Humidity, it is not going to be hard for any storms that do develop to become strong. Once again, yesterday we saw the flash flooding. That was the biggest threat. Today, that threat still a threat but not quite as high. It is the high winds that we are going to be dealing with. Yes there is a low threat of a tornado today best chance of that northern portions of maryland around the masondixon line. Continue to track it for you throughout the afternoon. Amelia segal and i are in all day. With the stroke of a pen, South Carolina governor nikki haley is about to end the controversy that has divided her state for more than half a century. Haley is signing a bill that will remove the Confederate Flag from the state house grounds. These are live pictures from columbia, South Carolina. This move will come hours after the state house passed this legislation. The Governors Office says the flag will come down in a ceremony tomorrow morning at 10 00. We are closely following this breaking news. A live report from columbia a little bit later in the newscast. At the live deck im wendy rieger. Back to you. Previous question, all those in favor say aye. All those opposed, no. According to the chair the ayes have it. There you can hear the emotion on the u. S. House floor and the shouting shows how passionate people are about the Confederate Flag. Lawmakers were debating whether they should remove consider removing confederate symbols from federal parks, veterans cemeteries, even the capitol itself. They should be at federal cemeteries, Confederate Flags . No. How Speaker John Boehner says its time for what he called some adults here in congress to sit down and have a conversation about the battle flag. A local man just learned he is going to spend more than a decade in prison for a violent crash that killed two women from maryland. He has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Back in 2013, he led Prince Georges County police on a highspeed chase and was going more than 80 miles an hour with his headlights off when he slammed into a van. Six people were inside and the crash killed two young women. Police just released this new video of the chase and coming up on news4 at 5 00, county bureau chief Tracee Wilkins shows us what it was like when it was first shown in court. Developing right now, a former fbi agent is being sentenced for stealing heroin to feed his own addiction. Matthew lowery pleaded guilty to stealing the heroin from an evidence locker in march and now could face up to nine years in prison. His lawyer wants the judge to let lowery serve that time in home detention and says the theft was motivated by addiction, not greed. Lowery worked in the d. C. Field office and news4s Mark Segraves is in court right now. He is going to have a live report coming up. An update now on a story you saw only on news4. Police say a woman charged with leaving a baby on a d. C. Sidewalk was high on synthetic drugs. Only news4 was there on tuesday as officers took la tonya cooper into custody. A block away, police found a 10monthold alone in a stroller on e street just across from the d. C. Court of appeals. Court documents say cooper was leaning against a wall and slurring her words. The baby is now safe. First at 4, d. C. s may letter take Emergency Action tomorrow to stop people from selling synthetic drugs. Mayor Muriel Bowser will sign legislation that gives officers more authority to penalize businesses that get caught selling those drugs. The past few months, the district has seen a dangerous spike in overdoses. Donald trumps comments about latinamerican immigrants sparked protests downtown today the demonstration took place outside of trumps future hotel at the Old Post Office pavilion. Heres news4s tom sherwood. Reporter im tom sherwood on pennsylvania avenue. Protesters gathered down here today to voice loud objections to donald trump. His hotel is to open here next year but his incendiary remarks about mexican immigration set off a firestorm of protest here and around the country. Coming up on news4 at 5 00 we will hear from some of the protesters and counterprotesters. Im tom sherwood, news4. New at 4 00, just minutes ago, searchers found the body of the second bhoert had been missing on the potomac river. His body was found today and the past hour the body of his girlfriend was recovered from the water. The boat was running but empty. Friends described the couple as avid, experienced boaters and we will have more on this breaking story from our Northern Virginia bureau chief julie carey on news4. Gainesville is one of the Fastest Growing areas in virginia and now it has a big new interchange to handle all that traffic. Today Transportation Leaders cut the ribbon on a 230 million project. Its in Prince William county not far from the jif very lube lot amphitheater. Tens of thousands of commuters use this stretch along route 29 and 66. They have been driving across Freight Railroad tracks but the new interchange will take all those vehicles over them. Developing now, the fbi director says recent terror arrests saved american lives. James comey says agents disrupted an undisclosed number of plots intended to kill people on the fourth of july. More than ten people have been al they are linked to isis in some way or another. Comey says some of those arrested were communicating with isis supporters through encrypted messaging. Sparks from a plane, video of a frightening takeoff and stories from the people on board. A weather alert. We are watching out for potential severe storms this afternoon. Our team of meteorologists is tracking a line of weather. We will have another why are we watching this again . I pay for all these channels, so i make myself watch them all. Joey, ill watch anything except this. Except this. Go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back. Fios custom tv lets you pay for the types of channels you want, not the ones you dont. 100 fiber optics is here. Get out of the past. Get fios. Now for 79. 99 a month. Go online or call. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v here is the latest on storm team4 radar, tracking a line of showers west of the d. C. Metro area, not n picking up lightning wi qaq a tornado watch until 9 p. M. Tonight. What we are thinking is as this into thisqp hot and 90 now 6 p. M. Storm mitch 89. Scattered storms mainly in Southern Maryland at 8 p. M. By 10 p. M. , drying up, drying out. Doug is going to come back in ten minutes looking ahead to the weekend, some showers now in the forecast to let you know what day. We have some breaking news just coming into the live desk. The office of Personnel Management now says more than 22 Million People had personal information stolen in two data breaches of that agencys system this includes not just the current and former federal employees, but also those who plied for background checks that includes contractors. The agency said 4. 2 million had information stolen. But that was one breach. Now, the agency says 21 1 2 million had information taken during a second different breach of the background check system. More than 3 million had information stolen in both breaches. Once again a total now of more than 22 million. Almost 22 million. That information includes Social Security numbers, information about immediate family and even some health and financial history. Also stolen, fingerprint records, opm says it is providing monitoring services. It will establish an online Cyber Security resource center. We will bring you more details as we get them. Back to you. Now here is something no air traveler wants to see, sparks flying from your planes engine during takeoff. Southwest Airlines Flight 3299 to boston was barrelling down the runway at Midway Airport in chicago last night when everyone felt a jolt. Then passengers noticed smoke and spark coming from the right engine. The pilot aborted takeoff and emergency crews helped everyone get off the plane. The front wheel exploded and the pilot said we got a flat, he pulled over. But we looked out to the right and the engine was practically catching on fire. It was mindboggling. It was really scary. My heart was beating out of my chest. There were no injuries among the 143 passengers and five crew members on board that flight. New at 4 00, a first look what the search teams went through to find one hikers a body. The woman was killed monday when an ice cave collapsed in washington statement the autopsy just came in and shows she died from Blunt Force Injuries to her head and upper body. This new video shows a controlled explosion. An avalanche expert designed it to dislodge debris in the caves so search team does make it inside safely. The woman who died and five other people hurt monday all ignored warning signs about falling ice. The Forest Service had to block access to that area. The pope served quite a concoction in south america. Why his tea leaves that are commonly used to make cocaine. Talking about changing the way emergencies are handled. Consumer reporter Erika Gonzalez take us inside the local 911 call center that accepts text messages. And live pictures from South Carolina where South Carolina governor nikki haley is planning to sign historic legislation to remove the Confederate Flag from the state house grounds. She is prepared to sign that bill, the flag comes down at storm team4 issued a weather alert. We have the chance for severe storms and a tornado watch is even in effect for local counties. Right now, doug and amelia are updating the forecast. They are going to have the latest in just a couple minutes but any time, you can use the interactive radar on the nbc washington app. A quick look at where the markets closed about 16 minutes ago. The dow, nasdaq and s p 500 all recorded small gains today after those huge losses yesterday mostly due to worries about china and greece. It was back to business as usual today on the floor of the new york stock exchange. All went smoothly a day after a Technical Glitch shut down floor trading for about four hours. The glitch did not affect electronic trade bug floor trades accounts trades account for a quarter of the traffic on the new york stock exchange. Officials just received final approval to expand the kennedy center. The National CapitolPlanning Commission signed off on the final proposal this afternoon. The plan calls for additional performance and rehearsal spaces as well as some classrooms and a few new public areas. They had to scale back that plan earlier this year to reduce the cost of the project. On the surface, bill cosby and donald trump may seem to have little in common, but they both have stars on hollywoods walk of fame and critics are calling for their removal. The Hollywood Chamber of commerce says it wont happen. The chamber says the honor is awarded for professional achievements, not celebrities politics philosophy or in their word irrational behavior. Cosby kribts want his star removed because of the ongoing Sexual Assault allegations against him. Trump critics are angry about his controversial comments about latin americans. There is a change coming to your Facebook Page and you didnt make it. Check out these icon images. The old icon is on the left. New one is on the right. A female designer at Facebook Says she decided to change the icon at a make the two genders more equal. This is the friends icon that shows up at the top righthand side of the screen on many Facebook Pages. Facebook says it may take a while for all of the images to be replaced. Even in an emergency, a lot of us wont call for help, we text. But most 911 call centers still dont have the capability to handle text messages. Consumer reporter Erika Gonzalez shows us the one in our area that does. I lost consciousness for a quick second and had he hemmed on a minute longer, i probably wouldnt be here. Reporter this woman, whom we will call renee, endured five years of abuse. She says her sons father controlled her every move, never giving her the time or space to be free to call 911. Like playing russian roulette, if you call help, that might be the end, you know . If you dont call for help, that can be the end. Reporter which is why in situations like these texting 911 could be life saving. If aid way that could i have texted for help, i would have, no doubt. Reporter federal Communications Commission requires wireless carriers to provide textto911 capability, but that doesnt mean call centers are equipped to handle them. There are more than 6500 Emergency Call Centers in the u. S. And less than 5 of them have the upgraded technology to be able to receive and respond to text messages. Frederick county, maryland is one of those few. That took about what, five, eight seconds for that to appear there . Reporter the director says the county has had the textto911 Pilot Program for nearly two years. Last month, he says they got about 50 texts a third he says, for real emergencies. He said he is going to kill me and we are saying who is gonna kill you, whats his name and they are not responding. Reporter but a text to 191 should never replace a call, he says. Frederick county 911. What is the address of the emergency . Only use text in the incidents where you know you may not be able to talk, dont want someone to hear you or a person who is hearing impaired. Reporter your Location Services on your cell phone, you likely have it off, good for posting on social media without announcing your whereabouts, but in the case of an emergency, if you need to text or call 911, you may want to turn it on. If you dont have it turned on delays the amount of time it takes it to to figure out the location or already have it turned on, women usually get your location within seconds. Reporter in renees case, she eventually escaped her abuser but had she had the ability to text for help, she says it may have happened sooner. The feeling that pop up is relief. Reporter Erika Gonzalez, news4. There are 12 call centers in our area and we have learned at least two will have the textto911 Program Ready by fall. So Frederick County and Fairfax County first, then the others should come online shortly thereafter. We are under a weather alert this afternoon in our area there is a threat for severe storms moving in on us this evening. Chief meteorologist Doug Kammerer is in the storm center. What do you say, doug . Guys, part of the area is under a tornado watch until 9 00 tonight mostly to the north up there toward pennsylvania and northern portions of maryland as well as West Virginia and panhandle. Around the d. C. Metro area there is no watch around our region. That is a good thing. I think our chance of Severe Weather is going to stay up to the west. Right now currently, sitting at 90 degrees mostly cloudy skies now look at the dew point, into the mid70s, heat index now at 100. The way it feels outside. Very warm, very humid atmosphere across our region. 88, frederick, 88, culpepper, temperature of 95 degrees, very hot, very humid. Plenty of energy for severe storms to go on we just need that trigger and the trigger looks like it wants to stay to the north. Here is the tornado watch in the yellow Baltimore Carroll county, Frederick County, washington, jefferson, berkeley Frederick County everybody to the north and west, does not include d. C. , fredericksburg Southern Maryland, most of Northern Virginia. Choose mean we are not going to see Severe Weather here . No, but i still think the threat will be to the north. Look at these storms coming through franklin and fulton counties pennsylvania Washington County and maryland. These are strong storm bus no severe thunderstorm warnings with these just on the stronger side. You can see this line making its way, and here is the line right in here. Im actually waiting for this line to come through later on into this evening most likely 5, 6, 7, 8 00 tonight, but even then im really wondering if we are going to get that Severe Weather in our region. Stay tuned. Monitor this as we move on the rest of the night. Wont against, will not take much once the storm gets going in our region, it will be able to go very strong, as everything is there, excuse me, once again in the atmosphere for that but we just need that trigger here and dont have it in our area. Severe weather risk excuse me high winds, i think the biggest threat from this flash flooding we had it last night, i dont think thats nearly as big a risk, we wi