good morning, everyone. i'm angie goff. >> and i'm chris gordon. welcome to "news 4 today" on this sunday, february 5th. right now, the occupy d.c. camp is quiet after a hectic day yesterday that included a u.s. park police officer getting hit in the face with a brick. news 4's darcy spencer has more in a news 4 exclusive. >> reporter: this u.s. park police officer was injured after being hit in the face by a brick at the occupy d.c. encampment at mcpherson square.

this exclusive video shows he needed help walking to an awaiting suv. police have arrested and charged the brick-thrower, described as one of the protesters, with assault with a deadly weapon. the assault happened on a day when u.s. park police swept the encampme encampment, arriving before dawn on horseback. police in hazmat suits began clearing trash, debris and tents deemed to be health hazards. protesters say their personal property was seized and ransacked. >> they told us this morning that they weren't going to be removing tents that were in compliance, but that seems to have been a lie. >> reporter: but then it got more intense. [ shouting ] police in riot gear closed off sections of mcpherson square, setting up metal gates to keep occupiers out. that led to angry clashes with police and several arrests, including one man who hopped over the barrier. >> our purpose was to enforce the camping regulations.

these regulations are being enforced -- >> it's an eviction! >> -- abatement. this is not an eviction. >> reporter: police spent hours cleaning out the encampment, hauling out trash, camps and other belongings. a fork lift assisted in removing heavy and bulky items. >> do you think occupy d.c. is over? >> no, not at all. the rest of the occupies are going strong. >> reporter: most of the tents erected at mcpherson square are now gone, including the tent of dreams at the statue of general mcpherson. it's hard to know what will happen next. >> i think we're going to take this and we're not going to stop. >> reporter: some portions of mcpherson square remain closed well into saturday evening. it's unclear what this police action means for this movement, but the protesters we spoke to are vowing to continue on. at mcpherson square, darcy spencer, "news 4 today." driving into work this morning, i saw rain at first, and then some snowflakes.

>> yes. and did you see snowflakes on your way in or no? >> i did not. >> okay, fair enough. >> but i saw -- >> he was half asleep. no sleeping behind the wheel! >> no, no, i was paying attention, because i wanted to have that same kind of good story like you had. >> right. >> where did you come from in? >> northern virginia. >> okay. i came in from bethesda, and wet roadways but not slippery. >> sort of the same deal. i came up the hill from downtown here and i saw a couple snowflakes on my way in. the further north and west you go, up into the higher terrain, frederick county, maryland, to the panhandle of west virginia, flakes continue to fly this morning, and that will be the case for the next couple hours. road beds are fairly warm and air temperatures are just barely at or above the freezing mark. so, even though it's snowing outside, not much of an additional accumulation is on the way. for those that had some yesterday. northern montgomery county, an inch to as much as an inch and a half yesterday, and maybe another inch for a few lucky spots today. but right now, temperatures 38 in washington, 36 waldorf and la

plata, 36 fairfax and manassas, 32 hagerstown, 33 martinsburg. as we go from temperatures to radar, there you can see on storm 4 radar light snow across much of northern maryland, back into the panhandle of west virginia. this is all drifting east and southeast, so along interstate 70 there, to the west of frederick and even coming in towards howard county and parts of northern baltimore county, out towards the blue ridge, i-81, snowflakes are flying there. just rain drops from washington southbound into portions of southern maryland. this is really the last of the precipitation that we're going to need to worry about, so cloudy skies, kind of a flake-filled morning for the northern half of our viewers, but all this will be coming to an end by about lunchtime, if not sooner than that. and we may even see one or two little breaks of sun before your super bowl sunday is over. >> all right, thank you, chuck. >> okay. well, the results are in, and it's clear victory for "decision 2012" this morning for gop candidate mitt romney.

he finished well ahead in the nevada caucus. the republican presidential candidate got 43% of the vote. newt gingrich was a distant second with 26%. ron paul finished third with 18% and rick santorum came in fourth with 13%. romney celebrated his win in a packed room of supporters. >> now, this is not the first time you gave me your vote of confidence, and this time, i'm going to take it to the white house. [ cheers and applause ] >> that was the scene in las vegas shortly after the results came in. romney also won the nevada republican caucus in his 2008 presidential run. in his speech, the former massachusetts governor did not mention his republican rivals. instead, romney directed his criticism at president obama. >> america needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy, and i do and i will. [ cheers and applause ] >> tuesday is the next big day

in the republican presidential race with caucuses in colorado and minnesota. and let's take a look at the delegate count so far. the win in nevada gives mitt romney ten more delegates with eight still to be determined. he has 97 total and gingrich has 30 total. santorum has 16 and paul has 7. it will take 1,144 delegates to win the republican nomination for president. chris? ♪ well, after two weeks of waiting, the super bowl is finally here. today is the day the giants and the patriots will square off tonight for the lombardi trophy, right here on nbc 4. now, the players aren't the only ones preparing for the big game. yesterday, a local indiana high school team filled in for the giants and the pats to help the super bowl camera crew get ready. what a thrill, huh? the kids say it was an opportunity of a lifetime.

>> it's huge. it's the biggest game in all of sports we're going to be a part of and help out. >> they're running the exact plays, the exact game plan that we're getting from coaches and players during our production meetings so we can rehearse and have the best possible broadcast in front of 150 million people on sunday night. >> now, both of the teams, giants and pats, are gunning for their fourth super bowl trophy. and be sure to stick with nbc 4 all day long. super bowl coverage starts at noon. get into the couch, get your snacks ready. kickoff 6:30. and there's plenty of entertainment after the big game. the second season of "the voice" premieres after super bowl xlvi, followed by "news 4 at 11:00." and we have an interesting forecast you're going to want to listen to when we return. chuck bell is in the house to give it to you. stay with us.

a little bit of everything out there early this morning. >> a little something for everybody. if you're really a snow lover, you almost had to move to canada for this winter, because we've just got almost nothing around here, and we're going to get almost nothing again this morning, but at least we're getting a little something. it may be almost nothing, but it's a little something, and it will last at least through most of this morning. by about lunchtime today, i think most of the rain and some light snow out there as well will be long gone. and by the time you settle in to watch the super bowl right here on your friendly 4 later on this afternoon, i think everything will be dry, which is very important, because a lot of folks will be out late tonight, and we don't really want any wet, slippery roads to deal with, and i don't think that's going to be much of an issue by tonight. first thing this morning, though, there are still some snowflakes flying out there and some rain drops as well, so a

lot of the roadways around the area, especially from washington northbound, are a little on the wet side, so just be extra careful on your way out and about early on your sunday morning. cloudy skies with just a little bit of light drizzle here in downtown washington. a breeze now out of the north-northeast at 7 miles per hour. and temperatures around the immediate metropolitan area are comfortably above the freezing mark at the surface. now, it's colder than that further up into the clouds where the snowflakes are being made, so as a result, we will continue to see some light snow, even though temperatures are at or above the freezing mark, even up here across parts of northern maryland. so, rain and a little light snow lingering through this morning. by early afternoon, though, all that will be gone and we might even see a break or two of sunshine coming in later on this afternoon. but here's the way it looks on live radar now. light sprinkles around downtown washington, light snowflakes now across much of northern maryland, hagerstown, down i-70 towards frederick toward northern parts of the 270 corridor from damascus to clarksbu clarksburg, light snow there.

the panhandle of west virginia, light snow. these are mostly rain drops, but there's probably a few snowflakes mixed in across central and southern fairfax county, through the heart of the district and into prince george's county. this is light rain now, southern prince george's, right around the anne arundel and calvert county line, down towards huntingtown. so be on the lookout for wet roads and maybe a couple slippery spots first thing this morning. but the back end of the precipitation is already moving through pittsburgh, so i think the drier air is clearly going to win the day. how long it takes to turn off the rain and this snow is a little uncertain. maybe 9:00 or 10:00 this morning, might be as late as lunchtime. but eventually, the dry air wins out, high pressure settles in and we end up with sunshine back here for monday and for tuesday. on the future weather, starting at 6:00 this morning, mostly snow out here to our north and west. and notice how as we get towards 9:00, 10:00, the whole area shrinks away and by noontime, everything should be coming to an end or already done. so, rain and snow coming to an end around noontime today.

a little clearing later this afternoon, but staying chilly with upper 30s to low 40s. then tomorrow, back to work and school, everybody. that's super bowl monday. that ought to be a national holiday right there. mostly sunny. a good bit warmer tomorrow and temperatures back up into the low 50s. that's also the case for tuesday. wednesday night, we're watching again. it might be another one of these little rain, little snow event late wednesday night into the predawn hours of thursday morning. and in this winter without winter, i'm not worried about that turning into a big snowstorm either. >> yeah, well, the groundhog said six more weeks of winter. we didn't even have winter! >> you know he's just an overgrown rat, right? >> that's not nice. >> punxsutawney phil. i'm following the super bowl on twitter -- >> you are? >> you're following everything else. following the super bowl on twitter. i wanted to read one. >> uh-oh. >> mark herzlich says "two years ago, i was told i would never walk again. i just walked off the plane to indy to play in the super bowl

#takethatcancer." >> amazing story. he played for boston college, lost one year of eligibility, fought cancer, and what an amazing human story. >> number 58 for the new york giants. >> and -- >> i'm pulling for him, even though i want the patriots to win. >> he said he wants the focus, though, to be on the game and not on him and his story. >> i don't think that will be hard. >> just a stand-up guy. well, thank you, chuck. up next on "reporter's notebook," a look at the stories affecting our community. >> and we're going to be back in 15 minutes with the morning's top stories and your sunday forecast. but for now, here's jim handly. >> good morning and welcome to "reporter's notebook." i'm jim handly. the state of the state in maryland, the gas tax hike proposal, gay marriage and job growth, internet gambling in the district goes to the full council, the voter i.d. debate in virginia and the so-called tebow bill advances in the commonwealth, too. a lot to get to. let's start in maryland, if we can, and the governor laid out some pretty ambitious plans for

this session and this year. how well was it received? >> well, it was, as it always is, it was mixed, and the republicans thought it was too much spending, raising taxes. i mean, not that he's going to raise taxes -- well, actually, he is willing to raise taxes on some things. but the democrats are backing him up. they say, look, we've got to be adults. we need the money to spend on roads, bridges, transit, transit systems, highways. we're moving into the 21st century, times are tough. what do you do when times are tough? sometimes you have to put a levy on something, but we need to get this stuff done. it's been wasting and it's time to move ahead. >> sounds like he's trying to pull all ends together, because number one, not only the tax that you're talking about, the gas tax -- >> the gasoline tax. >> which is 6% -- >> 6% to 12% to 18% over a three-yard period, but also, he's putting in here same-sex marriage. he's addressing that in the state of the union. and there was some discrepancy in the beginning whether he

would do this or not, and he did. in addition to that, he says that because of his proposal back on the tax thing, the gas tax thing, this will open up more monies to go into areas that are congested, transportation. this whole thing centers on transportation, and it will provide some several thousand jobs. >> what i find interesting, though, is that there doesn't seem to be any bargaining points in what he's proposing. >> right. >> you certainly can't bargain increasing taxes with the gay marriage, particularly when you're saying i'm trying to protect the children. >> right. >> that's not going to fly with the religious community. so, i find it -- i think -- look, it's just going to come down probably to one or two votes in the senate, probably like last time, one vote. but there's no bargaining chips there, you give me this, i'll give you that. that's what i find interesting with maryland. >> do you see a difference in

this year in the gay rights issue, gay rights marriage -- or gay marriage -- as opposed to last year when it came down to just that handful of votes. >> not in the vreligious commun >> labor has gotten on board with it. >> the governor much more strongly -- >> yes, right. >> he took this from appeal and it's noted he's coming out very strong. but when you talk about difference, you have to look at the whole picture. nothing's changed on the side of the religious community. >> and just briefly on gay rights and on the same-sex marriages. increasingly, the polls tell us, the studies tell us more and more people either don't think it's a big issue or don't object to it. now, if that gradually moves up to the point where when the vote is taken that there's enough of a movement that it's where it's at a tipping point, then he may well get it this year, whereas last year, he didn't, although the religious community still remains opposed. >> might we see a referendum, if it does pass?

>> we will see a referendum, there's no question about that. >> yes. >> that's where it will probably end up. >> that's where it will end up, because it's going to go into the courts. if it goes into the courts, it will be according to a referendum. but it's stated that it's going to end up in referendum. >> we touched on job growth and investment in jobs. how was that received? >> well, i think everybody's for it. everybody wants jobs. >> yeah. >> it's how do you get them? everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. that's what they say in these places. legislators, i hear it on the hill a lot. but i think the question is, how is he going to do it and can he get a package together that looks like it's going to pass? i think he's got a majority in the legislature. the guess would be that on the economic part of his plan, he'll probably get what he wants, from what people tell me. it's the same-sex marriage thing that's not sure. >> well, how he's going to get it, he's talking about the sales tax. he says that if we can come with the sales tax, which we just explained a while ago, over a

three-year period, it will generate enough revenue to not only bring more workers into the infrastructure, which is badly needed -- >> and transportation jobs. >> and transportation. >> this is where it's going to be geared toward. >> and he gave a number. he said he can produce 7,000 jobs if this proposal goes through. >> i like the fact that he's also futuristic in the jobs. he's looking at wind power and non fossil fuel type jobs, which means, you know, re-educating your workforce. these are brand-new jobs. it could mean new industry might come to maryland to create this. i like that. i hope that both sides will see that as futuristic and begin to realize that they've got to double down now on it. this is not something you can do ten years later. >> but there's one underlying fact here, that there are those republicans who, of course,

disagree with the governor, and they feel that it's the same old republican story that we hear nationally -- more spending, more expansion of taxes, an increasing of taxes. that's the opposition that he finds on the republican side. >> the question to these arguments, and in virginia, they'd be very strong from what my reporting tells me. but in maryland, you have to wonder, maryland might be a different state on taxes. people might -- if they know where their money is going to and what it's for, the thinking i've heard from sources is that might be a good argument. >> well, he had a lot to brag about on schools and test scores. you mentioned the word futuristic. where do you see the governor's future? do you see him as this rising star in the democratic party? >> he does. [ laughter ] >> he is a legend in his own right. >> governor, i'm only kidding. >> all right. at that, we will move on to the commonwealth and talk about something controversial down there, the voter i.d. proposal that has passed the house of delegates. some say this is just designed to suppress voter turnout. what do you think about this and

does it have a chance of becoming law? >> in virginia, it does have a chance of becoming law only because this is a game plan that republicans have in probably 20 to 30 states. i've been very, very involved in this on my show. look, here's the deal, you have to now bring a state photo i.d. you have to have a birth certificate. can you imagine someone who's 80 years old trying to find a birth certificate? even if they had one. but they've been coming to the polls. everybody at the polling place knows them, but they now have to bring a voter i.d. two, students may not be able to vote because their student i.d. may not be an official i.d. if you don't drive -- in many poor communities, people who don't drive, can't afford cars or whatever, they don't have the i.d. this is voter suppression. i think there was a study done where there were 10 million-plus votes cast over a period, like

three, four years or whatever. and they found 0.0003% voter fraud. and that's the point, where is the voter fraud? now, they'll argue, we're trying to prevent voter fraud. this is voter suppression. you do not make it difficult for people to vote. you make it easier. you make it as easy as possible for people to vote. and this is all it is. but your question is, will it pass? i think in virginia, they're part of these 20-plus states that -- and see, it's battleground states. >> sure. >> that's why they're doing it. these are battleground states. >> this is the focus that they're giving on the national election to come. >> right. >> with the presidential election. and if you ask me, i'll say it over and over and over again, this is the third round now that republicans in virginia have tried to come with some type of obstacle on the voting process. you can remember the other two,

which were kind of ridiculous. but the point here is theact that, i will go out on a limb and say that republicans in virginia -- and i'm not playing politics, i'm not on one side or the other, but it looks like they're very desperate because they're afraid of virginia becoming a little more purple. remember in the last election, the presidential election. so, that's the reason why i'm saying this has a great focus on what's happening nationally. >> well, this argument comes up every four years, and it reaches its height just about now, and it's the same -- the republicans tend to want -- the argument is the republicans are trying to restrict people from voting, that's what democrats say. republicans say democrats allow too many people to vote, and the people that will vote will be their constituencies, minorities, lower -- people less employed -- not less employed, but poorer people. it's the constant class warfare argument, people will say, between both parties, and we have it every year, and here it is in virginia. the question is, are there enough votes in the senate to

get this thing through? i mean, it's tied 20-20. will all republicans go for it? indications are they will. but if all democrats go for it, then you've got, the lieutenant governor will have to break the tie. >> but you see -- >> all right, we've got to take a quick break there. we'll pick up the conversation on the other side of the break, so stay with us on "reporter's notebook."

welcome back to "reporter's notebook." staying in the commonwealth of virginia, and since it is super bowl sunday, got to throw in a little football. >> sure. >> this tebow bill, tim tebow, playing in denver, playing pro. a lot of attention on him. this bill has to do with home-schooling, which is how he grew up, and being able to be home-schooled and play on public school teams. >> well, the administrators -- the administration, you know, the official part of this argument is that the children in

home-schooling will have lots of time to practice and they'll have a better advantage over other kids in school who go to class most of the day. i mean, assuming -- the argument is that they are assuming that children who are home-schooled are goofing off, apparently, a lot, and not constantly studying, reading, writing, talking to their mother or dad. i mean, that's the argument of the home-schoolers, that they do spend enough time in class, they don't have an unfair advantage and they ought to be included, like tebow was. >> well, i don't know. i'm kind of on the fence when i talk to people, because there are a lot of people i've talked with, even where they've tried this in other areas, that don't necessarily agree with this fact that if you're a home-schooler, you can play on the public school team. we keep -- we talk to a lot of people in the educational circles. a lot of people are concerned at how we seem to be chipping away from the hard-core public school viniar. you understand what i'm saying? in other words, if we're going to let outsiders -- why don't

they go to school? i mean, if they're home-schoolers, if they want to play on the team, they go to that school. >> see, i don't have a problem with it, as someone who played football through college and loved it, and high school. the reality is that they probably play together anyway. >> yep, sure. >> you know? look, we have intramural teams that play, you know, for kids that don't make the varsity or the junior varsity. >> right. >> they play together in the playground, sandlot. i don't really have a problem with -- >> but how do they represent the school itself? >> by winning, by winning -- >> yeah, by winning -- >> they simply are playing. i think any opportunity to allow -- >> then, should the school supply them with uniforms? >> absolutely, because here -- >> well, they're paying tax dollars. >> that's right. that's exactly point i was going to make. i may home-school a child -- i'm just saying, a person may, i don't, but a person may home-school.

they still are paying taxes. >> right. >> you know? >> that's the home-schoolers' point, we still count. >> and the reality is, come on, these kids play together all the time. i don't have -- i think it might be a competitive thing, because a lot of these booster clubs -- >> sure. >> you know, they don't like the fact that a tebow might show up and move my son -- >> yeah. >> competitive, okay. >> who's got the edge? >> okay, we want to move on. we've got one minute left. in the district this week, big story, vote to repeal in committee internet gambling. what's this going to mean? >> well, it means that they're going to have to come up with a better system than this contr e contriv contrived, the gyrations they went through, and that's why they turned this around. it didn't pass -- jerry, i guess, i would say it didn't pass the sniff test. >> well, the issue here isn't that they're taking a stand on internet gambling, it's that the process seemed flawed to a lot of people. it looked like there were some

people, they just didn't give enough thought to it, there weren't enough restrictions, there wasn't enough oversight, there weren't enough things built in to protect consumer issues, consumers on this. and so, let's start all over again and let's get another bill. >> and now it goes to the full council. >> yeah, and muriel bowser actually, of ward 4, came out with the right statement. she said that the process is in question here. she's talking about not her opinion, but the opinion of many people in the community. >> and they have to check -- you know, it's still got to go through congress. >> exactly. >> and the question is is that a hurdle? >> and the question of michael brown's role. >> okay, got to end it there, fellas. thank you for coming in once again. great to see you again. and thank you for watching us on "reporter's notebook" this morning. enjoy the super bowl. now back to "news 4 today." we'll see you again next week. 6:30. welcome to "news 4 today." i'm chris gordon. >> and i'm angie goff.

and talking about the weather this morning, saw some flakes on the way in. >> a couple of snowflakes still flying, really from like the top end of the capital beltway northbound and westbound toward northern maryland, out toward west virginia as well. some snowflakes are flying this morning. not expecting much, if anything, in the way of accumulations, but it could come down just hard enough to get the grass whitened once again. pretty much the same places that got the grass whitened yesterday will get another little coating first thing today, but temperatures are just really not all that cold, so this isn't going to stick around for very long. there you look over washington, our spits and drizzles have tapered off just a little bit in downtown. 38 degrees is the current temperature down at national airport. 39, though, in southern maryland, 36 waldorf and la pla plata. 34 in gaithersburg, frederick, maryland, 33, fredericks town 32, winchester 32. so we're all at or above freezing at the surface. obviously, snowflakes are made higher up into the clouds, so snowflakes are living all the

way down to the ground, they across frederick, maryland, martinsburg, west virginia, winchester, front royal, along the blue ridge there, but it's mostly rain downtown and into portions of prince george's and anne arundel county. this whole area of light snow is drifting ever so slowly to the east and to the southeast, so don't be too terribly surprised to see a little coating of the white stuff for you folks northern maryland, right along the pennsylvania border here. the back end is already clearing out of pittsburgh, p.a. so, as a result, our clearing will take place late morning, early afternoon. so, your super bowl sunday planner. rain and some snowflakes around this morning. again, not expecting a big accumulation. roads are generally above freezing, but be very careful if you're going out this morning. don't want to hit a random slippery spot, especially north and west of the city. >> okay. >> chuck, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. in the news, prince george's county fire investigators are trying to figure out why a smoke alarm did not go off when a fire started at a senior citizen assisted living facility. two police officers passing by

saw smoke coming from the building on berwyn house road in college park yesterday afternoon. they ran into the apartment on fire without any protective gear. luckily, no one was inside. a water sprinkler extinguished parts of the fire before firefighters showed up, but no alarm ever sounded. investigators believe an unattended candle caused the fire. no one was hurt. this morning, an anne arundel county police officer is suspended, accused of warning suspected drug dealers about a raid. police say that corporal rick alexander knew drug dealers at a home on juniper street in shady side. investigators say alexander called the house moments before officers showed up there to serve a search warrant. >> that's what prompted them to take the drugs out of the home and hide it at a different location, which again, we were ultimately able to locate at a later time. >> investigators say about $830 worth of marijuana and cocaine

were moved. alexander faces obstruction and conspiracy to distribute charges. he's currently out on bail. the trial of former virginia lacrosse player george hugley is set to start tomorrow in charlottesville, virginia. huguely is accused of killing his fiancee yeardley love in 2010. it is said she died of cardiac arrhythmia caused by a combination of alcohol, but prosecutors say she died of blunt force trauma to the head. the first two days of the trial will be jury selection and the trial is expected to last around two weeks. a norovirus outbreak has affected more than 200 people on two cruise ships based out of south florida. the "ruby princess" is returning today with 92 sick passengers along with 13 crew members. the contagious illness causes

nausea, cramping and other stomach pain. now, dozens on the "crown princess" ship that returned yesterday also had norovirus. officials don't believe the causes are related. workers plan to clean and disinfect both ships before they set sail again. school officials in new york announced they'll begin air quality testing at a high school where multiple students came down with tick-like symptoms. doctors originally said the students at leroy high school were suffering from a psychiatric condition called conversion disorder. it occurs in people prone to anxiety, but yesterday at a public meeting, they agreed to test the air at the school, which parents say is long overdue. >> you are not doing your job. you are not doing your job at all. [ applause ] [ inaudible ] >> we need to stand up as parents to fight for the rights of our children! >> the condition has also affected a woman not associated

with the school. she says she believes she does have conversion disorder because she knows she can treat the condition. an oregon family is now safe after spending nearly a week in a cold, rugged oregon forest. the ordeal started last sunday when they left their trailer at a camp site to look for mushrooms. soon after, they got lost and spent six days in the forest drinking water from streams and taking shelter in hollowed-out trees. a helicopter crew spotted them on saturday. the father hurt his back. his wife had hypotherma, and their adult son sprained his foot. they were each dehydrated and hungry, but otherwise, thankful to be rescued. thousands gathered in central moscow protesting russia's upcoming presidential election. the demonstrators braved bitterly cold temperatures to protest, calling for free and fair elections and demanding that no one vote for vladimir

putin. many believe that parliamentary elections two months ago were tainted by fraud and are worried next month's elections will be fixed as well. however, putin's camp believes the protesters are too divided to rally behind an opposition candidate, therefore ensuring his fourth straight victory. well, this weekend marks just eight years since the beginning of facebook. mark zuckerberg launched the site as a student at harvard university back in 2004. well, since then, it has now nearly 900 million users. just last week, it filed paperwork to let it publicly sell stock. it hopes to raise $5 billion from investors. $5 billion in an initial public offering. >> hard to believe only eight years. it's changed so much in the world, huh? >> yes, social media, you know, facebook, twitter, everybody's involved. >> they even set up their own newsroom recently. >> oh, really? >> yeah, taking over. >> that's good. maybe people will start to confirm their sources.

that would be good. okay, it's 6:37 right now. up next, one of our favorite parts of sunday, david gregory, moderator of "meet the press," will join us live right here on the set to recap the week in politics, including yesterday's nevada caucuses. and also ahead, safety concerns about boeing's newest plane. the issue that's led the company to inspect its much-hyped dreamliner. and also, it's the down side to a recovering economy. a look at some of the items that are about to cost you a whole lot more in the coming months. i hear you're having a tough day, so i brought you a freshly made sandwich. you made me a sandwich? no, dunkin' did, but i wrote the note. new bakery sandwiches at dunkin' donuts. try the turkey cheddar bacon or ham and cheese today.

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♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. welcome back. yesterday's nevada caucuses capped a great week for mitt romney, who also won the florida primary and donald trump's endorsement. >> but is he out of the race

now? has he put the race out of reach of newt gingrich? joining us now to talk about it is moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. so, we turn to you and ask, are we getting near end game? >> well, i think in a lot of people's minds, we are, except newt gingrich's. he made it very clear that he's in this all the way to the convention, as a broad pronouncement. he's got to actually start winning some contests. his strategy right now is to raise enough money, make enough noise, create a path to try to get to super tuesday where he thinks he's got the opportunity to win some southern states, and then get new momentum to keep this going until the convention. what he's going to have to do, and i think a lot of this is driven by some personal enmity on the part of gingrich for romney, is make two arguments. one, that romney is simply disqualified from being the nominee when you think about the fall, and that he, gingrich, has a kind of conservative vision and platform that's distinctly different than romney's, as we move into a general election. >> there's a tight second place when we look at the nevada

caucuses, with gingrich and paul. >> right. >> so, does this really change things up behind closed doors? are we hearing that people are asking santorum to drop out and throw his weight behind somebody? >> i don't know who's really in a position to do that. that's the problem. it's not like the establishment figures are sitting around and trying to dictate the state of play here. to the extent that they have, they have tried to get gingrich out of the race as well. so, you know, in a way, if you're romney's campaign, having santorum in the race still isn't the worst thing. you'd like to see some of that anti-romney vote broken up a bit among gingrich and paul and santorum. they can keep living with that. and i don't think there's huge incentive for anybody to get out of the race just yet, because you can pick up delegates along the way, if you win contests. it's not winner take all. so you're able to live off the la land for a little while. >> santorum hopes he will do

well in krcolorado. and you have newt gingrich today on "meet the press." are you going to ask him, what state do you plan -- he thought he was going to win all 46 after florida. >> i think he fashioned himself as much more of a southern populist candidate now. so, i think some of the states that you look at as super tuesday states are contests where he thinks he can do well. and again, that's the point, getting himself to super tuesday, getting himself to that point where he can win some contests. >> you have a super packed show. >> we'll talk to the speaker and we have the super bowl tie-in with governor mitch daniels, governor deval patrick and mayor mike bloomberg of new york. so we'll talk to them about the economy as well. this is really a huge political topic, these new jobless numbers that are very favorable to this administration as they try to usher in economic recovery. so we'll talk about that with them as well. >> followed by "press pass."

>> yes, j.c. watts, one of the few supporters of gingrich, who actually worked with gingrich. he talks about the path he sees moving forward for gingrich and where he thinks romney will fall short. >> we can't let you go without your super bowl pick. who's it going to be? >> i think it's the giants. i think they're too tough in terms of wide receivers and eli manning, as a fourth-quarter performer and their pass rush. so, i think they've got all the elements, including a lot of momentum right now. i could go into more detail. this is a huge day! and let me just point out, it's super sunday. before the super bowl, caps and bruins at 12:30. i just can't wait. i've got to do my little job here and then i have -- this is the greatest sports day of the ye year! >> "i've got to do my little job here." [ laughter ] i'll do my little job. >> yeah, thanks, guys. >> david, thanks for your time. okay, a lot of people want to know their super bowl sunday forecast, and snow to start off, but things are going to clear up. >> yeah, a little snow out there first thing, but caps fans are never scared by a little snowflake here or there, so we can get all that cleared out before they drop the puck.

and we'll talk about the rest of your sunday forecast, coming up. i hate getting less. but i love getting more.

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welcome back. boeing is inspecting its newest plane for possible repairs. the 787 dreamliner has not been in operation even for a full year. the company says it's looking into improper manufacturing related to the fuselage on some of the planes. boeing has only put five dreamliners in the air since september. more than 50 others are in production, and boeing has a backlog of orders for 800 more of the 787s. well, the improving economy means you'll have to pay more for a car, according to the national automobile dealers

association. the average price of a new car is expected to go up 6% to $30,000. used cars are expected to rise 1%, while pick-ups and suvs could go up as much as 8%. also, people with luxury cars will overall be paying more. overall, u.s. vehicle sales are expected to go up 9% to almost $14 million this year. good shot in the arm for the economy. and whenever suv sales go up, you wonder if gas prices are about to go up. >> well, that will be my concern. i was at the auto show this past wee week, had a great time, and i noticed it was a little more expensive for some of the cars than a year or so ago. and boy, i don't know, i'd be nervous about buying a big, big, big suv, only because, you know, all rumors indicate gas is going to be, you know, $4.50 or more a gallon by memorial day. >> what? and you saw that at the detroit auto show. they didn't even have any suvs

on display out there, so that was a tell tale sign. >> tricky stuff out there. >> speaking of tricky, and if you're driving this morning, good reason to use caution. >> absolutely right. if you've got the suv already in the driveway and you live in northern maryland, not a bad thing to have a little four-wheel-drive action, extra weight behind you this morning, because there's not a lot in the way of iciness out there. there may be a few slippery spots where we are getting a couple snowflakes, but not expecting any big travel problems on your super bowl sunday, especially if you can wait until about lunchtime. all this messiness that's out there this morning should be gone and roads should be dry as we go to and fro our super bowl parties. outside we go early on a sunday morning. still plenty of cloud cover over washington, and that's going to be the case through at least lunchtime today. gradually, though, i think our weather will start to improve. temperatures, 38 degrees now at national airport, light breeze out of the northeast at 7 miles per hour. dew points are back into the upper 20s and low 30s. and metro temperatures generally above freezing. 34 at gaithersburg, rockville,

bethesda, college park, all above freezing this morning. mid-30s across much of fairfax county. in fact, upper 30s as you get down south along i-95 towards dale city and fredericksburg, where temperatures this morning 37 in fredericksburg, 39 in st. mary's county, 34 in martinsburg, west virginia. and there is a little bit of light snow now right across northern maryland, into far southern pennsylvania. this is all generally going east and southeast, and this is mostly just light rain in and around the city of washington, but there may be a few wet snowflakes mixed. in martinsburg, west virginia, there's some light snow there, frederick, maryland, then down along 270, the snowflakes working their way ever so steadily south along 270. and there's even some rain and some snowflakes mixed now out towards the high spots of western loudoun county and even light rain near the state house in annapolis. but here you can see on the wider view, the back end of the snow is already moving towards the far western tip of maryland, and our futurecast model shows that most of this should be

disappearing by early afternoon, and then high pressure and drier air should wring the last of the moisture out of here, really by early this afternoon, and then we end up with, of all things, sunshine back just in time for monday and tuesday. here it is on our microcast model. there's the snow now, north and west of town. as we go through the morning hours, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 this morning, notice as the drier air moves in, all the snowflakes just simply disappear. and by noontime, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon, we might even see a little sunshine. so, rain and snow coming to an end by about noon. there's a little bit of clearing coming in later on this afternoon and highs today upper 30s and low 40s. then tomorrow, back to work we go! mostly sunny, a good bit warmer tomorrow with highs about a ten-degree jump from where we're going to end up today. so, 43 today, 52 tomorrow and tuesday, and another chance that a system sort of like the one we're dealing with today, late wednesday night into the early-morning hours of thursday morning, rain drops for most, but can't rule out a couple of snowflakes mixing in there,

especially in the higher spots north and west of town. but again, another week here in the dead of winter that really doesn't look all that wintry. our average high, 45. nearly every number other than today is average or better for the next week. >> heating bills, though. >> heating bills, saving money on the heating bills. >> yes, just remember that. you're happy about it. all right, thank you, chuck. >> your happy thought. thank you for that, chuck. up next, a preview of what you'll find in this week's "kidspost." >> here's eun yang. >> good morning. this week on "kidspost" on tv, super bowl picking, a good day for charles dickens and some books that make even some chimps do some thinking. tracy grant is with us again of "kidspost." good morning. >> good morning, eun. >> a super bowl feature that will appeal to football fans and not so much football fans. >> you know, the thing about the super bowl is that it's become sort of like the fourth of july. it's become a national holiday. >> it is, yes. >> so, watching the super bowl

is a little bit like watching fireworks. and in today's "kidspost," we tell some kids who may not necessarily be football fans what to watch for. for example, if you have an older sibling who is a star athlete, you're probably going to want to root for eli manning, the younger brother of peyton manning. >> there you go. >> has a chance to do something that big brother never did, win two super bowls. >> that's right. >> we take a look at some of the fun ads, you know, telling kids that maybe, you know, there will be something as cute as the little darth vader kid from last year. and talk to them about the halftime show and just sort of things to look out for. a really nice family thing to do, sit around and watch the super bowl. >> yes. i love the football game as well, but i love the commercials, are you kidding me? >> that's just the highlight, yes. and you can even do sort of a game where you vote for favorites in your family. >> that's right. we'll have to talk about that, too. up next, a big birthday for one of the world's most famous authors. >> that's right. tuesday is charles dickens'

200th birthday. >> really? >> we have a number of books that we're going to feature in "kidspost" on tuesday. and i think, you know, kids know about "a christmas carol," but what i didn't know about dickens was he was like a rock star in his life. >> really? >> he was as famous as any movie star or tv star. and so, he came to the united states, twice met with presidents. really fascinating. and as a kid, he was really poor, so some of the stories that he used in his literature are actually his own stories. so, a really nice look at dickens' life on his 200th birthday on tuesday. >> i love those, you know, came from nothing, built this great legend. >> totally. >> finally, proof that reading is more important -- is important more than to -- you know what i'm trying to say. reading is more important not just to humans, how about that? >> viewers and readers of

"kidspost" may remember that we called, asked readers to send books -- >> i remember, yes. >> -- to "chimp haven." this is harper the chimp reading one of the 400 books that "kidspost" readers and channel 4 viewers sent to chimp haven for the chimps at christmas. and we have a story about the generosity of "kidspost" readers in monday's "kidspost." >> terrific. you can still send them, right? >> absolutely. and there's a link at kidspost.com. >> wonderful. tracy, thanks, as always. for some fun family activities, visit nbcwashington.com or washingtonpost.com and click on "kidspost," and that is "kidspost" on tv this

welcome to "news 4 today." i'm chris gordon. >> and i'm angie goff. it's sunday, february 5th. in the news this morning, police arrested one occupy protester after hitting a park police officer in the face with a brick. this capped a tense and sometimes violent day at the mcpherson square camp after police began clearing trash and tents deemed health hazards and protesters began clashing with police in riot gear. several were arrested during the clashes. mitt romney won the nevada caucus this weekend, finishing well ahead of newt gingrich, ron

paul and rick santorum respectively. next for the republican presidential race is colorado and minnesota, which both hold caucuses on tuesday. and we're now less than 12 hours from super bowl xlvi in indianapolis. last night, a local high school football team filled in for the giants and patriots to help camera crews set up the right angles. how awesome is that? kickoff for the super bowl is at 6:30 right here on nbc 4. so neat. by the way, viewer randy says that you mentioned something about maybe the day after the super bowl, a holiday. >> yes. >> he says you need to introduce a bill. >> okay, absolutely! >> what do you say? >> i think you need to pay the bill, because -- >> pay the bill? >> wow. >> we could consolidate presidents' day. we could call it, you know, presidents' day is the day after the super bowl. >> yeah. >> because most presidents would be in favor of the day after the super bowl. i'm just saying. >> i do, too. >> the man you need to be talking to is mr. barack obama, the one who can introduce

legislation far more effectively than me. >> write to your congressman or congresswoman. all right. >> so for us, we've got a few snowflakes out there, northern maryland, north of the washington area, but don't be shocked if you live in upper montgomery county, frederick county, maryland, washington county, maryland. i didn't forget about you, hagerstown, there's snowflakes there this morning, 32 there. also 32 martinsburg, west virginia, where flakes are flying. but you can see on the temperature map, almost everybody from gaithersburg south is at or above the freezing mark by a comfortable margin, but it looks impressive on radar. there you can see snowflakes from damascus, maryland, towards frederick, out towards the panhandle of west virginia, further west towards frostburg, maryland, this morning. this is all generally going just south of due east, so some of these snowflakes are going to be making it into the washington metro area here i think over the next couple of hours. don't get your hopes up. this is not going to be a snow-canceling snowstorm, or schools-canceling snowstorm by any stretch of the imagination, but we will have at least conversational snowflakes around

this morning. it might be enough to get the grass white, especially up in northern maryland and parts of west virginia, but it won't stick around long. everybody will be well above the freezing mark by later on this afternoon. your super bowl sunday planner. rain drops and snowflakes through much of the morning, but then clearing out later on in the day. highs today generally into the upper 30s and low 40s. so, what little coating of white stuff a few folks might get this morning, that won't last. then tomorrow, back to work, everybody. we can't pass this bill for super bowl monday to be a holiday fast enough for me. but sunny and warmer tomorrow, highs back up near 50. >> okay. can't write any excuse slips for anyone? >> i can write them. i don't know -- it may not be worth the paper it's written on. >> and you can try to pass them. >> exactly. >> all right, well, up next, it's nbc 4's "viewpoint." >> and we'll be back in a few minutes with an update. good morning, and welcome. i'm jim handly. this morning we're launching black history month on "viewpoint" with the congressional black caucus foundation, talking about its mission, its priorities and the

challenges ahead. and joining us now is adrina eiffel with the a voice at the congressional black caucus foundation and dr. elsie scott, president and ceo of the congressional black caucus foundation. welcome back and welcome to "viewpoint." >> thank you. >> great to see you both. let's start out with the mission. the foundation was founded back in 1976. what is its mission and vision? >> okay, we were founded as a non-profit 501c-3 organization to develop the next-generation of african-american leaders, because at that time, there were very few african-americans working as staff on the hill so we wanted to increase the number of staffers there as well as provide the scholarships and internships so we could increase the number of african-americans in all fields. and further parts of our mission are to educate the public, which we do every year through our annual legislative conference held in washington, d.c., at the convention center, where we attract over 10,000 people, as well as we conduct education forums, so we are engaged in

educating the public around policy issues. >> and the core, a big core, is the scholarships and developing and grooming the next-generation of leaders. and tell us how you do that. >> well, we do scholarships, we offer scholarships in several different areas. we have general education scholarships where a student can major in anything, but we also have some focused scholarships, such as our environmental studies scholarship and our medical scholarship, where we are trying to increase the number of students in the medical and science-related fields. we also have a performing arts scholarship and a visual arts, because we feel like students are interested in those fields and we want to help them to be well rounded. so, students from around the country can apply. they can go to our website and learn more about our scholarships. >> adrina, there is a one of a kind program that i want our viewers to hear about. it's called a voice, and it's a virtual library project. tell us what people will find when they go to your website.

>> well, the foundation launched the a voice, african-american voices in congress project, in 2006. and it's a collection of primary sources, often very not often seen archival elements that come from black members of congress and their legislative contributions. so, when you visit the avoice site, you'll see the exhibits we have. we have seven exhibits. they are the origins of this congressional black caucus, the making of the martin luther king jr. holiday bill, the voting rights act, the antiapartheid movement, the environmental justice, there's an exhibit on the women of the cbc, focusing on health care, and also education policy. and we're right now in the process of doing research to launch our next exhibit, which is going to be on criminal justice. >> the theme of black history month is about women this month for the foundation. tell us a little bit about that. >> well, every year, there is a black history theme, and that comes from the association for

the study of african-american life and history. and for 2012, the theme is black women in american history and culture. and so, we really wanted to focus our events and programming to really highlight black women who have made a huge contribution in american history and culture. >> how important is it for young people to know the stories and know the history and how far things have come and changed? >> i think, you know, some of us take for granted that young people know everything we know, but they didn't live or relive, so we think it's important to teach them about where we came from as african-americans, and so they learn about shirley chisholm, who's the first african-american in congress, and they learn about barbara jordan, who was on the watergate committee. and so, these are just two of the outstanding women that have served in the congressional black caucus. we now have 15 black women serving in the congressional black caucus. so, we feel like it's very

important. if you don't know your history, you are subject to commit some of the problems that people have in the past. so, we are working very closely with our young people to make certain that they understand our history. >> it's so important. how many members are in the caucus itself? >> the congressional black caucus consists of the elected members of congress who are african-americans, and they have a choice to join the cbc or not. and so, 43 of the 44 black members of congress are members of the congressional black caucus. 42 of them are democrats and 1 is a republican. >> now, the foundation is non-profit and it's non-partisan. how challenging is that in a political climate and how important is it that you remain non-partisan? >> it is very important if we want to keep our tax status. but we work with the cbc because they help us to develop this next-generation of african-american leaders. they allow us to place students in their offices.

they provide staff guidance so that students can be properly mentored. they participate in the legislative conference by providing policy information for the public who want to come here. sometimes we do events in congressional black caucus districts. they help to identify students for scholarships. as you know, anybody can offer a scholarship, but often, you can't find the students, or they don't know about you. and so, they help us to advertise, help us to identify young people who are qualified. and so, we have a good working relationship with them, but we understand that, you know, there is that fireba aefirewall that o keep up for tax purposes to make certain we don't become partisan. >> i have had the fortune of meeting a few of your star standouts, and you can see how inspiring they are and inspired they are by getting to come to washington and do some of these important intern programs, too. you're going to have two at the white house, is that right? >> at the present time, we have

17 interns in town, and 2 of them are assigned to the white house. we are very excited because this is the first time that we've had students assigned to the white house. and what we found is that the white house internship program does not pay a stipend. and so, our internship is very attractive because we pay a stipend, and also, we take care. housing. >> that's great. >> so, we're able to work with the white house now because they get so many applications that they can't fulfill and they get some young people who say they can't take the internship at the white house because they need financial assistance. so, it's a good relationship because we are able to support young people to allow them to come to washington. one of the things i like about our internship program, is that young people who ordinarily wouldn't come to washington -- we get a lot of young people who have never been to washington before, never thought they would get a chance to shake the president's hand, meet members

of congress. but because we offer a stipend, because we offer housing, because we offer a lot of extra activities, that they are able to come to washington and participate in our program. >> and it sure looks great on a resume. >> absolutely. and we get, you know, we get such great students, as you know. you've had one on your show. >> right from all over. >> right. >> thanks so much. we're going to take a quick break there and we're going to pick up the conversation when we come right back. as we go to break, we want to put up the website, too, where you can learn more about the congressional black caucus foundation and about their program, avoice virtual library proj

welcome back to "viewpoint." it is black history month, and we're talking with folks from the congressional black caucus foundation. we were talking about your website and how interesting it is, beyond the front page. there is so much for young people to learn, and it has a lot to do with history and civic

responsibility and learning about what came before them. tell us what they can find when they go on. >> well, when you go on to the congressional black caucus foundation website, there is going to be on the front page something that says "avoice," and that's the virtual library project of the foundation. if you click through there, you'll get to the avoice website that has the background and the history of african-american political legislative achievements. and in there will have exhibits. in addition, for students and teachers, we have our for educators section, and that includes lesson plans tied to our exhibits. right now, you will find a lesson plan on anti-apartheid, voting rights and environmental justice. and so, those are geared from 7th to 12th grade, and they can be used in the classroom, in nontraditional learning situations, and also, it's interdisciplinary, so from social studies to government to

reading comprehension to visual arts, we've designed the lesson plan to be able to meet the student where they are and give them the information that they need. and they can also use the primary sources to be able to go back and understand how this history unfolded. we've also brought students in during last year's annual legislative conference, we brought in about 30 students from middle school and high school to sit down and do the anti-apartheid lesson plan. we brought in representatives from the south african embassy who was actually a student during apartheid, and he shared his experiences with them. and so, them not even being born at that time, they were sort of on the edge of their seat, grasping that first-person account of something they read in their textbooks or might hear a little bit about, so -- >> what a better way to learn. >> so we try to engage them and teach them about -- it's a civic lesson, it's about being civically engaged, and we're

informing and educating future leaders. >> another priority is financial literacy and a program that you've had a lot of success with is in historically black colleges and universities, and it has to do with home ownership and learning the ropes of becoming more financially literate. tell us about this. it's called show. >> yeah. if was originally called shop, and it was focused on students, allowing students to be able to purchase their first home by the time they graduated from college. and it had some success, but we also had some failures because we found that so many students didn't even know how to do a budget. some of them didn't even have a bank account. and so, we had to back up and say, okay, we need to teach financial literacy. so, that's what we are offering now. we have been at howard university's campus and morgan state and some of the other historically black colleges in the washington metro area. and we found that it works out well, and many of the universities are working with us. some of them are incorporating

it into their orientation program because they want the students to get this type of learning at the time they walk on the campus, before they get offered a lot of credit cards. >> sure. >> because that is the big problem, is that so many get credit card debt before they even get into college life. >> seems like college students are preyed upon and have been for several years now by credit card companies. >> right, and i think there is some legislation that has been put in place to try to prevent some of that. and so, beyond that, we started with the housing programs that were focusing on adults. and we used to have a program ownership wealth, because we found with african-americans, much of their wealth is tied into homes. of course, now we know that the bottom fell out of the real estate market, and so we've been engaged for the past three years in financial empowerment, economic empowerment forums, where we travel around the country helping people to connect with the resources. in some cities, we've helped

them connect, ones with foreclosure, when the stimulus act was passed, we worked with small businesses helping them understand how to navigate that. so, we've worked with the local congressional district in terms of what are the major economic problems of people, middle class and poor people, in your area. and then we try to tailor the programs to that area. >> we have to take another quick break. we'll be right back and pick up the conversation from there. as we do, we're going to flash up the website one more time. if you'd like to learn more about the cbcf, here's where you need to go. we'll be right back, so stay with us. brad and jill in accounting? crazy! coffee and chocolate. mocha. ooh! who's mocha? for the perfect blend of coffee and chocolate, try a mocha coffee or latte today.

i'm drinkin' dunkin'. definitely dunkin'. you know, i need to get that jolt in the morning, but i want something good to do that. you can't mistake the flavor. i run on dunkin'. tell us what you're drinkin' for a chance to be famous. america runs on dunkin' coffee. good morning. i'm angie goff. here are some of the stories that we are following this morning. police arrested one occupy protester after hitting a park police officer in the face with a brick. this capped a tense and sometimes violent day at mcpherson square's camp.

after police began clearing trash and tents that were deemed health hazards, protesters clashed with police officers in riot gear. mitt romney won the nevada caucus this weekend, finishing well ahead of newt gingrich, ron paul and rick santorum respectively. next for the republican presidential race is colorado and minnesota, both with caucuses tuesday. we're less than 12 hours from super bowl xlvi in indianapolis. last night, a local high school football team filled in for the giants and patriots to help the camera crews set up the right angles. kickoff for the super bowl is 6:30 right here on nbc 4. more news and your sunday forecast in 15 minutes. and welcome back. we've got a big celebration coming up on the 15th with the congressional black caucus foundation. we want to ask you -- this is one of my favorite restaurants. it's coming up in eatenville in northwest washington on the 15th. tell us about this celebration and what's going to happen there. >> on the 15th of february starting at 7:00, we'll have the

cbcf avoice heritage celebration, our third annual. it's a fund-raiser for the avoice project, to make sure that we continue to preserve this history and we're able to really take things that are in someone's basement, in libraries, and be able to digitize it for a global audience. the avoice project since launch has gotten about 14 million hits from a global audience. >> wow. >> from india to argentina to france, even from kentucky and just in montgomery county. >> that's tremendous. >> yes. so, we wanted to continue this process, because history is made every day. and so, this fund-raiser that we're having on february 15th will be at the eatonville restaurant, which is also a historic setting for us to have. so, it's a perfect destination for that. and there are tickets still available and you can check the website for additional information. >> wonderful. >> we'll be giving awards. >> yes. also, we give out awards in the

spirit of avoice. so, this year we'll have three awardees in the spirit of the theme of black history month black women, we're giving out an award to johnson publishing company, which is run by two dynamic black women, in addition to the association for the study of african-american life and history, whose executive director is a woman, and also to barbara jordan, and that's posthumously. she had a wonderful collection, as if she knew that we would want to hear more from her and learn about her. and her collection is based at texas southern university. >> wow, that's amazing. talk a little bit about plans for 2012 and civic engagement. >> well, this is an election year, national election year. and each year, the foundation, part of our mission is educating the public and engaging people on policy issues. and so, what we'll be doing throughout the year, trying to hold various forums to educate the public around some of the

key issues that may come up in the various campaigns. so, the day after our event at eatonville, we will have a forum, and metropolitan a&e church. we have joined with the harvard university black alumni association and the society there at metropolitan. and what we'll be doing is we'll have a forum on what the 2012 election means for african-americans. and we have ron christie, who's a republican, and congresswoman terry seoul, who's the democrat. we have a fellowship program, so one of our fellows is presently working at the judiciary committee, and she's focused on voter education and voter rights, and we are looking forward to it. that's open to the public. that's at 6:30 on february 16th. that's just the first forum we'll be rolling out. and throughout the year, we hope to be doing especially things with emerging leaders, because

if you recall, in 2008, there was a big excitement among young people, and so many young people became engaged in the process like never before. so, what we want to do is do some district-level engagements that focus on the demographic from 18 to 35-year-olds. >> you mentioned the campaign. this season, of course, on a lot of voters & minds, unemployment. and the figures for black unemployment is staggering, especially in western washington, it can reach in the upper teens. what more would you like to see from president obama? and has he done enough to address that? >> well, i'm sure the president probably will say that he wants to do more, he would like to do more. and he inherited, you know, a lot of problems. we were at the brink of ruining, in terms of the economy, when he became president. so, we are happy that he has made a lot of efforts. we were happy that he rolled out the stimulus act. he's now doing a lot of focus on small businesses. he's been focusing on jobs.

but there needs to be more. when you look at the unemployment rate in african-american communities. but we also recognize that there is a lot that congress needs to do, a lot that the state legislators and businesses. we do a lot with corporations at the foundation. a lot of our funding comes from corporations. so, we are working with our corporate friends and partners, trying to get them more engaged in helping to create jobs. and then finally, we are working with young people on entrepreneurship. we're trying to teach them how to own businesses. you come out of college, you don't have a job, make your job. and so, that's a large part of what we're doing with young people. >> oh, that's a good mantra. i like that. it's memorable. it sticks. >> yeah, we've brought in some young people who have done quite well with starting their own businesses, especially things that are related to the internet. >> sure. >> and so, we bring them in every year and use them as role models so that other young people can see. and then we also happen to talk

about discipline, because you can't just say, oh, i'm going to start a business and i'm going to be rich overnight. >> right. >> but it comes with discipline, it comes with knowing what the tax laws are. >> sure. >> so, we are doing a thorough -- you know, trying to do a full educational realm. >> the reality check of it all. >> exactly, exactly. >> that's great. it's good, though, that it starts with the dream. >> right. >> and they're inspired to do it. all right, we'll be right back right after this break with our friends from the congressional black caucus foundation. i'm in a tricky situation here.

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[ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. and welcome back on this first weekend of black history month. we are kind of launching the month with the congressional black caucus foundation. i want to talk a little bit, if we can, about this website and what all people can find there. first of all, about internships, but how much they can really learn from this website. >> well, on the avoice website, which you can get to through the foundation's website, you will learn about the history of african-american involvement in

u.s. legislation. so, the first african-american was elected in 1868. and since then, over 125 african-americans have served in congress. so, you'll learn that breadth of history. you'll be able to hear from them. we have video recordings on there, we have audio recordings. we also have primary documents from official legislation to the first draft of many famous speeches. so, when people come in, they can really get engaged with the materials and then also take it out into the community, teach each one, teach one and let everybody know the full breadth of american history. >> of course, the president addressed congress last month in his state of the union address. your impressions of his address? >> i thought it was a good speech. and i think from the foundation's perspective, you know, we have three major focus areas -- economic development, public health and education. and the education part of his speech resonated with us especially, because he talked about higher education and

funding for young people who can't afford to go to college and the importance of a college degree in this economy. and we work -- much of our work is with college students, as we've already mentioned that we provide scholarships and internships. but we've run into a lot of young people who are struggling, who have the academic background but don't have the finances to stay in college. so, he talked about work study, increasing the amount of work study so that young people don't come out of college full of loans. i find that with my staff, that many young people are coming out of college and they are so saddled down with student loans. >> oh, yeah. >> so, they can't really afford to work for a non-profit. so, they want to work for us, but they need to go and work for a corporation or some place that pays money. so, if we can have a process where we can reduce the amount of debt that young people have when they come out of college, we were very excited about that. and then, of course, we want him to continue to push on the

health care reform, the affordable care act. we took that legislation and did a digest portion of it, you know, like cliff notes, and made it, put it in bite-sized pieces, because it was such a big piece of legislation. there was everybody talking about what was in or what wasn't in it. and so, what we did was looked at from an african-american perspective what's in the health care act and then we've conducted forums around that. so, we will continue to be engaged with educating the public around health care and what you can get from your government, what you cannot expect from it and what you should be doing. so, we will continue to be engaged around those issues. and where there is synergy with, you know, some of the things that the administration's doing, we will be allied with them. >> you know, we've been talking about historic lows for congress right now. how challenging does that make your role and your job in

pushing policy through or legislation through? when you've got what many in the public see as just a stalemate on congress. >> well, we don't push legislation, because you know, we are a 501c-3, but we do more of an interpretation of legislation, but we also push policies that are applicable to the african-american community. it makes it difficult when you have a congress that is not doing too much because they are so busy fighting amongst themselves. so, you really can't look for as much of a legislative agenda. and then, it hurts the foundation, i think, because so many people see us as being tied, even though, you know, we are separate from the cbc. and if they feel like congress is doing nothing, they don't want to come to our conference because they think that we may not be doing anything. so, we've spent a lot of time just educating the public about, one, who we are, but also about realistically what congress can

do and what congress can't do, but also trying to get them civically engaged. okay, you're mad with your congress, then you need to go out and vote, you need to be engaged in your community. so, that's one of the major functions of our organization is to get people to get involved in their community and make a change. >> we've learned a lot this morning. you can learn a lot more on your website. you can start there if you'd like to learn more, even contribute or find out about scholarship programs and internships, too. we want to put that website up on the screen one more time, and we want to thank you for joining us on "viewpoint," again, as we launch black history month with congressional black caucus foundation. thank you for watching. enjoy the rest of your weekend, everybody. now back to "news 4 today." and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm angie goff. >> and i'm chris gordon. right now, let's take a look at

the headlines. crews are cleaning piles of trash from mcpherson square. that garbage was left by many occupy d.c. protesters who clashed with police yesterday. this is a live picture you're looking at at mcpherson square. the whole confrontation played out live yesterday right here on "news 4 today." protesters were arrested and a park police officer was assaulted. news 4's darcy spencer has more in a news 4 exclusive. >> reporter: this u.s. park police officer was injured after being hit in the face by a brick at the occupy d.c. encampment at mcpherson square. this exclusive video shows he needed help walking to an awaiting suv. police have arrested and charged the brick-thrower, described as one of the protesters, with assault with a deadly weapon. the assault happened on a day when u.s. park police swept the encampment, arriving before dawn on horseback.

>> we are being evicted! >> reporter: police in hazmat suits began clearing trash, debris and tents deemed to be health hazards. >> i'm going to take everything! >> reporter: protesters say their personal property was seized and ransacked. >> they told us this morning that they weren't going to be removing tents that were in compliance, but that seems to have been a lie. >> reporter: but then it got more intense. police in riot gear closed off sections of mcpherson square, setting up metal gates to keep occupiers out. that led to angry clashes with police and several arrests, including one man who hopped over the barrier. >> he's arrested. >> our purpose is to enforce the camping regulations. these regulations are being enforced -- >> it's an eviction! >> -- abatement. this is not an eviction. >> reporter: police spent hours cleaning out the encampment, hauling away bags of trash, tents and other belongings. a fork lift assisted in removing heavy and bulky items.

>> do you think occupy d.c. is over? >> no, no, not at all. i mean, the rest of the occupies are going strong. >> reporter: many of the dozens of tents erected here in mcpherson square are gone, including the so-called tent of dreams on the statue of general mcpherson. it's unclear what protesters will do next. >> i just don't think we're going to take this, and we are not going to stop. >> reporter: some portions of mcpherson square remain closed well into saturday evening. it's unclear what this police action means for this movement, but the protesters we spoke to are vowing to continue on. at mcpherson square, darcy spencer, "news 4 today." all right, a little cold out there this morning, and some flakes. >> bundle up. >> yeah, a few snowflakes. don't get people all excited now. >> well, i got excited. i like a little bit. i like it when it's like this, a little wet, a little conversation-maker. >> yeah, nothing wrong with that. >> keep it at that. >> well, don't worry, this is your kind of winter, no doubt about it. nothing more than conversational

flakes again this fine sunday morning. as you look out over washington, d.c., on a cloudy sunday, temperatures in town are generally in the middle and upper 30s. a touch colder across northern maryland, out towards the mountains of west virginia, where temperatures are just a bit closer to the freezing mark this morning. and as a result, as you can see here on live storm 4 radar, there's a little hint of snow across the maryland border, otherwise known as the mason-dixon line, and drifting ever so slowly and steadily down south. so hague yours town down to frederick, that hit of snow is coming in your direction. it's not going to add up to too much, but snowflakes flying nonetheless, mixing in with the rain drops in and around fairfax and loudoun county this morning. most of the precipitation is moving from west to east, so we're not expecting a whole lot. when i widen the view out, you can see what a thin little band that is that's coming down out of southern pennsylvania. so don't get your expectations too high on this one. mostly just rain drops and snowflakes through this morning.

might be enough to get the ground white. mostly grassy surfaces and elevated surfaces. white ground in northern maryland, that's going to be about the extent of it. temperatures for everybody today will climb into the upper 30s and low 40s. so, even if you're looking at snowflakes right now, they'll probably be gone by lunchtime. and by the time you sit down with a bowl of super bowl chili, it will be a memory. >> well, that could be as early as non, because we have a full afternoon of coverage leading up to kickoff at 6:20. >> well, then i should get the pot of chili started now. >> should have done it before you left for work! >> i'm behind the curve already. >> all right, thank you, chuck. >> okay. mitt romney has the momentum in "decision 2012." he just got back-to-back wins in the republican race for president. take a look at the results. romney finished with 48%. newt gingrich was a distant second with 23%. ron paul got third with 19% and rick santorum came in fourth with 11%. romney celebrated his win in a packed room of supporters in las vegas.

>> now, this is not the first time you gave me your vote of confidence, and this time, i'm going to take it to the white house. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is the first major contest in the west for the candidates. romney is coming off a win in florida. romney thanked nevada voters for their confidence in him, and he also said president obama should not claim credit for improving jobs. >> and if you take into account all the people who are struggling for work or have just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is over 15%. mr. president, america has also had enough of your kind of help. >> newt gingrich says he'll campaign all the way to the convention in august and catch up to romney by april. romney is also well ahead in the delegate count with 97 total.

gingrich has 30 delegates so far, santorum has 16 and ron paul has 7. it will take 1,144 delegates to win the republican nomination for president. well, we discussed the race and the field earlier this morning with "meet the press" moderator david gregory. he says he doesn't see gingrich dropping out any time soon. >> his strategy right now is to raise enough money, make enough noise, create a path to try to get to super tuesday, where he thinks he's got the opportunity to win some southern states and then get new momentum to keep this going until the convention. what he's going to have to do, and i think a lot of this is driven by some personal enmity on the part of gingrich for romney, is make two arguments -- one, that romney is simply disqualified from being the nominee when you think about the fall, and that he, newt gingrich, has a kind of conservative vision and platform that's distinctly different than romney's, as we move into a general election.

>> newt gingrich will be a guest on "meet the press" today to discuss his nevada results and his plans for the future. and you can see that right here on nbc 4 at 10:30 this morning. up next in the republican race is the caucuses, colorado and minnesota, both on tuesday. then right after that, another caucus in maine next saturday. angela? >> thank you, chris. we're less than 12 hours until super bowl xlvi. and after two weeks of waiting, the giants and patriots will square off tonight for the lombardi trophy right here on nbc 4. the players aren't the only ones preparing for the big game. yesterday, a local indiana high school team filled in for the giants and patriots to help the super bowl camera crew get ready. now, the kids say it was an opportunity of a lifetime. >> it's huge. it's the biggest game in all sports we get to be a part of and help out. >> they're running the exact

plays, the exact game plan that we're getting from coaches and players during our production meetings so we can rehearse and have the best possible broadcast in front of 150 million people on sunday night. >> the patriots are hoping to get revenge on the giants, who defeated them in super bowl xlii. and be sure to stick with nbc 4 all day. super bowl coverage starts at noon with kickoff at 6:30, and there's plenty of entertainment after the big game. the second season of "the voice" premieres after super bowl xlvi, followed by "news 4 at 11:00." a very special edition of the "today" show is next on nbc 4. it starts at 8:00, and it's coming to you from indianapolis, the site of today's super bowl. >> we get a preview right now from ann curry. she's joining us live. >> hey, chris and angie, good morning. that's right. well, coming up here on a special super bowl sunday morning here on "today," we are live in indianapolis. in fact, we are now on the very field, gearing up for the big game between the new york giants

and the new england patriots. we're going to have complete coverage, including the excitement that's been building for the fans and, of course, the fun we've been having here in indianapolis. guess what? natalie and savannah even checked out the nightlife and did some dancing last night. we're going to have details on that. plus, matt will be at the white house where he will be previewing his exclusive live interview with president obama during today's pregame show. and they have a number of things to talk about, including mitt romney's decisive win in last night's nevada caucuses. all that and more when we get started here on a super bowl sunday morning here on "today." chris and angie, back to you. >> we need to call matt up and tell him to stop by and say hello while he's in town. >> well, yes, you should, definitely. he's got a busy day. i think after the interview might be a better time than before, but, yeah, you should definitely. >> thank you, ann. have fun. >> all right, bye-bye. >> bye. >> do you have matt's number? >> yeah, in speed dial. >> all right. >> voice activated. matt. >> 7:43 right now.

safety concerns about boeing's newest plane. the issue that's led the company to inspect its much-high dreamliner. and it's the down side to a recovering economy. a look at some of the items that are about to cost you a whole lot more in the coming months.

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apartment at the time of the fire. a water sprinkler extinguished parts of the fire before firefighters showed up. this morning, investigators are looking into why the alarm never sounded. firefighters believe an unattended candle caused the fire. no one was hurt. well, this morning, an anne arundel county police officer is suspended and accused of spoiling a drug raid. police say corporal rick alexander tipped off drug dealers at a home on juniper street in shady side. investigators say alexander called the house just moments before officers showed up to serve a search warrant. according to police, that allowed the dealers to move nearly $830 worth of drugs out of the house. >> through our investigation, we believe that corporal alexander was knowledgeable of these folks and had had some prior contact with them. that's part of what we're looking at now is how extensive that was and how, in fact, they actually knew each other. >> investigators say they

recovered the drugs moved. alexander faces obstruction and conspiracy to distribute charges. he is currently out on bail. angie? the murder trial of george huguely is set to start tomorrow in charlottesville, virginia. huguely is accused of killing his former girlfriend, yeardley love, in may of 2010. his defense team says love played for virginia's women's lacrosse team and died of cardiac arrhythmia, caused by a combination of adderall and alcohol, but prosecutors say she died of blunt force trauma to the head. the first two days of the trial will be jury selection and the trial is expected to last around two weeks. boeing's brand-new airplane may now need some major repairs. the 787 dreamliner has not been in operation even a full year, and the company says it is looking into improper manufacturing related to the fuselage on some of the planes. boeing has only put five dreamliners in the air since september. more than 50 others are in

production, and boeing has a backlog of orders of 800 or more of the 787s. a cruise was anything but enjoyable for more than 200 people on two trips out of south florida. many of them were affected by a norovirus outbreak. the contagious illness causes nausea, cramping and other stomach pain. dozens of passengers on the "crown princess" ship got the virus while on their trip. they returned to florida yesterday. another ship is coming back today with more than 100 passengers and crew members sick on it. cruise officials don't believe the cases on the two boats are related, just an unfortunate coincidence. workers plan to disinfect both ships before they set sail again. well, school officials in new york say they will test the air quality at a high school where multiple students are suffering from tick-like symptoms. doctors originally said that the students at le roy high school were suffering from a psychiatric condition called

conversion disorder. that occurs in people prone to anxiety. well, yesterday at a public meeting, parents accuse the school of taking too long to figure out what's wrong with the students. >> you are not doing your jobs. you are not doing your job at all. [ applause ] and i'm tired of it! and we need to stand up as parents to fight for the rights of our children! >> now, the condition has also affected a woman not associated with the school. she says she believes that she does have conversion disorder because she knows she can treat the condition. russia's upcoming presidential election has caused thousands to gather in central moscow, demanding free and fair elections. the demonstrators braved bitterly cold temperatures to protest, pushing for transparency and requesting that no one vote for vladimir putin. many believe that parliamentary elections two months ago were tainted by fraud and are worried

next month's elections will be fixed as well. however, putin's camp believes the protesters are too divided to rally behind an opposition candidate, therefore, ensuring his fourth straight victory. now, just to give a full range of weather outlook, what about indy? we know a lot of this is coming out of the west. >> yeah, good weather, generally good weather. the most important thing, of course, it's in the dome, so that will help a lot, the lucas oil dome. so, that will prevent any weather-related problems for the people attending the super bowl, so that is welcome news. and for us, our weather also will be improving just in time for super bowl watching. don't go away.

well, the improving economy means you will have to pay more for a car. according to the national automobile dealers association, the average price of a new car is expected to go up 6% to $30,000. used cars are expected to rise 1%, while pick-ups and suvs could go up as much as 8%. also, more people will buy luxury cars. overall, u.s. vehicle sales are expected to go up 9% to almost $14 million this year. that's good for detroit. what's good for detroit is good

for the country and jobs and the economy. >> no doubt about it. >> we'll take it. >> for the car show, i did a test drive in the volkswagen missat? >> yes. >> built in chattanooga, tennessee. i was impressed by that. so not just detroit cars, but american cars. >> american cars, yes. >> sometimes when you buy a foreign car, you're helping american jobs. >> i bet you love that assignment. chuck assigned to drive a car? >> i did the pisat this year, last year i did the pan america. love that one. it's only four times the price of the volkswagen. it was $109,000, but ooh, was it nice! comfortable. >> well, if you are driving out early this morning, a good reason to be careful, because roads are slick. >> a little bit. some slippery spots in some remote areas, so be extra careful for that. there are snowflakes flying, mainly across northern maryland this morning, out into the mountains of west virginia. and if you see the snowflakes, back down 5 or 10 miles an hour on the speed, just to play it safe. good news is all this should be nothing more than a faint winter

memory by about noontime today. outside we are looking right now with our city camera over downtown washington. full cloud cover this morning, but i've been looking around and there are some thin spots in the overcast, especially down to the south of washington. and i think the thinning out of the cloud deck is going to continue starting late this morning and into this afternoon, and we might even begin to get a couple of breaks of sunshine here just before the sun doze do goes down, about 5:30 this afternoon. right now it's cloudy and chilly outside. 38 in washington and a lot of wet pavement in the area. 36 in prince george's county, 40 at the state house in annapolis, 34 in rockville and 34 also in gaithersburg, leesburg 34, dulles international airport reporting 36 degrees this morning. and there's no real super cold air anywhere. hagerstown is one of the cold spots at 32, martinsburg 33, winchester 32 as well. you can see here on radar, right at the freezing mark along the maryland/pennsylvania border. that's where we're getting a

little hit of snow early this morning. it might be enough to get a half an inch on the grassy surfaces. most of the interstates, though, are in pretty good shape. road beds have been well above freezing, so not a lot sticking to the actual pavement itself, but there may be some little, minor accumulations along some of the lesser traveled roads. so, just be careful first thing this morning. this will be sliding down towards frederick, maryland, over the next couple hours. mostly rain with mixing in snowflakes, prince george's county from buoy to brandywine, right through the heart of the city right now and even out towards the blue ridge, southern faulkier county, mostly in the form of light rain at this point in time. this little hit of snow right on the border, that's going to be it. drier air is just up to the north and west and high pressure's going to push the drier air down here. that will turn all the precipitation off by about late morning, about lunchtime at the latest, and then the dry air takes over, skies clear out a good bit overnight tonight and sunshine returns for tomorrow. so, that is welcome news. as far as our microcast here, there's the best chances for snow early this morning, but

notice as we get towards 9:00, 10:00 this morning, zoop, all just disappears right away, and breaks of sunshine will come back by later on this afternoon. so, rain and snow coming to an end before lunchtime. some afternoon clearing. highs today upper 30s and low 40s. so, by the time you're headed out to your super bowl party, most of the pavement should be dry, so that will be welcome news. just be extra careful, use a designated driver, if you can, if you're plan ining on that. 43 today but 52 with sunshine tomorrow and tuesday. next little chance of precipitation after this one will be late wednesday night. probably going to be mostly rain, but i couldn't rule out a few snowflakes into the predawn hours of thursday morning, but it does not look like a big winter event. >> all right. >> good afternoon today, good day tomorrow. >> very good. oh, absolutely. >> thanks, chuck. >> okay. well, this weekend, one d.c. man will have an extra incentive to watch the commercials during the super bowl. ♪ ♪ pizza hut, making great

♪ any way you like it, saucean, pepperoni, that's the one i get ♪ >> the man in that commercial is david johnson. that's the jingle he wrote that will debut before the super bowl. johnson won a nationwide contest for pizza hut. he also wins a year's worth of free pizza. >> i went to youtube and found an old pizza hut commercial, and when i heard it, i was like, i might be able to do something with that. so, i took it and kind of picked it apart and used the parts that i wanted and put them over a drum track that i made. and once i heard it and started writing to it, i thought, i might have a shot at this. >> good for him. and be sure to stay right here on nbc 4 after the super bowl for the season two premiere of "the voice." >> fiona apple, is that an influence of yours? >> i love fiona apple. >> so do i. >> i can hear it but i'm the only one who said it. >> ooh, the sibling banter, it

will continue. and get this, i'm going to be leading a live web chat on our website, nbcwashington.com. yes, i'm coming back in, i'm pulling a chuck bell. >> there you go. >> i'll be working tonight and hope that you will join us online to discuss everything from the musical talent to the judges to what they're wearing and what christina looks like. >> and it's fun to be online. >> and get this, i also heard from a couple of the people who will be on the show and they'll be in the chat as well. >> followers unite. all right, that's it for "news 4 today." we'll be back in 25 minutes with an update. >> don't forget to join us from an hour of news starting at 9:00. have a great morning, everyone.