riders. chris papst has the word whether the government is open for business tomorrow. but begin with richard reeve who has details to the announcement the came out a couple of hours ago. richard: that has never been done before. the shut down of the system now for 24 hours starting at midnight tonight. the trigger for this is that mcpherson square fire yesterday, i believe we have video of it. and also the faneuil fire from 2015. they plan to inspect 600 of the jumper cables. they connect electric toy the third rail underground. the insulation is big on the certain they deteriorated to get metal on

to spark a fire. wiedefeld says he understands this is a huge impact on the d.c. area but said safety is the biggest concern. >> the risk to the public is low. i cannot rule out potential life safety issue here. we must take this action immediately. this will impact the entire metropolitan region. no doubt. we recognize it's difficult to get to work and get to school. everyone relying on metro. they are trying to figure out a plan to deal with this. they are talking to the d.c. public schools. they will provide buses above ground to include for school

is a major hassle tomorrow. reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. leon: first time we have seen this without a storm involved. because of that the announcement is causing a lot of commuters' draws to drop. maureen: sam ford picks up the team coverage in southeast washington. sam: we are at the armory metro station in southeast washington. people have heard about the situation. the way it is affecting the city, the mayor's office feel the government will open on time. they say it is a work in progress. some could change. school will open on time and late arrival and absences will be excused tomorrow. some are making plans to take buss to school. a number of people who

home with them after hearing about the shutdown before hay left. others say they will deal with it, walking or riding a bike. >> we heard at work. >> bringing the computer home with you. >> my work bag. >> brought a bicycle or walk. bus right there. catch that. >> they are closing it down for maintenance. >> wow! i did not know that. i take metro every day to school. >> how will you get to school tomorrow? >> i have to catch a ride. >> young people coming through the station are people from eastern high school. d.c. school say they are working with metro to put buses on and that is the plan to get do that to get the young people to school. reporting live from southeast washington, i'm sam ford. abc7 news. maureen: thank you. as sam said the schools will be open

we are waiting for word from federal government. hundreds of thousands of people who work for the got depend on metro. leon: let's go to chris papst. chris: the office of personnel management updated the status of the federal government tomorrow. tomorrow the federal government will remain open. but the agencies have options for the employees to have unscheduled leave or telework. so in other words the federal government is open if you can get there and get to your desk and get to your work. you can do your work tomorrow. but the you need unscheduled leave if you cannot get to work or telework from home do that as well. this is something that many local senators and congressman are pushing for. jerry comely, van hollen, chris van hollen have all called for this to happen. in addition to this, congressman van hollen said he believes there should be free bus service for people who need to get

we will see how it plays out. the federal government is open tomorrow chris papst, abc7 news. leon: get ready for it. follow us on twittered on facebook and "good morning washington" will start things early tomorrow. on at 4:00. maureen: new charges about the brothers that orchestrated ambush that ended in the death of a prince george's police officer. brad bell is live. tell us about the charges in the death of the officer colson. >> i'm in the middle of where the shoot-out was. this is the sight they would have had at the

the numbers marking the shell casings where they dropped the two brothers across the street where the plumbers truck is. the brothers need to be charged as seriously as the shooter. brothers michael, malik and elijah ford are allry responsal for sunday -- are all responsible for the sunday attack on the district iii station and responsible for shoot-out. all responsible for the death of officer colson though he but hit by another cop bullet. >> angela alsobrooks announce that malik and elijah will face second-degree murder charges even though this morning a district court commissioner, not a lawyer, found no probable cause for

>> we'll resume aspect of the case. >> they might gather additional evidence to strengthen the case. >> former state attorney says it is possible the district court commissioner didn't understand the law. it could be a warning sign that this is a complicated case. >> the effort to try to hold them accountable for the second degree murder charges or the first-degree assault charges for firing the shots. >> tonight elijah and malik are held without bond. the brother michael is hospitalized. he will be charged when he gets out. brad bell, abc7 news. maureen: thank you. abc7 staying on top of every new development in this case. follow the investigation on air and online at wjla.com. ahead at 6:00, the new

what the homeless shelter now as to deal with. horace holmes but she found fame. seeing her dancing with the president and now playing happens with the harlem globe trotters. she has moves. we show you co

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maureen: updating breaking news tonight. metrorail will not be running tomorrow. the entire system will be shut down for 29 hours. crews can do emergency inspections after a cable fire near the mcpherson square station monday morning. the federal government is open as well as d.c. schools. metrobuses and metro access will be running. when we get more information we'll bring it to you. leon: right now voters in five states are voting in primaries on one of the most crucial days in the race for president. the polls in florida, illinois, florida, missouri, ohio are open now. republican donald trump leading every one of the states except for ohio. where john kasich is ahead. a must-win for him there tonight. popular ohio governor cast his ballot this morning in the tie-break. >> we'll win. i feel terrific. it's great. do i seem nervous or uptight? i'm having a great time. leon: for the democrats b

hillary clinton in ohio. a loss there to low her down but shouldn't be enough to block her path to the democratic nomination. >> i think if there is a large voter turn-out, we are going to do just great. >> sanders has his sights on the next contest. he is rallying in arizona where there is a primary scheduled for the next week. front runners donald trump and hillary clinton have election parties in south florida tonight. join us tonight at 9:00 for the complete coverage of the super tuesday 2.0. as we call it. ahead at 6:00 -- >> why did they wait until i get so old? [laughter] leon: she is our favorite. first she met the president and got to dance with him. now she is playing hoops with th

107-year-old virginia mclaurin year is getting better. that's ahead. maureen: "7 on your side" with answers to the questions about the taxes. experts in the newsroom waiting to take your calls. number is on your screen. i'm erin hawksworth. coming up in sports mark turgeon sounded confident talkk about the squad. hear from the head coach. and the caps could clinch a your daughr wants to stay organic. your husband wants to stay free from artificial ingredients. you want to stay free from artificial preservatives. and your debit card wants to stay on a diet. fill your cart with small victories like giant's nature's promise brand. great prices on over 800 items. eat well for less. only at my giant.

leon: checking in with mr. president and first lady near national arboretum. they are in black and white now. abc7 first brought you the story march 15. we have beenwatching them ever since. now we are maybe hours away from seeing a couple of eaglets being hatched. we will keep an eye on this. do the same thing from home went have a link set up at wjla.com. search eagle cam. maureen: thed general homeless shelter may have an animal problem. residents tell abc7 news the shelter is overrun by the raccoons.

animals inside the building. residents have spoleed the raccoons in elevators and even falling through the ceilings. i >> i have seen them bring it off the floor. the staff lieded about it saying they were doing work in there and whole time they were catching the raccoons. >> the trappersksk with been a to property today but left empty handed. 700 people stay at the shelter. a few weeks ago 106-year-old d.c. resident virginia mcl aburin danced with president obama in the white house. last week the district threw her a big party for her 107th birthday. today she showed us more. she has game. horace holmes has more on her day with the harlem globetrotters. horace: it took 107 but fame

mclaurin. >> why did they wait until i get so old? horace: the nation fell in love with her in a couple of weeks ago in a visit to the white house she got so excited she danced with the president and the first lady. >> i didn't think i would live to see a black president. so all of these things really happen to me and i em so grateful the lord let me live to see some of it. horace: this past weekend she celebrated her 107rd birthday. now her dance card is full. everyone wants a picture and a chance to chat. today she is part of a big surprise for students at the public charter school in northwest d.c. >> she bring us the history as well as the president. >> the very young gathering at an assembly and watch the old do something remarkable. she teamed one a couple of member of the harlem globetrotters basketball team in town for several days of to shows. they dazzled the kid

but it was mclaurin who again stopped the show. spinning the ball on her finger. dancing with the two seven-footers. >> i want to grow up just like her. horace: it has been quite the year for virginia mclaurin. what could be next for the 107-year-old bundle of energy? she is not sure but she knows -- >> it's happy as a bug in a rug. >> 107. the beat goes on. in the district, horace holmes, abc7 news. doug: a true inspiration to all of us. here is what we have for you now. sunshine. 20 after 6:00. courtesy of daylight saving time. the skies cleared out national harbor and around the rest of the area. 63 was the high earlier. at 6:00 we ticked up to 64. the average low is 47. there are the actual low of 47. the average is 56 and 37. temperatures are comfortable now after sunshine. all it tak

up. the strength of the sun, the angle of the sun is direct. we warmed up nicely. tomorrow is the lower 70's. we are still hanging on to 72 degrees in charlottesville. cooler farther north and west of washington. so the forecast clear to partly cloudy. with rends will be light. mild. 43 to 50 degrees is the overnight low across the area. high pressure to briefly build in. most of the cloudiness will move out. big zone of the clear skies and sunshine tomorrow. we will get to the afternoon. the storm system and the cold front will approach. increasing chances of shower and isolated thunderstorm. tornado watch out. corner of missouri and central, northern, western illinois for several hours. some could be severe. isolated tornadoes are possible there. won't be severe when it gets here. a few showers and isolated rumble of thunder. we rely on the future cast to give us timing of what is headed this way. sunshine through the clouds in the morning and the showers to move in the northern and the st

isolated rumble of thunder is possible. still showers in the area at 6:30. then we clear out thereafter. be on to sunshine through the day on thursday. here is what we look at forecast wise for the next seven days. check out out. 73 tomorrow. partly sunny and chance of the late aternoon showers. st. patrick day a shower. 68. friday is cooler. 58. chilly and a sunny saturday and 51. good chance of rain on sunday. sunday night and maybe a few wet snowflakes in the higher elevations and the clearing skies next week. that is the latest. maureen: thank you. leon: good deal. can you top mrs. mclaurin dribbling dribbling with the globetrotters? erin: no. nothing is better than that. but there is a big game for the caps that could clinch playoff spot at the verizon center. plus, the terps are ready to go dancing. hear from coach turgeon before they head to spokane next.

announcer: and now the toyota sports desk brought to you by your local toyota dealer. erin: the capitals are back home with a chance to clinch a stanley cup playoff spot with at least a point against the hurricanes tonight. the caps could also lose in regulation and still clinch if the red wings or the penguins lose in regulation. or if the red wings win in regulation an

lose to the islanders in any fashion. despite all of that, the caps just want to get out of their recent slump where they lost two straight games. >> more important thing is that we have lost two in a row. we don't like losing two games in a row. we definitely don't want to make it three. we will be a hungry team and looking to get the starts going. obviously to clinch the playoff is big. so, that is something else to be in the back of our mind. erin: the terps had their final practice in college park today before they take off for washington to face south dakota state in the first round of the ncaa tournament on friday. maryland is a five seed and despite the 5-8 record over the last 13 games mark turgeon says they are ready to step up. >> we feel good about ourselves. we have a lot better last week. we have gotten a lot better this week. by friday, 4:30 eastern we are a lot better than we are now. we feel good.

we are a good team. really good team. erin: very confident. look at this. i can tell you who people ready for march madness. our own scott abraham who will be in washington following the terps. robert burton will be in raleigh, north carolina, covering the number one seed virginia. who will play hampton. another of the virginia school on thursday. way to go, guys. baseball. nats and the astros top of the third. daniel murphy hitting .118 so far this spring and he breaks out with a shot to right center. it is off the base of the wall. sevarino and espinoza score and nats win 6-4. the redskins, they signed veteran david bruton from the bronco, a safety. they needed help at the position. leon: super bowl winner. all right. doug: partly sunny. 70's tomorrow. steve rudin with a breakdown on the rain tomorrow at 11:00. maureen: "world news tonight" with david muir coming up

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breaking news tonight. the exit polls coming in right now. what the voters are revealing already. will donald trump essentially seal the deal? >> this is the place i want to win. this is the place. >> his rivals looking to stop him tonight. all eyes on john kasich and his home state of ohio. and hillary clinton. can she finally put it away? or, another sanders surprise tonight? clinton tells us she's optimistic. >> but not confident? that's a word a lot of your supporters might want to hear you say. >> okay, i'm confident. >> our team standing by on it all. also tonight, the severe weather hitting right now in several of the states voting. now images of the tornadoes in ohio. where the storms track next. and dangerous driving for millions in the east. the alleged uber gunman. the murder spree and the new video here tonight. breaking news for the millions of ameri