good morning, everyone, welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison, it is monday, january 30, 2012. right now u.s. park police are doing a walk-through of mcpherson square getting ready to enforce strict regulations on the occupy camps. the protesters have until noon to follow the rules prohibiting camping in the park there. otherwise, police will arrest them. protesters are following the police chanting and documenting their every move. news4's megan mcgrath is live. >> reporter: can you see all the

people that have gathered behind me. we have some folks playing music, others are hunkered down in their tents. just a little while ago, about half-hour ago, that video you just saw was the interaction between protesters and park police. park police doing a walk-through here. give you a little idea of what things might look like here in an hour or so when the deadline actually is upon us. some folks had packed their things up, others say they aren't going to, they will stay here around the police are going to have to actually remove them. mcpherson square and the deadline is looming. at noon the national park service will enforce no camping rules. violators can be arrested, their belongings confiscated. jerry nelson has been here since october but he's not going anywhere. >> i'm going to keep it as long as they let me keep it. i was in vietnam with a lot less. only difference is then i knew who the enemy was. >> reporter: the crackdown means no sleeping in mcpherson square

or freedom plaza. no sleeping bags, pillows or other camping gear. the tents can stay but only as symbols of the occupy movement. protesters can't live in them or store their belongings. this woman who identified herself only as hanna has cleared out her tent. as for the no-sleeping rule -- >> if i fall asleep, i fall asleep. there will be people here to watch me. cops start coming, we have people that will immediately start blowing whistles, starting shouting and i'll wake up then. >> reporter: as the occupy d.c. movement enters a new phase, there is uncertainty. the deadline is noon, but will the police actually move in at 12:00? how far will they go to enforce the regulations? andrew dentonhall doesn't know. but whatever happens, he plans to be peaceful. >> i'm going to stick around. i think we're all going to stick around. we are going to do absolutely what we have been doing in the first place and peacefully protest. >> reporter: so what exactly is going to happen and when? all of that is unclear. technically the police can move in after that noon deadline and

begin making arrests if they so choose. whether they actually do that in the middle of the day when a lot of folks are going to be out for lunch, a work dai, monday afternoon, that remains to be seen but keel's continue to watch this and bring you the latest as it happens. megan mcgrath, news4. representatives from d.c., virginia and maryland will meet the discuss the d.c. wildlife act of 2010. the meeting was set up after a phone conversation between the attorney general and the mayor. d.c. officials say rats are not protected by the law. scientific and wildlife experts have been invited to the meeting. right now d.c. mayor vincent gray is announcing a budget

surplus. the district's annual audit reports a $240 million surplus. sources tell news4 some agencies spent less than their allotted budgets but that only accounts for $50 million. overall this is good economic news for the district. this is the largest surplus in several years since the economic downturn. turning to the weather and a cold start to the day. but changes are coming, we understand. tom kierein joins us now with our first forecast of the midday. good morning. >> good morning. yeah, the roller coaster ride we've had this january looks like it is going to continue into february. right now though we are finally beginning to warm up a little bit but there's still quite a chill in the air. it is a cold morning. still generally in the mid to upper 30s to near 40 degrees throughout much of the region. near 40 in washington and right by the chesapeake bay, northern neck, eastern shore. farther west and north, we're in the mid 30s across montgomery county, into fairfax and arlington counties, near 40 in prince george's county. panhandle of west virginia, into

western maryland, shenandoah valley now in the mid 30s. what's been happening over the last 12 hours -- we had a cold front come through at 11:00 last night. had some sprinkles of rain around the metro area but farther west and north there was a quick dusting of snow. now we have some high clouds drifting from the north and west through a blue sky and those will be with us here through the afternoon. we will have our high temperatures reaching the mid and upper 40s with a west-southwesterly breeze. and that breeze will shift more into the southwest tomorrow and warm things up. we'll talk about that, how much longer that's going to last and a look at the weekend as well in just a few minutes. >> real's on a roller coaster with the weather. thank you, tom. today, metro expands bus service to the mark center in alexandria. metrobus leesburg limited is adding more westbound trips in the afternoon. it added more eastbound trips during the morning rush. buss are running every 25 to 30 minutes between tyson's corner and the mark center.

route includes stops at the west falls church metro station and seven corners shopping center but it will no longer make stops at columbia pike and carlin springs road. we have some breaking news from metro. metro reports a cracked rail on the blue and orange line in rosalyro rozlin. between arlington cemetery and foggy bottom. this is similar to what happened last week at tinleytown. happy monday. >> happy monday, barbara. if you're hitting the roads, so far we have really good travel speeds in our area. traveling on route 50 making your way to the beltway you're at 61 miles per hour. traveling 395 looks good as well. northbound from the beltway to the 14th street bridge you're at 52 miles per hour. if you find yourself on the beltway from i-95 to i-270 on the outer loop, 57 miles per hour. traveling on i-270 not bad at all. at falls road, you're clear in the northbound lanes as well as

the southbound connecting to the spur. >> thanks. officials just wrapped up a news conference about how a community activist from alexandria was killed, then put in a well in ft. washington. prince george's county identified the body of 53-year-old lenny harris. police had to call in a private contractor to excavate the body from that well. they removed the body on saturday afternoon. autopsy results show harris was shot and killed. >> i would like to begin by extending my condolences and wishes of comfort to the family, the harris family. they are a family that is native to alexandria and well known in our community, so i hope that as we begin this phase of the investigation they'll take some comfort that we have indeed found mr. harris and will be moving forward from there. >> lenny harris disappeared in september. on thursday a tipster called 911 and told police where to find

his body. right now police are following up on several leads. police are offering a $38,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. police are working to identify two people killed while trying to get away from police. officers say the driver of a minivan lost control of his vehicle causing it to land on top of a police squad car. it happened early sunday morning in the 400 block of taylor street in northeast washington. all three passengers inside the minivan were ejected. two of them died. a third is in the hospital in critical condition this morning. two officers in the park squad car suffered non-life threatening injuries. those officers were responding to the original shots fired call that came in and they were not part of the pursuit. right now, the d.c. council is hearing testimony that could bring major changes to the district's taxi cabs. a bill introduced would require

cabs to accept credit cards, mandate bett eter training. right now cabs only accept cash. d.c. council members michael brown and jim graham are saying that they've uncovered evidence of corruption by the district's housing agency. they believe housing agency employees are making deals concerning the sale and renovation of city properties that favor certain contractors. the council members specifically cite $4 million given to peacea-holics, an anti-gang housing organization with little or sno no experience. they want the inspector general and attorney general to launch probes into this. right now petco is discussing a potential rate hike in the district. news4's tracee wilkins has more on this electrifying debate. >> reporter: customers are protesting not only outside of

the pepco hearing but also inside of the hearing as well. they are saying that there is no way that pepco should be allowed to raise its rates. pepco customers packed the hearing room in protest and interrupted with demonstrations as pepco executives prepare to defend their request for a rate increase to the d.c. public service commission. pepco's evidence was stacked in boxes and organized in notebooks piled high on tabletops. pepco's d.c. customers adamantly protest the utility both inside and outside of the hearings. pepco was the only d.c. headquartered company featured in a report put out by the u.s. public interest group and citizens for tax justice. it claims pepco's 1 of 30 fortune 500 companies paying more for lobbyists than it does in federal taxes. in the past three years pepco holdings, pepco's parent company, received $817 million in tax refunds and earned $882 million in profits. members of the activist group

our d.c. allege that this was all happening as pepco cut its workforce. they say these are just some of the reasons for the commission to deny pepco's request for a higher rate. pepco officials say the windfall of money was the result of the u.s. government changing the tax code in an effort to stimulate economic growth. in a statement released to news4, they explained that pepco is significantly upgrading its infrastructure in the district of columbia to improve reliability and is installing advanced technology that will allow customers to better manage their energy usage and allow pepco to better manage outages. the company is also improving customer service. the rate adjustment will help pay for the costs of these upgrades. a pepco spokesperson tells us that while they do receive some of the money that their parent company has earned, it is still not enough for them to make all of the upgrades that they would like to make and improve the system the way they need to. that's why they say they need a rate increase. in northwest, i'm tracee

wilkins, news4. 11 minutes after 11:00 is our time now. coming up, the republican front-runners battle it out in florida just hours ahead of that state's primary. who are the latest polls have moving ahead. new worries of environmental threats this morning at the site of the cruise ship accident off the coast of tuscany. stay with us, we'll be right back.

what makes the sleep number store different? the sleep number bed. with the sleep number bed, it's not about soft or firm. it's about support where you find it most comfortable. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. on a traditional mattress, there is no adjustment. you get what you're buying that day. with our bed, you change the setting to something you like. this way, if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. wow! that feels really good. it's hugging my body. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are. your body changes over time. the bed can adapt with you. not only does it work for you today, but it's going to work for you 20 years from now. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. and now, the company that redefined sleep is redefining memory foam. save $400 on our all-new memory foam bed the only bed that combines cool,

contouring gel foam with sleep number adjustability. and stock up and save on our exclusive bedding collection at our white sale. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.

today interior secretary ken salizar will help make the national mall a little bit brirt. he'll flip the switch at 5:30 this evening for the new l.e.d. lights along the mall. officials say the new system from 3rd to 15th streets will reduce lighting energy use by 65%. it will also provide better lighting and security. we're less than 24 hours away from florida's presidential primary. today newt gingrich will get help campaigning in florida from former gop rival herman cain. former president ronald reagan's son michael reagan will also join him. this weekend gingrich made a series of sharp comments against mitt romney while visiting churches. romney fired back by ramping up negative ads but says that's not why gingrich's falling behind in his bid for president. >> he's looking for some kind of excuse but i'm afraid the real reason he hasn't been successful connecting with the people of

florida is because of his message and his failure to connect to the needs of the people in this state. >> i believe the republican party will not nominate a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate from massachusetts. >> more than 400,000 people have already voted in florida and those early votes seem to be favoring romney. a new nbc poll shows mitt romney has a double-digit lead on newt gingrich. angie goff is here now with a look at the new numbers. >> good morning. florida is looking like a two-man fight for 50 delegates, winner take all. the latest nbc news poll shows mitt romney with a 15-point lead over newt gingrich. 42%-27%. rick santorum with 16%, ron paul with 11%. just 4% of voters say they are still undecided. romney was interviewed on the "today" show this morning. he credits his surge in florida to a change in tactics.

>> i think we made it very clear that if people want to see real change in washington you've got to bring someone in from outside washington. i think both the change in tactic, as well as the message have had a real impact here in florida. >> reporter: florida will once again be closely watched come november. many voters are heading to the polls asking themselves which candidate can beat president obama. a new "usa today"/gallup poll took a look at the country's 12 battleground states and how each candidate would fare against the president. the poll shows romney is the best candidate right now to beat the president. romney is leading percentagewise 48%-47%. the president though is beating out the other republican nominees. obama's ahead of rick santorum and ron paul, both by 7%. and the former house speaker, newt gingrich, trails mr. obama by 14%. back to you, barbara. >> thank you so much, angie. rick santorum is expected to resume campaigning today.

he took the weekend off to care for his sick daughter. santorum said the 3-year-old has a potentially fatal genetic condition and she has apparently now developed pneumonia. aides say santorum will not be in florida but missouri and minnesota instead today. today you can chat online with president barack obama. he's hosting a post-state of the union conversation tonight at 5:30 on google plus. that's the new social networking site from google. for the past week americans from across the country submitted their questions via youtube. the president will answer some of those questions for about 45 minutes and the president will also chat directly with users. the first family spent their sunday, last night, at a museum. walking from the washington to the corcoran gallery of art. currently the my museum is featuring an exhibit called 30 americans. the corcoran describes it as a showcase of many of the most important african-american artists from the past three

decades. we had a beautiful sunrise out there this morning. gorgeous pink sky against that light blue. >> it was gorgeous. >> i snapped a photo of it and put it on twitter and facebook and we had it on tv this morning. yes, a wonderful sunrise. it's been a cold start though. temperatures were down into the 20s to just around 30 degrees right around dawn. but now it's warmed up nicely. chopper 4 was up a little bit while ago. there's mt. vernon. isn't it beautiful in the morning sun there on the banks of the potomac river? just south of alexandria. george washington's home. he knows how to pick a site. these are some other scenes along the potomac river there. the lower potomac, the tidal potomac. another scene, the wilson bridge. and off in the distance we can see the washington monument, jefferson memorial, beautiful shots from chopper 4 this morning along the potomac river. and the view there now is showing continued bright sunshine. right now as we look at the view from our city camera we have

that gorgeous sunshine pouring down on the monuments and the temperature at reagan national now is at 40 degrees. just a few wispy high clouds coming over but we do have a west-northwesterly wind around 15 miles an hour and that makes it feel colder than 40 degrees. other temperatures still in the 30s just west and north of washington. montgomery county, fairfax county, still just in the mid 30s. arlington county is in the upper 30s. farther to the west it is around the mid 30s, shenandoah valley, the blue ridge east and west. it is just generally in the mid 30s. but east of the blue ridge, upper 30s, near 40 degrees. fredericksburg and the lower eastern shore. now 12 hours ago just after midnight we had a cold front coming through that triggered some sprinkles of rain and even some snow showers that put down a quick dusting of snow, north and west of washington. a few wispy high clouds coming in from the west. we will have weak high pressure over us throughout the rest of the day today and that will keep our sky clear. here's the close-up view from space showing a beautiful clear

sky here now. as we go forward over the next 48 hours we'll have just a few wispy high clouds in this evening. otherwise a mostly clear evening. during the day on tuesday, winds will shift into the south and west and we will be warming up just a few wispy high clouds coming in on tuesday afternoon. then as we get into wednesday morning, should be off to a clear start but then wednesday afternoon we're going to have an area of low pressure begin to approach us from the west bringing some rain into the mountains, then eventually bringing our way some perhaps passing showers. for the rest of the afternoon, mostly sunny and chilly. we'll have light breezes out of the west-southwest and temperatures climbing into the mid and upper 40s. a pleasant winter day. but it won't be feeling like winter tomorrow after we get into the evening hours we'll drop down into the upper 30s by midnight and we'll have a mostly clear sky and by dawn tomorrow it will be around 30 degrees starting off tuesday morning. but what a warm-up tomorrow. may even hit the low 60s by the afternoon. quite a bit of sunshine. just a few high clouds. then mostly clear tuesday night.

but not as cold on wednesday morning. near 40 degrees and climbing maybe even into the mid 60s on wednesday afternoon with increasing clouds. an area of low pressure coming through likely triggering some rain on thursday and it will be cooler with highs into the mid 50s, morning lows, low 40s and does look like that rain will begin to dissipate on thursday night and as we get into friday, we will have some sunshine back, but turning chillier near freezing in the morning, afternoon highs around 50 and a chilly weekend to follow. there is some uncertainty right now as to whether we'll get rain saturday or sunday but we'll have a better idea as the week progresses. >> we'll wait to hear on that. breaking news on metro this morning. >> good morning, barbara. we have a problem on metro, cracked rail right outside of roslyn causing you delays on the blue as well as the orange line as well as single tracking. single tracking on the blue line between arlington cemetery and foggy bottom.

on the orange line single tracking from ballston as well as foggy bottom. delays on the green line to branch avenue. traveling i-95 in virginia, not seeing any issues for you this morning at fairfax county parkway north and southbound on 95, you're clear in virginia. it is 11:23 now. still ahead, we're less than a week away from the super bowl. what people are willing to do to see the big game. ♪ and so i came to see him and listen ♪ >> and her new single and music video are being released tomorrow but the washington, d.c. singer and harpest is here in our studios today. we'll have a preview of her new music. first, 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. ordering online is easy... you can even chat live with a fios agent. visit verizon.com/greatprice. that's verizon.com/greatprice. fios. a network ahead. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006 just six days until super bowl xlvi. the new york giants are expected to arrive in indianapolis today while the patriots will come in -- or did come in last night. even though the game isn't until sunday, fans from all over the country are flocking to the hoosier state to take in the nfl experience. the 550,000-square foot

attraction there features games and displays and free autograph sessions and more for football fans. so, if the redskins, ravens are your favorite team are in the super bowl, what would you miss to go to the game? the website couponcabin.com surveyed fans and 21% say they'd skip out on an important work responsibility to go to the game. 20% say that they would skip a close friend's wedding. 19% said they would miss attending a funeral of a loved one. and 15% of the fans asked said they'd miss the birth of their child to go to the game. wow! jim nance is on his way to indianapolis for the super bowl. catch the report starting today and of course you can watch the game sunday night right here on channel 4. 11:27 is our time now. coming up in the next half-hour of "news4 midday," maryland governor martin o'malley doing

damage control for a comment he didn't even make himself. plus, the mistake that broke the hearts of dozens of college students and how it was corrected. and cold today, warm tomorrow. tom kierein is back with an update on our roller coaster weather.

right now on "news4 midday" -- the clock is ticking on occupy d.c. protesters in mcpherson square. at noon park police can start arresting them if the demonstrators don't follow the park regulations. that includes not setting up tents for sleeping or storage. many protesters say they plan on staying in mcpherson square despite the threat for being arrested. right now pepco is defending its request for a rate hike with utility regulators in the district. the group "our d.c." is protesting the proposal inside and outside the meeting. pepco is saying that it needs more than $42 million for upgrades and to maintain the

service. protesters say pepco executives should take a pay cut to help the company's bottom line. later today in maryland, a coalition of church and elected leaders will be in annapolis to rally against the state's same-sex marriage bill. the group says it is rejecting an attempt to redefine marriage. governor martin o'malley proposed an exemption to the legislation that would not let churches perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. instead, same-sex marriages would be civil ceremonies. rally organizers say the group supports maryland's current definition of marriage which is between a man and a woman. meanwhile, governor o'malley's apologizing for his wife's controversial comments. katy o'malley said cowards prevented last year's same-sex legislation from passing. she made that statement in a speech at the national conference on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in baltimore last week. at the same conference last night, governor o'malley said his wife made a mistake. katy o'malley also issued a statement saying she regretted

the comment. a new "washington post" poll shows marylanders have mixed feelings about governor o'malley's job performance compared to his legislative agenda. he got an overall approval rating of 55%. 50% of those polled support the governor's push for legalizing gay marriage. 70% oppose his call for a 10-cent gas tax increase. 56% support an income tax increase on high-income earners. the governor will give his state of the state address on wednesday. there is some troubling new evidence in the case of a missing toddler in maine. police now say they found blood matching ayla reynolds in the home where she disappeared six weeks ago. they made the discovery weeks ago but the news is just now coming out. the toddler disappeared while staying at her father's house. her mother was getting out of rehab at the time. now family wants to know what happened. >> i want ayla home.

i want one -- somebody in that family have the guts to come up and tell the state police who has her, or where she is so we can bring her home once and for all. >> police say the baby's father, his sister an his girlfriend are holding back information. all three were inside the home when reynolds disappeared. crews are getting some work done at the site of a capsized crew ship despite the bad weather there. today officials set off an explosion in an underwater compartment. divers and salvage teams still cannot get in the water because of rough seas. the costa concordia hit a reef january 13th and has been partially submerged ever since. 16 people are missing and a half million gallons of fuel pose an environmental threat to a nearby italian island. at least 10 people are dead and 8 others are injured from a series of crashes on a dark highway in florida. you can see from the wreckage in

this video just how violent some of the crashes were. one witness says it looked like the end of the world there. police say at least 20 cars, trucks and semis were involved in this pile-up on a florida interstate, interstate 75. it happened early sunday morning. smoke from a nearby fire combined with fog made it nearly impossible to see on the road. they say many drivers crashed into each other without slowing down at all. this week students in louisa county will go back to a normal class schedule five months after an earthquake damaged their schools. the richmond times dispatch reports students will once again go to school five days a week starting on wednesday. right now high school and middle school students are going to school on alternate days, sharing one campus. on wednesday the high school students will use a mobile campus that's made up of 90 trailers that have turned into classrooms. school leaders are deciding whether to build a new high school or repair the damaged one.

we'll check in again with tom kierein now for the latest on our forecast. tom, we've got a little warm-up coming our way, huh? >> a little bit today, but a big warm-up coming tomorrow. here's our sky. live view from the sky watcher camera looking into fairfax county. we've got a few wispy high clouds drifting over and a ridge of high pressure over the region now bringing us plenty of sunshine. temperatures are struggling to make it out of the upper 30s to near 40 right now. it is near 40 in washington though. southern maryland and near the bay. farther west and north it is just in the mid 30s throughout montgomery county, into fairfax county, arlington county is in the upper 30s. prince george's county now near 40 degrees. we had a cold front come through last night giving us a few sprinkles and quick snow shower that came on through. since then we've had a mostly clear sky getting a few wispy high clouds through the rest of the afternoon. highs reaching the mid and upper 40s. overnight tonight should be mostly clear but another cold night. it should be near 30 degrees by

dawn on tuesday but with a persistent southwesterly wind tomorrow, we should warm into the 50s and low 60s with lots of sunshine. then the mid 60s on wednesday. could get some rain on thursday with a little sun back friday. looking a little uncertain for the weekend depending on whether or not we get a low pressure system coming through. we might get some rain saturday and sunday. that's the way it looks right now. >> most people are going to be inside on sunday, i bet, watching the super bowl. >> i think you might be right. >> thank you, tom. we'll get the latest now on the traffic and problems we have been following on metro this morning. >> good morning. still seeing single tracking on metro. the problem is a cracked rail at roslyn causing a single track on the blue line between arlington cemetery and foggy bottom and also on the orange line, single tracking between ball ston and foggy bottom. expect delays on both lines in both directions. also delays on georgia avenue causing delays in green and yellow. your delays continue to branch

avenue. no issues on the beltway of prince george's county, as well as montgomery county, as well as in virginia, no accidents on the beltway to report at this time. back to you. >> talk to you later. it is one of the best moments of a young person's life, the day they are accepted into college. but for some a dream moment quickly turned into a nightmare. 122 potential students received e-mails from vassar college saying they were accepted into the school. unfortunately, it turned out to be a computer error. only 46 of those students were actually accepted. the school quickly sent out another e-mail to the students explaining the mistake. >> before my mom got home i went back on so i could show her and then it was like -- you got rejected. and i was like, wait, what? i was so confused. i logged out and logged back in like three times to make sure it wasn't like a mix-up. >> most of the students who were rejected said that they are

upset with a few even considering legal action now. time right now, 11:38. still ahead on "news4 midday," how choices you make early on in life will impact your health later. plus, we're going to sit down with a rising star from our area. she's a singer and harpist who has performed with stars like lady gaga. stay with us. you'll get to hear her live right here.morning, researchers

northwestern university studied 50 years of data covering 250,000 americans. they determined that the earlier you focus on your heart health the better. nbc's chief science correspondent robert bazell has the story. >> reporter: at age 67, jim richardson is a typical patient who gets regular check-ups of his heart. because of a busy family and work life, he didn't begin the check-ups until he was well into his 50s. >> about ten years ago my

internist listening to stuff and taking blood tests put me on cholesterol medication and blood pressure medication. >> reporter: but a groundbreaking new study from northwestern university shows how critical it is to start paying attention to heart health much earlier. almost everyone knows that smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes are the major risk factors for heart disease. but the study revealed how extremely important they are, even at a relatively young age. for example, a 45-year-old man who has none of the risk factors has only a 1.7% lifetime chance of having a heart attack. if he has two or more risk factors, that number jumps to 42%. for a 45-year-old woman, the numbers are 1.6% with no risk factors, and 21.5% with two or more. >> this study is so important because it tells us that even healthy appearing young

individuals have a substantial lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease if these risk factors are present. >> reporter: the study also shows it is important to stay healthy. it found that having no risk factors lowered danger substantially at ages 55, 65, and 75 as well. but the biggest surprise was the great danger for the 45 year-olds. >> treatment started in the 40s can make a huge difference in their 70s or 80s. >> reporter: none of this means it is ever too late to start getting healthy. jim richardson's risks are now well under control. >> i'm enjoying life and looking forward to it. >> reporter: but the study proves the sooner treatment starts, the better the chances of avoiding heart disease into old age. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. millions of illegally downloaded movies, songs and other content on the website megaupload could be deleted as soon as thursday. the website hires outside companies to store the data but hasn't been able to pay the

online storage companies because the government has frozen its money. earlier this month federal authorities arrested the founder of megaupload and shut down the site. the company's attorney says at least 50 million users have data that could be erased. stock prices are falling this morning. let's check in with cnbc's courtney reagan. she joins us live with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines. courtney, good morning. >> good morning to you, barbara. stocks are lower, the dow is off by about 89 points right now as investors continue to await news on from the eu summit in brussels. investors are expected to restructure a deal to restructure greece's debt. this morning the commerce department says that americans' incomes rose .5% last month. that actually marks the biggest increase in nine months. though consumer spending remains unchanged. and facebook may be ready to update its status. reports say the social net working giant will file ipo papers on wednesday and what

would certainly be the largest internet offering ever. because facebook now has more than 500 private shareholders, the s.e.c. requires it to disclose its financials, in which case it just makes sense to go public and raise some money by selling shares of stock while they're at it. facebook reportedly aims to raise $10 billion which would value the company at upwards of $100 billion. to put that in perspective, that's roughly one mcdonald's plus half of walmart. actual ipo if all goes well could happen by late spring or early summer. and this bud's for you. anheiser-busch is launching a new budweiser brand today -- but the lied platinum. 6% versus 4.2 alcohol content. it is expected to cost as much as bud light lime. the launch comes as overall beer sales fell 1% last year and budweiser lost its number two best-selling beer slot to coors

light. >> thank you so much. ♪ we have something coming up right now that i'm very excited about hearing. she's a rising star from right here in the washington area. tomorrow she will be releasing her new single and music video. her name is rashida jolley and she joins us now with a preview of her new music. good morning! >> good morning. >> it is so great to see you. >> oh, so wonderful to be here. >> you've been on america's got talent. you've got a new single coming out. describe your music. i know you also play the big harp but this is a smaller one. what's your music like? >> what i'm doing right now is r&b and pop. i'm really excited because it is something different with the harp and singing and all of that. dancing and all that. >> how did you get into the harp? >> my mother. she decided -- she decided when i was 10 years old that i was going to play the harp and my father was a professional jazz guitarist -- actually, my dad passed away and today is his

birthday. i'm honored to do this for him. >> how did you get on america's got talent? >> i auditioned. well, let me just try. i auditioned for america's got talent and it is wonderful because it opened up so many doors. now i have nye new single, play my heart and i'm going to be performing today. >> you are a local washingtonian. >> yes! >> give us a little taste of what you do. play a little of your music for us. you've got some back-up singers with you. >> yes, we're going to get started. for more information about me, i can be reached at rashidajolley.com. we'll have the new single on air. i'll be up on itunes, too, as well. just a little taste of my new single is "i'm gonna play my heart" up on my website. >> play for us. >> thank you.

♪ ♪ there's no one else like you ♪ who cares for me like you do ♪ i'd give my all to you ♪ now ♪ ♪ ♪ met you on the dance floor ♪ feeling your vibe ♪ something about you caught my eye ♪ ♪ so crazy i got lost in a trance ♪ ♪ from the moment that you reached for my hand ♪

♪ want to be close to you ♪ you make me want to move ♪ so i'm gonna play my heart ♪ until we dance away on the dance floor ♪ ♪ on the dance floor ♪ i'm gonna play my heart ♪ on the dance floor ♪ on the dance floor ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> wow! fantastic. wonderful. >> thank you zblimpts. >> thank you to your back-up dancers. >> yes, to love and stephanie. >> that's wonderful. so where will we be able to see you perform again? >> yes. i'm going -- i'll have on my website all of my performances and it is just rashidajolley.com. my single "play my heart" is coming out tomorrow. a video. we're doing a video release party in st. louis tomorrow. >> well congratulations and thank you for coming in today. >> thanks for having me. >> our time right now is 11:51.

coming up, the surprise winners of the s.a.g. awards, plus meteorologist tom kierein will be back with when we'll see spring-like warm-up. stay with nbc 4 all afternoon. at 3:00 ellen has some hair-don'ts. i just had it with cable. it just got more frustrating and frustrating. a lot of times, the picture would break up. for the amount of money that i am paying, my cable company should take care of me. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. move up to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for our best price online -- just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years. first time we saw tv on fios was amazing! i was just in a trance watching it. i'm discovering new channels every day. [ male announcer ] and here's a special bonus: sign up now and get $300 back with a two-year contract.

fios internet -- the speed, you can't compare. i'm able to take care of things much faster now. [ male announcer ] start saving now. move up to fios for our best price online -- $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years and get $300 back with a two-year contract. or ask us about the option of no annual contract. is change good? in this case, change is very good. [ male announcer ] visit verizon.com/greatprice. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's verizon.com/greatprice. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. fios. a network ahead. [ gargling ] oo-ay-ow. savings. savings. savings? progressive was the first to offer online quoting. you can do better. first to show comparison rates. ding! the "name your price" tool. oh! gosh, don't mind if i do. who was the first to offer pet injury coverage? we were. and when did you know you wanted to sell insurance? i said i wouldn't cry. um... whee! it's flo time. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

the stage is now set for next month's being amy awards. last night hollywood honored its own at the 18th annual screen actors guild awards. we have a recap of the big winners. >> -- best octoberer goes to the cast of "the help." >> a drama set in the deep south of the 1960s won multiple honors at screen actors guild awards sunday night, including best ensemble, the guild's equivalent of best picture. >> all these actors on this stage gave up their ego and were able to just work and it's been such a joy. >> compa"the help's" viola davio took honors as best actress. octavia spencer as best supporting actors, both as maids who spoke up for racial injustice. >> it was really a privilege to work on a film that gave a voice to so many women who made it possible for me to be standing

here tonight. >> the french star of the silent film k"the artist" scored best actor beating out goorneorge cly and brad pitt. >> i never stopped dreaming. thank you invest mucvery much. thank you for this dream. >> best supporting actor for "beginners." >> the television categories had a familiar ring to them for the second straight year boardwalk empire won best drama ensemble and once again series star steve bu bushemi won best actor. betty white made it back-to-back wins for best actress saluting her "hot in cleveland" cast mates. >> i'm not going to let them keep this but i'll let them see it. >> alec baldwin.

>> "30 rock's" made it six straight trips to the podium. >> oh, my god, oh, my god. >> jessica lang scored best actress in a drama for "american horror story." we'll take a look now at some of the stories we'll be following for you for news4 this afternoon. >> coming up this afternoon on news4 at 4:00, which store is offering the best deals on big-screen tvs for the super bowl. we're going to tell you. then at 5:00, you get a check in the mail that you aren't expecting. is it okay to cash that check or could it be part of a scam? liz crenshaw reports on how to tell the difference between good checks and bad checks. and, dan hellie is live from the super bowl. today his first report this afternoon right here on nbc 4 beginning on news4 at 4:00. >> thank you, pat. we have time for a quick check on the weather? >> it is cold still. we're around 40 degrees with sunshine later today, upper 40s. but warmer tomorrow and wednesday. might get some rain on thursday with highs mid 50s.

then getting chilly as we get toward the weekend. there's a slight chance we could get some rain around on saturday and sunday. there's some uncertainty so stay tuned, we'll let you know for sure as the week progresses. have a great day, we'll see you tomorrow morning. that's "news4 midday" for today. thank you for being with us and tune in for more news later at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and tonight at 11:00. we're picking up good stuff for you tomorrow. i hope you're planning to join us. meantime, have a great day and we'll see you in the morning.