tracking a winter storm right now. it is -- far out south there to our south now. but by the time it gets here, it could be bringing us some real snow. leave behind some we can shovel and good morning. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. it is friday, february 17, 2012. we will have more on that storm in just a few minutes. first, the latest on thes are cue of a 2-year-old girl and her fight for life. the girl was pulled from a house fire in prince george's county. it happened in the 6100 block of

hil-mar drive this morning. news4's megan mcgrath joins us with more this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. workers are here at the house. they are boarding up the town home here and you can see just how extensive the damage is. this was a very chaotic scene when firefighters arrived early this morning. some of the residents had been able to get out of the home on their own. but they informed firefighters when they arrived there was a 2-year-old girl trapped in a bedroom upstairs. that little girl is now fighting for her life. >> in the kitchen and spread to the second floor where the residents were sleeping. it was 2:00 a.m. and neighbor bell heard the commotion. >> to see the blaze, blazed up. like that. i was sitting in my neighbor's house across the street. i looked out and could you see the flames shooting up out of

the second floor. >> reporter: there were three adult, 9-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl inside the home. the smoke detector woke the adults up and they were able to rescue the boy but could not reach the 2-year-old girl. she was pulled out by firefighters. >> 2-year-old was found in the bedroom upstairs by the -- one of the first crews that went upstairs. she was pulled out of the window and down a ladder from the second floor down the ladder out front. >> reporter: the child was not breathing and emergency crews immediately began cpr. the girl was revived but is in critical condition. she remains in critical condition at an area hospital at this hour. now as important the 9-year-old boy he was also taken to the hospital and is being treated for smoke inhalation but expected to be okay. reporting live in district heights, megan mcgrath, news4. >> thank you, megan. it is pretty clear now but if you were out early this morning it was a soupy mess out there. we shot this video overnight, fog socked in the washington monument and we can't even see

it. could you only see a half of the monument actually and the lights give you a good idea just how thick that fog is. taking a look outside right now, a little sun out on what is expected to be another mild afternoon. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. hey, tom. >> good morning. yet a fog developed quickly and only last ad couple of hours right in washington. then dissipated quickly but remained throughout parts of central virginia, southern maryland near the bay. into mid morning. now it is just about all gone there. and temperatures are warming up now with the sunshine and 50 degrees at reagan national. mid 40s in montgomery county. upper 40s in fairfax and arlington counties and near 50 in prince george's county. much of southern maryland, northern neck, eastern shore also near 50. it is beginning to climb into the low 50s across north central virginia and from fredericksburg to culpeper, charlottesville, cooler shenandoah valley into the panhandle of west virginia, western maryland where it is in the low and mid 40s now. over the last 12 hours we had

the fog dissipating and the cloud cover breaking up. it is a afternoon progresses we have plenty of shine and temperatures climbing into the mid and upper 50s with the wind coming out of the north-northwest as well later this afternoon. gusting to 20 miles per hour. it will feel a little bit cooler than that. and here we are talking about temperatures in the 50s today and maybe again tomorrow but then snow for sunday. i will have all of the latest on that. that will be coming up in just a couple of minutes. barbara? >> we want to hear that, tom. we will see new a few minutes. delays the beltway from a deadly crash that happened early this morning. police say one person was killed when a car and tractor trailer collided on the inner loop near connecticut avenue in montgomery county. the accident cause the car to catch on fire. it happened around 3:00 this morning shutting down part of the inner loop. police began opening the lanes at about 6:30 this morning. let's check and see how things are moving out there now. here is danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning. it was tough morning taking the

beltway in montgomery county. now we have another accident. this time the outer loop of the beltway just past georgia avenue and you can see some delays around colesville road. georgia avenue. on i-66, construction slowing down just a bit at nutley. it is in the left lane blocking the left lane for you as you make your way to the beltway. not seeing any accidents for you. just some delays as you make your way past the road work here. barbara, back to you. >> thanks, danella. right now attorneys are offering closing arguments in the trial against a man charged with killing an off-duty state trooper. prosecutors say that he did it to exact revenge after trooper wesley brown kicked him out of a restaurant. news4's tracee wilkins is in upper marlboro with the latest. >> reporter: closing arguments are being presented by the defense and prosecution in the murder trial of maryland trooper wesley brown. the prosecution opened their arguments with the attorney asking the jury why are you disrespecting me. why are you disrespecting me?

she says, it is the last words trooper brown heard before the defendant shot him to death in front of that applebees in in june of 2010, wesley brown was shot and killed while working off duty security outside of an applebee's. the sarah began and after williams was kicked out of the applebee's by trooper brown and another trooper he picked up a gun from a friend and returned to the restaurant where he shot and killed the trooper. a friend of the accused has already pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact for hiding the gun used in the crime in his backyard. also came out that williams tried to intimidate a witness in this case as well. today the judge gave the jurors instructions and closing arguments began. the defense argued that there's no dna evidence to support the state's case throughout this trial. the closing statements are continuing at this time. once they are done the jury will then deliberate. williams is facing charges for

first-degree murder and use of a handgun during a crime. also carrying a handgun. upper marlboro, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. >> the father of a former you don't know of virginia lacrosse player accused of murdering his ex-girl friend is expected to take stand today. george huguely, seen here walking into court this morning, wanted the trial to be postponed for a second day because one of his attorneys is ill. the judge, however, ruled that proceedings would resume. the defense called their first witness on wednesday who testified that yeardley love suffocated in a pool of blood while lying face down in her pillow. working to prove hoougy's ex-girlfriend did not die there from a blow to the head as prosecution argued. the defense is not expected to rest today which means court will be in session tomorrow. a warning as you head out of the door this weekend. overnight more than a half dozen armed robberies have been reported in the district. officers handed out fliers to people on the street and warning them about the recent rise in

street robberies. police are targeting people with handheld device like iphones, ipads and ipads. you could say president obama played a role in a big drug bust, small plane flew into marine one's air space in los angeles while the was onboard. it was escorted to a nearby airport and that's where authorities fo pounds of marijuana onboard. the secret service says the president was never in any danger. 11:08 is our time. coming up, a workplace shooting inside of a federal building. law enforcement agents are involved. why congresswoman eleanor holmes norton got up and walked out of a congressional hearing. and get ready for a whole new look for this wife of a wounded warrior. hear how she likes her hair, makeup and clothes. we will see her for the first time in

the journalism world is mourning the loss of a pulitzer prize winning reporter. anthony shadid died yesterday in syria. "new york times" reports it appears he died from an asthma attack. shadid worked at "the washington post" before going to "the times." most recently he was filing reports on arab spring uprising in egypt and lebanon.

he was 43 years old. today congress will vote on the payroll tax cut extension. we are taking a live look at the house floor where the voting process is expected to start anybody minute now. the bill keeps the two percentage point cut in the payroll taxes through the end of the year. it also reduces unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to at most 73 weeks. there's some controversy to this bill as it will add $100 billion to the national deficit. this is congress' last day before going on break for the next week. tensions were high on the congressional hearing on contraception. >> i want to have the right to make a parliamentary inquiry. >> state your parliamentary inquiry. >> d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton stormed out shortly after that. the hearings stemmed from the rule requiring faith-based employers to provide insurance for birth control. norton says she was outraged because the panel included only

men and her female guest was denied entry. >> if they were violating our first amendment rights to talk about that aspect of the controversy that by the way, it is what most women and most families were concerned about. >> nowing a second panel for the hearing did include two female guests. maryland lawmakers could vote on the same-sex marriage bill as early as this afternoon. last night the house of delegates approved an amendment to make the law effective next january instead of this october. the idea is to allow more time to bring the gay marriage issue up for voter referendum in november. advocates of same-sex marriage have been working to get a few more votes to reach the 71 needed to pass the bill. we have the guy that's making news today. tom, you have to tell us about this snow you think may be come thing weekend. >> yeah. you know what, it could be our biggest snowstorm of the season so far.

big deal. we only had two inches so far at reagan national. if we get over two inches that will be a big snowstorm this winter. we might get a little over two inches or so around the metro area. i will show you my early estimate of the amounts we may get on sunday. right now it is 50 at reagan national. we do have lots of sunshine north to northwesterly breeze at you a round 10 to 20 miles an hour. actually feels a bit cooler than that. and right now temperatures around the region are in the mid 40s to near 50 degrees throughout much of the region. right around the bay, it is near 50. west and north, temperatures there are in the mid 40s around the shenandoah valley and into the mountains. and closer to washington, mid 40s in montgomery county and upper 40s now in fairfax and arlington, near 50, prince george's county much of southern maryland. now as we look at the last 12 hours, we have had the cloud cover breaking up and the morning fog as well. all dissipating. lots of sun around the region now. for the rest of the afternoon,

plenty of shine and it will be cool and breezy. winds out of the northwest gusting to 20. but temperatures in the mid and upper 50s. feeling a bit cooler with that wind. then overnight tonight, clear sky and we will have our temperatures upper 40s, early evening then down to the low 40s by midnight. it will be a little chilly, too, with that wind. the wind will be diminishing. now as we take a look at what's happening right now, here's the storm that's going to be affecting us on sunday. already now it is forming and spreading rain into texas. it is part of an area of low pressure that's centered over northern mexico but that low should track east later today and then move northeast on saturday and then sunday morning, looks like this whole green zone will likely be rain and then some snow perhaps well west of the panhandle of west virginia into western maryland. best sunday morning. then the low will go just off cape hatteras coastline. it will bring the snow line farther south and looks like

quite a bit of snow for northern virginia drishgts and maryland, large area of snow. but the amounts are not going to be huge with this. this is not major storm. here's how much i think we may get. this is an early estimate, four inches or more possible for our northern montgomery county and to frederick and washington counties in maryland. mostly in jurnlg, loudoun couvi fauquier, a broad range that could get four inches or more. around the metro area much of the snow will be melting on roadway was mild temperatures expected today and again tomorrow. the road temperatures will be above freezing. it may pile up as much as four inches on grassy areas but generally less than that around the metro as s the way it looks now. for the rest of the day, we will have to have sunshine, mid 50s and upper 50s. overnight tonight clear and getting cold by dawn saturday, near 30. saturday afternoon, mid 50s. and that's going to play a big role on those road temperatures which clouds come in on saturday night should keep it warmer and

actual will you mostly above freezing. by dawn sunday, probably the mid and upper 30s and then we will hold steady with some of thain that rain moving in sunday morning and then sunday afternoon and into sunday evening, it is likely when we will have that rain changing over to snow and accumulating snow. it does appear right now and again it is not looking like a big storm but certainly the biggest one of the season so far is the poe ten hal and that area far north and west of us could get four inches or more but generally the metro area one to four inches. then all ending late sunday night. sun back on presidents' day. we may have icy spots on monday morning. certainly with temperatures in the 20s and afternoon highs monday afternoon near 40. and then maybe some rain as we get into mid week next week. stay tuned. we will probably be adjusting these totals a we get into the afternoon and on saturday, too. we will maybe increasing them or lowering them but that's the general look now.

>> are you going to get out your cross-country skis? >> well, might be able to use them for a little while. maybe sunday late in the day. >> thank you, tom. we will see you. let's check on the midday traffic. here is danella sealock again. >> taking the rails, metro single tracking again between naylor road and southern avenue. this is scheduled track work and you are going to see some delays on the green line. now on the roads, want to show you i-66 as you travel east at nutley. left late is blocked by the road work there. you are seeing volume as you continue to the beltway. no accidents in the roadway but road work is slowing you down. and i-270 looks so much better at falls road. it was a mess this morning due to the accident on the inner loop. but right now smooth sailing as you head southbound and connect to the beltway. barbara, back to you. >> 11:18. still ahead on "news4 midday," bobby brown compares his love for whitney houston with his love of god. hear what else he had to say about his former wife at a local

concert. they are from d.c. but are getting national attention for their dancing talent. they are going to share a little of that with us coming up. here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. [ clanking ]

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brothers john and leo monzarri are rising stars in the dance world. tonight they are going to help pay tribute to duke ellington at strathmore hall. this morning they are joining us in the studio to show us some of their moves. welcome back. you were here about a year ago and we loved seeing you. come back and see us and we are glad you are both back in washington. you are away at school now. >> i am. >> manhattan college. >> you are still in high school. what braid? >> i'm a junior. >> we are so glad to have you back with us. how did you get started tap dancing here in washington? >> well, i started when i was 3 and then years later he started when he was 2. my mom just saw us, you know, trying to run out to the dance floor when mom and sister were trying to rehearse with her competition studio. she put news.

i guess it became a family tradition. >> i guess it has. people noticed you. you actually played in the duke ellington sophisticated ladies at the arena stage at 2010. how did you get that part? >> we went to the duke ellington school for a class and then one of the times -- he asked us to come to the audition. >> you look great. tap dancing brother himself. >> he is. >> like seeing the two of you dance together. show us what's coming up tonight at strathmore hall.

♪ >> wow. all right. that's a taste of what we will see tonight. strathmore hall. have you something coming up on sunday as well. is that right? >> yes. >> a part of this weekend at the strathmore. >> we are so excited to have you with us. congratulations for doing so well. everybody is noticing you. >> thank you very much. >> people asking for your autographs when they see you on the streets of washington? not quite yet? >> not quite yet. >> that's coming i suspect having seen you dance. thank you, john.

leo. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> it is now 11:24. coming up in the next half hour of "news4 midday" a tragedy in california. law enforcement officers shooting each other. the latest what caused the shoot-out. plus, a mild start to the holiday weekend. but sunday could bring cold rain and snow. tom kierein will have an update. and a lot of you are anxious to see today, the results of our healing hearts makeover. wife of a wounded warrior tells her story and reveals her brand-new look. we can't wait to see her.

right now on "news4 midday," congress has just started the process of voting on the payroll tax cut extension. which will last through the end of the year. and it also reduces unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to at most 73 weeks. live pictures from the floor. . the senate will take up the measure this afternoon. this is congress' last day

before going on break next week. federal investigators are looking into a shooting that left one federal agent dead and another injured. it happened last night at an immigration office in long beach, california. police say it appears one agent opened fire on his superior after getting into an argument. a third agent then opened fire on the shooter, killing him. >> escalated. one agent fired several rounds at the other agent wounding him. another agent working nearby intervened and fired his weapon to prevent additional rounds being fired at the victim. this resulted in the death of the shooter. >> the injured agent is in stable condition. authorities believe that the shooter was acting alone and this was an isolated incident. thome to a los angeles-styl casino but not without controversy among county leaders. in a statement county executive baker says that he wants to develop a world class destination that features

gaming, live shows, dining, and lodging. he wants to build that facility at a vacant area of the harbor. baker estimates it would cost $1 billion and bring 5,000 jobs to the county. county residents tell news4 they like the job creation idea. >> does a good thing for the community, you know. definitely a good thing. it definitely is rough out here. definitely rough. >> lot of people that want jobs. it is hard out here to find jobs. >> i don't mind. brings money to the county and jobs. and they are leaving the county to do it anyway, going to other places so why not. >> prince george's county members of the maryland legislature have complained about the proposal. they say they had no advanced knowledge of it. some fear it could damage a proposed slots bill. elementary school in virginia is closed because of a norovirus outbreak. a number of students and teachers at the cople elementary school have come down with that

virus. as a precaution the school will be closed today. virginia health department officials say that if your child experiences any symptoms keep them home for at least 48 hours after the symptoms have ended before sending him or her back to class. metro is helping george washington university in a cleanup effort to prevent the norovirus from spreading in that area. nearly 100 students have gotten sick. school officials are asking students to wash their hands more often. metro wiped down surfaces at foggy bottom that services the gw campus and hospital. > . united medical center in southeast d.c. says the cash will help new branding and forgive a $6 million loan. ing the million took over medical late last year after the previous owners defaulted. many council members pushed to keep it open because it is the only hospital east of the

anacostia but other city officials want to sell it quick flip mayor gray said he will carefully review the request. the debate over what to do with that hop is what reportedly triggered a profanity laced confrontation between council members david cat na ya and barry this week. washington examiner reporter allen blander was the only member of the press present at this dispute. he says barry asked a question about the future of the hospital to which he took offense. he takes credit for helping rescue the united medical from bankruptcy. we are talking snow for the weekend. let's get an update from tom kierein now in storm center 4. >> right now we have plenty of sunshine and temperatures around the region are near 50 degrees in washington. and it is in the mid and upper 40s. montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's counties, hitting the low 50s in north central virginia. and into the central shenandoah valley points west, it is in the mid and upper 40s. later today with the sunshine

will climb into the 50s. the storm affecting us this weekend an area of low pressure, northern mexico and south texas. it will be coming our way saturday into the east and heading northeast saturday night into sunday. sunday morning rain most areas in green there. and then snow well west of us in that area in white. that would be sunday morning. then sunday afternoon low pulls off of cape hatteras drawing in colder air and the change the rain to snow and sunday afternoon and perhaps into sunday evening. how much? well, right now preliminary estimate is -- my early estimate is we could get four inches or more in that dark blue zone and that would include loudoun county, parts of frederick and washington county, far northern montgomery county and right along the blue ridge and fauquier, rap hannon, madison, green, into the shenandoah valley as well as into eastern and west virginia. then after that, we will get some sunshine back on monday with highs near 40. but the factors today into the 50s and tomorrow cold start but into the 50s again.

saturday afternoon. lot of the road temperatures will be above freezing when we do that changeover to snow sunday afternoon and evening. lot will melt on roadways. much of the accumulation may be on grassy areas. after that, probably getting rain mid week next week as the front comes through on wednesday. that's the way it looks now. barbara. >> okay, tom. thank you. some of you may be getting ready tone joy a long holiday weekend. but if you plan on heading into the district on metro, you will want to give yourself extra time. aaron gilchrist is at the super screen with a look at closures you could run into. >> metro is using the long weekend to do major track work. three stations will be closed on two different lines. first let's talk about the orange line. you will find that on that particular line, the clarendon and the courthouse stations will close at 10:00 tonight for some switch work there. metro providing free shuttle buses between rosslyn and virginia square stations on the orange line and get you around those closures. the other closures are going to be on the red line.

and what you will find is that you won't have access to the stations at grovener. that will be closed to improve cell phone service. all of these stations will close tonight at 10:00 and then you won't see them reopening until tuesday morning at rush hour because the presidents' day holiday is on monday. metro will be on a weekend schedule on monday. now back to you. >> okay. thank you, aaron. several virginia roads will soon have new route numbers. three local parkways have been wrup graded from secondary to primary routes. the prince william parkway will change from route 3000 to route 294. fairfax county parkway reads 7100 and it will become route 286. the franconia-springfield parkway changes from route 7900 to route 289. it means all three roads will now be eligible for new funding

and maintenance from the federal government. and it means danella has to memorize new numbers for the roads. >> barbara, you are right. changing maps and everything. let's focus on today and right now, the metro. the green line, still seeing single tracking between naylor road and southern avenue due to schedule track work. you can expect delays if you are taking the green line. traveling on i-66 eastbound, left lane still blocked by the road work there. slow as you make your way to the beltway. speaking of the beltway, virginia, no issues there at all. wonderful travel speed. 59 miles per hour. happy friday. back to you. >> no snow out there yet. >> not yet. keep your fingers crossed. virginia state lawmakers killed a bill that would have strengthened the quell's no texting while driving law. right now it issing a secondary offense. officers can only ticket violators if they are pulled over for another offense like speeding. it would have made a primary offense. texting isn't the only thing

distracting drivers these days. safety experts say your dashboard is just as bad. many new vehicles have an interactive dashboard that includes navigation and climate control and cell phone options and web browsing. now the national highway safety traffic safety administration wants to disable the web features while drivers are behind the wheel. car dealers say the electronics are built with safety in mind. >> it is designed to keep your eyes on the road. your hands are on the wheel. and it is designed to be a safety feature as well as convenient. if they started making mandatory to not put technology in or restrict the use it would hurt sales. >> safety experts say they don't want to get rid of all of the features. they just want some like the web feature the only be available while the vehicle is in park. late night comedy news anchor stephen colbert suspended tapings of his show. sources close to the comedy central show say that it is because colbert is dealing with a family emergency. all the network is saying is

that it will air repeats during an unforeseen circumstance. tape cog resume as soon as next week. the newseum is marking the presidents' day weekend by opening an exhibit. every four years the presidential campaigns and press a new exhibit that looks at the evolution of campaign media coverage over the past 100 years. it includes over 120 artifacts dating back to campaigns in the 1800s. there are also some more recent pieces including the suit tina fey wore to play sarah palin and blue suit amy wore to play hillary clinton in a 2008 "snl" sketch. the exhibit opens today. 11:38. still ahead, alarming ingredient found in some baby food. bobby brown takes a local stage when he told the

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we are following breaking news out of the district. police are on the scene of a deadly shooting in northeast washington. i had happened at a homeless shelter in the 1300 block of new york avenue. the police do have a suspect in custody, we understand. no word on the identity, though, of the victim. fda issuing a warn being a battery powered toothbrush. wait until you hear this. the warning is for the arm & hammer spin brush, also known as crest spin brush. the fda says that there have been several reports of injuries including chipped teeth, cuts in the mouth and gum swallows and injuries to the face and eyes. fda says that users should inspect the spin brush before damaged or as bristles might cause some damage. be sure to check it out before you use it if you have one of those. an ingredient used? organic foods including baby formula could be toxic. scientists at dartmouth found high levels of arsenic in organic brown rice syrup.

that sear is up used as a sweetener. researchers say they found high levels of arsenic in two baby formulas, babies only organic dairy toddler formula and babies only soy toddler formula. both made by nature's one. nature's one issued a statement saying that their testing results found undetected apartments of arsenic. the tests they did themselves. we have breaking news from capitol hill now. the house approved a compromise measure extending payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits and check in now with cnbc. >> hi, barbara. commodities definitely in focus especially as consumers have to keep on increasing the amount at the gas pump. early afternoon thejed up slightly this morning. investors were wary of making big bets heading into the holiday weekend. when greece's bailout plan expected to be approved. the rising s&p 500 continues after the index posted the best daily gain in two weeks on

thursday, touching a nine-month high. greek officials said they have done everything asked of them by the eurozone finance ministers to approve a $130 billion euro bailout rescue package october monday when the u.s. market will be closed for presidents' day holiday weekend. now, equity markets tended to react positively on progress, helping greece avoid a chaotic bailout. agreements at times, though, however, have broken down at the last minute so today once again greece remains in focus. keep in mind our markets closed at pretty historic highs in yesterday's trade. the question is now can the dow break 13,000. let's hope so. right now we haven't done it just yet but i'm watching that very closely. >> we will keep an eye on that, too. thank you. today is the final of our healing hearts makeovers. a new look for three special women pouring their time and emotions into recovering of their wounded warriors. the makeovers came as a surprise

for all of the women on valentine's day. did you enjoy your tour? we welcomed wives, mothers and one sister, soldiers and marines injured in iraq and afghanistan. who were being treated at local military hospitals. many of these women are a long way from home. here helping their loved ones to recover. we thought we would do something nice to honor what they do every day. they got some gift bags with lots of things inside. including some certificates for some wonderful services, haircuts, skin treatment, and provided for promotional consideration, three of our visitors happened to pick bags with a giant 4 inside. that was good for a full head-to-toe makeover. those three headed first to nkne men marcus. megan was one of the wounded warrior wives who was getting a full makeover start with brand-new outfit from neiman

marcus. liberty jones helped to look for something to lift her spirits. >> she can wear any color. something you don't already own, something that's not in your closet already. this could be a big color. let's go in and find -- >> reporter: michelle, sales and education coordinator for bobbi brown cosmetics in the washington area, did a few practice changes on megan. >> we gave her that little pop of color on the cheek. that's a bobbi signature. we want everybody to have that. it makes you feel a little bit brighter and happier. we gave herly color. she doesn't wear lipstick on a regular basis. i want to give her a regular color to keep it in a comfortable range. >> reporter: we were off to pr partners salon. >> what do you normally do? pony? >> reporter: jackie rodriguez asked megan about her life and how much time she had to worry about her hair. >> we are going to leave her enough length so she can put it in a ponytail. her hair is very fine. we want to create texture and

dimension and do highlights and lowlights and throw in layers and show her how she can do it fairly quickly to achieve a beautiful look in e morning without a lot of effort. >> this was our last before look at megan. and here she is now. we are seeing a big smile on your face. we didn't see that the other day. are you feeling pretty happy? >> i feel amazing. >> was it fun? >> yes, a lot of fun. >> you haven't had a whole lot of fun in the last year. you have been very, very busy with your husband and we are so happy to be able to surprise you with this. i think you really enjoyed it. >> i did. >> tell us a little bit. first of all, what's your husband say? >> i he thinks it is amazing and loves it a lot shorter. >> the makeup? >> good. >> clothes are wonderful. that's a great color on you. tell us, remind us of what happened to your husband. >> my husband was deployed for 16 months from '06 to '08.

he has a couple of -- major depression disorder, four bulging disks in his back. he had foot surgery. he is doing a lot better. >> you are in the washington area a long way from home. we are from wisconsin. >> you are here as he recovers. >> yes. >> we are so excited about the way you look and the way you are feeling. >> thank you. >> what about the other ladies? i know you have all been together in this. everybody sharing the happiness of this week? >> we have all been thrilled. it is a treat. >> we would like to ask our ladies to come in who helped bring this -- to fruition. we got liberty and michelle and jackie. thanks so much for doing this with all of the young ladies we had this week. the wives, mothers, sister, we had two who came and knew you all gave them lots of other treats, too, in those bags.

haircuts and makeup. i hope you will continue. i hear you are going to keep this curly look up. >> i am. it won't be long again. >> it is great. still get -- can you still get tonight a ponytail? >> no, but that's okay. >> we had a great time doing this week. it is our second year. we hope to keep it going. next year on valentine's day. shh. don't tell anybody. great to have you with us. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. our time right now is 11:49. coming up, aretha franklin talks about singing at whitney houston's funeral. tom kierein will have a final check of the storm that could bring us snow or rain thing weekend. stay with news4 all afternoon. at 3:00

aretha franklin and stevie wonder will be singing at the private funeral of whitney houston tomorrow. tommy mcfly from 94.7 fresh a.m. is here to talk about that and bobby brown's appearance. >> a lot of crazy details coming out about the funeral and about what's going on. actually aretha was on the

"today" show this morning. >> final preparations are under way as we know from whitney's private funeral tomorrow in new jersey. we understand that whitney houston's mother, cissy houston, who we all know, many of us remember her as being a very famous singer, asked aretha franklin to sing. i think she was asked about that this morning on the "today" show. let's have a listen. >> we heard that you will be singing at the funeral. >> mm-hmm. >> how difficult is that going to be for you? >> it is not going to be easy. i will tell you that. it is not going to be easy. but cissy asked me to and i'm just going to try to do my best. >> i know a lot of people will be tuning in. i think she is the godmother of whitney houston. >> yes. >> so she will be singing. there will be a lot of very well-known people there. kevin costner, oprah winfrey. >> yes. they are talking about who will be there. clive davis will be there, of course. tyler perry, kevin costner,

co-star in "the bodyguard." oprah was invited. she hasn't confirmed. i-can't imagine she wouldn't show. alicia keys as well. ining there was a plastic surgesurge -- plastic surgeon who turned her away because she was not able to go for the procedure but was denied. the surgeon claims he turned her away. >> last pictures i saw of her, so beautiful. gained a little bit of weight but still absolutely beautiful woman. dionne warwick, is she going to be there? she's the cousin. she's the cousin of cissy houston. second cousin. >> there was a big family dispute because half the family wanted to have her buried in atlanta and have the services there. but then earlier this week tyler perry on his private jet flew

her remains to new jersey. >> i guess if that's where she got her start singing and her family is from there. i interviewed dionne warwick. she talks about the same church where she got her start. bobby brown has been invited, we understand. there was some controversy about whether he would be included because we heard that his mother -- her mother did want him there. >> understandably so. >> what did he say? >> last night he had some words to whitney last night. >> let's have a listen. >> love for whitney. that's my love. life is life. you have to move on sometimes. i love her like i love god. >> word he will be at the funeral tomorrow and then he has a show that night. i don't know if he planned the tour that way or booked an extra

show knowing he would be in virginia -- or new jersey. >> i'm sure that his daughter -- do they have a relationship? bobby and brown and whitney houston's daughter? >> sort of. i know her daughter was closer with whitney. she sent out tweets as early as december saying this is my mom, my love. pick of her and her mom. that's such a heartbreaking thing this poor kid is in the middle of that. >> we thank you so much, tommy, for bring us up to speed on this news. we want to let everyone know that we will be be streaming the funeral life on nbcwashington.com tomorrow. it begins at 1:00. let's take a look now at some of the stories we are following for news4 this afternoon. steve harvey reflects on the death of whitney houston. also ahead, as if designer dennis bosso reveals his inspiration behind his 2012 fall fashion line. and tonight at 5:00, quick bites. "washington post" food critic introduces us to a new restaurant getting buzz for some very unique new menu items.

we have time now for a last look at our forecast for this friday midday. >> we have some sunshine now around the region. and temperatures are really climbing now as we approach the noon hour. it is into the low 50s in washington. mid 50s across central virginia. and 40s farther to the north and west. and as we look at what's been happening from space over the last 12 hours, cloud cover has been breaking up. and we have got the -- quite a bit of sunshine and we will have a clear night tonight but it is going to get cold after we reach the mid 50s this afternoon. down to near 30 by dawn tomorrow. increasing clouds on saturday and then some rain sunday morning. looks like it will clang over to some accumulating snow sunday afternoon and evening. ending late sunday night. then monday for presidents' day cold in the morning. whatever snow falls will be stuck in place. icy spots and cold day on presidents' day with the bright sun, highs just to the upper 30s to near 40. milder tuesday and towards mid week. wednesday, maybe some rain. here is an early estimate of what i think we may get on

sunday. we will be adjusting this later today. and over the weekend, too. stay tuned. we could increase or decrease the potential amounts, also the area that may get some of the heavier snow adjust a bit, too. stay tuned. >> you are going to be here monday? >> i will. >> we are going to be cooking one of lincoln's favorite dishes monday. i might even bring a cherry pie. >> great. >> celebrate washington's birthday. that's "news4 midday." thanks for joining us and tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, tonight at 11:00. news through the weekend. see you [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone

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