let's get to sam sweeney live in northeast with the latest. sam? we are talking about the eastbound lanes of rhode island, east of the rhode island metro station. you can still see police on the scene. we are waiting for homicide investigators to arrive and start combing for clues. a man was shot around midnight in the stomach, rushed to the hospital, where he later died. police do not have much of a suspect description, but they are looking for a blue ford with tinted windows that fled from the scene, around midnight. if you had been in the area or had heard something, police want to hear from you. willarea of rhode island remain closed through the rush-hour. trafficight has the around the rest of the area. julie: will be a tough commute through northeast washington because of the closure point and the ongoing investigation. the outbound lanes remain closed outbound on rhode island avenue between 10th street and 12th street northeast. inbound, the lanes are open. no problem out of cheverly in northeast. this is a crash before kenilworth avenue. as

sam sweeney has the story. plant announcement in about one hour has a lot of people talking in maryland. should students go back to school after labor day, or should they begin the school year in august? franchot, the comptroller, says the answer is after labor day. he and larry hogan will hold a press conference in ocean city about 1:00. sources say is possible hogan could use executive action to force districts to start after labor day. we took to the streets of maryland today, specifically prince george's county, to find out what parents it seems many agree with the governor. >> after for sure. when i was younger we started after, and i feel like the kids need a little more time for summer. >> i love it. it gives me more time with my children. >> after labor day. it gives parents time to prepare for school, and it is not a rush-rush. sam: while most of those parents do agree that school should start after labor day, several local school boards, superintendents, and even the maryland state education associati

sam sweeney standing by with an update.. we now know that residents called in to complain about the strong smell of gas just days before that deadly explosion. take a listen.. the caller says the smell of gas lingered in the stairway of the building that exploded. the dispatcher asked several questions trying to pin point the smell which appears to have been both inside and outside of the building. many saying the reports should have been a call for caution.. 7 people died in that explosion. firefighters say they did check out the building and went door to door but didn't find any smell of natural gas. a-t-f has confirmed the cause of the explosion was a natural gas leak and investigators still trying to pin point the exact location. an official report should be released by authorities in the next couple of weeks. today in ellicott city.. crews will get to work on rebuilding main street weeks after deadly floods tore through the historic neighborhood. main street will be closed for three weeks during repairs. howard county o

sam sweeney has that story. learned that prince george's county headstart program will soon be under the control of a denver-based company. this comes after the federal government pulled a $6.4 million grant, largely due to the incompetence of district employees. today a county executive welcome students back to their first day here at glass manner elementary school. norhere at glass ma elementary school. this is still certainly not the way that he and the superintendent, kevin maxwell, wanted to start the school year. >> it certainly is embarrassing. it embarrasses me, it angers me. i have to make sure that these children are safe, that parents have a safe places other children, and then we make a correction so this never happens again. forming aistrict is transition plan for a denver-based company to take over. once that happened, all the staff within the headstart program must reapply for their jobs. kevin maxwel all of this is only temporary. reporting in oxon hill, prince george's county, i am sam sweeney.

our sam sweeney tells us what and how much they are fighting for. their energy is probable, and their message is clear. >> we will not live in poverty. the this union represents drivers who shuttle thousands of people around the campus of nih. they said they have not had a contract in four years. >> we are asking for a raise and a fair contract. the company does not want to give a fair contract, they have refused to come to the table fairly. sam: most of the people you see you behind me are not actually drivers. these people are union employees and other union members. they say the actual drivers for this contractor are too afraid to come out here because they may lose their job. , once t terminated on the campus with a driver, they are in fear. sam: the company says the union is manipulating their company bad employees. they go on to say they pay drivers about $19 and hour, three dollars an hour higher than regulations call for. as for those rallying today, they pled to head bad to -- plan to head to nih to put pressure. sam sweeney, abc 7 news. th

reporting live in largo, i am sam sweeney. larry: would you rather have school start before or after labor day in maryland, and right now, the results -- 2/3 of you are saying we will take after labor day. keep voting. wjla.com/votenow. we will watch these tallies throughout the morning. autria: and enjoy staying in school through the end of june. all julie is talking about is horrible traffic for your morning commute. it is still august, but the september shock is already setting in on the roads as summer comes to end and kids head back to school. the hard numbers show it is only going to get worse. >> especially in the mornings, traffic going up significantly between an average day and that increase ranges anywhere from 16% to 45%, the increase in the delay that happens between those two months. autria: the transportation planning board said the notorious terrible traffic tuesday coming up next week is overblown. lastct, and four of the five years, traffic, the tuesday after labor day, has not been worse than any other day a

sam sweeney is following this one. sam? sam: there is an ongoing investigation at this hour. take a look at this video, it appears to show a d.c. police officer pinning this woman up against his dangling a foot from the ground. the incident unfolded near howard university. the woman said she believed she was stopped because the officer thought you was a prostitute. she says what actually happened was that she was having an argument with a man who propositioned her. we don't know the exact circumstances that led up to the video, but we can tell you that she was not arrested or cited. she said this was a clear case of rasmussen and told abc news that she plans to sue. police are reviewing this video and are working with officers to figure out exactly what happened. we are outside here and working to figure out where this investigation stands. back to you guys inside. crews have now located a seventh victim dead in the rubble of last apartment explio explosion. investigators are trying to pinpoint the exact cause. if you want to find out how you can help the victims, go to wjla.

with more details on the scene, we say hello to sam sweeney. sam: we have been watching this accident all morning long. it happened it to: 15 this morning. said, completely shut down. an accident reconstruction team is on the scene. the vehicles involved, no tow trucks here yet. working to figure out exactly what happened here this morning. at least one person was taken from the vehicle with critical injuries, another person taken to the hospital as well. a pretty serious accident as we try to fear out what happened. that's the latest, live from the outer loop of the beltway. we want to get to breaking news from los angeles. a major scare at lax. fleeing, some even onto the tarmac, after reports of shots fired. you can see how panicked it was. reports of gunshots appeared to be faults. but it did force aground stop. -- false. but it did force ground stop. police are still investigating what led to all of this chaos. look at those lines outside the terminal. this incident comes two weeks after chaos erupted at new york's jfk airport. similar fals

sam sweeney is at the meeting with more on what is being said there. sam. : it was a packed meeting, standing room only. a late august board meeting. the topics today discussed the safety every single day. the main topic was the east falls church derailment that took place last month. the preliminary investigation shows the track had actually deteriorated and track inspectors failed to do their jobs correctly. there were track inspections done, but it is possible the reports or falsified. that is now why a criminal investigation has been opened in the case. also addressed today, the running of red lights by metro train operators. toy had taken several steps prevent this going forward, including new training and better radio communication. report,esterday's saying the train operators , ited to set parking brakes is also addressing those issues as well and setting new safety standards for that. the takeaway lot of safety issues. it is simply going to take a lot of time because there are so many problems. my colleague is still in the ongoing meeting. jummy

sam sweeney has the story. sam: we learned that the prince george's county head start program will be under control of a denver based company. this comes after the federal government pulled $6.4 million grant largely due to the incompetence of district employees. today county executive baker welcomed the head start students back to the first day at glass mentor elementary school. the message to parents is everything within the district will operate as normal with no interruption. but this is not the way he and superintendent kevin maxwell want to start the school year. >> it's early and it is embarrassing. it angers me. but the next thing is i have to make sure the children are safe. that the parents have a place to send their children. then we make a correction sam: they are forming a transition plan. once that happens all the staff in the head start program must reapply for their jobs. superintendent kevin maxwell says he believes it's temporary. i'm sam sweeney. back to you. michelle: there are several change

sam sweeney is live in largo with more. must see video this morning.. take a look at this. connecticut backed into a gas pump tipping it over onto a another car with children inside. within seconds, both vehicles caught fire. fortunately , both children a 2-year-old and 7-year-old were pulled out before the car went up in flames. investigators believe the driver who struck the gas pumped intended to hit the brake but instead hit the gas,. no one was injured. interview since the olympics. embattled swimmer ryan lochte sat down with on good morning america and confirmed he is headed to "dancing with the stars". he says he is ready to put that scandal in rio behind him. abc's elizabeth hur with more from lochte and why he says he decided to take on the ballroom. it's 5: and time for a check on weather. kidd o'shea in the now.. of jail this morning on a $250,000 bail after being arrested yesterday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. much of the day chris was in a standoff at his home with lapd, posting videos on his instagram accusing police of unfairly demonizing him

sam sweeney is live at m-p-d headquarters.. with the video everyone is talking about. good morning sam. an update now to that deadly explosion at a explosion at a silver spring apartment. a seventh victim has been found dead in the rubble. the bodies have not been identified and no one else is believed to be missing. nevertheless-- search teams will continue sifting through the rubble this morning. dozens remain displaced - as investigators try to pinpoint the exact cause. if you want to find out how you can help the victims - go to wjla.com. breaking overnight - in the district-- police are looking for the gunman behind a triple shooting on first washington. it happened just blocks from nats park. police say a man and two women were shot. one woman was shot in the hip and ankle, the other in the leg and the man was shot in the face. all three are expected to survive. police are now looking for a tan-colored vehicle that may be incolved. if you have any information on the shooting, you are asked to contact police. a local police officer breaks out his best dance moves a

sam sweeney is live at the new carrollton metro with the troubling new report.. prince george's county police are stepp turning our attention to the race for the white house now ... hillary clinton returns to the campaign trail today and is fending off personal attacks of being a bigot. during a speech in mississippi last night ... the heart of g-o-p country ... mr. trump had this to say ... trump also sharply criticized her time as secretary of state and the clinton foundation ... even though he has personally donated more than 100 thousand dollars. clinton fired back saying trump is showing his true colors and that he is taking the hate movement mainstream. she also says her work as secretary of state was not influenced by outside sources and her policy decisions were based on what she thought was right. and some star power on the trail today here in our area. scandal's bellamy today here in our area. scandal's bellamy young will be in northern virginia campaigning for hillary clinton. she'll focus on what's at stake for women and their families in this electio

let's get to sam sweeney live in northeast with the latest. sam?e are talking about the eastbound lanes of rhode island, east of the rhode island metro station. you can still see police on the scene. we are waiting for homicide investigators to arrive and start combing for clues. a man was shot around midnight in the stomach, rushed to the hospital, where he later died. police do not have much of a suspect description, but they are looking for a blue ford with tinted windows that fled from the scene, around midnight. if you had been in the

sam sweeney with the very latest on the investigation. sam: the only thing left at this homicide scene are these rubber gloves and used radical supply bags save this man's life. just before midnight, it was a much different scene. that is when police say a shot -- shots rang out, a man was shot of the stomach. paramedics tried to save his life but he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. these lanes of rhode island avenue between 10th and 12th were closed. this as homicide investigators 7:30, for clues three by firefighters had sprayed soap and water to clean up the gruesome scene. police have not released a motive or suspect information, but they believe a blue ford with tinted windows was involved. if you have any information in this murder, you are asked to contact police. this is the 89, cited the district so far this year. homicide inhe 89th the district so far this year. a string of stabbings -- jummy: history of stabbings reported. less than an hour later, police responded to another stabbing in the 1700 block of columbia road. o

sam sweeney is following the story from the live desk. sam? sam: good afternoon, the arged attacker screamed "allah 5 akbar" the us suspect is being identified at 20-year-old wasil is farooqui, a u.s. discern who lived in roanoke. he may have ties to terror, within the past 10 minutes the victim has but don't believe he was ttempting to behead the people as previously reported. he traveled to turkey and may have tried to enter syria. now he's being held on no bond but both victims are expected to survive. law enforcement officials don't believe he had a connection to isis but says farooqui has been on the radar. goldberg is working his sources and will have the latest coming up on abc 7 news first at 4. back to you, larry. larry: d.c. mayor miral goldber picking a chief to fill the top position. once kathy lanier retires. peter newsham spent 27 years, the last 14 years as assistant chief and will take over as interim chief on the 17th. chief lanier announced she'll step down next month to take a job with the nfl based in new york. mayor bowser

what happens inside your reporting live at the new carrollton metro station this morning, i am sam sweeney. autria: sam, thank you. montgomery county students go back to school on monday. some parents of eastern middle school students have c walk to school includes a dangerous stretch of university boulevard east in silver spring. the school system does not offer bus services to middle schoolers who live within 1.5 miles of school, and some parents want the policy changed. in june, a car hit a 14-year-old boy as he was walking home from school. i fell to the floor, and the car just drove away. i was thinking, "did that really just happen?" i did not know what to think. it had never happened before. notes: the school crossing guards help students negotiate university boulevard east. larry: a heads up if you are near the pentagon this morning. a mass casualty exercise is planned for 9:00 a.m. you may see police and emergency response activity near the pentagon. again, from 9:00 until 1:00 and exercise near the pentagon. it is just a drill. 6:05. extraing today, an special high-security pract

i'm sam sweeney, taking you to one of d.c.'s brand-new schools. but how did we end up here?is mom thought he had the flu and that he was covered by the meningococcal meningitis vaccine he had received. until 2014 there were no vaccines for meningitis b in the u.s. now there are. while uncommon, meningitis b can trumenba is a vaccine for 10 through 25 year olds to help prevent group b meningococcal disease. trumenba should not be given if you had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose. most common side effects were injection-site pain, fatigue... headache, muscle pain, and chills. ask your doctor or pharmacist about all the risks and benefits of trumenba and tell them if you've received any other meningitis b vaccines. meningitis b can be spread by typical sharing like... a drink... a spoon... a kiss. it all started here... it might have been prevented with trumenba. ask your doctor or pharmacist about trumenba. >> you are watching "good morning washington," on your side. back to school for thousands of kids across the area. autria: including right h happening in d.

michelle: sam sweeney on the scene early this morning after a flurry of violence rocked the district overnight. one man is dead. several others injured. two were shot. another four three of the attacks went down in the few blocks. we pick up the story from one of the stabbings. a busy few hours for police. stephen tschida? stephen: very business hours this morning. two people shot, one fatally and four people stabbed. the recent one happened at the heart of columbia heights, one of the busiest neighborhood in the city. a lot of people wondering what is going on? a map shot and killed before midnight -- man shot and killed before midnight. another shot and injuried in southeast. moments after the fatal shooting a string of stabbings had police scrambling in northwest. >> riffraff. a lot of riffraff. that's all i know. stephen: the first at georgia avenue and blair road in northwest. domestic. moments later another stabbing at 16th and an hour later 1700 block of columbia road. the fourth at the bustling intersection of irving and 14th street. in the heart of columbia heights. >> you g