snowshowers. the wind is increasing and changing the direction. then the temperatures will fall. we have a wind advisory until midnight for the wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour. the wind gusts will increase. temperatures will fall. the big story by the morning is the wind chill. it will feel like the single digits. burst of snow on the leading edge of the cold front. reducing the visibility. look like winter wonderland in the areas that get it. then the skies will clear. we have more of what to expect in a few minute. maureen: thank you. leon: the d.c. county voted a year ago to not allowed a person to retire before discipline is implemented but

it was never implemented. sam ford is going to explain why. sam: we are in front of a fire house that is engine 20. a fire lieutenant here appears to be able to avoid punishment by retiring even though the d.c. counsel passed a law to -- d.c. council passed a law to prevent that because someone didn't implement the law. when the elderly cecil mills died from a heart attack across from a fire station that offered no health, the fire chief there colleen davis who faced disciplinary action retired before it could be carried out. then the d.c. coupcil passed a law to -- council passed a law to stop. so last year when an 18-month-old choked on a grape at his home and the fire lieutenant at engine 20 admitted he knew he was closer but failed to respond because another engine company 31 was dispatched he faced disciplinary action but was allowed to put in his paper last month for full retirement. why? >> i don't want to sound

critical but we could have written the legislation better. sam: the bottom line the council constructed the fire chief to change regs and nobody got around to it. chief gregory dean yet to take over so it didn't happen. the mayor today -- >> we want people to be held accountable and disciplined as they should be. >> yeah. so the fact it didn't make it in the regs? >> not good. sam: firefighter retirement under the disciplinary investigation amendment act could have fine a person up to $5,000 even after they retire. >> mr. chairman, how do the other laws that you have that pass -- >> this happens from time to time. good drafting we would haven't done it this way. sam: if you have a law -- >> it doesn't change the fact our intent was clear. sam: now he refuses to say that the fire lieutenant will avoid punishment. but at this point the law is still not on the books. the fire department spokesman says now it's in the process, it takes effect in a month.

maureen: it has been a year since smoke filled the l'enfant plaza killing one personned a making others sick. today many filed suit and they say they suffer from lingering health effects. they say wmata failed to disclose chemicals in the smoke. >> it doesn't feel like anything will change for the better or has in the last year. everyone who should be taking responsibility, metro, protecting themselves. maureen: you might remember carroll glove died as a result of the smoke incident and her family filed a separate lawsuit. the pentagon says it received

assurances that the navy votes will be returned safely and promptly. they were going between kuwait and bahrain when they had mechanical trouble. secretary of state john kerry has been in contact with them about the incident. leon: tonight, president obama delivers the final "state of the union" address. this is what it looks like in 2009 and here is what he looks like today seven years later. grayer for sure. chief political correspondent scott thuman in the capitol hill bureau. what do we expect the president to make a big push for tonight? scott: you showed the distance over seven years the. the president wants to say he is not a lame duck just because he only has one year left. tonight they want to be careful to make sure it doesn't look like a victory lap speech.

but they want to stress here is what can still be accomplished. doesn't need to be a throw-away year. between the congress and democratic white house. and he would be criticized for the lack of plan on how to defeat terrorism. leon: so how much of what we hear tonight is designed for people two were there in the room versus those of us watching? scott: great question. right now a recent survey shows seven out of ten people feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. he needs to turn it around. he is aware of the numbers. he tries to stress to the public there is reason to

hope. the other thing is the audience dwindled significantly. there were 60 million eight years ago and now it's closer to 30 million. the president wants to give people reason to believe the optimism, the city, the administration and the hill is not broken. leon: we appreciate that. we will see you this evening. you can watch the "state of the union" address on abc7 and newschannel8 at 7:00. we will take a -- starting at 9:00. we will take a look at the main points at 11:00. maureen: now the war on terror. turkish prime minister says isis is to blame for a suicide bombing in istanbul that killed ten people. most of them german tourists. it happened in the blue mosque in the heart of istanbul. gemini and the other countries are warning the citizens to avoid public areas in turkey in the wake of this attack. leon: coming up next, why some fairfax county officials

having safety concerns for students on super tuesday. alison: plus, what the law enforcement officials ask today as they converge on the maryland state capitol. leon: power ball is for all americans to play. but what about the lottery employees? still ahead where they have to go if they want a chance at the $1.5 billion. maureen: phone lines are open for you to ask the dog trainer. we have a team of the trainers standing by in the abc7 help center. just call 703-236-9220. with your questions about your pooches.

maureen: they say one deal is especially important. >> if the governor veto is overriden people can drive around in a car and spoke a joint and not be subject to same penalties they would be subjected to if they were drinking a beer or other alcoholic beverage. maureen: police are concerned over another veto of a bill that limits money seized from the marijuana dealers. the legislature reconvenes tomorrow. leon: the officials in fairfax county want to close schools on super tuesday. this stems that the g.o.p. affirm they are republicans before they vote in the march 1 primary. county leaders worry it could lead to arguments putting children inside the schools used as polling maces as risk. school board has to vote on the idea. still ahead at 6:00 -- how even lottery employees

request get in on the -- employees can get in on the game. maureen: snowing to the west. this is live picture from hagerstown. will we see this tonight? back with the forecast next. erin: i'm earn western sports. for -- erin hawksworth with sports. we are talking i-gate. what bill belichick brought with him to the press conference when "abc7 news welcome. how you doin'?

good how are you? so today you're gonna choose a mobile office. you can choose this chevy silverado whicoffers built in 4g lte wi-fi. or you can choose this ford f-150, which doesn't offer wi-fi. but to make up for it, we added a trailer, a satellite antenna, and dolores. hey fellas! (group laughter) what? so, which one do you want? i pi the chevy. definitely. or, get this dependable silverado all star edition with a total value of seven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

maureen: "7 on your side" on the dog owners out there. the help center is open to take calls about the dog training. call 703-236-9220. to get answers to your questions about any obedience problems or any issue. the phone lines are open until 6:30. leon: tomorrow night's powerball drawing is worth $1.5 billion. the jackpot went up again today. most likely will until wednesday's drawing. if there is one winner and took lump sum it would be $79

million. i think you could live on that. millions of americans are buying the powerball tickets but what about lottery employees? maureen: they have to make a special trip to get in on the powerball action. >> at the station, the powerball terminal is buzzing. 1.5 billion reasons to play. >> somebody will win. >> many roads to riches. he bought several tickets at several locations. >> you stand a better chance. >> it's sold in 44 states and the $1.5 billion jackpot. even lottery employees are eager to get in on the game. powerball is the only interstate lottery game that allows the employee to play. >> we can't play any lottery in maryland. we can play them out of state. some of the folks are known to run up to pennsylvania or

virginia or d.c. good luck. >> play the numbers. >> it's terminal to terminal. state to state. and they big the big money -- bring the big money dreams home. maureen: a day of the legislative session, virginia governor terry mcauliffe promoting education and workforce development and the proposals include hands-on training for high school students to get them on the right track for jobs in cyber security and biotechnology. he wants them trained in jobs. leon: the weather is impacting millions of people in the northeast and the midwest. lake effect snow. above new york. a city buried with 20 inches of snow in four hours. the temperatures are well below zero bringing snow from kentucky to new england. it got so bad that a crash along the ohio border shut

down highways in both directions. awful. maureen: all we have to do is look at that. doug: yeah. fortunately, while we talk here a live picture from western maryland. snow on the ground. traffic is moving, the glare shows that the roads are wet. this is the hagerstown area. it was like 40 degrees a couple of hourses ago there. now it's down below freezing. the heavy snow band is headed in our direction. if it hangs together, d.c. points north we will see the snow briefly to flow through. taste of winter. remind you that the snow flakes or the pictureses of the -- pictures of the weather at pics@wjla.com. this is from martinsburg, west virginia. snow starting to come down there. the highest snow so far averages of 33 and 28.

we will see the temperatures drop. we will get back to 47 or so in a couple of days but the pattern is stuff this time in january, unlike the december pattern it will only warm up for a few days and then the bottom falls out again. that is the forecast going forward. this indicates the wind advisory area widespread to midnight. it's below freezing in hagerstown. above freezing even though it's snowing. it doesn't matter what the temperature on the ground is. it matter what is the temperature is in the clouds and the manufacturer temperature to determine if it's rain or ice on the way down. the line is now crossing east of interstate 81. this is the leading edge of the cold front. the temperatures are plummeting behind the front. we will get our case of that later tonight. problems between 7:00 and 7:30 through the immediate metro area. we see heavy snow driven by

the gusty winds. tail end of the line is the heavy snow moving up. in new york state. strong winds and the temperatures that follow. tomorrow it's 8 and 11 degrees and the wind chills stay in the teens. they will struggle to reach 32 tomorrow. then a different day. sunny and windy but feeling colder. 44. warmup on thursday. friday we will hit 46. but another cold front comek our way. we will hit 47. then sunday another batch of cold air. near 40 degrees. dr. martin luther king day on monday, beautiful and bright and sunny but only 32. it will stay cold to the middle of next week. that is the latest. back to you. leon: all right. abc7 is your station when the weather hits. and schools call us, you can sign up for the specific school closing text alert on

the website wjla.com. all right. talk about sports. i have to see this picture again. erin: i know. leon: what is going on here? erin: this has the social media buzzing. patriots head coach bill belichick is a man of few words. that is no mystery. but the intrigue is surrounding his press conference today. that is what has everyone talking. the details when we come back.

announcer: and now the toyota sports desk brought to you by your local toyota dealers. erin: the capitals were back on the ice today off the high of ovechkin scoring his 500th goal on sunday. barring a verse the caps are headed toward the stanley cup playoffs. with a head of steam. they are five points ahead of the stars and washington is on a four-game winning streak and they continue to win no matter who or what stands in their way. >> that is the good thing about the team. business like but they have fun. there is work put into it. so that is good if you have a team working hard and it doesn't feel like work for them.

erin: well, barry trotts looks great. but we can't say the same with bill belichick. he showed up with a mysterious black eye. in belichick fashion he didn't elaborate when asked if he was okay. >> yeah. don't put coaches on the injured report. if we're required to do it, we'll do it. erin: i say we require him to do it. later when belichick was pressed on the severity of his injury he said, "i think i'll live." the bad news keeps coming for the steelers in the playoffs. first antonio brown concussion and now ben roethlisberger has torn ligaments in his throwing shoulder. he says the shoulder is very sore but the status is still day-to-day as the steelers prepare for the sunday a.f.c. divisional round game against the broncos in denver. programming note. the g.w. men are at umass tonight. co lonians tyler cavanaugh

coming off career high 30 points. tip-off at 7 verz on newschannel8 -- 7:00 on newschannel8. maryland at michigan and tip-off is at 9:00. leon: amazing. i still want to hear the story about the eye. erin: i really want to know what that is. doug: we got snow. our own richard reeve is at winchester in virginia and sent this to us. erin: wow! doug: good snow there. the whole snow ban is headed in our direction so we will see the snow pushing through the area here. probably about, there is the video for you. probably pushing through the area at 7:00 to 7:30. band of snow is coming through ahead of the arctic cold front. brian van de graaff is in tonight and he will tell you how low it will go. maureen: winter is here. "world news tonight" with david muir is coming up next. with new

tonight, breaking news here. the u.s. naval vessels with nearly a dozen sailors held by iran. we have late details coming in as we come on the air. martha raddatz standing by. also tonight, the pileups on america's highways. the chain reaction collisions on icy roads. drivers caught in whiteout conditions as a major arctic blast now moves east tonight. the deadly new terror attack. authorities say isis targeting westerners. the race for president tonight. and new numbers this evening, is hillary clinton in trouble in iowa and new hampshire? and donald trump takes aim at ted cruz, and then, the hecklers. >> this is not your stage. the young american woman murdered overseas in florence, italy. and tonight, new images. the last time she was seen alive. and authorities revealing ho