the minds this weekend. and we have a look at the stepped up efforts. stephen tschida? stephen: maureen, the nation's capital is bustling right now. you have a game here tonight at the verizon center. a lot of people are here. cherry blossoms, crowds there, and the standard attractions sum as the museums -- such as the museums. a lot of people along the capital and a lot enjoying themselves but they are acknowledging there are concerns about terrorism. peak cherry blossom weekend. the blooms mean a tourism boom. but in the aftermath of the brussels terrorist attacks some visitors say there is underlying tension here. >> definitely. we live in a world where people aren't getting along. >> the nation's capital filled with throngs of people for abundance of events and attractions. a city on high alert since the paris attacks last year. security highly

more security out. there are more officers. but in terms of everyday life we don't really notice a difference. stephen: today chief cathy lanier again stated the local law enforcement is coordinating with the department of homeland security. chief lanier: we have daily conversation with the partners in the federal agencies to make sure if there is any new information we need to know we have it to act on it. stephen: on this the beginning to the oh, so brief appearance of clouds of pink about the tidal basin. some worry about terrorism. but for most it's overshadowed by the beauty of this moment. >> we feel safe here. i mean we are walking around in the crowds and everything looks safe. the people and the police around. stephen: now federal officials stating there are no credible threats that they know of. and the chief again saying today that everything is being done to keep both tourists and the re

capital as safe as possible. reporting live, stephen tschida, abc7 news. leon: thanks. in brussels, a shoot-out in the belgium district of schaerbeek led to the arrest of a man that officials say is linked to tuesday's deadly terror attacks in brussels. witnesses say they heard two explosions and then gunfire. the person taken into custody was wounded. police have been focusing on the town since thursday when they raided a nearby apartment and found chemicals and an isis flag. secretary of state john kerry says more attacks could be in the works. is there we know there are foreign fighters who have returned from syria over a span of five years. that is the reason for people being individual lent and alert. that is -- vigilant and alert and for travel adversaries. leon: meanwhile, defense secretary ash carter announced special operations in syria killed a man considered number two in command in isis. he goes by several names but including haji imam. secretary

give details of the clandestine raid except to say that haji imam was killed in the past two days and we are not sure of what force entered syria for the mission. but he was not killed by a drone or aircraft strike. secretary carter and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff say they plan to ask for more troops in iraq. they will ask the white house to send more troops there in the fight against isis. the current u.s. force level in iraq is tapped at 4,000. we are supposed to be watching unfolding terror investigation expanding the globe. stay with us at abc7 and wjla.com for breaking news updates. we will let you know everything we know as soon as we get the information here. maureen? maureen: in the g.o.p. debate the focus is personal, not policy. in response to "national enquirer" report of rumors of marital infidelity senator ted

the henchman. the magazine published an article saying that the senator had five secret mistresses. the story did not identify the alleged mistresses by name but it included blurred head shots of five women. >> one question americans are wondering all over the country is how low will donald go? is there any level to which he is unlevel to stoop? today we have not seen it. maureen: trump released a statement in response to cruz saying he had nothing to do with it and he had not read the story. joining me is chief political correspondent scott thuman to provide some analysis behind all of this. scott, any thoughts on the timing of this back-and-forth with cruz and trump? scott: the next g.o.p. election isn't until april 5. wisconsin. big state. a lot at play there. but pretty far off in distance when you look at the daily news cycle. one thing people are alleging or the cruz supporters are is he is starting to gain momentum and he is

some ground in some polls and that has led to the moment. that is of course because they blame donald trump. a big if. maureen: through the campaign, there have been a lot of personal attacks. is there anything different or special about this one? scott: we have gone to a new level when it has gone to an allegation -- while it's not necessarily from donald trump. we will throw it out there. "national enquirer" is putting it out there at the moment. but it is allegation on infidelity. we have seen the attacks prior on a subsequent level -- sorry, on a smaller level. nothing like this. something like that is enough to knock someone out of a race if true. if you want to call people names you want to say this is "lying stead" or -- this is "lying ted" or "sleazily donald" it doesn't necessarily affect the campaign.

trump if he is the candidate. scott: he has been asked if he would support donald trump. he is reluctant to go down the road and he has been careful with the wording to say he would have a hard time supporting somebody who would be behind such an allegation if that is the case. it could have a larger divide of the establishment of those we have known and donald trump called the outsider. maureen: anything we should expect coming up next? scott: great question. unfortunately this is going to have legs for a little while if you are ted cruz because it's out there. he addressed it. we probably wouldn't be talking about it today as much if he hadn't come out and had a press conference. it's not like we are delving in the tabloid sphere. he came out and wanted to talk about it and that is why we are reporting on it tonight. it won't be the last we hear on the subject. maureen: thank you, scott. leon: coming up -- [bagpipes] maureen: ahead at 6:00

final goodbye to a local police officer who dedicated his life to his job and loss his life protecting his colleagues. mike: i'm mike carter-conneen live at the tidal basin where we have reached peak bloom today. coming up, a look at the current conditions and the crowd. doug: i will let you know if the weather could affect the easter weekend plans. that stronger is blasting her tumors... without risking her bones.

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announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 6:00". on your side. [bagpipes] maureen: community members, friends and family packed the first baptist church of glenarden today to remember officer jacai colson. colson was killed in the line of duty almost two weeks ago. his colleagues and his friends say he was hardworking, trustworthy, loyal and had a smile that it would light up a room. >> my baby is at peace. >> his markable in this life is as lasting as his years on this earth were brief. maureen: colson is the 29th police officer in prince george's county to die in line of duty. his birthday was last week. he would have turned 29. police arrested a suspect in the october 2014 shooting of a 9-year-old boy in the head. jaydan stancil was hit by a stra

in northeast d.c. the suspect kenneth parker is already in cussdy on another case -- custody on another case. he faces 14 more charges. jaydan stancil survived after police officers drove him to the hospital rather than wait for an ambulance. leon: metro is no longer single tracking. this morning the section of the track had to be closed to all trains. the trains had to single track for several hours. both are open now. we have learned that tonight a metro acting chief safety officer has he -- resigned. maureen: ahead what makes this year's easter egg roll at the white house so special. leon: it's finally peak bloom at the tidal basin. looking at the live pictures. a look at what to expect this weekend coming up. robert: i'm robert bur

u.v.a. in sweet 16 matchup against iowa state. that and

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leon: there is new information coming in on the death of garry shandling. he had experienced shortness of breath and aches wednesday afternoon. he called a doctor afternoon and gave him a checkup who said he still had pain and had shortness of breath get to the hospital the next day. shandling didn't make it to the hospital. he called 911 thursday morning but fell unconscious before he could finish the call to the dispatcher. maureen? maureen: leon, today, millions of christians worldwide observe holy day of good friday. our d.c. bureau chief sam ford shows us the events taking place in the city marking that day. sam: at st. martin's catholic church, every good friday, they held the station of the cross outside and inside mike fried fish. >> i have been doing this for years. i wouldn't trade it for the world. i took off work to do this. sam: the church stopped prohibiting meat on friday the catholics bring it back every

>> we are a full service church. sam: this is the serving table at st. martin's. we've got is this collard greens? >> yes. sam: green beans. we have mac 'n' cheese. and potato salad. with all the fish, let's not forget the lemon meringue and the sweet potato pie. over on h street northeast they line up every good friday outside horace and dickie's carry-out. catholics, baptists, you name it. >> this is good friday. christians eat fish on friday. sam: it seemed for most it wasn't even religion as much as tradition. d.c. thing. >> my mother and father were living, this is what we'd usually do. >> it's a tradition. i was raised like that. my father used to bring fish home. >> i was brought that way. i like tuna fish today. >> from the church to the carry out good friday brought out d.c.'s fish eaters as it does every year. in n

sam ford. abc7 news. leon: president obama and the family back in d.c. tonight. you are seeing the video of the first family arriving back from a trip to cuba in argentina earlier. the obamas are helping to celebrate 138 years of easter egg hunt of the south lawn on the white house on monday. the theme is let's celebrate. more than 35,000 people will be out there enjoying the first family. including shanda of "handle" and "how to get away with murder fame." and shaquille o'neal. it has been an american tradition since 1878 started by president hayes and the first lady lucy. another annual event at the cherry blossoms. that is where we find mike carter-conneen out tonight on the tidal basin and joining the scene and the crowds out there. how is it looking tonight? mike: it is gorgeous. the sun has come out. the cloud cover moved off. it is breezy and it is chilly here. the petals holding on to t

we are seeing sprinkles of the petals found in crowd. a beautiful evening here in our nation's capital. despite the showers earlier today. the flowers are looking just fine. the national park service says the inventory of the trees and the warming weather conditions indicate the beginning of a peak bloom period has begun today. defined at 70% of the opening. it can last four to sen days. they believe that the bloom process will slow and that will help keep the blossoms on the trees. that means more opportunity for you to come out and check this out yourself. we are looking at a perfect storm of the traffic conditions in the next few days. tonight there is a game at the verizon center. we have the family day at the building museum tomorrow. a very family-friendly and a fun activity. also d.c. united at 5:30. capitals game at the verizon center at 7:00. hopefully everyone in the easter spirit and has a lot of patience tryg

town. reporting live at the tidal basin, mike carter-conneen, abc7 news. leon: beautiful shot. maureen: gorgeous. i saw the people with the convertible tops down. doug: the past few days are warmer. there will be sunshine. let's get started. share of a beautiful image that laura barker sent to us at pics@wjla.com. cherry blossoms this morning. jefferson memorial in the background. before the cold front came in we hit 72 at the reagan national airport. 62 was the morning low. the temperatures have started to drop. the average high up to 59 degrees. average low is 40 degrees. at the moment it's 65 at the reagan national airport.

the northwest winds draw cool high air. drier air as well. 63 in leesburg. mid-60's in the area. 70 in fredericksburg. wind speed at the last check. sustained winds at west/northwest at 21 miles per hour. manassas, leesburg, winchester is lighter south and west. the winds will stay up to 10 and 12 miles per hour tonight. they will diminish a bit. look at the temperatures falling to 39 in columbus. 46 in charleston, west virginia. 41 in pittsburgh. colder air on the way pushing the warm air out of the way. some numbers are cooler. 60 degrees. plenty of sunshine. areas of the light cloudiness clearing out tonight. it will be cooler. we will have a lot of sunshine. getting through the afternoon and the evening hours, cloudiness will pick

winds off the atlantic ocean. if you going to the white house, period of rain in the forecast. 43 early tomorrow. climbing to 61 with the sunshine. rain on monday. clearing skies and we will start a warming trend the end of next week. maureen: thank you, doug. sweet 16 underway. u.v.a. will make a showing. see how they did in chicago tonight. maureen: go to robert burton who is there. leon: hey, robert. robert: we are in chicago where i hate to say it, things could get dicey for u.v.a. we talk about why that is and more. that is coming up

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announcer: now the toyota sports desk brought to you by your local toyota dealer. robert: welcome back to chicago where u.v.a. has a sweet 16 matchup with iowa state. let's go over a few things here. this could be a home game for the cyclones considering the proximity of iowa to illinois. so i guess we sort of expected that. you look around and it is hard to find u.v.a. fans. you see a lot of burgen day and gold. you have a

george is out of control and he can slash. nianges. he can shoot. they have a fast-pace offense. u.v.a. doesn't like to play this way. this will not be a cakewalk. hefty checklist for u.v.a. starting with a fast pace cyclone offense. that can blow teams away. some comparing iowa state south to north carolina. >> we played u.n.c. a few times. they are a different type of team than we are. they get up and down the court. we look forward to the challenge. robert: another challenge is 6'9" all-american george nienges. >> he can score for all levels. a special player.

good in a lot of areas that we need to be as alert as we can. robert: the last time hoos were in sweet 16, a loss to michigan state. this year, a new mindset. >> we have been there before. we will embrace it but we are more focused. ready to attack the game. robert: this is a tough matchup but we have been watching u.v.a. pull through since day one. back to you in the studio. leon: thanks. maureen: good time. all right. what kind of a time are we having this weekend? doug: partly to mostly sunny. 60 tomorrow. clouds and sunshine. 64 for the day on easter sunday. steve rudin will update that and have more on the rain chances tonight at 11:00. maureen: "world news tonight" with david muir is coming up next. leon: see you here at 11:00.

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breaking news this friday night. the dramatic terror takedown. the bomb squad called in. authorities using a robot. the brother and sister killed. and we learn of two americans that didn't survive. and also developing the race for the white house and the tabloid turn. the bombshell report about alleged infidelity. ted cruz firing back. calling it a smear by trump. and the pictures coming in now. we're tracking an easter storm brewing.