darcy spencer joins us on the phone. you're heading up i-270. what are the conditions like there, darcy? >> reporter: wendy, pretty bad. we left the station and came up river road, basically stop and go traffic. we took river road to the beltway. [ no audio ] >> sounds like we've just lost darcy spencer there on i-270. reporting in the midst of a downpour. >> flooding. this is a picture of downtown frederick, maryland, where it is -- they have closed off some of the streets there, obviously, because of conditions are just that bad as doug was telling you earlier. and he will be back to update us in just a moment. >>> but let's head out to california and the duke and duchess of cambridge wrapping up their visit to canada and heading to hollywood. prince william has visited the u.s. but his wife has never been here. gena kim is in beverly hills. >> reporter: the royal newly wed's first official trip to the united states begins today and has host city los angeles in the throes of royal fever. >> i haven't really heard of royalty coming to america, e

. >>> darcy spencer is in tyson's corner with more on this story. darcy? >> reporter: jim, for many teenagers, their driver's license is their most prized possession. officials are hoping the threat of them losing that license for a year will keep them from drinking and driving. if you're under 21 and you get caught drinking and driving in virginia, starting friday, you could lose your license for one year. >> fines too often are rendered meaningless by the parents writing a check. but there's no teenager on the planet who wants their mother driving them on a date and it's the driving sanction that's going to do it. >> getting caught drinking one beer, they could get convicted. drivers could be forced to pay a $500 fine and perform 50 hours of community service. and it's a misdemeanor on their record. >> i'm hoping that they'll see it being onerous, as i think they will perceive it, and hope they'll make the right decision which is to not drink and then get behind the wheel of a car. >> the zero tolerance stands on underage drinking ask driving. instru ins

darcy spencer is on the scene with more on this. >> reporter: a u.s. park police helicopter crew that was returning from a mission apparently was the first to spot the smoke and flames. they called it into d.c. fire and shot this spectacular video. this video taken by u.s. park police helicopter camera shows thick, black smoke and flames engulfing four row houses in the 900 block of decatur street northwest. the flight crew apparently the first to spot the fire that also left more than a dozen people displaced on this holiday weekend. >> when we arrived on the scene, we had pretty heavy fire conditions. it was well advanced and already from the basement up through the roof essentially already spreading through the neighboring houses when we got here. >> reporter: the flames broke out around 4:45 in the afternoon. meadow meadows, who is hard of hearing, was inside his home in an upstairs computer room. someone banging loudly and persistently on his door saved his life. >> i heard banging. most people know i don't hear well. whoever did that, i came out

darcy spencer has the story. >> reporter: this cell phone video shows a young black bear devouring the seeds in a bird feeder in the backyard of a bethesda home. >> we have five, six foxes that come up, about a pack of raccoons about six or seven of them. you name it, we have it. but not bears, that's a new one. >> reporter: dave calvin took the video. he said the bear drank water from the bird bath before knocking it over. >> i was kind of shocked and couldn't even think to get a shot of it and it ran off when it saw me and i thought that was the end of it, and then about ten minutes later it came back. >> reporter: it was about 4:00 in the afternoon, dave was standing here in the sunroom when he turned, looked behind him he a black bear just a few feet away from the other side of the glass. that's what he grabbed his cell phone. took photos of the bear and called the department of natural resources but he wasn't happy with their response. >> they basically told me, we live with bears. >> reporter: there have been other bear sightings in the region including leesburg where residents h

news 4's darcy spencer talked with one man who saw the bear outside his home window. >> reporter: this cell phone video shows a young black bear devouring the seeds in a bird feeder in the backyard of a bethesda home. >> we have five or six foxes that come up, a pack of raccoons, about six or seven of them, you name it, we have it. but not bears. that's a new one. >> reporter: dave colvin took the video. he said the bear chewed holes in the feeder and drank water from the bird bath before knocking it over. >> i was kind of shocked and couldn't even think to get a shot of it, and it ran off when it saw me. and i thought that was the end of it. and then about ten minutes later it came back. >> reporter: it was about 4:00 in the afternoon. dave was standing here in the sun room. when he turned and looked behind him, he saw a black bear just a few feet away on the other side of the glass. that's when he grabbed his cell phone. colvin also took photos of the bear and called the department of natural resources, but he wasn't happy with their response. >> they basically told me we lived with

back to you, wendy. >> darcy spencer. thanks, darcy. >>> strong reaction is prompting one maryland lawmaker to propose new legislation. senator nancy jacobs wants to introduce a bill in maryland that would make it a felony if a parent fails to report the death of their child within a short amount of time. jacobs says she has gotten nearly two dozen e-mails from constituents in hartford and cecil counties since this not guilty verdict. anthony waited a month before she reported her daughter missing. >>> d.c. council chair kwame brown is facing more campaign finance trouble tonight. the city's board of elections is now asking federal authorities to investigate possible criminal violations by brown's 2008 re-election committee. news4's tom sherwood is live in our newsroom now with the latest on this story. tom? >> reporter: pat, the u.s. attorney's office was already looking into the brown campaign mess, but this is the first time that there are formal allegations that crimes may have been committed. while council chairman kw

in northwest washington, darcy spencer. >>> d.c.mployment services is reviewing its workplace policies after sexual assault accusations from two teenaged girls. the teams are in the summer youth employment program. investigators say they charged an employee after the first incident this past wednesday. police say the second case happened yesterday. a 19-year-old from anacostia. >> anthony: said she was groped by a file clerk with the department of employment services. d.c. officials call the incidents isolated, but still want to reemphasize safety with employees and teen workers in the program. >> we want to make sure that the young participants are very aware of hair surroundings, that the host supervisors are always looking out for them, and just think we need to heighten the sense of awareness about who they're interacting with and making sure that we are providing a safe environment. >> the employee who was charged is currently on paid administrative leave. charges are pending against the second worker accused in the latest case

reporting live from northwest, darcy spencer, news4. y, back to you. >> that smoke is heavy out there. thank you, darcy. >>> well, one year after the death of their father, two sisters are begging for answers. >> he deserved to diane old age surrounded by his family and friends, not to be shot and killed on the street for less than $100. >> still ahead, an update on the july 4th killing that has investigators stumped. >>> so we tried to get a look at the weather a little while ago. >> but he was frozen in a satellite mess. so let's see how he looks now. >> shake it off, doug. >> he is moving. how is it out in potomac? better now? you look a lot better. it was a bad one, honey. you don't want to look at the tape. >> oh, okay. i hate those bad freezes. hey, guys. we are in potomac, maryland. a beautiful afternoon. we've got a great backyard as well. what a great day it is to be outside. plenty of blue skies, temperatures around 90 degrees. but it's not bad at all out here. take a look. this is the family and the friends. say hello, everybo

darcy spencer is there now. dars? >> reporter: several firefighters told me you could see the thick black smoke from the fire from as far away as the verizon center downtown. they got the call here just before 5:00 this afternoon in the 900 block of decatur street in northwest washington. apparently the fire started toward the rear of one of the row houses in this block in the middle of this block, and then spread to additional units. let's go ahead and show some of the video that was shot by a d.c. firefighter here on the scene this afternoon. again, this started at one row house and spread. we believe to at least two additional row houses. as i mentioned, there was heavy smoke in this area. that also extended into several of the houses here in the middle of this block. it appeared that the bulk of the fire was toward the rear of this building. i was able to speak to one woman who lives here in the block. she said it seems like the fire just came out of nowhere. >> i was out back on my deck with my little cousin. and

in northwest washington, darcy spencer. >>> two d.c. city workers are accused of sexually assaulting two teens. they charged an employee after the first incident this past wednesday and then just yesterday a 19-year-old said she was groped by a file clerk with the department of employment services. d.c. officials call the incidents isolated but still want to reemphasize safety with workers and teen workers in the program. >> we just want to make sure that the participants are very aware of their surroundings, that the host supervisors are always looking out for them. and i just think we need to heighten the sense of awareness about who they're interacting with and making sure that we're providing a safe environment. >> the employee charged is currently on paid administrative leave. charges are pending against the second worker. >>> former imf head dominique strauss-kahn is a free man for now at least for a little while. the new york district attorney agreed to release strauss-kahn from house arrest after new questions arose about the cr