back to you. >> all right darcy spencer, thanks. coming up on 5:00 now on this tuesday morning. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. we are talking about the weather and it's been a big story because of the heat wave. >> tom kierein has the 411. >> yeah, day six of the heat wave with temperatures above 90 again this afternoon. right now storm team 4 radar showing a couple of sprinkles here. pan handle of west virginia and then south of there, just south and east of winchester. right along the blue ridge as it's moving into northern fauquier county it's drying out. the how ises of charleston, moving into southern frederick over the next few minutes. now, that's going to be a few scattered sprinkles. then later today hour by hour timing this new model runs coming in. all the way through noontime. everything will be fine. partly cloudy sky.

then around 2:00, some thunderstorms developed way out in the mountains of west virginia and then by 4:00 p.m. they're into the shenandoah valley panhandle of west virginia. it's after that that we seal the scattered thunderstorms getting closer to the metro area, across northern virginia. some of the storms could be severe. mainly south of the metro area and by 9:00 this evening, it will be dissipating. next weather and traffic on the 1s your drive time forecast for this tuesday. and now alexis in with an update on a road closed in montgomery county. >> that's right. westbound sam eig highway it's closed due to the serious accident involving a fatality. montgomery county police tweeted this out. we'll get more information on this for you. northbound 395 before seminary road looking good some volume. no incidents there. 95 at powder mill road, no incidents there. beltway looking good as you

travel around in maryland or virginia this time. no reports of incidents or delays on the inner or outer loop. seeing volume around manassas but that's typical for this time of the morning. back to you. >> i'm meagan fitzgerald at the live desk. new developments two massive wildfires are now ripping through an alaskan forest. thousands of acres have burned, forcing evacuations and the blaze continues to rage. emergency officials are concerned about the hot, dry and windy conditions. right now, about 200 firefighters are working to try and contain this thing. meanwhile, more than 200 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. they're now in shelters. governor bill walker flew over the fire and noted how many homes have been saved because of crews on the ground. more firefighters are expected to arrive today. 5:02 your time. the man accused of killing four people in northwest washington will be in court. daron wint will tell a judge he's hired sean hanover of fairfax as his new defense

attorney. before now public defenders had defended him. they say he held the savopouloses and son and housekeeper hostage and killed them last month before setting their home on fire. also in d.c. today, a judge will hand down a sentence for the man who illegally ran into the white house late last year. omar gonzalez pleaded guilty to two charges last month. he jumped the white house fence, then entered from the front door last september. he was carrying a knife at the time. that incident led the director of the secret service to resign. today, a judge will sentence gonzalez to as much as 18 months in prison. you have to squeeze into six-car trains for at least the rest of this month. doors on the 4000 series cars opened up while trains were in motion, causing metro to pull them from service. metro said the 4000 series would return this week, but news4's adam tuss found out they will

not be running today. metro doesn't have a time line for when they'll return. a maryland judge abducted by her ex-boyfriend is retiring. montgomery county circuit court judge audrey creighton submitted her letter of retirement to the governor. last year, her ex-boyfriend, joshua senning, abducted her and crashed her car near a germantown super market. court records showed she once served as his public defender. today we'll learn more about that devastating hack on the office of personnel management. this morning every member of the house oversight committee will receive a briefing on the hack. jeh johnson will be one of the officials delivering today's update on capitol hill. hackers got access to as many as 14 million federal workers' private information. and that number could go up since the breach started in december, but was not detected until april. also today on the hill, lawmakers will look at how tsa workers are screened. a recent homeland security report found 73 tsa employees

with active clearance badges had possible links to terrorism. homeland security's inspector general will testify. it's now 5:05. to the race for the white house now, donald trump is signaling a possible presidential bid. many say he appears much more serious this time around. trump is expected to share the details of his personal fortune including a net worth of $9 billion. that is a disclosure trump has not made in previous election years. we'll be watching his 11:00 a.m. news conference today where he's expected to lay out his 2016 intentions. francis scott key elementary school is closed today. the air conditioning stopped working yesterday as temperatures hit 90 degrees. students were moved to washington lee high school to finish the day. the fifth grade promotion ceremony will go on today at washington lee high school. we'll work to find out when the elementary school will reopen. will we make it into the 90s

today? if so that's day six of the heat wave. look at the current temperatures in the 70s. 77 here in washington. chuck bell is working on your drive time forecast and we'll bring that to us at 5:11. the naval academy changing the honor code. the violations forcing a review. new information in the case against dennis hastert. why we may never know the name of the person accused of blackmailing him. one day after a controversial naacp leader steps down, she's

we may never know the identity of the person who allegedly blackmailed former house speaker dennis hastert. a federal judge ordered some of the evidence to be kept secret. hastert faces charges for breaking bank rules and lying to the fbi. he was reportedly paying someone to hide sexual misconduct. federal law enforcement sources say the person was a student at the illinois high school where hastert once taught. he pled not guilty but has not spoken publicity about these allegations. the naval academy is reviewing its honor code. 35 midshipmen have been dismissed in the past five years for violating the code. "the capital gazette" reports that's not why it was ordered though. one said he wants to refresh the honor code so it motivates positive behavior. it is time for weather and traffic on the 1s. we have been talking about a heat wave and we'll find out how long it's going to last. we need a break. >> we do. what can you expect this morning

as you head out the door? >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is out there in new carrollton with your commuter forecast. not too bad, right, chuck? >> not too bad. now, eun, you love the hot weather. >> i do. >> now you want a break from the 90s? you're confusing me, eun. >> i do love the hot weather. but i'm speaking for most people who don't like the humidity. >> fair enough. and there's a valid point right there. it is really thick outside this morning. we're at 76 degrees at the new carrollton metro station and as you make your plans to head out the door plan on temperatures mid 70s now. we'll be in the upper 70s to near 80 degrees before 9:00 or 10:00 this morning. so have your sun block on for later today. tom will be talking about the afternoon storm chances in ten minutes. but for now over to alexis for

first 4 traffic. >> behind eig road and diamondback road, that's closed due to a fatal accident. your alternate is muddy branch road. elsewhere, 66, looking good. but seeing that volumed by building east of 234. elsewhere, at darcy road, again seeing some volume building but no incidents or delays there. 270 at shady grove looking good. 95 is looking good as you head up to the beltway and on to 395 as well. aaron and eun, back to you. >> thanks. an al qaeda leader, killed. the confirmation coming in overnight of the death of the man who was once osama bin laden's personal secretary. nbc news has learned that the fda is announcing a decision to ban trans fats. when the announcement wi

you're watching "news4 today."

>> your time is 5:15. in a few short hours the woman in the national uproar over race an identity will speak to the "today" show. rachel dolezal stepped down after days of confusion about why she pretended for a black person. she said she's waited to respond and others have spoken without hearing her full story. she did not write the words i'm sorry and she did not explain why she misled people. and for that, many people say it's not enough. >> you may not copy my people's struggles, my women's struggles, and call themur ohe never happened to you. >> last night, news4 brought you the story of how dolezal sued howard university in 2002. she claimed the historically black college denied her opportunities because she was white. that suit was dismissed by a federal judge. again, dolezal will be speaking with the "today" show later this morning in an exclusive interview. be sure to tune in for that. and naacp president said,

quote, the naacp is not concerned with the racial identity of our leadership. but the institutional integrity of our advocacy. there is a hearing today for the man accused of killing a fellow student at university of mary washington. police say van der briel strangled grace mann. they were roommates. a toddler remains in the hospital this morning after being found in the bottom of a pool in fairfax county. this happened sunday evening at the pirates cove water park that's in lorton. lifeguards were clearing the pool because of lightning when the 2-year-old was spotted at the bottom of the water. this is the second pool incident in two weeks in the lorton area. a swimming instructor said children should never be left unattended at a pool. >> with your child when in the pool. >> always keep your child in your arms or within arm's reach.

she says life vests are not a substitute for parent supervision. in ferguson, there's a protest in response to the recent protest involving children at a pool party and police in mckinney, texas. group members said there's a practice of militarized policing around the country and here in washington. the march begins at 7:00 p.m. in mount vernon square. in "news4 your health," the fda could announce a total ban on trans fats. you may have seen the label on your foods. the fda says transfats raise bad cholesterol levels and can increase your risk for heart disease. the agency wants them completely gone within three years. it could prevent thousands of heart attacks every year. we're talking about artificial trans fats of course. not eating before an operation may be doing more harm than good. doctors say the idea is to prevent sickness from the anesthesia. now, eating lots of carbs before a surgery is part of a new approach that's helping patients

recover more quickly. >> we started to look at things like electrolytes and starvation and nutrition and befound that there's an -- and we found there's an impact by starving the body by inhibiting it from receiving glucose. >> loading up on carbs seems to reduce the time that patients need to spend in the hospital. taking anesthesia drugs to prevent sickness is part of the new enhanced recovery approach. never hurts to hear about the health benefits of chocolate. right? come on, aaron. a new study found chocolate is linked to a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. people who ate up to 3 1/2 ounces of chocolate were 11% less likely to develop heart disease and they had a 23% lower risk of stroke. scientists tracked more than 20,000 people who filled out lifestyle and diet questionnaires. that doesn't mean that chocolate prevents heart disease.

before you start to eat the whole thing, everything in moderation. just a little bit. >> i'm sorry, what? >> just a little bit. >> who said that? >> listen, do as i say, not as i do. this is what i tell the kids at home as well. >> there it is. >> i do love chocolate. i do have some restraint. not like i'm sitting in the corner eating chocolate all day. >> i have seen you. >> i mean i like to. but i have things to do. >> all right 19 after the hour right now. 77 degrees outside our studios and a beautiful picture here as we see just the first rays before sunrise. >> storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein telling us about what this day holds weatherwise. good morning, tom. >> going to melt your chocolate by later this afternoon. we'll have our heat index up near 100 degrees. right now, steamy humidity starting off this tuesday morning. didn't go away yesterday, that's for sure. right now getting a few scattered sprinkles rolling out of west virginia into the shenandoah valley and now they're into northern fauquier and right here in extreme southern washington county. but they're really breaking up now as they're moving off to the

east. partly cloudy sky, in the low to mid 70s. mid to upper 70s around the bay and southern maryland and northern neck. shenandoah valley and in the mountains low 70s. already at petersburg 82 there in one of the central valleys in the eastern pan handle of west virginia. it will be near 80 by 8:00 this morning. then by noontime, near 90 degrees. then by 5:00 the low 90s but that feels like temperature may be in to the upper 90s to near 100. especially around 3:00 or 4:00. after that we get some storms rolling on through. the impact of the storms will be low to moderate. they may interrupt the afternoon commute with those storms coming through with a very small risk of a tornado. the greatest risk of the afternoon storms will be high winds. that's the severe threat. low risk of any hail. only a moderate risk of enough rain to cause some ponding of water on the commute heading

home. a nice break tomorrow from the high heat and humidity. cooler, less humid on wednesday with highs reaching the mid to upper 80s and partly cloudy and then on thursday and into friday it gets a little steamier again. but not as humid as it has been the last few days. in the low to mid 80s on thursday. maybe a morning shower, afternoon thunderstorm. up near 90 on friday. here's the storm team 4 seven day outlook into your weekend on saturday, showers and some thundershowers temperatures in the mid 80s. these are the remnants of tropical storm bill. looks like saturday is the day that it will be coming on through. then drying out sunday, hot again up into the mid 90s. could get afternoon storms. and next weather and traffic on the 1s, county by county highs for this tuesday. alexis davies looking at the commute. what's going on now? >> we have an accident sam eig highway between diamondback

drive and your alternate is route 28. a serious crash involving a fatality. overall looking at the beltway no reports of incidents or delays in maryland or virginia. traveling 270 out of frederick, seeing slowing at old hundred road, but that's typical for this time of the morning. 95, b.w. parkway looking good. traveling to the beltway. maryland route 50 at landover road looking good as well. very light volume for this time of the morning. then approaching the beltway, typical volume for this type time of the morning. centreville, sluggish -- from centreville and looking good into falls church. new this morning, al qaeda confirming today that the number two figure and leader of the powerful yemeni affiliate were killed in a u.s. drone strike. this is the harshest blow to the terrorist network since the killing of osama bin laden. nasir al wuhayshi died on sunday. he was once bin laden's personal secretary. he is linked to a number of

foiled or botched attacks on the u.s. today is the wake for an american killed while fighting against isis in syria. 36-year-old keith broomfield died fighting along with kurdish forces. the massachusetts native had no military training. he started fighting with kurdish forces back in february. his heart was in protecting the innocence of children and women. today, the san diego sheriff's deputy had the right to tase a boy. the deputy said he tried to get the teenager into his squad car. the boy had been reported as a runaway. the deputy says that when he approached, the boy became combative. the two fought and the deputy used his taser on him. the deputy claims the 13-year-old bit him as well. >> what we have is really an it of control juvenile who could have prevented this whole ordeal just by obeying the commands of the deputy and getting into the

car so he could be returned home. >> the sheriff's department pictures of the bite marks on the officer's arm. there's no dash cam that showed what happened before the incident. students are going back to school in south korea as the death toll rises from the outbreak of the respiratory syndrome. the schools shut down last week. the health ministry says 19 people have died from mers. more than 150 have been infected. nearly 5,600 very quarantined. the fight over president obama's high stakes trade bill is over. and the plan could come up for a vote as early as today and democrats rejected it last week in a stunning blow to president obama. lots of redskins players

will be at minicamp today. we'll see some new faces there. hockey fans in chicago are going wild now that the blackhawks have their third stanley cup championship in six years. can you believe that? they took out the tampa bay lightning 2-0 last night. it's the first time that chicago has won the title at home since 1938. one of the teams players is retiring this year too. he won his first championship after more than 1,000 games. congrats. i would like to see the stanley cup here in washington some day. >> it would be nice. keep working on it. hey, the budget battle continues in prince george's county. why property taxes could be going up or end up in court. an update on a news4 i-team investigation. what is expected to happen today when it comes to predatory towing and how you can speak out about that practice. and here we go outside this morning as the sun starts to make its way up and you are sure to feel that sun today as well as the humidity. tom is working on your county by county highs and will bring that to us on your next weather and traffic on the 1s.

looking at the stories making headlines right now at

5:30, today the man accused of killing four people in a mansion is headed to court. daron wint is expected to tell the judge that he hired a new lawyer. you have to squeeze into six-car trains on metro for at least the rest of the week. about 100 eight-car trains are not on the tracks. no time line for when they'll return. and day six of a heat wave. 77 degrees in our nation's capital already. good morning. welcome to "news4 today." i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. while we're talking about the heat let's turn right to tom kierein. >> this is the coolest part of the day, then this afternoon, county by county highs, prince george's county into the low 90s. much of fairfax county, low 90s. low 90s, alexandria, fairfax and

scattered afternoon thundershowers rolling on through. and stafford and spotsylvania, culpepper, up to the low to mid 90s. fredericksburg in the mid 90s. annapolis, upper 80s. st. mary's in the low 90s. in the northern neck of virginia low to mid 90s. king george up to the mid 90s by this afternoon. across the pennsylvania border into maryland and western maryland, into the 80s. panhandle of west virginia and much of the shenandoah valley. although the central and southern part low 90s. 80s out of the mountains with chances of afternoon storms. next weather and traffic on the 1s, your bus stop forecast, what to wear for this torrid tuesday. now alexis davies has a check on the commute. >> that's right. we still have that accident in gaithersburg. sam eig highway between diamond back drive, a fatality accident

there. follow the posted detours there. elsewhere in virginia downed wires, hunter mill road between lawyers road and hunter station road. that road is shut down in both directions. police have detoryurs on the scene. and woodrow wilson bridge, a disabled vehicle is blocking the left lane. a live look at the bridge. we are not seeing that on camera, but that doesn't mean it's not there. elsewhere traveling the beltway, no incidents in virginia or maryland. 270 at shady grove road looking good. typical slowing in dale city. back to you. >> thank you. and today we could see a budget showdown in prince george's county. the county executive rushern baker plans to veto parts of the budget that was approved by the county council. he plans to replace a 4% property tax increase with an 11.45% tax hike. the move could spark a legal challenge between the county executive and the council. >> they have an option of sustaining the veto which would

put everything back in balance. if they don't then we'll take the necessary action after that. >> now baker wants to use that money for the public schools. the county council is expected to override the executive veto. if it does the standoff could head to court. a woman accused of stealing two homes in prince george's county is heading to prison. she is described as a financial predator and now kia jeh johnson faces eight years in jail. she broke into a home and started to live there. and that same year, johnson and a friend stole the upper marlboro home of a dead woman. johnson also worked with this woman here, shannon lee. lee rented out foreclosed homes she didn't own. she was sentenced to six months in prison. a man accused of making repeated threats against metro will face a mental evaluation. the judge ordered that yesterday for jerez coleman. he faces 11 felony counts for the threats between last december and may.

coleman once was featured in the mtv reality show "catfish." he was arrested last month. district leaders will announce a $4 million gift to the d.c. public school system. that will happen at the elementary school in southwest. bloomberg philanthropies and the schusterman foundation are donating that money to the cornerstone assignments. it will provide tools to prepare for the next phase of the common core standards. in a few hours, the d.c. teachers union will urge the council to delay a vote that would limit access to teacher evaluations. that plan would block you from accessing most of the information in the evaluations. only a summary would be available for public release. council members say current laws protect public schoolteachers' personal information. this measure is designed to protect charter school

employees. it's 5:34. you can learn more about the transformed 66 inside the beltway project. the public meeting will be held tonight in falls church. that meeting takes place between 7:00 and 9:00 tonight. it is about converting the existing hov lanes into toll lanes during peak travel times. and the project is considering future widening. if you can't make the meeting there will be a presentation tomorrow night at arlington central library at 7:00 p.m. we have an update to a news4 i-team investigation now. today is your chance to speak up on proposed legislation to stop predatory towing in montgomery county. that bill would reform the practices on private property including setting a flat rate for certain services and prohibiting tow spotters. those are the employees whose main job is to watch for violators. the committee on public safety will hold a hearing tonight. the i-team has investigated towing complaints over the last year. go to nbcwashington.com, click on investigation for more information. in a few hours tropical

storm bill is expected to make landfall in eastern texas, packing winds up to 60 miles per hour. look at the storm waves, strong waves that are now in the gulf coast. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein says this storm should make landfall later this afternoon. four to eight inches of rain is expected to fall today. that means flooding, a big concern, especially in the same area that were under water a few weeks ago. officials in galveston county have called for volunteer evacuations. dozens of classes were cancelled for today. ♪ you are listening to a special service celebrating the end of one phase of the repairs at the national cathedral. the 2011 earthquake in our area caused a lot of damage to the building and interior repairs wrapped up a few months ago. crews have years of exterior work to do.

those repairs will cost more than $20 million. metro is trying to make your commute faster and easier. how new touch screens could help you on your way to work this morning. new information in the hunt for two escaped prisoners and this morning, we're hearing from one of the men's friends. what what he says about a possible motive. and we're learning that the beaches are still open, the latest on that as well as an update on victims. need a spa day? step outside for the sauna. we're in for another hot, humid day. chuck bell has a look at your what to w

two kids who lost an arm in separate shark attacks in north carolina are recovering this morning. the attacks happened in oak island on sunday. a shark bit a 12-year-old girl and then about two miles away a shark bit a 16-year-old boy. the kids were in waist-deep water at the time. the investigators don't know if the same shark is responsible for both attacks. the beaches remain open. authorities are patrolling the area looking for sharks. coming up on the "today" show, gabe gutierrez is working on this developing story. new details about how a former fifa executive went undercover to help the u.s.-led investigation into corruption in

world cup soccer. court documents show that chuck blazer has been informing on fifa since 2011 as part of a secret deal struck in -- struck and finalized in 2013. he admitted to having millions in unreported income and pleaded to bribery charges related to the 1998 and 2010 world cup bids. he faces millions in fines and possible jail time. he's also agreed he won't fight a possible ban from soccer. it is 5:40 right now. time to check on your forecast for the morning commute. >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is at the new carrollton metro stop to tell us more about this heat wave. we're getting a break soon, right, chuck? >> well let's hope so. it will be a while i think before we can really break the pattern that we're in. but nonetheless, our rain chances will be sneaking up over the next couple of days. and tom will help guide us through the next seven-day forecast in ten minutes. for today though no tie needed outside the door. put it on once you get into the air conditioning at work.

it is already 76 degrees here in prince george's county this morning. as you're planning on bus stop weather, plan on mid to upper 70s this morning. generally dry sidewalks. a good ride in to work and school. could have some wet roads temperatures in the low 90s. that's coming up later on. green light conditions for morning and midday, but maybe some slowdowns later on this afternoon. for now, the current traffic situation with alexis. >> that's right. we have that serious crash in gaithersburg. sam eig highway between diamondback road. and hunter mill road and hunter station road we have downed wires there. police have posted a detour there. so follow that detour to get around that area. 95 after public road is looking good. 270 at germantown road, pretty light volume for this time of

the morning. here's some travel times, 16 minutes southbound 270 between route 118 and the capital bleltd -- beltway. and then 216 and the beltway looking at about eight minutes. back to you. >> thanks, alexis. new details about the woman who helped two escaped inmates in upstate new york. what we're learning about joyce mitchell. and a twist in the case against accused killer charles severance. what his attorneys are asking for for from the court. attention moms to be in virginia. the new test that health officials w

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developing today as police and federal agents are hunting for two escaped prisoners in upstate new york, we are learning more about the men. david sweat and richard matt escaped the maximum security prison last week. according to a man who was locked up with them, matt painted these portraits while

serving time. you can see they featured celebrities and politicians. the man says he and matt were friends. >> probably the worst, you know? you know, he could have been -- what he could have become if he didn't take the route that he did. >> both david sweat and richard matt are convicted murderers. we're learning more about the woman police say helped those men escape. a senior law enforcement official told nbc news they're investigating claims that joyce mitchell wanted the prisoners to kill her husband. police arrested mitchell earlier this week. her husband is a fellow prison employee. joyce mitchell has pled not guilty to all charges. police are asking for your help to find this woman. they want to question her about a murder that happened outside of a mcdonald's in waldorf back in may. a prince george's county police officer and his mother are charged in this case. police say the mother may have used her son's service weapon to shoot his ex, and the woman's

new husband. that new husband died. the naacp in loudoun county wants the school board to rethink naming a new middle school after a map who may have been -- after a man who may have been involved in segregation laws. it was named after john f. ryan instead of mathias giordano who died last year of bone cancer. the civil rights group found documents that suggest that ryan may have been connected to those who favored segregation. but the request may be too late. the naming of the new school was made official at the june 9th board meeting. usually you don't think of street lights when you think of tough security in washington. but it turns out they could be more vulnerable to hackers than previously thought. an argentine researcher said he hacked the traffic light system pretty easily. we spoke to ddot who said the system was never hacked and they're in good shape. >> well we have a team that's constantly monitoring it. every day. we have a strong i.t. group here

in the government. >> this comes as ddot is in the middle of a citywide traffic light retiming project. ddot says it's shaved off two minutes from your commute on 18th street downtown. 5:48 right now. you might see a brand new touch screen on your commute on metro today. metro put the monitors at the pentagon station and seven others in down town d.c. some marc train riders are urging harry hogan to delay fare increases set to take place next thursday. that's when basic fares will increase by $1. it will increase from $1.60 to $1.70. it could cost taxes more than expected to fund the baseball stadium in spotsylvania county. the county administrator said it could add up to $45 million. this is according to "the free lance-star." the opener of the hagerstown

suns wants them to pay for most of the stadium so he could move them there. in "news4 your health" your kids can receive some health benefits from playing video games. that's right. i said it video games. researchers at the university of tennessee and knoxville compared health benefits of playing video games and outdoor play and they found that video games may actually be a good source of exercise for young kids. researchers watched kids play connect adventures river rush. that uses the entire body to play. there's movement and you need a big room to do this. the children need to do at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. that's either indoor or outdoor play. well, virginia just expanded the list of disorders to test in your newborn baby. the state now tests for severed combined immunodeficiency. it leaves the newborn us is

settable to in -- susceptible to infections. francis scott key elementary in arlington is closed today. the fifth grade promotion ceremony will still happen at washington lee high school. the air conditioning at francis scott key stopped working yesterday. the students were moved to washington lee high school to finish the day. we're working to find out when the elementary school will reopen. today is the kind of day to have a little air conditioning. >> or a lot of air conditioning. it's not an open the windows day if you can help it. >> have your storm team 4/nbc washington app ready. i was out and about, i heard thunder, checked the app, yes, the storms were coming in. right now on the storm team 4 radar don't have any storms around. we did have a few sprinkles coming across the shenandoah valley, but as they crossed the blue ridge they pretty much are just gone now. few clouds floating through. mild and muggy morning.

in the low to mid 70s. shenandoah valley, most of virginia and maryland. nearby suburbs, prince george's county now in the mid 70s. much of fairfax county in the low to mid 70s. near 70 in montgomery county. near 70's in the eastern shore. that's the sun this morning over the potomac river. we had the sunrise at 5:42. by 8:00 near 80 degrees. by noon, near 90. thening the low 90s and a pretty good chance of some passing storms coming through during the afternoon. the feels like temperature will be near 100. the impact for the afternoon commute, moderate to low because of the passing storms. you need the a.c. on with the heat index near 100. the storm threat is very low for any tornados or hail. and only a moderate risk of some heavy rain that may cause some flooding. the main threat of any isolated

storms would be strong gusts of wind that may cause tree damage like in southern maryland. after we get into the afternoon lower humidity moves in. by dawn tomorrow 60s throughout much of the region. a nice break tomorrow from high heat and humidity. temperatures reaching the 80s. partly cloudy and less humid noticeably so a pleasant day. on thursday, more humid into the mid 80s. a morning shower and afternoon storms are looking more likely on friday and showers and thundershowers on saturday. the remnants of tropical storm bill coming through our region on saturday. clearing out on sunday. hot, in the mid 90s. could get afternoon storms. coming up at 6:01 i'll show you the very latest model timing hour by hour of the storms coming in by this afternoon. now, alexis davies in for melissa with an update on the traffic. >> that's right. sam eig highway, we still have that closed due to the fatal accident. alternate there is route 28. we have the ramp from great seneca highway to sam eig highway closed as well due to

this accident. elsewhere 66 at waples mill road, it's building but no reports of incidents. and 95 at powder mill road looking good as you head to the beltway. route 50 headed to the d.c. area looking good as well. then looking at 95, a little slow as you head up through woodbridge and the beltway but that's typical for this time of the morning. overall the beltway is traveling good this time of the morning. back to you. >> thanks alexis. attorneys for accused killer charles severance filed several new motions in his murder case. severance is charged with killing three well known residents over a ten-year period. a mental health expert is being asked to help with the defense. they say prosecutors picked the pieces for shock value, and the writers refer to murder and killing and express contempt for police. it could be another six months before a trial starts for

the man who wanted to attack the u.s. capitol. the fbi arrested christopher cornell in january. they say he wanted to set up pipe bombs and shoot people as they fled the capitol. a january 11th deadline for prosecutors to name any expert rebuttal witnesses they plan to call during his trial. more firefighters are battling two wildfires in alaska. a new fire started yesterday afternoon near sterling. it spread to 640 acres and is now threatening some 200 homes. crews are still trying to map out the sockeye wildfire. that sparked near the town of willow. hundreds of homes have been evacuated and at least six structures have been burned. the cause of both fires is under investigation. 5:54 your time right now. christmas of course more -- >> christmas? >> yeah, i have to mention it. six months away. you have time still but u.p.s. is making some changes to the holiday shipping. landon dowdy is joining us from cnbc with your business headlines this morning.

hey landon. >> hey, aaron good morning to you. looking to craft a new source of revenue, reports say the online marketplace for hand made goods will test a crowd funding venture for the sellers. they will be able to raise money to pay for materials and manufacturing of products. they would get a cut of the transactions and backers wouldn't have the credit cards charged until the project is completed. u.p.s. plans to get rid of shipping discounts on oversized packages this season and possibly year round. "wall street journal" reports the move could hit consumers who would have to buy their items at a store or pay some of the shipping charges of more than $7. oversized items don't fit on the conveyor belts requiring more work and take up extra space in the trucks. aaron, back to you. >> landon dowdy, thanks. a new study shows how much a teen age driver can cause your insurance rates to go up, but there may be some encouraging news behind the numbers. check it out.

families pay about 80% more in d.c., maryland and virginia when they add a teen to their auto policy. 80%. but that's still on par with the premium increases seen last year for young drivers. the rates reflect a drop in teen driving deaths in recent years. well, a scam alert for you this morning affecting property owners in montgomery county. homeowners are receiving letters encouraging them to pay $99 for a property tax assessment review. those letters are fake. maryland's department of assessment and taxation says there is no charge to petition for a review. montgomery county's office of consumer protection says don't send money or give credit card information in you receive one of these letters. breaking news right now on the roads. where an accident in gaithersburg has a busy stretch of the road closed at this hour. in the last 30 minutes we learned a child died in the accident. we'll take you live to the scene for more on what happened and how to get around it. plus bracing for bill, the

conditions people in texas are dealing with right now as the storm approaches the coastline this morning. and the impact it could have on the water logged state next on "news4 today" at 6:00. a live look outside here this morning where it's already 75 degrees in tenially town. we are expecting to get into the 90s today with a heat index close to triple digits. tom kierein has your forecast for the day ahead.

"news4 today" begins with breaking news. >> we begin with breaking news that could affect your morning commute. crews are on the scene of a deadly crash in montgomery county. >> i-370 is closed between diamondback drive and fields road in gaithersburg. news4's darcy spencer got to the scene there. bring us up to speed. >> reporter: well, good morning. we literally got here to this scene, and unfortunately, a child has died as a result of this accident. we're along sam eig highway in the gaithersburg area. this was the single-vehicle accident. you can see the white car right there. if you look on the passenger side, you can see some singeing marks. what we understand happened here, the vehicle crashed and then caught on fire. again, a passenger we're told a child, a boy, died.

we do not have his age. a woman was transported to the hospital. her condition is considered to be serious. she had to be taken to a burn unit because of the injuries from this car fire. from what i have been told from montgomery county fire and rescue, there was an ambulance in the area headed back to fire station and came upon this accident. it was that ambulance crew that grabbed the fire extinguishers and put out the fire, rescued the woman out of the car and again that woman has been taken to an area burn unit for treatment of her injuries. we'll send it back to you. >> that's right. darcy spencer just reported, sam eig highway is closed between diamondback drive and fields road due to this fatal accident. your alternate is route 28. also the ramp from great seneca highway to sam eig highway is closed because of the same accident. hunter millville between lawyers road and hunter stations