plus traited metro riders packed into stations and on trains this morning because of a cracked rail. with the problems stretching into the evening commute, we don't know. we will find out. good morning. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. it is thursday, january 26, 2012. be prepared for major delays if you are taking metro's red line this afternoon. a cracked rail has slowed down trains in northwest washington and turned the morning commute into a mess with thousands of riders. the cracked rail was spotted at

t the tenleytown station. every other train is turning back to silver spring at farrugut north. tracie potts has more from the tinley town station. >> reporter: it was very difficult time. some of these people have been standing by on the platform in tinley town waiting for a train for three and four cycles. to say they are frustrated is an underestimate. the trains were so packed this morning on the red line, it is hard for the doors to even close. so some people chose to wait. are you going to be to be able get on this judge? >> judging by the last one, no. people were dash could barely fit inside the doors. their bags were getting caught outside of the doors. >> we are at the start of the line and half the people could get on. they are going to go down the rest of the track and no one is getting on down there.

probably be some kind of fight, you know, it is going to get really crazy on the next platform. >> reporter: hope it doesn't get that bad. >> me, too. that's why i'm going to bethesda. >> increase fares but everything is broken down. she lives abroad and it is a mess over here compared to over there. it is ridiculous. >> reporter: metro's spokesman said the delays were due to a crack on the inbound red line rail. you can see some of the repairs being done from the platform. heavy equipment has been brought in to replace the broken rail. the work and the single tracking are expected to continue through the midday but metro officials say that it won't impact the evening commute. just the same some riders say that they are giving up. >> there seems to be a lot of single tracking and maintenance. there's always delays and things like that. i'm always missing meetings and things like that. i don't know. i might have to go back to driving a car because this isn't as convenient as i thought. >> it seems like they should be on a little bit more pro active trying to get some of the things fixed. i know there's not very much money but we really -- d.c.

depends on metro on get to work and school on time. it is really important. >> metro estimated that riders needed to add at least 30 minutes to their commute this morning because of all of these difficulties. folks we talked to say this they have been waiting a lot longer than that. tinl tenleytown, tracy pot. another fare hike. the board of directors is meeting to discuss which fare hike they will present to the public for hearings. it is part after budget plan to close $116 million shortfall. metro officials say that they are considering some service cuts as well as raising fares. some board members support a two-zone system with different prices. or a five-crept surcharge at certain stations to help fund station improvements. metro will talk about requesting more money from regional governments and to help close the budget gap. right now former marine is in court expected to enter a guilty plea related to charges

he fired charges at the pentagon and at the marine corps museum. he was arrested in june after being spotted in arlington national cemetery after dark. he was then connected to shootings at several military installations and in the fall of 2010 and a rash car break-ins in leesburg. maliku pleaded guilty to the break-ins and served six months in jail. if convicted in the military beating shootings hefieses a minimum of 35 years in federal prison and maximum of a life sentence. also right now, d.c. council members are taking another look at the plan to allow online gambling in the district. the district legalized online gambling in late 2010 and as part of a budget bill but it has not been implemented. today's informational hearing will focus on how the gambling law was approved and the bill will also talk about people playing online pocker and bl-- poker and slot machines at other establishments in d.c.

if the council decides to move forward with the plan online gambling should be up and running sometime this spring. new today, one person is in serious condition from carbon monoxide poisoning in northwest washington. d.c. fire and ems and hazmat crews were called to the row house along p street, 6:15 this morning. eight people were evacuated. three of which were taken to the hospital. the cause of the leak is under investigation this morning. turning now to the weather and a cold, wet day out there so par. tom kierein joins us with the first forecast of midday. tom. >> what we had scattered light sprinkles. not a lot of rain but enough to make the pavement left and now we are getting an area of steadier rain beginning to approach us. look at the radar. there is quite a bit of precipitation that stretches from southern canada all of the way down to alabama. and mississippi. and that area of rain is associated with couple of areas of low pressure and front head our way. we see areas of color.

that's steady light rain. just now coming into the district of columbia and fairfax county and loudoun county and in montgomery county, howard, frederick, maryland. and farther to the west panhandle of west virginia, frederick county, virginia, and into the northern shenandoah valley and northern west virginia, they are getting steadier light rain right now. now the temperatures are beginning to slowly climb, into the mid and upper 40s throughout much of the metro area. now 47 at reagan national. and right now in loudoun county, it is only around 40 degrees. but it is into the mid 40s in pair fax and montgomery and prince george's counties. for the rest of the afternoon, well, we will have some of the occasional showers coming through. temperatures into the 40s, north and west. low and mid 50s around the metro area. and points south and east during the afternoon. how much longer is this rain going to last? we will talk about that and changes on the way important the weekend in just a couple of minutes. barbara? >> hope reply good changes, tom. i guess everything would be better than just a drizzle out there. all right. thanks a lot. in the news, anne arundel county police are still trying to

figure out how a driver lost control of a car crashing into the side of this house early today. it happened around 1:00 this morning in the 600 block of central avenue in davidsonville. there was month one in the house at the time of the accident. let's take a look at traffic now. here is danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning. right now if you are traveling in the district, in northeast we have a water main break that is blocking all of your lanes now. 13th street northeast at perry street. please be aware crews are working to repair this service but your lanes are blocked at this time. now traveling i-66, live look inside the beltway. no issues for you. in fact, as you make your way from the beltway to gw parkway on i-66, no issues to report at this time. and traveling on 395 your lanes are open northbound as well as southbound. barbara, back to you. >> danella, thank you. new study is placing pressure on schools in the district's poorest neighborhoods

to improve or face closure. the study was commissioned by mayor gray and urge it is city to turn around or close more than three dozen underperforming schools and expand the number of charter schools. right now more than 40% of the city's public school students go to independently run charter schools. about 46,000 students attend traditional public schools. more than 40 of those schools have 300 or fewer students. many of those students struggling academically. the spotsylvania county sheriff's office is warning parents today about a report of suspicious activity near freedom middle school. students reported a man in his 30s or 40s following them home from school yesterday evening and then waiting outside their homes for a while when the kids went inside. the sheriff's office will add patrols to that area and parents are encouraged to discuss safety with their children. >> coming up, president obama

ex-changes heated words with arizona's governor. making a trip to the dmv is going to be more convenient in

some big changes are coming to the pentagon. defense secretary pan ate is set to announce major budget cuts today.

as many as 80,000 soldiers will be cut and multiple combat brigades will either be dissolved or reassigned. 30 older model drones will be grounded and air important will not buy new models. at least not for now. president obama says that these moves will help cut the defense budget by half a trillion dollars over the next decade. arlington national cemetery is trying to figure out what happen ed to $12 million. army auditors say that the missing money was allocated for budgets between 2004 and 2010. investigators are now questioning if it was returned or spent. meanwhile, probe into mismanagement of the seem tear write revealed more gravesites at the facility than first thought. estimates show 400,000 people are buried there instead of the 330,000 counted in previous reports. family members are flying to europe today to reunite with jessica buchanan. she's the hostage preede from

kidnapners somalia. the 32-year-old aide worker from bedford county was rescued bay team of u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s. that happened tuesday night. buchanan was captured in october along with a danish colleague. the president authorized the rescue man i shall after receiving reports that buchanan's health deteriorated so much that her life was in danger. right now there's no word on jessica's current health condition. a rockville man kidnapped in pakistan is alive and in good health according to a new report released this morning. quoting pakistani officials. warren weinstein was kidnapped back in august. he was working there for j.e. austin associates. in -- al qaeda gave several conditions for his release and including the release of three men tied to the 1993 world trade center bombing. mitt rom my and newt

gingrich are neck and neck in florida five days before the sunshine state's primary. romney leads gingrich by two percentage points the latest cnn/"time' cnn/"time's"/orc poll. they will square off tonight in jacksonville before the last deba debate in florida. the president will stop in las vegas and denver today to talk about clean energy policies. tomorrow he will head to the university of michigan and ann arbor to talk about education policies. yesterday president obama visited factories in iowa and arizona to promote manufacturing jobs. the first day of the president's tour featured a tense exchange between the president and arizona's governor. the associated press snapped a photo of jan brewer pointing her finger at president obama just a few seconds after greeting him on the tarmac. brewer's critical of the

president's stance onboarder patrol. the president told brewer he was unhappy about her portrayal of the last meet which brewer wrote about in a book. as the two began talking over each other, the president they walked away in the middle of brewer's sentence. brewer defended herself on fox news channel. >> i want our borders secure and i want our nation protected. he wants amnesty. we are never going to agree on that. we agree to disagree on that subject. i don't know why he was surprised by my book. but he evidently is and is very thin-skinned and in regards tore it. >> the president said sometime after the confrontation he would be glad to meet with the governor again. we can agree on the fact we would like to see some snow because i know all of the school kids who are visiting you today would love for you to say they were getting snow sometime soon. >> speaking of snow, do you remember where you were one year ago today? >> i guess if it was a weekday i was sitting right here. >> that's right. and many of you, though, were

stuck in this. carmageddon. it happened one year ago today. january 26, 2011. these were scenes from about 5:00 p.m. all the way until midnight. it snowed hard. we had about five inches of that heavy, wet snow around the metro area. some people, some of my co-workers, were caught in traffic, five hours it took to go five, six miles, took five hours. there were people that were trapped on the george washington parkway for 12 hours. >> are you trying to make us not be wishing for snow today? >> wrestbe careful what you wis. >> you are right, tom. >> we did have a mess. karcarmageddon on this date one year ago. what a mess. now let's take a look now. by contrast it is just a little bit of light rain.

right now reagan national, 47 degrees. cloudy skies. we have a light south-southeasterly breeze. radar, big area of rain that's -- falling heavily now here in alabama. that stretches up into tennessee, breaks up a bit over kentucky. there is a batch of more moderate rain falling in northern west virginia and panhandle of west virginia from hagerstown to frederick, getting steady rain right now. just a little bit of light rain falling in the district of columbia. loudoun county. fairfax, and montgomery and northern prince george's county and howard county. that's heading off to the north and east. we are going to have some of these waves from time to time and little bit of light rain into the afternoon. then heavier rain farther to our south will be arriving late tonight. right now in the 40s all around the region from the blue ridge to the bay and eastern shore. farther to the west it is in the upper 30s. and the view from space showing all this cloud cover and storm system changes over to sleet here up in pennsylvania. changes to snow up into new york state. as we go forward this moving color, this is all rain, potential rain showers coming through.

this area of yellow and orange is some of the more heavier rains may be coming in by dawn friday. and then friday afternoon we should clear out and maybe some snow showers out of the mountains there. during the day friday, we will get sunshine back here tomorrow. blustery wind will be turning colder too. for the rest of the afternoon, expect a few passing showers coming through. light showers from time to time. no heavy rain. we will be in the upper 40s to low and mid 50s around the region. and then overnight tonight, some steady rain falling. looks like we will have a little patchy fog forming, too. upper 40s to low 50s through the night and then during the day tomorrow, morning rain and giving way to some afternoon sun. we may get up to 60 degrees around noontime friday. then gusty winds will bring in colder air. friday night into saturday. saturday morning near freezing. afternoon highs on saturday just near 50. partly cloudy. mostly cloudy and chilly on sunday. cold start monday getting back to work and school. highs near 40. bit milder next week.

more rain around wednesday. no carmageddon this year at least today. >> all right. stop dreaming of snow. thanks a lot. let's check on the roads. i know danella, you are glad there is no snow falling out will. >> i think we should tom and snow pictures from last year. crews are working to repair the water main broke at perry street. avoid it because right now all your lanes are blocked. checking traffic speeds around the beltway, looking good. outer loop at 97 georgia avenue. you are at 55 miles per hour. this time you are traveling in prince george's county the inner loop this time at branch avenue. you are at 63 miles per hour. and in virginia, no issues on the beltway. inner loop and outer loop, all lanes open. ck to you. >> thanks, danella. 19 minutes after 11:00 is the time. still aheading on "news4 midday, keys to making a great soup which is a perfect meal on a cool, damp day like today. our fitness expert, steve hayes,

gives pilates a try. could it be the right workout for you? here's what's hot on nbcwashington.com. does your cable company keep charging you more... and more... and more? stop paying so much for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for our best price online: just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years. you save $600. go to verizon.com/greatprice to sign up now and get $300 back with a two-year contract. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers superior picture quality, more hd, plus america's fastest, most consistent and most reliable internet. why keep paying so much for cable? switch to fios at our best price... $89.99 a month with a two-year price guarantee. plus, get $300 back with a two-year contract... or choose no annual contract.

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what could be better on a cold, rainy day than a warm bowl of soup? sarah and marilyn, mother and

daughter, from super girl join us to make a black bean chili that is sure to warm you up. boy, does it smell good in here. >> thank you. >> mother and daughter. >> yes. >> how did you happen to star cooking together? did it start when you were a little girl? >> yeah. she raised me on all healthy food, soup, things like that. and when i decided to start this business, i -- politely asked her to come out of retirement and teach me the trade. >> fantastic. you have been doing it together ever since? >> yes. 3 1/2 years. >> it sounds like a great recipe. let's go through the ingredients. here it is. one tablespoon of olive oil. would small onions, two small sweet potatoes, four cloves of garlic. that sounds good. tablespoon of chili powder. two teaspoons of cumin. quarter teaspoon mf driied chipotle paste, two cups of

dried black beans, would cups of diced tomatoes. get us start. >> first thing to remember is those are just estimates. what we really like to do is cook to taste. so we have started with the onions, super mom. i'm super girl, she is super mom. she started cooking them. you want to make sure you cook your onions for a really long time p the key to a good bowl of soup is cooking it slowly. >> those are your cooking -- >> we have been cooking those for a while. what she is going to do now is add the garlic and the chili powder. >> all right. there goes the garlic. >> little bit of chipotle pepper paste. what i want to do for a minute is show you how to turn this -- >> this is actually chipotle pepper. >> and they turn into this. >> how did you do that? >> what you do is you put these in the oven for maybe two minutes on 350. that's going to get them very fragrant. once you -- it release it is aromas and releases the flavors.

once you take them out of the oven, you open them and deseed them. then you put them -- hot water wait for you. you put them in what was once boiling water, very hot water covered. put them to the side. in an hour they are going to be super soft. put them -- you can either chop them up and have a small chopper at your house, put them in that. and you have paste. >> already. let's move along. we have a whole -- we want to add spices and cook those for a few minutes. add the sweet potatoes. >> they go in chopped but actually not cooked. >> right. you want to cook them. the best way to get the most flavor out of your soup when you are using fresh produce is to add it raw. and then let it cook very, very slowly and release the flavors. right now all of your spices and everything are going to join together with the sweet potatoes. normally we cook that for quite a while. as we are moving quickly, add the black beans. best recipe says dried. if you have them dried you would have soaked them overnight. and then wash them thoroughly

and dump that water out and cook them a little bit on your stove top and when they are partially cooked add them to the soup. >> sweet potatoes are soft and cooked. then you add the black beans. >> to the pot. >> and then -- >> and then a touch of broth. you can use vegetable broth. we use, at our shop, homemade vegetable stock. we just brought a little water because you can use either one. what's important to remember is that the sweet potatoes are going to release a lot of water. since we are making a chili right now and it is going to be nice and chuthick, you don't wa to add too much water. lit make it loose. add it slowly. you get a nice thick chili. >> it looks fantastic. when do the tomatoes go in? >> once your beans are cooked, add the diced tomatoes. this is what i'm saying. we have those measurements. you just -- we cook to taste. i like tomatoes and add more. and then you want to add your freshly squeezed lime juice for a little bit of punch. >> here is what it looks like at

the end. >> yeah. >> goodness. that looks fabulous. cooks together and then this is this beautiful -- almost a stew-like. >> yeah. >> all right. thank you to the super girls. >> thank you so much for having us. >> thank you so much. glad you could be here with us today. i want to make this when i get home today. that must add a special flavor to it. >> nice night for chili on a rainy day like this. >> 11:27. coming up in the next- hour, how the dmv can now come to you in virginia. plus, police are trying to track down the person for a robbery at a local school. tom kierein has an update on our weather, including a look ahead to the weekend. stay with us. we will be

a former marine is expected to enter a guilty plea related to charges he fired shots at the pentagon and marine corps museum. he was arrested in june after being spotted in arlington national cemetery after dark.

if convicted, he face as minimum of 35 years in federal prison and a maximum of a life sentence. metro crews are working to fix a cracked rail creating major headaches for red line riders. it is at the tinlenleytown stat. every other red line train is turning back to silver spring at farrugut north. the shall use should be resolved before this evening's commute. for virginia drivers who are always on the move the dmv is moving review. news4's megan mcgrath has more about the dmv to go in fairfax county today. megan? >> reporter: barbara, yeah. literally is on the go. look at this dmv rv we have here. literally on wheels. it comes to you. and this rv crisscrosses the state. they go to areas that have a lot of virginia drivers. government centers and other big complexes and the like. inside you are going to find

absolutely everything you would find at a full serve dmv. and best part, you don't have to wait in line. >> issue a license. >> reporter: at first glance it looks like a regular dmv counter. motorists renew tags and drivers licenses and employees walk them through the process. but step back and you will see something unusual. a steering wheel. that's because this dmv location is on wheels. and it is literally inside an rv. >> i think this is awesome roup amy needed her license renewed and instead of driving to the brick and mortar dmv, all she had to do was leave her office in the fairfax county government center and walk out to the parking lot. >> i didn't have to go into dmv and saved me a lot of time and saved me leave from work. >> reporter: dmv to go is full service. you have to take a vision test? >> left to right. >> reporter: no problem. need a temporary tag?

you can do that, too. perhaps the best part is the line or lack of one. you won't find a huge crowd here. >> sometimes we will still get a little busy. we will have a couple of people waiting in line. usually the people just walk right in and we will get them out very quickly. >> it was very quick. it was very quick. when i moved back the to the area five years ago my wait was three hours at the regular dmv. this was two minutes. >> reporter: last time you went to a dmv and had one person at line. that's what we have here. terrific concept. folks are very happy witness. right now there are two mobile dmv ss in the state. a great idea. lot of happy people here today. they were able to get in and get out quickly. barba barbara, back to you. >> sounds like a great idea to me. thank you, megan. >> sure nchs prince george's county police are still hunting for a man who tried to rob a

school employee atwater fort washington. it happen medical the middle of the day and forced the school to go on lockdown for hours. the suspect didn't get away with any money. luckily no one was hurt. police are still unsure if the man had a weapon in this attempted robbery. later today, penn state fans will say their final good-byes to joe paterno. the former head football coach died sunday at the age of 85. the school is holding a memorial service this afternoon at the team's basketball stadium. yesterday there was a public viewing and then thousands lined the streets to watch the funeral procession. today's event comes with some controversy about the tickets. tickets with a free event were being sold on ebay for thousands of dollars before the site pulled them saying free particular kets not be auctio d -- free tickets cannot be auctioned off. >> it is going to last for quite a while. a rather large complex system that's coming in from the south and now just beginning to come into our region.

there is the low gray sky over washington. producing just a few sprinkles right now. live view from our sky watcher camera. radar showing this moving color. that's light rain. right now raining in loudoun county and farther to the west and frederick county steady rain there into washington county, panhandle of west virginia, northern sthan dough a valley. closer to washington just a few scattered sprinkles now in prince william, fauquier, and in northern prince george's county. temperatures around the region, closer to washington than mid and upper 40s now to near 50 degrees. just to our south. far west and north, getting that steadier rain now. it is in the upper 30s to near 40. later today, out that way, it will be in the mid 40s. closer to washington, mid 50s during the afternoon with occasional showers. that will continue off and on into tonight. and into tomorrow midday. and then we will dry out during the afternoon tomorrow and as we get gusty winds bringing in colder weather. it will fall from near 60 degrees around noontime tomorrow. all the way down to freezing by dawn saturday and partly cloudy and chilly on saturday and

sunday, too. sunday may have more clouds around and colder monday. a bit warmer as we get into mid week next week. that's the way it looks now. barbara? >> all right, tom. thank you. we are going to check on the midday traffic again. here is danella sealock. any problems you need to tell us about? >> travel speeds in the area look really good. if you are taking route 50 from 301 to the beltway, you are at 63 miles per hour. this time dulles toll road from hunter mill road to beltway, 55 miles per hour. and i-66 looks pretty good as well from fairfax county parkway to the beltway. you are under speed but you are at 44 miles per hour eastbound and that's not so bad. i-270 looks really good. had problem hears earlier this morning. but no problems now. i-270 southbound shady grove and northbound, you are accident-free at this time. barbara, back to you. >> okay, thanks, danella. are you ready to try pilates but wonder what is it? what can it do for you? our fitness expert steve hayes checked out a class and joins us this morning with that as an option. and good morning to you. >> good morning, barbara.

you brought along your pilates teacher? >> yes. tara. >> nice to meet you. we are glad to have you with us. sport & health. i have heard so many people -- lot of places offer pilates. we had it at our station for a while. what is it? what does it do for you? >> lengthens and strengthens your entire body and makes your range of motion better, more flexibility. >> okay. you tried it. what do you think? >> barbara, it is awesome. she's right. stretching, i stretch a lot. but that was an incredible stretch. >> let's have a look at the class you were taking. there you are. it doesn't seem to have a whole lot of forceful exercises in it but can you actually get your weight under control using this n. >> you can. it tends to make the middle a lot more compact and helps to sculpt and define the muscles but with length.  >> so not a lot of cardio or -- would you call this cardio workout as well? >> i would not call it cardio. i think it is much more muscle

toning. and flexibility. >> all right. are you going to show us a few exercises? give us an idea. i know that with pilate as lot of people offer classes that require machinery. >> yes. >> you can do it without that. >> you can do it without it. i do train people on the pilate performer as well and we have 24 gyms at sport & health. 13 of them have the pilates performer trainers. >> give us a quick sam zplm we are going to work on the sidekick series today. what you do is come down on to the mat. and you are going to lengthen on the back of the mat lining on your side. for modification for a sensitive neck you can lie your head down or mace your heplace your head hands. bring it to the front corner of the mat. keep the low back safe. and gauge your rib cage, keep your hips stacked. lift your leg as high as your hip. just a simple kick-kick to the front and a kick-kick to the back. small range of motion. >> i see.

what does that work on? probably certainly loosens up your hip. >> it does. you prob chain tell right now but i'm really working my abdominals to stay stable. >> core. >> more challenging, lift the underside up and also working the underside. >> all of these exercises that you do in pilates are generally on the mat. >> yes. >> i see. that's wonderful. >> everything is core. >> one more ex-er nice sure. same position. we are going to do bicycles. lengthen the leg to the back. bring your heel to the reesh ar. exhale as you bring the leg forward. >> looks very graceful. >> it looks like a ballet ex-er nice that's what i said. >> can people begin this in a class that includes all levels? or are there beginnings, intermediate and advanced. >> we usually do for all levels and show modifications and for level, beginner and intermediate and advanced. >> you can stand up now. they viptding. do people really find that they like it and they -- they keep

coming back? >> they come back because of the results. quick results. and yes. >> quick results. >> yes. definitely. >> that's what we like to hear. >> yes. >> and you really enjoyed yourself. >> i had a ball. really. stretching was incredible. >> fantastic. pilates. you are the teacher at sport & health. what's your tip? >> eat a healthy afternoon snack, high in protein and carbs. allows to you maintain your blood glucose level and things you can eat will be nuts and fruit or yogurt and cereal. >> just not too much of it. >> not too much of it. in moderation. >> thanks for coming and showing us what pilates is. always great to see. >> did you next week we are doing the pool, exercise in the pool. >> hayesway.com. still ahead, powerful symbols of the civil rights movement. you can see right here in washington. plus, the airline that's taking

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researchers in maryland are among several doctors trying to solve a mystery illness affecting teens in upstate new york. 14 girls and one boy all suffer from uncontrollable tick similar to tourette's. neurologists diagnosed them with conversion disorder which is known as mass hysteria at one time. national institutes of health now wants the teens to come to the facilities in bethesda. doctors were offering high-end testing that could include a clinical trial on their genes. other doctors have also offered second opinions including a world renowned experts in tick disorders. maryland governor o'malley wants to charge a sales tax. under the proposal the state of maryland would collect 6% state sales tax when maryland residents buy music, apps, other online goods. 24 states and the district of

columbia already charge digital sales tax to online products. if you plan on booking a plane ticket this morning, prepair for a bit of a shock. new rules are forces airlines to show you how much the ticket will cost from the beginning and in an effort to make it less confusing. news4's melissa mallet is here to explain. >> reporter: we have all received the e-mails for $60 flights. those are now over. all airlines have to include all taxes and fees in one up-front price and that price might actually leave a little bit surprised. take a look at would examples. yesterday a round-trip flight from reagan national to l.a. with one connection looked like without it cost $240. in reality that flight costs $294 because of taxes and fees. you now see the total price from the start. take a look at another example here for you. here we are talking about international flights. this is a fare you would have seen yesterday for a round trip flight from dulles to london and $151. too good to be true? it was.

this morning the same fare advertised as $768 because of those taxes and fees. now the rules offer some protection for travelers. that's good for us. airlines have to notify passengers of cancelations or delays of more than 30 minutes and customers will now have 24 hours to change or cancel a reservation, totally for free. some budget airlines not too happy with these new rules, though. southwest and spirit sued to stop the new rules from being enforced. >> back to you. thank you so much. more people seeking unemployment aid and the stock prices are mixed this morning. let's check in with cnbc for the rest of the day's business headlines. >> good morning, barbara. we have a bit more confidence coming into the market this week. even amid those unemployment numbers. people collecting unemployment benefits. companies like apple, netflix, caterpill caterpillar, they have been reporting record earnings and federal reserve is saying low interest rates will stick ruined at least for a couple more

years. dow up 27 points and the nasdaq and s&p are both slightly down. but the commerce department did say new home sales fell in december. that was the first time that happened in four months. sales of u.s. single family holmes fell 2.2% to $307,000. median home price dropped as well. beginning the hopes the housing sector with would boost this year. how about for a price break? 40% off everything in the store all the time. j. penny announcing moving away from sales and promotions and turning to every day low prices. the ceo says this is the new strategy that's part of his plan to turn around the department store chain. barbara,hit up jcpenney for sales all the time. >> all right. we will con to watch what's going on wall street. in this week's "wednesday's child," some children had quite a treat this week. a few of our teenage girls who are still waiting and hoping for adoptive families were invited for a special day of pampering

to start the new year. there were new hairdos, manicures, massages, and even makeup lessons. very special new year, new you, weekend gathering for some of our teenage wednesday's children. kids still waiting and hoping the new year might also bring a new home for each of them. washington area alumni chapters along with the avad a institute school of cosmo tooly sponsored the event that brought together five lovely young ladies for a day of beauty and lots of fun. they each talked a little bit about their hopes and dreams for the future. >> wane to be an actress, dancing. >> i'm thinking about doing makeup in the meter. >> reporter: angel can a wants to have a chef, maybe have a bakery some day. >> i watch a lot of the, a lot of cake shows. that's when i start making a lot of brownies, cupcakes. >> i want to be a fashion designer. >> she said she one day wants to open an adoption center.

>> i'm just saying -- it took me a while. lit take me a while to get adopteadopt ed. >> reporter: she has a similar dream for her future. >> work with kids who have been through things i have been through. >> reporter: while they all have plans for what they want to do when they are grown up, right now, each has the same wish that gabby expressed. >> help find a family and be in a permanent home. >> reporter: that's what the sponsors are hoping happens when viewers get to see these lovely young ladies again. each girl got a long-stem rose and aveda gave each a packet of cosmetics and a silver necklace. >> for making me feel real pretty today. not only on the outside but the inside. thank you, guys. >> what a wonderful day they had. and if you have room in your home and your heart for one of those lovely young ladies or

another wednesday's child who is still waiting, please call our special adoption hotline. 1-88-to-adopt-me. or you can log on to nbcwashington.com. our time is now 11:49 and coming up finally some good news for the wizards. meteorologist tom kierein will be back with how much more rain we can expect today. stay with news4 all afternoon.

this just in. the washington nationals have signed relief pitcher brad lidge to a one-year contract. lidge was with philadelphia phillies the last four seasons. he missed half of last year with a shoulder injury, though. the 35-year-old right-hander helped the phillies win the world series in 2008. the washington wizards are no longer the worst team in the nba. it seems like with a new coach that helped him out as they got the win for the interim head coach. want ran i did whitman in his first game at the helm. the wizards handedly beat charlotte bobcat last night, 92-75. they will try to keep the turnaround going on friday against the houston rockets. black history month begins

next week. there are plenty of opportunities in our area to observe black history firsthand. joining us to talk about a few things going on, livonia. good morning. >> hi, barbara. >> there are a lot of things happening next week for black history month. let's start with the lunch counter from greensboro, north carolina, famous lunch counter. can you see that here? >> absolutely. we actually have lots and lots of amazing artifacts from black history here in washington. the lunch counter from greensboro, north carolina, is one of them. this is the beginning, really hard to believe it. a beginning of a movement. sit-ins began here when four young men, college students, came in and ordered coffee at a woolworth and they were denied service and they decided to stay. they stayed for six months un t woolworth's counter was integrated. >> that's a very famous lunch

count counter. let's talk about frederick douglass house. it will be open for people to see as well. >> absolutely. you can always visit it and take a tour. what's really fascinating about this is there is an image that he hung himself in the house. there is one thing you have to he. image of the storming of ft. wagner. this is actually the 54th army regimen and this was a volunteer all-african-american unit fought in the civil war. what's interesting about is it is douglases' would sons was part of the unit and fought in this battle. douglass hung this in the house himself. it is hung in the foyer. it is beautiful to see. >> what an interesting person he must have been. there is a play that just opened recently at the ford's theater involving frederick douglass and abraham lincoln and their relationship. this is the carousel. tell us why that's important to the civil rights movement. >> a lot of people might know that not -- not know the carousel on the national mall has an interesting civil rights history. this was a carousel that came to

us from amusement park near baltimore. it was whites only and took eight years of protests to integrate the park and the very first ride, very first little african-american girl rode, was this carousel. and this -- it has a really interesting history. people ride it to this day. >> i think that young girl has a book out right now that just came out not too long ago talking about -- breaking history by riding the merry-go-round. >> it is called "round and round." >> we will see you again next week. for more information on the things she just told you about, you can logon to our website, nbcwashington.com. go to the going-out guide on washingtonpost.com. a look at some of the stories we are following on news4 this afternoon. rihanna's tattoo is causing a big stir. we will get to the bottom of it and show it to you.

ahead on "news4 at 4:00," a man was thrown off his boat lee years ago and it washed away. a credit report warning. liz crenshaw reports on how to aside websites that take your money for something that should be free. that's all coming up this evening on news4. we have time for a final check now on our forecast. >> we have low gray clouds producing a few sprinkle this morning. there they are. still over the city now. it brightened a bit. we are still going to get rain we had just a few sprinkles coming through. and as we take a look at the radar, we do have area of steadier rain north of the metro area in montgomery county and frederick county and maryland. up towards the pennsylvania boarder and panhandle of west virginia. so that one area of steadier rain is now passing just to the north of the metro area. right now temperatures as we approach the noon hour are climbing to near 50 degrees in washington. still in the upper 30s where they are getting steadier rain west and north. and some passing showers off and on through the rest of the

afternoon with highs mid 50s and locally but it will climb into the 40s farther west and north later today. off and on rain tonight ending tomorrow morning turning colder friday night and for the weekend looking chilly and cold start to the first part of next week. that's aty way it looks now. have a great afternoon. barbara. >> thank you, tom. that's "news4 midday" for today. we thank you for being with us and tune if in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00. we will be back tomorrow morning at 11:00. join us for that. we will see you then. have a great day. stay dry.