. that's a degree warmer than it was an hour ago. the colder temperatures to the north where it's freezing in the pocono mountains. but look how things are tapering off. just some really spotty, light showers there. and parts of berks county, chester county also seeing a break in the rain. the steady rain is across new

jersey and into delaware, but there's more rain on the way for those areas getting a break. you can see it lining up to our southwest, and that's what's going to be moving in during the day today. so, grab your rain gear. look at this, the future weather at 8:00 this morning. this is just updated information. the rain hugging the i-95 corridor. some spots that will see cloudy skies north and west. we're still waiting for the rain to fill in for parts of delaware and south jersey. by 10:00, 11:00, noontime, the rain spreads across the entire area, and we will see some heavier downpours in the area, and that will continue into the afternoon. as long as the rain is here during the day today and even this evening, the temperatures will stay above freezing, so there's no threat of icing in the delaware valley from this storm system. but cold will follow as it moves out. the seven-day forecast when i come back in less than ten minutes. >> he is not kidding about that cold following. he gave us a little chilly preview earlier. boy, you will need the heater in the car tomorrow morning, maybe not this morning, though. >> but the windshield wipers,

for sure. let's check the wet roads with jillian mele. what are yough see? >> good morning. still an overturned ramp from old city on the ramp from front and market street to 95 southbound. there's the truck blocking the ramp. stay on the vine street expressway to take to 95 southbound. that will put you right on to 95 and you shouldn't see any problems there. 76 at girard avenue quiet in both directions. no accidents to report and no delays on 76. but we still have an accident in new jersey. the turnpike northbound approaching route 322, exit 2. we have the right lane blocked as a result of that accident. it's a tractor-trailer that went off the road and hit a guardrail, so watch for a tap of the brakes there. tracy. bill cosby is staying silent over assault allegations against him. >> but his lawyer is speaking up. we'll tell you what he's saying about his famous client. and new video shows the aftermath of that mh-17 plane crash in ukraine. you'll see what it reveals about the crash site. and we're following breaking news out of rome this morning. the pope will visit philadelphia next year. it's official, for the world

meeting of families. ahead, we asked the executive director of that event what we can expect here in philadelphia.

we're following breaking news out of rome this morning. pope francis is coming to philadelphia for next year's world meeting of families. the holy father made it official within the last two hours. the archdiocese of philadelphia has been waiting for this official confirmation from the vatican. it came months earlier than expected. joining us on the phone is donna farrell, executive director of the world meeting of families here in philadelphia. donna, good morning, and congratulations. i know you've been full speed ahead in the plans, but now it's official. >> good morning, tracy! yes, it's official! thank you so much. what a great day for philadelphia and our whole area. >> and so, you have been full steam ahead, working as if this was going to happen. does this change anything, or does that just put a big smile on your face and everyone on your team continues to work forward? >> we have been working,

planning as though we would get this official announcement. archbishop chaput has been told by the holy father on a number of occasions that pope francis did intend to come to philadelphia. at the same time, this really makes things official, it gives us the information that we know that in less than a year, pope francis will be with us in philadelphia. so, in many ways, that actually helps with our planning. >> right. now, archbishop chaput is in rome right now and has meetings about the world meeting of families. so, what will be discussed there? what's the purpose of that meeting? >> well, it's really exciting that archbishop was there with pope francis when he made that announcement this morning. there was a delegation from the world meeting of families in rome. they're actually there for several meetings with different vatican offices. and they'll be talking about some of the logistics that we are planning for the world meeting of families and also how

we will be interacting with the vatican over the months to come. as you can imagine, the logistical challenges around something this big are pretty tremendous. >> yeah, give us some of the highlights, for people who haven't really been paying attention, have just heard, oh, i think that the pope's coming. now we know it's official. give us the highlights of the event when he's here. >> sure. the world meeting of families philadelphia 2015 will take place from september 22nd until september 27th of 2015. pope francis is expected to be here toward the end of the week. the first portion of the week is a congress at the pennsylvania convention center. and then at the end of the week, there are two really wonderful, big events in philadelphia, both of which will take place on the ben franklin parkway. one will take place on saturday, september 26th, and that is the festival of families. it will take place right in front of the philadelphia art museum on the parkway. and that is a -- it's not a mass, it's not a prayer service,

but it's a prayerful cultural celebration -- song, dance, world-class entertainment. and then overnight, the stage becomes an altar, and the ben franklin parkway will be the setting for pope francis's mass, and that will take place on sunday, september 27th. and that is how the world meeting of families will close, with pope francis. >> well, excellent. and again, congratulations, donna. >> thank you so much, tracy. we have a little bit of celebrating to do and a lot of work to do. >> i know you do. thanks so much. donna farrell, executive director of the world meeting of families in philadelphia. and you can count on nbc 10 to keep you posted on plans as philadelphia continues to prepare for pope francis. we have a special section dedicated to this major story on nbc10.com. it's 4:48 now. new this morning, people hurt in cashes linked to faulty ignition switches in general motors vehicles now have until the end of january to file a claim. gm recently came under fire for not notifying a connecticut woman's family that her death in 2003 was linked to the faulty

ignition switch. so far, it's been determined 32 families should be compensated. millions of chevrolet cobalts, saturn ions and other small cars were recalled because of those switches that could disable the power steering and brakes. new video of the immediate aftermath of the malaysia airlines mh-17 crash in ukraine that killed all 298 people on board. this cell phone video obtained by the "associated press" shows the wreckage on fire in a field and you can see the large plume of black smoke. a resident of the village shot this video but did not want to be identified. the video also shows just how close the plane was to hitting the village. meantime, the first pieces of wreckage have been removed from the crash site. crews began removing the debris yesterday. the first truckload of wreckage will be stored in the town of torres before it will be flown to the netherlands for investigation. the majority of the victims were dutch citizens. the plane was flying from amsterdam to kuala lumpur when it was shot down over a

rebel-held area of ukraine. bill cosby's attorney says the comedian will not be discussing sexual assault allegations against him. john schmidt issued a statement, saying "over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against mr. cosby have resurfaced. the fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. mr. cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment." the 77-year-old philadelphia native continues to face backlash over claims that he assaulted several women in the past. cosby has never been charged. he did settle a civil suit in 2006 with a woman about an alleged incident two years prior. ten minutes before 5:00. federal drug enforcement agencies are showing up unannounced to check the medical staff of when nfl teams, part of an investigation into former players' claims that teams mishandled prescription drugs. dea agents checked at least three visiting teams yesterday, san francisco, tampa bay and seattle. no one was arrested. the spot checks don't target specific teams but determine whether visiting clubs are in compliance with federal law.

now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> a rainy morning. and in the pocono mountains, this is a view from blue mountain. it's got the light on which shows the fog and mist and some freezing rain there, but the rest of the area seeing temperatures above freezing. pottstown, doylestown, wrightstown, and in the 40s in the i-95 corridor. and we've got rain. the steady rain now in new jersey, but it's starting to taper off in parts of delaware and some of the western suburbs. that's going to be temporary. there's more rain on the way. it is to the southwest. the snow illustrates the cold that's on the way for tomorrow. we won't get the snow. we will get the cold. after 50s today, the rain moves out this evening and the temperatures tomorrow morning will be plunging. in fact, by 11:00 tonight, it's going to get chilly. 40s and 30s northwest, back down to the freezing mark for mt. pocono and look at the temperatures plunge into the 20s tomorrow morning. that's just the beginning of the cold. so, grab your rain gear today and look at the temperatures.

not bad. 50s this afternoon. but they will not last. the seven-day forecast has them coming down dramatically. tomorrow morning we'll be in the 20s with a high of just 35 degrees with a gusty wind, though, feeling like it's in the 20s all day long. even the possibility wednesday morning of some record cold temperatures, staying in the 30s thursday. friday is going to be chilly with temperatures in the 40s, but there is a warm-up over the weekend as clouds move our way on sunday. >> so, we should enjoy today. well, okay. the temperatures. maybe not the rain and the wet roads as you get ready to drive to work. >> could be messy out there. nbc 10's first alert traffic reporter jillian mele is watching everything for us to let us know if there are any slowdowns out there. good morning, jillian. >> good morning. we're not reporting any delays just yet, but the roads pretty much everywhere are wet. live look at route 202 near route 1. you need to take your time because we are seeing accidents out there, including an overturned truck on the ramp to 95 southbound from front street/market street in old city. that ramp is blocked as a result

of that accident in north philadelphia. we have some fire activity on north 17th street between westmoreland and ontario. you can take 15th or 20th streets if you need to get around it. coming up at 5:00, i'll take you into delaware and new jersey. chris? if you'd like to see nbc's new drama "state of affairs" before it airs in philadelphia, here's how you can do it. come on down to xfinity live between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. tonight and watch a screening of the show starring katherine heigl and alfre woodard. u2front man bono is taking a brief break from the stage after hurting his arm in a cycling accident. a post on the band's website yesterday said the singer wiped out while biking in central park and his injury will require "the post did not say when or how the accident happened, but the band has rescheduled their appearance for tonight's "tonight show with jimmy fallon" this week. you may notice a change in your mail this week. we'll tell you about that next. and moving day. a big operation to change the

philadelphia skyline. we'll tell you what it took to bring down these giant letters.

four minutes before 5:00. new this morning, the number of homeless children in the u.s. has surged to an all-time high. a state-by-state report from the national center on family homelessness found that 1 in every 30 children is homeless. last year alone there were nearly 2.5 million children in america. here's how our three states rank. new jersey is fifth, pennsylvania is eighth and delaware ranks 34th. the report ranks each state by the extent of child homelessness, child well-being, risk for child homelessness and state policy and planning efforts. philadelphia will find out tomorrow if the city is getting a second casino. the pennsylvania gaming control board is meeting tomorrow to decide whether to award the city's second and final casino license, and if so, who gets it. there are four proposals on the table now. two want to build it in center city. the other two propose to build

it near the sports complex in south philadelphia. sugar house and harrah's philadelphia in chester have protested the possible competition. starting today, the u.s. postal service will begin making deliveries seven days a week until christmas. the expanded service includes philadelphia and its suburbs, south jersey and parts of delaware. the postal service estimates it will deliver between 450 and 470 million packages this holiday season. a 12% increase from last year. well, it came three months late, but the pnb letters that graced the center city skyline for more than half a century are finally down. workers ran into problem, you'll remember, back in august when only three letters came down instead of all twelve. the remaining nine were removed in less than 45 minutes yesterday. they are 3,000-pound letters. they were considered a safety hazard since they had been on the building for six decades. and just like last time, a helicopter hoisted the letters into the air and then lowered them one by one to the ground in front of city hall. once again, the crowd came out to witness the moment.

>> you don't get to see history come down very often. so, i thought we saw the beginning of it, might ads welcome back and see the end. >> amazing to see a helicopter come that close up on me. >> right? pnb represented philadelphia national bank. that company is gone, but nbc 10 has learned that the bs will go inside the building so some of the history will live on. the federal reserve bank of philadelphia marks a major milestone, celebrating its 100th year of service. yesterday the bank received congratulations and a proclamation from the city. the bank helped formulate and implement monetary policy and provide financial services to banks and the federal government. a philadelphia student will be receiving a huge honor today. >> yeah, she's one of the winners of the widener university nbc 10 high school leadership awards. ania moore will be presented with the award at jr masterman high school in spring garden later today. ania participated in build on. she traveled to haiti to live with families and help build a school there. she's also involved in several school organizations.

congratulations to ania, and a reminder, if you want to nominate someone, principals and other administrators are being encouraged to do so. you can find a link on how to do that on nbc10.com. it's a great award. >> yeah, it is. congratulations to her. you're watching nbc 10 news. "nbc 10 news today" at 5:00 a.m. starts right now. committing to philly. pope francis has revealed his plans to attend the world meeting of families in philadelphia next year. one person is dead and four police officers are in the hospital after a fire in germantown. we are live at the hospital where those officers are being treated this morning. and a yucky start to a monday morning. look at the nbc 10 first alert radar here, tracking rain moving through the region now, and it will be with us for much of the day, even heavier at times later today. good morning and welcome to "nbc 10 news today." i'm chris cato. >> and i'm tracy davidson. rainy days and mondays, but don't worry, we have you covered. meteorologist bill henley's in the first alert weather center to tell us what we can expect.

>> fortunately, it's just going to be rain, as temperatures are well above freezing and will be climbing during the day. even though we're getting a chilly start, 40 degrees, we will be in the 50s this afternoon. hard to believe with the steady rain, but there will be some breaks in the precipitation. that's a live view from center city from the adventure aquarium. low clouds and some areas seeing a little bit of light fog this morning. steady rain, especially in new jersey. we'll get a break at times, but we could see some heavier downpours as you go into the afternoon. 2 1/2-mile visibility at philadelphia international. that's just some light fog. light fog also for cape may and the lancaster area. fog really not the big issue this morning. you'll need your rain gear, not only to start with, but right on through this afternoon. 37 now in allentown. mt. pocono has seen some freezing rain at 32 degrees, but it's starting to taper off there. so, expect rain and 40 at 7:00. mid-40s at 9:00. then we're into the 50s at lunchtime and climbing. the hour-by-hour forecast, we'll lot