good morning. welcome to ship. i'm eun yang for barbara share son. -- harrisirrisoharrison. former governor romney received the endorsement of mcdonnell. he has been seen as one of the most coveted endorsements to have in 2012 and potential vice president aal candidate. ship the endorsement romney is feeling heat from ginrich as a rise in the polls brought him within striking distance. as last night's debate shows gingrich is facing a battle of his own. news4's melissa mallet joins us

with more. >> reporter: real clear poll particular as it is a virtual tie between romney and gingrich. romney is receiving nearly 32% of the support. ginrich almost 31%. now with less than 24 hours until the polls open for the south carolina primary contest is getting almost as heated as thursday night's debate in charleston. the questioning started with a question that angered newt ginrich. >> i'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. >> reporter: it was about as his ex-wife's earlier interview in which she claimed the republican presidential candidate was unfaithful to her while promoting family values. at one point asking her for an open marriage. >> he was asking to have an open marriage and i refused. >> good morning. >> reporter: this just hours after rick perry dropped out and endorsed gingrich and it 'twas most fiery debate yet in the

race for the white house. texas representative ron paul took his stand on the need to reduce government regulation of business and to encourage job growth. >> i would like to simee massiv reduction of regulations. i would like to see income tax reduced to near zero. and as possible. >> reporter: former pennsylvania senator rick santorum and front-runner romney again over the resemblance between his health care reform in massachusetts and president obama's plan. >> it was government-run health care system that was the basis of obama care. it has been an abject failure and he has stood by it. >> i have been very successful. >> reporter: romney hit back against recent challenges to his business experience adding he will wait until april to release his tax returns. >> i obviously pay full taxes and i'm honest in my dealings with people. people understand that. >> candidates are making their last rounds in south carolina now before the big primary there. then they will be gearing up for florida. now since at least 1980, south

carolina has had a perfect record and in picking the eventual gop nominee. the candidates will have to head south after that. even further down the coast and they have a little more than a week before the practice primary. back to you. >> melissa mallet reporting. absentee voting begins today in virginia. voters have would choices, mitt romney and ron paul. nut ginrich and rick santorum did not make the billion on the after failing to collect the required number of signatures. virginia's actual primary day is still more than a month away. it takes place super tuesday. we are watching the weather closely this morning. 36 degree out there. parts of the area could see a winter mix overnight. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. everyone wants to know about this. >> indeed. we have not had much in the way of any wintry precipitation this winter. any little bit we get is certainly raising eyebrows and

ready to pay attention. you should because this friday night we could have this evening some wintry precipitation. right now around region, still cold. our western to northern suburbs, streets still below freezing. montgomery county in the upper 20s to 30 degrees. it is also just near 30 in fairfax county and around the begunst gunston middle school, 30 degrees. there is a cloudy sky and in the mid 30s in washington and prince george's county. low to mid 30s. around the chesapeake bay, upper 30s, only in the mid and upper 20s farther west and north, shenandoah valley and around north central maryland. here is what has been happening over the past 12 hours. look at all the clouds coming in from the north and west. they have been producing some snow in indiana and up towards illinois and around the upper midwest. that's a disturbance in the atmosphere combined with moisture coming off the gulf of mexico, coming our way tonight with enough cold air in place to cause a winter storm watch to be issued. all these counties in color, northern sthan dough a valley, west virginia, into western maryland, there could be an accumulation of snow, sleet and

ice there. maybe even closer to washington. i will show you my forecast map for our local area. we could get some right here in the metro area this evening. a combination of that snow, sleet and freezing rain. we will look at that. look at the weekend forecast and into next week coming up. >> looking forward to it. thank you, tom. let's check on the midday traffic now. danella sealock joins with us the latest on the roads. hi, danella. >> so far it looks really good in our area. check in travel speeds. great for friday. on route 50, 301 to the beltway, 61 miles per hour. this time on the beltway, from route 50 on the outer loop to i-95, you are at 61 miles per hour. i-66 looks really good as well. from fairfax county parkway to the beltway, 61 miles per hour. traveling i-95 in virginia, this is a look at the occoquan, northbound looks great. southbound, i will give you travel speed. making your way out of town heading from the beltway to the occoquan. you are at 62 miles per hour. not seeing any accidents to report at this time. >> thank you.

this morning, police arrested a man that led them on a chase from virginia into d.c. he then barricaded himself in an apartment complex and in the 1000 block of 13th street, southeast washington. police say that they tried to pull him over near alexandria when he sped away. they pursued him from northern virginia to this apartment complex in the district. which led to a stand-off which lasted all night and ended at 5:00 this morning. police say the man had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest but they did not elaborate on the subject of the warrant. lawyers for the man accused of killing a virginia lacrosse player are expected to be back in court. george hughley is charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend yeardley love after getting into a heated argument with her in her apartment last may. his trial is set to begin next month. 11:06 is your time. 37 degrees. coming up, why the french are suspended military operations in afghanistan. plus the woman defending the action of captain on the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of tuscany.

hungry? why finding a food truck in the district could soon get tougher.

(much president sarkozy suspended military operations in afghanistan after an afghan shoulder shot and killed four french soldiers working for nato.

it happened 90 miles east of kabul. 17 other people were injured in the attack and the suspect is in military custody. there is month word on why the afghan soldier opened fire to the international troops. also this morning, an afghanistan helicopter crash killed six u.s. marines. u.s. officials tell nbc news that there is evidence that there was enemy activity or hostile fire when the helicopter crashed in the province. it could have been a mechanical problem. the cause remains under investigation. the names of the victims have not been released. cia drone strike killed a key al qaeda operative in afghanistan. an official said the militant acted as a senior operations organizer for al qaeda planning attacks on the west. the air strike ended an eight-week hiatus from u.s. drones controlling pakistan's tribal area. italian rescue workers once again stopped their search of the capsized cruise ship off the coast of tuscany. rough weather caused choppy waves and the ship moved

overnight. right now rescuers are deciding what to do next as 21 people still remain missing. new witness has come forward to defend the ship's captain. a woman says the captain called her to the bridge to translate for the russian passengers onboard. she said the captain and the crew, quote, helped save thousands of lives. the captain remains under house arrest and is accused of abandoning ship. the parent company of the cruise ship carnival says it is going to do a system wide review of its procedures and outside review as well. this morning a popular file sharing site is no longer running and the founder arrested. accused of online piracy. federal agents raided the offices of mega-uploading in north west washington. raid is connected to a massive online piracy sting. those running the website are a accused of illegally reproducing and distributing everything from movies to software. investigators say the website generated 17 -- $175 million and cost companies $500 million in

lost e lost revenue. 24-internet internet based protest on piracy bills in congress may have worked. the senate majority leader reid announced he will postpone a vote he scheduled for next we. he said he made the decision in light of recent events. on wednesday, wikipedia and craigslist went dark while google censored its logo. the websites are upset with the stop online piracy act and protect intellectual property acts. the bills are designed to crack down on pirated products . metro riders have been vocal about proposed new fare hikes on the system. a new monthly fare card has been proposed board members hope will be a cheaper alternative to commuters hopping in their cards. tracee wilkins has more details from northwest. >> reporter: metro's general manager has a number of proposals for how to make metro better. yet more expensive next year. all in an effort to pay for all

of the repairs that need to be made while improving the system. so now the board is discussing how do we do all of this? that's when the topic of monthly fare cards came up. every time you ride metro, you pay. the more people who are on the train with you, the more you pay. and now metro's general manager is suggesting you pay more. >> they are going up again. it is not like the service is that reliable. >> reporter: the metro board understands that that this how most customers feel. that's why during the last night's board meeting arlington rep mary hunt suggested monthly fare cards. >> riders pay a certain amount of money often pegged to a certain number of trips a month at a certain price. and then anything they do above that is free. >> that means if you pay, let's say, $95 for a fare card and use it up before the end of the month, you can still ride the

train for free. they hope it will encourage people to use the train more often. even when they normally wouldn't. would you also be more likely to ride it outside of the times you normally take metro if you had this kind of a situation? >> possibly. i haven't thought about it yet since i didn't know that until you just told me. >> reporter: right. >> but, yes, sure. >> i think that would definitely help with it. it would make it's easier for me to get to work every day. >> reporter: riders could also jump off of the train, run an errand and then get back on without having to pay again and again. >> i understand this isn't as wonderful a ride as it used to be. so let's try to make it a little bit easier and perhaps for the really, really regular rider, less expensive. >> people who come in once or twice a week doesn't really do much but it is for the average d.c. commuter probably would do quite a bit. >> reporter: some customers say that be it a monthly fare or one you pay every time you ride, if it is any higher than it is now,

it is no incentive. >> as customers the service isn't reliable, why should we have to pay more for it? >> reporter: the monthly fare care is a proposal at this point but one many of the board members are interested in. if it is approved most likely will run on the smartrip card. northwest, i'm trace i consider wilkins, news4. meteorologist tom kierein joins us. buzz has been about the winter weather coming our way. we want to know when and how it will affect us, tom. >> let me interrupt your evening plans this friday might and your saturday morning plans as well. all through the night tonight, we are going to have a wintry mix. it does appear some snow, some sleet and maybe some freezing rain and that may disrupt some travel especially areas about 30 miles north and west of washington and points north and west of there. right now no travel problems weatherwise. we have a cloudy sky. there is a live picture from our city camera that shows the jefferson memorial and the potomac river. and just downriver to the right

is reagan national airport with the temperature, it is just at 34 degrees under a cloudy sky. it is not going to warm up much more with these clouds and with that northerly wind 10 to 15 miles per hour. blustery and cold morning. just in the fwheptsz montgomery county, frederick county, loudoun county and points west. fairfax county, arlington now right near 30 degrees, prince george's county is in the low to mid 30s. as is much of southern maryland, northern neck, eastern shore. lot of cloudiness has been rolling in coming in from the upper levels and upper level winds tapping moisture from the great wlaks region, disturbance there and there's little snow now coming into indiana and farther to the north and west of there into illinois and upper midwest. and we will have that combined with moisture coming in from our south to perhaps cause some slipperiness and slick roads here in these areas in color and including the northern shenandoah valley and panhandle

of west virginia and western maryland from washington county, allegany county, points west and this zone here could be the zone that may get the brunt of the little winter storm coming our way. closer to washington, the impact should be more perhaps miner but still could be some impact on some of the roads in northern montgomery county and loudoun county and as we go forward over the next 48 hours, this area of white, lavender, zone of snow. may start out as snow from western maryland all the way down to our eastern suburbs in prince george's county. the pink zone is the poetial sleet and freezing rain by 11 cloak tonight. it may begin to move in here around 7:00, 8:00 coming in from the west and from the southwest this evening. and then through the rest of the evening, we will have that warmer air begin to move in and change the snow over to some sleet and freezing rain. whole pink zone as a zone of potential sleet and freezing rain from the eastern shore across the bay. prince george's county and montgomery, district, fairfax counties. points west. this whole area is going to be

getting perhaps a four shall five-hour period of sleet and freezing rain. all the way until just past dawn on saturday and then it should break up and a lot of the moisture should then just dissipate during the day saturday and as we get going on sunday morning, clouds returning back in again and maybe a few sprinkles in the afternoon. for the rest of this afternoon, cloudy and cold and light breezes, maybe just into the mid and upper 30s briefly by mid afternoon. then tonight, that is when we could have this snow begin to fall, 7:00, 8:00, may accumulate up to an inch on grassy areas north and west of washington. lot of it will melt on roadways, above freezing early evening. down to near 30 degrees by midnight. this is what it is looking like for the accumulation for the region. an inch or two of snow but mostly it is going to be sleet and icing in those blue zones just north and west of washington and the north and west of the i-95 corridor. maybe just a light coating of some light snow and some sleet in fairfax county, montgomery county, northwest washington.

before it changes to rain and rain ends saturday afternoon. cloudy sunday and near 40 degrees. and small chance of sprinkles on sunday afternoon. then monday looks like maybe some rain. highs up around 50 degrees. then tuesday and wednesday, sun comes back and could get more rain mid week next week. brief visit of wintry precipitation this friday night. but watch out late tonight some of the roads could be slick. >> tom, thank you. let's check the midday traffic. here is danella sealock. >> construction on metro is slowing you down. first on the orange line, trains are single tracking between ballston and clarendon and going to see delays there. to the red line metro is single tracking between friendship heights and van ness. minor del nays both directions. i-270 nice and clear. i'm not seeing any issues for you. father hurley boulevard traveling south or northbound. 395 looks good as well as live look at edsall as you make your way north towards 14th street bridge, in the clear. heading out of the city connecting to i-95, no issues at all. >> thanks so much.

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welcome back. hottest chefs and one of the hottest restaurants in town. he's working on a special menu important the upcoming lunar new year. scott is the award winning executive chef of wolfgang puck's source. here to tell us about your big plans. nice to see you. people are going to have to get used to the height adjustment. what are you going to do? you are 6'5" for the record and i'm not. tell me what you consider in making the special tasting menu you will unveil. >> it is chinese new year. starts monday. it is the year of the dragon, most powerful of the chinese meteorological signs. the men sue based on tradition and superstition and long standing dishes. it is a lot of fun for me every year to make. >> we are going to make a traditional szechuan dish which is perfect for the weather outside. cold out. really spicy. you know, lot of noodles. it is hearty and -- >> this is the sauce you are making. >> it is the most most important

part of the dish. fat from the pork in there. then we will add a lot of garlic. >> every asian meal you have to add a lot of garlic. >> ginger, garlic. cook this pork a little bit and then mix it, add all of these great condiments. two different types of miso paste. salty, earthiness to the dish. we are going to add chili miso paste. this dish is fiery. lot of spice. lot of heat coming off of it. >> you have to like spicy food for the noodles. >> yes. >> what's -- >> this one just -- a chili oil we made from the restaurant. chili oil kind of covers the noodles and coats them so they are silky and slippery. little bit of soy sauce. >> my mouth is watering. >> chili paste. >> this looks hot already. i can tell you are putting a lot of spicin ingredients in there. >> this dish is with heaven chl. >> you need that much to get

through the meal? >> you can't get that chili here but when i was in szechuan i had it. i was praying for mercy. rice wine. >> nice. >> can you adjust it if you don't like your food as spicy? absolutely. you can definitely this one down. there's a lot of elements in this. savory pork, roasted peanuts. certainly can make this a little bit less spice write. >> what's that? >> little bit of paprika. little bit of -- soy sauce in this one. >> smells so good. i wish people could smell through the television set. amazing. what's that? >> this one is sesame oil. nutty flavor to it. then we d a little bit of palm sugar. >> palm shug car. >> sweet. palm sugar -- >> what is that? ? a type of sugar that -- unlike granulated sugar which is a pleading taste, palm sugar is sort -- has a good depth of flavor, sweetness that stays with you. >> is that a nice balance when you have spicy to put sweet? >> absolutely. that's -- really important part is to have a little bit of sweetness to counterbalance. >> it what did you add there? >> last one was the most

important. that's ground szechuan pepper. >> i didn't know there was such a thing as ground szechuan peppercorns. can you get any of these ingredients in the asian supermarket? >> yes. you can get all of them at the asian supermarket. that's why i chose this dish. you can get them at h mart in fairf fairfax. >> you throw this on the noodles? >> yeah 237 you are at home let it cook for 45 minutes. let the flavors come together for the interest of television we are going to speed it up. >> sure. >> then we have a really beautiful egg noodle we basically just -- poach in boiling water and pour this sauce right over the top of it. you get that ground pork and all of the chili. >> wow. smells wonderful. >> you want that sauce around the outside. >> you can smell the spice, too. i can tell this is going to be spicy. >> yeah. definitely spicy. so -- i feel that you can never get enough pork. we are going to add not only ground pork belly but also roasted the entire pork loin.

pork butt. we are going to kind of shred this meat and add this to the top of it. >> wow. >> you get two different types of pork and two different text tours from pork. roasted meat and then -- >> pork belly and this is the pork butt you roasted for a long time. >> right. eight hours and marinated it overnight in chili paste. sugar and salt. >> add garnishes. >> scallion. little bit of cilantro and roasted peanuts awesome. chef scott, we have to go. thank you so much. it looks beautiful. i can't wait to taste it. you are unveil thing tasting menu monday which is the actual lunar new year and these flood also are available on the saturday french menu. thanks so much. next half hour midday, why the district is trying to make it tougher on food trucks who want to do business in the city. plus, what prompted president obama to break out in song and tom kierein is back with what areas are most likely to see sleet or snow tonight. stay wit

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right now on "news4 midday," u.s. military officials are trying to find out what caused a helicopter crash killing 6 u.s. marines in southern afghanistan. u.s. officials tell nbc news that there is evidence there was enemy activity for hostile fire when the helicopter crashed in helmand province. it could have been a mechanical problem. final four republican candidates for president are making a final push for voters. primary is just a day away in south carolina. romney is still ahead in many of the polls and may benefit from an endorsement from governor mcdonnell. ginrich moved within striking distance. there could soon be big changes when it comes to d.c. food trucks. the popular trucks which serve everything from pizza to cupcakes are facing a possible total overhaul in where they can serve their food. news4's megan mcgrath joins us now from one of the most popular locations, farrugut square, with more. >> reporter: good morning. they are calling it farrugut

friday. as you can see a lot of the vendors, the food trucks, they come here to farrugut square on friday and we have well over a dozen of the trucks here lined up all along the curb here. they are on the other side as well. this is a thriving business that has cropped up here in just the last few years. trucks are everywhere around the city at lunch time. the problem is they have been working under rules that are 30 years old. the industry was a completely different thing. those old rules were really geared towards the classic ice cream truck. the vendors are very pleased to see that the city is going to be revm ping those rules. the truck operators hope it is going to make it's easier for them to do business. lunch time at farrugut square, food trucks are lined up along the curb, customers are lined up, too. >> i like mexican food they bring into it and also i like the spicy food. fusion, asian, american food. >> reporter: a revolution in

midday dining has taken root in the nation's capital. there are even apps to track your favorite truck from gourmet cupcake cupcakes to crab cake sandwiches. with the success of food trucks has come friction. regulations on the books are 30 years old and are geared towards old-style ice cream and hot dog trucks. >> and they are vastly out of date and don't reflect the modern realities where food trucks are a new business that popped up in the past few years. >> reporter: change is coming. the department of consumer and regulatory affairs today post ad new set of proposed regulations. changes could include the establishment of special food truck zones where the location and number of trucks could be regulated. and there will be new rules regarding how long a truck could stay in place. right now the old ice cream truck rule applies. technically a vendor can stop only if waved over bay customer and can remain stationary only if there is a line.

>> it has been very, very challenging, extremely challenging. we are small businesses. just trying to make a living. >> reporter: sandra has been selling cupcakes out of her truck for nearly two years. she says new regulations are needed. alex of feeling crabby hopes it will be good for business. >> i think it is great. i think that it is about time and i'm excited to see what they have come up with, you know. it is -- exciting that they are finally doing something about it and i'm hoping that it makes things easier for us. >> reporter: and here on the other side of the square, you can see we have more -- we have more trucks about seven trucks over there and we are getting the lines starting to form here because it is lunch hour. now i talked to someone from the food truck organization that represent it is food truck. he says he's optimistic. they have not had a chance to sit down and read through the new regulations. what they have seen so far, though, they think that -- looks good. that it is going to be good for everybody. but they are going to dive into it and look at it a little bit

closer here. now this is the beginning of the process. there is a public comment period. that's what we are in right now. then there will be tweaks and changes to the regulations. ultimately the regulations would ned to be approved by the council. still the beginning of the process here. again, food vendors are optimistic. they say it has been very difficult operating under those old rules so they really are hopeful things will get better. back to you in the studio. >> megan mcgrath live from northwest. thank you. right now firefighters in reno, nevada, say they are gaining the upper hand on a fast-moving brush fire. the fire is 50% contained. yesterday 80-mile-an-hour wind gusts helped spread the flames. as a precaution more than 10,000 people were evacuated. among them was vice president joe biden who had been making an appearance at a local high school. >> apparently you have a fire in the nearby hills. and they just told me that if -- i don't want you to get out of

here relative -- let you guys out of here relatively soon they will make you get out of here. >> so far the fire destroyed more than 20 holmes and scorched more than 3700 acres. one person was killed and it is not clear how the fire started. let's check in once again with tom kierein. he has been tracking the storm heading our way. what's going on? >> right now it is code enough for snow. but we don't have any yet. however, right around 7:00, 8:00 this evening, we could have light snow beginning to paul. it is still cold. it is below freezing in fairfax county, montgomery county, and most of prince george's county. just a little bit above freezing here at washington. bit milder near the chesapeake bay. but in most locations, we are still just hovering around 30 degrees in the metro area. points west and north, shenandoah valley, western maryland, many locations are just in the 20s now. we do have a lot of cloudiness coming in from the north ask west and those clouds are producing some snow. disturbance in the upper midwest. that will be combining with moisture out of the south, gulf of mexico, to give us some snow and sleet and icing. mostly these counties that are in color, throws the ones that

will be getting enough that -- of the snow, sleet, ice to cause travel problems. some of the roads may be slick, northern sthan dough a valley, panhandle of west virginia and western maryland will be later this evening. those locations may get a couple of inches of snow changing to ice, dark blue. lighter blue zone closer to washington maybe an inch of snow. maybe a tenth to quarter of an inch of ice on top of that by the time this all changes over to rain by dawn on saturday. maybe just a very light amount here locally right near washington and our western and northern suburbs. changing to rain saturday heading into the afternoon. cloudy sunday and might get sprinkles sunday afternoon. maybe some rain on monday and a bit milder. bit milder as we get into next week, too. sunshine back tuesday, wednesday. maybe a little rain by the end of the week. >> midday traffic, danella sealock here is here with the latest on the roads. >> good morning. let's start in the district. accident on florida after at rhode island avenue. if you are traveling westbound, left lane is blocked here. just a minute ago, your left

lane was blocked eastbound as well. looks to be clear. police are on the scene of that accident. and traveling around the beltway, checking travel speeds for you. look very good. nothing but green all around. if you are traveling on the outer loop new hampshire after, 61 miles per hour. inner loop at route 50, 60 miles as well. we will take a live look at richie marlboro road. no issues there. >> thank you. breaking news now from the entertainment world. etta james died in california from complications of leukemia. the singer's manager is confirming the death. james is famous for hits including "something has a hold on me" and wedding favorite "at last." she was 73 years old. the extreme sports community is also mourning the loss of one of the top freestyle skiers in the world. sarah burk died yesterday. she was 29 years old. the canadian skier had an accident ten days ago. she suffered a torn artery and went into cardiac arrest. she won four winter x-games gold

medals and lobbied to add the halfpipe competition for the 2014 winter games. update now on the missing toddler in maine. the mother of 1-year-old ayla reynolds says she was unable to complete a lie detector test earlier this week because of an undisclosed medical condition. trista reynolds said she was willing to complete the test but the investigatooinvestigators. police stepped up the patrols after children reported a suspicious man near claire monday elementary in alexandria. students reported seeing the man twice last week and three times last month. they said the man stared at them and waved to come closer to his truck. more than 100 parents met at that time school last night to hear the latest from police. >> i can guarantee you that a red pickup truck has been con us is tent in every incident we have received a report on. >> they know whether if we are

not coming that their grandmother is coming to get them. and there are no exceptions. >> even though no crime has been committed, police say the man's actions are creepy and suspicious. at least one virginia lawmakers thinks you should be able to pick up some marijuana at liquor stores in the state. delegate david england is calling for a study to look at the potential cost benefits if the measure is approved the public would be able to purchase pot at liquor stores operated by the commonwealth. those so-called abc stores. he says since the government is able to manage liquor sales, the same could be possible with marijuana. in news 4 your health not enough sleep can be more dangerous than you thought. exhaustion weakens your immune system and can shorten your life span. this morning on the "today" show dr. oz shared with ann curry the dangers of exhaustion and how it leads to obesity. >> talking about brand-new data that kim out that proves it is the case. sleep deprived people, shows the

brain lit up like fireworks in the parts where we control hunger. if you don't sleep well, you are going crave food especially cash rates. >> you are saying it is not just the lack of will power when we are tired, but something that happens to our brain that's almost impossible to control. >> you won't be able to control it. you cannot beat the biology of blubber. it is simple. if you don't sleep you will crave carbohydrates and gain weight. >> if you have trouble sleeping, dr. oz recommends you turn off your iphone, ipad, all your electronics. he also says to use orange light bulbs and try herbal supplements in low doses. he says if you use too much melatonin or valerian root, it will not be as effective. tough news for us on all of the early morning shows. still ahead, good and bad news released on home sales. a woman explains how a zebra got a little too close for comfort at

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welcome back. 11:44. next birthday card or utility bill may cost a little bit more as the price of stamps is going up again. starting sunday, first class postal stamp will go up by a penny to 45 cents. it is the first increase in more than two years. in the past ten years, the first class stamp has gone up eight cents. the postage for post cards are also going up three cents to 32 cents total. and letters to canada or mexico will now cost a nickel more to 85 cents. northern virginia lawmakers wants to impose a 20-cent plastic bag tax. that's four times higher than the cost in the district and montgomery county. supporters stay the tax will encourage more shoppers to use recyclable bags that would cut down on litter and help fund the chesapeake bay cleanup but there is stiff opposition among lawmakers and consumers. >> i wouldn't want to spend 20 cents a bag. >> for 20 cents a bag i will go

back to reusable. >> virginia lawmakers will be reviewing the bag tax in committee meetings today. home purchases up 5% in december. let's check in with bertha coombs. she joins us live with more on that. happy friday to you. >> happy friday. it is a quiet friday in terms of stock movement. we had a lot of information come out and stocks are actually on track for the third straight week of gains. but markets are a little bit on edge, waiting news on a deal between greece and creditors to try to restructure. crucial step for greece to receive bailout funds. meantime, tech giant google's earnings also weighing on the markets today. after the search giant reportedly lower profits than expected for the first time in over three years, it spent more to drive growth and got lower prices for its advertising than analyst has expected. another bit of encouraging news on the housing front is existing home sales in december rose 5%. that was actually a little bit less than expected.

but the really good here is the supply of holmes on the market is the lowest since 2005. we are down to about a six-month supply. that's actually down from a seven-month supply in november. keep in mind we have a little bit of a slowdown in -- because of the so-called robo signing in foreclosures. so that number could vary this year. ford was the only automaker to tough out the financial crisis without a government loan. now the company's fortunes turned and it is rewarding its workers. 20,000 salaried ford employees are getting raises and bonus that's spring. first time since the financial crisis. starting in april they will see 2.7% more in their paychecks. and they are scheduled to get bonuses in march. it is unclear how much that will be. i just want to note our diana olick who covers real estate is doing a chat on facebook on the cnbc page this afternoon on housing. so if you have questions, go there. that's at 3:00 eastern this afternoon. >> good to know.

bertha coombs, thanks so much and have a great weekend. >> you, too. i don't believe your boys scored a single aerial mission. >> because have you not assigned a single forward flying mission. >> "red tails" tells a story of the tuskegee airmen. black pilots that help decide the outcome of world war would despite being passed over numerous times before. "red tails" stars cuba gooding jr. and terrence howard. it is rated pg-13. former marshatial arts star makes her debut in "haywire." may as contractor who is double-crossed and left for dead by one of her own and must use her training to stay live and figure out who turned against her in if first place. "haywire" is rated r. thomas horn makes his debut in "extremely loud and incredibly close."

adaption of a novel. his father played by tom hanks dies in the september 11 attacks. before the attacks the two of them played games and solved puzzles. the boy discovers a secret key belonging to his father he assumes it is one last clue. "extremely cloud and incredibly close" is rated pg 13. it is now 11:49. coming up, the president breaks out in song. plus meteorologist tom kierein is back with another check of your wintry mix. heading our way. stay with news4 all day afternoon as well. 3:00, ellen sits down with kiefer sutherland and shows off great dancers and celebrates the new

welcome back. zebra and president obama singing. joining us now with more on these stories. tommy, fun weekend. we are going to start this hungry zebra -- stop laughing -- that got a little aggressive. take a look. >> she is in the car and chomp. ooh, ouch. all right. so she -- ouch. she tried to explain what happened on the "today" show. let's listen in right here. >> trying to get a picture with the zebra. before that he stuck his head in and like got in the bag.

and so then i thought it was good idea to get a picture with him. and i turned my back and he was hungry. >> this is what happens when you open the window with wild animals and food nearby. >> absolutely. someone that has been bitten by a pig, it is not funny. animal bites are not funny. >> meanwhile you are laugh. >> but it is pretty funny. she is there with a bag of chips. you don't have food in a campsite because it attracts bears. >> exactly. >> funions attract zebras. >> she was not seriously injure. >> exactly. that's why it is funny. she was on the "today" show. but they tell you safari things, keep your windows rolled up. then don't tell you that for no reason. >> especially when have you food. >> absolutely. >> now to celebrities without makeup. this is pretty amazing. we start with snooki. you have to take a look at this. can you believe the picture on the left is snacky? >> i couldn't pick her out on the street.

you can really know it is snooki beforehand. sammy from new jersey shore. you see her made up and masand makeup. >> chlkhloe kardashian. it looks like she is coming out of the gym. who looks pretty coming out of the gym. >> you do, i imagine. >> see, there will never be a photograph of me coming out of the gym. all right. jessica biel. >> future mrs. timberlake. >> to me she looks pretty. not as glam. it is not like it is unrecognizable. the president showing off his singer skills. >> who knew he could carry a tune. >> listen in. ♪ i am so in love with you >> the crowd goes wild. the fund-raiser over the last few days. >> didn't you want to sing along. >> breaks into al green. i don't know that i can carry

the tune the way the president could. ♪ i couldn't do it. that's about as good as i go. as good as it gets. >> i think the audience was surprised. >> tote. >> i in the audience. >> you expect him to be at like the podium being presidential. you don't expect ♪ i that doesn't -- maybe he was playing homage to the fact that al green was in the aude yes, sir. i think people were surprised as to how well he sang. >> i was. i was totally surprised. i want to see him come on "the vows" next season. christina aguilera will be going what are you doing here? >> hidden talents from the commander in chief. tommy mcfly, thanks as always. let's take a look now at some of the stories we are following on news4 this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us in the newsroom now with a preview of things to come. hi, pat. >> good morning. coming up this afternoon on "news4 midday," outrage after a mailman is caught on video just chucking a package over a fence. remember that? then at 5:00, the ravens are

just a single win away from the super bowl. and as they gear up for the weekend, washington fans are turning in burgundy and gold for purple. pat collins will have a live report on that at 5:00. what do you think are washington fans traitors if you root for the ravens this weekend? lots of viewers weighed in on that. join the conversation on the nbc washington facebook page. >> sounds good, pat. thanks so much. we will see you soon. time now for a final check of the forecast. it is 37 degrees out there. looks really pretty. this, shall we say, is the calm before the storm. >> yeah. looks like snow. and it smells like snow. >> it does. there is a smell. >> yes. >> yeah. i was just outside. it does. and the -- it is cold enough for snow. the temperatures are down into the 20s and just low 30s through outmuch of virginia, maryland, west virginia. closer to washington mid 30s and right near the bay. low to mid 30s. and where is the storm coming

from? two locations. one from the upper midwest and another from south of us. south and west of us. above of those systems coming together. bringing us some light accumulations of some wintry mix of snow, sleet and icing. especially these county shenandoah valley, western maryland, that's where they will have travel problems associated with this. closer to washington, i think this is mostly going to be just a bit of a news an tonight. we could have a light coating of snow, little ice on top beginning around 8:00, 9:00 tonight. and this wintry precipitation light from time to time and ending around dawn tomorrow. changing to rain during the day on saturday with a high around 40 and cloudyi sunday. few sprinkles in the afternoon. we will see you monday. >> is the weather going to be out by saturday afternoon? >> saturday afternoon, pretty much done. >> tom, thanks so much. surf is up. meet onyx. the three-legged suffering labrador retriever. he is very cute and taken away

from his owners who abused him and brought to an exclusive l.a. pet spa and there he is rehabbing and enjoying some surf lessons. he is talented. not only is he happy and healthy he has a new home and as he was adopted by the vet who originally saved his life. very cute. he looks like he is having a good old time there, too. >> santa monica, you got to surf. >> all right, tom. that does it for us on "news4 midday." thanks for joining us and tune in to news44:00, 5:00, 6:00. we will be back monday morning, 4:30. until then have a great weekend and a