shutting down service during metro center and federal center. the rideders not get that message. pat collins joins us live from metro headquarters to tell us how all of this unfolded. pat? >> reporter: imagine you are riding on a metro train. you hear an explosion. then there's sparks and smoke. the train comes to a sudden stop and there you sit -- for nearly two hours. we begin with street story with video from down under. confusion. >> what happened? >> call metro police. >> reporter: followed by long waits and dimly lit metro subway cars. tales of fear from passengers on what has been described as the orange line incident train. >> explosion, explosion. you can feel -- heard the impact and you can feel the rocking of

the train as the explosion went off. >> you see this big old flame and the train stops in the tunnel. >> all of a sudden we smelt smoke and the lights went out. >> started worrying. i was panicking and shaking. >> reporter: it happened around 9:45 this morning near tl'enfan station. this is the troublemaker. it is called a friction ring.br system. it fell off the blue line trail and hit the third rail and disabled two orange line trains following behind. those trains come to a sudden stop. hundreds of people stuck down below, frustrated by the silence from metro. >> we sat there for 30 minutes solid before anyone came through and gave us any information. nothing was said. we were pressing the button in the end of the car trying to get

someone to say something. no one said anything. there was smoke on the train. people were coughing and choking and no one communicated anything to us. >> reporter: scores of fire and rescue workers deployed. metro's service between l'enfant and smithsonian shut down. some people trapped for two hours. ebony took cell phone pictures of her escape. she, like many passengers, walked through the tunnels, illuminated only by glo sticks. >> there were box necessary between the track, we couldn't step on. we had to follow like a little glo sticks to get through the tunnel. >> reporter: no one was seriously hurt. the trains are running normally through those stations tonight. metro says they are inspecting about 200 other cars that had similar friction rings to make sure that they are safe. metro is safe.

he says he plans to take it home tonight. wendy, back to you. >> wow. not a good way to start the morning rush. pat collins, thanks, pat. tonight police say they have arrest manned after a bizarre carjacking attempt that played out in the middle of rush hour right in northwest washington. officers tell us the man jumped into a car in busy ward circle right here in northwest. he even tried to drive away while sitting on another victim's lap. news4's erika gonzalez spoke with two of the victims. >> it is one of those things where, you know, split second, you never expect it was going to happen. >> reporter: natalie brown and her friend joe kennedy were getting ready to hit the road this morning. headed to maine after a long semester at au when it happened. >> guy i had never seen before jumps head-first through the window and into my car. and basically drives off. >> reporter: picking up kennedy at his home on massachusetts avenue. she says she was standing near the curb with the engine running and had the driver's side window

down as she watched him load his bags in the trunk. >> i heard the engine revving and i heard natalie say is this a joke? >> reporter: hardly a joke. brown says she reached into her car and grabbed the man by his collar and struggled with him. police identified him as 40-year-old shamsel. >> he looked in my face square in the face and finally manages to get it out of park. >> reporter: kennedy says he took off running behind khan. >> that's when i ran to the road and saw him enter ward circle going the wrong way in traffic. >> reporter: according to police, khan veered past cars before turning on nebraska avenue and slamming into this tree. but the saga didn't end there. abandoning brown's car, kennedy says that khan jumped into another vehicle traveling down the road. >> he got into one lady's car and tried to drive her car while he was sitting on her in the driver's seat and it was a stick shift so he couldn't get tonight gear. >> reporter: how did this all

come to an end? >> then a dump truck driver got out of his car and went over to him as he's sitting on the person and pulled him out of the car and apprehended him and got him under control. >> reporter: police say that khan is at a hospital after sustaining injuries after the crash. they say they arrested and charged him with the carjacking. the police say they still don't know the motive behind the crime. in northwest d.c., erika gonzalez, news4, back to you. >> bizarre story there. thanks so much. the southwest part of kansas virtually shut down by the massive snowstorm. about ten inches of snow has fallen. storm already blamed for at least six deaths. slippery roads, low visibility, making driving very dangerous. highways are closed in parts of five states including a 70-mile stretch in southwestern kansas. many people having to delay

their christmas travel plans. closer to home, oh, it is just lovely out there. we are having a beautiful december. >> we are. warm one at that. cloudy day and didn't keep the temperatures from rising, though. chief meteorologist doug ram ron is in storm center 4 with our first forecast at 5:00. this is going to be the story of the week. warmer temps. >> big time. once again, we have been so warm this month. especially when you compare it to what we saw last december. extremely cold. this december very, very warm. we are out there right now sitting at 51 degrees. plenty of cloud cover out there. winds shifted out of the east-southeast at 7 miles per hour. that cooled things off a little bit across the region 48 degree m s in martinsburg, west virginia. calvert and st. mary's county, sitting at 51 degrees. storm 4, nothing to show you as far as rain is concerned. we will be dry this evening. rain to north, we are watching a

front try to move down but it will move move back to the north overnight and there are more showers to the west. working in here by tomorrow morning. i expect temperatures to go up tomorrow morning. could be around 51 degrees. same temperature it is right now and 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. you will need the umbrellas tomorrow. don't even think about putting them away. we have not one, not two, but three storms in the forecast. hooray. >> yea. >> all right. >> thank you, doug. >> we are trying to show some support for poor doug. >> the late north korean leader kim jong-il is laying in state. a stage funeral has been set for next wednesday. the north korean state media is broadcasting huge public displace of grief and escalating effusive praise for his successor. he is thought to be about 28 years old. meanwhile, u.s. officials are

reassuring the north's neighbors that there are more than 28,000 u.s. troops on the peninsula who will stand with them if necessary. on wall street today, stocks recovered from yesterday's losses marking the best day of trading so far this month. the dow is up 337 points. nasdaq up 80. s&p 500 closing 35 points higher. today's positive numbers were as a result of good signs from europe and increase in apartment construction in the united states. on capitol hill there is still more wrangling over the payroll tax cut extension. today the house refused to vote on a plan the senate passed just before leaving town for the holidays. it would have extended the tax cut for two months. instead house republicans are demanding immediate negotiations with the senate on a yearlong plan. >> i'm calling on the speaker and the house republican leadership to bring up the senate bill for a vote. give the american people the assurance they need in this holiday season.

>> i need the president to help out. all right. >> if the impasse isn't broken soon taxes for millions of workers will go up 11 days from now and almost 2 million people could lose unemployment benefits. senate majority leader harry reid says that there will be no negotiations on the yearlong measure until the house approves the two-month extension. the d.c. council gave final aapproval for the bill to allow the council to expel any member that seriously violates city etc.ition laws. >> it must be approved by voters before it goes into effect but it is part of a sweeping ethics bill that curbs campaign and other abuses. tom sherwood is here now with more on the story. >> we have several ethics scandals going on in the city. ethics reform is the number one city issue. some say this ethics bill isn't tough enough. >> it is important. >> reporter: both council

chairman kwame brown in ward five member thomas jr. facing separate criminal probes, thomas' house was raided by the fbi recently and the council for months struggled to write a new ethics law. chairman brown tuesday offered the amendment to allow for the first time council members to vote to expel any member in serious ethical cases. ward 5's thomas under grand jury review for allegedly misspending $300,000 in city funds on himself the sat quietly as the chairman introduced the amendment. >> let me state clearly expulsions will be used for cases in which the counsel determines the violation of laws in most serious nature including violations with substantially threatens the public trust. >> reporter: expulsion provision requires a vote by citizens next year before it can go into effect. the counsel also voted to force more disclosure of campaign contributions. funds raised and spent for inaugurations, transition committees and defense funds. they voted to reduce from 80,000

a year to 40,000 a year funds that could be privately raised to supplement their offices. some members had wanted to ban the accounts outright. >> i think you -- basically are just establishing today that this is slush fuds and use it for our own political purposes. >> reporter: council voted to allow the funds to be used for sporting theatrical and other event tickets which initially were to be banned. the counselsy members argued the tickets most often go to constituents. the author of the final bill said p.m. provisions of the law will be passed again on an emergency basis in january. so they will affect the primary next year rather than waiting for congressional review that could take many more months. a key part of the bill is a new three member ethics board to investigate and sanction council members as well as top managers of the city government. i think as we go into april 3 elections a lot more candidates saying he could have done more.

>> at least they are starting with something. >> right. >> that's the thing. the council member said we need a lot of changes. we have a lot of changes. maybe we can do more later. >> thanks, tom. "news4 at 5:00" is just getting started. a fight to change the face of old town alexandria. the battle that's brewing over the waterfront. >> a happy and historic homecoming for troops at bwi. >> holding on for dear life. you have to see this video, folks. folks. what il, any luck finding a car?

not yet. i want to buy used but how do you know what you're really getting. check out carmax. all their used cars are guaranteed. that's where henderson found the one for him. way to go, henderson. finding the perfect car is easy at carmax because each car is carefully selected, inspected, thoroughly reconditioned and backed with a five-day money back guarantee so come find the one for you today, at carmax. way to go, neil.

still christmas shopping? the clock is ticking. aren't you glad i just told you that? >> reminder. it is crunch time for us procrastinators. 77% of people still need to do some kind of shopping. news4's tracee wilkins caught up with some last-minute shoppers today. >> reporter: two things to remember when it comes to last-minute shoppers. first of all, they tend to spend more money because they have less options and secondly, they need choices. they have to have somewhere to go. these are things like toys 'r' us are banking on. after the success of change and often extended hours this past black friday, it is only natural that the retail industry would try it again this holiday season. some at macy's like this one in

tysons corner will open 24 hours starting tomorrow. >> amazing. i'm not going to be here, hopefully. >> reporter: hopefully you will be done. >> hopefully today is it. >> reporter: toys 'r' us started operating 24 hours this morning and will stay open until 10:00 p.m. christmas eve. for some last-minute shoppers, the new hours are right on time. >> it helped me before i left for work this morning, just to drop in and get that last-minimum gift. yeah. i like it. >> reporter: while some folks are just old fashioned procrastinators, others waited for a reason. >> i was waiting for my paycheck essentially to do the shopping. i knewer open 24 hours. i wanted to get here early to avoid the rush. >> reporter: why last-minute shop? >> because there's always one more thing i would really like to get for my grand daughters. >> reporter: many experts say the problem with last-minute shopping is expense you tend to pay more in shipping and give up more to the stores because you have little time left. >> i absolutely agree. you kind of want to make up for

your lateness so you buy more. >> reporter: what's the plan? what's the plan to keep from spending too much this year? >> there is none. >> reporter: create a budget and stick with it. they say don't spend more than 1.5% of your annual income and have a spending limit. for each person on your gift list. you know what you are going to get? >> i don't want them to know. >> reporter: the folks at visa have other sug suggestions for how you can save money this christmas season. they suggest that you create gift cards that family members can redeem later for perhaps a dinner at your house or how about giving to a family member's favorite charity, a gift that will keep on giving. tracee wilkins, news4. >> tonight is the first night of hanukkah and minutes ago the national hanukkah menorah was lit during the ceremony on the ellipse. the traditional potato pancakes

and doughnuts are being given out. >> dancing dradle. there are events throughout the area for all of them. to find out more visit our homepage, nbcwashington.com. they had a warm night down there to take it in. soak it all up. >> last year at this time, very cold for them. lighting that first candle. extremely warm. talk about how warm we have been. it has been phenomenal, warmth out there. 55 degrees, high temperature today. i think we are going to get to 62 during the day tomorrow. and we have had quite a few days above the 60-degree mark. not a single day with highs in the 30s. not yet anyway. a very mild night across the area. we have seen cloud cover all day long. 51 degrees at the airport. winds out of the east-southeast at about 7 miles per hour. that wind is actually helping to

cool us down just a little bit. 46 right now in gaithersburg. fredericksburg coming in at 54 degrees. we have much colder air just to the north. state college, pennsylvania 34shgs degrees right now. 37 in wilkes-barre, pennsylvania. 43 in hagerstown. colder air has been trying to filter on in here during the day today. it just was not able to do so and overnight tonight we will see the warm air move back up. roanoke, 56 degrees. charleston, west virginia, 59. and that's the warmer air that will move in overnight. temperatures, i think will fall more this evening. then could rise as we head in towards tomorrow morning. few showers around the mason/dixon line. that's bit to the north of baltimore. we will stay dry this evening. that will not be the case tomorrow morning. lot of rain between pittsburgh and out towards philadelphia. along i-76 here. but down towards the west of us, charleston starting to see some shower activity. most of this is on the lighter side. all of this coming from that

monster storm that was outs to the west. blizzard conditions. this storm was super strong. but now it is really weakening and just kind of going away. it is going to continue to make its way our way. you can still see bringing up moisture from the south. that southern moisture will make its way in here during the night tonight into the day tomorrow. expect shower activity tomorrow. do not expect a washout. here is the frontal boundary across the area. it moves back to the north as a warm front overnight into the day tomorrow. and very mild air ahead of this and maybe rather windy conditions, upwards of 20 to 25 miles per hour winds during the day tomorrow. that will help to produce temperatures into the low to mid 60s. we will see shower activity. maybe even rumble of thunder two. once again, this is not going to be a big deal. thursday we will start off dry. look at the rain starting to come in around 5:00 in the afternoon. i think we have a pretty good amount of rain coming in thursday night into early friday morning. by 7:30 friday morning, most of that rain is out of here.

almost all of it comes thursday night and we could get about half an inch to inch. cloudy and mild. dry fors most of us. showers to the north with the temperatures staying on the mild side. tomorrow morning waking up to mild temperates. 40 to 49 degrees. some areas, around 50 tomorrow with that possible shower. here's tomorrow afternoon, showers likely. light to moderate showers 37 breezy and warm. 57 to about 63. stay warm on thursday with a high of 60. late rain thursday. right now i have friday and saturday. dry but cooler. high of saturday of 48 degrees. here is your christmas forecast right now. we are going for a good chance of what could be heavy rain over the high temperature of 51 degrees and much colder on the back side of that system. that's the storm we were talking about being an interesting storm. still is one to watch. i will continue to watch it for you. we have time before christmas. right now it is looking a ts wet. >> good news is we have a solstice coming up tomorrow.

>> yes. >> stays will start getting l g long longer. >> wendy is always optimistic. when we come back, news for your health. doreen against loerts on a new treatment that could stop brain aneurysms before they rupture. >> your grandma fell down? >> a 911 call from a toddler coming to her grandmother's rescue. >> how metro helped

a new treatment that would stop breadly brain aneurysms before they rupture. >> doreen gentzler joins us now with more on this story. >> 1 in 15 people were develop brain aneurysm at some point in their life and happen when an artery starts to abnormally bulge out where the trouble is if it goes undiscovered it can rupture and that can lead to a stroke, brain damage or even death. >> headache, really bad headaches. they told me it was nothing. you know. migraines. >> reporter: but when gail lawrence started experiencing jaw pain and swelling on top of her painful headaches she went to the hospitals and that's when doctors discover ad large

aneurysm in her brain. >> what it was until finally the doctor explained to me you could die from this. it was scary. >> reporter: gail lawrence's aneurysm was big and it could have been deadly. her only option a few years ago would have been to have brain surgery. the kind where they open up your skull and put a clamp on the vessel. now a new procedure is making it possible for patients like gail to avoid that kind of surgery. >> it happened to be a very simple concept. what it does it restores the wall of the vessel. >> reporter: george washington university hospital surgeon have olin says brain aneurysms form when the wall of a blood vessel begins to bulge. pressure from blood flow can make the bulge expand and rupture. doctors are using a new device called pipeline. it is actually a stent used for implanting a catheter. there is no brain surgery involved. the catheter goes in through an artery in the groin. >> pipeline forms a new wall of

the blood vessel. and nice normal wall. lets the body heal the aneurysm. taking away the risk p rupture. >> reporter: the doctor says in about three months the body will naturally shrink the aneurysm and all side effects like the painful headaches should go away on their own. >> alternatives for her and other patients would be surgery. that's a safe option and done well but much more traumatic. recovery is -- usually much longer and other risks. >> reporter: another developed procedure also involves going through the femoral artery to reach the brain. doctors simply fill the an rurirur i -- the aneurysm with platinum coiling but you could have future possible side effects. >> an hour and ten minutes. never got her haircut and went home the next day. >> reporter: gail lawrence was the first person at gw hospital to undergo the pipeline procedure. she says that it wasn't painful. in fact, after three days of recovery at home, she was out and about again.

>> i feel good. i mean, i feel like i'm really blessed. >> she really is. >> gail lawrence was fortunate they were able to find the aneurysm before it rupture. they found a few more of them and she will undergo another surgery using the pipeline device. it is mazing to think about repairing an aneurysm in your brain with one incision in your groin. >> i mean, she doesn't have to have a big cut on her skull or lose her hair. it is an amaze -- amazing how noninvasive this is. >> not having your head shaved, at first i didn't get it, but it is very important to the patient. you know, the lower side effect risk, quicker recovery time. not having to shave your head. >> how they came up with this, you know -- good for them. when we come right back on "news4 at 5:00," caught on tape. the chain that's fighting a robbery spree in the district.

>> fight over alexandria's waterfront. >> what's in a name? we will introduce you to the

hello. i'm meteorologist doug kammerer. not watching one, not two, but three storms over the next couple of days. storm number one, not going to bring us all that much rain. you can see rain up there towards pennsylvania. a few areas of showers back towards west virginia.

most of those will die out tonight. it is what is towards memphis now and atlanta area, that's the moisture we are working on. overnight tonight and during the day tomorrow. round one. we will see a couple more storms. one on thursday night and one towards christmas weekend. we will talk more about that coming up in a couple of minutes right here in the storm center. no-to-the ongoing battle over the redevelopment of alexandria's waterfront. city leaders envision a major overhaul of the area along the potomac. adding new hotels and restaurants. but some opponents say the city hasn't done enough research on what's best for alexandria's residents. news4's julie carey joins us now with more on the debate. jewel write? >> latest word comes from a may or am appointed waterfront worker for the citizens. charged with analyzing the issues that divide many in the community. it turned out even the work group had trouble coming to an agreement. on this point everyone can agree alexandria's waterfront is in

many spots a disconnected mess. the old warehouses public parks. this model shows how the city council envisions redevelopment. warehouses are transform flood hotels and park space is expanneded and the foot of king street where the old dominion boat club's parking lot now sits would be opened up to the river. but many residents complain the city plan brings in too much development. and enter the work group. today at the liberty 100 page report that suggests the council should step and study a variety of issues more completely before voting on the redevelopment plan. >> this is a concept, we still have a plan to implement. there were insufficient materials, we felt in eight different areas to move forward in the implementation. >> among the study suggested a transportation management plan for union street which parallels the water front. they say flood mitigation needs a closer look and so does environmental impact. the group did agree the city should back off any threat of using eminent domain to take over the boat club's parking

lot. they suggested negotiation instead. but conclude moving the parking lot is a key to beautifying the gateway to the waterfront. >> at the same time, we need to do something better at the end of our main street. it is a great street. we need to make it a better street where it meets the river. >> reporter: workers also says the city council should consider options other than hotels for the robinson terminal warehouse site. opponents remain unsatisfied with the latest recommendations and staged a protest outside city hall and continue to accuse the council of favoring business interests over the interest of the public. >> they have gone with the money and developers and have not gone with the people. we are here to fight, frankly, for the people for alexandria for its history, et cetera, against the developers. >> the city council slated to vote to redevelopment proposal on january 21 coming up at 6:00, a look at whether they will consider delaying the vote to address the work group recommendations. back to you now. >> julie carey, thank you. d.c. mayor vincent gray has new plans for the historic

lincoln theater. iconic u street theater was once the stage for artists like duke ellington. it fell into disrepair after the '68 rye sxots restored. it is now being kept open by cash infusions from the city. the day mayor gray announced the commission on arts and humanities will take over management of the theater in an effort to change the financial future. >> the goal is to be able to preserve this theater. this is a 90-year-old theater. it made an enormous contribution to the history of the city, history of u street. and we owe it to our past, present and future to ensure long-term viability. >> one of the theater's first new ventures will be a four-week run of the new movie "the girl with the dragon tattoo" which opens tomorrow. frins george's county liquor store owner was sentenced today to nearly four years in prison for his involvement in an extortion scheme with former

county executive jack janson. 52-year-old was ordered to 46 months in prison and three years probation. he operated several liquor stores in the county including ticktock liquors in hyattsville. he conspired to pay johnson in exchange for official acts including liquor licenses and permit inspections. >> d.c. police need help catching armed robbers that they say are targeting 7-elevens in the district. the man robbed the store. the video shows him ripping out a cash register, pointing a gun at the cashier, two men are also seen robbing a 7-eleven at the 2800 block of bladensburg road northeast. less than two hours later. zpr pepco officials promised to pull out all the sfops to get the power back on after hurricane irene. now they want maryland customers to pay for it.

pepco officials have filed a request with the maryland public utility commission of a rate adjustment of $68 million. pepco wants to bill customers for the additional resources necessary to restore power to customers after the hurricane. and as well as the ongoing effort to improve its service. if the increase is approved the average residential customer in maryland can expect to pay pepco at least $67 more every year. someone has some money and may not know it. a winning powerball ticket was sold in d.c. so far no one has come forward. it is worth $200,000. the drawing was december 17. it was sold at the four seasons convenience store. that's on south dakota avenue in northeast. the winning numbers, 13, 28, 49, 51, 59, powerball, 33. in case you are you on of luck there, the next powerball drawing is tomorrow. that jackpot, a cool $104 million is. >> somebody will have a happy

holiday. >> i know. give me your dollar. i will go buy you a ticket. coming up on "news4 at 5:00," talk about a tough ride. what might have caused all of this trouble on an escaltor. >> i'm darcy spencer in northwest washington. two dozen kids got an early christmas this today. i want to tell my mom, brother

check out this video. it shows people using an escalator for the first time. this is inside a shopping center in iz beck stand. some people had a tough time stepping on to the escalator. yeah. one after another shoppers kept falling down. fortunately shoppers were able to pull the emergency stop button before anyone was seriously hurt. some people on youtube are commenting that the railing and staircase might have been out of sync. >> that wouldn't be good. national zoo's newest resident has been splashing around since november without name. we can't have that. >> but the 1 1/2-year-old giant pacific octopus will be called pandora. 10-year-old trinity kimberly from -- that's a good name -- from sterling, virginia,

submitted the name to "the washington post," kids post contest. the octopus is the largest species of octopus in the world. you can visit pan door at the exhibit at the zoo. it is expected to grow ten times in size within the next year. then call her whatever she wants to be called. >> exactly. wow. pandora. >> yeah. historic homecoming. >> that's got to feel good. hero's welcome for our troops at bwi. in sports we are going to go live down to the verizon center where the caps look to get

nice. just in time for the holidays. big crowd welcoming home the last u.s. air force men and women back from iraq. more than 200 arrived this morning at bwi. family and friends gathered in the terminal say they are overjoyed when they got the news their loved ones would be the ones walking through that door. >> we are so happy. this is our third deployment. we hope it will be the last. >> ready to come home. >> really, really exciting. i'm really glad we can get everybody out of there, all the troops out of there, and get all of them home by christmas. >> this morning's flight had about 230 airmen. a flight later this evening will bring home the final 70. airmen and women. >> great pictures there. >> christmas came early for some southwest d.c. school children. >> boy, did it.

metro bus drivers from the western district threw them a big party. they had lunch, received great presents, and darcy spencer is here now with their story. hi, darcy. >> reporter: the bus drivers wanted to make it a special christmas for kids who were r in need. they worked with the d.c. elementary school to select the students and got them many of the items that were at the top of their wish list. he got the bike he wanted for christmas a little early. thanks to some metro bus drivers. >> i would like to say thank you for everybody that's here. merry christmas. >> reporter: he was among the 25 students in southwest d.c. who wrestling selected for the special christmas party. >> it is very important to the kids. operators came in and wanted to go to elementary school and pull some children that really needed some gifts. >> reporter: the school reached out to the children's parents finding out exactly what they wanted and that's what they got.

price wasn't a problem. >> we got ipods, we have notebook, all the bicycles, learning games. really expensive dolls, skateboards. >> reporter: the bus drivers paid for all of these gifts out of their own pockets. some donated money for the pizza party complete with dessert. the children first ate slices pizza, sip order juice, one by one they gave santa also a bus driver a high-five. and opened their presents. >> so very important. a lot of our kids do not get things. parent don't have enough money. that's why i chose these 25. >> reporter: the children were happy to be singled out for this special treat and to get the gifts that they wanted most. >> what would you like to say to the people who did this for you? >> thank you. have a merry christmas. >> reporter: the idea was to get the kids items they really wanted but probably would not find under their tree christmas

morning. and they got a ride to the party and back on a metro bus. this was a great party. these kids were so thankful and got wonderful gifts. >> and fed them pizza. those sticker books. oh, my goodness. little kids love the sticker books. >> metro drivers, now, lot of times they get bad publicity. this is something that came from the heart. it was special. >> thanks, darcy. >> lots of smiles today. let's see if there is something to smile about on the weather. we think the mercury is on the move in the right direction for some of us. some of us like it colder this time, doug. >> that's what i'm getting on my facebook page. facebook.com/kammer facebook.com/kammerer. a lot of viewers saying you want it cooler this time of year. unfortunately mother nature continues to pump in that moisture -- wet, warm air we talked about la nina winters and so far this is exactly what we have seen. 51 degrees, current temperature out there now.

winds out of the east-southeast at 7 miles per hour. storm 4 doppler radar shows shower activity to the north, frederick, hagerstown, parts of baltimore area, just to the north there. few light showers this evening. that's going to be about it. rain will come tomorrow from the storm system making its way our way. not a big storm tomorrow. don't expect rain all day. you could see a brief moderate downpour but look at the high temperatures. 62 degrees in washington tomorrow. i think some areas down to the south could be in the mid 60s and here we are talking about december 21. just amazing how. extended forecast one more time in the 1996 hour. >> this was a slash doug kammerer. >> or twitter.com. >> we got that one. we are all over the twitter. thank you, doug. verizon center and dan hell hellie. the caps are looking for wane tonight. >> yes, you are. i thought you were going to say something else there.

i was getting ready to talk about my twitter and facebook page. i will spare everybody that. we are talking about hockey tonight. capitals playing a red-hot team. nashville predators coming in and having won five in a row. their longest winning streak of the season. capitals desperate to get something going on the offensive end of the ice. they have only scored one goal in each of the last three games. hot teams, no offense. and a milestone game for mike knuble. >> we think we are a good team. no matter what we have to win these games and beat these teams if they are hot or cold or whatever they are. we need to come out with a good effort and certainly special night. >> for you guys, you have to score some goals, you know. seems like for a team, high-scoring team in the league a couple of years ago, you have been struggling lately. one goal per game the last three. what's going on offensively? >> i don't know. i think that bounces are not going our way.

you see some of the goals scored against. let me throw it on the net more. our guys have been doing a good job trying. soon enough it will break. >> reporter: you reference a special night. i'm assuming you are talking about mike knuble playing his 1,000th career game. for you being a young guy what goes through your head when you see an old veteran like that getting ready for game number 1,000? >> it is great. a great accomplishment. you know, he has been good to me ever since i have been here. he has been the most veteran guy on the team since i have been here as well. i learned a lot from him and happy to see him achieve this. >> reporter: little mike knuble trivia. ready. >> yes. >> reporter: you were how old when mike knuble made his nhl debut? >> i would have to say i was 5. >> reporter: 7 years old. 1997. >> okay.

>> reporter: all right. >> professional or nhl. >> reporter: nhl. let's go how many nhl teams has mike knuble played for? >> two, three. three? >> reporter: five. can you name three -- >> actually, i can name detroit, new york, philly, boston, and capitals. >> reporter: you got it. very good. which u.s. holiday was mike knuble born on? >> july fourth. >> reporter: very good. >> i knew it wasn't during the year. >> reporter: where did he go to college? >> university of michigan. >> reporter: what is his middle name? >> no idea. >> reporter: i will give you a hint. reinde reindeer. >> no idea. >> reporter: red nosed reindeer. >> rudolph. >> reporter: rudolph it is. >> i think i actually -- that's been going on in the locker room

before. i think i -- i should have known that. >> reporter: are you going to bring that up tonight? >> no. i will give him a pass today. >> reporter: the team will be wearing commemorative mike knuble jerseys during their pregame warmups. that's mike rudolph knuble, for those of you at home. >> we will never forget that now. all right. a 911 call from a little guy that sounds terrific. >> did grandma fall down? >> toddler came

2 1/2-year-old girl is being hailed a hero tonight in michigan after potentially saving her great grandmother's life. >> the elderly woman dropped the phone in the middle of telling emergency dispatchers she was having a heart problem. the little girl managed to keep 911 on the line to get her great grandmother to safety. >> reporter: the 77-year-old was able to give the critical information to a 911 operator along with her devil rays. the dispatcher heard sounds of pain and virginia could no longer communicate. >> are you okay?

virginia? >> reporter: that's when a distinctly young voice came on the line. >> hi. hi. what are you doing? >> reporter: she picked up the phone her gray grandmother was on. >> fall down. >> did grandma fall down? >> yes. >> is she still okay? are her eyes open? >> no. >> her eyes aren't open? does it look like she is sleeping? >> yeah. >> tell grandma we have help on the way. okay? >> okay. >> you can hear the firefighters arrive on the dispatch recording. >> hello. >> where is grandma at? >> she directed responders to her baby brother and her sleeping great grandfather before hanging up the phone. >> bye-bye. >> okay, bye-bye. >> isn't that awesome? >> reporter: the fire chief says that he's impressed in part by just how young the little girl

is. >> i'm 2. >> in my 28 years of experience i have never experienced anything with a 2 1/2-year-old like this. we had 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds. but at this age, i was very shocked. >> reporter: her mom says she's impressed, too, but not necessarily surprised. >> that's pretty typical. she loves talking on the phone. >> reporter: the fire chief says what happened can be a reminder for families to talk about emergencies. for children to know their addresses and what 911 means. he says the department already starts talking to kids when they are daycare age. >> i don't think it is too early for them to start learning. >> reporter: she and her mom were visiting from california so the toddler may have not known the address at her great grandparents' home. but mom says that t family talked about who the police are and who firefighters are. yesterday the fire chief came by the home to give the little girl a gift. >> that's my baby. >> reporter: did a fireman give it to you? >> yes. >> she is a smart little girl.

>> hero. >> that's it for "news4 at 5:00." >> stay right there. "news4 at 6:00" starts right now. there -- when i say explosion i mean explosion. >> hundreds of people pack flood a metro train for hours after a piece of the train fell on the tracks bringing the morning commute to a screeching halt. no deal after all. the house rejected the payroll tax plan so now what? good evening. i'm aaron gilchrist in for jim vance. >> i'm doreen gentzler. our top story tonight, a piece of a metro train fell off and on to the tracks this morning during rush hour. caused a major meltdown for thousands of passengers. hundreds of people were stuck for at least two hours on a train before they were finally rescued.