more on the breaking news in fairfax county. >> on the roads here this morning, take a look at this. we're jammed 66 inbound because of a problem here right lane blocked, disabled fire truck at fairfax county parkway. nearly five-mile backup headed inbound. eastbound at nutley street, left lane blocked. see the slowdowns, what we're talking about, we pushed this out on the nbc washington app as well. 295 south before east capital street, left side blocked. outside this morning, the cold start for sure. your weather headlines, be ready for a real chill in the air. first thing this morning, layer up, temperatures in the low 40s and upper 30s out the door this morning. let the warming begin as our little november heat wave starts today. we should be 70 or better for most of the rest of the week. today, nice low impact weather day. average high in the low to mid-60s. we should be at or above 70 for most of the next couple of days. we'll detail the exact highs and

lows at 6:21. 30s and 40s on your way out the door. poolsville, virginia, near 70 for a high today. tom is back in ten minutes. see you then. we begin with decision 2015. the polls are now open and today you have a big say in several local elections. the entire virginia legislature on the ballot and every vote will count to see who takes control of the senate. molette green live for us in woodbridge with more on the candidates fighting for a seat in virginia. >> reporter: the polls open moments ago, the first voters walked in, right on time, ready to vote. president obama carried district 29 in prince william county in 2012. the governor did it in 2013. democrats still face a big challenge here in an off off election year where turnout could be a real big factor this time around. the democrats here in this particular race, newcomer jeremy

mcpike, volunteer firefighter who commutes, transportation on the top of his list of tackling those issues. he's had heavy hitter politicians back him and the governor needs him in this seat. he's going up against long time manassas layer hal parish, who has name recognition, family history, owns a business in this county. this seat is vacated by a moderate democrat who did not endorse either candidate. now both say tolls on i-66 car pool lanes inside the beltway are a nonstarter, but differ on the more partisan issues. another competitive race, district 13, which covers part of prince william county includes dick black here. been in the general assembly since 1998. faces off against dr. jill mccabe, who is the democrat here, handpicked by the governor. she's the medical director with innova health system. she calls mccabe extreme and a

career politician. these two clash over abortion and gun rights. a lot at stake and so that's why they want everyone who can vote to get out and vote today. that's the latest live from rosa parks elementary in woodbridge. back to you. >> the senate could have a power switch today depending on how voting goes. the house of delegates, republicans hold control, even though all 100 seats in the house are up for election, many expect the republicans to keep control. in fairfax, there is an open seat on the board of supervisors in the sully district. republican john guevara is facing kathie smith. in loudoun county, four people are vying to become chairman of the county board of supervisors. current chairman scott york jumped back in the race after former board member shawn williams dropped out. he is facing democrat phyllis randell, republican charlie king and independent thomas balancom.

bill euille is running a write-in campaign, he's been mayor since 2003. he lost the democratic primary to allison silberberg. today, you have to spell his name correctly for the write-in vote to count. in maryland, a number of cities will elect mayors and council members including gaithersburg, rockville and tacoma park. in prince george's county, the same is true for bowie, college park, green belt and laurel. if you still need to find out your polling location, we put all that information on the nbc washington app. we have breaking news in montgomery county. we want to take you live to a massive fire in potomac, maryland, now. you see fire crews on the ground right there. a lot of smoke rising in the air. earlier shots we saw a lot of flames shooting out of the roof of this house. you can see a few of them there.

here we go. another vantage point. locationwise, the 8500 block of horseshoe lane. we are told by montgomery county fire that this is a two-story house that was under construction. we know that several units are on the scene. fire shooting from the roof. so a lot of hot spots. this thing has not been contained. no word if anyone has been hurt, but what we do know is that this building, this story house was under construction. and it was unoccupied. we have kristin wright headed to the scene now and we'll check back in with you with updates on the fire. back to you, aaron. >> angie, thank you. 6:05. developing this hour, the search for answers in a young couple's death. d.c. police found a man and woman inside a home on tennessee avenue northwest yesterday afternoon. that's in the capitol hill neighborhood. officers first went there for a welfare check. we asked how the man and woman died. all police would tell us is both

deaths seem suspicious. no arrests, no suspects at this point. the suspect is dead after a chase and shootout with prince george's county police. officers tell news 4 that the suspect carjacked someone on river bend road in ft. washington. they chased him across the state line into southeast washington. police say that is when the suspect started shooting at them. they returned fire and killed him. a 9-year-old girl is dead and her mother is recovering from this crash in prince george's county. the girl's mother tried to turn left from woodyard road on to canberra drive in clinton. the car she had flipped over and that driver broke both legs. the mother wasn't badly hurt and a neighbor told us crashes happen at that intersection about once a month. a few hours earlier, a driver hit a pedestrian at kenilworth avenue and riverdale road around 6:30 in riverdale. that pedestrian was seriously hurt. police aren't releasing any more information but say the end of daylight saving time could be causing more crashes.

a stand in front of a national audience, the issue that had protesters from our area disrupting monday night football. live look from wood bridge now, where voters are heading to the polls at this hour. tom kierein will join us live with your election day forecast next. first, a developing story in south africa where prosecutors are, again, pushing for a murder conviction for oscar pistorius. why they say the former olympian should be back behind bars. narrator: for state senate, who shares our values?

jeremy mcpike - supports school funding. thinks women should make their own health care decisions. and favors background checks on all gun sales. hal parrish? as mayor, he slashed education. fought to block women's health clinics. parrish gets an "a" from the gun lobby - they oppose background checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. virginia extreme or mainstream? vote mcpike for virginia. feinblatt: everytown for gun safety action fund sponsored this ad. if yit's usually because you were driving too fast

or you didn't look before you turned or you didn't stop for someone in the crosswalk. always be alert. pedestrians don't come with airbags.

welcome back. developing now, all the bodies of the victims of the metro jet crash in egypt are now back in russia. the last plane arrived today. why the plane crash still a mystery now. russian news agency reported this morning that investigators found elements in the wreckage that were not from the plane.

an american defense official said a satellite detected a heat flash when the plane went down. a developing story this morning. prosecutors in the oscar pistorius case want him convicted of murder. the south african paralympian gold medalist was found guilty of manslaughter of his girlfriend. today, a panel of five judges will decide if the original conviction should be overturned. now, during the trial, pistorius claimed he thought his girlfriend was a burglar. pistorius is out of prison and on parole less than a year into his five year sentence. he's not expected to be in court today. 6:11 now. if you're planning to vote in virginia before you head to work, we have your election day forecast. >> tom kierein is in wood bridge this morning keeping an eye on election day forecast. what do you think? >> layer up. it is a cold morning. it is damp and humid, but we got a clear sky here with the storm team 4 by 4.

you see the first glow of the predawn sky, now showing up. there is the moon. and below that, we have got venus and jupiter, gorgeous morning to get out and vote. and quite a dramatic change, right here at the storm team 4 by 4. temperatures only 39 degrees. but it is going to be jumping about 30 degrees for a high near 70 by later this afternoon. so a beautiful day for election day here in virginia. and some jurisdictions in maryland as well. we'll have lots of sunshine throughout the day. dress warmly this morning. we are off to a cold start. melissa, what is happening on the roads now. >> breaking news on the roads this morning. big problem. 66 inbound at fairfax county parkway, more than a five-mile backup because of this here. right side of the roadway, disabled vehicle, a fire truck actually that is blocking things and really causing some slowdowns. push that out on the nbc washington app as well. northbound bw parkway, left lane blocked, you can see we are pretty jammed there because of that crash. 270, montrose road, just after

montrose, a crash there as well as far as travel times go, not bad, 66 inbound, 95 north in virginia, 270 south overall looking pretty good. if you feel like you can't get your teen to put down their phone, you are not alone. the new research that shows just how much time they're spending on their devices. tracking a developing situation out of california after a disturbance on an airplane leaves passengers grounded in los angeles. the mistake that triggered the angry exchange from the live desk in just minutes.

breaking news. new information from the scene of a large house fire in montgomery county. you can see some live pictures from chopper 4 here over horseshoe lane l, in potomac. smoke pouring from the scene. smoke and flames here in this live picture. so this is not under control at this point. montgomery county fire reporting a partial collapse in this home as well. we don't yet know the cause. this house was under construction apparently. not occupied. kristin wright headed to the scene there. we'll have a live report from her as soon as we can.

we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. >> we long ago lost hope that justice would ever come. >> now that the defendant is found guilty, we can finally start to mourn. >> the attorneys for convicted serial killer charles severance are expected to appeal against his guilty verdict. for now, it is closure for three families who have waited more than a decade for justice. a jury convicted severance yesterday in the murders of ruth ann lodato, ron kirby and nancy dunning. they recommended three life ent. in court, kirby's widow recalled the last time she spoke to him, saying last thing he said to me was to call me when i got lost and i am true ly lost without him. the verdict brings a sense of closure to an entire community. >> said 11 years ago there is no cold case with a homicide of this nature. unfortunately other victims got in the way of this particular person who committed these crimes. today, hopefully that person will never harm anyone in any

community again. >> severance is scheduled to be sentenced in january. surveillance video helped police catch a man accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in arlington. 31-year-old ahmed katib is accused of touching the boy while he was sleeping inside the common room at an apartment building near the boston mall. the boy says he woke up with his pants down. he quickly ran away and told a cousin who was working in that building. we're working to learn the name of a 22-year-old man found dead near a popular shopping center in gaithersburg. montgomery county police say that someone discovered the body in a wooded area yesterday. our cameras were there as investigators processed the scene along contour road near the montgomery village plaza. now police are not saying how the man died. 6:18. all but one of the five students hurt in a high school chemistry class fire are out of the hospital. the student from woodson high school still in the hospital is undergoing surgery for serious burns. the superintendent has banned the use of open flames in the

classroom until further notice. she also ordered a review of the school's system science curriculum. baltimore prosecutors don't want jurors sequestered in the trial of one of the six officers charged in the death of freddie gray. william porter's trial is set to begin later this month. his defense attorneys want jurors placed in hotels and no access to phones, tv or even facebook. prosecutors say those requirements could make it hard to seat a jury. gray died in april laugh suffering a severe spinal cord injury in police custody. developing story out of los angeles. seven passengers were removed from a plane. this was on spirit airlines. police responded to complaints of an unruly passenger after one seat was double booked. a couple left on their own. then five others verbally responded to that situation and the flight attendant told them to get off the flight. all seven were set up in a hotel and booked on another flight.

they all left without being escorted off. new developments about a protest you may have seen live on tv. it happened during last night's monday night football game. take a look. two activists hung from the press box to display this banner protesting bank of america. firefighters had to be called in to take them away. those activists are from maryland. they're protesting fracking in the county. bank of america has ties to a fracking project there. the corkland gallery of art is opening again. it closed over financial issues last year. it then merged with george washington university in order to offer more exhibits. an exhibit about life in guatemala is on display now. it will be up until the end of january. today, the kansas city royals are celebrating their world series win with parades this afternoon. the royals beat the new york mets in the series this past weekend. we'll post pictures of the celebration on the nbc washington app. also post an alert to the

nbc washington app when we learn anything official about the nationals next manager. cbs sports is reporting the team is offering dusty baker the managers job. you'll remember last week sources said former san diego padres manager bud black was the favorite. usa today now reporting black and the nats could not agree on a contract. baker had managed more than 3,000 games in his career. he's also won the manager of the year award three tim. i wish i had a scarf this morning. >> you did? >> it was cold for me. >> it is cold. good news. warmup coming right up. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell to tell us more about that. >> i love telling people what they want to hear, especially in the month of november. 70s coming our way for later on this afternoon. as you mentioned, it is a cold start this morning. areas of fog. i found a fog bank, this area of fog right there on our horizon. this is looking westbound from our station. that's the fog over the potomac river. any river crossings in your

commute today, watch out for some fog as you cross over the river. it is a chilly start this morning. bundle up. take the coat. areas of fog will give way to near 100% sunshine later on this afternoon. and into the 70s. patchy fog over the rivers out there this morning. half mile visibility in frederick, maryland, third mile visibility in martinsburg, west virginia. watch for areas of fog this morning. temperatures 35 in martinsburg. 37 manassas and bull run. 41 in gaithersburg. cool 37 in damascus. to school then, for bus stop weather, chilly for sure. recess and your whole day today, election day gets an a as sunshine brings us up to near 70. you will need the coat outside early this morning and sunglasses for later on today. i don't know if it is shorts weather, it is as close as we can get in november. here is future weather for today. the fog gone early by 9:00 or 10:00, leaving us with plenty of sunshine today. a cool start tomorrow morning, not as cold as it is this -- as

the warming trend gets going in earnest today. 72 today. 70 for tomorrow. small chance for a shower or two on thursday. highs back on 70. friday looks to be the warmest day of the week. how about 78 degrees on your friday. cooler, though, just in time for the weekend. breaking news continues with melissa. breaking news, 66 inbound at fairfax parkway. slow. six mile backup as you approach fairfax county parkway. 95 north, a problem there, two right lanes blocked there as you head northbound 295. southbound, the left side blocked, disabled tracker trailer this morning. still have this problem, northbound, bw parkway, the left lane is blocked here this morning. otherwise everything else is looking pretty typical on the beltway and on 270 as well. back in ten minutes. 6:23 now. and new twist in a scandal at the vatican. confidential documents point to

mismanagement that lost the vatican millions of euros in potential revenue. the findings are part of the new book by the italian journalist. yesterday the vatican announced the arrests of two people suspected of leaking can confidential documents, both are members of the pope's financial reform commission. we know a lot of you talk about healthy choices, even when you eat out. new studies show those calorie counts on some menus don't necessarily help you make smarter choices. researchers with new york university say the calorie totals were almost the same regardless of whether customers could see the numbers before they order the food. another stu . you know that awkward birds and bees talk? apparently it works. even if it makes you and your kids cringe.

researchers at north carolina state university say influences teenage behavior for the better. it says discussing topics like using condoms and stds encourages safe sex. there is no evidence that having the talk would somehow make things worse. good to have conversations. even the yucky ones with your kids. >> knowledge is power. here is proof that technology can't replace everything. newspaper coupons are more popular than getting scanned coupons on your phone. 63% of shoppers in a new survey say they found the coupons in newspapers and other paper mailings, even 18 to 24-year-olds say they use the paper cue upon coupons more ths much as any other method. is that how you say them? >> i clip them and forget to bring them with me to the grocery store. if you feel like the teens in your life are always on the

phone, you might be right. the average teen spends nine hours every day watching tv, playing video games or on their phones surfing the web or whatever they do on the phones. the study by common sense media says kids between 8 and 12, for those kids, about six hours per day. tech experts say you can cut down the time your kids spend using electronic devices by monitoring your own kids and tv. >> and your own use. they model your behavior. >> it is not 1985. >> nine hours a day? by the time you're in school, homework, soccer practice, or whatever other activity, i don't see where you find the time. bei bei, the panda, is growing up fast. tried to stand up yesterday. >> take a look at this adorable video. see the little feet slipping in the video. just two months old, but he's got to try. he weighs more than a pound more than his big brother did at this age.

>> circus music there. >> he's a big boy. hard to lift up that weight. here is the live panda cam now. mom and cub. are they cuddling? so cute. bei bei is now teething too, which might be tough work for mom. >> yeah. moving right along, breaking news in montgomery county. firefighters trying to contain a massive house fire in potomac, maryland. chopper 4 live over the scene for you here. kristin wright headed there as well. update from the ground just ahead. a warning for you to watch your handbag or your wallet while at the store. the thieves targeting area shoppers. clouds at national harbor. chuck has more on the warmup coming our way and the weekend coming our way and the weekend outlook in the four things to

you may think all people who run for office are pretty much the same... but not jill mccabe. she's a doctor... who's a pediatric emergency room physician at inova loudoun hospital. she's a mom... who knows the value of a quality education. she's a community leader... who will work in the state senate to reduce traffic and use some common sense. jill mccabe. she's not a politician... and in richmond, she'll work for us.

we have breaking news now in montgomery county. firefighters are working to put out a large house fire in potomac. live pictures from chopper 4 now. see the smoke coming out of the large home. it continues to shoot out of the roof there. kristin wright is on the scene. she'll join us live from horseshoe lane soon with an update. breaking news on the roads

as well. melissa mollet has your traffic. >> 66 inbound here as you approach fairfax county parkway, we have a pretty good backup. this has loosened kwo eed quite. the earlier disabled fire truck off to the right side is now out of the way. your lanes are now open and really is loosening up quickly, but want to allow extra time. 95 north of back lick road, two right lanes blocked there. inner loop and outer loop, no major problems now. looking at 270, a little slow out of frederick, opens up to germantown. 270 not the greatest place to be this morning. outside on your tuesday morning, four things you need to know about the weather today. off to a chilly start. grab the coat and be sure to know where it is. you're going to shed that thing as soon as you get to lunch time. soaring into the 70s. november warm spell begins today. little areas of patchy fog outside early this morning.

be on the lookout for that. a cold one, 41 gaithersburg and college park. 39 in springfield. 42 in chantilly and reston. temperatures near 70 by later on this afternoon. mountgomery county police ae looking for the driver who hit a pedestrian and took off. this happened at route 29 and tech road before 11:30 last night. we're working to find out how badly the pedestrian was hurt. officers were looking for a dark colored car with front end damage. that pedestrian crash along with two other recent crashes is why officials in montgomery county are calling for action today. county council transportation infrastructure and energy and environment committee wants drivers to pay more attention. they want to focus on addressing two problem spots in bethesda, mass avenue and river road and river road at springfield drive. family and friends and students will gather to remember those who died in a homecoming parade in oklahoma. four people died, 40 others hurt when a car ran into a crowd of

people at the end of a homecoming parade last month for oklahoma state university. a community wide memorial service will be held in stillwater. a woman suspected of driving drunk is being charged in that crash. 6:33. decision 2016, a significant shift this morning. a new poll puts dr. ben carson in the lead. in fact, his biggest lead yet. 29% of voters say they choose him. 23% would go for donald trump. this as trump releases a new book today. it maps out his plans to fix what he calls a crippled america. former florida governor jeb bush dips to the bottom of the barrel now with 8% of voters. a different trend among the democratic candidates this morning. front-runner hillary clinton is growing her lead. she now has more than doubled the support than her closest rival vermont senatorbernie sanders. here is a breakdown. clinton with 62%. sanders with 31%. former maryland governor martin owe vall'malley 3%.

coming up, 14-year-old boy being held at a juvenile detention center while police look into claims he inappropriately touched and sexually harassed other students. police say the teen from culpepper county high school is accused of making sexual advances toward a girl of the same age. when she refused, the girl says he assaulted her. the boy faces assault, battery and strangulation charges. look at this couple. this is the pair investigators in montgomery county think is taking credit cards from shoppers at a popular rockville shopping plaza. police say they think one suspect distracts the victim while the other takes the card. police say it is so smooth, the victim doesn't notice that they have been robbed. so the message from police, keep your valuables close by and safe. the fbi believes the forever loyal bandit struck again in fairfax county. new pictures from friday's robbery at a bank in the seven

corners center. the bureau calls him the forever loyal bandit because of a shirt he's worn in two robberies. fbi says the same man robbed three banks in the county. maryland has a lot of options for what to do with your tax money next year. leaders in the house of delegates said the state will have a big budget surplus. more than half a billion dollars more than they expected this year. they're also predicting another $215 million surplus next year. this is according to the baltimore sun. state leaders say higher than expected income taxes are the reason behind all that extra money. metro is listening to you this morning and keeping a popular bus route. the transit agency says it will keep the bus that connects the district and dulles international airport. metro originally planned to get rid of the 5a bus when the station opened up. more than 3,000 of you argued that the train takes longer, more expensive and unreliable. now metro says it will reduce the service between bwi marshall

and d.c. making life easier on parents with new borns. the latest company improving its benefits for moms and dads. two problems in virginia, 66 inbound, slowdown there, and 95 north, details coming up. . new problems for people who drive volkswagens. the latest car models impacted by a growing emissions scandal.

firefighters are working to put out a large fire. >> smoke continues to pour from what is left of the roof here. kristin wright live on the ground for us there on horseshoe lane. what can you tell us? >> reporter: still a lot of smoke here. this home is under construction.

it was being renovated. take a look behind me. look at the smoke pouring out of the roof there. no one there at the time. as i said, the house is under construction. so no one hurt. no one inside at the time of the fire. right now, firefighters are putting out hot spots, checking for hot spots. the fire started, you can see, in the back of the home, toward the left side, if looking straight on at the house. there was a partial collapse a little while ago, once the fire started. firefighters doing just fine, though. we have some video from chopper 4 we want to show you also, taken a little while ago, of the scene here in potomac. about 45, i'm told, firefighters here at the scene, trying to put out the fire. took them about 15 minutes to really get it under control. they only have been out here for about 40 minutes. they believe a neighbor, one of the neighbors called in the fire, significant damage, they're telling me, inside the house. i talked to a couple of

neighbors today who told me that it looks very new, but actually the home is being renovated and that the project has been going on for some time. you see firefighters here, they are pretty much done with the bulk of putting out this fire and right now, as i said, they are just checking for hot spots and waiting for the fire marshal to arrive and, of course, the fire marshal will help determine what started the fire. back to you. >> thank you, cri. it is election day. weather will not keep people from getting out to vote. >> polls in virginia opened less than an hour ago. tom kierein at a polling site in wo wo woodbridge. >> it is a cold morning. only 39 degrees here. we have the rusty colors of november, still nice autumn colors showing up here. we have a clear sky. so good voting weather, but warm

up, dress up, layer up this morning with your warmest winter gear. we're here with the storm team 4 by 4 where the temperature is only at 39 degrees this morning. at the bus stop this morning, it is going to stay cold here, hovering near 40 for another hour or so. jumping into the 50s by midmorning with lots of sunshine and by later this afternoon, nice warmup on the way. jumping up about 30 degrees from where we are now, up to near 70 degrees. how is the traffic now? >> right now, looking better than it has this morning. taking a look, 66 inbound, fairfax county parkway, still slow in sections. take a look at a map, you see a lot of red coming inbound. my cameras don't look -- earlier problem at fairfax county parkway. two right lanes blocked, slowing things quite a bit. look at this. travel times now on 66, you're okay. 95 north quantico, an extra 20

minutes and extra 10 from where it should be this time of day. 270 southbound slow. a traffic alert for you if you are heading into d.c. for work this morning. the drill that will have one busy street shut down for hours today. we're watching the polls in virginia as voters there head out to vote this morning. key races you'll help decide in the days ahead. narrator: for state senate, who shares our values?

jeremy mcpike - supports school funding. thinks women should make their own health care decisions. and favors background checks on all gun sales. hal parrish? as mayor, he slashed education. fought to block women's health clinics. parrish gets an "a" from the gun lobby - they oppose background checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. virginia extreme or mainstream? vote mcpike for virginia. feinblat everytown for gun safety action fund sponsored this ad.

right now at 6:46, we're tracking breaking news in montgomery county, where firefighters are mopping up after a massive fire gutted this home in potomac, maryland. you see chopper 4 has been bringing you live pictures of the scene there for the last 45 minutes. it is one of the stories we're working on to get you up to the minute, the minute you're up. chuck bell. good morning. >> it is a cold 30s and low 40s this morning. grab your jacket and warm coat on the way out the door. don't worry about later on today. patchy fog to deal with first thing as well. slowdowns 66 inbound at 50. earlier problems out of the way near fairfax county parkway. we have two right lanes blocked there. really seeing some more slowdowns than we typically do at this point in the morning.

it is 6:47. decision 2015, we're about 45 minutes into election day in virginia. there are several big races happening. the entire virginia legislature is on the ballot. every vote will count to see who takes control of the senate. molette green is live with more on the candidates who are vying for a seat today. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. not a big rush of voters going in. you can see some of the campaigners, many of them have been jumping up and down to try to stay warm. you can see one person going in to vote and getting some election material. turnout is a big concern in this off off election year and this democratic leaning majority minority county. two competitive races to talk about in the senate. first, district 29, where both of these candidates have come out against tolls on i-66 inside the beltway, but differ on me other issues. the democrat, jeremy mcpike, campaign, with lots of support from top politicians, got a big

stamp of approval from hillary clinton at a recent rally in alexandria. he is going up against hal parrish. a well known name here. vying for the seat from the sitting democrat, a moderate, who is retiring without endorsing any of these guys. in district 13, you have parts of prince william and loudoun. these candidates waged huge ads. dick black, very popular and conservative challenged by the governor's pick, dr. jill mccabe, medical director with innova health system who labeled black extreme. the goal for democrats in this election is to be able to pick up just one gop seat to help them tip the balance so the governor can move on some of his legislative priorities. that is the latest live here from woodbridge. molette green, back to you.

>> thank you. coming up on 6:49. the senate could have a power shift today depending on how voting goes. in the house of delegates, republicans hold control there, even though all 100 seats are up for grabs. a lot of people expecting republicans to keep control. and in fairfax, an open seat on the board of supervisors for the sully district. republican john guevara facing kathie smith there. loud be countoun county, scott jumped back into the race after former board member shawn williams dropped out. he's facing phyllis randell, charlie king, and thomas balancom. we're watching the mayoral race in alexandria. incumbent mayor bill euille running a write-in campaign. he's been mayor since 2003 but lost the democratic primary in june to allison silberberg. today, you have to spell euille's name correctly for the write-in vote to count. the polls open in about -- a few minutes, 7:00 a.m. there are no state wide races

today, but a number of cities will elect mayors and council members that includes gaithersburg, rockville and tacoma park in montgomery county. many prince george's county, same is true for bowie, college park, green belt and laurel. if you head out the door, you can follow our election day coverage on the nbc washington app. we also have posted four things to know about voting today. we're working to get you answers in a young couple's death. d.c. police found the man and woman inside a home on tennessee avenue northeast yesterday afternoon in the capitol hill neighborhood. officers first went there for a welfare check. we asked them how the man and woman died. and all they would tell us is both deaths are suspicious. no arrests or suspects at this time. a suspect is dead after a chase and a shootout with prince george's county police. the us they chased him across the state line and into southeast washington. police say that's when the

suspect started shooting at them. they returned fire and killed him. new questions being raised this morning about why a russian plane crashed over egypt. an american defense official says that a u.s. satellite detected a heat flash when that plane went down. the official told nbc news that could indicate an explosion but there is no indication a missile hit the plane. 224 people died when the plane crashed this weekend. the final bodies of the victims arrived in russia just hours ago. today, officials will begin returning suitcases and other belongings that they found on the ground to families of those who died. >> 6:51 now. it is cold. >> yeah, it is. nice and cold. >> not for long. not for too long, right? >> that's the thing about november. you get cold mornings, but you can also get some relatively nice warmups in the afternoon. that's what we have come our way today. live picture over downtown this morning. bright sunshine getting through areas of fog as well to be dealt

with. they won't last much longer. we'll be in the 70s today and 70s in november. that's a rare treat indeed. we only made 70 twice in november. back in 2010, not a single day of 70 or higher. we can be 70 all the way through the rest of the work and school week. 47 chilly degrees now, though. plenty of 30s on the map. mid to upper 30s in the shenandoah valley. gaithersburg, manassas, mid to upper 30s. mid-40s by the bay. we'll be up to the upper 60s and low 70s for high temperatures this afternoon. no chance for rain around here today. our next little chance for rain doesn't come in until we get into the day on thursday. even then it doesn't look like a big rain event. so for today, sunny and warm, nothing to worry about. cool overnight. not as cold as it is this morning. 5 to 7 degrees warmer tomorrow morning. tomorrow afternoon, looks great as we get into thursday, though, cloudy skies and risk of a couple of light rain showers coming our way, primarily in the morning hours of thursday and

another little chance of rain coming up late friday night into early saturday morning. we have taken the rain drops out of the weekend. that's the good news. the better news is, 78 degrees on friday. four 70s in a row. melissa mollet loves that. 66 inbound at route 50 where the live camera is for us this morning. still a bit slow inbound here. going to have to allow extra time because of that earlier problem. you can see the issue here as you're approaching fairfax county parkway, cleared out of the way. still slow. 95 northbound slow. 95 north is where we have the problem with the two right lanes blocked here this morning. prince george's county, overall, no major problems now. inbound indian head highway, typically slow. bw parkway, southbound, 18 miles per hour, 95 south, 44 miles per hour. 270 at montrose, all of this normal volume heading

southbound. we continue to follow breaking news of potomac, maryland. crews just got a big house fire under control. smoke still shooting from the roof, though. you see some of the flames in the video from just a while ago. kristin wright is live at the house on horseshoe lane. what are you finding out? >> reporter: no one was in the house because it is under construction. it is being renovated now. still a very active scene. firefighters here checking for hot spots. you see one climbing the ladder there, toward the roof. the fire started in the back of the home, we're told, around 5:45 this morning. there was some sort of partial collapse while firefighters were here. luckily they are all just fine. fire marshals on the way now, chopper 4 is also over the scene. about 45 or so firefighters here right now, took them about 15 minutes to get the fire under control. when you have a house this large, you really have to think about flare-ups. that's why firefighters are

still here trying to make sure that the fire doesn't somehow start back up. they got a call from neighbors saying that the home was on fire, significant damage we're told, which, of course, unfortunate for whoever is trying to renovate this home, but, again, big thing, everybody is okay. back to you. >> kristin wright, thank you. this could be bad new for the value of your volkswagen. according to the environmental protection agency, the german carmaker deceived u.s. emission tests more than once. they installed software designed to defeat smog tests on cars with larger six cylinder engines. the new violation include s 10,000 cars. it is 6:55. watch out for road closures if you're driving near the national mall this morning. the national park service is closing 17th street from constitution avenue northwest to independence avenue southwest. 17th street will be closed until 3:30 this afternoon.

crews can perform a test installation of a new levee. that levee is designed to protect the district from flooding caused by rain or overflowing from the potomac. i'm landon dowdy. amazon is extending the maternity leave for up to 20 weeks for new momz as and addin paternity leave. the changes take effect in january. amazon's also allowing employees to give all or part of their paid leave to a spouse or partner who doesn't have parental leave through their job. i'm landon dowdy. 6:56. activists from maryland staged a protest during monday night football. protesting fracking in calvert county. prosecutors in the oscar pistorius case want him convicted of murder. today a panel of five judges said they will announce their ruling at a later date. the south african olympian found guilty of manslaughter of his girlfriend. and we're working to learn more about a man and woman found

dead inside a home in capitol hill. police are calling their deaths suspicious. officers discovered their bodies monday during a welfare check. polls open in a few minutes in maryland. we're an hour into voting in virginia where voters decide several key races. check out the nbc washington app for four things to know this election day. we appreciate you waking up with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes. join us then. until then, have a great day. >> make it a great tuesday, everybody. you may think all people who run for office are pretty much the same... but not jill mccabe. she's a doctor... who's a pediatric emergency room physician at inova loudoun hospital.

she's a mom... who knows the value of a quality education. she's a community leader... who will work in the state senate to reduce traffic and use some common sense. jill mccabe. she's not a politician... and in richmond, she'll work for us.

good morning. going their own way. the republican candidates briefly unified splinter again over their debate demands as president obama takes a swipe, mocking the republican field's beef with debate moderators. >> if you can't handle those guys, then i don't think the chinese and the russians are going to be too worried about you. >> this morning our new poll with a decisive lead for ben carson the has trump lost his lead for good. mid-air explosion, the deepening mystery over the deadly crash of that russian passenger plane. why u.s. officials are ruling out a missile strike but still investigating whether there could have been a bomb on board. flying high. why former boy band start