week, a young life lost. a child from our area killed in the sri lanka terrorist bombings. we talk with his father about th bright future that ended so tragically on easter sunday. free ride. the d.c. circulator has seen ridership boom because it costs nothing to use. now lawmakers are split on how to move forward with that service. plus, changing climate. a look at how extreme weather is affecting the chaes peek bay and your dinner ple.e welcom news4 this week. >> hello everyone. we're going to begin with the tragic easter terrorist bombings in srika l the life of one victim is touching lives in our area.

the 11-year-old from d.c. who died dreamed of curing alzheimer's disease. r aimee choorts from the embassy of sri lanka. >> reporter: this is the bright smile of a boy who had big plans for the future. he dreamed of being neurosurgeon and curing alzheimer's. he was a fifth grader alt sidwell friends in d.c. this year he was studying abroad in sri lanka. >> he would inspire everyone around him to be their best. >> reporter: alexander aero is his father. in an interview he said he called his son on easter morning. >> he ttexted, can'tk now, dad, because he was, it turns out, i didn't knohe at t time, in the elevator of the cinnamon grand hotel going down to the breakfast buffr:. >> reportet would be the last time he heard from his son. less than an hour later a suicide bomber in the buffet line would blow up a backpack. kieran wouldn't survive. >> what a wonderful boy he was.

what joy he brought to my life, to our lives. he was a very special young man. very special. >> we want kieran's story to be known that he was going to be, he was going to do great things for the world and the terrorists have taken something from this world. e>> reporter: and what h also wants people to know about his son, that kieran loved learning and was always up for a challenge. >> he would insist we would take breaks from our fun activities so he could study his mandarin. he got my brother, his uncle, and i to help him make flash cards. this was things of his own initiative. >> reporter: at the sriankan embassy a room full of flowers and condolence books, honoring kieran and the other lives lost in the easter day attacks. >> in sri lanka, we have gone through this. we still have that among sri lankans, which is something that we are really proud of.

>> reporter: aimee cho, news4. after three years we are learning what caused the deadly gas explosion at silver spring apartment complex. that killed seven people. now investigators are pointing to a faulty piece o equipment. news4's darcy spencer learned i whestigators are saying there were multipl reasons this tragedy could have been prevenr:d. >> reporfter a nearly three year investigation the ntsb has determined probable cause of a deadly national gas exosion at the flower branch apartments in silver spring. investigators determined that a mercury service regulator that's a piece of equipment that regulates gas pressure failed and that it was not connected to a vent pipe as it's supposed to be. that allowed gas to build up in the apartment building gas meter room leading to the plast that killed seven people in august of 2016. >> if the vent line was properly connected, we would not have had this explosion. >> reporter: the ntsb also concluded the blast could have potentially been prevented. there were several gas odor

reports made to property management but maintenance staff didn't find any odor. montgomery county firefighters responded to a complaint weeks before ton exp they could not get into the meter room because the lock had been changed. their read edges around the door to the room didn't detectob any prms. >> darcy, there were many missed opportunities here, and that's the tragic thing. ngton gas did as not receive any calls about the gas leaks. the company said i a statement, however, we disagree with their findin b as we don'telieve the evidence indicates failure of our equipment that night. we also do not believe the ntsb sufficiently investigated the other potential causes of the plosion. >> i think the main takeaway for the community is is that when gas is detected, call 911 and then call at this point, call the gas company immediately. >> reporter: the national transportation safety board is expected to release its full report on this tragedy inhe

coming weeks. in silver springs, darcy spencer, news4. this week we learnedor thousands m people are riding the d.c. circulator bus now that it's free, but there has been plenty of support to expand tert bus sce to more neighborhoods. as mark seagraves reports, not everyone fwrees on keeping it free. >> we are on our community outing today. >> reporter: christian herbert relies on the circulator toheake group around town. they are headed to the southwest wharf. >> it works for me with my job. some people don't haveme ocards. it helps us out. we get on the bus for free. >> reporter: donald williamson living on a fixed inc e rides the circulator almost every day. >> because everyone doesn't have money to pay for transportation. certainly it's free, it helps someone save some money. > reporter: in february, the mayor waived the $1 fe in an effort to get more people on the

bus and out their cars. since then ridership has gone up. the first month. free ride more than 20,000 additional rides than february of last year, and then in march nearly 80,000 additional rides over march of st year. >> that tells us that free circulat has been working and people are excited about the service and we see that ridership grows a result. >> reporter: funding runs out at the end of this year. d.c. councilmember mary shea isn't convinced funding t free rides is the best way to get cars off the streets. >> is it really the case that we are getting more people to ride the circulator g andetting them out of their cars? i think that's completely unknown. yoeo may havee riding the circulator since it's free because maybe they want to get on the bus to get warm. >> reporter: she isof supportiv the mayor's proposal to expand the circulator servic to ward seven. as for whether it remains free next year will be o tthe d.c. council. >> i think that it hel a lot of these people in the community

who can't afford a bus. so i really think they should keep it free. >> reporter: mark seagraves, baws4. when we come after a break, sobering new information about the o qualityf the air we breathe. howur area ranks. you may be surpriseet and mro releases its first ever energy action plan. ever energy action plan. transportation

w i'm paige, andl the little thing that i like about the ever energy action plan. transportation grilled chicken sandwich is that it's picture perfect. it's juicy and it just has all the right combinations. i think i could be considered a grilled chicken sandwich influencer. my name is frank and the little thing i like about the grilled chicken sandwich is the first bite. i love how juicy the chicken is but there's also the tomatoes and the lettuce and it's incredible. make sure yos,get it with waffle fr because that's my favorite.

. news4 working for your health. a new study finding over 40% of us are breathing polluted air. that's according to the american lung association's state of the air report. ae washington baltimore regionen raenged the 16th most polluted area in the country. arlington, fairfax and the district an f grade for the number of ozone high da. prince williams got c's.

prince george's county failed that owe zone test. we have been halking about nasa wants to put a man back on the moon. still a few years off, but in just a few months you will be able to get a closer look at the suit worn by neil armstrong. mthe firstan to set foot on the moon. the smithsonian plans to display that suit starting in july at the aaron space museum as it celebrates 50 years since the original lunar landing with apollo 11. eventually that suit will be moved off to a new exhit which is expected to be completed sometime in 2022. when weome back, two reports focused on our changing climate. first, news4's adam tuss shows us what metro is doing to cut its carbon footprint and what that work haso with all this water. and from rising water to eroding shore lines, there is some very visible signs of the impact of climate change on the chesapeake bay. chesapeake bay. just ahead, a

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this week news4 started a continuing series on our changing climate. now, it may not be surprising that one l of thegest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions comes from our cars. that's where metro comes into play. as our transportatio reporter transit shows us, the agency wantsbe to he greenest mass transportation system in the country. >> reporter: this bubbling mixture of iron, mu, and water isn't exactly what you envision when you think of the metro system, but it is climate change in action. and it's part of a largern missio that metro is now taking on tots cut i energy use in carbon footprint. a plan so involved that it could be the equivalent of taking 35,000 cars off the road per year. >> every person isffected by clayton county. this zlooik /* /- climate change. >> let'sook at the overall environment. planes, trains, cars, the travel choices we make every day to

have a direct impact on the planet. nsider this. according to climate central, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth of all u.s. emissions. your vehicle likely spews out 20 pounds of carbon dioxide for everylon of gas burned. that's a pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you drive and all of that is going straight into the atmosphere. so what can you do about it? leave the keys at f home starters. >> every trip uses 40% lgrs eenhouse gases than if you weby to drive in a car all yourself. >> reporter: aside from helping take cars off the road, metro is now rolling out ist fir ever energy action plan released today on earth day. it takes a lot of energy, of course, to power trains and buses. this is a serious internal checkup to see how metro can cut its energy consumption which reduces greenhouse gases. >> it's as simple as changing light bulbs. we are changing every one in the

system. >> reporter: othertr segies capturing and storing the energy when trains break using more solar panels, buying electric buses, even looking at morefi efcient bus boarding and payment systems ton cut down o idling. and tak a look at this. metro has to handle a ton of rain and gundwater. think of the metro system as a huge french drain for the res on. there i lot of water coming in and certainly this past year we had a lot of water in the region. once that g waters into metro's property, metro has to treat it, and that water has to go back into the environmentcl n. almost one and a half million gallons a day. >> i think the agency as a whole looking at sustainability as something that is important not only t metro, but to the entire region. >> reporter: adam tuss, news4. water, if g of that you live along the waters of the chesapeake bay you know the sound that comes at dawn. the water men heading off to work. you know they know the by the way they know their family.

they know its moods even. as wt,dy rieger found ouhey know when something is wrong. >> reporter: we are racing towards death. on this beautiful day the president ofar theand water man's association is taking me to an oyster bed to seet wha nature has. the stench alone tells you it's bad. >> that smell is rotten oysters. rotten shells decaying. >> reporter: he has been forming the depths at the chesapeake bay since he was 16, building hi f life andily on the bounty o oysters, rockfish and blue crab. the months with a reason famously mean oysters. this year it meant rain. record rain. >> it's the largest amount of rain that's been recorded. y i mean, how do predict it? >> reporter: the chesapeake bay and tritaries are brackish, a mixture of salt and fresh water.

the salinity level has to be r8% or higher or they die. the heavyains diluted it to 0.3% in some parts. >> fresh water, that's what kills it. >> reporter: head of the ka charles county water man's association has worked with the state to plant more than 10 million baby oysters in a 13 acre bed. and they were thriving when winter arrived. >> actually, these oysters were alive back in january and december. >> reporter: what happened? >> we had 8 inches of rain 9 inches of rain and january into february, and that just put the icing on the cake. that wiped them >>out. eporter: that's not just money,ut time. it takes four years ofur nng that spat to adulthood. and it's all gone. >> there is no income. no harvest. total destruction. >> reporter: so climate change doesn't just impact the food

supply. it impacts economies. not all oyster beds were isaffected. thed farther downstream is farther fromhe runoff. so its ph is still balanced. the heavy rains could have a rippling effect on these waters all year. some customer nutrients washed into the bay from the fms and lawns may bring algae blooms. these red tides absorb oxygen in the water. that makes it hard for crabs to survive. robert finds some he in the white salty streaks that form from the mist as we head in. and heooks to the sky, praying for a summer that's hot and dry. >> next to mother natu , she rules it all. we just got to hope we get a break. t news4 and telemundo 44 will continue feature stories about our changing climate.

it's an ongoing series that looks at the challenges and the consnces that come when nature is disrupted. you can see all of our reports on the nbc washington app. coming up next here, a woman in labor stuck in i-95 traffic when her water broke. she knew she couldn't make it to the hospital, so a 911 operator directed her somewhere else. we have that story coming up we have that story coming up next. yoooh, hello yellow! at ross and you find... yes! that's yes for less. nsporward with the latest brand-name styles at 20 to 60 percent off department store prices. at ross. yes for less. every day, visionaries are creatingthe fu. ♪ so, every day, we put our latestechnology and unrivaled network to work. ♪ the united states postal service makes more e-comme deliveries to homes than anyon

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and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. nature's bounty. and you find the same style you knoyou saw there... ross ...here? that's yes for less. yes! say yeto those spring trends you love, at 20 to 60 percent off specialty store prices, every day. at ross. yes for less. bumper-to-bumper traffic recently turned a dumfries firehouse floor intel a dery room. this week a little girl made her first trip back to that firehouse and she was delivered by firefighters there. northern virginia bureau reporter david culver was tasre irst responders reunited with their special delivery. >> reporter: about a-week-old andne baby is returning to her birthplace. >> this is where i had her. >> reporter: mom kasey lynette smithakes us back to her sudden and impatient arrival. >> i started having

contractions. they weren't super close. i am like, okay, we can make it. we just got to make it to . tomorr >> reporter: there was no waiting. kasey's mom, gina smith, a medical assistant, got everyone into her c and hit the road. >> i never seen my mom speed a day in my life. e was flying down 16 d then we look over at 95 and it's flowing. we are like okay, great. >> reporter: suddenly brake lights. d.c. area traffic. >> two minutes later my water starts breaking. >> did she start to panic? i am like, okay. i will get off as soons i can. >> reporter: she turned on route 1 and quickly realized they didn't have time to make it to couldn't al and they wait for an ambulance. she made a detour and came here. >> 911, dispatch indicated to them to arrive to the nearest firehouse to assist. >> everybody was huddled around the corner over tre. >> nextng you know, hey, we have a special delivery arriving on scene. >> i finally hear a cry. i took the biggest sigh of relief and my body like

collapsed on the ground. >> she didn't want to, but she gave us the opportunity to do something we will probably never do again. we may deliver a baby, but not on the fire station floor again. >> oh, my god, ready? >> reporter: which brings us back to journey's reunion. a return to the firstrms that welcomed her into the world, those arms holding her tight again. david culver,4. news and that's all for news4 this week. i am leon harris. pictures from this year's white house easter egg roloi thanks for jning us. have a great week. m

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>> announcer: "news4 today" starts now. breaking overnight. four people stabbed at a montgomery county shopping center. this morning, who police are ng to track down. then they walked inside, headed to the high-end goods and wait untilou hear how much these guys walked out with. plus, the thieves strike again. would-be burglars crash another truck into a 7-eleven and once again fail at t getting atm out of the store leaving behind a mess to clean up. why police are alarmed by the increasing number of these crimes. as we welcome y in this saturday morning, 27th of april,