think about the plans you may need as you make your way into the friday and saturday. maybe you have extra flashlights in case the power goes out. the nor'easter will be on friday and the nor'easter is first and you have very strong north eastederly winds and 50 along the coast and we could see flooding from this, three to six inches of rain and we could see the potential for trees down and that's what we'll continue to watch. the first headlines, heavy rain and wind likely on friday and saturday and flooding will become likely and that is friday and saturday and that does not even include what we could see from joaquin and we've got a brand new track that just came out. veronica has that. >> here is the very latest and one of the things again, we just want to say it's been a very changing forecast and a difficult forecast over the last couple of days and not just for us in the hurricane center and looking at different guidance and the a category 1 hurricane just east of the leeward islands

and makes its turn to the north and northeast as a category 3 and this is friday during the afternoon hours and intensifying and strengthening from those warm water temperatures. by the time we get to sunday and monday, this is the latest track and it's a track that we really don't like, but again, i don't want you to focus on the exact track here because it could change. there's a lot of uncertainty here, but yes, right up into the bay. it's the possibility for sunday into monday and it still could change and that would not be a good scenario for us and we want that to be north for less of a storm surge for us. >> and we do know the forecast will be changing over the next few days and we're still four or five days out and we still have time to watch joaquin and the flooding likely and we've seen flooding over the past couple of days and darcy spencer in loudoun county and parts of loudoun county yesterday saw six inches of rain and that was in downtown leesburg and they're still cleaning up. >> they certainly are, doug. as you said the rain came down very hard.

it came down very fast and they're still dealing with the aftereffects and we're live along hamilton shagz road and this was closed earlier today and a stream, a small stream in this area overflowed its banks and you can see the bridge here is being compromised and the word has been closed and no word yet on when it will reopen. we want to show you video we saw in the leesburg neighborhood earlier today. neighbors there tell us there was a four-foot wall of water that came through the community last night and seemingly out of nowhere. that wall hit the backs of several houses in the community. basements were flooded and people spent the day cleaning out their base ments and trying to get everything dried out and some residents told me they've never seen flooding like this before. >> how hard is that going to be to get this done? >> kind of hard. yeah, i had to take a lot of the mud out of the basement and move the furniture that got wet and

dry it out. >> that house right there it was just a puddle. it looks like an island. it came out of nowhere, and it was just -- it was pretty severe. it rained hard before, but it's never flooded like that. >> reporter: they're still trying to get everything dried up and it's probable going to take days to recover from that damage. also, coming up on news 4 at 6:00, firefighters are developing their plan for emergency responses and we'll have more on what you should be doing to prepare as more rain is in the forecast. >> thank you, darcy. homeowners and store owners are cleaning up after a fast-moving storm slammed in laurel, maryland and about a dozen buildings were damaged and you can see the roof partially ripped off a couple of businesses and we'll hear from a witness who saw that storm hit. that's coming up in our next half hour. >> check out the situation at james madison university where heavy downpours created a wet

mess yesterday with flooding throughout the campus. this is what it looked like yesterday and small creeks seemed more like raging rivers and it looked like a swamp was forming around much of the campus grounds. you can hear it, too. the city of harrisonburg shut down a number of streets. all of them back open now. >> and a vdot worker is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being hit by a car during the rain. it was along 395 in arlington. we are told the vdot work her been directing traffic in an area that was blocked off by cones and flares. police say charles hepburn lost control of his matrix and slid on the wet road hitting mike musgrove. before hitting a safety truck and then a guardrail. hepburn is charged with reckless driving. >> and when you are on the go, you can track the storms and check on joaquin's status. it's our new weather section of

the nbc washington app. inept and inefficient. that's how the national transportation safety board is describing the board that overseas metro safety and now federal leaders want to make major changes within metro. news 4's transportation reporter adam tuss broke the story today and he's on capitol hill now live about this big announcement. adam? >> reporter: this is an unprecedented announcement. when you boil it down the ntsb is so concerned about the group that watches metro safety and they say the federal government needs to step in. >> it's safe to say metro is now at a tipping point. >> we're going to have to understand how this happened, but right now the imperative is to clean it up and fix it. northern virginia congressman jerry connolly reacting to word that the national transportation safety board wants the federal railroad administration to now have direct oversight of metro's safety.

and it would be the first time the federal government directly oversaw the safety of a subway system in the united states. >> they can be the robust and vigorous presence i think we need and i hope they'll play that role. >> reporter: this safety recommendation tells you about what the recommendation about metro safety. bluntly, the ntsb says that group is not up to the challenge. they say it would take that group years to address safety issues that the government could get done in just a few months. >> it's a long way from solving the problem and dealing with all of the components. >> reporter: dave snider is head of the west virginia transportation commission and other issues like metro's board and financial structure also have to be looked at, not just more oversight. >> just kind of like in a new vulture, just feasting on the corpse. i'm more interested in bringing the corpse back to life. >> whatever happened, metro safety is once again the focus.

metro has responded saying it welcomes more oversight to get to the goal of a safer system, but coming up at 6:00, what has to happen now here on the hill to get this new federal regulation. will it, in fact, happen? wendy, back to you. >> thank you, adam. he was probably on his way back to his post in camp david when he saw a disabled car stranded in the pouring rain so marine corporal william ferrell stopped, but it would be his last kind gesture in a long line of acts of service in this young man's life. corporal ferrell was struck and killed on the side of route 15 near thurmo in, t maryland. police are still looking for the person who hit him. >> reporter: people who knew corporal william ferrell called him kyle. they say he was the guy who would do anything for anyone. >> he was always one of the kids that you know, you know you're going to like. he gets along with everybody. >> reporter: brian tyner is the

fire chief in carthage, north carolina, where kyle grew up and joined the department at just 16 years old. >> down to earth. he was a great guy. do anything for you and that's why people wanted to join the fire department to help people. >> reporter: that's why tyner says kyle joined the marines where he was promoted to corporal just last year. it's also why tuesday night in the midst of a rainstorm, trooper daniel rochelle with the maryland state police say corporal ferrell pulled over. >> at that time corporal ferrell in his personal vehicle pulled behind that disabled vehicle to see if he could render any aid. >> reporter: trooper rochelle says kyle got out of his car and was walking on the northbound shoulder on highway 15 and was just feet away from the stranded driver. >> the suspect vehicle went off the side of the road and struck corporal ferrell's pickup truck as well as striking corporal ferrell. >> reporter: a 21-year-old man who dedicated his life to service died trying to do just

that, but if you ask those who knew him best, they'll tell you that's just how kyle was. >> that was kyle. he was always helping someone, going out of his way to lend a helping hand. >> reporter: now police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the accident or know ñ who took off to contact the maryland state police right away. >> coming up at 6:00, what ferrell's hometown plans to do to mick sure his legacy of heroism lives on. back to you. >> megan fitzgerald. thank you. a man tried to abduct a woman in arlington and now police are trying to figure out if he could be connected to a string of similar cases can and this happened along quicksy street and that's near washington lee high school in the boston neighborhood. we are told the man grabbed a 23-year-old woman and dragged her into the bushes. he ran off after she screamed. prosecutors say jealousy fueled this crime. today a loudoun county man

entered a no-contest plea in the murder of his ex-wife's second husband. the victim's wife showed up for today's hearing with the couple's newborn child. news 4's pat collins was in the courtroom and is live in a story that takes us to leesburg. >> reporter: wendy, to the charge of murder, no contest. to the charge of malicious wounding, no contest. to the charge of breaking and entering, no contest. there will be no trial in this troubling case. denise madison, she was there when her husband was murdered. in fact, at the time, she was carrying his child. a few days ago she gave birth to that little girl and brought the babe toe court as she watched her ex-husband enter a controversial plea in this sorted case of murder. >> reporter: what was it like for you today? >> i would probably prefer not

to say anything right now. >> reporter: at the loudoun county courthouse today in the murder of corey madison wen entered the plea of no contest. it has the same consequences as a guilty plea, but the prosecutor says there is an important difference. >> in a guilty plea you stand up and recognize morally if nothing else, yes, i am guilty. i did this, and i deserve to be punished. no contest, says if i went to trial i'd lose. let's cut to the chase. >> reporter: is this sort of a cop-out by him? >> think it is. >> reporter: it was when wen burst into the home, shot corey madison, stole a car, drove off and returned to the scene and while corey madison was on the ground dying, wen starts beating him on the head. in their marriage denise and wen had three children. they say nguyen was upset that corey madison was spending time with those kids. denise named her newborn corey rene madison in honor of her

deceased husband who she described as her hero. sentencing in this case has been set for february. two days in february, why two days? i'll explain all about that coming up at 6:00. jim, back to you. >> pat collins, montgomery county search and rescue team is on a special mission now. news 4 has exclusive access to explain how some local first responders are training for a massive disaster. >> also, you may have seen the new credit card machines at the store, but find out if everyone's red for the changes that are supposed to help protect you while you shop. he exposed himself to a young girl on metro. i'll tell you what item of clothing led to his arrest. minutes ago, the house passes a bill to keep the government open through december 11th. it now goes to the president obama's desk for his signature.

his so-called clean continuing resolution was passed by the senate and does not include any effort to defund planned parenthood. news 4 at 5:00, we are just getting started.

. he's accused of exposing himself to a 13-year-old girl on a metro train. metrotransity police made an arrest and jackie bensen on how the victim helped police track him down. >> reporter: wendy, this man was wearing a chef jacket with the name of the restaurant where he worked. he was wearing that jacket when he sat down next to a 13-year-old girl on a metro train, unzipped his pants and did something he should not have been doing on metro. metrotransity police got the call from the girl's mother a short time later and she said her daughter was on the train at the georgia avenue petworth station when it happened on september 11th. the man put his hundred as her thigh when she got up to get away. detectives scoured surveillance camera images and came up with still photos which were distributed to officers with the notice to be on the lookout for the man. a sharp-eyed officer who works at the greenbelt station noticed that chef's jacket in the

pictures and she'd gotten calls for similar behavior describing a man wearing a chef's jacket. all of it led to the arrest of 37-year-old espinoza l. lopez also known as lino espinoza lopez. >> it was really great. a victim in the case was able to provide a distinctive lookout and she provided greateth cloing skripgz, facial feechures and hair and things that you and i take for granted and we looked at the concerning ctv and we saw him. >> detectives believe there could be other victims and the suspect has been charged with second-degree child abuse. that's a felony and he remains jailed without bond at this time. back to you. jackie bensen. developing tonight, a 73-year-old maryland man could spend a year in prison for a deadly hit and run on the vw parkway. earl teeter pled guilty to failing to stop after the crash. a judge convicted him on two counts today.

teeter hit rick warrick. he was changing a tire on the shoulder of the parkway back in february. warrick later died and his fiance was badly injured. teeter says he knew he hit something and didn't know what. he'll be sentenced in january. >> the man charged in the connection to a 40-year-old cold case from our area will make his first court appearance in virginia tomorrow. lloyd welch has a hearing in bedford county in connection with the disappearance of the lyon sisters. sheila and katherine lyon disappeared from a mall in wheaton, maryland. investigators believe he played a role in the murder and the girls' bodies have not been found and welsh is serving time for an unrelated rain case in delaware. dozens of people had to rearrange their travel plans when a flight made an emergency landing. the delta flight took off from atlanta heading to new york. there were engine problems.

passengers onboard heard a loud booming or popping noise. delta did not release any details about what may have happened and that jet did land s safely. sex while on duty. missing equipment, timesheet fraud. those are some of the dramatic misconceptions of misbehavior on a government facility that scott mcfarland and the i-team broke this morning. >> serious misconduct alleged at the headquarters of the national institutes of standards in technology in gaithersburg involving one high-ranking police official there. former agency police lieutenant christopher bartly. the same police official who pled guilty to a charge of methamphetamine on the ground of an agency, an effort that triggered an explosion in july. while investigating that place the u.s. house science committee said it found more misconduct. the committee alleges bartly had sex on the grounds in government vehicles.

they say they suspected he doctored his time sheet for overtime hours and police equipment is also missing from the grounds. the committee says the agency knew of this misconduct, failed to take disciplinary action and even had bartly serve as the police chief for a while. no immediate response from bartly's attorney to these allegations, but the house science committee has formally requested access to these highly secured grounds next week including the building in which it exploded in july. it will provide information to the committee. back to you. a developing story. the world is watching a show of force now as russia launches air strikes in syria. we'll tell you how the white house is responding. we first told you about the thousands of students who still haven't gotten their school vaccinations in prince george's county. it turns out someone is breaking the law. we'll take you to a special

tribute honoring local firefighters. doug is still tracking hurricane jackin and that's not the only storm system we have to worry about in the coming days

and now your storm team 4 forecast. this could be a situation that we have over the next couple of days and this was

actually last night in the downtown streets of frederick, maryland. flooded streets as that region receives four to six inches of rain in just a couple of hours. at one point we picked up three inches in one hour. this could be something that we see as we move toward the day friday and saturday and maybe even beyond. that's what i want you to think about here and this doesn't start until friday for the most part and plenty of time to prepare for flooding and prepare for the potential for power to be out, too. >> take a look right now and not dealing with a lot going on and we do have shower activity and light showers down toward the airport. we do have some sprinkles and 72 degrees and look at the wind out of the north at 16 miles per hour and that tells you our front is moving through and you can see the flow of the showers moving on down around the waldorf area and you can see those right here and a few showers around the d.c., metro area and most of these, though, actually all of these will be light. satellite and radar showing the cloud cover and encompassing the

entire mid atlantic region and the front itself is moving off the coast here. some thunderstorm activity around the ocean city region and what's going to happen is all of this moisture will be pulled right back on to shore. we could see that here in the future weather. look at all of this moisture off the coast on thursday morning, but then during the day thursday, notice how it starts to move back toward the west and on friday we do start to see heavy rain come into the area on friday afternoon and look at this by friday evening and that's when we think the heaviest rain will be friday night into the day on saturday as we do expect more rain. some of the heaviest rain may stay to the south and we're still predicting upwards of three to six inches of rain and first we have the nor easter and once again, we're not talking about that hurricane and we're talking about the nor'easter. >> the low pressure just off the coast for us and that creates that very strong northeasterly flow. so what it's going to give us is the potential for the flooding and coastal flooding definitely. veronica johnson will be in the

ocean city area for the next couple of days and looking at the beach erosion and the potomac and down towards georgetown we could see significant coastal flooding there. winds to 40 miles per hour and that could take down some trees and three to six inches more on top of what we've seen over the last 24 hours and here is that forecast for you. three to six inches plus and it's close to the chesapeake and d.c., down toward fredericksburg and still significant amount. two to three inches as we move on through the day on saturday and then we turn to joaquin which right now is a category 1 hurricane with 85 mile an hour wind and a healthy-looking storm and not moving much. the late of the advisory has it moving to the west at 8 and it's expected to move toward the north and just be off the coast of jacksonville with a strong category 3 storm with winds of 18 miles per hour and notice the latest track as of 5:00. it brings it right on top of d.c. do not look at this track and

why do i say that? well, this will change over the next couple of days. you saw yesterday it was off the coast. today it's here and tomorrow it could be farther south or back out to sea. so don't think this is exactly what's going to happen, but it tells you you need to prepare over the next couple of days for a storm to come in and we have the nor easter and that's why we have the weather alert. look at the temperature on friday, a dreadful day. 59, 30 mile an hour winds and same deal, temperatures around 65 and than sunday we get into joaquin and veronica will have more coming up at 5:45. now at 5:00, it's true. the clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses had a special meeting with the pope while he was in washington. what we're now learning about this controversial visit. it's one of the most realistic training facilities in the world. i'm mark segraves and coming up, we'll show you how montgomery county fire and rescue me

now at 5:30, preparing for the worst. first responders from montgomery county gear up for a mass casualty training situation in georgia. welcome back. this time it's only a drill, but the drill is crucial for when a real disaster happens. >> montgomery county is just one of several teams in our area

taking part in this drill this week. mark segraves tagged along for the ride. he joins us from atlanta with the story you will only see on news 4. >> reporter: that's right. this is unlike anything i've ever seen before and these are the guardian centers and this is a state-of-the-art training facility for first responders and there are 20 teams here from across the country including maryland task force 4. this building is actually designed after a building in the christ church, new zealand, earthquake that fell off of its foundation. that building is meant to replicate that exact incident. if you walk over here you'll recognize these from katrina and sandy. this is the mark first responders make and then the second splash indicate they've come out safely. walk over here and just to get an idea of how technical this building is right here. you see these levels right here? these actually are mechanical and go up and down so they can go back up into place and then

simulate the building collapse. and these cars that you see here, there are 300 of them. this is not their first disaster. these cars were actually destroyed in sandy. they are brand new general motors cars near sand owe the lot. general motors donated them here so first responders would have first responders to go in, you can actually see some first responders inside doing their search and rescue missions and they'll be here working around the clock as if there was an actual earthquake going into collapsed buildings and even have actual metro cars from d.c. to have their metro cars here that they will be training on and rescuing people from those scenarios and coming up at 6:00 ks you'll remember the catastrophic flooding after katrina, we'll embed with the montgomery fire department and maryland tank force 4 in a simulation of that exact type of

flooding. jim, back to you. >> good stuff down there. nice back to real deal damage. take a look at this. tonight, laurel, maryland's mayor, after heavy rain left two buildings without rooftops and trees toppled on property and vehicles. news 4's chris gordon went to laurel where the national weather service is also looking at this aftermath. >> reporter: this is main street in downtown laurel maryland. it's called the historic district because of its old buildings and today some of them have lost roofs, sustained damage to ceilings and to breaks as well as signs that were damaged and windows that were broken. in all, about a dozen buildings suffered damage and this is the old laurel theater and it is now owned by the city. its roof was damaged and we talked to a laurel resident who was here when it happened. >> it sounded like a tornado,

and as i was coming around the corner there was very dark skies and the roof right here at this old theater seemed to have been raised up and so i started picking up the debris. >> today was cleaning up and putting down tarp knowing there was more rain in the forecast. in laurel, maryland, chris gordon, news 4. the national weather service tells news 4 that it's aware of the damage in laurel, but they are not saying it was a tornado. as the weather changes, get the new nbc washington app and tap the temperature button to see our live, updated radar. i'm pat lawson muse at the live desk right now. secretary of state john kerry and his russian counterpart are about to hold a press conference at the u.n. addressing today's air strikes in syria. we don't know yet what they're going to say, but we do know they've been meeting on the side lines in new york. russia unexpectedly launched the air strikes today without

informing the u.s. and defense secretary ash carter says it appears the bombings targeted syrian rebels rather than isis terror iiv terroriveists. much more on the developments in syria and what secretary kerry had to say coming up in about 25 minutes. well, if you haven't gotten one in the mail yet it is coming, but who's ready for it? the new chip cards are supposed to help protect you from getting your information stolen, but erika gonzalez checked to see if stores are ready for this change. plus it was an emotional night. a woman was executed in georgia. how is that setting the stage for virginia's own death row case?

child is an adorable baby who, although born with a host of challenges never fails to get lots of oohs and ahhs for her big blue eyes and curly blond hair. her name is bella which means beautiful, and the other day we visited the wellness of the beautiful place that were a delight for the senses of this 20-month-old. >> with all of the colorful things here at this wellness center captured bella's attention as she woke up from a nap. the center's owner tisha dunn showed us around. >> we have a marketplace over here. >> we were excited to rouse bella from her stroller to have a look. bella has been in group foster care since shortly after birth. >> she came into care in april of 2014 due to multiple medical

conditions and her parents, unfortunately, were unable to care for her needs at that time. >> time for a story, bella. >> award-winning children's author jodine noland stopped by to share one of her books with bella. >> he farmed a genuine government inspected. >> bella is such a sweet little girl. >> hello. hello, little girl. >> she loves to be hugged and cuddled and kissed. she loves soft music and playing with toys. >> and she loves the attention of anyone who stops to interact with her. >> we've seen more personality come out of bella in the last few months, actually and that would be a great success for her. >> i would love to find a family that's able to dedicate their time and love to bella and really help her progress to her potential. >> while bella has many challenges, it's hoped that small strides will lead to greater expectations for her future. >> she's so special and really

deserves somebody to be a part of her life and really care for her and look out for her. >> she really is a wonderful little girl. . you have room in your home and your heart for bella or another child who is waiting and please call the special adoption hotline and the number is 1-88-to-adopt-me. she went to jail to avoid signing marriage licenses to gay couples. now the county court clerk is talking about the meeting in d.c. with pope francis. the trial date now officially set in the murder of morgan harrington, plus we learned of another possible conflict of interest involving the judge in this case. i'm david culver. i'll break it down in a report coming up. we're tracking not one, but two storms, a nor'easter and then joaquin. a lot of rain and a lot of wind and the impact on this area and how much we're going to get coming up next o

well, they have waited nearly six years and now the parents of morgan harrington say they have a date for justice. jesse matthew is accused of murdering harrington in charlottesville in 2009. news 4's david culver is outside the albemarle county courthouse.

david? >> reporter: today jesse matthew waived his right to a speedy trial in the harrington case and the trial date is set for october of next year. >> there's definitely relief in it. >> reporter: october 24, 2016, that's the date now set for the murder trial of jesse matthew charged with killing morgan harrington and not soon enough for her mom and dad. >> we have the next year to still be swinging on this pendulum, slow-moving process of court. that's a long time for us to keep this ball rolling. >> that would be seven years. seven years after the event. >> abducted and murdered on october 17, 2009, here in charlottesville after leaving a concert. the judge, unknowingly, first set the trial date for the anniversary and then changed it. >> more pain and suffering. >> reporter: today's hearing also included matthew's defense motion in hannah graham's case.

it's been a year since hannah's death. that trial is set to begin next summer and the judge agreed to set another judge whether to admit certain search warrants and mainly some she signed off on. >> reporter: a possible conflict of interest may arise in this morgan harrington case. the judge telling the court after she was dismissing everyone that she does have a daughter who attends virginia tech. she also has a daughter who attends uva, both schools where both young victims attended. the defense says they may take that up and ask her to recuse herself from this case. >> coming up next, jill and wendy. we'll hear what he had to say to the mom of jesse matthew. that's ahead in the next hour. >> interesting. after last night's flooding. veronica joins us now and tells us this is a very, very small window before the weather rafrms up again. >> that it is. we have this afternoon and evening before the sun sets and it's setting earlier and it is

early tomorrow morning before we start to get more rain coming up from the south and time to take action and make sure that you do some clearing around your house and take action for the possibility of more flooding taking place on friday. here is the very latest storm team 4 radar and not muching about on and just a few showers and they've been spotty today and most of the rain down around virginia beach. temperatures warmer in the 70s and we dropped to the upper 60s by 7:00 and mid-60s by 11:00 p.m. and your action items here and make sure you clear the gutters. the down spouts as well as check your sump pump and when you're in the basement, make sure you move your val ables off the basement floor and the last thing you want is for that to be ruined. >> looking ahead now with round one that we'll get with this area of low pressure moving up the coast. here's the areas and the rivers from the streams all impacted, i think, friday afternoon and friday evening. southwest water front georgetown, alexandria all could

see moderate flooding by late friday early saturday morning and running about a foot to a foot and a half above normal and here is a look at simulated radar starting thursday morning and nothing too heavy until we get into late friday during the afternoon hours and that rain continues to move through with some wind on friday with wins gusting at the coast at about 40 and 50 meals per hour and another wave of rain, too, comes into the area for saturday with more wind and more rain. probably the worst of it will be friday late during the afternoon hours into saturday and those are the days right now at least in the near future that will be impacting the greatest. friday, saturday, thursday and a few showers more breezy and then we get ready for joaquin. friday will be a high-impact day and a weather alert day for storm team 4. make sure you not only download the washington app, but make sure to turn your alerts on. very important.

60 to 65 tomorrow morning and temperatures will be falling and holding steady in the low 60s across the area and it will be a day tomorrow when you will need a jacket and not a lot in the way of rain coming through the area tomorrow and wait until friday and saturday and potentially on sunday and monday and depending on what joaquin does and look at the rain potential and this is through saturday afternoon and three to six inches pretty much from the coastal areas mainly east of i-95 and on we'll see that heavy, heavy rain coming in. stormy conditions and uncertainty with joaquin's track and we're at 65 on sunday and 70 degrees for sunday and some warmth coming in with the storm system as it comes very close to the coast inland. monday, tuesday, wednesday, at least a chance to dry out, but we've got a lot more coming up on joaquin's track and potential impact of the area on news 4 at 6:00. today is the deadline for students to have their immunization shots in prince george's county public schools. thousands of students could be

turned away from class. tracee wilkins has more on how the county is getting kids the shots they need. >> i have four kids. >> reporter: two years in america and this mother is learning just how important it is to have her children immunized. >> they sent a letter home yesterday that if the children are not immunized by today tomorrow they would send them out of the school and that's why i came here today. she's visiting one of two clinics offering free immune zags. there are still more than 2,000 students who have not had their shots. >> on monday we had approximately 40 students that needed their immunizations done, but we've gotten our numbers down quickly. >> reporter: at kenmore middle school, the nurse is making last-minute calls and reminding parents they must get it done. >> some of the parents are parents who, one, can't afford to get their immunization and they've scheduled an appointment that's maybe a month out. some parents say they weren't notified in ample time.

>> reporter: prince george's county school spokesman has admitted to record issue with so many files missing or lost. they've had to figure out who is and who isn't immunized. >> i never got, like, any paper from the school. >> virginia reyes is rushing sophia who just turned 12 to the doctor to get her booster before tomorrow's deadline. >> if they don't have their immunizations before 4:20 this afternoon they will be excluded from school starting tomorrow. >> today is the deadline they chose. tomorrow, they will start turning students away. coming up on news 4 at 6:00, choosing this deadline is actually in violation of state law. i'll explain. i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. they barely know each other, but today firefighters from all over the country came together as a family came together to honor their fallen brothers and sisters and 87 firefighters were remembered today in a flag folding ceremony at the capital.

a flag for each firefighter was flown over the capitol grounds. a lot of social media reaction this evening to the secret meeting between pope francis and kim davis. davis is the kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay people because she said she opposes gay marriage on religious grounds. the meeting happened last tuesday in washington. davis says the pope told her to stay strong, and gave rosery beads to her and her husband. a vatican spokesperson did not deny the report, but offered no comment. >> we've been asking if the meeting between the pope and davis changed any minds about pope francis and so far the majority of people responding to our poll say yes, their opinion has changed for the worst. you can weigh in on visiting -- by visiting nbcwashington on facebook or twitter. >> tomorrow marks the beginning of a big shift and how your credit and debit cards are protected. >> but is this chip card

technology ready. >> keepinging you safe and secure, consumer reporter erica gonzalez with the answer. >> we've been talking about this for a while. chip cards designed to significantly reduce fraud. tomorrow is the deadline when merchants are expected to reduce the chip-enabled cards. the problem, most merchants are not ready. >> now that millions of consumers have the new chip-enabled debit or credit card we asked folks what they think of it. >> i think it's a good idea, but they don't always work. >> the retailers are having difficulty with the system already. >> it's much safer than just swiping it. not everybody is still aware of it and uses it. >> reporter: instead of swiping it the new chip cards are designed to be dipped into the payment terminal using a unique, one-time encryption code. you'll still find the traditional magnetic strip and consumers may be asked to continue to swipe and sign. >> i'm having problems with it, yes. i usually used to swiping. >> that's because the

chip-enabled terminals you're supposed to dip into at checkout may not be up and running. here in northwest d.c. the chip readers are installed, but they don't work. >> it's just not ready. our software company, i guess have a big nut to crack for them and it's a lot to do and they're just not there yet. >> reporter: they're not alone. merchants all over the u.s. missed the october 1st deadline and likely won't have the technology working until next year. >> the interesting thing is a lot of merchants have the hardware necessary to support chip cards. >> alex johnson is with the research group that advises the banking and payment industry. it found the u.s. is not where it should be with the technology. >> i think the biggest surprise was how few merchants are going to be ready. >> johnson and his team present half of merchant payment terminals in the u.s. will have it installed by the end of this year, but only 19% of them will actually be turned on and working.

>> from a software perspective, there are a lot of steps that need to be done to load the software on to the device. >> johnson says many retailers will delay the switch to emb technology until after the holidays for fear it could interfere with the peak shopping season. the industry as a whole has known that the chip cards were coming. >> and that's because there is a shift in liability. if merchants don't have working chip technology and the consumer has the chip card, the merchant is liable for any fraud that takes place at the register. until now, liability fell on the banks. so it pays for merchants to have the new chip technology working. >> it's a painful change, but in a lot of ways it will have good, long-term effects. i think. >> say you get to the register and the store doesn't have the new technology working and ask if it takes mobile payment like apple pay and google wallet. that technology is very safe. >> we have a link to more helpful chip card information on the consumer watch facebook page.

>> thank you, erika. the final plea for a georgia woman went unanswered. next, what we learned about her last moments. and the video you've got to see, folks. a parking enforcement employee breaking his own rules. is that even allowed? new at 6:00 tonight, rush hour commuters sound off as news 4

we're back with breaking news.

virginia governor terry mccallive just declared a state of emergency in light of heavy rains and hurricane joaquin. we have team coverage on the forecast at the top of the hour. despite pleas from her three children, last night georgia executed a female inmate for the first time in seven decades. as nbc's dan schenamen reports, the execution came after several last-minute appeals to the u.s. and georgia supreme courts. kelly gissendaner, the only woman on death row in the state of georgia was killed by lethal injection. the first woman to be executed in the state in 70 years. a mother of three, gissendaner was point guildy of conspiring in the 1997 murder of her husband douglas at the hands of her boyfriend greg owen. the state parole board held a last-minute hearing and denied gissendaner despite pleas from her oldest child and the catholic church. >> every life is secret and every human being is endowed with an inalienable dignity.

>> just last week the pope met with prisoners in the u.s. and called for the death penalty to be abolished. others calling for gissendaner's life to be spared. >> she's not a danger to anyone and she's not leaving prison. >> gissendaner gave her husband no rights, no choices, no opportunity to live his life. his life was not hers to take. dan schenamen, nbc news. now at 6:00, the state of georgia has issued a state of emergency as joaquin turns into a hurricane and a nor'easter is moving even closer. just one of the new accusations with a high-ranking police official. >> the federal government wants new oversight and that troubled transit agency. we'll question whether congress will approve that. >> but first tonight, the double

whammy. working its way up the coast. >> all eyes right now on the radar and it is not just joaquin, but a nor'easter that will arrive first. >> doug kammerer and veronica johnson kicking off our coverage in the storm center. we mentioned that state of america and we are watching the latest track of joaquin does move closer to the region, but we first have to deal with friday and saturday and that's when we get the heavy rain. >> that's the second one and the third whammy potentially and it's a track that can change and i'll show that track in just a moment. >> we're taking a look at the radar across the region and it's seeing the rain toward the south and what will happen over the next few days. notice nothing going on around our region and this moisture just off the coast will be brought right back in with a very strong northeasterly flow and that's what we've been talking about for days now and we'll get the nor'easter first and it's on friday. we see a strong northeasterly