Wall street. Stocks dropping like a rock this morning. Well take a look at the board and see where things stand. I can tell you the dow down about 500 points. First thing this morning, the dow dropped more than 1,000 points. Now were about 300 below since the beginning of the day. This is all as markets here in the u. S. React to global slowings of the economy in different parts of the world. This started with china last week where we saw their economy beginning to slow and a lot of investors in china reacting. Some of them concerned about their own money and trying to either move it or hold onto their money in china. The problem is that a lot of Big Companies like mcdonalds and apple and intel, they all do business in china, so if the Chinese Consumer pulls back and cant buy their products, it really hits their bottom line, and wall street is very worried about that. Experts say the decline we saw first thing this morning is not the result of a panic, really. This is just traders in wall street trying to figure out what levels they need to set while theyre moving around stocks and other investments in wall street. Well be watching this throughout the day. Thank you, aaron. Things are getting back to normal on the Virginia Railway express. All trains on the fredericksburg line were delayed after a pedestrian death on the tracks. They locked the tracks for three hours. A single track opened after 8 00 a. M. On a typical day 5,000 people ride on that line. Dozens of people are out of a home after this fire tore through a wood bridge apartment building. If you look at all the damage here, it is pretty extensive. Our view from chopper 4. No one was seriously hurt. But we are told two firefighters did suffer minor injuries. The red cross helping the 60 people who live there find a temporary place to stay. Right now crews in alexandria are careening up a mess at the eisenhower connector. They lifted in overturned semi truck. Its not clear why the truck flipped or if anyone was hurt. At one point all northbound and southbound lanes were closed. At last check one southbound lane is back open. Not too much to worry about just yet but well have to keep a close eye on the radar later into this afternoon and this evening. A weather front which is bringing increasing clouds across parts of maryland, that weather front should be headachiheadache making it to the i95 corridor this evening. Along and ahead of that, an increasing rain threat through the afternoon. Temperatures in the low to mid 80s. It will be a warm, borderline hot kind of a day today. Likely to touch 90 for the first time in a couple of days. Higher heat and humidity today. Pretty good chance for showers and thundershowers around this morning. Well time out those for you and talk about a return of a mostly dry pattern. Im outside hd woodsen high. Enrollment is up. So are Graduation Rates here, and school laters are touting lots of new beginnings here and elsewhere for the first tie back. A Brand New School opening in northeast. Students and parents arrive early, ready to learn. Its great. Hopefully curriculum matches how the school looks on the outside. A tall, artsy sculpture catches your eye. Hes coming from john boroughs elementary school. That school was excellent. To be honest with you, its new for everyone. Brooklyn is one of four new d. C. Schools opening two prop up middle school options. School leaders combined middle yards from cools in three area schools to create this facility. An answered parents demand for project based learning. Just what special Education Student tony is looking for. Its a big school, so theyll have lots of courses, and also have the lab so well be able to do some experiments. Over at h. D. Woodsen, the head of schools announced the ro rollout of two new academies that the schools chancellor says will promise a prosperous future. The combination of the indust industry, partners, internships and course work means we have a greater chance of getting our young people jobs in these areas. We kind of gave me a little taste with the ap classes. And for the first time in four years, the School Chancellor told me that enrollment is up across the board, in all of the 113 city schools. Theyve hired a bunch of new teachers but the chancellor admits theres much more work to be done to improve the test scores and get those Graduation Rates up even higher. Were live outside h. D. Woodsen. Im molette greene. Something to keep in mind as you drive around today, please slow down for all the students back in school. You may notice volunteers around the district encouraging you to just stay aware. Stick with us just a little bit longer. At 11 30, Kristin Wright already more on the intersections being targeted today. There was a welcome message tweeted this morning. Schools are back in school today. More and her students are heading back to class and we want you to show us your scholars. You can send your pictures to our Facebook Page or email us. Were posting a lot of those back to School Pictures online and well even air a few of our fafrts rig faf favorites right here later. Well, as so many students head back to school, were going to tell you why more parents are worried about everything from exams to the headaches. Plus its what everyone in washington is talking about. Not one, but two new pandas at the national zoo. Were live with why it could be a long road ahead. And also breaking news. Wall street sent into a frenzy after the markets opened and plunged. Were keeping a close eye on it and what it means for you. Its back to school time. Right now we have a pretty good reason why you should encourage yoush kids to eat well and get a full nights sleep. Theyre less likely to get a headache that way. Researchers at the nightwide Childrens Hospital in ohio say ere visits for visits go up by more than a third when school begins. They blame extracurricular stress but say things like eating well and drinking lots of fluids limits the problem. A new poll says less and less of us believe in them. They say about threequarters of u. S. Adults believe tests are not the best way to judge Public School students or their teachers. They say how students feel are better indicators. Tests are a major part of school. D. C. Making a. P. Tests are priority. City high schools are required to offer six a. P. Courses. D. C. Schools also say participation in a. P. Classes up by more than half this year. Welcome back to news 4 midday. Im chuck bell. Sun shining across the area and that sun shine has pumped temperatures now into the 80s in nearly every neighborhood. 80 at Reagan National and 84 in leesburg. 84 in fredericksburg and 08 eighty in annapolis. 90 by 4 00 and after 4 00 between 4 00 and 8 00, the best chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms across the area. Heres our future weather forecast. By 3 00 showers in the western suburbs. By 5 00, an opportunity for a few showers in and around the metro and that rain threat continues until 10 00 tonight. All right. If your iphone 6 plus photos have been coming out a little blurry, it might not be your phones. Apple is recalling some devices. Its a component that could fail and make your photos look blurry. The phones are mainly sold between september 2014 and jab of this year. The company says it will replace the eyesight cameras on the bad phones. Do you think youre having this problem in. I did. I assumed it was because my camera was dirty but its not my fault. This is a disabled veteran who faced charges after painting a picnic table. This was a buzz online. Just within the past hour, a Big Development in the story that has a lot of you outraged right now. Here at humana, we value sticking with things. When something works, people stick with it. More people stick with humana medicare advantage. Because we stick with them. Humana medicare advantage. The plan people stick with. This just in to the news room. Case closed and no charges against a marine corps veteran who was ordered to come to court for destruction of property charges. We told you about this. This ma veen veteran was charged with destruction of property after he painted a picnic table in the wood bridge area. They said he painted the table without permission and had ruined the table and was charged with destruction of property. He appeared in court this morning. Our bureau chief was this. They asked the charges against the man be dropped because there was no criminal intent and the judge agreed. Heres what he had to say after court. I can forgive and i can forget, and i dont think any of this should have ever happened. Now, at this point, mr. Trip lets has been evicted from the participants. But theres a Veterans Group that stepped up to help him find a new place to live. It is one of the most popular stories on our website right now. You know what were talking about . Pandas. We could go on with this. Everyone is talking act the new giant panda cubs at the national zoo. You deserve a nap. I know. Shes been through a lot. You had the twins. We are now live at the zoo where w more on how the cubs are doing. Whats the word, meghan. Reporter theyre going fine, but zoo Officials Say vets werent able to swap the cubs out from their mother from 11 00 p. M. Until 7 05 this morning. They say one of the cubs had to get supplemental formula. But they say all is fine. The cubs are doing okay and that news hasnt tempered the excitement here. People have been gathered around this panda cam all day trying to get a glimpse of me i xiang with her cubs. Their appear to be active and healthy. Zoo Officials Say they cant stress how critical the first week is for the cubs survival. They can be caring for them around the clock while excited fans say theyve been watching the exciting moments unfold on the panda cam. Were excited. Were been watching it on the news and trying to learn about pandas this summer. Its excited to see the babes made it and hopefully theyll survive. Were on our vacation, so we came here to see the pan a dapa. Weve been getting questions about what theyre going to name the cubs. Officials say theyre first going to focus on making sure the cubs are healthy and survive before they give them a name. Were expecting to get updates throughout the day. Be sure to down load our app to get the latest information. All right. At the national zoo, thanks, meghan. Today is the first day of school for kids in d. C. Your student can board a metro train for free. They expanded the free bus rise students to include the rails and they say it allows families to save some money. It is a real benefit to families, and it also lets children take charge of their transportation to school. Its a great program. To get the free ride, all students have to do to scan their d. C. One card at the fare gate f. If they dont have the card, they can get one at school. Prince georges county starts school today, but today is transition today. Schools starting at a new school today have to be there today. High School Freshman are getting acc acclimated, also kindergarten kids. We want to remind you about the backpacks for kids. You can cam to Apple Federal Credit Union on wednesday from 6 00 a. M. To 12 00 p. M. To donate a backpack with supplies. We have more information on how to do pate on tnate on the nbc app. Well go back to chuck in a moment. Were having a problem with his mike. A developing story right now. Were learning about the stabbing death of oklahomas labor commissioner. They arrested his 26yearold son. They say the two argued last night at a restaurant in oklahoma city. That is when the son stabbed his father several times in the parking lot. The son is now charged with first degree murder. And this morning a very big story. Three americans and a british man receiving frances top honor for taking down a heavily armed man. They were honored. They said they relied on their gut instinct when they subdued the suspect. More fallout from the Ashley Madison hack. A florida prosecutor is the latest high profile person to admit he had an account. I regret my affiliation with the site which has caused heart ache and stress to my wife and children. He signed up because he was curious and says he never had an affair. Two law firms in canada have launched a 578 million Class Action Lawsuit against Ashley Madison. Big questions this morning about how safe you really are when you head to the ballpark. An indycar driver is in a coma after this crash. A piece of debris broke off the car yesterday. It hit Justin Wilson in the head. His car was not the first one to spin out. The helicopter took him from the track. He veered to get out of the way and hit a wall. Two scary incidents are calling to improve safety. Two people were hurt by foubls less than 24 hours apart. In detroit a foul ball struck a woman. Medics had to wheel her out of the ballpark and yesterday a foul ball hit a woman at a cubs game. She was taken away in a stretcher. Both fans are believed to be okay right now. But a lot of calls for major League Officials to do more to protect safety. Were tracking the chance for showers. Chipotle is hiring. They will hold a oneday job list on september 9th. They will open restaurants three hours early to interview candidates and promote the event on social media. They are dangling the possibility that high performing recruits could earn a sixfigure sala salary. Now your storm team 4 forecast. Once again, good morning to you. Im taking a check of storm team 4 radar. Nothing to worry about just yet. Still watching our western parts of maryland into the mountains of west virginia. Thats where the first chances of showers and storms will develop into the Late Afternoon and early evening hours. It will be an improving weather picture for the next hour or to. We will continue to see a chance of some rain showers to come in here as we get into the 5 00 to 7 00 hour time frame. Not expecting anything severe. Could have a gusty wind. Thats about it. After today, sunny and nice and cooler than average. A big effort underway in florida to fill a massive sink hole. Take a look at this video. This is outside of orlando. That sink hole, 45 by 65 feet wide. No one was hurt when it opened up yesterday, but it did swallow part of someones driveway and opened a water main. People are asked to boil their water just in case. A lot of noise this morning thats not going to end until friday. Drills run from 6 00 in the morning to 11 oclock. Today they end at 4 00. They plan to complete ground and aircraft drills as well as range operations. A bizarre plot at a right now we are tracking some big drops on wall street. U. S. Stock markets plunged this morning after drops overnight across china. You can see right there its teetering between 468 to 480 points. Back in the district, the message is clear and simple. City leaders want you to slow down as children make their way home from school this afternoon. Kristin wright is in northwest with more on how volunteers are helping this effort out. Christen. Reporter yeah. Were actually in southeast this morning, and the mayor was here at brent elementary earlier today. She was also at one of the nearby intersections trying to push the message. As you said, the message is here. Its simple. Slow down. Slow down. This intersection that, i think, makes us a little nervous. Reporter on the first day of school in the district, the message is simple. Were in a rush to get to work but we have to make sure our kids are safe. Kids walking their kids to school are glad to see the districts slow down Campaign Take to their neighborhood. We refer to this intersection as darwins crossing. Wed like to make it safer. Its great theyve come out to take a look at what it looks like first thing in the morning. Reporter the mayor waved a slow down sign near the elementary in southeast. We have a focus in our administration of having zero traffic injuries or fatalities in our city. Reporter the mayor cease staff and volunteers set up at four intersections this morning, including busy florida and rhode island in northwest. We have to watch out for our children. We have to slow down and make sure they get across the street safely. Reporter back in capitol hill, volunteers say drivers are getting the message. Most of the people are slowing down. Reporter volunteers will be back out this afternoon at arkansas and allison street in northwest, reminding drivers to slow down. Its that simple and that important. Slow down. We dont want anything to happen to our kids today or any day. We hope people are out there and listening. Kristin wright for us in northwest d. C. We have been asking you all morning long to do this. Show us your brilliant scholars. Here are just a few of the youngsters. So adorable, getting ready to hit the books for the first time. You can see the pride on their faces. Were posting lots of back to School Pictures online as well. Dont forget to tweet us with the hash tag. Send your pictures to us. The info is on your screen. Its an excitiing day. A school that almost didnt reopen this year, students at Sweet Briar College headed back today. It was destined to close until they raised tens of millions of dollars to ensure that the 114yearold liberal arts college would reopen. Classes begin on thursday. President obama just returned to the white house from his vacation in marthas vineyard, and he is already hitting the road for work. Hell give the keynote speech at the National Clean energy summit. Its happening in las vegas. They will discuss ways to make cl clean Energy Supplies more widely available. This just in. Were learning about prison officials in maryland breaking up a plot to drop drugs into prison in western maryland. It was about 8 00 saturday night when a car was spotted near a prison facility in cumberland, maryland. They had been under surveillance. Police found inside the vehicle two people and a drone that was u to be used to drop things into the prison facilities. They were able to arrest two people in the cars and investigate an inmate where they went in and found more cont contraba contraband. Take a look at what the states secretary of Public Safety had to say. This is the first case in maryland where a drone is suspected in a contraband delivery plot. We have been ahead of this issue recognizing as it an merging problem and have been working on legislative solutions with our Law Enforcement partners. The secretary saying its going to cost upwards of 350,000 to implement some of the done detection technology. We expect more information as the investigation continues. Im chuck bell. Plenty of sun shine. Waiting on a chance of thunder showers. Right now its all 86. 82 in gaithersburg. 80 at Reagan National. In an around the metro, your chances of getting rain stand at about 30 . The high today near 91 degrees. Hot and humid today with a chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highest rain chances between 4 00 or 5 00 on the front end to 9 00 or 10 00 on the back end for today. Once we get through with today, the beautiful weather returns tuesday and wednesday. Highs in the mid 80s with low humidity. Thank you, chuck. The weather, not doing so well for firefighters out west. High temperatures, low humidity making for dangerous firefighting conditions in washington state. Red flag warnings are in effect for most of the west coast. More than 1 million acres have burned in the Pacific Northwest again. The federal government now spending 150 million every week to fight these fires. A state trooper has died after police say a man shot him on the side of the road in louisiana. That is an update into our news room in the past hour. We also learned the suspect used a sawed off shotgun to shoot the trooper multiple times. Two people saw the shooting and pinned the suspect down. Police say the suspect has a long criminal history. They say t officer was trying to cob vinnvince him to get out the truck. One of the most popular bands challenges a Controversial Church head on. And whats the most depressing Amusement Park youve seen. Here are the stories youre talking about right now. Tracy morgans comeback carries on. Hes a married man again today. He married his fiance in a small ceremony last night. This is another big step as he makes his way back from the crash that seriouslynjured him last year. Just last week we learned hes planning to host snl later this year. Take a look at these pictures. This is a brand new this is dismal land. Take a look. You can see its a small parody of disney land filled with strange art. Its opened in a town in england. Its open right now through september 27th. An internet phenomenon became reality when the foo fighters fought back against a protester. The band showed up and played never going to give you up in a counter protest. If you havent heard it before, thats maybe a good thing. Back to you. Thanks, melissa. Two hollywood a listers set their sights on a local school. Comfort keepers can provide a variety of custom Inhome Services for your aging loved ones, including medication reminders and transportation to the doctor. We are standing a small chance of weather related slow downs into the course of the evening hours. Nothing on radar now. We will have a scattering of showers and thundershowers around for the Late Afternoon into the evening hours. Could cause a brief slow down from time to time. Then were back to green light conditions for tomorrow. Today, more heed and humidity. And thats really about it for a rain chance this week of mostly dry pattern comes back after that. By 3 00 showers west of the metro. Best chances for rain in and around town between 4 00 and 8 00 this evening. And drying out as we head into tomorrow. Thanks, chuck. A pair of Hollywood Alisters have joined the call to change a name of a high school. They started a new change. Org pe the tigs to rename the school. It has more than 25,000 signatures. The question came after a shooting at a Charleston Church in june. New concerns about how safe the meat in your fridge is. Well tell you what to watch out for. The three americans who overpowered a gunman on a crowded train in belgium are being rewarded for their bravery. We have the latest developments on the thwarted terrorist attack from capitol hill. Reporter the three american heros arrived at the french president s residence this morning to receive the legion of honor after hearing i turned around and saw he had a gun and he looked like it was jammed and he was trying to charge the weapon, and aleck hit me on the shoulder and said lets go. Were two words that prevented a massacre. For their role, the three men along with a french and british citizen received frances highest honor, something stones dad was proud of. Im glad they quickly took action. Belgian authorities identified the man. He was on the terror watch list of at least three countries for his believes but still allowed to board the train in brussels. The lawyer says he was homeless and just wanted to rob people on the train. To the point that he was just trying to rob the train, it doesnt take eight magazines to rob a train. He seemed like he was ready to fight to the end, so so were we. The gunman had night magazines, a handgun and a box cutter. Spencer stones thumb was actually partially cut off. Doctors were able to reattach that thumb. Edward lawrence, nbc news, washington. Developing right now, crews are clearing the scene of a deadly jet crash. Take a look at this video. It can be disturbing. They said the death toll rose to 11. Crews are clearing the road in southern england where that jet, right there, crashes during that air show on saturday. They said the pilot didnt pull out of the maneuver soon enough, and the pilot, surprisingly, is arrive. But in Critical Condition another deadly developing crash in switzerland. You can see where two planes crashed yesterday near the french boarder. This morning one of the pilots is dead. Officers say the other pilot ejected safely. A very sunny and warm late morning here with temperatures already in the low to mid 80s. Were headed for highs today up near the 90 degree mark when the kids are coming home later this afternoon. Plan on temperatures to be up near 90. Showers and thundershowers west of the metro before 4 00 but moving into the metro after 4 00 or 5 00 and could be in and around the metro area from then up until about 9 00 or 10 this evening. Car wash today . Maybe not today. Wait until tomorrow. After tomorrow, the rest of the week is looking rain free and on a monday all anyone cares about is the weekend. This weekend, saturday, warm and humid. Temperatures in the upper 80s. Chance for a shower or thundershower sunday with a high near 90. Right now day 3 of talks between the north and south in korea. Its in the books. South koreas president says without a clear apology for a land mine attack that maimed two soldiers, the propaganda broadcasts will continue. Tensions have pushed them to the brink of a possible military confrontation. And theres a new question about the safety of ground beef. Certain kinds cause a concern to your health. What you need to know before your labor day cookout. On this organic farm in maryland, you might say the cows are home on the range. We dont give them antibiotics. We dont give them hormones. Raised and Certified Organic and grass fed. Consumer reports assert this is how cows should be raised. In an article out tomorrow titled how safe is your beef. Beef, its whats for dinner. Its whats for dinner to the tune of 66 pounds per year for the average american. Consumer reports purchased 300 packages of ground beef from stores. They said 181 of the packages as conventional produced. Cows raised grain fed. The other 119 packages were categorized as sustainable. Grass fed or free of antibiotics. They analyzed the samples for five types of illness causing bacteria. We found a significant difference between the prevalence levels on conventional beef which were higher than those in the sustainably produced beef. More than 80 of conventionally produced beef contained more than two types of bacteria compared to less than 60 of the sustainable beef. Two levels were higher in the convexal beef processer. This difference is because of how cows are handled during the conventional process. But an expert speaking for the beef industry completely disagrees. With regard to food safety, we dont see any differences in those two systems. Not only does the usda test the product. So does the company itself. The usda points out none of the ecoly was the toxin producing variety. The beef industry in the u. S. Is safe. Whether it is a conventionallyraised product, an organic or natural product, the consumer can have confidence that they have taken action to make the product safer over the last 10 years. Measures taken to improve ground beef safety include a zero tolerance policy for six dangerous strains of ecoly. Back at the farm, this farmer says he keeps his customer as happy as hi animals. The consumer as has a choice to buy the food and they have the confidence to know how the food was produced. Thats what my customers want. Thats why they come visit me at the farm and buy my product. And that was tom costello reporting. Right now a man grabs his bias and pedals from coast to coast. Talk about endurance. What he says he can stand to lose. Well, we are brimming with pandemoni pandemonium. We have two new panda cubs in washington. They are only two days old. Theyre not on display right now. It looks like the mom is taking a wellneeded rest. Zoo keepers are trying to switch out the cubs. They say the mom didnt let that happen last night. In spite of that, boath cubs ar healthy and doing well. Youre looking at video of one of the first exams. The vocal cords are working well. We cant call them twins yet. Were waiting to learn who the father is. A story going viral this morning, the selfproclaimed fat guy across america is riding coast to coast to lose weight. He says hes already lost 75 pounds, and he says hes gained something even better. You can see them going side by side through connecticut. There were a few bumps in massachusetts but a local bike shop gave him a new bike when his wheel busted. So many great people weve met on the world. Everybody is saying the world is crap, but were seeing different. They say theyre working on their majrriage as they ride to california. Getting creative ends up saving a life. The rescue like a movie. If youre looking for something to do tomorrow, you may want to head to the Shenandoah National park. Theyre offering free admission to celebrate the 99th anniversary and youll receive a 10 discount on all items in the bookstore. The smithsonian is celebrating a fund raising milestone. It beat the goals it set. That money will make two major conservation projects possible. Tonight we take a look at the effort to expand the moon Mission Exhibit and how crowd funding could become the new way to raise big bucks. Australian police say they rescued a man after finding his help message written in the sand. This happened in queensland, australia. A 63yearold left his camp site for a walk. He became lost and feared hed never be found. He wrote this. Help, and thanks to that message, search crews were able to focus on one area to look for him. It took them 48 hours to track him down. He was flown to a hospital with cuts on his feet but he was found. Heres chuck with your forecast. Hello. Sun shine for us right now. Temperatures in the low to mid 80s. It will be a warm day today with high temperatures this morning up close to the 90 degree mark. There is a 30 chance of rain coming late this afternoon into the early evening hours today. Have your um webrella ready jusn case. After today, beautiful and cooler than average temperatures from tuesday to thursday and friday of this week. Into the weekend, thats the only days anybody pays attention to around here, it seems like. Saturday and sunday both up near 90 degrees. A little hotter, more humid, and at least a chance for a couple of showers on your sunday. No washout this weekend. Were paying attention to every day, chuck. Sure you are. What are you talking about . Thats it for news 4 midday. Thank you so much for joining us. Well be back this morning first at 4 00. You can get the news and weather updates with our app. Here at humana, we value sticking with things. When something works, people stick with it. More people stick with humana medicare advantage. Because we stick with them. Humana medicare advantage. The plan people stick with. Meredith all right. Here we go makes you feel good. Good. Makes you feel real good. applause meredith hi, everyone. And welcome. I know youre confused and dont know which one of us is the model. Naomi campbell is here. No, no, it is you, baby. Meredith you are so beautiful and glad you are here. All week we are going live and sensors are going crazy