stepping up security. i'm molette green. right now the president talks tough when it comes to keeping the company safe. what he just told the united nations. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. we might get a few passing showers. we'll look at the week ahead, coming up. i'm barbara harrison. the pope's visit to the u.s. is almost over but he said something he never said before, and it has people talking. and the frightening moment in the middle a campaign stop that could have been a disaster.

news 4 midday starts right now. first at the live desk, take a good look, video of president obama addressing world leaders at the u.n. moments ago. the president urged diplomacy, particularly defending the iran nuclear deal and lifting the u.s. embargo on cuba, getting clause from delegates there. he spoke about the danger of returning to old methods of addressing unrest around the world. >> i stand before you today believing in my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old ways of conflict and coercion. we cannot look backwards. we live in an integrated world, in company. we all have a stake in each other's success. we cannot turn back those forces of integration. >> we're also closely watching

developments out of the meeting scheduled between the president and russia's president, vladimir putin, who have been at odds over russia's involvement in ukraine and the ongoing conflict in syria. also leaders from poland, china, and jordan are set to speak before putin takes the mike at the general assembly. back to you, barbara. meanwhile, president obama and vladimir putin will have their first official meeting in two years. before it even starts, the two sides can't agree on what the meeting is about. putin's office says it's about syria but the white house says it's about ukraine. today's talks will be there first sit-down conversation in about two years. we're working to find out the names of two victims in a

deadly fire in severn park. the fire started around 2:00 this morning. the fire department is still working on determining the cause. joyce mitchell will spend the next two and a half to seven years in prison for her role in the new york prison break. moments ago she wiped away tears and apologized as she received that sentence. mitchell admitted to giving hacksaw blades and other tools to richard matt and david sweat while working at the clinton correctional facility. she was going to be their getaway driver but backed out at the last minute. pope francis is back in rome right now. he ended his very busy visit to the united states just hours ago. in spite of his packed schedule he tried to sum up in 140 characters, like this. he tweeted, quote, with my heartfelt thanks, may the love of christ guide the american

people. #got god -- he said, those who covered up the sex abuse scandal are guilty. he met with five abuse survivors and warned bishops they will be held accountable for what happened. we're getting a few glimpses of sun, a live view looking off to the west. that's the american university campus. a lot of clouds around. a live tower camera looking off to the north. still mostly cloudy there, although a little bit of sun trying to break out. temperatures are beginning to warm. upper 60s shenandoah valley. beltway, low to mid-70s. mid-70s in washington and around the bay too. clouds coming in from a southeasterly flow that's been coming in over the last several hours. it's been bringing clouds coming and going, and also rain now

moving into the mountains of west virginia. some of this may come closer to us by later this afternoon. hour by hour timing, that will be coming up in a few minutes. the man accused in a deadly hit and run in clarksburg is getting ready to face a judge. police say the 22-year-old admitted he hit a 21-year-old with his car after the two got into a fight last friday. witnesses say they saw the driver drive away. police caught up with him and charged him with first-degree murder. we're just days away from a possible government shutdown. but it seems congress will avoid it for now. political experts say john boehner's resignation is the cause. last week the speaker of the house announced he will step down in late october. conservatives are expected to pass a bill to keep the government running until december when someone new is in charge. right now we're learning more about what donald trump would do if he's elected. he's set to release his tax plan

and policy ideas in new york city any minute now. we're monitoring what he plans to say and we'll update you later this hour. meanwhile, we have an update on the numbers right now. first, the rep chance of the latest nbc/"wall street journal" poll says donald trump and ben carson are neck and neck for the top spot, trump slightly ahead. the only female republican candidate, carly fiorina, is tied with senator marco rubio for third place. now to the democrats, the candidates for president. the same poll shows hillary clinton is losing ground to bernie sanders. she leads him, though, by 7 points if joe biden decides to seek the nomination as well. if not, clinton leads sanders by 15 points, down from an overwhelming 60-point lead in june. everybody's okay after part of a backdrop almost collapsed on republican presidential

candidate carly fiorina. she was in the middle of a speech in texas. fake data fallout for a controversy over fraudulent auto tests. plus remember these flames and thick smoke near a metro station last week? it's about to cause more problems.

we'll be watching for news from the university of maryland today. in less than an hour a committee is meeting to talk about the football stadium's controversial name. the stadium is named for long time school president carly bird. some students and school groups say he was a racist and segregationist. so a naming work group will discuss whether the name should be changed. this morning, three people, two of them younger than 18, in the hospital after a quasi

stampede at a music festival. police in tempe, arizona said the concert went as planned after saturday's chaos. people rushed the stage over the weekend. in the mayhem, some got stuck under the crowd. nine went to the hospital. one with a serious head injury. the latest development on the volkswagen emissions rigging scandal. the company's former ceo, martin winterkorn, is being investigated. authorities are trying to figure out who is responsible for selling millions of cars with rigged emissions software. the weeks-long road project that is about to impact one local nei

good morning. right now getting a little bit of sunshine breaking out. to our west, storm team 4 radar showing scattered showers way out in western maryland, northern west virginia. those are tracking off to the north, will stay well to the west of the metro area through much of the day ahead. as we go forward into the afternoon, these little areas in green here, this is going to be by around 3 or 4:00. we may see a few showing up around the shenandoah valley and the chesapeake bay. they may track closer to the metro area, scattered light showers in southern maryland coming into our southern and eastern suburbs between 6 and 8:00 p.m., after that tracking to the north and west. a few brief showers making some of the pavement wet for the evening commute. the police department is fine-tuning a pilot program and trying to work out technical and legal problems on how to use

police body cams. one of the main discrepancies right now, whether to require officers to get permission before filming. the maryland police training commission hopes to have a statewide policy by the start of january. now to a traffic alert for drivers. starting today, bull run post office road will be closed between cedaredge boulevard and cardinal ridge elementary school. the closure will last as long as five weeks. in that time v-dot crews will pave the gravel road and fix ditches. the baseball brawl between new nationals players is all

speed restrictions are affecteding the stadium-armory metro station right now. >> that's after a transformer blew there last week. news 4's derrick ward is live to tell us how the new fix will affect you. >> reporter: if you ready metro through this part of town, this is probably the last day you'll have a normal commute. your commute will be changed and changed for quite a while. one week ago this transformer fire disrupted rush hour service on orange, blue, and silver lines, continuing into the afternoon. that transformer provided power to the tracks. metro has patched in what power they can from other transformers

but they've had to have trains slow or stop when approaching stations to lessen the load. it's a temporary fix. there will be even more changes for riders on the orange, silver, and blue lines starting tuesday. blue trains will be the only trains stopping at stadium-armory. orange and silver trains will go through that station but not stop. metro says it will ease congestion. but it's hard for some to take. >> we're furious. >> reporter: she is the commissioner for the area that includes the stadium-armory station. >> not only do people have to figureut how to get back and forth to work, but students have to figure out how to get to school. the kids take the metro. >> reporter: metro says they will put longer trains on the orange and blue lines to help compensate but there's no other way around the problem, they can

only run one train through stadium-armory at a time. the workaround they've got now has the system stressed pretty much to its limits. they say to do anything more might risk another shutdown. it will take another six months to rebuild that substation. there may be another six in the entrepreneuri interim, but it could be that long before things get back to normal. >> thanks, derrick. a top ranking metro official faces accusations he violated the company's conflict of interest rules. mortimer downey chairs metro's governing board. his relationship with an engineering company is what concerns the inspector general. a foal low board member says downey served as a paid adviser for the company while the firm itself raked in tens of millions of dollars in profits. a murder investigation is underway in southeast

washington. thomas stallings was killed in a triple shooting in southeast late saturday night. two other victims were taken to the hospital in critical condition. so far there is no suspect information. if you know anything, police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for an arrest and conviction. new video just into our newsroom giving us a look at the moments when a tornado hit a charleston, south carolina area this weekend. the twister hit just after midnight on friday, packing 130-mile-per-hour winds and cutting a path of destruction. the storm uprooted thousands of trees and destroyed homes. no injuries or deaths reported. let's check in with tom for the weather. >> a little bit of sunshine breaking out. my favorite photo of the blood moon last night. this was taken near myersville, maryland, when there were breaks

in the clouds. not only did that moon turn that blood reddish orange color, so did the clouds, reflecting the color of the super moon last night. post your photos on facebook and twitter, we'll share it on instagram as well. we may see afternoon highs from around the bay and nearby suburbs climb to around 80 degrees. dc metro forecast for the afternoon, a small chance of a shower, highs near 80. tomorrow, more clouds, up around 80 degrees. a chance of a shower with a little rumble of thunder or flash of lightning on wednesday with highs in the upper 70s. this morning, a new study says lowering the legal drinking age could lead to more students dropping out of high school. campaigns to drop the drinking age are popping up on college campuses as a way to stop binge drinking. but researchers say states that

did that, the dropout rate went up. the nationals play their final home game in just a few hours. we are waiting to see whether johnathan papelbon will pitch. he could be facing consequences for this incident when he attacked bryce harper in the dugout yesterday. he lunges for harper's neck. the player says they talked about it after the game. >> yeah, i mean, you know, he apologized. whatever. i really don't care. i'll keep doing what i'm doing. like brothers fighting. hopefully we'll move forward when i'll do what i can for the next six days and play the game. >> this all started after harper didn't run a fly-out late in the game. papelbon told reporters he was wrong to react to violently. why so many people are

talking about mars.

trending this midday, pictures of this blood moon eclipse. they are taking over social media this midday. let's show you this. here it is over athens, greece. i'll show you the view over paris. another one from london. quite a sight there. and it's almost better when you see tweets from people who actually took photos as it progressed. that's what you're sighing right there. search #lunareclipse to see more captures. this one is a little spooky. that's the new halloween whopper courtesy of burger king.

burger king says that whopper is dripping with a-1. more out of this world news. nasa will make what it's calling a major science finding about mars.

no rain anywhere in the immediate metro area. storm team 4 radar showing all dry, but off to our west, a few showers along interstate 68, through frostburg, down to petersburg, west virginia. showers will be tracking up to northern pennsylvania. later today, clouds around but a little sun. might get an isolated shower late afternoon or early evening. tomorrow, more clouds. afternoon highs around 80. perhaps an afternoon shower and a small chance of that. wednesday, a little greater chance of showers, flashes of lightning, highs in the upper

70s in the afternoon. a chance for rain on friday and again on saturday. saturday looks like a wet day. sunday, highs mid-70s. in taiwan schools and offices are closed and the bon jovi concert is cancelled because of a typhoon. people there expect the storm to slam the country today. winds are 140 miles an hour in some places. right now no reports of any injuries or deaths. the typhoon is expected to hit china tomorrow. headed to the gas tank later? have you seen prices lately? looking pretty good over the last five weeks, they've gone down 9 cents. national average, $2.35 a gallon. maryland is at $2.23 a gallon. you'll pay about $2.04, very nice, in virginia. retailers are cutting their own

profit margins because high supply is forcing them to compete for your business. dc mayor muriel bowser is teaming up with howard university to recruit mentors for the empowering males of color initiative, a literacy program where mentors aim to help male students gain confidence and discover a passion for reading, tonight from 6 to 8:00 at howard university any school of social work in the auditorium. mayor bowser is expected to be there. a handful of sports are now on the cusp of inclusion in the 2020 olympic games. car atty, surfboarding are among those recommended. we'll learn the final decision from the international olympics committee sometime next year.

right now on "news 4 midday," pope francis is back at the vatican. plus one of or region's most popular grocery chains has let some of its employees go.

new today, pope francis back home at the vatican this morning after a whirlwind trip to the u.s. and cuba. immediately after his return the

pope visited the papal basilica of st. mary major in rome. he laid out a bouquet there of flowers at the altar and spent a few minutes in private prayer. he's accustomed to go there after a trip abroad. at each stop of his six-day tour, the pope was welcomed by hundreds of thousands of people who lined the streets of washington, new york, and philadelphia, sometimes waiting for hours just to catch a glimpse of the wildly popular pope, pontiff, whatever we call him, he's very popular. >> this morning people are still talking the impact he had on them and the country. nbc's jay gray takes a closer look back. >> reporter: the images are just like the moments. overwhelming. downtown philadelphia for the evening converted into a cathedral. >> it's amazing the love and the

closeness. it's unbelievable how inspiring. >> reporter: more than 800,000 celebrating mass with the holy father. >> he's a wonderful person, bringing a beautiful message. >> reporter: pope francis began his six-day american tour in the nation's capital, meeting with president obama and addressing the joint session of congress, the first pontiff afforded that honor. he navigated the tightrope between politics and religion. francis addressing the most powerful leaders in the world. but still always taking time for the most vulnerable among us. it was those moments, face to face with the people, that will define this historic visit. a ready smile, a knowing glance, stopping his motorcade to bless the children. they were the times francis seemed to cherish the most.

closing out his american tour in philadelphia, focused on family-faith, and service, and offering one final blessing. >> may god bless you all. god bless america. >> reporter: jay gray, nbc news, philadelphia. >> less than a week since pope francis canonized junipero serra, a statue of the new saint has been vandalized. people say somebody broke into carmel mission in california. the statue was found tipped over and painted green. other historic statues were also va vandalized. a youth hockey coach pled but i to -- pled guilty to

sexual harassment of students. he was most recently the assistant coach for a team of middle schoolers. his attorney stressed that he never touched a child. he faces up to 70 years in prison when he'll be sentenced in december. with the sun beginning to break out, temperatures are warming quickly. reagan national at 75. low to mid-70s around the bay. shenandoah valley still cloudy, in the upper 60s. mid-60s in the mountains where clouds are beginning to come in. all this coming from a flow off of the atlantic, coming inland. as it hits the mountains, creating showers here. eventually maybe a few of these may come our way by later this afternoon. warm temperatures, holding in the upper 70s through 1:00, hovering near 80 by 4:00. a few breaks in the clouds. a chance for a shower late in

the day, into the upper 70s. by then, getting more humid. this just into the live desk. a possible plea deal could be in the works for former house speaker danny hastert's hush money case. this just came out in a hearing this morning in federal court in chicago. hastert did not attend. we just found out his lawyers are in talks with prosecutors, but no details released. prosecutors accused hastert of agreeing to pay $3.5 million to someone to hide past misconduct. various news outlets report those payments were intended to cover up claims of sexual misconduct decades ago. hastert lives just west of chicago, near yorkville, where he was a teacherer and coach high school until 1981. both prosecutors and defense attorneys have taken steps to keep the information confidential. that is the latest.

back to you. a flash flood watch in effect for parts of coastal mississippi. heavy rain in the area flooded streets, up to 4 feet. it brought trouble to drivers but, good news, no injuries reported. the area got up to 10 inches of rain yesterday. at least 2 more inches are expected today. the percentage of foreigners in the u.s. is rising. a new report says that the number could break a record set more than a hundred years ago. the pugh research center says foreigners could make up to 14.9% of people living here by the year 2025. that number is 13.7% right now. the records were set in 1890 after a wave of immigrants came to america. we learned a fifth person now has died after a duck tour bus plowed into another bus on a

bridge last week. the ntsb says a front axle sheared off the vehicle. investigators believe the company knew about an axle issue two years ago and that it could be affecting more of the company's cars. just in, whole foods laying off 1500 workers. we're working to find out where the grocery store is cutting those jobs and if any stores in our area will be affected. whole foods says many of the cuts will come through attrition and expects workers will apply for 2,000 positions that are already open. the grocery chain got bad publicity recently when new york officials exposed it was overcharging customers. how did the new iphone stand up?

it's always worth remembering... that icing the cinnamon rolls is a privilege not a right. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop. this moment is perfect in every way just like my kid gooey...flaky...happy. toaster strudel. now with more icing. exelon is trying again to buy pepco. regulators rejected the first

offer. the washington post reports exelon is asking for a new hearing today and wants a new vote sometime in the next 30 days. something to take action on this morning. a new report says americans are way behind on even having a modest plan for retirement in place. it says 30% of us use our retirement savings for emergencies in the past year. another report says 10% of americans haven't put anything away for the past two years. they have this recommendation for you: sign up for a workplace savings program. contribute to an ira. or do both, with a specific target in mind. >> a lot of people have to save more aggressively. you can't be saving 3% of your income for retirement and think that this is going to get you where you need to be. >> analysts say you should be set if you can put aside 15% including whatever your company matches. new at midday, some new numbers on the newly released

iphone 6s. apple sold 13 million of iphones over the weekend, a new record. they cost $650 at their cheapest. you may need that umbrella before the day is out.

jetblue is ending its charter flight to havana ahead of the expected opening of travel to cuba. a new flight will start on december 1st in partnership with the travel company. u.s. airlines are permitted to fly to cuba without special permission from the treasury department but the u.s. and cuba must first work out a new civil aviation deal.

right now when you step out you'll notice it's a little more humid. the air is hanging with humidity. low clouds were really touching the tower tops here a couple of hours ago, have now lifted quite a bit. a few breaks in those clouds. you see sunlight coming into northwest washington. these are the zones where we might get some showers, western maryland into north and west virginia. locally, staying dry into the afternoon until 6, 7:00 p.m., where we may see scattered showers rolling through metro area, northern virginia and maryland, after that tracking north and west. dry through the rest of the evening. >> thank you, tom. a massive sinkhole at a campsite in australia is also 10 feet deep and takes up a large part of a campsite. police and emergency crews had

to help close to 140 people evacuate that campsite. this morning a presidential hopeful steps forward with something he's been pledging now for months. that sound. like nails on a chalkboard. but listen to this: (family talking) that's a different kind of sound. the sound of the weekend. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop. this moment is perfect in every way just like my kid gooey...flaky...happy.

toaster strudel. now with more icing.

right now president obama is gearing up to meet an

international adversary on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly meeting happening in new york right now. >> criticism of russia and that nation's involvement in ukraine just one of the topics the president hit on in his address that just wrapped up. >> and nbc's steve handelsman is following it all. >> reporter: president obama here at the u.n. today struck an overall theme of nations needing to cooperate, echoing what he says pope francis preached in washington, new york, and philadelphia. item number two, cuba. the president, who will meet here in new york with raul castro, praised the fact that the u.s. flag flies again in cuba. he says we forgot for 50 years that cubans love america and we love cubans. the president bemoaned the fact that so many tens of thousands, maybe more, refugees have been

driven out of syria by their civil war that rages beyoonward. he talked about the refugees crossing deserts and troubled waters. here's the political problem for the president. he's not really the leader at the u.n. with the latest plan. that belongs to russian president vladimir putin, who revealed that he has put together a deal for iraq, which is supposed to be a staunch u.s. ally, iran, and the syrian government of president assad which the obama administration proposes will work under the leadership of russia to share intel. barbara and erica, this is president obama whos struggling to remain relevant on the issue of syria here at the u.n. as he preaches all nations to cooperate. steve handelsman, live from the

u.n., news 4. i'm melissa mollet with your first 4 traffic. on tuesday, the blue line will be the only one to go through stadium-armory station during rush hour in an effort to reduce congestion. shuttle buses will run between stadium-armory and minnesota avenue when the orange and silver lines are bypassing stadium-armory. have a great day. this just in to the live desk. proof of water on modern day mars. nasa, georgia tech researchers, came together to announce their ground-breaking findings, the best evidence yet for salty liquid water on the red planet. they still cannot answer where the water is coming from. still, this is a big deal for future expeditions there, particularly human exploration. scientists used tools aboard the mars reconnaissance orbiter to

examine streaks across parts of the planet. >> is there any life on mars today? that's a fascinating question, one that's going to take some time to answer. but technologically we can answer it by sending rovers and sending people. >> we'll have updates in our nbc washington app. >> i love that, evidence of flowing water on mars. that is fantastic. now, as we look at the storm team 4 four-day forecast, we may have some flowing water here at earth from a passing shower. a few breaks in the clouds, sun coming out, highs near 80. then more clouds on tuesday with afternoon highs again around 80. might get a passing shower in the afternoon. then on wednesday, perhaps a

shower, even a thundershower, highs reaching upper 70s. then turns cooler and less humid as we get into thursday. chance of a shower on thursday, less humid. then into friday, we may get a little sunshine breaking out again. still a chance of an afternoon shower. then likely showers on saturday with highs in the upper 60s. new details about donald trump's tax plan. the republican front runner is holding a news conference right now. his plan includes a much lower tax rate for corporations. it would lower the highest income tax from 40 to 25%. the plan would get rid of federal income taxes for individuals earning less than $25,000. the policy announcement comes as gop candidates are gaining on trump in the polls. >> on the democratic side, democrats are gaining on hillary clinton.

>> reporter: as hillary clinton heads west today, she's facing a new reality. the controversy over her e-mails is here to stay. something she acknowledged for the first time on "meet the press." >> it is like a drip, drip, drip. that's why i said there's only so much i can control. >> reporter: clinton again said she regrets using a personal account while serving as secretary of state but struggled to explain the discovery of several work e-mails sent on her personal account earlier than she had said she used the address. >> you said in march that the e-mail system began in march of '09. yet we have this same e-mail address popping up in january. >> i wasn't focused on my e-mail account. >> reporter: the republican national committee said sunday clinton continues to mislead the american people. it's all taking a toll. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll of democratic primary voters nationwide says

clinton has lost ground to vermont senator bernie sanders. a big drop from previous polls. the controversy also overshadowing the clinton family charity's annual meeting in new york where former president bill clinton blamed republicans and the media. >> i actually am amazed that she has borne up under it as well as she has. i've never seen so much expended on so little. >> reporter: clinton said she set up the server out of convenience, noting her husband already had one set up in their home. the poll shows if vice president biden does not join the race, clinton's lead over sanders would jump from 7 to 15%. pope francis meets his minute m.

i'm david culver. he may be back home but it didn't mean pope francis isn't taking over our feeds. check out pope francis's reaction to this dressed-up little girl after a point and a wave, the pope says that the parents have a sense of humor. pope francis gave 18 speeches here in america. this word map shows his most frequent choices: god, many, people, life, one, and good were the words he used most and likewise conveyed his message to the american people. this is a story that's getting a lot of attention, take a look at this family. the pope called this family, a mom and dad quit their jobs in

argentina, and make a road trip of the whole papal visit, a 13,000-mile road trip. thank goodness the pope met the walker family. his response to them, "you're crazy." >> i hope they find jobs again. >> it looks like they had a great time. >> absolutely. thanks, david. many of you start your days with a before he can fast.

if you've purchased a box of cereal lately, you've probably noticed prices are going up, even though demand is going down. shoppers will spend nearly $10 billion on cold cereal this year, and that may sound like a lot. but it's 7% less than we paid out in 2012. at the same time, prices have gone up. for every dollar you spent on breakfast cereal in 1980, today you would have to spend nearly

$3. some higher end cereals cost more than establishing. -- than steak. temperatures are beginning to warm. you can keep up with all these changes with the storm team 4 app. we don't have any rain locally. temperatures are beginning to warm. it's near 70, panhandle of west virginia, northern and western suburbs, low 70s. onshore coming in off the atlantic, bringing in this moisture and humidity. the rain is still well west of us and will stay that way through much of the day. late afternoon, early evening, we might get a passing shower, before then up around 80. here 80 tomorrow, greater chance of shower or thunderstorm on wednesday, highs upper 70s. >> thank you so much for joining us. we're back on the air this afternoon first at 4. >> remember, get news and weather yupdates any time with

our nbc washington app. we'll see you in the morning.

that sound. like nails on a chalkboard. but listen to this: (family talking) that's a different kind of sound. the sound of the weekend. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop. this moment is perfect in every way just like my kid gooey...flaky...happy.

toaster strudel. now with more icing. >> announcer: today on the meredith vieira show. and hugh jacksman's role drove his wife crazy and neal patrek harris playing the bad cop when it raises the kids. a hero cop helped to lift a car off a woman penned underneath. it starts right now on meredith! ♪ makes you feel real good. [applause] ♪ >> meredith: hi, everyone.