Maryland high school principal placed on leave; reason unclear | FOX 5 AT 6AM

Well, we cannot change the time of Fox 5 Morning at 6. It's right there in the title. So we've got to keep it here each and every day. And we're not going to flex anybody out either. Although, I think we flexed Annie Mayford-Taylor today. Oh, yeah. Thanks for being with us. We're on Fox 5 and always streaming on Fox Local. Hey, guys. Good morning, guys. Good morning. Good morning. Are we ready for some cooler air? I guess so. Anything would be better after yesterday. Yeah, we hit 90 yesterday. Another record and the latest date we've ever hit 90 degrees. We'll have more of that coming up. But today will be a cooler day for sure. In fact, we're watching the numbers fall off here very gradually early this morning. 7 a.m., clouds have been reported. We're now down to 69 at Dulles, 71 at Reagan National. You're mostly looking at your high temperatures for the day. They'll continue to kind of fall back here as the cold front continues to sag across the region. Quick look at the satellite picture. Generally a cloudy morning, and a few showers are now bubbling up along that front, mostly across southern Maryland. It looks like Calvert County and the eastern shore have plenty more in the forecast, but a cooler and cloudy day with a couple of showers today. Daytime highs will be around 70. Taylor? Thanks, Tucker. Let's head to the roads right now and get an update on your morning commute. We do have a couple of incidents we're already watching early on this Thursday morning. A crash on the Outer Loop through Tysons is causing delays right after Virginia 123. We have two right lanes and a shoulder block, so delays from Georgetown Pike. That's going to take you just over 20 minutes for now. Marissa? Taylor, thank you. A suspect in a string of sex offenses in northern Virginia has been arrested in Guatemala. DNA collected at the scene of two rape cases in Fredericksburg connected 22-year-old Cesar Palpan to the alleged crimes. In June of this year, the suspect was also linked to an indecent exposure incident. While behind bars for those charges, federal agents filed an immigration detainer against him. He was released into ICE custody and voluntarily deported to Guatemala. In August, Palpan was formally indicted in the rape cases. He was arrested in Guatemala earlier this week. He will be extradited to the U.S. to face those charges. A woman recovering after she was shot in Navy Yard. It happened about five yesterday afternoon near 4th and M Streets. Police are looking for the suspect who they say drives a dark colored Chevy with Maryland license plates 5GY4386. We'll put that info online. New surveillance video this morning for the scene of a death investigation in Hyattsville. Police have not commented on the video, but it appears to show the SUV that a woman was found deceased inside. That SUV crashes into a tree a day or two prior. Another clip shows the same vehicle parked in a parking spot. Prince George's County Police were called to Riggs Road behind a family dollar store yesterday afternoon for a welfare check on the woman's name and cause of death has not yet been released. A principal for Maryland's largest school district has suddenly been put on leave and parents and students have not received a reason for that dismissal. Principal Scott Smith of Northwest High School has held that position since 2021. Officials haven't said why he's on leave or how long it's expected to last, but a letter from the district's Division of School Leadership and Improvement was sent to families Wednesday morning announcing that decision. It said in part, at this time, Assistant Principal Danielle Abdel-Salam will serve as the acting principal. Under her leadership, we are confident that the operations of the school and instructional programs will remain strong during Mr. Smith's absence. A northern Virginia town that voted to pause its Flock camera program may be asking residents to reconsider. Tonight the town of Dumfries holding a town hall to show residents how the tech works. Let's get to Melanie. She's down in Dumfries once again with more for us. Hey Mel. Morning guys. Yeah so listen the town council isn't removing the cameras at this time. They really just put a pause on this because they're hoping this little timeout will give them some time to get more information. And Mayor Derek Woods said he hopes that people are able to get their questions answered at the town hall tonight. The biggest thing with technology and what I've said in the past is that technology shouldn't grow faster than public trust. The public needs to trust and be a part of the technology as it comes because it's so much technology that's happening. So whether I think people support the cameras or whether they oppose them, I want everybody to be in the room. Flock cameras were set to become fully operational by the end of September, but amid community concern about privacy, data security and information sharing, the town council voted 4-2 to pause the program. They said no cameras would be reinstalled or activated without further action from the council. Now, some council members noted that the automated cameras help officers identify stolen vehicles, locate missing or endangered people, and track potential crime suspects. Dumfries, a town of about 6,000, sits right between I-95 and Route 1 in northern Virginia, and police feel that license plate reader technology here can be useful for regional coordination. Neighboring Prince William County operates 28 flock cameras. Now, Mayor Wood told Fox 5 that he also recently toured one of Flock's competitors, Axon Technologies. He did go to Phoenix to get an idea of how their systems work. So it is possible maybe that gets thrown into the mix here as the town debates the future of the automated license plate reader program here in Dumfries. That town hall is scheduled for 6 tonight. Stephen Marissa? All right, Mel, thanks very much. 6:05, you know what that means. It's Tucker time. Yeah. Let's roll out the red carpet for the man who just tells us about records after records that we're shattering here in the DMV. And Tucker, I mean, you prepared us yesterday, but I got outside and I still was like, it's so hot. I was running into viewers and everybody was like, the summer hasn't gone away. Insane. Yeah, I mean, it felt a little strange to be in the middle of October and have a 90 degree temperature. But we did, for sure. And today will be much cooler. Probably, you're looking at your daytime highs right now, right around 70. and a cool and kind of cloudy and dreary day for us, but we'll be back in the 80s tomorrow briefly before our big weekend cool down. We've got a lot of weather to talk about. Okay, numbers at 6 a.m. 71 in Washington, 69 Dulles, 67 BWI Marshall. Numbers have been gradually falling back here early this morning, and you can see a little bit of cloudiness and a few showers have fired up, mostly along the eastern shore at this hour, and they continue to push off to the east. So we're looking at not the day that we were yesterday. We'll generally be in for cloudy conditions and, again, cooler conditions later this afternoon. I think any shower activity will be very limited. You can see the front is just to our south, and most of the shower activity should be closer to the front. So we won't get much of anything, but there might be a little light rain. Whoops, I meant to give you a show of the today forecast, or a little light drizzle. Tomorrow, we are going to briefly warm up again, and then we're going to be for a very cool weekend, and we'll focus on that weekend forecast and a windy weekend as well, especially Saturday, coming right up. All right, before we toss to traffic, we've got a fan club submission. Thank you for checking in early with us. Chance and Crawford, we got a happy 44th birthday to me. And Chance, I hope it's an amazing birthday. I feel like that was the second 44th birthday to me in the last 24 hours. Right? Yeah, I remember the 44. Okay, 44 must be the magic number. Taylor? Happy 44th birthday to you and whoever else was earlier. Anyway, 6:07 with your time. We're going to head to this crash along the outer loop through Tysons crash after Virginia 123. It has two right lanes and the shoulder blocked for some George County Highway accident. That's going to be slow moving to go three miles due to take you upwards of just over 20 minutes. I-270 southbound looking pretty good so far. Early on this Thursday between the 70 and the Beltway should take you almost 40 minutes for now. And then the outer loop looking pretty good between 95 and I-270. That should take you just over 15 minutes. Marissa? Thanks, Taylor. A Maryland man accused of killing a 10-year-old boy who disappeared more than 30 years ago faces new charges in the case. Joseph Lynch is accused of raping and killing 10-year-old George Jr. Brudinsky back in 1993. This all happened in Brentwood, just south of Hyattsville. He was arrested last month after a witness came forward. Lynch remains behind bars ahead of his hearing later this month. Naresh Bhat returns to court once again today. It's day seven of his murder trial, this after a former Prince William County forensics investigator took the stand to walk jurors through suspected blood evidence. In court, prosecutors showed photos of a blood-tracking chemical called Blue Star reacting inside the bedroom Bot shared with his missing wife, Monta Cofley. The images showed a glowing trail leading from the bed into the master bathroom. The jury also saw a photo of the bedroom carpet lighting up under the chemical reaction. Stephanie Ramirez will be back in court today. She'll break down what happens coming up on air and, of course, on Fox5DC.com. A D.C. woman has been sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for leading a violent regional robbery ring. Prosecutors say from May of 2020 to May of 2021, Ashley Goss held employees at gunpoint across Maryland, Virginia, D.C. and New Jersey. Newly released surveillance video shows crew members striking pharmacies and phone stores, stealing more than $300,000 in iPhones and prescription drugs. That video on your screen here. Police say the images helped lead to their arrest. There's multiple crews that have operated in this region for a long time, and sometimes it's taken a while for us to catch them and put together these cases. But thankfully, we have quality detectives. We work with our regional partners. We all communicate with each other. Two other members of the crime ring were convicted last November. Three others pleaded guilty for their roles in the crimes, all of them sentenced to multiple years in prison. Well, on the ballot this November, voters in Maryland will have a say on the future of redistricting in the state. All right, let's get to Makia with more details on the proposal that could eliminate Maryland's only Republican seat. Yeah, that's right. Good morning, guys. Question three is Maryland Democrats answer to the president's bid to redraw red states to better position the party during next month's midterms. No one would be more impacted than Maryland's Republican congressman, Andy Harris. Now, the pressure appearing to come to a head Tuesday when he got into a heated exchange with a reporter during a press conference. You do not have my permission to record. If you record, we will refer you to the prosecutor. Everyone in here is recording. But you are not allowed to. We are in a two-party state. You are not allowed to record. Take her camera. You're going to take her camera. She is violating the law. In fact, get an officer in here. Maryland's two-party consent law applies to private conversations, not press conferences with elected officials. Fox 5 asked 1st District residents about how they felt about the congressman's reaction. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. I think the press goes too far sometimes. I do. Sometimes they ask questions that, or really what I hear more is more repeat questions after the question's been answered. No, because it's a press conference. It's televised. It's recorded. It's word of mouth. You have to keep recording. Congressman Andy Harris is in his eighth term and is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. We did reach out to Representative Harris, who agreed to a sit-down with us, but he canceled, citing a scheduling conflict. Marissa? All right, Makia, thank you. Less than three weeks out from the midterms, we're hearing from Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones as he explains his new voter protection unit. Also, some local grocery stores impacted by a cybersecurity incident. The service is currently unavailable as a result. We'll break it down coming up.