andrew siff. news 4 new york. >>> thank you. still ahead as we continue on "news 4 new york at 5:00," one sheriff's creative way to get drug dealers to help him fight crime. >>> deputies drag a man from his car moments before a violent train crash. why the driver may have been stopped at the train tracks. >>> later, a few key strokes may be all it takes for cyberterrorists to expose a security network. the spinning pinwheel of death. the disappearing wi-fi icon. the frozen download bar. you don't need a magician to fix these things. you need fios internet. get fios 50 meg internet, tv and phone now for $79.99 a month, price guaranteed for 2 years. or, double your speeds for just 10 dollars more a month. and only fios gives you uploads speeds as fast as your download speeds. the 100% fiber optics network is here. get out of the past, get fios. >>> a driver's mistake almost cost him his life. two deputies saved him just in the nick of time. take a look at this dramatic rescue out of california. a man crashed his car into a train c

news 4's andrew siff is live this afternoon. andrew. >> rob, pretty incredible, if you think about it. we're talking about the fall of 2012. the hospital in this community devastated by floodwaters, shut down, never reopened. here we are in the summer of 2015 and finally something long beach residents ave been calling for over and over, an emergency department is now here. >> dizzy. >> reporter: retired long beach resident patricia nearly fainted this morning so she called for an ambulance and felt so relieved. that the new er in her community opened today. what does it mean to you there's now an er right in long beach instead of you having to ride in an ambulance miles away? >> it's the most wonderful thing they do. and everybody in long beach is thrilled with it. >> reporter: for the first time since superstorm sandy, inundated long beach hospital with floodwater. 1,000 days ago. there is now an emergency room here. >> not only was this -- there was a tremendous outcry from the public here, but when we talked to the profession

news 4's andrew siff is in astoria park. 85 degrees this afternoon. a lot of people trying to keep cool, andrew. >> reporter: yeah, rob. people were not complaining about the weather today. pretty spectacular, low humidity, felt great to be outside. as you indicated, it's going to get hazier, hotter and humid in the coming days. one of dozens of new york city pools like this one, a good place to keep cool. taking the plunge into a city pool is a refreshing idea these next few days. especially for parents like emil, who says the summer has been too cool. >> not hot enough. i had to shovel a lot of snow this winter. i'm very happy that it's hot. i like it at 90 so we can get in the nice cool pool. >> reporter: it's actually been an unusual summer, with temperatures slightly above normal, but not much extreme heat. instead of 15 days above 90 degrees, which is the usual, we've only had seven of those scorchers. >> that's a perfect summer for me. that's a perfect summer. >> even on a hot day, i appreciate it, compared to the winter. >> reporter: but there

i don't get it. >> reporter: andrew siff, news4 new york. >>> we're getting new details about a woman who died at mt. vernon police headquarters. we've learned rainett vomited in a holding cell hours after being released from the hospital. she was arrested for shoplifting saturday. according to a court official, she said she didn't feel well and was taken to a hospital. after she returned to jail, she got sick in a holding cell and she was found dead hours later. more tests are needed to determine her cause of death. >>> tonight, family drama unfolds at the funeral fof bobbi kristina brown. the funeral was held in georgia today. hundreds of friends, relatives and musicians attended the service. and the sister of bobbi brown left the church and she told the media she was upset that pat houston, whitney's sister-in-law, spoke at the funeral. >> it went wonderful until pat started speaking. i didn't like that. >> what did she say? >> i told her that whitney was going to haunt her from the grave. >> bobbi christina died six months after found drowned in the bathtub in her home. >>> a mala

andrew siff has more. >> reporter: chuck, pretty nudisturbing allegations that inspectors could easily spot the safety violations at this construction site, and they warned the supervisors there for weeks, for days, for months, but their warnings were ignored and one of the construction workers died. these two men are accused of what prosecutors call appalling appallingly lack sy!urity at this manhattan construction site. safety so inadequate, says the d.a., 22-year- d carpenter carlos got crushed and killed by falling debris. >> when supervisors at construction sites take nshortcuts, they fter lives. >> reporter: now harged with manslaughter and criminally kwufa. they are construction orsupervisors back in april as developers worked on a multimillion dollar renovation in the meat packing district at e former site of the famed restaurant. investigators say the cohntractors allowed a 13-foot reinforcements. then rifused to make changes en an inspector noticed. >> the inspector told him to get the men out of the trench immediately. but he did not stop the work. >> reporter: investigators

news 4's andrew siff is live in brooklyn heights tonight with details on that. andrew. >> reporter: well, rob, if you're one of the thousands of people who live or work in brooklyn heights, you can't get more convenient than this station. the a and the c to brooklyn bridge high street. it will be out of service on 40 different weekends through 2016, all because of repairs, so you better get ready to use your feet. the a train is a lifeline for new yorkers like cowher of brooklyn heights. >> i live right on sit here which is literally not even two minutes walking. >> reporter: but she and other commuters noticed signs today with the five dreaded words, no trains at this station. meaning she'll have to walk from the f, a 15-minute longer walk, for 40 weekends. that adds up to ten extra hours of walking over the next few months. >> it's going to be hard. it's not going to be as convenient as it is right now. >> reporter: why the inconvenience? superstorm sandy. it soaked the tunnel where the a and c trains travel with millions of gallons of water. >> after the stor

news 4's andrew siff is in queens tonight with more on that at the pool, andrew. >> reporter: yeah, rob. i'm standing in a pretty hot spot, but take a look at this. hundreds of people at this hour cooling off in the pool here. it's the perfect spot for them to be, especially for families as the heat and humidity rises across the weekend. but then when it comes to seniors, it's a different story. 78-year-old amanda campo stocked up on supplies today so she could follow good advice for seniors during the next few sweltering days. conditioning. air conditioning. >> yeah. >> reporter: staying cool will once again become a challenge as a possible heatwave descends on the big apple. you might say we're overdue. we usually get 15 days above 90. this year, only seven. do you have any tips to stay cool? what do you do? >> sit in the air conditioning. that's about it. only thing i worry about is con edison. >> reporter: the utility says its grid of underground power cables and overhead wires is in good shape. but new yorkers are still being asked to cut back on unnecessary appliances. as for thos

in long beach, andrew siff, news 4 new york. >> certainly nice to have. >>> and thanks for watching. >> stayd ight here. the news continues at 6:00. >>> live, from studio 3c in rockefeller center, this is news 4 new york. >>> now at 6:00, the struggle to keep egionella at bay as the death toll rises again. >>> and amtrak admits it messed up and apologizes for the dreadful summer delays, but not future. >>> and the thrill of the fall, the agony of the judge. parachutists get a stern scolding as a sentence for b.a.s.e. jumping. i'm chuck scarborough. >> i'm sibilia vargas. those stories in a moment but we begin with janice huff with a flash flood watch for new york city and several counties. >> that's right. including parts of northeastern new jersey from bergen to essex and union counties, nassau, and southern westchester and fairfield. this goes into effect overnight. it's not in effect yet because the heaviest rain has not made it to the area. it will be here by 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and will continue until midday. we're looking at a storm system that has several components, a

news 4's andrew siff picks it up from here. >> reporter: not just a tale of two cities. on the upper west side, a tale of two schools. >> absolutely, frustrating. >> reporter: melanie admits, she's one of the luckyrones. her kids go to ps-199, a top-ranked school on west 70th street, where 81% of the kids aced thesqtate math exam and 72% excelled in english. compare that to ps-191 just nine blocks away. only 9% scored well in math and 10% in english. >> they're not getting good reports at 191. so you want the best for your children, and that's why a lot of people actually move into the zone and hope to get in. reporter: not everyone gets in. dozens of families are wait listed at ps-199. westland moved to the neighborhood so her kids could attend but the city changed the zoning so no luck. >> suddenly, oh, my god, you plan this, and you can' you know, have your kid in the right school like you want. >> reporter: the city has tried to accommodate. squeezing 12 more kids into ps-199 for next month's start of kindergarten. but says city council member helen rosenthal. >> the

news 4's andrew siff is here to show us. andrew? >> reporter: shiba, chuck, that can be a real challenge. first of all, you're stuck at home with your kids. then a heatwave is coming. you have to take vacation days from work. of and then what if you find out one of these pools is closed? fortunately, there is a backup plan. >> mom's job is never done. i have to do what i have to do for my children. >> reporter: and what tanya thomas did is take five vacation days from her office job so she could take care of her kids in a week with no school and no camp. they drove to the red hook pool, which was closed for unexpected cleanup today. so -- >> sunset park it is. >> reporter: they went to the nearest pool that was open. cool activities, the key to getting through this challenging week in a summer when thousands of families face the challenge. new york city schools don't open until september 9th. >> try to keep them busy as much as possible, so for me, any activity that's free and available through new york city is what i do. >> reporte

and as andrew siff reports, one woman with mixed emotions is the longtime voice of the lexington line. >> hi, there, from the plaza. this is the best of today from thursday, august 13th. >> reporter: yes, she works at the "today" show. >> they're clear. >> reporter: but people don't recognize her face. >> people ask me why they know my voice. they think they know me from television. >> reporter: she's not on tv with the crowds, so you may know jessica ettinger from the radio. >> i am the "today" show radio anchor in 3 million cars across the u.s. and canada. >> reporter: or from a more familiar place. a short walk from rockefeller center towards lexington, and actually, underground. >> i love being the voice of the 4, 5, and 6 trains. it's been very weird. >> the next stop is 86th street. >> that was me! >> reporter: now 15 years after she lent the mta her voice while working at bloomberg news. >> hunter college. >> they had me record "the next stop is" once. and then i recorded a ul d ed all the nag.mes of the stops. >> reporter: her announcement days cou be numbered. >> transfer is

in old west bury andrew siff, news 4 new york. >>> on the other side of the aisle, donald trump remains the gop front runner with a double digit lead. after launching a weekend barrage of complaints against fox news host megyn kelly, trump says he is the one who deserves an apology for what he believes were unfair questions in last week's debate. meanwhile, in tennessee today, texas senator ted cruz looked past trump, instead taking shots at hillary clinton. >> so now the democratic field consists of a wild-eyed socialist, who's ideas are endangering america and the world, and bernie sanders. >> former florida governor jeb bush appears to be losing ground in the latest poll. he merged from the debate with a 7% support. >>> today was a big day for pets at the liberty humane society in jersey city. >> they got their first run in a brand new dog park as tracy strayhan reports. this means freedom and maybe even a new home. >> reporter: a daily walk is nothing new for dogs like evie. but this leap, prance and run could end up helping the pitbull mix and dozens of others finally find a home.

andrew siff was at today's meeting. >> reporter: in a summer of nightmarish commutes on new jersey transit. >> i was about a half hour late for work. i was caught inside the tunnel. >> reporter: political power players gathered in newark focused on solutions. senator cory booker called the meeting. christie was here today but whisked in through a side entrance without speaking to reporters. >> in order to take this happen, we're going to need everybody. >> reporter: the push to have the federal government shoulder most of the $25 billion tunnel may not work. also pushing for more federal dollars, governor cuomo who wasn't invited today. his spokeswoman told news 4 it was our administration's understanding that this was a separate meeting from the one the governor had been invited to. the senators who were here along with christie issued a joint statement. we had a substantive and productive meeting today to obtain substantial federal grant contribution toward the hudson river tunnel. the summit followed weeks of service disruptions, especially at rush hour. >> commuters have had better luc

news 4's andrew siff picks up the story there. >> well, the break in the case happened when a woman walked into the ace hotel to meet with a violin appraiser and show him the musical instrument that her late husband had left her. he took a look and soon realized it was one of the world's most famous missing violins. >> there's a very dark grain on the back. >> when violin appraiser took a close look at this instrument, he knew it was a stratevarias crafted in 1734. >> there are definitely characteristic markings of the wood and the wear and tear on the varnish. it's like a fingerprint, you can't forge that. it's really one of a kind. >> and this one-of-a-kind violin with inlaid pearls on the pegs may be worth $5 million. it belonged to concert violinist roman totenberg stolen from his massachusetts office in 1980, returned to his emotional daughters today. one of them, npr correspondent nina totenberg. >> our only real sadness is that our father, known to his legions of students as mr. t. is not here to see this. >> we are so honored to stand in our parenty? place today to we'come home the

i'm andrew siff and i'll have that story. >>> those stories and much more all new tonight when chuck and i see you at 6:00. >>> new information on that toxic waste cleanup in a colorado river. we now know that tests completed in the hours after last week's mine spill show lead levels more than 3,500 times the normal exposure limit for humans. epa stresses those levels have dropped. in fact, in an effort to prove that the water is back to normal, colorado governor john hickenlooper drank from the river, but he cautioned others not to try it themselves. don't do that yourself. the governor says that he put an iodine tablet in the water to kill bacteria before taking a sip, and more than a day later, so far, he says he's doing fine. >> so far. >>> okay. there have been quite a few high-profile prison break stories this year, but one alabama woman is making headlines for trying to break into jail. surveillance cameras caught 42-year-old tolesha mccain using box cutters to get through the franklin county jail's barbed wire fence. the sheriff says she was also carrying a cell phone, drugs,

andrew siff, news 4 new york. >>> coming up tonight at 6:00, new york's biggest i-team looks at how to get guns off the streets and the debate over stop and frisk. >>> and new at 5:00, a federal jury is keeping the death penalty on the table as sentencing for james holmes moves ahead. defense lawyers pleaded, citing mental illness as the reason behind his shooting spree at a theatre in colorado. the jury was not swayed. they will enter a third round of deliberations tomorrow before deciding if the 27-year-old will live or die. holmes was found guilty last month of killing 12 movie-goers and injuring 70 in aurora, colorado, in 2012. >>> tonight, new details about a tragic crash on i-95 near philadelphia. the woman who was killed had just left auditions for ""american idol." natasha and five friends were headed back to new jersey after the auditions yesterday. the suv they were in went out of control and flipped. three of the people inside the car were thrown out. >> best person i've ever had to the encounter meeting. i love her to death and it will not change. >> reporter: a 19-year-old

andrew siff finds out. >> reporter: it's been nearly four years since the mta tried an experiment at this subway station and a few others. no trash cans down below on the ground so they could encourage passengers, instead, to take their garbage and throw it out at cans on the street. today the mta said it's working. >> i think that's true. i definitely think that's true. >> many riders cheered the news that the mta will continue its pilot program, no trash cans in dozens of stations. transit officials say the move has cut down on garbage by up to 66% as well as reducing the rat problem. but many riders disagree and keep looking for some place to throw their waste. >> i do not agree. i don't think it's any cleaner. >> most people will drop their trash on the floor and keep going and have trash on the platform and it's nasty. they should have a receptacle for us to put our trash. >> the mta admits it's counterintuitive but insist it's working. taking trash cans out of subway stations like this one is making them less dirty. in the village, news 4 new york. >>> more than 2,000 homes and

live in washington heights, andrew siff, news 4 new york. >> thank you. >>> we do have a horrific story to tell you about, because police need your help. they want to find the man they say broke into a staten island home, snuck into a 7-year-old girl's room and raped her. this happened in port richmond. lori bordonaro picks up the story from there. >> reporter: on the lookout, residents of this port richmond neighborhood searching for any sign of daniel nieto. the 32-year-old accused of raping a 7-year-old girl inside her bedroom. >> i don't know who he is. and it's terrible that something could happen to a little girl. >> reporter: police say nieto snuck in through an unlocked back door august 6th, raped her and took off. >> i have daughters, i have grandkids. and that's horrible. >> reporter: the girl told her family about the man who they found in an abandoned building next door. she didn't mention the rape allegations until the next day. by then, nieto had been released from custody, charged with criminal trespassing. he's 5'2", 125 pounds. we showed his picture to people in the nei