abc7 transportation reporter brianne carter shows us what that will entail. brianne: it's designed to be a key new transportation link in tysons. to use growing congestion along route 123. >> 123 is horrendous in the morning. >> thursday, officials will break ground on the jones branch connector to create a branch drive. and create additional access to 495. >> so once that construction gets underway. this road will look different. soon this road will go up and over. drivers will be able to drive over the beltway. >> officials say the road is expected to carry 21,000 vehicles by 2020. the volume raises traffic concerns for the residents living nearby. >> traffic is a concern. this is supposed to be a walking area. i think it will make it dangerous. >> however, the $58 million project also calls for upgrades for pedestrians and cyclists. new bike lane will be put in. down the road is median to accommodate future buses. one lane in each direction should be open to traffic in 2018. the project expected to be complete in 2019. in mclane, brianne carter, abc7 milwau

abc7 transportation reporter brianne carter spoke to the leaders. she is joining us from l'enfant plaza. brianne: the mayor and the d.c. fire chief saying that firefighters here in the district are trained and ready to respond to any incident on metro. this comes as the new claims from metro's lawyers. >> new allegation where the blame lies when it comes to the yellow line smoke incident that injured dozens of riders and killed carol glover. they are asking the judge to throw out the lawsuit filed against the transit authority. metro denies that it has a duty to assist, rescue or evacuate passengers on the metro rail train in the event of a fire emergency situation. they claim the responsibility fires on d.c. fire and e.m.s. under a contract between the metro and the local fire departments. in court documents they argue that the first to do their job including failing to establish unified command structure and coordinate with the other agencies on scene and delaying response for passengers trapped on train 302 thereby causing, contributing or exacerb

brianne carter is live on the scene with the latest. brianne: we are working to get a number of questions answered about what happened here this afternoon at this mcclain home. this is what we know now. fairfax county police tell us they were first called to the home in mcclain after 12:30 this afternoon. after a family member came to the home and no one inside responded. police are calling this a multiple suspicious death investigation but police have declined to comment how many victims play been located in the home. neighbors tell us the family who lives here has lived here for quite some time and keeps to themselves. one neighbor tells us she believes at least one child lives here at the home as well. >> we do not believe that there is a t safety. we do not believe this to be a randothe latest update we have gotten from police. they say they expect the investigation to lead them well into the night, we have much more coming up tonight at 5:00. reporting live, brianne carter, abc7 news. michelle: thank you. get breaking news first on

brianne carter is at the zoo right now for the search for ollie. what's the latest? brianne: well, q, that is right. the search is on. all of this happened here on the other side down this way in the zoo. we know now one of the tactics they are using is something similar to this. video trap. so any movement that might happen in the area outside of the enclosure, they are trying to capture that. take a look here at a picture of ollie. we know she is 6 years old and 25 pounds. but they also say she is a bit standoffish and not very friendly. now we also know this all happened just after 10:30 this morning. that is when zoo officials went in to feed the bobcats in the bobcat exhibit and they noticed there were only two, not three has there normally are. they did look to see that there is an area in the enclosure made of mesh there was an opening. >> what we discovered the area of the mesh, one of the ropes that hold it together was i think severed but it didn't look like a deliberate act. one of the ropes had broken which basically left an opening of 4 x 4, 6 x 6 at the

brianne carter is live with what we're learning so far. brianne: you can see police are still there and the 2400 block. ao people are shot, a man and woman. police are telling us that the woman is in very critical condition. the man is said to have suffered nonlife threatening injuries. police are not releasing any information and not releasing information on a specific lookout for an individual as well. is an area that is plagued by crime. we talked to the police chief moments ago. inroadsve made a lot of into the crime in this particular area. there are still some bad actors appear. we say it all the time. anybody who is willing to open , we are notgunshots going to tolerate that kind of thing. usanne: police are telling there is a woman said to be in critical condition at this point. the search for suspects continues. brianne carter, abc 7 news. jummy: there is breaking news in the post nightclub shooting in orlando. we learned the wife of the shooter has been arrested in connection with the attack that killed 49 peop fbi agents at her h

brianne carter? brianne: today a two-hour press conference by metro union. a lot talking about what happened here at the east falls church station in july. we heard from employee who said he was fired for the incident. after five years he is now out of a job. he says he was fired for falsifying inspection reports allegedly. >> they are comparing one report of mine to another. >> he retaliated after ordering speed restrictions on the track. >> for me from the bottom to the track. for whatever reason it's not about safety. even wiedefeld, we hear safety trumps service. that is absolutely not true. brianne: in a press conference today the president of the metro largest union says to date five supervisors and seven employees including three today have been fired but the spokesman would not confirm and said the spokesperson laid out how to discipline employees is ongoing. >> they are misleading the press and the public. paul wiedefeld said? a statement it's important to remember thousands of metro employees do a great job and routinely put safety first. true requ

brianne carter? >> it lacks quiet downtown. look across the street. you can see the open parking spaces at 5:00 on wednesday. it's unusual scene. this is the reason why. noon today when the first set of restrictions went in place and cars started to get towed. along major commuter roads downtown the number of the parking spaces is shrinkalling, security is tightening days ahead of the inauguration. today the first round of the parking restrictions highlighted on this map in red went into place. many drivers parked in the restricted areas after noon. came back to find they were ticketinged or towed. >> i must have missed the sign. it's right there. >> this maryland resident came around the corner to find her car hooked up to a tow truck. >> he was a nice gave me my car back. you know, d.c. tickets and boots are expensive. it was totally my fault. >> nick in town for the inauguration from chicago came running back to his car. once he saw parking enforcement down the block. >> nice and kind. oh, you are next. >> the spot in green are off-limits later ton

brianne carter is in mobiletrak7 to track conditions outside now. what are you seeing? brianne: we are here on the beltway. i got to tell you the best we have seen so far today. take a live look from mobiletrak7. bumper to bumper all day on along the beltway. the wind moving the car side to side. it is feeling b alexandria. but we know that the damage has been done in many parts across the region. take a look at this. this is before 2:00 this afternoon that this tree came toppling down on the annandale home where a daycare is operated inside. fire officials say all 12 kids rand the two teachers inside are okay. they were moved to another part of the home. you can see the roof did collapse and building inspectors are now at the home. meanwhile, in silver spring, a similar situation. another tree came down bringing power lines with it. the live wires are still smoking until pepco crews arrived. no one was injured. this is still having an impact. impacting the businesses today as well. we will have much more on that part of the steroid the impact coming up tonight at 5:00.

reporting live, brianne carter, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you. worth reminding folks at home, they have tow trucks here like crazy. if you are parking in the wrong spot you will be gone. road closures are coming in waves in next few days. there are a lot of them. we detailed them on the website wjla.com. know this. driving downtown in the next couple of days might be certainly parking will be. metro may be the best bet getting around the d.c. and the mall area this weekend. because the system is open at 4:00. saturday, the system will be opening at 5:00. sunday the schedule is back open at normal time, 7:00. talk about friday. peaceful transfer of power. people coming to watch the inauguration of president-elect trump. there is the parade route. so many people come in here. but not everybody voted for this president. that becomes an issue of controversy and at least conversation. brad bell is out there talking to folks who want to get up on the soap box and share the thoughts about this particular inauguration. brad: this happens every fours. we

scott: good morning, brianne carter. ianne: all quiet here now, but in a matter of hours preparations will be underway here along martin luther king jr. avenue in southeast washington. here is what we expect to start seeing. at 11:30 this morning we will start seeing the road closures going in place here on southeast washington. again, we do expect the parade and move its way down here along martin luther king jr. avenue and heading towards anacostia park. prior to that happening, a piece walk is expected to happen here in southeast washington as well. we do expect nick cannon to be a part of that. if you take a look behind us you can see a few of the folks showing up for her and getting things underway. here in southeast we do expect there to be road closures at 11:30 this morning. reporting live, brianne carter. jummy: for the second year in a row, news channel eight is proud to offer live coverage of the martin luther king jr. day parade. we will have the mc and host for our coverage beginning at noon on news channel e

our transportation reporter brianne carter was there. brianne: the investigation into this. the east falls church derailment has now led to the firings of a third of metro track inspection department. >> it's systemic issues we were having in that department. that's what we are addressing. brianne: 16 track inspectors and five supervisors have been fired for falsifying records. this is something the union denies. this is coming as they look into other safety issues. doors on a yellow line train opened while the trn metro says the operator claims ehit the door button taking off the jacket. >> the statement is the elbow triggered the door. >> policy calls for the operator to report an incident like this and walk around the train. riders never saw the operator get out of the train. >> we have to let the investigate go. i can't comment on that. >> metro saying there were safety lapses this month when a worker fell 30 feet cleaning debris in a vent shaft. >> the employee was trained on confined statements but he didn't take necessary cautions prior to entering the dome relief sta

transportation reporter brianne carter has details. brianne: delay for riders today, singing tackle after possible arcing insulator. >> there is a fire on the track ahead of it. this is a good example. it's unpredictable. brianne: starting february 11, riders will again experience major delays as the metro shuts down the tracks along the blue line between the rosslyn and the pentagon statons. arlington cemetery station will be closed with the shuttle buses from the pentagon. >> we are going to triage mode. >> blue line riders will feel the impact after more two week shut down as the work shifts blue and the yellow line. around the clock singing tracking between braddock and the huntington station. that surge is more than a month lasting march 4 through frill -- april 9. >> people take them for granted. once they are running okay again people will forget safetrack ever happened. brianne: blue and yellow line riders will continue to see disruptions through april. metro hasn't announced specific dates come this spring green line riders wil

brianne carter is on the scene. what are you learning? >> in the last five minutes police confirm three bodies found inside the home on the quiet street in mcclain. this is what else we know. the call came in after a family member came to the home and no one inside responded. this is a multip investigation. they learned three bodies found at the ithreat to the com. neighbors started to gather outside the home. they tell us the family who lives he themselves but has been in the home for a few years. two neighbors telling us they believe there is an older high school agechild living in the home as well. we talk to a neighbor as she said she was coming home from the gym when the police filled the street. >> it freaked me out. we barely know anything about the neighbors. it's usually to see that many cop cars was something horrific. >> they expect it to last in the night. there are a number of police cars here as the investigation continues. reporting live, brianne carter, abc7 news. >> thank you. get alert to breaking news anytime. go to wjl

brianne carter with the story and the emotional reunion. >> stand right here. brianne: a moment ten years in the making. twin sisters gracie and audrey finally met in person. the twins both overcome by emotion. >> excited. happy. it's very overwhelming. >> the two 10-year-olds originally from china were adopted by separate families on opposit country. audrey living in wisconsin, gracie in washington state. both girls were born with a heart condition and last month audrey's mother became curious about her daughter's past. with the help of the chinese ceremonyer, she discovered this photo that shows audrey on her chinese foster mother's knee with another baby that looks just like her. >> as san as i had the picture i was desperate to find out who the other child was. >> with the help of the social media, the families connected. >> it was so crazy to be looking at what looked like gracie but knowing that it wasn't gracie. yeah, surreal. brianne: now a decade later the girls reunitednited in a face-to-face meeting. >> i felt like there was something missing. now it'

we have work to lay the ground work for things. >> in fairfax, brianne carter, abc7 news. announcer: this is a storm watch 7 winter weather maureen: right now at 2:00 we have stormwatch7 team coverage throughout the region for a winter weather alert. we will check in with the teams on the ground for maryland and virginia in a moment. tonight school districts across the area have canceled evening activities because of the threat. larry: let's get started with the stormwatch7 chief meteorologist doug hill. when can we expect and how much can we expect? doug: at 9:00 in the metro area for steadiest snow. areas north and west of washington we are under winter weather advisories until 5:00 a.m., an inch or two. one to two inches of snow is what we think. the area lined up here with jurisdictions to the maryland, pennsylvania line to west virginia, that is the best chance of more significant precipitation. storm watch from a separate system to deliver heavy snow through virginia and carolinas. so about this snow. this is what we see to the west. line starting. here we think it's

brianne carter is covering metro and has service disruptions ahead. give us the bad news. brianne: all right. we are at the rosslyn metro station and the riders will be directly impacted. today metro released the schedule for those remaining safetrack surges. take a look at this and how it will impact your commute. starting february 11, riders will again experience major delays as metro shuts down the tracks along the blue line between rosslyn and the pentagon stations for more than two weeks. during that, arlington cemetery station will be closed with shuttle buses running from the pentagon. orange and the silver lines, they will operate normally but they can expect a lot of will be significantly reduced on the yellow and the blue lines with around the clock single tracking between braddock and huntington. all of this expected to last several different surges and wrap up sometime in june. now the big question is do the riders feel this year of track work will make a difference? >> i hope. i guess that is all we can do. for me, i'm a student and i am going back and forth at

michelle: transportation reporter brianne carter explains. y happened to you. you are in the far left lane on the highway and you find a car going under the speed limit. lawmakers in virginia are trying to prevent that from further happening. a bill before the legislature calls for $250 fine if you are caught in the left lane going under the speed limit. the current law only allows for a fine up to $250. lawmakers say the issue creates dangerous driving conditions on virginia roads, adding even first responders have had close calls right now going under the speed limit in the left l sometimes you are in the left lane. you do maybe the speed limit of 60, doing five miles over and you come up to someone doing 40 or 45. it could be dangerous. brianne: what do people think? will $250 change how people drive? reaction from both sides coming up tonight at 5:00. in arlington, brianne carter, abc7 news. jonathan: slovenia has seen a major boost in tourism. you may wonder why slovenia? it's first lady melania trump's native land. overnight stays in slo

brianne carter is live in southeast d-c with more.. as part of the m-l-k national day of service... president family will help out at the jobs have priority naylor the family shelter received the obama girls' old white house swing set. the president offered the swing set to trump's 10-year-old son, barron... but the president-elect declined. for the second year in row, newschannel 8 is proud to offer live coverage of the martin luther king jr. day parade. d-c bureau chief sam ford will serve as parade emcee and host for our coverage... which begins at noon on newschannel 8. an frederick county school employee was fired for calling out a student's spelling. the student orginally posted on twitter: "asking schools to close tomorrow." she spelled tomorrow t-a-m-m-a-r-o-w. the employee responded to the tweet: "but then how would you learn how to spell tomorrow"? :) that didn't sit well with the bosses and she was let go. the student later wrote she didn't have a problem with the reply. so today's good morning washington question of the day -- do you fee the employee should have been fir

the transportation reporter brianne carter takes a look at one plan to make sure you are at speed in the left lane. brianne: driving down the highway going the speed limit and you come to a screeching halt thanks to a car going under the speed limit in the left lane. the left lane is only supposed to used to get by an >> the passing lane, that is what it is. a passing lane. brianne: but some virginia lawmakers say more and more drivers are staying in the left lane below speed. we spent the day in mobiletrak7 getting a first-hand look at the problem. a half an hour on the road and we ran into this. a dump truck slowing us down. this is as a bill is making its way through the general assembly that would have the drivers digging deeper in the pockets if they were caught doing the same thing. so what happens if you are caught going too slow in the left side? well, according to this measure, you could face a $250 fine. current law doesn't specify an amount. only allowing a fine up to $250. the virginia delegate behind the bill says the slow drivers create dangerous driving conditions addin

abc7 transportation reporter brianne carter found customers aren't happy about it. not happy about reports that the rates are different depending on where you park. brianne: at reston town center, paying to park for the next meal or movie is now the reality. >> i don't think it is well thought of idea. >> the new policy requires drivers to pay an hourly rate which varies depending whether you park on the street or in the garage. parking that was previously free. the paid parking initiative was set to begin last september. but reston town center delayed it citing a need to give customer mrs. time to get familiar with the new technology to pay. most peak can do it on their phone downloading the park t.c. app. as of today, more than 28,000 people downladded to >> it's as -- downloaded to use. >> it's as easy as any other app to use. brianne: he comes to work out. he is still not a big supporter of the change. >> i don't know if charging anyone who wants to come here for commerce to park is the best way to go about it. >> some patrons agree and are concerned other retai

porter, --rtation how transportation reporter brianne carter will have more. has mayor muriel bowser just signed a law to help crack down on criminals ordered to wear a gps monitoring device. stephen tschida has more, live in northwest with more on that. stephen: about an hour and a half ago, mayor muriel bowser signs this gps monitoring legislation. what it does is, it gives these various agencies which require these gps monitoring devices -- such as the court service agency, rehabilitation services -- those agencies which require a suspect and offender to where a device now have device. if someone does not where it, they can face jail time. this is not related, according to the mayor, to the murder of tricia mccauley, the yoga instructor who was apparently abducted and murdered christmas day. the suspect apparently had been ordered to wear a monitoring device and had not in put on. >> this piece of legislation has been moving since the summer, where we identify the gaps. so i would not necessarily link what we have done today to ms. mccauley's case. thes. mc

brianne carter is joining us live from reagan national airport. i understand you spoke with somebody who flew in from fort lauderdale. obviously when something like this happens when it comes to transportation, everybody's nerves are frayed. brianne: the big thing we heard from the folks arriving here in fort lauderdale, they had no idea what happened at the airport they just left. we information until they arrived here at reagan national airport. they got on the flight. while there was extra taxiing before they were able to take off from fort lauderdale there were no announcements made on the flight about the incidents happening there on the ground. so when folks arrived here, many were shocked to find out what had happened at the fort lauderdale airport and many friends and family anxiously awaiting to hear from folks. we talked to one woman who is visiting a friend in d.c. for the weekend. she said the minute she got her, she found out her phone was lighting up, trying to get ahold of her here. here is what she had to say. >> she said are you o

brianne carter picks up the team coverage at reagan national with that side of the story. brianne: here is what we know at this point. none of the flights from here along the tarmac are taking off for the fort lauderdale international airport. the f.a.a. says there is now a ground stop. they are not receiving or having any flights take off from the fort lauderdale international airport with it closed. we do know some of the flights were able to get off the ground ahead of that. just within the last half hour a flight from fort lauderdale landed here at reagan national airport. take you inside from what we have seen. it's not a massive stepped up security presence. we have seen a number of police inside the airport today. what we have seen is a number of the folks showing up here to realize that the flight has either been delayed or has been delayed more than once. still at this point, we are have some folks hoping that will get off the ground later this everything. earlier today we talk to folks who said they were not going to take that chance. they were not going to sit an

brianne carter is on the beltway. what are you seeing? >> we haven't seen as much wind today. look mobiletrak7 it's gray, dreary and a lot of people out on the road. we don't have the same as we were seeing an hour ago. what we are seeing line and the impact of the wet weather. there was a tree on top of a home where a daycare operated inside. all the kids were and teachers were okay. the live wires were smoking until the pepco crew arrived. the weather impacted the local businesses. the super market had to close because the power was out. they tried to navigate around that as well. we look here in the mobiletrak7. send it back to you. larry: thank you. the same region is behind this. 30 reported tornadoes in the south over the weekend. jonathan: they were deadly storms. 20 people were killed. >> we just laid there and we prayed. let it pass over. let it pass over. >> mercy, it looked like a war zone. lines down, trees down. aluminum everywhere. jonathan: in mississippi more than 50 other people were hurt. 480 homes damaged by a single tornado there. you can stay connected for

autria: for a look at how your ride into the city is shaping up, we went to send things out to brianne carterive at the vienna measure. i understand it has been a rough morning for yourselfoday. brianne: we were on one train waiting for the train to take off, waiting for the train to take off. then they offloaded that train and move designed to another one. we are now on another inbound train heading back towards the city. take a look at this. we have this lovely lady visiting from montana. she has all of her red, white and blue on. why was it important to be here on the train this morning to get downtown? >> i have been to every inauguration since jimmy carter, in 1976. it is a celebration of our american spirit. and am p excited about trump. brianne: easy for you to get here and take the train into the city? >> i complemented metro. i travel a lot. i write books on game hunting and i travel around the country a lock. far, hands-down down, the best subway system in the nation. we might have a few local folks that would disagree with you. brianne: so far things not looking too bad. not too cr

reporting live, brianne carter, abc7 news. michelle: coming up at 5:00, a precariously perched pooch, there he is. so sweet. find out what the rescuers had to do to get the pup to safety. larry: sex trafficking taking aim at a website that may have known exactly what was going on, on those back pages. ja new at 6:00, for the first time in 60 years there will be a new person behind the microphone at the inaugural parade. we meet the new voice of the inauguration on "abc7 news at steve it's tuesday but we are looking to the weekend ahead. on saturday we have a cooldown and the temperatures are the 35 degrees and a chance for a wintry mix. martin luther king jr. day, 37 for a high. outlook from storm watch 7. we are look for a warmup followed by a cooldown moving to next week closer to inauguration day. highs in the middle to the upper 50's. stay with us. "abc7 news at 5:00" continues after this. larry: back with an update on two dogs looking for a home this week. we introduced you to rambo and lady. they are best friends at mont

reporting live, brianne carter, wjla. alison: all right, brianne. thank you. you might recall this is certainly not the first animal to escape from t he climbed out of his pen four years ago. he was caught in adam's morgan. that was renovated after it happened and rusty now lives a it the conservation biologies institute in front royal. jonathan: well, just more than a week into the trump presidency and we have already seen a woman's march on the national mall, a march on the capitol against immigration, changes and protests at airports all across the country. as some of the immigrants are now detained. and in the last hour, virginia senator tim kaine joined the protesters out at dulles international airport. a lot going on. ryan hughes live at dulles with the latest on this one. ryan? ryan: yeah, jonathan, senator kaine just finished speaking to us 20 minutes ago after he landed at dulles coming from roanoke. he spoke to immigration attorneys that have been here all weekend long and he took time to thank the protesters who have been here for the third consecu