molette green heading out to see what is closed. if that section is closed, stay on river, stay on macarthur and not take the cutthrough of goldsboro to mass. nasty this morning. prince george's county overall, no major problems. 66 looks good. 95 northbound slow headed through dale city. otherwise no major issues. 95 and maryland at 198 rolling nicely northbound and southbound. angie? >> thank you. >>> something else we're keeping tabs on for you this morning, check it out, rain moving through. the blue and green headed our way. wl

i'm molette green. back to you. >> very sad. thank you, molette. the site where a reporter and photographer were killed reopened today. the plaza za reopened today. >> the owner said it was up to individual shops if they wanted to open today. the reporter and photographer were killed wednesday morning during an on air live shot. the woman they were interviewing was shot but survived. police say a former co-worker was the gunman. >> within the past hour the medical examiner's office ruled the deaths as homicides. >> the office says they were both shot in the head, and at last night's vigil, the attorney general addressed gun control. they said we need to stop thinking we can walk away from tragedies like this and the problems will go away by themselves. ward was an avid virginia tech fan so his family is asking attendants to wear school colors. no word on allison's arrangements. >> police are looking for a person who shot and killed a college student. scary night. students were on lock down. they got reports of an active shooter. it was no false ala

news4's molette green is live in bladensburg with changes ahead for the school year. od morning, molette. >> reporter: hey, good morning. well, we're about 15 minutes away from students arriving here at the new language high school of langley park. this is focusing on teaching students who are learning english, still trying to master the english language here. prince george's county schools opened with great expectations. 2,000 newly enrolled students bringing the pupil count to about 129,000. nearly 870 new teachers hired to go to work and teach these youngsters. joining me now is theresa mitchell dudley, the principal of the education association. good morning, thank you for joining us. >> good morning. >> let's talk about the teachers' expectations. i know dr. maxwell, the ceo, wanted to be able to offer more competitive salaries. tell me how your teachers are taking on this new year. >> well, we're going to take on this new year like we do every year. in front of children, sharing instructions. my teachers are excited to be back here. despite what goes on above us,

molette green has more on the violent night. she is at police headquarters. molette? >> reporter: yeah, aaron, two shootings as you mentioned coming just hours after the police chief's latest appeal to the public to help put an end to this wave of violence in the city. d.c. police telling us the man shot in southeast was hit in the stomach, was conscious and was breathing when he went to the hospital. no word on suspects. police scoured that scene there in southeast d.c., frederick douglas place where all of this happened. then around the same time, another shooting in northeast on florida avenue. that victim was conscious and breathing when they found him. we had a chance to look over the numbers that d.c. police put out about the numbers of murders this year alone. 94 in the capital city compared to 72 last year around the same time. d.c. police say they have made some progress in arresting suspects. >> well, we'll check in with molette throughout the hour. >>> police in northwest d.c. put out new surveillance video. take a look at your screen here. this is related

news4's molette green is joining us live from police headquarters with more on what you'll see this weekend. molette? >> reporter: aaron, the police chief will activate her signature crime fighting plan at 3:00 this afternoon. it runs 48 hours and it will end on sunday evening. all available police officers and recruits will be called in. you should see it right away, more cops on foot, engaging in one-on-one with the residents of the city. police say this has made a substantial impact from the numbers they have crunched, particularly even in areas such as ward 7. we heard protesters interrupt the mayor this week, saying they want more jobs and not more jail. they want more recreation opportunities. basically, more options for young people in the city. the mayor also tried to make clear that the officers will not just randomly enter homes to search for guns as they try to address this violent crime throughout the city. so that's the latest live from headquarters. i'm molette green, news4. >> thank you. >>> he was the best person a procedure could have. >> divers found the body of 16-year-ol

molette green heading out to see what is closed. if that section is closed, stay on river, stay on macarthur and not take the cutthrough of goldsboro to mass. nasty this morning. prince george's county overall, no major problems. 66 looks good. 95 northbound slow headed through dale city. otherwise no major issues. 95 and maryland at 198 rolling nicely northbound and southbound. angie? >> thank you. >>> something else we're keeping tabs on for you this morning, check it out, rain moving through. the blue and green headed our way. will it hit our region? and when will it arrive? let's get to tom with the answer and the weather headlines. >>> good morning. right now, don't have any storms locally. they're far away for now. there's a few breaks in the cloud cover. live view from the tower cam showing a mostly cloudy sky. a muggy morning. the weather headlines in this wednesday might get a few isolated passing showers or thundershowers this afternoon. our storm chances, though, are much higher for thursday especially tomorrow, late afte

news4's molette green is live outside the white house to decide what is being done to fix the problem. molette, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, no operating elevator means no visiting the washington monument. they're standing by waiting on a repair crew set to arrive sometime this morning to get to work on this latest elevator problem. this had malfunction, the elevator it happened last night just before 10:00 last night. two pregnant women were among the 50 or so folks inside at the time. they opted to have d.c. fire bring them down in stair chairs. the others took the stair, nearly 900 of them inside. this elevator problem is a nagging issue with this particular attraction with incidents as recent as may and june. a big bummer for all of the tourists in town trying to get the last days of the summer vacation in here in the nation's capital. we're staying on top of this developing story throughout the day. we'll tell you when it is all finally fixed. but still waiting on the repair crews to arrive this morning. back to you. >>> 6:03, and today, some of the people at metro co

molette green is live outside of cougar elementary school to tell us what they're doing. hi, molette. >> reporter: hey, good morning. yeah, we're standing close to the dropoff lane, i saw a worker put only some signs to direct buses when they get here. starting before labor day, it's a big break from tradition here. and all eyes are on the four schools in this particular district that are trying this experiment this year, basically. the idea is to look at modeling something close to a year-round school calendar. so this is a pilot program. it allows for more support for students who need it. and it lays out shorter breaks. and supporters of this say students can better retain what they learned in class and all thanks to the grant from the state it gives teachers and administrators a chance to visit other schools that do this, to see how it all works. now, the first school buses i'm told roll in around 7:45 and the bell will ring a little after 8:00. starting class today here at cougar elementary school. we're live this morning in manassas park. back to you. >> all right, m

. >>> i'm molette green, live out the washington monument. it opened as scheduled after the national park service described the elevator problem as minor and an easy fix. >> how many? two more. >> reporter: the first morning visitors loaded the elevator to go up to the top. >> the first thing to do, you took me a long time to get the tickets. it all worked out well. >> but not so for the 63 people ready to leave the observation deck last night. some 500 feet up, the elevator sensor malfunctioned and the doors would not close. >> they had gotten bumped or somehow out of alignment so the elevator went into safety shut down mode. similar to your garage door. if your garage door is coming down and you break that contact, it stops operating so nobody gets hurt the. >> the national service says it's an easy fix. >> technicians came in this morning and fixed it quickly and we are open at 9:00 for everybody. >> visitors come to washington from across the country and all over the world just to see this view from the monument's observation deck. but ta

reporting live from the national mall, i'm molette green, news4. >>> d.c. mayor muriel bowser is planning another big move to eliminate homicides. she plans to ask law enforcement to have more power. specifically, parole officers will be able to search convicted convicts at any time while on probation. you can talk about the city's spike in crime at a neighborhood meeting tonight. police in the 2nd district holding that meeting at 7:00 p.m. in idaho headquarters northwest. the 2nd district includes georgetown and dupont circle. >>> even the mayor says something has to change. two women died walking near the united medical center in southeast. there's no crosswalk or stop light. people just dart across the busy southern avenue. you can see from this video. police say a vehicle hit and killed one of the victims friday. other victim's daughter has this message for city leaders. >> you need to get out there and put a stop sign out there or stop light to save those people's lives. they're going to work, they're trying to get the bus. you need to do something. >>

molette green has more on the safety push you will see starting this afternoon. molette? >> reporter: aaron, all hands on deck, just hours away from kicking in at 3:00 p.m. all available officers and recruits are called in. more cops will be on foot. focusing on community policing. recruits will pass out crime related information. detectives will be out, focusing on following up on cases. all of this about increasing police visibility. and it's answering what some residents have asked for in the wake of not just the shootings that we have seen, also the additional uptick in armed robberies around the city. but this 48-hour initiative and stepped up police presence in general concerns some people this the community who want more options for young people. they say that's what the answer is. the mayor says she is also addressing that part of the equation with a $15 million plan to boost community groups that do engage young people in the city. all hands on deck. 48 hours, so it will end on sunday at 6:00 p.m. we're live outside police headquarters, i'm molette green, news4.

police headquarters i'm molette green. back to you. >> thanks, molette. >>> 5:18 right now. one of the arrests that molette mentioned came a few days ago after a man was stabbed to death. d.c. police arrested hector felix, they say he stabbed eric lee smith in the heart last week. it happened after smith bumped a little girl with his bag. some members of smith's family spoke exclusively to news4. >> i know he was my father, but he was more like a friend. the best friend, number one friend. basically, i lost a best friend when he died. >> now, we have put more of what smith's family had to say on the nbc washington app. we have put up a link to a gofundme page they started. they said they're struggling to pay his funeral expenses right now. that gofundme page has raised about $190 as of this point. >>> a father is facing murder charges for the death of his 5 week old son. d.c. police arrested 28-year-old robert smith sr. yesterday. police responded to the home on 9th street northwest and the call was for an unconscious baby. now at the time detectives did tell us that the chi

. >> molette green is outside the newly renovated school. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, brand spanking new, 540 at this school. the first thing that the kids will see when they arrive is this art structure behind me. the lights look like rain drops and etched at the top are weather or climate terms like groundwater and condensation. nearly $60 million put in this school. a lot of money and a lot of focus on strengthening the middle school options in the city. a lot riding on this to keep students in the age group from enrolling in the competition charter schools. now on this first day back, you're going to see a city leaders out and about at the schools. mayor bowser, the school chancellor, kaya henderson, greeting students. they will be at -- later this morning at woodson high school. hd woodson in ward 7. we will catch up with them when they get there. they'll be rolling out two precareer programs at that school this year. information technology is one of them. engineering is the other one. those programs are said to be a very p

news4's molette green live outside a new school in bladensburg with more on some of the changes. molette, good morning. >> reporter: aaron, good morning. yeah, we're outside of annapolis road academy. this is one of two international schools designed to meet students where they are in need. these are students who are international students, some of them are recent immigrants or second generation students still learning the english language. so this particular school will focus on their very special needs. we are in a diverse community where people speak different languages. and come from different parts of the world. so the school ceo, kevin maxwell, thought it was a good idea to bring this kind of school to the county. maxwell and the county executive are doing some regrouping after the county council rejected their school reform plan that called for a very large tax increase. so there will be hiring, six new literacy coaches to try to help students all over the county who are struggling. and they have hired 2,000 additional teachers because the school system has a lot more stude

in northeast d.c., outside hd woodson, molette green, news4. >>> outside the classrooms, the districtked off the first day of school with a new safety campaign, reminding drivers to slow down, keep kids safe. about 30 volunteers stood at some of the busiest intersections this morning and held up signs to get the word out. the campaign is being promoted on social media under t the #slowdown. >>> as more students head to class, we want you to show us your scholars. tweet wuss that hashtag, e-mail i see at wenbcwashington.com an we will be posting back-to-school pictures online. >>> celebrities are are joining the fight to to change the fight of a high school. julianne moore went to the school in the '70s, named after a confederate general and under fire since the deadly shooting in charleston. moore and cohen start and online petition to rename the school and just checked about an hour ago, there are now nearly 30,000 signatures on it. >>> we had a refreshing weekend but the humidity is starting to creep in a little bit, doug. >> it is creeping up there. the temperatures going up to aro

in northeast dc, molette green, news 4. >>> just how quickly things are changing. just since that story has been filed it has already now gone up to 95. we have got a crew on our way to another shoot iing in the distrt as well. >> a former police lieutenant is now charged with manufacturing meth. news 4 was first to report that an explosion at nist back in july may have been started by an employee. police found pseudo ephedrine. after the blast, bartly retired the next day. >>> and murder charges for the >>> and murder chargod for the son. cameras were at his ohm earlier this month when police responded to calls for an unconscious baby. now it is concluded that the baby died from blunt force injuries. >> and the first human case of west nile virus this year in the state. the infected person is an adult who lives in the baltimore city. meanwhile, ramping up the effort to stop the spread. the county is working with the maryland department offing a dullture to expand spraying for mow ski toes. the spraying starts around 7:30 tonight. the extra protection comes after a

in northeast d.c., molette green, news 4. >>> right now partly sunny in the metro area. temperatures are near 80 degrees and quite humid. and the storm team 4 radar showing us a line of rain showers. no lightning with this. now coming into the pands of west virginia. it's holding together and looks like it's moving into the northern shenandoah valley over the next hour or so, maybe near winchester, steven city, martin'sberg and a little bit later near frederick. a lot of this north of the metro area, maybe close to la ray as well. that's going to be about another half hour there. there's a live tower camera showing the haze in the air. right now 80 around the bay. reagan national now is up to 84 degrees. >>> a developing story out of bangkok. officials have released images of a suspect. take a look at these pictures from cc tv footage. thai police are looking for this man. he's wearing a backpack and a yellow shirt. the explosion on monday evening killed 22 people. 123 others with injured. in a separate incident today, thai officials say a man flu a small explosive from

i'm molette greene. >> something to keep in mind as you drive around today, please slow down for all the students back in school. you may notice volunteers around the district encouraging you to just stay aware. stick with us just a little bit longer. at 11:30, kristin wright already more on the intersections being targeted today. >> there was a welcome message tweeted this morning. schools are back in school today. more and her students are heading back to class and we want you to show us your scholars. you can send your pictures to our facebook page or e-mail us. we're posting a lot of those back to school pictures online and we'll even air a few of our fafrts rig faf favorites right here later. >> well, as so many students head back to school, we're going to tell you why more parents are worried about everything from exams to the headaches. plus it's what everyone in washington is talking about. not one, but two new pandas at the national zoo. we're live with why it could be a long road ahead. >> and also breaking news. wall street sent into a frenzy after the markets opened and p

news 4, molette greene is at a brand new school that caters to students from 19 different countries. >> reporter: i'm at a campus that is hosting two high schools. one is brand new. and it's the temporary location for new international school for immigrants and second generation students who make up about 24 % of the student population in this county, and could be at greatest risk for failing. this ninth grader is in the breakfast line at the new international high school at langly park. one of two schools in prince george's county focusing solely on teaching students who are still learning english. >> very, good. we practice more of my language and do well in school. >> reporter: the head of schools came to greet students as they got off buses. and entered this new school experience. >> with the opening of our school. >> reporter: doctor kevin max well, this says this is a way h out to students before they give up. coming to the school is optional. >> the graduation rate went up but it dropped 8% a year ago for our international students. we have to try some new things. >> reporter:

molette green is there, tracee wilkins. >> a whole lot of them. >> throwback thursday. >>> well, new this morning a blast rocked part of egypt, wounding several cairo police officers. overnight, we have learned who was claiming responsibility. >>> looking live outside the news4 studios where a flash flood watch is in effect for the d.c. metro area and tom has more on today's severe weather threats at 6:31. >>> a soaring number of teachers getting poached by neighboring school districts. your time now, 6:27. do you like the passaaadd? it's a good looking car. this is the model rear end event. the model year end sales event. it's year end! it's the rear end event. year end, rear end, check it out. talk about turbocharging my engine. you're gorgeous. what kind of car do you like? new, or many miles on it? get a $1000 volkswagen reward card on select 2015 passat models. or lease a 2015 passat limited edition for $189 a month after a $1000 bonus. >>> now at 6:30 much of the dmv under a flash flood watch. radar is showing a line of storms headed our why. >> but if you look live outside doe

news4's molette green is outside cougar elementary school in manassas park where they're testing year round class. what's the latest? >> reporter: angie, good morning. we are an hour away from seeing the first buses rolling in. this is breaking from tradition, and starting school well before labor day. all of this to raise the test scores, to improve student achievement. and close the gaps that leaves some of students behind. so they're looking at the benefits of a year-round school calendar or at least something close to that. this is a pilot program that sets aside days for extra support for those students who really need it. it lays out shorter breaks so students can better retain what they have learned in class. now, manassas park, the school district got a $50,000 grant and they will use some of that money to research and visit other schools that are doing this. so the first buses are set to roll in around 7:45 this morning on day when you feel more like hitting the pools than hitting the books that's the latest, live from outside cougar elementary school in manassas park. back t

news4's molette green is live at brook land middle school with more on changes for the coming school year. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. i want you to check something out first here at brookline middle school. something striking. chuck bell will get a kick out of this. look at this art design that sits outside this newly renovated school. the lights look like rain drops and etched in the design are weather or climate terms like groundwater, condensation. it's pretty cool. it's well lit outside this brand-new building. nearly $60 million to build this site. they're still working on a few other things but beautiful inside. we had a chance to talk to the security company working out here this morning. watching over this. dcps takes over at 7:00 a.m. and on the first day back, you can expect to see the mayor, muriel bowser, and the school chancellor out greeting students and teachers throughout the system. they will be visiting woodson high school in ward 7. rolling out -- that school rolling out two precareer programs. one in information technology. the other engineering

news4's molette green went to manassas park's hoover elementary to get the inside scoop on a new schedule>> i need individual pictures. >> reporter: anxious moments on the first day back to class. >> i'm nervous. >> reporter: arianna groves is starting fifth grade and her brother, christian, first grade. arriving early outside cougar elementary and manassas park elementary right next door to get started on a new school year starting three weeks early. >> i think it will be better for the students because the longer breaks tend to you know, tend to kind of knock them off a little bit. >> 'cause some kids usually forget most of the stuff during summer break. >> reporter: that's the focus this school year in all manassas park schools, to raise achievement and close a gap for some students who may lag behind. that's the cornerstone of this balanced calendar concept, offering two five-day special classes, the first coming after the nine weeks of instruction. >> the intersections provide students, all students in our school division, an opportunity not only for remediation to get caught up afte