DMV Zone: October 29, 2026

Type virus that was going through the school. Well, now there's a thing called the rhino virus. What it is and why we're seeing such a spate of that across the board as we enter this flu season. By the way, got this temperature. The weather is amazing. Feels great out there. It's almost Friday leading up to Halloween. We'll check in with our weather team. See what's on tap. Let's get to it. It's three o'clock. You're in the zone. All right. Welcome into the DMV zone. I'm Marina Rocco. Let's get you behind the scenes of everything we're working on on this Friday. A busy day in the Fox 5 newsroom as we start with some breaking news out of Prince George's County. A man found dead by maintenance workers at a neighborhood park near Langley Park McCormick Elementary School in Hyattsville. Police say numerous shell casings discovered surrounding the victim who they have pronounced dead at that scene. As you can see, investigators there in that wooded area. Now, Maryland National Capital Park Police working to determine what led to this man's death at this hour. No suspect in custody. This is now the third homicide for Prince George's County just today. it's three o'clock as we speak let's check in with former FBI agent Ken Gray with more clearly an issue here not to say that any of these are connected Ken but the homicide team at Prince George's County is certainly working overtime with all these cases including this last one which is problematic just behind a school absolutely a couple of hundred yards away from the school uh close to a trail head uh so it could be connected with somebody that was out on the trail but there's also homes in the area so easily accessible from either the east or the west from the home areas through there, but still being a couple hundred yards away from the elementary school makes it a little disconcerting there for the school itself. As you said, this is the third homicide today. There was also a deadly shooting in Landover and a deadly stabbing in College Park, so the police in that area are going to be very busy with three homicides just today alone. Yeah, well, we talk about this specific case here behind the elementary school. This is the Langley Park McCormick Elementary School. The shell casing surrounding the victim, including what police described as trauma to the upper body here. This paints the picture of extreme violence. Absolutely. Extreme violence. Early on in the investigation, they have not even released the identity of the victim here or any of the details but uh nonetheless this is uh very early stages of the investigation the investigators will be looking to see if there's any cameras in the area that may have caught people going into or out of the woods they'll be looking in the area for the victim's vehicle if it was in the area they'll be looking for any possible eyewitnesses i understand that there may have been the sounds of gunfire heard the night before so that might place time of the death actually or at the time of the shooting actually the evening before instead of early morning hours but the body was found at 11 a.m yeah obviously we know that uh from police this victim is a man in his 20s hispanic not sure if that gives us really much more um but of course we'll keep watch over Prince George's County as they continue to resolve these three homicide investigations there in the county in the meantime ken we're just getting into the newsroom that a woman was shot in front of the Republican Party offices in Richmond, Virginia. We understand at this hour no staff members appear to be injured, but the Republican Party says they have no indication the shooting was related to their offices, clearly based on the location. That too is something a few days ahead of the election here that they are probing. What can you tell us and what do we know about what happened in Richmond? So I do not have any additional details on this, but I can say that any type of act of violence near any offices for either party is concerning in that it might have something to do with somebody striking out at that party to affect local elections. But again, a little detail on this to be able to attribute it to any type of motive connected to the upcoming elections. Yeah, usually. And, you know, we talk about 2021 right on the eve of January 6th and obviously the pipe bombs that were placed outside of the DNC and the RNC. Is there security, extra levels of security? As a result, we've seen a number of political violence incidents since that date. Have these committee headquarters have like new protocols in place to affect safety and to make sure that they are not targets? Well, you know, they had cameras on the outside of those areas, and yet they failed to detect the pipe bombs being placed in those areas in time to do anything about it. And so you would imagine that their protocols were increased. But I think the concern is not so much for the DNC and the RNC headquarters, but it's much more along the lines of the actual, either the polling stations or headquarters in the actual towns and cities where some of these are highly contested elections, yeah we pray that nothing goes down as this should be a free democratic process and unravels and hopefully there is no relationship as to what happened there in Richmond, we'll keep tabs on that, Ken we always appreciate it, thank you for the insight, anytime. Topic number two here is the Department of Justice says it has now uncovered a massive fraud scheme involving student loans, more than 830,000 and suspicious financial aid accounts nationwide. Five people, one in Nebraska, four in New Jersey, now charged in the scam. investigation known as Operation Ghostbusters, where prosecutors allege the suspects used stolen identities, created fake student accounts, and applied to colleges and universities across the country. Investigators say the scheme generated millions of dollars in fraudulent taxpayer-funded student loans and grants. Officials also say the operation became so sophisticated that suspects allegedly used artificial intelligence to complete most of these applications. Criminal defense attorney Joseph Tully to break down what investigators uncovered, who's now facing charges. $32 million in fraudulent loans here and all these cases that were affected. What do we know at this hour, Tully? Well, what I'm seeing is that we're probably seeing the tip of the iceberg. The DOJ is announcing up to $200 million worth of fraud. And from what I've seen so far in the five people indicted are about three million dollars worth of fraud. So that's about one point five percent of the total that the DOJ is alleging. There is 40 open cases in different offices. We have three different cases filed, New Jersey, Virginia and Nebraska. and mainly the target seems to be based on Kenyan-based networks in the U.S. Okay. We look at, say, the time of the pandemic and all the PPE loan fraud cases that we saw. To your point, it looks as though this may be rampant and there may be so many more cases to be uncovered right now. What does that tell us at large about these systems in place? And is it a place, especially student loan applications, where they need to clamp down and tighten up to make sure that this doesn't continue to happen? I don't think that you'd find any American who would say that the federal government doesn't need to get its act together at this point. I mean, yes, the Department of Education needs to clamp down. And maybe we should rethink giving the federal government responsibility for everybody's education. When you centralize things, you make yourself vulnerable to attacks like this. But I think that we have a perfect storm here. We have COVID in 2020, which made online enrollment much more common, much more easy to do, and thus kind of laid the groundwork to create these fictitious students or fictitious student loans. And then you have the fraud sort of, according to the DOJ, expanding from 2021 to 2026. And yes, the allegations are that the fraudsters were using AI to create not only fictitious students, but, you know, fictitious assignments and to really create these fraudulent student profiles so that they could then collect school loans for them. So I think this is the tip of the iceberg. There's still, according to the DOJ, 40 open cases in many different field offices. What we've seen here is the DOJ announcing the project Operation Ghostbusters, along with three so far publicly available cases that they filed involving five different people. Right. And to your point, not only do they need to clamp down, but get with the times because artificial intelligence is playing a huge role in much of the fraud that we're seeing. Joseph Tully, we always appreciate that legal insight. Thank you. Topic number three here as time is now running out for Maryland voters who want to cast their ballots early. Early voting ends tonight at 8 p.m. just five days before Election Day. A new number show turnout up 63 percent compared to the same period during the 2022 general election. Voters still have time to make their voices heard before the November 3rd midterms. We've got Maryland Matters reporter Brian Sears where with things stand. And to that point, anecdotally, you talk to people and they're saying they're going to the polling locations and it's jam packed. And this is not something that's usual for midterms. It's usually a presidential where you see a larger voter turnout. So things shifting, especially across the DMV. Yeah, there definitely seems to be an uptick. You know, we're looking at, you know, if you look at like the first five days, you know, we're seeing Democrats, up 81% over in-person turnout four years ago. Unaffiliated voters are up 91%. And even Republicans are up 49%, again, over four years, just strictly for in-person. And we're seeing that in some really interesting places, including Frederick County and Washington County, places that are a little bit more rural. To that point, I mean, I think you can't even go by historically what party voters usually do as it relates to early voting? Because when you see this mass turnout here and the significant uptick, it seems as though the electorate is willing to make their voices heard. And that's great news for everybody that they're performing on their civic duty. Can we look at polls to kind of guide us seeing what we've seen in the past? Is this going to be one of those things we just have to wait to exit polling or wait for election night results? I think to some degree we are going to have to wait for results. I think what you're seeing in Maryland, you know, remember Maryland is a, the registration favors Democrats. In terms of major party registration, Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one. When you add in unaffiliateds, they're about 52, 53 percent of the total voting population of about 4.2 million people. And it's clear that, you know, as we are seeing nationally, there is an uptick in voter interest due to the midterms. Yeah, certainly. I know as it relates to redistricting, that is one of the things that for Maryland split basically along party lines when it comes to what polling is saying. And obviously we've seen a huge push there from the Democratic Party, including the governor for that vote yes on that question. Nonetheless, this could be one of those things where again, we kind of even out in the middle. I think that the question three proposition is going to be really one to watch because there's been a number of polls that have been released in recent weeks that suggest that support for it still hasn't crossed the 50 percent line. There's a plurality of opposition and a lot of folks who are watching it to see whether this could be one of those rare ballot questions that doesn't succeed. Yeah. What do we know about data centers? That's also driving out people to vote, especially in those rural counties that you talk about where maybe there aren't, in fact, moratoriums in place just yet. But people are really strongly poised, especially, I mean, and this is a really political one, too, when you look at Democrats who are 80, 90 percent of them anti-data centers. Yeah, that's right. And one of those places where my colleague Christine Condon and I published a story this morning in Maryland Matters that specifically looked at Frederick County and the Frederick County executive's race, which is a race that really on paper nobody should be talking about because the incumbent, Jessica Fitzwater, has such huge advantages in terms of money, in terms of money that she's raised and money that she's spent. But we find that there is an outside group now that's come in and raised over a half million dollars and has spent $400,000 attacking her opponent. And generally when that sort of thing happens, it means that the race is tightening up. And we did see when we were out there and we went door to door with her, she was specifically going out and talking to Democrats and to unaffiliated voters who, as you said, overwhelming majorities do not want data centers not only in their communities but anywhere in Maryland. Yeah, we'll see how that plays out at the ballot box. Always good talking to you, and I know you'll have much more of a wrap as we get closer to Election Day. Brian Sears with Maryland Matters. We appreciate it. Stay with us here on the DMV Zone. We'll be right back. D.C. police now investigating a series of shootings along Minnesota Avenue Northeast. It killed, left two people, including the suspect, critically injured interim chief for the D.C. police. Jeffrey Carroll is with us, and he said that this morning The suspect allegedly shot one man near a bus stop before opening fire on a second person. He's here with us live now. Chief, good to see you. What's the update on this officer-involved shooting? Good to see you as well. Well, unfortunately, the victim in our first shooting this morning passed away a short time later, so it is now a homicide investigation. Okay, what can you tell us about the officer-involved shooting that happened subsequently? So, as I mentioned, the officer-involved shooting was in response shortly after the shooting that occurred in the 4100 block of Minnesota Avenue. About 20 minutes later, there was a call that came out for an individual waving a firearm in a parking lot in the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue. When officers arrived on the scene as they were exiting their vehicle, they saw a suspect. He was actually pointing and then fired around at another individual who was there. One of our officers discharged his firearm, striking that suspect. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He's still hospitalized, and we did recover the firearm from the suspect that's there. Okay, so right now that remains under investigation. But as you said, that prior shooting that led up to the officer-involved shooting is a homicide investigation. It is a homicide investigation, and the individual who was involved in the officer-involved shooting, that suspect, he has been charged with that homicide. Okay. Let's talk at large about, obviously, we're going into Halloween, and people just in general want to know about the status of safety in D.C., getting out, trick-or-treating, and how police are seeing it and what you're looking to tell people ahead of the big festivities. Sure. So Halloween's always a fun time. We have a lot of folks that are out. We have a lot of young people that come out inside the community. Of course, folks go downtown to go to the bars and restaurants. So safety is number one for us. We'll have officers deployed across the city this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to keep everyone safe. I know that you've got nighttime districts like DuPont, Adams Morgan, and you also have, I'm hoping, for added patrols, et cetera. Is that something that you're looking to do for especially those people that are looking to party? Absolutely. So we'll have additional officers out inside those areas. We'll also be doing alcohol enforcement. As you know, Halloween is a time when folks go out to enjoy themselves, but we don't want anybody to drink and drive. We want folks to use rideshare, public transportation, have a designated driver, but make sure you're out there and being safe. Young people will be out in costume, trick-or-treating, so slow down while you're out on the roadways. Okay. Just taking a look at the data at a glance and the crime stats that you all have posted, it looks as though violent crime in general is down from the past year, but assaults with dangerous weapons, much of those including shootings, they are up nearly 40%. Burglaries are also up right now. What is leading to that trend right now? Sure. So overall, shootings are actually down. this year compared to last year, but our ADWs are up. What we see, we see about 30% of that involves domestic violence. You know, we pushed a lot this year with their No DV campaign to make sure folks are aware of the signs related to domestic violence. They know how to get assistance. It's an area that we continue to push with that. We've had several high-profile homicides this year that involve domestic violence, so it's an area that we continue to focus on. Also with that, you know, in general, just some of the ADWs, some of the other objects, stabbings and things like that. So really just focusing on those areas where we have seen an increase. The challenge with domestic violence and things that happen inside of residences, a lot of times folks may not want to feel comfortable calling the police. So knowing those resources that are there beforehand is the key to that. We're still under, if you will, some sort of National Guard emergency order where they remain on the streets of D.C. The White House task force is saying that initially about 6,000 of those guards member boots on the ground in D.C. That's nearly half now below 3,000. Do Do you believe the National Guard was effective in assisting the Metropolitan Police Department in deterring crime across the city? Sure. So the National Guard has been out for several months inside areas across the downtown area. You know, for me, my number one priority is making sure that we have the number of officers that we really need. You know, National Guard, great to have them out there, but what we really want to do is get our numbers back up to the Metropolitan Police Department so we have the appropriate number of members of our department to patrol across the city. They know the community better, and they know the issues here in the city. What's your current staffing level? So today we sit at 3,167, which, you know, several years ago we had about 3,800, 3,900, 4,000 is kind of the goal number we've looked for. So our numbers are staying fairly steady. This year we lost less officers than we did last year, but we're really looking to increase that number. How are you going to get 1,000 officers, additional officers on the street? What are you going to do? Sure, so obviously looking at a bunch of different things that we can do. Looking at, you know, the challenge for us is there's a lot of other police departments in this area, so it's a very competitive market. So for us, looking at ways to get more people in their campaigns and also things like this, just talking to the media, you know, MPD is hiring. It's a great career, has a great retirement. We have a hiring bonus. So MPD is the place to be. The nation's capital is like no other police department. So come join MPD. All right. Well, it seems like you want to strengthen the force here. You're at an interim status right now. Election night will be on Tuesday. We've got a new presumptive mayor elect, as we know, that Democrats usually win elections in D.C. that'll be Janice Lewis-George. Have you spoken to her? So I've had conversations with a council member in general. You know, the main thing for me is being the interim chief or not. I've been with the Metropolitan Police Department for over 24 years, pushing 25 years at this point. My goal is to be here to keep the city safe, to work with the department. We have a great police department. The officers are out here every day doing the work that we need, trying to keep the community safe. Homicide numbers are down. As I mentioned, shootings are down. Overall crime in the city is down. So we're just going to continue to push forward and keep the city safe. Do you want to be the chief of police under Mayor Janice Lewis-George? Well, I've enjoyed my time here as being the interim chief of police, but really my number one goal is not about being the chief or not being the chief. It's keeping the city safe and moving this department forward. You said you're a couple months away from retirement at 25 years. You could retire at 25 years of service. Would you like to be chief at retirement? You know, I have a lot of options that are out there. Really, I'm not focused about being the chief or not being the chief. I'm just focused about moving forward. Okay. Interim Chief Jeffrey Carroll with the D.C. Police Department, we so appreciate it. Thank you for stopping by. Great. Thank you. We'll be right back. If you're feeling sick, doctors say rhinovirus and enterovirus, two viruses that can cause common cold symptoms spreading as we speak. And while flu season has started earlier than usual, cases remain low. So how can you tell the difference and what should you know to protect yourself? Chief Medical Officer for HealthTrack Rx, Dr. Steve Goldberg is joining us now. And I know, doctor, we've been talking about how much sooner the flu has started, at least season and cases, and it's usually after Halloween. And yet we've seen already a spate of these flu cases. However, rhinovirus, it seems as though that's really what is around us. What's that all about? Rhinovirus and enterovirus are about 40 out of 100 positive respiratory tests. So it's the dominant type of bug that's making people uncomfortable. I say uncomfortable because most of the time the symptoms are limited. In contrast, flu right now is about one in a hundred respiratory tests, RSV about one in a hundred, and COVID about four in a hundred. So it's really a rhinovirus, enterovirus, respiratory season, as it usually is. But most of the time, the symptoms are mild, and there's so many of them, it's just not practical to make a vaccine. Okay, so that seems to be a first line of defense in many cases, especially for COVID and flu. Not in this case. So how do we protect ourselves? uh be aware and so that means if you're feeling ill don't play hurt don't go to school don't go to work if you're around others wash your hands cover your mouth when coughing at your house or school clean the doorknobs clean surfaces and then just rest and that for most people is enough however if you're very young you're very old you're pregnant you're immunocompromised you have heart or lung conditions and you get respiratory symptoms, think about getting seen and the doctor might decide to get a specific test to know exactly what's going on, such as the testing we do. It doesn't sound as though it's really, I don't want to say like qualify it to some degree if it's better or worse, but what it sounds like it's not as bad as the flu, if you will, and something that you can take care at home for the most part. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So often what you get is a runny nose, sneezing, sore throat. You don't get hit like a wallop where you get body aches, high fever, shortness of breath or other. It's usually very, very mild. That is how you tell the difference. And for most people, that's your signal just to rest. However, if you have more serious symptoms, get evaluated and get specific testing to know exactly what is going on. All right. Certainly food for thought here as we approach this season where everyone's coughing and sneezing. We're trying to figure out what it is, and it's really handling symptoms seems to be a priority at this hour. Dr. Stephen Goldberg, we always appreciate it. Thank you. You bet, Marina. All right, stay with us. When we come back, we'll check in with Kaylin Roth and our weather team, see what they're tracking. Of course, all the Halloween festivities. And as we lead in to November, remember, Sunday, we're turning our clocks back. We'll talk all about that on the other side of this break. Sunshine continues. And, yes, Halloween is this weekend. Will the great weather stick around? Let's give you outside and give you a live look right now from our National Harbor camera. The clouds are gone. There's the spooky trick. No more clouds as we check in with our Kaylin Roth. This is about as perfect as it gets. And I imagine today, tomorrow will be even better, Kaylin. I mean, we just keep having one perfect day after another. Amazing. Incredible. Can't make this up at the end of October. We had a little bit of cloud cover yesterday, some fog this morning. But then, you know, we get right back to it. And Friday is going to be amazing. Halloween Eve. So love it. Nice and warm, which is great for, you know, any of the classroom parties or the early trick-or-treating, you know, round one, the preview round, the, you know, kind of excitement of the whole weekend starting tomorrow. And it will be a stunning day just like today, maybe even a touch warmer. But a live look out at Prince William Marina, gorgeous blue sky afternoon. Even down in Prince William County, you're seeing those leaves change. It's beautiful. Jen's about to give us an update on the fall foliage. We are getting awful close to peak around here. 70 degrees back at Reagan National, so just kind of what we expected. The fog burned off pretty quickly, and temperatures are rising to about 70, maybe getting to about 71 or 72 this afternoon. That's where we're out to the south and west. They had less fog this morning in northern Virginia, so it's 75 in Culpeper, 73 in Manassas and Quantico and Fredericksburg, 65 in Annapolis, 71 in Baltimore, and 70 in Westminster. So a lot of H's on the map, indicating we continue to see high pressure deliver us this fantastic weather cool front back out across the great lakes that's actually going to come through tomorrow into saturday that will come through dry as any cold front in the past two weeks generally has but it will make it much more seasonal for this weekend in terms of our temperatures so 65 degrees at sunset tonight uh 6 10 p.m that sun's going down and you know we're falling back this weekend we've been talking about it for weeks now it's well timed with Halloween on Saturday, and much needed the extra hour of sleep. I think anyone would take that trade, despite the fact that the sun will be setting shortly after 5 p.m. starting on Sunday. And then we slide. We do the Great Descent as we approach the winter solstice. So that's about six weeks of getting less and less daylight, both in the evenings and then again in the mornings. Overnight tonight, 40s outside the Beltway, 54 here in D.C., a warm one, and it starts quickly. So, with nothing but sunshine and a nice breeze, we should see these temperatures spike into the mid-70s and well above normal for late October. I mean, look at some of these numbers well into the 70s to the south and west. 78, Quantico and Manassas. 79, Fredericksburg and Culpeper. We're getting close to 80-degree territory. Okay, Halloween forecast, as we've been talking about all week, courtesy of our vampire chief here. 63 degrees on Saturday. Cooler, yes, but dry. some spooky clouds mixed in it's not too warm for the early trick-or-treaters like if you're going out at 4 or 5 p.m it's just perfect for costumes and then sunday nice day here 65 degrees partly sunny remember of course sun's going down an hour earlier so when is our next chance of rain by sunday that will mark two weeks straight of no rainfall around here and you know getting to the point where we're going to need some earlier in the week it looked like certainly by monday this low-pressure system would reach us. But this will be very much slowed down by extremely strong high-pressure overhead. And you notice this European model takes days to reach us. We're talking about the first chance of rain, really not until next Thursday, maybe Friday. But that Thursday-Friday time frame is where we're looking. Drought monitor updated today. As we've been showing, the contrast between now and September 1st. I mean, we made big inroads through July and August. But starting off meteorological fall, we still had a moderate drought along the Blue Ridge in Northern Maryland. That has shrunk considerably. This week's update, basically no different from last week. It'll be interesting to see as we get into next week if it hasn't rained yet, if that abnormally dry area or even that drought area starts to expand. Along with remaining dry, we'll be warm to start the month of November. Fall in general has been warm. Yes, we've had some chillier days, but really it's been above normal September, October, and that's really how we're going to lead into the next month so there's your seven-day forecast gorgeous friday nice and calm weekend clocks go back into monday we go seasonal but then temperatures are back into the 70s the middle of next week clouds may build on thursday and that could be our first chance to see any rain but suffice it to say marina we're going to get almost another full third week out of this great dry quiet pattern yeah and mid 70s i mean how much more pleasant and perfect because you don't have that like summer humidity that oh yeah it's just great i mean this the the stretch we've had is one of the best i can remember in literally years so just keeps going keep it going yeah keep it going caitlin we'll see you back at four o'clock thank you and the fall weather has been spectacular almost time for peak foliage and parts of the DMV Fox 5 meteorologist Jennifer Aguado live from Gambrel State Park in Frederick Maryland where can we call it peak at this point jen because it's pretty perfect outside it is perfect outside we're getting close now out in Frederick they said uh they're expecting as we go into this weekend and into next week it's actually running about two weeks behind schedule here you can look a lot of colors are showing up right now we are at Gambrel State Park in the overlook and you look over here you see the blue a gorgeous blue day with the blue sky trees are popping there are still some green trees out here but there's still a lot of leaves and a lot of leaves will be changing as we go into this weekend now we caught up with some folks out here and they had this to say about what they're seeing right now and the colors that are changing let's listen in i would say the gold and the reds the maples yeah the reds the reds and the golds it's it's also beautiful the maryland has such a blue bright blue sky always it's just incredible so the backdrop of the the bright blue sky with the leaves it's just gorgeous oh how do you feel about this year's fall foliage looks very nice we come up here a couple of times a week do you feel like it's at peak right now or what do you think oh it's getting ready it's not maybe it's there i don't know all right well you heard from some folks there now we're going to talk to the experts we have dave and dave uh you are the executive director for visit frederick city and county so what are we seeing out here and when can we expect peak bloom well i tell you peaks coming right around the corner jen first of all welcome to frederick it's great to have you here and we got some drone video we want to put that up so people can see it in case they're not able to come out here but there's a lot of good reasons to oh yeah we're thinking this weekend in celebration of halloween we could be hitting peak and there's so much to do here in frederick county for everyone right you know and the weather really kind of played a part this year it's running about two weeks behind because we had a lot of rainfall in the cooler temperatures you're expecting to see a lot of color changes this year. We are really. And we have so many farm festivals and other activities going on in Frederick. Again, fun for the whole family. We have outdoor recreation. We have craft beverage entities, wineries, distilleries, and breweries. So there's something for everyone in the family. Right. Okay. So we know that, as you were saying, that you're expecting to peak to start this weekend. But as we go through about the next two weeks, we're going to continue to see more of those trees like the oaks. Those are the colors that still a lot of people like to see as well. It will be. It will be everlasting over the next couple of weeks. And so it is delayed than usual, and we're getting into our stride right now with our foliage. All right. Thank you so much, Dave. I want to point out something over here. Marina, you know how they always say that ladybugs bring good luck? So the ladybugs were all over us, and they're just all over this part of Gambrill State Park. It's just kind of so special. You can see some of the ladybugs right here. See them? Yeah, I love it. Hopefully you can see them. A beautiful day out there. So apparently they are into leaf peeping. Well, they are, and they're bringing you some good luck, Jen. So enjoy it. Beautiful day out there. Thank you for taking us to Frederick. All right. Something that may not be as positive, inflation heating up again, even if Americans keep spending. New data showing consumer prices rising 3.6% over the past year in September, up from 3.4% back in August. while consumer spending continues to support the economy adjusted for inflation spending was flat the numbers could also put more pressure on the federal reserve to raise interest rates in december we've got senior economist ryan young and the fed just met what do things look like right now ryan as it relates as we go into this holiday season and seeing that we're on the cusp of that four percent inflation yeah inflation's high and it's going to stay high but the good news is we did get some GDP numbers out this morning that are actually well above average. The economy usually grows at 2%, maybe a touch higher, and the numbers out this morning, 3.4%. That's good. But like you pointed out, a lot of that is because people are spending more. And between gas prices, tariffs, and overall inflation, some of that money is just people spending more but getting the same amount. You pay more for the same tank of gas. You pay more for the same meal at a restaurant. So the economy's doing okay, but also people's real wages aren't quite keeping pace with inflation, so there's more to do. Are you surprised that yesterday the Fed decided on a 10-to-2 vote to keep rates unchanged? There were only two people that suggested raising that quarter-point increase on the rate? That was what most people were expecting, including me. Basically, we are entering a cycle where the Fed is going to keep raising rates, and they prefer to do things gradually and in small steps. At their previous meeting, they raised rates a quarter of a percentage point. This time they sat still. When they meet again in December, look for another quarter point increase. And then throughout 2027, look for either one or two more increases. So they like to do it in small steps instead of all at once so they don't shock the economy or mess with financial markets too badly. Yeah, what does the cautious pause really tell us? I mean, is this something that presumably because things like the GDP and the people are still spending, they have the ability to keep things slow and to not every meeting raise the rate? Yeah, if they were to raise rates at every meeting over the course of a year, you'd see interest rates go up by two percentage points, which is a lot that can have a massive effect on people's mortgages, credit card debts and other unintended consequences of trying to get inflation back under control. So the Fed's trying to thread a needle. There's plenty of room for criticism, but by and large, the cautious approach seems to be the right one. And a moderate response, which is good, right? I mean, it wasn't something where it shut down the markets. You didn't see a crazy run. So stability. Yes. Stability is the key word. When you have tariffs going up and down every week, who knows what's going on in Iran and with gas prices from week to week. Stability is the key word. And the Fed wants things to be predictable. And the reason markets didn't jump too much either way at the news yesterday's because they had already priced that in. Everyone was already expecting the Fed to hold things steady. So markets just took the news as expected. All right. Always good to talk to you, Ryan. Thank you much. And we'll see what happens in that December meeting. Stay with us. We'll be right back. National Cherry Blossom Festival. Diana Mayhew with us because next year is the centennial of the first Cherry Blossom celebration back in 1927, making this D.C.'s longest running festival. And today, artwork revealed and so are some key dates about next year's festival. What can you break with us in news wise Diana for next year? So festival less than five months away already. We're just starting with the winter but spring is only less than five months away. March 20th through April 10th we have four weeks anchored by actually five weekends of great events but we are really proud Washington DC's longest-running festival, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, will be celebrating 100 years since the first gift, since the festival to celebrate the gift. And then we will have new, the traditional things you'll see, you're familiar with, but also some new surprises and ways to get involved. And the city will be illuminated more than ever in pink and blossoms, even into the region. It is something that I think, thankfully, the DMV really buys into because it is such an amazing gift and to be able to have celebrated it now for a hundred years and obviously it makes it a very special one to celebrate the 100th festival. What can you tell us about the surprises that you've got coming up? So we're going to invite people to really step into this festival. We have a procession that we're working on that will be with illuminated art sculptures and we're going to invite people to come and help create them and actually be a part of it in the Navy Yard Bid Petal Palooza, great performances that we'll be having there. I'm really fortunate that M&T is coming on board to help us even make this event better and bolder than ever. Tell us about the artists, because art is always such a big part of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Who is the official artist for next year? So exciting. We announced that today, Chris Pirate. He's a local D.C. artist. His heart is in Washington, D.C. His passion is to use cherry blossoms in a lot of his art. Go to nationalcherryblossomfestival.org and you'll see it. But he's incorporated the spirit of Washington, D.C. that will appeal to visitors and residents specifically, just really getting the essence of how broad the festival goes across the community. We're seeing that announcement today and some of his artwork there just how colorful and beautiful and when you're from here you carry a cherry blossom with you for sure so good to see that he's local and his beautiful artwork what's new this year anything that you guys uh surprises that maybe we can expect as a part of that centennial or how people can get involved well definitely we're looking for volunteers right now it takes thousands of volunteers to help coordinate starting now all the way through the end of the festival again so you can sign up online we have so many fun things there's events dc presents the National Cherry Blossom Festival to go down Constitution Avenue. There'll be new surprises. But also, you have the opportunity to carry balloons and to help carry banners and just help with that whole day, which takes about 500 volunteers just for the parade by itself. So lots of fun things. We're bringing out back some of our old friends, the artists from previous years, throughout the last 25 years, to come and reimagine their artwork and put those into all the different neighborhoods. Very, very cool. 100 years of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We've got to do it big this year. We wish you all the best of luck. And you had me at five months. That's where I'm stuck. I'm like, okay, I can see my way past this winter into the cherry blossoms because we can make it there to the 100th anniversary. Thank you so much for stopping by. We appreciate it. Thank you. We welcome everybody to come on and join us. We'll talk to you come March, I'm sure. Yes, thank you. All right, it is Take Home Thursday, And that means we've got a furry friend that's waiting for us. So let's go check in with Reds in Austin because they've been training hard and looking for a new home, a forever home for Reds. And hopefully we can find that. So Austin is with us here with this cute guy. What's going on? Good. Hey, bud. All right. Hi, Reds. Oh, he's ready to play. Hi. Hi, hi, hi. All right. So adopt me. I think it's very clear based on this very cute vest that he's got. Tell us about Reds and how you're hoping to place him. Guys, so Reds came to us to train for about two months ago. And so during that time, we worked on leash manners, getting him around other people and dogs. The dog is super social. Like, he gets along great with dogs. I can see that tail. He's wagging. He's happy. So an ideal home for him would be an active family. Older kids would be great. Okay. He would get along with another house dog. And then our goal is whoever is going to adopt him is going to get, like, follow-up help. So that way they can keep the dog. Okay. Because our goal here with this partnering is I want to be able to help dogs stay in homes longer and help people connect with their animal better. Not to constantly be rehoming them, but to make sure that this is truly a forever home, which I know is a big project. I mean, he's about three, four years old. I see why he's named Red. I can see a little bit of the auburn coloring here. Beautiful guy, and he seems he's very friendly. Oh, yeah, you like a little lick? Okay, okay. I know you can smell some sweets on my hands. He's got a wagging tail. So, I mean, this guy looks, there you go. he deserves it all right tell us how people can adopt reds or if they're looking to get in touch with the SPCA and see what other animals you've got up for adoption perfect so they have the PG SPCA website you can get on there you can fill out a form i also have another dog that they have named Hazel okay there's another great dog a little bit smaller but these two dogs are great they just need the perfect home so fill out your application and then they do a two-week program where you can have the dog for those two weeks and then if it works out great, if not it's like a semi-foster situation and then you can just transition into keeping them forever, yep I love this, he's so sweet and he says you are just camera ready, he knows where to look and everything to do good training Austin, all right let's get our Reds a forever home, hey bud thanks for coming by, we'll get you a good home, thank you Austin, we appreciate it, get out there with the SPCA, we'll be right back here on the DMV zone, you know tell us all about, yeah sad breaking news from Hollywood, unfortunately Sir Patrick Stewart, who is best known probably for his roles in both Star Trek The Next Generation as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and as Charles Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X in the X-Men franchise, has died. He was 86 years old. Apparently, he had a short and poignant battle with Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia, of course. You can see the post that they made on Instagram for him. they're asking for in lieu of donations, excuse me in lieu of flowers that donations be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Research Center so yeah I mean cultural icon absolutely, I mean crossing from the sci-fi genre into the comic book genre if you've ever seen the movie Logan with Hugh Jackman, that was one of the best I mean the the role that stands out to me in as Charles Xavier, so he was even knighted, I mean I think he was, yeah he was a classically trained actor, he had a celebrated career on stage as well so definitely hits, hits hard for all the fans of Star Trek and the X-Men, fortunately though i do believe he is going to be back on the big screen this december in the new avengers doomsday movie which is bringing the x-men into the marvel cinematic universe i know that's that's for someone like you who has probably never seen But I think what's poignant here is that this is a person, right, who was obviously Star Trek is such a cultural phenomenon, was able to maintain the career and relevance in different spheres, including to still be part of the Avengers franchise. That's huge. I mean, and both things equally culturally relevant at different time periods. I mean, certainly not my cup of tea. I don't know. Through his 70s and 80s as well. He was also one of those guys that, you know, I grew up watching Star Trek The Next Generation, late 80s, early 90s. I would have thought he was, like, in his 70s and 80s then. He was one of those guys who just looked the same for the last 50 years. That in Hollywood is huge. He also had a very close personal friendship with the actor who played Magneto in the X-Men movies, Ian. Slipped my mind. But they had Ian McKellen, yeah. From the Lord of the Rings as well. We got a lot of Star Trek and we got a lot of X-Men fans in this building. So, yeah, sad news there from Hollywood. Thank you for bringing us that breaking news because we just got that into the newsroom and it really took over here at Fox 5. We appreciate it. We'll see you in the Zoom room at 7.30. Do you like it or not? We'll be back. Maybe Friday, but it feels like Friday outside. It sure does. I mean, it's been delightful all weekend. Good news. It's going to carry on. Get ready. Tomorrow's going to be warm. Costumes are going to be safe, too. That's good for us parents. Yeah, no rain, sunny skies. It's going to be a great Halloween weekend. Two thumbs up, guys. All right, thank you. The news at 4.