shake.by the loss of his ship and the loss of lives. meanwhile, crews had to stop the rescue process today because the ship was moving. good afternoon, i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm jim handly. first at 4 today, captain francesco schettino is back at home in naples today after a judge ordered him under house arrest. >> the captain was accused of abandoningship and criminal charge are he is expectedby his lawyers say he never left the passengers. >> reporter: this has been a frustrating day for rescuers on the island of giglio. they wanted to blow four holes in the costa "concordia" in order to reach parts of the vessel that so far have been blocked, but that all changed overnight when the vessel moved, ever so slightly, making unsafe for divers. they haven't been able to go on all day. late this afternoon, we did see helicopters flying overhead,

dropping equipment. we understand that in the coming days, that will be used to pump off liquids. so really that tells us that we are now moving away from a rescue mission and turning into a salvage operation. hope fading for the 20-plus people that are still recorded as missing there has been some good news though, a german woman who was on the missing list turned into her local police station in germany. she had been on the vessel and come off and returned home so we now know that she is safe. at the moment, the vessel's captain, francesco shelt tino is under house arrest in napless a few hours south of here and the latest we are getting is italian media reporting that he told prosecutors yesterday that he turned too late. that hasn't yet been confirmed and he does deny that he is responsible nor accident. for nbc. a year's worth of snow is falling in washington state today. schools are closed, flights

canceled. everybody's staying home. the city of olympia could break its record of 14 inches of snow in a 24-hour period. the city has about a foot of new snow on the ground this morning. seattle escaped the worst of it. back here in the washington area, we have got a sunny afternoon but there is a stiff wind blowing. it is blowing out there storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson has your first forecast now. hi, vj. >> stiff wind. i wish we didn't have that today because of course the cold is back across the area. at least we have got some nice sunshine out there today, as far as those winds go take a look. here are the current gusts throughout the area, gusting to 24 miles per hour up north, mount airy and frederick to 25 and 28-mile-an-hour gusts currently, camp springs, maryland, prince georges county and pax river, the winds will diminish as we move through the afternoon and evening hours. it has given us a wind chill of 31 degrees, that, the bottom of

your screen there a temperature of 40. throughout the day, you know what our temperatures have been falling, 58 at midnight, now we are at 40. at 5 a.m., right at 46 degrees. other locations already into the 30s, freezing now in hagerstown, maryland. the fact that we are already at freezing, you can guess that it's going to be a very, very cold night. we have got a few clouds off to the west but the most part, expecting a mostly clear sky, a lot of numbers will be down into the teens and low 20s by tomorrow morning. in fact with a little bit of wind still hanging on, forecast dropped to 34 inside the belt wait 9:00, 31 by 11:00, we will have windchill temperatures this evening in the 20s. definitely a bundle up evening for us. as far as winter goes though while we are not going to see anything during the overnight, tomorrow is going to be feeling a little bit better, we will talk about the possibility of flurries and maybe another

system that may cause some travel impacts across the area this weekend. i will have more, pat, coming up in a couple of minutes. >> thanks, veronica. if you tried to use wikipedia or craigslist today, you probably didn't get very far because the sites are taking part in an online protest of anti-piracy legislation now being considered on capitol hill. michelle franzen has that story. >> reporter: some of internet's top websites and search engines shutdown or showed solidarity today. wikipedia english had a 24-hour blackout. other site, including google and the "huffington post" took the unprecedented step to protest anti-piracy web legislation they say threatens the free and open internet. >> they wouldn't do it if they didn't think that these bills that are being proposed in congress wouldn't significantly change the way the internetworks and how users experience the internet. >> reporter: lawmakers are considering two separate bills. the stop online piracy act or sofa, would give the government the authority to monitor and

shutdown websites accused of distributing pirated content and stop illegal down loads it is supported by the film and music industries but tech companies like wired say the restrictions would equal censorship. >> punish everyone and arguably destroy the internet with regulations that have never existed before and which will have consequences that we cannot really predict. >> reporter: today, house speaker john boehner said lawmakers are far from taking a vote. >> and i would expect the committee would continue to work to try to build a consensus before this bill moves. >> reporter: senate's bill, protect intellectual property act is aimed at targeting foreign-based sites it is estimated 7,000 websites took part in the protest, sites, like google, directed internet users to an online petition they could sign. meanwhile, the president has also gone on record, saying woe veto any piracy bill that is too broad in its focus. michelle franzen, news4. the dallas-fort worth

airport terminal was shut down this morning after a security breach. tsa agents spotted the image of a gun in a woman's carry-on bag after she passed through security. officials say she left the checkpoint area before her screening was complete. the terminal was shutdown while officials reviewed security video to find her. it took about an hour and a half to determine that the 65-year-old woman was on a flight to houston, which had already left the gate. that flight was turned around, won't taken into custody. she is facing at least one state charge and federal charges may also be filed. so far, no arrests after someone threw a smoke bomb over the white house fence last night. occupy protesters rallied outside the capital and supreme court before moving to the white house. the secret service briefly locked down one entrance to the white house grounds. yesterday afternoon, police arrested four protesters outside the capitol. days to go before the south carolina primary. and the candidates are battling

over taxes, not yours and mine, but mitt romney's. he has said he will probably release his tax returns but not until april. today, one of romney's top supporters spoke out. steve handlesman has our story. >> reporter: questioned by his rivals in south carolina about his record on job creation, and now, pressure to release his tax returns, mitt romney fired back. >> i was disappointed over the last couple of weeks to see one of my opponents attacking free enterprise, just like the president was. that's -- that's not the role of the republican party. that -- that makes us sad. >> reporter: voters could get mad. romney admits 15% is the income tax rate he paid on the millions he presumably made because they are capital gains. newt gingrich said 15% is enough. >> my goal is not to raise mitt romney's taxes it is to let everybody pay mitt romney's rate. >> reporter: but at 15%, romney

is paying the same rate the loews paid worker would pay on his or her paycheck, half the rate he would pay on a salary in his break f that hurts him with voters, his major backer, new jersey governor chris christie said today, take the hit now. >> what i would say to governor romney is if you have tax returns to put out, you should put them out, put them out sooner rather than later, because it is always better, in my view, to have complete disclosure and especially when you are the front runner. >> reporter: to become the front runner, newt gingrich, polling second in south carolina, wants supporters of conservative rick perry and the choice of evangelicals, rick santorum, to switch to him. >> do you need rick perry and rick santorum to drop out of this race? >> it would be helpful? >> santorum said no called gingrich arrogant, leaving ron paul polling third in south carolina, set for another good primary and leaving mitt romney on track for his third straight victory. i'm steve handlesman, nbc news,

charlotte, north carolina. on wall street, stocks ended the day on a positive note. the dow jones industrials gained 96 points. the nasdaq was up 41 points and the s & p 500 closed 14 points higher. today's numbers were fuelled by positive news about the greek situation, the debt situation there, and better-than-expected news about the housing market here. the supreme court has ruled that people who get unwanted calls from telemarketers and other businesses can sue those businesses in federal court. the ruling involves a case in georgia, a man said he was getting repeated phone calls from a financial company. he filed suit in federal court under the federal telephone consumer protection act, but an appeals court threw it out, ruling it did not qualify as a federal case. today, the high court stepped in and said in a unanimous opinion that it will allow federal lawsuits against tell mark earth. the district's only public university is getting a new student center. the university of the district

of columbia broke ground today on the $40 million facility this afternoon. the city funded $35 million for the project. a student fee will pay for the remaining 5 million. the student center is just one piece of a major renovation project for the van nuys campus in northwest. is there a reunion in the works for rihanna and chris brown in the latest from hollywood next. jason wu shows off some of his new dresses debuting on his new target line. check this out it is called tia dora, it is the largest emerald in the world.

it was the third time host the golden globes and apparently, his last. ricky gervais wrote on his blog today while he had a blast hosting the ceremony on sunday, he does not want to do it again. he called the experience a little like a parachute jump. he could also be smarting from the public backlash. the first two times gervais hosted the globes, a lot of people thought he was too mean. now the general consensus is that he was too tame this third go-round and not that funny. >> can't please all the people all the time. ll cool j will be the grammy awards' first host in seven years. the rapper-turned-actor won two grammys himself. he hosted the live grammy nominations concerts since it began in 2008. the last time the awards show actually a host was back in 2005 when keep latifah did the

honors. this year, the foo fighters, taylor swift and bruno mars are expected to perform. been almost three years since chris brown beat his then-girlfriend rihanna. now, rumor has it that they have secretly been hanging out, at least that is according to "u.s. weekly," brown pleaded guilty to assault in 2009 a court order kept him away from rihanna but it was lifted last year. chris brown's publicist says the rumors aren't true and that the two are just friends and he is not cheating on his current girlfriend. rihanna's publicist had no comment. the hit box office comedy "bridesmaids" is stirring up a little he said/she said stuff in hollywood. after speculation about a sequel, one of the movie stars and key writers, kristen wiig, said it's not happening. wiig said we had a great time doing the first one but we are excited to try something else. but ""vanity fair"" magazine

seems optimistic about a sequel, now requirements filmmakers are considering making the movie without her. >> that would be tough to do. she was the movie. i mean, there were a lot -- don't get me wrong, a lot of funny women in that but she kind of wrote it. >> hardly be a movie without her. >> i would say so sequel. anticipation is building for the new debut of the new fashion collection at target. the jason wu collection will be available february 6th and like target's recent moss sony collection, demand is expected to be fierce. >> wu designed michelle obama's inaugural gown. today, wu previewed his new designs this morning the "today" show. >> so jason what does all of this buzz, all of this sort of excitement say to you about what american women want from fashion? >> i think it's -- i think american women, they are telling us that they want beautiful clothes and they want something that is versatile, something that is quite timeless and

something that they can enjoy for more than just one season, for a long time. >> and afford. jason is not the first top designer to do this. no, a lot of these collaboration. for my money, one of the best fashion inventions the last decade, fashion democrat circumstance luxury designers doing affordable collections for mass retailers. karl lagerfeld did one for h & m in 2004 but several, as you mentioned, huge ones this year, including mass sony for target, crashed their website, so popular. >> i find out about it my girlfriends find out after it was sold out. 20-somethings buzzing about this one. we have models here. before you bring them out this inspiration this was french new wave cinema which i never even knew what that was before i tried googling it. what is that exactly? what does that look entail? >> that look is what i call chic, a little mist chichievousi

love french new wave films and i thought the women that define it, that style film were chic, so i looked up to them i thought let's play an homage to them for my collection for target and of course, american sports wear details in there as well. >> let's take a look at i guess a young american look in paris. our first model, olivia, wearing what's called the work look, in your view. oh, it's cute. how does this work, jason? >> well, olivia and i went to high school together. nope each other for a long time. but she is our lovely model today. i love the idea, she a real estate agent and she is, you know, really working it hard. wearing the striped sweat i think is quite casual, worn with gene jean he is and the pleated skirt is quite feminine, the whole three pieces can be taken apart. >> it is also actually quite difficult to find great work clothes on an assistant's budget because a lot of inexpensive

clothes tend to be too young or too sexy. here you have the boss's wardrobe on assistant's salary. >> mix and match with accept pratt. look adorable. i love the bow around her collar, so cute. >> bow tie. >> me, too. >> our next model is charisse and she has got a weekend look. this is not something you can mix and match, i think you could wear this to work or the weekend. >> i think quite versatile. you know, the little bag, also part of the collection, something that is so chic and so affordable and you will, you know, looks great on the -- on charisse's figure, also very body conscious and belt defines the waist. >> one of the most flattering shapes on the planet it looks good on almost any body type. and i think because the fabric is pop lynn, into the super

dressy fabric, you could put white codes on that wear it on your bike or a swimsuit to the beach. >> look beautiful in that. all right. our next model is kristen, molding an evening look. hello, kristen. look at that with that little bottom there all part of the same dress exlittle shiny bottom? >> all part of the same dress. what i worked hard do is achieve wonderful details for the pieces. >> and what women know about the little black dress is it is incredibly versatile, i love it with a nude belt instead. >> comes with. >> perfect. >> you can also do it with black shiny belt or something. put a leather jacket over it, denim vest, look really casual. the fashion girls in my office would put a collard shirt under this. >> so cute. >> look really chic. >> i like that one. >> yeah. they are all nice. he takes off and then it's target. when you reach target, you know

you're huge. >> made t made it to the big-time. coming up, a whole lot more on news4. mystery solved. doctors believe they figured out why those teenagers at the same school came down with a mysterious illness. a famous celebrity chef criticizes paula deen's decision to delay telling people about her diabetes. >> search nbcwashington.com on facebook and twitter for news online. our handleds are jim handly. >> and pl muse and for veronica, it's v johnson. nbc four. here's a friendly reminder. it's your last chance to get verizon's reliable high speed internet and phone for small business for only $84.99 a month. call 1.866.solutions now or visit verizon.com/solutions. only $84.99 for high-speed internet and phone. plus your choice of either no annual contract or a two year price guarantee. call 1.866.solutions or visit verizon.com/solutions today.

hurry -- this offer won't last long. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006 the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. and now, the company that redefined sleep is redefining memory foam. sah $400 on our all-new memory foam bed. and at our white sale, stock up and save on our exclusive bedding collection. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.

i thought it was my imagination, it wasn't. >> nope. >> got colder as date wore on. it did. >> a few days like this. >> right. we have had more than usual. i call these the upside down days where we see the rising temperatures at night and the falling temperatures during the day. i like it at night when i'm taking out the dogs. >> sure. >> don't like it during the day though. >> even with all this sunshine out there, it has got colder. >> 58 degrees at midnight. early this morning, 5 a.m., 46

degrees, now which sit at 40. might not sound too bad but it has been windy, windy, windy, windy that has made us very low windchill temperatures throughout the area. in fact, 31 degrees, the current windchill reading. dew point temperature, 31 degrees, very dry air over the area right now. let's look at some of the other readings, those windchill readings up to the north, hagerstown, maryland, now, 23 degrees, gaithersburg, maryland, 25. current windchill reading, low 30s prince georges county, falls church, manassas, too, current windchill, 29 degrees, windchill readings hanging out in the 20s, drop to be the low 20s by 9 and 11 p.m., winds will diminish, still a little bit of wind left around the area, temperatures in the 30s, low 30s makes for one cold evening. tomorrow evening, 28 and 27 degrees, bundle up, heading out,

as far as flurries, knee a lot of folks have been asking when are we going to get flurries here, a chance thursday night, one thing for sure, got very active pattern that system that's in seattle, washington, now, very quickly make its way off to the east, by the way, seattle, washington, could pick up another two to four inches of snow overnight. little areas of low pressure will be riding the jetstream the next two weeks, i think, active pattern for us, every couple of day we could see a weather system around here, we got a chance for some flurries come thursday night. then by the weekend, a chance to get a little bit of light snow, maybe mixed with freezing rain thursday morning before that switch to all rain. for the next 48 hours, take you through our future weather here, cold and breezy evening for us, then tomorrow, feeling a little better because there will be less wind around, start out with a partly sunny sky, a loft sunshine, pick up clouds. there is your snow, coming in thursday night, possibility to north of us, i think after sun set and before midnight is our

best chance that system passes through us on the day, on friday and by friday, it is all the way down to the south, we will have partly sunny skies, to mostly cloudy, as we go into early saturday, yet again, the possibility of more precip around here, certainly going to be cold enough to see a little bit of a mixed bag of precip for the area. 32 to 38, quite chilly for your evening hours, diminishing wind. then tomorrow morning, mostly clear, we are cold. 23 to 28, north wind, 5 to 10 miles per hour. for tomorrow, after sunset, up to midnight, possibility of some flurries, just conversational, northernmost counties of maryland the best chance to see those flurries, so, no shoveling of any snow yet. i don't think we are going to have that for quite some time, high tomorrow, 45, 37, friday, colder behind the system, the weekend we will be hanging out in the mid-40s for highs but again, early part of the day especially saturday that i'm most concerned with for some areas, so you will want to stay

tuned to that system and i will certainly be tracking it and see what we are gonna get. >> okay. >> all righty. >> thanks, veronica. still to come on news4 at 4:00, doctors now know what's causing a dozen students at the same school to experience the same mystery illness. plus, besides the president,

welcome back at 4:30, everybody, i'm jim happenedly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. here is what is happening at this hour. the captain of the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of italy has been place under house arrest. prosecutors are expected to charge francesco schettino with manslaughter and abandoning ship. his lawyer says he never left the scene of a shipwreck that killed 11 people. rescue work, meanwhile, was suspended today after the ship moved slightly off the rocks that were supporting it. the republican presidential primary in south carolina just days away now, and tension between the top two candidates is growing. today, front-runner mitt romney took a verbal swing at newt gingrich for saying he helped create jobs when he was in congress. the gingrich camp responded by saying romney is showing signs of panic and desperation. some of the internet's largest websites were shutdown or partially block blacked out today in protest of anti-web

piracy legislation. one bill would allow the government to monitor and shutdown websites accused of distributing pirated content. another would target foreign websites. critics argue the bills violate free speech. stocks wound the day on a positive note on wall street. came as investors got good news from greece and better-than-expected news on our housing market. the dow closed 96 points higher, the nasdaq, 41, the s & p 500 gaped 14 mass hysteria, what one doctor says is the mysterious illness plaguing 12 teenaged girls at the high school. >> the diagnosis a rare phenomenon and some parents aren't convinced. amy robach has an update on the story we told but yesterday at 4:30. >> reporter: what's going on at leroy high school? that's what many students and parents want to know after 12 teenaged girls begin suffering from uncontrollable body movements, tics and verbal

outbursts. brooke du pont says she has the symptoms. >> it just gets frustrating because when i get nervous or anxious or anything like that, these when it comes out more. >> reporter: a senior at the school, vera sanchez, says her symptoms are so bad, she can no longer go to class. she share herd story with ann tuesday on "today." >> there was nothing going wrong and then i just woke up and that's when -- that's when the stuttering started. i want to answer, a straight answer. >> reporter: now, some possible answers in two newly released reports by the school district, a private company did environmental testing at the school in december. the reports found that no substances were detected within the school building that might be expected to cause any health issu in the student or staff population. doctors and a team at denton neurological institute at amherst, new york, are treating

brooke and many of the other girls. they told nbc news they have a rare form of conversion disorder or mass hysteria, a psychological problem that can happen in groups like female teenagers. >> happened before, all around the world, different parts of the world, it is a rare phenomena, physicians are intrigued about it the bottom line is these teenagers will get better. >> reporter: some parent aren't satisfied, including brooke's dad. >> not all of us are accept that this is just a stress thing and our kids didn't all get sick by coincidence. so it's heart wrenching because you fear that your daughter's not going to be able to have a normal life. >> reporter: brooke is being treated and feeling better, showing no symptoms when we spoke with her but constantly worries about her next outburst. >> is really frustrating 'cause i really do want an answer 'cause i would like to know why this is happening and i would like to fix it. like, i don't want it to happen anymore. >> that was amy robach reporting. the school district did not want to be interviewed for this story

but issued this statement, the symptoms are real, all the affected students have been evaluate and some have already shown signs of improvement. sbekts the students will get better this time. paula deep's diabetes diagnosis has not done anything to soften one of her chief critics. anthony bo anthony bore dane, host of "no reservations" on the travel channel. he criticized the food network chef and her dangerous cooking to an already obese nation. dean's statement that she suffered from type two diabetes and signed a deal tone dorz a diabetes drug added fuel to the fire. bore dane posted this tongue-in-cheek tweet about dean hours later, thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business so i can profitably sell crutches later. >> ouch. look out. passengers aboard a british airways flight say they were terrified a an automated message announced they would be making an emergency landing over water. the flight was heading from

miami to london on saturday the message was announced in an emergency water announcement, landing at about 3 a.m. passengers on the flight say children were crying, many thought they were going to die. it took 30 seconds before a flight attendant casually announced that the message was a mistake. british airways has since apologized for that mistake. aside from the president and vice president, who are the most powerful people here in washington? >> "gq" magazine has the answer, released the an top 50 list. leading it are two republican lawmakers, eric cantor of virginia and senator mitch mcconnell followed by senior adviser to the president, david plouffe and leon panetta at defense and hillary clinton at state. >> the first nongovernment lawyer lobbyist named at number 19 is nbc news chief washington correspondent chuck todd. d.c. restauranteur jose andres is number 41.

event planners are 42nd. mets pitcher stephen strasberg, 47, new owners of politics and prose come in at number 50. congrats to them all. >> all of them. >> they wanted to be on the list. hey, wendy's app of the day is next. thrill seekers who wouere looking for something interesting to do will head to the world's highest free fall. plus, travel experts offer advice if your bea to book a advice if your bea to book a cruise

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. we can do this. we can all do this together. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime.

our clock stays is 4:39, but somewhere, it is 5:00 already. >> that mean it is time to belly up to a bar somewhere. wendy rieger is here with our app of the day. >> it is cocktail hour. or cocktail hours. playing bartender has never been easier with mixology. this is such a fun app.

7900 drink recipes, 1300 ingredients you can put in. i just love -- let look -- you browse the drinks. i love the names, a brisk walk through the red light district. crown royal, vermouth and iced tea. i like iced tea. this one is called a kick in the crotch, vodka, blue curacao and cranberry juice. you can go by category. let's say you want to make jell-o shot this is handly's favorite thing, jell-o shots, you know, malibu bay breeze, do malibu rum and gel level i mean, the ingredient he is are pres a down the have to write that down. why am i laughing? go to your cabinet, say you have company coming over, i need a mixed drink what do i have? grapefruit juice, i have some vegetable juice and i have some sports drink and what kind of liquor do i have?

i havez ca krc-- have cahcaka. instead of vomitoria, it came up with something i could make. the terminology, sometimes people don't know, what does heels in a mean? neat means you serve it without ice. this is really cool. if you want to learn a little bit more around learn how you're supposed to shake a drink or whatever it is just really cool. it is really fun to have obviously at a party or any time of the day or night, mixology so that you can do it like a improvement >> or do it like kathie lee and hoda. >> i wonder if there's a kathie lee app in here? myrrh must be a category for her in here. >> cold day. don't need it today. >> cheers.

thanks, wh thanks, wendy. the world's largest emvad about to hit the auction block. >> how much does that weigh? if you are nervous about booking a cruise after this weeks disaster in italy, travel experts try to ease your fears. don't miss foodies on nbc washington nonstop. tonight at 9:00, going to a spot on h street that offers an expertly made fresh bowl of ramon that is definitely a step up from oodles of noodles. then we will head down the street on the nonstop scene for a pub that serves up a unique combination of cultures, check combination of cultures, check out the jewish and

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles in 3 days is-- is huge. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. you just put one foot in front of the other, and you know that you're walking for such a great cause that you just keep going. (man) that you have all these people coming together for one common goal. (woman) the goal is to bring an end to breast cancer.

(woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. (woman) i'll never stop walking, not till we find a cure. (woman) and it has to end, but it starts with us. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. it is the most rewarding experience i have ever had in my entire life. we can do this. you can do this. we can all do this together. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. and now, the company that redefined sleep is redefining memory foam. save $400 on our all-new memory foam bed. and at our white sale, stock up and save on our exclusive bedding collection. only at the sleep number store,

where queen mattresses start at just $699. if you think the afternoon was cold. >> throw another log on the fire. >> you there go another blanket on the bed i guess, too or snuggle up to your pooch it is going to be a very, very cold night for us. we are going to be headed down into the 20s, low and upper 20s in the area, tomorrow suspect going to feel quite as cold as today, 40 degrees now, we do have sunshine, a wind chill reading with that northwest wind, 18 miles per hour, making it feel like 31 degrees outside. so, round the area, we have got 34 up in germantown, maryland, head over to camp springs, 37 degrees, over in herndon, 35 degrees, 40 right now, plenty cold out there, we still have the wind hanging on, wind chills for your evening, 9 and 11:00,

headed down into the 20s, low 20s, 31 the actual temperature, 11 p.m. going to be well below freezing by tomorrow morning. cold, sunshine, sun's up tomorrow at 7:24. here is a look at some of those numbers the north, mount airy, frederick, 19. 19 degrees expected to start in culpepper, maryland. take you through your future weather, next couple of hours, early tomorrow morning, sunshine for the area, increasing clouds for the afternoon. you see this blue and white, those are the flurries that will be coming through the area tomorrow, closer to the 10, 11, midnight hour for us. partly sunny, high tomorrow 45. four-day forecast, 45 tomorrow, 37 on friday, colder air moving in behind him, your weekend will be hanging out in the mid-40s for high temperatures, not worried about the afternoon, kind of worried about the morning on saturday, the threat

of some freezing rain and light/snow mix with the onset of that weather system. and then next week, around 55 degrees on monday to 40 degrees on tuesday. continue with a little bit of up and down, not the dramatic up and down this week. >> settle down. thanks, veronica. imagine an emerald as large as a football. it could be yours for the right price. the once-in-a-lifetime gem is about to be auctioned off in canada. >> as sonia denton reports, security for the big event is really tight. >> reporter: reagan rainy is used to dealing with high-quality exclusive gems but what's in this bag is something else. >> it's huge, amazing. >> reporter: it was mined in brazil, it is called the tia dora, the name means gift of god. it is the world's largest cut emerald. it weighs 25 pounds. >> aid buyer who submitted me some pictures, i did not believe that this was an emerald of that

size. >> at first, i was very skeptical. just because -- anything this large occurring in nature is extremely rare. >> reporter: this appraiser couldn't wait to get his hands on it. he test it had to make sure it was not infused with another rock and to confirm it was a true emerald. he values it at $1.15 million. when you're dealing with a gem this size, obviously, security is of the utmost concern. >> of course. it's armed. off-duty police officers. highly trained security agencies are involved in this transportation of this stone. >> reporter: there's already a list of buyers lined up to get their hands on this emerald. a private collector from houston, texas, has offered to pay $1 million for the tia dora. someone from due by wants to cough up the same amount, it is clear, the bidding war has begun. >> when people see this who have the means to afford something like this, no amount of money is

out of the question. >> reporter: rainy wouldn't disclose how much he paid for the stone, he says, though he is auctioning it off to the highest bidder in cologne nah, bc, on january 28th. >> an arty town. >> reporter: bidding starts half a million dollars. >> reporter: sonia denton, cbc news, cal gary. >> almost looks fake you not used to see anything like that mammoth. >> no, we aren't. coming up on news4 at four, what a thrill you the highest free fall ride in the world. the world's first street-level private jet show room takes off. i'm wendy rieger. on news4 at 5:00, deadbeat parents, authorities tracking down dead and moms who say can afford to pay their child support but don't. a new restaurant is opening its doors with a very good deal for its first customers and they

are lining up. tonight at 6:00, the controversial plan to make d.c.'s chinatown look more like new york's times square which some would argue it kind of already does. already does. those

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drops straight down more than 115 feet it set up on the 112th story of a building in southern china that is higher than the empire state building, which is 100 feet -- oh, 103 stories high. glad it slows down there at the bottom. that's crash. extremely wealthy people can now shop for private jets just like they shop for cars a new show room in london is giving people a taste of the high life. it is a replica of the cabben of a full-sized airbus 319. the real thing costs $90 million. the sales of private jets fell 10% last year but the show room owner says he doesn't need a lot of customers to be successful. >> pretty fancy ride there. >> oh, yeah. what you may want to know if

many of us have been poll the story of the cruise ship disaster off the coast of italy. if you are already booked on a cruise this year, is there anything travelers should worry about? nbc's gordon toca mat sue talked to travel experts about what you should know. >> reporter: disaster or not the era of the giant cruise ship appears to be here to stay. that's what some travel agents tell us. >> whoever has a license of sea

worthiness license that is good enough for me. >> reporter: appears good enough for his client. cruise ship travel accounts for about 15% of the customers at his san pedro agency. he says they tend not to worry about ship safety because such things are strictly regulated by international law. >> are they correct in that assumpti assumption? >> i would say they are. >> reporter: but he acknowledges that people do ask how they can find out if ships are safe after an accident like the costa "concordia" occurs. over the years, images like these showing cruise ships being overtaken by monstrous rogue waves or destroyed by fire made some wonder if disasters can be foreseen. can i tell by looking at ship and looking at its crew if it's safe? >> you cannot. >> reporter: still there are ways to give yourself if nothing else, a peace of mind before embarking on your journey. first if a ship has had an accident, even a small one, you can probably find it online, from travel blogs to wikipedia. >> all this informations are

readily available, not hidden. >> reporter: second, choose a cruise line that doesn't involve passengers embarking from several ports of call n an emergency if many of your fellow passengers haven't had disaster drills, it can add to the chaos. and third, seek out ship lines where your native language is the primary one. as passengers reported from the "concordia" disaster, instructions in numerous languages can be confusing you and waste precious time. >> that was gordon toca mat sue reporting. expert says there are only two things you can't control, someone mother nature and the other is who your captain s that's news4 at four. news4 at 5:00 starts right now. and i'm always been the type of person that if you ask me for something and i have it i'll give it to you, but i just don't

like people to taking any from me. >> an elderly woman robbed of thousands of dollars after she falls victim to a scam, taking advantage of her compassion for others. the jerry sandusky sex abuse allegations, now local authorities say the lessons learned from that terrible case may already be helping children in our community. and restaurants targeted by thieves looking to cash in, but it's not the cash rebel gisters they are going after, it is what's behind the buildings that they are calling liquid gold. good evening, everybody, i'm jim handly. >> i'm wendy rearing. we begin tonight with a good deed gone bad. police say a woman used young children in an elaborate scheme to rob an elderly woman of thousands of dollars. the 84-year-old victim was forced to withdraw money from her bank on new hampshire avenue in langley park after she first tried help suspect. darcy stepper is there now with a clue that police are hoping will crack this case. darcy? >> reporter: hi, wendy. i was able to meet this