week, a young life lt. a child from our area killed in the sri lanka terrorist bombings. we talk with his father about the bright future that ended so tragically on easter sunday. free ride. the d.c. circulator has see ridership boom because it costs nothing to use. now lawmakers are split on how to move forward with that service. plus, changin climate. a look at how extreme weath is affecting the chaes peek bay and your dinner plate. welcome to news4 this week. >> hello everyone. we're going to begin with the tragic easter terrorist bombings in sri lanka. 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. aimee cho reports 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 a neurosurgeon and czhing mer's. he was a fifth grader alt sidwell friends in d.c. this year he was studying abroad in sri lan. >> he would inspire everyone around him to be their best. le >> reporter: ander aero is his father. in an interview he said he called his son on easter morning. >> he texted, can't talk now, dad, because he was, it turns out, i didn't know at the time, in theto eleva of the cinnamon grand hotel going down to the buffet. t >> reporter: it 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, lives. he was a very special young man. very special. >> we want kieran's story to be known that he was going to be,oi he was g to do great things for the world and the terrorists have taken something from this world. >>orter: and what he 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 sri lankan embassy a room full of flowers and condolence books, honoring kieran and the other lives lost in the easter dayck attas. >> 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 w tt caused deadly gas explosion at a silver spring apartment complex. that killed seven people. now investigators are pointing to a faulty piece of equipment. news4's darcy spencer learned why investigators are saying there were multiple reasons this tragedy could have b n prevented. >> reporter: after a nearly three year investigation the ntsb has determined probable cause of a deadly national gas explosion at the flower branch apartments in silver spring. investigators determined that a mercury service regulator that's a piece of equipment thatgu retes 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 gaser met room leading to the plast that killed seven people in august of 2016. >> if the vent liney was pro e hadcted, we would not h 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. montgomeryounty firefighters responded to a complaint weeks before the explosion. 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 dectny problems. >> darcy, there were many missed opportunities here, and that's the tragic thing. >> reporter: washington gas did not receive any calls about the gas leaks. the company said in a statement, however, we disagree with their findings as we don't believe the evidence indicates failure of our equipment that night. we also do not believe the ntsb sufficiently investigated the other potential caoses of the exn. >> 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 rel its full report on this tragedy in the coming weeks. in silver springs, darcy spencer, news4. this week we learned thousands more people are ridin. the d.c circulator bus now that it's free, but there has been plenty of support to expand that bus service to more neighborhoods. as mark seagraves reports, not everyone fwrees on keeping it free. >> we are on our community outing totey. >> repor christian herbert relies on the circulator to take her group around town. they are headed to the southwest wharf. >> it works for me with my job. some people don't he metrocards. it helps us out. we get on the bus for free. >> reporter: donald williamson living on a fixed income 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 fee in an

effort to get more people on the bus and out of their cars. since then ridership has gone 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 last year. >> that tells us that free circulator has been working and people are excited about the service and we see that didership grow as a result. >> reporter: fun runs out at the end of this year. d.c. councilmember mary shea isn't connced funding the free rides is the best way to get cars off the streets. >> is it really the case that we are getting more peo re toe the circulator and getting them out of their cars? i think that's completely known. you may have people riding the circulator since it's free because maybe they want to get on the bus to get warm. >> ruporter: she is srtive of the mayor's proposal to expandhe circulator service to ward seven. as for whether it remains free next year will be up to the d.c.

council. >> i think that it helps a lot of these people in the community who can't afford a bus. so i really thk they should ep it free. >> reporter: mark seagraves, news4. when we come back after a break, sobering new information about the quality of the air we brearee. how our aa ranks. you may be surprised. firstd metro releases its ever energy action plan. transptation

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

prince george's county f zled that oe test. we have been talking about how nasa wants to put a man back on e moon. still a few years off, but i just a few months you will be able to get a closer look at the it worn by neil armstrong. the first man to set foot on tho on. the smithsonian plans to displ that suit starting in july at the aaron space museum as it cebrates 50 yearsince the original lunar landing with apollo 11. eventually that suit will be moved off to a new exhibit which is expected to be completed sometime in 2022. when we come back, two reports focused on our changing climate. first, news4's adam tuss shows us what metro d isng to cut its carn footprint and what that work has do with all this water. and from rising waters to eroding shore lines, there is some very visible signs of the impact of climate change on the 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 of the largest contributors toe greenho gas emissions comes from our cars. that's where metro comes into play. as our transportation reporter adam tuss shows us, the transit agency wants to be the greenest mass transportation system in the country. t >> reportes bubbling mixture of iron, muck,nd water isn't exactly what you envision when you think of the metro system, but it is climate change action. and it's part of a larger mission that metro is now taking on to cut its energy use in carbon footprint. a plan so involved that it could be the equivalent of taking 35,000 cars f the road per year. >> every person is affected by clayton county. this zlooik /* /- climate change. >> let's look at the environment. planes, trains, cars, the travel

choices we make every day to have a direct impact on the plan. consider this. according to climate central, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth o all u.s. emissions. your vehicle likely spews out 20 pounds of carbon dioxide for every gallon 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 home for starters. as every trip uses 40% less greenhouse g than if you were to drive in a car all by yourself. >> reporter: aside from helping take cars off the road, met is now rolling out its first ever energy action rlaneleased today on earth day. it takes a lot of energy, of course, to power trains and buses. th 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 o in the system. >> reporter: other strategies capturing and storing the energy when trains break using more solar panels, buying electric buses, even looking at more efficient bus boarding and payment systems to cut down on idling. and take a look at this. metro has to handle a ton of rain and groundwater. think of the metro system as a huge french drain for the region. there is a lot of water coming in and cerinly thisast year we had a lot of water in the region. once that water gets into metro's property, metro has to, treat itnd that water has to go back into the environment clean. almost one and a half million gallons aday. i think the agency as a whole is looking at sustainability as somethin that is important not only to metro, butth to e entire region. >> reporter: adam tuss, news4. speaking of that water, if you live along the waters of the chesapeake bay you know theom sound that at dawn. the water men heading off to work. you know they know the by the

way they know their family. they kw its moods even. as wendy rieger f nd out, they know when something is wrong. >> reporter: we are racing towards death. on this beautiful day the president of the maryland water man's association is to an oyster bed to see what nature has. the stench alone tells you it's bad. >> tha smell is rottenrs oyste. rotten shells decaying. >> reporter: he has been forming the depths at thesihesapeake bay e he was 16, building his life and family on the bounty of 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. i mean, how do you predict it? >> reporter: the chesapeake bay an tributaries are brackish, a

mixture of salt and fresh water. the salinity level has to be 0.8% or higher or they die. the heavy rains 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 worstd with the e 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. >> reporter: that's not just money, butime. it takes four years of nursing that spat to adulthood. and it's all gone. >> there is no income. no harvest. total destrr:tion. >> repo climate change doesn't just impact the food

sutsly. it impac economies. not all oyster beds were affected. this bed farther downstream is farther from the runoff. so its ph is still balanced. the heavy rains could have a rippling effect on these waters all year. some customer wutrientshed into the bay from the farms and lawns may bring algae blooms. these red tides absorb oxygen in the water. that m fes it hardor crabs to survive. robert finds some hope in the white salty streaks that form from the mist as we head in. and he looks to the sky, praying for a summer that's hot and dry. >> next to mother nature, she rules it all. we just got to hope we get a break. >> news4 and telemundo 44 will continue to feature stories

about our changing climate. it's an ongoing series that looks at the challenges and the consequences 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, 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. e spring forward with thlatest brand-name styles at 20 to 60 percent off department store prices. at ross. yes for less.

...you realiou can totally eat out more? that's yes for less. get the latest spring trends for your home at 20 to 60 percent off specialty store prices. at ross. yes for less. bumper-to-bumper traffic recentlyurned a dumfries firehouse floor into a delivery room. this week a little girl made her first trip back to that firehouse and she was delivered by firefighters there. northern virginia bureau porter david culver was there as first responders rnited with their special delivery. >> reporter: about a-wed-old baby journey is returning to her birthplace. >> this is where i had her. ey reporter: mom kas lynette smith takes 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 g to make it to tomorrow. >> reporter: there was no waiting. kasey's mom, gina smith, a medical assistant, got everyone into her car and hit the road. >> i never seen my mom speed a asy in my life. she w flying down 16 and 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 i panic? like, okay. i will get off as soon as i can. >> reporter: she turned on route 1 and quickly realized they di't have time to make it to the hospital and they couldn't wait for an ambulance. she made a detour and came here. >> 911, dispatch indicated to them to arrive to the neare firehouse to assist. >> everybody was huddled around the corner over here. next thing youknow, hey, we have a special delivery arrivig ene. >> i finally hear a cry. i took the biggest sigh of

lief and my body like collapsed on the ground. >> she didn't want to, but she gave us the opp dtunity to 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 first arms tha welcomed her into the world, those arms holding her tight again. david culver, >news4. >>nd that's all for news4 this week. i am leon harris. pictures from this year's white house easter egg roll. thanks for joining us. have a great week.

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