Transcripts For WRC News4 Midday 20240622

We have temperatures quickly climbing and weve got just a few clouds passing over. Another view from the tower camera. A little bit better than it was earlier this morning. The haze and humidity we had early on, that has dropped a little bit. Its a little more comfortable but it is still incredibly warm for this time of the day. Its in the upper 80s. Look at easton 90 degrees. Virginia, arlington and up into montgomery and prince jornls counties. And Shenandoah Valley mid 80s. Developing right now, the u. S. And cuba are officially reestablishing dep lomatic ties. You can see the cuban flag being placed inside the state department and moments ago, the Cuban Embassy officially opened in d. C. Lets get to david cull ver who is there. Reporter take a look over my shoulder and see a sight this country has not seen since 1962. The cuban flag flying over an embassy that belongs to cuba. You can hear some folks still cheering along with it. Other folks protesting it. I want to show you the historic moment. It was a rather simple ceremony in the past 30 minutes involving some 36 cuban officials. More than 500 invited guests. It comes after months of negotiations between the u. S. And cuba. Were standing by for remarks. Well bring them to you as soon as we hear them. In the meantime, diplomatic ties were officially reestablished at midnight. Todays flag raising, a gesture affirming the regulations. You can hear it them saying yes for cuba, no to castro. On the other end, there are other people saying they are happy with whats going on. A lot of sound and a very much developing story that well bring to you with updates in the next half hour. Back to you. Thank you. The u. S. Embassy in havana up and running but its not flying the American Flag right now. Thats because the embassy is waiting for the secretary of state to raise it. Hes scheduled to ceremony next month. Before we heads to cuba, kerr kerri is meeting with people in d. C. After the two will head to the mics for a joint press conference and within hours of that meeting, cuban american lawmakers who are against normalizing these relations will hold a press conference in miami. Right now an overturned truck is causing problems in loudoun county. We have some pictures to show you. This is en route 606. The off ramp to route 28. In loudoun county, we think the truck may have spilled fuel. Cleanup is going to take a long time. Were told everybody is okay, including the driver. That off ramp is going to be closed for several hours. All right. Thank you. Right now president obama is meeting with nigerias new president in the oval office. The president of nigeria is asking for help in fighting militants across south africa. He vowed to free more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by boem boko haram a year ago. Police say daron wint killed a family and their housekeeper. We are live at the courthouse with what to expect from the hearing. Reporter that hearing is supposed to take place right now as we speak. It was set for 11 00. Typically during these preliminary hearings the prosecution will substantiate the charges against the suspect suspect which is why we believe we could learn new information about this case. You may recall on july 2nded he was supposed to appear in court. It got postponed after he fired his attorney for a public defender. His facing charges of first degree murder in the brutal slaying of a family in may. Those four people were found inside their Woodland Drive mansion shortly after it was set on fire. Went was arrested a week later after investigators say they found dna on a pizza crust inside the home. Investigators believe it could be possible that more people were involved. We have a crew inside the courtroom and well give you detailed information as it becomes available. Back to you. Youll have a chance to ride metros newest rail cars on the orange line. The new 7,000 rail cars went into service this morning. They have no slip flooring and new seats. The new cars made their debut on the blue line in april glnchts well metro is holding a News Conference on the new fire and rescue liaison position. This new role comes just months after a woman died from smoke that filled that metro train at a plaza. Till still ahead, a look at the new i already feel like were the most connected but i think this solo date will seal the deal. Sure i offer multicar, safe driver, and so many other discounts that people think im a big deal. And boy, are they right. Ladies, i can share hundreds in savings with all of you just visit progressive. Com today. But right now, its choosing time. Ooh we have a winner. All what . [chuckles] hes supposed to pick one of us. This is a joke, right . That was the whole point of us being here. Zblvrj zblvrj blsh dmsh the smithsonian is online. The smithsonian needs public backing for the project. They need 500,000 to conserve the suit and put it on display. You can see, already theyve raised more than 17,000. Also today, we know Something Else about a new tablet. One of the next tablets hitting the market. Samsung has announced the galaxy tab s 2 today. Its smaller than the last version. Sam sanksung has not said when youll be able to buy it. And target getting a lot of backlash for this t shirt. Lots of people have jumped onto say its demeaning. Target has responded and apologized but has not said if sunny rather humid, temperatures are now already into the mid and upper 80s. Reagan national at 88. Near 90 around the bay. Look at oakland. Its only 64 there out in western maryland. And this big area in orange is a heat adviser between noon and 8 00 p. M. Includes the nearby suburbs in the district and the Eastern Shore as well see, the temperatures hitting the mid nineties, itll feel like a little over 10 in the afternoon. And the feels by temperature by noontime upper 90s and by afternoons, 103 104, in washington about 102. No rain today in southern california. Crews get a head start on cleaning up. It happened yesterday in river side county during a thunderstorm. That storm brought 60 Miles Per Hour winds and an inch of rain every hour. You can see the mud and water creating a river and one neighborhood there, six homes flooded. Luckily, nobody was hurt. And a major interstate is now closed as part of the road washes away. It trapped at least one driver after the heavy rains caused a 30foot section of the freeway to collapse. This is near palm springs. Crews are fully assess this damage. Back home in the middle of a heat wave. Well get a look at the gorge good morning. In addition to the sun shine with the heat and humidity building, a live view there from the storm team four tower camera looking to the southeast into virginia where there are some clouds now. Mostly sunny to the west but they may begin to build by later this morning. Thats when well see the air quality deteriorating. An air quality alert here in the metro area. All the counties in the gray, we could have increased ozone during the afternoon. Children, the elderly, anybody with a heart or respiratory ailment stay inside, stay in the airconditioning and stay cool. It will be heating up. Well have temperatures to the north and west into the low 90s. Maybe an isolated thunderstorm as well as just south of washington during the afternoon. Highs mid 90s, Northern Virginia in the metro area mere the low 90s around the chesapeake bay. We came here to georgetown to cool off by the foubten here. But as you can see, the fountain is not on. The maintenance workers tell us itll be back up and running by noontime. We found folks all around town determined not to let this heat wave take away their regular routine. Reporter even on a hot and steamy morning, the Outdoor Exercise Group gets in an early workout. If you like to workout, it is okay. Theres no excuses. Theres a girl in cast working out right now. Theres no excuses to come here. Reporter not far from the reach, water and gatorade to high trade in 85 degree temperatures and its l already sticky, harder for the body to cool. Its a hydration pack. Its got a camelback in the back, so you fill it up and you can drink out of it any time you want. Reporter that was a smart little contraption there. We caught up with that group before 9 00 a. M. When it wasnt as hot as it is right now. Dont forget about the elderly sick and shut in who may be stuck inside without working aircondition airconditioning. We need to check on those folks, especially so during these times. Were live this morning in georgetown. Back to you. All right. If you walk outside, its going to feel a little closer to 100 degrees today. Dozens of cooling sen thecenters are open. We have a list online. This just in to the live desk. A fair fax man is accused of inappropriately touching a little boy at a community pool. The 13yearold told police he was approached by this man, this is an 81yearold man. The 13yearold says he was approached and touched by him in the locker room of the community pool. Its on Cavalier Landing Court in fair fax. The man is charged with indecent liberties with a child. The Maryland Governor is now undergoing his second round of chemo therapy this morning. He started this round of treatment yesterday. The Baltimore Sun says lots of people across the state have organized vigils of support. He says he will be working from the hospital and should return to the job fulltime a little bit later this week. Mccain is a war hero. I have no problem with that. I have a problem with what hes doing on the border. Hes terrible, and i have a problem with the illegal immigration. Its a disaster and hes doing a horrible job with the vets. If you talk to the veterans, and ive had a flood of calls, theyre not happy. That was the senator. Donald trump on the today show doubling down on his harsh comments about senator john mccains military and Public Service. Mccain says he isnt bothered by the remarks but trump should apologize to the other veterans who suffered in captivities. Now trump is saying he doesnt want to hear them lecturing them. Republicans are trying to neutralize this bull in the china shop. We are breaking it down. Wow, you know, he is to provocative provocative. Is this a game changer for the republicans politically in the landscape this early on . I think this is the question. Is this a Tipping Point for the donald trump bubble. Remember when he made the comments about mexican immigrants. The party didnt go out of its way to denounce him. After this comment about john mccain a revered hero who was the partys nominee in 2008 you saw the Republican National Committee Comment and almost every contender say that donald trump needs to apologize, that this was out of line. John mccain came out and says donald trump owes an apology to veterans. Donald trump says dont lecture me and it looks like he might be fine tuning his remarks. What does the Republican Party do with him . He doesnt seem to be controllable at all. He is appealing to a sector. He got a little bit of extra fuel from some republicans who really see washington as the problem. People like john mccain, an establishment republican, somebody who has reached across the aisle and there are people who do like seeing donald trump. He is polling in a place thats going to place him in the top ten. Thats going to place him on the debate stage with those other 16 people who are vying for the nomination in that first fox debate on august 6th. Thats going to be a moment a lot of people are looking to. How do the more serious candidates pile on donald trump when you have a National Audience and everyone on a national stage. Trump is a bit of a bomb thrower and that can be very dicey for someone who tends to politically be above board when youre dealing with someone whos down in the mud like this. Do you agree . I think hes getting a lot of extra steam because there are people who say hes telling it like it is. Trumps line has been that Political Correctness is whats wrong with the country and thats why i think youve seen a little bit of a bump in the polls. He sucked up a lot of oxygen. Hes a celebrity and is on television every day. I dont think the Republican Party is worried hes going to win the gop nomination but theyre worried this is going to hurt the Party Overall and some more moderate republicans are going to start saying we need to really get these kind of voices out of the party if we want to be able to win in a general election. Thank you so much. Thank you. The white naacp leader who made claims. She told vanity fair she still identifies as black. Glakback in june her parents went public saying she lied about being black. She resigned her position. She said she still doesnt feel she misled anybody. Shes looking into writing a back about her life. And hacked. A popular dating site for married couples, the latest target for hackers. Right now there are hundreds of volunteers at Arlington National cemetery working on the remembrance project to make the grounds look as good as they can. Organizers started the project to honor the fallen soldiers. Children are planting flowers. Volunteers will be putting in hundreds of new trees today. Today thousands of American Veterans are in pittsburgh for a convention that goes through wednesday. They get to see lots of resources for veterans around the country. Theyll also hear from several speakers. The dating website that helps married people cheat on their spouses was hit by hackers and theyre threatening to release information for the customers. The website climbs to have 37 million users. The hackers are threat ton release the real names credit card details and the naked photos unless the website is shut down. Still ahead a story with a lot of people talking on social media. A shark attack during a live surfing competition. Right now dont have any storms on storm team 4 radar anywhere around the region. We could get a few, especially Northern Virginia maybe parts of Southern Maryland later today. You can track the storms with the storm team 4 radar on the nbc washington app. And temperatures climbing into the low and mid 90s by mid afternoon. Possibility of passing thunderstorm around 2 00 p. M. To 6 00 p. M. After that still rather warm and humid. Upper 70s tomorrow morning. During the day on tuesday another hot and humid day. Temperatures in the low 90s to mid 90 and perhaps afternoon storms on tuesday. Then a nice break from high heat and humidity. Relief on the way. Near 90 on saturday and sunday. Maybe storms on sunday afternoon. As you know, tom, heavy rains in california have everyone even the animals looking for a place to stay dry. Take a look at these raccoons. They were spotted on top of a freeway sign just trying to avoid the rising flood waters. How sweet and sad. They hung out there for a little bit before building up the courage to come down. They are just fine. Well, everyone is still talking about this video on facebook and twitter over the pro surfer coming face to face wow with a shark. This is a surfing competition in south africa that was yesterday. The world surfing final was just getting under way when mick fanning was waiting far wave when the shark came up and pulled him under. I was waiting for the teeth to come at me as i was swimming. Did you get a couple punches in . I punched it in the back. Hes gone. Its like hes going under. I was like, it felt like i koth get there quick enough. Well, no one was hurt. And the surfers didnt get back in the water. Instead fanning and wilson shared first place. The cuban flag is flying over the embassy in the district for the first time in more than 50 years. Iran keeps their nuclear facilities. Military sites can go uninspected. Restrictions end after 10 years. Then iran could build a Nuclear Weapon in two months. Iran has violated 20 International Agreements and is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Good morning. The feels like temperature that combination of the heat and the humidity will be near 100 by noontime. The feels like temperature north and west in the upper 80s to near 90. It will feel like 100 around the bay. This is by noon. Then by mid afternoon by 3 00 n thats when we have the peak heat and humidity. Easton, leesberg feeling like 103. Frederick, maryland may feel like 104. But not as bad. The panhandle of West Virginia and into West Virginia and shen Shenandoah Valleys the feels like temperatures in the low to mid 90s but unusually hot feels like temperatures by 7 00 p. M. Well, develops right now there are both cheers and protists today in the district as the cuban flag the raised over the new embassy. That happens just moment moments ago tmt ago. Its part of the u. S. And cuba reestablishing their diplomatic ties. Reporter we can still hear those cheers and protests that you alieued to behind me. Its been an hour since the flag went up. Its a rush of mixed emotions. Its the First Time Since we have seen this flag the cuban flag flying here in washington d. C. Over the island nations Embassy Since 1961. A historic moment. I want to take you back to about an hour ago. And you can see this was a rather simple ceremony with about 36 cuban officials in town and about 500 invited guests. This was something that was months in the making. Negotiations between the u. S. And cuba and among those in aden answer the cubas foreign minister, his first time in d. C. We heard from him. I brick greetings for president of the expression of the goodwill and the sound determination to move forward. For Mutual Respect to a life of coexistence even despite the differences. Reporter that was the foreign minister speaking through a translator. And as the bus passes, youre going to see a row of some of the protesters and some of the supporters of this event. Theres a rot oflot of emotion tied with the raising of this flag. The embassy officially opened at midnight but you have folks shouting a short time ago, saying theyre for cuba but against castro and a short time after that you heard long live cuba long live castro. Supporters and protesters, a mix of both. Its something well follow throughout the evening. Ill bring you reaction from folks within Northern Virginia. You have folks on that side who are cautiously optimistic and when i recently went to cuba i spoke to people down there. Youll hear to them from their perspective of this moment. Back to you. All right. Thank you, david. In a separate, much more quiet ceremony this morning, the u. S. Placed the cuban flag at the state up at the state department, and right now an twitter, the cuban interest section now labeled embassy. The u. S. Embassy in havana is now officially up and run bug its not flying the American Flag just yet. Thats because the entz waiting for the secretary of state to raise the flag. Hes scheduled a ceremony there next month. Crews have changed all the signs and business cards for employees. And before he heads to cuba, secretary kerri is meeting with cuban leaders in the district. This afternoon he sits down with the Cuban Foreign minister at the state department and after wards the two will head to the microphones for a joint News Conference within hours of that meeting, cuban american lawmakers who are against normalizations will hold a News Conference in miami. An update on the overturned tanker in loudoun county. Chopper 4 over the accident a little while ago. We found out it was tar that was tanker truck spilled. That is going to take some time to clean up. The truck also spilled fuel from the truck itself. This is the route 606 off ramp to route 28. That off ramp is now closed. It will be for several hours while 606 and 28 are open. The driver of the truck we also learned has some minor injuries. Nothing serious, and that driver should be okay. All right. Thank you. The suspect in a high profile murder is in d. C. Superior court right now. Police say daron wint killed three members of the have a vop louse family and their housekeeper. Reporter that preliminary hearing got underway about 30 minutes ago. Now typically during the preliminary hearings the prosecution will present evidence to substantiate the charges against the suspect to then see whether or not the case can move forward. No you may recall that this process got delayed on july second after daron wint fired his attorney for a public defender. Right now hes the only suspect charged in the murder of the family and their housekeeper. Hes facing a charge of first degree murder. Police arrested him a week after the brutal slaying after investigators say it was his dna found on a pizza crust inside the mansion. This preliminary hearing is underway. We encourage you to down load our app. The accused gunmen in the deadly military center traveled to the middle east within the last year. A spokesperson for the family says the parents of Mohammad Youssuf abdulazeez were hope this trip would get him away from drugs and alcohol. The family also says the 24 24yearold suffered from depression. The foibdsbi says Mohammad Youssuf abdulazeez he shot and killed five people. This week they will be laid to rest. I have a half a heart left. He is gone. As the families prepare for the funerals, lawmakers are working to make the recruiting offices safer. Governors in half a dozen states took action this weekend to work on arming the recruiting officers. Today a lancechance to sound out of about a monument that honors the confederacy. Confederate symbols have come under a little bit of scrutiny after a shooting last month. Tonights meeting kicks off at Rockville City Hall at 6 00 6 00 p. M. A toll worker lost his job for paying someone elses toll. People who frequent the toll post are angry hes gone. His name is sam. He says last week he charged a truck driver too little and when he realized his mistake, he paid the different with his own money. He said over the years he would pay for other peoples tolls if needed. The Bridge Authority asked him not to and decided to scale back his workdays. When sam declined, they fired him. Sam says he will go volunteer work for now but hes going to miss his customers. Still ahead, a look at the four things you need to know about the new changes with the rhere are the four things to know about what is changing. One, more freedom. It will be easier if you want to travel to cuba now. Diplomats also arent as restricted there. The president will name the new embassy in more than 50 years. This doesnt mean everything is different. No you still cant go to cuba as a strict tourist. You have to travel under certain rules. Theres also still a trade em boar go in place. And also cubans human rights record and the american fourth thing, keep an eye on social media. This year the facebook account for the American Embassy in havana has been putting up count down posts leading up to today and were expecting lots more. Well have to see if they create something similar for their embassy in d. C. Virginia College Enroll want is expected to rise if education leaders make their goals. It would mean 47 5,000 undergad students. Virginias counsel of education will crunch the numbers at a meeting tomorrow. The councils goal is to award an additional 1. 5 million the gree degrees and the heat is on. Already were in the upper 80s in the metro area. Its near 90 year. Elsewhere generally in the mid to upper 80s. Most locations in the low 80s. We have the humidity dropping a little bit but it is still rather humid. Afternoon highs metro area into the mid 90s. Elsewhere making it into the low 90s but the feels like temperature may be up around 100 or so during the middle part of the afternoon. South of washington parts of maryland, tomorrow hot, humid low to mid 90s. Then the heat wave ends on wednesday. Thursday and friday, each one of the days, low humidity and a little hotter for the weekend up near nienlt90. Might get storms on wednesday. A pregnant woman and two of her children were swept away in a flood in ohio. Authorities say the 32yearold mother and her 7yearold son and 5yearold daughter died when they were swept into a river. Three other maybes including the womans husband survived. On the west coast, torrential downpours created flooding in arizona. Neighbors have their work cut out for them as they continue to cut up. Degree everywhere. Arizona Public Service workers have to replace more than 40 power poles cede. Forecasters say four inches of rain came down in 90 minutes. Despite the damage no one was seriously hurt. And decision 2016 john mccain weighs in on Donald Trumps comments about him. Watching these temperatures quickly jump. Well have it climbing into the 90s here just over the next hour. Right now in the 80s. Theres the sky over the metro area. A few clouds floating through. No rain around. There is a possibility of a passing thunderstorm maybe between 3 00 and 6 00. By then into the low and mid 90s. This evening, back down to the upper 80s. A warm and humid evening coming up. Weve got a fairly large area under a heat advisor from noon to 8 00 p. M. All these counties in orange included. And the Eastern Shore. Tom just said, if youre going to walk outside today at any point, its going to feel like its more than 100 degrees. Dozens of cooling centers will be open. We put a list together on the nbc washington app for you. Today senator john mccain is responding for the first time to the criticism levelled at him by president ial candidate, donald trump. This comes as trump goes on the defensive facing yet another backlash. Tracie potts reports on why this new fire storm is so different for trump. Reporter new this morning, john mccain is reluctant to call himself a hero but that donald trump owes an apology to all the pows he served with. Trump defended his comments saying his issue with mccain is his record on veterans issues. Donald trump is wrong. Reporter theyre talking about what he said saturday about mccain. Hes not a war hero. Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. Reporter and then this, sunday. Do you owe john mccain an apology . Not al all. Its ridiculous. After donald trump has been a prisoner of war for six years then he can kriz sizecriticize the senators record. Hes insulted everyone whos served in the military. Reporter trumps defense i dont need to be lectured by failed politicians. He also accuses the media of being covered unfairly. The public is still sharply divided on what it means going forward. According to an Associated Press poll, support for gay unions may be down from earlier this year and its split from whether people with religious objections should have to issue a major license. Again the public is almost split over whether it approves or disapproves of the ruling. A Traffic Alert thats going to start affecting a lot of d. C. Commuters in three hours. And it could be a pain for a while. Closed between military road and broad branch. The department of transportation says its replacing the 27th street bridge. But what this means is that the road is going to be closed to cars, bikes and pedestrians until september. Detour signs will be up to help you get around. Virginia is facing costly repairs as well. Our news partner reports virginia tried to repairing all the roads would cost more than 1 billion. Virginia is aiming for more achievable goals in the near term. In each of the next two years theyll likely spend about 760 million to pave and fix roads. The department would need another 832 million for bridges alone. Gas prices are shooting up on the west coast but for us theyre steady. I saw it go down a little bit in my neighborhood. Starting off week in the district paying 2. 90 on average. Thats down a penny. Maryland prices are cheeper and averaging about 2. 71 in West Virginia an average gallon is 2. 75 2. 75 in edge water it is 2. 49. Youll probably hear about this video from your family or friends at some point today. Thats daniel rad cliff performing the real slim shady. The video is making the rounds on social media. It has about 9,000 views on youtube. No doubt, the views are going to be increasing as more folks take a look at that. Coming up, the simple thing you can do to save money on your Car Insurance. A new survey finds employers are having trouble finding skilled positions. They say 25 of firms have labor shortages. Thats up from 25 in the previous survey. Nearly half of Companies Expect wages to increase over the next three months. For the first time in three weeks banks in greece are back open. Customers are still restricted on most transactions including withdrawals. The cautious reopening as well as higher taxes on restaurant food and Public Transportation are aimed at restoring trust with the eu after the third bailout deal to avert bankruptcy. Your brand loyalty could be costing you money. A new study finds the average driver hasnt switched Car Insurance companies in 12 years. One in four drivers have stuck with their insurance more fortune 16 years and one in three never look around for another quote. Insurance quotes. Com which released the study says it pays to shop around but the study also find nearly half of americans didnt know you can change your Auto Insurance at any time. Today is a weather alert today. We will find out what we can expect for right now near 90 hitting the low in mid 90s by near the feels like temperatures by mid afternoon my get a little above 100 around much of the region including around the bay and most of maryland and virginia and thenover night stont, tonight that will drop back. Tomorrow afternoon highs in the mid 90s. The feels like temperature near 100 tomorrow. Beautiful weather, heat wave ends wednesday thursday, friday, up near 90 over the weekend. And breaks news right now. Meghan fitzgerald at the d. C. Courthouse. Were learning new information about what transpired inside the preliminary hearing for the man who is on trial and facing first degree murder charges for a quadruple homicide. A detective has testified that 30,000 of the 40,000 has been accounted for. Were also understanding that have a understand that two were strangled and dna matched on a construction vest inside that house that connected to daron wint. Back to you. All right. You cant have a county fair without some crazy food and the dishes at the Orange County fair in california did not disappoint. This one is the one that everyone is talking about. This is a caviarcoated twinkie. It can be yours for 125. Eers and applause ] meredith hi everyone, today were taking a look back on the our favorite celebrity guests, im in the dressing room, the last stop before the show. This is the walk they take, everyone from Barbra Streisand to j. Lo to sofia vergara. They walk down this hallway through this door to the backstage waiting area. They check themself out in the mirror to make sure they look good. Hopefully they take a breath mint and they wait for me to call their name. Once i do, this is what it feels like