first at 4:00 this afternoon, a community rallying around the family of a great-grandmother. friends say the 95-year-old was the picture of health. she planned to go bowling last night, but margaret wydro never made it across river road. news 4's meagan fitzgerald is in bethesda with the story. >> reporter: montgomery county police say the accident happened in or around the intersection. you'll see the markings on the road. we are told that indicates where the driver tried to stop when he realized he struck 95-year-old margaret wydro. the crash happened just before 7:00 p.m. on wednesday evening. neighbors say wydro was crossing the street at river road at springfield drive heading to bowling class at the kentwood country club. they say she would walk to class several times a week for different social activities. police don't know if the 30-year-old driver was at fault, but he remained on scene until investigators arrived. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. coming up at 5:00, hear from a

neighbor who heard the crash and ran to the scene. she describes the moment when she realized her neighbor was gone. reporting in bethesda, meagan fitzgerald, news 4. i'm darcy spencer in germantown. a high school student said he was riding his bike to school right here in wisteria drive in great seneca highway when he was hit by a woman driving a van and once she hit him she says she looked over at him and kept going. he suffered a pretty serious ankle injury and was later taken to the emergency room for treatment. it happened back on october 6th right around 7:30 in the morning. he was heading to his high school, seneca valley high school. today his father joined with montgomery county police as they urge anyone with information about that driver to come forward. >> this remains an open investigation. we're not assigning blame at this point. we need to hear from the driver and any other witnesses who believe they may have seen

something. >> reporter: coming up on news 4 at 5:00 you're going to hear from that teenager's father what he has to say to this driver and how this has affected his son emotionally. in germantown, darcy spencer, news 4. meanwhile, 12 families will have to find temporary housing after a fire gutted their apartment building and the flames started around noon on the top floor of the three-story building and it's on manchester place in silver spring. these are the park wayne apartments and smoke was so heavy firefighters had to help several people get out and no injuries and no word yet on what caused that fire. this suntrust bank shut down early today after a man robbed the branch. this is at connecticut avenue near nebraska in northwest washington. police are still looking for the man accused of holding up the bank around 11:00 this morning. at the live desk, i'm wendy rieger and we are watching the marathon grilling of former secretary of state hillary

clinton by the benghazi committee. here is a live look at the hearing. they just paused for a quick break. so far the questioning has focused on request for increased security from the late ambassador chris stephens who was killed in that attack. clinton says many of those requests were sent straight to security professionals. there have been questions about advice and input. clinton was receiving from sydney blumenthal, a friend who emailed frequently about the region. so far clinton has remained calm and at times somber and reflective. >> you know, i would imagine that i've thought more about what happened than all of you put together. i've lost more sleep than all of you put together. i have been racking my brain about more could have been done. >> why has no one been held accountable? how come not a single person lost a single paycheck? >> reporter: it has gotten testy among committee members today and in about ten minutes steve handelsman will join us with some analysis from the hill.

i'm julie carey at the fairfax county courthouse where friends of charles severance are coming to the witness stand to paint a different picture of the man they call charlie and they're helping the defense team attack a target security video that prosecutors say shows severance following one of the victims. george mckinley is among the friends who testified. he was severance's lawyer when severance lived in cumberland maryland from 2003 to 2005. he was asked to watch this video and it shows a man resembling severance following nancy dunning in february 2003, but mckinley and three other friends all testify the man in the video is not severance. >> it's not charlie severance. it's actually not charlie severance. that man is way more stocky than charlie was. his facial features are completely different.

it is so obvious. >> the defense also called on someone who once knew severance very well. the woman who was married to him for less than a year. what she said about why they split up ahead at 5:00. back to you in the studio. there are still problems for metro passengers wanting to make 911 calls when they're riding metro trains. metro has had several serious incidents on its tracks in recent months. officials say only about 27% of 911 calls are successful from the trains. that compares to 90% of calls made from station platforms. metro is working to improve the overall reliability to 99%, but it would take several years to do that. >> let's go to storm team 4 meteorologist doug kammerer, as nice as it is today you're tracking changes headed our way. not so nice? >> i still think it will be pretty nice, but not as nice as today. today it is simply gorgeous out there and take a look at our

temperatures, not just in our area and we're seeing the yellows and oranges on the map and we'll see a lot more of the greens and that's the 60s. 64 in pittsburgh and 76 in columbus and 80 in roanoke and 75 in d.c. and tomorrow, however, we are going to see a change. the warm air is here and tomorrow we'll see the cool air move back down across our region and we are in for a much cooler weekend and not nearly as warm and still nice and plenty of sunshine. we'll talk about the coolest timeframe and that is overnight on your friday. if you're headed out friday night i have that for you and the weekend forecast, as well. veronica and i are back in a couple of minutes. >> a montgomery teenager is dead after being hit by a car. chopper 4 was over new hampshire avenue just after 6:00. that's where 18-year-old michelle highwaya was hit trying to cross route 29. she later died at the scene and as of now there have been no charges filed and the crash had

southbound 29 backed up for hours. >> four people are recovering from this crash that chopper 4 showed us earlier today. it shut down part of the intercounty connector near route tween in silver spring. this involved a pickup truck and another truck. the pickup ended up catching fire. police are looking into what led to this crash. tracking a serial arsonist. what a fire starter is using to ignite churches. hostage rescue. the u.s.-led raid to save lives the u.s.-led raid to save lives in isis territory.

the washington post endorses democrat jeremy mcpike for state senate. applauding mcpike's "ideas about getting traffic moving." the post warns republican hal parrish "holds rigid positions against medicaid expansion and common-sense gun safety." and parrish was the deciding vote to restrict women's health clinics in manassas, forcing women to go elsewhere for cancer screenings and birth control. jeremy mcpike

is the better choice. i'm jeremy mcpike, candidate for state senate, and i sponsored this ad. targeting churches in st. louis, missouri. >> no one's been hurt yet, but the community is on edge and police have stepped up patrols hoping to find out who is behind it. seven churches have been set on fire in the past two weeks. the most recent happened just

this morning. investigators say someone used an accelerant to set fire to the doors of the church rectory. >> we recognized a pattern a week ago. like i said, it's starting to disturb a lot of people. we're going to expand our area of focus because it looks like whoever is doing this has expanded theirs. >> until this morning, all of the churches targeted were predominantly african-american. we'll have more in the next half hour including how church leaders are dealing with this threat. >> a young american commando is dead after a mission to rescue hostages from isis in iraq. u.s. special op forces saved 70 people being held prisoner. the raid happened overnight in an area southwest of kirkuk. the american is the first killed in combat in iraq since 2011. several isis members were also killed in that raid. students in sweden first thought an attacker was part of a halloween prank and it was

terrifyingly real. the man entered school wearing a mask and waving a knife and no one ran until he started stabbing people. police arrived and they shot him. he survived and two of the people stabbed did not survive. two died including a teacher and a student. the school has 400 students from preschool to high school. still ahead, road rage shooting. the family of a little girl who was killed describes the moments that they realized she'd been struck. >> a deadly confrontation in the heart of florida. a popular line of stuffed animals recalled because of a choking hazard. >> we are gathering more narrator: puerto rico's economy is in a death spiral. to make matters worse, washington has plans to cut another $3 billion from the island's healthcare budget. puerto ricans pay the same medicare taxes, but receive less than half the funding of mainland states, leaving the system on life support. more cuts will push the economy to the edge of disaster and put every puerto rican's care in jeopardy.

washington needs to act now to save healthcare for the three and a half million us citizens of puerto rico.

>> and from the live desk you need to know that there is smoke reported in the anacostia metro station. trains are bypassing that station and ems are there to figure out where it is coming from. we are not hearing about injuries or panic or anything like that. metro are not stopping at anacostia on the green line. a bridge, a bus bridge will be set up to get you around that to get you where you need to go. anacostia metro station on the green line reported smoke in there and we'll keep you posted. >> thank you, wendy. >> we're working several stories right now at 4:15. the gunman accused of killing a toddler in a road rage incident

confesses. there was a confrontation on the side of a highway. plus build a bear says a line of stuffed animals could pose a choking hazard. we'll have that story for you in about five minutes. we'll show you a live look now at the room where the benghazi hearing has been under way all day on capitol hill. hillary clinton has testified for about five hours. the committee members took a break to cast some votes and the hearing is expected to resume in just a few minuteses. it's not the first congressional investigation into the deadly attacks that killed four americans in ben gas ney 2012, but it is the longest-running at 17 months now and it could affect the presidential race. steve handelsman is tracking the hearing today and he's live on capitol hill with highlights and steve, we saw fireworks today. >> reporter: we did, pat. no surprise there, but hillary clinton kept her cool, i think it's safe to say. it's been a long investigation. it's been a long hearing and there's a lot on the line and

it's a big test for hillary clinton and her campaign and for house republicans who are defending their investigation. the showdown hearing got emotional. four americans died in benghazi. >> okay. what must we do better? >> reporter: republicans said tell the truth. >> what did our leaders in washington do or not do and when? >> reporter: clinton testified as secretary of state she never saw slain ambassador chris stephens' request for more security. >> he did not raise security with me. he raised security with the security professionals. >> republicans charged after the u.s. facilities were overrun on 9/11 nec 9/11, 2012, she covered up. she blamed an al qaeda-like group. publicly she blamed anger over an anti-muslim video. >> there was a lot of conflicting information that we were trying to make sense of.

>> reporter: clinton was protecting president obama, running for reelection claiming he had al qaeda on the run. >> you can live with the protest about a video. that won't hurt you, but a terrorist attack will. so you can't be square with the american people. >> reporter: democrats charge today's hearing is about the 2016 election, an effort to derail clinton's campaign. back to libyan emails. 2011 on the right and 2012 on the left. was clinton ignoring the danger? she said she used memos and meetings. >> i didn't have a computer. i did not do the vast majority of work on email. clinton kept her cool as the q and a went on and on. >> reporter: 44% of americans in the latest nbc news/wall street journal poll say they're not satisfied with clinton on ben gassy and that was before today's hearings that could change some minds. >> given the frequent democratic criticism that the investigation is meant to destroy her

presidential ambitions, is the testimony today helping or hurting her? >> i think the thing, this is me saying this. i think the thing that got replayed and replayed that hurt her a lot was what she did in 2013 and how long people have been talking about this and the 2012 attacks where she said obviously, angrily what difference does this make about this, that or the other and what difference did it make was the feeling about the whole thing including the death of four americans which she said many, many times afterward as you know, pat, that's not what she meant. today clearly she came in to try to keep her cool and for hours and hours and hours up to the present moment see far, she has. >> steve handelsman, thanks, steve. >> and now your storm team 4 forecast. what a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day across the area. it is absolutely gorgeous out there rid now. out toward reston, we have

clouds trying to stream across the area and they're mid to high-level clouds and a beautiful shot out there toward the rest of town center right now. as you look at the downtown area and temperatures in the 70s and 75 d.c. and winds out of the south at 8 miles per hour and the mid to high-level clouds and 79 martinsburg, and 89 in leesburg and charlottesville, stanton right around the 80-degree mark, too, and cooler along the water and high temperatures only in the 60s thus far and that's right along the chesapeake. the rest of us looking at a very nice evening and dry, we're not going to see chances of rain and even with the cold front coming down. and there are showers associated with this coming through the pittsburgh area and this front should pass us tonight as a dry front. you can really see what's happening and here's the storm system way up toward canada and here's the front so behind that front we're a lot cooler and ahead of it into the 07s and 80s.

62 in chicago and 64 in pittsburgh, that's the cooler air that's going to be moving on in, but you also notice we're not talking colder air and not like denver who is at 45 degrees right now and cooler air and overnight tonight low temperatures will be on the mild side and 46 in frederick and 53 toward kull pepper and we will see clouds from time to time, and it will be cool, but not cold and waking up tomorrow morning and temperatures around 58 degrees and a pretty nice day at the bus stop and by the afternoon we'll just look at breezy and rather cool with temperatures around the 66 mark there between 3:00 and 4:00. here's the highs tomorrow and cooler by 10 to 15 degrees and with that breeze it's going to seem even cooler and 62 mart insburg and 67 toward frederi fredericksburg and annapolis. 65 on your saturday and a pretty nice saturday afternoon and a cool start to the day saturday and nice in the afternoon and then on sunday, a chance for some you shower activity and about a 30% to 40% of a shower

with the marine corps marathon and veronica has the rest of the seven day in just a few minutes. >> thanks, doug. folks in part of west texas are trying to dry out after this nasty storm system dumped nearly four inches of rain in the city of odessa overnight. emergency crew his to rescue about 30 motorists who got stuck in the fast-moving waters. midland, texas, also got soaked and a flash flood watch, and tonight through saturday as the storm continues to move east. right now the family of that little girl killed in a road rage incident in new mexico is thanking people who have given their support. lilly garcia's father said she was the light of his life. meanwhile, the man accused of murdering the 4-year-old remains in jail. police say tony torrez confessed after his arrest yesterday evening. torrez shot into the truck driven by lilly's father on an interstate in albuquerque on tuesday. >> the father, recognizing, that

he did, in fact, hear shots, saw that his daughter was bleeding, pulled to the edge of the road and tried to administer first aid. >> according to the national highway safety administration, 66% of traffic deaths are caused by road rage. more than half of those involve a gun. wild life officials have confirmed the first deadly gator attack in florida in nearly a decade. a 62-year-old man was killed while swimming in a state park. 30 miles east of orlando on monday. the 12-foot gator was trapped and was killed. there is a new recall you should be aware of involving a popular toy. 32 starbright dragon ares being recalled because a satin seam can open and expose the material inside. a child could choke on that. they were sold at build a bear through april and august and they have the numbers 93-33 or

34. for information on what to do if you have one of those open our nbc washington app and search dragon recall. the news 4 i-team e posing gas guzzlers who fill up their cars on your dime. our investigation reveals a new round of government gas thiefs and the spots where they're striking. and simon cowell is joining "america's got talent," what you can expect when he takes to the judging panel.

chances are if it seems like you got where you were going faster during the pope's historic trip to washington you're right. the regent's transportation planning board took a hard look at it with government workers teleworking and others off for the jewish holiday. highway traffic volume was down 4% during the days the pope was here and because of that, the roads were less congested. also you were 30% more likely to get where you were going on time. the tv judge that many people love to hate is returning to television, but this time on nbc. simon cowell will be on the panel of "america's got talent" next summer. cowell judged for several seasons on "american idol." he quickly became famous for his

strong, honest opinions. two years ago he became a dad, but insists fatherhood will not make him soft as a judge. >> now that you're a dad, can we expect a kinder, gentler simon on these shows? >> if they're good, yes. if they're terrible, no. i can't sit in front of someone who is useless and say take a couple of singing lessons and everything will be fine. >> cowell is taking the place of howard stern on "america's got talent". >> nba star lamar odom's health is improving and so is his relationship with his estranged wife. his speech is improving through therapy and odom and khloe kardashian have called off their divorce. they separated back in 2013 and filed all of the paperwork in july of this year, but a judge had not yet signed off on the paperwork. when odom was found unconscious at a nevada brothel last week kardashian rushed to his side at

the hospital and she's been there and he's now recovering in a hospital in los angeles. still ahead, a comedian attacked on her way home from a d.c. club says the show will go on. i cannot and will not give up my family time. how those words from paul ryan are triggering a new discussion about work/life balance. a wake-up call for red light testers, why you may be driving distracted even after you put down your home. home is where the heart is. the touching gift f

>> live right now at 4:30, hillary clinton's day-long hearing on capitol hill is set to resume at any minute now. they've been on a break for more than 30 minutes. the democratic presidential candidate has faced a fierce line of questioning about the 2012 benghazi attacks and her personal email account. we're watching the testimony and we'll have live updates for you throughout the evening. >> we've learn theed the montgo county home heavily damaged by fire was not near any fire hydrants. chopper 4 through over the scene around 7:00 this morning and the family of five who lived there did make it out. 75 firefighters worked to put out the flames. they had to call for extra water tankers. the fire started in the garage and the cause is under investigation. just into our live desk from our sister station in new york. the nurse who was quarantined

for several days last year after coming in contact with ebola patients is now suing. new jersey's governor and the new jersey health department. you may remember kaci hickox had returned from sierra leone. she had no symptoms of ebola, but was held in a parking garage for the weekend. the health department says the governmentville eighted her civil rights by forcing her into confinement out of fear. hickox is seeking $250,000 for compensation. days after she was brutally beaten by several men a comedian is back and ready to return to the stage. paris sashay will perform at the d.c. improv comedy club. men attacked sashay while she was walking with a group of friends. sashay says the men attacked her because she rejected their advances.

the comic plaqblacked out and w up in the hospital with a broken nose and chipped teeth. she's accepting donations online to help with her recovery. >> the dangers of distracting drive. a report concludes that hands-free technology isn't entirely safe. nbc's chris clackum tells what you need to know before you head out on the road. >> state a name. >> mike. >> voice-activated hands-free technology on cars, trucks and iphones is there so drivers can keep their hands on the wheel and their mind on the road. >> research confirmed that hands-free is not risk-free. >> reporter: but aaa's traffic safety foundation has found often just the opposite is happening. >> and what's particularly surprising is the distraction is not only prevalent when people are using the system, but it persists or lingers for up to 27 seconds after they actually stop using the system. >> foundation president peter kissinger says new research shows hands-free systems are, in

fact, distracting themselves. >> well, that means at 25 miles an hour a driver can drive the distance of two football fields and dangerously distracted. >> the aaa foundation tested voice-activated, hands-free technology and in ten passenger vehicles and smartphones and expects the same results as other phones. while kissinger applauded both industries toward working for safety systems. >> it results in 3,000 people a year getting killed in crashes involving distracted driving. chris clackum. nbc news. >> that already-expanded takata recall could grow even bigger and that came out of a public hearing in d.c. today.

the highway traffic administration laid out an argument for coordinating the recall and inflators are linked to eight deaths and nearly 100 injuries and consumer reporter erika gonzalez will tell us what else came out of this meeting and how regulators plan to protect you from the deflated air bags and that's coming up on news 4 at 5:00. >> there will be a new downtown bus service in the city of baltimore. governor hogan announced a $135 million plan to create local and express bus service. it would be a special network of routes to improve connections to jobs and to other public transit. it's expected to be completed by the summer of 2017. this is governor hogan's answer to the light rail system he canceled earlier. support is growing for wisconsin congressman paul ryan to be third in line to the presidency. hard line republicans say they're behind ryan in his bid to succeed john boehner as house speaker.

gop members are supporting ryan's stance on work/life balance. earlier this week he told his party he would take the job on the condition that he won't have to sacrifice too much time without his family. it's sparked debate about work-life balance. the lobbying group family values in work said in part we urge representative ryan to expand his gaze from his own family to those of the entire nation adding that, quote, very few americans have the resources ryan does to demand that their jobs allow for family time. a recent study by ernst & young found a third of full-time workers said maintaining a work-life balance has gotten harder in the last five years. and a glass door survey ranked the best job for a good work-life balance. the top positions are data scientist, seo manager, social media manager and substitute teacher and house speaker is not on that list. barbara? >> all right, pat.

michael towne served in the military for ten years and he lost the use of his right leg. getting around his virginia home has not been easy and that's about to change, though. volunteers from home depot will spend today and tomorrow fixing up town's home and they're installing a new wheelchair ramp and adding new landscaping and all in an effort to improve access ability for town and his wife agnes and two boys. >> he's extremely excited about it. we keep joking because it's our anniversary on monday, and i said happy anniversary, honey. i got you a deck and a ramp and he said happy anniversary, i'm getting you kitchen cabinets. >> it helps veterans nationwide restore their independence. it runs today through veterans day. are pills packing on the pounds? the concern over antibiotics and the children who take them. sesame street introduces a new character for a special

purpose. sorry about that.

>> subway agrees to take a tape measure to its famous foot-long sandwiches. as part of of a proposed class action sandwiches subway will measure the use of its bread and six-inch subs to make sure they are as advertised. the fast food chain came under fire in 2013 when a photo showing a foot-long sub measured

closer to 11 inches and it went viral. >> mcdonald's stock hit a record high today after its ceo reported an increase in sales. it's the first time sales have been up for mds in two years. the stock hit a high of $110 a share earlier today. the world's largest burger chain says u.s. sales climbed 9% in the third quarter of the year. as for why the stock is so high the company attributes changes in the menu and the food. if your kids are gaining weight it may not be just their diet or exercise to blame. researchers found kids who take antibiotics a lot put on pounds a lot faster. the study involves kids who are described antibiotics seven times or more on their young lives and by the time they were 15 they weighed three pounds more than other kids. antibiotics may change how food is absorbed. well, this will make your kids happy. big bird, elmo and cookie monster have a new friend on

sesame street. >> and her name is julia and she comes with a special purpose. >> julia is a red-headed muppet. she's a little girl with autism. her addition is part of the long-running children's show new effort to promote awareness. autism see all in amazing children includes resources to help families. go to the nbc washington facebook page. there we posted sesame street's the amazing song. it shows how we're alike and amazing in our own way. swiping fuel and you're paying for it. the news 4 i-team uncovered more gas-guzzlers. we are working a story you will only see on news 4. a man who uses a wheelchair left on a plane with no one to help him. >> and from september like today to more cooler autumn-like conditions to tomorrow. we've made a tweak in the weekend forecast and it does include rain and you'll have to see that after the break.

>> i'm wendy rieger at the live desk and i want to update you on earlier breaking news. the anacostia metro station on the green line is now open again and it was closed briefly because of the smoke. they got the all-clear. d.c. fire said it was smoldering and we got pictures of firefighters inside the station. trains were bypassing it as they handled the situation, but

again, service has been restored and all-clear at the anacostia metro station on the green line. back to you. >> all right, wendy. >> right now we are seeing new video allegedly showing a school bus driver in prince george's county texting while driving with a bus full of middle schoolers and students and parents tell us this isn't the only time it's happened. ahead in a story you will see only on news 4 county bureau chief tracee wilkins is looking into the matter and tells us why this driver still has a job. >> reporter: this is chris gordon at reagan national airport. a local man with disabilities tells us this week for the fourth time he's been left alone stranded on an aircraft after a flight waiting for an aisle chair after all the other passengers had already disembarked. >> half the time i feel like airlines treat people with disabilities as a secondary concern. all new at 5:00, he tells us about an incident that happened here tuesday night in which he was left stranded on an aircraft

so long that he had to take action that was humiliating. that's coming up on news 4 at 5:00. back to you. there is a new place to study and learn, a free place in prince william county. the hay market gainsville community library officially opened to the public today and it's the county's first new library branch in more than 20 years. there's more than 20,000 square feet and there are rows of books and computers and lots of meeting space and again, it's all free if you're a county resident. and now, your storm team 4 forecast. >> oh, it's been a warm one today, but we've had clouds move into the area. today's more like mid to late september and now we're going to be cooling off. take a look, if you are going to be heading outside to do running this evening and our temperatures drop into the mid-70s to the mid-60s by 7:00 and 8:00 and mild conditions for

this evening. the other thick we're tracking is a cold front and this will be the first in seven days stepping through our area and this one will be producing sprinkles and very light showers. hagerstown and that makes its way south right through our area and the possibility of some light showers or sprinkles right around the area so your evening planner forecast and more clouds start to roll into the area and we have the shower just past midnight and up until 2:00, 3:00 a.m. in the morning and we drop from the mid-70s to the 60s and a mildqt. evening and we have another rain chance coming up on southbound and then wednesday of next week and that's important because it's starting to get active around here and certainly the first part of next week. chilly conditions with that front moving through. we've got sunshine back from 55 to 57 degrees for early in the day tomorrow. a lot of kids were able to get by with the short sleeves this morning, but we're back to a jacket and you're back to pulling out the sunglasses because each thouven though we

64 in frederick and 66 in manassas and that puts us back to more seasonal conditions and more to around average for this area and then for the weekend we have showers moving in and this is at 11:00 a.m. sunday and it's looking dry in d.c. and right through the afternoon hours and the possibility of some showers and it's looking like light showers if that sprinkles around the area. the hiv walk, we're dry for saturday and we hit a high of 65 degrees with sunshine coming our way for saturday afternoon and rain intensity right now for the marathon looks as though it will be light showers moving in after about 9:00 a.m. we are tweaking that forecast each and every day and you'll want to check back. here's a look at early part of next week, 60 to 65 degrees and it gets pretty soggy and it hits us mid-week and coming up on news 4 at 5:00. >> thanks, veronica.

they fill their tanks and you pay the bills. an investigation of the i-team reveals government gas thief ps upon they found more workers caught swiping tax money by swiping government gas cards. >> reporter: this is the video that got a d.c. fire department employee in such hot water. what you're about to see is the crime. the driver walks across his jaguar and to the pump in d.c., but he pulls out his government credit card. the one issued to him by d.c.'s fire department for an agency vehicle. >> i'm scott with channel 4. >> earlier this year the news 4 i-team caught up with that man, terrell mccray outside d.c. superior court where he pleaded guilty to fraud for using that card for thousands of dollars and a judge sentenced mccray to 16 months' probation. they stopped another wave of government workers doing so. at least 35 cases since the

start of the year. more than $300,000 in gas unlawfully purchased by federal workers for personal use nationwide. >> taxpayer money and the cards are designed to be specific for one vehicle, fuel and maintenance of one vehicle and not fuel and maintenance for an employee and his family. >> reporter: in late july a judge sentenced former arlington cemetery employee bobby harris to nine days in jail after harris admitted filling the tank of his personal car. this white lincoln navigator using his government card. ultimately unlawfully buying thousands in gas. also this summer, prosecutors charged a navy yard employee with a similar crime in prince george's county. >> this is not just limited to the d.c. area. >> no, it's nationwide. >> surveillance footage captured a coast guard employee and coworker using a credit card and credit card skimmer created a phony gas card and made $70,000

in fraudulent gas purchases. >> this video from another case we profiled earlier this year, kimberly pink me, another d.c. fire employee and that's her personal car, investigators say. in the weeks since a judge sentenced her to probation in order to make restitution pages. she wouldn't answer questions from the i-team. >> they identified the waste, fraud and abuse. >> reporter: these cases show why the federal government should better fund inspectors general and the agent ands police for rogue government workers. >> taxpayers win and the agency wins because the money can be put back into the agency and not wasted. >> in some of these cases federal agents are staking out some gas stations in which they suspect employees are most frequently filling up to catch them in the act. scott forecamacfarlane, news 4 . you can find out more of

government gas-guzzlers by visiting the app. you can give them a tip that may wind up being their next story. nbc 4 is supporting an important campaign. be kind is a pledge to help create a culture of kindness in local schools. students at graham park middle got that message from news 4's angie goff and others today. october is bullying prevention month and nbc 4 is proud to partner with prince william county schools a s ans and cred in this campaign. >> how police are trying to track down the arsonist. we are, woing a disturbing story. a woman violated on the grounds of the national institutes of health. what she said happened in a locker room.

police body camera video now shows the terrifying moments after a shooting at northern arizona university. officers arrived on the campus in flagstaff earlier this month to find one person dead and three others hurt. one camera shows what appears to be police finding the murder weapon. the 18-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene. right now authorities are

going door to door in parts of st. louis, missouri, looking for clues to a string of church fires. as jay gray reports the most recent arson happened overnight and community leades are worried someone will get hurt. >> the images have become disturbingly familiar. >> this is a suspicious set of fires set in primarily the same way, same locations in all these churches. >> reporter: seven churches in st. louis and likely targeted and in arson attacks, the latest, the shrine of st. joseph catholic church. >> we want it to stop. >> reporter: all of the fires were started in the same way, using accelerants on an exterior door, ranging from a few hundred dollars to a total loss of united in ministries. all of the churches affected had predominantly african-american congregations. >> this hate crime or whatever you want to call t the church has to call it for what it is.

the spirit of evil has no color preference. >> reporter: federal agents have joined in the investigation now as firefighters go door to door searching for evidence and answers. >> every tip counts and one tip might affect another one. >> reporter: right now there's no clear indication of who may have started the fires or why, but what is clear is that the attacks have sparked a growing flame in those most affected. >> this arsonist is playing with fire and has literally ignited a community and we're coming together now and because of these actions, this community is going to be stronger. >> reporter: a strength and unity defined by their faith. jay gray, nbc news. right now on news 4 at 5:00, exclusive video of the prince george's county school bus driver texting while driving a bus full of kids. why she still has a job. why this local man had to crawl down the aisle of an airplane to get off while he was

stranded after every other passenger had disembarked. >> no one should have to do what i did. now to a story that is outraging local parents. kids snapped photos and a video which appears to show their school bus driver texting while driving. >> tracee wilkins joins us now with a story you'll see only on 4. tracee? >> reporter: parents are saying they are outraged and they want something to be done about this right away. it took some time for this student to get the angle just right, but when she did she was still able to capture her school bus driver texting while driving. >> that's not the only one. the children have taken pictures of her texting and to me that's a concern. >> reporter: the pictures taken on other days don't show whether the bus was moving. it's the route 12 prince george's county school bus carrying students to and from james madison middle school in upper marlboro. parents are outraged.

>> i'm concerned about their safety and this is unacceptable to me. >> the video that was shown was enough evidence for us to take action. >> reporter: the prince george's county school system is investigating the driver's actions. in the meantime, she is still employed by the system. >> our disciplinary process needs to take place and we don't need to expound on what actually we're doing with a particular employee. >> that was disheartening for this parent. >>a even after it was brought to the attention of the administrators they had her on the same road and nothing's been done. >> reporter: coming up on news 4 at 6:00, this is not the only issue that has parents concerned about this bus route. we'll have more on that and some tips for parents who are wondering what do you do if you have an issue like this on your own bus route. reporting live, i'm tracee wilkins. back to you in the studio. >> thanks, tracee. we have new information of a