Transcripts For WRC News4 Midday 20160317

And right now, back to work with metro back on track. The metrorail system is up and running again today after that complete shutdown for emergency safety inspections. News4s Megan Mcgrath is live at the shady grove metro station, talking to riders out there. I guess theyre pretty happy its open again. Reporter well, yeah, weve talked to a lot of riders this morning during rush hour, and they say that, yeah, no question about it, yesterdays shutdown was certainly an inconvenience, but they all pretty much agreed that it needed to happen in the interest of safety. A return to normal service for metro this morning. Emergency inspections and repairs were finished overnight, all in time for a 5 00 a. M. Opening. How do you feel about coming back today . Oh, im very confident that it worked. Im glad they did what they did. I wished they would have done it on a saturday or a sunday, but i think it was worth it. Reporter smoke at the mcpherson station uncovered a larger problem with fraying electrical cables, prompting the unprecedented 29hour shutdown of the entire metrorail system. While inconvenience for thousands, many riders say it had to be done. Safety first. You know, id rather get to work and not to worry that, guess what, somethings going to happen down the road. I feel more comfortable. If its safer in the long term, i guess thats the most important thing. Im glad they shut down. Im just glad they took care of everything. It would have been better if it was on the weekend, but what can you do . Reporter with the system back up and running, some riders say its now time to focus on the longterm picture and the need for more aggressive maintenance. Were witnessing an aging system that really needs some serious qa work, and they really need to invest money in the system to fix it and make it right. Reporter and this mornings rush hour went smoothly. There were some minor problems a brake issue on train, but nothing to do with those electrical cables. From shady grove metro station, im Megan Mcgrath, news4. Secretary of state john kerry says isis is committing genocide. Kerry made that announcement this morning, saying that it comes after months of seeing and hearing the appalling actions of the Islamic Group against christians and other minority groups. Daesh is genocidal by selfproclamation, by ideology and by actions, with what it says, what it believes and what it does. Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups, and in some cases also against sunni muslims, kurds and other kerrys determination, however, does not carry the legal implication of a guilty verdict. That would be left to international or other tribunals. Back to you. And heres the latest on storm team 4 radar. Some light showers moving through the area, mainly north of town. And over the last hour, these have really fizzled out. Some activity up in Carroll County and then back west of the i81 corridor. I think this is it. Im keeping a close eye on this second line here up in pennsylvania, trying to make its way down into western maryland. But for the most part, most of us looking to stay dry today. This rain also bringing a bit of cloud cover to the area. So, as we head on into the afternoon hours, well have partly sunny skies i think for the early afternoon hours and then becoming mostly sunny toward the late afternoon. Winds also pick up this afternoon. Well have a bit of a breeze and temperatures well above normal. Not as warm as yesterday. Yesterday our high was 74. But still very comfortable for st. Patricks day with highs today in the midtoupper 60s, eun. Thank you, amelia. Today, investigators are bringing in a crane to help in the search for a Northern Virginia man still unaccounted for after this fire. Take a look at the flames here. The fire happened early wednesday morning in o help move debris. At least two other families in neighboring homes have been displaced. One firefighter was seriously hurt, but he is expected to survive. Developing right now, d. C. Police are looking for a suspect in a mans murder. They found the man dead in his car on the ramp from benning road to dc295 last night. They did not say how he was killed or tell us the mans name. Police shut down the ramp, but it is now reopened. Breaking news. A construction worker has died after falling several feet into a construction site. Want to show you chopper 4s view over the scene. This is in gainesville. Its actually a home thats under construction on the thoroughfare road. The worker was rushed to the hospital, but sadly, did not survive the fall. Barbara . Thanks, erika. D. C. Federal judge Richard Roberts claims he raped her 35 years ago. The utah woman was 16 at the time of the alleged assault. Lawyers for roberts acknowledged an intimate relationship with the woman but calls the accusations categorically false. The Utah Attorney Generals Office said after investigating, they opted not to prosecute the judge, but investigators determined roberts didnt break any laws because the woman was old enough to consent under utah laws back in 1981. Firefighters called on to a plane after an Emergency Response caused by an ecigarette. Plus, the big announcement from seaworld. The changes coming to the killer whle a im aaron gilchrist. Here are some of the stories lighting up social media this morning. An ohio man facing charges after allegedly egging his neighbors house more than 100 charges. The house with the egg on the window belonged to an elderly neighbor. You can kind of see the window right there. Right now theres no word on what exactly the motive was behind all this. So, just when you thought we couldnt get any lazier, theres now a way that you can lace up your sneakers without having to lace up your sneakers. Take a look at this. Nike has unveiled its first power lacing sneaker. You can make it looser or snugger by pressing a button on the side of the shoe. The company unveiled them yesterday in new york. The sneaker is called the nike hyperadapt 1. 0. It will be available later this year, but only for members of the loyalty nike plus app. So, you have to download an app. Theres an action for you to get this sneaker, if youre interested. Coffee drinkers, the Cherry Blossom frappuccino is here. Its a new flavor that aims to celebrate the arrival of spring, particularly in the d. C. Area. Youve got to move fast, though. This is only available until sunday, the first day of sprig. N i do everything on the internet, but its kinda slow. My friends said i should get fios because its the fastest, but i thought it would be too expensive. Whos that, jenny . No kate. Turns out they have a deal that cost me even less than my slow service. And its 100 megs. I just downloaded 600 photos in 60 seconds. Thats seriously better. Were out of 2 then i thought, maybe other things could be better. I heard that. Nows the best time to switch to better internet. Only fios has the Fastest Internet and wifi available. So you can send files up to 5x faster than cable. Now, get our best offer ever super fast 100 meg internet with equal upload and download speeds. Plus tv phone for just 69. 99 a month online with no annual contract. 100 meg speeds at a price this good . Fios can do that. Cable just cant. Just go to getfios. Com or call 1. 888. Get. Fios. Thats 100 meg internet speeds, tv and phone for our best offer ever. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v temperatures are currently in the 50s and 60s. 62 degrees here in the district and pleasant so far today here in washington, but there have been some showers north of town, and there could be an isolated shower or two into the afternoon hours, mainly north of washington. I do think for the most part the d. C. Metro area, southern maryland, the northern neck, most of Prince William and fauquier county, at least southern fauquier county, stays mainly dry today, but still have that small umbrella handy. For tomorrow morning at the bus stop, cool for the kids, the temperature around 46. Well have plenty of sunshine, though, but its going to be windy throughout the day tomorrow, so that high of 62 with feellike temps in the 50dz, so feeling cooler and highs will be five to ten degrees cooler than today, eun. Big news from seaworld. The Company Announced it is going to stop breeding killer whales for good. Program is over, effective immediately. However, it plans to keep the killer whales it currently has in captivity. It will use them in a new kind of show, not theatrical performances, but something its calling natural orca encounters. Well, imagine this happening on your flight a passengers ecigarette caught fire, delaying the plane from taking off. This is a picture of the Fire Department responding at the Atlanta International airport. During the boarding process, the ecigarette accidentally ignited from inside the passengers bag. The bag was safely extinguished with no damage to the plane, so the flight departed about 20 minutes late. Well, after the break, a look at whats different at this years big st. Patricks day parade in new york city. Stay with us. Well be back. When you build one of the biggest Retail Businesses in america, you spend a lot of time working closely with elected officials. From secretaries to president s you learn what works in government and what doesnt. And if youre david trone you take those lessons all the way to congress. You pledge to take nothing from pacs or corporations because the only special interest a congressman should have is you and hell promise to work with anyone if itll get things done. Afr all hes spent 30 years working both sides of the aisle. Im david trone and i approve this message. Michigans governor is on capitol hill right now testifying at a house hearing on the flint water crisis, this after initially declining to testify. In a prepared testimony, rick snyder says he didn know the water was contaminated with lead until nearly 18 months after the city began drawing its water from the flint river. Thousands of residents, young and old, are now affected by leadtainted and undrinkable water. Goes by that this tragedy doesnt weigh the questions i should have asked, the answers i should have demanded, how i could have prevented this. Thats why im so meanwhile, the epas top official saying its own mistake was being so trusting of the state for so long. Eun . Thank you, erika. Happening today, Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is on his way to capitol hill for introductory meetings with senate and Judiciary Committee leaders. President obama announced the nomination to fill the vacancy on the u. S. Supreme court wednesday. As nbcs tracie potts reports, some say the president s nomination is setting the stage for a huge constitutional showdown. The importance of hard work and fair dealing. Reporter a handful of republican senators have agreed to meet with the president s Supreme Court nominee, judge Merrick Garland, on capitol hill today. The white house is encouraged. Thats a good thing. There is a constitutional responsibility that members of the United States sente consider the president s nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Its as simple as that. Reporter chuck grassley, head of the Senate Judiciary committee, may meet with garland in april after the break. Others are undecided. If i do meet with him, it may not be a good use of his time, because im not going to change my position, because its based on the principle. Reporter the Top Republican spoke with him by phone but said he wont meet facetoface. Mitch mcconnell calls waiting for the next president s nominee a fair and reasonable compromise. The House Speaker agrees. The president has every right to nominate whoever he wants to, but the senate, which is a coequal branch of government, has every right not to act on that nomination. Reporter this afternoon, Senate Democrats will rally outside the Supreme Court, urging republicans to act. If Merrick Garland cant get bipartisan support, then nobody can. Have the guts, the guts to vote yes or no. Reporter but for now, republicans vow n votes. We are hearing from the nra, the National Rifle association. They say theyve gone through the judges record and will strongly oppose his nomination. Tracie potts, nbc news, washington. Breaking news here at the live desk. Were just getting word from the national zoo that there is some type of incident happening there that has the attention of fire and ems crews. Again, fire and ems responding to the national zoo, an incident along what theyre calling the american trail or the america trail, i should say. Were making calls right now. We do have a crew thats headed to the scene for reports of fire and ems at the national zoo. As soon as we get more information about what this is about, well bring it to you here from the live desk. Back to you. Heres a live look at the tidal basin right now, starting see some beautiful color come out. And of course, spring officially begins very early on sunday. The Cherry Blossoms set to begin the the 23rd to 24th of march. Of course, we have some cooler temperatures to get through this weekend before we start to see the Cherry Blossoms come out and some snow in the forecast. More on that in a moment. Temperatures right now very comfortable, in the low to mid60s. 66 in reston, 64 in college park. So far a really nice st. Paddys day. There is a chance of an isolated shower as we move on into the afternoon hours, especially north of town, so have that small umbrella handy. Otherwise, its a bit breezy this afternoon with a mix of clouds and sun. Tomorrows windy, cooler, a high of 62. The chance that we start to track some rain and snow showers later in the day on saturday, but they could hold off until sunday. Some rain and snow in the forecast on sunday. More on that in a minute. This decision was just and right without any input from them in the community impact. Problem with noise in this county. We dont get a fair shake. We really dont. Some unhappy people at a tense Prince William County School board meeting. Residents are u renaming of godwin middle school. They say the school board changed the name without consulting the community. Earlier this month, the board decided to name the school in honor of dr. George hampton, an Africanamerican Community leader. Well, when your Kids Start School in Fairfax County could change. The school board is considering starting school before labor day next school year. For decades, school has started after the unofficial end of summer in accordance with the Kings Dominion law. In the 80s, the state said the Tourism Industry needed them to keep working through labor day to staff amusement parks. The Engagement Committee will discuss it today at a meeting and a full board vote is scheduled for the end of april. Well, theyre having a very happy st. Patricks day in new york city right now. Youre looking at video from the annual st. Patricks day parade last year. This years started less than half an hour ago. New york has the biggest and oldest st. Paddys day parade of any city in the u. S. The first time they held this is just the second year organizers, though, are allowing openly gay groups to participate. You have your green on. I completely forgot. I told everyone, im with them in spirit. I just forgot. Looks like another holiday here. Thats right, exactly. Well, caught on camera, a daring jail break using a helicopter. More on that after the break. And dont forget, you can catch news4 midday from anywhere. All you need is your smartphone or tablet. Just open the nbc washington app. Its about taking a stand. For too long, wall street banks had their way. They crashed our economy. But democrat Donna Edwards wont take their money because she stands up for us. As a single mom, she knows the challenges our families face. Shell be our voice. Tightening regulations on the big banks and fighting to keep dark money out of politics. Democrat Donna Edwards, marylands next senator. A daring jailbreak using a helicopter all caught on camera. Take a look at the dramatic scene here. Two inmates escaped from a canadian prison back in 2013, but the video has just been released. The prisoner grabbed the rope, you can see right there, but couldnt pull themselves up, so the chopper landed on a rooftop. Look at them just dangling midair. Oh, my goodness. They had to go to a nearby it was a getaway car. Their freedom was shortlived, though. They were caught several hours later. In news 4 your health, the centers for Disease Control has 12 new recommendations to prevent abuse of prescription painkillers. The recommendations target the use of opioids in treating chronic pain. Thats pain that lasts longer than three months. Among the recommendations, asking doctors to keep dosage levels low, to monitor patients closely, and to use nonopioid therapy, like tylenol, whenever possible. Dr. Weiner is joining us with more on the epidemic. How bad is this . This really is a huge problem. The number of people who are dying from prescription painkillers and other medications like opioids has risen 200 in the last 15 years. There are now more people dying from prescription painkiller overdose and other benzodiazepines, et cetera, dying from those than dying from automobile accidents in this country. So, tt president ial candidates are talking about this issue. So, what happens when people are prescribed these drugs . Do they get addicted to them . Right. So, peoples bodies become physiologically dependent on these medications, even after just a matter of a few weeks. And what often happens is people will develop a tolerance to the effects of the medication, so theyll need more and higher and higher doses in order to control their pain. And this just becomes a train that they can never get off of, because when you try to get off of this after youve been on it for a while, you are likely, if you go too quickly, to have horrible, horrible withdrawal symptoms. Well, it is, then, the responsibility of the doctor to make sure that they dont keep giving them more and more and more, right . It is, absolutely, but the problem has been that some doctors dont adequately educate their patients, and then other doctors will continue to give them medication, and then maybe theyll get uncomfortable at a point in time, say you know what, im not comfortable with your needing more and more, even though thats what happens to a lot of people, and they might cut them off. Then pe these pills. How does the overdose cause death . It causes death by stopping breathing, essentially. So, the big problem is, if you take too much, you stop breathing, or if you even dont take too much, but you combine it with other Central Nervous system dprensants, like benzodiazepines or alcohol, that combination can cause you to stop breathing and kill you. We want to talk more about this and maybe what are some other things people can do for the pains they are suffering from. Well be ba with you, anckd and now, your storm team 4 forecast. And heres what we know about our storm system this weekend. So, a high likelihood that were dealing with rain showers, just about a 100 chance of rain impacting the area, and it does look like some snow will mix in. Now, heres the thing, temperatures above the surface are very cold, but right here on the ground, throughout the event were mainly going to stay above freezing. So, if you recall that storm we had a few weeks ago where it was a winter the roads stayed okay, the snow just stuck to the trees and to the grass, i think it will be an event similar to that. But as far as how much snow we actually see still remains to be seen. We could have anywhere from no accumulation to maybe 4 inches of a slushy, wet snow. But again, i think the roads should be okay during this event, especially if theyre treated. Something were going to continue to track, barbara. New today, a gigantic effort to improve your safety behind the wheel. Nearly every new car in the United States is getting new automatic braking technology. The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed 20 carmakers are going to start making the Technology Starting in 2022. Automatic brakes use sensors to stop your car when youre about to hit something. It could prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes every year. Its not a list on which you want to see your new car. Consumer reports has put out this years list of the lowest scores factored in reliability, road performance and satisfaction. Lowest rated compact was fiat 500 l, lowest rated family suv Dodge Journey and lowest rated minivan, chrysler town and country. After the break, what is being used to keep drunk drivers off the roads tonight. Plus, the baseball controversy. Former nationals player adam laroche is picking im Erika Gonzalez here at the live desk. Let me give you an update on that breaking news we brought you minutes ago, reports of an incident at the national zoo. We are now hearing reports that this was a chemical explosion of sorts, some type of chlorine mixture that went off. What we can tell you is that were hearing that this is right along the america trail in the zoo, one of the newer areas of that zoo. We can also tell you that were not hearing any reports of any injuries, but thats why were also hearing and seeing such a large presence of fire and ems, again, at the national zoo. We can tell you, we do have a crew thats headed to the scene, and well bring you much more information when it becomes available to us. From the live desk, im Erika Gonzalez. Thanks, erika. Right now, metro is back up and running after an emergency shutdown yesterday. Service resumed at 5 00 a. M. On all six lines. Now, systemwide, metro crews nd emergency inspections. Metro says thats why the immediate shutdown was so important. Frayed jumper cables were found at the foggy bottom, Mcpherson Square and potomac avenue stations and exposed to the elements. Crews worked overnight to get everything fixed. We caught up with passengers to see how they felt about the reopening. Usually i feel like im taking my own safety into my own hands on metro, but so far, so good. An aging system that really needs some serious qa work, and they really need to invest money in the system to fix it and make it right. There will not be any weekend track work this weekend on metro because its Cherry Blossom season. Free rides are available so you can enjoy your st. Patricks day or night. The regional Sober Ride Program is offering free cab rides this afternoon. As their newest partner, wtop reports, the free rides, up to 30 fares, start at 4 00 p. M. And they end at 4 00 a. M. To book a ride. We posted the information on our nbc washington app. How about our weather, megan segal . Well, eun, heres the latest check of storm4 radar. A disturbance through the area may touch off a shower or two this afternoon, mainly north of washington, places like loudoun, frederick and washington counties. So, a headsup in those areas. Keep the small umbrella handy. You might not need it. It will be breezy this afternoon with partly to mostly sunny skies. Currently its 66. A high today of 69, so about five degrees cooler than yesterday. Still, all in all very pleasant, a nice st. Paddys day. 6 00 this evening, partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid60s, so walking the dog, going for a run, the weather looking nice. 10 00, were dry and 55, barbara. Sounds good, amelia. A woman charged with doing yoga on the metro tracks may get those charges dropped today. It took police a few months to track down holly bentley. Bentley is charged with trespassing after being spotted on the metro track in virginia back in december of 2014. She was given a deferred disposition, which means if she has completed her ten hours of community service, the charges may be dismissed. Bentleys Attorney Says she has completed those hours. Well, you may be talking about the story and have formed your own opinion. Nationals former first baseman adam laroche is leaving behind a 13 million salary because he cant bring his son to the clubhouse every day anymore. Nbcs willie geist shows us the reaction to the retirement, including what allstar bryce harper is saying. Reporter adam laroche stunning the baseball world with his bankrupt retirement. The 36yearold telling teammates in arizona tuesday hes ready to walk away from the game and the 13 million remaining on his contract. White sox officials confirm laroches decision came after they asked him to cut back the time his 14yearold son, drake, spends in the clubhouse. Once his to be safely around a baseball field, he brought him to work. Reporter many on the white sox call drake their 26th man. Hes considered such a fixture with the team that he attends practice at home and on the road. Drake has his own uniform and even was given his own locker at u. S. Cellular field in chicago. White sox Vice President ken williams calls drake a fine, young man, but says it was time to draw the line. Sometimes youve got to make some unpopular decisions. What would i say to the next person who, the next guy who wanted to bring his son and have it be an everyday thing . Reporter williams saying its time the team concentrates on playing better baseball, after suffering three straight losing seasons. Laroche has not appeared publicly since walking away, tweeting, thank you, lord, for the game of baseball, and for giving me way more than i ever deserved, familyfirst. National league mvp bryce harper, a former teammate of laroches, voicing his support, tweetigo nothing like father and son in the clubhouse. Its a family game. But after all, it is work, and when the fans are demanding a better output from the Chicago White sox, theyre tightening up the reins there. And the white sox did say that they would try to build a compromise, maybe having him come half the time . But adam laroche said no and walked away from 13 million. Big move. A lot to walk away from. I wonder if hell be able to come back and play again. People are wondering if he will play for a different team, if hes done yet. A new arena league, a Football League team, is coming to the Verizon Center next year. The new team is only part of the focus on pro sports here in the nations capital. Leaders say all of the teams add excitement and money to the districts bottom line. The afl thats the arena Football League season will be played in the summer and does not directly conflict with the nfl schedule sale for the 2017 season. Let the madness begin the ncaa basketball tournament kicks off today. Playing this afternoon, terps practicing today in spokane, washington, as they get ready to take on south dakota state tomorrow. News4s Carol Maloney will be bringing us updates throughout the day from that game. Here are four things to know about march madness. Number one there will be 67 games played over three weeks. Dreams will be made, hearts will be broken on and off the court, as basketball fans are busy completing those brackets. Mine is done, barbara. Number two distracted workers will cost employers nearly 4 billion in lost productivity. Thats a lot of money. Number three about 51 million workers will take part in office pools. And number four could the holy cross crusaders, who are ranked 68th in this 68team field, transform from one of the theres always a cinderella story. Now you have to figure out which one that is. Its impossible to predict. There are 14 or 19, and they won the Patriot League tournament as a number nine seed. They Beat Southern University 5951 wednesday night for their first tournament victory in 63 years, but they will now have to face number one seed oregon on friday in spokane. But what i love about march madness is every game is exciting. Theyare. Because these kids are putting their heart in every single game. Theyre so unpredictable. And i feel so bad when they lose. They have to go home. I know. Whos at the top your list . I have Michigan State winning this year but my terps are my sentimental favorite. So well hope the terps go far. Well see what happens. Amelias back after the break with the latest on the midday showers. And well check in with our favorite eagle and the eggs very close thatching. O as we look to the weekend, sat days. Its looking mainly dry, and well have rain showers on sunday with some snow likely mixing in, and maybe a little bit of accumulation, especially on the grass. So, probably not the best idea to get the car washed this weekend. If you want to clean out the garden, you really shouldnt be planting anything at this point. Better to do so on saturday. Outdoor exercise, again, saturday looking to be the better day. But it will be a little bit chilly on saturday with High Temperatures in the mid40s into upper 40s. Now, tomorrows going to be windy from start to finish, a little breezy this afternoon, but noticing the winds for sure tomorrow. 46 degrees at the bus stop, cool. Well have plenty of sunshine, and then 62 for a high on your friday. Were back with dr. Joshua weiner, talking about opioids. The center for Disease Control saying a lot of people are dying from taking painkillers, but many people are taking them and they dont know that theyre opioids. What are opioids . So, the most commonly prescribed ones are things like oxycodone or active ingredients in percocet and vicodin. And why are they dangerous . Because if you take too much, you can die. Youll stop breathing. I see. You say there is something that you can do to solve this problem. What is it . There is an amazing medication out there called bupernorpherine. It blocks your ability to get high, you cannot overdose on it, and it takes away your cravings to use opioids. So, what a person will do is come off their opioid and go on this medication, then they can gradually taper off that medication. Its really a phenomenal medication. The problem is that there are not enough doctors prescribing this, and this medication is being underprescribed and underutili underutilized. Its a painkiller, too . Its not fda approved to treat pain, but i see a lot of pain benefits with this medication in my practice. So, a lotu5 of patients who hav been on pain medications, when they go on this, many of them will tell me they feel this works just as well, if not better for paco is not fda approved for that purpose. So, it is not addictive. What do we need to do to make sure people know about it and it becomes available to patients . Thats why im talking about it today, because i think this is such a tremendous medication that can help so many people. People can go online and look at the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration website to learn more about this medication and how to find providers. But again, the problem is that even though this medication is out there, it can be hard sometimes for patients to see a doctor who can prescribe it, and the reason is because not any doctor can prescribe this. You need to take a course and get certified by the dea in order to prescribe this. Sounz like we have a big problem out there with people who are in pain and well, we do, we do. And thats why the cdc is trying to say, you know what, this has gotten out of control and we need to find alternative ways to manage pain, besides turning to opioids. But if youve been on opioids and you want to get off, this is a very good option. A word to the wise, to physicians who might be youre welcome. Eun, back to you. We are on our toes waiting to hear the sound of a baby eag eaglet we had our eyes on this nest at the National Arboretum for days now. You see that little crack in the egg . That means an eaglet could hatch any day now, maybe any moment. Were watching it, livestreaming the eagle cam, there it is, online, so you can see how cute the baby eagle will be. You can see mama bird just waiting very patiently. A second egg is expected to hatch some time this weekend. Very cool. Cant wait. New at 11 45, what is being done to free an american student in north korea and another first we need women in congress. If we want to be heard, it was the women who forced republicans to include Womens Health and contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care act. In congress, ill fight for pay equity, family leave and tougher gun safety laws. And, as an environmentalist, ill work combat climate change. I know as a journalist and as a Senior Executive in business that when women are at the table, we get things done. Im Kathleen Mathews and i approve this message. Fitzgerald just arrived at the national zoo, where we are following breaking news. Meagan . Reporter we know that the original call came in around 11 00 a. M. For some sort of an explosion along the american trail. You can see the area here to the trail, this is one of the entrances, is roped off while d. C. Fire investigates this. What we know at this point was there was some sort of a chemical, possibly chlorine, but this is the initial part of the investigation. We do know that animals or people were not injured in this explosion. But again, its still being investigated. Im not sure if you can hear right now, but the alarms are going off. We want to flip around here to show you, a lot of spectators in the know whats happening here. We are still working right now to gather information ourselves, to understand what was happening, why they were using these chemicals, and how it exploded. But again, at this point, we know that this is a very active investigation. D. C. Fire officials are on scene. Weve also seen National Zoo Park police here as well. So, as soon as we get more information about this, we will update you on our nbc washington app, and of course, on nbcwashington. Com. Back to you. Megan fitzgerald live at the national zoo in northwest, thank you, meagan. There is an effort under way to free a uva student sentenced to a decade of hard labor for stealing a propaganda posta in north korea. But it comes at a difficult time with tensions between the u. S. And north korea so high. Nbcs keir simmons has the latest from london. [ inaudible ] reporter after begging for his freedom please save reporter Otto Warmbier is waking up in a north korean prison this morning, sentenced to 15 years hard labor. Please think of my family. Reporter fingerprinted, handcuffed in front of the cameras, led away, guilty, the North Koreans say, of subversion. The courtroom shown video of the university of virginia student stealing a propaganda banner from his hotel. The worst decision of my life, but i am only human. Reporter Otto Warmbier reportedly says he stole the banner for a member of his church group. The allegations for which this individual was arrested and imprisoned would not give rise to arrest or imprisonment in in the United States or in just about any other country in the world. Reporter Otto Warmbiers travel Company Boasts of tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from. Now he faces prison by a totalitarian govme former governor Bill Richardson is working to try to get warmbier released. Why he went there . Well, the americans that go to north korea are often young people looking for adventure and retired folks hoping for the experience of a lifetime. Back to you. For the first time in 50 years, the u. S. Postal service is delivering mail to cuba. The historic direct transportation of mail to the island includes letters and postcards, firstclass priority and small, flatrate packages. The postmaster general made the announcement today, saying that mail and packages between the two countries will improve service for businesses and consumers. Back to you. Thanks, erika. This weeks wednesdays child is a bright, young 10yearold. Her big dream is to become an olympic gymnast, so we decided to take her to silver star gymnastics. She was a little bashful to begin with, but bounced right out of it. Meet was shy about a lesson with ashley mill, but after a few cartwheels and a climb aboard the balance beam, her Comfort Level seemed to rise. Arms up here, nice and tall. Reporter she wants to one day be a gymnast like olympic star gabby douglas. Great job reporter and after a tumble or two down the long mat, she was all smiles and finally relaxed and not so shy anymore. Her splits and her jumps and her cartwheels, natural talent. Reporter tajmir told us she even did well with her first attempt at basketball. I didnt even know what i was doing. I was like, lets just give this a shot. He said, how are you going to shoot the ball . And i shot the ball through. Shes a great student. She reads fabulous. Reporter tajmir also likes to sing and joined coach ashley in singing one of her favorites. Shine beautiful like diamonds in the sky reporter coach young told tajmir what it takes to be an olympic gymnast. You have to make sure you always do your school work, you listen to your parents. Reporter and a family is what tajmir needs to reach her goals in life. Not only is she a great kid, she deserves it. Reporter a family that will help tajmir reach for the sky in whatever she decides to do. If you have room in your home and your heart for tajmir or another child whos waiting, please call our special adoption hotline. The number is 188toadoptme or search wednesdays child on nbcwashington. Com. After the brea remembering k, im aaron gilchrist. Were following the stories youre clicking on had i morning. Frank sinatra jr. Has died. He was 72 years old. He was scheduled to perform last night at the Peabody Auditorium in was canceled with an announcement that the singer had become ill. It was later confirmed that he died. The sinatra family says the cause of death was a heart attack. Well, we know spring is just around the corner. Are you ready for spring treats . Social media corners Brittany Johnson has some sweet giveaways. We are three days away from spring, and what better to celebrate the season than with free treats . 7eleven is hosting its own bring your own cup day starting tomorrow and lasting through saturday, which means you can literally bring your own cup for a free slurpee. There are restrictions, however. Also, free ritas on the first day of spring, which is sunday. And ben jerrys free cone day is coming up, too. Just search spring in our app for more details. Our thanks to brittany. We spotted this story on time. Com. Great news for gamers. Were learning more about sonys playstation Virtual Reality headset. Unlike similar headsets that require a highend pc powered by the users playstation 4 gaming console. Sony says there will also be more than 50 games available for the playstation vr later this year. Back to you. A cooldown for the coming weekend. Uh i do everything on the internet, but its kinda slow. My friends said i should get fios because its the fastest, but i thought it would be too expensive. Whos that, jenny . No kate. Turns out they have a deal that cost me even less than my slow service. And its 100 megs. I just downloaded 600 photos in 60 seconds. Thats seriously better. Were out of 2 then i thought, maybe other things could be better. I heard that. Nows the best time to switch to better internet. Only fios has the Fastest Internet and wifi available. So you can send files up to 5x faster than cable. Now, get our best offer ever super fast 100 meg internet with equal upload and download speeds. Plus tv phone for just 69. 99 a month online with no annual contract. Just go to getfios. Com or call 1. 888. Get. Fios. Thats 100 meg internet speeds, tv and phone for our best offer ever. Switch to better. Switch to fios. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v enjoy the warm weather while it lasts, right . I dont want to have to look for my coat, amelia. Coat and snow boots, potentially, on sunday. But heres the latest on storm team 4 radar right now. I am tracking light showers starting to develop around winchester, into far western maryland, so have the small umbrella handy this afternoon. About a 40 chance in the district of a light shower, higher north of town. Still nice, though, overall. Highs today near 70, a bit of a breeze this afternoon, partly to mostly sunny skies. After today our temperatures tumble through sunday. Tomorrow windy, a high of 62. Saturday the chance of rainnd the day, but they could hold off until sunday morning. Otherwise, saturday looking like the better of the two weekend days with highs in the midtoupper 40s. On sunday likely tracking rain and snow showers. Now, we could have some wet accumulation, mainly on the grass. Of course, veronica and doug will have updates starting on news4 at 4 00. I think the roads during this event will stay okay, because you can see, temperatures mainly above freezing here at the surface. On monday well keep it dry and warmer, a High Temperature of 48, so whatever falls will melt by monday afternoon. Plenty of clouds in the forecast. On tuesday, mostly sunny, a high of 51. Wednesday a high of 68 with partly sunny skies. Kind of ironic, ladies, that the first day of spring on sunday, spring begins very early on sunday. Were talking about rain and snow showers. Yep. Typical of washington, though. You know, we can get snow in april. Exactly. But hopefully, that will be the end of it, amelia. Were looking forward to the Cherry Blossoms, which will peak, i guess, a few days after that tomorrow, yep. Thats it for news4 midday. Were back on again fst atir announcer today on the Meredith Vieira show, steve harvey is here and opening up about president Miss Universe controversy and his show little miss big shot. And find out when he and meredith play the same name game. And hot in the kitchen when megan and meredith reveal their all Time Favorite dishes. Its starts right now on meredith. Makes you feel real good. Feel real good. [applause] meredith hi, everybody. We have a great show today. Hes one of the funniest people in the