On the roads or about to hop in a car. Megan mcgrath is live near the bay bridge toll plaza. Megan, good morning. Reporter well, good morning, aaron. We are right here at the toll plaza itself. You can take a look for yourself. It doesnt look too bad. You can e the ez pass lanes absolutely no wait at all, folks are cruising right through. The lanes where you have to give cash, theres a little bit of a wait here but nothing too bad. In the last 15 or 20 minutes, they started running twoway traffic on whats normally the westbound span, so that helps as well. Aaa estimating over 800,000 people from our area are going to leave town this weekend, most of them by car. So expect a lot of company out there on the areas highways. Rush hour along 395. Uneventful this morning, but area highways are expected to slow to a crawl this afternoon as thousands leave town for summers last hurrah. Gas prices are lower this year, a plus considering that nearly nine in ten travelers will leave town in their cars. Theyre not too bad. They were more expensive toward the beginning of the summer, but theyre a lot better now. Reporter in preparation for the crush, area jurisdictions are suspending most road projects for the weekend. In virginia, theyll pick up the cones around noon today. And the best advice for drivers is leave early or leave late. Kristen conager chose the early option. She and her friends are headed to the beach and got across the bay bridge before things got too bad. There hasnt been much traffic so far, so its been easy. Reporter while traffic is expected to be heavy on just about every major highway, there are some spots that will be particularly bad. Here are the top three bottlenecks. 95 north between d. C. And baltimore, the beltway at the 270 split, and 95 south all the way down to fredericksburg. And police will also be out in full force this weekend, just driving here along route 50. I saw five different spots where people were pulled over by state troopers. Reporting live from the bay bridge, megan mcgrath, news4. Aaron, back to you. Megan, thank you for that. You just heard the biggest trouble spots in this region for the holiday weekend. News4s melissa studied the map and shell pass on some alternative routes you might want to consider so youre not sitting in traffic. Shell have that for us in our next half hour. Another travel area to avoid is connecticut avenue in chevy chase. Pavement work will have traffic tied up this weekend. Crews are repaving the stretch between eastwest highway and Western Avenue at chevy chase circle. We are off to a great start weatherwise. Sunny skies, low humidity right now. Meteorologist amelia segal is joining us outside from the storm team 4 weather deck with the first forecast. Amelia. Good morning, aaron. Unfortunately, there are some rain chances in the Labor Day Weekend forecast. Not today, though. Beautiful sunshine for the rest of the afternoon. The humidity remains low. Great travel weather today. Weather not having any negative impact on your day. Now, as we look to tomorrow, it will be the most comfortable of the threeday holiday weekend. The humidity not too bad and were keeping it dry. Sunday, the best chance of rain. Not only that, but it will be hot and muggy. Labor day still hot and muggy with one or two thunderstorms potentially in the forecast. Coming up, aaron, ill have the timing on the rain chances, taking you through the forecast, especially looking at sunday when that rain is most likely. All right, amelia, well see you in a couple of minutes. Thank you. I want to check in with Richard Jordan. He has some breaking news from the live desk. Reporter the u. K. Has increased that countrys Terror Threat level to severe, which means that a terror attack is highly likely right now. This all stems from isis militants in iraq and syria. The concern is that those terrorists are Training Foreign fighters, so basically british citizens going to that region, training and returning to the United Kingdom to possibly execute one of those terror attacks. So far were hearing from Scotland Yard that they will be increasing patrols. They say they do not have any specific intelligence about a pending attack but Prime MinisterDavid Cameron did speak just a bit ago and talked about isis militants spreading poisonous ideology. People are rightly concerned about foreign fighters who travel from britain to syria and iraq, taking part in terrorist acts and come back to threaten our security here at home. This threat is growing. Cameron will be going before the house of commons on monday to talk about possible travel restrictions. Aaron. Richard jordan at the live desk. Thank you. New today, a teenager is in the hospital now after being hit by a car in Montgomery County. Chopper 4 was above the scene about 6 30 this morning. This is on the gaithersburg damascus line. The 17yearold victim will be okay. The driver did stay at the scene. No word on whether any charges have been filed. Police say the disappearance of a man from Montgomery County is strange and theyre waiting for more tips before they continue searching for him. Last thursday Martin John Rogers never showed up to work at the National Institutes of health in rockville. The same day surveillance cameras caught him checking into a hotel in leveil, maryland. There have been possible sightings as far away as cumberland, maryland. His family is confused and concerned for his health. The best answer that we have is my husband is distressed and confused and is trying to work his way back home. We dont understand the why. All we know is that he needs help getting home. Rogers was driving a blue 2001 audi with maryland tags. That car has not been found. Montgomery county investigators dont believe foul play is involved here. Last night police suspended their search, but it will continue if there are more sightings of john rogers. Lawyers are delivering their Closing Remarks right now in the corruption trial of former Virginia Governor bob mcdonnell. When theyre finished, the jury will be given time to weigh five weeks worth of evidence and testimony. Today is one of the last days in court, but the first one when all five mcdonnell children joined their parents as they walked in. The whole family is here. Its a great source of strength and enjoyment. Im glad theyre all here. Some children had to testify, so they could not join the former first couple before now. Bob and Maureen Mcdonnell are accused of trading political influence for 177,000 in gifts and loans. If theyre convicted, they could face decades in prison. You can follow our Northern Virginia bureau on twitter for the latest out of the courtroom in richmond. Julie carey and david culver are covering every angle. Theyll have live reports beginning at 4 00 p. M. Right now a new clue as police work to find the person possibly behind a string of sex assaults in the district. Plus, the airport emergency today that had people lugging their bags on the street just to get to ticket counters. And a Progress Report on and a Progress Report on joan rivers after yawn ding toaster strudel more fruit in the filling, ya . Mmm ya warm, flaky, gooey, toaster strudel now, with more fruit dont wait for awesome. Totinos pizza rolls. Gets you there in just 60 seconds. Water main repairs are under way in the sdrichbldistrict. This happened on kentucky avenue between d and e streets. D. C. Water tells us about 50 homes dont have service now. That water main should be repaired by later today. Right now d. C. Police are hoping someone recognizes the man running in this video. Theyre calling him a person of interest in an assault on oak street in northwest. This happened early saturday morning. Theyre calling this an assault with intent to commit sex abuse. While that video may not be very clear, d. C. Police believe this assault was connected to several others earlier in the week. Police released this sketch on tuesday. Give police a call if that sketch looks familiar to you. Now to a horrific crime in laurel. Police there say two men killed and dismembered their roommate and one of those suspects is still on the run. Prince georges county investigators say santos admitted his involvement. Perez body was found in two bags. Police say an argument inside their apartment escalated to violence. Theyre looking for another roommate, paron cruise vargas. Right now more questions than answers. Plus, the direction of many you feel about the u. S. Possibly entering another world crisis. And if your plans this evening include wolf trap or jiffy lube live, the weather looking spectacular. A little cool later tonight. The timing on rain for sunday and your labor day coming up in about ten minutes. Here i am. Rock you like a hurricane fiber one now makes cookies. Find them in the cookie aisle. Im Richard Jordan following a developing story at Chicagos Ohare International airport. Things returning back to normal but early this morning a shuttle bus crashed into a median there. 13 people were hurt. And so was the driver. There were 13 passengers on board that suffered minor injuries, but the driver was pinned there. Firefighters had to rescue her. She is expected to be okay. This caused quite the mess for travelers trying to get to terminal one there. So much so that they ditched their cars, grabbed their luggage and walked up to the ticket counters so they wouldnt miss their flights, but that bus has now been cleared from the scene there so things returning to normal there. Not the best way to start this busy Labor Day Travel period, though. Aaron, back to you. Richard, thank you. Right now comedienne joan rivers is still in the hospital. The 81yearold was rushed to mt. Sinai hospital yesterday after going into cardiac arrest at a doctors office. Nbc news says rivers is in critical condition. Her daughter, melissa, released a statement saying her mother is resting comfortably. Joan rivers condition officially has not been released. Right now president obama weighing his options regarding potential action against isis in syria. This morning it doesnt seem like air strikes are on the immediate horizon there. I dont want to put the cart before the horse. We dont have a strategy yet. The president made those remarks yesterday. He says degrading isis is going to require a regional strategy and assistance from partners in the middle east. The big question might have that we might hear on the decision is whats next in syria. Mark murray is nbcs senior Political Editor and is joining us now to talk a little more about this. The president made those statements yesterday about the quote was we dont have a strategy yet. We know hes sending secretary of state john kerry to the middle east fairly soon here. What is is there really a strategy or no you think . So there is an overall strategy about fighting isis. There have been continued bombardments against isis, getting the yezidis off the mountain. The comment about not having a strategy yet was what to do about isis in syria. Syria is a tricky situation because you have the assad regime thats battling isis and the assad regime is someone the United States doesnt want to work with at all. The question is if you really want to decapitate and destabilize isis, youve got to do it in syria but how do you do it if you dont want to partner with the assad regime. Thats what president obama was talking about. What theyre trying to be able to do is get a big political solution to combatting isis in syria, and thats getting syria involved, getting iran involved, getting all these other middle eastern and arab nations involved where the United States isnt just deciding to send in bombs into syria and to be able to make it a regional problem. Thats what the president was talking about. So then beyond that political solution or trying to work toward a political solution, if something more were to be needed, at what point does the president have to start Getting Congress involved to make some bigger moves. And again thats what he was referring to. We dont have a strategy yet because were not going to have a Bombing Campaign where we need Congress Help right now. I think the president really does Want Congress to have a role in some of this but there are two things that need to happen first. One, there needs than that bigger political strategy involved in getting that regional coalition. Two, youve got to see if congress is willing to step up to the plate. Weve seen time and time again, particularly in an election season, where members of congress, would they pass a war resolution or do Something Like that . Im not sure thats the case. We will see when they get back in session. Its going to be soon. For more from mark and the rest of the nbc news political team, you can check out first read on nbcnews. Com. A new poll finds americans are increasingly open to a larger u. S. Role in trying to solve problems around the world. According to usa today and pew research, 39 say the United States does too much in helping solve world problems. 31 say the u. S. Does too little. 24 think its the right amount. That is a significant change, though, from less than a year ago. Back then americans said the u. S. Did too much by an overwhelming 51 . Well, this morning some parents in california are outraged over the punishment given to a teacher who made threatening comments about her students on twitter. Nbcs jacob rascon has more on that. Reporter before Summer School started, newark, california, High School Teacher crystal arada tweeted she was so happy to be done with school for ten days. Which would have been fine but the tweet continued. Especially to be away from the ones who truly try my patience and make my trigger finger itchy. And later yall think you can hate us teachers. Guess what, we feel the same about some of you. Were just not allowed to show it. I secretly hate you. The secret was out with additional tweets. Some laced with profanity about how she wanted to pour coffee on some students and see others get hit by a car. Before the summer semester ended, she tweeted, i already want to stab some kids. Is that bad . From what i read, it was it wasnt something a teacher would say. Reporter when the School District found out, they tell nbc news a thorough investigation was conducted and the district did in fact take action. That action was reportedly a written reprimand and miss arada kept on teaching. I was angry. Reporter many parents demanded a harsher punishment. I think she should be fired. She should be let go. She shouldnt be able to work with children. If you really feel that way, then find Something Else to do. Reporter students who say they know the popular teacher well flocked to her defense. She has said shes so sorry and she apologized for it. She started crying today. We like this teacher at the school. Yes, yes, yes. So what should happen . I feel there should be some disciplinary action. Just not fired. Thats a little extreme. Reporter the fate of the tweeting teacher may now be in the hands of police, who admit they learned what happened last. We found out about it this morning via the media. Well be interviewing people and determining if there was a criminal violation at that point. That was jacob rascon reporting. Baby talk may sound like jibberish to a lot of folks. Well tell you why your reaction could be important to your childs future. Plus six miles of red yarn outside the Smithsonian Castle right now, but this is just an attraction. The special message behind that exhibit organizers r this next story is for new and soontobe parents. It may sound like jibberish but your babys babbling is a very important part of learning to speak. Researchers say new mothers who respond enthusiastically to their babys babbling helps speed up language development. Right now and all weekend long you can see a color overload at the smithsonian. Volunteers dressed the grounds of the Smithsonian Castle in red yarn to usher in a new exhibit there. Molette green shows us how they raised the red flag. I definitely think its most unique. Its nice to see a little changeup thats something new. Its not just your flowers. The flowers are fantastic, but the yarn everywhere is quite enter taping for sure. Reporter thats the whole idea of this yarn bombed Smithsonian Castle gate and garden. It stands out and captures attention. Visitors took selfies, pictures and got an upclose look at every intricate woven detail. Six miles of yarn, in bold red, right outside the gallery. Its helpful to announce a new installation this way. Reporter a group of knitters designed it, and this particular knitted square has a very special meaning to one. Its i picked that because we name stars after my mom, dad and brother when they died. Reporter all leading to a new exhibit inside. Four miles of red yarn here attached to nearly 400 shoes with notes tied to each sole. Created by a japanese artist who uses yarn as a main feature in her art. Any of shoes either belong to people that have passed away, loved ones that were remembered, or moments in life. A childs first piano recital, for instance. Reporter as delicate as all of this looks, it wont unravel. Its not going to be here for long, just throughout the holiday weekend. But the exhibit inside you can see through june. In southwest, at the smithsonian, molette green, news4. A school in our region says its getting rid of recess, but we may not hear complaints from kids. Well tell you about what theyre getting in exchange. Plus, traffic picking up here on i95 in virginia. News4s melissa will have some alternate routes to keep you from sitting in the congestion. Plus a live look at ocean city now. Its been a busy morning on the beach there. Amelia will have the outlook for the entire weekend coming up. Right now, another look at route 50 headed toward the bay bridge for you. No major backups approaching the toll plaza there. Taking a look now at i95 in virginia, right now it looks fairly clear as you approach the woodbridge area. Just south of there closer to stafford, were hearing there are some big backups. With so many people hitting the road this Labor Day Weekend, we want to help you avoid some congestion, Melissa Mollet has a few alternate routes. We all know of our three big trouble spots around the area so were going to try to get you through. 95 northbound between d. C. And baltimore, the best thing you can do if you want to take an alternate, 95 is looking backed up, route 1 or even bw parkway. Either of those check ahead of time to make sure youre not going to get stuck in traffic there. Talking about 95 southbound through virginia, an alternate coming from d. C. Or Prince Georges County, even some parts of virginia, 301, of course, you can take it all the way to richmond. Its a little longer drive but you wont be stuck in traffic. Thats the key, right . Also beltway at 270 can get very, very slow, we know that. If youre headed north, your best alternate is going to be 355. I hope all of this has helped. Back to you. Thanks to melissa for that. If youre taking metro this weekend, be ready to deal with track work and station closures. The biggest issues will be on the red line, the bethesda and Medical Center stations will close at midnight through monday night. Buses will operate between Friendship Heights and grovener. On monday stations open at 7 00 a. M. And close at midnight. Off peak fares are in effect all day long. Amelia segal joining us now. A lot of folks enjoying the great weather weve seen today but there might be wet stuff coming too. There is some rain in the forecast later in the day sunday into the overnight hours. Look at the satellite and radar image right now, though. Clear skies. This is the midatlantic. Great travel weather for today. So im going to jump ahead to future weather. This is sunday afternoon at 3 00. You can see the time stamp up there in the righthand corner. Notice the chance of rain and maybe a few thunderstorms already across the area. I think by the evening hours, some showers are likely. We continue to track some rain into sunday night and early monday morning. So this is your labor day morning at 8 30. Notice the chance of some showers across the area. Still trying to set up for that picnic, having people over, firing up the grill, you might want to hold off a little bit. Dont plan on setting up sunday night and when you head out monday everything will be dry. Thats not looking to be the case. Heres the detail for your Labor Day Weekend. Tomorrow its looking like the best of the three days. The humidity not too bad. Cant rule out an isolated storm over the mountains, but most if not all of the area will be dry. A High Temperature of 87. Its muggy and its hot on sunday and monday. Again, on sunday, storms are likely later in the day. Potentially as early as the afternoon, but i think once we get into the evening hours and the sun starts to go down, thats when well definitely be tracking some rain and thunderstorms on storm team 4 radar. Now, monday a shower possible early in the morning. The middle part of the day is looking dry. As we get into the afternoon, we cant rule out a scattered thunderstorm or two around the area. But a good part of your labor day is looking dry. Temperatures right now in the 70s across the area. Washington coming in at 76 degrees. Beautiful today with low humidity and a High Temperature of 84 degrees. Plenty of sunshine. Perfect for dining out tonight. Temperatures starting off during the early evening hours in the low 80s, but if youre going to be dining out late, know its going to start to turn a little bit cool. Low 70s as we get into those later evening hours. If you get chilly easily, i would recommend bringing a light jacket or a scarf. Now, as we jump to tomorrow afternoon, 3 30 kickoff, the university of maryland takes on jmu, partly sunny skies if youre heading to the game, no worry of rain there. It will be a little bit humid, though. Temperatures for that game in the upper 80s. Now, if youre heading to the beach, water temperature right now at 74 degrees. The weather 2345not looking too at the beach this weekend. Keeping it dry on saturday and sunday. The surf for the most part is pretty typical. Monday we cant rule out a shower or thunderstorm at the beach. Notice temperatures there cooler than here, around 80 degrees. Maybe youre heading back west to the mountains. So tomorrow we cant rule out a thunderstorm there. For sunday and monday, some showers and thunderstorms are likely. Temperatures sunday and monday in the mountains in the upper 70s. Now, back here in the d. C. Metro area, again tomorrow maybe an isolated afternoon shower or thunderstorm, but keeping that threat west of washington. Most, if not everybody, will be dry on saturday. Sunday its a dry start but were likely tracking some rain later in the day, especially into the overnight hours. For your labor day again, aaron, there could be a shower around early. As we get into the afternoon hours, there could be a shower or thunderstorm around. Really, though, its hot and humid on sunday and monday, highs in the low 90s. Tuesday pretty much everybody is back in school at that point. Hot and humid. The calendar at that point says september but its going to feel a little more like july and a chance for showers and thunderstorms. Summer didnt want to go quietly. No, its not ready to leave just yet. We want to check in now with Richard Jordan at the live desk. Aaron, right now d. C. Water crews are trying to fix a sewer line, a blocked sewer line in near Rock Creek Park on 20th street and biltmore streets. The sewer line blocked and theres an overflow, about 1200 gallons of untreated waste in that area there, so crews are fixing the problem. In the meantime you need to avoid the water there at Rock Creek Park below calvert street bridge south of the national zoo to the mouth of the creek there. Avoid the water for the next three days just to make sure its clean. Aaron, back over to you. Richard, thank you. Right now the west nile virus is popping up in maryland. Someone in our area is infected. This is the first reported case in the state. The Maryland HealthDepartment Says mosquitos in montgomery and Prince Georges County are carrying that disease. To keep yourself safe, you can avoid places that have stagnant, standing water and limit how much time youre outside at dawn and at dusk. Only 1 of people infected with the west nile virus actually develop serious symptoms. New today, Malaysia Airlines will cut 6,000 workers as part of an overhaul to revive its damaged brand. Thats about 30 of its current workforce. The airline has been hit with two recent disasters. Investigators are still searching the indian ocean for flight 370 which veered off course back in march. In july 298 people were killed when flight 17 was shot down as it flew over eastern ukraine. The investigation into what caused the deadly crash of a fighter jet in virginia is expected to take weeks, and we could learn the pilots identity later today. His body was found yesterday. There was also evidence that he was not able to eject before crashing that f15 in augusta county. The pilot was with the Massachusetts Air national guard. On wednesday he was flying to new orleans for routine maintenance when he reported a problem and then lost radio contact. A Charter School in Prince Georges County is ending recess in order to have a shorter day. College park academy approved that move yesterday. Teachers suggested it after noticing that students were really tired at the end of the day. Schools across the country have been reducing or eliminating recess as they face pressure to raise math and reading scores. A d. C. Lawyer now representing a group he calls the ferguson five. Hear the claims of Police Brutality during demonstrations in missouri. And why a Utility Company says it has no choice but to raise your bill. Its ahurricane katrina flooded orleans and put more than threequarters of that city under water. It reached land exactly nine years ago today. More than 1500 people died at that time. You take a look here, this is a live picture of the rebuilt new orleans right now. Several memorial events are happening there today including a wreathlaying at the katrina memorial. People who say they were roughed up by police during some of the protests in ferguson, missouri, are now suing for 40 million. I call them right now the ferguson five. The head of the d. C. Based black lawyers for Justice Malik shabazz filed the lawsuit yesterday. He claimed Ferguson Police used excessive force, made false arrests, illegal searches and seizures and violated civil rights. One of the officers threw me to the ground. I was shot probably seven times with my hands up. They slammed me on my face as if they were doing a technique move from the wwe. Theyre mopping my face on the concen y b keep mentioning 95 as a trouble spot, i have been on that road heading to philadelphia quite recently and it is a nightmare. So pack your patience. High temperatures in the low to mid80s. 84 for a high in washington, 83 in frederick and culpeper, 81 at the patuxant river, so beautiful friday evening. As we look to Labor Day Weekend, tomorrow it will be the most comfortable. Three days. The humidity not too bad. Were keeping the forecast dry. Sunday it will be the best chance of rain, especially later in the day. There could be an afternoon shower or thunderstorm but during the evening and overnight hours, likely tracking rain moving through the area. For labor day, a shower is possible during the earl Morning Hours and then labor day afternoon those hitormiss showers and thunderstorms are possible. About a 40 chance that youre dealing with a thunderstorm on labor day. Absolutely not a washout, but like i said earlier, dont set up outdoors sunday evening to get ahead of the ball and then youll wake up everything wet on labor day. So if you are having people over on labor day, just get