Portico, working tirelessly. I want to show you whats most notable. Take a look over here. You can see the roof and thats where the pope will celebrate mass. Bottom line here is no detail is too small. Workers have been repainting curbs, trimming trees and of course, preparing the main altar where the pope himself will be seated in less than a week. The lawn will soon be filled with 15,000 seats and just behind the chairs are these risers. This is where the media will be placed. We are even told the cell tower was installed to help ensure cell service. Earlier today the cocardinal al with the monsignor toured the portico and were excited about the progress thats been made. The enthusiasm in this community and this city and the country for the popes visit and there has to be a fitting place for that enthusiasm to be addressed. So now we are told, i want to show you so you have a good visual of what this is going to look like. Take a look at the lawn. As we told you there will be 15,000 seats that will be on this lawn and an additional 10,000 people will line the perimeter of those chairs coming in front of those risers and again, along the side. So its certainly going to be packed and the basilica officials here, pat, tell us that this entire process should be complete by sunday. All right. Meagan fitzgerald, thank you, meagan. Cubans are getting ready for the popes visit. Workers are building a platform next to the cathedral. He will use the platform to address young people. The pope will stay until tuesday when he departs for washington. The pope and the vatican were instrumental in the warming of diplomatic relations between cuba and the u. S. You can stay uptodate with the road closures and security alerts by downloading the nbc washington app. Well send you a letters whenever road closures are announced. Now to this afternoons big decision that had everyone keeping one eye on wall street and the other on their bank accounts. The Federal Reserve just decided to keep u. S. Interest rates at their record lows. The fed hasnt raised rates in nine years, but even though the u. S. Economy seems to be growing and there are increasing fears about the economic slowdown in china and a lot of uncertainty in global finance. The announcement came just two hours before the closing bell and the dow lost 65 points at closing, but its still possible we will see an increase before the year is out and it will break down what that means for you buying a car, your credit card payment coming up in our next half hour. The details are out about the massive settlement between General Motors and the justice department. The carmaker will pay 900 million for faulty ignition switches. It coaused more than 100 deaths. According to Court Documents gm agreed to hire an independent investigator to keep an eye on safety issues at the company, and if gm complied for three years, the criminal charges could be dismissed. Federal prosecutors say the automaker knew ten years ago that the switches were prone to turn off while the cars were moving, but it didnt issue an immediate recall. Traffic can go from bad to worse on one of the most congested roads in northern virginia, today we got an update on the projects planned for i66 and how it will impact people who live and drive in the construction zone. Im adam tuss high above i66 in northern virginia. Most times 66 looks like this. Its pretty unpredictable and you cant figure it out and its basically from the d. C. Line all of the way out to gainesville when its like this any time of the day, just unpredictable. So whats going on . Vdot is talking about ways to improve the corridor and one of the big things that theyre talking about is tolls. You paying a toll to get around the traffic. Another thing that will change on 66, the hov requirement from hov2 to hov3. All of that is in the works. Vdot talked about it today. What i would say most of the residents to understand is they know they have a problem right now. They cant use it. And if something isnt done it will continue to get worse. Reporter coming up much more on news 4 at 5 00 and 6 00, how much you could be paying in a toll and when the Major Construction is slated to start. Adam tuss, news 4. This is chris gordon beside Railroad Tracks near the vieira station in north virginia. Fairfax police are partnering with Norfolk SouthernRailroad Police to issue a warning to our community. Stay off the tracks. Today if we end up catching someone on the Railroad Tracks and its someone that hasnt been caught in the past theyll probably walk away with a warning or released to their parents on what we call an oral counseling. If its someone that weve run into in the past and someone that has shown that theyre not learning from their experiences, then well give them a citation and well charge them with trespassing. Reporter ahead, what it could cost you and your family if you ignore the veadvice thes Police Officers are passing along for you at 5 00. Back to you. Taking a cross our area right now. A very nice afternoon and temperatures warmer than theyve been over the past couple of days. Take a look around the mid atlantic. 81 columbus and 85 d. C. And philadelphia coming in at 86 degrees and 88 degrees up there toward new york and ocean city right along the water at 77. So the great weather continues, right . Well, well be on the hot side over the next couple of days and even warmer than today and thats well above our average High Temperature and the cold front moves through on sunday and this will change the weather pattern fairly dramatically as we make our way into next week and that means we could be seeing some rain or some clouds as the pope moves in just in time for the pope and it could be a rather dreary and damp conditions and well talk about that forecast coming up in a minute. Thanks, doug. Should Army SergeantBowe BergdahlFace Criminal Charges . Thats the question in san antonio. Today bergdahl planned for weeks to abandon his post and then in her words, snuck off under the cover of darkness. Bergdahl was captured by the taliban in 2009 and was held hostage for five years. Defense lawyers refused to say whether hell testify. A Top Army Commander will decide whether to resolve this case with a courtmartial or in some other way. We expect to know soon when virginias health board will lift strict standards on abortion clinics, including one to meet the same building standards as hospitals. Critics say those moves were driven by politics and not science. Folks say theyre necessary to protect womens health. Terror and confusion in a Grocery Store when a powerful earthquake strikes and the danger may not be over yet. Nine months of preparation. Now the head of the secret service is talking about how his agents plan to protect the po [ speaking spanish ] hes telling everybody to stay calm which is hard to do when an earthquake in chile Strong Enough to shake a Swimming Pool in argentina. Last nights tremor had a magnitude of 8. 3 and dozens of aftershocks have rattled south america. 11 people have died and the tsunami surge has swamped some of the coastal tides in chile. Its triggered 4foot waves in hawaii and smaller waves in california. What do you make of this . That is a large part of the danger when you get the earthquakes. Those waves they propagate outward from around the epicenter and off three feet off the ocean from the epicenter and as it continues to get closer and closer and hawaii and central parts of california as waves get higher and higher that energy condenses right near the coastline and its all about the height and the highways that can create so much damage throughout the area. Take a look at the sky and we dont have wave clouds with the clear, blue skies and how long we can hang on to the pattern and doug will tell you in a couple of minutes. Putininspired prank. How elton john fell victim to a crank call and what hes saying to the men behind the gag. Hes the man behind the movie Straight Outta Compton and now the produce herself a sneak peek at a project you will only see on nbc. Only news 4 interviewed the director of the secret service as his agency prepares for the popes visit. Well reveal what he says is the here are the stories were working on now at 4 15. Were hearing from American Airline officials who say they fixed a computer outage that grounded flights in and out of dallas, chicago and miami and now the airline is trying to figure out what caused the problem that lasted a couple of hours. An Historic Ceremony in northern virginia, people have been citizens in a few hours and theyve set a record. Turns out elton john thought he was on the phone with Vladimir Putin, but who was really on the other line. Many are anticipating the popes arrival in just a few days, but perhaps no one has prepared more than the men and women of the secret service. Theyve been training for this visit for more than nine months. Today director Joseph Clancy sat down with Mark Segraves to talk about how they plan to protect the pope and the throngs who will go to see him. Mark joins us now with the interview you will see only on news 4. So what is it that jumped out at you during your conversation with the director . He was very candid, joe clancy and two things, the pope has told the secret service that he wants to engage with many people in the public as possible and he wants as many people in the public to be able to see him when they get here. Clancy was very candid about what theyre preparing for and what the Biggest Challenges are as the pope comes to washington. And what are some of those challenges . Manpower. He was very clear. Manpower is the biggest because the people are having so many events at so many different locations and magnetometers and all of those places have to be manned. He says this is a lot like an inauguration because of the checkpoints and he says its a lot different because it will be taking place in so many different places. Last week we learned of a foiled plot. What is he saying about possible threats . He wont speak specifically about any threats perceived or real, but he did say that they are looking at anything and the fbi actually monitors this, but here is what he said about the lastminute preparations . We always have an eye certainly on any threats that may or may not be out there. The advanced team now is focused on lastminute details and what have they maced and go back and reevaluate each of the sites. Pat, when we hear his interview at 5 00 youll hear him talk about some very scary scenarios that theyre preparing for when the pope comes to washington. Theyve got a big job to do. Mark segraves, thank you, mark. Northern virginia is welcoming the Largest Group of new citizens ever naturalized in the annual citizenship day. 93 people from 33 countries took the oath of allegiance and became u. S. Citizens and some of them described the years of hard work to get here and the excitement of succeeding. I am so glad to be here now, and i already have a job, and my family are here, so i feel thankful and safe. I want to thank this country for the opportunity its giving me and the rest of the people here to be another american. Im very proud of the u. S. The citizenship celebrates native, foreign and naturalized citizens and commemorates the adoption of the u. S. Constitution on this day in 1787. And now your storm team 4 forecast. Thats pretty cool. One area, the one thing that weve been concerned about is not really weather as far as sunshine goes or clouds and rain, but we need the rain. Its been very dry. Thats the one thing that weve been looking at here over the last couple of days and notice only 1. 43 inches since august 1st and we are now three inches below average and 60 of maryland and 60 of virginia is abnormally dry and we do need to see rain and it doesnt look like we have much in the forecast expect look at the sunshine out there and plenty of it and winds out of the southwest at winds at 7 Miles Per Hour and 79 in annapolis and just another beautiful afternoon. Theres orange orange alert as far as air quality alert, and code orange today. Thats one thing to notice. So keep limited Outdoor Activity to a limit there, as far as storm team 4 radar is concerned and no rain as i mentioned and were not going to see that rain. We still have the area of High Pressure over us and theres rain just down to the south, but it cant get up here and it will stay well down to our south as we stay high and dry. Overnight tonight, 55 gaithersburg, and 55 manassas and 55 in culpeper and another nice, cool night and still a nice day tomorrow and a very nice way to wake up tomorrow. 87, d. C. And 87 in fredericksburg with plenty of sunshine and this dry pattern and the best time to do that early and evening and wash the car . Yeah. Well continue to be dry right on through early next week and if youre thinking of going up to the evening jog, just about perfect for that and here is the next four days and you know its warm friday and saturday and heres the day when you see a transition and the cold front, high of 80 and dropping temperatures on sunday and most areas only in the low 70s and look at that for monday and high of only 77 with the 30 chance of showers and the pope arrives and how is that weather looking. Veronica has a look on that coming up. Im aaron gilchrist. If you can think it they will most likely say it and thats what we can expect on the new nbc comedy truth be told and it is produced by will packer including Straight Outta Compton. Thank you for having me. You just had such an incredible body of work. I cant stop now. We have to keep it going. Sounds good to me. Straight outta compton, every corner that it has touched, people have loved and theres oscar buzz and what do you make of whats come from the movie . It is so exciting. Just to think that you have a movie about what i think is the american dream. You are talking about kids who came from nothing to reach the highest pinnacles of success, to have a murphy that is made, obviously so much noise at the box office about four kids from compton. I think that it says a lot about the fact that audiences want authentic material and want something thats organic and you dont want to jinx it, but im very optimistic about awards season and ice cube, dr. Dre and just a tremendous job on all fronts and im so proud to be a part of it. Its touched so many different generations and genres and people came together around this film. Absolutely. It sort of begs the question whats in the offing with this . Do you think you will domore biopictype movies. Its hard to tell a true story and especially this one where you have two of the main three members of the group that are still alive, its tough to tell that story and to get it right, but i think if you do it and get it right it will resonate and audiences will respond. So im excited by the biotik world and the opportunity to tell true stories. Well keep an eye out for that and lets talk about the new series truth be told. Speaking of being aorganic ad keeping it real. Literally the title is truth be told, if i tell you truth be told, you get ready and no filter and im going to keep it real. Its a group of friends a, Diverse Group of friends and cast is amazing and mark paul goes on lar from saved by the bell and vanessa lachey, and im excited about this cast and on friday nights at 8 30 on nbc, we are going there. It is literally going into the most raucous twitter conversation or instagram conversation that you can have. Hold on, to say those things that youre thinking and we go there and we talk about race, sex and politics and all of the stuff that youre not supposed to talk about. We do it. Will packer, thank you. Thank you for having me. Back to you. Sir elson, hello . Hello, dmitri, how are you . Comedians prank Sir Elton John and a new response from the music superstar. Im almost scared to read this next one, some pranksters taggered elton john and hes responding to their hoax. He got a call from two men claiming to be russian president Vladimir Putin and his interpreter. Hello . Sir elton, hello. Hello, dmitri, how are you . Turns out it was a fake call from a couple of radio hosts in russia, but john fell for it and not only praised putin on his infragram page, but during the phone call, as well. It is a great priviledge to be able to speak to one of the most influential people in the whole world. The prank call came a week after john criticized putin for russias law against socalled gay propaganda and today he posted a new update on instagram saying in part, pranks are funny, homophobia, however, is never funny and john hopes this puts discrimination against russias Lgbt Community back into the spotlight. We are still working several developing stories. A pit bull attacks a 17yearold in his arlington home. The boys life is now in danger. Were asking police how this happened. And support pouring in from across the country for the boy who was suspended because of his homemade clock. Why School Administrators are not backing down from their decision. Bashing his benz in. We hope youre having a better day than right now a teenager is recovering from serious injuries after he was mauled by a pit bull inside his home in arlington. Hes 17 years old. The boy tried toic b ibreak up fight yesterday between two dogs and one of them turned on him and the dog bit him from head to toe and he had to be rushed to the hospital. The house was being used as a pit bull sitting service and there were five dogs in the home at the time. The lawyers for Charles Severance will be allowed to the present evidence that the sheriff James Dunning murders his wife in 2003. Dunning has since died. Severance is also accused of killing ron kirby and ruthann ledato and that wasnt his own victory today, julie