woke up to an interesting march. hi, darcy. >> reporter: the winter wonder land was the best way to describe it. it was really beautiful when it was coming down today and caught a lot of people off guard. we saw one guy out here wearing shorts and i didn't see anyone wearing snow boots including myself. now you can see there is still some of the snow left here on the grassy surfaces. a little bit of coating of ice on top. but, unfortunately, much of it is already melting away. this guy was walking his dog gemini in a pair of shorts in the middle of a snowstorm traveling from north carolina accumulating snow was the last thing he expected. how is gemini taking this? >> he is confused. he's from florida so he's not used to the snow. >> reporter: jackson had to get his walk in, too. it's the first time this dog's paws have been this cold. he's never been in snow before? >> never been in snow. he was in charleston, south carolina. >> reporter: you're up visiting

family? >> our daughter who is expecting her first baby. >> reporter: if you live in arlington or fairfax county you may be saying what snow? where is it? we had to drive down i-95 to the lake exit and that's where we found it, inches of snow. and it's great for making snowballs. this is thornberg, an unincorporated area off i-the 5 in spotsylvania county where you can measure the snow in inches. some had to sweep their way out of their homes and walkways. >> i think it's nice. i realize for as a fact we need it and need a lot more of it. >> reporter: a little bit late though. >> yeah, but better late than never. >> reporter: gemini the dog is apparently not the only one confused. look at these flowers. in bloom under a blanket of snow. we've waited all winter for this and now it's finally here just as springas round the corner. >> it's been a strange winter anyhow. then all at once we got a nice

snow so i really enjoyed it. >> reporter: you're ready for spring now? >> yes. >> reporter: and the good news here is there was little to no impact on traffic. we didn't hear about any major crashes or wrecks in this area because of the snow and you may be able to see if the sun is out shining brightly and then melting is continuing. reporting live from thornberg, virginia, darcy spencer, news 4. >> thanks. we saw some clouds of snow showers actually behind her. is that right, doug? >> that's right. take a look at that picture. what you're seeing right there is actually snow falling from the clouds. you may not see it there but to the right let's go back to the right, guys, you see clearing skies here, that right there you see it coming down almost looks like a thunderstorm. that is actually a snow shower. should we put it behind me here? i'll step back. but out there right now this is the snowstorm here. you see it over the last 12 hours making its way through the area. most of us and most of the areas, most of the people watching right now didn't see much at all.

just seeing some snow showers. but look down to the south. an abundance of snow upwards of 3 to 6 inches in some locations. some areas picking up as much as 10 inches of snow and we're not quite done yet. as a matter of fact, darcy right now, if you can still hear me just to let you know, here you are right here in spotsylvania county. look at this snow shower coming through the culpepper area. this will go right through spotsylvania county. that's what i was looking at behind you as you were doing your report. yes you're seeing sunshine now but you're about to see some heavy snow in through culpepper and then right on down through madison county down through portions of spotsylvania county there around fredericksburg, too. look at the snow showers that just came through a moment ago right there. a tiny little guy. that's also the one that i was just looking at on our tower cam on our city cam as we were moving away. again, we're going to see more throughout the evening hours. look at the temperatures 37 right now in leesburg. 41 in washington. the thing tonight, it won't be the snow but the temperatures. i'll show you how cold we get coming up. >> several inches of snow across parts of the midwest are

complicating efforts tonight to clean up from the weekend's deadly tornadoes. they're up to 5 inches of snow already fallen across the especially hard hit town of henryville, indiana. home video shows the tornado approaching here with winds of at least 170 miles an hour. one man pulled his neighbors from their trailer and into his house before that twister struck. but the family of five which included a toddler found 10 miles away from her home in a field did not survive. >> very saddening to hear the whole family passed away and i was sitting right there holding their hands just seconds before they died. >> reporter: the remnants of henryville high school provide more evidence of the storm's power. the roof was ripped right off. books that used to be inside litter the area for miles. >> a man is charged with second-degree murder tonight for allegedly stabbing his neighbor over an argument about a dog. the suspect as campaign volunteer with a ward 7 council candidate.

derrick ward was in court when the suspect appeared late this afternoon. >> reporter: it's a section of ward 7 in southeast where the residents take pride in their lawns and civic duty and dogs and where they actively seek a peaceful coexistence among the three. >> they put something in my mail box about having a dog. i've been here two years. a pretty nice neighborhood. >> the peace was shattered violently and with a lethal outcome this past weekend. according to court documents 37-year-old robert wright was stabbed to death by a neighbor identified as 56-year-old ellsworth colbert. according to court documents the victim had been walking the neighbor's dog near colbert's home when colbert confronted him about the dog being near his yard. an argument began between the two men and a witness says they saw the accused holding a knife and a walking stick. and that colbert swung the knife, cutting him on the hand. then wright retrieved a shovel according to the witness

account. witnesses say wright swung the shovel at colbert a claim his attorney supports. >> he was hit in the head with a shovel so he has a laceration on his head. he has been to the hospital and i think they will put him in the jail infirmary overnight. >> reporter: the charging documents say both men struck each other with their respective weapons and then engaged in a tussle with the two taking each other to the ground. they got up and walked away from each other. according to the witness a short time later robert wright collapsed and that witness said it appeared he had been stabbed several times. a close friend of the accused acknowledged his prior assault charges some dating back five years or more against colbert but he says his life-long friend was never an instigator. >> ellsworth has been in the community for a number of years and he loves the community and i don't see him picking on anybody. >> reporter: now the judge cited a past history of violent incidents involving mr. colbert in prince george's and montgomery county. she cited those when she ordered

him held without bond. now, he is due back in court on march 15th and we also found out about an incident dating back to 2011 at the wilson building that actually got mr. colbert banned from the wilson building. we'll have more on news 4 at 6:00. we're live at d.c. superior court. derrick ward, news 4. a major decision on gun rights in maryland. today a federal judge ruled the state's hand gun permit law is unconstitutional because it infringes on people's second amendment right to bear arms. under the current law residents are required to show they have a good reason to carry a hand gun. a maryland man filed the lawsuit that led to today's decision. right now a jury is getting picked to hear a wrongful death lawsuit brought on by the shooting rampage at virginia tech. 32 people were killed during the massacre on blacksburg in april of '07. the families of victims aaron peterson and julia pride filed the lawsuit against the school and they say university officials botched the response to the shootings. they want a full accounting of

the actions that day. the school's president and campus police chief are expected to testify. this trial is expected to last about a week. after two apologies radio host rush limbaugh lost two more advertisers in the fallout over his attack of a local law student. aol and tax resolution services both became the eighth and ninth companies to pull ads from limbaugh's show today. it's in response to the sexist, degrading comments he made about georgetown law student sandra fluke last week. today limbaugh made an on air apology saying he was wrong for using those words. limbaugh says the ad dollars he's lost will be replaced. for her part, fluke told hosts of "the view" today she has no interest in getting a personal apology from limbaugh over the phone. the last-minute blitz is under way right now on the eve of super tuesday. 11 states will name their choice for a republican presidential nominee -- ohio the biggest single prize tomorrow, 63 delegates up for grabs there. the latest polls suggest the lead rick santorum built in the

past month has evaporated in ohio. he and mitt romney are now tied. santorum's surge came largely on social issues and today romney tried to put the focus on what he considers his strong suit -- the economy. other people in this race have debated about the economy, read about the economy. they've talked about it in subcommittee meetings but i've actually been in it. i've worked in business. i understand what it takes to get a business successful and to thrive. i understand how it is government gets in the way. someone who's got a principled record, is willing to go out and talk about all the issues confronting this country. all of the issues, not just how we're going to manage the economy better. this country is more than just the economy. >> santorum won't be eligible for at least nine of ohio's delegates because his campaign didn't meet filing requirements in some of those districts. mitt romney is predicted to have an easy victory tomorrow in virgin

virginia's presidential primary. virginia's ballot as little different from the recent primaries. julie carey explains. >> reporter: unlike most other recent presidential primaries there will not be a spotlight on virginia voters tomorrow. here's the reason. only mitt romney and ron paul are on the ballot. other presidential contenders, newt gingrich and rick santorum, failed to gather enough signatures to meet virginia's top ballot access rule. political analyst mark roselle. >> there is a history of virginia playing a really important role in republican presidential primaries but without a competitive race this year it's just not going to happen and everybody is pretty much ignoring the state. >> reporter: even the paul and romney campaign offices were quiet today. romney volunteers will gather tonight to work the phone. the front-runner last visited northern virginia volunteers way back in october and later won the endorsement of virginia governor bob mcdonald. ron paul drew hundreds of supporters last week when he held a brief rally in springfield. but a new nbc poll shows romney leading paul in virginia 69% to

26% among unlike voters. most republicans we spoke with today say they're likely to sit this primary out because of the limited field. >> gingrich is not there. santorum is not there. so it's really just sort of a -- romney is going to get it so why bother? >> my vote isn't going to make any difference because i don't think ron paul will get that many votes. and so the majority of the votes that are cast will be for mitt romney. there is nowhere to write in a candidate. >> reporter: even if turnout is low tomorrow the fairfax county republican party has decided to use the opportunity to try to boost its membership. about 900 volunteers are signed up to work the polls to look for new members. in fairfax county, julie carey, news 4. president obama met today with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu at the white house. the president made a strong statement of support for israel and said all options are open on iran. but he also made it clear that he hopes international sanctions will force iran to drop its

nuclear program. netanyahu agreed that a diplomatic solution is the best outcome but noted that israel reserves the right to take swift military action to protect itself. an earthquake hits the west coast while people are sleeping. >> what a passenger found aboard a plane that forced the airline to cancel the flight. and girls who play sports need to take a common vitamin in order to prevent injuries. plus later a local father at one of the victims in the ohio school shooting talks first to news 4. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar,

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a scary discovery aboard a southwest airline plane at houston's airport. a passenger spotted a box cutter in the plane's overhead luggage compartment this morning, turned it over to the crew. all 97 passengers were taken off the craft and the flight to dallas was canceled. the plane was also searched. nothing else was found suspicious and passengers were flown to dallas on other flights. it is unclear why the box cutter was left in the bin. if you are the parent of a teenage girl involved in sports listen up. vitamin d appears to be key to prevent stress fractures. >> reporter: when it comes to running, jumping, and tumbling, teen girls tend to give it all

they've got. but overdoing high impact sports can fatigue the muscles leaving them unable to absorb the shock. when that stress is transferred to the bones it can leave tiny cracks called stress fractures. >> stress fractures are a common over use injury we're seeing in adolescent girls. >> reporter: registered dietician kendron sonville of children's hospital boston followed a group of more than 6700 preteen and teen girls for seven years. she and her colleagues found we should be giving cheerleaders and other athletic girls a d as in vitamin d. >> the girls with the highest intake of vitamin d, they have half the risk of developing a stress fracture. >> reporter: the girls weren't going overboard with supplements. they generally got all the vitamin d they needed through fortified milk and other dairy food, fatty fish like salmon antoine, and a modest amount of sun exposure. calcium by itself did not reduce the risk. >> without vitamin d we cannot

absorb calcium properly and end up with it out of our bones. >> reporter: dieticians recommend teen girls get 600 international units of vitamin d a day which amounts to two to three glasses of skim milk plus a serving of yogurt. even the cheese on pizza counts. >> it is important to space it out during the day because if you just try to take in all your dairy at once your body can't absorb it. >> reporter: prevention is often the best strategy because the best treatment for a stress fracture is rest. which can be a bitter pill to swallow for many of these young athletes who don't stay down for long. erica edwards, nbc news. >> dieticians recommend paying attention to vitamin d intake for your child as early as age 1. an earthquake measuring 4.0 on the scale shook the san francisco area this morning but no injuries or damage were reported. the center of the quake was 8 miles northeast of san franci o francisco. the quake and aftershocks were felt from santa rosa to santa cruz. >> boy, the earth is really active. we've got the volcano, mount

etna. >> they said in san francisco after the 4.0, go back to sleep. 4.0. >> what was that. >> exactly. we've got snow out there. >> we did. >> even the areas that didn't see the snow got some snow. what i mean by that, a lot of snow down to the south. take a look at this shot about an hour ago. right in the district. yeah. we saw a little snow shower come through. and not only a snow shower. the winds were gusting upwards of 30 to 40 miles an hour as this came through, too. so it really looked like it was coming down pretty good there for about 15 minutes and then just about as everybody was getting all excited it quickly went by and the sun came out. that is exactly what's happening around the region. and that, look at that, is still that snow shower. i'll show you where the snow shower is heading right now but a beautiful shot. storm 4 radar showing the storm system wrapping itself up around the area and moving offshore. still snowing into parts of our region. this says rain here but this is actually falling as snow, the entire column of air below

freezing. we are seeing most of this fall as snow. this is that one little snow shower that came through the district and now is down to the southern portion of prince george's county. look at this one though. st. mary's county, you're seeing snow and maybe rain mixed in here. haven't gotten reports there but down toward fredericksburg also some snow here. let's zoom on into this little guy here around camp springs. this is going to continue to head right on down to the south right on down route 5 so rosariville down toward north keys and right around camp springs. just saw that snow coming to an end around your area around clinton. you have ten minutes of that and it continues to make its way on down toward the east. we'll be entering southern prince george's county and then northern portions of calvert county in about the next 10 to 15 minutes. where did the snow fall? it was all to the south. over toward southern maryland, about an inch there. this was the area that really saw it. spotsylvania 5 inches there. earlysville 8.5 inches. white oak 2.7 inches. there were good snow totals. could be some delays early tomorrow morning in these

locations if we see some ice tonight but i don't think it's going to be from the snow. most of this as you saw in darcy's piece has already begun to melt across the area. we'll see continued melting throughout the rest of the evening and definitely tomorrow. 39 the high temperature right now with winds out of the north at 10 miles an hour. winds gusting to 33. that's that cold air that's coming in across the area. look at the wind chill down to 30 in martinsburg, 29 hagerstown. feels like 29 degrees in leesburg and 39 in fredericksburg. what this is? we haven't seen winter much so far and it seems like nature is trying to give us a little last gasp so to speak. high pressure moving in after our area of low pressure moves off so we'll see sunshine tomorrow. still a little bit on the chilly side but not a bad day tomorrow whatsoever. and by wednesday the high moves to the east. that means a return flow for us and we're going to be on the warm side. and maybe really warm as we make our way through the next couple days. temperatures overnight tonight or through the evening, flurries

ending with skies clearing. cold 31 to 37 degrees this evening. tomorrow 22 to 29 for a high temperature under the clear skies. again, very chilly to start off your day tomorrow but then 63 on wednesday. 68 near 70 on thursday. and 59 on friday with a chance for some shower activity there. so mother nature once again giving us a taste of winter. >> yes. we like it. >> thank you, doug. uncashed paychecks and utility deposits. they could be yours to collect in fairfax county. a former redskin player talks about the bounty scandal where players were paid to hurt their opponents. and the fbi expands its corruption probe of city officials in the district. plus a dog found near the beltway and now a woman needs your help finding its owner.

in the hot seat tonight former redskins coordinator gregg williams finds himself in the middle of this nfl scandal. >> dan hellie is here to tell us more. >> this could be the biggest story in sports right now, certainly the biggest story in the nfl. here's the deal. an nfl investigation of the new orleans saints found that williams and several saints players were running a type of reward system in which players were paid for big hits including knocking opponents out of the game. now why should this matter to us here in washington? well, williams had the same system when he was with the redskins. but it was player driven according to several guys. we caught up with former

redskins defensive back shawn springs to find out exactly how it worked. >> if you got a tackle for a loss or something there was an incentive but most of the money did not come from out of his pocket saying here is money for hurting somebody. i want you to hurt eli or tiki barber. that was never the case or never stated. it was more if that was the case it might have been like us with each other saying, oh, i'm going to get a big hit on jerome bet es. no you're not. i'm going to get a big hit. no air not. you're scared. we're going at it and then he is like okay. i bet $200. i'm going to get a big hit. i'll give you a hundred dollars. sometimes and it was like friendly competition and then wow. that's not what we were about. so i don't know how you phrase that or what you say that makes

it so people understand. that wasn't what it was. >> how did he get turned into players getting paid to injure another player because that's what's making it seem so bad. >> this is the truth. there are no guys in the nfl who purposely try to hurt another player. because we, a lot of us went to school together. we got to be friends. we have family members. we're close. now, there are guys in the nfl that we might not like each other, you know, but we still respect each other. i tell you right now if i had an opportunity to knock hines ward out i would do it and everyone knows it sounds violent but hines would do it to you. you're going into the game and playing pittsburgh steelers, you know if you were not paying attention hines would put you on your back. that's the truth of the game. a lot of people might not want to hear that but that's how the game is. football is a violent score kind of like organized chaos. >> what do you think is going to happen to greg now? >> i think he is going to -- the

example is going to be made out of greg, unfortunately, because he -- >> he was involved. >> he was involved. but i will say if you're going to hold greg accountable and you make an example out of greg, you start turning to some things you might realize that it wasn't just the redskins. it might have been the jets, patriots, cowboys, you know, green bay and everybody, you know, is like greg take the blame but there might be other stories. well, we did that, too. >> so clearly gregg williams wasn't the only coach involved in this. every single team has something like this but the nfl is going to have to come down hard because concussions are huge, a huge issue right now. williams could get suspended indefinitely. >> pretty bluntly, very honest there, dan. >> it is going to be very interesting to see what happens.

the question is will any of that fall back on the redskins when williams was here? that's what we have to wait and see. draft picks are going to be lost. it's going to be bad. >> all right. dan hellie, thanks. next at 5:30 tonight more scandal this time in d.c. politics. new details about that fbi raid over the weekend. >> a driver comes to a complete stop after a rough ride in the district. >> plus animal house was a classic movie. now get set for a toga infused food fight on stage.

a fast forward through the headlines. a campaign volunteer for ward 7 council candidate kevin chavous has been charged with second-degree murder. ellsworth colbert was arrested sunday for allegedly stabbing his neighbor robert wright to death after the two argued over a dog wright was walking. a last-minute blitz under way on the eve of super tuesday. 11 states will name their choice for republican presidential nominee. a report from ohio coming up tonight at 6:00. a nice amount of snow in thornberg, virginia in spotsylvania county all starting to melt now. no major traffic problems reported but fast forward to doug. >> you see that snowstorm continuing to make its way across the area and right on out to sea right here some areas picking up 3 to 6 inches and even more than that across the metro area. only a few snowflakes that we saw during the day today and a few snow showers that came on through. other than that it's really about it. let's go down to southwest

washington or virginia where they did see a little bit more in the way of snow. >> reporter: this is a look at christiansburg during the morning commute. snow covered cars, topped trees and made for a slushy mess in some places. there were a few minor bump ups on the road including this wreck that tied up traffic on route 460. but travel conditions weren't too terrible. >> beautiful to look at and i didn't think the roads were bad at all. my wife is a little concerned but i told her she could drive. >> reporter: v dot officials say a lot will depend on how warm it got today as to whether there will be anything left on the roads to refreeze over night. >> i don't foresee that being a problem in most of the area. could be a few delays tomorrow morning but for those kids hoping to get out of school tomorrow, i don't see that happening either. as far as the forecast goes, i'll show you where trend is for that as well in a minute. a weekend fbi raid in the district signals a new, more serious phase in a wide ranging corruption probe of city

officials. that raid focused on one of the city's most prominent and politically active contractors. tom sherwood joins us now with the latest. >> reporter: jim, he is not well known to the public but jeff thompson has been a go-to guy in city politics. two years ago when vincent gray decided to challenge for mayor he rushed to quickly set up a campaign and fund raising effort. campaign officials say businessman jeff thompson who holds a $300 million medical contract with the city played a key role in early fund raising for hundreds of thousands of dollars. federal authorities are now stepping up a year-old investigation into gray's 2010 fund raising and expenditures. gray's office was still declining comment on monday three days after the fbi raided jeff thompson's downtown accounting firm offices on 15th street and his home. a spokesman for the office and mr. thompson did not reply to requests for comment by news 4 but some d.c. officials were concerned about the turn of

events. >> i don't know what's happening but i do share your feeling that something is very wrong in the district. you know, the influence peddling, the money, you know, people working for the government, showering other people with money. it's just disgusting and it has to stop. >> reporter: council chairman kwame brown whose own 2008 campaign also is the focus of a separate federal investigation, said he knew little of the raid. >> well, clearly. waiting to find out what the details are. and what it's about completely i have no idea. clearly, i'm concerned like everyone else. >> reporter: friday's fbi raid is the biggest move by federal prosecutors since january when former ward 5 council member harry thomas jr. pleaded guilty to two felonies for theft of government funds and resigned. for mayor gray sources say they're looking at thousands of dollars in suspicious money orders donated to the campaign. jim? >> tom, thanks. a meeting from a phone chat

line ended as an armed robbery this weekend. it happened in the 5200 block of south 8th road in arlington. last night about 11:00 two females lured a man they met online earlier to an apartment complex court yard and once he arrived three men with hand guns robbed him for $300. they also took his jacket, shoes, and they took that cell phone. someone spray painted racial slurs on the back of a local church this weekend sometime between 8:00 p.m. on saturday and 8:00 a.m. sunday. this is at the bethel primitive baptist church in stafford. the graffiti was written on the back wall of the church and the sheriff avenu sheriff's office has not released any information about who they think may have done this but say they are aggressively investigating it. the virginia department of transportation has tens of thousands of dollars in unclaimed money. some of it may be yours. treasury officials took part in a special workshop here today at the fairfax county government center to match consumers with unclaimed money. it could come from an estate, uncashed paychecks, lost stocks

or bonds, insurance claims and other sources. even if the money was sent to the treasury 20 years ago, you can still claim it now. last year more than $30,000 in unclaimed cash was returned. >> 1 out of 4 virginians is owed money and they have no idea. it could be money that's missing. it could be money that is owed to them that they didn't know they needed to collect. it is a free service and everyone should come down to check and see if they have money owed to them. >> representatives will be on hand tomorrow from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the south county center on richmond highway in alexandria. the service is free. still ahead, the creator of desperate housewives takes a stand to tell his side of the story against nicollette sheridan. an electrician finds a dog walking the side of the road near the beltway. and a female first. women members from all five branches of the military at one conference. their stories are straight ahead. people! look at you!

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tl tloo. if your dog ran away over the weekend in bethesda your dog has been found. an electrician picked up this little fox terrier during the rain storm friday night. the dog was near the beltway at the old georgetown exit. he dropped it off at the home of sheryl lee. her family posted flyers around the neighborhood but no one has come forward. she has also posted an ad on

facebook and other list serves. she says they've been calling the dog rex. national lamb poon's "animal house" may be headed for broadway. a division of universal pictures is developing a stage version of the campus comedy classic, a musical featuring an original score by bare naked ladies. direction and choreography will be handled by the tony award winning director who directed "book of mormon" the 1978 film featuring a memorable turn by the late actor john belushi and is centered on the antics of one frat house. a real life courtroom drama with nicollette sheridan filing a $6 million wrongful termination suit saying she was fired in retaliation for complaining after the show creator allegedly slapped her in the head. today cherry testified he had prior permission to kill off sheridan's character. other "desperate housewives" stars are listed as potential witnesses. still ahead a d.c. driver

found a way to really mess up his tires and his rims. >> the father of one of three victims of the school shooting lives in our area and talks about the deadly rampage today. i'm liz crenshaw. the top four scams the justice department says are targeting consumers.

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for whoever you are, for whatever you're trying to achieve, pnc has technology, guidance, and over 150 years of experience to help you get there. ♪ sophisticated scams take advantage of consumers every day but a federal crackdown is putting fraudsters behind bars. >> the department of justice opened up to liz crenshaw in an exclusive interview. >> we've been warning you about

frauds for years to help keep you from becoming a victim. today the u.s. assistant attorney general for the civil division tells us how he is working to shut down these frauds. >> we are prosecuting these people and prosecuting these scams. >> tony west is the assistant attorney general for the u.s. civil division. >> not only are we looking at the financial fraud on wall street but the kind of consumer fraud that affects people on main street. >> scams are not new but there are new victims every day. >> these are actual cases that we have on our docket. >> reporter: for instance americans falling victim to what is called phantom debt collectors. >> i get the debt collection calls, too, for things that i never charged, purchases i never made, old debt. and the important thing is that when you get those calls consumers have to do a little bit of due diligence. they should ask to make sure that whoever is calling them, you know, has proper verification. that they are indeed a bona fide debt collector first of all. second of all, they ought to be

sure that the debt that they owe is really theirs. >> he says if it's old debt don't just pay it. the statute of limitations may have expired. another big problem? lottery scams. a notice of some kind that you've won a lottery or a sweepstakes. >> they've gotten clever and tried to disguise what they do to make it look official. this is one of my favorite ones. a department of justice press release, so-called, telling the person that they have won a sweepstakes. they won a prize. >> oh. >> all they have to do is pay a certain fee. >> it's got the federal reserve logo, your logo, your website. >> that's right. >> no good huh? >> no good. completely bogus. >> a valid lottery or sweepstakes does not require you pay any up front fee to collect your winnings. mortgage rescue scams are big this year with more than a million homes in foreclosures and scammers preying on some of the country's most vulnerable

consumers. >> we've seen where elderly folks in particular are targets of these games where people will sign over their lease to their home, and thinking that they're going to be able to rent their home and kind of stay in their home and then eventually get their home back, and what happens is of course they never get their home back. >> west also warns against paying any up front fees for loan modification help. another sophisticated scam? business opportunity schemes. a common pitch? >> we will be business partners with you. we will set you up in the best locations. all you have to do is give us some investment. we see a lot of these unfortunately and we've been very successful in cracking down on them but they are still out there. >> west says cracking down on consumer fraud has led to record breaking results. in the past year the consumer protection branch of the justice department recovered nearly a billion dollars. >> people will always find a way in which they can try to take advantage of someone else and, unfortunately, that's true.

and we're going to prosecute those folks when we find them. >> assistant attorney general west says if you're been victimized you must report it. you have to tell the government about it. just go to our website nbc washington.com and search top scams and we'll direct you to the folks that can help you report it. >> all right. liz crenshaw, thanks. a driver in northwest had a run-in with a construction project and her car was stuck this afternoon. this is on 8th and upsher street. the car tire got stuck in a hole that had been covered by a metal brake but they didn't cover it very well as you can see. they left a gap. mind that gap as they say in the uk. so a tow truck had to pull the car out. d-dot crews came out to put a better metal grate back over the hole in the road. so the rest of us can drive smoothly. >> new demands today for a faster cleanup of fort detrick ground water after claims a government study is not correct. the national research council

says the u.s. department of health and human services wrongly concluded in '09 that past exposure to ground water contaminated with chemicals for fort detrick was unlikely to have produced any harmful health effects. the council says the report should have said the ground water presented an indeterminate health hazard. march is women's history month and one group is highlighting women in the military. during a leadership conference at the national harbor today news 4's melissa malay talked with top ranking officials about their impact on the world. >> reporter: this is the 25th women's leadership symposium marking the first time women from all five branches of the military have attended. >> 25 years ago it was maybe a dozen women. today i think the registration is something like 1700. >> reporter: for some it's all about networking and for others mentoring or even giving workplace advice. >> just getting to see all of the women in the service is awesome. >> reporter: the event, a who's

who of top military women. one of the headliners michelle flournoy the most senior female pentagon official in history. >> it's a great opportunity for people to come together, compare notes and how to make a difference going forward. >> flournoy served under leon panetta. despite her success she says when it comes to women in the workplace there is still work to be done. >> the real sign of progress will be when it's not a headline when there's a first woman whatever. >> reporter: commander nicole shuey with the service leadership organization, here with general david petraeus, hopes society can out grow the term glass ceiling. >> there is still a little bit of glass out there but i am a hundred percent confident it's going to be shattered soon. >> major black has been in the air force 20 years. she navigates acl-130 gun ships and was the first woman to command an air attack. >> it hasn't been easy being a minority. >> black says today is about learning from those around her. >> the techniques and tactics

her counterparts have used to succeed. >> there are going to be things i'll stick in my bag of tricks that hopefully i can pull out at a later date. >> the symposium wraps up tuesday evening by the end of the event and dozens of speakers will have taken the stage from olympic medalist jackie joyner kersey to first lady's michelle obama's chief of staff. in prince george's county, maryland, news 4. well, would you say march is coming in like a lion? >> i would say more like a lamb. that's for sure. even though we saw the snow we're hoping at least we'd see a little snow this winter. we haven't seen much around the district at all but down to the south your totals some areas doubled from what we've seen the entire winter because we did pick up 4 to 8 inches. even a report of 10 inches in through orange county, virginia. we did pick up good snow. there is still some snow out there as the system is continuing to wind down. just some snow showers right now. even though this looks like rain here most of these are coming down as snow showers across the region. even the one that came through d.c. a little bit earlier.

that was this guy right here making its way through calvert county, making its way around the hunting town area and down through leonard town, st. mary's county seeing good stuff and fredericksburg seeing some of the scattered snow showers or light rain, too. these are the temperatures and these are the wind chills. look at the wind chill. 32 in the district. 29 in gaithersburg. 27 in leesburg. and how about 22 degrees right now in winchester? at 6:00 at night we're talking about a temperature, a wind chill rather of 22 so some very chilly numbers and these are going to be the numbers overnight. these are the actual morning temperatures down to about 29 in washington. 26 in gaithersburg. 25 in leesburg. about 24 in winchester. wind chills could be in the teens and lower 20s tomorrow morning. by far, most likely the coldest morning we've seen about 3 to 4 weeks. we have not seen a whole lot of cold air out there and it doesn't look like it's going to stick around too long. tomorrow temperatures below average but still 49 and sunny. that's a pretty good afternoon. 50 degrees on your, in manassas and 51 down toward fredericksburg. the next couple days say

good-bye to any winter left over. 63 on wednesday. 68 degrees on thursday. and how about 59 on friday? that coming with a chance of some shower activity. and then we do get cooler as we head into the weekend. i'll show you that weekend forecast including the seven-day outlook coming up at 6:00. >> all right. thanks, doug. coming up tonight at 6:00 super tuesday may not be so super in virginia. a lot of republicans may decide to sit this one out. speed camera controversy. there is a new move afoot. it could make it harder for you to contest a ticket. and a big surprise for students. the commander in chief deciding to deliver the commencement address at this high school. those stories are next on news 4 at 6:00. i'll be joining jim. >> that is a big deal. >> yeah. coming up next on news 4 at 5:00 one of the victims in the ohio school shooting grew up in our area and his father talks to news 4 next. for all your news follow news 4 online and search nbc washington on facebook and twitter.

the father of a teenager murdered in that school shooting in ohio last week lives in our area. 16-year-old dmitryus was a straight a student with a love for sports and computers. he was one of three students killed. derrick ward talked to his

father in a story you saw first on 4. >> reporter: a story too often repeated, young people in school and suddenly they're victims. all too often at the hands of a peer and all too often families are left to grieve lives ended too soon. they were only doing what they should be, going to school. >> we just had a shooting at our school. >> hey, you'll never get a phone call like i did, you know, saying that something happened in school. your son has been shot. that's a phone call that no parent wants. >> reporter: 16-year-old dmitryus hulen was among three students who died last week at chardon high school in ohio. 17-year-old t.j. lane is charged with murder and assault. investigators believe the shootings were random. dimitrius and others were seated at a table in the school cafeteria.

>> he was with his buddies sitting down talking having a leisurely conversation. and the next thing you know -- >> reporter: the distance between father and son was geographical. they still talked regularly about school, growing interests in computers and athletics. there was nothing for timothy to surprise his son by showing up on a birthday but the last time he made the trip to ohio it was with much more urgency and no celebration awaited his arrival. >> you get there and you see -- you know your son is all happy and everything and you see him this way, motionless, brain dead. that's not what i wanted to see. >> reporter: but there are the memories from birth to the first swim lesson, the trips, the times together that he now holds on to, those happier times of childhood and there is the message buried amid the grief, how time together is not

guaranteed. every shared moment is precious. >> tell your child you love him because you never know when a life -- in a life when you'll be able to see that child again. >> reporter: dimitrius hulen would have turned 17 on thursday. derrick ward, news 4. >> dimitrius hulen's funeral is scheduled for later this week in ohio. and that does it for news 4 at 5:00. stay right there. news 4 at 6:00 starts right now. countdown to super tuesday. hundreds of delegates up for grabs in the biggest day so far in the race for the white house. >> former redskins coach in the cross hairs of a bounty scandal. he admits to paying players for putting a hurting on opponents. first the tornado's

aftermath. dozens are dead and hundreds of homes lost and the cleanup just beginning. >> good evening. i'm jim vance. >> i'm wendy rieger. doreen has the night off. 39 deaths is the lasting impact of friday's tornado outbreak across the midwest. and now a heavy, wet snow is adding to the misery. jay gray reports from henryville, indiana. >> reporter: the blanket of white can't hide the dark reality of what's happened here. the splintered wood, shattered glass, and twisted metal still pushes through the snow and so do survivors. >> you'll have to work through it. we don't have a chance rnch the soggy and cold conditions have made the effort a bit more difficult if that is even possible. you see, when you've lost everything, four or five inches of snow doesn't really make that much of a difference. still, somehow in all of this mess families are finding important pieces of their lives before the storm. >> we found our homeowners insurance policy. completely dry and buried in some rubble. started digging and