quickly. i'm tracking showers across the area and, yes, even snow for the weekend. kind of hard to believe. thaf forecast for you right here at 4. but "first at 4," an explosion at the national zoo shuts down several exhibits. >> this afternoon we're learning now details about exactly what happened. let's get to news4's meagan fitzgerald. she's been at the zoo all day. meagan? >> reporter: wendy, we're told this was a chlorine explosion which happened inside a mechanical building, and that's right next to where the otters and the beavers live. d.c. fire officials say they have left the scene but it's still very active with hazmat crews on scene as well as smithsonian officials, but we're told no one was hurt and all of the animals have been checked out and are doing okay. the alarms rang out for hours on the path way to the american trail which was taped off while d.c. firefighters and hazmat crews worked to clean up and investigate a chlorine explosion. >> a

chlorine, left that area per safety protocol and following that there was a loud bang. >> reporter: pamela baker is the spokesperson for the zoo. she says the contractor was doing his routine job in the facility moments before the explosion happened. first responders evaluated the employee but says he's doing fine. meanwhile, tourists continue to enjoy the zoo with what some are calling a minor interruption. >> i just assumed that staff would alert us if it's time to go if there's danger. >> reporter: now, the american trail is closed. it will remain closed until tomorrow morning. coming up at 5:00, we'll tell you what fire officials say was most concerning to them about this explosion. chris? >> all right. thanks, meagan. now to some inside information about the shut down of metro. metro's general manager was prepared to consider the possibility of walking away if officials did not support his

adam got a one-on-one interview with paul wiedefeld and this shows how strongly he felt about it, right? >> reporte >> reporter: he feels that the board needs to back his decisions, and we should say that the board did back his decision to shut down the system 100%. but after seeing what he saw this week, he said it proves it was the right decision. of course, we saw those pictures of the cables, the frayed cables. he says that proves that the decision to shut down, those 26 issue that is were found, was the right decision. we talked to the gm today, got his take about how strongly he felt about it all. >> i think as you saw with what we reported yesterday there were some serious issues out there. we should not have been running trains under those conditions so i'm glad i did it. >> reporter: now, the general manager says he always tries to think of it as his 15-year-old daughter riding on the train. he says he puts her in perspective

that his new safety message is being delivered down into the transit agency. you'll hear more about that coming up at 5:00, guys. >> adam, what happens next in this whole process? >> reporter: next in the whole process, they have to figure out why those cables were in such bad shape and why those trains were running over those cables for such a long amount of time. so there will be a further investigation that goes into this, but the gm says, frankly, he doesn't want to have to shut the system down like that during the middle of the week ever again. he wants metro to get to a point where safety is so paramount that the system never looks like that ever again, guys. >> all right. adam tuss. the worker who was injured while working on a house that was under con strunstruction in gainesville has died. he fell two floors into the basement of a building on thoroughfare road. the victim's name has not been released.

storm team4 right now tracking just a couple showers out there. they're on the light side and most of us will remain on the dry side as we move through the evening. like at the storm team4 radar right now. you can see the showers as we've been tracking them for the last few hours. few and far between. not a whole lot going on. the bulk of them have been up towards the northern portions of maryland, back to the panhandle of west virginia. we've seen a few around the metro d.c. area and southern maryland. not expecting a whole lot tonight. shower just to the north of annapolis along 95 to calvert counsel at the and back to the west a few more showers. that's not the big deal. the big deal is what we see in the next couple days. tracking showers this evening. cooler temperatures over the next couple days, especially into the weekend, and, yeah, possible weekend snow most likely starting saturday night into sunday. we'll have much more on that, what you can expect from this storm coming up in a few minutes. >> thanks, doug. they just put a new sign up at the prince george's county police department rig

those off ses were ambushed. the sign says the stars these doors bear are silent testimony to the bravery of the prince george's county police officers who went into the face of gunfire to protect one and all. we also just got an update on the man injured in the shootout with police. >> our county bureau chief tracee wilkins is live in palmer park with the status of the accused gunman. >> reporter: first of all, behind me a memorial in honor of officer jacai colson is still growing here outside of the headquarters for the prince george's county police department, but, yes, today we got word that michael ford was released from the prince george's hospital center and had his bond review where he was held without bond. he is now in the medical unit for the prince george's county hospital. prince george's police say ford is the gunman who ambushed the district three police station with a death wish and a loaded gun. he's accused of shooting at police, passenger vehicles, and an ambulance that

in the exchange of gunfire, detective jacai colson was shot and killed by another officer who according to the chief mistook him for the gunman. late add yeyesterday afternoon district 3 opened for first time. a decision was made not to replace the entry doors. >> the idea was to not only acknowledge we understand that this is here, but to remind everybody that this is what we face on a daily basis. >> reporter: michael ford's two younger brothers are also being held without bond. they are charged with charges related to this shooting, assisting their brother to get to the police station and then videotaping the shooting as it happened. coming up on news4 at 5:00, one of those brothers is a high school student. we go to his high school and talk to students who knew him. also we're hearing from the prince george's county school system for the first time responding to one of their

a serious crime. reporting live in palmer park, tracee wilkins. back to you in the studio. in a matter of years a woman's face could be on the $10 bill. hear how one actor's plan is trying to keep the currency the way it is. talk about a big relief for local parents. their kids walk io class and nt

developing now on capitol hill, he may not get an actual hearing, but supreme court nominee merit garland -- merrick garland is getting some meetings. >> he is meeting with members of the judiciary committee which considers judicial nominees. not clear when and if he will meet with the republican leadership which still refuses to consider any nominee from president obama. they're taking the stance that the next president should make that selection. earlier today democrats cranked up the pressure telling the gop to doh

a fair confirm ace process. the number of homeless people in fairfax county is dropping. in fact, it's been nearly cut in half over the past eight years. the county released new numbers that show just over 1,000 people did not have a place to call home in january. but even with the overall number dropping, fairfax county has seen a rise in the number of homeless people over the age of 55. officials contribute the decline to the county's focus on preventing homelessness and working with some of the nonprofits. the creator of the popular broadway show "hamilton" is getting reassurances that there will still be a tribute to that founding father of american cash on the new $10 bill. this is video of lynn manuel miranda. he revealed last year he plans to add a woman to the treasury bill. aas

committed to honoring hamilton in some way on the new design. that new design will roll out in 2020. this afternoon we are still on eagle watch. "first at 4," when we could see the birth of a bald eagle right here in the nation's capital. and susan hogan, cars that sense danger on their own and quickly avoid a crash. some cars can do it but most cannot. that's about to change though. i'll explain. and meeting the men who traveled thousands of miles to washington just to be able

you're watching news4 at 4:00. >> it's called crash avoidance technology, and right now only some new vehicles have it but that's about to change. >> today automakers and the federal government announced a historic agreement. to make a high-tech safety feature standard in most cars. >> yeah. consumer reporter susan hogan has more detai

just brought us yesterday. >> yesterday we told that you 20 automakers and u.s. safety regulators agreed to make automatic emergency braking a safety standard in new cars by the year 2022. today they made it official and revealed even more details. >> welcome to a great day for consumers, a great day for the global auto industry, and a great day for safety. >> mark rose,kind joined over safety leaders and advocates for the announceme menannouncement. it applies the brakes for the driver if the driver does not detect a vehicle or object in front of the car. now, nhtsa and the insurance institute for highway safety also announced consumer reports will help monitor automakers' progress over the years. >> there are lives at stake, and today this could be a very important step in finding new ways and new models

toward more safety and fewer fatalities. >> safety regulators said today the agreement will make automatic emergency braking on new cars three years faster than if it had to go through a formal regulatory process preventing an estimated 28,000 crashes according to the insurance institute for highway safety. you can find a complete list of the auto mackers who agreed to make automatic emergency braking a standard on our nbc washington app. just search auto safety. >> and my wife got it on her new car. she loves it, but you have got another new story coming up at 5:00. >> this is a story all of us can relate to. it's about those urgent safety recalls that we get in the mail. we get those notices, and they say it's urgent. but the manufacturer says the parts to fix the defect aren't available. a reston man reached out to us. he's worried about driving his car that has a safety recall. he's received an urgent recall notice a year ago. we have his story and what to do

we have that coming up tonight on news4 at 5:00. >> thanks, susan. >> you're welcome. all right. now, i think we're going to take a live look at an eagles' nest in the district. this has been creating a bit of a stir and there are new signs a little eaglet is just starting to hatch. >> you can watch this nature unfold live in our nbc washington app. we have a link to the american eagle foundation's d.c. eagle cam. well, this afternoon we saw feathers in a partially cracked egg. everybody started screaming in the newsroom, but the parent eagle quickly covered up the eggs again. this eaglet could be fully hatched either later today or tomorrow. a wildlife biologist with the d.c. department of energy and the environment talks about what happens next. >> we're getting close. he or she is trying to get out. it's a tough exercise. so finally when it does happen, they will be exhausted but the parents are there t

of them and keep them warm and then we'll know when the next egg is going to hatch. >> this is a big deal because it's been about 50 years since bald eagles have had an active nest in the district. >> it's interesting, i always thought -- you see in the movies they just hatch. >> like the cartoon. >> wow, it could take more than a day. >> and when they come out, doug, are they going to say i'm in a snowy, wintry environment? >> if the first one comes out today no, problem. if the second one comes out on sunday, yeah, it's going to be turned for a loop for sure. mother nature giving us a little bit of winter as we move into the weekend. we've seen such nice weather the last couple days. today not bad out there as we look well off towards the east. you can see rfk out there a little bit earlier. right now looking pretty good. some mixture of clouds, some sun, but mostly cloudy skies. 68 degrees. winds out of the northwest at 12 miles an hour. it's on the mild side. average high temperature i

56-well above that. 63 towards winchester. right now waldorf coming in at 66 degrees. we have some showers, not much though. you notice kind of a band around the area. so up towards frederick and towards hagerstown, baltimore, down towards annapolis, calvert county, these showers are extremely light. so we're going to continue to watch them move through. it's part of the system i showed you yesterday. another little frontal boundary that will drape across the area giving us the clouds and the showers we have this evening. overnight tonight though i do expect us to clear. tomorrow highs in upper 50s to the north and west, low 60s across portions of the d.c. metro. it will be rather breezy. winds gusting 10 to 20 miles per hour. now this weekend, i showed new yesterday. back to winter. really? yeah, we've got a coastal low that's going to develop. how exactly it comes together still remains to be seen, but right now it looks like we will see at least some snow, especially early sunday morning before this storm p

how much warm air? how much cold air? again, we're watching this closely but tracking a coastal storm. snow does look likely in parts of the area but very hard to accumulate that snow in the month of march. we're going to talk much more about the storm as we move through not only the rest of the 4, but at 5:00 and 6:00 too. i want to show you future weather here. this is saturday. here is saturday around 11:00. we're predicting a high of 50 year saturday. as this moves in it most likely moves in as rain and transfers to rain. look at the rain/snow line to the north and west of d.c. those are the areas that will have the best chance for snow and look what happens by sunday. most everybody gets in on the rain. again, still a lot to look at, still a lot to think about here. we're going to continue to keep you posted and you know we'll keep you ahead of the storm. 63 on friday. 50 on saturday. there's the rain and snow chance on sunday with a high temperature only in the upper 30s to around 40. monday that system is out of here with a temperature of 43. much more, veronica even

see, some video in just about ten minutes. despite that sunday forecast, this is a sure sign spring is almost here, but one local place for families could be in jeopardy. we'll tell you how long they hope to stick around. >> and there's a study that questions all the tough talk from candidates is actually being dumbed down. apparently there is a candidate who is speaking at a fifth grade level. and doug just talked about the chance of snow this weekend. so we want to know how you feel about that. >> it's our nbc washington flash survey. call or next the number on your screen. you can also vote over at the n washington facebook pbcag

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yeah! >> today senator marco rubio got a round of applause as he came back to work on capitol hill. rubio's communications director tweeted out this video of his first day back since suspending his presidential campaign. rubio dropped out after he failed to win the florida primary in his home state. he hasn't endorsed anyone but told "the new york times" senator ted cruz is the only true conservative left in the race. and a new study suggests

way they talk on the campaign trail. carnegie mellon university researchers found that most presidential candidates speak at a sixth to eighth grade level. senator bernie sanders has the highest vocabulary level. trump has the lowest. when it comes to grammar, sanders, hillary clinton, and senator red cruz are all at about the seventh grade level while trump is using grammar typical of kids under the age of 12. with his future still in question, a prince william county ice cream institution reopened for another season. customers lining up outside klein's freeze in manassas park last night on opening day. this family-owned business has been operating at the same location for more than 50 years, but the landowner has other plans for that property, and kline's is looking for a new location but in the meantime owners h

be able to stick around at least for this season. how does it feel? >> it feels good. >> five men all missing a leg, they got to walk today. they are all soccer players. lost legs-b$& in the civil war liberia. they have been living in a d.c. homeless shelter and today they got to try out their new prosthetic legs. darcy spencer was there when they took their first steps and her story is coming up in our next hour. "first at 4," a scholarship surprise. >> the high school students who got something that will literally change their lives. >> drastic changes just in time for the weekend. storm team4 tracking the possibility of snow just in time for the arrival of s

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now at 4:30, the national zoo's american trail will remain closed for the day after that chlorine explosion. a contract worker was doing some routine work in a

building when this happened. no one was hurt and that includes the animals. well, it's the first evening commute for metrorail since that systemwide shutdown on wednesday. a source tells news4 transportation reporter adam tuss metro gm paul wiedefeld actually considered the possibility much walkiof walkiny if the shutdown didn't happen. >> news4's meagan fitzgerald -- megan mcgrath rather caught up with redline riders to see if this closure was worth it. >> reporter: a return to normal service for metro this morning. emergency inspections and repairs were finished overnight all this time for a 5:00 a.m. opening. how do you feel about coming back today? >> oh, i'm very confident it worked. i'm glad they did what they did. i wish they would have done it on a saturday or a sunday, but i think it was worth it. >> reporter:

mcpherson station on monday uncovered a larger problems with fraying electrical cables prompted the unprecedented 29-hour shutdown of the entire system. while inconvenient for thousands, many riders say it had to be done. >> safety first. you know, i'd rather get to work and not to worry that, guess what, something is going to happen down the road. i feel more comfortable. >> if it's safer in the long term, i guess that's the most important thing. >> i'm glad they shut down. i'm just glad they took care of everything. it would have been better if it was on the weekend. >> reporter: with the system become up and running some riders say it's now time to focus on the long-term picture and the need for more aggressive maintenance. >> we're witnessing an aging system that really needs some serious qa work and they need to invest money in a system to fix it and make it right. >> reporter: this morning's rush hour went smoothly. some minor things here and there

train but nothing to do with the electric stables. from shady grove metro iststati. direct mail service is now operating between the united states and cuba. the first batch is on its way and it should get there before president obama arrives on sunday. that includes a letter from the president written to a 76-year-old cuban woman who had written to him telling him how excited she was about his upcoming visit. the mail that comes from america, that can include first class letters and packages along with priority mail letters and priority packages. a change is in the works for part of the w & od trail. this is the where are where the trail crosses wiehle avenue in reston. this is just one of the options of what it could look like. public hearings on the project won't

transportation officials will make a presentation tonight and take some questions at 6:30 at the reston community center. get ready for some changes as you wrap up your golf game out there. the calendar says spring but this weekend, not going to seem so much like spring. >> look at v.j. she's out on the storm team4 weather deck, sleeveless. >> it's still mild out here. that's the thing. still very mild. still quite comfortable. we have some clouds moving in right now and a few spring showers that are starting to make their way through the area but whatever excitement you have had about the warm conditions, mild conditions, get ready to put it on hold because we're going to start tumbling back to winter. remember just two years ago, this is 2014, it can happen so late during the month of march. this was 16th and 17th where we picked up just over six inches of snowfall. look at the roads. they were impacted. roads did get a little slick across our area.

coming up with our temperatures, it's going to last for a couple days, the weekend, early part of next week. we deal with this cold pattern. just a couple minutes i will tell you what kind of snowfall we're going to get if it will be impacting roads and if it's going to get in the way of your weekend activities. we'll have that coming up in just a few. see you then. i'm carol maloney from inside spokane arena. this is what it's all about, the ncaa tournament. the maryland terrapins getting ready to take the practice floor in just a little bit. right now hawaii getting in their session. every team gets a workout before doing it for real tomorrow. maryland tipping off against south dakota state 4:30 p.m. friday afternoon. terps not flying under the radar this season by any stretch of the imagination. they were ranked as high as second in the nation just last month. but struggling down the stretch they settled for a five seed. of course, that did not alter their goal.

three wekeks. last year on the eve of their game coach turigeon had a dunk contest. the future is looking bright for ten students in d.c. they got the kind of surprise that is also bringing a lot of relief to their mom and dad. yeah, you'd be cheering too. you're looking at one of the seniors from duke ellington school of the arts. she just found out she's getting a full ride to george washington university. gw's president steven nap hand delivered the scholarship letters and she talked to us. look at that. she talked to us about what was going through her mind at that moment where she found out she won. >> i just knew it was for me like it was just my time and i worked so hard and

your hard work paid off is a blessing. >> sure is a blessing. and also you're talking about a quarter of a million dollars. she says she plans to become an anesthesiologist one day. the steven joe trackenburg skoip follows room, books, board, and fees for all four years. >> that's a burden lifted. >> and her parents will be crying tears of joy. this afternoon international efforts to bring that college student home. >> new steps a lot of folks hope will bring a university of virginia student back from a controversial sentence in north korea. is it an ode to the past or time for an update. sy maryland'state song could

for the folks who said i can't do this again, don't worry. probably not going to stick. today seaworld announced they're no longer going to breed orcas. and the company says it will sloy phase out killer whale shows at all of their parks over the next three years. this comes after years of increased scrutiny of the theme park after the death of a trainer during one of the performances. seaworld says it can't just release the whales in the wild because they haven't been trained to compete for food and they would be ekts posed to diseases and pollution. so do you know the lyrics to maryland's state song? probably not going to be house music or anything like that anytime soon. law make verse taken a step to remove some of the references in the lyrics, references like to northern scum and other insensitive pre-civil

the maryland senate voted 37-8 in favor of the changes and the measure goes to the house. maryland, my maryland, written in 1861, adopted as the state's official song, but the bill's sponsor says some of the old verses do not represent maryland's values. wicked weather has been destroying entire communities. you will hear from a woman who says the storms were so violent they knocked her teeth out. isn't that true? >> i took immediate action as soon as i learned there was a lead issue. i wish more -- >> plausible deniability only works when it's plausible. >> fiery back and forth over that water crisis in michigan. the intense discussions here in washington over what went wrong. "fst at 4."ir

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a few evening showers, but those are rain showers. tracking snow showers for your sunday. i'ha

coming up. more than 8,000 kids in flint have been exposed to contaminated water, and that could have health ramifications for years to come. >> so in a quite heated hearing today, congress grilled the governor of michigan and the head of the environmental protection agency. news4's brian mooar is live on the hill with the latest effort to find out what went so terribly wrong. brian? >> chris and wendy, this morning before dawn groups of people proflipr from flint arrived by bus and by car looking for assistance if not answers. >> reporter: on capitol hill residents of flit, michigan, pleaded for help to end their water crisis. >> what do we want? >> clean water. >> reporter: lawmakers demanded accountability with fingers pointing across partisan lines. >> you need to take some responsibility because you screwed up and you messed up 100,000 people's lives. >> reporter: republicans excoriated the obama administration's

democrats lambasted michigan's republican governor, rick snyder. >> you cannot be trusted, and i got to tell you, you need to resign. >> reporter: neither claimed ultimate responsibility. >> these people that made these terrible decisions that showed a clear lack of common sense failed us. since they work for me, i am responsible for their actions. >> i will take responsibility for not pushing hard enough, but i will not take responsibility for causing this problem. >> reporter: the people of flint want more. >> we want clean, safe, healthy water because the water that's coming out of our tap is poison. >> reporter: and the flint residents here in the district say they're enjoying a rare luxury, drinking and bathing with water that doesn't come out of a bottle. live on capitol hill, i'm brian mooar. chris, back to you. >> thank you very much, brian. this afternoon a family in iowa is shaken up but thankful to be alive.

home tuesday when those tornadoes touched down. the storm flipped their home over just as they were trying to get out of there and get to a shelter. >> and just all of a sudden without any warning boom, and i was flipping backwards and all of a sudden i was trapped in between the outside wall and the inside wall, knocked my teeth out. >> talk about scary. winds from that tornado reached 90 miles an hour. damaged a lot of homes in that neighborhood. and now your storm team4 forecast. >> just a little earlier we took a look at the snow from two years ago around st. patrick's day. remember just a couple days ago, early part of the month, march 3rd and 4th when we had some snow that moved through the area, it was not much that we picked up. only about one to about two inches or so. it was very pretty to look at but did not have any impact on area roads. and this is really what we're looking at getting for this next

event, some slushy type of snow coming through our area with i think minimal accumulations across the area. more conversational, maybe a little nuisance for some folks well out to the west around i-81 and in some of the higher elevations. rain showers, you can see them here around annapolis, anne arundel county. areas like arnold getting more showers. again, mainly light showers happening out there right now. so from walkersville, we will see more wet weather. i was outside getting some very, very light showers. almost more sprinkles than anything else. we're in the 60s now. plenty mild. we'll drop down to the 50s and temperatures will just continue to tumble. next time we see any warmth back in our area will be about the mid part of next week. we get up to 63 and then again that dramatic change for the upcoming weekend. for tomorrow, a litt

too during the afternoon hours. the weather tomorrow having a low impact on our area. and i wanted to show you saturday too because i know you've got to plan out your day, right? you probably have some things you're wanting to do outside thinking that it's going to stay mild. we get up to a temperature of 50 degrees at 3:00 and then look at this. by the time we get to the evening hours, 9:00, we're down to the low 40s. about 40 degrees by 11:00 p.m. some of you just around areas west of d.c., around fauquier county and culpeper will start to see snow showers. 11:00 p.m. to midnight, that's when it develops on saturday. exercising, yeah, you got the green light or that. same thing around town but lunch outdoors is a red light. our biggest change comes sunday during the early morning hours. roads will just be wet. we're expecting a few inches of slushy snow on sunday. so that really is the main impact that we're going to see across the area. just conversational nuisance type event where roads are just going to be wet. the th t

early monday morning. i think with any refreeze that we have, with any areas with still standing water, temperatures drop to 32 to 36. there might be a few icy patches setting up for the first part of next week. and then, yes, finally again as i mentioned the midpart of next week, we start warming up. upper 60s to lobe 70s. so our little stint of winter will be brief lasting through the weekend and the first two days of next week. we've got more on what we're expecting with this winter event, guys, coming up on news4 at 5:00. remember, on sunday when that snow comes in, it's the first day of the cherry blossom festival. behind of a ha-ha i guess. >> it's funny. >> really funny. >> didn't think i would be hearing the word refreeze around equinox. thanks, veronica. if you plan to celebrate st. paddy's day tonight, don't drink and driving. prince george's county has already announced plans for a sobriety check point in college park. safe trips home are again

offered from sober ride for anyone over the age of 21. the rides are offered until 4:00 in the morning and they're free up to about $30. you can call 1-800-200-taxi to get that ride. >> it wouldn't be st. paddy's da in chicago without a green bay river. 40 pounds of an environmentally friendly powder dumped into the chicago river from a boat this morning and then another boat went around and churned it all up. did a little blender drink thing on it. that powder was originally orange but as you see, it turns green within minutes. and it can last for a few days. >> one of the best things about chicago this time of year. here is -- back here in washington, a live look at the white house. the fountain runs green in honor of st. patrick's day. seven years ago michelle obama requested the white house fountain be dyed green. maybe she couldn't leave that part of chicago behind. very similar to w

president obama celebrated st. paddy's day by meeting with the irish prime minister in the oval office. they're going to have a reception at the white house. we are six days away from the cherry blossom peak bloom. we're going to take a live look at the tidal basin and if you want to see the blossoms but you don't want to fight the crowds, we have a list of other place where is you can view the blossoms around town. find it on our nbc washington a app. search blossom alternatives. construction of the new public safety building in fairfax has just passed the halfway point. it's expected to open early next year. it will replace the aging massey building near the courthouse. more than two dozen honored this afternoon in prince william county just a short time ago. members of various police, fi,

valor awards for heroic acts above and beyond the call of duty. news4's aaron gilchrist was the emcee. this is the 30th year that the county chamber of commerce has awarded those who performed extraordinary acts of self-sacrifice and bravery. a trip overseas quaickly became a nightmare. there's a new international effort to safe a univsity of ervi

it's about taking a stand. for too long, wall street banks had their way. they crashed our economy. but democrat donna edwards won't take their money because she stands up for us. as a single mom, she knows the challenges our families face. she'll be our voice. tightening regulations on the big banks and fighting to keep dark money out of politics. democrat donna edwards, maryland's next senator.

now to a developing story involving that uva student arrested in north korea. otto warmbier is starting his sentence of 15 years hard labor but american diplomats are working hard to get him out. >> please. >> reporter: after begging for his freedom -- >> please save my life. >> reporter: otto w

prison this year sentenced to 15 years hard labor. >> please think of my family. >> reporter: fingerprinted, handcuffed in front of the cameras, led away guilty of subversion. the courtroom shown video of the university of virginia student stealing a propaganda banner from his hotel. >> worst decision of my life. but i'm only human. >> reporter: he reportedly said he stole the banner for a member of his church group. >> the allegations for which this individual was arrested and imprisoned would not give rise to arrest or imprisonment in the united states or in just about any other country in the world. >> reporter: otto warmbier's travel company boasts of tourist destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from. now he faces prison by a totalitarian government that hates america.

former governor bill richardson is working to get warmbier released. why he went there? the americans that go to north korea are often young people looking for adventure and retired folks hoping for the experience of a lifetime. back to you. a chemical blast, a scare at the national zoo. how some routine work led to an explosion along one of the zoo's most popular trails. and a pretty nice day across the region today although tracking a few showers on the radar. also tracking a possible storm. could bring some snow this weekend. plus, safety first. according to a news4 source tonight, metro's gm was ready to resign if the trains weren't shut down. >> good afternoon. i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly. news4 at 5:00 starts right now. i'm very confident that it worked. i'm glad they did what they did. >> a bump in the road but safety

system that really needs some serious qa work. >> metro's general manager felt so strongly about shutting down that system that he says he considered resigning from metro if he did not get the support to close it. that's what a source with direct knowledge of all this metro events this week is telling our transportation reporter adam tuss. adam is at metro center this evening as that service gets back on track. adam? >> reporter: that's right, wendy. as it turns out, the general manager didn't even have to think about the possibility of walking away from metro because he got his way, and we should also add that the metro board backed his plan 100%. we talked to the gm one-on-one today. did you make the right choice? >> i definitely did. >> reporter: closing metro for emergency safety repairs was something metro general manager paul wiedefeld felt so strongly about that he told his staff, quote, it could be a short day for me, end quote, if he didn't get the support to do it. insiders say that meant he