Transcripts For WRC News4 Midday 20151211

Man in Stafford County is accused of killing his own mother. Christopher ellis is charged with firstdegree murder deputies were called out to his house at about 5 00 this morning. They say ellis was screaming and assaulted a deputy in the backyard. They found his mother, Elizabeth Ellis dead. Right now, ellis is in jail. Right now, Police Investigating a deadly crash on the inner loop of the beltway. One person died earlier this morning. Another person has lifethreatening injuries. Delays stretched as long as 7 miles at one time. Right now, were working to learn more about a crash in silver spring. Somebody hit a pedestrian on New Hampshire avenue this morning near the intersection with oakview drive. The last we heard was that traffic was moving by in both directions, but the road wasnt totally open. We dont know how seriously the pedestrian was hurt. Were monitoring for an announcement right now in prince georges county. The police chief may be about to announce to the public that he plans to retire from the Police Department. Prince georges county bureau chief Tracey Wilkins learned he may instead serve as the countys head of public safety. Right now, the freddie gray case in baltimore. A woman who says she was like a grandmother to officer William Porter was fist on the stand today. They is a character witness for the defense describing porter as honest, goodhearted and an outstanding member of the community. We are getting ready now to hear testimony from officers who were working the day gray was arrested. Officer porter there is charged with manslaughter and assault in grays death. We are in the courtroom right now covering the trial. Back to you. Condolences for a Fallen Police officer are pouring into our nbc washington facebook page. Montgomery county Police Officer noah leotta died yesterday. He was 24. A suspected drunk driver ran into him less than a week ago. We explain a new program with officer leotta in mind. Reporter im standing in front of the memorial for officer noah leotta. It serves as a reminder of the dangers of drunk driving, the consequences that can be deadly. This holiday season, drivers have a lot of options. They dont have to get behind the wheel if theyve had too much to drink. One of those options is the be my designated Driver Program. First you download the free app and you use that app to bring a professional driver to your location. They will pick you up and then drive you home in your car so you dont have to pick it up later. The cost is 14 to 19. 50 an hour depending on where you live. If you just want your car picked up, theres a 25 fee for that. Liquor stores in Montgomery County are going to be handing out 20 gift costs. Officer noah leotta died yesterday after he was hit by a suspected drunk driver last week. Leotta had volunteered to be a part of the holiday drunk driving task force and was making a traffic stop when he was hit by a passing suv. Police believe the driver of that suv had been drinking. He was killed by a man that had been arrested twice before for drunk driving. Reporter the my designated Driver Program gets under way today and runs through new yearss day. News4. Today, extra deputies will be at a Community Meeting that got pretty ugly last time arent. Some Community Members were upset about a mosque in the county. One man repeatedly interrupted the meeting calling muslims terrorists. The Islamic Center of fredericksburg will hold tonights meeting. A developing story this morning as we take a live look at the capitol where later today we expect a shortterm spending bill to pass through the house. Action needs to be taken today to keep the government running. The senate has already acted. Lawmakers will now have just a few days to work on a longterm deal. And heres a live look outside from our tower camera. You can see were tracking hazy sunshine right now. As we work our way toward the afternoon hours, well start to have more sunshine returning to the area. Heres a look at cloud cover. Where youre seeing white, this is cloudiness. The darker areas, lack of cloud cover. Partly sunny skies here in the district. For the rest of the day, its still going to be nice with a mix of clouds and sun. 52 degrees by 2 00. Well hit our High Temperature, right around 64 degrees. Even at 8 00 p. M. , not too cold with a temperature of 55. Tracking warm temperatures again tomorrow. A train full of passengers suddenly starts moving and theres no one behind the wheel to stop it. Now were getting a better idea of why. But first, theyre on their way to the hospital when more tragedy struck. What investigators think caused a medical helicopter to come developing in california, investigators are working to find out if heavy rain and fog caused a Helicopter Crash overnight. Four people were on board and they call died. This happened in bakersfield, california. It was a medical helicopter, a nurse, and medic and a patient were on board. A breakthrough in the murder of a recent America University graduate. A second man is now in custody in arrest of the murder of math shoe shlonsky. Andre dudley was arrested yesterday. Hes now charged with seconddegree murder. Police had named him a person of interest just days after the shooting. Marcus king is also charged in that murder. An update to a deadly fire we told you about yesterday. Anne arundel county investigators are on the scene looking for the second person in the homes remains. You can see the fire seriously damaged the house. It killed one person and a second person is still unaccounted for right now. Why the weather situation for so Many Americans just became so much more urgent. And why the weather in our area is going to be so unusual. And heading out for your friday evening expect temperatures in the 50s tonight. It will be cool. A light coat will be just fine. Now, tomorrow morning, once again tracking areas of fog and it could be thick in spots during the morning hours. By 11 00 a. M. , were nice. Temperatures in the mid50s with a mix of clouds and sun. Partly sunny tomorrow afternoon and mild with a High Temperature near 70 degrees for a high. At 7 00, temperature of 59. Overall looking like a really terrific day. Now, coming in, im going to be tracking the fog hour by hour tomorrow morning showing you where you could be dealing with dense areas of fog. Right now, a team of experts is in Washington State trying to determine whether a tornado is responsible for all of this damage that you see. Yesterdays storm is the latest weather worry after days of torrential rain, flooding, and landslides in the pacific northwest. The possible tornado cranked out winds of up to 110 miles per hour. Students temporarily sheltered in place inside schools and two businesses were evacuated. The good news here, nobody was injured. New information on a story breaking right here on news4 midday yesterday. Investigators say human error may be to blame for the boston commuter train that suddenly took off without a driver. Transportation Officials Say employees quickly realized the train was on the run and turned off the power. They say the incident may have started because of a signal problem and that assist device may have been tampered with. Its where thousands of fans cheer on their Favorite Team every weekend. Right now, a stadiums longtime name could be changing. News4 midday is back in a. Reporter live at the university of maryland after nearly two hours, the vote just came to rename the stadium to maryland stadium, an historic and emotional name change here. An issue that has polarized this college campus. Supporters say it sends a very clear message that symbols matter. And University Board of regions just knocked down a symbol most agree is the most visible one on this campus. Weve got to get past this idea about removing bird stadium name is erasing history. Reporter now, the chiefs diversity officer at the university of maryland also passionately spoke arguing that symbols matter. Now the University President , faculty alumni, many of the students grappled about the contributions and the painful legacy of h. C. Curly bird credited as the father of this university but also denounced by so many as a known segregationist who fought to keep africanamericans off this college campus. This name change doesnt end here. This discussion about race and matters of race and diversity on this campus. There is a move afoot to hold talks on a regular basis to open up the dialogue and close the racial divide that many say exists here on campus. That is the latest live. News4, barbara, back to you. New this morning, Virginia State police are searching for this man suspected in the hitandrun. They say Lamar Woolridge hit a man in a parking lot in winchester this morning, then drove off. It happened around midnight. The men were fighting outside the blue fox billiards bar and grill. Police say he was driving on a revoked license. And starting tonight, a freeway to get you safely home from a Holiday Party. Just call the sober ride program, and it starts at 10 00 this evening. A nonprofit runs that program. This morning, our melissa emd their event. And once again, tracking areas of fog forming overnight. Could be a widespread issue tomorrow morning. Heres the latest. We start to see fog develop in spots around 2 00 a. M. By 5 00 a. M. , tracking visibilities under a quarter of a mile. This includes washington, leesburg, frederick, annapolis. We continue to track areas of thick fog around 6 00, 7 00, even 8 00 a. M. If youre going to take advantage of the milder weather, you do want to keep this in mind. It looks like it starts to burn off by 9 00 a. M. By 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning, fog really shouldnt be an issue anymore. In ten minutes, ill have a complete look at the next seven days when temperatures start to leave closer to 70 degrees and cool back down. If you drive in d. C. , theres a brandnew plan that could dramatically increase the cost of breaking the rules of the road. Ddot is planning to add an increase several fines. The d. C. Council would not have to approve them. Under the new rules, youll have to pay 1,000 instead of 300 for driving more than 25 miles over the speed limit. If you hit a cyclist, the fine would jump ten times as much as it was before. They will put out a list of the proposals today. And now to a developing story. Divers will continue today searching a lake near last weeks terrorist attacks in san bernardino. An assistant director in charge of the Fbis Los Angeles office says divers are looking for a computer hard drive missing from the home of the suspects. Its just 3 miles from the scene of the shootings. A large police union in new england is now endorsing donald trump. Trump was on hand to gladly accept the support at an event in New Hampshire last night. He told the crowd he would sign an executive order requiring the Death Penalty for anybody convicted of killing a Police Officer. But as his popularity continues to grow among Republican Voters on that proposed ban on muslims entering the u. S. , trump is losing some major money around the world. This 6 billion Golf Community under construction in dubai is removing his name from the project. Trumps also lost some major developments in scotland worth chose to 300 million. Muslims in our area say that they are experiencing a backlash after antimuslim comments from donald trump and the recent mass shooting in san bernardino, california. A panel of lawyers and Police Officers listened to their concerns last night. One woman told us shes worried about her son. He feels quite marginalized. Police also alerted the community to a possible hate email investigation. Right now, more than 140 Boston College students are sick after eating at a chipohle near campus. They confirmed the students have norovirus. An e. Coli outbreak made more than 50 people sick this fall. In 60 seconds, well tell you why facebook is getting ready to do something that a lot of you have been wanting to do for a very long time. Dont forget, you can still watch news4 even if youre at work or even on the go. Just open the nbc washington app and hit watch live tv now at the top to stream news4 midday. Here are some of the stories lighting up social media this morning. Facebook has unveiled which stories youve been clicking on this year. The president ial election tops the list of course from january 1st to december 1st this year. 76 Million People interacted with election content more than a billion times. The paris terror attacks ranked second and the syrian refugee crisis came in third. Also making the top ten most clicked on stories were the earthquake in nepal, Marriage Equality and the fight against isis. A big story for our area of course, the baltimore protests making the cut for the most clicked on stories nationally. You may soon be able to draft comments even when you are not online. The Company Announced this week that its launching new technology that would let users with poor mobile Internet Connections access new content on their news feed. Users will also be able to draft comments on posts even when they are disconnected. The site already allows sharing and liking posts partly sunny skies this afternoon with High Temperatures around 65 degrees and then warmer for the weekend. Near 70 on saturday as well as sunday. Looking like well have a bit more cloud cover around on sunday, but still mild. Mild on monday as well. Near record warmth. Well set a new record temperature. Winds increase throughout the day. It is breezy with rain likely later in the day on monday. Then we do cool down, but not by much. High temperatures still around 60 degrees with plenty of sunshine. Another chance of showers on thursday and a high of 59. You can see every single High Temperature on this sevenday well above our average high which is now about 47 degrees. Thank you. Listen up, nationals fans. The holiday fun runs through sunday at the convention center. Meet and greet some of the players and get a chance to test your skills on lots of different sporting activities. If youre waiting on holiday packages, listen up. As the delivery rush intensifies, police are taking action to prevent theft. In california, thieves are finding an unwelcome surprise. Community members are partnering with the Police Department, volunteering their homes as decoy packages equipped with gps tracking and fake electronics. We want to put as much in there as we can so they look at it and say, yeah, theres a bunch of good stuff in here, im going to go ahead and take it. Police hope the program will not only catch thieves, but deter them too. If youre waiting for a holiday package, make sure youre at home on the expected delivery date. If you wont be home, ask the Delivery Company to hold it and request a signature. The police chief in our area is getting ready to retire after decades on the force. Plus, freedom of speech or a sensitive scene thats too soon. What one group wanted to right now,zt one person is dead after a rush hour accident on the beltway. It closed the through lanes on the inner loop for hours right ahead of the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Maryland state police tell us at least one other person has serious injuries. Prince georges police say all lanes are now open. A live look at the capitol where later today we expect a shortterm spending bill to pass action needs to be taken today to keep yu the government2t ru. Within the next hour, we expect to hear from the family of a chicago teenager killed by a Police Officer. It will be the familys7yztn fi public address. You may remember the dash cam video that shows the officer mcdonald as many as 16 times. Officer Jason Van Dyke faces murder charges in the october 2014 killing. That News Conference is scheduled to start just after 12 00 noon today. Police say theyre confident they will make an arrest soon in a womans murder, this after a major break for the Police Department. Investigators now have 21yearold heather ciccones cell phone. They say it contains critical Text Messages and phone calls she made before someone killed her. And tomorrow morning, we will be tracking areas of fog. Of course tom will be in at that point updating the forecast. We could be dealing with thick fog until about 9 00, 10 00 a. M. Aside from that, though, near record warmth tomorrow, sunday, as well as monday. And then showers are likely on monday, mainly later in the day. Heres your planner for monday. A High Temperature of caab69 degrees. Mild at breakfast. Showers are possible as early as lunchtime, but i think theyll probably hold off until the afternoon. By dinner, temperature of 58. Well also have clouds increasing throughout the day on monday and youll notice breezy to windy conditions, especially during the afternoon and evening hours. Thanks, amelia. It could take up to a week to learn exactly what caused an evacuation at the headquarters for the council of American Islamic relations on thursdays. Officials say a letter turned out to be harmless, but its been sent off for testing. Things are back to normal at Arkansas State university after an armed man drove on the campus yesterday. Police say the 47yearold posted on social media that he was both homicidal and suicidal before this incident. He had a 12gauge shotgun and containers of gasoline and propane with him. Police were able to take him into custody without any shots being fired. Some of you are saying a drill is happening in texas has gone too far. Thats right. Tomorrow, a Gun Rights Group will fake a mass shooting near a university. And nbcs Carrie Sanders tells us how its generating lot ones f reaction. Reporter plans for a mock mass shooting even though its just cardboard guns, gunfire sounds that really isnt. And supporters playing the role of victims will ketchup for blood. The theatrics are meant to simulate gun control on campuses. I think its irresponsible. I think its just bad timing. And its child issue. Reporter in 1966, this same austin campus was the site of the nations first mass shooting at a college. A student climbed to the top of the schools tower and systemically picked off people below. 13 died. The group had planned on holding the mock mass shooting on the school campus, but School Officials said no. Online, reaction has been mixed. On twitter, on what planet is a mock mass shooting a good idea. On facebook, time to end the sitting duck zones. Organizers point to the Umpqua Community College Shooting that killed nine and the rampage at Virginia Tech that killed 32 and they say those events might have had a different outcome if people had been armed. There needs to be a National Conversation about this and have people understand the Common Thread to all these tragedies are these gunfree zones. That mock event is supposed to happen tomorrow. Monday will mark three years since the shooting at sandy hook elementary school. If you plan on cleaning up leaves this weekend, you might want to check the brand of your leaf blower. Craftsman is recalling two models after several reports of them catching fire. They are sold at ace hardware and sears. You can return them to the store for a full refund. You can check out the models listed there. A story that might brighten your day. An 8yearold boy is getting special recognition from the Police Department in fort collins, colorado. Thats because earlier this week, he found a significant amount of money in a parking lot. Instead of pocketing it, he asked his mom to take him to the police headquarters. I knew it was not mine and i could not spend it. I would feel so guilty if i spent it. How about that . His good deed may literally payoff. Police say if they cant find the moneys Rightful Owner in the next 40 days, the cash is all his. tis the season for giving. You might want to think twice before reaching into your wallet. What you struggling to keep up a surge in online sales thats resulted in a higher volume of holiday packages. The wall street journal says the ontime delivery rates for ups was 91 last year versus 97 a year ago. More residential delivers and theyve been slammed with extra pickups. Thats your morning business report. tis the season for giving. But officials have a warning for those giving to maryland holiday charities. All Charities Must be registered in the state data base. Heres a few red flags to look out for. If the organization refuses to send you written material or financial information. Another one, if the logo resembles another reputable organization. And if the solicitor offers to send a person to collect your contribution. Any one of those things pop up, dont give that alleged organization your money. You may have to follow a few more rules next time you share a ride with someone using uber share. These are pretty interesting rules. Ubers fairly new group riding service wants riders to follow these rules. Keep your phone use to a minimum and dont argue with anyone while your on the phone in that car. Dont group ride if youre coming from the gym without changing clothes from your workout. And wrap smelly takeaway food you have. Saying goodbye to a familiar face. A mainstay in television for decades gets ready to sign off. Plus, the weekend forecast temperatures are in the 50s for most of us. Fredericksville holding onto 48 degrees. A high today of about 64 to 66 degrees and well hit that right around 3 00 p. M. With partly sunny skies this afternoon. Spectacular during the evening hours. A light jacket will be just fine. At 6 00, a temperature around 60 degrees. Areas of fog will form once again overnight tonight and we could be tracking thick fog in spots tomorrow morning. At 5 00 a. M. , you can see some dense fog. Visibility under a quarter of a mile in annapolis, washington, leesburg and frederick. It should burn off by 9 00, 10 00 a. M. He hopes the popular podcast will help explain his motives. Thats what Bowe Bergdahls attorney is saying this morning. Bergdahl is the u. S. Soldier who spent nearly five years in captivity in afghanistan after walking away from his post. The new season started yesterday. In it, bergdahl said he planned to walk to a larger camp to report misconduct by his leadership. I was fully confident that when somebody actually took a look at the situation and when people started investigating the situation that people would understand that i was right. Bergdahl got lost and he was captured by a group of affiliated with the taliban last year. Five taliban prisoners were freed in exchange for bergdahls release. He now faces military charges. Hes still in the army and assigned to clerical work. Bittersweet news about an news4 alum today. Willard scott is retiring from nbc. Willard was our weather man right here at news4 in washington for many years. It was back in the late 70s. In 1980, willard moved to new york. Bob came here of course and spent 30 years with us here. The today show will celebrate willard on tuesday and well look back on his career that day. The long journey home is finally over for three people working in space, plus why theres new fallout over Donald Trumps polarizing comments now it is official. Prince georges countys top cop has a new job. We have live pictures to show you of this announcement being made just now. There he is. Chief mark magaw there. The countys chief executive just made the announcement just a few minutes ago. Police chief magaw is retiring from his chief job Effective Immediately and has now been named as the countys head of public safety. The leadership and commitment has made a significant difference in how we address crime in this county. By focusing on community policing, outreach and engagement, i believe our Police Department has become one of the nations best. That deserves a round of applause. [ applause ] magaw was with the prince georges Police Department for more than 30 years. Assistant chief henry is now the interim police chief. Back to you. Today, extra deputies will be at a Community Meeting that got pretty ugly last time around. Citizens were upset over plans of relocating and building a larger mosque. This is video from the november 17th discussion. Thats the area theyre building actually youre looking at now. One man repeatedly interrupting the presentation with antimuslim slurs. The Islamic Center of fredericksburg will lead tonights meeting. Today, former Maryland Governor Martin Omalley is going to be in virginia. He is visiting the Adams Center Mosque in sterling this afternoon. Omalley will speak out against the growing fear of muslims and islamic extremism as well. Adams is the biggest mosque in our area. Weve got mixed news about donald trump this morning. One poll shows hes gaining ground and another shows that his idea to ban muslims is unpopular. Tracey potts breaks down the details. Reporter as signs declaring him a racist go up at Donald Trumps d. C. Hotel and rivals urge him to leave the party, our new poll shows 77 of republicans like trumps style. People are saying, you know, trump is right. Reporter but more than half of americans think his plan to ban muslims is wrong. The front running candidate for president , hes not a serious man. Most people are relieved that hes reconsidered. Reporter a New York Times poll gives trump 35 support. More than double ted cruz. Ultimately, the decision is who has the right judgment. Reporter but can he win . I believe the republican nominees going to be someone that can win the general election and i dont believe donald can. Reporter last night, trump got a major police endorsement. Anybody killing a Police Officer, Death Penalty. Its going to happen, okay . Cant let this go. Reporter donald trump gaining popularity with ideas most voters oppose. The bottom line seems to be while a lot of people like the issues donald trump is bringing up there is still a lot of controversy and were seeing the differences in the polls when it comes to how hes addressing those issues. I want to ask you a couple questions about donald trump. [ laughter ] first question, have you heard about him . [ laughter ] you know, i have to say, seth, i no longer think hes funny. Thats Hillary Clinton on late night with seth meyers on thursday. After joking around, things got serious when she spoke about donald trump. He said his latest comments are not only wrong, but they play into terrorists hands. Tomorrow evening, make sure to tune into tracking winter. All six meteorologists have put together a unique story, how to stay active outdoors during the cooler months. This weekend, certainly not one of the cooler weekends by any means. Near record warmth saturday and sunday. If youre getting out during the morning hours, expect temperatures in the 40s in the suburbs and 50s here in the metro area. Looking great for getting the tree and heading to to Holiday Party as well with 5s a0s and 6 during the evening hours. Barbara, ill have another check of the sevenday in ten minutes. Right now, character witnesses are testifying in the first trial over freddie grays death. This morning, several baltimore Police Officers including a Police Captain testified. The captain said porter, quote, went beyond what many officers would have done for gray. Which is why i like this proposal so much after nearly two hours, university of marylands board voted to change bird stadiums name. It will now be maryland stadium. Opponents of the name say the former University President had racist views. And new at midday, three astronauts are back on the planet earth. They left the International Space station this morning and landed safely just a few hours ago. One of the three is russian. Another is japanese. The other is nasas graduate from Robinson Secondary School in fairfax more than 20 years ago. Wait until you hear what a ceo did to his employees holiday bonuses and why he did such an here are just some of the stories lighting up social media this morning. We spotted this story on business insider, how would you feel if your boss handed you an endofyear bonus for 100,000. That happened for more than a thousand employees. It is the largest privately held oil company in america. The bonus was given as part of a fiveyear plan aimed at doubling the size of the company. The guy that runs this company, his employees met that goal and now they are reaping the rewards. How about this one . Do you think you could learn to ride a unicycle in just two hours . Mike boyd took on the challenge. He decided to order a you know you know with the goal of being able to ride for at least 30 seconds. Little over two and a half hours went by. Boyd reached his goal. Pretty impresstiive will. I dont think i could do it. Another challenge grabbing your attention this morning. I always thought skiing involved snow. Not so much maybe. Professional skier did a little skiing, jumping, and all sorts of crazy stunts here on the grass. No snow at all. Why you might be asking. It was all done as part of a car commercial. There you go. Were back in 60 seconds. Yeah. On grass. Pretty cool. We might have to do that around here. Thank you, aaron. Simple ways to make gift giving easier. And how you can make sure that local kids celebrate the holiday season. Were back in 60 seconds. Junior airlines are noweaa5 you know what they are . Take a look. The sort of skateboard hybrids, one of the hottest gifts this season apparently. American, delta and united say you cant bring them on the planes. Videos showing hover boards bursting into flames have been making the rounds on social media. In many cases they spontaneously overheat and catch fire. Theres one week left to donate to the salvation armys angel tree program. Theyre about 500 short of its goal. The toys you donate go to needy children in our area. If you want to donate, open the nbc washington app. As you shop for gifts this month, you might find its a complicated task. Maybe youre not sure of the right way to receive a gift or what to get somebody. So i talked to a personal finance company about making shopping stressfree. They say you can have a potluck or even a gift exchange. They also say sometimes a thank you works just fine. If you want to give back, then its fine to wait until the new year and invite them over for dinner. We also learned how to give your boss something without worrying too much about it and how to make giving money sound okay. You can watch our full story with all the tips on the nbc washington app. And mild today and had remain mild right on through monday. A high today around 65 degrees. For tomorrow, temperatures near 70. Partly sunny skies today and tomorrow. More clouds around ontkqnt sund. High temperatures though still in the upper 60s on monday. A high around 70. If we hit 71 degrees monday, well set a record High Temperature. As we work our way throughout the day, clouds and winds will be increasing and showers are likely later in the day on monday. That cold front only cools us down a bit. Thats it for news4 midday. Thanks so much for joining us. Were back on the air this afternoon first at 4 00. You can get news and weather updates any time on the nbc washington app. Hope you have a great day, a terrific weekend, and well s announcer today on the Meredith Vieira show, we have a sneak speak at dateline nbc special tweetures bill cosbys accusers speaking out the first time. And a popular on line store getting rid of plus sizes and jay leno opening up about the tonight show. And david letterman. And David Gregory with the discovery that changed his life. It starts right now on meredith. [applause] makes you feel real good. [applause] meredith thank you thank you. How sweet. We have a great show