prince george's county. from columbia to gaithersburg to leesburg and manassas, it's trending east/southeastward. it will continue to rain in the metro the next several hours. temperatures in the low 70s right now. morning rainshowers turning into sunshine by saturday afternoon. it might be 1:00, 2:00 3:00 before we see improvement. tomorrow looking better. sunshine and temperatures near 90. >> thanks. >>> a summer camp counselor accused with sexually abusing a minor. the young accuser is a student at the holton summer camp. the concerns parents spoke with us. >> reporter: when parents picked up their campers, they found a counselor was arrested for abusing a minor. >> that's awful. i have brought my kids here since they were 3 years old. he taught magic at the summer camp program. he inappropriately touched an 11-year-old girl at the camp between june 30th and july 3rd putting his arms around her and asking to sit on his lamp. she told her parents and their told the police. >> we have been there for several years and they have been so thorough in their background investigations. s

columbia. police believe 18-year-old jasper spires was high on synthetic marijuana when he stabbed kevin sutherland to death on a metro train on the fourth of july. then on tuesday a 10-month-old baby was found abandoned in a stroller at judiciary square. police believe the child's caregiver left the child alone so they could smoke synthetic marijuana. now, police chief cathy lanier say the new law is needed to stop a very disturbing new crime trend. >> i truly feel like if we don't get a handle on the synthetics, the synthetics flavonoids now we are, you know, in danger of going back 20 years. >> reporter: under the bill businesses that are caught selling synthetic drugs for first offense they could face a $10,000 fine. they could be shut down for 96 hours. that's for the first offense and then things escalate from there. repeat offenders could lose their business license entirely. the mayor is going to sign this bill into law at noon today. back to you in the studio. >> thank you, megan. >>> today the d.c. council will consider approving the death with dignity legislation. if app

charleston. roof was arrested february 28 at a shopping mall in columbia, south carolina. a police report says he admitted illegally carrying a drug. the fbi says if they had known that, they would have blocked roof as an illegal drug user from buying a gun. he applied for a handgun at this south carolina gun store that submitted his information for a background check. his criminal history showed he was arrested in lexington county. they told them to contact the columbia branch. they only showed a west columbia police department with no record of arrests. the examiner called the prosecutor but never heard back. the background check was still under way after the three-day waiting period expired. roof got his gun because federal law allows it to go ahead if it's not blocked. we are sick this happened. we wish we could turn back time. fbi agents met with family members of shooting victims including the husband of myra thompson. >> it made me angry. i wasn't angry at dylann i was angry at the system. >> reporter: some states have longer waiting periods and former atf official says that

but they're illegal in the district of columbia. and police believe that a spike in crime can be attributed to use of synthetic drugs. later today, mayor muriel bowser is going to sign emergency legislation giving police greater power in cracking down on businesses that sell synthetic drugs. now, police believe that 18-year-old jasper spires was high on synthetic marijuana when he stabbed kevin sutherland to death on a metro train on july the 4th. that's one of the high profile cases that we have seen recently. and on tuesday, a 10-month-old baby was found abandoned in a stroller at judiciary square and police believe the child's caregiver left the child alone so that they could smoke synthetic marijuana. now, police chief cathy lanier says the new law is needed to stop a very disturbing crime trend. >> i truly feel like if we don't get a handle on the synthetics now, we are in danger of you know going back 20 years. >> reporter: and under the bill which will be signed into law later on this afternoon for the first offense a business can be fined $10,000 for selling synthetic dru

? to working class people in the district of columbia and we'll do that when we return to "reporter's notebook." >>> welcome back to "reporter's notebook." just before the break $15 an hour. i mentioned that that may very well end up on the ballot in the district of columbia. so the first question is why does it have to be on the ballot? second question is do you think it will pass? >> well, i definitely think it will pass. if they get the signatures. they need about 23,000 sipgt churs to get on -- signatures to get on the ballot as a referendum in the district. 70% of the voters are apparently for for this minimum wage being increased to $15. that's not a surprise. who wouldn't want more money, whether or not you're making minimum wage or you're making over minimum wage. i think the issue now is this. how will businesses handle this? i think they did a poll, about 50% of the businesses in the district say listen especially in restaurants, if this $15 an hour deal goes through, we're going to have to cut people. because we can't afford to pay the $15 an hour. the national minimum wage

way and apple brook circle in columbia. everyone is expected to be okay. >>> now a serious situation out in silver spring. carbon monoxide started leaking from the tacoma flats apartments on eastern avenue last night. montgomery county firefighters evacuated 30 to 40 people there. they evaluated a couple of them but no one was seriously hurt. the fire department has not said what caused that gas leak. >>> in the day ahead the man charged with flying a gyrocopter is due in court. doug hughes has already rejected a plea deal that would have included a significant amount of jail time. hughes faces federal charges now. if he's convicted, he could spend more than nine years in prison. >>> the lawyers for a prisoner who escaped in alexandria now asked to have this trial move, wossen assaye back in march sparked an eight-hour manhunt. assaye assaye's lawyers say they will not be able to get a affair trial with that publicity. >>> cameras are were rolling as police find a man high on synthetic drugs. the man was cursing and laughing. officers eventually took him to the hospital for

british columbia. >> some saved a killer whale. what they had to do to keep it alive. >> reporter: the pod of killer whales was hunting seals on the west coast in canada on wednesday, but one less experienced whale found herself trapped on the rocks as the tide went out. >> watching this guy laying on the rocks there, slowly drying up as the tide falls. it was something else. >> reporter: nearby, a whale research team. they radioed for help. >> we grabbed ropes, we grabbed buckets, anything that we thought we'd be able to use. >> reporter: volunteers made a water pump out of duct tape and an old hose, draping the whale in wet blankets, showering her in seawater for hours to keep her cool. as the mammal's family circled off shore. >> at first, you could see her breathing was getting a little faster. but after a little while i think she knew that we were there to help her. >> reporter: all the rescuers could do was keep her harm and wait for high tide. after eight agonizing hours -- the water rushed in. and the whale finally broke free. >> yes. >> reporter: finally reunited and on t

district of columbia, temperatures right now are down to around 70. and north and west, most of the cities reporting 60s. and some of the rural area, it's just in the low to mid-60s. now excellent visibility. live view from the storm team 4 watch camera. jefferson memorial we're looking at this from six or seven miles away. not much haze or humidity. low humidity you'll need your sunblock temperatures climbing to the upper 80s in the afternoon. 4:41, mel list sa is looking at the commute. >> and the road work that comes along with it, at least for around here for the next half hour. 66 west right lane blocked until 5:00 this morning. so you only have about another half hour of that. virginia, 95 here at newington, a live picture showing northbound, southbound, no issues there. 395 southbound at duke street. three lanes blocked there again another 30 minutes that should be cleared. hearing some rumblings that it was clearing earlier but popped up as still being there. prince george's county, everything rolling along clean there. top of the beltway at colesville road innerand outer lo

townhouse in columbia. everyone is expected to be okay. >>> 4:31. a gorgeous start to your morning. >> 69 degrees outside our studios here in tinnily town. >> the air is fresh and cool and i rarely say that in july. there's the capitol under a partly cloudy sky early on this thursday morning. it will be right around 70 by 8:00 and some clouds coming and going. then by the noon hour mostly sunny with low humidity. by then, we ought to be into the low 80s. 83 or 84 or so. around 4:00 or 5:00 in the upper 80s. lots of sunshine, low humidity. definitely wear sun block. protect yourself from the sun even though the humidity is low. right now storm team 4 radar, we have no rain anywhere in the vi tinty. great travel weather. now we had some problems on the roads early on. melissa has a problem on 95. where's this? >> yeah. we have a slowdown here. we made some calls. sounds like we have late-clearing road work. 95 northbound at prince william parkway. a little slow than we normally see in the dale city area. southbound 355 at richard montgomery drive has some lanes closed here as pepco t

around 6:00 last night. it happened at the white oak towers on old columbia pike in hill and dale neighborhood. rescue crews say the 4-year-old boy is suffering arm and eye injuries but he is expected to be okay. news 4 is working for you to make sure that this doesn't happen to you and your child. safety experts say that buying window guards and window stops can help prevent those falls. move furniture away from the window. this is going to stop children from getting to windows easily. we have more safety tips on our nbc washington app. search "preventing window falls." >>> a family of 13 that lost their fairfax house in a fire is finally getting a brand-new home. we introduced you to the muhanis family a couple of weeks ago when they were taken in by the carlins, a military family that welcomed them into their home with already six people it in. par the past month all 19 have been living together. yesterday the mohanis moved into their new house. they can't believe all the generosity they've seen. >> including the people of the whole nation who we don't even know. they came out.

district of columbia, 2013. [ applause ] >> reporter: despite aggressive treatment, the rate is too high east of the anacostia. >> we are still above 1% this is considered an epidemic in our community. >> it is great that we have only 553 new infections. it is terrible that we still have 553 new infections. >> reporter: a recent ban by metro on advertising is blocking a new anti-aids campaign. the city says the aggressive outreach is working. >> it's a simple solution. >> reporter: officials say they are targeting hiv and other sexually transmitted diseases for more sharp drops by 2020. in the district, tom sherwood, news 4. >> if you would like to check out the full report open up your nbc washington app and search hiv report. >>> big crowds coming to the district today. tens of thousands of people will be here to celebrate independence day. >> that's right. >> we are going to get an inside look at the declaration of independence. >> from nigeria to prince george's county a young man is taking you are watching news 4 today. this summer take flight, without having to take a flight. becau

columbia. everyone is expected to be okay. >>> i'm kristin wright at the live desk with breaking news out of west virginia. there is a huge fire burning right now in old town harpers ferry. we know that two buildings possibly a third, are on fire right now. there are local fire crews from loudoun county headed there on the scene and also from d.c. and frederick counties in maryland. we're told so far that no one appears to have been inside those businesses when the fire broke out. around 3:15 this morning. so we're following that closely right now. aaron? >> kristin, thank you. >>> 5:49. a new response to the massive data breach in the federal government. virginia senator mark warner introduced a new bill to step up oversight on federal websites. the proposal gives the department of homeland security more resources to prevent and respond to a hack. warner wants more consistency and protection of those dot gov sites. tens of millions had their information taken in the attack earlier this year. >>> dulles international offering free rides to the airport these days. they are celebra

the deck when it came down in a townhouse on wind rider way in columbia. everyone is expected to be okay. >>> today crews are unearthing a massive tunnel digging machine in d.c. the event to pull up the lady bird tunnel bore was supposed to happen yesterday. you can see how big that machine is and in a few hours, d.c. water crews will lift it piece by piece up from underground. the digger has been down there for two years now. it dug four miles of tunnel beneath the anacostia river. >>> tom brokaw getting behind the effort to build a memorial to president dwight d. eisenhower. he is joining an advisory committee for the eisenhower memorial project along with former senator bob dole. he learned while writing about world war ii that veterans very much want to see eisenhower honored. the design and funding problems had slowed the project down. it is moving now. >>> big improvements are headed to maryland. big developers descended on college park to reveal their plans. county officials are looking at five other proposed project sites. developers are looking to build a 300-unit and retai

where gunfire erupted around a bunch of children. this happened around noon at the columbia heights playground. police say a man ran around with a gun in his hands and stood inside the gate and began firing at men in the alley. >> there was a group huddled behind there of like 4 year olds. imagine your 4-year-old huddled behind an outbuilding for ten minutes waiting for a man with a gun to go away. >> most of the children at the playground were participating in summer camps. officials closed the center for the rest of the day. >>> a local family is trying to track down the person who shot and killed two of their dogs on their farm. the farm owner of the farm in charles county said he found his son's labs nellie and bear shot to death after reported missing over the weekend. he said the dogs were friendly and known to everyone who visited the farm. they put the dog's facebook post to share the story to help find the shooter. >>> the subway or the man known as subway guy are no longer working together. at least for the short term. jared fogle's home was raided monday as part of a chil

the umbrella. we are getting some showers right now in arlington, in the district of columbia as well as southern montgomery county. they are moving into prince george's p county. it's about to move into fed rick's -- fredericksburg as well as the shenandoah valley. the roads will likely be wet in parts of the region this morning as well as the afternoon. 70s for the morning commute. afternoon commute, into the low to mid 80s. a look at our storm chances for the fourth of july weekend. next weather and traffic on the 1s 6:51, angie. >>> thank you, thom. a daring rescue of a woman in california after she disappeared for two days. you see her car there. it had plummeted about 70 feet off the side of the malibu cliff there. a walker heard the woman screaming and called 911. rescuers had to climb down the steep cliff to get to her. she was taken to the hospital for dehydration and is expected to be okay and could be released later today. >>> donald trump in hot water again. this time it's not over anything he said. instead, hackers may have stolen and used credit card information fro

gunfire erupted around a bunch of kids. this happened around noon at columbia heights playground on girard street. police say the man hid behind a gate and began firing. >> i grabbed her little baby arm and i think i knocked another kid over. i had had like children hanging from me as i ran. >> most of the children at the playground were participating in summer camps. >>> a montgomery county collections officer is facing charges accused of having sex with a woman who was doing community service. jeremy symmonds is charged with sexual misconduct and attempted second degree rape. investigators say he followed the woman into a bathroom and assaulted her last month in rockville. symmonds told here if they had sex again he would sign off on the rest of her community service hours. he's been since on bond. >>> and new rules on hostage and barricade conditions. under the new rules police have to contain the situation unless someone's life is in jeopardy. they have to consider the lives of hostages, innocent bystanders and officers. john gear was shot and killed by a county police officer i

from a townhome around apple brook circle anded with rider way this is columbia maryland. everybody is okay. >>> carbon monoxide starts leaking from the tacoma flats apartment in montgomery last night. they evacuated 30 to 40 people there. they evacuated a couple of them no one was seriously hurt. the fire department has not said what caused the gas leak. >>> just into the live desk a pretty ugly train collision in the czech republic in europe. two passengers on this train were killed. here are pictures of the aftermath. we're hearing about a dozen or so people were hurt. a few of them seriously. it happened at a rail crossing. somehow, the high-speed passenger train and a truck collided. it happened during the morning rush at about 7:43, the time in the czech republic. so right now a major rail line that links the capital of prague to the eastern part of the country is closed for an unspecific amount of time. it could be a very long time aaron. >> kristen thank you. >>> it's 5:04 now we're now seeing the dash cam video of a controversial police stop in texas. sandra bland is behind th

born with hiv in the district of columbia in 2013. [ applause ] >> reporter: despite the treatment the city's 2.5% infection rate remains too high, especially east of the anacostia. >> as long as we are above 1% this is considered epidemic in our community. >> it is great we have only 553 new infections. it is terrible that we still have 553 new infections. >> reporter: a recent ban by metro on advertising is blocking the new anti-aids campaign. the city says the aggressive outreach is working. >> you have to know your status. you have to stay in care. it's a simple solution. >> reporter: officials say they are targets hiv and other sexually transmitted diseases for more sharp drops by 2020. in the district, tom sherwood, news 4. >>> during this break you can check out the full report. open your nbc washington app search for hiv report. >>> tens of thousands of people, of course, today are coming to the district to sell rate our nation's independence for the fourth of july. coming up, an inside look at the declaration of independence at the national archives. >> from nigeria to pri

want to talk to about a shootout at a d.c. playground full of kids. it happened in columbia heights. a man ran through the playground and started firing at men in a nearby alley. if you have information police want to hear from you. >>> the families of four marines killed in tennessee are planning their funerals. a solemn 700 mile trip from chattanooga to dover air force base. they passed through parts of northern virginia. the escort brought them to manassas airport before transferring them to dover. one was awarded the purple heart. >> as families mourn, the fbi is digging deeper into the suspects past, his background. authorities found a disturbing blog post and reports his behavior changed in the fall of last year. dan has the latest on the investigation into abdulzeez. >> reporter: an fbi team continues to scour the home where 24-year-old gunman abdulzeez lived with his family. nothing is found that links him to isis, the fbi is investigating the shootings as an act of terrorism. >> we are conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether he acted alone and we'll exhaust

expected to be okay. >>> police and d.c. leaders are trying to calm fears of neighbors in columbia heights after a shooting on a playground. d.c. police met with neighbors at a community meeting last night. the playground was packed with children when a gunman ran through the area. he started to shoot at some men in the alley. no one was hurt and the gunman escaped. >>> the silver spring man could spend 60 years in maryland for stabbing two people at a metrobus stop. a jury found this man guilty of stabbing two people. at the top left, you can see one person hunched over a bit, clutching the spot where he was stabbed. the victims both survived. >>> now to the mistrial in a big case in prince george's county. brian mayhew is not going to face additional jail time for allegedly ordering a hit on his uncle. prince george's county prosecutors say that mayhew had someone kill his uncle nicoh to keep him from testifying against him in the murder trial. prosecutors now considering february for a retrial date. >>> 6:18 now. new this morning an american who was once a towering figure in soccer is n