they even called pepco out to see what the problem was. the utility company quickly deciding it was not on their end. they are working to see if technology at the monument played a role. >> reporter: this is what the washington monument is supposed to look like at this time of the night, lit up for all nights to see, miles away, but instead, this was the view that most witnessed tuesday evening instead. a dark monument blended in with the cloudy sky. >> kind of upset because i cannot see the washington monument because the lights are not on. >> reporter: the national pa problem around 7:00, and pepco came out soon after that to inspect, but now they believe about automated program was the root of the issue. this is not the first problem they have encountered this year. ongoing elevator issues will keep it closed until 2019. either way people tonight tried to make the best of the dark situation. >> it's still striking in a way. >> reporter: perhaps it was most evident from virginia. tom sparkman and christopher jewel snapping these pictures

we just got word from pepco that it is not a problem on their end. this has something to do with the monument itself. something similar happened last tuesday. the park service was blaming it on malfunctioning light timers. the national park service says its engineer is on the scene working to try to fix the problem. the monument is closed to visitors for the next couple of years as they make repairs to the elevator system. >>> the man accused in the deadly shooting at an airport in florida was in court for the first time today. the judge told him he could face the death penalty. we're also getting a look at some disturbin showing the moments leading up to the rampage. >> reporter: in less than 20 minutes inside a federal court iraq war veteran esteban santiago learned he could now face the dpeath penalty. he's facing federal charges involving murder, firearms and airport violence. it comes as disturbing video shows the moment the shooting at the fort lauderdale airport began. steve frapier says this laptop stopped a bullet. >> it absolutely saved my

. >> pepco is back at the washington monument after last evening's blackout. i'm sam ford. tell you why nex did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's 10 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 150 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business. michelle: for the second time in a week, the washington monument lights go dark. this time it was flash to alert pilots went out. d.c. bureau chief sam ford has the national park service explanation today. sam, what do they say happened? sam: they don't know. they only know the power did not go in the monument. i have look up. the red eyes are winking. so they have power in the monument at this point. but half an hour ago, pepco trucks showed up here at the monument and they tried to determine exactly what caused last evening's blackout. we are told the electrical situation is

in investment could be offset by the money that exelon paid to the state as part of the purchase of pepco. maureen: virginia governor terry mcauliffe says he will veto any bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. he called similar bans of other states socially divisive. he says he doesn't typically talk about the proposal legislation but want to reassure the companies thinking of investing in virginia such a bill would not become law. jonathan: we know four of the five living presidents will be in attendance at the upcoming presidential for weeks only the carters rsvp but today george w. bush will attend and now president and mrs. obama. the inauguration is here soon. it's 17 days away from swearing in on january 20. d.c. is going to get another new family. ivank trump and her husband will be moving in the home in the northwest d.c. neighborhood. it was sold two weeks ago for $5.5 million. maureen: it's less than two blocks from the future residents to the current first family. president obama and michelle obama will move in an 78200 square foot home after the -- 8200 square foo

pepco temporarily shut off the power because of debt 3 for good. >> it's time to go. >> reporter: but to solve the murder, detectives usually need help. for starters, they need to know who the victim is. police are hoping someone out there recognizes the woman or something about her, and if you think you know her, they would like for you to give them a call. reporting live in palmer park, i'm ellison barber, wusa 9. >> ellison, thank you. >> reporter: more sad news into our wusa 9 news room. a toddler died after a medical issue at day care. the 3-year-old boy was at the child care sent either -- center at the labor department. he was taken to the hospital, but doctors were not able to save him. >>> new information on the story you first saw here last night. fairfax county police released the name of a man shot and killed by officers. 32-year-old mohammed wounded two men in his townhouse and then set fire to the place while holding another man hostage. police confronted him at the front door, and he had a knife, and they fired rubber bullets and a taser at first, but that did not stop

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 the smart phone or the tablet. it's a great resource when the weather turns. alison: day four of the first 100 days for trump started with a slew of the executive orders and memos included leaving the proposed transpacific partnership, reinstating a ban on federal money for international groups performing abortions and hiring and a pay freeze for so

pepco said the problem was not on its end.t is live there's an issue with an automated system that controls the lights. the popular tourist attraction next two years or so. it closed because of the chronic problems with the elevator. those repairs will cost in the neighborhood of 2 million dollars to $3 million. the closure means about 500,000 people year are not able to go .nside the washington monument authorities hoping to be here and figure out the problem very early this morning. suzanne kennedy, "good morning washington." larry: that is a gorgeous shot. look at that. veronica: it is not going to look like that friday. larry: things to watch. stay tuned for more updates. veronica: new guidance will be coming out. we will be taking a look at the very latest information, bringing it to you, really taking your hour-by-hour taking the storm system apart as to how it will haven on area roads, but travel. in if you plan on going, say, south over the weekend, there's another system that may be hitting areas of southern virginia

sam: the pepco crews were here an hour or so. they left 15 minutes ago. they are still trying to determine exactly what caused last night's power failure. total power failure in the monument. it's the latest in a series of problems here. the problems seem to grow and grow. last week the spotlights stayed off because of a timer and last night there was a fault in the undergoing center that brings the we are working to trace the source of that. override the ground fault and get the power back on. >> it was off for two hours. 5:30 until 7:30. >> we notified the f.a.a. of the outage and going to let them make any alterations to their operations as necessary. sam: we could see last night when the lights began to come back on. but with the place closed down for elevator problems, now this. sam: one tourist said the last four times he visited d.c. the monument has been closed to visito sam: you can see the lights are blinking atop the monument. they issued a gnomem, notice to airmen about the situation here. the flight path is a mile or so away. flight operation

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. alison: thank you. while the weather in the area has been miserable it could be worse. a lot worse. a weekend of powerful storms. just terrible. they rip through several states in the south. 19 people have died after dozen of tornadoes from mississippi to the florida panhandle and alabama. some of the worst damage where the storm wiped out a mobile home park in minutes. >> we just laid there and we prayed. lord please let it pass over. let it pass over. alison: georgia's governor declared a state of emergency in the counties impacted. president trump says he will send in federal support. this is out west in santa clarita north of los angeles. all of southern california has just been hammered by rain. there have been a whole host of weather related problems like this one. michelle: her

a lot of those condos are dark already because pepco shut down power because of the nonpayment of bills. if you can identify this woman, police want to hear from you. >>> we see them every day. sanitation workers making our lives a little bit better with each collection. but today one of them was kill t in laurel. 30-year-old marcus colbert was riding on a trash truck when it was hit by an out of control lincoln navigator. it happened near the intersection of old sandy spring road and castle away. colbert is the son of a local public works employee. we don't know if the driver who hit him will face charges. this is the second deadly crash on sandy spring road. people who live in laurel say colbert was always helpful. he was awarded a meritorious service award at the city employee awards luncheon in 2016. >>> white house press secretary sean spicer held his first formal news conference today. he defended his claim from the weekend of president trump's inauguration was the most watched of all time. >> 31 million people watched it on television. combine that with the tens of millions of pe