Top Stories from DC News Now at 9 p.m. on February 27, 2024

for watching the station covering all of the DMV this is DC news now hi everyone thanks for joining us today for DC news now at 9:00 I'm Chris Flanigan a lot of news to get to but first check in your forecast for tomorrow live look tonight at the White House pretty clear night out there you can see the flag top of the White House blowing just a little bit out there and we do have some big changes happening with the weather chief meteorologist Janessa Webb here and Janessa I guess when we all hea

d to bed tonight uh we can probably turn off the heat yeah definitely you have temperatures that are back into the middle 50s uh for overnight lows so going to be some record for lows tonight across multiple uh sections of the DMV we do have a few light showers right now that are invading Northern Virginia they're very light in nature and so this was just round one of the rain that we are watching currently another bigger wave that will be highly impactful to you all day Wednesday so tomorrow is

a rain gear is Handy all throughout the day and that rain doesn't push out until about 8:00 temperatures right now at the 9:00 hour 54° under overcast Skies the southernly breeze that's the big talker and that's why wind advisories are really in place in most sections of the DMV they have just spread into areas of Fairfax County portions of Southern Maryland and so that tan color is that advisory that's going to stay in place all day tomorrow with gust potential up to 40 to 50 mph really across

all of the continental US this is the Deep South this is the Upper Midwest upper uh Midwest right here and then the upper Tennessee Valley you can see a wave of high wind advisories and even Chicago at this point is dealing with a tornado watch because we have a severe weather aspect because temperatures are so toasty mild overnight we're talking around 3:00 a.m. near 60° and then starting off your day uh we're back into the lower 60s we have a lot of rain to talk about with a good amount of ac

cumulation we'll take a look at timing and total coming up Chris all right Janessa we'll see you then thanks just in tonight quite a scare for people attending tonight's wama budget hearing official say a person was injured after a tow truck cable hit a window at Metro's headquarters tonight you see these pictures here of the scene shortly after this happened there were told one person was hurt taking cover as being traded for minor injuries Metro officials said the hearing was paused out of an

abundance of caution but resumed around 7:30 all right DC's troubl not 911 call center is launching a new system for processing emergency calls Power phone total response is intended to help callers get emergency help quicker but some argue the system alone well it's just not enough Mar Carbone joining us live tonight in our Newsroom and Mariel some are skeptical about how this new system will actually work yeah that's right Chris and that is because we know that this system has been plagued wit

h issues over the years many of which we've covered here on DC news now like Crews being sent to the the wrong locations or long delays in answering 911 calls so those I spoke to tonight are not convinced that the new protocols in this system will help any of that I've had a lot of experience and not very many good with UC for district resident Colleen Castello her pain is still fresh still horrible Castello lost her dog Maple in August when 911 calls made to report flash flooding at District do

gs were mishandled by DC's 911 call center the office of unified Communications so her confidence in the call center 10% very low the agency is hoping to change that Tuesday it transitioned over to a new 911 call processing system Power phone total response unfortunately I think District residents are about to be made into Lab Rats so that we can experiment with power phone according to its website Power phone standardizes emergency call handling with 80 plus integrated protocols for police fire

and an emergency medical dispatch on their screen call takers will see tabs like these with drop- down questions to ask based on the emergency scenario the idea is to give call takers more flexibility in handling calls and instantly get information to dispatchers OU director Heather mcgaffin Sayang in a statement the system offers a proven questioning approach that enhances collar and responder safety things are up and running I'm glad to hear that still Dave St a public safety Advocate is tica

l my big question for this is why now stat says the new tech doesn't address major issues he sees with the agency blown addresses duplicate calls the failure to answer 911 calls promptly I hope to God we can improve things maybe Power phone will work but I think there's so much more that needs to get to get done and I did reach out to Power phone for this story for an interview but did not hear back uh Chris Castello says she is putting uh the responsibility on to council member Brooke Pinto to

oversee uh this transition and to make sure that there's some transparency here Pinto is over Public Safety and we do know she wrote on social media yesterday that she does plan to monitor the roll out of this and make sure everything is going smoothly reporting live in The Newsroom tonight I'm Marielle Carbone DC news now all right we see what happens Marielle thank you well there's now another effort to prevent crime here in the district councilman Robert White is unveiling three new bills he

dubs safer today safer tomorrow they're all directed at keeping young people on the right path now the first bill focuses on expanding Career Education for students and young adults the second bill would create a new youth mentorship program the third Bill calls for better School attendance tracking it would also allow schools to offer support sooner to struggling students several council members have announced support for the bills so far well happening again in Northern Virginia tomorrow Fairf

ax Connector buses will not be running as Union employees strike for a seventh day employees are calling for better wages and benefits union leaders have met with Transit company transdev but so far the two sides have not been able to reach a deal we just want to be able to live and take care of our family it's takes me two paychecks just to live close to my own job while the union and bus operators are scheduled to meet again on March 5th that's Tuesday we're told Federal mediators will be ther

e to try and help well 23 people now without a home one person in the hospital in critical condition after an apartment fire in northwest DC our Daniel Hamburg talked exclusively with the woman whose apartment went up in Flames the woman who lives in the apartment where this fire started tells me it sounded like a bomb going off you can see some of the debris left over and of course the burn patterns on the building where this massive fire happened Cassandra is Isel was on the way to bed when th

e fire started I just heard a loud boom noise and I looked outside of my door of my uh bedroom and I seen Flames she says an e scooter that A friend brought over was charging before it exploded I went into the hallway and grabbed a fire exure some in here was trying to put the fire out but as we was trying to put the fire out it just kept like um escalating more and more Israel was treated for a sprained ankle she credits her adult daughter helping her get out I just thank her cuz if wasn't for

her how day she says her friend was taken to the hospital with serious Burns and smoke inhalation but he's alive 75 firefighters and 16 fire trucks helped Rescue five people from the second and third floors others were rescued from inside or sheltered in place two dogs and a cat were also rescued so again 23 people displaced nine families in total the American Red Cross is providing financial assistance Israel says she'll be in a hotel tonight DC fire and EMS says the cause as of right now is un

determined in Northwest Daniel Hamburg DC news now all this is the second time in DC it just a matter of days that a lithium ion battery may be to blame for causing an apartment fire on Thursday Hazmat Crews were called to a building in Woodle Park after an electric skateboard caught fire while charging now DC fire and EMS saying if you have an e scooter or skateboard it is crucial that you stick to the manufacturer's charging cables they say to stop using your device if the battery starts to em

it an odor if you notice fluids leaking if there's a change in color if it's too hot to touch or if it starts making odd noises meanwhile in Southeast DC house fire displays one person and injured Dogs the video here shows Flames tearing through the home near Eli place in Minnesota Avenue fire officials say that fire extend descended into the attic of this two-story house now the dogs injured were treated at the scene and taken to the vet fire officials say the cause of the fire remains under in

vestigation tonight and the Red Cross was notified there are no reports of any other injuries well hope tonight is dimming that a couple who used to live in FS Church Virginia and missing at Sea will be found alive police in the Caribbean say Kathy brandell and Ralph hendry's yacht was hijacked by escaped prisoners last Monday grdana police say it appears the couple was killed and their bodies dumped overboard in the ocean we're now hearing from a Rhode Island husband and wife who are friends of

the couple for close to a decade both lived on their boats for some time and would spend their Summers together they last saw the couple in November helping them bring their boat down to the Caribbean they left an open invitation with us where they actually said if you want to spend the witer with us you can stay with us on the boat we'd love to have you we couldn't and then they invited us to come down to Grenada during any part of the winter time you know just come down for a week or two and

hang out with us because they knew how much we loved it there well the Rhode Island couple says they are devastated by this news and never could have predicted something like this would actually happen but they're still holding out a glimmer of hope their friends will be found as for those Escape prisoners police in Grenada have launched a separate investigation into how they were able to escape from their holding cell we'll keep you updated as we learn more information what we have learned a ma

n accused of stealing a fairfx in Nova Hospital ambulance is now out of jail on bond Ricky low was taken into custody over the weekend he'd been on the run for several days after leaving the hospital with an IV in his arm police say he was a passenger in a stolen car that crashed earlier in the day back on February 19th well in Prince George's County FedEx Field is getting a bit of a facelift worth millions of dollars in the coming months the Washington Commander announced more than $75 million

worth of Investments under under the team's new ownership our reporter Yan Marie Cay live tonight at FedEx field and Yan Marie I think it's safe to say the stadium definitely needs some TLC yeah I'm a Prince George's County native born and raised here and this Stadium definitely needs some work now according to the commanders FedExField will be able to see some new upgrades this next season and we're talking about a better food and drink options we're talking about better seaing and a lot of new

infrastructure around the stadium now a lot of fans I spoke with today say it's definitely needed everything's all in there man it's it's time Timothy Johnson visits FedEx Field often and he says the stadium definitely needs some work we can get some good some good stereos stereo system some good seating some good bathrooms yeah it'll be a good time and now those changes are coming soon on Tuesday the commanders announced the total investment to Stadium improvements now stands at more more than

$75 million back in September the team announced a $40 million investment towards Improvement I think it's a lot of money and I think that the FedEx Field needs it it's been a while since they renovated the team says the upgrades include new premium seating options and sweets better food and drink options that you can also get a lot faster with A New Concept and the sound system upgrade which Johnson says is definitely needed audio the audio was bad last time I was here the stadium will also ge

t a structural refresh upgrades to elevators and escalators and an improved parking and security system to help fans get to their seats faster looking forward to uh the renovations and having a good time yes so the team says that all of these changes will be made during the off season and we can expect some fans to see these changes in the next season in 2024 for now reporting in Landover Maryland I'm yam marcea say DC news now all right hope we upgrade some wins as well Yar thanks well tomorrow

the house will vote on a bill to give DC control of the old RFK Stadium site delegate ellor Holmes Norton introduced that bill so under the proposal DC would get a 99-year lease with the National Park Service the site could be used for a number of P purposes including a new stadium for the commanders well here are what people living in that area have to say coming up in our next half hour well in Prince George's County several Community leaders they were honored during a Black History Month cel

ebration today including one of the first black officers to join the Prince George's County Police Department Alonzo Daniel black Jr joined the Department in 1967 he eventually became the County's first elected African-American Sheriff after receiving today's honor black says he is grateful for the recognition the hardest thing I've had to do today is hold back the tears I've been so joyful and so thankful now congratulations the theme of this year's celebration is Black Arts Excellence well DC

police officers were at DC news now this morning for a report that someone in the building may have had a gun no gun was found our employees evacuated the building as a precaution and about 90 minutes later officers gave an all clear now one person was escorted out nobody was injured and in a statement our vice president and general manager saying in part the safety of our employees always is our top priority