Begin the workweek. Nbc 10 in wilmington today where we found joggers spending time outside. The cold weather its making a comeback renee. Nbc 10 first alert chief meteorologist glenn hurricane schwartz is here now with the nbc 10 first alert forecast. Glenn . Yeah renee, with the clear skies we have at least for now that will allow the temperature to go down clear skies in the philadelphia area clouds in the poconos, clouds at the shore and its dry in between. Its going to be dry everywhere as we go through the night tonight, the temperatures are down quite a bit from yesterday in the low to mid40s in most of the region. With will be a dry night but a much colder night than what we saw earlier this morning. Expect mostly cloudy skies overnight. That will allow the temperature to drop into the mid30s by 11 00 and of course closer to the 20s in some of the suburbs. But much colder air than that is on the way. Well see how cold its going to be for new years eve and new years day with the sevenday in a few minutes. A suspected serial Bank Robber Strikes again. Police trying to track down a man they believe hit eight banks in the philadelphia area over the past three weeks, including the one today. Take a look at these surveillance photos of the suspect given to us by police. He held up a Wells Fargo Bank in bryn mawr Delaware County this morning. Investigators believe the same man used a gun to rob more than a half dozen other banks in philadelphia, Montgomery County as well. Hes considered armed and dangerous. Protests around the country have put a spotlight on the tension between many communities and the police. But today people in philadelphia wanted to show their support for Police Officers. State lawmaker w. Curtis thomas handed out certificates of appreciation to officers who serve in his zrit. He says thanks to them crime has gone down. That trend cant continue without cooperationtown police and the community. We cannot enjoy any peace and tranquillity in 2015 unless we work together. 4 sk force on 21st Century Policing which is being run by the Philadelphia Police department and commissioner charles ramsey. Thomas called for officers to wear body cameras and more foot patrols in neighborhoods. We have learned the names two of People Killed in a house fire in reading. Family members say 87yearold Pedro Morales and 88yearold miriam vega died last night. The two were trapped inside the burning home. Investigators are still trying to figure out how this fire started. They say it does not appear to be suspicious. And a fire turned dangerous for two Philadelphia Police officers this morning but not because of the flames. Check out this piece of metal that flew into both of them. It came from a car that was inside a burning garage in frankfurt frankfurt. A shock absorber flew off a car. They heard a loud pop, then a piece of metal from the rear bumper of the vehicle traveled about 100 feet at a high rate of speed, striking two Police Officers in their leg. One officer has a broken leg, the other had to get stitches. The fire marshall is still investigating the cause. Several penndot workers charged in an alleged scheme to rip off taxpayers face the judge in Montgomery County today. Three of the ten defendants peared in court this morning. They took kick backs in exchange for turning a blind eye to fraudulent time sheets and mileage reports. Two are former penndot managers eight are contractors. One of the ten has not surrendered yet. Hes down in florida and right now were making arrangements for him. We have new information in the search for a driver behind a deadly hit and run in northeast philadelphia last week. Investigators say theyre now looking for a late 80s or early 90s model dark colored pickup truck or a tow truck. Police say a truck hit teresa posey tuesday night as she crossed state road. Witnesses said the driver was speeding. Closed without warning. The Philadelphia School district stepping in after another Charter School suddenly shuts its doors. The closing aeffects more than 600 students that attended the Walter Palmer leadership Charter School. Reporter teachers and staff were given the bad news just a day after christmas that this school was locking its door permanently, just halfway through the academic year. Teachers at the Walter PalmerCharter School packed up their books and colored pencils after learning that the classrooms are closing and now theyre out of a job. What have they told you . Anything . Nothing. We dont know anything. This school is good. I liked to work here but unfortunately the k through 8 Charter School is shutting down in the middle of winter break. Walter palmer Officials Say theres no other choice because theyre deep in debt owing millions to the School District of philadelphia. And theyve been on us since then. Weve been trying to work with them over the past year. Reporter the school tells nbc 10 theyve tried to work out a payment plan but the district just isnt cooperating. And a recent court order is forcing them to pony up 1. 5 million now. And the bottom line is with that 1. 5 million judgment, thats what took us over the edge. So this goes beyond the 1. 5 million. It clearly shows a financial situation, a mismanagement of finances in this Charter School. Reporter the School District says theres been a pattern of financial irregularities at Walter Palmer including almost 1 million in overbilling and 500,000 in unpaid retirement money. In total, the debt is pushing 6 million and for the 600 plus students here that means theyll likely have to enroll back in a Traditional Public School to finish out the year. We have some Great Teachers and administrators, were ss that were ready to welcome them back. The Charter School is looking for other Charter Schools in the area to get these kids new locations. For many of the students their entire reason for coming here is because they were dissatisfied with their neighborhood Public Schools. Live in philadelphia Randy Gyllenhall nbc 10 news. Heres more now, details on the Charter Schools in pennsylvania. They are independently operated Public Schools that are funded with state and local tax dollars. The schools have to be approved by the local board of education. These schools are responsible for upholding academic progress and other terms of the original charter. Engine problems force an Emergency Landing at Philadelphia International airport today. U. S. Air flight 5927 was on its way to manchester new hampshire, around 10 00 this morning when it had to return to philadelphia. The airline put all 53 passengers on another flight. Its still trying to figure out what was wrong with the engine. And overseas landing gear problems caused the problem bound for las vegas to make an Emergency Landing in england today. This is video of the Virgin Atlantic jet touching down near london. Emergency crews were on standby as you could see for that landing and the airport shut down for several hours. Were learning new details about what happened just moments before an airasia flight disappeared. The plane carrying 162 people dropped off radar flying from indonesia to singapore. Jacqueline london joins us live from the Digital Operations Center. You have new information on what the pilots of that flight were doing just before they went missing. Keith we know the pilots asked for permission to change the route of that plane to avoid bad weather. What we found out today, that request was denied. The pilots wanted to take the plane higher so it would be above some threatening clouds but air Traffic Control could not give them permission because six other planes were already in that air space. Officials believe the plane crashed and is likely at the bottom of the java sea. 15 ships 7 planes and 4 helicopters were out searching for wreckage today. Until we have a full investigation and we know what went wrong, we really cant speculate. We dont really want to speculate until we find the aircraft we know what went wrong, then well look into it and see what we need to improve, if we need to improve. The search has been suspended for the night and inthesia has asked the United States for help in locating the missing jet. The president of indonesia has also ordered an immediate review of all aviation procedures. Live in the Digital Operations Center jacqueline london, nbc 10 news. Thank you jacqueline. A scary and dangerous rescue operation finally over for passengers on a burning ferry boat. After hours of battling bad wedge and heavy smoke, rescuers were able to get 432 people to safety. The ferry caught fire during its journey from greece to italy sunday. Ten people were killed passengers described a chaotic scene as they waited for help to arrive. Translator there was no alarm, nothing this man says everything was blocked. It was freezing cold, no help. Officials believe all of the passengers now have been rescued but there was a discrepancy on the number of people aboard the ferry and they are checking to see if anyone else is missing. Allentown is hoping the new year will bring lots of new jobs. Thats according to the Employment Outlook survey from the manpower group. 25 of allentown businesses expect to hire new employees over the next three months. Thats one of the highest increases in the nation. Allentown leaders believed the new ppl arena complex will play a big role in that increase. The 500 million project also includes luxury suites restaurants and a hotel. According to manpower, the job prospects are best in manufacturing, transportation, retail and hospitality. The news isnt as positive in new jersey only 9 of employers plan to increase hiring delaware is much higher at 25 . The philadelphia region is standing at 17 . The countdown is now on. In three days well say so long to 2014 and welcome in a new year. Today, final preps are under way all across our area for the parties and parades that will help the region ring in 2015. Tim furlong is live at the Pennsylvania Convention center with a sneak peek at some of the celebrations in store. Tim . Reporter in about a half hour well get our first listen if you will to the brigades here at the Convention Center. The big show is the one that will be judged on new years day. Right now were in the middle of mummers fest. You can see what goes on behind the scenes including the massive construction operations and rehearsal that go into creating the show each year. Today we stopped by the navy yard where crews were packing the fireworks barge for friday night, wednesday nights two fireworks shows on the delaware river. No smoking allowed on that barge for sure. The guy told us there will be 4,000 to 5,000 people here this year. Unlike the old days the show is now completely prescripted and computer driven. I havent lit a fuse in my 15 years but Computer Systems are definitely state of the art. And to match it with the music, we can really reach out and touch your hearts. And back live in the Convention Center look at that set right there for one of the brigades that will perform here in a little while. Tell your friends to go to nbc10. Com to watch our news cast live. In a little while well try to bring you a sneak peek of the mummers magic, prenew years day mummer. Im live at the Convention Center, tim furlong, nbc news. Three, two, one, happy new year they proved that gravity still works in the big apple this morning. The cast of aladdin helped perform a confetti test in times square in new york city. Celebration organizers will use about 3,000 pounds of confetti during the annual ball drop on new years eve. Mixed into the confetti will be new years wishes written by the hundreds of thousands of revelers. You can check out a gallery of local new years eve events on our website. Nbc10. Com. You can also download the new nbc 10 app for iphone to check on whats going on while you are on the go. Were getting the folks ready for the tournament of roses parade in pasadena california. This is the 126th year for the parade. It will feature 41 floats 20 bands and 18 equestrian units with about 400 horses. Hundreds of thousands of people will watch and you can be among them. Coverage of the tournament of roses parade starts at 11 30 on new years day right here on nbc 10. Al roker and hoda kotb from the today show will be your cohosts. Christmas is over but drivers are getting a gift at gas stations all around the region. According to aaa, gas prices went down another 3 to 4 cents over the weekend. Nationwide the price of gas has dropped nearly 50 since june. Experts say right now the supply is simply outweighing the demand. Drivers of philadelphia paying the most in the area about 2. 63 a gallon. In delaware the average is 2. 46 and in south jersey, a gallon of gas is under 2. 30 a gallon. Now your weather with glenn hurricane schwartz. We had a mild weekend after pretty mild weather last week. Things are changing this week. Its back not only to average temperatures but below average. And we have those cold conditions just about the entire week. Well get into the new years eve and newiers day forecast. The weekend may be a wintry mix for at least parts of the area. Flag not blowing that hard. We do have the cold air coming in. 45 degrees now. Not much of a wind but its 11 degrees colder than it was at this time yesterday. Now, remember weve seen temperatures well into the 50s saturday and sunday. The average high 41. So 45 so far today, 39 tomorrow and then it goes down even more on wednesday. Were seeing temperatures in the low to mid40s throughout the area except for the 32 in the poconos. Theyll be able to make snow all week long and even into the weekend. Temperatures right now back to the west are getting colder. Minneapolis 8 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. Bismarck, 2 and much of canada way below zero. These are temperatures not wind chills. Some of that a lot of that is coming into the United States and enough cold air it may actually snow in las vegas in the next couple days. They have a winter storm watch. For us its dry, snow way north. On new years eve its going to be dry. Its going to be cold though not especially windy. By midnight temperature about 26 degrees. Weve seen many colder new years eves than that. The arctic air coming down into the country, the cold air covering us virtually all week. That is pretty sure bet and then we watch a storm approaching from the southwest as we go into the rest of the week. Later in the week and get some precipitation out of that as we go into saturday. And its possible it could start off as a wintry mix, maybe even end as a wintry mix. It does not look like a huge storm at this point. But compared to the dry weather well have all week its a different story. Mostly cloudy and colder tonight, 31 for the low in philadelphia. 24 north and west. Wind not very much of a factor. Early clouds tomorrow giving way to sunshine and it will be colder than today and a lot colder than it was over the weekend. Highs struggling to get to 40 degrees. And the sevenday forecast even colder on wednesday, new years day, breezy and cold not enough wind to really mess up the mummers. It will make it feel colder. Friday, the clouds increase. Its dry all week and then over the weekend its not so dry. We have a mainly rainstorm the way it looks now, possibly starting or ending as a wintry mix. More on that coming up later tonight and another cold blast next monday. Glenn, thank you. With this chilly weather on the way, a chilling fact for you. The new survey shows the number of homes without heat is on the rise. The Public Utility Commission point found more than 23,000 households dont have a heatrelated utility service. Thats nearly double when the number was 12,000. The survey found 2,000 homes are using potentially unsafe heating sources. Septa workers will have the chance to voice their safety concerns to the feds. The federal Railroad Administration announced today it will hold a public hearing to review a septa waiver. The waiver allows Regional Rail engineers and train men to work more hours than unusual and in some cases, 14hour days and 6day workweeks. The hearing is set for february 10th. New figures tonight on bad builders in new jersey. The state says since october its ordered 35 contractors to pay nearly 570,000 for jobs not done or not done correctly. For the year it sighted 130 contractors and it ordered them to pay back a combined 2. 1 million for shoddy work. Before 5 00 a problem with pickups. Issue that has a major automaker recalling tens of thousands of trucks. Plus what could have been. A disappointing eagles season finally over. So whats next for the birds . Well hear from them as they clean out their lockers and head to offseason. We continue to follow developments in the search for a missing asia airliner. Ahead at 4 30 a local aviation expert shares his thoughts on what went wrong. And history was nearly made in congress this year but that is not a good thing. The dubious dist