Best clue. Both suspects are described as males, one around 6 feet 30 years old wearing an Old Navy Hooded Sweatshirt and a dark knit hat. The other, 25 years old about 62 wearing a darkcolored hood sweatshirt and blue jeans. Police say the men made off with the victims purses and cell phones and investigators tell us both men are considered armed and dangerous and if you see them dial 911. Well stay on top of that. Thank you very much. 20 minutes of nonstop news continues. Murder in the sky. Investigators say a lone copilot barricaded himself in the cockpit of a german passenger jet intentionally crashed the plane into a french mountainside killing all 150 people onboard. Not only that the victims knew they were doomed and were heard screaming in the last moments of their lives. Among the dead a Drexel University student. Todays revolutions that this was an intentional act stunned the world and actually the families of the victims. The planes black box vase data could rer reveals the 28yearold copilot locked the captain out of the cockpit when he left to use the restroom. He was alone at the controls. His breathing was normal and there was silence from the cockpit for eight minutes as he crashed the plane into a mountainside. Investing garts dont believe it was an act of terror although they dont know the copilots motive. Today investigators revealed the copilot wanted to destroy the plane. Also audio recordings reveal pounding could be heard on the cockpit door with the pilot locked out and alarms were sounded onboard and passengers in the cabin were heard screaming. A team of nbc 10 reporters is covering the investigation. Local expert analysis of what happened and the Delaware County connection to the tragedy and thats where we begin, nbc 10s tim furlong is live in springfield. Yesterday we talked about the drexel graduate and her mom who died in the crash. You talked to the moms family members and theyre still in the area and must be devastated. Reporter absolutely. They didnt want to talk on camera with me about all of this. Someone left flowers at their home in springfield and tough time for the family and also for the many people who knew the mother yvonne when she was a student here in the 70s at Springfield High School. Carol lamonday saw emily selke all over the news the 2013 drexel grad but carol figured out the selke family ties to our area were much deeper. I heard about the daughter and i thought this is our local connection to the crash victim and i thought somebody should stand up for yvonne because she grew up in Delaware County here. Carol was a classmate of emilys mom yvonne carl owe in Springfield High School. Yvonnes family still lives at this house just a few blocks from the school. Her sisterinlaw chose not to speak with us on camera saying its obviously a very tough time for the family. I remember seeing it on the rsvp list for the 40th reunion. Carol is working on the class of 75s reunion. Yvonne had gotten her ticket and was going to be here in october and today we found a tribute to her on the website and condolences for her family. Im sorry for your loss and it will take time to heal and due to the circumstances. And the word is slowly spreading through the community here around Springfield High School. I spoke to a teacher who was here in 75. He didnt remember yvonne and there are retired teachers and more former classmates and well see the reunion page and lots of people will start clicking and put two and two together and remember yvonne and know that she had a Delaware County connection. Thats where we are, tim furlong, nbc 10 news. The big question how could Something Like this happen . How could a captain be locked out of the cockpit on the very plane hes piloting . Today were getting answers here. Nbc 10s drew smith has explanning as from an aviation expert. Drew, what is his explanation. Cockpits have locking devices in them and theyre used to keep people out of the cockpit who do not belong there, but investigators say these germanwing copilot he did exactly the opposite. Look inside the airbus a320, this is video of the switches pilots in the cockpit have access to the three position unlock normal and the third is locked and that keeps everyone out. A place to voice recorder revealed that the germanwings pilot banged on the door and then tried to enter using a keypad. What he didnt know is that the copilot used that switch we showed you to override the pilots code. Here in the United States there is a rule that they are required to enter the cockpit when one pilot leaves. Those regulations dont exist in europe. He thinks that should change. Why did anybody allow one person to be alone in that cockpit. That to me is against all consents of safety whether regulated or not. The ceo of Lufthansa Airlines says he will review procedures and does not see the need to make immediate changes. Im drew smith, nbc 10 news. Word of this intentional downing of the plane spread and caused concern for many. Nbc 10 was at Philadelphia International airport today getting reaction to this. As a matter of fact, cydney long is live for us there right now. What are travelers saying after learning the news that this was not an accident at all . Jackie and keith, the International Travelers are simply shocked and stunned that the germanwings pilot, the person the very person who was supposed to keep that airplane in the sky deliberately brought it down. They are talking about the sadness and emotions they were feeling immediately after 9 11 and there is definitely fear and apprehension and fear about taking to the skies today or at any point soon. Its just frightening. It can happen to any of us anywhere and i dont know that i feel like traveling today. Mar sha and her husband say their thoughts and prayers are with the families this of the passengers who were suddenly taken when Authorities Say a germanwings copilot deliberately crashed into the mountains of Southern France thursday. Howard born cant help but imagine the final moments of seeing a pilot banging on the cockpit door. Ending life so quickly. Can you imagine falling that many feet and being awake . One week ago the borns canceled their 5 50th anniversary travel plans for an African Safari and news today confirmed their uneasiness. Ive been to dusseldorf, but never that particular route. He was too shaken by the tragic news. It was very unfortunate any time we get a situation like this where lives are lost. He also travels for pleasure mostly within the u. S. Yes i do. I do and im very confidence in traveling especially here in philadelphia and within the u. S. Now i cant speak for any other country, but yes, i do feel quite quite safe. Reporter and just a short time ago the International AirPilots Association tells nbc 10 their thoughts are clearly with the victims and their family but they will assist in any way possible to make or assist for safer air travel worldwide. Live at philly international, im cydney long nbc 10 news. And we have more information on the 28yearold pilot who brought down that plane. You can read about him right now on the nbc 10 news app from your smartphone and tablet. Now your nbc 10 first alert weather. First Alert Weather Team is closely monitoring the skies for thunderstorms that are expected to form and move our way in the next couple of hours. Meantime, it has been a damp and dreary thursday with off and on showers as our live Skycam Network shows the skies over center city and lets talk about the timing of the storms and who is most likely to see them. Lets talk to glenn hurricane schwartz what do you see . We dont have the line of thunderstorms yet. Were waiting for it to develop in the middle of pennsylvania and this is the area that well be watching and there are showers through new jersey and delaware now way ahead of this main system. So far, nothing developing other than just rain showers. Look how warm it is ahead of that system. 68 in wilmington 67 in northeast philly 65 in dover. It got up near 70 degrees there. This is the futurecast as we go to 6 00 7 00 and you see that line developing and youll get some bursts of rain gusty winds and then the temperature really drops quickly as this front moves through, but its gone by 11 00 tonight and look how much cooler it is. Well talk more about the timing of this system and how much colder its going to get with the seven day in just a few minutes. All right, glenn. You can track the rain and storms when were not on the air and real time radar is on the nbc 10 news app for smartphones and tablletlettablets. Boo before we go any further, check out this video. An apparent tornado caught on tape. You see it blowing through power lines and transformers and crews are assessing the damage after powerful storms hit oklahoma. At least one person was killed and several others hurt. We are continuing to follow this breaking news out of manhattan. These are live pictures from on the ground. We are being told that in the east village there was a partial Building Collapse and a fire. It is unclear what exactly caused the explosion or how many people were injured. As you can see, all of the people gathered below as we get more information as to what initiated the fire well bring it to you. To new developments in the case of a Delaware County mother who vanished nearly a year ago. Investigators now believe she may be the victim of a crime. Amanda deguio disappeared last june. Shes a known drug user and has missed numerous holidays and family birthdays. Theyre in touch with Homeland Security to look at the possibility of any ties to amandas disappearance and human trafficking. Amandas family was also there to plea with her return. We love her and miss her and we need her home. We need to know shes safe but most important, if shes not alive, i need to bring her home. Anyone with information about Amanda Deguio should call upper darby police. Police are looking for an attacker who choked a woman in point breeze. A man broke into her home around 4 00 this morning. He said he wanted money and grabbed her by the throat but the in end the guy didnt get away with anything. Life in prison arkel garcia murdered a man after trying to steal his expensive headphones. Christian macy was walking in a wynnefield alley when garcia confronted him, but macy tried to run away and garcia shot him. He was convicted of seconddegree murder last month and his life sentence does not include the possibility of parole. We have new information on a fraternity scandal at penn state university. Several women pictured in photos on the fraternitys Facebook Page have come forward to police. Kappa delta rho is suspended for what penn state called a secret facebook account full of photos of naked women. Police have yet to file charges and some members of the fraternity are now cooperating with the investigation. Pennsylvanias Death Penalty debate took center stage in philadelphia today. Stay lawmakers gathered at city hall on the moratorium on executions. Its the first of several hearings being conducted by the chairman of the house judiciary committee. Hes questioning the legality of the governors moratorium. Governor wolf halted executions last month. He said the states Death Penalty system is errorprone and expensive. Wolf is issuing reprieves while a legislative panel studies the issues. Among those to speak at todays hearing were family members of murder ybnvictims. This would be very hard to put yourself in their position and so we certainly feel for the families and it is very emotional. The state Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the governors moratorium is legal, but it hasnt said when it will hear arguments. New information now from septa. At this News Conference today it announced it will not fight ads portraying the image of adolph hitler. It followed a judges ruling that septa must allow the ads to go up. The ads feature hitler and carry the tag line quote, jew hatred its in the koran. Septa said the ads violated standards. A proisrael group called the American Freedom initiative produced the ads. The eagles faithful are bidding fairwell torewell to one of the most legendary birds of all time. Family and friends gathered to remember him in bethlehem. A private mass will be held tomorrow. He passed away over the weekend after a brief illness. He played a franchise record 14 seasons with the eagles starting in 1949. His toughness on the field earned him the nickname concrete charlie. Prior to the nfl he played football at the university of pennsylvania and that was after serving in world war ii. He plays 14 seasons in philadelphia and does the Amazing Things that he did, i just i just think hes a remarkable story and hes one of the most remarkable figures in the history of professional football. Bed farec played regularly on offense and defense and he was 89 years old. 20 minutes of nonstop news continues with the unique mission for the people who protect our coast. They have a new assignment that will send them up into the skies and more in the coming weeks. Ted greenberg is live this afternoon in ocean city. Ted, people at the shore will notice the uptick in activity but its to protect Something Else thats not in our area, right . Yeah keith and jackie. Its not unusual to see coast guard helicopters here at the jersey shore, but for the next six weeks there is a good chance youll see them more often in places like this as air crews focus on Homeland Security. The machinery is the same but the mission isnt what you might think. It takes pilots in a different direction than theyre used to. From high above the jersey shore, u. S. Coast guard helicopter pilots already skilled in search and rescue tactics are practicing maneuvers that could be used to protect the nations capital. Basically, it only comes from one place in the coast guard and thats here in Atlantic City. Pilots used to coast guard, must undergo whats called rotary Wing Training and for the skies in the washington d. C. These missions are used to identify aircraft that theyre in airspace that theyre not supposed to be in. Over the next six week each pilot has to fly twice a day for at least two hours at a time and there is a good chance youll see them if youre along inland waterways between ocean city and stone harbor and barn gat township. There will be a solid increase in helicopter activity. But coast guard Officials Say the training wont take away from their primary responsibilities here. Two search and rescue crews remain ready to respond to emergencies at all times. Live in ocean city im ted greenberg, nbc 10 news. Now your nbc 10 first alert weather and chief meteorologist glenn hurricane schwartz. Weve had pretty big changes today and we have more coming and you see a little bit of brightness in that western sky and that is a sign of things to come as we go into the night tonight and into tomorrow. You could see the flag blowing hard. This is a southerly wind bringing in warmer air, at least for now, 65 degrees and look at that wind south at 17 gusting to 25 miles an hour. Its 20 degrees warmer than it was at this time yesterday. Now thats in philadelphia and allentown its still only 49 degrees and in Atlantic City its 59 and its raining. What a difference across the area, but we told you to expect this yesterday. Now the current temperatures again show the huge difference from the upper 40s in allentown and even redding at 61. 67, northeast philly and 69 in wilmington right now. The southerly winds are taking over at least for now and some of them are gusting up 20 to 30 miles an hour Atlantic City gusting to 32. So its really windy at the beach. There are those showers in new jersey and delaware. This is the area getting some sunshine and its 75 degrees in washington, d. C. Right now. These are light showers coming through. At the shore, the area that were mainly watching is right here in central pennsylvania and we expect the line of showers and thunderstorms to develop off of that. This is between 6 00 and 7 00 tonight and then watch the temperature plunge as this line goes through. So you have warm air ahead of it. You get a gusty thunderstorm, the wind shifts the temperature drops. 8 00 doulstown down into Chester County. 8 00 to 9 00 right through the philadelphia and i95 area and by 10 00, right at the shore. Just a tremendous change and thats setting up for a cold weekend saturday 41 degrees for a high. Most of the day in the 30s with snow showers and wind by the way. On sunday a very cold start. Temperatures ranging from 18 to 25 in the morning and the high of only 45 degrees. So keep that in mind. Its warm now, but its not going to stay that way. The showers and thunderstorms are briefly heavy. 46 degrees with the low in philadelphia and this all occurs before midnight and as the wind shifts the temperature goes down and during the day tomorrow, we have lingering showers and not thunderstorms and then a lot of clouds in the afternoon and much cooler with highs only in the low 50s. Your sevenday forecast snow showers for saturday and the really cold start for sunday way below look at that. The average high is 56 and we get up there on monday and a chance of snow showers on tuesday, as well. Philadelphia paying more than 200 million in lawsuits. The nbc 10 investigators uncover the top four reasons why theyre using your taxpayer money for payouts. Then what the state of new jersey did illegally that has them paying back more than 13 million to residents coming right up on nbc 10 news. Back now to breaking news where crews are responding to a possible Building Collapse. This is in the east village at Second Avenue and 7th street. A residential building involved as well. One person is critically injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Stay on nbc 10 for more information on this breaking story. Big money for big j. A quarter Million Dollars for the battleship new jersey. A Nonprofit Organization that helped bring the ship to the camden waterfront made the donation. It will open a new tour route on the historic vessel. From the delaware bureau, a small army of wilmington firefighters went door to door trying to save lives. They met with homeowners to talk about fire safety and handed out information and checked to make sure families had working smoke detectors. Families that didnt were able to get one for free. Check those powerball tickets. If you bought one in north jersey you could be a whole lot more wealthsy. Powerball Officials Say the Winning Ticket was sold in Teaneck Bergen county. Ticket is worth 40 million. The winner will receive 27 million before taxes if he or she opts for the lump sum payment. We have the numbers for you, 7, 19 23 50 and 54. The powerball is 14 so make sure you check your tickets. Back to one of our top stories today. Murder in the sky. Investigators say the copilot of the german plane locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed it into the mountainside of the french alps killing everyone onboard. Were never going to be able to prove, unfortunately. Philadelphia gets sued time and time again and then they settle. Today the nbc 10 investigators calculate how much money theyre shelling out and whos getting that money . Im closely watching the first alert weather computers and the skies as spring thunderstorms threaten the region. Get my updated forecast just minute away. Then coming up tonight on nbc 10 news at 5 00. Iconic images of hurricane sandy. This one is unforgettable. How the owner of this destroyed roller coaster plans to rebuild the jersey shore amusement pier where it once sat. Others. Now, americans everywhere are discovering that. Spoon after spoon. Dish after dish. Time, after time, after time again. Deliciously creamy galbani ricotta inspires meals, and moments, that are simply better. Mmm, galbani sfx kiss . Italys favorite cheese brand. Now, americas number one ricotta. Nbc 10 breaking news. We know at least 200 firefighters responded here to a partial Building Collapse any possible explosion in the east village of new york city. At least one person is critically injured. Neighbors say they heard a loud boom and it appears authorities have closed down the surrounding streets not knowing that that building located at Seventh Avenue may collapse further. Stay tuned on this story, a Building Collapse and possible explosion in new york citys east village. Were also following development in the crash of the Germanwings Flight in the french alps. Investigators are focusing on the personal life of andreas lubitz. He deliberately locked the pilot out and crashed the plane. Theres no indication on an act of terrorism. Investigators are focusing on his personal life to why he did it. Emily selke was a 2013 graduate of Drexel University and member of the gamma sigma sigma sorority. Friends say her smile was infectious. Her mother also died in the crash. She grew up in springfield, Delaware County and graduated from Springfield High School in 1975. She recently signed up to attend the 40th High School Reunion planned for october. Im just sorry for your loss and they just need time to heal. It will take a long one with this one and especially due to the circumstances. Yvonne and emily selke lived in virginia before the crash. A third american killed has been identified as robert oliver. Now your nbc 10 first alert weather. The first Alert Weather Team is keeping a close watch on the skies. Thunderstorms are expected to form and hit our area a short time from now. Our live Skycam Network shows a dreary afternoon right now thats showing showers as we look at the philadelphia sky line. Nbc 10 first alert meteorologist glenn hurricane schwartz is here with us. Have they formed yet . No, but just every computer model shows that happening within the next couple of hours in central pennsylvania. There are different threats you get from different lines of thunderstorms and different weather setups. In this case the heavy rain threat is high. The threat of at least some lightning is high. The threat of strong gusty winds or hail or tornadoes is pretty low especially the threat of hail or tornadoes out of this. These are the initial showers, not severe in any way and then we have a break and then this the area were watching for that development of the lines. So were looking for yellows and reds in there that would indicate strong gusty winds. You can see the warm air ahead of that and that is one of the ingredients fueling these thunderstorms that are expected. More on the timing of them with the rest of the seven day in just a few minutes. All right, glenn. With storms on the way get Important Information delivered to your smartphone or tablet with the nbc 10 news and weather apps. The city of philadelphia is spending big money paying off lawsuits. The nbc 10 investigators found hundreds of millions of dollars spent on settlements. Nbc 10 Investigative ReporterMitch Blacher found one agency cost the city more than any other. Mitch . Guys, we looked at six years forth worth of payouts and other for police using extreme force. The city settled the equivalent of almost two cases a day. Sidewalks, streets and the City Police Department cost philadelphia the most in courtrooms in 2014. The city spent almost 35 million settling lawsuits last year. Most seriously injured plaintiffs, claimants and victims would walk away from any possible recovery if they could get their life back and thats really what this is all about. Attorney dean whitesman is one of the lawyers looking to raise that number. A picture of one of his clients injuries are so graphic we have to blur it. Its the result of a bike accident in fairmount park. Amazingly the guardrail came went in an inch of his heart and went right through his body. Reporter the lawsuit was just one in last year alone and the city settled suits for sued walks, malfunctioning traffic lights led to 1 million in payouts and potholes and broken manholes and curbs cost 2. 2 million, and no two agencies have cost the city more than the city police and prison system. Theyve totaled 15. 1 million. Were never going to be loss of proof, unfortunately. Her team settled 643 cases last year. Were a big city and, you know certainly there are problems that are not going to be that were just not going to be able to get to. The solicitor said her office tracks which department costs the most in lawsuits and then provides training. She says the city can be a target of lawsuits because of its 3 billion budget. I think it probably is just a cost of doing business. But whitesman and the thousands who sue philadelphia never see more than 500,000 and thats if they win, because pennsylvania caps the city governments liability. That law hasnt changed for, like, over 30 years. So that number hasnt grown with inflation. Whitesman says more money will bring more relief to victim, but believes there is a simple way to see fewer lawsuits in the city. If the city workers and the City Infrastructure is better maintained there will be less cases. There is no cap for how much you can sue a city for. As for delaware they have a 300,000 cap. Philadelphia has paid 218 million to settle lawsuits. For the investigators, im Mitch Blacher, nbc 10 news. All right, mitch. The region is already preparing for the pope. And the millions of pilgrims will come to our region. Today, the events leading up to the papal visit to philadelphia that will put the city on the world stage and why not just for catholics. And paying for prescription pills. The thousands who pay too much for their medicine and can count on getting some of their money back. New jersey is rolling back prescription copays for retired public workers. The move comes three months after an Appeals Court found the state hiked the rates illegally in 2013. The state will return the copays to their 2012 levels and it will compensate retirees who have been overpaying. Athe Lehigh Valley got a workout today. They loaded 20,000 food truck items headed to the Second Harvest food bank. They collected those items as part of a service project. We absolutely rely on done eggs. The 7 Million Pounds of food that Second Harvest distributed last year a little more than half of that is donated. Get this Second Harvest estimates the students collected about ten tons of food. Thats a heck of a lot of food. Any time the pope goes on the road people think its a pretty big deal. Since his first visit to the u. S. Will include a stop in our area, its an even bigger deal. It is enormously important. And while the pope is ptember. Today the focus is on the family. Something for the adults and even for the kids and the roles theyll play in the event. Im tracking thunderstorms for this first week of spring. Get the timing on those storms and how theyll impact where you live in my exclusive nbc 10 first alert storm forecast. You have to see this here. New video from new york and the scene of that partial Building Collapse in manhattan. We just found out at least 12 people are hurt. Two of them critically. This is happening in a fivestory building in the east village. The area has been evacuated. Witnesses near the scene reported hearing a boom and then a fire erupted and the one youre seeing here in this new video. Smoke can be seen from blocks away we are told. The side of the building along with the first couple of floors spilled on to the streets. Count on nbc 10 as we continue to stay on top of this collapse and fire and bring you the latest from the screen in new york city. Your nbc 10 first alert weather with chief meteorologist glenn hurricane schwartz. The first thunderstorms of the year are about to move through parts of the area and were tracking them as we go through the evening by midnight its all going to be gone but until then we have to watch the showers linger into tomorrow and we have a cold weekend coming up. That warm weather were seeing now, thats not a sign. Were seeing a little bit of sunshine right there and thats helping it warm up and that also helps with the fuel of any storm. 65 degrees in philadelphia with a strong southerly wind at the moment and as far as the threats from the severe weather, heavy rain briefly, heavy rain and downpours, lightning, just about everybody should at least see some lightning or hear some thunder, but the risk of high winds or damaging winds are pretty low and hail and tornadoes are very low out of this particular situation. Its 61 in redding, but only 49 in allentown. We have wild changes here. 68 in blue bell. 69 in wilmington. So the warm air has really surged up to the north, as youll see but it has quite an effect right at the beach because its a southerly wind off that cool ocean and it makes quite a difference. Now you can see those first showers, theyre fairly light and then they break. This is what was expected. Sunshine in the afternoon helping this to develop and you can see just in the last few minutes were starting to get a little bit of orange in there indicating that the developing thunderstorms that is west of harrisburg and so its going to take a while before it completely develops and moves eastward. Heres the hour by hour future weather as we go through 6 00 allentown, down through Chester County as we go into 7 00 some of this on the heavy side remember, gusty winds for at least a brief period of time and then the big drop in temperatures. 8 00 to 9 00 right in through the philadelphia area trenton, down to wilmington as we dry out back to the west and then later on tonight as we lose the heat from the sun or expect that line to weaken and then were going to be seeing colder air come in. Look how cold the weekends going to be. 41 with snow showers on saturday and sunday it will be cold too, especially in the morning. For tonight, it will be pretty active this evening. Showers and thunderstorms briefly heavy, gusty winds and then the temperatures plunge toward morning. 46 for the low. During the day tomorrow the temperature does not rise very much and we have lingering showers in the morning and cloudy skies in the afternoon and then it gets even colder for saturday and sunday and a high of 41 but it will be in the 30s most of the day and some snow flurries and snow showers then. By sunday morning were down to 25 in philadelphia and perhaps some teens in some of the suburbs and then not quite as cold as we go into next week but quite an up and down and we have to keep watching those thunderstorms on the radar that have been developing just in the last 20 or 30 minutes. It could get stronger and hopefully nothing severe tonight. Right, but Strong Enough to be noticed. Lightning, thunder and gusty winds. Thanks, glenn. We wish our weather could get a makeover. A group of women got makeovers today, but it wasnt all about their looks. Todays smart and sexy event was about making over their careers. A group called career wardrobe provided women with free clothes for job interviews. Local businesswomen offered advice for succeeding in the workplace. There was a savory challenge in university city. Local high school chefs were turning meals into money. They took part in a cooking competition at Drexel University. The competition is part of the careers through culinary arts program. High School Student his two hour hours to prepare from memory a french meal of potatoes and crepes for dessert. Makes my mouth water. Hundreds of thousands of College Scholarships were up for grabs here. The Catholic Church has faced plenty of controversy and some of those hotbutton issues are certainly to come up in the coming months especially as the pope and Church Leaders from around the world come to philadelphia. Today, the topics that will get more attention than others and why there will be greater focus on certain subjects. Then all new on nbc 10 news at 5k clo 00, more than two and a unforgettable. An amusement pier where the roller coaster was washed into the ocean. The white house. Earlier today the white house announced president obama and first lady will meet with Pope Francis September 23rd and today marks six months from pope frances francess historic visit to till philadelphia. The pope is expected to attend closing events for the world meeting of families on the ben franklin parkway. There are days of activities that lead up to it. Jim rosenfield breaks down the schedule so you know whats happening, where and when. They will come by the thousands as summer turns to fall in philadelphia. The gathering centered on families and faith at a crucial time for the Catholic Church in america. How important is this whole event in terms of reenergizing the faithful here in america . It is enormously important. Beginning in rome two decades ago, the world meeting of families has taken place in International Cities every three years after Pope John Paul ii wanted to strengthen the bonds of the family unit across the globe. This is the first time the world meeting of families is being held in the United States and i dont think its a coincidence. I think we need this right now and i dont think that you and i sitting here today can possibly imagine the impact this is going to have in the years to come. First, from september 22nd to the 25th, as many as 15,000 people are expected to attend numerous sessions large and small, at the Pennsylvania Convention center. The fourday congress here at the Convention Center is decidedly faithbased and catholic centric, but roughly 40 of the content during that week is designed to appeal to people of all faiths. We want to make sure that this is a very engaging congress. So theres an Adult Congress that talks about various things that families can do to strengthen themselves and help their communities and theres also a Youth Congress that will mirror the content, but there will be a lot of fun activities and thats for young people ages 6 to 17. Organizers expect official delegations from at least 150 countries to hear speakers that include everyone from cardinals to mothers, imams to rabbis. About a third of those speakers will come from outside north america, a quarter of them from noncatholic faiths. Topics will include everything from concerns of urban families to Financial Planning to dating to the struggles and blessings of disabilities. But apart from one breakout session on homosexuality, i asked the gatherings executive director why other issues like helping victims of sex abuse and taking about samesex marriage are not on the official agenda. Those issues that you are talking about are very important and front and center for us but in other countries not so much. So will they be part of the conference . Yes. Are they woven throughout the entire conference . No. We have to look at this in terms of the big picture. By the weekend of september 26th and 27th, the population of philadelphia is expected to double. It will be as if every person who lives in manhattan comes pouring into center city, an estimated 1. 5 million visitors to see pope francis in person. Jim oezrosenfield nbc 10 news. The world meeting of families is less than six month it will be held the week of september 22nd and. Count on nbc 10 news to bring you news and information about the papal journey to philadelphia by tapping on the nbc 10 news app for your smartphoners on tabll sgloos next on nbc 10 news at 5k clo, we continue to follow that breaking news in new york city. At least 12 people are hurt from this partial Building Collapse and possible explosion. There is also a large fire burning. Stay with us as we gather new details about this breaking news. And im tracking the development of thunderstorms for this evening. So coming up ill show you the timing on that and the colder air behind it. Thats next on nbc 10 news at 5 00. Nbc 10 breaking news. A live look at manhattan. Thats where crews are on the scene of a Building Collapse and possible ree of those people are considered in critical or serious condition. This is on Second Avenue in the east village. No word yet on the cause of this explosion. This is video from shortly after this explosion. You can see the chaos around the scene and a lot of smoke ask debris. More video here from another vantage point. You can see the flames shooting through the roof of that building. More videos shows crews responding to the scene. Firefighters trying to get the fire out. A lot of people watching and waiting to get more information on what caused this explosion and we will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they become available. Right now on nbc 10 news at 5 00, this was no accident. The violent deaths of 150 passengers and crew aboard the doomed germanwings jet was instead a case of murder in the sky. French investigators say the copilot was at the controls the entire time the plane dropped from the sky toward the french alps. And the pilot was not in the cockpit. Nbc 10s drew smith is live in the Digital Operations Center tracking new developments. What have you learned . Were watching reaction from the families who have arrived in the french alps. Theyre so upset to see the final spot where their loved ones spent their final moments. Families of the victims from the Germanwings Flight that crashed into the french alps tuesday paid