"snl" and "ghost busters" is fighting back against a social media giant and calling for chachange. first at 4:00, our top story of the day, folks. hello, everybody. the republican national convention in the second day of action and the delegates are getting ready for a big moment. >> that's right. while the story is quickly evolving, people are still talking about last night's big moment. that speech from melania trump and the new questions about whether part of that speech was taken from michelle obama's speech back in 2008. much more on that in a minute. >> but first, we will go to chris lawrence to find out what is happening now and what our local delegates are up to. chris, set the scene for us? >> reporter: yeah, they have been out and about all day. they will be down here on the floor very shortly. we've seen a few tense moments here today. we

and anti-trump protesters are walking through the square with rifles. now, that is okay given ohio's open carry law. this is video from this morning when some unaffiliated protesters scaled a pole just outside of the rock and roll hall of fame. they were condemning donald trump and immigration injustice. police arrested three people and firefighters said they used a ladder truck to take down what was a 600-square-foot banner. it read in part, "don't trump our communities." again, the police chief is warning protesters not to do things that are illegal or tax local law enforcement. again, we are here in cleveland. normally that would mean ohio has prime seats here on the convention floor. but as tom sherwood discovered, everything, even a seat, is political. >> it is. everythi

competed across the country to come to this convention. some of them have really good seats down there and some, well, they are down on the floor. >> reporter: down on the crowded floor, it can be hard to get around. the battleground virginia delegation has comfortable viewing just to the center left and that's not a political description. looking towards the podium speakers. and mostly blue state maryland is sitting across the hall. again, not a political description. and then there's little, old d.c. in the back, a smaller group given that the district is 90% democratic and a shoe-in for democrats in the fall. you know the numbers in the district of columbia. >>

so it's a really big deal and historically, d.c. republicans have been part of it since the republican party. >> reporter: and betsy says d.c. delegates, really, all delegates, have a simple mission. >> our role is to represent the constituents to be delegates. >> reporter: now, coming up at 5:00, what is d.c. democratic mayor muriel bowser doing here? i'll have that story coming up at 5:00. >> i have a feeling it has to do with d.c. statehood. >> maybe. >> all right. there you go. i've got to tell you, in relation to tom's story, i never thought i'd see the day when blue states like california and new jersey would have prime seating. we have a lot more coming up for you at this hour and througut

we'll be back. >> thank you, guys. all right. you've seen it. you've heard it from now. similarities between melania trump's speech last night and what michelle obama said at her address at the dnc eight years ago. much of the discussion has moved on about whether parts of mrs. trump's speech was lifted to whether somebody will be fired. a source within the campaign told nbc news, quote, heads are going to roll. paul manafort said he would fire anybody for plaigarism. "in writing her beautiful speech, melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations." >> we want to know if you think it's a big deal that some of the speech seemed to echo michelle obama's convention

it's our nbc washington flash survey. a lot of you have been weighing in on my facebook page. you can call or text the number on your screen and also vote and track the results over on the nbc washington facebook page. just moments ago, hillary clinton gave her first take on the rnc calling it, quote, surreal and comparing it to the spectacle in the wizard of oz. she's wrapping up a speech to a trade group in vegas after picking up an endorsement for the unite here labor group. new details on the death of an inmate inside the d.c. jail. he's somebody that you may have heard of and his daughter is demanding answers about what happened and the failing ac system inside the jail. news4's mark segraves explains. >> reporter: we now know that the inmate who died was in fact

lester erby, an author. the story was based around his daughter felicia and today we spoke to felicia about her father and about the circumstances surrounding his death. inmates inside the jail have told news4 that the temperatures had reached in the eyehigh 80s 90s since the air conditioning system was failing. the jail now says that they have contractors working on it and that the heat in no way contributed to irby's death. nevertheless, irby's family wants answers. >> i would really like to find out why he did have to live in those conditions while he was over there. something needs to be done. >> reporter: officials with the department of corrections denied our request to go into the d.c. jail and to see the conditions for ourselves. from outside the d.c. j m

segraves, news4. >> good afternoon. i'm storm team 4's meteorologist tom kierein. there is hail south of fredericksburg and it's breaking up towards richmond. if you have plans to drive down i-95, this is heading across into the northern part of virginia and into the lower part of the bay. right now, getting sunshine breaking out over the metro area. that's a live view for the storm team 4 city camera. so a pleasant afternoon. we have a monster heatwave in the way. >> tom, thank you. metro ro

safetrack program tomorrow morning. our adam tuss has learned that there are billig problems for a stretch of track that has supposedly been fixed. >> and google is a part of our every day life d therean i

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a chaotic crash on the beltway is cleared up now but take a look at what it looked like earlier on at the outer loop. chopper 4 is over rockville pike in bethesda. two of the vehicles actually fell off a car carrier truck and flipped over. the good news is, nobody was hurt but traffic was backed up for several miles as the cleanup continued. the california couple that one part of the powerball in january has finally come forward. they shared the winning ticket with other players who came forward immediately after the drawing. the couple decided to take the cash option. $327 million. >> i take that fairfax county is taking a new approach to dealing with pokemon go players. the county is hosting a

pokemon event. this comes after two men and three teens were caught trespassing playing the game inside a springfield elementary school last week. the event is at the sully district governmental center from 10:00 in the morning until 10:00 tomorrow night. she makes us laugh on "snl" and is busting ghosts in theaters this week but a comedy superstar is taking on a subject that is anything but funny. for some of us, it's been anything but rainy. how the heat is about to make

well, we are back here now outside quicken loans arena where the protests are continuing to go on. there was a larger one earlier today in which four people were arrested.

house speaker paul ryan as well as senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. they are going to try to lecture unity and heal some of the divisions before donald trump takes the stage on thursday night. we are also talking with a local entrepreneur who drove here from d.c. to sell these books. go hillary, go trump. it is a very unique take on the election. you're not going to see it anywhere else. we'll be bringing that to you at the bottom of the hour. jim, erika, back to you. honoring young students today, mrs. obama hosted the annual beating the odds event. it's for students who have overcome obstacles in their lives. they've faced everything from

needs. a musical artist says he and his mom moved to the u.s. from nigeria with just 200 bucks. it was tough for them, too. >> but it was definitely a struggle to get through life and get through school and the thing that got me to where i am now, though, is not just talent, it's not just a hit record but actually was my education. >> well, 130 students took part in the event today, including two from our area. kianne douglas and a student from a school in manassas. good for them. >> it feels like summer. a little birdie tells me it's only going to heat up more. >> how about it, tom? >> enjoy this while you can. we are getting more comfortable weather moving in with lower humidity on this tuesday

afternoon. we'll take this in mid- to late july. a nice, brief break from the high humidity and heat for today and the next couple of days. there's the view from the prince george's county camera. some cloudiness there but it's sunny around alexandria. there is light rain in southern maryland but heavy downpours with lightning and hail and gusty winds well south of fredericksburg towards richmond. these are not going to be affecting us at all. folks in the northern neck, especially in middle peninsula, are going to get some strong storms coming through. here, it's a great night for baseball. nationals are taking on the dodgers. first pitch at 7:05. lower humidity will move in then. low 80s by 7:00. by the time we're on the seventh inning stretch,

degrees. upper 70s by 11:00 this evening. a great night for baseball. there's the sunshine over northwest washington. live view from the tower camera. a beautiful, comfortable night. by 7:00 in the morning for the morning commute, if you're waiting for the bus, it should be comfortable in the low to mid-70s with sunshine and it's in place during the day on wednesday. highs will climb from the noontime temperatures in the low 80s into the upper 80s during the afternoon on wednesday. a small chance of an isolated storm on wednesday afternoon, maybe only 10 or 20% chance a very small chance. on thursday, it gets more humid again and gets hot as well. up near 90 degrees. the ten-day outlook as we get towards the weekend, oh, this is like our hottest temperatures of the summer so far. or maybe of the entire

moving in friday, saturday, sunday, monday, all the way into tuesday. upper 90s near 100 and then tuesday, the low 90s. now, in addition, a chance of afternoon storms on saturday, sunday, monday and then each day as we get into next week, but still hot and it will be gradually cooling down towards the end of next week. that's the way it looks. >> 100 degrees. we were wondering when it was going to get here and here it is. >> for weeks now, thousands of metro drivers and riders have been feeling the effects of the safetrack program. why one part of the area is seeing problems even after repairs. plus, why a comedian is shaking up social med and ia

chopper 4 live over some breaking news here on the vw parkway. there is a bad accident on the vw parkway. a car hit someone on the parkway. that person was rushed to the hospital and we'll have much more as we head into the rush hour. big backups. live pictures from

we'll continue to watch it from the air. construction dust is to blame for the pentagon city station. dust filled the tunnel as some of you were starting your commute this morning and some people thought it was smoke. service was not impacted, though. we did see some people find alternate ways to get to the office. the station had just reopened after closing for several days of safetrack work. first at 4:00, news4 has learned about a number of issues along another section of the rail system that has already undergone repairs as part of that safetrack program. >> that's right. adam tuss has that story from northeast. >> reporter: by now, you're plenty familiar with metro safetrack program but here in an area where a lot of work was done, in fact, a complete line shutdown, there continue to be problems with the signaling and switch system. this is known as the d & g junction outside of the stadium

up here, eight signal and switch problems and a whole day of unscheduled track work, riders have noticed that there have been issues in this area and they are not happy about it. >> it should have been taken care of a long time ago. right now, it's a lot of inconvenience for everybody. >> they could do better in keeping up the upkeep of the service. >> reporter: now, coming up next on news4 at 5:00, what metro is saying about all of these problems and will they continue here along this specific section of track. back to you. >> adam, thanks. metro safetrack system is helping the railway express. a week ago today, vre experienced the highest single day ridership with more than 23,000 trips. the rail system usually see as drop in the number of passengers during the summer. the weekly record was also broken as vre topped 100,000

one of the stars of the new ghostbusters movie says she's in a, quote, personal hell. leslie jones has received a barrage of critical and hateful tweets with the majority referring to her race. she sent a tweet of her own to twitter asking the company to review the harassment policy. she implied she will no longer attain a twitter account. the younger sister of kate, the duchess, is getting married, pippa middleton. british media says they have been dating less than a year now. all roads lead to cleveland. first at 4:00, from

t-shirts to bobbleheads, meet the man from our area who is hoping to make a big splash. some are having fun with the political process. plus, did she or didn't she? they are talking about whether melania trump used the same words as michelle obama in her rnc speech

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from a young age, my parents instilled in me -- >> barack instilled the values. >> the values. >> that you work hard for what you want in life. >> you work hard for what you want in life. >> that your word is your bond. >> the speech similarities continued for another 30 seconds after this. but what's really continuing, the strong sometimes

sometimes scathing reaction to melania trump's speech. part of it was lifted from michelle obama's 2008 dnc speech. no doubt it's dominated your social media timelines today. here are some of the tweets that we've been seeing. it's given rise to "famous melania quotes." trump's campaign still denying any plaj richl. >> steve, something tells me we can get to friday morning and still talk about everything a that has transpired in day one. >> reporter: on day one, that's right. that's not the plan here, erika, you've got it. this is not only embarrassing for the trumps, it is distracting from what was supposed to tonight be something that would look 100% positive.

nominee, formally giving him his big win. it's not what he had imagined on his tuesday of trump. instead, the attention is on melania trump. social media soon filling with charges that melania plagiarized the speech. >> that's not plagiarism, said chris christie. >> 90% of the speech is different than michelle obama's speech. >> don't blame melania for the rest. >> if there was a mistake, it was at the staff level. >> reporter: melania is distraught and trump is furious. >> when hillary clinton is threatened by a

destroy the person. >> reporter: the democratic party chair says it's not us. >> let's make no mistake, the clinton campaign is not pressing this issue. >> reporter: speaking tonight is tiffany trump and the melania speech mess could be swept away confirming donald trump's controversial rise to the republican presidential nomination. but the rocky start to this convention keeps alive the worries of many republicans about donald trump's management of his own campaign. live from the rnc in cleveland, steve handelsman, news4. erika, jim, back to you. >> steve, thanks so much. an entrepreneur has made a trek to cleveland and found it to be the perfect launching pad for his new books. >> our chris lawrence caught up with him on the street. >>

>> we've got shirts and bobbleheads and now we have the books. "go trump," "go hillary." you drove these books from d.c. last night? >> yes. six hours. a little bit of rain. >> reporter: what's the idea behind them? they look like kids' books but they are aimed at adults. >> yes, my partner and i thought they would be fun. what's a bigger rivalry right now than trump and hillary? >> reporter: so they are written in a sense of fun, humor, poking fun at the election? >> yeah. totally. we're not trying to steer the election one way or another and, you know, we consider ourselves equal opportunity lampooners here. >> reporter: can you read us a little bit? >>

trump will have a sell out and bring back business and jobs from overseas and crooked hillary will make big bankers have huge fees. >> we've got to be fair here. go hillary? >> hillary loves public service, as you know, but the donald will continue his reality show. to build a great wall, the donald has the gall. >> reporter: amazon just placed an order for a thousand copies and while they may not be selling all that well here in cleveland, i have a feeling they will be flying off the shelves in philly. chris lawrence, news4. well, it was a little warm up there in cleveland today and for us it was much nicer than what we experienced yesterday.

showers and thunderstorms as we go through the afternoon but not looking too bad. we have a mix of sun and clouds. temperatures 87 degrees, the northerly wind and oppressing humidity. taking it down a couple of notches is what we feed. we're looking good right through our area again. the storms are popping up around page county and coming down through richmond. that's 64 coming out of charlottesville and south of ashland exit 92 into richmond. we're getting our fair share of storms right there. but what does it look like for us? i've got to tell you, the heat is upon us and show you the ten-day forecast coming up. >> lauryn, thank you. we already use it as part of our every day lives to find answers with a click of a button. >> now it looks like google is going to have a part in the election process. first at 4:00, the new feature that could determine how many people head to the polls. chopper 4 keeping a close eye on that

bw parkway. northbound traffic is being diverted on 410 east highway due to a serious accident. traffic is crawling by this accident. park police says a car hit someone working on the side of the parkway. the person was rushed to the hospital. we'll get an update on his condition and the latest of how far that backup is as we work to

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first at 4:00, google is lending its hand to let more americans register to vote. >> susan hogan is here to tell us what it is all about. >> you search google and get instant access to information. this week, the search engine introduced a new tool that it says will simplify the voter registration process.

vote or something similar, google will display a state-by-state guide on how to register and deadlines for you. if you're being looking for convention details, google has that, too. when you search for both a republican and democratic national convention, you'll find a summary of each event, the nominees and a line-up of all of the speakers for you. you can get this information normally on the web. the search is going to be more personalized to your location and make it easier to navigate the voter registration process. they are making it so it's no excuse. >> no excuse. they have three jurisdictions so everybody is different. >> yes. >> great. thank you. new video just in to news4 showing a large crane that collapsed around noon today over a major bridge in new york city. check it out. this is the tapan zee. it toppled from

three drivers were hurt along with two workers who were thrown into the water. all lanes will be blocked through the evening rush hour. >> a city ripped apart by tragedy. how the city will pay its respects when we go live to baton rouge, next. also, it's quite

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it's about 15 minutes before the top of the hour and we are back here outside quicken loans arena. people are talking about whether melania trump plagiarized michelle obama's speech. paul mafo

wrote most of the speech. one delegate said whoever helped her should not have their job by the end of the day today. we're getting local reaction from virginia delegates to see what they think about this controversy and if it's enough to even affect how they feel about the candidates in general. for now, i'll send it back to the studio. jim, erika, back to you. >> thank you, chris. new details on the attack on police and sheriff deputies in louisiana. >> and it was an ambush on anybody wearing a badge. jay gray is joining us from live from baton rouge. jay. >> reporter: hi, erika, jim. we now that the suspect gavin spent several days finding a spot close to the police headquarters to carry out

another black-draped coffin surrounded by an army of blue at another funeral this morning. michael krol, one of five officers gunned down in dallas. while officers in baton rouge refuse to rest two days after losing one of their own. >> this was a diabolical attack on the very fabric of society. >> reporter: police have released new details on what they call an ambush. >> his intentions were accurate and they were engaging. they were all aimed at police officers. >> reporter: suspect gavin eugene long ran passed officers. s.w.a.t. team members took long long out with a shot from over 100 yards away. >> i cannot be more proud of

s.w.a.t. team. >> reporter: a city now grieving the loss of three heroes, deputy brad garafola and matthew gerald and montrell jackson. >> i hope we can come together as one. >> reporter: after being ripped apart by the deadly attack. and in the ache of the attack here and in dallas, police are now in high alert. some requiring officers to patrol in pairs now. that's the latest live here in baton rouge, jay gray, news4. well, the humidity continues to drop as we go through the afternoon and into the evening, thank goodness. it will set us up for a beautiful wednesday and thursday. wait until friday, saturday and sunday. the humidity and the heat rolling back in. now, we have rain south of i-66 down through about richmond. it continues south of t

way this evening, you may head into rain showers. otherwise, everybody else looking good. we're clearing out for the overnight. again, the humidity continues to fall here. you may want to pop the windows open for the overnight. it's going to be seasonable. temperatures are comfortable because humidity is on the low side. current temperatures out there right now, we reached 90 in some spots. leesburg and fredericksburg, 87. so the heat index is not as bad as yesterday. it went up to 91 in frederick. 95 in leesburg. that's the warmest spot. again, we're not seeing much. clearing out south and east. here's a few showers right here coming through page county and the richmond area between i-64 and i-95 in the city of richmond. they are getting one heck of a storm there.

fast. heavy rain in richmond but looking good for us as we go into the evening. a mix of sun and clouds and we'll continue to clear out. the humidity, as i said, will continue to fall off. looking good and pleasant by tomorrow morning. the humidity drops and moves back in late on thursday. so tomorrow, wednesday, we're looking nice and feeling comfortable out there. and then thursday afternoon, thursday evening, we start to feel it creep back in. by friday, mid-to upper 90s and humidity back as well with heat indices up to 100 degrees. so tomorrow, it's going to be fairly cool. temperatures in the mid-to upper 80s and humidity on the low side. so heat index will not be a factor tomorrow. but we do have triple degree digits on our ten-day forecast. when is the last time we had 100-degree readings? it was june 2012. in fact, seven days at 100 or above.

july 2012. it was july 2012. july 2012 we had that many 100-degree day weather. only two so far. that's sunday into monday. a chance of showers all through next week. daily chances. so enjoy this little break from the heat and humidity tomorrow and thursday. >> we're due here in d.c. >> thanks, lauryn. meanwhile, hail hammered parts of central oregon. check out the coating that it left on the ground. >> wow. this looks like snow. but this video is from outside the city of bend including downpours of rain and lightning, too. that stuff is noisy. >> meanwhile, an historic journey on the high seas ending in maryland today. this massive container ship is the first containersh

pass through the recently expanded panama canal. the port has been recently expanded so that it can handle more ships of this size. it can hold more than 8,000 shipping containers. >> the second annual clear the shelters event is this saturday, july 23rd. 40 nbc and telemundo stations are teaming up with shelters here and across the country to help find loving homes for dogs, cats, pets in need. the humane society stopped by along with a furry friend to talk about some of the things that you should consider. >> we want to make sure that it's a good match. what kind of lifestyle and household do you have? if you're looking for a dog or a cat, do you have the time to devote the car

bring them with you. if you rent, what kind of considerations do you have for that pet rent and pet deposit, whatever it may be. if you go home with that animal, you commit to that animal for its lifetime. we have animals from babies up to seniors. we want to accommodate your lifestyle. >> this saturday, the washington humane society and washington animal league will waive all adoption fees. you will be able to take home your pet that same day, that's how i got my dog. you'll find a map on our website, nbcwashington.com. we have some sad news to pass along now. we have just learned that legendary redskins fan chief z has passed away. >> if you've ever been to a redskins game, you know exactly who chief zee is. he was the unofficial mascot of the redskins. we don't know exactly

died yet. but we understand that he wasn't exactly in the greatest of health lately. we're going to continue to follow this story and let you know any new information as we get it. >> it's going to leave a big, empty space on that football field. he will be missed into bringing police and community together. how leaders in one part of our area are coming together to talk about a string of recent tragedies involving police. when and where you can weigh in. >> you're watching news

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police departments in our area on edge. just this week, a montgomery county police officer had his car vandalized. >> montgomery county is bringing steps to bring people together. kristin wright reports on a series of town hall meetings that begin tonight. >> reporter: the police shootings that have taken the lives of

that far away to some in our community. people in montgomery county, maryland, are going to talk about it in a series of town hall meetings. community activist jeffrey tins says the conversation must be here and now. >> we are changing. >> reporter: the first town hall on race and policing is tonight at the silver springs civic building. county and faith leaders are hosting. the police chief will be there, too. >> we do not want to get caught in a situation where we do not have the conversation, we may not have been aware of what was out there. so shame on us. we're not going to let that happen in montgomery county. >> reporter: the awful moments caught on camera and pictures of once smiling families are just pieces of a long conversation about tragedies we don't want to see at home. >> we're always one ie

because it's obviously happening other places and so that means it could definitely happen here. >> reporter: the first town hall is tonight at 7:00 here at the silver springs civic building and the next one is tomorrow night at 7:00 in germantown. kristin wright, news4, back to you. right now at 5:00, getting ready for a second day of action. the latest on today's happenings and the fallout from melania trump's speech and whether parts of it were copied. plus, controversy at the d.c. jail and whether an inmate dies and whether lack of a.c. played a role. the daughter of the inmate is demanding answers. >> i'd like to know why he had to live under those conditions while he was over there. >> and new problems al

stretch of rail that was repaired during metro's safetrack program. why that part of the system is having issues now. first , a local woman is demanding answers. >> he died as the city -- he was a published writer and we're learning how the jail is working to repair the conditions inside. mark segraves is in south d.c. with a new response from the corrections department and a new interview you'll only see on news4. mark? >> reporter: good afternoon. lester irby was 70 years old when he fell ill. it turns out, he was an accomplished writer. he had spent decades in and out of various prisons and jails around the country and during his time in jail, he took up writing. in 2007, he co-authored