good morning. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison. we begin with a new budget and new taxes in maryland in 2013. short time ago maryland governor martin o'malley presented his proposed spending plan and could mean some residents will see less on their tax refund. the governor is attempting to raise more than $300 million in revenue to cut into a billion dollar shortfall. most of that will come in the form of higher income taxes for the top 20% of maryland earners

and individuals who make up to $100,000 and couples who make more than $150,000 will have a personal exemptions eliminated and will be able to take fewer deductions and that revenue will be supplemented by a tax on internet purchases in the state. it is the most balanced and fairway to handle a tough economic situation. >> it is difficult for us. this is one of them. this is by no means -- those we are asking more of the unpopular choices that all of us wish we did not have to make. this is the first way to go about things. >> the budget contains a shift in funding for teacher pensions. counties will now share the burden with the state, controversial move that o'malley once opposed. this marks the first time since 2007 that o'malley proposed broad based tax increases. new equipment is helping emergency crews in montgomery

county treat heart attacks patients faster. news4 received a demonstration on exactly how this new equipment works. tracee wilkins joins us now live from suburban hospital in bethesda with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. of course, this is exciting news and for anyone who had a loved one experience a heart attack already one that has been in the presence of someone who is experienced one you understand that you have just seconds to make this thing right. in montgomery county they tried to have people taken to the hospital within an hour and a half from the time they call 911 until they arrive and are in the surgery room. they want that to be an hour and a half. well in the past, it has taken them about 75% of the time to get that right. now they are doing it 99 to 100% of the time. all because of this new tool. heart attacks happen in minutes. and for those who are lucky enough to recognize what's happening, the time between when you call 911 and actually arrive at the hospital is critical.

and shouldn't be wasted. >> decrease in time saves lives. >> reporter: updated ekg is now capable of transmitting heart rhythm data and vital signs to the hospital. the patient is going to. before the patient actually arrives. give doctors real information to help quickly diagnose and prepare for the patients 'arrival. >> it gets them the most advanced time so they can set up. >> reporter: the technology uses something called a web based system that sends ekg readings. this system is not just about making sure the patients are taken care of in a timely manner after the heart attack happens but after surgery and after they come out of the hospital they want to make sure that they are going to be living healthy lives as well. so that's what this equipment is doing. what they are saying is that the sooner they can get treatment, the better their lives will be after the treatment. longer the wait, sometimes that can mean even after treatment, even after their lives have been

saved they will have to stop working and change their lifestyles completely in order to continue with the healthy lives. so this new equipment is not only available here at suburban hospital but available at shady grove at venice, washington and also holy cross. so all of the hospitals of major cardiac departments here in montgomery county are participating in the system. they can take care of you at home or in the ambulance on your way to the hospital and know when you arrive, they will be ready for you. i'm tracee wilkins, live this morning in bethesda. back to you in the studio. >> thank you. small earthquakes continue to move the ground in virginia. today a little after 8:00 this morning, 2.5 magnitude earthquake hit about five miles southwest of mineral, virginia. the area was hit by a small quake on friday. it is 11:0. tom kierein with our first forecast now. good morning to you. >> what change from last night. many went to bed, around 60

degrees last night. then overnight we had a front coming through. the winds shifted into the north and west. gusting to nearly 40 miles per hour. predawn. winds settled down a little bit. also tapping a little moisture off the great lakes. bringing in flurries into frederick county and northern montgomery county and maryland, hagerstown, washington county. there are some other snow showers and flurries in the shenandoah valley as well as parts of the panhandle. it shouldn't be accumulating. our temperatures are closer to washington right now near 40 degrees. reagan national is at 43. southern maryland around the bay, eastern shore and northern neck and it is in the low to mid 40s there now. these are the latest wind gusts. we had a gust at reagan national to 36 miles an hour. generally the wind gusts are around 25 to 30. those are the peak gusts and over the last 12 hours we had a few clouds coming through from time to time. still cloudy where they are getting snow showers and loudoun county, shenandoah valley and points west and north.

for the rest of the afternoon mostly sunny around the metro area. cold and blustery. hold steady here in the low 40s. another few hours. then cold night tonight. we will talk about that and look at the rest of the week and weekend coming up in just a couple of minutes. >> looking forward to it. see you then. thank you, tom. new at midday. third person just enter ad guilty plea in federal corruption case involving former d.c. council member harry thomas jr. james garvin is the former board member for the nonprofit group langua langston 21. lee received guilty to receiving tens of thousands of dollars in city funds and transferring them to thomas who used them to fund his lavish lifestyle. he will be sense tense order the 25th and faces three years in prison. the founder of the nonprofit last week pled guilty to similar charges. a special election will be held may 15 to fill the seat vacated by harry thomas jr. he resigned his seat earlier this month after pleading guilty

to embezzling more than $350,000 in government funds and filing false tax returns. he faces more than three years in prison and will be sentenced on may 3rd. d.c. police are making a plea to had find a mother who had a baby that was left in the cold and died. investigators say that mother may need medical attention. police say a man found the baby girl on the steps of a home on chanting in st. in northeast washington. the child did not have on any clothes and was only wrapped in a thin towel. the police are waiting for the medical examiner to determine exactly how the baby died and how old she was. investigators believe the child was anywhere from a few days old up to 1-month-old. d.c. has a safe haven law which allows babies to be left at a fire station or hospital. a d.c. police officer shot and killed a dog after it bit several people. the police say that a german shepherd and another dog were running loose near 14th street in northwest. he bit a man on the arm and leg while waiting for the bus.

the witnesses say at one point german shepherd ran towards a daycare center and bit a man in a wheelchair. when an officer tried to approach the animal it tried to attack him. that's when he shot and killed it. three people were taken to the hospital with bite wounds. all the victims are expected to be okay. police are trying to find a couple who left behind more than 40 dead animals in their howard county townhouse. the property manager called police on monday after smelling a bad odor from this townhouse in columbia. animal control officers found 19 dead animals in a freezer, including birds, rabbits, guinea pig, a hermit crab. police believe a couple was involved in an animal rescue group and if you have any information on where they can be found, call howard county police. 11:08 is your time now. will chris christie be romney's running mate if he gets a republican nomination. p scare outside the white house during an occupy d.c. protest. and the hope of finding more of the missing from the cruise ship

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welcome back. scare at the white house. someone threw a smoke bomb over the fence during an occupy d.c. protest. last night occupy protesters rallied outside the capitol in supreme court before moving to the white house. secret service briefly locked

down one entrance to the white house grounds. and they did not mauck any arrests. however, four protesters were arrested earlier in the day outside the capitol. president obama and first lady were not home at the time. they were at blt steak celebrating the first lady's birthday. the chef made steak and some special seafood dishes. the blt is the same restaurant offering dueling burgers to honor the occupy movement. one is $9.99. the other is $58. the obama campaign is requesting advertising rates in a number of key states including virginia. a sign the president is close to airing his first television commercials for the 2012 campaign. the president's campaign is seeking out the advertising information in 14 states. they are expected to be heavily contested between him and the republican opponent. there's no word on when the ads will start airing on tv. new poll shows americans are divided over the president's overall job performance.

"the washington post"/abc news poll says 9% of americans see a strong economic recovery, twice as many people say they are worse off financially since the president took office. the poll says 52% of americans believe that the president has not accomplished much in the first three terms of his trhree years of his term. with just a few days to go before the south carolina primary, pressure is mounting on front-runner mitt romney. remaining competitors in the presidential race are calling for an end to release his tax records. romney is standing firm say he will wait until april. he did reveal he pay as 15% income tax. now the white house is questioning romney's break with tradition. >> i believe -- the -- i think it was tradition initiated by hen presidential candidate george romney in 1968. >> my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past rather than

ordinary income or earned annual income. then i get speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. >> the latest national gallup poll of republicans finds romney as a command -- has a commanding 23-point lead. new jersey governor chris christie campaigned for front-runner mitt romney leading some to think he's vying to be his running mate if romney becomes the republican nominee. this morning on the today show matt lauer asked christie if he wants to be the vice presidential candidate. >> what i said all along i want to be governor of new jersey. if you are a betting guy i would bet on me being governor of new jersey after 2012. i think it is rude and wrong to say you wouldn't do something for something you haven't been asked to do. >> any discussion was him -- >> zero. i don't want anything in return for it except a better country. i. >> if you can be a part of achieving that better country as a running mate for mitt romney you would do it? >> i think i could be a better part of doing it by being

governor of new jersey and leading one of the great states in the country to rejuvenation of america. >> christie says he can still make a difference as the governor of new jersey. rick perry, newt gingrich, rick santorum will not get their names on virginia's primary ballot. a panel from the fourth circuit court of appeals unanimously ruled against them yesterday. they sued to get their names on the ballot after they failed to get enough signatures. the panel said the candidates knew the rules and the requirements to get on the ballot have been on the books for years. romney and congressman ron paul are the only two candidates that will be printed on virginia's republican primary ballot. the virginia primary is march 6. right now major winter storm is hitting parts of the pacific northwest. seattle is now expected to get about 6 inches of snow which is about their yearly average. the snow is causing near whiteout conditions in parts of oregon, washington state, and northern idaho. all the snow is making the roads treacherous for drivers not used

to this much snow at once. >> expecting more snow. our crews are working 12-hour shifts now. 24 hours a day. >> state police closed parts of interstate 90 in washington state because of avalanche danger. 6 inches does not like a lot. in seattle they are not used to seeing as much snow altogether. they don't have the equipment and are not prepared for it. >> hilly, too. looking at some of the web cams there and i-5 and interstate 90 there, all through seattle, it is snow covered. so there are flight delays, too, getting in and out of the pacific northwest including portland, oregon, and seattle. here, well, snow lovers are deeply disappointed. this january has been indecisive and impulsive and up and down we go. right now at reagan national, 43 degrees. yesterday around 60 degrees. and northwest winds gusting to around 30 to 35 miles an hour. right now sustained at about 20 miles an hour for reagan national. looking at the radar here, over the last hour, the snow shower and flurry activity that we have

had in frederick county, washington county, lot of that dissipated now. just a few flurries here along interstate 270 up near germantown. over towards damascus and then into virginia, still getting rather persistent snow showers and flurries in the shenandoah valley and along the blue ridge across the northern shenandoah valley. and the temperatures right now throughout the entire region are above freezing. getting the snow showers. really shouldn't be causing any problems. 32 at the airport in winchester. the road temperatures are above freezing. these are the latest wind gusts. reagan national had a gust of 36 miles an hour. generally the gusts are around 25 to 30 miles an hour. that brings the windchills. these are the current wind chills in a the 20s. that's what it fees like. what a contrast to yesterday. now over the last 12 hours, we have had these persistent snow showers. cloudiness off to our west in loudoun county, northern montgomery, frederick, blue ridge. points west we have wave clouds but east of there mostly sunny. and we will have that sunshine

into the afternoon hours as we go forward over the next 48 hours and we will generally be clear and then this evening, some clouds closing in and clouds closing in during the day thursday. ahead of the cold front that will trigger perhaps some more snow showers in the mountains and passing snow showers or flurries thursday night as that cold air surges back in again. we will have another reinforcing surge of cold air friday. for the rest of the afternoon, we will have some of that sunshine around the metro area. clouds rather persistent to the north and west. winds gusting 30 to 35 miles an hour. temperatures holding steady in the low 40s or so over the next couple of hours. by sunset back down in a the 30s, and then by midnight, our temperatures will be down to around 30 degrees and the winds will be greatly diminished tonight only around five miles an hour or so. that will be a nice break. by dawn tomorrow, near 20 degrees. during the day thursday, into the mid 40s, with increasing clouds and that second cold front coming in thursday night may trigger a few flurries or maybe a quick passing snow

shower. then sun back on friday. but cold. in the 20s in the morning. 30s during the afternoon. and then on saturday some chilly rain may be arriving. looks like after temperatures get above freezing and later in the morning, then perhaps during the afternoon and into the evening hours ending predawn sunday. little sun back on sunday. sunday is looking rather cold. bit milder monday and tuesday. could get rain on monday might into tuesday. last week i traveled to fairfax county and visited reston, virginia, neil armstrong elementary school and spoke to the bright and happy second graders. hi great time. i want to thank katie how el elr the invitation to visit the school. they asked when we would get some snow and i said stay tuned. also the principal there on the left, mr. allen, he was very interested and wanted to know when they will get a snow day, too. teachers want to know, too. >> they are as excited as the kids are. we will have to wait and see.

>> not in the next ten day. >> thank you, tom. still ahead on "news4 midday," what to do during an anxiety attack. plus, dallas' own tim byars brings his culinary talents to d.c. for one week. we will tell you how you can taste his food. here is a

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welcome back. couple of weeks ago we told you about a group of celebrity chefs. chef coop her to take a break from the kitchen to deal with a serious health condition. his restaurant is going strong. thanks to his chef friends who are coming to d.c. to help. over the next several weeks we are getting the amazing opportunity to meet those chefs right here on "news4 midday." today we introduce you to tim byars. good morning, thanks for being with us here. >> thank you. >> why did you decide to be a part of rogue sessions and help out r.j.? >> i have known r.j. for a bit. he's a really good guy. and it is really important for us all to support each other. and, you know, i appreciate what he has done. and, you know, doing my part. >> wonderful. last night was your first night

for rogue 24. how did it go? >> it was awesome. it is like an -- what we do in texas is -- we are more of an eclectic kind of wood cooking kind of place. it is like -- kind after low-tech type of, you know, so rogue 24 is definitely the other end of the spectrum. it was really great collision of courses. we did 12 and the guys at rogue did 12. >> i was going to ask you how tough it was. you are known for your slow -- smoke meats. was eight challenge to come up for something for this restaurant? >> it was a little bit but it is fun this kind of stuff. we have this -- we were given this grill from grill works and roasted and smoked some meats. we brought some other courses, a really great regional thing. you know, mexican, native american deal. we did it with seafood. lighter this is the seafood you cooked for the rogue sessions. tell me -- i can see you are

multitasking. what's happening? >> the big deal for this is hominy. this takes us like three days to get this to this kind of really soft bulbous dried corn. >> what's in the broth. >> stock made from a snapper and other shellfish and reduce this with some chilies, lemons, limes, anise. >> smells so good. >> it has an awesome fragrant kind of thing. >> smells like it has heat in it, too. >> it has a little bit of chili. this is a really sweet, smokey chili. it is not that kind of like fiery, you know, one. this is delicate. we have octopus and scallops. this is a little bit more of the snapper we made the stock from. a little bit of lemon and lime

and salt. and just mix this around. this starts to cook. and as -- >> this does not go in the broth. >> no. what we are going to do is take the broth and we are going to put this really, really -- kind of partially cooked in here. we will come back. really nice hot stock. it kind of continues to cook as -- so this is all about really awesome vegetables. it really has this authentic, you know, regional kind of flavor. so -- then -- you know, for us, this would definitely not be such a small, you know, delicate little thing. >> you want a big, gigantic bowl of chili. >> yeah. you know, it is really cool. i think it -- it really had a gray opportunity to kind of, you know, show our part, you know, represent our area. yes. >> this is something you said from your region is more common

than would be something you find in d.c. n. >> yes. i mean in the mexican community, you know, it takes a long time to do the corn, it is like it is our sunday, you know, you will see the fish for kind of the catholic stuff. these -- it is like a friday night thing. very proud of these things. >> smells wonderful. thank you so much. if you want the opportunity to taste the chef's food or other chefs helping in the weeks ahead go to guiltcity.com/dc. coming up in the next half hour, 2 people still missing, what's keeping rescue crews from returning to the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of tuscany? information of 12 girls from one new york school suffering from a mysterious illness. tom kierein is back with when the winds will calm down and if we can expect warmer

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right now on "news4 midday," proposed budget by governor o'malley contains new tax owes the top 20% of earners in the state. part after plan to raise more than $300 million in new revenue. the budget asks counties to help pay for teachers' benefits. police are trying to find a man who robbed an 84-year-old woman. he forced the woman to withdraw monday friday from an atm in langley park. the police say the robber at first tried to help the woman and several small children but then implied she had a gun and robbed her. police are having a news conference right now. search crews are calling on the italian navy to help them access wreck fraj a cruise ship partially under water. divers temporarily suspended their search inside the concordia. rough waters moved the boat slightly and put the crew in danger. the company issued a statement saying we are deeply saddened to learn that additional people have been found.

the statement went on to say our main priority remains the location of those passengers and crew who have not yet been accounted for. rescuers want the i tammian navy to blow four more holes in the ship to access the first co commander's office. workers did a similar blast yesterday. the ship hit a reef friday killing 11 people and more than 20 others are unaccounted for including a couple from minnesota. another couple from newport news, virginia, was also on that cruz. >> we didn't really get confirmation until we were back here yesterday that it was the couple we had dinner with. sorry. >> the captain is now on house arrest. he is accused of deliberately

steering the ship towards shallow waters. he is charged with manslaughter, causing the wreck, and abandoning the ship before all passengers evacuated the boat. health officials say they are ruling out possible causes for a mysterious illness affecting 12 girls in new york. the teens all go to the same high school and suffer from uncontrollable body movements and verbal outbursts similar to tourette's syndrome. private company did tests at the school in december and did not detect an environmental problem. the health department says tests ruled out infections, illegal drugs and carbon monoxide poisoning. the doctors say treating the girls the symptoms are contained. >> there is nothing anyone is going to catch. they are not going to get sick related to this. i want people to take -- there's nothing contagious. they are a beautiful, wonderful person. i want them to get better. >> the doctor said they have a

rare form of a conversion disorder or mass hysteria. the new york health department said the symptoms could be caused by a number of factors, genetics, head trauma, drugs, adhd drugs and even antihistami antihistamines. dog walkers made a gruesome discovery. police say two women found a human head in a plastic bag just below the hollywood sign. now authorities are trying to identify the remains. they were walking nine dogs when two of the dogs began playing with the bag. the police say the head appears to be a man and showed little signs it had decomposed. other body parts were found. a trial has been postponed for suspected serial stabber and police say terrorized our area. a murder case against the man was supposed to start february 7 in michigan. the defense lawyers say witnesses are not available to testify so the trial had to be pushed back. so far it has not been rescheduled. he's charged in a number of

murder and attempted murder cases in michigan, ohio, and leesburg, virginia, where he once lived. the federal agent who accidently shot himself while lecturing children on gun safety lost his appeal over the release of video. >> okay. anyone in the school professional enough that i know of to carry this gun. i'm the only -- >> this video was taken back in 2004 when dea agent page was speaking at a school in florida. the video went viral. page sued the dea saying that it released and invaded his privacy and ended his ability to work under cover and give motivational speeches. the court says there is no right to privacy because the incident occurred at an event and was open to the public. 11:35. let's check in with meteorologist tom kierein with the latest our forecast. tom, good morning. >> good morning. wind write and cold. we have sunshine, though. we also have a few clouds rolling in from the west. and these are due to undulation

winds and atmosphere of the cloud cover and clouds like waves in the ocean. they will be coming lou from time to time into the afternoon. camera bouncing around and a stiff wind up there at about 300 feet above the landscape here in northwest washington. radar showing a few flurries off to our west and beginning to dissipate. temperature just in the low to mid 30s. and most of the area west of i-95. closer to washington, near 40 and prince george's, fairfax, montgomery counties. and it is -- below mid 40s below the bay, northern neck and eastern shore. over the last 12 hours we had clouds producing a few passing snow showers and flurries. lot of them now are beginning to break up and are dissipating and for the of the afternoon, winds will gradually diminish and the flurry activity will end. overnight tonight mostly clear, near 20 by dawn tomorrow. afternoon highs in the 40s. could get flurries tomorrow night. cold day provide and maybe some chilly rain saturday. and then sunday, still cold, maybe some rain on monday night into tuesday. bit warmer. >> tom, thanks so much. this weekend expect delays on

metro. metro's closing one metrorail station and single tracking nearly every line while crews do major track work. metro will close the medical center station on the red line. and it will offer free shuttle bus service between bethesda and grovener. metro will be single tracking on the orange line between east and west falls church. the blue line between braddock and van dorn. green line between branch avenue and naylor road. work begins friday night and everything should be up and running for the morning commute on monday. taking a shower or doing the dishes may soon cost you more if you live in montgomery or prince george's counties. washington sanitation commission composing a 7 1/2 increase in water and sewer fees. that equals out to about $5 more a month on your bill if you use about 200 gallons of water a day. the average per family is two. they say the revenue will go

towards operating budgets and including raises for employees. number of children living in pof tier at a 13-year high in virginia. 265,000 children. the city's of danville and petersburg lead the state in poverty, topping 40%. northern virginia has much lower rates, even though the cost of live sing expensive there. prince william's rate is 8.5%. fairfax, 7.3%. fairfax county has a program that moves the homeless to self-sufficienc self-sufficiency. >> i'm not really making that much money but i make the money to make it stretch. >> she hopes to own her own home in five years with the help of the fairfax program. a new report suggests america's obesity epidemic is plateauing at an unacceptable level. according to the centers for disease control prevention nearly 70% of adults are overweight and one in three is

obese. about 17% of children are considered obese. those numbers are about the same as a decade ago. they were alarming numbers for some groups. more men and boys were now considered obese as well as blacks and hispanic women. researchers say they can't explain the weight gain in those particular groups of people. new review of the flu drug tamiflu raised questions about its effectiveness. independent group of researchers reviewing clinical studies of the drug says much of the data is incomplete or contradictory and making it hard to determine if tamiflu is effective. roche has been hesitant to release results of the studies. it is 11:39. still ahead, ask the doctor. dr. joshua answers viewer questions. the new designer making clothes for target. the first lady michelle obama has warn his

president obama is heading to the happiest place on earth. not for fun. he's unveiling a new tourism plan at disney world near orlando. industry is pushing the president and congress to make travel to the u.s. easier for people living in developing countries. the white house says his disney world announcement was part of a series called we can't wait designed to help create jobs. first lady michelle obama help d put fashion designer chase only wu on the map with a white one shouldered inaugural gown. soon his designs will be within reach for all of us. a new collection from jason wu will debut at target next month. this morning on the "today" show he explained his inspiration. >> it is like a little mischievous, you know, it is -- a little -- nonchalant. i love -- i always loved french films. i thought the women that defined

that style film were so chic. i look up to them. homage to them for my collection for target. >> there are 53 pieces in the collection of women's wear and accessories. nothing sells for more than $60. the collection goes on sale at target on sunday, february 5. demand is expected to be very high. i imagine it will sell out within minutes. search of the internet today and you may see a lot of black. that's because dozens of websites are going dark for 24 hours to protest two anti-piracy bills under consideration in congress. news4's angie goff tells us what the protest is about. >> reporter: some of the most biggest and popular websites on the internet are taking part in today's protests and while some are not shutting down completely, at least a dozen are showing their anger over the controversial set of bills. wikipedia has taken the lead on this. making their english language website pretty much completely dark. and here is what you are going to get if you try to visit the site. also, another huge site that's

taking part. craigslist. as a result you will see this message written on the front page and they -- give you a message on how you can contact congress. and google, they are part of this protest as well. and now while they haven't made their entire site completely dark, what you will notice is that they have this black sensor bar across where their headline usually is. and another popular site, huffington post, notice where the main headline, main picture usually is, nothing but this black hole. now the main target for these protests are two separate bills being considered in congress. the first one right here is called sopa, stop online piracy act. second one, pipa, protect intellectual property act, has flown under the radar and passed by a senate committee. the bills were designed to crack down on piracy online by restricting access to websites that host pirated content. many of the states are not based

in the u.s. but overseas outside the reach of federal regulation. they get around that by forcing u.s. sites that lake effect or host the pirated foreign content to withhold service from those sites and providers. critics like wikipedia, facebook, twitter say, however, that the bills will hurt the technology industry and infling on free speech -- infringe on free speech rights. >> scammers may take advantage of surfers who don't know about the protest. they say watch out for phony links and messages that promise exclusive access to the protesting sites or fake donation websites. internet security experts say be weary of wikipedia related e-mails or links today. small gains this morning on wall street. let's check in with cnbc's courtney reagan and joins us live with more on that and the business headlines. nice to see. >> did you good morning to you. nice to see you as well. stocks are positive here. two hours and change into trade. looks like the dow is up about 42 points or so.

that's after trading briefly and negative territory early this morning when in a bill did sound. industrial production numbers coming in just slightly below expectations but perhaps one of the bigger numbers guided trading today is goldman sachs. one of the biggest investment banks here on wall street and reporting their earnings per share did beat estimates but the revenues were down. the reason that they were able to beat street street with low revenues is because they cut those bonuses. yahoo co-founder jerry yang quit the company he helped start in 1995. abrupt departure comes two weeks after the internet giant named a new ceo. yang has taken heat for his handling of yahoo's affairs. they will probably not put up the for sale sign, going it alone at least for now. >> courtney reagan. thank you. have a great day. >> you, too.

getting help for a friend, repeat bouts with depression pregs and fear of holes. some of the issues dr. joshua is tackling today in ask the doctor segment. he joins us totance viewer questions. nice to see. >> did you nice to so you. >> our first question raised in part i have noticed that i have bouts of depression and they come out of nowhere but occur every six months and lasts about two weeks. i find that they are often accompanied by a distinct feeling of being outside myself. i've tried for many years ton find out what this is on my own but i haven't and no one i know has ever experienced it. is there a name for this? what do you think? >> there is. it is called deep personalization, derealization. this is something actually a lot of people will experience for brief moments at times in their lives. i personally experienced it. oftentimes people will get it when they are experiencing a major trauma, they find out somebody died or in a bad car accident. the feeling they are in a dream state, sort of outside yourself looking at yourself. that can occur in some cases and

be associated with things like anxiety disorders or depression. generally, it is found to occur in people who have had a traumatic experience at some point in their past. >> can you treat it? >> well, there's no clear treatment for it. the apa does not have any recommended treatments. there has been shown to be some benefits from some medications and there is a type of therapy called emdr. which has been shown to help people deal with ultra and as that can sometimes be helpful. >> next question now is from someone hoping to help a friend. i saw a counselor in florida several years ago for help dealing with personal issues. my best friend has finally acknowledged she also needs help but refuses to take that first step in making the call to find a counselor. are there any exercises i can use to help her while still firmly encouraging her to make the call for herself? you are in a tough position when you are trying to help your friend. >> family members for that matter. once somebody is over the age of 18 you can't force them into

treatment. we have seen this in other cases, the man who shot gabby giffords. somebody that needs help but unless that person is at risk of killing themselves or somebody else and it is in imminent risk all you can do is continue to be supportive and encourage the person to get the help. one thing i would suggest to this viewer is that maybe she talks to her friend about going along with her friend for the first initial appointment to maybe help out. also to maybe take the stop in calling the dock to make the initial appointment. if their friend is willing or shows any movement towards making an appointment, immediately jumping on top of that and scheduling that appointment because you want to take -- advantage of the window of opportunity. the final thing is you really can't take on ownership for somebody else getting well. it is really up to that person to do what they need to do for their own mental health. you can't feel bad if you can't be successful in getting help they need. >> next question about anxiety attacks. how do you handle it? it can be scary. >> it freaks people out. a lot of people go to the emergency room because they feel like they are having a heart

attack. it is an incredibly strong bout of anxiety and you get physiological changes. heartbeat goes up and become short of breath and walls are closing in and feel you are losing control. educating yourself about things t anxiety attacks or panic attacks and recognizing your heart can beat for over 200 beats per minute for days on end without doing any damage. people worry about their heart exploding and never heard of that happening to anybody. just doesn't happen. you are not going to pass out and nothing terrible will happen and you are not dying. education is one. because that helps you calm down. one of the other helpful things people can do is to do a type of breathing called abdominal breathing. do yoga. it sometime late your parasympathetic nervous system. it helps calm you down. >> that could be good for anyone. is trypophobia a real phobia? >> i have never heard of it.

it is a fear of holes in your body, not in the ground. you know, quite frankly, i have been in practice for ten years. never treated anyone who had anything similar to this. you can have a phobia of anything. i can have a fear of television reporters. there's probably name for. >> it i'm sure there is. >> anything can be a phobia. if it interferes with your daily function. >> dr. joshua, thanks so much for answering those questions for us today. appreciate it and we will see you soon. coming up, thousand to get free pizza. meteorologist tom kierein is back with another check of when we could see some snow flurries and stay with us. nbc all afternoon long. 3:00, people's choice award winner and ellen is hanging out with the academy award winner colin firth.

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back at 11:5. it has become part of the game. officials are starting ing ing grunting crackdown in tennis. fans and even some players have complained to the world tennis association that the chics a s association that the chics ahrie getting out of hand. sometimes they can be as loud as a jackhammer. they have been common in women's

game and men's. some say it is screaming saying the screams throw off timing. the wta says it will begin training future players not to scream and grunt. if you are in for a free lunch, you may want to stop by the district's new pizza joint. you can winfrey lunch for a year. fuel pizza opens today at noon. located near macpherson square to celebrate the grand opening the shop is offering a year's worth of free food to the first 50 customers in line. i bet you they are in there already. they hope to opening a second location near the verizon center before the end of february. let's take a look at some of the stories we are following on news4 this afternoon. coming up at 4:00, doctors diagnose a mystery disease a dozen teens are dealing with at the same school. at 5:00, tracking down deadbeat parents who owe millions of dollars in child support. they go after the biggest offenders. final check of your forecast, tom is here to tell us about the

windy and cold weather and whether or not we will see 60s again. >> not in the near future anyway. looks like our little springtime party over for a while. right now we are dealing with gusty winds. dulles airport had a gust of 44 miles an hour. those winds are still whipping up. that's a live view from the sky watcher camera looking over towards western fairfax and southern loudoun county where the temperatures are in the upper 30s to 40. 42 now at reagan national we are going to hold steady with temperatures where they are now for the next few hours. then it will get colder tonight. over the last 12 hours, passing snow showers and flurries far west and north of washington. those are now dissipating and later today getting colder after sunset down into the 30s. by midnight near 30. by dawn tomorrow, near 20 degrees. we will have a mostly clear afternoon around the metro area. clouds off to our west. winds diminish tonight. then tomorrow, increasing clouds. could get flurries tomorrow night. then on friday morning, the 20s and cold day friday and afternoon highs in the 30s. looks like some chilly rain on

saturday. and that will put a damper on your outdoor plans. highs near 40. warmer weather moving in monday night into tuesday. rain possible. that's the way it looks. have a good day and we will see you tomorrow morning. >> thanks so much. that does it for us on "news4 midday." thanks for joining us. tune in to news4 at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 for all the day's news and we will be back tomorrow morning starting at 4:30 with news4 today. we will see you again tomorrow.