up. all traffic success die university on to 202. nobody was hurt. >> and nice weather day at least to be traveling. so many people are flying -- did you know, amelia, today is the busiest air travel day of the year. >> i had no idea, i thought it was the day before thanksgiving. >> you are wrong. it's today. >> that's why you're the traffic aficionado. right now we're looking at temperatures around 40. so a really nice day in store. noticeably warmer than it was yesterday. and to go along with that plenty of sunshine too. partly to mostly sunny skies throughout the day today. quiet travel weather. mild again tomorrow. tuesday, a big temperature drop is in the forecast. not only that, scattered showers are likely and potentially a bit of a wintry mix. i'm going to have the latest on your work week forecast coming

up in a little bit. >> developing right now we're working to find out everything about a fire in northeast d.c. we know it cause ad lot of damage and right now news4 zachary kiesch is right on edison place northeast learning more. what's the word, zach? >> reporter: residents who live here describe i want as chaos. 3:30 this morning the building behind me went up in flames. firefighters are still on the scene. red cross is here. you can see windows are punctured out and, of course, lots of water damage here. the smoke and fire is the real issue here. it's a fluid situation right now and the information that it have is coming from residents who actually live in this building. they tell me this is a 12 unit building here. they believe the fire started down on the first floor here. let's talk to residents. let's hear from residents now. >> started kicking at the door trying to get open. i didn't have any shoes on.

another guy came out and i said kick the door. he kicked it open. smoke was billowing out. it was really intense. lot of heavy smoke. i went back up to my unit, grabbed a few clothes and came out the back. >> reporter: again, red cross is here. they are telling residents that there's a community center or local school being set up as a place for them to go. i also heard firefighters talking to those residents and saying at about noon today they may be able to get back in their units and find out exactly what the damage is here. as we know right now the fire started just on this back corner over here on the first floor. i'm zachary kiesch reporting live in northeast d.c. back to you guys in the studio. well right now might be the best time to get out the door. today is one of the biggest travel days of the year as everyone comes home from the thanksgiving break. right now there are no major airport delays and hardly any cars on i-66.

that's amazing. we're watching everything and be sure to let you know how bad traffic is when it builds. a covereding to aaa 46 million americans are traveling this weekend. that's the highest number since 2007. gas prices are a major part of the change. today the national average for a gallon of regular is 50 cents lower than this time a year ago. >> this morning a man is wake up in jail charged with killing a college student from montgomery county. police say shannon jones' boyfriend 32-year-old benjamin strangled her on thanksgiving. he's charged with second-degree murder. jones was a senior at cornell and graduated from winston churchill high school in potomac. >> ferguson police officer who has shot and killed michael brown has resigned from the police department. darren wilson has been on administrative leave since the shooting. with no indictment he was free to return to duty but wilson says he'll likely never be a police officer again.

>> reporter: it is the letter that will close one chapter in the ongoing drama in ferguson. darren wilson resignation comes as his attorney says targeted threats have been coming in to the ferguson police department. wilson says as my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers in the community are of paramount importance to me. >> he's simply walking away because he believes his continued employment would put others at risk. >> reporter: wilson plains for obvious reasons he wanted to wait until the grand jury decision for he resigned. >> certainly no wrongdoing his part. to have resigned might have suggested he did something wrong and he didn't. >> reporter: some ferguson residents say no matter the reason the resignation was inevitable. >> the way i feel he should be behind bars. >> reporter: michael brown's family attorney released a statement saying i believe officer darren wilson made a personal decision that was in his best interest given the circumstances. but wilson's attorney said the

decision was not about himself as his letter says quote, it is my hope the resignation will allow the community to heal. >> it's very hard for him to watch all this. he's affected because he cares about the communities. he's affected because he cares about policing. >> you may have seen some of these scenes yesterday. hundreds spread out across our area to continue protesting the grand jury's decision not to charge wilson for killing brown. crowds stopped traffic in chinatown and georgetown while protesting. in virginia protesters took over the food court inside the fashion center at pentagon city. december starts tomorrow. can you believe it. and that means that we're only weeks away from the new i-95 express lanes. they are opening sometime next month. you're going to have to pay to use them between garrisonville road and edsall road. if you buy an ez pass flex you can switch it to hov mode when you have three people in care.

unlike the current hov lanes the new express lanes will be on all day every day including the weekend. it's click until you quit. tomorrow is cyber monday biggest sales day of the year for online retailers with shoppers expected to spend $2 billion. here are some deals you'll find for cyber monday. amazon slashing prices on their ereader. js penny is offering free shipping. e-bay and overstock.com are offering as much for more we set up a hol shopping section o nbcwashington.com. after all that shops how about giving back in the spirit of the holidays. giving tuesday this tuesday december 2nd. very simple. find a way for you and your family to give back to the community. that could be taking part in a canned food drive, feeding the homeless or perhaps do napting to the many toy drives.

the idea is just to give anyway you can. gas prices are getting even cheaper but how long will they stay that way? and the grocery list items getting pricier that you'll have to spend all the savings on. >> i feel like if they wanted to know more details then they would have asked. >> revealing more about how the nfl

well, you are seeing it every day. those gas prices will not stop dropping. >> good news. the big oil group opec made a move that could keep them down for months. kerry sanders will tell us how long you can expect the big savings at the pump. >> reporter: it's sticker shot

but in reverse. gas prices are dropping every day now. four cents a gallon in just the last week. average price of grosvenor-strathmore line nationwide is now $2.78. it hasn't been this low since 2010. >> always good to pay less rather than more. >> reporter: with the holiday giving season in full swing shoppers say the timing couldn't be better. >> it makes me feel not so bad to drive further out to shop. >> every penny dropped in gas prices leads to billion dollars pumped back into the economy in discretiony spending. -run in montclaire, new jersey, mark was pleasantly surprised when he filled up his suv today. >> $32. normally closer to 50. >> reporter: gas prices are expected to keep falling after opec failed to agree this week to cutback on oil production. >> the fact that opec agreed to do nothing and maintain existing

production levels shows how much of an impact that north american oil production has had on the market. >> reporter: how long will this last? some experts say we could see these lower prices at the pump until at least the middle of next year. still as oil prices drop, prices have been inches up. for some household staples over the last 12 months. according to the labor department the cost of meat is up 12.5%. eggs up 6.7%. and the cost of prescription, up 4.1%. perhaps all now made a little easier to afford as the price of gas keeps tumbling down. kerry sanders, nbc news, miami. coming up, a boy reported missing about four years ago discovered behind a fake wall. how police helped make a tearful reunion possible. >> okay. this is like the buzzer beater of all budser beater.

we can't get enough of it. we'll show it to you coming up. >> comfortable today, warmer tomorrow and then cold on tuesday. may be a bit of a wintry mix. i'll have everything you need to know as you head back to work after the holiday weekend coming

the nfl and commissioner roger goodell could be under fire this week as we learn more

about ray rice. rice's attorney is calling out the commissioner tomorrow. we'll hear from rice's wife janay on the "today" show. listen to what she told matt lauer. >> was ray ambiguous? >> no. not in anyway. i feel if they wanted to know more details they would have asked but there were no further questions. it's been consistent with everything he's been saying since february. >> so when the commissioner of the nfl roger goodell says ray was ambiguous and the nfl says that it was a starkly different sequence of events, is the commissioner lying? >> i can't say he's telling the truth. you know, i know for a fact that he told, ray told the honest truth. that he's been telling from february. >> and you think the league and the commissioner covered their butts? >> i think they did what they had to do for themselves. >> ray rice is a free agent right now and can sign with any

team. watch the "today" show tomorrow and tuesday to hear janay's full interview and from ray rice as well. a georgia boy has been reunited with his mother nearly four years after he disappeared. the boy who is now 13 years old of not seen after his father failed to return him from a visit. police say friday night the boy was somehow able to get on a cell phone and text his mother. when police arrived at the atlanta area house they found the boy hidden behind a false wall in a linen closet. the boy's father and four other people in the house were arrested. the boy and his mother were finally reunited at the police station. you have to go to rio to see theworld's largest tallest christmas tree. it comes with fireworks. floating on water. the tree is 279 feet tall, nearly 100 feet across at the base. hundreds of thousands of people were there to watch officials turn the lights on for the first time. how cool.

we are just for you days away from lighting up the national mall with the glow of christmas. >> the national christmas tree lighting ceremony will be this thursday december 4th. actor tom thankser and his wife will be hosting this year's tree lighting. this is video of last year's lighting. the ceremony is being held at president's park. by tradition president obama will help light the tree itself. some of this year's musical performers will be neo, kids love him. patti labelle and country star shelley wright. >> let's it fly long shot. it's gone! he made it! >> something amazing happened there as you can hear the announcer and the crowd go wild. an amazing shot ended the game between george mason and manhattan last night. mason launched the ball 75 feet and the game ended 64-63.

they win by one for the team's first win in nearly two weeks. >> yeah. >> i didn't think the crowd has been that excited since they went to the final four in 2006. what a shot. everyone still talking about it today. i have friend all over the country saying did you see this? >> to make a shot like that you go out and buy a lottery ticket. >> you can't top this weather for this time of year. relatively speaking. the last day of november like you said, december starting tomorrow. at least tomorrow will not feel like december. we'll keep the comfortable temperatures around for monday. then tuesday, completely different story. high temperatures today and tomorrow will be in the low 60s. tuesday, well we're talking about high temperatures in the 30s. so a dramatic temperature drop is in the forecast. you can see after that, wednesday, thursday, friday and saturday, we see our temperatures hover around our average high which is 51

degrees. you have stuff to do outdoors, get it done today. tuesday not looking like a great day. not only will it be cold but a chance of a wintry mix in the forecast. more on that in a moment. right now we're at 46 degrees. winds out of the south at 7 mile-per-hour. love to see a southerly wind. that brings in warmer air from the south, keep the southerly wind throughout the day today. not windy or breezy but that light wind has helped to bump up our temperatures. here on the satellite, you can see more cloud cover in north washington and clear skies to the south. partly to mostly sunny skies today. we'll see more clouds north of d.c. and then down around the charlottesville area as well. here's the high temperature in your neighborhood. 60 in washington, manassas 56 in gaithersburg. over on the eastern shore temperatures in the mid-to-upper 50s. hanging the holiday lights, getting the christmas tree today, temperature will be just fine. nearly perfect weather. going skiing or snowboarding

plan for slushy conditions on the slope. commuter forecast for tomorrow morning after the long holiday weekend i hope you enjoyed it. weather not having any impact on that commute. for the evening commute there's the chance of a shower. temperatures in the mid-50s. so a nice day tomorrow high temperature of 63. clouds do increase throughout the day tomorrow. like i said that chance of a shower later in the day. as we head into the overnight hours and on tuesday scattered showers are likely. a wintry mix is possible, especially for those of you west of washington. areas like loudoun, northern fauquier, parts of prince william county and frederick county, maryland any snow accumulation would be likely in the higher elevations an inch or less. we're looking at light precip. whether it's rain, snow, little bit of sleet, you can't rule out freezing rain, at least it would be light in nature. we're not talking about a major

ice or snowstorm. but certainly tuesday the day to keep an eye on and big temperature drop on tuesday as well. high temperature of 39 degrees. tuesday, though, the details of this event still a little bit murky. i'll continue to have updates for the rest of the morning and tonight on news4 at 6:00. we rebound a little bit on wednesday. high temperature 52. thursday high of 54. >> all right. thank you. struggling to get the help they desperately need a look at the staggering wait times in our area to see a psychiatrist and why many ultimately give up. >> welcome to the first three minutes of "meet the press." two years removed from the 2016 presidential contest. our most recent poll found one thing about the republicans and democrats who might be running. they are not all that popular. >> that's right. among the most well-known republican only three above water who have more supporters than opponents.

that's kentucky senator rand paul, marco rubio and former arkansas governor mike huckabee. same goes for hillary clinton. she has 100% name recognition but only a very, very small advantage when it comes to those who say they favor her those who oppose her. >> this is a reflection of our current politics. democrats like democrats, republicans like republicans, independents don't like anyone at all. the question is can anyone be able to break through that? >> that's right. whoever is going to be the nominee on both sides will have to go into a general election to go into a general election with a sense of how to get tha

merry christmas! thanks but this gift, it's kind of half-fast. what's wrong? we still have cable internet , so our uploads are half the speed of our downloads. so i'll be half-fast when i share my photos. and i'll do a half-fast job updating my blog. wait, is everything under this tree half-fast? who wants eggnog? don't settle for half-fast cable internet. only verizon fios comes with speed match. uploads as fast as downloads. why have a half-fast holiday, when you can get more guaranteed with speedmatch- only from verizon fios. get blazing-fast internet, premium movie channels included for two years and $400 back with a two year agreement. all included for just $79.99 a month online, guaranteed for two years. that's two full years! the more toys you have, the more speed they need, and only fios powers them with

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>> as part of our changing minds series, often the toughest part of mental illness is recognizing it and admitting you have a problem in the first place and then getting the help up need can be even harder. >> doreen gentzler took a look how difficult it is to get an appointment with a psychiatrist. >> hi, i want to see if i can make an appointment. >> reporter: that's our producer. she spent over an hour trying to make an appointment with a psychiatrist in d.c. using a list provide by our health insurance company. >> not taking new patients. >> reporter: but as you can see she's not having much luck. lauren called 16 offices and could only get an appointment

with two of them. and there was going to be a long delay with those. >> two months? >> reporter: the first appointment available was 40 days away for one doctor and 59 for the other. some of the other psychiatrists we called weren't taking new patients, had disconnected phone numbers or busy signals or had other specialties that didn't apply in this case like child psychiatry. >> i'm not surprised at all by that. >> reporter: the president and ceo of mental health america, an advocacy group based in alexandria. he said our experiment is a reality for most americans regardless where they live or how much money they earn. >> we have too few mental health providers and one of the reasons is because we don't pay them very well. insurance doesn't reimburse them adequately and it doesn't make it worth the while of people who are in school to decide to go into those professions. >> reporter: one 2009 study from the university of north carolina found that we need 25.9

psychiatrists for every 100,000 people to treat everyone with a severe mental illness. but researchers found there are really only ten psychiatrists per 100,000 people. a shortage that 38-year-old erin wallace experienced firsthand. >> to acknowledge that i potentially need anti-depressants, i needed to see a psychiatrist was hard. >> reporter: she said she was suffering from postpartum depres after the birth of her second child and when it started to interfere with her life she knew she need care. >> the only person that was accepting new patients was 45 minutes away and didn't take insurance. so i had to choose that person just for the sake of needing to do something. >> reporter: after three sessions she stopped going, discouraged by the long commute and the financial burden. something that has become too common. >> people need to be persistent. not only need to be persistent

with providers but throws be persistent with their insurance providers to talk to their insurers and say 0 who do you really cover here? >> reporter: doreen gentzler, "news4 today". >> what do you do if you can't find the help? be persistent. don't stop. keep calling around. if you still have no luck call your insurance provider. you can go mental health america's website. there's information there as well as some links to

>> in this morning's top story all lines closed on eastbound route 50 inside the beltway. police investigating a crash at the exit of 202. an oil tanker ran off the road causing an oil spill. hazmat teams are on the road cleaning up. no one was hurt. >> zachary kiesch is on the scene working to find outf anyone was hurt in a serious fire here at this northeast apartment in d.c. you can see it cause ad lot of damage to the complex in northeast. we'll have zachary live with what he's learning. ? new this morning speed and alcohol may have toledo this crash in olney. it happened around 4:00 this morning on heinz road and lafayette road. two people were inside the car when it crashed. a female passenger in her 40s died. male driver was taken to hospital but expected to be okay. good morning and welcome to "news4 today" on a busy sunday

morning. i'm adam tuss. >> i'm angie goff. the time is 9:31. that means we want to check in on our forecast. >> amelia is outside. barely a jacket. so bright and sunny. >> beautiful out here. the sun is shining. the wind is not an issue opinion you might notice more contrails in the sky. as we learned from adam a little bit ago one of the busiest air travel days of the year. i can see a few of those here outside of our studios in northwest. tom noticing them also. he took this picture right around sunrise today. looking at the travel weather most of us having no issues with traveling today. unless you're trying to get out of san francisco or you know somebody that s-i should say or you're trying to head fwlak with rain in the forecast there. but you can see the travel weather for the most part across the country, aside from at that time no major system that will slow you down. getting back home shouldn't be an issue heading back home whether you're driving or flying out of the area and hopefully

you had a nice day here. if you're staying here in washington today it's a beautiful day. right now little bit more clouds up by the mason-dixon line but partly to mosty sunny skies and high around 60. cold on tuesday. i'll let you know how chilly it will be coming up in my full forecast. >> new this morning we're working to find out more about a fire in bethesda. montgomery county fire tweeted out this picture overnight. city lights of china, you can see it in the back ground there. there was seriously damaged. not clear if anyone was hurt. >> in week ahead jesse matthew will be in court. he's charged with abducting hannah graham. since he was charged matthew has been linked to multiple other cases. graham disappeared in september. her remain were found in charlottesville last month. also happening in the week ahead montgomery county council will work to stop pet stores from selling any dog or cat that comes from a puppy mill. you can share your thoughts on

the proposal at a hearing on tuesday at 1:30 in the afternoon. the law would require stores the only sell animals that come from an animal care facility or nonprofit rescue organization. we first brought enthusiast story after the news4 i team investigated and found the council received a tip-in april that so-called puppy mills might be trying to sell dogs to local shops. >> d.c. council is expected to vote on a plan for a newsocker stadium. mayor elect bowser believes the city could make more money by selling the reed center on u street than trading it. understand her plan the city would be taken out of the deal. something else we're keeping an eye on in the week ahead. family, friends and the district preparing to say a final good-bye to d.c.'s mayor for life. on thursday former d.c. mayor and council member marion barry will lie in remonths inside the wilson building for 24 hours.

friday there will be community memorial service for barry at the temple of praise church. the funeral is saturday december 6th at the convention center followed by a private burial. out in ferguson, demonstrators set out on a so-called march for justice that's going take seven days more than 100 miles. they set out from the exact spot where michael brown was shot and killed. they are going to go all the way to the governor's mansion in jefferson city, missouri. the naacp organized this march. it's nonviolent and along the way they will set up events to encourage people to turn anger into action. for all, regardless of whether you're red, black, green or white does not matter. equal justice all the way down the line. >> the group is demanding new leadership at the ferguson police department and wants similar reforms at other departments across the country. coming up today on "meet the

press" moderator chuck todd leads a discussion on race in america following michael brown's death and protest in ferguson, missouri. you can watch it here on nbc 4 at 10:30 a.m. >> the death of michael brown has made its mark on ferguson and country. ferguson protesters have gained the lead in "time's" person of the year poll. there's just seven days to go in the voting. amazon ceo is in the running. doctors and nurses fighting the ebola crises and nobel peace prize winner, malala yousafzai. people saw this police officer in portlandugging this boy during a protest. the officer says they started talking and he sympathized with the boy. >> a lot of tears shed on my part and a lot of other people's part. it's the humanity. we just trying to be good humans. >> the photographer says he has already received hundreds of emails and messages in response to this picture.

9:36 now. coming up driving while high. the new test that could land you behind bars. one woman's fight for the right for pregnant workers could be about to pay off. one northern virginia woman would not give up on her discrimination battle against u.p.s.. >> why viewers had a hard time trying to pay attention to this

>> over the course of the next few days before thanksgiving close the complaint desk. but i have too re-open it. hey, king, how are you whoa! live tv. how are you, buddy? it's not your turn yet. >> some people still get in. that's live tv for you. featured of the pet making his debut a few minutes early. his name is king. he hopped right up on there on the weather desk. he was part of an animal adoption segment and if you can judge by his performance here and how happy he is and how much

they embrace he probably already has a home. >> no dogs in our studios today. we love the dogs. >> and cats. nbc 4 does have a long standing commitment promoting adoption and that's why all of us here are so excited to hear the wonderful stories of the new families created at national adoption day in court. >> this year we saw an unp unprecedented number of children being adopted. barbara harrison was there. >> we just adopted our number eight baby and it was a wonderful birth. no contractions. >> reporter: she was one of 38 children adopted at the 28th adoption day in court. i had the honor once again of introducing all of the children and their families to the new family court judges who gather each year for this special event. >> we saw them on wednesday's child. >> reporter: our wednesday's child program was credited for making a lot of prospective families aware of the children who are waiting for permanent

loving homes. >> we had our son like him. we had a big hole in our hearts. and he filled it. >> reporter: one by one the judge who handled each of the cases put a signature on paper that said this is a family now. made in court but surely somehow made in heaven. as each child seemed to have the feeling that this family was the one they were always meant to be with. >> for what? >> a forever family. >> reporter: a forever family. congratulations. all three of you. while some families were adopting for the very first time -- >> the only one? >> the only one. >> congratulations number one. >> reporter: there were others like this family with two boys adopted last year, and adding two little girls this time around. for a full and very happy home to go home to.

barbara harrison news4 for wednesday's child. >> that's so cool. barbara has a lot to do with that. if you got room in your heart and home for a wild waiting for a home call our special adoption hotline. is number is 1-88-to-adopt-me or search wed's child on nbcwashington.com. >> for today we're looking at comfortable temperatures. tuesday big changes. not only will the temperatures drop but also the chance of a wintry mix. all the latest coming

in the week ahead on capitol hill a house committee, subcommittee will demand answers about those deadly airbags made by the takata corporation. members of congress want to know what took the company, carmakers and officials so long to announce a recall. this week the supreme court will hear a virginia woman's case how ups treat its pregnant workers. peggy young sudden u.p.s. seven years ago. she claims her doctor told her not lift heavy packages while she was pregnant. the company refused to reassign her. researchers at washington state university working on a new test to detect if a driver is under the influence of marijuana. the test would test someone's breath for thc the active ingredient in pot. the test is still in its early stages and researchers hope to

bing human testing next year. >> a lot of people in the air, on the road. >> weather wise is your pick of the weekend. >> i would have to say. temperatures warmer today. little bit more sunshine today. great day to get something done outdoors. tomorrow not that bad either. most of us heading back to work after the long holidayweekend. take your lunch break outside tomorrow. it is going to be another comfortable day. as we look to tuesday, though, temperatures really drop. that's one of your weather headlines. the last one there. feeling almost 30 degrees cooler on tuesday. today quiet travel weather across the area, across the northeast, the eastern seaboard for sure. only issue tracking right now is if you're trying to head back to san francisco. looking back here at home, chance of showers monday night and then on tuesday some scattered showers likely.

a wintry mix is possible. temperatures right now are in the 40s. 46 is our temperature in washington. 47 at the patuxent river. those of you north and west of washington more clouds. partly sunny skies four. regardless good travel no rain or snow in the forecast for today. 58 degrees at 1:00. 4:00 p.m. a temperature around 59. we hit our high at 60 about 3:00 in the afternoon. nice evening. not too cold. as the kids head back to school tomorrow what do they need? not the snow boots or hat or rain coat. long sleeves will be just fine. it's going to feel very similar tomorrow. clouds increase throughout the day. any early morning sunshine gives way for cloudy skies. 63 is our high temperature in washington for tomorrow. that's a good ten degrees above average. 61 is the high in leesburg and 65 for those of you in culpeper.

here's future weather monday at 4:00 p.m. notice the threat of showers already in the area. as i advance this don't focus so much on the placement notice there's the chance of some rain and maybe a little bit of mix in the area. overnight we continue to track some rain showers, maybe some freezing rain and sleet and even a little bit of snow mixing in. you can see tuesday at 8:00 a.m. there's the potential for wintry mix across the area. as we work our way into tuesday evening still the potential for some scattered showers. overnight tuesday anything rain or snow should wind down. so here's the latest. scattered rain is likely. wintry mix is possible. that means sleet, maybe a little bit of snow, maybe even some freezing rain. the best chance for that wintry mix is going to be to the west of washington. any accumulation, whether it be snow or ice would likely be confined to the higher elevations and for the most part we're not looking at any heavy rain or heavy snow. this isn't a major ice or snowstorm, tuesday is just a day

we need to keep an eye on. exact details still unclear with this system. what i know for sure, noticeably colder. wednesday mostly cloudy. slight chance of a shower and high temperature of 52. thank you. >> what do we want? >> kidnapped or carjacked or worse. the news4 iteam exposing hundreds of crimes against postal workers and taking postal workers and taking concerns straight to the

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with holiday shopping ramping up the post office is delivering mail seven days a week. the news4 iteam wonder how many times are they target of crime. >> the iteam spent the last year uncovering information that postal employees say they didn't even know about. >> reporter: seemed like any other february day for the well-known postal carrier on webster street in northeast. it all changed when two men robbed him at gunpoint before tying him up with duct tape, beating him and throwing him from his delivery van. >> i don't understand why anybody would try to assault or hurt him. >> reporter: neighbors realize he was an easy target. >> every day i know he'll be here. >> reporter: we only found out about this robbery because the

u.s. postal service told us about it. they needed help finding the assailant. the news4 iteam discovered there are hundreds of similar crimes each year no one hears about. >> tablets, computers, jewelry. >> reporter: tom dodge said the rise of internet shopping made his job as a postal truck driver more dangerous than ever. the iteam obtained a nationwide list never before released to the public of more than 1600 violent crimes committed against postal employees. we found robberies increased more than 300% in the last four years. some involving truck jacking, kidnappings and shootings. >> what we're told is just give it to them. give them your satchel of mail. let them have it. it doesn't mean much anything because many thieves today don't want witnesses. so they shoot. >> reporter: the iteam discovered 64 shootings tonalist

including the murder of tyson barnett killed on his route delivering mail one year ago this week in cheverly. we were there when dodge and union leaders from all over our region held a protest following barnett's murder on the national mall. >> the bad thing is things are happening they don't bring to it our attention. we don't hear a word about it. management doesn't come and say hey listen we're aware. >> reporter: the record we obtained show all kind of employees getting robbed including commercial truck drivers and mail claerks but 84% of victims are the men and women who deliver the mail to your home. and they don't happen at night. instead we found 80% of robberies occur during the day between 5:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.. we spent months interviewing the post master general.

mr. we finally caught up with him. >> robberies happen across america. >> your folks tell us they are easy targets and worried about their safety and they want the postal service to do more. >> we provide very good safety for employees in areas that have high crime. we provide it through class and make sure people aren't out at night. we're very conscious of that issue. >> reporter: but dodge says they need more than a can of pepper spray they are given. >> you shouldn't come to work every day and worry about whether you'll be attacked. you shouldn't come to work today and worry about whether you're going to get hurt on the job today. >> reporter: many employees we talk with say the post office's police forces have been heavily cut, meaning there are fewer officers out there investigating crimes against postal employees. tisha thompson, news4 iteam.

people running in an apartment fire here in northeast d.

traffic alert. some lanes are closed on eastbound route 50 inside the beltway. how traffic is being diverted around this mess. it could have an impact on the millions of travellers headed back home from the long holiday

weekend. amelia has your travelcast. developing news we're on the scene right now of an apartment fire. we do have a live report coming up. right now we're not seeing any major delays at airports in our area on one of the busiest travel days of the year. more than 26 million americans expected to fly today. more than any other day of the year. >> several people are displaced right now after a serious fire in northeast d.c. it happened on edison place northeast near 42nd street. police have not yet told of if anybody was seriously hurt. >> good morning to everyone on a busy news morning. this is sunday, november 30, 2014. last day of november. you can believe that? >> already getting ready for december and christmas and new year's. what we do know if you have a nice way to round out november with a little bit of a warm wave, right amelia. >> you're exactly right. temperatures today will be comfortable. highs around 60 degrees. noticeably warmer than

yesterday. partly sunny skies for most of us. mostly to party sunny here in the district. talking about travel weather one of the areas seeing travel issues san francisco. heavy rain moving in there. so i am tracking some flight delays as you're trying to get out of town and head back to san francisco. aside from at that time plenty of green on this map means good news for those of you flying today and if you are leaving the area, if you had a wonderful time here in washington. advancing throughout the day with the travel weather forecast we're already here at 8:00 p.m. you can see no major systems on the map. so for the rest of today and the evening like i said unless you're heading to san francisco it is looking good. whether you're driving, flying, traveling by rail. temperatures right now in our area are in the 40s. adam, 60s later today and then 30s on tuesday. i'll have the latest timing on our cool down coming up in my full forecast. >> i'll stick with the 60s. developing right now traffic is