northwest washington. >> this is a notice of the closure here that is posted on the front door signed by the police chief cathy lanier explaining what happened last night. in the later it states they were called out to barcode after a fight. by the time they got here they found two men had been stabbed inside. they found a bloody knife on the barroom floor. powell later died from the injuries. his mother describes him as a quiet person and hard worker. she is asking anyone and may have seen this incident to call the police. >> she has that message for the person responsible. >> i want to tell you my son.

why do this to my son? he is a good boy. he wouldn't hurt nobody. >> if you know anything about what happened call the police. maureen: two virginia tech students from maryland appeared in court evidence to charged in connection with -- court today charged in the abduction of 13-year-old virginia girl. friends and family of a student and the victim are asking what the motive could have been. brianne carter is live with the developments. brianne: david eisenhauer and natalie keepers are facing charges in connection with the murder and held without bond. 18-year-old virginia tech student david eisenhauer

remains behind bars after making his first court appearance on first-degree murder charges in connection with the death of nicole lovell. >> it is heart-breaking to hear this could happen in virginia tech. >> this was eisenhauer last year at wild lake high school in columbia. >> i hate to lose. but i will. i am okay with second place if i run a fantastic time. brianne: said to be a star middle distance runner. tonight, the principal is in shock. >> he did very well here. while this is a great school. he did well. >> natalie keepers is also in jail charged helping dispose of the body. the neighbors describe her as nice. her high school principal is stunned. >> a valued member of our school community. strong academic students. >> brian: -- brianne: they found her body after she

vanished after pushing a dresser from her bedroom door and climbing out her window. now we understand the original court appearance that both are expected to be back before a judge late next month. reporting live in the newsroom, brianne carter, abc7 news. maureen: thank you. we are on storm watch tonight. thanks to warmer temperatures. we are having rain this evening. not snow. how long will the rain stick around? go to chief meteorologist doug hill in the weather center. doug: the rain we have now is out of the viewing area in the next few hours. clearing skies overnight. back in a big way on wednesday. 39 in frederick. we were at 60 or higher for many part of the area before noon. the front, the clouds and the rain are dropping temperatures. heaviest rain is east of charlottesville. this is pushing more east than to the north.

clearing skies will follow overnight hours. the concern through the overnight is the temperatures. they could briefly drop below freezing before sunrise in spots. where it happens, there could be a little ice. beyond that, fairly quiet pattern. through the day tomorrow when we get sunshine. the temperatures in the upper 40's. rain as i mention before will be a big part of the wednesday forecast. gusty winds, warm temperature. and maybe thunderstorm or two a lot to share coming up in a few minute. maureen: vote 2016 kicks off today. this year's first voter will take part in the iwua caucus. democrat -- iowa caucus. they made final pushes today. locked in a tight race with hillary clinton is bernie sanders. he is convinced if the young voters turn out he will win big. donald trump is six points ahead of ted cruz. it begins in less than two hours. our chief political correspondent scott thuman is in iowa and he will be live at

11:00 to break down the number and the impact the results in iowa could have on the presidential race. the trump campaign did not like the idea of a republican party loyalty pledge in virginia. but now the republican party is dropping the party. northern virginia bureau chief jeff goldberg joins us to explain. jeff: maureen, the republican primary march 1 is open primary. meaning anyone can vote in the contest. the republicans dropping a written pledge to ensure only republicans can sign ballots. why they did it is in question. my signature below indicates that i am a republican. but some republicans believe it's now gone because of one man. >> the trump campaign is ecstatic about the position. >> corey stewart heads the campaign in virginia. he believes the state

republican party decided to get rid of the pledge after a strong pushback from the trump campaign including the marshall sweets in december from trump himself implying it would excuse potential supporters. >> the pledge was intentionally devised to scare and intimidate new voters, trump voters. trump campaign was never a reason for this in the first place. >> state republican party chair says the pledge was pulled because the democratic controlled state board of elections changed the language in the original statement. >> if they want to keep our form they could have done that. jeff: the state election board will decide if the pledge with the early voting and absentee ballots will stay or go. in the meantime, they're waiting for an answer. >> presidential election. we expect a lot of exciting things this year.

jeff: they fought back about the wording of the pledge saying the they are blaming democrats for the pledge saga is the stunt that trump would do. the state board of election is in the the process of planning emergency meeting to decide what will happen next with the pledge. jeff goldberg, abc7 news. maureen: thank you. coming up at "abc7 news at 6:00" -- it's now called international emergency. if number of people the world health organization says could be infected with the zika virus next year. >> tiny houses were the topic at the wilson building. i'm mike carter-conneen. coming up, how the legislation and the proposed program could be extended to more than just millennials. maureen: but first, why it may

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maureen: today, the world health organization declared the zika virus an emergency of international concern. it's a mosquito borne virus linked to birth defects for

the mothers who contract it. w.h.o. says there could be 3 million zika infections in next year. two people in virginia contracted zika after traveling to a country where mosquitoes are prevalent. the d.c. residents who need to sign up for helicopter insurance have two days to get it done. they extended the deadline to tuesday night because of last week's snowstorm. those who don't sign up by the deadline could be hit with thousands of dollars in tax penalties. the centers for disease control announced today the e. coli outbreak linked to chipotle is over. the c.d.c. says there have been no reported illnesses since early december. chipotle plans to close doors monday for the staff training on the food safety. still ahead at 6:00 --

proposal involving the tiny houses in d.c. what problems could it bring? plus the rain tonight and warmer temperatures. what about the rest of the week? doug is back with the forecast next. erin: i'm erin hawksworth. caps are back at work after a long weekend and super bowl 50 kicks off an interesting ad campaign. you have to hear to believe. oh, baby. you don't want to miss this. oh, baby. you don't want to miss this. when "abc7 you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seamericans work hard, witand pay into it.ity. so our next president needs a real plan to kp it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise) hey candidates, answer the call already.

maureen: an investigation underway after a police officer shot and killed a man who had a b.b. gun. it happened this morning along clay terrace. the third police-involved shooting in the area in six months. the suspect dropped the b.b. gun while police were chasing him for acting suspiciously. the officer thought it was a real gun and asked the man not to reach for it and shot him when he didn't comply. the officer is on administrative leave. the frederick police department made an arrest in 19-year-old cold case. 52-year-old lloyd harris is charged in the 1996 murder of the 15-year-old stacy

hofmeister. her body was found in a wooded area near interstate 70 and east south street. neighbors are upset after someone slashed tires on 14 cars in the 4100 block of fourth street northwest. victims believe the culprit is someone in the neighborhood upset the parking spot was taken in last week's snowstorm. right now the police have no leads. a d.c. councilmember is thinking outside the box. incident orange held a hearing on a bill that ro poses putting up tiny homes across the district. mike carter-conneen reports it could face challenges.

mike: he has a tiny solution for big problem. targeting the first-time home buyers he wants to build 1,000 tiny homes across the district with price tag no more than $50,000 to be sold to the minimum wage workers or millenniums. >> the heating and the cooling would be less. mike: there are many requirements. tiny homes must be stationary, bathroom, kitchen, eelectricity, heating and plumbing and a minimize size requirement. they can be no less than 600 square feet. >> there is a lot of thought given to the holistic process, maybe small can be a better way to go. mike: critics credit whether orange's proposal has support from the colleagues. whether the $50 million budget is a good use of the housing trust fund or whether it would help. >> the units strike me as perfect for the individual occupancy. what does a family of four do? >> at the end of the day you are not contributing to the

affordability issue and displacement issue that d.c. currently has. mike: many argue the bill age requirement would violate fair housing laws. orange himself said he heard from the senior citizens about that. the chief of staff says the councilmembers is considering an amendment. >> we will look to expand the initiative to include seniors. >> but it would require 125 of the tiny house in each of the eight wards a questionary mains. where would they go? would they be welcome there? northwest, mike carter-conneen, abc7 news. maureen: we have a gust in the studio. something that doug hill brought in. doug: he had feelings. he hasn't moved for 30 years but he has feelings. maureen: who is this? doug: my friend let me borrow a groundhog. i'm not mean. i like groundhogs. maureen: you do? doug: this is west virginia bill. tomorrow is the big day in

punxsutawney phil to make the weather prediction so we are non-erring groundhogs today. maureen: lovely. i hope punxsutawney phil doesn't neat the same fate as west virginia bill. doug: i think he did some time ago. i will do the weather. you stay here with aunt maureen, okay? you become friends. maureen: hi, sweetheart. doug: 61 and 45 are the high and the low. another above average day. we are finished up the month of january. even split. between days above average and below. 54 in leesburg is the high. 55 in reagan national. it will hit 70 after 11:00 in fredericksburg. it's melting. well above freezing. low 40's.

across the region, check out the spots like dale city. bowie 45. in the evening the area of rain moves east and northeast. there are heavier areas of rain. but that is moving east. that is the end of it. the skies are clearing behind the front. tomorrow high pressure and sunshine. the future cast show big changes tomorrow night. clouds will roll in. then we have a stronger cold front with the gusty winds to pull moisture off the atlantic

ocean. thunderstorms and it might lead to flooding. no watches up. something to keep a close eye on. otherwise low to mid-30's in most areas. there could be ice. we warm up to 48 in tamp. through the next seven days it will turn cooler. a long stretch of the dry weather after we get through wednesday showers and them toes. erin, how are you? erin: i would be better if the groundhog wasn't here. i'm staying as far away from it as i can. how about sports? all-star break is over. caps are back on the ice. why

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erin: now that the all-star break wrapped up. the caps were back on the ice. washington will host the florida panthers tomorrow at the verizon center. they will be without alex over ove. he decided not to participate in the all-star festivities which means he must sit out tomorrow's game. >> it's a league rule. you know, we can do nothing

about it. we said we will do it. we will not play tomorrow's game. >> i get why they put that sanction in there. at the same time, guys are banged up. that is why we support the all-star break. get the time to rest. erin: college hoops and the maryland women are fifth in the a.p. poll. a lot of their success has to do with the head coach. brenda freeze. >> you're wired so the minute the ball goes up with the tip, the minute the ball goes up indiana is uncomfortable. they are not welcome today in our house. any other time you can be friends or do whatever. erin: that was her pre-game speech. i had an awesome opportunity to go behind the scenes to watch coach freeze. she is so inspirational. that was right before the terps beat indiana on saturday. you can see the full version of brenda's speech on wjla.com. meantime, it's finally super bowl week. the nfl rolled out a new

campaign. creative idea. >> [singing] ♪ one thing left to another ♪ and i we're all ♪ erin: the new campaign is based on triia that winning cities see a rise in births nine months after a super bowl victory. those are the babies that were born after their team won a super bowl. finally the wizards are on the roads at o.k.c. to face kevin durant and the thunder. tip-off at 8:00. maureen: nfl is doing census taking. erin: it's fun. i liked it. doug: rain will end tonight. brian van de graaff is in for steve and he will have the latest on the opponent of the refreeze in the morning. maureen: we don't want to hear that. "world news tonight" with