thanks for starting or weekend with us. i'm chris gordon. >> i'm angie goff. thanks sfoorting your day with us january 21st. we're waking up to the first significant winter storm of the season. while you were sleeping, as much as 2 inches of snow fell around town. it turned to sleet and freezing rain creating treacherous driving conditions. several accidents were reported in maryland, virginia and the distric

district. >> we have team coverage of the winter storm this morning. derelict is live in winter park where many roads still haven't been cleared. first, let's check in with meteorologist, chuck bell, who's monitoring the conditions from storm center 4. >> good morning angie and d derrick and everyone. the good news. the majority of the precipitation has already come down. not that much more accumulation. that being said what is coming down is coming down with temperatures at or below freezing in many neighborhoods leaving very slippery sidewalks and side streets. be careful if you need to be out early on your saturday morning. let's look at temperatures and i'll show you where they are above the freezing mark, way down into far southern maryland, the only place above freezing. as soon as you get towards waldorf in charles county, maryland, below freezing in

almost all of northern virginia and panhandle of western virginia and suburban maryland and northern maryland. we do have all the counties shaded in purple here, a winter weather advisory. and westward to frostburg and panhandle of west virginia. how it looks on live doppler. into the panhandle and win ch s winchester and front royal. there are more sleet pellets and raindrops from wargston to fredericksburg and culpepper and the blue ridge. as you go northbound to west virginia, again, mostly snow. where you see the pink and salmon colored shading, some might be mixes wiing with sleet pellets. all rain across southern west

virginia and in the 30s and 40s and the cold air is trapped at the warmest levels, warm air over the top. gradually, it will mix down and we have frozen precipitation and gradually change to rain in the end. temperatures in the 30s and clearing out a little bit tonight and chance for more moisture tomorrow. which may begin as a little bit of snow or sleet late tomorrow afternoon before we change it to rain going back to work and school monday. there's a lott going on. the good news is the amount of precipitation is very very low. that being said, it only takes that much ice to get into a car accident. be extremely careful early this morning. >> we've already learned that. we'll get to that in a moment. thank you, chuck. >> if you left your car outside, you will find out we're here, it's the first major snow of the season and you just might need

it. knew will be giving that thing a workout. it's causing major problems already. derrick joins us from college park, maryland. i know on my way in from western virginia, i must have seen at least a dozen salt trucks. >> reporter: it was interesting. i was awakened by the sound of plow blade on the roadway this morning. a little frightening but reassuring today as well. let me tell you what you might encounter. you can see this untreated surface. there is ice on the snow. not fluffy, ice and slushy, due to the mist falling steadily all morning since the snow stopped. if you look on the roadway, you can see that's treated, cars traveling on it and breaking down, some of it, you might call it slush at some point.

you can travel it but your stopping may be compromised. a few minutes ago, we saw a frighteningly close call, traffic headed off route 1, another car headed down and speed probably not prudent for these conditions. they missed each other by a hair's breath. both cars stopped and you could tell the drivers were collecting their wits after that close call. prudence is the name of the game if you're traveling tonight. sidewalks are not treated in most areas like this. maybe an inch, 2 inches of snow with that rain causing the ice to form on top of it. the key thing, realize your stopping distances aren't what they usually are on dry pavement because of these conditions. even those these roads have been treated. some side roads are a little less navigable than we see here on route 1.

we heard in montgomery county, there is a snow emergency in effect. no such thing in this district and we'll keep you posted as information becomes available. live in college park. >> the secondary roads can be slushy and icy. thanks, we appreciate that. >> we do have a number of closings to tell you about. in maryland, charles county has canceled all saturday activities. the same for montgomery and prince george's will begin at no noon. in virginia, fairfax canceled all saturday activities and in the district, all dmv service centers will be opening late, at 10:00 this morning. the inspection station will be opening at 10:00. you can find a complete list on our website, nbcwashington.com. >> for continuing coverage of this winter storm, we will keep

you up to speed on conditions and school closings tlaugt the morning and the day as well. you can follow us on n nbcwashington.com. if you have any pictures of the snow or ice or sleet, e-mail them to us at weath weather@nbcwashington.com. we might show them on the air this morning. now to decision 2012, where south carolina is suddenly neck and neck as we head to the polls today. a few days ago, mitt romney was expected to win in a landslide. now, newt gingrich is actually in the lead as polls open this morning. according to real clear politics, gingrich is polling at 32% amongst voters, romney, 2 percentage points behind at 30%. they open this morning at 7:00 and close at 7:00 tonight. with the polls opening in less than an hour, candidates

are still trying to get votes. >> mitt romney, the next president of the united states. >> reporter: wrapping up his campaign before today's votes, mitt romney tried to focus on barack obama. >> the american people want a different course. >> reporter: is romney's course change i changing? his 12 point lead changing fast. >> frankly, to be neck and neck at this moment is kind of exciting. >> reporter: exciting, maybe to newt gingrich. >> newt gingrich romney is colm gaining. >> he's trying to run the clock out and the person who has the most money. >> reporter: suddenly, the focus is on romney's wealth. >> some mitt voters are swit switching to gingrich. >> i think romney wouldn't be as

good as gingrich. >> reporter: and the second w e wife's allegations about the affair -- >> i'm more interested in getting obama out of office. >> reporter: i'm steve handelsman, columbia. >> meanwhile, a bit of controversy before the polls open in south carolina, as e-mails were reportedly sent to republican voters with untrue statements about newt gingrich. one e-mail was made to look like a breaking news report, stating gingrich's second wife was forced have an abortion. the second was made to look like a message from gingrich admitting to the allegation. gingrich as well as south carolina's republican leader have called on the state's attorney general to conduct a full investigation. >> the candidates will be in south carolina today for the state's primary and two of them have conflicting schedules. mitt romney and newt gingrich are set to appear at the same

restaurant this morning. the two say they'll show up at tommie's country ham house at 10:45 this morning despite the other candidate being there. both candidates laughed off the coincidence saying they're okay sharing the stage with each other. as south carolina is set to go to the polls, we finally have a winner in the iowa caucus from 2 1/2 weeks ago. rick santorum has taken the hawkeye state by a mere 34 votes, taking a win away from mitt romney. romney was originally thought to have won iowa by only eight votes, but there were problems at a preight precincts which spd the recount. romney's party is calling it an essential draw because of the missing votes. >> and we'll be here to recap the votes in south carolina? always interesting and

important. still ahead, marion barry is in the hospital after surgery. the latest on the d.c. councilman and former mayor's condition. girl scouts banned from a local church. why the church official is telling the scouts, they have to find somewhere else to meet. and last week's cruise ship [ dog barking ] mom!

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it appears fans of the internet have made their voices heard, as an internet ant anti-pearanti anti-piracy bill has been put on hold by congress. leaders in the industry supported the bill which gave them sweeping powers to help stop online piracy. critics called it an attack on free speech and some websites shut down wednesday in protest with millions showing their support for online free speech. apparently the move worked. >> 15 people a second trying to call the members of congress,

5,000 people a minute signing petition s opposing the legislation. about 3.9 million tweets. >> reporter: lawmakers say they will work to revise the bill and make sure it doesn't infringe on free speech rights. d.c. police arrested a dozen protesters on the steps of the u.n. supreme court yesterday protesting the controversial citizens united case which lifted limits how much corporations could spend in elections. this year is the two year anniversary of that ruling. police didn't wait long to break up the demonstration arresting them soon after they started protesting. there were similar protests and arrests outside federal courthouses in more than 100 citizens nationwide. d.c. councilman marion barry is recovering this morning after what his office calls a minor surgery procedure. he spent the night in the

hospital after having surgery on his urinary tract. he will be 76 in march and survived prostate cancer in 2009. he will run for another term this fall. several girl scout groups are banned from a local catholic church saying they can't meet in their uniforms on private property and it stems from an affiliation from the planned parenthood association and world association of girl guides. a spokesman for the diocese s s says, quote, every pastor in the diocese has the responsibility to determine how best to use their facilities. consider the requests of outside groups and reconcile such requests with the needs and mission of their parish communit community, end quote. the regional girl scouts council

says they will make sure the girls affected can find a new home p. churches and institutions now have to cover free birth control for their employees. the obama administration announced yesterday, religion based university like catholic hospitals or universities have denied contraception coverage for their employees. the new law will require them to do so by 2014. houses of workplace are exempt. they say they may drop coverage for their employees all together and topt pay fines instead if they can't have the decision overruled. with us, the man of the hour, the man of the day. >> i had a car garaged b ed and didn't need to use this. those that left them out- >> everyone in the parking lot already had their wind shishiel

wipers already lifted up, a very good idea. freezing snow, ice, winter messiness meets you thisthe 2-'s got the everyday value slam, classic burger, build your own chicken wrap, cheese quesadilla,

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welcome back, everybody. early on a saturday morning, you are taking a live look at the american legion bridge.

it now only has two right lanes. stay left to get by. remember this morning, very slick roads out there. all wheel drive or not, you can find yourself in a very dangerous condition and on my way in i saw more people going more than just that speed. >> people forget four-wheel drive do you absolutely no good once there's a layer of ice between you and the pavement. all about how much traction you get. no tire will get good traction on the slippiness. >> you said the precipitation is almost over. is the temperature going to make the ice a condition? >> you're absolutely right. we have temperatures below freezing nearly everywhere this morning. most of the precipitation is down and done with. still more to come. not completely out of the woods yet. what's coming will be lighter in intensity and lower amounts of precipitation. still, temperatures already below freezing and a little

glaze of ice over nearly everything now. what we get from here forward is likely to stick, making roads and sidewalks very slippery. early on your saturday morning. welcome to your weekend. not quite as bright and pretty as we like. a full overcast with light rain and mist and fog and snow and sleet. a whole mixed bag. 31 at national airport, a wedge of cold air being reinforced by the northeast wind at 7 miles an hour. it will continue to drain the cold air down into the mid-atlantic and keep temperatures below freezing at least the next four or five hours. when i show you the radar, remember, all these temperatures are below freezing until you get alongside the chesapeake bay, st. mary's county, 2 degrees above freezing mark but everybody across central and northern virginia is under the subfreezing category.

winter weather advisories in the blue shaded counties, winter storm warnings in hagerstown. light freesing rain and drizzle and sleet south of washington and mostly sleet and snow to the north of washington in northern maryland, frederic county maryland and washington county, sleet and snow combined, continuing to push to the east so you folks in carrolton, maryland, coming in your direction. there's the capital beltway. this is sleet mixing in with freezing rain and raindrops towards fredericksburg. get into the higher terrain, it's actually all rain. the warmer air is 2 to 3,000 feet up. it's all rain in the mountains of west virginia, whereas we have the wedge of cold air stuck in the surface. a very slippery saturday coming your way. cold air sticks around. a few breaks in the clouds al w allows temperatures to go below freezing. black ice a problem tomorrow.

sunday at 8:00 p.m., moisture coming back in could start as sle sleet-freezing rain combination late sunday afternoon before it all becomes rain again as we get into the day monday. our future cast, by 9:00, sleet and rain possible, noon, coming to an end and 3, 4:00, all gone away and comes back tomorrow. light rain coming to an end early this afternoon. watch out for slipperiness to continue, below freezing tonight and slow climb tomorrow means when it begins, it might start as a little bit of wintry stuff before it becomes all rain. monday to tuesday, all in the form of rainfall. you kcan see our weather cast o nbcwashington.com. >> and it updateses the closings

as well. >> that's true. there are things to close on a saturday. >> that's true, even though it's the weekend. >> i forget about that sometimes. >> officials in reno say a man came forward saying he's responsible for the brush fires. many homes were destroyed and he said he dropped the ashes that caught fire and spread quickly and the conditions weren't helping battle the blaze. >> it was extremely difficult working conditions. visibility next to nothing. >> rain coming into the area. we could potentially have, you know, flash floods or mudslides, so we are keeping a close eye on it. >> officials say the man is extremely remorseful for accidentally starting the fire. no word yet if he'll face any charges. this morning, the italian coast guard is expected to

evaluate the stability of that grounded cruise ship, to see if divers can resume their search for 21 people still missing. rescuers were only allowed to search above the water line yesterday on the costa concordia, after the luxury liner began to shift. italian scientists say the bow is moving at about a half-inch per hour. the sea floor drops off sharply at just a few yards from where the ship is resting. it is unclear if the slight movements are vibrations from the ship settling or if it is slowly slipping off the reef. lawyers for pittsburgh steelers quarterback, ben roethlisberger, have settled with a woman accusing him of rape. the woman says the pro bowl qb raped her at a tahoe hotel in 2008. she filed a civil lawsuit against him in 2009 seeking more than $400,000 in damages. the woman says she never filed a criminal complaint because she worked for the hotel during the

incident and feared her employers would side with the qb and she would be fired. the wizards look to keep their momentum going after their stunning win earlier this week in oklahoma city. ha coke dermiterminecoke -- has highlights on the sports minute. >> good morning. the ports minute begins with basketball, hosting nuggets, going two in a row. wizards looking sharp early. throwing baseline and throwing it down. young scoring 25 points in the first quarter. wizards down two. john wolfe playing tough defense against andre miller, gets it back to al harrington. shot clock running out, he buries it. harrington had 29 points off the bench. wizards drop their record to 2-13. capitals on the road to

carolina. first period, no score. eric staal steals it, pokes it to yoke kin nen and beats yo do yokoun. hurricanes beat caps 3-0. washington gets shut out for the second time in four days. baseball news. nationals signs slugger michael moore to a contract extension worth $10.5 million according to the associated press. he had a breakout season last year, finished with a 3-0 batting average, 39 home runs and 95 rbis leading the nats in all three categories. he is just the fourth player in national's history to hit that in one season. that's it for sports. a man accused of stabbing three people and he's just five years old, why his own mother says he did it. we are continuing to monitor the conditions on the roads after the first significant

winter storm of the season. a live r test test

good morning. i'm angie goff. >> i'm chris gordon. snow and ice overnight.

i think probably would be advised to try pumping their breaks early because sometimes the anti-breaking system or ant anti-looking system, you want to see what it will do. >> you want to make sure the windshield wipers are working all right. >> the best advice i can give anybody with their weekend plans, if you can delay it four or five hours today, push it back a little bit. by about lunch-time, not only will precipitation be coming to an end but precipitation numbers above freezing. we are subfreezing at national airport. 32 in upper northwest washington. nearly everybody is below the freezing mark. what precipitation we're getting is either falling frozen or landing and freezing on contact. be very careful. a lot of sidewalks and side streets are very slippery. 28 degrees in frederic, maryland. 27 in gaithersville and rockville and bethesda.

32 degrees in annapolis and buoy we 28 in winchester and tomsbrook. be on the lookout. the purple is winter advisory the purple is a winter storm warning. most of us are under a winter weather advisory. the white is the snow. frederic county, maryland. the peach or salmon colored on the map is freezing rain or sleet mostly in the form of freezing rain, in loudon county and washington and southern area. mostly freezing rain, sleet and snow across northern maryland. all rain across central parts of west virginia, bright reds and yellows and oranges all heavy

rain now and temperatures above free freezing going up in the atmosphere. here's how the saturday is looking. cloudy skies, temperatures recovering in the low and mid-30s. iciness around this morning. another chance, a break in the action late today into early tomorr tomorrow, another chance of winter weather late tomorrow afternoon before it becomes rain. that's more on the forecast. for more, we go to derrick ward, live in the elements this morning. good morning, how are you doing? >> reporter: good morning, chuck, how are you? i'm a little nippy but, hey, happy to be here. this is the roadway, route 1. it's passable, treated a couple times since we've been here. a slushy thing on either side of the lanes that have been traveled. if you're planning to make a

turn or hit a ramp, you may encounter different conditions. one of the state trucks out on his route. they're spreading ice melting material behind it. that is definitely helping with traction. you might have a harder time walking here. you can see where the snow fell last night and there's been a steady mist falling over it, rain, not necessarily freezing rain, tiny droplets, but just enough to coat this and make it into an icy type covering. if you're walking, walk with care. something i learned a while ago, called the buffalo shuffle, don't necessarily pick your feet up, keep that traction there. good advice today. if you're driving, know your breaking distances are longer than they would on the best road condition. something to keep in mind.

as chuck said, if you cand dela your outings by four or five hours, be careful. >> i forget he worked in buffalo. that's heavy duty. >> reporter: this was a daily occurrence. >> be safe. >> this may be a weekend but we do have a number of closings to tell you about in maryland. charles county schools canceled all saturday activities and the same for prince george's schools and montgomery county schools. prince george's schools will begin at noon. and fairfax county schools canceled. the inspection station will be opening at 10:00. a complete list of closings on the bottom of your screen. find a complete list of closings and delays on our website, nbcwashington.com. the winter weather that is

making a mess of our area dumped more than 6 inches of snow midwest overnight. the storm moved into chicago wreaking havoc on the roads anywhere between 6 and 9 inches fell in illinois, causing major delays at many area airports. unlike the wet snow and sleet much of us saw overnight, the snow was light and fluffy in the midwest, causing it to pile up quickly and reduce visibility. meanwhile, the pacific northwest is still recovering from flooding caused by the same storm. some residents in oregon were able to return to their homes yesterday after being evacuated thursday. about 100 homes in the city of turner were flooded. a woman was rescued from the roof of her car after four foot deep floodwaters swept her off the road. more than 2,000 people are still without power in washington state. today, the sti city city ofa

is expected to move forward with a controversial waterfront plan that calls for a mix of houses and commercial space and people say it will bring in tourism. people against the project are worried about traffic and preserving the area's history. a citizen's group is calling for the mayor and vice mayor to recuse themselves because they own businesses that could benefit from the project. both have refused. >> i will make public disclosure to make sure folks understand i do not have a conflict of interest. >> this morning's meeting begins at 9:30. more than 100 people are expected to speak. if the redevelopment is approved, it will happen over the course of about 15 years. in an attempt to bring news slot slots to casinos, a bill that

would allow a new casino to be built would include provisions allowing current casino operators to keep higher shares of the proceeds they make. it would also allow for the addition of table games. lawmakers would like to build the state's sixth casino near the raceway and national harbor. an arizona man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted in the death of a d.c. strip club manager. the 41-year-old was found guilty of murder after setting the manager of good guys in georgetown on fire in 2007. he was already in prison for the attack. he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2008. he was indicted on the murder charge after georgevich died in may of 2010. court documents show he was angry he was kicked out of the club so he poured over the gasoline of the front of the club and georgevich and set both on fire. the mother of a 5-year-old

virginia boy accused of stabbing three people in his home is speaking out for the first time in hopes of getting her son the help he needs. the mom, who is not being identified to protect the boy, says her son got into a robotic state after a day of feeling picked on. she says he first stab a 12-year-old female cousin in the leg and then his aunt in the arm and another cousin in the back of the head and neck. she says after police restrained him, he had no idea what he had done. >> the rest of the police came in and they restrained him. it was like we had my son back because automatically he said, why is there blood everywhere. he said, where did it all come from? >> the boy suffers from a severe mood disorder. his mother says he is being treated for mental health issues at a hospital. she says he is under full evaluation and she plans to be with him throughout his treatment.

the time right now, 20 minutes away from this 7:00 hour. it's a story you have to see to believe. a man accidentally shoots a 3 1/2 inch nail into his brain and survives. even more amazing is what he did right after the accident happene happened. >> and mystery solved. what doctors say really caused this group of teens to suddenly develop bizarre tickthe 2-4-6-'s

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elizabeth smart, the woman kidnapped at knife point and held for 18 months is now getting married. she got engaged last weekend and will likely get married this summer. there are no details about her fiance. smart's spokesman says she plans to keep her personal life private. although smart's father has said his future son-in-law is a fine young man. one time street creature brian david mitchell, convicted in 2010 of kidnapping and sexually assaulting smart, he is serving a life sentence. the "today"'s show is up next here on nbc4. let's find out what they're

working on. >> amy joins us live from new york city. good morning, amy. >> good morning, angie and chris, coming up on today's south carolina showdown. newt gingrich and mitt romney are neck and neck in a race that could decide who will be the gop candidate and face off with president obama on election day. we are live in south carolina with the latest. a 9-year-old girl is being hailed a hero from rescuing herself from her alleged kidnapper. her bravery sent her alleged kidnapper behind bars and united her with her parents. we will look at cruise ship safety from researching the safety of cruise line to travel insurance and get expert tips how to protect yourself before you set sail. the sopranos, good fellows and mob wives. does hollywood really capture what it's like to be a gangster's girlfriend. we will find out from a woman almost married to the mob. much more when i see you. angie and chris, now back to

you. >> all right. thank you, amy. talking about old man winter, he paid us a visit last night. >> a little bit of wintry weather. the question is, will it ruin your entire weekend? we'll talk about the forecast coming up next. what makes the sleep number store different?

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enough about that. this would be a much bigger problem on your saturday, if you have anything to do early this weeke weekend, delay it. i wouldn't say cancel everything on your saturday schedule. if you can push it back four or five hours until after lunch-time your world would be much much easier. temperatures are below freezing and we still have precipitation coming down and we have literally every kind of precipitation this morning, rain, freezing rain, fog, mist, freezing drizzle, snow, sleet, the whole gamut what we have on your saturday morning. cloudy skies. 30 degrees in washington, nea y northeasterly winds at 7 miles an hour. 27, 30 at andrews air force base. colder in parts of central and northern virginia and colder still in the panhandle of west virginia. as you look at the advisories

and what we're expecting, 1-2 inches of snow across far northern maryland, about an inch of snow, sleet messiness with a tenth of an inch of ice coating through the heart of washington and a light coating of sleet and freezing rain in parts of southern maryland. here's the way it shapes up on doppler. mostly snow in carol county but snow and freezing sleet in west virginia. you can see it coming down in frederic, maryland. you folks in frederic county could get 1-2 inches of snow. this is mostly freezing rain on i95 south of washington, further out to central virginia. mostly freezing rain and sleet in culpepper county and higher rain west of in to because the warm air is aloft. the cold air is trapped on the surface, a slippery saturday

surface. a little clearing late tonight but the moisture comes back tomorrow morning. as a result, tomorrow, sunday afternoon, as the precipitation comes back, we may have a little bit more of sleet issue to deal with sunday afternoon before everything changes back to rain. the timing for today, sleet, mixed precipitation before lunch-time and then things start to clear out. icy morning, sleet, rain, snow, the whole mess, coming to a rest early this afternoon. tomorrow, dry but cold start, rain returns tomorrow late, but could start with snow and freezing rain. we'll be keeping a close eye on sunday afternoon. good news, sunday night-monday when everyone goes back to work and school. temperatures continue to rise. it will become all rain as temperatures surge into the 50s on monday. so whatever we have, whatever little amount of winter weather we have left on the ground will

all be gone by monday and weak seasonal rain coming up. you kcan check us out on our website or twitter me, chuck bell. officials believe stress is believed for causing some female high school students to suddenly experience a condition similar to ter rets. >> i used to work -- 12 students in one school district suddenly developed ticks and impulsive verbal behavior in the last three months. state health officials ruled out genetics and environmental factors and side effects from drugs. they believe it's a phenomenon called mass psychogenic illness brought on by high levels of stress. school officials say the girls are all being treated by doctors and showing improvement. a chicago man is recovering this morning after a bizarre home construction accident. dante was doing some work on his home when he accidentally shot a 3 1/2 inch nail into his skull.

amazingly, dante didn't realize what happened and actually kept working before going to the hospital. >> i actually worked another 12 hours afterwards, went salting and plowing and the next day slept and then decided to go to the intermediate care center. >> doctors performed surgery to remove the nail and he is recovering in the hospital. they say, other than the actual wound, he amazingly didn't cause any damage to his brain. >> wow. >> they always say it hurts more when they take it out and dpoesz in. >> apparently, it never entered his mind. >> chris. at the end of the 7:00 hour, an end to an era. >> preparing to say good-bye, the long time academic host

after more than 20 tho,000 contestants and 200,000 questions, mac mcgarry is moving on. >> he's retiriing as host of "it's academic" after a span of decades. we caught up with him to talk about how the show changed over the years and the most memorable moments. >> reporter: he has walked these halls over 50 years. mack mcgarry is an institution at nbc, the man armed with

envelopes with questions he posed to thousands of students over the years. >> the oldest students on the show would now be in their late 60s. i remember them as 18. >> reporter: he's called out famous faces and names to come on down over the decades. >> good evening. welcome to "it's academic. >> i'm mack mcgarry, come on up here. >> we had astronauts on the program, john glenn and perry mason. >> reporter: hillary clinton, she was -- >> she was an alternate from chicago. >> reporter: the questions that they come up with every week can stump students in ways we don't always get to see or hear. >> you can see the distress when they don't and sometimes you can hear a four-letter word that has to be excised. >> reporter: technology has changed the way students learn and community acate and the questions have to keep up with the times.

>> the main difference was information technology was not available 50 years ago. >> reporter: ma85 now and getti over a stubborn sinus infection. like a fine wine, he gets better with age. >> the question was, who defeated napoleon at waterloo and this kid eagerly said, duke ellington. >> reporter: with confidence! >> yeah. >> reporter: among his favorite days, radio, drive time announcer in the big band era, interviewing big names. >> i would go up and interview them. >> reporter: he still comes back to nbc for every week with former colleagues to listen to favorites. >> ♪ ♪ hey there you with the stars in your eyes ♪ >> reporter: on "it's academic" his favorite kind of questions.

>> i like broadway show questions. i grew up in new york city and able to go to these shows and saw the premier run on oklahoma. >> reporter: his memory still legendary here, he can rattle off baseball stats and names of world leaders who graced studio a while most of us were just waking up on saturday mornings to watch, he was always spot on, never missing a beat. >> you have cheerleaders, bands, bleachers filled, parents, students, there's so much electricity in here, a lot of nervous energy, too. what's it like for you? it must be a rush on saturday mornings? >> >> i must say now that i'm retired i miss it. it makes you forget your troubles. >> thank you very much, everybody. >> reporter: in washington, news4. he makes his final