we begin with breaking news

circling the globe tonight. legendary singer whitney houston has died. the 48-year-old was found in her hotel room by a bodyguard on the fourth floor of the beverly hilton hotel just before 3:30 west coast time. police responded to a call for an unconscious person. paramedics arrived there, tried to revive her, but they were not able to do that. at this point, police have not determined the cause of death. they do not suspect foul play. we know that the man who introduced us to whitney houston, clive davis was to host a pregrammy party. she was there to perform apparently. a lot of unanswered question, but again, the shocking news tonight, 48-year-old musical icon, whitney houston is dead. giel good evening, everyone. i'm aaron gilcrest. whitney houston became a superstar. her music touched millions. we'll hear from tho ez who knew her personally. but first, darcy spencer has

more on how whitney's fans are reacting tonight. >> reporter: here at radio one in downtown silver spring, the news of whitney houston's death is shocking the music world. >> reporter: rick till, a deejay plays a tribute to whitney houston. the singer's death announced this evening has stunned those who play her music over d.c.'s airwa airwaves. >> it's just so wrong. you're trying to figure out exactly what happened, how this happened. because she was 48 years old, you know? just so young. and she had so much more to give. it's a real tragedy 37. >> dejays here are taking calls from listeners, some of them crying as they talk about the impact houston and her music had on their lives. >> she inspired a lot of people with her music. the music she plays sometimes,

oh, it really gets me. >> a deejay with 93.9 shares her thoughts with the legacy whitney houston leaves behind. >> these people are immortalized in their music. and when you hear a whitney houston song, it's like they never die. when you say they're dead, no, it's going to take a while to accept it. it's unfortunate. but she has an amazing legacy and we can celebrate it. that's what we're going to do on the radio. >> again, whitney houston, sdan, at the age of 48, so far the cause of death has not been released. in downtown silver spring, darcy spencer, news 4. whitney's voice earned her seven consecutive number one hits, grammys, emmys, hundreds of other awards, too. her personal life overshadowed her talent over the past two decades. but right until the end, she was hoping for a comeback.

♪ i will always love you >> whitney houston was known for her powerful and pristine voice. debuting to platinum success in 1985. the cousin of pop icon deion warwick and god daughter of aretha franklin, she followed in their footsteps. her success led her to win six grammys and 22 american music awards as well as numerous other honors. she even gave acting a try. in 1992's "the bodyguard" returning to the big screen in other roles. but alongside those successes, houston faced several lows in her personal life. her 1992 marriage to singer bobby brown turned tumultuous with brown arrested several times on charges ranging from dui to domestic abuse. the couple divorced in 2007 and in interviews, houston blamed

her growing substance abuse on hiroki marriage. she admitted her addiction problem had become a daily way of life. after two stints in rehab, the singer tried for a comeback in 2009, but canceled a world tour, raising concerns ach a relapse. at the time of her death, whitney houston was reportedly gearing up for a comeback in the big screen in an upcoming musical drama. houston was 48 years. . >> we are joined with more on whitney houston's legacy. i know that you knew whitney personally. just your thoughts on this news tonight? >> it's awful. it's just tragic. you never expect to lose someone so young and someone so talented, you know?

you think they'll with with you forever. my thoughts go to her daughter, bobbi christine and her mom. to lose a child before you is unfathomable for me. and also her ex-husband bobby. you know, it's very sad. >> we're looking at some video of one of her songs. and you think about the song book she amassed over the course of her career, where does she fit? the history of pop music as we know it? >> i can't say exactly where she fits, but there aren't many above her, you know? in terms of success. i guess you have to talk about michael jackson in terms of voice, you know, maybe an aretha

franklin. >> when you think about how she'll be remembered, she's done so many songs. but we can't help think about her drug addiction. what do you think is going to be the lasting memory of whitney houston. >> i can hear her playing in the background right now. whitney houston will be remembered. whatever her personal issues were, no matter how people want to judge her because of that, i think we should all be grateful of the gift that god gave her and he allowed her to share that gift with us. >> very, very special voice. she was a very, very sweet woman and i will miss her dearly.

>> donnie simpson, we appreciate your time this evening and in sharing your perm thougsonal th about whitney houston. and many of you also talked about whitney houston's death on our facebook page. rosemary robertson watched her, i'm so sad. i loved her so much. i will hold her in my heart forever. arlee says r.i.p., whitney. my greatest song "greatest love of all "and "i will always love you." and steve barker wrote, we will always love you, whitney. mariah carey wrote, heartbroken in and in tears over the shocking death of my friend the incomparable ms. whitney houston. r.i.p. sister whitney houston. we will always love you. and i will always love you quickly became a trending topic on twitter tonight. and stay with news 4 and nbc washington.com for continuing coverage of the death of whitney houston. watch news 4 starting at 6:00 a.m. for the latest sde tails on

the passing of the 48-year-old music icon. and of course, tune into a special edition of "dateline." looking back at whitney houston's life and career. it airs tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. here on nbc 4. our other big story tonight, of course, is the weather. a snow squall swept across our area today. tonight, the big story is the cold and i can attest to the wind that came along with that cold air. meteorologist chuck bell in storm center 4 now with the latest. chuck? >> all right, the squalliness from the snow machine is not completely done with us just yet. you can see on storm 4 radar, snow showers continuing to go from north to south across the area. just spoke with my colleague who informs me the snow is starting to stick to the roads now. near his house in montgomery county. so be very, very careful if you're going to be doing late night traveling here. some of the snowflakes are starting to stick to the roads. unlike the earlier squall earlier in the day, now temperatures are well below freezing in the town. wind chills are headed down into

the single digits. how long will that last? that answer coming up. >> thank you, chuck. after the break, vdot is trying to figure out how a massive sign gave way and landed on top of a truck. ♪ and and i will always love you ♪ >> plus, our breaking story tonight, more on the passing of whitney houston. the legendary

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vdot says it it will inspect all its highway signs similar to a massive sign that fell on a punt near i-66 today. it happened near west ox road in fairfax county. the driver of that truck was not injured. however, vdot is still trying to figure out why that sign came down. it was more than 30 feet tall wf a 28-foot arm that extended over the interstate. mitt romney has broken his losing streak with two big wins tonight. he won the main caucuses, beating out ron paul, who was a close second. romney also got a vote of confidence during conservatives at a straw pole at the cpac conference in washington. that wrapped up with sarah palin revving up the conservative base. more on the details of a cold and windy forecast. and we'll have an update on the

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one of the industry's most icon iconic musicians whitney houston found dead at the beverly hills hotel. the cause of her death still undetermined at this hour. she was 48 years old. let's check in with meteorologist chuck bell now on this forecast. really cold and windy. >> a big deal of both of those things. unlike most every other day this winter where it really hasn't been cold. boy is it an ugly shade of cold.

wind chills are going to be down close to 0 by tomorrow morning in many neighborhoods. unlike just being cold, it's gong to be dangerously cold. we still have a little bit of gold left to deal with. flying snowflakes across the area. be ready for a real shot of cold air. 25 at national airport. winds out of the northwest at 22. gusting to 29 miles an hour. that has wind chills in the teens and single digits out there. our high today, only 43. we're finally breaking the streak. we had been above oovrj the last 19 days in a row. today was the first day below average in almost three weeks. 21 now in gaithersburg and rockville. fort belvoir at 25 degrees. and a lot colder air coming our way. 19 in hagerstown. 21 in leesburg.

the winds are still howling. these are the current wind gusts. closing in on 40-mile-an-hour wind gusts at andrews air force base. just to the north and west of downtown washington, wind chills of minus 5 and plus 10 by wake-up time tomorrow morning. so your sunday planner, cold. air temperatures, low 20s in the morning, climbing only to about the freezing mark for highs tomorrow. the winds are going to continue to howl tomorrow. the wind advisory is posted through the rest of the overnight hours. winds could gust 35 to 50 miles an hour between now and 7:00 a.m. in the morn pg we're not done with all the snow just yet. you can see another little hit of snow coming our way, coming down out of the state of pennsylvania, snowing all along the 270 corridor. not going to add up to much, but you might get a quick half an inch to an inch out there. now that the ground is starting to heat up as well, some of these things are going to stick.

so be ready for a very wintry start in the morning. the snow is going to be gone here long before you get up in the morning. but the winds will remain. chills down near 0. and the cold sticks through the day tomorrow. so overnight tonight, windy and cold. skies will clear out late after midnight. wake-up temperatures, 15 to about 23. wind chills down at or below 0. then tomorrow, highs only barely cracking the freezing mark with the wind around. the wind lays down sunday night into monday. another chance of some rain drops tuesday and back near 50 by the middle of the ♪ ♪

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>> terms travel down to north carolina. didn't really show up, though. >> there's a little bit of drama. >> today stogland was benched sfud and he was not happy about it. it's a four-point game. faust had a team high 15 points.

but the terms couldn't stop the plumley brothers. 16 points, 10 rebounds for mason plumley. ensuing maryland possession. down by 10. stoglin shoots off the mark. sent to the bench for four minutes. stoglin, 4 for 16 including 0 for 6 from beyond the arc. miles plumley cleans it up. here's what stoglin had to say. loved sitting that bench today. shaking my head. wow. here's more on why the coach decided to send him to the bench. >> his shot selection was not

great. it was hurting us. we can't shoot shots like that. but he's carried us. he's carried us. >> stoglin wrote later, never sweet after a russ. love -- loss. just frustrated. >> uva down at the break. second half, joe harris for three.

buries it. john hen son to zeller. next next defeats virginia. fear the beard. that's the slogan for ryan pearson. he's a candidate for the caa player of the year. tonight, pearson and the patriots on the road at unc will mington. it's nice. pearson wide open, he's smooth. knocks that down. he had 15 points, zen rebounds. patriots up five at the break. second half now, top of the your screen. playing good defense. he had a team high 16 points. later, brian allen drives and dishes to mike morrison.

big-time dunk. george mason beats unc wilmington 75-69. george mason with a 13-2 record. in the atlantic-10, george washington on the road against richmond. colonials down six. forces the turnover. this is sweet. alley-oop to david pelham. he had a team high 16 points. less than 1:30 to play. now tied at 64-64. colonials up two. last chance for the spiders. darian brothers for three and the win. uh-uh. no good. colonials get the rebound, that's it. george washington hangs on to beat richmond 69-67. snaps a five-game losing streak. wow, good for them. elsewhere, army defeats navy in

double overtime and american loses to holy cross, 59-52. and tomorrow, here on nbc 4 at 12:30, capitals on the road against the rangers. fun to look for. they've got to win that game. i'm excited. >> she's coming up on "saturday night live." that is our news for tonight. snl is next. we'll be back here tomorrow. hakeem is going to sit here for a while and watch snl. see you tomorrow night.

i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. [ applause ] >> hello. hello, i'm mitt romney. you have just caught men