Collecting donations and saying prayers. They will need them. Five children on the bus have already been killed and none are older than the fourth grade. The school bus flipped off the roadway. They believe there are two sections. Scott a school bus packed with children slammed in a tree. It practically flipped flipped split the bus in half and flipped it on its side. According to the elementary three were in fourth grade. One in first grade. One only in kindergarten. It could have been my kids. These are babies trying to get home. Scott Police Arrested the driver, 24yearold rikaya johny walker who charged with reck lessen dawngerment and reckless driving. He was going fast. Mailbox and flipped over. Hit a tree real hard. Scott as the Investigation Continues into what caused the tragedy the community is coming together to grieve. The most unnatural thing in the world is for the parent to mourn the loss of a child. There are no words to bring comfort to a mother or a father. Today the city is praying for families. Chattanooga beginning their investigation into what happened. They will be here for a week. Answers and the full picture of what happened will not come anytime soon. But today we are starting to get more pieces of that puzzle. We learned that the driver johnthany walk irwas going well over the speed limit when he lost control of the bus. We also learned that walker is the father of young child himself. In chattanooga, tennessee, im scott mclane. Michelle with restarting to mans driving history. Have there been complaints about the bus driver in the past . Scott he is only 24 years old and he has a clean record. He has never been in trouble with the law before. So as far as we know, he hasnt had any major incidents or red flags in the past. There is an are the area of the crash used to see him on his skateboard from time to time and says he is a good man. Michelle thank you so much. We might get more information now with the ntsb. We want to go to a Live Press Conference in progress with new details about the crash. Mr. Robert accetta is in charge of the crash. He is a senior investigator with more than 25 years of experience. We just began today and we dont have much factual information but this is what we have so far. 3 20 p. M. Yesterday on county road in Hamilton County, tennessee, 2008 school bus with 24yearold driver and 37 student passengers from woodmore elementary school. The bus was traveling southbound on tally road when it departed the overturned and collided with the utility pole and a tree. The bus had just departed the school and had not dropped off any of the students on the route. Its a curving twolane roadway with one lane in either direction, separated by a double yellow line. The post speed limit on the roadway was 30 miles per hour. With lower advisory speeds for the curbs. Passenger seat belts. There is a parallel criminal investigation against the bus driver. Our team has taken an initial look at the crash site and the school bus. We organized the Multidisciplinary Team in following groups. Human performance, motor carrier operations, vehicle factors, highway factors, survival factors and witness groups. Work that has been us if favor is the mechanical inspection of the school bus in cooperation with the highway patrol, commercial vehicle enforcement division, the Safety Administration will conduct a review of the School Bus Operations with the Hamilton County school and the Durham School services. Coordinating with Chattanooga Police department to arrange interviews with witnesses and examining potential sources of crash data including the interior and the exterior module. The organizational meeting for Investigative Team during which parties and interest will be namedded will be held later this afternoon after this press conference. Information regarding injuries and fatalities will be providedded by the local authorities. We have family assistance on scene from the Disaster Assistance to provide support to the family members of the victims of michelle you have been listening to an update from the ntsb on the deadly bus crash in chattanooga, tennessee, that killed five people. Immediately following the crash, the Chattanooga Community rallied in support. We want to show you now video of a line. This is a picture of a line that really just wrapped around the building, exited the door. These are College Students, senior citizens, all there to support the community to people with the unver tall type o blood dune universal type o blood type moved to the top of the line. Jonathan now we want to turn to the Company Operating the school bus. The company faced scrutiny when six people were killed and 11 others were hurt. And its unclear what happened to cause the driver to collide. He was one of the six people killed. No kids on the school bus when it crashed. Breaking news from bethesda. Five High School Students rushed to the hospital. The call for help coming to Bethesda Chevy Chase High School. Jonathan the children taken the prescription medication. Richard reeve at the school, what did they take . What do we know . Another prescription drug. Lets explain what we know. This is 2 00 this afternoon, a number of ambulances were dispatched here to Bethesda Chevy Chase High School for a medical issue. At least six students involved here. Four ambulances transported the students. Two of the students were picked up by their parents. We are told that the students consumed the drug. We dont know how much they took or where the drug came from. It teenagers and they had some kind of physical reaction to it. Severe enough to call ambulances to treat the young people. Now save nax is a buter xanax is a powerful anxiety drug. They are doing this out of an abundance of caution and as far as we know the students are okay. Richard reeve, abc7 news. Michelle for breaking news updates on stories like this even when you are away from alerts. Go to wjla. Com text to select which you want sent to your phone. Jonathan the first major storm of the season, it was a big one. This is video. A house back there. Whiteout conditions. This is rochester, new york, off lake ontarios Eastern Shore in new york. They had three feet of snow after the snowstorm moved through. The question is will your travel plans or those coming to visit you be affected by this weather . Well, stormwatch7s chief meteorologist doug hill has the answer in the forecast. Doug this is upstate new york for a little bit. That should be fine. Weather travel up and down the east coast we have more in a few hours. It looks good for the day tomorrow. Maybe showers by thanksgiving day. At the moment, high clouds and the sun getting ready to go down. Looking at national harbor. The temperatures staying on the cool side. We continue the chilly numbers through the evening. Later we will drop to below 40 at 8 00. Overnight hours is colder than that with the clear skies. We will wake up to temperatures and maybe the first 32degree day of the 27 in ashburn. 29 in largo. 29 in dale city. 238 in waldorf right now and la plata for the forecast low. Coming up in seven minutes we will give you the Holiday Weekend forecast. Produce specifically the travel weather across plus specifically the travel weather across the country if you are heading to see grandma tomorrow or wherever you are going. Michelle download the storm watch app to get updates any time. You ca goodal play or app store. Jonathan Stephen Tschida is in mobiletrak7. Traffic is moving. That is a good sign. Montgomery county and that is a good area that normally slows down. The roads on the big travel day are not too bad right now. We hear from him in a second but Jamie Sullivan will also join us in a few minutes with the traffic updates. Michelle a Charles County officer behind bars accused of alexander sullivan. Police say he began to investigate sullivan after receiving a tip about child porn uploaded to his cell number. They looked into it and they arrested the tenyear veteran. He has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the trial. Jonathan donald trump just left the New York Times after a twitter war and initial cancellation of meeting with the newspaper. He was asked about the hate speech and the White Supremacy groups generating even here in d. C. Does he need to further address this . You can head to wjla. Com votenow to weigh in. Today, many are asking how White Supremecist manage to hold a convention, preaching in the middle of the Ronald Reagan building in d. C. Kevin lewis explains and has trumps response. Hail trump. Hail our people. Hail victory. Kevin chants aligned with convention for the National Policy institute. Today the company that managing the reagan building at federal triangle told us it was constitutionally obligated to grant the hate group space to meet. This demonstrates the more protective and painful aspect of democracy. Kevin the attorney is wellversed in First Amendment rights. There is a fundamental freedom of free speech and i assembly. Kevin the reagan building wouldnt tell us how much it charged the group to hold the conference but said it billed them extra because additional security was required. This as the New York Times met with president elect trump today asking his thoughts about the white supremacists. His response . Of course i disavow and as an added precaution, management here at the reagan building said it contacted the federal protective service which signed off on the controversial convention. Citing no apparent safety risk. Live in northwest im kevin lewis, abc7 news. Jonathan thanks. Well, the medal of freedom is the highest civilian honor from the white house. You are looking at live pictures. It is going on now. Todays ceremony starstudded will be honored including ellen, who wasnt let in at first because get this. She forgot her i. D. Its the white house, ellen. You have to have the i. D. Kareem abdul jabbar, tom hanks , the boss, bill and melinda gates. And president s favorite bulls player Michael Jordan and one of the best voices in all of president said about jordan he is known for being an amazing player and also known as being a meme. The Michael Jordan meme that is everywhere. Jonathan he said when he was a kid he almost chopped his toe off with an ax and it would have been a different path if he had done that. No air jordan. Coming up next the trump transition. The meeting at the trump tower before the thanksgiving holiday. Michelle also this. Feel the heat from the tv screen. The thanksgiving safety message the Consumer ProductSafety Commission hopes you get out of the video. I believe it is extremely important to make sure that the schools and the places that educate young people and prepare them for success. Jonathan we will meet the man who tapped to run d. C. Public schools, his ideas for the means incredibly fast 150 g internet for the holidays. In the 3. 7 seconds it takes gary watson to beat the local sled jump record, fly, gary, fly. His friend can download 13 versions of the perfect song. His sister can live stream it. While his mom downloads how to set a dislocated shoulder. Get 150 meg internet with equal upload and download speeds, tv and phone for this amazing price. Cable cant offer speeds jonathan all you have to do to show the video and this is what not to do on thanksgiving. Most of us do not plan to set the kitchen on fire cooking the thanksgiving dinner. The craziest part of this. Every single year more than 1,400 people do exactly that. They burn the kitchen. Michelle they make the same mistake. 7 on your side consumer this time around. Kimberly the most flammable time of the year, guys. Turkey fryers alone account for millions of dollars in property loss. Kitchen fires are three times more common on thanksgiving day than any other day of the year. Even if you have a well ventilated porch, look at the damage. A whole turkey in a hot fryer can do. Turkey fryers burn more than a every year. This eyepopping demonstration part of the Consumer ProductSafety Commission annual message. Thanksgiving is the number one most dangerous day for cooking fires. This is what it looks like to my shoulders. Kimberly Silver Spring every lynn found out how dangerous a year ago. The burners caused damage to me. I wouldnt want that to happen the worst pain you can feel. Kimberly aerosol cans exploding and clothes catching fire. Take it from the home of the chef of the sweet homeca they in the National Museum of African American history and culture. It takes a fraction of a second. That split second you are not there. Then you are in the chaos. Kimberly dont rush. And recruit an extra pair of hands to always be on hand. Fernandez wishes she had. 13 months after her kitchen fire, she is still recovery and lucky to be alive. The most important thing to do, the number one takeaway is keep an eye on whatever you are cooking. Have somebody in the kitchen to respond if that is a problem. Have a safe holiday season. Kim the deep fryers, some that dont have temperature control can reach the point of the worst bad habit of thanksgiving chefs everywhere, im included this, is leaving the kitchen while anything is cooking. Consider using a bunch of timers and take them with you if you have to go to another room. Back to you. Jonathan great advice. Thank you. Traffic watch and Jamie Sullivan has an eye on the holiday getaway. Its already started. Jamie they sure have. We are seeing volume in many areas. Begin with a heads up. A water main break issue we are dealing with. Jones bridge road w connecticut avenue. A live look here. A lot of water in the road. Be careful traveling through the area. We are talking about how slow the roads are. Stephen tschida knows. He is out there on the inner loop toward college park. What have you seen so far . Stephen the 495 95 split east on the inner loop. Its heavy but its nothing like we see some everything rush hours. I mean its moving. Cameras here. Its actually not that bad. Traffic is moving fairly smoothly in this area anyway. But you can see up ahead its backing up again. So far, so good. Its better than the typical rush hour commute. Jamie we have the areas that are slow. I want to show you 395. A live look. A lot of people heading out of the city driving into the sun. We have sun glare. And then you can see behi run through the slowest areas. One hour it will take you on the inner loop from 66 to the American Legion bridge. On a typical afternoon commute that would be 40 minutes. We are tacking on 20 minutes now. Starting out inside the capital beltway near 50 continuing north to the baltimore beltway. 50 minutes is about your average. 959 between the beltway path between the beltway. If you are heading to b. W. I. Better option. In major crashes. Were keeping a close eye on that. Back to you. Jonathan thank you. If youre Walking Around today, night and day. When you are in the sun it felt nice. In the shade ohh michelle a big difference out there depending where you are positioned. The skies are nice for those who are traveling. My parents flew in from florida today. Its easy for them. Doug tomorrow down the east coast is great to fly or driving weather. The change is the winds. A little bit of a 50 degrees at reagan national. West, northwesterly winds at 10. Look at the dew point temperature. 50 degrees. The air is dry. That is cold temperatures. We are forecasting overnight. 24 to 34. Light winds. Winds are easy enough and i dont think they are a feature now for several days. Tranquil conditions. Even with the mention of showers on thanksgiving morning. Winds are not a feature at all. Wake up to average of 29. 46 at midday. Clouds will thicken later in the day tomorrow. Likely bring us rain. Tomorrow rain in the pacific northwest. None of it heavy. None of the country is fine east of the rockies. There are areas across idaho, western light brown apple moth. A few areas where its slow. Most of the significance is mountainous area. Most of the midsection is country. There are showers developing along a cold front and that will bring us showers early thanksgiving morning. Perps illvation of tennessee elevation of tennessee. There could be area of sleet mixed in. The east coast from maine to florida is quiet and dry weather up and down the route from north to south. The future cast shows the clouds rolling in tomorrow in the afternoon hours. The skies are mostly cloudy heading through the overnight to thanksgiving morning. It looks like the rain is north and west of town according to this model at 7 00 a. M. We should see rain shower chances diminish through the afternoon hours of thursday. Friday, another cold front is coming in. We may get a glimmer of sun in the Morning Hours or friday. But it will bring a chance of the shower friday night. Clearing skies. Breezy weather. Lower 50s with sunshine saturday and sunday. Next week, the temperatures are above average. We are watching possibility of a system to bring us rain tuesday and wednesday. That is still a ways out. Well monitor that as it michelle . Michelle thank you so much for the update. Still ahead on abc7 news at 4 00 ever wonder where the pardon turkeys end up . The new home for this years birds with a new lease on life. Two a. C. L. Injuries. One on the left and the right. Knee popped back out, in. Jonathan ow tonights rising star, nothing, not even catastrophic michelle for several years the Maryland Men Soccer Team has been one of the better in the nation. In the journey this fall two terp players in particular were happy to be on the field playing the sport they love. We take you to college park for the rising star. Going through two a. C. L. Injuries. I broke my bone. I went to throw a ball. I took a step and the knee popped back out and back in. Dislocated the kneecap. Its been the soccer journey for pair of terps. Sixyear senior midfielder cody and the fifth year senior goalkeeper cody have not only missed games but full seasons due to injury. Have cody here, one of my best friends. One of the weirdest, funniest people i know. Its awesome this year they are cocaptains with the Maryland Men Soccer Team. They need to understand its a process. Two process guys that believe in it. Pushing each other to the an update from chattanooga. Tragedy there when a School Bus Crashes killing five kids. The charges the driver now faces next. Jonathan something cool. We go behind the scenes at National Airport to show you what happens after you drop they believe there are infections. I can see an arm moving but i dont know if they can get to it. If dispatch and the 911 call with the school bus on 35 children on board that is crashing and flipping over nearly cut in half by a tonight. The driver now who survived is criminally charged for the crash. Elizabeth herr has more. I cant imagine. This has been a difficult story. This is heartbreaking at every turn. Elizabeth we did begin the day at the crash site but it is moved to the hospital here where six of the children remain in the intensive care unit. Johnthony walker. According to the charging documents, police say that this driver was speeding. Suspected base on witness account and the evidence at the scene. They say witnesses told them he was speeding, traveling over the 30mileperhour roadway. The witnesses told police that the driver lost control and eventually as you m into a telephone pole and a tree. But at this point he has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, Reckless Endangerment and rememberless driving. More charges are pending. We heard from the ntsb officials. A team, part of the team is the focus is to get to the bottom of this and determine what went wrong. They want to look at the drivers history and figure out what could have caused this. Hopefully get answers live in chattanooga, tennessee, elizabeth hur, abc7 news. Jonathan for breaking news updates on stories like this, even when you are away from the t, sign up for the breaking text alerts. Go to our website, wjla. Com text to pick which type of things that you like. Weather, news, sports if anything breaks it will be sent to your phone. Doug the conditions are quiet out there. Few high clouds, not to amount much but to give us a gorgeous sunset and period of dust. The temperatures will get cold. 32 or 33 in the city by tomorrow morning. Clouds and should havent an impact driving or flying. The temperatures are average. Take you to the center of the country and the west coast. Everything looks in the pacific northwest, showers may move in late in the day. The clouds increase across the area tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night. Thanksgiving day weather controlled by the cold front. We see a chance of showers around the area thanksgiving morning to the thanksgiving afternoon. Steve rudin here in 15 minutes with a detailed look at the weekend forecast. Many people are flying and using the airplanes to enter behind the scene to your bags . Abc7 transportation reporter Brianne Carter has allaccess look from the National Airport. Brianne carter . Brianne its not too bad right now at the reagan National Airport. What happens after you go to the security and board the flight . How do airlines keep get us to the destination mostly on time. There are crews, four manage the flights coming in. In just 35 minutes they are able to refuel, reset, get it turned around to the next destination. A big key for the airlines everything out when it is supposed to. Its especially key during this time of year as the number of the travelers picks up. Between the washington airport and jetblue. We are looking at 53,000 customers through the short period. Its big numbers as far as the d. C. Itself. Reagan national is looking f brianne the holiday getaway. Look at the number of cars lined up here outside reagan National Airport. We have seen this all afternoon. Another thing we are learning, what are the key factors that the ground crews look at. When they see the uptick. We have more coming up at 5 00. Reporting live, Brianne Carter, abc7 news. Michelle gobble up all the then the turkeys that are pardoned before thanksgiving go on to live a sweet life. Jonathan we wondered where do they end up . For the past three years, the park in leesburg taken in the turkeys. Cheryl conner tells us why this years president ial pardons will get a new homes. While the friends are basking in the 350degree temperatures the birds enjoy freedom in leesburg and the visitors who walk away from the dinner table. A he exercises through the park. He knows all about abe who received a president ial pardon last year. Now they are gobbling up the attention and the comforts for a house made just for them at the public can walk up and get a glimpse of the turkeys. But when its cold outside they prefer to be inside. The Program Costs 25,000 when they pay for the vet time and the food. So this y pardoned will find a new home at virginia tech. The guys weigh 30 pounds. Because they are older what ends up on the dinner table is only six months. How you look at them or treat them. They live about two years pardoned or not. Birds in lease lease, cheryl conner, abc7 news. Michelle that is it. Im going vegan ceinials and the Cross Country moves coming up. Michelle but first, Vice President biden greets his michelle it was the thank you uncle joe rally outside of his home today. Supporters are not ready for the v. P. Joe biden to leave come january. Jonathan biden left for work today. She surprised the supporters by greeting them. Took time to walk over to the crowd. She is a cult icon with the memes going viral. Michelle Lindsey Mastis has the biden app surprised that biden came out to thank everyone and take a look at the tshirts they made. There is talk how much he loves biden. The people are dreaming about him. No joke. Look at this girl. She appears to be in high school and she tweets just dreamt about joe biden. Him. Best dream ever. And they were complaining about the slow internet and said sorry the wifi is a challenge on campus. We are working to address it if even for joe biden memes and other academic uses. One sad tweet from a College Student in d. C. He writes on my death bed i will probably say my one regret was i never went to the thank you joe bidenr back to you. Michelle next for us at 4 00, donald trump lays out to plan for the first 100 days. Who will help carry out the agenda . That is next. Jonathan a look at what the good morning Washington Team is working for us for wednesday morning. Thanks, jonathan. Tomorrow on good morning washington, we zero in on the hottest Holiday Gifts to see which ones are worth the cold cash. Coupons. Too good to be true . 7 on your side why you should look at the fine printed. Then its the happy holiday hour. Seven lucky winners will get lucky bucks every seven minutes. Plus, stay with us for traffic and weather every ten minutes after a meeting at trump tower he said im considering carsson for the head of h. U. D. Rudy giuliani declined to weigh in on whether he wants to be part of the administration. Im not going to discuss after you win an election you put things behind you. The president of the country does no have the the president to decide who is under criminal investigation. The preside not something that he feels strongly about. The times live tweeted the meeting with the president elect. Among the topics is Climate Change which trump says is connected to humans. And the altwhite which he is said to have disavowed. On a related note in the i. R. S. Filing the Charitable Foundation admitted to the wrongdoing in a practice called selfdealing. Its not yet clear how the i. R. S. Will deal with the disclose sure. Michelle in d. C. , mayor Muriel Bowser pledged a nationwide search for the d. C. Public schools chancellor. Today she announced that wilson is her pick to move aCross Country and take the helm. Sam he grew up in kansas and nebraska, taught schools, principal, assistant superintendent in denver. I know this is an opportunity to double down. When i was in denver we learn about the educator sam he took a tour of Eastern High School where the announcement was made. Listing a classroom to hear from students. Its supposed to be real and supposed to matter. A married father of three children. He will making 280,000 which is what he made in oakland. He will have to be confirmed by the there is a confirmation hearing december 8. Im sam ford, abc7 news. Tuesday evening and chilly out there. We have a chill overnight. Mainly clear skies. We head through the day tomorrow, clouds will increase late in the day. If you are getting out early to travel away from the d. C. Area, no problems at all. There are the added clouds later in the day. Showers are likely as we move its lower 50s moving through noontime. When you head out the door for the thanksgiving feast the temperatures generally in the 50s familiaring in the 40s. But at least things will dry out around here. Moving through the day on saturday. Lower 50s. 53 degrees and at lea dry. But it is on the breezy side. Overall, a nice stretch of days for traveling. Looking at the roadways, Jamie Sullivan, not so nice. Almost cringe worthy. Thats what ill say. If you are out there now, take a look. This is live. Happening on the beltway now at george town pike. Stephen tschida is seeing the beautiful sunset. Its getting darker. Check out the red lights. A lot of traffic. Its building throughout the evening. Jamie this is holiday travel. More red than we typically see the red pop up. I want to focus on the slows areas. Inner loop is 62 minutes. From 66 continuing to the American Legion bridge. 40 minutes out of the city to the mixing bowl. Then northbound on the v. W. Markway. Over an hour to 50 and the ballot war beltway. Another live look outside near bradley boulevard. We are seeing slowing. One thing i am not seeing is accidents. This is all on the line for the mirror ball. Tonight the dancing with the stars finale airs at 9 00. We take you behind the scenes fios is not cable. Were wired differently. That means incredibly fast 150 meg internet for the holidays. So in the 3. 7 seconds it takes gary watson to beat the local sled jump record, fly, gary, fly. His friend can download 13 versions of the perfect song. His sister can live stream it. While his mom downloads how to set a dislocated shoulder. Get 150 meg internet, tv and phone you love allday breakfast. But you dont love that you cant get all your favorites. But now you can get more of what you love. So you can find Something Else to not love. Like hearing the sound of your own voice. softly like hearing the sound of your own voice. Get more choices you love, now with all day breakfast. Jonathan the mirror ball will be awarded tonight. Dancing with the stars finale begins tonight. Jonathan megatron ditched the cleats for dancing shoes and he has a shot. Michelle going against Laurie Hernandez and james hinchcliffe. We have a preview. Reporter it may take two to tango but it takes three stars to vie for number one with the dancing with the stars finale. Battling for the top spot, laurie h gymnast. There is nothing in that dance i didnt like. Indy car driver james hinchcliffe. Hands down you are the best male dancer we have had on the show. Retired nfl star Calvin Johnson jr. Without doubt, the most improved dancer in this final. Monday an elimination. Country singer jana kramer being sent home. Reporter in the semifinal an elimination. It brought vanilla ice and ripe lochte to the ballroom. Audiences have seen the last dances before they cast their final vote. Viewer votes will be combined with the judges points from the 24hour fusion challenge to determine the big winn all 13 of the couples are also expected to perform. In los angeles im lauren lister, abc7 news. Michelle tonight, highlights from Donald Trumps meeting with one of the biggest enemies in the media. The New York Times. Part of the discussion White Nationalists in d. C. Abc7 answers the question who can meet in a Federal Building and who cant . The cheapest gas in area. North, south, east and west. Toys. Announcer now, abc7 news at 5 00. On your side. Larry after months of criticism and attacks just hours ago, president elect trump met with several journalists from the New York Times. Many live tweeted the exchange. Q mccray at the live desk to monitor the messages this afternoon. There are a lot of them. It appears that the New York Times tackled all sort of topics with president elect trump. From Foreign Policy change. Even investigating hillary clinton. He said he would work to put her behind bars if he was president but he has had a change of heart. He said its not something he feels strongly adding, i dont want to hurt the clintons. She went through a lot and and what he said about president obama he said, i didnt know if id like him. I thought maybe i wouldnt but i did. I enjoyed him a lot. And once he left the New York Times headquarters he made his way to the airport and we found out he plans to spend the holiday in the sunshine state. In florida. New york times interview lasted an hour with trump. There were more than 90 tweets. We have more to share with you at including him talking about his relationship with members of congress. Stick around for that. Q mccray. Michelle . Michelle well see you then. When he was asked about this weekends White Nationalist conference in d. C. Over the weekend, president elect trump replied boy, you are really into this issue. That is a direct quote. Yesterday, kevin lewis reported on the fallout after the group held a dinner at maggianos and then took this picture that you are looking at including the nazi salute