good morning, everyone. welcome to news4 midday. i'm barbara harrison. it's the first day of april, 2011. today the public is finally getting the chance to see a construction project that was finished nearly ten years ago. gates that once blocked the anacostia river waterfront near the washington navy yard are now open, but because of security concerns, restrictions remain. news4's megan mcgrath joins us from the riverwalk with today's grand opening. megan, good morning. >> reporter: the riverwalk behind the navy yard was supposed to open years ago. then the 9/11 attack occurred

and everything was put on hold. the navy had to figure out a way to keep their facility safe while permitting access to the public. well, that security plan is in place. this morning the rip walk opened to the public for very first time. on a damp and chilly day, it's pretty quiet. but when the weather improves this picturesque promenade is expected to be a lunchtime favorite. the navy today opened their section of the riverwalk to the public, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. monday through friday, people can enjoy the 2300-foot walkway along the anacostia river. >> i think that's a pretty nice thing, especially during lunchtime. something to do. >> something new. something the children and grandchildren you can show them. have an outing for the kids. >> reporter: the walk runs along the backside of the navy yard and was slated to open right around 9/11. the attack put everything on hold. new security systems were put in place and this morning the promenade opened for the first

time. >> d.c. has for a long time wanted us to open up the riverwalk here. we finally have the systems in place that allow us to have a safe environment and secure the navy yard while giving public acce access. >> reporter: the new section links up with another stretch by the yards development. the navy display ship "the barry" is moored along the walk so you can stroll up and take a tour. and there are some exceptions to the hours that the riverwalk is open. it's just monday through friday. so it's not open on the weekends or on federal holidays. also the navy at any time without notice can block access if they feel that there are safety or operational concerns. barbara, back to you. >> thank you very much, megan. the weather in many parts of the country is no joke today. this is concord, new hampshire, this morning, where a foot of snow could be on the ground in parts of that state by tonight. near boston, up to eight inches of snow is expected to fall this

morning. adding to the problem across the northeast, real heavy winds out there. taking a look in our area, a damp morning and chilly out there. heavy winds coming? let's ask tom kierein. >> but it's looking greener, more and more like spring every hour that goes by. >> but the winds could blow the blossoms off. this is their last day. >> l tlast peak day. i'd rite now we've will a few peeks of sunshine which is certainly improving your mood no doubt. just a few lingering sprinkles up near the pennsylvania border. we're 44 at reagan national. and the latest wind gusts we've had them at around 25 to 30 miles an hour. so even though it's 44 degrees at reagan national, it feels cooler with that gusty wind. if you are going to be out taking a walk and enjoying the

spring flora that are meaning to come up and show itself, you do need to wear a windbreaker and a couple of layers to stay comfortable right now. in many of maryland and west virginia, just near 30 degrees. so certainly still cold there. right around the bay, it's in the mid-40s. we've will a powerful storm system developing over new england. we've been hearing about that and the snow there. but it will be whipping us with some wind here this afternoon. a little bit of sunshine, though, in and out and we'll have temperatures reach 50 in another couple of hours. then fall back this evening back down into the 40s, maybe 30s again tomorrow morning. i have improving news for you for the weekend. we'll talk about that. a warming trend. a welcome warming trend on the way. details in a few minutes. >> you got to give us one day this week to get out in the garden. >> i promise. >> we'll be talking about that coming up. today's clearing weather may be a good thick for the cherry blossom festival. the peak bloom will end today, as tom just said. that's when 70% of the trees

around the tidal basin have blossomed. also this weekend catch the free fireworks tomorrow at 8:30. then sunday, the credit union cherry blossom ten-mile run. 15,000 people are expected to participate. to accommodate the crowd, metro will open at 5:00 a.m. on sunday morning. let's check the road conditions right now. tanya hutchins joins us with the latest. >> we do have an accident in the district, alabama avenue southeast in both directions shut down between 23rd and 24th. let's take a look at 95 in virginia. we have some slow traffic there. it's been slow for a while due to road construction. this is going to be just after lorton to the right of your screen. there you can see the traffic is backed up to the top of your screen is where the road construction is. the two right lanes are blocked, slow from 7100. moving to 395 northbound at the 14th street bridge, that's been slow as well. we have volume there because the left lane is closed midspan. it's going to be slow after route 1. and at the beltway, 495 at

georgetown pike we have some volume there but no major delays to report. so that is good news as well. barbara, back to you. >> thank you, tanya. hundreds of thousands of commuters pack our local highways every day, and the good news about their often traffic packed trip? safer roads out there. new numbers are out this morning. and the number of people killed on u.s. roads has dropped. in fact, fewer people were killed on the nation's highways last year than in any year in more than six decades. news4's melissa mollet joins us with more on that. very good news you have to report to us. >> very, very reassuring news, i would say. though a staggering 32,000 people were killed on u.s. highways last year, that number is actually down 3% from 2009. it's the fewest number of traffic deaths we've seen since 1949. when harry truman was president. department of transportation officials say the numbers are lower thanks to three very specific things. increased seat belt use over the years. improved safety equipment and

crackdowns on drunk driving. they say these things together have translated to a decrease in highway deaths. barbara harshart says that it's a good sign that fatalities are down since overall miles traveled are up. she says it's also about passing traffic laws and enforcing those laws. >> we're going to continue to see the application of all these different strategies. and we'll see more technology in car to help people avoid crashes, and that should make a difference as well. >> traffic deaths are also related to the economy, of course. they typically decline during an economic downturn because many motorists cut back on discretionary travel. the number of deaths fell in the early '80s, again in the '90s when the economy was struggling. the pacific northwest saw the biggest drop in fatalities in this report at 12%. if you're wondering about our area, state by state totals will be released later this year. transportation secretary ray lahood will be in rockville

today to talk to young drivers about safe driving. he'll be at rockville high school which has launched a drunk driving awareness program called every 15 minutes. today in prince william county, a judge will sentence a former park ranger for killing his wife and two stepchildren. sentencing is set for this afternoon for correo dean. he pled guilty to the 2009 murders. police responded to domestic dispute calls at dean's triangle home in february of 2009 and found the family dead. a psychiatrist later said dean has severe emotional problem. and you plea deal the former park ranger will be spared the death penalty. a judge is expected to sentence him to life in prison without the chance of parole. new today, some positive news about the nation's economy. tun employment rate fell to 8.8% in march. that's a two-year low. the labor department says the economy added 215,000 jobs last month. the outlook is just as good as

today's report. many economists are predicting that employers add jobs at about the same pace for the rest of the year. that would generate about 2.5 million new positions. also today, president obama will focus on improved fuel efficiency when he visits a u.p.s. shipping facility in landover. he and maryland governor martin o'malley are expected to check out green fleets from several businesses. congress is getting closer to reach a deal to prevent a government shutdown. house speaker john boehner agreed to discuss a spending bill that would include about $33 billion in cuts. that's about half of the 60 billion the house voted to cut last month. a deal must be reached by next saturday to avoid a government shutdown. and in just about a half hour, d.c. mayor vincent gray will prevent his new budget to the city council. the budget is expected to include $300 million in cuts.

it is also expected to include revenue increase. the mayor was in our studio yesterday but would not say what the cuts are increases were. >> we're looking at revenue enhancements. we're working right up to the last minute on this. so i'd rather not foreshadow those until we actually have released the budget. but it will be a mix of increased revenue and cuts. >> those consults come on the heels of some serious allegations made against mayor gray, claims by former mayoral candidate sulaimon brown have prompted an fbi investigation. he says gray's campaign paid him money and later gave him a $110,000 a year job for verbally attacking then-mayor adrian fenty during the primary. our time is now 10 after 11:00. coming up on the latest on the detection of radiation in this country. why the fda maintains there is nothing to be worried about. plus do you know your perennials from your annuals?

we'll educate you in the dirt.

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hey, my headache's gone. rebel forces are regrouping in the town of ajdabiya. as they continue to battle moammar gadhafi's regime for control of cities in between. right now the two sides are fighting over control of brega 90 miles east of benghazi.

meanwhile, foreign minister and intelligence chief moussa koussa has defected to the united kingdom. he was one of the country's more powerful men outside the gadhafi clan. despite koussa's resignation, he won't step down because they're affected by power madness, he says. the u.s. just launched an intense search for those missing after the powerful earthquake and tsunami. more than 16,000 people are still unaccounted for. the death toll is at 11,500 now. meanwhile, radiation has now contaminated ground water at the fukushima nuclear power plant. operators say so far radiation has not seeped into wells and rivers that would impact drinking water. as japan deals with radiation at a nuclear plant, the environmental protection agency in this country now says trace amounts of radiation have been detected in milk here in

the u.s. the u.s. already stopped imports of dairy products from japan. trace amounts of radioactive iodine were found in samples taken in california. authorities believe radiation traveled by air into pass yurs along the west coast. the epa says a sample would have to be 5,000 times higher than it is right now before they would intervene. and there's a salmonella outbreak from sausage in frederick county, maryland. several people have gotten sick after a sausage and pancake breakfast in thurmont. they traced it to sausage bought at a butchering event in the mount pleasant royers town club. the maryland department of health tested it and found salmonella. health officials say if you bought the sausage from that event, throw it away. we have tom back with us now to talk about the weather for the weekend. no fooling, tom. >> i'm certainly not with the weather we've been through, no.

i don't think we can take any fooling. we've had this unusually chilly, damp and sort of dark pattern? and you no finally we're getting some sunshine breaking out. this is mood enhancing sunshine. we've been suffering from solar deprivation for the last couple of days. even though there's quite a bit of cloudiness, we've had some breaks in the clouds. that's the live view from our skywatcher camera which towers over. out in the distance is loudoun county. right now 45 at reagan national. the gusts there just recently was around 25 miles an hour. radar scanning the sky. we are getting a few sprinkles north-central maryland right near the pennsylvania border, but those should stay to our north. temperatures around the region climbing into the 40s. this is good news. it is now low to mid-40s around the bay, around the neck. the district, northern virginia. shenandoah valley is in the low 40s. peak gusts have been up to

around 30 miles an hour. we'll have that all the way through the afternoon until early this evening. right now wesh maryland, west virginia. many location there are still cold. they still have snow on the ground there and temperatures are just near 30 degrees. over the last 12 hours, the storm system gave us the rain overnight, wet snow north and west of us, too. that's pulling farther to the north and east. northeastern pennsylvania getting snow. upstate new york, interior new england getting snow from this system. it is deepening rapidly turning into a powerful area of low pressure over maine now. that's giving us gusty winds this far south into virginia. as we go into the next 48 hours, that low pressure center will pull away. we have the winds today, this afternoon and into this evening and it will relax overnight and we'll have lighter winds. tomorrow just a few patches of some sprinkles coming through. these areas of color potential zones of perhaps a few sprinkles. just a small chance of that on saturday. the good news is that woel

continue to have high pressure pushing through. we'll shift our winds into the southwest. that should warm us up nicely on sunday and into the first part of next week. so for the rest of this friday afternoon, we will have some sunshine in and out. cloud cover as well. and temperatures reaching maybe briefly near 50 degrees. and that accompanied by a gusty wind to around 30 miles an hour. so it's going to be feeling colder than that. but thankfully the winds will be diminishing. if you have plans for heading out on this friday night, we'll have a mostly cloudy sky. it will be chilly but the winds will be dying down. 40 near midnight. then by dawn, mid-30s. then again in the afternoon, otherwise mostly cloudy saturday with highs reaching the mid-50s during the afternoon. then on sunday, we should have more sun, welcome sunshine, sunday looks like the best day for the weekend for outdoor activities and for, yes, working in the yard and the garden, getting that ready for spring planting. up near 60. then monday, partly sunny to

cloudy at times. and even warmer with a strong breeze. tuesday may make it to the mid-70s. tuesday afternoon might get some thundershowers, though. maybe strong storms. our first round of maybe severe storms coming in on tuesday afternoon and evening. after that, drier and a bit cooler. >> okay. well i'm glad to hear that we've got at least one good day to get outside in the garden. >> most of saturday should be good, too. >> okay. great. good weekend. thanks a lot, tom. we'll check on the midday traffic. tanya hutchins with the latest. >> if you're in maryland heading toward baltimore, we do vn an accident reported 295 northbound at arundel mills, that's on the right shoulder. district avenue inbound at north capitol street. some volume, no major delays in terms of any accident to report. back all these cars are coming from the northeast, if you are near fairview avenue and ninth street in northeast, there's construction you're dealing with

there. 66 east of nutley, we're doing okay there. but 66 at route 7, just after route 7, the left lane closed due to construction there. and look out near the 267 merge. 95 at lorton road, we still have slow traffic because of construction in the two right lanes after lorton, stay to the left. it will be slow from 7100. >> thank you, tanya. it is 11:20. still ahead, the weather may improve enough to get out and do a little gardening we may heard, on the weekend. get the dirt. we'll give it to you. the person infect perennials for shade and for sun. plus how this come lost 15 pounds in just 11 days? [ older brother ] hey, that's the last crescent.

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well, although it doesn't feel like it, it is spring. many folks are braving the elements to get out in their gardens already. our garden expert david martin dish some dirt. today he brought along perennials that work well in the region. but we talk those, dana and i looked around the garden center to look at the alternatives to the usual perennials like pansies that we plant during the early spring. >> first of all, it's camellia

season. we've got beautiful camellias that have come in. this is a nice evergreen that's great for part sun/shade areas. this here specifically blooms in the springtime. perfect time to plant these. we have some cool weather annuals. and this is getting away from some of the typical things that people like to plant like pansies. this is a primrose, specifically a

this is a nice blooming color. >> will this bloom throughout the whole summer? >> it will not, but it makes a nice evergreen ground cover. you can mix annuals in with it. >> but that has to have sun. >> it has to have sun. >> how about water? >> all of these things are fairly drought tolerant. once they're in and established. they don't need a lot of water, but they will need water once they get established which is great with our cool wet springs right now. >> what about this. >> that's a rock foil. that's actually a great rock garden plant. that you can plant in a dry area. lots of full sun. great way to get red in your garden in the early spring. >> and candy tuft? >> this is the white one we talked about. >> we just showed a list of those. those will be on our website as well. >> this? >> that's a leopard's bane.

>> these all need sun. >> yes. >> but a lot of us have real shady areas here in the washington area -- >> absolutely. because we have such a huge tree cover in this region. >> tell us about the things that will grow in the shade. >> we have made in the shade over here. starting off in the back, a nice tall tassel fern. this will grow well and get tall and feathery. here in the middle, this plant you see here, this is a lenten rose. this is a nice early bloomer. >> it has a flower. let me lift it up so we can see. that's very pretty. >> that blooms in early spring. that's also kind of an evergreen perennial. that will stay up in the garden and stay really nice. this is a coral bells plum pudding is the variety. coral bells does bloom with a nice bloom on it but it is known for the colors in its leaves. when you talk about shade, you are talking more about leave texture than bloom.

this ann green way. it spreads nicely and has that beautiful pink bloom on it in the early spring. >> let's talk about feeding and watering the plants. >> you need to water the plants to get them really well established. >> you wean them off to once or twice a week. it is better to water deep for a long period of time than it is to just go out and broadcast spray with a mister on top of it. you'll use a starter fertilizer. this has microriza. it helped the get strong root growth going here. you have a good broad-based fertilizer, this is plantone. put this down. it has a nice, long release to it. and so you don't have to worry about constantly feeding throughout the season. once everything is established, it will do really well. >> sounds like sunday is going to be the day, although tom said we could plan on saturday as well. >> as long as it's nice and cool

outside, everybody will be fine. get these in and they're already established. >> then we have the april rains coming, those showers should help keep everything fresh and moving and growing. >> absolutely. >> next week we'll talk about trees and shrubs. >> trees and shrubs next week. >> always good to see you, with the dirt. it's 11:28 now. coming up, we're going to meet a lady who lost a lot of weight. we're also going to talk about metro. they're thinking about cutting back. how new money troubles could have you waiting for a while. plus a homeless cam suspect raid. .

an american airlines flight that left reagan national airport this morning bound for chicago was diverted to dayton, ohio. an airline official says there was a possible problem with the air pressure on flight 547. the incident began as the plane was passing through an altitude of 28,000 feet. some of the flight attendants felt dizzy and asked the pilot to drop the oxygen masks. four passengers fainted, but it's not clear whether there was an actual lack of oxygen or they were affected by the excitement of the moment. the plane landed safely in dayton. the director of the dayton airport says one passenger suffered an asthma attack and

was taken to the hospital along with to other passengers that needed to be checked out. in other news right now, news4 midday knows that president obama is preparing to head to landover to check out some businesses. green fleets they're called at a u.p.s. shipping facility. this tour comes on the same day this labor department released positive news about the nation's economy. the unemployment rate fell to 8.8% last month. that's the lowest point in two years. today is the last day to see the peak period of the cherry blossom festival. the national park service shortened this year's peak bloom to three days instead of the usual five. that's when 70% of the trees around the tidal basin have blossomed. will you have to dodge raindrops today to get out and see the cherry blossoms? tom kierein is here to tell us. >> i don't think so. i think we're done with the rain for the day. >> that's great. any sunshine? >> a little sun breaking out now. we're seeing that live view. there's actually a little blue at the top of the screen.

we're getting breaks in the clouds. that's certainly welcome, enhancing your mood. we've certainly been needing some sunshine. right now, though, chilly, if you are going to be heading to the tidal basin or just taking a walk to enjoy the spring color in your own neighborhood, you'll need a couple of layer to stay comfortable. those winds are whipping out of the north and west. peak gusts over 30 miles an hour all coming from a deepening area of low pressure that's way up in new england. but we're being affected by that in the form of the gusty wind. a few clouds coming through from time to time. winds gusting to around 30 miles an hour. it will diminish a bit tonight and stay blustery on saturday. tomorrow shawl chance of a sprinkle but most of the day should be dry with highs in the mid-50s. increasing sunshine with highs near 60 and, wait for it, monday near 70. yeah, that's going to be great. maybe even mid-70s tuesday. we could get strong to severe storms and cooler and dry after that. that's the way it looks right

now. >> i saw the cutest flip flops in the store, but i couldn't go near them. it seems like we're never going to see real summer. >> it's coming. you know it will. >> and it will be more intense than we want you hit to be. a warning from metro. more cuts could be on the way if the agency can't come up with more funding. >> reporter: we're here at metro center standing in front of one of their many broken escalators that they have throughout the metro system. they have a lot of repairs that they have to do, and this is all coming as metro's announcing that they don't have enough money in their budget. money designated to repair things like escalator was moved to keep metro operating last year. and fares were also increased. now, this year, officials say they are dealing with another shortfall. this time for $72 million. and if d.c., maryland and virginia can't find the money to close that gap, officials will consider scaling back some services.

>> i really need the service, and i hope they find the money they need. >> reporter: metro's $1.47 billion operation budget takes effect in july. metro officials have not released an exact list of possible cuts, they are reportedly considering hitting some of the services they reviewed cutting in the past. that could mean less trains on the tracks resulting in longer wait times and possibly eliminating some underused bus routes. >> getting rid of some buses is tough because i have a bus line that i use pretty frequently. one of the rare ones that don't get a lot of ridership. it won't be one of the ones that gets saved. but that means taking a car to a bus lot or driving to another station. >> reporter: some board members are reportedly hoping that there are other options to consider that won't mean taking more away from the customers. some riders we spoke with had a few ideas on how to do that. >> i think if they have to make their work more efficient. that's the way to do it.

i think management really have to stay on top of all these issues. >> manage their budget much better. a working budget. but just manage it. >> we hear it every year. it makes sense. i mean, you got to do what you got to do to make the budget, but it's a tough thing as well with the economy we're having. >> reporter: before metro can implement any changes in service they'll have to give the public an opportunity to voice what they think. if changes are approved, they'll happen in september. in northwest, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. last year the agency raised rates for the first time in year to help balance another shortfall. and we have a traffic alert for those of you who live or drive through alexandria. at 8:00 tonight, the outer loop of the beltway will be narrowed down to one lane in that area. it's happening between the eisenhower connector and just east of the telegraph road interchange. the on ramps to the outer loop

will also be closed. the closures will remain in effect until tomorrow morning. we'll check in with our midday traffic lady. here's tanya hutchens with the latest on what's going on with the roads out there. hey, tanya, how's it going. >> unfortunately i'm starting out with not so good news. 95 southbound is a parking lot in virginia. take a look at the springfield interchange stop and go traffic. it's been that way for the past few minutes. not good news at all. up ahead there's some construction. it had slowed down at 7100 past lorton. the construction is in the two right lanes. we think this has come all the way up to the springfield interchange. try to avoid 95 if you can. if you're heading to richmond, you're out of luck right now. taking a look now, 495 at the american legion bridge. all lanes are open, no problems between maryland and virginia. 495 topside of the beltway at connecticut avenue, no major delays here as well. 395 at the 14th street bridge, we do have left lane

construction, but traffic is moving smoothly heading inbound into the district. stay away from 95 at ta springfield interchange. >> look how beautifully green it is out there now. >> oh, i love it. >> fantastic. have a great weekend. >> you too. >> see you later, tanya. new today a police chase ended with a crashing halt overnight. the chase started on red top road in the chillham area and ended in varnum place. the suspects were wanted in connection to an armed robbery in prince george's county. officers managed to nab one of the guys. however, the second ran away. you can feel a little more comfortable riding metro this morning. police nabbed a man suspected of rubbing himself against women riding the rails. the arrest came after a woman posted a description of the man on the popular blog unsuckmetro. she says a suspect rubbed himself up against her on a busy train. she saw him do the same thing to other women between the l'enfant

plaza and the pentagon stop. someone monitoring the blog saw the posting and arrested the suspect. the man has been charged with assault and battery. an employee for charles county maryland's public school system is accused of stealing money intended for low income students. rhayda barnes thomas was in charge of a federal program that provided funds to the district. she stole more than 100 grand from the program to buy sony playstalgs, wii games and apple macbooks for her family and herself. if convicted she faces up to 15 years in prison. and that was in charles county, maryland. right now a man faces first degree murder charges in connection with a deadly fire. it happened on piney forest lane, that's off sperryville pike in culpepper, virginia, yesterday. 56-year-old sidney gray died. firefighters rescued a 61-year-old man. russell zuck is charged with murder. all thee men lived in that home.

dozens of homeless people are once again looking for a place to sleep after they were essentially evicted from their virginia campsite that they called home. the site is near the exit for dale boulevard off i-95. the virginia department of transportation, which owns the land, has asked the camp's residents to leave because of complaints that the residents might be distracting drivers there. the residents say they didn't get enough notice to gather and move what few possessions that they had. >> this is going to really hurt me. i'm 62 years old. where am i going? >> you may encounter someone, it's pedestrian safety coming across the ramp. >> the virginia department of transportation has posted no trespassing signs in the area and says it plans on enforcing that rule. the time is 11:40. still ahead, how this woman -- let's take a look at her -- lost 15 pounds in just 11 days.

there she is with her thin self. she's not the only one. the big demands the jersey shore cast is not making. i'm a curious seeker.

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if you've been in dupont circle recently, you've probably seen this giant "love" sign. the sign is from the commonwealth of virginia. it's part of its new tourism campaign, like to love virginia,

it's called. the sign will stay up until april 8th to promote tourism to virginia from d.c. area residents. the economy added more than 200,000 new jobs last month. let's go to cnbc's darren rovell. tell us about that. >> good morning. yes. markets are moving higher after encouraging economic data and big m & a news. the dow hitting a new 2011 intra-day high. stocks extending gains after the march job reports that you mentioned came in stronger than expected. the economy adding 216,000 jobs last month, dropping the unemployment rate edging down to 8.8% to hit its lowest level in two years. merger news accelerating gains after the nasdaq and the intercontinental exchange announced they are joining forces to try and take over the nyse euronex from germany's deutsch bors. it encountered a staggering $11

billion is 19% higher than the previous offer from deutsch bors. after closing at its highest level since september 2008 yesterday. reports of escalating violence in libya pushing crude futures higher. according to the annual rich list, the top 25 hedge fund managers raked in a combined $22 billion in 2010 topping the billionaires boys club, paulson dalio, simons, tepper, and lambert all earning more than a billion dollars last year. >> have a great weekend. >> you too. three weebs ago we introduced you to a woman who lost more than a hundred pounds on a nutritional cleanse. during that segment, her coach, olivia rikki issued a challenge to people in our area to try an 11-day cleanse in what's being called the beltway challenge.

more than 100 people, including me, heard the call and took part. today we have the results of the challenge. olivia joins us again along with michelle wilson who was one of the challenged. we're so glad to see you both. and your daughter who came along with you today. just remind us -- before that i want to say that i actually lost ten pounds during this. ten pounds that i am absolutely thrilled. ten pounds in 11 days. i feel great. terrific. remind everybody what the challenge was all about. >> for 11 days together we as a group decided to do a nutritional cleanse. >> those are my before and after pictures. >> 250 people actually joined the challenge. >> 250 around the beltway. >> yes, 250 did the 11-day protocol. 30 of them actually joined the challenge. they had the courage to join the challenge. they followed your lead. and the average weight loss per participant was 9.6 pounds.

>> wow. >> which was unbelievable. >> i wrote about it on my facebook page every day during the 11 days. i said it wasn't really easy, but once you got into it, it became a lot easier. and of course it helped a lot to have the phone calls and the -- all of the coaching from you and the rest of the people who work with you. because if you have somebody watching you, it's hard to break that fast. it's not really a fast, though. you are having something to eat. >> right. and then only on -- we are actually holding people accountable to goals that you set. so if they're your goals, we don't mipd being the bad guy to keep you accountable. >> let's talk about michelle. she brought her daughter along with her. we're glad do see you. what's her name? >> skyla. >> nice to meet you. they came from charlestown, west virginia, to be with us today. tell us why. >> because i won the challenge. >> how many pounds did you lose? >> i lost 15 pounds in 11 days.

ten inches and 8.7% of my body weight. >> can we see her before and after pictures. really pretty amazing to see how much weight you lost and how great you look today. there you are before. and here she is after. how many pounds again is that? >> 15. >> 15 pounds. >> how hard was it for you? >> it wasn't hard at all. when you're focused and you know what you want to do, you can get it done. with these kind of results, why with wouldn't you stick to the protocol? because it works. >> i've been talking to people. we have a doctor who we work with every week who is on a different cleanse and his lasts a whole month. i'm not sure i could have jumped on that bandwagon. he says it's great. this is about his fifth or sixth time. he does his once a month. there are a lot of people on the web. i can tell you, it works. another beltway challenge coming up? >> yes, for all the people that didn't join us the first time, they actually can take action.

we have our april beltway challenge. and all they have to do is preregister at www.olean.com and join us for the next round. >> congratulations to you. michelle. and skyla, thanks for coming to visit us. you were shier than when i saw you earlier. >> guess what? >> what? >> i'm doing it too. >> you look terrific, too. i'm glad. >> barbara, we actually, when we tallied the scores, you actually came in third in the beltway challenge. >> oh, i did? >> and just for your leadership, we just wanted to thank you. we're giving you a box of isodelight chocolates. these are healthy chocolates that satisfy that you can eat while you're cleansing. >> i'll share these with my colleagues here at nbc4. thank you for leading me through this. i'm so glad to be ten pounds

less. i'll see you during the commercial, okay? and also coming up, what women are saying about their armpits? can't wait to hear that. plus tom kierein has news about the weekend. with my friends, we'll do almost anything. out for drinks, eats. i have very well fitting dentures. i like to eat a lot of fruits. love them all. the seal i get with the super poligrip free keeps the seeds from getting up underneath. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles.

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and now to the lighter side of the news. for a weekly entertainment roundup we're joined by tommy mcfly. >> that's me, no hard hitting stuff. >> you dressed down a bit. >> i had a suit on last week. i thought i scared you a bit. >> i thought you were going to look for another job. >> not yet. >> we like you here. let's start with the royal wedding. it's less than a month away now. so what about the gifts? >> so yeah, the thing is what they're not asking for in their royal wedding registry. royal wedding registry, try saying that five times fast. they're not asking for toasters, cockatoos like charles and diana did. they're asking for you to send money in lieu of gifts to charity. they've selected 26 charities like helping kids to achieve their futures, that kind of thing. >> and one is from this area.

>> yes, rightfully so. they should give it to charity. >> that's a great idea. >> i would think so. >> why are people getting so excited about this wedding? they're sending the whole "today" show cast. >> and wendy rieger is going. i'm excited for that. i'm not really sure why. it's a royal wedding. we don't have royalty here. we have our president and first lady. it's something people have been fascinated with forever. since we broke away. >> a happy distraction. we've had lots of bad news. >> coming up right around the same time as correspondents dinner. >> you'll stay at the white house. >> it's happening at the same time. >> moving on to the jersey shore. reunion special last night on mtv. the cast has said there's something they're not going to ask for. >> yeah. well the guidos and the goo we'dettes are getting smart. they realize the gravy train is probably over. they're sending them to italy for the next season. as of now only ronnie has signed

on. >> they haven't? why? >> they want to be paid. >> haven't they been paid before? >> yes, but they want to be paid extraordinarily plus one. mtv cuts down on the amount of events they go to. they go to the clubs and get paid 40 grand to show up and do their thing. >> isn't that good for the show? >> i would think. but mtv's afraid of them getting overexposed. i'm not sure how they can be more exposed than currently being exposed. >> "the wall street journal" says that 93% of women think their armpits are ugly. >> do you like your armpits? >> i don't dislike them. i like them as much as i like the rest of my body. but why? why do women think their armpits are ugly? >> they just do. you know "the wall street journal" does their homework. 93% of women do not like their armpits. but the cosmetic industry is here to save you. >> oh, yeah? >> they'll have a whole line of product.

a bunch of competing brands are releasing deodorants and moisturizers. >> so it's about that. >> absolutely. >> men shouldn't like their armpits either. >> apparently you need to have better looking armpits. now poor ladies will launch this entire barrage of products at you to make your armpits more attractive. >> don't tell me about it. nail polish, i don't know. >> don't you bedazzle your pits, barbara, i will not stand for that. >> tommy mcfly, what will you think of next? >> i don't know. thanks for having me. we'll take a look at some of the stories following this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us from the newsroom. >> coming up this afternoon. home makeovers. a second season of george to the rescue debuts over the weekend. one of the homes being redone this time this season is in our area. we'll talk live with george oliphant to find out what it takes to pull off one of these home projects. then tonight on news4 at 5:00,

only 28 days to go before all eyes turn across the pond for prince william's wedding. how a local business is giving people here in the washington area the royal treatment. that's coming up at 5:00. our news starts at 4:00 this afternoon. we have time for a final check on our forecast. here's tom. >> well, we still have quite a bit of cloudiness, but we've had breaks in the clouds. a little bit of sunshine trying to make its way through. there's a live view of the sky looking off to the west. we've will a few breaks. temperatures in the low to mid-40s now. with the winds gusting to around 30 miles an hour. we'll have the temperature climb into the upper 40s to near 50. but we'll get win whipped from that storm hitting new england now. then tomorrow mostly cloudy, mid-50s. small chance of a sprinkle and blustery winds. but warmer first part of next week. have a great weekend. see you monday. >> all right, tom. thank you. we've got proof that love knows no bounds. twin dhinese black bears abandoned by their own mother have a new friend.

he's not even a bear. he's a tiger cub. the 3-month-old bear cubs are in good health and are being cared for by park ranger. they're actually taken from their mother to avoid them from being hurt by their mother after she showed signs of rejecting them. clearly, though, their new tiger cub friend isn't rejecting them. they're having a fabulous time together we understand. aren't they the cutest? well, that's news4 midday. we thank you for being with us. y invite you to tune in at 4, 5, 6 and 11. and i'll be back monday morning.