right now police searching for the men who targeted hotel guests in springfield. i'm eun yang with investigators say unusual weapon. and a price hike for parking in the district. how much parking meter rates are going up and the group calling it an unfair moneymaker for the city. tropical humidity hangs in the air over the metro area. a look at our storm chances for the week ahead. news 4 midday starts now. today we'll learn how prince george's county schools will protect your student from sexual predators at school. a task force plans to release findings

accused of taking pictures of young children performi ining s acts on him and with each other at the school. caraway faces more than a dozen federal and state charges for abusing up to 19 students. today's report will include changes to policies regarding how much access school volunteers have to students. right now fairfax county police are looking for three men they say used a gun and a hammer to steel from several people. multiple robberies reported at the motel 6 in springfield this morning. it's not clear exactly how many victims there are or what was taken. if you think you know anything about this case, call fairfax county police. big changes are coming to how you park in d.c. the rates on parking meters are going way upstarting tomorrow. mollet green is live in foggy bottom with everything we need to know. >> yeah, money generated from this increase is spo

to support metro. and tomorrow you start paying more. if you park in d.c., get ready to dig for more change. it's about to cost you even more to feed the meter. >> way too expensivexpensive. >> it's pretty ridiculous, there's already so much limited parking that you want to take what you can get but you don't want it to cost a leg and an arm. st it's not fun. >> reporter: starting june 1 st parking meter rates go up 15% or 30 cents an hour across the city. and this rate increase comes just months after ticket fines went up across the city. and folks looking to park in residential areas will feel it even harder in the wallet. here's the breakdown on hourly parking. for premium demand zones, which are the busiest areas like georgetown or adams morgan, from $2 an hour to $2.30. residential areas or

$2.30 an hour now. and a 30-cent increase in commercial loading zones. all this adds up to millions more in revenue for the district. >> so the city made almost $90 million in parking ticket fees last year. and we're probably going with that amount this year by $12 million. and then an extra $3 million or so on parking meter rates, this is a big financing for the city. >> reporter: certainly not what mckenzie baker wants to hear after bumming some extra change just to feed this meter in georgetown. >> that's awful. they make so much money from all this transportation stuff, but where is it going? >> reporter: now, ddot had to reprogram some 15,000 meters in time for this increase. something else you need to know, when you park at a meter in a so-called premium zone, expect to pay a lot longer. enforcement will extend until 10:00 p.m. we're live this morning in foggy bottom,

what does a new school in the district of columbia cost? more than $170 million. we are learning the price tag on the new duke ellington school of the arts has more than doubled without a good hard look at those numbers by the d.c. council. the district auditor kathy patterson says, quote, the bottom line is that our school modernization program has had little discipline to date, end quote. the auditor's report makes several recommendations. we're going to continue to dig through that report back home, meanwhile news 4 scott mcfarlane has been tweeting about that over the last hour. we'll have more first at 4:00. good morning. right now we've got just a few clouds building around the region. and it's sort of a tropical looking sky. we do have some of the tropical humidity from remnants of bonnie that's been lurking off the carolina coast last couple days. that's a live view overlooking reston town center. don't have any

temperatures are getting rather muggy now, up around 80 degrees. reagan national now at 79. shenandoah valley where they had some fog this morning, that's all gone now in the mid 70s. storm team 4 radar scanning the sky, we don't have any rain anywhere in the vicinity, but later this afternoon we could get an isolated storm. a look at that and our storm chances for the rest of the week and the weekend, that's coming up in just a few minutes. tom, thank you. prince george's county police say the woman killed in an apartment laundry room is 29-year-old ashley solano. they don't believe her death was random. sources tell news 4 her body was badly beaten. she was found just after 9:00 yesterday morning in an apartment complex on 18th avenue. a suspect has not been identified. today, the trial of a man accused in a violent home inv s invasion and attack of a virginia couple continues. the last thing the jury saw was video of wife buying a ta

a gun store. the taser was used in the three-hour attack against the couple in 2014. defense attorneys hope to prove andrew was just carrying out his wife's orders and he was too medicated to be held accountable. jury selection is happening right now in what could be a historic case -- rather murder trial in prince george's county. germane hail accused of melvin pate in 2010. he died from his injuries less than two hours later. prosecutors argue pate was able to identify his shooter before his death by deliberately blinking at a picture of hails. if the judge allows identification into evidence that will be the first time that's happened in maryland. a strict new recommendation out today when it comes to zika prevention. the world health organization is doubling its safe sex recommendation for those traveling abroad. people returning from areas where the virus is prevalent should now follow safe sex practices or accidents for at least eight weeks. tr

just for four weeks. experts also say if a couple is planning to have a child and the male partner has zika symptoms, they should follow the advice for six months. security issues being addressed right now ahead of the republican national convention. >> and new accusations against a cincinnati zoo where a gorilla was shot and killed to protect a 4-year-old boy. what an animal rights group said just minutes ago about the zoo's safety and wh o

morning noon or night there's always a moment to discover visit annapolis and create your moment

two bikers in florida are okay today after they were run over by a car. this all was caught on video. florida highway patrol says the driver has been arrested. our nbc affiliate in tampa has identified the driver as 31-year-old robert vance. he faces several charges including leaving the scene of a crash involving an injury. a maryland state trooper back on the job after a crash so bad it nearly killed him. triston philip was helping an elderly couple that was stranded when another car slammed into his cruiser at more than 70 miles per hour. he went through months of physical therapy after the new year's eve crash. this week he returned to office duty at the barracks in jessup. >> i glanced up at my rearview mirror, and that was it. i just remember seeing whi

records show state troopers or their vehicles have been hit on the side of the road seven times already this year. early voting started in d.c.'s democratic primary. from now until june 11th registered voters can cast ballots at one of the designated voting sites around the city. you can open the nbc washington app to see which is for you. a week from today californians will weigh-in on the race for president. senator bernie sanders has an event in san francisco at noon today. it was at his rally in oakland last night that a group of animal rights protesters tried to rush the stage. secret service agents removed the demonstrators, even carrying one of them out by his hands and feet. at this point no charges have been filed. right now security officials in cleveland are going through their plans to keep people safe at this summer's republican national convention. the city's expecting protests. and it could triple as much as police force to

a new poll out this morning mimics a trend we've seen for a few weeks now, donald trump is gaining on hillary clinton in a hypothetical general election matchup. clinton is ahead 45% to 43% in our nbc news/survey monkey poll. senator bernie sanders leads trump by 12 points 52 to 40. our poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2. an animal protection watchdog group says the cincinnati zoo is responsible for that 3-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla enclosure. the group made that charge at a news conference about an hour ago placing blame squarely on the zoo. >> what happened this last weekend made it very clear that the physical barriers at the cincinnati zoo are not adequate to keep people out of the enclosures. >> meanwhile, zoo officials are defending their security measures and their decision to kill the gorilla. nbc's blake mccoy has the latest. >> reporter: this morning, zoo

say shows an agitated 400-pound gorilla putting a 3-year-old's life in danger after the child fell into its enclosure at the cincinnati zoo over the weekend. the zoo's director made the difficult call to shoot the animal, he says he'd make it again. >> we're talking about an animal with one hand that i've seen take a coconut and crunch it. you can't take a risk with a silverback gorilla. >> reporter: a small vigil was held outside the zoo monday as anger grows towards the child's mother. an online petition demanding she now be charged with child neglect has more than a quarter million ignatures. the mother responding in a facebook post that has since been deleted, as a society we're quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off their child. and if anyone knows me, i keep a tight watch on my kids. accidents happen. a subsequent statement thanked the zoo for its actions. this file video shows the enclosure, a metal railing with some wires underneath, four feet of sh

into the mote separating people from the habitat. that's where the boy fell in. >> the kid is safe and the barrier's safe, that said any of us in this room could climb over barriers if we choose. >> reporter: this morning we're hearing from the zookeeper who raised harambe the gorilla. >> how intelligent he was, how inquisitive he was, how playful. he was a big boy. he grew up to be something else. and he was very special. >> reporter: harmbe was one of 11 western lowland gorillas at the cincinnati zoo, one of two silverbacks the zoo had plans to use them in their successful breeding program. jerry stone refuses to second guess the decision to kill harambe. >> the people who work there had this terrible decision to make. >> reporter: a similar incident outside chicago in 1996 saw a very different outcome. in that case a 3-year-old who also fell into an enclosure was

protected by a female gorilla. >> that was blake mccoy reporting. the boy's mother was not charged in that 1996 case. and police in cincinnati say this mother won't face charges either. they say there is no evidence of a crime. the gorilla exhibit could reopen as soon as this weekend. verizon workers now have a new contract and will return to work tomorrow. union workers have been on strike for nearly seven weeks. the new contract adds about 1,000 new call center jobs and pay will go up 11% over the next four years. employees will vote on the deal after returning to work. holds on long and that one hits bryce. >> that got him square. >> ouch, you could hear that pitch that hit bryce harper. it was an 88-mile-an-hour fastball, struck the mvp on his knee last night. the team says it's only a bruise, but we're still waiting to find out how harper is feeling and whether he willl

against the phillies tonight. game begins at 7:05. only a bruise, but this is an 88-mile-per-hour baseball hitting you in the knee. >> i find that hard to believe. just a bruise? i mean, he walked away. it's not broken, but wow. >> they would have had to carry me off. >> children would have been covering their ears. she's so loud. >> on a stretcher. all right. we have a story we think you will really want to stick around for this morning. a veteran told he had little l hope after being seriously injured in war, and the remarkable recovery he made against all odds. plus, a flooding emergency in texas rivers continue to rise, this time to historic levels. and there is more rain on the

if you've ever had your flight delayed once, you can be thankful it wasn't delayed three consecutive times. that happened on monday for passengers aboard alee jant airline flight. plane first returned when a passenger had medical issue then electrical problems forced to turn around once it was in the air. later boarding was stopped when a piece of emergency equipment had to be inspected. passengers were eventually able to get to their destination. another day and the latest on those deadly floods. right now rivers are nearing record levels in some parts of texas where the rains have stopped but the waters keep rising. eight peop have died.

about the impact across the state. >> reporter: this morning parts of texas are preparing for more strong storms and historic flooding. rivers expected to reach some of their highest levels in decades. authorities in austin recovered the body of a woman who drowned while tubing in the flood waters. >> just goes to show how dangerous the water can be right now. >> reporter: high water rescues were underway in simonton. >> never had a drop of water in the house, decided we were going to sit it out and obviously it wasn't a good idea. >> reporter: while some residents are refusing to follow the mandatory evacuation orders. >> be a good time to pack, you don't want to leave anymore. >> reporter: the water reaching seven feet in some homes. >> i just don't know what to say because right now i feel devastated. >> reporter: the deluge most striking from the air. >> and this is much worse than you expected? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: in rosenberg, residents scrambled to grab what they could. >> i took out my dogs before i took

i can't leave my dogs. >> reporter: she wasn't the only one holding on tight. this seven-foot alligator found in the flood waters got stuck in a trapper's car. other swaths of the country battling their own severe weather. these funnel clouds spotted near the colorado/nebraska border. but it is texas today once again in the flood zone. >> it's frustrating, at the same time i have enough faith to ploo believe we're going to be all right. >> reporter: the weather related death toll in texas now up to eight including a 16-year-old boy who was killed when a tree branch fell on him during the cleanup effort. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, rosenberg, texas. terrible situation there. and take a look at this amazing video of a tornado. no one was hurt in this one in colorado, but it did blow the front door off a house. it also destroyed a barn and caused widespread power outages. aren't you grateful it's nice and calm here after listening

stories? >> take humidity any day over that. >> overall we've had a pretty good spring. we shouldn't be complaining about our wet may, which we're saying good-bye, may. >> bye-bye, nice knowing you. >> there's the capitol camera. we don't have any rain around now, just some clouds beginning to build a little bit around the region, but it is tropically humid. you can tell when we step outside a lot of humidity in the air but still clear on storm team 4 radar. no rain anywhere in the vicinity. temperatures are climbing up to around 80 degrees from the shenandoah valley all the way to the bay. reagan national now is at 79. and for a run today, well, you are going to work up a sweat in about five minutes. it's going to stay humid here in the mid to late afternoon. temperatures should be reaching the mid 80s between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. hovering there. there is a slight chance your run may be interrupted with perhaps a passing thundershower. so have an umbrella ready.

don't forget sun block, have sunglasses handy as well. we'll have the clouds coming and going into the afternoon. storm team 4 four-day forecast after that small chance of a thundershower this afternoon, this evening, partly cloudy. upper 60s tomorrow morning, not as humid on wednesday in the mid 80s and coolerw weather on thursday. partly sunny, mid 70s, small chance of an afternoon thundershower. then a greater chance of afternoon thundershowers on friday with highs near 80. over the weekend looks good on saturday for your outdoor plans in the mid 80s, maybe some storms afternoon and evening on sunday. that's the way it looks. all right, tom, thank you. a graduate defying the odds of doctors despite his wounds of war. >> nbc has more on the remarkable new chapter in the life of an american hero. >> reporter: graduation day at the catholic university of america. >> evan thomas cole. >> reporter: evan cole's masters degree in architecture is a culmination of a journey

by anguish, courage and determination. >> something i had promised my friends that died in iraq, some of them saved me so that i could try to do something with my life that was meaningful. >> reporter: it was 2007 when we first saw the young army specialist. he was near death when he was rushed into the field hospital in iraq. >> yeah, an open tibia fracture. >> reporter: a bomb blasted his humvee killing two other troops. >> this is a quick read for the docs. >> reporter: doctors decided he should be transported to hospital in germany. on a giant c-17 a flying intensive care unit. >> we all joined the army around the same time. >> reporter: we next saw evan five months later in the u.s. he had already endured dozens of surgeries and countless hours of horribly painful physical therapy. and he was showing signs of traumatic brain injury.

conversations, forgetting all kinds of stuff. and i was in a lot of extreme real, real bad irritability. >> reporter: his doctor did not hold out high hopes. >> i envision evan to be able to live in the community, potentially alone some day, walk on his own. >> reporter: hi, evan, good to see you. >> good to see you too. >> reporter: been a long time. >> yeah, nine years. >> reporter: when you see the tape we have of the doctor who said the best you could maybe do is live by yourself, what's your response to that? >> i love that he said that about me because that has motivated me more times than i can even count through the last couple years to prove him wrong. >> reporter: that motivation made him throw away his cane and pain medication. even though his pain is still constant. >> i was about to be discharged -- >> reporter: and during three long years in and out of hospitals, evan made the decision to go to college. >> i have had to come up with new strategies in my

remember things. this coming right through here is the river -- >> reporter: for his architecture thesis he designed a rehab clinic for wounded veterans for his hometown of traverse city, michigan. he sees it as a model for v.a. facilities in places far from a big hospital. >> i just like to make it so if anybody else who has fought for this country like i did has to go through this, that it can be better than it was for me, not saying that it was bad. but i'd like it to be better. >> this is the class of 2016. congratulations. >> reporter: evan cole is delivering on that promise to fallen friends. >> looking forward to the future. >> reporter: nbc news, washington. >> given so much and continues to give. what an incredible story. >> future looks bright. just a few minutes ago donald trump announced what charities will happen during an event of boycott during fox news debate. and awesome con returns to d.c. we'll get you ready

event loved by super hroe

morning noon or night there's always a moment to discover visit annapolis and create your moment the presumptive republican presidential nominee making clear where millions of dollars said to have been raised for veterans is going.

trump tower in new york after uncertainty about those figures began to cloud the campaign. >> and instead of being like thank you very much, mr. trump, or trump did a good job, everyone said who got it, who got it, who got it. and you make me look very bad. i have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job. >> this goes back to a fund raising event in january. remember, trump missed a debate to hold this fundraiser, instead just a few minutes ago trump began listing every organization he says he sent checks to, some $50,000, others as much as $200,000. in all he says $5.6 million was raised for veterans. at the live desk, erika gonzalez. new details this morning about the suspect in a deadly officer-involved shooting. his father spoke to our affiliate in houston. >> he had a mental breakdown.

we believe this is a ptsd thing. >> he believes his son became disillusioned with the government after being dishonorable discharged from the military. police in houston say garza killed one man sunday and hurt seven other people before officers shot and killed him. a man's death could become a homicide investigation in the days ahead. montgomery county police say it appears he fell from a body in rockville. they found his body next to a complex on old george road around 5:30 last night. no witnesses have come forward to say whether this was an accident or intentional act. now to a story you'll only see on news 4, our cameras captured a life saving moment in the middle of the street. take a look here. a man had a medical emergency at 11th street northwest near rhode island avenue. this happened yesterday around 5:00 p.m. a fellow driver pulled the man from the car when he found him unconscious. before paramedics arrived d.c. police officers started performing cpr. the man eventually s

up on his own. >> it was fairly dramatic on your footage. it is something the fire department sees many times every day 365 days a year. >> the man was rushed to the hospital and is expected to be okay. starting friday, this is what the washington convention center will look like, packed with people attending awesome con. the founder of the event and an actor and voice of washington capitals joining us this morning to talk about the big event coming up this weekend. gentlemen, thank you both for being here. >> great being here. >> thanks for having us. >> ben, i'll start with you, first for anybody new to the area what is awesome con? >> awesome con is a super cool event where we celebrate superheroes, pop culture, comic books, movies and tv shows that are really geeky like the new x-men movie that came out, captain america movie out a few weeks ago. ninja turtles

think like a week. >> how much has this grown over time? what can people expect this year if they come out? >> we started in 2013, about 7,000 people showed up. this year we're expecting more than 50,000 people to be at the convention center over the weekend. and what you can expect is we've got some amazing celebrities coming out from peter -- the doctor on "dr. who," wes is a big dr. who fan. we have john baraman who's on arrow. >> the original batman and robin, adam west and burt ward. >> adam west and burt ward is going to be there. >> carl irvin from "star trek" is going to be there. >> the new "star trek". >> yes, he does a great job. there's so many people from every different walk of life, something for everyone. you've got comic book artists, people from video games, i do a lot of video games fallout for

fallout 3, but like charles mart martine will be there, the voice of mario. >> he does the voice of all of the characters in the mario game, that's who my son is really excited to see. >> goes back to when we were kids remember playing those video games. obviously you're name dropping all these people that will be there and there are folks who are probably watching at home going, oh, yes, i'm definitely going to be there. wes, how did you get involved with awesome con? we know you're the voice of the capitals. we recognize the voice and all the other things you've done, how did you get involved with this? >> ben reached out to me because i've done a lot of video game work. i do television and film, so because of that he's asked me to come out and be a guest. and i'll do a q & a panel and i'll moderate a few panels. there will be a costume contest. that's the thing about awesome con, whole families dress up as some of these characters we've talked about

>> it really is. you get characters across decades of -- >> fandom. i'm getting a picture with peter when i'm there because all the doctors have been the same back to 1961 '62. >> doctor doesn't die, he regenerates into a new form. >> pretty cool. real quick, details on when and where? friday, saturday and sunday. it's noon to 8:00 p.m. friday, 10:00 to 7:00 saturday, 10:00 to 5:00 sunday. >> website. >> www.awesomecon.com. >> head there for tickets. >> totally into mario 2. sounds fun. look at this good news storm team 4 radar looks pretty clear at this hour, but conditions could change quickly this afternoon. tom kiereiis back after the n

you are invited to an evening of great music and a

some of the country's best chefs. it's all part of the annual sunday supper jubilee. the event benefits the james baird foundation and the executive education program for women in the culinary industry. chef amy from centralina joins us to do a little cooking and talk to us about the special event. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> tell us more about this event. when you call it a jubilee you know it's going to be a good time. >> right. absolutely. i mean, it's a really amazing family style dinner put on new market, which is the new amazing market that has so many different artisans, farmers and basically a coming together for womens culinary. and it's going to be an amazing event showcasing many, many amazing women chefs from across the country. >> like yourself. >> well, like me, yes, thank you. the goal of it was to basically raise awareness for women in the culinary field, women in leadership

basically entrepreneurship, which is a huge goal of every female chef. >> that's what you did, now you have your own restaurant. >> exactly. >> it's a hard transition. >> it is. i mean, you know, being a woman chef is difficult as being any chef, but in terms of being able to take your skills and translate that into, you know, raising capital and, you know, doing the business plan and getting everything together, construction and everything else, the point from being an amazing chef to an owner is a long path. this program that's being launched they are helping to raise awareness which will help all women get to the next level. >> wonderful. tell us what you're making today. what did you bring with you? >> today i brought some things from the garden. these are garlic, one of the things i love to do is basically take very beautiful simple ingredients and not do much to them. so

are the tops of garlic, i'm going to char them a little bit. season with a little salt and pepper. it's going to pop up here a little bit. >> sure, no problem. >> but the idea for this is not every dish has to be super complicated. so this is something i'm doing for sunday. and so we're going to char the garlic, i have some shitake mushrooms. you can use any mushrooms or any other kind of vegetables. do it on the grill, or do it in a skillet. kind of like a very earthy fresh seasonal way to go about cooking. >> and you brought fava beans too. >> yeah. favas are very italian. they have like a little bit of a super earthy taste, but they're also slightly sweet and very kinof creamy. so i call this dish charred garlic with shitake and creamed fava, but there's no cream. it's just olive oil.

blender or a food processor with a little olive oil, blend it, salt and pepper. very low fat, obviously very good for you. and gives a little richness to the vegetables. >> wonderful. okay. what's the final product going to look like? i know you have cooking to do. >> that's okay. basically what i have is fava beans and i like to take and smear around, make texture. it makes you happy really to be honest. take these and turn them over a little bit. you can see they're getting a little char. >> yeah. you don't have to cook them for a whole lot. >> the idea is to take them just like this. you don't need to cut them or chop them. the idea is be very natural. i believe vegetables are beautiful. and they have their own artistic qualities. and so i think you shouldn't really mess with them too much. and that's basically the dish. >> perfect. chef amy

you always. >> i'm excited to emcee the event with chef amy and find more information on tickets still available online. right now take a look outside this morning. looks like a pretty nice morning out there, mix of sun and clouds, warming up pretty quickly. tom's here, the question is storms that time of year, just sort of happens. >> full disclosure he said that's a meal? >> i need meat in there for me. you know me. >> but it will fill you up. it's good. it's healthy for you. we've got some healthy weather for the afternoon. we have a lot of tropical humidity in the air. there's the city cam live. sorry for throwing you under the bus there, aaron. >> put pork chop on there i'm good to go. >> yeah, you can do that too. there's the sky over washington now, little summer haze in the air. and we've got the storm team 4 radar scanning

don't have any storms around now, but there are some right off the atlantic seaboard, the carolina coast, just remnants of bonnie, the tropical storm now been a depression last few days. still lingering there, but gradually moving off to the north and east. and then it will be dissipating the next couple days. we're feeling some of that tropical humidity from that. and it's up around 80 degrees now, reagan national is at 79. hour by hour forecast for the rest of the day by 2:00 it will still be toasty warm, low to mid 80s between then and 6:00 p.m. and it's around 5:00 to as maybe late around 8:00 p.m. we might get an isolated storm mainly south of the metro area. just a small chance. not a severe storm. just perhaps a downpour little bit of thunder and lightning. it is a pretty small chance. otherwise just humid and hot for many. it feels hot in the mid 80s. and then mild by 10:00 p.m. under partly cloudy sky, the upper 70s. by dawn tomorrow we'll be down to the upper 60s. it ought to be a little less humid tomorrow. afternoon highs reaching the mid 80s and partly cloudy, only a small very small chance of a

and then back up to about a 30% chance thursday afternoon with highs cooler in the mid 70s. friday up near 80 degrees and a greater chance of 1078 storms on friday afternoon and evening. into your weekend saturday looks good for outdoor activity, sunday though we could have some showers and thundershowers mainly in the afternoon. that's the way it looks. >> all right, tom, it's okay. we all know aaron needs to work on his relationship with vegetables. it's a slow protesz. >> i'm a meat and potatoes guy. nobody ever said meat and potatoes and broccoli. nothing against broccoli. >> you need your veggieveggies,. up next, hiding from the taliban, the inspirational story of a man in d.c. >> plus, making it simple and tasty to get your food straight from the farm to your table. i like the way tha sounds,t

morning noon or night there's always a moment to discover visit annapolis and create your moment ♪ there's always a moment to discover ♪ ♪ don't you just love it ♪ ♪

he is a harvard educated lawyer who left the corporate world for a virginia farm. and now his food is being served at top restaurants across the washington area. james, founder of milton's local joins us now to talk about his new approach to a very traditional business. james, welcome, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> first, talk about a career change. harvard grad, lawyer, corporate world and now you're a farmer. tell us about how that happened. >> well, my grandparents passed away and they left my siblings and i the family farm. so came back to the farm to sort of try to update it and take it into the 21st century and one thing led to another and here we are now. >> and so now full-time farming.

farming operation. we work with 35 family farms throughout the mid atlantic in north carolina, virginia and maryland. and all of our farmers that we have the pleasure of working with raise their animals hormone, antibiotic and steroid free. >> and your farm much different than your grandfather's farm. >> sure. it's sort of come a little full circle. my grandfather started off as a hog farmer and then that market changed and became more commodity road crops and now we brought that back into it just a family pasture raised livestock operation. >> do you focus on organic products? >> everything we sell is hormone, antibiotic and steroid free including our bacon sausage, which we're cooking now. take one step further and we don't cure with any artificial nitrates nitrates. >> now we're talking aaron's language, bacon sausage, something he can get onboard. there's been a decline in small farms particuy

>> right. >> tell us what you're doing in order to support this cause and some of the challenges you face. >> sure. so i think what's going on with small farms and black farms are pretty much one in the same the agriculture has gotten so big if you don't have the scale unfortunately you can't succeed. so what we do is work with 35 farms in order to provide them with huge wholesale accounts, so that can scale up and make their farm successful. >> you've been cooking something for us right now. >> that's right. >> what do you have up here? >> we have a bell pepper and onion bacon sausage. we're going to make one new york style, which is saur kraut and spicy brown mustard. the way we make this bacon sausage which we hickory smoke eight hours, we take the trim, we grind it, we add bell pepper and onion, all natural seasons. >> sounds like you don't need the seasons. >> right. we hickory smoke it for another eight hours. >> wow. >> so you have a --

>> new york style. >> that is new york style. >> beautiful. and what else are you making for us? >> i'm going to put together chicago style, which same great bacon sausage, but instead of saur kraut and spicy brown mustard we have a little bit of onions. here we go. a little bit of pickle. >> very nice. and adds a little kick to it. >> that's right. we have, if i can get the pickle out, got it, we have pepper for a little spice. >> i love that. i can put that on just about anything. >> it is delicious. and complements the bell pepper really nicely. >> uh-huh. >> tomato, so this is a full meal here, aaron. >> he's going to have both varieties. >> i'm hesitant to come over because i have to read something. >> you can try this one. >> sweet relish. >> oh, sweet relish. this is the chicago style. >> this is the chicago style. >> what are you going to eat, this one or this one? >> okay. >> go hard or go home, righ

>> sure. we have a bell pepper and onion, chipotle and cilantro and unveiling a bourbon flavor and maple flavor. >> how do you come up with the flavors? >> we talk to the restaurants we're fortunate enough to work with, food writers, get their ideas and try it out. >> wonderful. james faison, what a great story, congratulations. you'll be able to meet james next month at the fancy food show. be sure to come out for that and good luck. >> thank you very much. >> bonn appetite. i'm going to read for you, starbucks adding new drink to the cold bar called the nitrocold brew, regular coffeein fused with nitrogen. d.c. isn't included in the seven cities being offered right now, they roll it out in phases but the company says it will be available at more than 500 locations by the end of summer. try nitro coffee with your hot og

sausage. that is an awesome idea. bacon sausage really good. an incredible story of perseverance later today on ellen, a d.c. resident who is a military interpreter shares what it was like to move to america after hiding from the taliban for years. >> when i came to the u.s., i had two pants and two t-shirts and a sneaker. the first night i slept in america, it was the best night's sleep after almost three years. >> he says it was videos of ellen's show that gave him hope as he and his family hid from extremists. you can see the special gift ellen will give to him this afternoon right here on nbc 4. well, back to doing what he does best. we're not talking about you. >> i'm getting back to it, believe me. >> we're talking about judging. >> yes, we're going to tell

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"america's got talent" returns for a new season tonight on nbc 4, and there are some changes. first, the show is moving to california. and secondly, there is a new judge with a notorious reputation. nbc's mark barger has a preview. ♪ >> reporter: the summer search for talent is entering its second decade. has it gotten tougher for people to impress you? >> i don't think so. >> yes. >> i'm so surprised. >> but that's the point. it is tougher to impress

♪ >> this season the children are ruling the show. from everywhere. dancing, even comedians. >> reporter: all the acts have a new judge to impress this season. simon cowell. >> i can't believe we didn't get any buzzes. >> never too late. >> literally from the very, very first audition i thought it felt like i'm at home genuinely. >> reporter: cowell actually created "america's got talent" and served as judge on british version. now he's in the judging chair state side. how has that changed the game for you guys as a panel? >> i think the show is different than it's ever been. >> i feel like it's lighter. i feel we laugh more, joke around more. >> i think so. >> reporter: what you might not expect from "american idol"'s minister of mean. >> you can't not laugh on this show. if you start taking it too seriously, you're on the wrong

new heightins in its new season. mark barger, nbc news. >> i love his comments. i know he's going to make the show interesting. >> going to be a lot of fun. >> yes, for sure. let's get one more look at our forecast, tom. >> hey, if you're about to head out the door like i am, i have my nbc washington app, check the radar. when i'm out running around, you too can do that. right now don't have anything showing up just a few clouds building over the capitol right now. temperatures they're climbing into the low 80s around the metro area, northern virginia and maryland, reagan national now up to 80 degrees. storm team 4 radar all clear, don't have any storms here yet. there is a 30% chance of an isolated thunderstorm late this afternoon, earl tli this evening into the mid 80s before then, a very small chance tomorrow mid 80s, back to 30% chance late on thursday. friday afternoon and evening pretty good chance as well as on sunday afternoon and evening. and summer like into the weekend with highs in the 80s. that's the way it looks. >> thank you, tom. and that does it for news 4 midday. thanks so much for joining us. back on the air this afternoon first at 4:00. >> you can get in all the news and weather updates you need any time with the nbc washington app. wpe

>> today on "the meredith vieira show" we are talking about what's hot now. what's behind george clooney's confession he's thinking of quitting acting and how far will parents go to keep children off drugs? plus a new drinking game called shopping. then, strap yourself in in just 30 days. it all starts right now on meredith. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> meredith: hi, everyone. we have a great show toy.