Transcripts For WRC News4 Midday 20140715

Outside on our tuesday, its indeed a weather alert day as you mentioned. Frequent updates will be here on nbc4 throughout the course of the afternoon. Main threats today, another changes some damaging wind gusts along with downpours of rain. The primary risk is 3 00 to 9 00 p. M. Today. That is the timing everywhere in the yellow shading along the blue ridge ahead of a cold front. It will spark off the strong to severe thunderstorms later this afternoon into the metro area. For now most of the rain is in the mountains of west virginia. But it wont be long until the rain drops move into the metro. Currently temperatures are in the low to mid80s. It is plenty steamy with temperatures hovering near 90 degrees for much of the afternoon. Thunderstorms developing around 3 00 and continuing until 9 00 this evening. Break down the individual chances for Severe Weather to talk about the cooler and dryer weather ahead in the next few minutes. Thank you, chuck. And to stay ahead of the storms, download the storm team 4 weather app free in the app store or google play. Just search nbc washington weather. And police are looking for a missing boy this morning. Richard jordan has more on this for us. The boy has been missing for a few hours and his name is david paul. There is his picture. Yesterday evening at 6 00 on arnold road he was last seen, hes 100 pounds. He was wearing a black tshirt and black sneakers with lime colored laces. Thats pretty unique. Lime colored laces on the sneaker. Maybe that triggered something for someone. If you have seen him or have information on where he may be, call the prince georges police. Thats the latest from the live desk. Back to you. Right now the maryland highway is talking about expanding. The News Conference is now underway there this morning. Reporter the state highway administrator is making the big announcement and started talking a few seconds ago. This is a really big deal. Part of a 15 million expansion going 24 7. This is about customer service. Fixing flats and giving your car a jumpstart on the side of the road. But the administrator wants people to know that this also provides a critical safety component. Getting to accident scenes quickly and being able to move them away before secondary crashes happen. The state highway administrator Melinda Peters is speaking right now and wants drivers to know what is going on. In a twoweek period we responded to over 500 incidents and stranded motorists. So we found that we know that if were able to get to people quickly and get them off the roadway and clear incidents, its a safety benefit not only to them but to the traveling public who is driving by. Reporter there are more vehicles and more Staff Members moving from 24 to 48 people to be able to provide for the 24 7 roadside assistance going on right now. Its already in operation. You should also know there are 74 new live Traffic Cameras coming to the system so that Highway Patrol officers, state police and you as the public can keep an eye on the roads before you head out the door. Last year alone they handled 44,000 incidents, emergencies and nonemergency incidents on the roadway. We are live in laurel, molette green, back to you in the studio. Thank you, molette. And this just in, we are learning new information about a teen charged in a sexting scandal. The prosecutors told the judge they will not use the photos of the boys private parts in this case. 17yearold tray sims faces felony charges for sending video of himself to his then high school girlfriend. Manassas Police Arrested him for child pornography during his arrest officers took naked photos of him for evidence. They also obtained a second search warrant but now they say they will not follow through with that. Sims will come back to the commonwealth tonight. His family is relieved with this outcome. A maryland swim coach accused of sexually abusing one of his swimmers could plead guilty in this case. Christopher yayht abused one of his swimmers. She was 7 years old when this began. He will plead the guilty plea in exchange for a tenyear prison sentence. He founded the Maryland Suburban Swim Club in laurel. D. C. Police are investigating a double shooting last night in northwest washington that happened on the 1400 block of missouri Avenue Northwest just blocks from georgia avenue. The two men are expected to be okay. Police say they are looking for another two men who may be responsible for the shooting. Last nights shooting is the latest in a string of shootings since sunday. Charles severance learns when hell return to Loudoun County court today. Severance has been linked to three unsolved murders in alexandria. He was indicted yesterday in Loudoun County on unrelated weapons charges. A hearing date is expected to be set this morning in court for those weapons charges. Alexandria police call severance their primary focus in the murder of nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruth anne lodado but he has not been charged in those crimes. Today we are learning more about a man hit and killed by a van in greenbelt. The man was crossing muirkirk road around midnight. The driver did remain on the scene. Man was taken to the hospital where he died. He was not in the crosswalk when he was hit. And the city Council Plans to vote on whether to use the Traffic Cameras to enforce a lower speed limit on the road. Right now the cameras are only used during the day but the council could vote to keep them on at night as well when maryland students are coming home from local bars. The maryland state Highway Administration recently lowered the speed limit to 25 Miles Per Hour by august 1st. The university will also make sure students know how to safely cross the street as part of their orientation program. Most of them are crossing the street while they are reading their text messages, and so we have signs to put on the road. And of course well communicate with them by social media. By the end of august a median fence will be installed to prevent students from jaywalking. And in october a new pedestrian traffic light will also be installed. And we are following new developments out of the middle east where hopes of a ceasefire between israel and hamas are becoming less likely by the minute. Coming up, what caused negotiations to fall apart this morning. And most of us are familiar with roads that look like this. In fact, we shot this video just a couple hours ago. Coming up, the fight to fix our aging roadways and what its keeping congress from tapping a longterm funding bill. Stay with us, well we are following a storin the middle east. The Israeli Military is once again launching air strikes targeting hamas militants in gaza. This comes after the israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned hamas it would intensify its military operation. Hamas rejected the ceasefire minutes after israel agreed to it. Israel held fire for six hours. The Israeli Military says militants in gaza fired 50 rockets over israel. No one, however, has died. We are also following a developing story in russia right now. The death toll is climbing from a subway train derailment. At least 20 people died and more than 100 others were hurt. This is new video of the wreckage. The accident happened during the morning rush in moscow. Russian investigators say a power surge caused the subway train to brake hard causing it to derail. The sheriff of frederick county, maryland, will travel to the texas mexico board tore get a look at the crisis there. Chuck jenkins will join other sheriffs across the country in south texas tomorrow to see children who cross the border alone illegally. Jenkins is known for his tough stance on undocumented immigrants. His deputies are trained to check the immigration status of people they arrest. Well, today two texas lawmakers are expected to introduce a bipartisan bill to speed up deportations of minors from central america. The bill would treat those minors like ones from mexico and canada which are deported quicker. Also today in arizona a group is expected to protest a bus load of children that cross the border illegally. The minors will be housed at the Sycamore Canyon academy near tucson. And we are following breaking news out of florida right now. Richard jordan has more from the live desk. Theres a riot at Universal Studios in orlando that is stuck. The transformers ride. Riders report to be stuck for at least an hour and the pictures being posted from the riders on social media show rescuers having to repel from scaffolding just to reach the riders. Now heres the thing, this is an enclosed ride and is not a roller coaster, so it is covered. It is not outside. It is indoors, so to speak. A ten riders are only 15 feet off the ground, so they are not very high, but again they have been stuck for an hour so definitely not the ride these people were expecting out there today. Thats the latest from the live desk. Barbara, back to you. Thank you. Crumbling roads and bridges are atop president obamas agenda today. Right now hes touring a facility in mcclane that tests vehicles and roadways. Hes trying to build support for more highway funding. Brian mooar has more on why hes hitting road blocks. Reporter president obama hits the road today to talk about highways and bridges. Critical infrastructure and repairs that wont get funded if congress doesnt act before going on its summer break. That would put at risk nearly 700,000 jobs across the nation and many active highway and transit projects would be threatened. Reporter the Highway Trust Fund runs dry next month. This bridge collapse in Washington State is a cautionary tale. Every pothole you hit a remind ore of the upkeep and repairs needed for an aging highway system. The government estimates 65 of roads are in less than good condition. 25 of bridges need significant repair. To fix that, the white house wants 300 billion over four years. If we dont pass this transportation bill now, a lot of very bad things happen very soon. Reporter House Speaker john boehner says the country doesnt have the money and he doesnt have the votes. We are not going to get to a longterm highway bill here over the next couple of months. Reporter today the white house is backing 11 billion to Fund Projects over the next nine months. Hoping to avoid gridlock on capitol hill and on americas highways. Brian mooar, nbc news. For more on the road to fight road repairs, we are joined by the political reporter carrie dan. How are you . Im good. Is this a lost cause for president obama despite more road work . Initially both sides said we want to have a longterm road bill. We want to address this for the long term. Its congress. That was really difficult to do. Now the white house is getting behind a republicanbacked bill that is 11 billion that fixes the problem in the shortterm. This is an urgent problem to fix. The u. S. Department of transportation says this fund is basically the big pool of money that funds bridge repairs and highway repairs. It will run out by the end of this month or a little into next month if congress doesnt agree this. But we think the shortterm bill will pass . The white house came out yesterday to say the republican bill they are going to take up is a shortterm fix and john boehner does believe hell be able to have the votes for that. There are conservatives who dont like the way that its paid for so well have to keep an eye on the vote. How much can they do in one vote . They can at least do a selfgaffe to get them through the recess, but then we are into the Midterm Election where things are harder to get done on capitol hill. Everything is in favor of this. You just saw the bridge fall down in Washington State. Thats why you are seeing barack obama out campaigning about this. Hes doing an event later this week. He will say once things eventually pass, we are creating jobs that are good for everybody. Everybody can sort of pat themselves on the back a little bit for getting this through. More than 100 days from the Midterm Elections, what do democrats have to do to keep the republicans from taking over the senate . We have new nbc marist polls out today on two of the key races, colorado and michigan. In both of the races we see the Democratic Candidates doing pretty well a couple points ahead of the republicans. One reason for that is women voters. Both democratic voters are in double digits ahead of the republican challengers. And also the latino vote is proving to be important in a state like colorado with a big latino population. It is important to get out there to vote for midterms. They usually dont have the turnout that the fouryear elections have, do they . Absolutely. Thats why you are seeing democrats talk about issues like contraception, abortion and about the new immigration border crisis. As much as that crisis is hurting barack obama, it is giving democrats a chance to come out to say we need to have a fix, republicans blocked it and they hope that will mobilize latino voters to go to the polls in november. Thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you next time. For more from carrie and the rest of the political team, check out nbcnews. Com. Well, the Major League Baseball home run derby was a great example of just how cold part of the u. S. Is right now. Its july and take a look at people in minneapolis who were wearing jackets and sweatshirts. Chuck bell says we are not going to see temperatures l that. We are seeing the 30s in july. If those in minnesota are wearing coats in july, its pretty cold. They are pretty tough in the middle of the country. But for us, we are getting a piece of cooler air arriving tomorrow. Before it gets here, we have the heat, haze and humidity to deal with today. And the transition from hot and humid to cool and comfy will come with a round of likely to be severe thunderstorms this afternoon and into the evening. This is the way it looks outside from the city camera right now. The skies are quickly going to mostly cloudy. And it is just stifling outside. 84 already, but the heat index is already at 90 degrees. Humidity is at 69 . Barely a breeze out there. Winds out of the south at 7 Miles Per Hour. So the weather impact today is going to be moderate to say the very least. And 80 chance of thunderstorms coming our way later this afternoon. And surefire enough, one or two of them are likely to be strong to severe. So keep a weather eye to the sky. Heres the cold front just out to our west now moving through pittsburgh and cincinnati. Out behind it, clear skies. And that cool, dry air is in place. But out ahead of it, a risk for Severe Weather today. This entire yellow shaded area includes parts of southern new england, new york, philadelphia, washington, all the way down to richmond and the eastern parts of north carolina. Anywhere in that yellow shading is the slight risk area set out by the storm prediction folks out of norman, oklahoma. Again, we will see a chance for heavy rainmakers and hail producers as well. Storm team 4 radar for now, nearest rain drops starting to move into parts of northern and western maryland. Frederick county, a couple showers out here along i70 west of the frederick area. More showers across parts of the west of martinsburg, virginia. These are all tracking off to the northeast with a whole line sagging down eastbound. So within the next one to two hours, rain chances here in the metro are going to start to climb. Flood watches are posted on the eastern shore. No flood watches in our area just yet. Satellite pictures show the sunshine early this morning giving way to what is now already a full overcast across the shenandoah valley. Temperaturesdernth the cloud cover in the mid70s. Where we see a sliver or two of sunshine, temperatures are already in the mid80s. Well get up to near 90 for a brief time today, but once the rain comes in, temperatures will drop back down to the raincooled 70s. Heres the breakdown. Hour by hour through the future weather forecast, by 1 30 today, we have a chance for rain and thunderstorms developing in montgomery county, frederick county. Showers moving into anne arundel with more storms developing to the west by 5 30 this afternoon. Storms are moving into parts of Southern Maryland then. 7 30 another wave of strong thunderstorms possible in the metro area. By 9 30 the storms have back down to Southern Maryland. By 11 30, things are settling down and we are sitting pretty for the next couple of days around. The look ahead, 60s tomorrow morning. Clearing and cooler tomorrow afternoon. A much nicer day coming. Heres your sevenday forecast, this is it, barbara. The last of the heat and humidity for a nice, long break around here wednesday, thursday and friday looking absolutely spectacular. And even the weekend is looking more humid with Storm Chances coming back, but today could be the last 90degree day for a week. Wow. The nighttime temperatures look great to turn down the air conditioner. It could be in the 50s the next couple of mornings. Thank you for the good news. Virginia wants you to visit the state park. Coming up, what is being done today to get you on your way. Plus, a new service by yahoo that could have you experiencing some of the top concerts of the year from the comfort of your own home. But first, heres a look at what is hot on nbcwashington. Com. Detted sanngv dont want to spend the big bucks to see your favorite band in concert . Thanks to yahoo you dont have to. They are streaming up to show a free concert every day for the next 365 days. Todays free show is dave mathews band. It will include justin timberlake, kiss and usher. They hope the new video site will be a strong competitor to youtube and reach a limitless audience in the comfort of their own homes. Ll, starting today a contest that can get you a free vacation. Heres how it works. Just snap a photo from one of virginias 36 state parks and upload it to Virginia State parks Facebook Page. The contest is called treasure the moment and the top prize is a seven nights stay in the Virginia State park backen. We have a link to the Facebook Page on our website, just head to nbcwashington. Com and search state parks. And right now we are keeping an eye on what is taking place in mclane at a Transportation Research center. President obama is there expected to speak to the crowd gathered there. From the fields, colleges. How this woman landed a top internship to help her parents on the farm. And rain is getting closer to our area. Meteorologist chuck bell will be back with an update. Stay with us. 1[ right now we are waiting to hear from president obama. The trip is part of his trip to talk about funding transportation. This is key to keeping the u. S. Competitive. Hes expected to speak at the Mclean Center in a few minutes. And janet yellen is taking questions from lawmakers in front of the Senate Banking committee right now. Lawmakers want to know if the Federal Reserve will raise Interest Rates soon because of the economic recovery. Yellen hinted there will be no immediate changes in the federal funds rate. So the economy continues to improve, the recovery is not yet complete. We judge to a high degree of Monetary Policy connotation that remains appropriate. Yellen said the current monthly bond purchases will likely end in october but Economic Conditions will determine when Interest Rates are going to be raised. Shell be back on capitol hill tomorrow with testimony before the House Financial Services committee. The criminal history check box on job applications could go away in montgomery county. A ban the box bill will be presented to the county council today. Under the bill certain public and private employers cannot conduct criminal background checks before making a job offer. Proponents say it lifts barriers for exoffenders. A similar bill is being considered here in the district of columbia. Police say this man is going atm to atm in Northern Virginia stealing information. This surveillance was taken in leesburg a day after our report about thefts in fairfax and stafford counties on friday. A skimming device is placed over the card reader and then a camera over the atm records the customers internet pip numbers. Police say theres one more red flag that you aught to lookout for. You get an outoforder message on the screen or you get an invalid card which at that point if you know you have money in your account and feel something is going on with the atm, take the time to walk inside and alert the bank officials. Leesburg detectives were able to grab the devices the thief used there. They are now looking for fingerprints. And we have some new information on breaking news in florida. Lets go back to the news floor live desk with richard jordan. We can now show you the rescue operation underway at the Universal Studios in orlando on the transformers ride. We have pictures posted on social media from the riders trapped there for an hour now. You can see firefighters had to repel down to get to them on the ride. The ride is only 15 feet aboveground but they have been there now for an hour. They seem to be in good spirits but anxious to get out of there. Again, you saw firefighters there repelling down the scaffolding just to reach the riders and get them off the ride. Thats the latest from the live desk. Thank you, richard. And important reminder for on and blue line riders. You may need to make changes for your commute ahead of the silver line opening. Metro is going to start making schedule adjustments next week. They are also working to repair water leaks at the new silver line stations and install special insulating tape on the third rail. Despite the lastminute finishing touches, the silver line is still on track to open saturday, july 26th. That yoga tax we talked about is here to stay in the district. The d. C. Council easily voted yesterday to override mayor vincent grays budget veto. He vetoed the 11 billion plan because of the yoga tax. Gray also says the budget reduced funding for streetcars and said it ties the hands of future mayors. The Council Voted 121 to override the veto saying the spending plan included needed changes like tax cuts for middle class workers. Well, just because youre 21 doesnt mean you can get alcohol anywhere in the united states. A d. C. Man found that out the hard way. In fact, he was in New Hampshire and according to the concord monitor, the man was denied the right to buy alcohol in that state, not because he was underage, drunk or suspicious but because he had a d. C. Drivers license. A corky state law there in New Hampshire does not list the d. C. License as a legal form of i. D. So if youre planning a trip to New Hampshire, a passport or military card is an acceptable alternative. West nile virus has been detected in mosquitoes in Prince William county. Mosquito control says its the first occurrence in the county this year. They say the number of virus positive mosquitoes indicates a high risk of contracting west nile across the county. The Department Asks you to eliminate the standing water in your yard. A huge repaving project in downtown bethesda has been delayed. Now the work will start this weekend on sunday night. Lanes will be closed overnight sunday through thursday through the fall. Three soldiers from the armys old guard are out of the hospital now this morning. They were lowering a flag on joint base Henderson Hall in arlington last night. Lightning from those strong storms hit nearby but it was enough to cause minor injuries to those soldiers at the flag pole. They were treated and quickly released last night. Well, we can see more lightning today as its a weather alert day again. Well check in with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell for the latest on the forecast. When do you think well see lightning, chuck . Thunderstorms are likely the develop after 1 00 or 2 00 this afternoon and continue until 9 00 or 10 00 this evening. So that will be the timeframe to be most alert. The biggest risk for Severe Weather is east of the blue ridge that does include the d. C. Metro area and down into parts of Southern Maryland and much of Northern Virginia down to richmond. The view outside from the tower looking straight up wisconsin avenue right there to bethesda, skies are mostly cloudy here in washington. Prince georges county looking back over the district, mostly cloudy skies. Theres the Woodrow Wilson bridge there. And out to the west, this is looking live at dullest international airport. You can see the blue ridge in the distance but that will fade with rain drops moving in within the next hour or. So they will gradually spread east. And it is much, much warmer east of the mountains. As a result, thats going to be the fuel for thunderstorms today. So the forecast is hot and humid. Severe storms likely between 3 00 and 9 00. Highs today upper 80s to lower 90s. Thats the worst of it for the week. Tomorrow starting out with clouds in the morning but sunshine turning breezy and cooler. Highs tomorrow only in the low 80s. Perfect day for getting out to enjoy the weather. Barbara, one more check of the sevenday coming up. See you in a few minutes. We are celebrating summer in arlington today. The city is ranked number one as the most walkable city in the country. News4s angie goff shows us some of the best of arlington. Reporter did you know that arlington might be the only american suburban county where fewer than half its residents actually drive to work. In overactive arlington, they have an explodable amount of people who ride or bike to work. The fort myers swim team is part of a huge swim team that boasts the only three public high schools in Northern Virginia to have their very own new pool. The new state of the art Barcroft Center is hosting a huge gym with classes yearround. And nature is not hard to find either with the w od trail perfect for walks and bike rides in Bluemont Park where you can replace and smell the roses. We are here along columbia pike where the active lifestyle is really playing out in the revisitlization plan. We have mary hines with us, the vice chair of the county board. This is a big deal. It is a big deal. We have a vision for a walkable street that works for bikers, for cards, for transit vehicles and for pedestrians. So we are remaking it so that it works better for everybody. Our vision is that its diverse, weve got lots of housing, lots of businesses. Reporter and what is so wonderful is you have the new and the old. We have bob and ediths diaper here so the best of both worlds. Thank you so much, mary hines. Back to you. Thank you. And we are headed to maryland on thursday where well celebrate Silver Spring on news4 today beginning at 4 27 a. M. The American Dream coming true. Coming up, a story of sacrifice and hard work to get to washington. Plus, whether you or your loved one has too much or too little hair. We have the medical solution that can help you get what you need. Stay with us, well be right ba your baby may understand what you are saying even if it cant talk yet. They begin processing speech months before saying their first word. Researchers used a special brain scanner on a group of 7monthold and 12monthold infants as they listened to sounds in native and Foreign Languages and found that the 12montholds showed much more activity in the area of the brain that perceives the meaning of language. Well, the most common cause of hair loss is family history. Men and women inherit the gene from either or both parents and that leads to the question, do Hair Transplants really work . Dr. Cheryl burgess is joining us with that answer and several other questions, including the opposite. If you have too much hair or too little hair, you are going to solve the problem for us. Let me define what hair transplant means for us because it doesnt mean to transplant it from your head to my head or vice versa. It is transplanting it from a nonhormonally infused area around the periphery of the head. And then when you stay thin on the top, it is usually in the distribution of if you set a kings crown on your head. So below that is not hormonally stimulated. So they take the hair from this region and put itn the hormonal area and therefore the hormones dont cause it to thin and fall out. Oh, i see. So male pattern baldness applies to women as well in some cases. People dont bald down in this part . Well, theres an old technique called follicular unit transplantation called fut, and they take a strip of hair and slice and dice, if you follicle take the follicles and put it on the top of the head. Now theres a newer technique thats called plugs. No, thats an older technique. Some people are still Walking Around with what we call the doll plugs and where they took a 4millimeter punch and punched out areas within the scalp. They dont do this anymore. They dont do that anymore because it looked like the Old Fashioned doll head. So basically they have a follicular unit extraction where they can use a computerized program that can define where your most viable hairs are. Again, they are still in the area of the scalp, and they take each unit of hair out and then they put it in the areas on the top of the scalp. And that works . It looks the most natural of any transplant patients. And most will not bald once that is in there . Well, those hairs are not hormonally influenced so therefore you are likely to keep those hairs. Lets switch to the opposite problem. Too much hair. Are there laser treatments to get rid of too much hair . The history is such that in years before, say the 1990s, the only way we could remove hair was to permanently remove hair by electrolysis. And basically that is guiding a tiny wire down each hair and removing it. Then it went into the new wave of lasers. And now we have handheld devices that are either laser or light devices that actually do workment and they have been fda approved now for the last probably five years or so. They can run anywhere from 400 to 500, but they are definitely Permanent Hair Solutions that you can use. One treatment will do . No, not one treatment. You have to keep treating the area, probably in the office we do at least five times. But at home, you know n the convenience of your up home, you can use those devices over and over again and do see improvement and less hair growth. This works with men that have heavy beards, then . You can use them in any location but some are not fda approved to use on the face, only on the arms or legs. But you need to track the information with the company to find out which ones are appropriate for what areas of the body. Too much or too little. I cant have both. You are never pleased with either one, right . No. Never satisfied, it seems. Thank you. See you next week. As the fight Border Security and the surge of undocumented children continues in washington, we have a story of families following the law to make sacrifices to make the American Dream come true. Harry smith reports. Reporter selfies in front of the white house. If you are a college kid with an internship in d. C. , its what you do. But these College Students are different from their piers. Frankly, its a wonder they are here at all. Denise cruz spent most of her young life as a migrant worker. We first met her when she was a 15yearold with a dream. I want to go to college. Reporter but back then denise was working six days a week from dawn till dusk with her parents and siblings in minnesota farm fields. Working on fields, it is hard. There are times when i just want to give up. Reporter families Work Together to make more money so cool often comes in second when there are crops to harvest. My parents have always encouraged me to go to school. It is hard to you are there and you are like, shall i go to work and help my family or shall i continue taking summer classes . Reporter but denises parents both legal residents made some of the hard choices and denise is now a student at michigan state. From the field of college and d. C. Internships, wihoa, how di that happen . Reporter these are the four students chosen to intern in d. C. With a National Migrant and seasonal headstart association. All those summers working on farms have turned into a summer of opportunity. The selfie in front of the white house . They got to go inside. I think we think this is a dream that well wake up to later on. Reporter these students have worked hard and dreamt big. And for them, make is still the land of the possible. Harry smith, abc news, washington. 11 49 is the time. Issues. R minorities battling plus, meteorologist chuck bell will be back with todays risk of Severe Weather and the pleasant changes heading in ou Small Business owners this is your last chance. Your free upgrade to fios quantum internet from verizon will be running out soon. Nows the time to double your download speed to 50 megs for no additional cost. Switch to fios internet and phone with a 2year agreement to os quantum internet for just 99. 99 a month. But hurry this offer runs out july 19th. Or. Ask about our no annual contract options. Call 1. 888. 774. 4418 now. Internet and phone that make you Small Business ready. Thats powerful. Its a problem that existed quietly in the black community for generations. Mental illness often ignored among africanamericans. In our changing minds initiative, well explain how a shortage of black Mental Health professionals may be making the problem worse. Reporter this man walks with his head held high today as he gets help with depression and bipolar disorder, but it hasnt been easy. Its a lonely feeling. Reporter he grew up depressed and in 2012 tried to kill himself by overdose after years of being ostricized by his family and church. Some complain of this making Mental Illness worse. Reporter his family said there were demons in him. They say menial illness is a weakness or character flaw, but thats just part of the problem. Lack of cultural understanding, inadequate treatment and misdiagnosis are among the reasons that blacks dont historically seek Mental Health care according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Finding cultural understanding can be hard, too. African americans make up only 2 of psychologists and psychiatrists in this country. And 4 of social workers. When you start to look at ethnicity and culture, then you start to say, hmm, let me think, not only is this person not made like me but then this person brings with them a completely different set of experiences and expertise just about life. Reporter social worker Patrick Crawford acknowledges to get blacks to get counseling means building a bigger pool of initiatives. A study published in 2011 indicated blacks are more likely to stay in care and comply with treatments when treated by black professionals because they feel more accepted and understood. Mental Health Professional groups understand they need to grow their minority workforce. There are efforts to tap into Public Schools to inspire interest in medical and psychiatric careers. And there are fellowship programs at the click level. Recruitment and scholarships are also going to be key. Crawford believes pay disparity also drives some africanamericans to stay away from Mental Health fields. Unless you are going to bring our salaries in line to the medical doctors out there that are making what they make, which i respect, i think its going to be really a challenge. Reporter whatever it takes, he believes that it is so critical to attract the type of professionals to create the right field for black folks who need care. I feel empowered. And instead of having a stigma on my chest, i have an s for superman. And the yearlong changing Minds Campaign continues on our website any time. Just head to nbcwashington. Com for more on our stories as well as resources in our communities. Well, at this hour we are keeping an eye on several developing stories that we will update throughout the day. President obama is speaking right now about how bad roads and traffic delays can cost you money. Hes in mclean where he toured a federal Research Center this morning. The trip is part of the president s push for congress to come up with funding for highways and transportation. President obama says thats key to keeping the u. S. Competitive. Hes expected to speak at the center in the next few minutes. In fact, i think hes speaking there now as we see. Firefighters are rescuing passengers stuck on a transformers ride at Universal Studios in orlando, florida. One of the passengers tweeted these pictures. We are keeping an eye on whats going on down there. Stay with nbc news for updates on that situation. Time now for a final check on the forecast with chuck. Steamy outside to become stormy this afternoon. Its a weather alert day with frequent updates on air and online and through social media. Stay up with us through the storm team 4 Facebook Page. Damaging wind gusts and heavy rain at times today. Primary risk time between 3 00 and 9 00. Theres the cold front just moving through morgantown, west virginia, right now with the line of storms developing just ahead of that. Thats the line that will be coming through here with the opportunity for Severe Weather later this afternoon into this evening. So we have a weather eye do to the sky. Severe storms Late Afternoon to early evening. Temperatures in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. But tomorrow the complete opposite of a beautiful day. Refreshing breeze, sunshine, cooler, less humid. Perfect day to get on down to the beach. Tomorrow is a good day to drive to the beach with a couple showers around, but thursday and friday on into the weekend the beach looks amaze. Heres the sevenday forecast for us, steamy and stormy today. Then really nice weather for wednesday, thursday and friday. Today may be the last 90degree day for a week or more. Lets hope. Fingers crossed. We wont need coats and sweaters like those in minnesota. Im leaving mine in the winter chest. Thats news4 midday for today. Thank you for being with us. We invite you to tune in at 4 00, 5 00, 6 00 and tonight at 11 00. Then back tomorrow morning at 11 00 for news4 midday. Join us then. Until then, have a great day and see you in the morning. Today on access hollywood live. Bathing suit. Honeymoon shot from jessica simpson. Looks good and the Kate Middleton pregnancy rumor heat up and ryan new girl friend is a model and chef. The star she surprised right the star she surprised right now on access hollywood live. About. Because im happy because im happy. And i love