temperatures in the 40s. the shenandoah into the mountains and temperatures by 10:00 should be in the mid-60s. by noontime into the upper 60s to near 70 and that includes hometown forecast locations springfield and fairfax county. back to you. tom, thank you. right now a water main break at a residential street shut down. we're talking about an eight-inch main here on water street between irving and kenyon. d.c. water tells us it will take them between six and eight hours to repair that main and get the water back on. let's go to danella now with a look at the other roads around the region. danella? good morning, aaron. here is what we're tracking. we're going to head out to i-66. chopper 4 has arrived. earlier eastbound, there was a report of something small on fire. chopper 4 not seeing any smoke. but you are seeing volume increase a bit. don't worry about the drive time. still looks good. about ten minutes to get from fairfax county parkway to the

capital beltway. traveling i-95 in virginia still watching an earlier crash there northbound at joplin road. watching two of your left lanes and it is causing quite the a delay. the trip out of quantico you can expect a six-mile backup. aaron and eun? thanks, danella. it is now 6:02. melissa mollet is following breaking news in syria from the live desk now, melissa? trying to get more information on this for you, again, a mortar round on or near the u.s. embassy in damascus. this is information we are getting from nbc news in syria. the russian embassy, of course, that compound was hit on sunday, september 22nd but, again, a mortar round has hit on or near, they say, the u.s. embassy in damasc damascus. more information as we get it at the live desk. new this morning we're learning about a speech the president is getting ready to deliver this morning in prince george's county. he is heading to a local college

to talk about health care reform. what we know now could be a very frank speech. megan mcgrath joins us live with more on what we can expect to hear today. good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning, eun. within the hour the white house released details regarding the president's speech. they say that he will be speaking very cheerily, very frankly about the details of the affordable care act trying to cut through the confusion and talk directly to the people about how it will affect them. now beginning october 1, health insurance marketplaces will open and people can go onis line and sign up for insurance through exchanges. now there's a lot of confusion about how it will all work, who is eligible, and today president barack obama will attempt to explain the law and what it means to middle class americans. now the white house outlining key parts of the speech. they say the president will attempt to break things down, speak about the changes in very plain and simple term. they say the president will talk with about what people can

expect start iing tuesday to enroll for benefits in one of those exchanges. now the exchanges are geared towards those who are uninsured but they say the president will also discuss what the affordable care act means for people who already have insurance. now the president will also make the argument that the new health care system is actually driving competition and that it will keep health care prices down. he's expect ed to make that argument and provide some data to back that up. the speech coming in a couple of hours here at prince george's community college. reporting live from campus, megan mcgrath, news 4. 6:04 right now. who do you think won last night's debate between democrat terry mcauliffe and ken cuccinelli? c-span's communications trektor asked that question. according to the results of his poll on facebook, kucuccinelli won, 51% to 49%. this was the second gubernatorial debate. julie carey and i were on the panel for this debate. julie asked the candidates about their stand on gun control.

>> have you changed your mind about an assault weapons ban and how much of a priority would you make it to change virginia's gun laws? >> i haven't changed my mind. i have called for universal background checks. >> i'm running against the only f-rated candidate from the nra. >> the gun control is to focus on treating mental illness. they square off in their third and final debate at virginia tech next month. the libertarian candidate was not a part of last night's did i bait but our bureau reporter david culvec did speak to robert sarvis. he said that mcauliffe and cuccinelli did little more than recite their talking points. we'll find out more about a dead deadly police shooting in alexandria. the police department will release the results of its internal investigation into the sellers shooting. according to prosecutors, seven officers fired more than 30 rounds at sellers in february. even though he did not fire any

shots, they say the officers acted in self-defense. right now a diplomat is in the hospital after being hit by a car. northwest d.c. at 9:30 last night at the intersection of 36th and garfield streets. the driver of that car did stay on the scene. so far no charges have been filed. secret service police are investigating. the can company that paid aaron alexis dropped from a major account. the issues hewlett-packard says it has with how that company handled the navy yard investigation. plus, new this morning, several fires set at laos angeles store. the search for the arsonist and the damage left behind. and, are you on a diet? there's new research that shows it could hurt your ability to think. plus, we're seeing a few showers in the area this morning tracking their movements in your tracking their movements in your weat

i'm terry mcauliffe, candidate for governor, and i sponsored this ad. for 30 years i've worked as an obgyn, my job is to protect the health of women. so i'm particularly offended by ken cuccinelli. cuccinelli wants to make all abortion illegal ... ... even in cases of rape and incest. ... even to protect a woman's health. i want a governor who's focused on schools and creating jobs, not someone who wants to do my job. who's ken cuccinelli to interfere in the lives of women across virginia?

welcome back. here's some food for thought if you're a parent. the new study says you should limit the amount of caffeine your child drinks because it could keep his or her brain from developing properly. swiss scientists say young adults' caffeine consumption has soared more than 70% in the last 30 years. they believe that caffeine alters a child's sleep, therefore, altering their brains. researchers say adolescence is a critical time for the brain because development problems can lead to schizophrenia, anxiety, drug use and personality disorders. well, if you're on a diet, you may want to hear this next piece of information. new research says you may get thinner but dieting may also be detrimental to your mental capacity. according to harvard university, obsessive calorie counting and responsibspontaneous cravings ir ability to carry out tasks including logical reasoning,

problem solving and absorbing new information. >> you just need to be thoughtful about what you're doing and eat healthily. >> starving yourself or taking away all the yummy stuff from your life. >> no good. 6:11 your time right know on a thursday morning. a few clouds to start things off today. let's see where this is going. here is tom. that's a live view from the nbc 4 hd city camera starting to turn the lights off there on the washington monument. we have a cloudy sky. sun rises at 7:00. we probably won't see it. a lot of clouds around through 10:00 this morning. should be near 70 degrees then into the mid-70s and partly cloudy. a look at friday, your weekend, the seven-day outlook in ten minutes. how is traffic, danella? good morning, tom. still checking a the water main break that has water street shut down between irving and kenyon

street. down i-95 in virginia. hook at this slow drive time here. just ten miles per hour in quantico. heading northbound when you get to joplin road still seeing two of your left lanes blocked by the accident there. you have to stick to the right to get by. delays are over six miles. arp and eun? danella, thank you. a view inside the navy yard showing the shooter on the day of the attack. the chilling moments caught on video. plus, a glitch in a map application on the iphone. the dangerous place it's sending drivers.

welcome back at 6:15. navy yard myees still trying to deal with the mass shoot iing wl find a unique source of comfort when they arrive at work this morning the hope dogs will be greeting workers in parking lots around the yard. these are from a visit they nad to the navy yard yesterday after a prayer service for employees. hope is an animal assisted crisis service to help with traumatic events. the heartache of the shooting has people of all faiths coming together to remember the lives of those lost at the navy yard. >> in my heart i needed to do something. i put my jacket on, come on out

and be a part of the service. >> your heart goes out to the people who became a sacrifice as a result of this. >> dozens turned out for an interfaith prayer vigil at the mt. carmel baptist church. mayor gray was among those who spoke at the service. some called for tighter gun control. a new fallout for the contractor that hired aaron alexis. >> hewlett-packard fired the experts. he was working for the experts refreshing and replacing computers at the navy yard when he went on a shooting rampage. abc news obtained a letter from hp to the experts who said hp lost confidence in the subcontractor because they didn't respond properly to alexis' mental health issues. a spokesperson for the experts says the company is disappointed in hp's position and that hp had its own site manager who supervised alexis. we are seeing disturbing new video of alexis roaming the

halls of building 197 armed with a shotgun. this is the video here which was released by the fbi. agents say they also found clues in a backpack alexis left in a bathroom as to why he killed 12 people. they found electronic files that suggest alexis believed he was being controlled by extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves. he believes he had been subject to them for three months. he indicated he was prepared to die during the attack. 6:17 now. new this morning another deadly attack in kenya by the same group behind last week's deadly four-day siege in an upscale mall. kenyan authorities say al shabaab militants attacked a security post near the somali border leaving two dead. that group threatened yesterday that more attacks could be coming if kenyan troops about not pull out of somalia. and news 4's melissa mollet has breaking news about the kenyan mall attack.

they are searching looking for any additional bodies, dna, fingerprints. we know experts from the u.s., uk, germany, canada all helping in the search. 67 people died during the seeming. at this point kenya's red cross saying at least 50 more remain unaccounted for. they say this search with all of these experts would take about seven days, 350,000-square-foot massive complex. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. at the same time our u.s. state department has renewed a worldwide travel alert for americans after the nairobi mall shooting. there's no specific threat but there is mounting intelligence that terrorist groups may be planning attacks against western targets. americans are warned to remain vigilant in public places both here and abroad. one of the survivors of the mall attack escaped with her life because she played dead by using the blood of a dying teenager beside her.

>> i realized he stopped breathing. i would like to know who he is because his blood saved me from further injury. 71 are still missing this morning. this could be a historic day. secretary of state john kerry will meet with iran's foreign minister in new york. they're supposed to discuss restarting talks over iran's nuclear program. these will be the highest level talks in years. e iran's new president said he would like to resolve the dispute in three to six months. a connecticut commission says police must release 911 tapes from the sandy hook school shooting. newtown police have refused to turn over the tapes citing a new state law that prohibits the release of some information in homicide cases. that law was adopted in response to the school shooting, but the state's freedom of information commission says the law does not

protect 911 calls. the lead prosecutor disagrees and says they will appeal the decision mepg the calls will likely not be released anytime soon. new this morning, check out this incredible video coming in from l.a. of arson fire set overnight. police say that at least six fires were set in trash cans along ventura boulevard. one spread to a business causing at least $20,000 in damage. firefighters say they know for sure that at least three of the fires are connected. police searching right now for the person who set them. apparently the show must go on. at least for one high school band in orlando. brace yourself. ♪ yeah, that was a lightning strike. it startled everybody on the field, in the stands, the football players, too. the guy who recorded the video says moments after the show ended and he turned the camera off it started pouring there.

this video was taken on friday the 13th. >> you see the band keeps marching on. >> they probably thought it was a really good drum line in the back. at 6:21 time for weather and traffic on the 1s. good morning, tom. good morning. i'm here in the storm team 4 weather center blowing dust it off the radar because for the first time in several days we're actually able to use the radar. a few scattered sprinkles showing up. you can see they're tending to dissipate. this is the radar the last three hours and it is really winding down now west of charlottesville in the central and southern shenandoah valley. there are just a few scattered sprinkles there. further north there may be a sprinkle trying to reach the ground north of warrenton and right now near burke, virginia, in fairfax county. hometown forecast for students at the bus stop, cloudy this morning. it will be in the mid-50s. not as chilly to near 60 between now and about 8:30 this morning

and no umbrella needed locally around the metro yar this morning. and then later today we'll get the sunshine breaking out by noontime. by then near 70 degrees. partly cloudy during the afternoon. highs reaching the mid-70s. during the day tomorrow gorgeous weather on friday. afternoon highs mid-70s. four-day forecast for your weekend saturday and sunday looking fan ttastic for outdoor recreation and work. we'll have highs reaching the mid to upper 70s on saturday and again on sunday. back to work and school on monday. partly cloudy. warmer, highs near 80. maybe up near 80 again tuesday and wednesday. i'm back in ten minutes. another hometown forecast. now traffic with danella. tracking a few incidents in our area. we'll start with an accident involving a pedestrian in falls church. northbound haycock road you can use northwest street instead to work your way around it. let's head all the way down i-95. solid delays northbound in triangle.

as you make your way northbound at joplin road a live look from chopper 4. this is the accident we've been talking about. it is blocking the left side of the road, just the right lane will get you by and as the chopper zooms out, delays. they are solid. you can see here bumper to bumper so if you're traveling this morning out from stafford, expect to hit the brakes and i'm tracking these delays over six miles as we speak. your drive time from quantico, though, a little north. quantico to the beltway right now is at 37 minutes. i'm back in ten. aaron and eun, over to you. >> danella, thank you. 6:23 is your time now. right now a commuting mess. tens of thousands of people in new york city are trying to figure out a different way to get to work. a power failure is causing a big problem for a very busy rail line. the line runs from manhattan to stamford, connecticut. some passengers took substitute trains although they only hold about 10% of the normal passenger load. connecticut governor dannel malloy says the problem could

last as long as three weeks. also right now three astronauts settling into their new home on the international space station. one american, two russians arrived at the outpost earlier this morning. they join three astronauts already there. they will all live there for about six months and in november they're going to receive the olympic torch for the 2014 games in sochi, russia. the two russian cosmonauts will do a space walk with the torch once they get there. we want to show you one of the dangers of conducting a television interview in public. an anti-nuclear protester started fighting with one of british prime minister gordon brown's former advisers. he's a former prime minister. his publisher grabbed the protester, moved him out of the way apparently. took a little more effort than just moving him, it looked like, and the interview was able to continue. this morning a lesbian couple in maine have a former president's signature on their marriage license. according to the "washington post" former president george

h.w. bush and his wife, barbara, served as witnesses for the couple on saturday. the bride post this hed this ph. they are co-owners of a general store in kennebunk, maine, and longtime friends of the bush family. a glitch appears to be the blame for some apple mishaps that could have a dangerous ending. some drivers in alaska trying to get to fair banks international airport have been finding themselves on the runway. the device on iphones and ipads directs drivers to the end of the tarmac although on two occasions drivers have kept going. nobody hurt in either of those incidents. no word about what might be behind the glitch. new this morning syria's president just spoke about the united states. a look at history he says shows the threat of an offensive with america is always present. and more than a million dollars for prince george's county schools gone. the reason the district had to return that money to the state.

plus, new this morning, a comedian arrested at his dupont circle show. what police say led him to punch one of his guests. and get ready for flu season. already? how experts think this year's

right now news 4 is live at prince george's community college. president obama will speak there about the health care law in just a few hours and, new this morning, we have some specifics about what he will say. the white house says the president will run through what people can expect in the online insurance marketplace. he will also discuss the new benefits some americans will have for the first time. we are following some breaking news in syria this morning as well. a mortar round hit the u.s. embassy in damascus. that building is empty now. we'll let you know when we receive an update. but, first, starting to see the first rays of light this morning and some of you are seeing a few sprinkles. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here now with more on your forecast. a pretty picture out there, tom. the predawn sky over capitol hill on this thursday morning. it is mostly cloudy but further

to our south cloudy and the radar is picking up a few scattered sprinkles. now just north and west of charlottesville and much further north there's one little sprinkle near burke, virginia, and near warrenton in fauquier county and through 10:00 mostly cloudy and then by noontime partly sunny. by then temperatures should be in the upper 60s to around 70 degrees. hometown forecast olney, northern month ggomery county, should be in the upper 60s and partly sunny. a look at how warm i think it will be getting this afternoon is coming in about ten minutes. now a look at your thursday morning commute with danella. good morning. good morning, tom. i'm back with breaking news. if you are traveling from charles county heading to prince george's county taking 301 at the split for route 5, you can see here all of your lanes are blocked and cars are just jammed here. again, this is northbound 301 heading to 5 where all of your lanes are blocked. i'm still getting information but authorities are en route and

still assessing the accident activity in that area. let's head over to falls church. this is near westphauls church metro station traveling northbound. haycock road is shut down. back to i-95 in virginia an eight-mile backup heading to joplin road. you can see it looks almost like it's frozen. these cars are not moving at all. i can tell you that is a live shot. when you get to joplin road, that he willier crash is clear but it will take you about an eight-mile backup to get there. >> thank you, danella. you've seen the signs at your doctor's office and pharmacy windows reminding to you do it but have you received your flu shot yet? m medical experts will explain why just about should get vaccinated. we'll also get final details on last year's season. tracie potts with more on what to expect today. >> reporter: last year's season will tell us a lot about what to

expect this year. the cdc and other federal health officials briefing on an outlook for the flu season and the final numbers from 2012-2013. what they found was more children died last year, 161, than any other time they've been recording the numbers and more senior landed in the hospital. what does that mean for this year? unpredictable. this is the season that could go from october to may with a peak typically in january or february. it's an imprecise science. typically what officials tray to do is put the best three strains of flu, or four in some cases, into the flu shot, into that vaccine, and use the best match possible. 135 million doses or more will be available this year and even if they don't match the exact strain of flu that you may be affected with, what officialses from the cdc will tell us today is that there is some protection just by getting that shot. eun? >> tracie potts live on capitol

hill for us. thank you. right now trying to find out more about a soldier shot and killed in afghanistan. someone dressed as an afghan soldier shot and killed the service member in eastern afghanistan. the suspected gunman has been killed. the victim was a member of the international security assistance force. this afternoon friends and family will say good-bye to a woodbridge man who was murdered. kenny diaz was stabbed to death over the weekend. eight people now facing charges in connection with his death. they are all charged with abduction. one suspect, 19 queer year diandra samuels is charged with murder. investigators say she stabbed diaz at marumsco acre lake after diaz confronted her about a friend being robbed. the viewing will be held 2-4 and 5-9. diaz will be laid to rest tomorrow. it is sentencing day for a man who confessed to a string of robberies in the germantown area. ellwood martin will be sentenced in rockville. police arrested him earlier this

year after the violent robberies that left three women hurt. police tracked him down because he was on home detention and was wearing a gps monitoring device on his ankle. we now know the name of the woman killed yesterday in this fire at an apartment high rise for seniors. deborah lee died when flames ripped through the ninth floor of the leisure world complex in silver spring. it's still not clear how the fire started. damage is estimated around $150,000. prince george's county school administrators are learning a hard lesson. miss a deadline and pay the price. the county had it to return $1.4 million to the state because it didn't submit projects in time. the school system had two years to get everything lined up but missed the may 31st deadline to do that. the county still has plans to ask the state for help with those upgrades. this morning the retired marine who spent the last nine months running across america to

raise money for returning americans will finish his journey here in d.c. take a look at brendan o'toole's facebook page. he started his trek in november in oceanside, california. he's run almost 4,000 miles through 11 states. raised more than $200,000 for three veterans organizations. this morning he will run from arlington national cemetery to the east steps of the u.s. capitol. new this morning, a comedian arrested at his dupont circle show the reason witnesses say he took a swing at a washington reporter. and a heads-up for loudoun county drivers, the road that will shut down in it both directions this morning that could slow down your drive to work. plus, hearing your baby cry can be hard. the health implications we could be able to learn, though, about a baby's tears. streaks of iridescent color, a live view from our hd city camera. a look at how warm i think it will be getting today coming in a couple of minutes.

i was honored to serve as governor of virginia. we brought folks together in richmond to focus on creating jobs and getting results. that's the virginia way. and that's why i'm backing terry mcauliffe for governor. terry won't let ideological battles get in the way of making progress. terry will work with democrats, republicans, and independents to create jobs and move virginia forward. it's important for virginia that we elect terry mcauliffe as our governor. i'm terry mcauliffe, candidate for governor, and i sponsored this ad.

welcome back. it's natural for babies to cry but it's hard to figure out sometimes why. >> the researchers now trying to see if those cries might be offering some clues into the child's future health. scientists using a new tool called ananalyzer. >> researchers believe they can determine early on if the baby will determine autism or other developmental delays. some day this could be use d asa screening tool in detecting autism and other disorders. months before there are any symptoms. >> amazing what modern technology will do for us. time now is 6:39. the "today" show is up next at 7:00. let's check in now with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. good morning to both of you. hey, aaron, eun. nice to see you. >> straight ahead on the show this morning live in washington.

we have new details on that battle to avoid a government shutdown. a story we know you're traveling closely. and if it doesn't happen, the impact the shutdown could have on you. also ahead, george zimmerman's wife speaks out in an exclusive live interthe view, her first since the headline making confrontation with her estranged husband and her decision not to press charges. and then could pass words soop be a thing of the past? the big idea on one college campus that could be the wave of the future. and we'll do some celebrating with oracle team usa. they just pulled off one of the most astonishing comebacks in sports history to win the america's can cup. they'll join us and we have a lot more ahead as we get started on a thursday morning here on "today." looking forward to it, thank you, matt and savannah. >> have a good day. 6:40. following some breaking news on the morning drive. danella? good morning, for travelers traveling out of charles county taking 301, heads up. all of your northbound lanes are blocked at caspers road prayer to the split from route 5 just

be aware of this. authorities are blocking all of your northbound lanes. now we'll head over to falls ch church. the earlier crash northbound haycock road near the west falls church metro station, that accident is clear. your travel lanes are open. now we'll shat over to clarksburg road at gateway center drive. have a crash reported here and police are en route traveling i-270 slow in this area. heavy delays from frederick. delays continue to germantown. i-270 no accidents to report. now over to tom. drop that spatula. look at your tv. cotton candy clouds over capitol hill on this thursday morning. gorgeous view. live picture from our nbc 4 hd city camera. mostly cloudy at 60 degrees there. we're in the 50s elsewhere. a very light wind this morning. here is how we're looking for the day ahead. temperatures by 8:00 still around 60 by noon.

near 70 with a lot of sunshine beginning to break out. partly cloudy through the afternoon, highs reaching the mid-70s. sun rises at 7:00. your seven-day squout look friday, saturday, your weekend, sunday, all coming in about ten minutes. back to you. all right, tom, thank you. today president obama speaks at prince george's community college. we're there live with details on his speech that were just released. a comedian arrested at his show in washington. why witnesses say he singled out a member of

all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

welcome back. new this morning a popular comedian is in a d.c. jail accused of punching a reporter in the face. dan nainan was performing at funniest celebrity contest at the d.c. improv club when this went down approaching daily beast reporter josh rogin over some tweets he sent out about nainan's performance. that's when nainan punched rogin several times. it's really taking off on twitter thanks to rogin tweeting the blow by blow as it happened. dan nainan just punched me in the face. no joke. he then said they were calling the police. and then that nainan had been arrested for assault. finally rogin thanked his twitter followers for their support saying he was physically fine just not used to getting attacked over his tweets. today we'll be watching for developments on capitol hill. lawmakers going back and forth

about what to do to pass a budget and avoid a government shutdown. in the meantime one of the biggest issues will be the focus of a speech president obama will give today in prince george's county. he's expect ed to give a very frank outline of his health care reform law. megan mcgrath is at prince george's community college with more on what we're getting about what the president will say today. megan? >> reporter: aaron, early this morning the white house released some details regarding the president's speech which is going to happen a few hours from now. they say that president barack obama is going to speak very plainly, very candidly about how the affordable care act will work and how it will affect middle class americans. on tuesday health insurance marketplaces opened and people can go on line and sign up for insurance through exchanges. there's a lot of confusion about who is eligible, how it will work. how much it will cost. while the president is going to try and break it all down during this speech here later this morning, he will talk about what

people can expect when they go online to enroll for benefits in one of those exchanges. he's also going to talk about how the affordable care act or what it means for people who already have insurance. the president is also going to make the case of the health care system, the new one, will act l actually keep costs down by prompting competition within the health care industry. he will make that argument during his speech as well. we have four hours to go but we're seeing activity on campus. security getting in place. but 11:00 is when the president will give his speech here on the campus of prince george's community college. back to you in the studio. megan mcgrath live for us. thank you. when the new health care system launches next week not everything may go according to plan. d.c. health link, one of the online marketplaces for d.c. residents will not be fully up and run willinging by tuesday. you will be able to go online and use the site. it won't be able to tell you right away what kind of coverage you might be eligible are for. it's not expected to delay when

you could be covered. their on line exchanges won't b ready in time for tuesday's launch. new this morning, syrian president bashar al assad is lashing out at the u.s. he told venezuelan state tv the u.s. could still launch a military strike against his country even though he's agreed to give up his chemical weapons. assad says the u.s. policy is to go from one aggression to another and he doesn't see that changing anytime soon. 6:48 right now. we're following breaking news in syria. a mortar round hit the u.s. embassy in damascus. that building is empty right now. we'll let you know if we receive is an update. the secret certificaservice investigating after a diplomat was hit by a car while riding a bicycle in northwest washington. it happened around 9:30 last might at the intersection of 36th and garfield streets. the driver of the are car stayed on the scene. so far no charges have been filed. in about two hours we'll feigned out more about a deadly police shooting in northern virginia. the alexandria police department will release the results of the

shooting. according to prosecutors seven officers fired more than 30 rounds at sellers in february even though sellers did not fire any shots. prosecutors say the officers acted in self-defense. 6:49 right now. republican ken cuccinelli and democrat terry mcauliffe both say they won the debate last night in mclean. they lashed out on several issues. our northern virginia bauer owe chief julie carey and i were on the panel. i asked if he would use the office if elect ed to try to change virginia's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. >> i will support legislation that allows equal rights for individuals for gay virginians. i've said continuously that my opponent has continually attacked gay virginians and you cannot grow a business by doing th that. >> look, i understand and respect the fact this is a sensitive issue to a lot of

virginia virginians. but i'm one of those who do believe the institution of marriage should remain between one man and one woman. the candidates square off again next month for their third and final debate that will happen at virginia tech. and the libertarian caidate was in the hall and he spoke to our northern virginia bureau reporter david culver. robert sarvis did little more than recite their talking points during the debate. sarvis said neither candidate offers any ideas or solutions to the challenges virginia faces. news 4's tom sherwood will be at the wilson building today when mayor vincent gray introduces his pick to be d.c.'s next cfo. he was the first to report the mayor is choosing this man, jeff dewitt, the cfo of phoenix right now. if the d.c. council confirms him, dewitt will succeed natwar gandhi who held the post more than a decade. the cfo is in charge of overseeing the district's $11 billion budget. melissa mollet following breaking news right now from the live desk. >> that's right.

i want to show you a chopper 4 right now over the top of river road here -- this is in bethesda. this is the 8500 block over a vehicle fire, very hard to see exactly what's going on. you can see some police also, obviously some fire trucks. it looks like a bus pulled over to the side of the road. as soon as we get more information we'll pass it along. news 4's danella sealock has news on the prince george's county line. right now for folks traveling northbound 301 heads up north and southbound. you are going to see all of your lanes blocked near brandywine road closer to casper drive. again, northbound lanes are blocked and medevac has been requested in the area. so that's why you are seeing not only northbound lanes blocked but also southbound lanes blocked. so be aware of that if you're planning on traveling 301 near the split for 5.

i'm also tracking along with melissa, you heard her report, about the earlier incident involving a fire. well, it was an empty ride-on bus fire and now you're seeing the 8500 block of river road shut down in both directions while police are investigating. now another live look. right now at least one side of the roadway is getting by so that is good news. now i'll send it over to tom. we have the sky putting on a show the last couple of days and yesterday afternoon we had some dramatic high clouds passing over. this photo taken by bill mcknight posted to weather@nbcwashington.com. love it when you share your nature and weather photos. another sky show going on right now. a live view from the predawn on this thursday morning. 60 at reagan national. a northeast breeze, very light right now. and temperatures are generally in the 50s in the suburbs and rural areas. a disturbance spinning its way over southwestern west virginia

and into southwestern virginia. it's heading off to the east. so any sprinkle should pass through. shenandoah valley into the mountains, many locations there in the 40s this morning. a lot of cloudiness through the morning. then a partly cloudy afternoon. highs reaching the mid-70s with a light breeze. and then overnight tonight clearing out down to the mid-50s tomorrow morning. friday a gorgeous autumn day. afternoon highs reaching the mid-70s. on saturday and again on sunday, both days looking beautiful with a the lot of sunshine, afternoon highs in the 70s. great for all high school and college football games going on friday night and on saturday. sunday mostly sunny. we get back to work and school monday. warmer, partly chow lly cloudy. back to you. tom, thank you.

a traffic alert for you if you're driving through lau down county today stay away from waxpool road. it will be closed in both directions between the loudoun county parkway and pacific boulevard. waxpool will close at about 9:30 and should be back open, though, around 10:00. our cameras will be there today as an eyesore of d.c. education begins to come down. demolition begins today at the old dunbar high school. it's often criticized as prison like and it was replaced just last month by a gleaming new dunbar high school next door. it features high-tech classrooms and a gymnasium and auditorium. the $122 million building also pays tribute to the many black leaders who receive their education there at dunbar. virginia's board of education boasting about virginia high school's perfe performance on the s.a.t. they received their highest scores ever on the new version of the exam. seniors who graduated last spring scored about 1528 out of 2400 about 30 points botch the national average. s.a.t. scores in the district

up. students got a 1400 on average. that's below the national average but up by about 18 points from last year. maryland students' s.a.t. scores fell. and in just a few hours the university of maryland will try to tell a north carolina appeals court that it should not have to pay a $50 million penalty are for leaving the atlantic coast conference. the acc sued the school after announcing last year that it was leaving the conference for the big ten. they are counter suing. it could take several months for the court to reach a decision. here are four things you need to know before you head out the door. federal health officials will tell us just how bad this upcoming flu season could be. they will fill us in be on how bad the last flu season was. long for more coming up on news 4 midday at 11:00. secretary of state john kerry will meet with iran's foreign minister today. these are the highest level talks between the two countries in years. at meeting on news 4 this ed in evening. and our tom sherwood will continue reporting today on a story he broke yesterday. d.c. mayor vincent gray will introduce jeff debate as his

choice to be the city's next chief financial officer. he will succeed natwar gandhi. president obama will take the stage at prince george's community college to talk about his affordable care act. and tom has one last look at our forecast. it's a light jacket morning. temperatures in the 50s. later today a short sleeve afternoon. we'll be into the mid-70s and some sunshine breaking out after a cloudy morning. beautiful pattern setting up for friday through the weekend. each day mornings in the 50s. afternoon highs into the 70s. starting off next week warmer. highs near 80 each day monday, tuesday, and wednesday. danella's talking traffic trouble. that's right, tom. for folks traveling in charles county making that trip to prince george's county. all your lanes are blocked right now right near the 301/5 split. they are waiting on a medevac to land there. shut down in it the area. danella, thank you for that. and that is "news 4 today."

thank you for starting your day with us. the "today" show is next including an exclusive interview with george zimmerman's wife shellie for the first time since the confrontation with her husband. we'll be back in 25 minutes and see you tomorrow morning at 4:26.

i'm terry mcauliffe, candidate for governor, and i sponsored this ad. for 30 years i've worked as an obgyn, my job is to protect the health of women. so i'm particularly offended by ken cuccinelli. cuccinelli wants to make all abortion illegal ... ... even in cases of rape and incest. ... even to protect a woman's health.

i want a governor who's focused on schools and creating jobs, not someone who wants to do my job. who's ken cuccinelli to interfere in the lives of women across virginia?

>> good morning. d.c. dysfunction. just five days left for the two sides to strike a budget deal and avoid a government shutdown. is the threat real or another manufactured crisis? standing her ground, george zimmerman's wife speaks out since in her first public interview since that estranged incident with her husband. this morning, what really happened and why she didn't press charges. and comeback kids in a thrilling finish. team usa keeps america's cup right where it belongs. and the winning team is celebrating with us today, thursday,