is this an accident at the beltway. and another problem, 66 at nutley, an accident there, as well. you can see vehicles were pulled off to the shoulder, very, very slow there, as well. another situation, east bound 66 right before 29, we have two right lanes and shoulders blocked. if you can avoid 66 this morning, do yourself a favor and definitely take your alternate route for this morning. wider look at thing, you can see we're actually looking quite good. 66 for sure our biggest problem. we have a motor secycle crash w injuries north glebe at little falls. you can see tiny show # 295 just below 50. otherwise things looking good with the exception of 66 eastbound. avoid it if you can. we are fast forwarding two months. feels more like september than mid-july. temperatures right now down into the 50s to just near 60 degrees. coolest spot, gaithersburg,

northern montgomery county, down to just 55 right now. near 60 in frederick county. west virginia, many locations there are down to the chilly low 50s. around the bay, southern maryland, eastern shore, most locations there in the low to mid-60s. push away from your pancakes, look at your tv. there is a bopomegranate glow. sun just coming up. live view from the tower camera. hour by hour, warming quickly. by 8:00, 60s just about everywhere. noon, upper 70s. low 80s by mid afternoon with low humidity in lays. a look at highs elsewhere around the region, where it will be warmest and coolest, that is coming up in ten minutes. back to you. we are just getting our hands on a brand new nbc news maris poll that shows hillary clinton is in good shape among democrats if she makes a run for the white house. however, when matched up against republicans, it's not such a

landslide. richard jordan has the results. >> the poll looking at would hampshire. and hillary clinton would crush the competition among democrats %9quá(r"en if the election were to happen, this a hypothetical scenario, clinton would have 70% of the vote and extremely high favorability rating. so a slam dunk among democrats. but when you stack her up against republican republicans, very tight race there. in iowa, against senator rand paul, a tie. if she goes up against chris christie, clinton would be up by just one percentage point. similar results looking at new hampshire. clinton just edging out rand paul in that state by 3%. many polls say they are still undecided. they're not sure who they want

to run on the ticket. but pretty telling numbers that we got in right now. that's the latest from the live desk. new this morning, streets around dupont circle back open. a gas leak kep a few blocks closed overnight near the intercession of q and 20th streets. washington gas working to find out the source of that leak. d.c. police arrested a man they say is a serial bank robber. maurice douglas is accused of going on a robbing spree and robbing three banks in one day. police believe he's the guy in these photos from two wells fargo banks and td bank in the district on june 20. he's also accused of robbing a pnc bank a couple weeks earlier. starting today, rules change on how you can be punished if you're caught with marijuana in the district. derrick ward joins us live to explain. >> reporter: good morning. authorities stress marijuana is

still illegal, but it depends on where you are whether or not you are actually affected by those changes. where we are on massachusetts avenue, it's a different ball game than if you go being across the street to federal land. if you're in the district, your penalty will be less than the penalty for littering. now, this came at midnight last night. and the result of the end of the correctional review period that all d.c. laws have to go through. so what it means is that the penalty for marijuana is greatly reduced. right now if you have one ounce or less, it's equal to $25 fine and of course police will seize the marijuana. peripheral, paper, papers, no longer criminal. and odor does not lead to a search. that is only in the district. on federal land, it's a whole different ball game. we're live in northwest.

derrick ward, news 4. we're answering your questions about the marijuana law changes in d.c.. look for the ten things you need to know on the home page of nbcwashington.com. it's being called the biggest road priority in the entire state of virginia. how do you fix i-66? today we'll learn how the state plans to tackle that rob. here is the focus area. it's right between route 15 and haymarket and the beltway. if you drive that stretch, you know doesn't take long for that to become a mess. all the options that are on the table include adding lanes to that road, for most of the projects, they would be toll lanes. officials are also including a rapid transit bus lane and room for metrorail expansion. construction proceed corrected to begproceejected to begin in . and a sneak at taking involving a tunnel that israel says it stopped. plus a dangerous discovery, the popular alternative to milk you'll want to keep away from

your kids. and bagupsbackups on inters6 stretch for miles. start near the beltway, stretch past nutley street. y can see it here.

rice milk is not safe for your kids. a new warning this morning for older children. rice milk contains harmful levels of arsenic. the originrinloriginal warning applied to children under five, but you now they say it isn't safe for kids over five either. rice milk is commonly used as a dairy substitute. who we choose to chang out with may not be as random as we

position. scientists found close friends were more likely to share genetic markers than strangers. some even looked alike. . the resemblance in dna is break slight, the equivalent to the relationship between fourth cousins. so scientists say about a 1% similarity. but significant for them. is there a genetic marker for eating in i think i have that. >> may be. we're getting breaking news now into the traffic center. >> if you can avoid 66 east, do yourself a favor. we have three accidents working right now. chopper as you can see over the scene headed back to the beltway. we just got word that the accident on 66 east right there at the beltway has been cleared. but of course delays will kin.

66 east before 29, two right lanes and shoulder blocked. we'll take a wider look at things in a couple minutes. watch out for joggers and runner, too. perfect morning for that. it's down into the 50s here in mid-july, this is a gift across most of maryland and virginia. closer to washington, low 60s. by the way, upper 60s. northern montgomery county, down to 55. mid-60s prince george's county and fairfax county. high temperatures today, warmest will be across north central virgi fredericksburg toandoah v this afternoon. humidity stays away for the next

few day. when it returns, coming up. a touching reunion between a maryland woman and the father she never met. >> i don't feel like it's real at all. it's a weird dream. >> what kept them apart for decades and how the photo she kept of her father inspired a major decision in her life. plus how a fan trying to kill a spider wound upsetting his house on fire.

i-66 looking pretty rough at the moment. take a look at the view from chopper 4. a number of accidents on the east bound side near nutley street. melissa mollet keeping an eye on this. she'll have more information coming up at 6:21. israel says gaza fired three mortar shells into the country. the attack came just two hours in to a five hour cease fire

agreement. the shells fell if an open area, no damage or injuries. hamas has not taken responsibility for firing the shells. israel has not said whether they plan to retaliate. earlier today, israel claimed 13 gaza militants tunnelled their way into jerusalem. meanwhile the american palestinian teen allegedly beaten b israeli police before the air strikes started is back here in the u.s.. >> 15-year-old arrived in tampa with his mother. the teen was visiting family in jerusalem when he says he was attacked. >> it was by far the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. >> the police claim he was arrested for throwing rocks occurri during a protest for his cousin who was murdered. some families in piscataway hills will most likely lose

their home. the neighborhood was severely damaged after a landslide in may. ez the hope can homes can be saved, but the other six have to be knocked down. the repair project will cost at least $15 million. the county wants the state to pig up abo today erosion and runoff will be discussed for residents at the park erect center. in 2008, the city tried to fix the problem by replacing soil with clay in parts of that par . park. today they will explain what they will do next. and president obama will be discussing the nation's infrastructure in well mipg ton at the i-495 wilmington bridge.

$35 billion project to replace some of the support columns there. he will announce new executive action to address the concerns. cities and states can get information about financing and how to speed up the permitting process, also a summit planned for september where developers can also discuss financing options. and then there will be a group established to address differ t differentidifferenbarriers often faced. the president also likely to you discuss the impact on the economy. we'll watch it here from the live desk. a plane that rap off the runway in missouri caused a run ar ripple effect even here in d.c.. this is at kansas city international airport.

it took hours to get it back to the gate. the pilot was comi doing a taxi. no passengers were on board. the lean was supposed to head to d.c. later in the day. the flight had to be canceled and passengers rebooked. a young man from hawaii faces pretty serious charges this morning after making threats on board an international flight. kevin mosele got drunk during a long layover. two hours into the flight, he skreechled he had a bomb and started spitting. and threatened to kill a flight attendant. he was restrained for the rest of the flight and is now out of custody on bond. it's not hard to find people who are afraid of spiderses but this next story is a cautionary tale about how far you should go to kill one. a seattle man should have used

common sense. he tried to kill a spider bhi uby using a can of spray paint and lighter in an attempt to torch the spider. but he ended upsetting parts of his house on fire. the man and his mother were able to get out safely. the home suffered some significant damage. firefighters say he was likely successful in killing that spider. people laugh about the story, but he could have killed himself and his mother. >> try something other than a torch. we're staying on top of of breaking you news on i-66. >> breaking news here. again, i-66 east bound, if you have anyway of avoiding this and saving yourself a massive headache this morning, please do it. we have a lot of slowdowns the

crash has been cleared out, but the backups remain. four to five miles. there was another crash at nutley street. again off to the side, but very slow for four to five miles. looking up north, 270 looking good, 95 looking good, 32 no problems actually top of the beltway. there we go, 66 at nutley, you can see the backups. so avoid the area. everything else generally looking pretty good. 66 east just a mess. at least the pavement is dli. we have very low humidity with us. great morning for a run. cool temperatures now. and low humidity will stay around for a while. here are the changes that i'm expecting here over the next couple of days. my forecast for the humidity changes showing low humidity for today and on friday. then saturday and sunday at more humid, but still in the comfort

range. sweltering humidity moves in on tuesday and wednesday. as we look at our sky over washington, it's partly cloudy to mostly clear. sun is up and temperatures in the 50s and low 60s. later today with the low humidity, low 80s midafternoon, lots of sunshine. wear your sunblock. then mid-80s on friday. another day with low humidity. here is a look at the weekend. saturday, highs reaching the mid-80s and partly sunny. slight chance of a thundershower in the mountains. and then on sunday, slight chance of a thundershower at the beaches. le it be 70s to near 80 degrees with a bit of an easterly flow. 7 day outlook, monday increased humidity. highs upper 80s. partly sunny each day. and next time we'll see 90s may not be until next wednesday. a look at county by county highs

today coming up in ten minutes. it is 6:23. and we have been celebrating summer all morning long in silver spring. >> check out the food, entertainment, and now we'll take in some tunes. >> angie goff has been live all morning in downtown silver spring. you'll jazz things up now. >> reporter: oh, yeah. we're getting ready. but before that, you though we ambushed one of our people in the burn exercise session. it looks like they're working hard. we'll do the big reveal at the end of the show. and over here, look who we have? silver spring's very own king of jazz. thank you for joining us. >> thank you to having me. >> silver spring, you are a businessman and a producer. but you always come back home. why? >> i've never left, number one.

this community has been great to me. and silver spring is close to my heart because about a mile and a half away from here, i went to high school and a quarter mile down the road, it's a great town, great people. i released a wine label and we were named as one of the top wine brands in the country. getting ready for fall fest. new dvd and my new daughter, kate. >> she's pressucious. and a new cd out. you were a founder and you brought so really big names. recently brandon marcelles. sgr and silver spring respects and takes care of the art. it's a great place for artists.

>> and the you are about an champions here. what are you going to play? >> we'll do a tune off of the cd. are you ready? let's do this. ♪ >> flofest starts september 1st. >> sounds great. thank you. we'll check back in with you later. maryland woman's reunion with her father was nearly 40 years in the making. >> her father who is a retired marine had almost given up until yesterday. >> a lot of catching up to do. >> he embraced his daughter and

new granddaughters. 36 years ago, he was away at boot camp when hissest wife left with their daughter michelle. turns out they both have something in common, michelle joined the army inspired by her father's marine photo inside her baby album. >> if he can do it, i can do it. who does that want to do something for their country. >> i thought about her every day. >> michelle found her father on facebook about a week ago after finally reuniting, the family says they are planning to go to, where else, disney world. >> of course. 40 years of catching up to do. i'm sure they each have so many questions. and what a terrific time together. >> spectacular that was able to happen. >> never too late to reconnect. how about some unexpected money. we'll tell you why you may be in line for a check if you recently bought ap echn ebook. and the increase you should expect in your insurance bill if you add a teen driver.

plus chopper 4 is live over breaking news right now. take a look. it will be a rough ride to work on i-66 east. backups for four miles starting near the beltway. melissa mollet is looking for the best ways for you to avoid this mess.

we're following breaking news that could make you late for work. backups on interstate 66 east stretching four miles right now. a live look from quhchopper 4. it starts at the beltway and stretches past nutley street. >> melissa mollet is watching the breaking news. >> just a massive mess right now. we're talking again 66 east bound, if there is anyway that you can avoid that, police do. you can see chopper 4 over the scene. this is 66 at 50. so backups stretching all the way back to that area. very, very deps dense as you get

close to the beltway. so save yourself the time and take an alternate route. taking a look, four mile backups stretchle all the way back this way. very, very slow, about 15 miles per hour as you hit the beltway. wider look at things, we're getting slow now at this point, all of our other typical spots. top of the beltway, you can see a little slow outer loop and inner loop as you approach bw parkway. bw parkway out of town, into town just fine. 295 past 50 is slow. 66 east your biggest problem this morning. at least temperatures are cool and comfortable. you can have the windows open. and we have temperatures later today climbing to more september-like, jewel-tember temperatures. into the low 80s in prince george's county, fairfax, montgomery county and the district. lots of sunshine. and across northern virginia, all the counties generally low to mid-80s, but you a mostly

sunny afternoon. low humidity still in place, too. near the pennsylvania border, panhandle of west virginia, highs only the upper 70s to around 80 degrees. and a beautiful day in the shenandoah valley and the mountains, as well. great weather for hiking, biking, temperatures near 80 shenandoah valley. only mid and upper 70s for highs this afternoon out in the mountains. a look at our roller coaster ride over the next 48 hours coming up in ten minutes. it is now 6:32. in just a few hours, a university of maryland lacrosse player will be in court on sex assault charges. benjamin chisolm is accused of inappropriately touching a woman at a concert last month. police say she had fallen asleep in a lawn area. chiso is currently out of jail on a $10,000 bond. d.c. community raising

safety concerns at a rec center. dozens showed up for a community walk inneckiin eckington. community lead erers want to kn how they accessed the fenced in parg. three people shot, but all expected to be okay. today gm has explaining to do on capitol hill. brian mooar has details of a bill that could. ish punish businesses that hide information. >> reporter: and that bill is co-sponsored by senator blumenthal of connecticut. he believes there was a coverup and he call it is mortit is mor

reprehensible. mary barra is the not accused of any role in the coverup, but she is responsible for bringing xwchgm back to the public trust. and she says she's doing a lot. today she'll have to brprove it. the millions of recalls, record number of recalls, 15 people let go. but is that sufficient in a company that by an internal investigation is dysfunctional corporate culture at its very core. she'll have to answer questions, but some of the toughest ones may be reserved for gm's top lawyer, questions about what his legal department knew and what it did. >> brian mooar, thank you. good news for ebook readers in virginia this morning. you may be getting some money pretty soon. attorney january mark herring announced a $10.5 million settlement with apple. the company is accused of participating in price fixing with several publishers. the settlement needs to be

approved in court first, but people who are eligible will be notified once the ruling is made. 32 other states have sued apple for ebook price fixing. this morning we're learning about more deadly viruses found at national institutes of health. the same scientist who found smallpox samples also discovered more than 300 other vials of other contagious viruses and bacteria. they were in a box in a cold storage room. they were used in the 1970s and is now testing the vials. lawmakers are questioning lapsed practices that led to the new discoveries. a republican congressman is taking aim at d.c. gun laws. he introduced an amendment to a spending bill that would defund d.c.'s gun control laws. the bill passed the house. right now handguns have to be registered every three years and owners have to be fingerprinted

and complete a safety course. the amendment would do away with all of those requirements. senate approval is still needed and unlikely. and a different congressman is fighting another d.c. law that just took effect this morning. it decriminalizes marijuana. derrick ward will be live at 6:48 to show us how police are making sure everyone knows the new rules. rg3 raising concerns about player safety in the nfl schedule. the redskins quarterback did an interview withal hollywood reporter and said he's not a fan ever thursday night games. he's concerned the quick turn around could impact players' health. he said they get more time of ter after a thursday night game. they play eagles on a sunday and then giants on a thursday. more than a million bmws recalled. the key safety feature that could fail you if you get into a wreck. plus temperatures outside today may make you you feel like

you're on the capital wheel. they will be up and down. storm team 4 meteorologist will take us through the roller coaster hour by hour. and melissa mollet following breaking news for you on i-66 east. you can see the picture from chopper 4 #. the growing backups you'll face.

. breaking news in virginia. 66 eastbound a total mess after several accidents have caused four mile long backups. very nasty. if you can avoid it, please do. chopper 4 over the scene. this is what we have been seeing for the past half hour or so. 66 at gallows road, very slow. 26 miles per hour and that's good heading 26 miles per hour into town.

it gets very much nastier than that. slow in all of your normal spots. we'll keep an eye on the major backups on 66. and this is a live look in downtown silver spring where we're celebrating summer. marcus johnson and his urban jam band. >> alwa a little different start to the morning out there. tom kierein keeping an eye on the weather for those folks. a cool start there, too. >> sure is. hometown forecast for silver spring, only 63 there right now. and a partly cloudy sky. temperatures by early afternoon, though, upper 70s. beautiful day in silver spring. low humidity. afternoon highs reaching around 80. and then by mid evening, back do down to the low 70s. over the next 48 hour, up into the low 80s this afternoon. and then right back down to 60. and then back up to mid-80s and

then back done to the 60s again by dawn on saturday. a look at weekend changes on the way in ten minutes. back to you. bmw recalling $11.6 million vehicles to replace air bags. bmw says it's only a precautionary measure because other auto make is who use similar systems reported ruptured air bags. so are far the company has no reported problems in its vehicles. bmw recalled cars last year for the same issue. parents, there is new information out this morning on car insurance costs for teens. insurance costs 79% more after a marrieded couple adds a teen driver to their policy. rates for teen boys are 25% higher than for girls. and premiums are the highest for 16-year-old boys. west virginia is the ninth highest state to ensure a teen

driver. we have a brand new look at the next race for the white house. we've received a new poll that pinpoints the biggest challenge hillary clinton will face if she runs. and pot decriminalized. we'll break town tdown the new and the specific locates where you will still be arrested if you're caught with pot. and popular jobs in america that are most likely to disappear in a matter of years.

we're staying on top of breaking news in fairfax. backups on i-66 stretch seven miles. they keep growing. chopper 4 is over the scene. >> our team working for you to get you up to the minute the minute you're up. a new poll just released this morning sizing up the 2016 presidential race for you.

it shows hillary clinton leads the pack among democrats for a possible white house run. and that's almost an understatement. in a hypothetical match-up here, clinton beach joe biden 70% to 20%. she was neck and neck, though, with possible republican challengers. clinton tied with rand paul at 45%, edged out new jersey governor chris christie by just 1%. and the poll comes out as christie heads to iowa and biden delivers a key note speech tobl. we're bringing in chuck todd on break this down for you. >> on the democratic side, those numbers aren't surprising. democrats are definitely ready for hillary. remember iowa was the beginning of the end of her campaign. they rejected her, picked barack obama. the rest is history. this time you saw there is a total coalescence. but i want to focus on christie. with iowa and in that.

republicans, we measured all the major republican candidates from rand paul, jeb bush. look at chris christie. these are unfavorable ratings just from republican voters. christie comes in with the highest unfavorable rating. so among republicans with both -- in both iowa and new hampshire. almost double anybody else that we tested. it's the yellow flag here when it comes to chris christie because conservatives have never been enaturmored with christie. this is a hurdle that i can't envision how he gets over. but the other piece of news is this. rand paul, you noted the matchup with hillary clinton that they were tied. he's the strongest republican against hillary clinton in iowa and new hampshire. the most popular republican we tested. this is currently your republican frontrunner for 2016.

>> all right. there it is. thank you, chuck. much more coming up on the 2016 presidential call it a pre-race maybe on the "today" show starting at 7:00 a.m.. changes to the marijuana laws go into effect today. but d.c. leaders emphasize in no way does it mean marijuana is legal. derrick ward joining us live in dupont circle with the changes you need to know about. >> reporter: good morning. well, indeed it is not legal in the district of columbia. we're at dupont circle. on this side of massachusetts avenue, $25 fine for less than an houps ounce of marijuana. but across the street where it is federal land, then you will be subject to arrest and prosecution regardless of the amount. all because of changes that went into effect as of midnight. that is when the congressional review of the legislation ended.

that means there has been sort of a decriminalization of marijuana forme amounts of one ounce or less. so take a look. one ounce or less gives you a $125 fine. paraphernalia no longer criminal. and the odor is no longer reason for police to stop someone unless operating under the influence. and advocates hope this will lead to a referendum on this. we are live in northwest. derrick ward, news 4. we've been showing you the huge mess on i-66 all morning longer. that road now is biggest road priority in the entire state of virginia. today we'll learn how the state plans to deal with some of the problems on 66. the area in focus in particular here is between route 15 in haymarket and the dealt wabeltw. you know it doesn't take long for the backups to get ugly.

all the options being looked at include adding lanes to the road. for most, they would be toll lanes. officials are also you including a rapid transit bus lane and room for metrorail expansion, too. construction projected to start this 2017. a new list may have you rethinking your next career move. career cast.com ranked the top ten most endangered jobs. number one, mail carriers followed by familiar efarmers a readers. technology and less demand is the reason. we'll post the entire list on nbcwashington.com. >> i'm one of those people who worries about row about tbots t over. >> i do too. we need tom to tell us about what is happening in our weather and about the changes and when. feels great right now. >> it was in the low 80s

yesterday. 50s this morning. it's feeling more like september than july. starting off this morning, gorgeous view of senate park and the capitol. sun is up and a mostly clear sky you now. temperatures are down into the 50s much of maryland and virginia. and west virginia. and in the cities, low 60s. right by the bay, upper 60s. prince george's county, mid-60s. upper 50s much of montgomery county. fairfax county low to mid-60s. washington, upper 60s now. this is my favorite photograph of the week so far. a beautiful sunflower field in poolsville, maryland. this photo taken yesterday morning as the cool air was surging in, by angela pan. post your pics on facebook and twitter and we'll share. there is the national cathedral. later today, gorgeous summ day. low humidity, highs low 80s. you can go sleeveless in >> a last look at weather and

traffic. >> great celebrating summer weather. today, tomorrow, into the weekend. enjoy. low humidity. a little more humid for the weekend. steamy mid week next week. 66 east is a disaster from 50 all the way to the beltway. we're talking about a 7 mile backup from earlier crashes. otherwise looking pretty typical. that is the broadcast this morning. we appreciate you waking up with us. >> the "today" show is next.