where is kingston? police in maryland launch a search for a 2-year-old boy. where authorities think he may be this morning. finding a fraud. police say this man is preying on businesses in our area. how he gains their trust before cleaning them out. and the big chill. it's been cold for so long, we're running out of ways to say it. chuck will tell us if we can expect any relief. good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 today."

i'm kimberly suiters. it's sunday, january 10, 2010. let's get right to forecast. meteorologist chuck bell is up in storm center 4. chuck, it's ridiculous. something that measures on the barometer because it feels that way outside. >> ridiculous is not a weather term. we'll call it chilly today, hot tamale tomorrow. a hint of a warming trends is coming our way. a couple more cold ones to come starting with this morning. outside under a clear sky, temperatures have plummeted overnight into the teens to near 20 degrees. the warm spot now quantico at 22 degrees. 21 in springfield. 20 degrees in manassas and warrenton now. 16 degrees in martinurg and charlestown up in the panhandle of west virginia. wind chills are once again in the single digits across the area so it a bundle up morning on your way out to sunday service or walk the dog, get the paper or sit around and look out

the window. cold start to the day. good news is that today like yesterday will be filled with sunshine. >> all right. small silver lining. thanks, chuck. we've been talking about this bitter cold for more than a week. strong winds and below freezing temperatures night after night have homeless shelters working overtime. some other folks are voluntarily going out in the cold. darcy spencer reports from northwest washington. >> reporter: it was a bitter cold day but some refused to stay inside. >> it's a beautiful day. sun is out. and i come from michigan so to me this isn't really that cold. >> reporter: these flag football teams were going to play no matter what. but they admit they would trade the cold and wind for sun and heat any day. >> we preper to play in the hot weather. but, you know, on a day like

today you have to run the ball and tough it out. >> reporter: even tourists were stunned by the blast of frigid weather. some ventured out on segways. >> my wife made the reservation. we didn't know it would be as cold as it was, especially windy. once we got here and got to ride them it was a lot of fun. you get to see a lot of things here in washington quickly. >> reporter: whe it gets this cold it can be dangerous. the arlington street people network is staying open 24 hours a day this weekend. >> then you can offer them additional services to help them move, hopefully from living on the streets to housing which is really our intent. >> reporter: the shelter is providing hot meals and a warm place to stay. and for this homeless woman the shelter has been a life saver. >> these people took me in.

that means a whole lot to me. i'm not sleeping outside or anything like that. i'm just grateful for them. >> reporter: darcy spencer, news 4. >> that shelter will remain open 24 hours a day as long as the high stays below 32 degrees. police in howard county need your help finding a 2-year-old boy who they say was taken by his own mother. jennifer nolan abducted her son from her mother's home in columbia last night. nolan does not have custody rights for kingston and police believe she may be in the baltimore area right now. she was last spotted in a 2007 black toyota convertible with temporary maryland tags, 33437k. she was seen driving eastbound on maryland 108 in columbia around 8:00 last nit. anyone with information is asked to call howard county police right away.

police are still searching this morning for a stolen car that they say had a security guard's gun in it. somebody stole the jaguar at around 6:00 last evening in the 9100 block of central avenue in capitol heights. a cuty guard was standing outside of the car when a man jumped in and drove off. his badge and credentials were also in that car. police are also looking for a black ford expedition that may be connected to that satisfaction. a heads up again for business owners in montgomery county. someone is going around pretending to be a fire inspector. police say the only thing he's looking for is cash and valuables. investigators say this surveillance video shows the man in action at a bethesda convenience store last summer. police say the man told the employee he needed a flashlight. when the employee went to get one, he took a wallet. what can businesses do to make sure an inspector is real?

>> in montgomery county, they should look for someone who is in uniform with the fire department uniform. they should also have a badge or some other form of identification. this fake inspector might have struck elsewhere. police are look ng to similar incidents in the district as well as in fairfax county. now to the battle over health care. president obama says reform would lower costs for families and businesses and start making an impact in the first year. in his weekly address the president mentioned some changes that he said would go into effect immediately. he said people with medical conditions will be able to buy affordable health insurance. small business owners will receive tax credits to cover employee benefits and insurance companies will be banned from dropping coverage when someone becomes sick. >> all told, these changes represent the most sweeping reforms and toughest restrictions on insurance companies that this country has

ever known. that's how we'll make 2010 a healthier and more secure year for every american. for those who have health insurance and those who don't. >> the house and senate are hammering out the differences in their health care bills. president obama wants to sign a bill into law by his state of the union speech which is expected to happen in early february. virginia governor elect bob mcdonnell nook his inauguration festivities to arlington. the northern virginia inaugural concert was the second day of more than a week of activities. on friday mcdonnell volunteered at a food bank. he said he decided to scale back his inauguration due to the state of the economy. he said job creation will be his number one goal once he takes office. >> that will be executive order number one to create my on going task force for the top minds in virginia to focus on this issue.

i need your help. i need more tools. i need some more money and investment. >> mcdonnell will be sworn in next sunday. the capitals are on a roll and the nfl playoffs are here. >> reporter: on the road in atlanta and the caps unleash the fury. six different players unleashed a goal. the capitals win big 8-1. largest margin ever victory this season. the caps have also won three straight. wild card saturday here on nbc 4, eagles against the cowboys, pretty much all dallas in this one. felix jones goes 73 yards for a touchdown. kroubs crush the eagles 34-14. their first playoff victory in 13 years. dallas will meet minnesota in cincinnati.

jets beat the bengals for the second week in a row, 24-14. college hoops. 12th rank georgetown hosting uconn. the hoyas trailed but they came back. georgetown rallied back to win it 72-69. that's your "sports minute." i'm hakem dermish, have a great day. this morning howard university is remembering one of its long time leaders. james edward chief died yesterday after a lengthy illness. he was president of howard from 1969 to 1989. during those 20 years established the school of business and the hospital, and upped the budget from $40 million to $400 million. he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom. he was 77 years old. >> a live well lived. >> certainly was. the time is 6:09. it is really cold outside.

wind chills are back. it will put a little zing in your morning. get out there and get you going. complete check of what's going start out as a very cold forecast. the seven day forecast shows a hint of a warm up. hint of a warm up. detail announcer: trying to be good to your heart? so is campbell's healthy request soup. low in fat and cholesterol, heart healthy levels of sodium, and taste you'll love. chef: we're all kind of excited about it. guy: mmm! i can see why. announcer: campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good! for your heart. morning bob. (phone ring) good morning, scott tissue. can everyone hear me? uh, just barely. great, let's get started. surprise! you guys!

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they were not performing an

actual rescue yesterday, thankfully. it was a drill. firefighters want to keep their skills sharp in case they need to rescue someone who falls through the ice. their message to you, definitely stay off that ice. >> in the past we've had folks fall through a canal and some other bodies of water around town. we want to stay ahead of the curve and be ready. there's no such thing as safe ice. you can't guarantee it's safe beyond going your local rink. >> if you see someone fall through e ice the best thing to do is throw them a rope or a stick and call 911. do not try to get on the ice yourself. the potomac is even more dangerous than most local water due to its swift current. and that want ice doesn't even look like you want to ice skate on it. it's pretty choppy. >> we got that beautiful rink by the national archives. why would you want to ice skate anywhere other than there.

>> when we were kids, i used to ice skate on the canal. you would call a number and they would tell you how thick the ice was. >> they stopped doing that all together. >> too much of a risk. >> the canal not safe for ice skating. north of the potomac. we have ice skating rinks around the area so take advantage of those because they are just so much safer and more fun. you can get out there with your friends and enjoy. when you get tired of ice skating hot chocolate is seconds away. outside on your sunday morning be ready for another slap in the face from mother nature. as you get ready to get your day started here's a live look over washington, the lincoln memorial and yes wean see our breath on the city camera. a lot of cold air in place. temperature at national aport dropped to 20 degrees. a north wind at 12 miles per hour has dropped our wind chill down to the single digits. 16 degrees back on january 3rd.

that certainly wasn't our windiest day. remember last weekend we had winds gusting over 45 miles per hour both on saturday and sunday. no more of those 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts. not yesterday. not have them today. look at the current temperatures. 20 here. 23 in wilmington, nth carolina. 23 in jacksonville, florida. south beach those friends that deserted us and went down to south beach for the weekend, 36 degrees in miami beach. freeze warnings and wind chill warnings down in the florida keys. yes, indeed not the time to be down there. the current wind chill in miami beach is 28 degrees. jacksonville 16. single digit wind chills down to metro atlanta this morning as polar plunge has absolutely scoured out any hint of a winter vacation all the way down into the florida keys. co air diving to the south. they have one more cold night coming. last night in a lot of spots the coldest night in 20 to 30 years.

citrus crops and strawberry crops across much of florida in real danger for this morning and toght coming in to tomorrow morning. teens and 20s around the east with single digit wind chills. high pressure will be moving a little bit closer to us. that will take some of the sting out of the wind by later on this afternoon. watch very small little alberta clipper system zipping down across the great lakes, clouds come back in our skies during the day tomorrow and that may be enough to generate a little light snow west of the blue ridge and maybe snow flurries late monday night into the early morning hours of tuesday morning. not going to be a big deal. just want to give the heads up on a chance of seeing a snowflake around here. there's your extended forecast. 34 today. 36 tomorrow with the clouds coming back. 30% chance of light snow flurries or light snow north and west of town. wednesday, thursday and friday,

yes, indeed, above average. we love above average. >> music to our ears. thanks, chuck. many parts of the u.s. remain in the deep freeze this morning. millions of people across europe are dealing with the worst winter weather they've seen in years. nbc's tom aspell reports from london. >> reporter: europe's cold snap one of the wst in 30 years has seen snow closing roads and airports across the continent as icy blizzards from the arctic bring misery to many. in britain mild winters are a memory as schools are closed. so much gravel have been used they began to run out of supplies leaving thousands of secondary roads and sidewalks untreated and turning them into sheets of black ice. eurostar the train service is running on reduced services. heavy snowfall in the czech

republic has banned trucks from its roads. spain reports thick snow and heavy rains in italy have caused concern over rising water levels in rivers. meteorologists are predicting the cold weather is set to continue through the weekend with more snow expected across much of europe. in london, tom aspell, nbc news. >> we would like to make a programming note. normally at this time we bring you reporter's notebook p.m. however it will not be airing this morning. it will resume next sunday as usual. in sports the capitals are very hot. the nfl playoffs are here and georgetown pulled off a fantastic come back from behind win. hakem dermish has all the details. >> good morning. when asked about playing the challenges, the head coach respond like pretty much ever other opposing bench boss. it's a huge test for us.

they are a scoring juggernaut. last night the kidnaps thrashing atlanta 8-1 and happy birthday. first period caps up 0. here come the caps. simmons first attempt is stopped but persistent. caps take a 2-0 lead. simmon-two goals in the game. second period caps lead it 3-0. jeff schultze with a long pass to ovechkin. he redirects it to himself. shoots. knuble in front. third perio now caps up 7-1. thrashers turn it over. morrison passes right through three defenders to jason. he scores his first goal as a capital. the caps crush atlanta 8-1 their largest margin ever victory this season. talking football.

peyton manning, a commercial actor who occasionally plays football. they forgot to add when play ss awesome. peyton manning won the most valuable player award. earning 32 more points than drew brees. donovan mcnabb rocking the air guitar. scaring the jeepers out of the cowboys fans. unfortunately, he was reynoldsered ineffective in his game. michael vick steps back, throws a strike to maclin. maclin is gone. 76 yards for the touchdown. game now at seven. looked like a ball game flight. later in the quarter, philly down 17-7. vick takes the snap, tries to hand it off to weaver. bobby carpenter all over it. a game changing play. that leads to another dallas

touchdown. eagles pretty much out of it after that. here's the cherry on top for dallas. felix jones was the man. gets the ball. runs right. right through the eagles defense. and says excuse me, folks, i'll cutback right here and go 73 yards for the touchdown. dallas wins 34-14 their first playoff victory in 13 years. owner jerry jones high fiving george w. bush. they were having a heck of a time in the new stadium. to cincinnati. bengals. joe gibbs the hall of famer and joe theisman calling the game. mark sanchez to sean green. goes 39 yards for the touchdown. does the rookie. a big day for him. rushing for 135 yards. then my favorite fans, check this out. sneaking in a drink. sanchez on the bootleg, rolls out by tight ends dustin keller

wide-open. check out keller. stays inbounds. does the rest. gets in. 45 yards before the jets beat the bengals. this time 24-14. two catches, 28 yards. college hoops now. if you were watching the georgetown uconn game you said during the first half it's over. not so fast. down by 15 at halftime georgetown junior stepped up big time scoring 28 of his career-high 33 points in his second half. big bird and cookie monster at the game. first half huskies wearing blue. uconn feeds stanley robinson for the huge alley-oop. georgetown down 40-25 at the break. hoya alum knows a come back when he sees one. check out the nice moves. lays it up and in. hoyas down by two.

the damascus product was feeling it. georgetown leads 66-65. under a minute to play. greg monroe his shot is blocked. 12th ranked hoyas win it 72-69. hoyaser and their fourth consecutive win against uconn. george mason hosting unc wilmington pick it up in the second half. brandon pearson. nice dunk. morrison had a team high of 15 points. pearson knocks the ball loose. tate gives it back to pearson. george mason go on to win it 59-46. 14th straight conference victory at the patriot center. that's your morning sports. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> thanks. a long with those athletes grabbing gatorade. take a look at this gatorade bottle. someone has been putting fake

labels on gatorade bottles in colorado. they show tiger woodsnd his wife elin and unfaithful. the fake labels have been spotted at three different stores so far. there's no word where the fake labels have come from or how many there are. gatorade recently announced they are discontinuing the tiger woods drink but the decision had been made before the scandal broke. gatorade has not commented on the recent matter. a final tribute for a cia employee killed in a suicide bombing in afghanistan nrly two weeks ago. harold brown jr. was laid to rest in massachusetts yesterday. the 37-year-old was one of seven agents killed in the attack. brown lived in northern virginia for the past several years. he leaves behind his wife and three young children. a handful of protesters marched in northwest washington yesterday taking a stand against

violence. the group, in-put hosted the event in front of the d.c. superior court. their goal is to bring awareness of violence spreading in communities due to stress brought on by the economic downturn. an oregon man faces federal charges after disrupting a hawaiian islands flight. joe johnson is accused of interfering with the performance and duties of a flight crew. investigators say before the maui bound flight took off johnson refused to store his carry on bag and then later in the flight the 56-year-old handed a comment card to a flight attendant. it read inart what if the plane ripped apart and we plummet to earth. the pilot decided to return back to portland and two fighter jets escorted that flight. >> the plane or passengers or the crew could be in a dangerous situation. we take that very seriously, particularly at this point in time given what happened on

christmas day. >> the charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. a shocking revelation on capitol hill. why senate democratic leader harry reid is apologizing to the esident. a story you got to see to believe. how a woman caused four different car crashes in a single hour. plus, when are things going to warm up inchuck is back with his first forecast and we want to remind you that the fitness expo is coming up next weekend. nbc 4 is kick off our annual health and fitness expo. it runs on january 16th and 17th at the washington convention center. come visit for information about how to live a healthy lifestyle. it's fun for the whole family.

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to catch a con man police need your help to catch a fraud targeting businesses. cold start. another chilly morning here in the nation's capital. chuck will tell us if things are starting to change. laptop loiterers. you see them at your local coffee shop. they pick a spot and stay

forever. some say they are crowding out other customers. why this may not be bad for business after all. good morning, everyone. welcome back to "news4 today." i'm kimberly suiters. let's check in with chuck bell at storm center 4 for a quick look at the very chilly forecast. good morning, again. >> good morning. welcome to your sunday morning, everybody. off to a typically cold start. even a little bit colder than average by january standards. some of our four winds network neighborhood stations are reporting temperatures way below average. 17 deges in hickory creek. silver spring, maryland down to 17 degrees. area wide lots of teens to near 20 degree readings out there. put a hint of a breeze out there. wind chill value this morning are back down in the single

digits in almost everybody's neighborhood. cold forecast for today. plenty of sunshine. temperatures this afternoon should climb within a degree or two above or below depending on where you live of the all-important freezing mark. some folks will have a freegz cold sunday and some of us will just have a really cold sunday. >> not much of a distinction there. thanks. >> it's the details that matter. we've been talking about this bitter cold for more than a week now. strong winds and below freezing temperatures night after night have local homeless shelters working overtime. some other folks are voluntarily going out in the cold whether jog or playing a game of football. some are not letting this cold deter them. >> i come from michigan so, to me this isn't really that cold. >> the cold bothers me. we prefer to play in the hot weather where you can throw the ball across the field. on a day like today you have to tough it out. >> most of us in washington

don't that have that toughness. even tourists braved the weather and took to the dulles south sights on segways. this new year has bean challenging one for president obama. he's prodding congressional democrats to finish up a health care bill. his first state of the union address is weeks away. he's been forced to address shortcomings in national security. all this comes as his majority party fights to stay that way. brian mooar reports now from capitol hill. >> reporter: a day after getti more bad news on jobs and the economy, president obama is touting health care reform as a way to help struggling americans. >> we're facing our broken health care system. >> reporter: he's hoping to sign a bill in a few weeks before his state of the union address. but house democrats say they won't just rubber stamp the bill

passed by the senate. if they demands too many changes health care reform could be in trouble. the president is trying to ramp up the war in afghanistan, wind down the fighting in iraq and close guantanamo bay. >> we can't gather the intelligence we need to foil future attacks if we're granting terrorists the right to remain silent. >> reporter: this new year has highlighted the threat of terror and vulnerabilities in airport security and intelligence. all in an election year that's looking tough for the president and his party. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. in an effort to stop a third wave of h1n1 the president has declared this coming week national flu vaccination week. harry reid is apologizing to president obama for a racial comment made during the presidential campaign. in a new book out monday called "game change" reid is quoted

ascribing obama as light-skind african-american with no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. president obama quickly accepted that apology and said quote, the book is closed. the heads of the republican and democratic national committees will square off this morning on "meet the press" when rnc chairman michael steele and governor tim kaine join david gregory. that's coming up at 10:30 right here on nbc 4. now to montgomery county where police are warning businesses to be on the lookout for a man pretendsing to be a fire inspector. they say he's n inspector just a plain old thief. derrick ward has more. >> reporter: police say this surveillance video shows the fake inspector in action last

summer. designee walks in. acts confidently. has a tool belt. shining a flashlight around in different areas. when asked he says he's a fire if spector or code inspector. >> reporter: he used the same ruse back in august last year. he posed as a fire inspector and went to a back room and told the worker he needed a flashlight. when the worker went to get one the man took a wallet from another worker's purse. he told the merchant he needed to check his fire extinguishers. that was a busy day. the inspector hit this dry cleaner in rockville. he got access to a rear area of the establishment and took four computers and four monitors. >> in montgomery county they should look for someone who is in uniform with the fire

department uniform. they should also have a badge or some other form of identification. if there's any doubt they should call the fire dertment, or the local police. >> reporter: a real inspector would oblige such inquiries. word is going out. this imposter has pulled this act in fairfax county and the district. derrick ward, "news4 today." someood surveillance video there. police say the phoney inspector is between 5'9" and six feet tall and weighs between 200 and 240 pounds. he wears a blue utility shirt with a logo on it. the d.c. elections school board holding a public hearing on whether citizens should vote on same sex marriage. the hearing is scheduled for february 16th. the d.c. council gave final approval to gay marriage last month. mayor adrian fenty quickly signed the bill into law. this is currently pending approval by congress. last week, 39 republicans filed a brief that support ad public vote on the issue.

the time is now 6:36. you know those people who pick a spot at the coffee house and stay there all day. why local businesses are actually encouraging them to do that. and a woman takes a dangerous drive down the road. we'll show it to you. a whole new level. just wait until how you see how she was speeding along.

d.c. public charter schools are looking for new teach earns student. the school board held a recruitment expo yesterday. families and teachers were able to learn more about the 57 charter schools located around the district. parents were also able to complete enrollment applications on the spot for the next school year. charter schools are open to all district residents. 250 high school students from the metro area kicked off the first robotics competition. the event was held at mckinley technology in the district. yesterday the challenge for each team the office design and build their own robot. the goal is to encourage students to go into careers in engineering, computer science and business. the students have six weeks to make their robots come to life. in march they will bring their robots to complete with students from other states.

fourth quarter earning reports started to trickle out. sue herera has a preview of that. >> reporter: monday is the official start of earnings season on wall street when companies tell us just how good or bad business has been over the past three months. steel maker alcoa kick things off on monday. you can bank on big profits at jpmorgan chase. the carmakers roll out their new cars. look for green technology and more gadgets. expect a more subdued atmosphere from automakers. now that those december bills are coming in will americans be able to pay for those christmas presents. the country's big banks report on credit cards and delinquent sis. and cadbury is expected to respond to the takeover bid from

kraft. it is the event the fox network has been waiting for the return of its mid-winter ratings machine "american idol" kicking off it's ninth season. remember, paula abdul is out, ellen degeneres is in. they logon and linger. the coffee house customer who takes up a whole table and feels no reason to move. some businesses were once all about cracking down on the campers who might not spend any money. now theare trying to lure these laptop loiterers. jim handly reports. >> reporter: call them camp e-squatters or the new loiterers. they are crowding coffee houses with their laptop computers, some for hours on ends. how long have you stayed? >> oh, i'm embarrassed. i stay like 1 hours sometimes.

>> reporter: really. this medical studentrrives here early at adams morgan. she uses another word to describe herself and her fellow computercampers. >> you look for a place. who will get up first. i feel like a vulture. >> reporter: owners notice business backing out the door. >> people come in. they would see seats available but no tables available. people have this idea if you see a table, they are waiting for somebody or that's their space so we can't really intrude on it. >> reporter: with tables slow to turn over they decided to turn the typical business model on its head, embracing laptop users and their longer stays. >> my philosophy at the time you can get more out of an individual sitting for two hours. >> reporter: in the fall they put a new don't camp alone policy in place. signs and servers encourage table sharing. >> we took the concept of the

communal table and made a bun of small communal tables. laptops create this bubble where you don't engage. we've given the opportunity to break that bubble and alert a customer coming in that hey that person over there wouldn't mind if you joined their table. >> i have no problems with sitting with somebody else. >> if somebody needs a seat it's not a problem. >> reporter: on top of free wi-fi, music and living room ambiance, it's never a rush. >> welcome to my office. >> reporter: some come to work, some others to network, look for work and blog. >> i'm a writer. it's easy for me to work anywhere. i have two kids. it's nice to work away from the house when i have some child care. >> reporter: beyond sharing tables they are coming up with a new menu. it's all about grazing.

>> the hour menu, two hour menu or three hour menu. you can have a server come up and bring the next course. >> i ate all my meals here. >> reporter: businesses aren't banking on that but if this generation is wedded to laptops anywhere why not offer them more to keep them camping at your tables. jim handly, news 4. >> isn't that interesting that the business model has kind of morphed with what the customer is doing. >> maybe child care is next. >> no. that would change the coffee house experience. but that's just me as a nonparent. no matter what you're going to do today, a hot cup of something is definitely in order and up to a cold start. a complete check of the cold sunday forecast is just ahead. if i had to sit on a bench during the middle of a game

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an arizona woman is being blamed for causing four separate car crashes all in about an hour. her car was registered going 90 miles per hour along the phoenix interstate. one of the crashes caused a hood to flip up and block the wind shield. she didn't let that slow her down. she stopped only after the fourth collision. police believe she was under the influence of prescription pain medication at the time. and this same video comes from phoenix. yesterday we had the guy with his head out the sun roof. >> that's why i'm not moving to phoenix. this and every day between about march and november when it's 100 degrees out there. >> that doesn't appeal to me

either. >> beautiful city. beautiful to look at from a distance. around here, most of the folks in phoenix live there because they hate it here. in january, especially. awfully cold outside. for the snow birds that didn't go out west to phoenix and far southern california those snow birds that went south to florida, big mistake this week. very cold air. all the way down the peninsula of florida. here's a tip for your investing. orange futures will be going up very, very soon. up or down. this is why i'm not in the investing business. orange crop and strawberry crop could be very severely impacted by what can best be described as one of the coldest nights in florida in many, many years. here in washington, another cold one in the books. icy waters in the potomac right now. our temperature in washington sits at 20 degrees. wind out of the north 12. wind chills in the single digits. so far this is our coldest january here in washington since 1994. yes, indeed.

a cold one for certain. 16 januarys now. current temperatures through the midwest are on the chilly side as well. 2 above in st. louis. 2 below in omaha, nebraska. 18 in atlanta, georgia. 23 in jacksonville, florida. 36 degrees the current actual air temperature in miami beach with a wind chill in the teens. frost and freeze warns all the way down the florida peninsula also across parts of the gulf coast, houston to mobile new orleans all below freezing. wind chill advisories as well. check out that wind chill in miami now. 28 degrees. 16 the wind chill in jacksonville, florida. bargain compared to omaha, nebraska where the wind chill is at 21 below zero. satellite review. little bit of snow across portions of eastern kentucky and west virginia and down across florida yesterday sleet pellets were reported at disney world.

yeah. that's a bad sign for your winter vacation. the polar plunge is on. the cold air all the way down to the florida keys. even cuba will have near record low temperatures overnight tonight into tomorrow morning. right now temperatures around our area, teens and low 20s with nd chills in the single digits. it's a bundle up morning for certain. high pressure out across the middle part of the country will be moving our way. that will take that north wind away by later on this afternoon and evening. one more cold start coming up for tomorrow morning. wake up temperatures tomorrow morning in the teens after a high in the low to mid-30s. tomorrow 36 degrees one increasingly cloudy skies and late monday night into the early morning hours of tuesday morning there will be a chance of a little light snow north and west of town and flurries in and around the city of washington. not going to be a big deal. temperatures back above average. we only had one day above average in the last two and a half weeks. so we're ready for it. >>it's about time. thanks, chuck. something has to be hot and

apparently the caps are. the nfl playoffs are here. here's hakem dermish with sports. >> good morning. when asked about playing the challenges, the head coach respond like pretty much ever other opposing bench boss. it's a huge test for us. they are a scoring juggernaut. yes, they are. last night the caps thrashing atlanta 8-1 and happy birthday. first period caps up 1-0. thrashers on the power play. here come the caps. simmons first attempt is stopped but persistent. try, try, again. caps take a 2-0 lead. simmon had two goals in the game. second period caps lead it 3-0. jeff schultze with a long pass to ovechkin. he redirects it to himself. shoots. knuble in front. knocked it in.

second goal of the game. third period now caps up 7-1. thrashers turn it over. morrison passes right through three defenders to jason. he scores his first goal as a capital. the caps crush atlanta 8-1, their largest margin of victory th season. talking football. peyton manning, a commercial actor who occasionally plays football. they forgot to add when play is awesome. peyton manning won the most valuable player award. it wasn't even close. earning 32 more points than drew brees. manning the first player to win the honor four times. wild card saturday here on nbc 4. we start in texas. donovan mcnabb rocking the air guitar. check this out. scaring the jeepers out of the cowboys fans. unfortunately, he was rendered ineffective in his game. michael vick steps back, throws a strike to maclin. maclin is gone. 76 yards for the touchdown.

game now at seven. looked like a ball game right there. later in the quarter, philly down 17-7. vick takes the snap, tries to hand it off to weaver. he lose's it. bobby carpenter all over it. a game changing play. that leads to another dallas touchdown. eagles pretty much out of it after that. here's the cherry on top for dallas. felix jones was the man. gets the ball. runs right. right through the eagles defense. and says excuse me, folks, i'll cutback rit here and go 73 yards for the touchdown. dallas wins 34-14 their first playoff victory in 13 years. owner jerry jones high fiving george w. bush. they were having a heck of a time in the new stadium. to cincinnati. jets-bengals. joe gibbs the hall of famer and joe theisman calling the game. good one here. second quarter here. mark sanchez to sean green. goes 39 yards for the touchdown. does the rookie. a big day for him.

rushing for 135 yards. then my favorite fans, check this out. sneaking in a drink. sanchez on the bootleg, rolls out by tight end dustin keller wide-open. check out keller. stays inbounds. does the rest. gets in. 45 yards before the jets beat the bengals. this time 24-14. two catches, 28 yards. colle hoops now. if you were watching the georgetown uconn game you said during the first half it's over. not so fast. down by 15 at halftime georgetown junior stepped up big time scoring 28 of his career-high 33 points in his second half. we're at verizon center. big bird and cookie monster at the game. cookies are a sometime food, kids, only when you're good. first half huskies wearing blue. uconn feeds stanley robins for

the huge alley-oop. georgetown down 40-25 at the break. hoya alum knows a come back when he sees one. in the second. check out the nice moves. lays it up and in. hoyas down by two. the damascus product was feeling it. georgetown leads 66-65. under a minute to play. uconn up one. greg monroe his shot is blocked. 12th ranked hoyas win it 72-69. hoyas earn their fourth consecutive win against uconn. let's go to fairfax. george mason hosting unc wilmington pick it up in the second half. brian pearson. nice lob for the dunk. morrison had a team high of 15 points. understand five minutes to go. pearson knocks the ball loose. tate gives it back to pearson. george mason go on to win it 59-46. 14th straight conference victory

at the patriot center. that's your morning sports. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. whoever said you shouldn't play with your food forgot to tell that to some folks in colorado. they threw up their fruitcakes. in the 15th annual great fruitcake toss. not a mere exhibition, it was a competition. the fruitcake slingers were judged on distance, accuracy and even catching. they had to bring their own fruitcakes which had to contain

which is fantastic. we'll have them over for a friday night pizza. it's just our way of entertaining without going out. this is where all the magic happens. this is where i knead the dough, make the pizza. by using my card, i get the specials, the real deals, and it saves me money. the win-win is that we get to visit with our friends, the kids get to visit with their friends, and it's great food. more savings, more rewards. every time you shop. only with your giant card. we save money, and that works for me.

good morning, everyone. i'm kimberly suiters. welcome to "news4 today" at 7:00. it's sunday, january 10, 2010. a look at today's top stories in just a moment but first, though, let's get a check of the weather with meteorologist chuck bell. good morning, chuck. >> good morning. a happy sunday, everybody, out there in the news 4 nation. off to a clear and very cold start on your sunday. most everybody in the teens to near 20 degrees this morning. a clear sky overhead and still a bit of a north to northwesterly wind blowing out there. be ready for a bundle up sunday. temperatures right now 15

degrees in linden, virginia, 20 degrees here in washington. 18 degrees in brandywine this morning. 22 all the way down towards california, maryland, 21 in quantico, virginia. put a little wind chill in there, single digits. 2 in frederick, maryland. be ready for another cold day today. high temperatures will be up right around freezing mark by later on this afternoon. sunrise is just 26 minutes from now. that will start helping things out just a little bit, kimberly and we'll have plenty of sunsz all day long. in the news howard county police are searching for a 2-year-old boy who they say was taken by his mother. jenniferolan abducted her own son from her mother's home in columbia last night. nolan does not have custody rights for kingston and police believe she may be in the baltimore area right now. she was last spotted in a 2007 black toyota convertible with

temporary maryland tags 33437k. she was seen driving eastbound on maryland 108 in columbia around 8:00 last night. if you see the car please call police. montgomery county police are warning that a man going to businesses and claiming to be a fire inspector is nothing more than a thief. he's hit several businesses in recent months. here's surveillance video of him in action last summer at a bethesda convenience store. senate majority leader harry reid apologizing to president obama for a racial comment made during the presidential campaign. in a new book reid is quoted ascribing then candidate obama as quota light-skinned african-american with no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. president obama quickly accepted the apology. those are some of the stories making news today. next is nbc 4's "viewpoint." we'll be back in a few minutes with an update.

good morning, everybody. welcome to "viewpoint." i'm jim handly. today we are looking back to the challenges of 2009 and the challenges and promises of 2010 and our guest this morning is d.c. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton. welcome back to "viewpoint." let's look back briefly, if we can on 2009 and the crisis of the economy that hit not only d.c. but our whole region and the entire country. you fought hard for and secured our share of stimulus money beyond our share, really. how much are we talking about and highlight some of the place where's this money will go? >> jim, the way to really see it is compared to what? the district in stimulus funds and here i'm talking only the district's amount i haven't even gotten to the extra, the district of columbia got $1

billion. that saved jobs for cops, teachers. that was because i insisted that d.c. be funded as a state. remember everybody regards us in the federal government as a state for everything except voting rights. i know you'll get to that. so we're funded as a state in every program. that billion dollars is more than seven states. then it seemed to me as a subcommittee chair i could get more this year because we were talking stimulus funding. we were talking jobs. and i've been trying to get the funding out for some time for the department of homeland security. >> which will be seen, a brand new building tlirks of a roger we haven't seen since the pentagon, really. >> and the largest construction project in the united states of america today. i rinded my colleagues that fdr built pennsylvania avenue and constitutional avenue during

the great depression. if you want to build this, this is the time to build it. got the first billion dollars out for that. and all under my subcommittee chairmanship and yet there was more because we were rehabilitating buildings in all 50 states, all the territories. we're a federal city. that means we have a disproportionate number of federal buildings and i was able to get money for rehabilitation, upgrading federal buildings here, very substantial remaking of federal buildings here. 15 buildings. add it all up that's $3.5 billion in stimulus funding for the district of columbia that had to be the overriding goal at a time when our employment rate, as i see it is approaching 12%. >> let's talk about jobs and specifically you mentioned the new headquarters for the homeland security department. how many jobs are we talking about there and construction leading up to it too?

>> very important point, jim. because this project will feed the d.c. economy for almost ten yes. and over that period of building three buildings, it's a compound not a mere federal building and reusing 60 structures, historic structures that we don't want to tear down. over that period of time there will be many different kinds of jobs and that means that before that construction is all ne, 38,000 jobs in ward 8 alone, of course people can come from other places, actually mentioned, jim, working hard to bring that kind of construction here so d.c. residents can get it. we have opened a new modular center in ward 8, opened for business already dedicated it but opened for business february 1st where d.c. residents can come, learn how to get jobs in the project and in the other

federal projects that i just spoke of. how to get apprenticeships. how to get small business contracts. i got extra monies for pre-apprenticeships. we've graduated the first 20 d.c. residents for the apprenticeships. we've broken ground. we're not now into heavy hiring, but can you see what that will mean when the spring comes and people begin to get on ground and the center gets opened on february 1st. >> let's look, congresswoman far into the future in that area that we're talking about. do you envision a cia type of set up or do you envision businesses taking off around that prime property really? >> in looking at what this property can do for the district of columbia, let's look where it is set. it's set in ward 8 along the martin luther king boulevard where businesses have simply have had no reason to come. on one side, on both sides were

old federal properties, old saint elizabeth property taking up most of the federal corridor. i looked at what the federal government has done for other similar corridors such as m street southeast. near the ballpark where now a whole bunch of buildings long before the ballpark came began to sprout up. by bringing the homeland security department there, 14,000 employees, federal employees, what you do, what has happened every time the federal government has gone to any place in the district is that businesses upscale retail comes, you get commercial of the kind that ward 8 has mostwanted, you'll get the rejuvenation. in fact, the remaking of martin luther king boulevard unless this turns out to be different

from every other place even the worse places that the federal government has gone before. >> i want to ask you very quickly that's one of the most spectacular views of the city. will that remai open to the public to be able to take advantage of that? >> i've taken your own tom sherwood up there. i've already seen to it that the public will be able to go to the point. by the way, jim, they haven't been able to go up to the point for decades. can't get into it because it's a closed project. we'll open the project and people will be able to get in. nobody is interested in getting into the homeland security cility. we want to get to that

welcome back to "viewpoint." our guest this morning congresswoman eleanor holmes norton. we were talking about budget crises all around the country and jurisdictions. local government, state

government, also agencies and metro had a particularly tough 2009. safety concerns were raised time and time again. now a $40 million budget short fall. congresswoman, what kind of pain are passengers, commuters going to be feeling in 2010? >> systems like our metro systems are taking two hits. one is the recession hit. that's what metro is going through now with its budget. but there's another very big hit and that is that the capital infrastructure of most of these metro systems is hugely in need of repair. ours has been one that has had federal government involved not simply the regional government and for years we tried to get out the $1.5 billion authorized amount, $150 million a year, not until the tragic june 22nd metro

crash had we finally been successful. we just got it out in december. what you see in metro is a combination of a deteriorating, rapidly deterrating capital infrastructure, and operational concerns. they all come together in a very imperfect storm. what the last period has taught the federal government, though, is that if they want to keep running they better keep metro running and this was the major argument, at least i tried to make, i recently mad it in a "the washington post" op ed piece as well because i had an occasion to do so when we got shut down, we in the federal government because metro got shut down. that's how the federal workers get to work. most -- almost 50% of the weekday riders are federal workers. if you shut metro down for a

couple of hours, you will either leave federal workers in place or leave them at home. that's how he got the first $150 million. each of the three jurisdictions have to put in the equivalent of that or $50 million each. then you'll begin to see metro recover, especially since we've had the most deadly accident in the country. we now, of course, have a proposal from the administration to regulate these transit systems for the first time. none of them are federally regulated. if you get on an airplane that's federally regulated. if you get on a train, that's fedly regular layed. why not metro systems. i i had the june 22nd tragedy has taught that to the entire nation. >> day-to-day commuters what will they see in terms of cutbacks? more crowding? longer waits? >> you are going to see more crowding and longer waits and there's not a thing that metro can do about that.

whereas if metro had an increasing ridership, it's ridership after increasing in the st three or four years has begun to diminished. i hope people don't get back on the road. people should simply give people more time to get to work. much of the slow walking or riding of metro is going to be due to its need to repair rather than to send us into some other kind of accidents that none of us want to see. >> let's move on if we can to same sex marriage. we know that it passed the council, mayor fenty signed it. now there is a court challenge. many republicans in the house or some we should say are on board this court challenge. what do you think the future holds? are we still on track for spring for gay marriage in d.c.? >> i think so. monday, sorry tuesday congress

comes back into session. that begins the 30 day period that this bill must go through in the congress before it becomes law. now those who oppose gay marriage are trying in every way to keep people of the same sex from being married in the district. i believe they will fail. i believe they will fail in the congress. i have already spoken to all of the, those of my colleagues who are the traditional gate keepers. there are other ways, of course, to try to circumvent that. i do not believe they will be successful. i must tell you, jim, i don't think anybody in the congress today wants to discuss marriage here or anywhere else. not in health care. not all we've gone through with the economy. i don't think that's on people's minds. >> the court challenge, though, and councilwoman mary jay says don't discount that. she was quoted in the "post"

saying opponents could prevail. this is not a frivolous claim. >> i can tell you as a constitutional lawyer in my former life, that such a court suit is not frivolous. it will not be thrown out as frivolous. it will be litigated. i think that the chances are at least as good, however, that it will not be successful. >> you don't think we'll see a vote or a referendum in d.c.? >> i do not believe so. i certainly don't believe you'll see one before the 30 day and 30 legislative days. so that could go on for some time. that's 30 days from now. but i want to say this. i think people misjudge where the district of columbia is. the reason that no referendum is in order is the same reason i don't want people voting on whether, as a black woman i should have my rights as a woman or my rights as a black person, we don't put matters of this

kind that are in our constitution or in our case in our statute before people, because of the status they had in our sense of values and in our life. but if this were to go to referendum i can tell you i think that same sex marriage would prevail. those who oppose same sex marriage i think misunderstand this city. i believe, for example, there are a fair number of african-americans and others who oppose same sex marriage that i can say about the african-american community that there is a reluctance to cut other people's rights off and i have seen a gradual sense that, look, this is not us. this is a right-wing republican. this is us. at the very least we tolerate what does not hurt us. i can not find any way that same sex marriage will hurt the marriages of other people or

hurt the residents of the district of columbia. we'll be right back with d.c. congresswoman

. police are still searching this morning for a stolen car that they say had a security guard's gun inside it. investigators say someone stole the blue 2003 jaguar around 6:00 last evening in the 9100 block of central avenue in capitol heights. the security guard was standing outside of the car when another man jumped in and drove away. family and friends pay their final respects to the cia agent killed in a suicide bombing in afghanistan nearly two weeks ago. harold brown jr. was laido rest in massachusetts yesterday. the 37-year-old lived in northern virginia for the past several years. he leaves behind his wife and three young children. bitter cold continues to grip our area but the freezing conditionsid not stop people from hitting the streets.

people braved the cold to jog, ride their segways or play a game of football.

welcome back to "viewpoint." again our guest this morning, d.c. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton. let's move on to this battle that continues. we fought it last year and been fighting it for years in the district for d.c. voting rights and home rule. where do we stand now, of course, we've got a democratic house, a democratic senate, and a white house, president obama all on board. some said if we didn't get it done last year what has changed. why would we get it done this year >> we're on point where we want to be. last year was the year of one set of big three and next year is to be the year of the second

set. we got for the first time in history or at least in memory all of the harmful riders off of the d.c. appropriation. this is something i've tried to do ever since i got into congress. and these were riders having to do with medical marijuana, reproductive choice for low-income women and needle exchange, trying to use our own money as every other jurisdiction does for these matts which you can't use federal money for. that was the big three, along with something extremely important that had to do with the democratic administration and that is that president obama gave me senatorial courtesy. his recommendation to u.s. attorney for the district of columbia or u.s. attorney throughout the united states and, of course, federal judges,

i hadecommended three judges, the president has not indicated his appointments to the senate yet, but he has sent two of my recommendations to the senate. one is already confirmed. the head of the u.s. parole commission, through whom all of our d.c. residents come, former police chiefs, and our new u.s. attorney ronald macam. he is one of the top young lawyers in the district of columbia and a former assistant u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. now, next year i had hoped to get voting right out this year, of course. but i thought i owed to it the district of columbia to try at least to keep from wiping out our gun laws. >> where does that stand now? this gun amendment? >> this gun amendment is all we've been doing. because we have the votes in the house and senate and cued up to

go very early in this session which begins next week. meanwhile, i had to consider in this year when you've done what you had to do with the riders, how do you make sure that the next three big items in congress for the district of columbia get done and what are those? vote rights must be done this year. budget and legislative autonomy. this is the triumphant event. these are the two big msing pieces of d.c. home rule. why should $6 million raised in the district of columbia have to come those before the congress before we spend our own money. why should we leave waiting for the same sex marriage bill to go into effect now. when, in fact, it's been enacted by an overwhelming majority on the council. why? because of this left over

provision in the home rule act. that's what i want to change. i happen to think that we're going to have a democratic house and senate. i don't take any chances. >> talk a little bit about that, because there's a sense out there that we may see a new congress, well, it will be a new congress. a shift perhaps. is there a pressure to get things done now while we got a big majority in the house in place and a majority, the 60 votes in the senate in place to get things done now before fall elections? >> i don't see that nationally. we have a very large majority in the house. we are scheduled to lose seats because in his first election, the president always loses seats. we were already ready to lose a few seats. we don't think we'll lose the house or the senate. they would have to wipe out -- we don't have enough people up to lose the senate and they

would have to wipe out som safe seats. nevertheless, when you have an all democratic house and senate administration and haven't had it for a very long time and you're the district of columbia you hustle. if anything i think you'll see nationally things slowing down a bit because the president and the congress, probably in the president's first year everything under the sun. you can't pile much more into that. my own sen of what should be done in these two years is right on, on cue, except i had thought that vote rights would be done byow. i think the residents of the district of columbia deserve for me to make the best effort i could. i've made the best effort i could. let's see, we're very close, i can not say we're home free given what we've been up against. i think if we have to take down any of our gun laws, no one will say it's because norton gave it up very easily. >> we'll be right back.

more to get to right after this short break. we're back on "viewpoint." congresswoman eleanor holmes norton is our guest. we've been talking about the economy. that's the way we began. let's look ahead to 2010. how optimistic are you about the economic in d.c. we're approaching 12% unemployment. do you think that number will get worse before it gets better? >> i don't think a lot worse. let's look at the region. maryland and virginia already have levelled off and are doing much better. their unemployment is going down. why isn't ours going down? largely because of the mismatch between the kinds of jobs that are growing, and the skills of many district residents. look at where we are. we're the only part of the country which is growing because the federal government is located here and the federal government is growing jobs left and right. most important thing, my

constituents can do is keep in school. if you got a high school education, get yourself a year or two of college the federal government will hire you. not to mention the plethora of businesses that are here now because the federal government is here now. we must understand what is happening to this economy when the president came into power, the economy was headed for a depression. he already has brought us out of that. we are -- we are moving now -- the only question is when will we begin to grow, not are we now in a terrible recession. that is a very hard thing for people to understand when they don't have a job and that is why in this coming congress, despite all that's said about spending it must be understood that when you're in a recession,hat is when you spend money to get the economy going again and we are going to have to spend money for unemployment, we're going to have to do some version of

another kind of stimulus, and i take you back to what i said about the great depression. en fdr, apparently, stopped spending in 1937, they began to call it the roosevelt depression. because the economy lobbed back to where it was. we have to read history. we have to under we're coming out of this. we have to bring the bangs out so that they can loan. now that they are out and we're doing all we can to make them loan, then people will begin to hire people again. >> and we're growing too. so, that's always a good thing. almost 600,000 people d.c. >> in the district we're growing here with people moving in not moving out and $5,000 home buyer credit. >> that's right. >> just got that removed. keep them coming in. got the small business credits renewed. businesses here at least will have something to hang on to. >> another busy year for congresswoman eleanor holmes norton. thank you so much for coming in.

we always love having you on "viewpoint." appreciate it. >> always a pleasure, jim. >> we thank you for watching "viewpoint." now back to "news4 today." enjoy the rest of your week, everybody. the search for kingston. police are looking for this 2-year-old who disappeared in maryland. who is accused of taking the toddler. finding a fraud. police say this man is preying on businesses in our area. how he gains your trust before cleaning you out. >> and frigid forecast, a beautiful sunrise but you'll need a heavy coat if you're heading out today. chuck will tell us just how much your teeth will be chattering this morning. good morning, everyone. i' kimberly suiters. this is "news4 today" on sunday, january 10, 2010.

the news in just a moment. first, those we want to check in with meteorologist chuck bell for a look at today's forecast. chuck, it's a chilly one. >> yes, indeed. you might use the word cold. yes, indeed, sunrise at 7:26 this morning. the proof is in the pudding and in the pictures. there it is. finally a little sunshine coming back into our sky after a cold night last night int the early morning hours. temperatures in the mid to high teens area hide especially occupant to the west. colder in the western suburbs. 17 in hagerstown. 15 degrees in damascus this morning. a balmy 22 at the naval academy in annapolis and 22 down in st. mary's city but that north to northwesterly wind is still blowing out there. we have single digit wind chills again this morning. be ready for a breezy and cold afternoon. the wind will start to ease up just a little bit by later on this afternoon.

afternoon high temperatures low to mid-30s. plenty of sunshine. oo another great looking day. drink your hot chocolate and eat your oatmeal. we've been talking about this bitter cold for more than a week. strong win and below freezing temperatures night after night have local homeless shelters working overtime. some other folks are voluntarily putting themselves out in the cold. whether jog or playing a game of football some are not letting freezing temperatures deter them. >> i come from michigan so to me it isn't that cold. >> we prefer to play in hot weather where you can throw the ball across the field. on a day like today we'll have to run the ball and tough it out. >> even a few tourists who said they didn't count on weather being this cold took in the d.c. sites via segway. we have breaking news to tell you about right now. this information just coming in. police in howard county say they

have found a 2-year-old boy who they say had been taken by his mother. we've been reporting this all morning. police said that jennifer nolan abducted her own son from her mother's home in columbia last night. nolan does not have custody rites for kingston and police believe she may be in the baltimore area. that's where they were looking for her. we haven't heard where they found the boy but he is home safe. does this man look familiar to you? he claims to be a fire inspector, but montgomery police say he's an impersonator and out to steal money from innocent people. they say he's target ad number of businesses in the county in recent months and he may have struck elsewhere in the region as well. derrick ward has more on what to look out for. >> he walks in acvery confidently. has a tool belt. he's shining a flashing light

around in different areas. when asked he says he's a fire inspector, or code inspector. >> reporter: even used the same ruse back in august last year in bethesda at a convenience store. even posed as a fire inspector and went to a back room and told the worker he need a flashlight. when the worker went to get one he took a wallet from a purse. he also told the merchant he needed to check his fire extinguishers and they needed to be replaced. that was a busy day for the fake inspector. he hit this dry cleaner in rockville. he got access to a rear area of the establishment and took four computers and four monitors. montgomery place say there are ways for the public to progress text themselves. >> in montgomery county they should look for someone who is in uniform with the fire department uniform. they should also have a badge or some other form of identification. if there's any doubt, they should call the fire department,

or the local police. >> reporter: a real inspector would gladly oblige such ininquire rice. the word is going out across the. the imposter has pulled this act in fairfax county and the district. >> the phoney infector is between 5'9" and 200 to 240 pounds. he wears a blue utility shirt with a logo on it. the d.c. elections board is hearing a public hearing on whether citizens should vote on same sex marriage. the hearing is february 16th. the d.c. council gave final approval to gay marriage last month. mayor adrian fenty quickly signed that bill into law. this is currently pending approval by congress and last week 39 republicans filed a brief that support ad public vote on the issue. senate majority leader harry reid is apologizing to president obama for a racial comment made during the presidential campaign. in a new book out monday called

"game change" reid is quoted ascribing then candidate obama as quote, light-skinned african-american with no negro die lect unless he wanted to have one. reid said he regrets his poor choice of words and apolo guyses to all americans, especially african-americans. president obama quickly accepted the apology and said quote the book is closed. the heads of the republican and democratic national committees will square off this morning on "meet the press" when rnc chairman michael steele and tim kaine join david gregory. the capitals are on a roll and the nfl playoffs are right here. hakem dermish has your "sports minute". >> reporter: on the road in atlanta and the caps unleash the fury. six different players unleashed a goal. jason scored his first for washington. the capitals win big 8-1.

largest margin of victory this season. the caps have also won three straight. wild card saturday here on nbc 4, eagles against the cowboys, pretty much all dallas in this one. here in the third quarter, felix jones goes 73 yards for a touchdown. cowboys crush the eagles 34-14. their first playoff victory in 13 years. dallas will meet minnesota in the next round. in cincinnati. jets taking on the bengals. jets beat the bengals for the second week in a row, 24-14. college hoops. 12th rank georgetown hosting number 13 uconn. uconn. the hoyas trailed but they came back. georgetown rallied back to win it 72-69. that's your "sports minute." i'm hakem dermish, have a great day. we're -- the time is 7:39. appearances can be deceiving. why your fatness doesn't

necessarily determine your fitness.

the husband of a missing utah woman is packing up his bags and moving out. friends and family members helped josh powell load items into a rental truck as he prepares to move from utah to washington state. both he and his wife susan have relatives that live in washington state. susan powell disappeared last month. josh powell said he left her at home whilee took his young children camping. it was in the middle of the

night and freezing temperatures. police are calling him a person of interest. but he has not been named a suspect. next up on nbc 4 is the "the today show." it starts right her at 8:00. lester holt is joining us live from new york with a preview. good morning, lester. >> kimberly, good sunday morning. coming up complete coverage of the deep freeze that continues to grip the country. now parts of europe will find out when it will end. also the latest on that 8-month-old baby missing since the day after christmas. police this week named two people of interest who they believe know more than they are telling. we'll talk to that couple in an exclusive interview. some rare never before seen footage we take you inside the den of a hibernating bear. the he decade. why today's leading men are living mid life with more

ankiety. and why food labels may be misleading you. >> hibernating sounds good. the bears have a good idea. here's a question for you women and men out there who have wage ad life long battle with your weight. can you be fat and fit at the same time? the answer may surprise you. here's nbc's chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: two women both in their early 50s. one got a perfect bill of health from her cardiologist. miami cardiologist says how a woman looks and the familiar term body mass index or bmi can be very deceiving. >> the fact is you can be overweight and very healthy and you can be fairly thin but have a relatively high percentage of body fat. >> reporter: that describes ada.

her bmi, the standard classification of fitness had been in the normal range. her blood work told her a different story. >> she was a little bit what we call normal weight obesity. she had some metabolic problems. she had high bad cholesterol. >> reporter: but no warning of extensive heart disease that landed her in surgery. >> because i was thin, because i had never been sick. >> reporter: though melanie may not look the idea of perfect health her doctor says she is. >> this is melanie's heart. it's a young healthy heart. her cholesterol values which is usually very high in overweight people are completely normal. she's not going to have a heart attack or a stroke. i promise. >> reporr: even with regular exercise, her bmi is 29.8. 30 is considered obese. but bmi doesn't distinguish the weight of dangerous body fat

from fat free mass like muscle and bones and that's why more accura measures of fitness should be used instead. like measuring waist circumference which men should be less than 40 inches around and for women less than 35. so, is it possible to be fat but fit? >> we're not saying it's okay to gain weight. but healthy and fit can come in many sizes. >> reporter: dr. nancy snyderman, nbc news, new york. that's the story we first brought to you on the daily connection. tune in to watch the stories everybody is talking about. catch it at 3:00 week dies right here on nbc 4. interesting report. got us talking. >> absolutely right. maybe i'm skinny fat. i don't know. i'll have to find out at my doctor appointment. >> that's why it's important to do those annual checkups. >> here's the first thing we know about our weather check this morning. brrr. cold.

detailed check of the warm up which is on the way coming up.

welcome back to "news4 today." it's really brrr out there. do you still have ice cream in these temperatures? >> yes. interesting tidbit. ben and jerry's have been founded in vermont. i've been there. one of the best tasting factory tours you can do. >> we'll never get to the weather. >> back when they got started, in order to promote sales of ice cream in vermont in january they would adjust the price of the cone based on the temperature outside. the colder the temperature the cheaper the ice cream. >> that's great. you didn't need any inspiration. >> great business plan. i would recommend that to the ice cold creameries, lower the price in january it will boost

your ice cream sales. i like ice cream every month the year. outside right now it is a cold one. there's dedication. look at that. dedicated. dedicated to fitness. i wish i was that dedicated. runners out along the mound vernon bike trail. keeping up a good pace. that looks like a seven minute mile pace. running alongside the iceberg in the potomac this morning, 20 degrees our current temperature with a wind chill of eight. so far our coldest january since 1994. temperatures up and down the eastern seaboard, the polar plunge has gone all the way to the keys. current temperature in miami beach, 36. that ought to be a refund if you spent all that money to stay down there at one of the great hotels in south beach. freeze wanrnings down to the guf

coast. wind chill, minus 21 in omaha. sleet pellets reported near walt disney world in florida yesterday and a cold windy day indeed all the way down to florida. this will be very bad news for the orange and strawberries and all the crops across central florida. be ready the price of orange juice may be going up over the next couple of weeks. some of the coldest air. back here in the mid-atlantic typically cold for january. not going to set any records. nonetheless a cold bundle up morning. wind chills are in the single digits at this point in time. high pressure building on in here over the next 24 to 36 hours. as a result that gusty northwesterly within that's out there will start to ease up by later this afternoon. after the sun goes down tonight the wind will die away quickly. that will set up a cold start on your monday morning. but tomorrow afternoon and evening, a little alberta clipper zips our way, bring clouds back to our skies

tomorrow afternoon and a chance of a little light snow in the mountains monday night late and snow flurries here in the washington area first thing tuesday morning. doesn't look like anything in the way of accumulation but nonetheless conversational snowflakes possible monday night and tuesday morning. for today sunny and cold. wind chills hanging in thor teens to near 20. highs today up in the low to mid-30s area wide. your extended forecast calls for more cold weather tonight into tomorrow. clouds come back monday afternoon. chance of some flurries late monday night early tuesday. then that's it for our real cold snap for a little while. wednesday's high 44. thursday's high about 37. cooling down with clouds and cold rain by next weekend. >> conversational snowflakes. take a good look at this gatorade bottle. somebody has been putting fake labels on gatorade bottles.

there's no word where the fake labels have come from or how many there are out there. gatorade recently announced they are discontinuing the ter woods drink but said the decision had already been made before the scandal broke. gatorade has not commented than matter of the fake labels. in sports, the challenges are red hot. the nfl playoffs are here. georgetown pulled off a fantastic come from behind win. hakem dermish has all your details. >> good morning. when asked about playing the challenges, the head coach respond like pretty much every other opposing bench boss. it's a huge test for us. they are a scoring juggernaut. yes, they are. last night the caps thrashing atlanta 8-1 and happy birthday. turned 55 yesterday, bruce. first period caps up 1-0. thrashers on the power play. here come the caps. simmons first attempt is stopped

but persistent. try, try, again. caps take a 2-0 lead. simmons had two goals in the game. second period caps lead it 3-0. jeff schultze with a long pass to ovechkin. he redirects it to himself. that's sweet. shoots. knuble in front. knocked it in. second goal of the game. caps up 4-0. third period now caps up 7-1. thrashers turn it over. morrison passes right through three defenders to jason. he scores his first goal as a capital. the caps crush atlanta 8-1, their largest margin of victory this season. talking football. peyton manning, a commercial actor who occasionally plays football. that's according to urban dictionary.com. they forgot to add when play is awesome. peyton manning won the most valuable player award. it wasn't even close. earning 32 more points than drew brees. manning the first player to win the honor four times. wild card saturday here on nbc

4. we start in texas. donovan mcnabb rocking the air guitar. check this out. scaring the jeepers out of the cowboys fans. unfortunately, he was rendered ineffective in his game. michael vick steps back, throws a strike to maclin. maclin is gone. 76 yds forhe touchdown. game now at seven. looked like a ball game right there. later in the quarter, philly down 17-7. vick takes the snap, tries to hand it off to weaver. he lose's it. bobby carpenter all over it. a game changing play. that leads to another dallas touchdown. eagles pretty much out of it after that. here's the cherry on top for dallas. felix jones was the man. gets the ball. runs right. right through the eagles defense. and says excuse me, folks, i'll cutback right here and go 73 yards for the touchdown. dallas wins 34-14 their first playoff victory in 13 years.

owner jerry jones high fiving george w. bush. they were having a heck of a time in the new stadium. to cincinnati. jets-bengals. joe gibbs the hall of famer and joe theisman calling the game. good one here. second quarter here. mark sanchez to sean green. goes 39 yards for the touchdown. does the rookie. a big day for him. rushing for 135 yards. then my favorite, fans, check this out. sneaking in a drink. sanchez on the bootleg, rolls out by tight end dustin keller wide-open. check out keller. stays inbounds. does the rest. gets in. 45 yards before the jets beat the bengals. this time 24-14. two catches, 28 yards. college hoops now. if you were watching the georgetown uconn game you said during the first half it's over. not so fast.

down by 15 at halftime georgetown junior stepped up big time scoring 28 of his career-high 33 points in his second half. we're at verizon center. big bird and cookie monster at the game. cookies are a sometime food, kids, only when you're good. first half huskies wearing blue. uconn feeds stanley robinson for the huge alley-oop. georgetown down 40-25 at the break. hoya alum knows a come back when he sees one. in the second. check out the nice moves. lays it up and in. hoyas down by two. the damascus product was feeling it. georgetown leads 66-65. under a minute to play. uconn up one. greg monroe his shot is blocked. 12th ranked hoyas win it 72-69. hoyas earn their fourth consecutive win against uconn.

let's go to fairfax. george mason hosting unc wilmington pick it up in the second half. brian pearson. nice lob for the dunk. morrison had a team high of 15 points. under five minutes to go. pearson knocks the ball loose. tate gives it back to pearson. george mason go on to win it 59-46. 14th straight conference victory at the patriot center. that's your morning sports. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. and a reminder to all of you next weekend nbc 4 is kick off our annual health and fitness expo. it runs on january 16th and 17th at the washington convention center. come visit for free health screenings, demonstrations and information about how to live a healthy lifestyle. you'll get to meet the members of the news 4 team. we're both going to be there at different times next weekend as most of our staff. we're having an autograph signing contest. so you need to seek out only

your favorite personalities. >> just us two. we win something. >> we won't tell people what it is. it might be only $5 but we're playing to win. >> we want to meet you. that's it for "news4 today." "the today show" is coming up next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with a local news update and we'll see you then. >> bye-bye.