our teaching staff did an excellent job and it's been a very horrible experience this morning. >> a deadly shooting at a high school today in ohio. good afternoon, everyone. i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. it was a shooting rampage by the time the bullets stopped flying one student was dead and four others wounded. the gunman a fellow classmate opened fire inside a high school in chardon, ohio not far from cleveland. he is now in police custody. the community is asking why. >> we have an active shooter at the high school. >> reporter: the gunshots rang out before the first bell at chardon high school this morning. >> that's when we looked to see what was happening. it sounded like a fire cracker almost. >> reporter: nate mueller quickly learned it wasn't fireworks but a full on attack. a fellow student armed with a hand gun systematically fired on classmates gathered in the school cafeteria. >> we were at the table right next to him. he was in three feet of us.

and three of the victims were at my table as well. >> reporter: mueller was grazed by one the gunshots. >> right here on my ear. i was actually as i was turning away from the gunman he caught me right on the ear. i got lucky. somebody was looking over me i guess. >> five of his classmates were not. one killed during the rampage, four others rushed to area hospitals. >> i certainly hope the families know they're in our thoughts and prayers. >> reporter: as the prayers continue so does the search for answers here. witnesses describe the gunman as silent and determined during his attack. the teenager was apparently forced from the building by a teacher and surrendered to bystanders a few blocks from the school. many caught in the cross fires say they never had any clues the suspect might turn violent. >> i don't think anybody ever expected it to be him. >> never would you ever think this -- i mean, it's just one of your worst nightmares. you don't think this would ever

happen. >> unfortunately it's all too real for this community, struggling to understand how and why it happened hwan comes next. jay gray, nbc news, chardon, ohio. today is an important day for two prince george's county firefighters critically injured over the weekend. 21-year-old ethan sorrel and 22-year-old kevin o'toole are recovering this afternoon at washington hospital center. they were injured when a gust of wind created a wall of fire while battling a blaze at this riverdale home. today doctors will examine sorrell's airway. o'toole has burns over 40% of his body and is having a skin graft today. their families spoke today at a news conference. >> took the longest ride in the world, four and a half hours from new york, and not knowing what to expect. it was worse than we expected. >> i just pray every day the lord will bless him and

strengthen him and see him through this. >> five other firefighters were injured battling this fire. they were treated and released from the hospital. an over night jump in gas prices put the prices closer to the $4 a gallon mark. the latest survey by the automobile association, american automobile association, triple-a, finds gas in the district averages $3.84 a gallon up two cents in a day. maryland's average is up about half a cent to $3.67. at $3.61 virginia drivers are also paying a half cent more for a gallon of gas and in west virginia the average price is $3.78. >> now on to presidential politics. tomorrow's the michigan primary and it is crucial to mitt romney. if the polls are accurate this evening his chances for victory have improved after rick santorum has revealed his passionate christian conservativism on a number of social issues. steve handelsman spoke to santorum today. he's in detroit with the story

on the eve. >> reporter: the day before the michigan primary in a state ravaged by recession rick santorum is still spending time on social issues. like the obama plan for birth control distribution. >> there's santorum talking about social issues again. no, i'm talking about freedom. i'm talking about government imposing themselves on your lives. >> reporter: santorum's lead in michigan polls is down to a tie. >> if you had it to do again would you change how you campaign here at all? >> i think we're doing remarkably well for being as out spent as we are and feel very, very good about the reaction we're getting as we travel around the state of michigan. >> but in a restaurant near detroit the reaction of some was negative. >> i think santorum is too extreme. you hear some of the things he says about his views and i think that he's too extreme. >> reporter: some are switching back. >> very disappointed in romney, naturally, being from around

here. but i'm still going to go for him. >> reporter: mitt romney, born and raised in michigan. he did oppose the auto bailout but he's campaigned about jobs and charged today santorum has not. >> this has got to be a campaign about the economy. it's time for him to focus on the economy. >> reporter: romney switched the focus clumsily to his wealth. at the daytona 500, bragging he has great friends who own racing teams. still, romney's claiming a michigan surge. >> now we're leading in the polls. thanks, you guys. appreciate the support. >> reporter: but tomorrow could be a nail biter. arizona holds a primary tomorrow and romney is the favorite but most eyes will be on this state of michigan because it's romney's home state. from detroit, i'm steve handelsman, news 4. turning now to the weather, hope you enjoyed today. what a way to start the work week. >> i'll say. because today is as good as it gets for the week, folks. meteorologist veronica johnson

joins us live in storm center 4 with your first forecast. hey, v.j. >> hey, guys. i hope you enjoyed your weekend too after getting blown around on saturday. today kind of calm. we've got a loft sunshine out there as you can see. the big picture there with the washington monument in the distance off on the left. today indeed one of the nicest days out of the work week. that's what it will be. 64 your temperature now with the breeze out of the southwest and it's at 18 miles per hour currently. as we go around the area into some of your neighborhoods 63 degrees in aspen hill and wheaton. good afternoon to you folks in montgomery county. over in prince george's county we've got 64 in bowie and hyattsville and 64 also in chantilly. step down to waldorf. currently at 65 nice degrees. so a mild afternoon for us. we've had clouds drifting through from time to time but a mostly clear sky is what's coming up during the overnight. and a very, very bright, starry sky at that. 48 degrees by 11:00 p.m. not too bad.

so as we check out our fast forecast, a starry, bright evening for us. i'll tell you in a couple minutes if you'll need your shades or umbrellas tomorrow and we'll talk about leap day if we've got some puddle jumping to do. it's all coming up in a couple minutes, guys, with the seven-day forecast. >> all righty. thanks, veronica. a sex assault alert just a block from georgetown university. a student tells d.c. police she was attacked early sunday morning as she walked down 36th street near "n" street northwest. the suspect is still at large this afternoon. news 4's megan mcgrath has more on what the school is doing in the wake of this assault. >> reporter: on the campus of georgetown university there are stepped up police patrols and this advice to students. if you're out at night, walk in groups. if you're alone, call campus security and get an escort or a shuttle. >> our students can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, can call for what we call safe ride shuttle, which will take them door to door.

it will come pick them up wherever they are on or near campus and take them wherever it that they need to go. >> reporter: a georgetown university student was sexually assaulted early sunday morning. police say she was walking alone around 2:15 near the intersection of 36th and "n" streets when she was attacked. the suspect fled the scene and is still on the loose. the location where the assault happened is just a block off campus and has raised concern among many female students. >> definitely made me think twice about walking by myself at night. >> concerned that i live a block away from there but i'm not -- just have to be aware of surroundings. there are police usually sitting on the corners keeping an eye out for things. >> you don't hear lot of those kinds of assaults happening in this area. i usually feel pretty safe but i guess anything could happen anywhere. >> reporter: students can expect to see more campus police patrolling the neighborhoods in the overnight hours. in addition to that the university has also hired off duty d.c. police officers to

provide additional security. in georgetown, megan mcgrath, news 4. students at the university of maryland are being warned today about strangers trying to slip into their dorm rooms. campus police tell us a student woke up yesterday morning to a man touching her thigh. the student's roommate walked in, confronted the suspect. he told them he had walked in by mistake then left. but police believe he was trying to steal the student's laptop. the campus police say the suspect got in through an unlocked door and then other students in the dorm reported seeing two suspicious people and heard someone trying to open locked doors. when news 4 at 4:00 continues we go live to burbank and talk with access hollywood's billy bush about special moments from last night's oscars. >> what a night. the warrior princess actress says her fight will go on despite her weekend arrest. >> and a big incentive to file early to get your tax refund. believe it or not someone else may have beaten y

actress lucy lawless who is best known for her role as xena the warrior princess was arrested today. >> she was arrested while taking part in a green peace protest in new zealand in order to draw attention to oil drilling in the arctic. the 43-year-old actress and six other activists boarded a docked

oil rig climbing up on its 174-foot drilling tower. they were trying to keep the ship from leaving. police removed the group, took them off their perch. lawless says the arrest won't stop their mission though. >> a fervent mission to make sure that the oil industry becomes an energy industry that is renewable and clean and so that life on the planet will prosper. >> lawless and the other activists were charged with burglary and unlawfully boarding a ship. >> well, it's the day after hollywood's biggest stars were out shining brightly last night for the 84th annual academy awards, the oscars. >> and there were some big hits both on and off the red carpet last night. joining us to break down some of the more memorable moments is "access hollywood's" host billy bush. let's start with that moment on the red carpet where the leg became the topic not only of conversation but tweets this

morning. angelina jolie? >> oh, gosh, great. the red carpet is the place to do the leg. countless photos of women wearing a high slit on their dresses putting the leg out for the photo. it's where you pose and take the pictures. the beauty was when she went to the stage. she got up there with this smirk on her face, put her hand on her hip and just totally, completely calculated just threw the leg out there. it made a huge -- it was terrific. a great move. she was laughing about it. almost like she told brad or something before-hand, i'm going up there. i'm giving them leg. it was great. people were talking about it. her right leg now has a twitter account with 15,000 followers. people were having a ball with it. >> you think it was terrific. >> i'm a leg guy. i love it. >> yeah. a leg. let's move on to other body parts and jennifer lopez looked great on the red carpet. we're choosing not to show the actual moment on stage. talk about social media abuzz. was this a wardrobe malfunction or what's the latest on this?

>> it absolutely was, jim. you know, they put out a statement via "people" magazine. her stylist said, no, no. this is a special cupping we have to give an illusion of sheerness. to all of you people who think you saw what you saw the joke is on you. sorry. wrong. no. i got hd. i walked up close. my wife made the call. she said do we have what i think we have? i paused it. we go into forensic mode. we got in there, without question, because if it was the lining and there was special cupping it would have been on the other side, too. this was without question a word that begins with an a and ends with an a. >> csi billy bush. all right. >> let's just call it a wardrobe malfunction, billy. >> i know what i saw. >> all right. let's talk about meryl streep. after her 17th nomination she picked up her third oscar last night for her role in "the iron lady" and had a funny moment when she took the stage. here is a reminder.

we'll take a look. >> when they called my name i had this feeling i could hear half of america going, oh, no. oh, come on. why her? again? you know? but whatever. >> this was a tour deforce performance. some call it her best in her huge body of work. your thoughts on this particular category, this was a very tight race. such talent in this field. >> without question, jim. i mean, people were surprised. i have to tell you. even though meryl streep has had 17 oscar nominations and has won now for her third time people were shocked. everyone thought it was going to be viola davis for "the help." yes meryl won the golden globe but viola won the s.a.g. and she had that momentum going. i thought it was going to be viola davis. i love what meryl streep did. it was so disarming. she gets up there and she says, oh, her again. she also said that sweet thing

about her husband. i'm not going to let the music roll and plug my husband at the very end. i'm going to say, thanks, don, for all you've done throughout my long career. we know nothing about don. he is a sculptor and they live in new jersey. i thought really well handled and you just love her all over again. >> he was surprised by that, too. you could tell. >> yeah. don got a shout out. i mean as big a star as meryl streep is i was seeing don for the first time. >> what did you think about the moment when octavia spencer won the best actress for supporting role? it was such a moving -- she became so overwhelmed she thanked the world at one point. >> i love that. yes. thank you. she threw it out there. bless her. she had the most pressure on her. she's won the globe. she won the set. she won the circle. she has won every award up to this point. so this was the big one. can she finish the job? and she did. bless her. it was a huge win, a giant monkey off her back. now she is academy award winner

octavia spencer. she calls me mr. yum-yum. a special little crush on me. so mr. yum-yum is my nickname. she says it about ten times on "access hollywood". >> we won't let you forget that every monday. thank you, billy. we'll see you tonight on "access hollywood" at 7:30 here on nbc 4. coming up on news 4, one of the jonas brothers comes to primetime tv. ♪ i know it'll all turn out >> we'll preview tonight's guest appearance on "smash." and a chance to try out certain video games without making a big investment. >> for all your news be sure to follow news 4 online. search nbc washington on facebook and we're on twitter. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like.

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we like mondays like this. >> i do. it makes it that much easier to get the work week started doesn't it? >> it does. >> like okay. this is going to be a good week. >> i can do this again.

>> mid week though looking a little stormy. >> okay. >> we have two days in the next five where we're talking about rain and the chance for some thunder. prepare yourself. but as i said, today one of the nicest days out of the work week. let's head outside and see what's going on. a little breeze blowing here right? when you get warmth like today, and you have the wind, we've been talking about it already this winter here with these mild temperatures. you get a pollen count that's at least moderate and that's where it is today. today is moderate for trees running at 20 grains per cubic meter. for elm, cedar, juniper being some of the biggest offenders so you may be suffering just a little bit today. 63 to the north. 64 culpepper. 65 degrees down south around fredericksburg and la plata. all right. we're at 64 degrees here. and if you look very closely, you can see the camera is shaking. look at that. a little windy out there. a little breezy at least. southwest wind at 18 miles per

hour. that wind will calm down this evening. temperatures will get a chance to drop down into the 30s by tomorrow morning. 48 by 11:00. clear skies. that'll help the drop in temperatures. 37 to 38 degrees. and a very bright and starry sky coming up in a couple minutes. my next weather hit i'll tell you about everything that's going to be up there for viewing in the night sky. down south though they've got some big storms. the first time in i believe the 54-year running of nascar. they had to postpone it. they're scheduled to go on this evening at 7:00. the storms moving from west to east, close. they may, they may get that race in later on this evening. then we've got some more areas of rain organizing over the central plains. you can see it here. wichita just around st. louis. that'll be another storm system that's going to be organizing and making its way northeastward giving us a chance of rain come wednesday. until then, hey. more sunshine for tomorrow. but not quite as nice as today.

i think we'll see clouds increasing late in the day tomorrow. here's 8:00 a.m. wednesday. there's your rain. but not in the early morning. i think rain hits us by about noon time. we've got rain for wednesday night, too, until the cold front crosses the area again. same storm that's organizing over the plains. so starry bright evening sky for us. 44 to 54 degrees the range in temperatures. your sky mostly clear. then it's pretty clear by morning, too, with a chilly start at 30 to 37 degrees. so jacket will be required. 51 to 55 degrees tomorrow, guys. i'm giving tomorrow, if today is a minus, you know, had some clouds today. a little wind. then tomorrow is a b minus with a temperature between 51 and 52 degrees a few degrees above average. rain for wednesday. as i said, rain twice in the next five days. stick around for that extended forecast. i'll tell you what we're going to get. >> all right. >> not the weekend. thanks.

well, if you've been watching nbc's new show "smash" you know that two actresses have been vying for the role of marilyn monroe in a new broadway show. the fictional actress who won the part is played by a real broadway actor megan hilty who starred in "wicked" for more than four years. news 4 caught up with megan to find out whether it's been a challenge to do broadway style acting on the small screen. >> it's been a fun challenge. i love it. you know, and i get the luxury of getting to do broadway on tv so it's the best of both worlds. so when we do the musical numbers we actually do get applause from the crew and the other actors and everything and stuff so it's not too much of an adjustment. ♪ i know it'll all turn out >> tonight's episode of "smash"

features a cameo by nick jonas of the jonas brothers. yeah that one, ladies. "smash" can be seen at 8:00 right here on nbc 4. and still to come on news 4, a dream come true for a teenager who is battling cancer. >> and can you believe this? the irs encouraging taxpayers to file early before someone else beats you to you people! look at you! texting...blogging... all this technology, but you're still banking like pilgrims! get high yield free checking at capital one bank. why earn bupkis, when your checking could earn five times the national average!! and free atms anywhere.

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welcome back to news 4 at 4:00. i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm jim handly. here's what is making news at 4:30. one student was killed four others injured this morning when their classmate opened fire inside a high school cafeteria in chardon, ohio near cleveland. the suspect ran off but then turned himself in about a half mile away from school. no word yet on a motive for the attack. meanwhile, we just learned that a candlelight vigil will be held tomorrow night for the victims. >> d.c. police are warning students at georgetown university to be extra careful after a female student was sexually assaulted near the campus over the weekend. the suspect is still on the loose. police are telling students to walk in groups at night or call campus security to get an escort if they are concerned about their safety. >> it's down to the wire for tomorrow's republican presidential primaries in michigan. there is another in arizona. the race between mitt romney and rick santorum is too close to

call in michigan and both candidates this afternoon are crisscrossing the state in an effort to pick up last-minute support. >> on wall street stocks ended this monday on a flat note. the dow-jones industrials closed down a point. the nasdaq picked up two. while it only closed a point higher the s&p 500 still managed to log its best clues since june of 2008. >> a teenager battling a recurrence of leukemia is now living a dream come true. >> the dream is a date with a country music star. doug shimell reports. >> this time around i wasn't expecting it at all. i was living my high school life. >> reporter: the leukemia was supposed to be gone but kevin mcguire found himself back at children's hospital for more bone marrow biopsies and spinal taps and chemo and the 18-year-old football player from sterling high school in stratford, new jersey was sitting with his sister victoria talking about who he would like to take to his prom june 1st.

>> i thought of someone who is strong and confident, someone who will make me actually feel like i belong there that night, someone who's beautiful and gorgeous. >> it was country music star taylor swift whose song "you belong with me" about the outsider who gets the football player is one of kevin's favorites. >> you see all these other celebrities just all in the news about being in jail and drugs and that kind of stuff but taylor, she's just a great girl and a positive role model. >> and the facebook campaign kevin's sister launched to get taylor to take him to the prom has gotten tens of thousands of hits of support from strangers and celebrities. >> hoping when she does see what's going on she'll let me know if she can or if she can't. just would be amazing to hear from her. >> reporter: late friday apparently she did. taylor swift's publicist told nbc that taylor just posted on her facebook page, quote, kevin, i'm sorry, but i won't be able to make it to your prom but i

was wondering, the academy of country music awards are coming up, would you be my date? love taylor. we reached kevin back in his room to tell him the news about the april 1st event and his response? it's ten times better than the prom. >> kevin mcguire will also get his dream date earlier than he would have otherwise. the country music awards show takes place april 1st. his prom is not scheduled until june 1st. so how about that? >> that's what you call a big deal date. the irs is warning taxpayers today about a scam that is rapidly growing among common -- becoming more common and could cost you a lot of money. the irs says scammers are filing false tax returns using stolen identities and they're pocketing refunds meant for their victims. irs officials say they're putting in safeguards such as flagging name and address mismatches but they say it's tough to separate honest record changes from dishonest ones. >> millions of taxpayers move

every year. millions of taxpayers, you know, have children. millions of taxpayers change jobs. and so we have to go through the process of validating, are you really who you say you are? >> irs officials say the best way to protect your refund is to file your tax return early before someone else does. and of course they say to safeguard your social security number at all times. right now a number of ships are heading to help a cruise ship that caught fire earlier today. the blaze happened in the generator roocm of the costa allegra 20 miles from the sashl islands chain. now more than 1,000 people are without power as the shipas drift in the pirate infested indian ocean. boats are heading to help the ship but aren't expected to reach it until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

this is the sister ship of the cruise liner that hit a reef and capsized off italy six weeks ago. >> frightening situation. >> it certainly is. when we come right back on news 4 at 4:00 your chance to try out certain video games without making a big investment. if you want to get a better ♪ [ male announcer ] being welcomed into someone's garage is a lot like being welcomed into their home. ♪ sure, the decorating isn't always as nice, but the sentiment's the same. [ dog barking ] [ male announcer ] so, thank you for making chevy america's top-selling car brand in 2011. wait till you see what's next.

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now here's a great deal for video game lovers who have been itching to test drive a game but didn't want to fork over a lot of dough. red box is offering free game rentals now through thursday. you can rent video games for one day no charge. 30 games are available through this promotion including a new super mario brothers wii and just dance 3. now you just can't walk up to the kiosk and grab one. you first have to reserve the game online at red box.com and you have to provide a credit card number in case you forget to return the game in one day. >> try it out. having trouble keeping up with the latest music? well trying to sound hip when you're talking to the kids can be difficult unless you have this app. >> here's a little bit of help for free. it'll help you download music

and a lot more. wendy reieger is here to show u how it works. >> this is from mtv, called music meter for your ipad and iphone. you can keep up, first off you hit the little thing up in the corner and it's either up and coming rock, hip hop in the electronic or main stream. let's go up and coming. and then it gives you the top 100 up and coming artists. it's still loading. there we go. look at this. it's a hundred of them. then you just hit on one. let's hit on number 78. this comes up. you get all of his tunes you can download from i-tune and listen first. some photos so you can check him out. there he is. there's our guy. news about what's going on with him and his bio. other things you can do, some of

them are -- let's all of this wonderful new music that is out there and all of these people, hundreds and hundreds. can download our own nbc 4 iphone app for free so you can stay up to date on the latest information on the go. and music meter, enjoy.

>> all right. >> thank you, wendy. when news 4 at 4:00 continues new information about those video games that have kids jumping and dancing and moving around. guess what? they are not a good substitute for the real thing. and a surprise performance on tonight's "the voice."

a great night for star gazing. >> that's what the end of february brings many times and a lot of folks have been talking about all lined up the last couple nights venus, jupiter, and the moon. tonight we have the possibility of saying, if i can get my clicker to work for some reason it's just acting up again. there we go. tonight we can see six possibly seven bright objects. 30 to 60 minutes after the sun sets, the moon, venus, jupiter, sirius, mars, mercury, and kanopus. crazy. >> that's a show. >> big show. >> that's one thing the kids love doing. they love looking up in the night sky with all these apps and games and stuff. it's nice to go outside and look up and go, hey. what's that? and then go look it up. >> all right. that's where you're going. >> it'll be clear. let's talk about what's going on right now. 64 degrees is the temperature.

it's been a nice day today. we are going to have another nice day coming up this week with sunshine and temperatures that aren't going to be too bad but also talking about some rain this week and the mercury coming down. by tomorrow morning into the 30s. 37 degrees right inside the beltway. it's going to be chilly. sunshine around. sun comes up tomorrow at 6:43. we've got 30 degrees to the north in frederick, maryland. 32 leesburg and 36 in fredericksburg. we have a day tomorrow with just increasing clouds. partly sunny day over all. and then by the time we get to wednesday again the rain doesn't start moving in until well after the morning rush. hee we are at 10:30. 11:00 it moves through. once again we could see some thunderstorms because it is getting to be that time of the year when we've got the winter air trying to get out and the spring air trying to get in. some showers, some storms for wednesday. and then the possibility of more showers and storms for saturday. first day out of the weekend.

best day out of the weekend then of course is sunday with a high of 52 degrees. and a little colder air for monday morning. that means we could see some flakes or flurries back around the area. so is it winter, spring, winter, spring? it continues to try and make up its mind today. >> okay. >> all right. thanks. battle of the seasons continues. thanks. nba's best players were down in florida over the weekend for the annual all-star

chris paul, steve nash. they were big. they were there. kobe bryant surpassed mnlg's record for points. >> very unhappy about that. it's been some time since he has played. what has he been up to lately? >> with the charlotte bob cats being the boss of that still doing his thing. sure he gets in a lot of golf. >> i was following your tweets and you tweeted a picture of you and m.j. he is a little taller than you. >> a wee bit. >> did he bring his heels? >> i mean, we just had an awesome time. i was happy to be able to show my talents and abilities in front of such an all star guest list. >> yes. speaking of guest lists thanks for the invite. >> i didn't make the invite.

i was in a working capacity. >> maybe next year. >> just a working capacity. >> very cool. but i also saw your tweets about the slam dunk contest. not a lot of people impressed with that this year. a lot of thumbs down across the board. last year they were jumping over cars and this year the guy that wins slam dunked a couple balls. we'll switch gears over to "the voice" back tonight at 8:00. last night we had pretty big performances. >> we did. i'm not going to say they were pretty big. i was waiting for the wow. >> we agreed this person had some wow. >> but definitely did her thing. i didn't think she was going to pick who she picked but she definitely did her thing. she skipped school in order to pursue her dreams. >> and her parents weren't too happy. >> her parents are not really happy about it but apparently she is doing a good job. >> a stranger -- >> but i wasn't mad at her. she did have the whole package.

>> there was another contestant that broke out the johnny cash classic. we were both big fans of him. i'll turn my chair around for this guy. he is from chicago. his name is jamie lono and he sang "folsum prison blues." ♪ stuck in folsum prison >> what is even more impressive is we learned through his story that he only has one lung because of a child issue. >> remarkable. >> so great story lines here. now tonight though there is a big moment that's happening. christina aguilera is apparently so moved by the performance -- >> she pulled out her own microphone, a red microphone at that. ♪ you went around, baby >> oh, well i cannot wait to see that. i know we'll be watching it together. we want to invite you to chat with us live throughout "the voice" starting tonight at 8:00. where can you do that? >> we're chatting right here at

our nbc washington.com. that's where you need to go. you need to log in. you need to chat with us. if you're not chatting with us you're really not chatting. >> be our friend. >> we want to chat. >> all right. thank you, guys. coming up on news 4, why you might want to skip the coffee or soda for your afternoon pick me up. coming up at 5:00 a local high school football star. 6'7". he died over the weekend. what caused his death? plus reaction from the high school. a special treat for some local high school students, a chance to perform with jazz artists from the big apple. coming up the plan being considered in fairfax county could cost you more

take a listen to this. new studies find the aroma not only wakes up our senses but actually acts like a drug. rosemary, the smell. it enhances your brain functions as well as your mood. where you live could determine how well you sleep. a new study by the university of pennsylvania shows people who live in the south suffer the

worst sleep disruptions and day time tiredness. those on the west coast get the most zs. researchers say the differences in mental health, ethnicity, and access to medical care is what helps explain the difference in sleep patterns. >> interactive video games may not be as much of a workout for kids as first thought. researchers at baylor university found that youngsters were literally just going through the motions finding low intensity ways of playing those games so they suggest the kids may get a better workout when playing the games with their families or actually just going outside and playing out there. >> run around. >> get real exercise. >> exactly. old school. still ahead on news 4 at 4:00 many colleges of course are in spring break mode. just about a week away now. now the government is warning against travel to one of the

college students will be taking off for spring break real soon. one of the most popular destinations is mexico. but with drug related violence on the increase there, the state department has once again issued a travel warning to that region. we have a report from cancun where one student learned about the dangers the hard way. >> reporter: cancun is the gold standard. for american college students this time of year.

tens of thousands will party here over the next six weeks. two years ago zeke was among them joining friends for a final fling before starting law school. you had no concerns whatsoever that it wasn't safe. >> no, not at all. everyone goes. how could it possibly hurt someone? >> reporter: yet what happened hours after zeke arrived would do just that. after a night at the clubs zeke says he fell asleep on a louann jere near his motel pool. he remembers nothing of what happened next but his parents can't forget the phone call. zeke was found near the pool a doctor told them bloody, unconscious, and with multiple skull fractures. he was on a ventilator and near death. for months he couldn't walk or talk. he was in a comb i. law school was put on hold. the area around cancun has not been immune to the terrible drug related violence consuming mexico but the director of the cancun tourist police says the

city hotel zone is heavily controlled and safe. as for zeke, the left side of his face is paralyzed. no hearing in his left ear. but he's come a long way. he is now in law school. mexican authorities say cases like zeke's are unusual in cancun and the tourist heavy beaches are excluded from the state department's travel warning. 14 mexican states are included. among them puerto vallarta where just last week 22 american cruise ship passengers were robbed at gun point. nbc news, cancun. that's news 4 at 4:00. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now. this high school senior stood out among his peers and today students are dying after the star football player dies suddenly. good evening and welcome to news 4 at 5:00. i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly. we begin with breaking news. chopper 4 live over a house fire

in montgomery county right now. >> the fire started about 45 minutes ago in the 3900 block of green castle road in burtonsville. 50 firefighters are on the scene. they have asked prince george's county to help them. no one has been hurt so far. we will keep you posted on that. >> back to our top story now. a school in shock this evening after the death of a star high school player. the senior rico webb didn't feel well over the weekend and was taken to a hospital where he died of what the medical examiner ruled to be natural causes. news 4's chris gordon talked with webb's coach and his teammates. >> reporter: they're among the most dominant football teams in the region and one of the reasons this year was the play of senior lineman rico webb who wade 365 pounds and stood 6'7" tall. february began with national signing day as rico webb accepted a football scholarship to play for