hours and that's just what we're seeing tonight. >> we'll push out alerts on the nbc washington app as we get them. meteorologist veronica johnson is tracking this for us. what's it look like right now, v.j.? >> the scattered strong thunderstorms coming up through the afternoon and the through the evening hours. we'll see more of the storms popping up on storm team 4 radar and more isolated severe weatherment take a look at severe thunderstorm watch covers the area. initially, it was just across northern maryland but now it's through until 9:00 p.m. we've got the threat of seeing hail up to an inch. the possibility of some damaging winds. gusts over 50 miles per hour as well as heavy rain. torrential rain coming into our area. here's the latest on radar up to the north and east of baltimore. seeing some hail. extended warnings there. tracking this storm system through st. mary's calvert county like calvert beach and bertha in the next couple of minutes. it's possible it could be warned

on and more storms are stacking up off to the west. download our nbc washington app and keep that updated forecast in the palm of your hands. >> thanks, v.j. a developing story in d.c. where a guy robbed a bank in one of the busiest areas of the district as people were lining up for lunch. he was wearing a construction vest and fisherman's hat. walked into a sun trust bank. police say he got away with some cash and a crime alert suggests he hopped a metrobus outside the bank. just in this afternoon the death of a toddler found on a maryland playground is a homicide. investigators say this boy died of dehydration and hypothermia. the 3-year-old boy was found in a swing in memorial park in la plate a in may. he was likely in that swing for at least two days. the child's mother had been pushing him in the swing. she hasn't been charged but the

state's attorney is reviewing this case. could a fourth of july terror attack be linked with fireworks? that's what homeland security is concerned about right now. fire marshals in fairfax county are checking those stands that you see in shopping areas. the fear is that fireworks could be disassembled and reassembled as an ied improvised explosive device. that's what happened with the boston mayor than bombing. >> now to the indictment of a police officer accused of road rage. he's charged with first and second degree assault for an incident last year in bowie. investigators say the officer was off duty when he cut a car off on route 50, drove up next to the car and pointed a gun at the people inside. the victims pulled over and managed to get a license plate. he has been placed on administrative duty. a public mass, a meeting with the president and an

address to a joint session of congress. there's a lot of buzz today about all the details of the pope's upcoming visit to the nation's capitol. news 4's megan fitzgerald has details. >> the excitement is growing now that we know where pope francis will be when he comes to washington, d.c. now here at the national shrine of the immaculate conception is where the big mass will be. about 30,000 people are expected in and outside on september 23rd. but first, the pope will arrive from cuba on tuesday, september 22nd landing at andrews air force base. he'll head to the white house on wednesday morning to meet with president obama. he'll pray with u.s. bishops at st. matthews before heading to the national shrine to give his much anticipated mass. pope francis is expected to address congress before feeding the homeless. he'll then fly to new york city where he's expected to talk to the general assembly.

pope francis has been vocal on issues. what washington, d.c. thinks the pope will discuss while he's here. back to you. >> i'm mark seagraves in the district where there's body cameras. they voted to put a hold on the program until the mayor comes up with a $1.5 million in funding needed for the first year of the program. the council is insisting that the mayor come up with a policy so that the public can access the video from those police body cameras. cameras were supposed to roll out citywide this month. that will have to wait possibly until next fall. just a couple of days away now from what is probably our signature event here in washington, d.c. the fireworks on the fourth. hundreds of thousands of people going to be down here on the national mall. of course to take it all in and hey if you plan to take metro, did you consider this. it's on a saturday this year. the transit agency expecting

more people than normal for a fourth of july celebration. of course, the crowds are always a concern when you come down here. coming up on news 4 at 5:00 and 6:00, going to tell you more about the transit agency's plans for getting around plus what you should do if you want to get the best view. have that for you coming up. on the mall, adam tuss, news 4. maryland's governor is giving the thumbs up on facebook today as he nears the end of his first round of chemotherapy. larry hogan posted a message again this morning saying he's feeling really strong. doctors are treating him at the university of maryland medical center for nonhodgkin's lymphoma. today was his fourth day of round the clock treatment. here at the live desk, we've been talking about a spike in synthetic drug overdoses. d.c.'s police chief is going to get more power to shut down the stores with those drugs. late this afternoon the chief

gets the power to shut down the businesses for up to 96 hours. the way you can close bars and clubs after violent incidents. $10,000 for a first incident. a second time the district can revoke its business license. there is growing alarm about the pace of violent crime in baltimore city. with a sharp increase since the unrest after freddie gray's death there have been 12 shootings in the city since sunday night. 14 people have been shot. at least two of the victims are listed in critical condition. it's not clear whether any of the shootings are linked. >> plot revealed. how he busted out of prison. >> a growing mystery this afternoon. where did this couple go and what their family is doing to find them and bring them home. >> an extra moment in time. what is a leap second? we'll expla

now your storm team 4 forecast. >> good afternoon once again. temperatures have gotten close to 90 degrees in many neighborhoods. 89 now at national airport. 85 at joint base andrews. 88 frederick and gaithersburg and leesburg. all areas under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00 tonight. widely scattered away from the metro area thunderstorms. that will be dhanging with time now. remain weather alert over the next couple of hours. st. mary's county and calvert, this storm south of prince frederick may have small hail associated with it and these here towards chesapeake ranch estate. mrs. in the shenandoah valley. east of the new market area. others up near the winchester area. we'll keep you posted as the day

goes along. thanks, chuck. two different families lost their homes and firefighters in washington state are keeping a close eye on the sleepy hollow fire. within a matter of hours, it burned down 24 to 28 homes, a couple businesses and 3,000 acres. the fire destroyed an entire block of houses in wenatchee. they say the flames came out of nowhere. no time to save anything and just ran. >> it was really scary. nightmare. >> it chased us. it was like it was chasing us. >> the crews say overnight rain settled things down a little. but high temperatures and strong winds continue to feed the fire. we'll have a report from the fire zone in our next half hour. there's a desperate search for survivors after an indonesian military plane crashed today. it landed on houses and a hotel in indonesia's third largest city. 74 people are confirmed dead on

the plane. it's unclear how many died on the ground. panic and terror. that's how witnesses describe the moments after a man doused himself with gasoline on a speeding bullet train in japan. passengers were begging him to stop. but he took out a lighter and set himself on fire. he died along with a passenger who was burned and suffered smoke inhalation. the man has been identified as a 71-year-old tokyo resident. his motive is not clear. putting in practice right now a convicted killer is explaining to investigators how he busted out of prison.

involving the new york prison break. 12 prison workers are now on administrative leave. they include three executives and nine security staff. this move is part of the investigation into the escape of those two convicted killers earlier this month. one was shot and killed. the other still hospitalized. david sweat is improving and talking more about the escape, including divulging a practice run the night before they broke out. sweat was shot sunday during his capture and today he was upgraded from serious to fair condition. he says the plan was for joyce mitchell to pick them up outside the prison and then they were going to kill her husband and head to mexico together. when mitchell didn't show up the men headed for canada instead. richard matt was slowing him down and after two weeks, sweat

left him behind. officers shot and killed matt on friday. right now, concern is growing for an arizona couple missing since father's day. search teams are combing the area by land and by air for michael and tina ka reach i can't. their car was found not far from their phoenix home. the couple is in their early 40s. he's a pilot for united airlines. tina works as an accountant. they were high school sweethearts who reconnected. the family worries that somebody or something harmed them. >> we want answers. we want them home safe. please come forward and just tell us. come back. >> their friends have set up a facebook and a twitter account that already has gotten more than 11000 followers. it has been a bumpy day on wall street. but right now stocks are closing higher, just a day after the worst trading day of the year.

the dow is up above 52 points, the nasdaq 28. the s&p is up about 5 points. now the dow and s&p ended the first half of the year lower over concerns about the economy in greece. it comes as greece asks for more time to make a debt repaymentment that was due today. the country owes $2 billion to the international monetary fund. greece's creditors haven't yet agreed on the deal. they plan to focus on a new plan for the country starting tomorrow. there's news out of president obama's meetings with brazilian president rue self-both leaders made commitments to expand renewable sources of energy, like other than hydropower. brazil agreed to new but unspecified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. the president there committed to the reforestation in brazil of the size of asia. >> adding an extra quart a

month. most involved are subaru's, audis and bmws. specifically from 2010 to 2014. audi is set to settle a lawsuit. the company does not admit they did anything wrong. oil levels depend on how you use the car says subaru. a new study crunching the numbers about gun owners in america and which states have the most gun-related deaths. researchers at columbia university did the study. they found that nearly one in three adults in america owned at least one gun. most of them are married white men over the age of 55. gun ownership rates are higher in states with weaker gun laws and they have more gun-related deaths. the days of getting a free checked bag on jetblue, they're over. the airline resisted those fees for years. but now they charge up to $25 per bag. an executive says that money will go to install new seats and tvs. now the fees only apply to new

bookings. so if you already have a reservation, you won't have to pay. that leaves southwest the only major carrier still offering free checked luggage. a new automated team is joining the nfl. hyundai is replacing general motors as official sponsor. it gives hyundai the chance to use nfl trademarks in marketing and access to events like the super bowl, the playoffs and the college draft. nbc reports the four-year deal will cost hyundai $5 million. tonight's soccer match between the u.s. and germany could be the greatest women's world cup game of all-time. that according to a survey on espn blog reporting that germany is favored to win tonight's game. if you want to watch it, surrounded by fans, one place to see it is at national harbor. the party starts at 7:00 tonight and admission is free. a lot of folks who might be

heading out will be wondering vj is the rain going to hold off so they can sit outside? >> the storms will be scattered about this evening. it's been a weather alert day for storm team 4. on the radar right now, yes, we do have scattered strong thunderstorms that are moving through. mainly south across southern maryland. calvert, st. mary's county and well off to the west, you can see the storms here potentially producing some hail. they're moving east northeast out over the bay. before long hitting areas first like white sands. calvert beach by 4:24 and taylor's island by 4:30. potentially high winds. the storms out west, they continue to intensify too. there's martinsburg, winchester area, blue mont and front royal and around la ray. this particular storm headed towards martinsburg and more storms in charles town crossing over 70 eventually. staying to the east of

hagerstown. but frederick on the western side of frederick there may see some of that rough weather coming through. what are we most at risk for this evening? our tornado threat is low. but still there. we've seen some spin with some of those storms up around baltimore. the threat of high winds fairly high, at least moderate as well as the risk of flash flooding and we could even see some hail with some of these storms. scattered severe storms, isolated flooding possible as well as wind damage all coming our way from now until about midnight. until 1:00 a.m. in the morning. that's when we'll see most of these storms. the severe thunderstorm watch at 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. even after that, we still could have storms bringing high winds and maybe even power outages. any of the high winds that come through those gusts could be just over 50 miles per hour. here's a look at your chances. 8:00, the chance continuing to go up until 9:00 10:00. midnight, still storminess around the area. by 2:00 a.m., finally that chance starts to wane.

here's a look at your future weather. taking you into early tomorrow morning, there's 9:00, scattered showers and storms. 11:00, another line coming through up until about midnight. when we go on air at 11:00 still storms pushing through. finally it starts to clear up by early tomorrow morning. meanwhile, any warnings come out, we'll cut back in and of course the alerts will be pushed to our nbc washington app. i'll be back with a look at the seven-day forecast in a couple of minutes. three hackers had a brush with death in colorado when lightning hit. one lost his dog. doctors say that dog likely saved his life. last weekend they were coming down from the peak of mt. beer stat, a perfect day until they were struck by a bolt of lightning. >> i had the strike wound right here in the top of my head from where the lightning actually hit me. the doctors told me that he shared that electrical charge with me because he was right next to me. he was right at my side.

you know if it weren't for him i might have had that whole thing from my body alone. they said there's a chance you might still be here, chance you might not. >> he says his body aches, he still gets headaches and can't remember some thing. the most painful thing he really misses his german shepherd rambo. many people are fascinated by spies. how about spy planes? there's an iconic plane in virginia about to make a move. the blackbird plane is being moved from its current home at the virginia aviation museum to the science museum of virginia in richmond. this plane weighs 43,000 pounds, it has a wingspan of 55 feet. it will be taken completely apart before making that move. then the back bird will be on exhibit at the gallery -- it should be fascinating to see. >> that looks pretty pretty cool. don't blink tonight your clock

will change time. we'll explain why. >> also, ballerina superstar is at it again. how misty copeland has just made history again.

fall back. today we need to make another adjustment to our clocks. if you blink, you'll miss it.

aaron gill crest shows us what to expect. >> the earth is slowing down. an extra second, a leap second will be added to the clock. this leap second helps the atomic clock sync up with the earth's actual movement. the slowdown of the earth is due to magnetic fields and the gravitational pull of the moon. of course any time you have to change time, it means lots of computers have to change along with it. there are some concerns this year, because it's the first time a leap second will be added while the stock markets are still open in some places. this is though, actually the 27th leap second added to the clock. the practice started back in 1972. some countries including the united states and france, want to get rid of this practice altogether. britain, russia and china would like to keep it. there are some concerns that as technology involves the yearly time changes will cause more problems than they solve. i'm aaron gilchrist, news 4. one church leader is getting a lot of attention as he fights to allow parishioners to smoke

marijuana during services. it's in indianapolis. it's called the church of cannabis. he's planning to have everybody smoke simultaneously. it cannot interfere with a person's exercise of religion. that law does not allow for pot in the pews. the church leader plans to hold off for now. >> religion based on the cornerstone of love. i see no need to feed into the us and them frenzy that the chief of police is trying to create. >> he plans to take his case to civil court. in the meantime he'll substitute cigarettes for marijuana. designer drugs are fueling a new age of violence in downtown d.c. why experts say it's hard to stop. the concerns for families in the area. her feet have taken her to some amazing places. now misty copeland reached new

heights. the metro area is under a severe thunderstorm watch. veronica johnson and chuck bell are watching the radar and will have an up

storms continue to move through parts of maryland and virginia. meteorologist chuck bell has been telling us about the threat of storms for the last 24 hours. he's got the latest now in the

storm center. chuck what's the timeline on these? >> between now and 9:00 is when the most likelihood of severe weather is. we could have thunderstorms after midnight tonight. the storm you were just looking at on radar, that's the one with a brand new severe thunderstorm warning on. this is southernmost calvert county. it only goes until 4:45. from cove point to white sands. this is the same area hit with that tornado on sunday. now this yellow shaded area here in southern calvert county, severe thunderstorm warning for you. that goes until 4:45. lots of lightning and possibly some small hail out of that. more storms developing here in northern parts of clark county in virginia. we'll keep you posted on that. here's your four-day forecast for tomorrow. up near 90. probably don't have to worry about thunderstorms tomorrow. showers and thunderstorms likely now on thursday. high 85. clouds and showers lingering into friday. high 83. still optimistic that the fourth of july will be a dry one. 4:30. students, family and friends are

preparing to mourn the loss of two young men killed in a terrible car crash. a memorial for calvin lee and alex at wootton high. they were killed when the car they were in flipped over in north poet mock. who other students were hurt in the crash. speed and alcohol were factors. the vatican releases the official schedule for the pope's trip to the u.s. ella rife at joint base andrews september 22nd. the next day, he meets with president obama and will celebrate mass outside of the basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception. for a complete look at pope francis' schedule go to the nbc washington app. a little more money in your paycheck next year. about 5 million americans will qualify for overtime pay under new rules proposed by president obama. it includes overtime pay for salaried workers who earn less than $50,440 a year.

the current threshold is about $23,000 per year. police decisions made a bad situation worse during last year's protests in ferguson missouri. that's according to a report by the justice department. obtained by nbc news. the report says kbroog dogs, snipers and tactical vehicles designed for the military escalated the situation instead of calming it down. using police dogs to control crowds incited fear and anger. it says using military vehicles should only be used in certain situations like when shots are fired. >> now to the crackdown on synthetic marijuana in the district. the d.c. council passed a law giving the police chief more power. the police catch a store selling it they can shut it down up to four days. the second time they can take the business license. comes on the heels of overdoses downtown. "washington post" reporter abigail house sloaner wrote a great article on this which i linked to on my facebook page. she talked to a lot of people at the shelter.

abigail this seems like a high volume area for these drugs. why is it so hard for the district to stop it? >> it really was shocking to see so many people using the drugs and also apparently selling the drugs right out there a few blocks from police headquarters. part of the reason it's been so difficult to stop the drugs is that, well, authorities are trying to crackdown on suppliers. they're not going after users right now. that's part of the reason why you have situations like outside that homeless shelter at second and d street with a lot of users out on the sidewalks. the other reason why it's been so hard to crackdown is we're talking about synthetic drugs. these are obviously not regulated. the makers of the drugs are constantly altering the formula to escape federal regulations and local regulations. and they're selling them in

creative ways, including online, in local retail shops like liquor stores and also on the streets. >> it's definitely not the drug deals that you saw, say 30 years ago or in the late '80s, early '90s. again i linked abigail's story on my facebook page. is there anyone that you talked to or something that you found out that you just couldn't squeeze into the article? >> well, one thing that really struck me being down there was sort of the hopelessness among a lot of the users and folks outside. you saw a lot of people trickling in and out of the shelter and out on to the street right there. sort of the sense that i got from a lot of people is that it's almost unavoidable in some ways. that some of them have gone off to these treatment programs in the district and they say that that works but when they get out, they still have nowhere to live no job, right back at the

shelter and in effect out on the streets where the drugs are being sold around them. >> fascinating story and something i think the district will be struggling with for quite a while. abigail house loaner something that we've been covering as well. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. starting tomorrow, newlyweds could see an added charge to their photography bill in fairfax county. this applies to couples who take professional wedding pictures at parks. there will be a fee of $25. up to 19 people, you'll pay additional fees at some parks and groups of 20 or more will pay a $100 fee for a two-hour photo session and $50 an hour after that. some of the money will be used to repair the damage groups leave at those parks. if a tiny doughnut shop in manassas but attracted huge attention. terry mcauliffe helped to cut the ribbon this afternoon. this is paradise doughnuts on nokesville road.

the owner is a veteran. the governor says this is the type of business he likes to highlight. >> the doughnuts i understand are delicious. she's become an icon inside and outside of the world of ballet. today, she's made history again. misty copeland is now the first african-american ballerina named principal dancer at new york's american ballet theater. one of the nation's most prestigious companies. she's been with the theater about 14 years now. nearly eight as a soloist. as principal dancer she breaks new racial and gender barriers. in april copeland and washington ballet theater brooklyn mack dazzled audiences at the kennedy center where they became the first african-americans to dance leading roles in a major classic ballet production. because of her muscular body and her race, dancing her way to the top has been tough. copeland talked to me about the struggles and the stereotypes. you are so used to seeing a certain type of person dancing

these roles that it's hard to allow yourself to envision yourself in certain roles. so it's not something i ever really thought i would do. >> earlier this year, she made the cover of "time" magazine as one of the most influential figures of 2015 and written a memoir and a huge children's book and starred in those popular under armour commercials. >> congrats to her. where's the beef? the u.s. government is sending loads of greek yogurt to the nation's schools. citrus and skin cancer, the unusual link just revealed.

>> announcer: now your storm team 4 forecast. weather alert day for storm team 4. tracking storms now on radar. and yes, this is all filled in. it's a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00. we've got storms headed east where there are some warnings now. from the eastern shore, caroline, talbot county, dorchester too. tracking more storms coming into the area. brunswick around cable town, areas of the 240 and towards 70. more storms headed towards allenville. what we're going to see is slow travel with a few of the gusty storms. as we get into the late night moderate to heavy rains until 2:00 a.m. there could be ponding on area roads.

your fourth of july forecast coming up in a few. >> thanks vj. you have another option for streaming music. apple music is officially open for business. services such as google play, spotify and pandora. everyone gets a free three-month trial and then it costs about $10 a month to access a full library of songs. apple is relaunching itunes radio at beats one today. it features celebrity dj's who select play lists for you. that service is free. changes are coming to school lunches across the country. more options when it comes to your kids getting protein. this fall, students can choose yogurt as a meat substitute. they've chosen greek yogurt maker chobani. the usda classified greek yogurt as a meat substitute. it has twice as much protein and uses hormone-free milk. chris christie comes out

swinging. who he targeted in his speech today. right now, news 4's david culver is working an alarming story in northern virginia. why law enforcement is concerned fireworks could end up in the hands much terrorist

why are we watching this again? i pay for all these channels, so i make myself watch them all. joey, i'll watch anything except this. except this. go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back. fios custom tv lets you pay for the types of channels you want, not the ones you don't. 100% fiber optics is here. get out of the past. get fios. now for $79.99 a month. go online or call. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

this is one of those days where you're thinking about tonight but looking ahead to the weekend as well. >> yeah. make room for another face in the race for president. new jersey governor chris christie made an announcement.

we're going to do the weather first and then tell you about that. chuck, you are looking at some storms. but we're thinking about the fourth of july. tell us if they're going to be out of here before the fourth. >> i can tell you that. i'm very optimistic that most of this bad weather will be out by the fourth. in a lot of ways we're gone to the fourth of july for holiday weekend. outside right now, the sun has been out there getting the temperatures into the upper 80s. rain cooled 72 in la ray. downtown at the airport 84 in gaithersburg. your hometown forecast, prince george's county, 6:00 p.m. storm is a possibility. temperature around 86. start off temperature 72. a hot one tomorrow. temperatures into the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. probably 90 downtown. mid to upper 80s across the suburbs. 86 in annapolis. >> leaving southern maryland on to the eastern shore right now

are the storms. they have been severe at times. this one is crossing the open waters of the bay. it will be heading towards the cambridge and easton areas in a bit. on dry land, thunderstorms along and just to the east of i-81. these are all going northeast bound. martinsburg heavy rain there. showers and storms just to the north of blue mont. brunswick maryland here just about to get out of the rain. frederick maryland, north of interstate, hagerstown those thunderstorms will impact your drive over the next hour or so. still waiting to see how much if anything in the way of storms filling in to the south of the metro. most of it is east or west of us. the atmosphere is pretty warm and humid. it is prime for the chance of more storms to develop. here's future weather then. trying to develop the storms north of manassas in the next hour or two. by 7:00, storms in and around the baltimore area.

not everyone will get hit with the storms today. but the individual places that do could have brief periods of heavy rain and hail and gusty winds. up here about 10:30 11:00 tonight, showers and storms continuing along i-81. we may have late overnight rumbles here into the metro area. we'll keep you posted on that. tomorrow, temperatures will do a rise. partly sunny, warm and humid for fourth of july. the slightest chance for a shower during the day. should be dry for the fireworks. fireworks temperature around 80 degrees. perfect. thanks, chuck. well, make room for another face in the race for president. new jersey governor chris christie made his big announcement from his hometown. >> nbc's wagner says it was a combination of big personality and political punches. >> thank you new jersey. >> in the high school where he was once elected class president, new jersey governor chris christie launched his latest campaign. >> today i am proud to announce my candidacy for the republican

nomination for president of the united states of america. >> he quickly pivoted with a series of shots at president obama and the democratic front-runner. >> after seven years of a weak foreign policy, we better not turn it over to his second mate, hillary clinton. >> in a field of 14 republicans christie is trying to differentiate himself as a straight talker. >> i mean what i say and i say what i mean and that's what america needs right now. >> he will bring a different kind of energy to this race, chris, that will push and test the scott walkers and the jeb bushes in their establishment corner. >> once a leading contender, christie is viewed by many as a long shot with a lagging economy and weak poll numbers in new jersey. and a cloud remains over him in the so-called bridge gate scandal. two people close to the governor have been indicted for shutting

down the george washington bridge in retaliation for a new jersey mayor not endorsing christie's reelection. >> thank you very much. >> with few platform details today christie moves forward in a crowded 2016 race for president. dave wagner, nbc news. governor christie already sat down with the "today" show's matt lauer for his first official interview after announcing his run for the presidency. part one of that interview will air tonight on "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. part two airs tomorrow on "today." a new harvard study reveals a possible link between citrus and skin cancer. researchers looked at dates for more than 100,000 americans. they discovered that those who drank lots of orange juice or ate a lot of grapefruit had a greater chance of developing melanoma. both contain a compound making skin more sensitive to sunlight. other fruits and vegetables

didn't not affect the risk of melanoma. we're getting the 911 call that followed a shark attack that nearly killed a teenager on the outer banks. let's take a listen. >> i saw it. oh my god. >>. [ inaudible ] >> someone got bit by a shark. >> i got people already in the water. i'm going to have people -- are you with the patient now? >> no. i'm like down the beach a little bit. but no one was calling 911. >> wow. >> that's scary stuff. the victim is 18 years old. but good news is doctors have upgraded his condition from critical to serious. we are working several developing stories in the newsroom right now. the search is on for a guy who robbed a bank on busy u street in northwest d.c. it happened this afternoon across from ben's chili bowl. we're told the suspect had a fisherman's hat on and was wearing a construction vest. ahead at the top of the hour,

we'll hear from some of the customers who were inside at the time. and we've got the latest on a tacoma park police officer accused of road rage. investigators say the officer was off dut it when he was cut off -- he cut off a car on route 50 and then pointed a gun at the people inside the car. they weren't injured. but coming up at 5:00, news 5's tracee wilkins explains how the officer is under investigation for a deadly crash. with heightened concern over a possible terror attack this fourth of july holiday, local law enforcement are out inspecting stands just like this one. we see them in shopping centers across northern virginia. the new worry is that the consumer fireworks will be disassembled and then reassembled as improvised explosive devices or ieds, similar to what was used in the 2013 boston marathon bombings. we're tagging along with the fire marshal and watch as they inspect some of the consumer

fireworks. we'll show what you to look out for to be safe and give you other tips ahead of this holiday you want to know about. in fairfax, i'm david culver news 4. two dozen homes completely wiped out by a wildfire in washington state. right now there are a lot more fires burning on the west coast. >> coming up first at 4:00, the conditions that could make this a record breaki

a sheriff's deputy with quick reflexes is credited with

saving an inmate's life at a jail for mentally ill inmates in l.a. county. an inmate tried to leap off a tire but the deputy reached aside and grabbed his wrist. deputies on the lower level rushed to help. you can see the inmate in the upper right corner wearing a smock. wow. now to a strange story out of carlsbad, california. a woman mysteriously turned up there very sick and suffering from amnesia. >> that's right. firefighters found her wandering last month and rushed her to the hospital. she ended up in a cancer unit where doctors removed an ovarian tumor the size of a small volleyball. she recalls traveling to australia and hawaii but not much else. >> i can't remember anything how i got here. i didn't have anything on me. i had no jewelry no purse, nothing. >> and doctors believe the woman's tumor, that

volleyball-sized tumor may have caused her amnesia. the story has been picked up by australian and british newspapers. the hope is that someone in those countries might be able to identify her. we're only halfway through the year and california already had a thousand wildfires and really it's just one of several states out west that have been plagued by drought and fire. >> been a rough season so far and experts are warning that the worst is yet to come. here's nbc's dan schenn menemanscheneman. >> this is our downstairs patio, i guess. >> families are assessing the losses. >> there's nothing left. >> 2 dozen homes destroyed in wenatchee, washington. >> it's gone. >> they were just things. they weren't life. >> after an out of control wildfire ate away the landscape. >> it picked up and got into some light fuel and took off. >> sending embers flying and sparking fires and warehouses miles away. >> we have 10% containment. that will go up day-to-day. >> firefighters work to make sure no hotspots flare back up.

conditions here and throughout the western united states remain dire. setting the stage for a record-breaking fire season. >> things are lining up to be could be a very active july and august as the fuel conditions continue to dry out, the western states are all facing drought conditions. the worst in california. there have been more than 900 wildfires in the first part of this year. the so-called lake fire burning for more than two weeks is only 60% contained. estimated cost so far battling the blaze, more than $32 million. >> historically, we can spend a billion-plus dollars just in the u.s. forest service in fighting fires across the nation. >> an entire region of the country a tinderbox where one spark could lead to more devastation. dan scheneman, nbc news. robbery at this bank on you

street. it happened so fast, customers inside say they didn't see a thing. i'm pat collins. the story coming up. in three months, pope francis will be giving a sermon in front of tens of thousands of people here at the basilica. how to get ticket and if he'll address political issues. we begin with storm team 4 coverage on this tuesday as we monitor yet another batch of weather heading our way. >> right now a severe thunderstorm watch is in effect. veronica and chuck, yesterday you nailed it. you told us it would be raining on the ride home and sure enough here come the storms. that's right. the scope of this watch covers the area. we've been tracking these storms through the afternoon. chuck, you have more on just the scope of this watch. >> severe thunderstorm watches not just for our area but from pennsylvania to pensacola, florida. literally the entire eastern

seaboard is -- the latest on that on storm team 4 radar. >> you can see the warning up here. this is for maryland's east -- around talbot county. the storms moving away. they were in annapolis and in the diehl area. tracking more storms into the area. this one just west of garfield northeast of boone area. as it makes its way north and northeast ward, it will hit areas like flint and st. anthony in a couple of minutes. right alongside i-40 west of brunswick, a pocket of some heavy rain here. this storm has not been warned on as of yet. do think we could see more isolated severe thunderstorm warnings issued. we've got threat of heavy rain for not just the afternoon rush but late tonight. you're going to see that line as i show you the futurecast coming up a little later this hour. isolated flooding, wind damage all possible with any of these isolated thunderstorms that do fire and turn severe. warnings, if