It’s going to be a long holiday weekend travel-wise, which means most roadwork in the D.C. region will be suspended. There will be changes on Metrorail to facilitate travel downtown for Fourth of July festivities.

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• WTOP has compiled some useful guides for celebrating Independence Day.

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The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration suspended major lane closures for nonemergency roadwork on major roads and interstates from 5 a.m. Thursday, June 30, through 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 5. You can always check its website for real-time traffic information.

The busy summer travel season continues this weekend as families and friends gather to celebrate the Fourth of July. With heavy traffic anticipated on state highways, bridges and at BWI Airport, MDOT urges everyone to embrace the spirit of civic responsibility by traveling with safety, awareness and courtesy.

AAA Mid-Atlantic expects more than 977,460 Marylanders to travel this Fourth of July weekend. Despite gas prices, 90% of those travelers — nearly 880,000 — will hit the roadways, a slight increase over 2021.

Travelers should anticipate congestion beginning Thursday, June 30, along US-50 to Ocean City, Interstate 70 and Interstate 68 toward Western Maryland, and Interstate 95 north toward Delaware. Volumes are expected to be heavy Saturday, Sunday, Monday and even Tuesday, as travelers return home.

The Bay Bridge and the US-50 corridor are expected to be busy throughout the weekend. For those using the Bay Bridge, motorists are reminded to stay on US-50 on both sides of the bridge to keep local roadways open for first responders and residents. The best times to travel the Bay Bridge this holiday include:

• Friday, July 1 — before 7 a.m. and after 10 p.m.
• Saturday, July 2 — before 7 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
• Sunday, July 3 — before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
• Monday, July 4 — before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 5 — before 6 a.m. and after 5 p.m.

Weather- and traffic volume-permitting, the Maryland Transportation Authority will use two-way operations to help alleviate eastbound delays at the bridge. As a reminder, two-way operations are prohibited during bridge wind warnings and restrictions, fog, or times of precipitation. Learn more about two-way operations here.

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• Listen to WTOP online and on the radio at 103.5 FM or 107.7 FM.
• Current traffic conditions
• Weather forecast
• Closings and Delays
• Sign up for WTOP alerts

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Upcoming Roadwork

With most roadwork suspended, there is a new travel pattern expected on Interstate 66 as part of the Transform 66 Outside of the Beltway Project, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday, July 5, if weather allows.

According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, on I-66 West the travel lanes at Nutley Street will shift to a new roadway configuration. The two right lanes will be temporarily separated from the two left lanes while construction continues — drivers will stay to the right to exit to the Vienna/Fairfax/GMU Metro station.

Travel lanes on I-66 West between Nutley Street and Vaden Drive will be shifted to a new, long-term configuration beginning the early morning hours on or about Wednesday, July 6.

When this traffic change is implemented, the two right travel lanes will be separated from the two left travel lanes by barrier. Drivers will be directed by signs and message boards to stay to the right at the lane split to exit to the Vienna/Fairfax/GMU Metro station (Country Creek Road and Virginia Center Boulevard).

This temporary traffic pattern will remain in place for approximately two months.

The ramps from Virginia Center Boulevard to I-66 West and from I-66 West to Vienna/Fairfax/GMU Metro station will reopen during the early morning hours on or about Wednesday, July 6, as part of the implementation of this traffic shift.

These ramps have been temporarily closed to allow construction to advance. Additionally, the future Express Lanes ramp from Vaden Drive to I-66 West that was temporarily opened as a detour route for buses only will be closed when this shift is implemented.

Metro

Due to the reduced number of railcars available for service, Metro capacity will be less than on previous Fourth of July holidays. That means customers should be prepared for longer wait times, up to 60 minutes at times, and for crowding to occur, especially at the conclusion of the fireworks.

Metro Transit police may temporarily restrict entry to stations experiencing excessive crowding to prevent unsafe conditions on the platforms. Delay post-firework travel to Metro stations, if possible, to allow crowds to disperse. Planning your trip in advance is strongly encouraged.

Customers are encouraged to:

• Select a destination station on the same line as your origin to avoid the need to transfer.
• Delay return travel after the fireworks, if possible. Consider taking advantage of restaurants and other attractions downtown and at the Wharf to allow crowding to subside.
• Consider utilizing a station other than Smithsonian, which typically sees the most crowding. The Mall side of Smithsonian will become ‘entry only’ after 9 p.m. to accommodate crowds.

Other convenient options include:

• Foggy Bottom (may become ‘entry only’ after fireworks)
• Metro Center
• Federal Triangle
• Archives
• Gallery Place
• Judiciary Square
• Union Station
• L’Enfant Plaza
• Capitol South
• Federal Center SW
• Arlington Cemetery (open until 11 p.m.)

Avoid lines at fare vending machines by loading enough value for your entire round-trip in advance on your SmarTrip card.

SmarTrip mobile pay is your best option. Download the SmarTrip app for iOS or Android to buy a One-Day Pass for $13 or purchase a mobile SmarTrip card with enough round-trip value for you and all your travelers.

If possible, consider using Metrobus to get to and from downtown. Expect detours and delays due to road closures around the National Mall. For the latest information, visit wmata.com/service, sign up for MetroAlerts, and follow @metrobusinfo on Twitter.

Metro will operate on a normal weekend schedule, opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 1 a.m. Saturday and midnight Sunday and Monday. Trains will serve 86 of 91 stations with only normal weekend service levels during daytime hours.

On Independence Day, Monday, July 4, Metro will operate regular weekday service levels with supplemental service on the Red Line and additional trains positioned throughout the system for extra capacity as needed.

Customers are reminded that five stations on the Orange Line between Stadium-Armory and New Carrollton are closed through Labor Day, Sept. 5, for the Platform Improvement Project, with additional weekend closures throughout the summer on the Silver and Blue lines between Stadium-Armory and Benning Road stations for aerial structure repairs.

The full weekend schedule with service adjustments can be found here.

Is it still true that blondes have more fun?

That was the question asked by the ancient Clairol TV ad. And I am asking, not for a friend, but for a fiend.

His (or maybe her) name is Jacob Guerrero, indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Boston for sexually exploiting an 11-year-old girl in Norfolk.

After staking out her home for days, this alleged degenerate climbed to the roof of her family’s garage and videotaped the child naked inside her own home as she got ready for bed.

Although he (or is it she?) is only 23, Jacob has quite the rap sheet already. The cops say he’s been involved in sex crimes in at least three states.

And as you can see from the accompanying photographs, Guerrero likes to, uh, dress up, especially when he’s hanging out in ladies’ rooms.

In a memorandum filed in federal court in Sacramento in support of detaining the California native, the G-men included some of Guerrero’s earlier cat-walk struts around the outlet mall in Wrentham.

One of the photos was snapped by a cisgender female in a ladies’ room in Wrentham. Guerrero is clad in what I guess what the fashionistas would call activewear. His hair, er wig, is blonde, which is a departure from what appears to be his standard-issue black hair in the mugshot taken by the Wrentham Police Department.

Guerrero also occasionally steps out in a red female wig, as you can see from a different surveillance photo included in the feds’ motion to detain.

Last August, he was captured on surveillance video at the mall at 7:55 Wednesday night in his favorite gals-night-out outfit wearing a blonde wig. Two days later, at 5:25 p.m., he donned a red wig.

But the most significant part of Guerrero’s fashion statement is his footwear, specifically, what are attached to his sneakers:

“Authorities reviewing the photo later noticed that GUERRERO appeared to have long, dark-colored, cylindrical items (pen cameras) attached to his shoes – shoes which also appeared unusually long.”

The better, of course, for photographing females in a state of undress, either in the bathrooms or the changing rooms of clothing stores at the mall:

“The employees reported that on one occasion, a customer had complained, in sum and substance, that a male in a wig was waving his foot at the dressing room while her teenaged daughter was changing.”

Nice, huh? Remember a few years back, when lunatic judges began ruling that men dressed in female attire could use women’s facilities, at least as long as they “identified” as female.

What could possibly go wrong?

Down on Route 24, a woman was soon murdered in the ladies’ room of a fast-food restaurant by a cross-dresser. At Massachusetts General Hospital, a woman was attacked by a guy in a remote part of the complex while using a women’s restroom. Then Target announced a new national restroom policy and … can you guess what happened next?

And if anyone ever dared to point out the obvious, he or she was denounced, canceled, doxxed as a cisgender transphobe homophobe etc. etc. etc.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey sneered at any women worried about dudes in the ladies’ room, telling them that if they had a problem they should just “hold it.”

It was probably the most deranged thing Maura ever said, at least until 2020, when she endorsed the nationwide George Floyd looting-and-arson crime wave as a good thing:

“America is burning. And that’s how forests grow.”

Back to Guerrero. The feds describe him as a true mall menace, “behaving in an odd and disturbing manner toward … minor girls in a bathroom at the mall,” as well as stalking at least one adult woman “following her from stall to stall.”

But it was worse than that. According to the motion to detain him, he also molested family members, including children as young as 3 and 5. He set up hidden cameras in bathrooms, in the manner of a former state rep from Malden.

“He targeted children. This is not the behavior of a stable or controlled individual. This is the behavior of a dangerous, obsessed and calculating individual.”

As horrifying as Guerrero’s behavior was at the Wrentham mall, it was worse elsewhere. He was working south of Boston last year, the feds say, “as a driver for a sub-contractor that delivered goods for Amazon.”

Wonderful. What a “prime” job for scouting out locations for more perving. And indeed, he “targeted multiple children, in multiple homes.”

The federal crime he’s charged with came after his phone was checked following his arrest in Wrentham. His phone records indicated that he scouted out multiple suburban homes, making notes on his cellphone on such details as “teens” and “good trees” or that some nights the girls took “no showers.”

On one night, Guerrero recorded:

“No sign of older daughter from 8:15-8:50. Neighbors have good sight to one bedroom. Motion lights and dog :(“

As the feds noted:

“It is truly telling that, when writing a note to reflect how the presence of a dog, or motion-sensing lights, might frustrate or impede his efforts to sexually exploit Minor A and her siblings, GUERRERO made a joke to himself using the ‘frowny face’ emoticon :(. It says everything about this person, that he would joke about circumstances that might prevent him from sexually exploiting a child … That is the real person before this Court.”

This is the United States of America in 2022, where blondes do have more fun.

At least if they’re in drag, and wearing a wig.

Celebrate diversity.

MOVIE REVIEW

‘SNIPER: THE WHITE RAVEN’

Rated R. In Ukrainian with subtitles. On VOD.

Grade A-

An alternately rousing and mournful call to arms, Ukraine’s “Sniper: The White Raven” is an amazingly relevant film at a time when Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine and waged war for four devastating months. The film begins in 2014 with the battle between Ukrainians and Russians and pro-Russian separatists in Donbas. It is in many ways a Ukrainian “American Sniper.”

Actor, musician and photographer Pavlo Aldoshyn is marvelously charismatic in the role of real-life Ukrainian sniper Mykolo Voronin, who co-wrote the screenplay. After the murder of his pregnant wife Nastya (Maryna Koshinka) at the hands of barbaric invading soldiers, Mykolo, a physics teacher and eco-settler in Donetsk, enlists in “sniper school,” where he undergoes rigorous training in scenes that will be familiar to fans of such films as “Full Metal Jacket.”

“Sniper: The Raven” is the more real and more resonant “Top Gun” movie. Before her death, Mykolo’s artist wife Nastya had given her husband, who takes the nickname Raven in her honor, a small, cross-shaped wooden angel she carved, swearing it would protect his life. Armed with the angel, which was saved from the fire set by the soldiers, and an old, banged-up sniper rifle, Mykolo earns his nickname in battle and is taken under wing by his paternal superior officer Cap (Andry Mostrenko).

“Sniper: The White Raven” resounds with the beats of war stories of this kind. But because it is set in Ukraine and based on a true story, it has more resonance and urgency than the current hit sequel to the aforementioned “Top Gun.” In opening scenes, Mykolo teaches a class the physics of speed and distance, two subjects that are going to be important to a sniper. One of his students is a pro-Russian separatist and a bully.

The oath the Ukrainian soldiers take as they are given their rank, “I serve the Ukrainian people,” has more ringing significance to us now, knowing what we know about the brave and righteous fight the outgunned Ukrainians have put up in the face of the Russian invasion. Aldoshyn’s Mykolo plays guitar and sings about “awakening” and “building strength.”

Four years after the beginning of the conflict, Mykolo hears someone on TV talk about how “Russia respects borders.” Mykolo drives himself back to the front to confront a Russian sniper capable of killing from a distance of 1.5 kilometers with a .50 caliber-sized gun. Talk about physics. Mykolo leads a raid on the sniper’s lair in a factory where cyanide is produced and stored, risking a disaster.

“Sniper: The White Raven” will appeal to combat film buffs and supporters of Ukraine alike. First-time feature film director and co-writer Marian Bushan, whose previous effort was a TV sports documentary, handles both the cast and the action well, painting evocative images in smoke and mist.

The film’s hero, Mykolo Voronin, returned to service after the Feb. 2022 invasion by Russia, something referred to in the film’s stirringly patriotic closing scene. He is presumed to be still fighting as the film about his life and exploits is released in the United States. He serves the Ukrainian people.

(“Sniper: The White Raven” contains war violence, bloody images, nudity and profanity.)

MOVIE REVIEW

‘APPLES’

Not Rated. In Greek with subtitles. At Landmark Kendall Square.

Grade B

From Christos Nikou, the assistant director of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” comes “Apples,” a modern fable about a plague of amnesia cases in an analog, perhaps alternate universe Athens. Our tall, bearded and no longer youthful protagonist (Aris Servetalis) bangs his head against a wall as we see still life photos in opening scenes. We hear Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair.” Remember me, indeed. He dresses in monochrome colors, buys flowers and takes a bus, but he forgets to get off and cannot recall his name at the end of the line. This is the beginning of an adventure for the man dubbed 14842.

We remember seeing him in his flat and petting a neighbor’s dog as he leaves the building. But all he knows is that no one has searched for him, yet, and he finds an apple the hospital has given him with his dinner “delicious.” Amnesia cases have increased. No one has recovered. Dressed in hospital blues, the man faces tests and injections. He is “unclaimed” and must learn how to live again.

This will involve living alone in a flat, accepting visits from hospital staff from the “Disturbed Memory Department” and following increasingly complicated instructions involving socializing efforts. His medical caretakers visit him regularly. He speaks with a produce dealer about different apples. He takes bites of the peeled apples he eats from the same hand holding the paring knife. He takes selfie-like Polaroid photos of himself, following the order he receives in the mail. He keeps a scrapbook. Our man spends a lot of time staring into the distance.

“Apples,” which was shot in a square aspect ratio, adding to the boxy, truncated sense, boils life down to its Kafkaesque essence, which suggests that our sense of identity is an apparition and perhaps even meaningless, that we are merely nameless entities going through motions without meaning.

In a park, the man encounters the neighbor’s dog again and calls it by name. Is he beginning to remember his life? Following orders to “get close to a woman’s body,” the man goes to a strip club, gets a brief lap dance and takes a photo of the dancer. He meets another woman (Sofia Georgovasili), notably, at a movie theater showing “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” She can’t look at the screen. Afterwards, they chat and walk together. We want them to bond, if only to give us something more to look at, feel and think about. “Apples” can be bleak.

Not much happens in “Apples,” which was produced by Cate Blanchett, who obviously sees more in it than I do. The film is often like listening to a single note held for a very long time. In a sweet scene near the end, the protagonist feeds soup to an old man facing death in a hospital bed.

For reasons unexplained, the amnesia victims are not given new names, which is awkward and seems not very well thought out. The amnesiac world recalls our real-life pandemic and resonates in that way. But this gentle, metaphorical tale lacks solidity and threatens to lift off and float away.

(“Apples” contains profanity and scenes at a strip club.)