Transcripts For WRC News4 At 5 20160315

Throughout our region. Ive been speaking to Administration Officials with the Bowser Administration in d. C. They said their goal is to keep d. C. Schools and the d. C. Government open on time. Federal employees, opm said theyll have a statement later tonight. The latest from metro headquarters, back to you. Heres an idea of just how many people this impacts. Metro is the second busiest Transit System in the entire country. Trains make between 730,000 and 740,000 trips on a typical weekday. The metro rail system serves the population of more than 4 million people. About 45 of the population inside the beltway uses some form of mass transit. And that means a lot of people need a new way to get to work of course tomorrow. News4s derrick ward will be joining us from Silver Spring where most commuters are just hearing about this news. Derrick . Indeed they just as befuddled or at sea i guess you would say as some government officials are over this. Now metro did put out a tweet so a couple people we talked to did know about it another group of people that we talked to, they are pretty much wondering what theyre going to do tomorrow. Lets hear what they have to say. I dont know, i probably have to catch a ride from my aunt or something. But i think thats, thats ridiculous. I dont know how they expect to, to do any better with the way theyre handling things when they keep doing these lastminute things to disrupt peoples commute. I can take the bus. I have options for me. But for other folks, its not so easy. Now this is the tweet that metro put out about 18 to 20 minutes ago. As you can see in big red letters there, closed. Something else to think b. What about folks who may be out of town . Flying in to maybe National Airport and expecting to get metro home . They may not be in our viewing area or in an area where they know about this is going on. Going to be some confusion tomorrow and a lot of adversity, a lot of traffic. Right now were live in Silver Spring, derrick ward, back to you. Heres what you need to know about other public transit. Metro bus service will be operating on its normal schedule throughout the day tomorrow, as will vre in virginia. And the street car on h street and bidding road will be operating with normal service. We have not heard any official word from marc, marc train service, news4s Scott Mcfarland is at the live desk gathering more reaction to this decision. Fast and furious reaction from local members of congress who want the office of Personnel Management to allow federal workers to telework tomorrow. Congressman don bier, all of the d. C. Suburbs asking opm to make a decision and allow federal workers to stay home and work from home because of the shutdown at metro. We do have a statement kind of a nonstatement, saying well have guidance for the agencies and the status of the federal government shortly. Hopefully shortly means in the coming minutes. A lot people are trying to make their transportation plans now. D. C. Public schools will be open tomorrow and d. C. Public schools will be working with metro to add additional bus service, they say tardies and absences in d. C. Public schools will be excused tomorrow. So many students in d. C. Public schools take metro rail to get from home to the school building. Alternate plans will have to be made. More as it comes in thats it at the live desk, now back to you. Scott mcfarland, thank you. Theres not a lot of heads up for people and that has city officials and federal officials a little upset that theyre just now getting word on this. We have a list of all your Transportation Options tomorrow on the nbc washington app. We know theres a lot of discussions to be made tonight by a lot of employers impacting your day tomorrow. Well keep you updated here on newsro news4 at 11 00 and of course on the nbc washington app. Were going to switch to another top story since this unfolded on sunday. Three Prince Georges County brothers all took part in that plot to attack police, thats according to Court Documents revealed today. Malik ford and elijah ford are accused of doing nothing to stop the shooting. Both are charged with 11 counts of attempted murder in in connection with the death of Prince Georges County Police Detective jacai colson. Charges have not been made against the accused shooter. Michael ford. Who is still in the hospital. Lets listen to some dispatch calls. Medic in front of the cage, right in front of the community center. Is that correct . Station. Active shooter. 5, 335. The area behind district 3, is the neighborhood. Possible suspect at large. Prince georges county bureau chief Tracee Wilkins talked to a witness who saw this all unfold. She is live outside the courthouse in upper marlboro. Tracee . That witness told us she had never seen anything like this before. And was amazed at what she watched happen. Right outside her door. He was just angry young man. Jeanette gray who lives across from district 3 said she stood at her door watching the man that police have identified as michael ford outside the Police Station. Come out, come out and face me. She said he reached for something in his jacket. I heard pow pow pow, and i thought thats real bullets and people started running. After the exchange of gunfire ended, she said she saw something lying near the side of her gate. Theres a little bush over here by my gate. It looked like on that side. Somebody laying there. And i said, oh, they must have but i didnt know at the time until i was heard later on the news that it was an officer. Today Prince Georges County police chief Hank Stawinski walked the crime scene as evidence technicians counted holes and measured distances. Police say theyre still building their case to charge suspected gunman, michael ford. This is the process of gathering forensic evidence to demonstrate how this event played out. Fords brothers, malik and elijah are facing attempted murder charges for allegedly helping their brother to commit the crime. According to charging documents, elijah recorded the video where his brother mapped out doing the shooting. Malik drove michael to the Police Station and when he started walking to the wrong building, they directed him back to the Police Station. The brothers are expected to have a video first appearance. Here at the Prince Georges County courthouse tomorrow. Now, the States Attorneys Office and police were hoping to get seconddegree murder charges against these two brothers. But the commissioner said the evidence was not there for that. After this case goes to the grand jury. Again, still building their charges against michael. For the alleged shooting in this incident. Coming up on news4 at 6 00, we talk to the fire chief after he had conversations with folks who were in the ambulance that was shot at by michael when all of this happened according to police. Reporting live from upper marlboro, Tracee Wilkins. Officer colsons death comes a couple of weeks after someone shot and killed Prince William county officer ashley guindon. Today that family is thanking the public for their outpouring of support. We hear from another officer wounded during the same call that guindon responded to. Thank you for praying for our recovery and for lining streets to honor the sacrifice that ashley made. The support weve received from the community and other agencies means more than you can know. You provided light in a time of darkness. Video message posted on our nbc washington facebook page. Police released new video hoping it will help them find these two men. They want to talk to them to see if they know anything about a possible attempted abduction at the smithsonians popular air and space museum. Tour group was walking out of that museum when a man grabbed a childs hand. But a quickthinking chaperone saw what was going on and put a stop to it. News4s Jackie Bensen is live with more on the investigation. Wendy, police are taking this very seriously. They tell us they need some help from shuttle bus drivers. The Surveillance Video from inside the smithsonians air and space museum show two men described as persons of interest in an alarming thing that happened here march 3rd. They had been seen talking to each other inside the museum. The first video shows an adult male subject with dark described to us as black hair, with light brown roots. It looks as though the hair is dyed and its growing out somewhat. The subject is described as having green eyes and an Eastern European accent and an additional man, also a white male with white or gray hair and a little bit heavyset. Witnesses reported that a man with dark hair took the hand of a young elementaryaged child and walked with the child for a few steps before a chaperone notice and intervened. At which point the man walked off. Boarded a white shuttle bus and the bus was seen leaving shortly after. Between the hours of 10 00 or 11 00 if you had a dropoff or a pickup in the Jefferson Park area of the air and space museum. Please reach out to us. Theres a chance you transported these people. Parents we spoke to say its just the sort of thing we warn their children about. Wej importance of staying close and if they get lost where they should go. Coming up, weve learned about a strangely similar incident with very similar photos that happened in a museum, well show you those photos, live on the national mall, Jackie Bensen, news4. Were just Getting Started on news4 at 5 00, we continue to follow our breaking news regarding metro and the shutdown of the entire system for a day. A little later, well have reaction from riders in northern virginia. And a backlash over a decision to change the name of a Prince William county middle school. Little by little, were learning more and more about the violent death of shelden williams, the d. C. Man found dead alongside a road in Montgomery County. Today officially, theyve called this a case of murder. That story coming up. News4. Not a bad afternoon today, take a look at the numbers, just down our south and west, were at 62, roanoke, 74, back to kentucky, 78, some warmer air moving our way and much co when you build one of the biggest Retail Businesses in america, you spend a lot of time working closely with elected officials. From secretaries to president s you learn what works in government and what doesnt. And if youre david trone you take those lessons all the way to congress. You pledge to take nothing from pacs or corporations because the only special interest a congressman should have is you and hell promise to work with anyone if itll get things done. After all hes spent 30 years working both sides of the aisle. Im david trone and i approve this message. Its Scott Mcfarland, back to breaking news that will impact your commute tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening. Metro will be closed for at least 29 hours, starting at midnight tonight. The Transit Agency will use the shutdown to inspect socalled jumper cables on the entire system. According to general manager paul wiedefeld, who says the jumper cables were responsible for yesterdays fire, that gridlocked service on the blue, orange and silver lines. He said the initial investigation points to it being the same issue that caused the deadly smoke issue at Lenfante Plaza last year. Were waiting to hear from the office of Personnel Management as to whether theyre going to offer telework to federal workers tomorrow because of the shutdown. Already many local members of congress are asking the opm to do so were hearing from School District now. D. C. Public schools say theyll have school tomorrow. So many of their students take metrorail to get to the school buildings, they say absences and tarties will be arlington schools will have normal operations and were hearing from Montgomery County that county lead remembers in a summit that began a few minutes ago to determine whether they will offer excuses and rideon buses adding buss to supplement their fleet. The mta marc train system Still Deciding how theyll supplement ridership in the maryland suburbs and the vre in virginia, running normal service tomorrow. Amid the metro shutdown. Details are coming in as we speak, well have them as soon as we can at our nbc washington app. Now back to you. This evening, were learning new details about what is now Montgomery Countys first murder of 2016. And were hearing from people who knew the young man. Found dead along the side of a road in the briggscheney area, news4s pat collins at Police Headquarters with details. . Jim, we know more now, we know that Sheldon Williams was shot and killed boulevard in Montgomery County. But his friends and his family, they want to know why. In his life, Sheldon Williams had a lot of things in play. He worked at sweetgreen, a salad emporium in southeast at the same time he was taking classes at udc. Through the sweetgreen windows, can you see a montage of pictures of sheldon commemorating the years he worked here. At the Caesar Chavez Charter School where he graduated with honors, the loss of Sheldon Williams has had a great impact. A huge loss. A huge loss. Scholars all around, scholar who is are here now, our alumni, they all have felt impacted by his loss. Dr. Miller was a math teacher when Sheldon Williams was a student here. This is the first scholar who ive taught, who has actually is senseless and and violent, is just disheartening. Its official now, the medical examiner has ruled the death of Sheldon Williams a case of murder. The cause of death, gunshot. The body of the 20yearold found late friday night alongside castle boulevard in Montgomery County. Passerby had found the victim you know off the sidewalk. And detectives do believe that the victim was killed there. Killed where he was found . Correct. Now coming up at 6 00, more about Sheldon Williams. More about his lost dream. Ill see you at 6 00. Now back to you. All right. Pat collins. And neighbors in Fairfax County are concerned about their safety. After an 83yearold man was found shot at his home. Tonight, people in the mason neck area of lorton will meet with the Fairfax County police to get an update on johan delide was shot in the chest in lorton last friday. Found in his back yard, he died at the hospital. Police say his death is a homicide. They have not made any arrest and any have no suspects in this case. Call it super tuesday. Part two. Tonight we could see the landscape of the race for the white house shift on both sides. Donald trump and hillary clinton, could solidify their shot at their partys respective nominations. But we could also see upsets. Making the late ebb contests even more important. Whats at stake . Well primaries in missouri, illinois, ohio, North Carolina and yes, the sunshine state. Hundreds of delegates up for grabs for both parties tonight. And for the gop, all eyes are on florida and ohio. They are winner take all states. Im kristen welk anywhere miami, secretary clinton feeling confident about her chances here in florida. This is where shes going to hold a big rally tonight. But senator sanrs increasingly strong in states throughout the midwest. Particularly after his surprise win in michigan. And the winner tonight could all come down to who wins ohio. Hi, im Chris Jansing in cleveland, ohio, a makeorbreak state for john kasich who cast his vote this morning in westerville in suburban columbus, saying hes going to win. If he does, it complicates everything for donald trump. If he doesnt, it means hes out of the race. Im Dave Gutierrez in miami, where marco rubio is fighting for his political future. Most polls have him down at least 17 points here in his home state. His campaign is banking on what would have to be historic turnout in here in the stronghold of miamidade county. Im hallie jackson. With ted cruz campaign. The senator spending time in houston tonight. Where hes looking to pick up delegates, North Carolina and illinois. But watch missouri. Thats a place where you might see cruz surprise with a strong performance. Montgomery county executive budget plan that includes a 4cent increase in property taxes, that the money would go to reducing class sizes in Montgomery County schools and boosting achievement. The budget adds more Police Officers to the clarksburggermantown area and it funds Police Body Camera program. The county council has until june 1st to take final action on the budget. The new fiscal year begins in july. Well, the big story this afternoon metro adding more buses to the roads after announcing that metro will shut down the entire subway system for emergency inspections. Starting at midnight tonight and all day tomorrow. We continue to follow this developing story. The latest on how the federal and the local governments are reacting to this decision. Offers best in class v8 fuelink economy . Best in class v8 horsepower, and best in class v8 towing . Chevy. Im going with ram. Definitely ford. The new 2016 Chevy Silverado offers best in class v8 fuel economy. 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But if your network cant keep up, it can really slow you down. And thats not good for business. Thankfully, a switch to the 100 Fiber Optic Network of verizon fios is all it takes to keep everything moving in the right direction with fios you get 99. 9 Network Reliability and the fastest wifi available. With uploads as fast as downloads up to 500 megs. Its the network that can move as fast as your business. Get fios 50 meg or higher internet and phone for your last chance to get 250 back. Hurry, this offer ends soon. Call or go online today. Pretty nice day out there we saw some shower activity during the day yesterday. We saw some cloud cover again this morning. But now were seeing some sunshine across the area. Take a look outside. A great camera out towards it says rockville, thats not rockville, thats down towards national harbor. Weve got the boats out here. Not going to be long until were starting to take the boats out into the potomac. How about that, looking good there. Now right now some nice conditions. Look at the temperatures, up to 64, winds out of the north at about 9 miles per hour. A very nice afternoon. Its going to be a very nice evening, too. 59 greaaithersburg. South and west, 70 right now in stanton. Around the charlottesville area. Thats the warm air thats just off to our southwest. Moving in tomorrow. Storm team 4 radar, nothing to show, no rain, were not going to be around this time tomorrow night. Its from a storm system well back to the west. Heres the storm systems that came through the last couple of days. Theyre not moving out. You can see the sunshine moving in the clouds getting out of here. But then back to the west. Watching this storm, pretty potent little storm system. Actually a tornado watch around for the chicagoland area. Northern portions of illinois. That storm will move our way. Were not going to see any Severe Weather from it tomorrow but well see a chance for a shower, thats going to be about it. A quick shower. 11 00. Cloud cover across the area. Mostly cloudy to partly cloudy skies. Around 3 00 we start to see the showers moving in most of the area dry through about 4 00, 5 00 and heres 6 00 around the i95 corridor. Not a huge deal tomorrow. Again a quick shower. But with metro shut down, a lot of people going to be out there walking around. You ma i want to take the umbrella just in case. All in all not a bad evening tomorrow. That gets out of here quickly. We start to see skies clear. Tomorrow afternoon, 70 frederick, 73 towards charlottesville. Notice along the bay. Only in the lower 60s, upper 50s cooler along the bay with a southeasterly breeze. Next four days, 74 tomorrow, 65 on st. Patricks day. 57 on your friday. Saturday, 50. This is when things start to cool. Another storm could be a noreaster. Veronica has that forecast for you, which may include a little bit of snow. But dont worry. Doug, thanks, see you shortly. Coming up on news4 at 5 00, we continue to follow our breaking big news regarding the shutdown of metro. Were going to find out how it is going to impact tomorrow mornings commute tomorrow afternoons commute. Lot going on, folks. Im david culver in virginia. Were working on a controversy about a School Name Change and the racial backlash, its happeng hnie hey hows it going, hotcakes . Hotcakes. This place has hotcakes. So why arent they selling like hotcakes . With comcast Business Internet and wifi pro, they could be. Just add a customized message to your wifi pro splash page and youll reach your customers where their eyes are already on their devices. Order up. Its more than just wifi, it can help grow your business. You dont see that every day. Introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. Comcast business. Built for business. To the breaking news that probably has so many of you scrambling to find a ride to work tomorrow. Metro shutting down all day tomorrow. The subway for emergency inspections. Crews are looking at 600 jumper cables, systemwide, that act as kind of an extension cord to that third rail. Metro believes those cables were to blame for yesterdays track fire. And the deadly Lenfante Plaza metro smoke incident last year. Metros gm says it was not an easy decision to make. When i say safety is our highest priority, i mean it. Thats sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions, and this is one of those for sure. I fully recognize the harhi the community. News4s transportation reporter adam tuss joins us on the phone. With more on this unprecedented move. Adam, it seemed to a lot of people to come out of nowhere. Yeah, john i think thats the most surprising thing about all of this. But really, so did the smoke and fire incident yesterday. Things seem to be going along normally there, as normal as they can be for metro and 4 30 yesterday morning, they have this incident that completely melts down blue, orange and Silver Line Service for the morning commute. It lasts into the afternoon commute and even this morning we were wondering if service was going to get back up to normal and running. Did get blue, orange, and Silver Service back up and running this morning. But clearly they got in there yesterday over the course of the night last night, and they took a look at what happened with that smoke and fire incident near Mcpherson Square. And they didnt like what they saw. If yourgo safety a top priority, you have to applaud the general manager for shutting the system down for a day and taking a hard look at the system in the name of safety. You cant put people in harms way if you believe theres an issue that could arise, when i was talking to metro sources after this announcement was all made. They said that people are literally going to be crawling on the tracks of the system. Theyre going to fan people out, sat rate the system, have people looking at all of these jumper cables everywhere and they cant even run trains because youre going to have people on their hands and knees making sure things are installed properly so this is clearly an unprecedented move. But one that the general manager felt like he needed to make. Coming in the middle of a work week, is there any chance it stretches beyond 29 hours and any chance they could come back and revisit Something Like this in the weeks ahead . I think if metro is going to take a like this, then yeah, theres the potential that this is going do happen again in the future. Youre going to have to start making some tough decisions like this. You know for so long, the system has been ignored when it comes to maintenance, people havent put the proper amount of care into the system and so this is what you get. Years later, you get the system investment that leads to the system being in the shape that it is right now. The general manager has talked about how its worse than whey thought when he came in here. And jim, we cant say for sure that theyre not going to find something tomorrow. You know if youre going to take this level of detail and really get in there and microinspect the system, then i have to imagine Something Else concerning is going to pop up. You just hope its something that they can fix and replace tomorrow during the course of the day. And not have this stretch on for the coming weeks. Weve got the Cherry Blossoms coming up. Things like that. Safety of course, a top priority, but you also have to think about getting things back up and running so we can get back to life as normal here in good point. Adam, heres hoping, we appreciate it thank you, adam. So you can imagine as people are scrambling as they take what could be their last subway ride for the next 24 hours, were going to continue our coverage with derrick ward on the red line train right now talking to people. What is the mood out there during this rush hour, derrick . Well its a bit of a surprise. People are kind of understanding when they realize that this is a matter of safety. Were talking to a rider here who just got the word, whats your name, sir . Greg romano. What are you going to do tomorrow . 24 hours with no metrorail . Im set up to telework. Ill telework from my home in alexandria. Because trying to get from alexandria to Silver Spring would be very difficult. Do you other colleagues that may not have that option . Have you been talking to them what were theyre going to do . Ive talked to colleague who is have going to have to drive. But for the most part, theyre going to telework if at all possible. Well make it work. Safety. Does that give you comfort or understanding about this . Anything that improves safety is great. It is an inconvenience, as we all know sometimes the inconvenience of metro can be a problem. But i just, its my one option and so i take the lumps as they come. Thank you for your time, sir, we appreciate it enjoy the rest of your commute. You wont be doing it for the next 24 hours at least on the subway. There are announcements in the station, a big sign over the kiosk when you enter the station saying that metro will be closed tomorrow. As we heard, local governments, opm are going to come out with statements about how to react to this. Expect some adversity tomorrow, no mat fer you drive or take metro. Live on the red line, derrick ward, back to you. Happy riding for a few more hours, anyway. Turmoil in Prince William county today over changing the name of a middle school. Northern Virginia Bureau reporter david culver joins us live from Godwin Middle School in dale city to explain the incident that has sparked some backlash, david . That apparent backlash, personal, deeply racial. Police telling me theyre trying to find the person who put a confederate flag, along with a racial slur into the home mailbox of a local School Board Member it came after the same local School Board Member voted to change this middle schools name. Godwin middle school wasnt even on the early march School Board Meeting agenda. Instead the focus was on finding a name for this brandnew elementary school. Our school board was setting out to name a school in honor of one of two different people who really are models for our community. Those individuals, dr. George hampton, a living Africanamerican Community leader and army veteran and kyle wilson, a county firefighter who lost his life battling this house fire in 2007. Supporters from both sides spoke up. But instead of choosing between the two, School Board Member justin wilk had a proposal to change Godwin Middle School. I think this, people can hate me, whatever. I think its the best alternative. Right now theres a school right now, where kids walk in, 78 minority and the name of the building is after a segregationist governor in dale city, Godwin Middle School. A latenight vote the board and the crowd approved. Yeah. After inside first reported it, some Community Members seemed caught offguard and some angry. One person posting, poor judgment on Prince William county, godwin should never have been up for change. It was not on the agenda. Poor, poor decisions, ill be putting up a petition to keep godwin. Another one writing, if one of my schools was ash trarbitra changed, i would be disappointed. This is disappointing, its about the students, the legacy of the people were trying to ho. Im going to explain why tomorrow nights School Board Meeting could actually bring some changes and really evoke a lot stronger emotions. Thats ahead in our next hour, reporting live from dale city, virginia, david culver, news4. Thank you. Another push for a controversial merger comes with new warnings, the urgent message concerning electrical rates and Power Outages in our area. She became the National Sensation for dancing with the obamas. Now shes being celebrated by an historic basketball team. Her story, right after advisor and team who understand where you come from. We didnt really have anything, you know. But, we made do. N as strong as your values. Al, how you doing. Hey, mr. Hamilton. Vo know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy. With the guidance and support of your dedicated pnc Wealth Management team. I do everything on the internet, but its kinda slow. My friends said i should get fios because its the fastest, but i thought it would be too expensive. Whos that, jenny . No kate. Turns out they have a deal that cost me even less than my slow service. And its 100 megs. I just downloaded 600 photos in 60 seconds. Thats seriously better. Were out of 2 then i thought, maybe other things could be better. I heard that. Nows the best time to switch to better internet. Only fios has the Fastest Internet and wifi available. So you can send files up to 5x faster than cable. Now, get our best offer ever super fast 100 meg internet with equal upload and download speeds. Plus tv phone for just 69. 99 a month online with no annual 100 meg speeds at a price this good . Fios can do that. Cable just cant. Just go to getfios. Com or call 1. 888. Get. Fios. Thats 100 meg internet speeds, tv and phone for our best offer ever. Switch to better. Switch to fios. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v mother theresa will be made a saint september 4th, pope francis made the announcement today. Mother theresa won the nobel prize for her work in the slums of calcutta. Pope john paul attributed to a pope francis cleared her way for sainthood, attributing a second miracle. At the time of her death she ran 600 orphanages, soup kitchens and shelters. The 107yearold washington woman who became a National Sensation after she danced with the obamas, shes now being celebrated by a famous basketball team. Those Harlem Globetrotters honored virginia mclaurin, at roots public Charter School in northwest d. C. She volunteers at the school on a regular basis. Look at that smile. The globetrotters say they want to celebrate her positive philosophy and all that energy. Well, theyre named mr. President and the first lady and they are expecting one of their offspring shortly. Up next, the latest on the eaglet watch at the national arboretum. And a new twist on an irs icam that a at the live desk, were staying on top of the metro shutdown for you and how it will impact you. The shutdown starts at midnight tonight, it will last through at least 5 00 a. M. Thursday morning. The transit agencies will inspect socalled jumper cables on its system. Cables that were at the heart Mcpherson Square and the deadly smoke incident at Lenfante Plaza in january 2015. Heres where we stand as far as the federal government goes. No decision yet from the office of Personnel Management. But several members of congress in the d. C. Area formally asking the agency to institute unscheduled telework. Montgomery county holding a meeting right now to decide what to do in that county. We know d. C. Schools will open, and then metro will provide extra buss to help kids get to class. Were told a few moments ago d. C. Government will open on time. For commuting, marc will be running trains, at 7 00 p. M. Will decide whether its going to offer more services so that it can better help metro passengers in Montgomery County, Howard County and anne arundel and prince georges. Dash on buses, regular system and rideon buss in Montgomery County will provide extra buses to help. But likely not impact the rush hour. The big domino is from the office of Personnel Management. Which holds the thousands of federal workers who take the metro system each day. Deciding whether theyll be allowed to telework tomorrow. Schools, arlington schools will open as scheduled tomorrow. D. C. Schools will allow excused absences and excused tardies, because so many students in that School District take metro to get to school. More as it comes in on our nbc washington app and at the live desk. We have a warning tonight for taxpayers. The irs says theres a new twist with phone scams. Consumer reporter susan hogan is here to tell you how it works so you dont fall for it. Susan . Well thats right. The irs phone scams are by far the most common complaint we get from our viewers, aggressive and threatening phone calls from someone impersonating an irs agent saying you owe money. While the scams are still a problem, the irs says in the last few weeks its received complaints of a new scam. Scam artists are calling tax return and need to verify a few details to process it. Criminals then try to get you to tell them your Social Security number, or give personnel financial information. Remember the irs will never call or email you to verify your identity. The irs will never demand a payment over the phone. Andful never ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone or email, either. The best thing you can do if you get one of these phone calls, simply hang up. And you should report it as well. And you should also go to our nbc washington app and search for tech scams. Susan, thank you. About 32,000 bottles of water donated by the people in Prince Georges County is now on its way to help people in flint, michigan today. Fire crews helped load water donated by local residents on to train cars. The branchville, largo, glendale and staegss. Flint switched water sources in 2014, causing leads to get into the Drinking Water supply. Several people became ill, the city has now taken steps to improve the water quality. The world rides at our doorstep with the start of the d. C. Environmental film festival. 140 films showcasing the vast beauty our planet and the environmental troubles that continue to plague it it begins with the story of member who risk their lives helping foreigners take what they believe is a dangerous ego trip up mount everest. To the men and women who Keep National Parks thriving across our globe. Festival runs through march 26th. You can find a link on nbc washington app and search environmental film vest val. In this town were familiar with panda watch. But right now we want to take you to the nest inside the national arboretum. A pair of bald eagles has been taking turns incubating two eggs for the past month and one of them could hatch as early as today. Weve seen the adult eagle moving around quite a bit but so far no signs of any eaglets. Were going to break in as soon as it happens. Thats a beautiful shot. We hope theyre not asleep in ten. You know that drill. Weve got interesting weather on the way. Weve got, tomorrow could be just an awful, awful day for kmoorts so we want to take a deep breath, we dont want weather to get in the way of this. But in some ways our weather tomorrow could be the best that weve had in the last couple of days. If you like it warm. Our temperatures will be the warmest that theyve been since last friday. Were going to be going up into the 70s. So milder and then its going to get chilly again. What we dont want tomorrow is weekend that will be chilly, if not cold as youll see in just a moment. So temperatures tomorrow will feel a lot like may. Thats why i think its going to be a lowimpact weather day for us. Nice, warm, could see an isolated shower come our way during the afternoon hours. On radar, scanning the area, this is live, not a drop ton found. After the morning rain as we make our way through the day tomorrow. We start out with the morning fog. After about 3 00, up until about 7 00 well see isolated showers moving through. Thats the green that you see here. Fredericksburg, down around frederick, leesburg, hagerstown. Up toward winchester. The system continues east and by 5 00, 6 00, could be moving through areas around d. C. , Montgomery County, up toward Howard County and southern maryland. Its out of here by 9 00. Well be clearing out once again. So nothing heavy for tomorrow, a few showers that will be isolated for the afternoon hours. The morning commute, we may have to deal with some dense and widespread fog. Youll want to have another thin layer on to start your day tomorrow. The fog could slow some folks down on area roads. All of this white is the fog. Want to show you how widespread it is. Sometimes its along i95 and maybe east. This time its throughout the area and the visibilities will be down under a mile up until maybe 9 00 amt. The change for us, that warmth that will be moving in, youll really notice it. So kind of a layer up kind of day. Short sleeves for the afternoon. 74, 76 from la plata on down. Clouds will be moving through the area tomorrow. Youll notice it during the afternoon hours with the isolated shower. For right now, st. Patricks day is looking drier. Temperatures top out in the mid 60s, the weekend, 50 to 46 degrees. On the weekend, chilly, if not cold with rain mixing with a little bit of snow. Coming our way late sunday. Doug has more on that coming up on news4 at 6 00. Commuters dreading a day without our coverage of this developing story. Continues. The idea was to make airlawn park in bethesda accessible to people in wheelchairs 0or other disabilities to see their kids play baseball. But the sidewalk that was built for them is now flooded. How did it get this way . D whats being donean a we need women in congress. If we want to be heard, it was the women who forced republicans to include Womens Health and contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care act. In congress, ill fight for pay equity, family leave and tougher gun safety laws. And, as an environmentalist, ill work combat climate change. I know as a journalist and as a Senior Executive in business that when women are at the table, we get things done. Im Kathleen Mathews and i approve this message. Looking at the thats not the metro tracks outside dunn loring. Theyre right in the middle. Because those tracks are manity now, theyre going to be empty for the next, starting at midnight for the next 29 hours, roads are going to be full of cars, well continue our Live Team Coverage of metros decision to shut down the entire subway system and what it means for you, your kids, how youre going to get to if you have to work tomorrow, coming up on news4 at 6 00. New warnings today of higher electric rates and more Power Outages, the message tonight from local businesses and Community Leaders. As tom sherwood reports, theyre asking for no more delays in approving the controversial pepco exelon merger. In an Old Industrial area of northeast washington, the ideal electric supply company, in business 30 years and owned and operated by Cora Williams and her family. She was one of dozens of business and Community Leaders today making an urgent pitch for the 7 billion pepco exelon merger which has run into complications. Its stalled bst Public Service commission, a dispute not about the merger itself, but who will control millions inside Community Benefits and rate relief. Pep ko has always been a strong corporate partner to the communit always. Former d. C. Mayor Tony Williams led the business charge today. Area leaders saying d. C. Needs to join a multistate merger. To benefit to the district of columbia, to Montgomery County, prince georges up, delaware, new jersey. Nor a company thats going to be struggling with its Balance Sheet if this merger isnt approved. Opponents insist the merger will boost the Balance Sheet of the much bigger exelon, not improve pepco reliability. The truth is that pepco is a financially Healthy Company and exlon is not so happy. What exelon wants to do is gobble up these Healthy Companies to improve its Balance Sheet. Pepco exelon has asked the council to act by april 7th. In the district tom sherwood, news4. In a Pivotal Moment in politics, right now voters in five states, including voters here in florida, are casting their ballots as republicans marco rubio and john kasich in futures and to keep their white house hopes alive. An attempted abduction at one of the busiest Tourist Attractions in our area. And the dramatic eye witness account as a Police Officer is ambushed on the job. By that time i heard pow pow pow. What were just learning about the brothers allegedly behind the calculated crime. We start with breaking news from metro. The Transit Agency is shutting down the entire rail system at midnight. It will be closed all day tomorrow. Meaning hundreds of thousands of you, your neighbors, coworkers, all going to have to find another way to get to work and school. Crews have to conduct emergency inspections on underground jumper cables like the one that caught fire monday near Mcpherson Square. They have to inspect about 600 cables and anything they have to fix, could cause even more service outages. Weve got crews covering every angle from the system shutdown to the