steve handlesman, nbc news, washington. >>> one of the philadelphia's oldest charities says it's facing around uphill challenge as they try to help more families some is an especially stressed time for the ronald mcdonald house. a time when the house is in highest demand school is out, some more kids are undergoing treatments, many families bring siblings so they're not home alone. it's too hard for them to commute while their children are receiving in many cases life saving treatments. >> we need to basically accommodate more families. the demand is increasing and our vacancy rate is impossible to manage. >> to do that, the top priority is fund-raising and expansion. last year philadelphia's ronald mcdonald house hosted more than 2,000 families. they also had to turn that many away. >>> a new penn state study suggests a child's body composition may influence how their brains respond to food. state college researchers did brain scans and found the kids with higher fat content responded more powerfully to pictures of high calorie foods. the same kids had lower brain activity when she saw

. >> steve handlesman has the story. >> president obama said he's resuming diplomatic relations withuba knowing it will not change the communist government overnight. >> i believe this is the best way to advance our interests and support for democracy and human rights. >> in havana where the u.s. embassy will reopen after 54 years. cuban tv carried president obama live up 16th street from the white house, tv crews gathered at the office that will be havana's u.s. embassy. cuban coffee brewed nearby. >> i think relations with cuba should have started decades ago. >> i'm dying to go visit. >> many cuban americans are outraged. >> that's not going to work at all. >> we have gotten nothing in return and the castro regime has gotten a lot of legitimacy they have not earned. congress will not lift the economic embargo against cuba. john kerry goes to cuba soon to raise the stars and stripes. >> to protest that and try to slow things down many senate republicans and a prominent democrat robert menendez of new jersey vow to block the confirmation of a u.s. ambassador to cuba. steve handlesma

steve handlesman is live at the state department right now with details on a big step forward in u.s./cuba relations. steve? >> reporter: thanks. down here at the u.s. state department, this will be a re-establish. re-establishment of ties with cuba severed so long ago, barack obama was not yet born. president obama said he is resuming diplomatic relations with cuba knowing it will not change the communist government there overnight. >> but i believe that american engagement through our embassy, our businesses and most of all, through our people, is the best way to vans our interests and support for democracy and human rights. >> reporter: in havana where the u.s. embassy will reopen after 54 years, cuban tv carried president obama live. up 16th street from the white house, tv crews gathered at the cuban office that will be havana's u.s. embassy. cuban coffee brews nearby at a cafe where most hailed the news of an embassy swap. >> i think it's a win-win situation. >> i think the relations with cuba should have started decades ago. >> i'm dying to go visit. >> reporter: in miami, many

steve handlesman is following the developments from capitol hill hill. >> reporter: rust rotting the memorial bridge between arlington and the national mall is one example. a bridge collapse in california enough of the danger of underfunding transportation. after the train wreck two months ago in philadelphia that killed and critically injured 19 people congress cut amtrak funding. and overall cannot agree on a 6-year $350 billion transportation bill. >> we all use infrastructure we want safe bridges, roads without potholes in them. it is sad. this should be common ground instead it's more washington at its worst. >> house members considered another stopgap. >> let's potholes get deeper and we need a long term transportation bill six years, not three months. >> congress has not funded faa or other government agencies passed september. concerned that gop leaders might cut a deal with democrats. a north carolina conservative is making a move to oust speaker john boehner. >> this is one member right? i have broad support among my colleagues. >> partisanship is worse. all the new mega do

steve handlesman is on capitol hill. >> thanks. a long time backer of israel, michigan democratic congressman sander levin cited his jewish faith and backed this nuclear deal giving a much needed boost to the secretary of state. >> iran will not be able to make a nuclear weapon. >> many lawmakers are not buying it. >> do you think there is a ris thak iran will cheat? >> i don't think they are able to develop a nuclear weapon secretly. >> kerry should have blocked iran from building missiles. to get our allies to ratchet those sanctions up you can bring iran to its knees. i want to hear somebody tell me how they are going to do that without disagreement. in israel many fear the deal many warning that it could lead to a new holocaust. >> we don't trust people who have threatened to kill israel, threat on the wipe them off the map. >> it's going to be a multiweek emotional debate. >> the betting now that members of congress not to support the sanctions and then comes the really big fight. news 4, wendy back to you. >> thanks steve. an

steve handlesman on capitol hill now with more on this story. steve? >> reporter: the white house said al qaeda is much less a threat here in the homeland because it has been des mateded by the obama drone program. cimated by the obama drone program. but it to many it is looking like a winner. the fbi is investigating how mohammad youssuf abdulazeez might have been inspired by isis, but isis is stepping up its already intense effort, on the web and twitter, to urge attacks in the u.s. in the past six to eight weeks. suspects being arrested, as many as ten isis-inspired plots broken up this summer a big increase. head of homeland security jeh johnson, confirmed today that the bigger worry than a 9/11-style attack by a team from overseas. >> we have got to be now concerned about the home-grown threat, which is harder to detect. >> reporter: need until a haystack said fbi director comey, giving isis credit. >> they have invested in moments and -- months and months of pushing this message and it resonated with troubled souls. >> reporter: why just now call

live at the cuban embassy in washington, 16th street, i'm steve handlesman, news4. wendy back to you. . thanks, steve. >>> a popular lake in maryland is adding more restrictions to jet packs. the board at deep creek late lake in garrett county says jet packs cannot be used on weekends or the holidays according to a report in the cumberland times news. the board says it is not singling out jet pack users. those are the same restrictions in place for other personal water craft. any jet pack user in the state of maryland has to be at least 16 years of age, wear a helmet and be in water that is more than six feet deep. >>> it's been weeks since her parents outed her but a former naacp official isn't backing down. rachel dolezal told "vanity fair" she still identifies as black and says it is not a costume. last month, her parents went public saying she was a white woman passing as black and dolezal say she had lost her job and friends because of it. she told "vanity fair" she still does feel like she is -- like she hasn't misled or deceived anybody. >>> could a daughter f

i'm steve handlesman, news4. >> thanks, steve. >>> now to the weather all eyes on the skies as we look ahead to the fourth of july forecast. we know there's a chance for rain tomorrow, but vj's here to pinpoint the exact timing. vj? >> that's right. a chance for rain and of course that means for us no bashout is expected. we are talking about some brief interruptions from the rain. here is what we have got going on right now, a little bit of rain coming through our area currently, light showers moving east and northeastward they have been pulling out of areas of fauquier county through prince william through 66. fairfax wet with the showers and wet weather reported currently inside the beltway, around alexandria, of course the ballgame could be a little wet. folks probably pulling their ponchos out about now with the cloud cover now, going to see the temperatures start to drop. we got into the low 80s, mid-70s by 9:00. still a chance of an isolated shower by 9:00, a better chance of rain past 11 p.m. and midnight. so, we are stacked heavy tomorrow during the early part of the day with

news4's steve handlesman has the latest. >> reporter: this plan by trump is a clear signal that he will not back down over the controversial issue of illegal immigration from mexico. he goes tomorrow to the actual border at lorado, texas, where he will meet with border guards and local law enforcement who are backing trump's hard-line stance that the border needs to be sealed, that illegal immigration needs to be stopped. based on trump's performance over the past few weeks and his huge surge in the polls to the undisputed leader in the republican race for the nomination, look for more jaw-dropping escalations in his border campaign and attack on republican rivals. this comes as federal regulators today released trumps financials. trump has said for a while now he is worth $10 billion. and he might be. his financial records, his financial disclosure form show his net worth is at least $1.4 billion, but there's a range in there, it could be 10. that's lot more money than ross perot had. it's a lot more money than mitt romney had, making donald trump the richest american to ever run for p

steve handlesman joins us from capitol hill where the debate over gun laws and mental health is back in focus tonight. steve? >> reporter: it is wendy, thanks. up here in congress after the sandy hook school massacre, tougher gun control was defeated. tougher gun control was defeated. at the same time, many states have cut their funding for mental health care. now, both issues are from the burner. lafayette is the third u.s. mass shooting in 37 days by a suspect said to have mental or emotional issues. in charleston, where nine died, it was dylann roof. in chattanooga, where five died, mohammad abdulazeez. but all three accused killers got at least one gun. president obama says his failure to tighten gun controls is the greatest frustration of his presidency. but in lafayette today, some suggest the fix is better mental health care. >> in order to hopefully avoid situations like this occurring. >> reporter: experts say our nation's mental health system is overburdened and poorly funded. >> we probably have 3.5 million adults in the united states with serious and sometimes disabling ps

steve handlesman has our report. >> reporter: president obama said he is resuming diplomatic relations with cuba knowing it will not change the communist government there overnight. >> but i believe that american engagement through our embassy our businesses and most of all, through our people, is the best way to advance our interests and support for democracy and human rights. >> reporter: in havana, the u.s. embassy will reopen after 54 years cuban tv carried president obama live. up 16th street from the white house crews gathered at the office of what will be havana's embassy. cuban coffee brews nearby at a cafe where most hailed the news of an embassy swap. >> i think it's a win-win situation. >> i think the relations with cuba should have started decades ago. >> i'm dying to go visit. >> reporter: in miami, many cuban-americans are outraged. >> that's not gonna work at all. >> we have gotten nothing in return and the castro regime get a lot of legitimacy they have not earned. >> reporter: congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen says congress will not lift the economic embargo against cu

as steve handlesman reports, some terror experts say a good way to think about today's response is like dress rehearsal, especially as we head into a holiday weekend, with some heightened concerns about attacks on the u.s. >> reporter: with washington already on alert there was a huge police response to the navy yard. an employee thought she heard a gunshot and workers sheltered again. in 2013 gunman aaron alexis killed 12 people at the base. today, it was a false alarm. there was no criminal act here. there was no shots fired. >> chief, how does increased concern about independence day, july 4th terrorism, affect this response? >> we take every event here in washington very serious and our posture remains very high for all special events tapped will continue for the fourth. >> reporter: using social media, eyes is is you recalling holiday attacks in the u.s. chicago police are on heightened alert, like the nypd. the white house fence is fortified. but d.c. is full of tourists. >> there's a ton of police. i don't know. i feel safe. i haven't thought anything about security issues. >> re

live at the cuban embassy in washington, 16th street, i'm steve handlesman news4. >>> donald trump soarses to a bic race lead in the race for president. a new poll out as it seems everyone has his opinion about comments for john mccain. >>> and a murder suspect a judge gave him a break. a couple hours later, he -- [ inaudible ] >>> metro says it has a new position that is going to improve your safety, but ♪ ♪ know you can keep your financial big picture under control. know you can see how much you have to spend and whether you should transfer funds. know you can easily keep track of what you're putting away. and know you're budgeted for the great escape. thanks to virtual wallet by pnc. ♪ ♪ iran keeps their nuclear facilities. military sites can go uninspected. restrictions end after 10 years. then iran could build a nuclear weapon in two months. iran has violated 20 international agreements and is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. >>> it's one of the biggest changes yet following that deadly smoke incident at the l'enfant plaza metro station earlier this year. for the first time eve

news4's steve handlesman has more on what's keeping the director up at night. >> reporter: not so much al qaeda. the white house seeking credit said al qaeda is less of a threat because it has been des mateded by the obama drone war, but despite administration efforts, eyes is is looking like a winner, syria, iraq and online online. the latest terrorist tragedy in our country, chattanooga, the government has not said the gunman killed in the shootout was, in fact, influenced by eyes circumstance the assumption of many and you look at what happened just since may, before and even after the alert, the terrorist alert, focused on the fourth of july. something like eight different isis-inspired terrorist plots uncovered, numerous arrests. that's far, far higher number than similar time ever. administration officials, james comey yesterday saying isis a big problem. secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson today saying isis and home-group terror inspired by isis is the number one threat, to which you might look and say, we know that already. we have known that since "charlie hebdo" in pa