traffic wise we'll keep you updated if anything pops up. a lot of problems this morning. all the main routes in and out, no major issues. aaron? >> thank you. check this out. looks like a monsoon hitting the streets of metro d.c. strong winds, rain lightning made up a really scary scene for folks overnight. 74 miles an hour in one place tom mentioned a little while ago. like amelia said i'm sorry, like melissa said, there are a lot of trees and wires down across the area at this hour in maryland, d.c. and virginia. you want to be careful out there. >> amelia said it, too. she has been out there chasing the damage. we're following lots of power outages in the area. pepco saying 1,300 in southeast d.c. fairfax and arlington 5,000. storm team 4 meteorologist

tom kierein very busy this morning. >> that peak gust of 74 miles an hour, aaron, that was in prince george's county. that's where we have the highest winds as the storms came through just after midnight between midnight and 2:00 theand then quickly raced off to the north and east. eastern frederick county and carroll county staying well north of the metro area. there's the capitol under the low cloud cover and sky brightening a little bit and sun breaking out by 8:00 a.m. and low 70s and then near 80 by 10:00 and mostly sunny and less humid and by noontime for your lunch hour, begin to climb into the low and mid-80s. next weather and traffic on the 1st. the drive time forecast for the day ahead coming up at 6:11. angie? >> thank you tom. this morning the fixing a system glitch. if you have an expired sticker, you can get a temporary

inspection sticker and all late fees will be waived. metro will it consider a big change to its system that will affect a lot of folks during rush hour. breaking down what trains could start running less often. zachary, good morning. >> yeah. green, yellow, orange and silver lines could all be impacted. it could mean fewer trains and longer wait times for them. it could be good news, though, for you if you ride the blue line. could mean shorter wait times for you. it's all part of a proposal to again, get more trains going on the most used line here. the blue line. they saw a reduction of trains when the silver line opened up about a year ago and they're just trying to address the demand there. it could mean, again lower waits for them. eight minutes down from 12 minutes and then slightly longer wait time on these other four lines. as i mentioned green, orange yellow, silver line. you can see about two minutes longer there if you're waiting for trains during peak hours. this is all to kind of

accommodate what they're dealing with here in rosalyn where we are right now with the metro station. there is a tunnel here that can only accommodate a certain amount of trains per hour and, again they're trying to get as many people on these blue line trains, as possible. they'll make that proposal later on today. i'm zachary kiesch, back to you in the studio. >> thanks. developing this morning, we expect president obama to announce plans for the u.s. to open an embassy. this could happen within weeks. cuba is planning to open an embassy here in d.c. the president still faces a lot of obstacles before he raises a u.s. flag over an embassy in havana. several lawmakers against reestablishing ties with cuba have vows to block funding for an embassy there. some have also said they will block confirmation of an ambassador. in the meantime the u.s. trade embargo is still in place. president obama does not have the authority to remove it. that power lies with congress.

6:04 your time right now. it is july 1st ask that means some brand-new laws taking effect right now. here's what you need to know. first, in virginia new rules regarding sex assaults on college campuses. campus police now have two days to tell prosecutors when they're investigating a sex assault. also in virginia right now, moms are now protected by law if they want to breast feed in public places. and in maryland, the storm water management fee that republicans called a rain tax is now over. the law was designed to keep pollution out of the chesapeake bay. montgomery and prince george's county among nine counties and still have to spend money to keep the bay clean. we put all the laws on the nbc washington app for you to read for yourself. also in maryland, tolls are going down. a trip across the bay bridge will cost you $3 less if you use an ez pass or two with cash per mile fees on the icc are also less today.

however gas prices are going up in maryland. the state is now taxing gas an at extra 1.8 cents per gallon. roughly 32 cents of every gallon you buy. 32 cents will go to the state. a wake will be held today for one of the two high school seniors killed in a crash. visitation for alex murk is. both died in a wreck while on their way home from a party last week. police believe speed and alcohol contributed to that crash. visitation for calvin li will happen at hines memorial funeral home on thursday. in the day ahead, you can check out a new exhibit at the museum. the innovation wing. inventing in america american enterprise and the value of money. also help build the world's largest american flag built out of legos. the innovation wing is the first

piece of a six-year overhaul. breaking news on the roads. a lot of problems around town because of downed trees and downed wires. just found out inbound canal is now open at foxhall. that is good, but other problems coming up in a couple minutes. a developing story after another predominantly black church goes up in flames in south carolina. what investigators are saying about the circumstances at this hour. and we talk a lot about all the speed cameras in the district, but new this morning, we'll show you where you're more likely to find yourself being ticketed. stick around.

breaking news on the roads right now. a lot of trees down a lot of wires down and a lot of closures. okay, so let's start with inbound canal road. that is the one now open at foxhall road. that is dprat, of course. don't have to worry about the alternate any longer. foxhall still closed between

cathedral and hawthorne a warning there. southbound piny branch shut down at university because of, again, a downed tree. inbound pennsylvania at suitland parkway. take a look at this. only going 12 miles per hour. a traffic light is out really slowing things down. 193 shut down between 50 and 450. crane highway to get around that problem. taking a big look at the beltway here. promise no other major issues at this point this morning. we will let you know, of course, if anything pops up this morning since we're talk about so many other issues. 66 into town and out of town. sad slow northand most of prince george's county overall looking pretty good this morning. tom? >> watch out for the ponding of water, too. a lot of rain late last night just after midnight an inch of rain in less than an hour. a little bit of high water in the low lying areas and few lingering sprinkles and couple showers out of the mountains and shenandoah valley coming through.

for the morning commute, watch out. caution for that ponding of water. mid-day afternoon should be good. only a slight chance of an isolated storm this afternoon. low 70s with drying roads this morning. afternoon highs reaching near 90. look at our fourth of july weekend forecast. next weather and traffic on the 1s at 6:21 aaron. today, crews will start upgrades to the security fence at the white house. they're going to install the sharp metal spikes we have been telling you about on the top of the fence there. the removable anti-climb feature will take about six weeks to put in. it's temporary. the move is in response to several people jumping the fence, including one guy that got into the mansion. the secret service and the national park service working with other agencies now to develop a long-term design solution. all right well, new this morning there is a new speed camera king in our area. in the past year prince george's county handed out more speed camera tickets than the district. the county issued more than 300,000 tickets while the district issued a little more than 280,000. despite those numbers, the

overall number of tickets being handed out in both places is down and so are the revenues. prince george's county collected more than $5 million in 2014. that is down from more than $7 million in 2013. new developments in the fight to control a massive wildfire burning in washington state. the new damage we're hearing about right now and why there may be hope for containing those flames. also ahead a fourth of july tradition that brings tens of thousands of people to the national mall but a new study is highlighting the dramatic impacts that firework shows have on our environment.

at 6:15 a developing story in south carolina. firefighters say it's too soon to say what sparked the flames in greeleyville, south carolina. this fire erupted at ame church late last night. the 8,000 square foot building is compleat loss. at least one firefighter taken to the hospital and treated for heat exhaustion. a string of burnings since a gunman shot and killed nine people inside a charleston church. that same church was also burned down in 1995. nascar is not banning confederate flags this weekend

at the daytona speedway but offering a flag exchange. nascar flags can trade a confederate flag for an american flag at the race. nascar banned the flag earlier this month, but track officials say they cannot call for an all-out ban this weekend since fans had previously purchased tickets. just got word fire crews report progress in fighting blazes out west. a fire spokesman says they gutted agut got it 47% contained. this morning a tweet from a local sheriff said five more structures burned down in grant county. that's about three hours away from seattle and people who live there should be on standby to evacuate to shelters. investigators are still looking into a cause. back to you. >> thank you. 6:16 now. in indonesia investigators are working to find out how many people died when a plane crashed into ahotel there. 113 people on that plane died. most of them indonesian military

members and their families. you can see total chaos here. it's not clear right now how many people on the ground were hurt or killed. marijuana is now legal in another state. the new law took effect in oregon this morning. you can carry one ounce of pot there or have up to eight ounces at home. just like d.c., there are no stores selling marijuana in oregon right now. the first stores will open some time next year. within days we could find out whether a former virginia senator will challenge hillary clinton for the democratic nomination. jim webb reportedly says he'll make that decision very soon. webb has talked openly about running and he may be getting more encouragement from democrats now happy about clinton's shaky campaign roll out. in the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll webb is at about 4%. still digging through the latest batch of hillary clinton state department e-mails. show senior administration obama officials were aware of the e-mail address clinton used. but it's not clear whether

officials knew clinton was using a private server in her new york home. the state department is releasing clinton's e-mails over an uproar of her skirting the rules. jeb bush has posted 33 years of tax returns online. it's an effort at transparency similar to his release of thousands of e-mails from his time in office. here's what we're learning about bush's finances. bush paid an income tax rate of 36% over the past three decades. that is a higher rate than hillary clinton has paid in recent years, even though bush made less money. he has an estimated net worth between 19 and $22 million. terrorists may be using fireworks to make improvised explosive devices. that's the warning from the intelligence center. officers looking for those buying large amounts of fireworks or anyone who may have disassembled fireworks. they're also looking closely for "injuries burns or odors on the person or in the residence and also looks for plans, drawings

or sketches of public places." the fire marshal has been inspecting dozen of firework stands for basic safety. >> we're looking to make sure that the fireworks, as you can see here, the packages are not destroyed. we don't have leaking black powder out of the containers or anything like that. >> now there are no specific threats to northern virginia. officers are calling for vigilance, though. well, if you feel like you're hearing about a lot of shark attacks lately, you're right. the florida museum of natural history now saying that the number of shark attacks is above average for this time of year. and many attacks have happened further north than normal. there have been 23 attacks so far this year. the average number of attacks 30 to 40 for the entire season. there have been six shark attacks in north carolina alone which usually normally sees one or two per year. this morn dozens of girl scouts are waking up indoors following thunderstorms that forced them to leave their campout at the white house. last night president obama and

first lady michelle obama, talked to the scouts that were camped out on the white house south lawn. the campers were moved to a conference room once heavy rain started falling. 50 fourth graders from the district maryland west virginia virginia taking part of this camp out. all part of the first lady's let's move campaign. breaking news on the roads right now. again, in bowie still getting reports on 50 here eastbound and westbound right near cheverly metro. a warng thereing see some slow downs. flooding in the low lying area that typically gets a lot of water and just gets nasty when we have rain like we did last night. taking a look here at 95 in virginia. actually looking pretty good in the southern part here. as you get a little bit north, just typical traffic as you approach the beltway. remember to listen to our friends for the latest on all your traffic troubles. northern virginia, power outages and a lot of traffic signals are

dark and you'll want to treat those as a four-way stop. foxhall between cathedral and hawthorne. still have that section shut down and good thing canal road at foxhall has reopened. 270 at montrose road looking quite good. overall, no major problems. let you know if any other accidents or incidents pop up. we're tweeting about this at first 4 traffic. tom? >> the thunder woke me up and the first thing i did is i checked the storm team 4 radaron the nbc washington app and saw strong storms coming over the metro area with a lot of lightning and then when i got here to work i checked those latest observations from our weather watchers. we had one report of 74 mile per hour gust of wind in prince george's county. storm team 4 radar now showing that we don't really have any storms around. now all long gone and sprinkles near the pennsylvania border and getting a few light showers here in west virginia. these are right near elkensins and

getting closer to the shenandoah valley in a few hours. a small chance of an isolated storm. that rain cooled things down as well. temperatures just in the 60s to right around 70 degrees. upper 60s near 70 around the chesapeake bay and only low and mid-60s. later today, pleasant humidity returning and then gets uncomfortable to sticky overnight tonight and into thursday and into the weekend as well. there's the capitol under a brightening sky. some of the cloud cover trying to break up a little bit right now. by 8:00 we should have some breaks in the clouds and then by noon some sunshine and temperatures in the low and mid-80s and then near 90 by around 3:00 4:00. a small chance of an isolated thundershower late this afternoon coming through mainly just south of the metro area. then tomorrow another chance on thursday evening but most of the daylight hours should be try in the upper 80s and then showers likely on friday and much cooler. highs only in the 70s. right now the fourth of july looking great for the parades and picnics. in the mid-80s and then for the

firework displays in the evening, showers or thundershowers coming through. sunday partly cloudy and up thor 80s. might get a late storm on sunday evening. monday, tuesday sun back with highs right around 90. next weather and traffic on the 1s. your walk to work forecast coming up at 6:31. back to you. heads up everyone. just got this alert from amtrak. if you're taking the train today, you should know that there are going to be delays along the busy northeast corridor between washington and philadelphia because of severe weather. pack your patience before you head out. back to you. >> mollet thank you. davis deejays is out of business after 40 years in the district. since 1975 this company has been the go-to for weddings and parties across the area. well, we are now learning that some customers are being left with no refunds and very little explanation. one couple is just one month away from their big day. their wedding day. and now they're out of money and looking for a deejay.

>> i mean everything that goes into it. the flowers, the cake, the food. everything is expensive and so when you're paying somebody all this money you're expecting them to give you these services and now you're out money and out a deejay. >> well, several other couples have reached out to the company with no success. news 4 tried calling the company and sending an e-mail, as well. the phone number is no longer in service and the e-mails to the company, they're bouncing back. the ultimate fighter challenge hits the police and fire games in fairfax county. a popular event that challenges firefighters in a tough display of fitness. we were at the games earlier this week following a lot of the action boxing soccer and swimming events all happening today. you're looking at the dragon boat races here. a full schedule of events and more coverage on the nbc washington app. click police and fire games. those games run through sunday. okay. so, hundreds gathered at national harbor last night to watch the u.s. women's national soccer in the world cup semi final. well, the team had 2-0 victory

over powerhouse germany means they're heading to the finals for the fourth time. it is a pretty big upset. the u.s. will play england or japan in the final which is on sunday. four years ago japan beat the u.s. in the world cup finals. so a lot of fans are hungry for that rematch. so are the athletes. we cannot have a repeat of that, again. well, metro is preparing for large crowds on the national mall for the fourth of july. tens of thousands of you are expected to see the fireworks on the mall on saturday. the system is adding more trains beginning at 2:00 and then at 6:00 metro will run a near rush hour service until everyone gets home. just keep in mind that you can park for free at all metro facilities on saturday. go to nbc washington's app to see how to get around on july fourth. you may enjoy looking at all those fireworks on the fourth of july, but a new study saying they're not the best thing for the earth's atmosphere. a first of its kind study found air pollution in the u.s. went up more than 40%. around the time the firework

shows on july fourth. well, the levels return to normal about 24 hours later. the epa had special laws that allow air pollution to spike only on the fourth and this is the area that states can prove it is because of the fireworks. >> just think about it you think about what you smell when you go to one of these big shows and how long it lingers in the air. >> sometimes your eyes are burning and what they're saying now if you are one of the people sensitive to particle pollution, limit your exposure and if you have asthma, always have your medicine and inilharhaler nearby. a scathing report involving d.c. schools. modernizing the city schools and the impact it could have on future funding. keeping your commute moving. the new relief you'll see in a matter of days that could speed up your trek to work. plus, the breaking news that could leave you stuck in traffic right now. we are tracking a growing list of problems on the roads after those powerful thunderstorms took down some trees and power

lines all over the region, really. we're helping you get around, n

we are tracking breaking news around the d.c. area after a night of strong storms. this problem in northwest washington, one of the many meteorologists amelia segel has found over the last two hours. >> melissa mollet is here with the problems that can slow you down on your drive to work. melissa? >> so that one is fox hill road between cathedral avenue and hawthorne street. amelia is saying she drove southbound wisconsin avenue for us at fulton and jenifer and do not have any closures there. bowie 50 and 450 and alternate there 3 crane highway to get around those trees that are down. inbound pennsylvania at suitland parkway and that traffic light that is dark there. remember to treat it as a four-way stop and just going 31 miles per hour because of that slow down. 66 here at lee highway. no major problems and then southbound piny branch road shut down at university.

overall, we actually do look pretty good here. take a look at this video out of bowie. working to find out if anyone was hurt when this gas station collapsed deurg theuring the overnight storms. a couple miles south of bowie state university. check in with storm team 4 meteorologist tom keirien. >> really the problems were everywhere with this storm. >> a lot of rain in a short amount of time. about an inch of rain fell in about an hour and gusts of wind over 70 miles per hour in parts of prince george's county. right now the storms are long gone. we have a few showers here. way out in west virginia and the mountains heading off to the east maybe in the shenandoah valley in another couple hours and this tree damaged by the storms overnight. this photo posted on one of my followers on twitter. you can see some tree branches down around much of the metro area and our eastern suburbs. jumping over puddles walking to work this morning. some sunshine breaking out in

the 70s and then upper 80s near 90 with dry sidewalks during the afternoon. just a slight chance of an isolated thundershower this afternoon. have the umbrella handy. next weather and traffic on the 1s. neighborhood highs around the region coming up. 6:32 right now. new this morning, the d.c. agencies in charge of school modernization broke the rules to spend money on the wrong project and couldn't account for millions in modernization spending. the d.c. auditors report arrives a week ahead of a joint d.c. council hearing on the cost of school modernization since legislation passed in 2006 laid out a plan. mayor muriel bowser has concerns how much new schools and renovations cost. today the arlington school board will meet to consider adding gender identity. the new addition to the policy would impact teachers and other employees. if approved, it would prevent from discriminating against transgender candidates in its

hiring process. also today, the minimum wage is going up in the district and in maryland. in d.c. it is going up $1 to $10.50e an hour. it will go up another dollar come next july. now, d.c. mayor muriel bowser will talk about that increase later this morning in northeast. then over in maryland the minimum wage will go up a quarter to $8.25. this is the second raise for marylanders. the first increase took effect in january. new information just in on the attacks in egypt. the islamic state just claimed responsibility for strikes at six army checkpoints. we hear at least 30 troops died and some were taken captive in simultaneous attacks. that is the latest from the live desk, i'm molette green. disturbing detail emerging about a toddler found dead in a

swing. investigators say he had been there for almost two days. police found the toddler's mother pushing his lifeless body in a swing at a park back in may. they say he was alive when she took him to the park. the medical examiner ruled the official cause of death was dehydration and hypothermia. no word yet on whether charges will be filed. another good reminder to think before you give your credit card number to anybody over the phone. the spotsylvania sheriff office learned about two scams going on right now. both scammers calling saying they're with the sheriff's office. one will ask you to buy a calendar and the other caller is asking for money to send kids to summer camp. the sheriff's office says it does not ask for money over the phone. a warning from the sheriff's department in loudoun county. deputies want you to make sure you are locking up your cars and garages. between june 4th and this past weekend four different houses were broken into through the

garage. in two cases the garages doors were left open and the doors from the garage to the house were unlocked. in the other cases burglars took garage door openers right out of the unlocked cars. the fbi wants your help finding the robber who helped up the u street bank in broad daylight. he is wearing a hat, yellow construction vest and some gloves. it happened around 12:30 p.m. yesterday a time when u street is packed with people grabbing a bite to eat. the robber hit the suntrust bank next to the metro and across from ben's chili bowl. he got away by hopping on to a metro bus. developing right now tensions are high in greece after the country defaulted on its debt. the default officially happened at 1:00 a.m. local time. the government there only let 1,000 banks open today due to fears of spiraling bank runs. this morning, asian markets are cautiously trading up as investors eye developments there. greek leaders are pressing new terms for a possible third bailout.

today euro zone finance ministers will hold a conference call on that new proposal. last night thousands rallied in athens against greece leaving the euro zone. and the public will get a chance to weigh in on proposed changes for a troubled liquor agency. it's been the focus of a news 4 i-team investigation. right now montgomery county department of liquor control handles the sale and distribution of alcohol in the county. yesterday, though county council member hans introduced a resolution pushing for a change to state law that would allow stores and restaurants to order specialty craft beers and fine wines from private wholesale distributors. >> i believe that our doc can figure out how to distribute the roughly 5,000 products that they keep on stock at their warehouse. i do not believe any single distributor can manage an inventory of 30,000 products. a public hearing is scheduled for july 21st. the news 4 i team has been investigating problems inside dl. to watch the beer bust series,

go to our nbc washington app and click on investigations. as of this morning you have to pay more to ride vre. vre tickets now cost 4% more across the board. the company says the increase is paying for changes to help you. they include a brand-new spotsylvania station and another train on the fredericksburg line and new speed technology to keep you safe. breaking news on the roads right now. we have trees down, we have traffic lights out. we have wires down. a lot of stuff to talk about as well as travel times coming up in a couple minutes. changing service on metro that could be good news or bad news for you. the lines that will see cuts in service possibly and the transit agency boosts service on the blue line. 6:37. the nsa is back in the data collection business. the decision that clears the way for the agency to collect phone records again.

breaking news on the roads right now because of downed trees. traffic lights dark here this morning. inbound pennsylvania avenue at suitland parkway. a traffic light out. that is dark. only 31 miles per hour inbound here pennsylvania avenue because of wires down as well. foxhall between cathedral and hawthorn hawthorne also have that section of road shut down. travel times looking pretty good. 270 south rolling along nicely. 95 north quantico to the beltway just a few minutes behind 66 east from fairfax county to the parkway. we remember to our friends on wtop when you hop in your car for the latest on these traffic troubles this morning. in the wake of the overnight storms, it cooled down a bit. down to the 60s buft jumpt jumping to the 80s and near 90 in the metro

area. fairfax in the upper 80s and likely low to mid-80s near the bay. shenandoah valley low 80s and just a few clouds popping up and a small chance of an isolated storm later this afternoon. have an umbrella handy. a look at our storm chances for the weekend. the fourth of july weekend coming up at 6:51. aaron? >> tom thank you. the nsa is going to keep collecting your phone records until about the end of the year. in may, a federal appeals court ruled the agency had to stop immediately that program because it was illegal. however, a higher court just over turped that ruling. a mandate from congress will end the program though, for good in five months. if you use the beltway in virginia, your commute is about to get just a little bit easier. an extra lane on the beltway is about to open. news 4 transportation reporter adam tuss learned it will stretch a mile and a half from the end of the express merge to just beyond georgetown pike.

if you have driven in this area you know how horrible it is. vdot is aiming to have the lane open for next tuesday's morning commute. major developments involving u.s./cuban relations. in the coming hours president obama will announce plans for the u.s. to open an embassy in cuba. the obstacle he still faces before the u.s. flag can fly again over to havana. a number of new laws on the books to help save your family some money and the ones that could have you paying a litt

6:46. breaking news right now that is having an impact on your morning. those strong storms that kept a lot of us up last night could give you another headache as you encounter road blocks on your way to work. >> we have team storm coverage for you as we work to get you up to the minute the minute you're up. we begin with amelia segel in northwest washington. what are you seeing amelia? >> well, angie we're here on foxhall road where it remains closed between hawthorne and cathedral cathedral. a downed wire remains across the road here and this is blocking off traffic. now, on cathedral also a tree limb down there. my photographer and i driving around town this morning noticing lots of leaves, branches on area roads.

and, of course, this closure remaining. it has been closed since we got here at 5:45 this morning. police are not sure how long it will take to open the road back up. today a great day to download the nbc washington app. we have a traffic section there in the app. as the roads start to open up across the area and new information in, we'll be sending you push alerts about that and, of course, you can get the latest weather forecast for when you can be dealing with some more thunderstorms. melissa, what other issues are you seeing this morning? >> some other issues. taking a look at my map here. 50 near the cheverly metro. a reminder on that one. and then 197 shut down between 50 and 450. your alternate there is crane highway. much more on some of these closures coming up in a couple of minutes. and right now around the region, we have just a little bit of little cloudiness. this just in. we want you to take a look at

what last night's storms did to try to hold you up on vre. our partners tweeted out this picture showing the fallen rock there's. this is eisenhower connector under the beltway. now, vre checked it all out. says the tracks are safe on the manassas and fredericksburg line. aaron? >> thank you. we're watching a lot of power out nls soutages in our area right now, too. more than 7,000 customers don't have power and dominion virginia power has nearly 7,000 outages in northern virginia and arlington and fairfax counties as well as alexandria. if you managed to sleep through it, check out the video. looks like a monsoon coming down in d.c. and prince george's county. wind blew as fast as 74 miles an hour. so much to clean up now. but we should have better conditions for that, at least. storm team 4 meteorologist tom keirien is here with your forecast.

>> all that rain cooled us down and in the 60s right now and by 8:00 jumping into the 70s and by then we should get sunshine breaking out and then by noontime into the mid-80s and mostly sunny. little bit less humid during the afternoon, but a small chance of an isolated thundershower mainly south of the metro area by mid to late afternoon. by then in the upper 80s to right around 90 degrees. back to you. >> tom, thank you. 6:49 right now. today, you're going to find out how metro may impact what time you get to work. the good news, it could shorten wait times for some of you and cutting service to other train lines. zachary keishchch to explain. zachary? >> yes, good morning, aaron. this is just a proposal that is happening today but the goal is to address crowding here on the blue line. it could take a peek at the board right here. you know if you're an avid metro rider. one thing to do is look at the board here and see what the wait times are. not too long right now. five and six minutes for the orange and blue lines.

but the goal here, as i mentioned, is to, again speed up things on the blue line. if it goes through, you see a reduction from about 12 to 8 minutes if you're a blue line rider. but not everybody is a winner. if you're a rider on the green, orange yellow and silver lines, you'll see increased wait times. about a minute or two longer at the deck there if you're waiting to jump on one of those lines. we're talking about during peak hours now and this is kind of the result of some of the changes that happened when the silver line opened up about a year ago. reporting live here in roselyn. back to you guys in the studio. >> zachary thank you. 6:50 your time now. and brand-new laws are in effect as we speak. here's a look at what you need to know. in virginia there are new rules regarding sex assaults at colleges. campus police now have two days to tell prosecutors when their investigating a sex assault. also in virginia mothers are now protected by law if they want to breast feed in public places. in maryland, the storm water

management fee what republicans called a rain tax is now over. that law was designed to keep pollution out of the chesapeake bay. montgomery county prince george's county among nine in the state that still have to spend money to keep the bay clean. also in maryland tolls are going up. a trip across the bay bridge will cost $3 less if you use an ez pass and $2 less with cash. however, gas prices are going up in maryland. the state now taxing gas at an extra 1.8 cents per gallon. roughly 32 cents of every gallon you buy now goes to the state. dozens more laws are now in effect, as well. we put a breakdown of all of them for you on the nbc washington app. angie? 6:51 right now. developing this morning we expect president obama to announce plans for the u.s. to open an embassy in havana, cuba. this could happen within weeks. cuba is also planning to open an embassy here in d.c. tracie potts joins us now. a lot of obstacles here.

can you walk us through on how this might all play out? >> having an embassy is a big step compared to what we have right now. take a look. cuba has an intrasection here as it is called in d.c. and we have one in havana. not quite an embassy. not even run by the governments, they deal with things like visas and passports and an embassy has a lot more and that is what president obama is expected to announce in a few hours. not everyone agrees that this is in the best interest of the united states here on capitol hill. some critics say that it's not something that the u.s. should be doing. some republicans may try to block it we're told by holding the money to build this embassy. or, by holding up confirmation of an ambassador once president obama names one. >> tracie potts for us on the hill, thank you. breaking news on the roads right now. still have a lot of different problems around town. 50 near rheverly metro.

still have reports of flooding eastbound and westbound there. a warng if youring if you're headed out any time soon. 197 shut down and alternate there crane highway. inbound pennsylvania avenue at suitland parkway because that traffic light is out here this morning. south capitol at malcolm x also have flooding under that bridge. northern virginia lots of traffic signals dark this morning and treat them as a four-way stop because of those power outages. 66 and 95 rolling along just fine. 270 at montrose looking pretty good. overall main roadways no major issues. first 4 traffic letting you know about all the problems around town. tom? >> the pavement is beginning to dry out in the wake of the storms overnight. we did get about an inch of rain in less than an hour around midnight. now, its arer gone err gone and still some ponding of water. suburbs mid-60s and near 60 near washington right by the chesapeake bay. going forward hour-by-hour a few

passing thundershowers south and southeast of the metro area and between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. crossing the bay and then quickly dissipating as we ghet to the evening hours and overnight tonight. otherwise if you're going to the pool, you need the sunblock and the sunglasses later this morning. still have low clouds over the capitol. live view from our camera. that sunshine ought to break out a bit especially off to our wes. by noon, mostly sunny and little less humid during the afternoon as we get around 90 degrees by around 3:00. then a small chance of an isolated storm after that coming through. and then overnight tonight, partly cloudy low 70s tomorrow morning. thursday, it should be mostly sunny in the morning and then some clouds build in the afternoon and then during the evening maybe a thundershower coming through. highs before then the upper 80s. then on friday looking like a wet day. showers off and on from the morning into the evening.

highs only in the 70s. fourth of july now looks like the daylight hours will be dry for the picnics and parades. highs reaching the mid-80s and evening showers and some of the firework displays on saturday evening. small chance of a storm in the evening. then drying out sun back on monday, tuesday. with highs right around 90. aaron? >> all right, tom thank you. new this morning a look at where you're most likely to get a speed camera ticket. prince george's county handed out the most tickets in our area. the county issued more than 3,000 tickets, that is more than d.c. did. despite those facts though, the overall number of speed camera finds is going down. same goes for revenue. prips george's county collected more than $5 million in 2014. that's actually down from more than $7 million in 2013. 6:55 and a traffic alert. watch out for big change physical you're one of the thousands of drivers who use route 1.

traffic is being shifted to new lanes near the intersection where the fairfax county parkway. traffic shifts on to the southbound lanes starting this morning and the northbound side on thursday. well, when construction is all finished in about six months or so, that section of route 1 will have an additional lane in each direction. 6:56 your time now. here are four things to know before you head out the door. firefighters say it's too soon to say what sparked the flames at this predominantly black church about an hour outside charleston, south carolina. the 8,000 square foot building is a total loss. a new report says the d.c. agencies in charge of school modernization broke rules and spent money on the wrong projects and could not account for millions in modernization spending. today we expect president obama to announce the u.s. will open an embassy in huvanau cuba. a huge milestone as the u.s. and cuba try to normalize relations. closed roads and power out

nls and a lot of cleanup to do today. this gas station collapsed, the canopy did. right now here is another one of those problems in the northwest. foxhall road between cathedral and hawthorne shut down right now. 50 near cheverly metro and same thing there, 197 between 50 and 450. >> all right, be safe out there. glad you could join us. >> "today" show coming your way next. back in 25 minutes. in the meantime, make it a great wednesday, everybody.

. good morning. breaking overnight. another black church in the south up in flames -- the eighth this just over a week. was it lightning or arson? historic step. after more than a half century of hostility, the u.s. and cuba reach a deal to re-open embassies ifn washington and havana. we are bewith hind the scenes with chris christie as he announces his white house bid. why he thinks he's the most qualified man for the job and how his time in new jersey prepared him for washington. >> i think what sets he apart is the state where i come from. i mean this is hand-to-hand combat