out the possibility of isolated tornado. it will quickly clear out tomorrow night late. for tomorrow's storm as far as the potential, the biggest concern is around the damaging wind gusts, possibly in excess of 60 miles per hour and large hail. we talk more about the timing and look ahead to the weekend when i join you in studio in 15 minutes. michelle? michelle: thanks. we will keep an eye on the weather. you can, too. go to wjla.com/text to sign up to have the severe weather alerts sent to your phone. jonathan: happening right now, there is a protest led by rosie o'donnell that is growing outside the white house as we speak. inside the white house, the president is putting the finishing touches on what will become his first address to congress. we have team coverage. tom roussey will join us in a moment from if rally but first, chief political correspondent scott thuman joining us with what to expect from tonight's speech. scott? scott: jonathan, this is an opportunity, something the president acknowledged last night when we spent almost an hour and a half with him talking about the speech. he would

have been facing so a full plate for the president tonight. >> the president of the united states. scott: a tall order for a first-time president, first-time politician. addresses congress which is themed with the renewal of the american spirit. in a dinner with a small number of reporters last night the president told me it would be a tough task and he is working on how to strike the right tone. the challenge is steadying the shame convincing congress to get on board. on -- steadying the ship and convincing congress to get on board. he wants to erase obamacare, something he admitted would be complex. >> i am stunned every day. this is the president of the united states. we have been debating healthcare in this country for 30 years. he says gee, who knew how complicatedded it was? scott: but speaker paul rain calls it a once in a generation opportunity to carve the

from reducing taxes to increasing jobs. the goal of what we are trying to achieve is to improve people's lives. we a bold agenda and the president will lay it out and why it will make a difference in people's lives. scott: democrats are saddled with their own dilemmas. can they find common ground with a president they boldly criticized. >> it's been a polarized first month. are you listening with open ears? >> it depends on the issue. there are a number of things. infrastructure. i'm excited about the prospects there. some of what he wants to do with the shipbuilding is good for virginia. scott: but we have heard him of late using a line we used to hear from president obama saying, "i inherited a mess." he may try to flip if script tonight and focus on what he says is great potential across the country. michelle? michelle: thank you. back now to the protest outside the white house. tom roussey is there. what are you seeing? tom: well, michigan, i will show you what i am s

up since inauguration day. still up. we are kept fairly away. you can see from the umbrellas the weather is not the best. there will be a number of speakers. one of whom is scheduled to be rosie o'donnell. she and trump have had a beef going back well before he ran for president but she is expected to be a speaker here tonight. i did ask the organizers. i said why do the protest before the speech tonight? why not wait to hear what he has to say? they say they want to basically get the own narrative out there first and they are not expecting to agree with a lot of what the president has to say. reporting live not far from the white house, tom roussey, abc7 news. michelle: all right. tom, thank you. we'll bring you president trump's first address to congress live as it happens. coverage begins at 9:00.

the historically black universities and colleges met with the president in the oval office. one of the leader is facing backlash today. graffiti found across the howard university campus. most of it accused university president wayne frederick of betraying his race. jonathan: from the i can't believe this happened fire gunfire at a speech today by french president francois hollande. watch. >> [speaking french] [gunshot] jonathan: it was a single shot. turned out a police sharp shooter fired his weapon accidently and as a result two people were grazed in the leg by the bullet. for his part, president hollande said he hoped it was nothing serious and he continued on speaking. the grounds crew is trying to accommodate all the volunteers showing up. the themes of damaged

and st. louis have many wondering about securities in jewish cemeteries in our area. today officials at the judean memorial gardens described the possibility of infa red security cameras. >> you border on major highways. you can't exactly mark and walk -- exactly park and walk in. we lock the gates at night. michelle: many are working with the police department to step up the overnight patrols. the damage to the headstones staples is covered by the family homeowners insurance or in the case of natural disasters a sametary's insurance policy. jonathan: this is the back of a home. this is a mess. explosion that blew down the walls and knocked down the porch. this is the front of the house. looks great. the front door is blown off the hinges and launched from the front. the blast was called because a worker was working at the point on activating a propane furnace. the worker was seriously hurt. construction project turned deadly at a

washington. look at this. that is where a trench collapsed and it trapped one of the workers. the worker did die before his fellow crew members could get to him. michelle: shocking video now. a plane plunges from the sky and crashes into a house. amazingly two people thrown from the scene survived the fiery crash and are fighting for their lives. three other people on board were killed. the plane was returning from a cheerleading competition at disney land. no one on the ground was hurt. the home was destroyed. in massachusetts, a pilot was killed when his home-built plane nose dived into a condo building. you can see the tail sticking out of the building's roof. plane was trying to land at a nearby airport. lawrence municipality airport. no one else was hurt. jonathan: built for safety and never used. now the 33-year-old pedestrian tunnel will finally open but some not happy about it. michelle: you may

same dangerous cocktail with you now that left this man seriously burned. jonathan: wow! who would steal a playground xylophone. you will meet the man police say did that in virginia. that for years, fios has been promising fast internet to small businesses. but for many businesses, it's out of reach. why promise something you can't deliver? comcast business is different.

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michelle: the changing seasons can bring problems with critters and the "7 on your side" help center is giving you a chance to ask the animal control officer. call 703-236-9220. for free answers on handling wildlife problems in or around your home. phone lines are open until 6:30. jonathan: three alabama high school students are in critical condition after an s.u.v. crashed into a mardi gras parade. in all, a dozen middle and high school students marching in the gulf shores parade were hurt. they were the marching band. the car plowed into them. the police do not believe the crash was intentional but they do not know why the 73-year-old driver appeared to accelerate before the crash. this incident hasn't hampered things on bourbon street. if you have ever been to fat tuesday there, they are celebrating in the big easy. this party goes on until the weekend. actually it goes to midnight but if you have been there, it goes on to

it's the beginning of lent. michelle: who stole a xylophone from a playground? we got the answer when police made an arrest. this man swiped the oversize instrument that is apparently worth $4,000. the xylophone is headed back to the playground tonight. a vandal near the howard university hospital. you can see it happening there. he is walking down florida halve and he turns to throw a brick through the window. he does at it few more times before running off. if you recognize him, call police. jonathan: coming up, built for safety and made off-limits for 33 years. where a much-needed pedestrian tunnel is about to open. >> a flare had gone off in my pocket. michelle: looks like fineworks. the -- looks like fiew

the one thing he said

mom,on my car insurance of money by switching to geico. i should take a closer look at geico... you know, geico can help you save money on your homeowners insurance too? great! geico can help insure our mountain chalet! how long have we been sawing this log? um, one hundred and fourteen years. man i thought my arm would be a lot more jacked by now. i'm not even sure this is real wood. there's no butter in this churn. do my tris look okay? take a closer look at geico. great savings. and a whole lot more. michelle: shock and fear all in one moment caught on video. he

having a conversation when suddenly his pants seem to explode. he says it was like a flare went off in his pocket. his wife thought something else. >> there were flames everywhere. i actually thought someone had thrown like a molotov cocktail at us or something. michelle: it wasn't either one of those things. it was a battery for the man e-cigarette that came in contact with loose change and ignited. the man suffered third-degree burns and he is glad one of his children wasn't standing beside him when it unfolded. jonathan: holy cow! must see video from hoboken. look closely at the screen. that would be the roof of an s.u.v. a sinkhole opened up flooding the street and swallowed that s.u.v. nobody was inside. this is hoboken, new jersey. crews worked last night to today to pull the vehicle from the hole. they finally did yank it out and they have started work on the repairs. michelle: it

safer way to access the metro station in a busy part of arlington. but that was more than 30 years ago. the pedestrian tunnel in pentagon city is still off-limits. as abc7 transportation reporter brianne carter reports that is finally about to change. brianne: it is a pedestrian-heavy area. >> wait. wait. brianne: the intersection of 12th and hay street in pentagon city. and now this long-awaited pedestrian tunnel is soon expected to open. the tunnel is designed to offer a new safer option for folks to not only cross the street but access the pentagon city metro station. the tunnel was first built in 1984 but was never open due to issues with maintenance and operation. over the past few years the county rehabilitated the tunnel and the work is in the final stages. even once this finally opens there are still some concerned that this new pedestrian tunnel won't be accessible for everyone.

access issue for people with disabilities. brianne: floyd says the tunnel won't work for people with disabilities because there is no elevator. however, arlington county says constructing elevators on that side of the street isn't structurally feasible. adding because of that and the year it was first constructed the tunnel complies with the american disabilities act. they say the metro station is compliant because of the existing elevator across the street. floyd is hopeful for the discussion with the county. >> i would love to see them approach a disability organization to work together to make it more accessible. brianne: in arlington county, brianne carter, abc7 news. michelle: good news now for metro riders. boost for metro commuters tomorrow. the blue line will reopen. it was shut down for 18 days of the safetrack construction. the next surge begins saturday which means single tracking for the yellow line in northern virginia. jonatha

is doing it again putting it on quite the show. isn't that beautiful? at this point nobody on the island of sicily is in any danger from the volcano. etna is one of the most active volcanoes in all of europe. it's the second eruption this year and gives us spectacular pictures. they have lasted for a few days to a few weeks in a couple of cases. this is a site on earth to one that is 250 million miles away. look at what you are looking at. you are looking at the face of mars. this is on the surface of the planet. one of the rovers we have is taking pictures. curiosity rover. it captured the image of the dust devils but the time lapse recorded last summer that were published today. nasa says winds like these are the dominant force of shaping the martian surface.

up there for a while. send back pictures. doug: was there property damage? jonathan: a starbucks was slightly damaged but other than that it's all good. doug: we have the possibility of severe weather tomorrow. we are not in kansas but we know we have severe weather occasionally and the atmosphere is set up in a way for chance of nasty to possibly severe storms. tell you what is happening now. nothing severe but the much needed rain coming through the area. downpours and we will see ourselves with the possibility of picking up a quarter inch of rain. if you hear a rumble of thunder don't worry. that will move out tonight. the attention is on the huge tornado watch and the tornadoes on the ground in northern illinois southwest of chicago. tornadoes warnings are active now and they continue through chicago land. we are not in the enhanced area. we are

but in this setup with the moist warm air and the strong winds from the south and the strong cold front approaching a good chance of the showers and the storms. there could be initial bout tomorrow morning. they will move out. southwesterly winds take over. partly sunny. in a race for the upper 70's for a highs. the mid-to-the late afternoon tomorrow. according to the future cast sometimes in the 4:00 hour the line of heavy storms should zigzag through the region. there will be the high wind gust, hail and the isolated tornadoes. quickly tomorrow night it will move east. we will see the clearing skies and the gusty winds and cooler temperatures. in the day planner we have a shower north of town and it will turn sunny and warm approaching 80 degrees for the first day of march. and then in the afternoon and the evening showers and the thunderstorms, some of which are severe. cooler on thursday. friday

clipper. we could have rain or the snowshowers tomorrow morning. saturday and sunday, cooler saturday. warmer on sunday. looking ahead to next week the temperatures are warm. we drop off in the upper 40's to 50's for next week. jonathan: a little bit of everything. michelle: big night at the phone booth for the wizards. jonathan: turn it over to robert who is there now. this is a really big test for the wizards to take on the warriors. robert: definitely. look is who is here? kevin durant warming up. we talk about that and also we talk kirk cousins. the franchise tag is on him. we talk about that in sports up next.

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robert: welcome back to verizon where the wizards are hosting the best team in the nba, the golden state warriors. we will get to that. first, we talk about the news from the redskins camp. it looks like no one in the redskins organization wants anyone touching kirk cousins because they placedded exclusive franchise tags on him today. this has been exclusive. so kirk can't shop around or sign with any other team. however he can still be traded.

the team can sign him to long-term deal but he has to do it by july 15. kirk made $20 million last year off the franchise tag. this year he will make $24 million. $44 million in two years is not bad. they have until tomorrow to place the tag on him. they are up against the clock. he will become the first quarterback in the history of the nfl to be franchised tag in back-to-back seasons. let's see why we are here at verizon. the wizards is hosting the best team in the nba. by the way, check out who is behind me. he didn't even give the wizards a meeting in free agency. that is not what we are talking about tonight. wizards are trying to kill a two-game skid. 0-2 from the all-star break. they are still good because

eastern conference. here is john wall. >> you don't really know. you know he will get most of the shots but you know who takes the big shots a it in the right time. robert: reports saying that the knick guard jennings have come to a verbal agreement with the wizards. back to you. jonathan: that is a huge confidence booster if they could beat golden state. doug: we have showers tonight and rumbles of thunder for the rest of the evening. but the big day tomorrow is the severe afternoon thunderstorms to keep a close eye on that. steve rudin will have an important update on the potential tonight. michelle: thank you for joining us. jonathan: see you at 11:00.

built for better health.

tonight, several breaking stories. first, president trump. just a short time from now addressing congress and the country. we have new reporting. what he'll say about obamacare, national security and the breaking headline involving immigration. is president trump ready to compromise? with an immigration reform bill. will the dreamers get a path to citizenship? the horror. out of control driver plowing into a crowd, running down at least a dozen students in a marching band. the pilot killed. slam into an apartment building in the northeast. and another plane plunging intoen a l.a. neighborhood. severe storms as we come on the air. the reported twister. pictures coming in now. there are tornado watches from little rock to chicago. and tonight, the system moving east. damaging winds and hail. and you