i'm tony tull at the news 4 live desk with breaking news. cuba just announced starting january 13th, cuban residents will no longer need to apply for an exit visa. ne need only show their passport and visa. and also extend the amount of time cubans are allowed to stay abroad. it has been extended for 24 months. as it stands now, cubans lose rights after they have been gone from the country for 11 months. >>> investigators trying to determine what caused a deadly gas explosion in eastern china. surveillance video shows the explosion that left one person dead, at least ten injured, and three others missing early monday morning. authorities say liquidified gas escaped from the building. >>> police say the students set fire to a truck, a bus, and other vehicles monday morning. riot police raided three colleges in mexico the students occupied, protesting changes in curriculum requiring mexican students to study english and computer science. at least 60 officers and students were hurt. officials and student leaders are in talks to find a peaceful

with ways to deal with all of that, we're joining tony tull in forestville. good morning, tony. >> tom, good morning. it's been the theme for the last 24 hours or so. it's all about the preparation. folks going to lowe's, home dep depot, the grocery stores, getting the supplies they need, if hurricane sandy does make land fall, that they are well prepared. pepco is well-prepared. they have about 400 contractors on stand by. and they've also put out a request for mutual aid. what that basically is saying is all the power companies to the south and to the west of our region, if hurricane sandy should hit, they will send additional crews to our area to help with some repairs. as of yesterday, pepco just started sending out crews early to start inspecting transformers. they were inspecting power poles as well as some of the big connections just to do everything they can to make sure they are as well-prepared as possible and to minimize the damage should this hurricane come through. about 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, pepco is expected to have a press conference to up

news 4's tony tull is live in capitol heights with more on what we can expect today. good morning, tony. >> reporter: angie, good morning. it was september 17th when marck marckel ross was killed on his way to school here in capitol heights. to this day, prince george's county police have no suspects into the murder. this morning the police will be out between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. between rollins avenue and central park drive. the detectives are hoping to locate an unidentified person they believe may have been robbed the same morning marckel was killed. according to prince george's police, that person did not report the robbery, and investigators hope that person may have information as to a possible description of the person they are looking for. if you have any information, prince george's police would love to hear from you. we are live in capitol heights, tony tull. >>> police are searching for a person who attacked a woman jogging in bethesda. the attack happened around 7:00 on the capitol crescent trail near borookaway drive. the 27-year-old woman was knocked unco

live at the news desk, tony tull. aaron and angie, back to you. >> tony, thanks. >>> police are investigating a shooting in northwest. it happened after 10:00 last night at new york avenue and north capitol street. police found a man shot in the arm and a woman shot in the leg. they are expected to be okay. no word yet on if the shooter has been identified. >>> a traffic alert for drivers this morning. work on a major street scape project on "u" street begins today. crews will begin digging trenches along the half mile of "u" street between 9th and 14th streets. new sidewalks and drainage will eventually be put in there. that work was supposed to begin in june but was delayed because of permit issues. curbside parking in the area will be limited because of construction. crews do not expect any delay on traffic flow. >>> the election is president obama's to lose. according to a new study, the ap says the president would be reelected if the election were held today. according to its analysis, he would win at least 271 e

i'm tony tull live in nats park. back to the game. >> today's game could create a traffic nightmare downtown. it will likely end as the evening rush is beginning. ddot will have traffic officers on hand to keep things moving smoothly before and after the game. metro is running extra trains on the green line. if you're driving, going to the game, you might want to consider an alternative than the cash expensive lots around the game. it's hard to find those lots. they fill up quickly. pack at the anacostia rail station. >> anacostia is one stop away from the rail yard, and it's in the reverse direction of where most customers are going. you're actually moving away from the crowds. you go one stop, it's two minutes, and you're back at your car. >> that's a good tip. metro also suggests you have enough money to load on your fare card for the ride home before the game. that way you can get out as quickly as possible. show off your natitude. e-mail us your picture of your family at the game. the address is natspic@nbcwashi

news 4's tony tull is live with more. tony, good morning. what are you seeing out there? >> reporter: a lot of people in the area dealing with branches and trees down. now everybody starting to make plans on what to do to clean up once some of this rain goes away. a little while ago, you saw megan mcgrath, that tree that fell between those houses. this family not so lucky, 7000 block of conte and royal. this massive, massive tree fell on the house early this morning. good news to report, no injuries. the family is okay. they're staying with friends in the area. guys, i just want to show you how massive this tree is. i'm about 6'3", and you can actually see that this stump actually is higher than i am. this tree very large, weighs a lot. surprisingly, did not do that much damage to the house. you would think a tree this size would split a house like this, but i took a look inside, and it didn't seem too bad. they're going to come out and assess the damage once sandy kind of clears up. another thing we're seeing this morning, guys, power lines. you take a look here. this is

tony tull, news 4. >>> 6:21 is our time right now. time for weather and traffic on the ones. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein here. tom? >> sandy still unloading rain and snow throughout a huge part of the northeast and into the midwest. snowing now, southern shenandoah valley right along skyline drive. maybe even some of the peaks into the appalachians. right around the washington metro area, still have moderate rain falling, and the winds thankfully have pretty much diminished a lot down to 20 mile an hour gusts. temperatures are chilly. only in the low to mid-40s much of the region. hour by hour today, it will stay chilly. the winds will diminish. we've got gusts 25 to 30, and they'll stay that way off and on into the afternoon as the rain continues off and on and finally ends around dawn. storm team 4 four-day forecast, improving news to tomorrow, thursday, and friday. afternoon highs in the 50s as we gradually dry out. that continues into the weekend. looks like good weather for trick or treaters tomorrow night. chilly start to each morning, though, all the way thr

news 4's tony tull is live with an update. morning. >> reporter: eun, good morning. 30 minutes ago we spoke with ddot, and they said they weren't going to be able to finish the road work until 10:00 a.m. this morning. i spoke to a supervisor, and he said, we're calling an audible. going to fill the sinkhole with concrete, and cover it back up. you can see on military road between 43rd and 42nd street the road is shut down in both directions. the concrete truck is here. they're going to fill t nkle, as i said, and they're going to cover it up with a plate and come bk a later te to put the asphalt over the top of it. if you are heading out this morning, chances are not going to need to worry about nan alternate route. chances are the repairs will be done and you'll be able to proceed. ddot saying about 15 minutes they'll be done. >> tony, thank you. >>> after a whole lot of discussion, there's finally some movement to lower speed camera fines in the district, but it won't happen any time soon. right now you could pay as much as

news 4's tony tull is live in upper marlboro, which is particularly difficult to reach this morning. tony? >> reporter: aaron, good morning. with the rain and high winds gone, that's the good news. bad news, with the trees and debris clogging up the storm drains, we're still dealing with flooded roads. here in prince george's county, you can see water road blocked off pretty far. you can see the floodwater running across the road down there. not a big deal if you're coming in on pennsylvania avenue because you'll still be able to get off on an exit before water street or after water street. if you're headed through the courthouse or here through water street, you can still make it around. that is not the only road closed here in prince george's county. if you're headed out this morning, queen ann's road in bowie. governor's bridge road in bowie. 24th avenue at high school also closed. 24th avenue at fair lawn street also closed as well as buck lane in upper marlboro. eun and aaron, still a lot of road closures due to flooding in prince george's county. we're going to keep you updated

for now, we're live, tony tull. >> thanks, tony. >>> now to the redskins. they weren't able to make it two in a row against eli manning's new york giants. >> manning made it a giants lead with only a minute left in the game. >> some big mistakes for the redskins in the form of turnovers. news 4's dan hellie takes a look. >> reporter: a heartbreaker at the med rowlands as the redskins were so close to victory, they could taste it. robert griffin iii work his late game magic once again only to be outduelled by eli manning. the premiere late game quarterback, manning pulls a rabbit out of his hat once again. his eighth fourth quarter comeback since last season. >> he's got nerves of steels. they never feel like they're out of this game, and he rarely lets them down. to beat this team, you have to bury them, and then put cement on top of it and watch it dry. anything short of that, they're still in the game. >> after we scored, i was pumped. i felt like we could have sealed the game. there was only a minute left. then when i seen eli take the field, hold on a s

news 4's tony tull is live at nationals park right now. tony, i hope you found your natitude. >> reporter: i found a little bit of it. 79 years, as you mentioned, since playoff ball was in d.c. by the way, gas prices, talk about it, the whole town. last time playoff baseball in d.c., gas was 18 cents a gallon. i want to make a quick correction. we were saying they had a couple hundred standing room only tickets. guess what? they have close to 1,000. if you're still thinking about coming to the game and you want standing room only tickets, you have a good chance. the gatbox office opens at 9:00 a.m., and the gates open at 10:30. with playoff baseball back in d.c., how is it being received outside the ballpark? you' you run into people outside in your neighborhood, going through the town. >> october baseball starts right here today. is there anything better in washington? everybody is fired up. everyone is talking nationals baseball and playoffs. who would have thought at the beginning of the year when we started this year, you and i talked

news 4s tony tull joins us live with more on what caused the outage.hat's the deal. >> reporter: good morning. yeah, at the height of this, 900 people without power. now it's down to 500. let me show you the culprit. we are in north bethesda. you can see there, tepco crews are trying to fix the downed power line. if you look at the top of the pole, it was a blown transformer that caused the old wood to disintegrate. that cut the power line and made it fall. as far as power, take a look keith and barbara. we have multiple mcommercial outlets without power. as for the traffic lights, we have three of them down now. i want to bring in from montgomery county mr. james stevenson, how bad are we looking at here? >> we have three signals out here. we have here, nichol son and we have one on old georgetown and old middle pike. it's going to take us awhile to get temporary service back up. it will be back up and running and traffic should return back to normal. >> take a look right now. you can see down by the signal transformer, you can see they have a generat

tony tull, news 4. >>> now to a news 4 exclusive. d.c.s fire chief is trying to make major changes to the way the department organizes. they want to have fire and ems crews come in. however, try to changed the shifts earlier but drew criticism from union officials. the new changes are meant to cut down on the burn out crews feel from working 12 and 24-hour shifts. >> they get worn out if they are the only ones responding. 9:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 1:00 throughout the day to replenish the force multiply throughout the course of the day. >> the local fire union saysthe changes. a spokesman tells news 4 the plan is just what his people need to get some relief. >> a man is in serious condition after jumping from a burning three-story building. local 36 tweeted these photos of the fire. you can see part of the ladder was on fire. the flames broke out inside an apartment complex. the victim jumped before firefighters were able to get there. crews had to rescue three other people trapped inside. they are also in the hospital and are expected t

tony tull is live in landover. hey, tony, what's going on? >> reporter: earlier, some voters had to deal with broken voting machines then hurricane sandy. today, they are back open. the turnout immense. if you think i'm joking, take a look at this learning center in prince george's county. hundreds of people saying no matter what, they were getting inside to cast their vote. some call it a case of stir crazy due to sandy. others said they were doing their part. early voting is back at the sports and learning center. hundreds of residents lined up to cast their vote. >> marvelous. marvelous. love it. >> if i had to go where i normally have to go to vote, i would be outside. it could be raining. i still would have went. >> a vip event to fill out his ballot. >> 46 early voting centers. all of them are operational. three of them on generator power. >> he was accompanied by the state's attorney and angela brooks as well. >> we talk about the right to vote. there's a duty to vote. we encourage every citizen to make sure they get here. >> reporter:

tony tull is live with more.his sounds really dangerous. >> reporter: yeah, we got shocking statistics at the press conference we were at a few minutes ago. an air bag is supposed to save your life. the counterfeit ones you mentioned sold on craigslist and ebay don't even deploy. barbara and keith, the immigration and custom enforcement say the majority were coming from overseas, but they will prosecute anybody selling them here in the state. tony tull, news 4. >> definitely a problem that needs to get corrected. thanks. >>> a mother of a newspaper reporter wants to know who killed her daughter. the chief medical examiners office ruled the death a homicide. the sheriff's county investigator said the 48-year-old died from a gunshot wound to the neck. firefighters found her body in july when her house caught fire. three months after her death, her mother still has questions. >> well, i was very surprised when i heard that because, obviously, it was a murder. because we didn't know that in the beginning. we knew she

tony tull is live in upper marlboro. what can you tell us? >> reporter: keith, good morning.he judge is still hearing from both sides. we expected to hear the ruling earlier. there were so many people that showed up to the public hearing, we had to change courtrooms. right nou, it's being held in another courtroom. she is going to rule once she hears from both sides. the 12-year-old boy will be sentenced. he took a plea of involuntary manslaughter for the beating of the 2-year-old, his foster sister. for the plea, it is actually a plea where the person charged does not admit to the criminal act but acknowledges the prosecution can find him guilty of the more serious event, second degree murder. the lawyers cannot call upon any more witnesses or present evidence in the case. as the 2-year-old girl, the autopsy found she had 53 bruises to her body. 14 additional bruises to her head and severe internal injuries. the coroner says it was the equivalent of her being in a high-speed car accident with no restraint. as for what's going on in the courtroom, as i said, we had to move co

news 4's tony tull is live at the middle school where they were part of a great shakeout of 2012. what did you personally learn? >> i have to tell you, when ever an earthquake happens, my instinct is run out of the building screaming, unprepared. today, i learned exactly what to do in case of an earthquake. >> drop! cover! hold! drop! >> we just performed an earthquake drill. the idea behind it is to get the kids ready, in case of an emergency to have them prepare and not panic, to have them quietly following instructions and most of all to be safe. >> reporter: at 10:18, they are shaking out. an emergency preparedness group. this morning, they join thousands of other schools and organizations around the country participating in the great shakeout of 2012. >> we can't predict the future totally 100%. we have to be ready. >> reporter: a little over a ar ago, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck virginia. this video captured the moment it started causing such severe damage some buildings remain closed. >> in mineral, they could damage buildings. we have two school that is are damaged s

tony tull is live at the campus. did the rain keep students from showing up there? >> reporter: good morning. no, it didn't. it's still drizzling outside. there was more of a downpour this morning. everybody we talked to said it wasn't going to stop them from seeing president obama. up at the check-in tent, hundreds of people are still trying to get in. down the walkway, a few people making their way up to the check-in tent hoping to see president obama. there were overcast skies in an early morning rain. stop thousands of people from standing in line at george mason university to see president obama. >> the only time i'll get up this early is to come here or catch a plane somewhere warm. >> we want to get in. we are so excited. >> reporter: especially for this 7-year-old working a volunteer position with her mom. for the few minutes i spent with her, this isn't the first time she got to see the president. it was the first lady that was the topic of conversation in the extra special moment she had to share with michelle obama. >> it was pretty good. i haven't practi

tony tull has riders reaction to the new ad and the graphic image. >> reporter: it started two weeks ago with the controversial anti-jihad poster. the new poster created has many passengers in disbelief. it's the shocking image of the picture of the twin towers on fire moments after the planes hit the building next to a picture of the koran that reads soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of unbelievers. >> it's not good. i don't want to see that. >> i was in d.c. when it happened. it was scary for all of us. to bring that back, it's exactly what we don't want to do. >> reporter: it's been over a decade since the september 11th attacks. still many find it hard to speak about the event that is transpired that day especially here in the city. pamela is response shl for the anti-jihad posters that are in metro stations. she's hoping to have this new poster placed in metro stations as well. it's so disturbing, it left many speechless. metro didn't have an official comment. they said it has not been submitted to them. it is up to the judge's decision that it does not violate freedom o

live in the news room, tony tull. >> bad story. thanks for checking in. >>> we have learned the name of the man who was killed yesterday near the university. gregory of northeast washington. someone shot and killed the 21-year-old near 8th street. police chief says an officer heard the gunfire and found him. the shooter got away. police are offering a $25,000 reward for information to help them find the killer. >> a d.c. police officer is facing criminal charges in pittsburgh. he threatened a bus driver. they arrested him over the weekend. he pulled out his expandable baton and began swinging it when the driver of the bus told him he had to stand or wait for another bus. he's on leave from the d.c. police department and in pittsburgh at a grad student. >>> for the nats, there is no tomorrow if they don't win today. yesterday, an 8-0 loss in the first home game gave st. louis a 2-1 lead in the best of five series. today, if the nationals win, they continue. news 4s melissa mollet is live outside nats park. melissa, i imagine the dif

tony tull is by the pool where they are dealing with quite the clean up there. tony? >> reporter: they are. good morning. the national park service said they were going to drain and clean the reflecting pool, everybody thought it wasn't going to be a big deal. look over my shoulder. over 100 workers using hoses, shovels, brooms and high powered vacuums to get t algae out of there. it's a bigger problem than anybody anticipated. >> it's slippery when you walk on it. it sticks to the bottom of the shovel. >> it's the last thing they wanted to do after the republican novation to the reflecting pool, tack on another $100,000 service to the invoice. >> it's frustrating to the national parks service. we did not expect to have to do it so quickly. this is a maintenance problem. >> reporter: after a battle with the algae problem, they took the advice of biologists and water management experts and drained the pool. >> probably another day or two with the manpower we have. >> our company has five or six guys and 100 freelance companies. >> we came here to see. we are very disap

. >> tony tull is at the news 4 live desk. >>> the first nobel prize of 2012 is was just announced. researcher gurden and yamanaka of japan got the medical prize. they learned cells can be programmed into cells that can become any cell in the body. they'll take home a $1.2 million prize for their achievement, though that's a 20% reduction. the nobel prize for physics on tuesday, followed by literature on thursday, and the peace prize will be announced on friday. live at the news desk, tony tull, news 4. >>> police are trying to figure out what led to a brawl between two wedding parties at a philadelphia hotel. the fight ended with one man dead, several people hurt, and at least four people arrested. a sheraton hotel guest shot this video with his cell phone and posted it on youtube. you can see several police officers clash with some of the wedding guests. police say at least 75, maybe 100 people were fighting by the time they got there. >> just started punching each other and hitting each other. >> and some of the video, it looks like the bride, one of the brides may have been punc

tony tull is live on the ground there with another look at the damage. what are we looking at there? that was a baseball field? you probably couldn't see it. tell us what you have behind you. looks like a tree over there. >> reporter: massive damage. we have been talking the damage all morning long. the next stage will be clean up and assessing the damage. kind of like here in laurel, if you look behind me, there's a house with a massive, massive tree on top of it. the good news, no injuries. you can look at the trunk of the tree to see how massive it is. throughout the region, scenes like this, the damage is all too common over the last 24 hours. as sandy moves through the area, it's the first chance to assess how bad the d.c./maryland/virginia area got hit. damage to homes like this one on gerald road. the neighbors tells us the problems they have had with overhanging branches and large trees. >> cut up a lot of trees and rented a lift. >> reporter: down the stream, homes damaged by an uprooted tree. this time, no one was home. the damage wasn't limite

and a rocktober surprise that could bring jethro tull to your town! [ laughter ] then, it's autumn. don't forget to go outside and watch the beautiful changing of mitt romney's positions. [ laughter ] and my guest, chrystia freeland, says the wealthy are leaving the rest of the world behind. yeah. that's kinda the point. [ laughter ] scientists have found a turtle that pees through its mouth. or has a penis that looks like a face. [ laughter ] this is "the colbert report." [ captioning sponsored by comedy central ( theme song playing ) ( cheers and applause ) holy cow. wow. [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, unbelievable. you will not believe -- [crowd chanting stephen] oh, my gosh. thank you. [cheers and applause] welcome to the report, thank you for joining us. i don't -- folks -- i don't know if can tell with a just happened but i just got buried underneath an avalanche of love. [cheers and applause] a love-alanch, will you will. nation, tonight was the big vice presidential debate between joe biden and paul ryan in danville, kentucky. the whoop-ass in the blue grass, th

tony tull live in washington. you can see a snapped power pole with power lines that are still live here on south glebe road at south "e" street. earlier accident, young lady was driving. she was not under the influence. she actually lost control of her car and hit the power pole. a little bit of new information to give you. northbound south glebe road is closed. but police will be opening up southbound -- northbound south glebe road and splitting each lane. so you'll have one lane going northbound, one lane going southbound. so if you are heading out this morning, you will be able to get past this accident. but, again, these power lines are still active. dominion is on the scene. they're going to replace this. it's going to take until about noon this afternoon. live in arlington, tony tull, news 4. >>> a family of six thanking complete strangers after jumping to their rescue during an apartment fire. security camera captured that rescue in new jersey. one by one, the family jumped from their third floor apartment

news 4's tony tull is live with more. tony, good morning. >> reporter: eun, good morning. right now water street is closed. the good news is i just talked to the crews here, and they say water street probably will be open by the time they come around. some of the crew members walking down there. i just spoke to him and said, they probably are going to have it cleaned up and have the water off of water street by the time rush hour comes. if you're coming off pennsylvania avenue, you can use old crane highway, but hopefully, if you're coming to work around 8:00 or 9:00 this morning if, again, you're headed to the courthouse. take a look at the video last night. quite a different story. news 4 crew saw the video with the water rushing over the street here. as we deal with rushing waters throughout the region, especially here in prince george's county, you'll have to use a little time on your commute. a lot of surprisingly flooded spots. not the only places, though. if you're in bowie, queen anne's bridge, hyattsville, that will be closed this morning. 24th avenue at fair lawn

tony tull is live in maryland with more on what the companies are doing to get ready. hey, tony. >> reporter: it's about the preparation. pepco telling us they put out a request for mutual aid asking power companies to the south and west of us, if sandy should make land fall, they will send extra crews to the area to help with repairs. itis not just the power companies that are preparing, it's many local residents. people are hitting the grocery stores as well as home depot and lowe's. it's an early morning rollout for pepco crews as the threat of hurricane sandy makes its way closer to the d.c., maryland and virginia region. crews stocking up on supplies and heading out for inspections on problematic areas that would be most affected if sandy hits. >> the preparation going on is with management. management is watching sandy closely. everybody up and down the coast. everyone wants to know which way is the storm going to turn. is it going to go left or right? >> reporter: hurricane sandy, if it makes land fall is expected to have a severe impact. pepco put 400 contracto

tony tull, news 4. >>> nine after 11:00 is the time now. coming up, president obama is speaking. there's a live picture ere, from iowa. we'll tell you what he's doing today. he's going to cover some miles today. we'll tell you where he's traveling. >> this is tropical storm ike leggett: gaming generated one hundred and eighty... million dollars for maryland schools. question seven will double it. rushern baker: question seven will add table games and... a new casino, generating millions of dollars... every year, without raising taxes. leggett: and audits will ensure the money goes... where it's supposed to. more jobs, and millions for schools. baker: question seven will be good for our kids... our teachers, and our schools. leggett: keep maryland money in maryland. baker: please vote for question seven. leggett: vote for question seven. prand you're seeing that rightno quit in amnow.a... over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and t

tony tull live in upper marlboro this morning. how's it looking now? >> reporter: i come bringing good news. last half hour, we checked with some of the crews here atwater street, and they hope to have it open by rush hour. one of the supervisors just showed up, and you can actually see a crew car there by the road. he thinks they're going to have it opened up in the next few minutes. good news, if you're coming up pennsylvania avenue, you don't have to get off old crane. you can take the water street exit if you're headed to the prince george's county courthouse. a supervisor thinking in the next couple minutes they'll have this cleaned up and opened up. last night quite a different story. i know you were showing video just a couple of seconds ago. take a look once again. news 4 crews out last night, a very, very different scene atwater street, a lot of water flowing. that was the case through prince george's county and through route 1. those are not the only closures we have. if you're in bowie, queen anne's bridge, that is closed. governor's bridge

and news 4's tony tull is at the live desk with breaking news. good morning to you. >>> later this morning, an autopsy is expected to identify the body found in a recycling container found in new jersey. police believe the body is that of 12-year-old ougautumn pascua who went missing around noon this saturday when she went to a friend's house. when the girl didn't show up, her parents called police, and that prompted a massive search for the girl. over 40 police agencies looked for autumn until the body was discovered this morning. we'll continue to follow this story. at the live desk, tony tull, news 4. >>> following a deadly shooting at a wisconsin spa, investigators there want to tighten gun rules. haughton shot and killed his wife xena haughton and two other women before turning the gun on himself. he had a restraining order against him. a court ordered him to turn in any firearms he ordered. two days later he bought the gun used in the attack. >>> the academy of pediatrics is calling for cheerileading to be called a sport in all states. abou

and news 4's tony tull is at the live desk with breaking news. tony, good morning to you. >> good morning. >>> a tropical storm warning has been issued for jamaica as tropical storm sandy nears and is expected to grow. as of now, the max sustained winds are 45 miles per hour. the u.s. national hurricane center says it expects sandy to become a hurricane in jamaica by wednesday. so we're going to continue to keep an eye on this. at the live desk, tony tull, news 4. >> tony, thank you. >> time is 5:21. time for a check of weather and traffic on the ones. >> storm team meteorologist tom kierein with more on this balmy weather we're having. i like this weather. >>> we've got the peak autumn color around the metro area. absolutely gorgeous. and not as cold this morning. much of the area, we're in the 40s. most of northern virginia and most of maryland, except right near the bay waters and tidal potomac, in the 50s. most locations mid and upper 40s as well as out of the mountains. just a few clouds drifting through from the west. storm team 4 four-day

live in northwest, tony tull, news4. >>> there's another fire with a different ending we want to tell about. a 19-year-old pepco employee is being called a hero for saving a little boy from a house fire. ryan callahan was with a crew upgrading electricity in a rural home. he noticed smoke and ran inside to wake up a 3-year-old boy who was sleeping upstairs. the other pepco workers ran to alert the homeowner. she was walking her two other children down the property's long driveway to the school bus. and she's thankful this morning that the pepco workers moved so fast. >> i ran -- i couldn't see anything. this whole area was full of smoke. >> they were really a god send because i don't know what would have happened. >> firefighters are still trying to figure out exactly how that fire started. >>> and that is news4 today. thank you for starting your morning with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with weather, traffic and breaking news. have a great day. take away his toys and he'll play with a stick. take away their bikes and they'll still find a way to get whe

let's go out to tony tull. >> reporter: hey, guys, good morning. we're at south glebe road. the accident that danella was just talking about. you can see right there the power pole is snapped in half due to an earlier car accident this morning. police say that young lady was driving her car on northbound glebe road when she lost control and hit the power pole. right now they're saying she was not under the influence. she's not facing any charges. but she will probably have to pay for this power pole here. dominion is on scene. the power is still on. the wires are still live. pretty dangerous situation going on now. a lot of people in this area still have their power. they will be shutting it down in just a few minutes to start repairing that pole. southbound glebe road is open. northbound is going to be closed until about noon when they say they can get that power pole out of there and get the new one back in the ground, get these wires attached to the new pole, and then get the power back on. again, if you're heading down this way, make sure that you use alternate routes. w

i'm tony tull. back to you. >>> dominion virginia is also ready for sandy. it has trucks pabllincked and r to be sent out from its office. they have about 2,000 outside crew members ready to help restore power as soon as sandy leaves town. >>> wards 3 through 8 each have their own designated relief center, and for specific locations in your ward, you can log on to nbcwashington.com and search relief centers. you should do that now rather than wait until you lose power. the american red cross also providing snacks and water for those seeking safe conditions during the storm. >>> prince george's county is trying to keep its administration building dry during sandy's heavy rains. crews put up a barrier of flood sacks. hydrobarriers have also been put up to keep out water. heavy rains from tropical storm lee flooded the building last september, causing $14 million in damage. they don't want to see any kind of repeat anywhere in that area and other high flooding areas in this community as well. >> got to be ready for sure. >>> coming up on eight minutes after 5:0

i'm tony tull at the live desk. guys, back to you. >> tony, thank you. >>> new this morning, police at the university of maryland are warning students about an armed robbery near campus. the robbery happened at 9:30 last night near the intersection of calvert road and princeton avenue. prince george's county police say several students were running when they were approached by a man with a gun. police say that's when another man joined the suspect and the pair demanded the students' property. it's not clear what they got away with. >>> cell phone video may be the best evidence in the trial of two police officers accused of beating a former college student. the trial began yesterday for prince george's county police officers reginald baker and james harrison. they're charged with assaulting former university of maryland student john mckenna back in 2010. this happened as students celebrated in the streets after the school's basketball team beat duke. the defense says mckenna tried to throw a punch at police during a

news 4's tony tull joins us now. >> reporter: they were checking equipment, making sure everything was working okay. they had about 400 contractors they secured outside of pepco as well as putting in that mutual assistance. that request was answered very largely. take a look behind me at the fairgrounds. you can see hundreds of trucks. as well as north carolina power companies. bringing trucks, crews, equipment. everything you can imagine to come assist pepco in their need for service calls when these mass power outages are expected to hit. we saw some of them about a half hour ago start their trucks up. moving the booms up and down. they said they were just grabbing their trucks and taking them back ton the hotel. some of them were on call for this morning. they weren't being dispatched anywhere but they just needed to have their trucks if they got the call from pepco. about 400 independent contractors as well as hundreds of other trucks from north carolina, arkansas, as well as alabama. alabama power even bringing three of their mobile command centers here to the fair ground. again,

. >> news 4's tony tull live at the montgomery county fairgrounds in gaithersburg with more on our coverage. >> reporter: good morning. all last week we were talking about the mutual aid assistance call that pepco put out. this is what happens when a plan comes together. literally hundreds of trucks from out of town. those trucks are from north carolina power. they sent numerous trucks. swing to this shot. we have alabama power. they literally have sent almost a 100 trucks. if you go down here, you can see these trucks all the way down in the distance. those are from arkansas. trucks and crews from all around the region. you can see in this grassy part of the fair grounds, they sent generators, extra lights, equipment that they will be going through as they fix. i want to go back to alabama power. they sent so many trucks, if you go down here, they sent their mobile command centers. some of their trucks have satellite dishes on them. they are prepared to give a lot of aid when sandy makes landfall, and pepco starts to make repairs here. major, major power outages are expected. as you can se

. >>> news 4's tony tull is at the live desk with breaking news. >> richard, good morning. >>> after massive search in virginia, including 40 police and rescue agencies, a body found earlier in morning in a recycling container in clayton, new jersey, is believed to be missing 12-year-old autumn pascual. she was seen leaving her home noontime in clayton riding her bike to a friend's house. when she didn't show up, her parents called police. thatment proed the massive search. two hours ago investigators announced they have found the body that is autumn. an autopsy will be performed to confirm the body's identity. >>> now at 4:36 the massachusetts pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak was cleared by state regulators after an inspection last year. the inspection report shows the new england compounding center received a satisfactory grade. federal investigators are blaming the outbreak on tainted steroid shots. the cdc says 23 people have died from the fungal meningitis outbreak, including 2 people in virginia and 1 in maryland. >>> the monster energy company is facing a lawsui

once we clear it out we'll get the valley fog, actual fog -- the tulle fog, as we say. clear it out on thursday. the weekend, nice and sunny. there will be night and morning fog and chilly lows. >>> we're following developing news from the fresno area. that's a -- that's where a missing petaluma girl has been found south. police reportedly tracked down ruby cruz-mendoza at a home in fresno and they arrested her godfather. the teenager was last seen getting into a car with him and the two are suspected of having a sexual relationship. there's no word if the girl has been brought back to petaluma. >>> two national figures, donald trump a and gloria ail led, both expected to spring an october surprise. >>> and an earthquake scientist sent to jail? >>> mostly cloudy skies here. could be some off-and-on rain. mostly cloudy skies. clear and breezy. temperatures staying in the 60s today. there's still some snow up in the sierra-nevada. get your chains ready if you are heading up to the high country. coming up at 7:30, we'll have a live report from blue canyon where snow is cau

tony tull joins us with a look. >> for the last 30 years people watched in awe as space shuttles blasted off into the sky. today, los angeles will get an up close look at" endeavor" comes through the streets. here is a live look at "endeavour" makes its way through the streets. it was flown to l.a. on top of a jumbo jet. after nasa retired the fleet, several shuttles were given to museums. this one will go on display at the california science museum. it almost looked like a parade as people lined the streets to see the shuttle move at 2 miles an hour down the streets. to prepare, the city had to cut down 400 trees and dismantle dozens of stop ligs to make sure it can squeeze on through there. the shuttle will come within inches of a building. at some point, the shuttle will arrive at the museum tomorrow evening. barbara, as for today, it's going to manchester into englewood and will take a stop at the famous l.a. landmark, randy's doughnuts. they have a special thing going on there. they'll have a space shuttle inside randy's doughnuts. for the gold star here on friday, as we are talking

news 4's tony tull is live with what they believe. tony, it has to be close. >> no doubt it's going to be a close race. you can guarantee lots of folks will be tuned in tonight as you mentioned. this morning, the national press club holds a forecast annoyancement for who they predict will win the 2012 presidential election. they used data from public opinion polls, leading economic indicators and the impact from the war. with that, out of the 13 forecasted models, eight models show president obama with a 53.8% popular vote over republican presidential candidate, mitt romney. the experts say the forecast shows romney with a 53.1% popular vote. interestingly enough, barbara and keith, one model was called the redskins model. >> a special interest to a d.c. audience may be the washington redskins model that you have come to know about. if the washington redskins win their game before election day, the incumbent election party wins for four more years. if the redskins lose, the challenging party wins. >> reliability and the method of how

tony tull is live where the news conference just wrapped up. what can you tell us about preventing those deadly fires? >> reporter: barbara, good morning. i have to tell you, it's all about smoke detectors. there were a lot of demonstrations. the one thing commonly echoed again and again, smoke detectors, make sure you have them and they have batteries. take a look behind me, barbara and keith, you can see a mattress they were using for a demonstration. take a look at the video we shot earlier. it is only a demonstration in a controlled environment. the flames are a har ch reminder of how often this plays out in homes. cooking equipment and kitchen fires are the number one cause. here at the consumer product commission in montgomery county, they show how quickly a simple flame can get out of control. your heating and cooling equipment is the next likely culprit including space heaters that kill 100 people a year. fire retardant curtains. i was impressed with how well they worked. no fire to report. overall six people die every day in house fire

. >>> tony tull at the live desk with breaking news. >> good morning. the taliban is claiming responsibility for a bombing that left 16 dead, including three american nato service members and their interpreter. the attack happened earlier this morning in eastern afghanistan in the city of khosh near kabul. early reports say a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle packed with explosives crashed into the convoy of nato forces as they exited their vehicles. a patrol in nearby market. over 50 people have been seriously injured in this blast. no word yet on where the soldiers were from pending family notification. that's the latest here from the live desk. aaron, back to you. >> this latest attack includes 2,000 service members killed in afghanistan since the start of the war. >> this week marks ten years since the sniper attacks that paralyzed our area. now lee boyd malvo is opening up about his actions. he spoke to "the washington post" about his part in the attacks that killed 10 and injured 3 others. in the interview, malvo was remorseful and took responsib

tony tull is outside pepco with more on how everyone is preparing. tony? >> reporter: good morning. it's interesting. with no definitive path for sandy, some folks are saying they are not too worried about it. some are taking it seriously saying they have water, food and supplies in case sandy comes our way. following pepco talking to them and the preparations they have been making. as you mentioned, they have been replacing lines, transformer, power poles to make sure they can do everything they can. again, it was the people around town they talk to today to wonder if they have the preparations necessary should sandy make land fall and cause mass power outages. the question is, are you ready? it's the buzz around town. hurricane sandy, is it going to turn left or right? with the possibility of severe wind, rain and flooding, many area residents are preparing for what may come sunday night. >> what do we need to do? what food shoup we have? what drinks should have we have? what do we need to keep tabs on? my wife used to work in emergency readiness. >> reporter: some folks are waiti

news 4's tony tull is live at the fairgrounds in gaithersburg. are they ready to go? >> reporter: yeah, they are. they're staying at local hotels in gaithersburg. a lot have to wait until sandy calms down or passes and get in the trucks and raise the boom and get in their buckets and start making repairs. pepco last week put out a mutual aid request to some of the neighboring regions. guys, was it ever answered. you're looking at power trucks from north carolina power company. take a look to the left. those are alabama power company trucks. if you look down all the way to the left to the other side of the fairgrounds, you can see power trucks from arkansas. hundreds of trucks. quite a scene here at montgomery county fairgrounds, to see how many other power companies from the region came out to help. we want to reiterate if you do have power troubles, we have to wait a little while so these guys can operate from a semi safe position. give them time until sandy is able to calm down. that is going to play into a big factor on these crews tting out. if you take a look at

manassas, 45. 48 at tull less. 46 in frederick and cool start to your day.ould be a nice finish with high temperatures in the upper 70s to about 80. a few clouds in the forecast. that will be the big change from yesterday. yesterday, perfect sunshine for much of the day. today, it will be in and out of the cloudiness as we've got this frontal system off to the north. you will notice the rain showers working west to east across pennsylvania. we think we are far enough south that we won't see any shower activity. looking forward to the tropics and here we go. i want to mention tropical storm standee. this is storm sandy. maximum winds, 45 miles per hour. the season actually continues until the end of november. it is lifting off to the north. they have tropical storm warning for jamaica and a hurricane watch that is forecast to go right across jamaica and cuba and be parked east of florida in a couple of days time. we have to watch this toward the end of the week and into the weekend for the eventual path. if it tracks close enough to the eastern so board, we c

the suspect is 5' 6" tull, in most cases wearing a white t- shirt and red baseball cap.ice believe he may be the same man who groped five other women back in september in springfield. >>> ate senate debate leads to controversy for -- a senate debate leads to controversy for one candidate. >> we'll hear what he said that has the romney campaign reacting. let's take a look at the markets. dow hit a seven-week low after plummeting more than 243 point following weak sales reports from some of the big of the companies in the dow. the nasdaq fell 26. stay with us. we'll have more coming up in our business beat in our next hour. >>> a tight senate race may take a turn after a candidate makes a controversial comment about rape, abortion and religion. >> republican richard murdoch suggested that when a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape, it is quote something god intended to happen. as ainsley earhart explains, it happened during a debate last night. >> reporter: indiana republican senate candidate richard murdoch has landed himself in hot water. during a debate last nigh