charge of security and law enforcement in all three u.s. cities say they are ready. there will be s.w.a.t. teams, snipers, police in helicopters and boats, to protect you and the pope and, of course, restricted air space. so that's why you need to pay attention to the road closures, and if you are going to be coming down to be able to see the pope in the various spots, you need to pay attention to the precautions at hand. as we get ready for the pope's arrival later today in washington. we're live this morning outside the basilica, molette green, news 4. the papal visit will affect students today at two schools in prince george's county. imagine andrews public charter school and imagine foundations morning side public charter school will dismiss students two hours early this afternoon. school officials warn bus pickup and dropoff times may be off because of heavy traffic around

washington. and that is not the only traffic you'll see. we have been telling you all week about this now. people are strongly encouraged to take metro with all the road closures that will be in place for the pope's visit. we'll share some of those with you in about ten minutes. and don't forget, download the app as well to get around the traffic. 4:31 is your time now. want to check your hour by hour forecast. >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell here with more on weather. cool again, chuck. >> little cool and a little wet outside early this morning. no heavy rain to deal with, but there are rain drops on the roadways early this morning. so that could slow things down just a touch. but most of the rain for now is in fairfax, montgomery, and howard counties lifting northeast bound toward the pennsylvania border. a big break in the action down south and west of us before you run in a couple more showers south and west of charlottesville. so wha should you be planning on your way out the door this morning as far as weather slowdown? the mist and the drizzle and the wet roads may slow you up a little bit here early this

morning, but improving weather picture late near the afternoon. out the door weather in the low 50s and low 60s and sky cast 4 for today, almost all clouds. i couldn't rule out a little sliver or two of sunshine, much later on in the afternoon. temperatures inch their way up into the low 70s. wet roads are never a good thing for traffic, melissa mollet. >> i know. we'll keep our fingers crossed they don't cause any problems. we have enough of an issue in the district with the closures starting later this morning. we're going to be talking about this here and on twitter at first 4 traffic. 95 in virginia at dale boulevard, a sheen on the roadway there. prince george's county overall looking good now as we hear in a little bit here, very different as the pope lands at joint base andrews around 4:00 this afternoon. we have a lot of closures there. 270 northbound, southbound, nice and clear now. had a disabled vehicle that is now out of the way. and beltway at colesville road

moving along just fine. see you back here in ten minutes. breaking news out of kentucky now. police have caught an escaped prisoner, but there is still one on the loose. just getting word that christopher cornelius was caught and is being treated for minor injuries. matt johnson out there now. the two got away tying bed sheets together to escape through the roof of a minimum security correction facility. this is in louisville. both were arrested for heroin possession back in july. police issued warrants now charging both men with felony escape and we will keep you posted on this ongoing search. >> thank you. >> blazed a lot of trails, but she also blazed these trails, i'll use the term, she left a map for us. >> words of praise for the first african-american woman to become the deputy fire chief in prince george's county. carla blue served the community for 20 years and retired in 2009. she died in a car crash over the

weekend. police say the 48-year-old mother was driving on indian head highway early saturday morning when she tried to make a left turn on to old ft. road. another car ran into her. darren ware says he was on duty when he received the alert. >> my first reaction was, wow. >> what are you going to miss the most about carla? >> what i'm going to miss most about her is a positive outlook on life, she was always smiling, and how she was always willing to take on any task. >> you can pay your respects next tuesday at a public funeral. we posted details on our nbc washington app and online. search fire chief funeral. closing arguments begin in the trial of a man accused of killing his stepfather. prosecutores say antwaan james shot joseph knnewell more than dozen times. the two were arguing over yard work at their home. a surveillance camera at the neighbor's house caught the

whole thing. detective newell was a 24-year veteran of the police force. a fairfax county public schoolteacher is not on the job this morning. police say michael sweeney was arrested after being found in a parked car with a 16-year-old girl on sunday in alexandria. according to online staff directories, sweeney teaches at walt whitman middle school in alexandria. authorities have not said how he and the girl knew each other. sweeney is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. we may soon learn more about the bloody arrest of a university of virginia student. the office is expected to release the administrative report of the arrest of marquis johnson. johnson and lawmakers have asked for this report. it is expected to be released pending signed consent agreements from those involved. photos and video of the arrest outside of a charlottesville pub in march were circulated on social media, sparking public outrage. the agents involved in the arrest were cleared of any

wrongdoing and are all back at work. 4:36. loudoun county has a new interim supervisor following the arrest of a former supervisor, james bonfils will represent the district. also the chairman of the county's parks and recreation board. williams resigned after being arrested. a newly elected supervisor will take over january 1st. in decision 2016, the republican presidential field is now down to 15 candidates with wisconsin governor scott walker pulling out yesterday. during his farewell speech, he took one last shot at donald trump. >> i encourage other republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner. >> trump tweeted that he did not get to know walker very well, that he is a nice person and has

a great future. as one candidate drops out, another rises in the ranks. carly fiorina appeared on "the tonight show with jimmy fallon" last night. here is a snippet of one of the topics they discussed, russian president vladimir putin. >> i would describe him as a formidable adversary. he's very confident. he's very -- he actually can be quite funny and charming. but he's a kgb guy. >> fiorina says the u.s. needs to confront putin's aggression in syria. in a recent cnn poll, puts carly fiorina in second place behind donald trump. today in montgomery county, a first look at the machines you'll be using to vote next year. maryland will roll out the new machines across the state for the 2016 election. each one will print out a paper ballot along with the digital one that you submit. today's demonstration is in silver spring at 11:00 a.m. our coverage of the papal visit continues. straight ahead, how his trip to the u.s. could impact the

delivery of your new iphone. he's called the people's pope. but how much do you really know about the pontiff? an in depth look at his background before he became the head of the catholic church. it is going to be rough getting around town while he's here. will the weather add to the trouble? chuck bell is back with the commuter forecast. your time is 4:38.

welcome back. you may soon be able to text, tweet and check your e-mail

inside a metro tunnel. the washington post says metro and four major cell companies have tentatively agreed to expand service to all tunnels. that's within five years. the post says the self-providers pay metro to do all the wiring itself. the final deal is expected to be announced in a few weeks. as we have been telling you, the pope's visit will affect traffic all over town. those of you who ordered your new iphones will have to be patient. u.p.s. says it will try to work around the traffic changes. you can expect some kind of delay on your delivery for the rest of the week. u.p.s. suggests you track your package online. everyone is okay until they said the new iphone wasn't coming and now there is some problems. >> 20 somethings are like wait a minute. >> whoa, i didn't sign up for this. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. the other issue is whether wet roads will be a problem. >> modern day pope, i wonder if he has an iphone. you wonder about these kind of things. >> he has the main line. he doesn't need an iphone.

>> who is on his speed dial? a cloudy start and lots of moisture to deal with this morning as well. no heavy rain, but there are light rain showers now across much of fairfax, loudoun and montgomery counties. temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s. bus stop weather, gloomy today. fog, drizzle and light rain, temperatures upper 50s and low 60s through 8:00. and rising into the 60s. the commuter forecast, wet start, but roads will be dry, even with the clouds hanging tough today. drying out a little bit later this afternoon. seven-day forecast in ten minutes, check on traffic now with melissa. >> we'll have closures starting around the vatican embassy in about two hours here this morning on massachusetts avenue. adam is out there live and we'll be tweeting about it as well. a closure in dickerson at martinsburg road. all lanes blocked because of a downed tree because of the rains perhaps, that wet ground from overnight. outer loop at route 1, disabled vehicle to the right side of the

roadway, sounds like it may have just gotten cleared here out of the way. 56 and 95, no problems. 270 coming up in a couple of minutes. people across the dmv being urged to use metro while the pope is here. can the agency handle it? a possible terror threat during his holiness' visit to the u.s. what law enforcement wants you to be aware of during the papal visit.

welcome back at 4:45. around town, you can see the officials are ready for the pope to arrive later today at the basilica of shrine. the perimeter of the basilica has already been fenced in. no one will be allowed inside the gates without a ticket. there will be metal detectors at all entrances and over

northwest, no parking signs are already around the cathedral of st. matthew the apostle in anticipation of the pope's visit tomorrow. we are counting down to pope francis' arrival and the major traffic it will cause today. the pope will arrive at joint base andrews at about 4:00 in the afternoon. then it is an 18-mile trip into northwest d.c. to the vatican embassy right off massachusetts avenue northwest. so let's start with what you need to avoid around joint base andrews, pretty much that's going to be just about everything around joint base andrews, branch avenue is going to be off limits, the case for you right now as it is close to the base. same thing goes for suitland parkway, avoid that. pennsylvania avenue will be a route you want to avoid coming into the city. it is not clear what impact this could have on the beltway, you might expect there will be some and the experts suggest that you try to stay away from that as much as you can as well. in d.c., you'll want to stay off

of massachusetts avenue, let's see, there we go. magically appears for you. stay off of massachusetts avenue -- not quite. there we go. and right around the vatican embassy and the naval observatory. the pope gets in, he'll be going to the embassy here, 34th street, also going to be a road you want to avoid in northwest because this is where the embassy is and where pope francis will be when he's not out in the city. you might also want to avoid wisconsin avenue, which could be closed at different points as well. the vatican officials and security, they're not telling us exactly what route the pope will take tonight, so it is best to just stay away if you can. >> thank you, aaron. looking ahead to tomorrow, the 95 express lanes in virginia will change for the pope's visit on wednesday and thursday. the lanes will reverse direction an hour earlier. the northbound will switch to southbound starting at 10:00 a.m. instead of the usual 11:00 a.m. the southbound express lanes will open at noon instead of

1:00 p.m. the express lanes will be back to normal on friday. you can expect a lot of extra tour buses and more pedestrians than usual in the pentagon city area of fairfax -- of arlington actually. the fairfax connector route 599 buses will not stop at the following spots starting today. army navy drive and 15th street west of southeast street and south hayes street at the pentagon city metro. all routes will return to normal on friday. starting today, make sure you double-check the signs around where you park in the district. the department of public works says it will not hesitate to tow your vehicle if it is parked where it shouldn't be. crews won't enforce street sweeping restriction on some streets, but will be near the park during the team's two games today and tomorrow. metro will have a true test today of huge crowds using trains during the papal visit. we understand that some of you may not be very optimistic,

especially with the mess and frustration from yesterday. news 4 transportation reporter adam tuss found out a transformer caught fire in a mechanical room alongside the metro tracks. you can see there was smoke along the stadium armory metro stop yesterday morning. >> this is very dangerous. the atmosphere down there is, you know, it is black, it is dark, you can't see. you're not 100% sure nrinitiall what is charged with electricity and what isn't. >> metro still has to fix that problem. it causes huge delays for thousands of commuters along the blue, orange and silver line. a document obtained by nbc news shows law enforcement is worried terrorists may impersonate first responders to enter secure areas. the bulletin from pennsylvania state police warns officers to be on the lookout for attackers with fake i.d. cards and uniforms. philadelphia's police commissioner charles ramsey says there is no specific threat and this is simply a reminder for officers to be vigilant. when the pope lands at joint

base andrews, it will mark his first time ever in the united states. pope francis was born jorge mario bergoglio, from argentina, the first latin american pope. francis is a member of the society of jesuits and entered the jesuit -- in march of 1958. he did not become a priest until his ordination years later. he was elected pope on march 13th, 2013, succeeding pommxiii benedict xvi. he adopted the name francis becoming the first pope ever to use that name. the pope's visit is generating a lot of excitement, even among noncatholics. some leaders of other christian churches believe it is because of the pope's personality. we spoke with one paster in herndon who said he generates positive discussion about important issues. tom berlin says the pope's message often transcends religious boundaries. >> he tends to leave people with a sense of grace and love and

joy. and in so doing, he opens a space for all of us in the conversation that we're attempting to have. >> pope francis is also seen as a reformer to both catholics and those of other faiths. he has attempted to bridge the modern world with traditional catholic teachings. you can count on news 4 to cover all aspects of the papal visit on air, online and on our nbc washington app. check out our list of road closures and the tips from the pros on riding metro. search pope commute after you open our app. also, turn us on tomorrow morning or watch us live on the app. i'll be live outside the vatican embassy tomorrow as the pope begins his travels to the white house and through the district. >> complete coverage, full coverage, extended coverage here for all of what you need to know about pope francis' visit. >> you'll be in philadelphia this weekend. >> yes. pray for me. pray for me, please. thank you. >> we're uniquely equipped around the city to handle big visits like this, because we're

accustomed to it. new york, not only will the pope be in new york, the u.n. general assembly. but philadelphia is caught in the middle. they don't deal with this a lot. >> the mayor of philadelphia said this will be the largest event this city has ever seen. 1.5 plus million people expected for the pope's visit. >> the weather better cooperate. >> yes. >> the pope tends to bring the weather he wants along with him. he's got the kind of connections we don't have in the wather department. we have a cloudy sky out there this morning. just in time for his arrival, about 4:00 this afternoon, might get a little sliver or two of sunshine. and the next couple of days, tomorrow and thursday look very cooperative for all of the very large outdoor gatherings that are expected to take place around here. outside, on a tuesday morning, our hash tag today, gloomy tuesday. 63 now with clouds and mist and fog and drizzle and chilliness. temperatures in the mid to upper 50s in some outlying areas. storm team 4 radar, not a lot of heavy rain to deal with. but wet roads and puddles across the neighborhoods this morning.

and as far as any more rain coming our way for later today, probably not. most of our rain is going to be dealt with here this morning and it is very light rain. only another 100 or .200 of an inch of rain is all we're expecting. light mist and drizzle along the 270 corridor. not a lot of rain inside the district just yet, but all the roads wet from the overnight showers. puddles this morning and clouds this afternoon, drying out just a bit. temperatures will rise from the upper 50s and low 60s now. to the low 70s for a time by later this afternoon. not a bad day today. highs in the 70s. it is the next couple of days where the weather gets much nicer. so 75 with the clouds today. around 80 both tomorrow and thursday with fair amount of sunshine, both wednesday and thursday as we start heading towards your weekend, rain chances are back on friday and saturday now looks like it could be a bit of a lost cause for

your weekend plans. sunday looks dryer. temperatures 80 for the papal visit and back to the 60s and 70s. wet roads means trouble on the roads as well. melissa now with first 4 traffic. >> trouble on the roads for us this morning. landover road, an accident with a blockage of one lane there. be aware as you're headed out there. doesn't look like it is slowing things down too much here right now. in dickerson, darns town road at martensburg road, that three way area there, all lanes blocked because of a tree that came down overnight perhaps because of that wet ground. 270 at old hundred road looks good. sheen on the roadway because of the rain from overnight. we'll talk about the road closures a lot the next couple of days here at first 4 traffic on twitter as well. the first one we're going to see here, first main closure, northbound, massachusetts avenue there in front of the vatican embassy. that's supposed to shut down in the next couple of hours. back in a few minutes. a d.c. police officer

threatened with termination and all because she moved. why she could be fired straight ahead. new developments in a deadly hit and run outside a d.c. hospital. the arrest just made days after a cross walk went in. .

4:57 now. the pope touches down at joint base andrews in a couple of hours. concerns are growing about

getting around town. we're all hands on deck around here for you this morning. during the pope's entire visit, including several extended live reports starting in just minutes. a man is now in custody after being charged in a deadly hit and run outside of a d.c. hospital. officers arrested ravid covered yesterday, charged with involuntary manslaughter. he's accused of striking and kill killing kabaday. she worked at the hospital as a physicians assistant. she was hit crossing southern avenue on her way home. that hit and run raised concerns about crossing safety outside of the d.c. hospital. news 4's pat collins started asking the mayor about those concerns since united medical was the only hospital in d.c. without a cross walk. since pat's report, a cross walk was added to that busy roadway. this morning, police from around our area are working to figure out if the same guys are behind several convenience store robberies and one at an arlington hotel. look here, pictures from the

robbery at the crowne plaza hotel this past weekend. arlington police say this happened early in the morning. the three suspects also dressed in black and used shotguns to threaten employees. >> when you have a shotgun held to your head, that is very threatening. our witness testimony from those employees, they were extremely scared. >> the facts of the robbery are very similar to robberies at some convenience stores in our area. police say they're still looking for the suspects as none of them left fingerprints in the hotel. loudoun county investigators are also trying to connect multiple cases right now, all involving someone shooting at a building. gunfire hit six buildings in herndon over the last three months. this is the area police are urging you to be extra alert in right now. the buildings in herndon within a half mile of each other, off the dulles toll road. investigators think the shootings could also be connected to one that hit a leesburg bank last month. news 4 has learned the bowser administration notified a

d.c. police officer she could be fired for living in maryland. in a letter on tabtained by new she must show before a show cause hearing to prove she still lives in d.c. or her job will be forfeited and separated from district service. officials acknowledge the officer who has been with the department for two years did recently move from d.c. to maryland after getting married. d.c. employees who request preferential consideration for employment because they're d.c. residents are required to live in the city for seven years before moving. >> it costs $95,000 approximately to recruit and train one police officer. in the last 20 months, we have lost 629 police officers. we are down 131 positions on the force. we're supposed to be at 4,000. we're at 3869. i can't imagine that the district would think it makes sense to remove this police off w