good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. it is wednesday, march 7, 2012. right now the search is on for the armed gunman responsible important a home invasion near the campus of george mason university in fairfax county. the two men broke into a home on carriage park road and right across the street from the campus. news4's melissa mollet joins us live with more. melissa? >> reporter: i just spoke with one of the gmu students who was inside that home. he says it has been a very strong light and hardly got any sleep. a terrifying ordeal. they did not recognize these

would men that went inside of the home late last night. he says that it was just a very, very scary situation but, of course, police still looking for those two suspects and went in the house late last night and got away with a whole lot of electronics. five george mason students were inside their townhouse late tuesday might. >> they were chatting, doing some work. playing video games. >> reporter: when would men came inside through an unlocked back door. armed with handguns they started demanding money and valables and run through the house gathering items and the victims complied with their demands and then called police who put a chopper in the sky and k-9 you don't know on the ground to search for the suspects. they got away with phones and computers. luckily no one was hurt. >> very scary. we have a nice neighborhood, lot of families in a tight community. >> reporter: the townhouse is a block off braddock road, just across the street from george mason university.

gmu stun stephanie morris lives down the. >> i was surprised. >> reporter: it is a neighborhood filled with students and one police say they consider safe. investigators spent part of the morning taking photos and gathering my potential evidence. >> we usually lock the doors and look our trucks and cars. you know, i'm not getting extra paranoid about it. >> reporter: again, we have been out here for a couple of hours. just a little while ago as we were out here and investigators as you saw from that video were out here and they did find packaging for a mask as well as gloves. packaging they believe they say may have been used by the gunmen. they may have used that mask as well as those gloves and as we get more information, of course, we will pass it along and investigators asking anybody with any information about this crime to call them. live in fairfax county, melissa mollet, rbara, back to you. decision 2012's biggest

primary day is in the book now. mitt romney can claim the biggest prize ohio. former governor won six of the 11 contests last night and started to put a little distance between himself and other candidates. nbc's tracie potts has more on the biggest day of the primary season. >> it appears mitt romney eked out a very narrow victory over rick santorum in ohio, one percentage point. >> i'm not going let you down. i'm going to get this nomination. >> reporter: romney realizes it is all about delegates and he's now got more than 300. it is a numbers game. and he's winning. >> tonight we are doing some counting and counting out the delegates for the convention and looks good and counting the days until november. that looks even better. >> reporter: romney won his home state, massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho, alaska, four delegates in wyoming. santorum scored victories in tennessee, oklahoma, and north

dakota. >> we have won in the west, the midwest, and the south and we are ready to win across this country. >> reporter: newt gingrich only won his home state of georgia and may end up with less than half of that state's delegates. santorum is urging him to drop out. >> we are not going to allow the elite to decide who we are allowed to nominate. >> reporter: ron paul hoped to win the caucus states but lost them all. still he told supporters his message is being heard. >> make sure that they hear our message all the way to d.c. >> reporter: so now that super tuesday over, where do we go next? the plains, southern states, newt gingrich, alabama that primary is coming up in the next week. also kansas and mississippi, that's where we will see rick santorum. in columbus, ohio, tracie potts, nbc news. >> despite ohio's close race, mitt romney emerge order super tuesday with a growing lead in the race for delegates. he won at least 212 delegates,

more than his three competitors combined. rick santorum won at least 84 delegates and newt gingrich won at least 72. and ron paul won at least 22. and here's where they stand now in total delegate count. romney expanded his lead. 415 delegates. rick is an tore sum in second place with 176. and newt gingrich has 105 delegates. ron paul has 47. well, with just two candidates on the ballot the typical battleground in virginia was relatively quiet. voter turnout was just 5.6% in that state. republicans only had the option of choosing mitt romney or ron paul. romney won nearly 60% of the vote and paul earned just over 40%. but romney did see some strong support in northern virginia which could be crucial to his success in november. and in fairfax county, romney got 65% of the vote and loudoun county, 62%. and 61% in prince william

county. ron paul pounded romney in warren county and pundits say if romney wins the nomination and wants beat president obama in virginia he has to win over some of paul's supporters. turning to our weather now, sunny skies out there as you can see. it is warming up out there. let's talk to storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein now who can tell us what we can expect the rest of the day. >> there is a feeling of spring in the air. we have -- sky that's getting a little bit obscured with some high cloudiness. otherwise a lot of sunshine around now and temperatures, they are beginning to climb. right now just past 11:00, 56 at reagan national. fredericksburg is up to 59. petersburg, west virginia, 64 degrees there. and it is going to be climbing into the 60s later this afternoon. right now fairfax, arlington, montgomery, prince george's counties, most locations in the mid 50s. in annapolis now it is at 59. and over the last 12 hours, we have had just a few of the high

clouds drifting through and after they go by, we will have plenty of sunshine for the rest of the afternoon. and we will have our temperatures climb to near 70 degrees in parts of northern virginia and much of the area, though, will be in the low and mid signatures over the next few hours. and we will have that wind out of the southwest around 5 to 15. and hen tonight, not as cold last night but still a bit of a chill in the air. look that and changes on the way. maybe rain coming our way. we will look at the weekend, too, in a couple of minutes as well as info on big solar flares happening the last couple of day. >> we will see you here in just a little bit. let's check on the midday traffic now, danella sealock with your first look at midday. >> good morning. couple of problems. let's start with the metro. scheduled track work still slowing you down along the blue line. so expect delays in both directions. if you are traveling on i-270, we will fly over it together because construction slowing you down southburg. south bound. also blocking the left lane this. this is part of clarksburg road.

67 miles per hour in germantown. not bad. 64 miles per hour as you travel south in rockville. you are just slow from urbana to clarksburg. continuing to the beltway. no issues to report. i will give you a travel speed. making your way from i-270 to i-95 on the beltway. if you are at 59 miles per hour. that trip only taking ten minutes at this time. bash remarks back over to you. >> all right. thanks, danella. you now have a higher chance of getting caught if you illegally pass a stopped school bus in montgomery county. the county council unanimously approved a bill to mount cameras outside those buses. the devices will operate much like red light cameras. drivers will get a $250 ticket in the mail if they pass a stopped school bus. today first for maryland governor martin o'malley will take the first steps towards possibly reducing a life sentences of two prison inmates. he will publish public notices today in newspapers to generate feedback from relatives of the victims.

one case involves tamara suggest also who want convicted in 1958 for her part in a robbery and murder of a prince george's county man. her boyfriend at the time was convicted of the murder and is already out of prison. o'malley is wrestling early release after baltimore man convicted of murder back in 1984 when he was 14 years old. a prince george's county councilwoman face as harsher penalty for driving more than 100 miles an hour on the beltway. police have now take itt ticket her for reckless driving. she will get six points on her driver's license. would weeks ago an officer only gave her a warning after following her at a speed of 105 on the beltway. police continue to insist, though, there was no favoritism. >> i take no pleasure in this additional action but know it is the right thing do for our county. >> the prince george's county council already took away the county vehicle she was driving. she also pledged to take a

driver improvement course. it is 11:09. coming up, joe the plumber's big super tuesday victory. what's next for his political career? plus, we are hearing more about the mother who used her body to shield her children during last week's deadly tornadoes. her 4us band says he cannot handle seeing just yet.

now to a developing story out of afghanistan. six british service members are missing and presumed dead this morning. the troops were on patrol in helmand province after they went missing after an explosion hit their vehicle. this year 54 nato troops have been killed in afghanistan including 38 from the u.s. and had 4 from great britain. the fbi is offering up $1 million reward for the safe return of a retired agent who vanished in iran. robert levinson disappeared during a business trip to the middle east. the fbi says that there's evidence that shows kidnappers are holding him along the borders of afghanistan. this friday will mark five years since levinson's disappearance. right now president obama's headed to north carolina to talk to autoworkers and a truck manufacturing plant there. the white house says that the president will talk about the

government's fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. this speech comes as the national average for a gallon of regular gas tops $3.71. president obama's first visit to a foreign automaker's facility. president obama got his own victory on super tuesday winning oklahoma's democratic primary. but it wasn't a clean sweep. the president lost 15 counties, 12 of them to anti-abortion activist. randall terry won 18% of the vote and that makes him eligible to get one delegate at the convention. terry says he knows he can't win the presidency but he hopes to contribute to the president's defeat in november. president obama did win 57% of the vote in a state that's considered the reddest of the red. he became a household name during the last presidential election. this election year joe the plumber will be on the ballot in ohio. joe is running for congress and he just won his district's republican primary.

he defeated a toledo area real estate agent yesterday. joe became famous four years ago when he challenged then candidate barack obama on his tax plan. he's hoping to win a seat that would have been held by congressman dennis kucinich. kucinich lost, though, in his democratic primary yesterday. kucinich fell to congresswoman marcy capture in a congressional district that was recently redrawn. she's expected to beat joe, though, in the general election. we are winning when it comes to weather out there today. we have sunshine and warming up out there, too, right now. >> yeah. now it is feeling like spring in addition to looking like spring with all the flowers that are up and the sun has been throwing tantrums lately. in fact the last two, three days we had several big solar flares. this was one that occurred last night. look at that big white flare. you can see the upper left of the sun.

close-up rof it. this is the largest solar flare so far this year. coming from the sun. it is one of the strongest solar flares that the sun can produce. and right now in fact we are getting hit from the radiation from one of those solar flares that on kurred sunday. it is hitting earth right now. it may disrupt some of our communications. we could have some problem was satellite communications but the other thing is that it can also give us some gorgeous auroras. that's the -- video there of the eruption, they called coronal mass ejections. they send out tremendous amounts of energy to space and can disrupt communication as little bit. maybe interrupt your gps, too. in fact the gps may tell to you turn right, maybe you should have turned left. it could be doing that. but the big thing is it will be giving us gorgeous northern and southern lights over the next couple of nights, too. let's take a look now. we are being -- bathed in sunshine now over the potomac

river. we have a few clouds passing over. 56 at reagan national. south-southwesterly breeze around 15 miles an hour. and look at the temperatures right now. it is well into the 60s and all that area in green from the upper midwest all the way down to the gulf coast. and it is beginning to move our way closer view showing temperatures now hitting near 60 degrees through southern virginia and closer to washington right now temperatures are in the mid 50s around washington and in fairfax, arlington, montgomery, right near the bay. it is in the mid and upper 50s now, too. farther to our south beginning to climb to near 60, culpeper now up to 61. out of the mountains. in western maryland much of west virginia and in the 50s to low 60s there. as is the shenandoah valley. and for the afternoon, these are the expected high temperatures. that will make it into the mid 60s in washington, nearby suburbs. maybe a few spots west and north in the mid and upper 60s. farther south and west of us, perhaps near 70 degrees.

then maybe around the 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon. manassas down to culpeper. and fredericksburg as well. and as we look at the view from space over the last 12 hours, there is one narrow band of high cloudiness coming through behind that we have a clear sky. for the rest of the afternoon, we will have plenty of sunshine. as we go forward over the next 48 hours, we will have a a few clouds coming in on thursday. looks like it will be partly sunny. then this area in colors, potential rain. that luc coming in perhaps thursday evening around midnight or so. then moving off to the east on friday morning and begin to clear out friday afternoon, we will get sunshine back but it will bring in some chillier weather as we get towards the weekend. so for the rest of today, mostly sunny and mild this afternoon. and into the 60s. maybe briefly near 70. then sunset this evening at 6:08. few clouds around. it will be cool. near 60 just after sunset. 50 by midnight. by dawn tomorrow mid 40s. tomorrow afternoon, again, into the balmy 60s to near 70

degrees. friday, a few vincles. then sun back. high near 60. weekend looking chilly. date morning near 30. afternoon highs near 50 with sunshine. still cool on sunday. maybe some rain monday and tuesday. that's the way it looks. >> all right. looks like spring. feels like spring. thanks, tom. we have a check on the midday traffic to see if there are any problems. here's danella sealock. >> if you are crossing over the 14th street bridge watch out. we have road work slowing you down and cars are just switching lanes, trying to figure out what's going on. so as you cross over the 14th street bridge, right lane blocked by road work. also right center lane as you make your way up ahead so you will see cars like this one jumping in the right lane. then have to jump back over to avoid the road work. just use caution while you are crossing over the 14th street bridge. taking the wilson bridge, no issues here on the inner loop or the outer loop. and travel speeds, taking the wilson bridge heading into virginia. really nice. 55 miles per hour. only taking 6 minutes to get from the wilson bridge to van

dorn street. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. >> it is 19 minutes after 11:00. still ahead, alcoholism cannot be cured but is there medication that can help? we take a look at -- whether it will work and what it is. we will introduce you to the guest chef at rogue this week. a familiar face in this area. we will get a taste of his culinary talents. first, he's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

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call 1-888-610-8090. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. that's 1-888-610-8090. only from verizon. that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design? a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel. so delicious...so fun. mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls.

we don't have any! front... left, totino's. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino's pizza rolls. final guest chef at rogue 24 is katsuya fukushima. it is a d.c. restaurant known for its 24-course tasting. where the chef right now is recovering from heart surgery. chef kushima joins thus morning with more on what he will bring this week to the session. something different. >> yes. something different. something fun. >> yeah. welcome. good to see. >> did you thank you. thank you. >> tell us where with you cook when you are not cooking at rogue 24. >> i'm waiting for my restaurant to get built. downtown chinatown. >> what's it going to be called? >> dikya. two different restaurants.

rahman. >> is that noodles? >> noodles. something i grew up and something my dad loves. he's very happy i'm actually doing japanese food finally. >> where were you cooking before? >> i was working for a big chef, i mean, one of my mentors, jose, downtown d.c. >> what restaurant was that? >> tatina, a fun spot to work. >> what are we making today? >> we are making -- whimsical dish on -- oysters. edible oyster shell. >> okay. let's go. >> yes. what i have here is -- liquid nitrogen. like the fun thing now to do. it just has to make sense when you use liquid nitrogen. in this case, i wanted to make an oyster shell that was edible. >> that's liquid nitrogen. >> yes. >> what do we do next?

>> so what i did was i took the components of a chowder basically. thyme, bay leaf, onion, celery. >> okay. >> oysters. and milk and made a chowder. and with the chowder, i pureed it and filled night a canister here. so this is basically a whipped cream for our news mousse oyste. i have these molds of oysters. >> let me put -- >> beautiful. >> very beautiful. where do you find something like that? >> that's actually -- something that i found from a caulk-making company that they make molds and stuff like that for cake decorate. >> go ahead. >> i'm going to freeze this. >> you are freezing the inside of the -- >> of the shell. mold. >> it gets absorb flood the mold. >> it freezes. it is like when you -- you know

the -- the movie where the kids sticks his tongue on the cold pole? >> oh yeah. >> tongue sticks. well, this is going to do the same thing. it will stick this oyster mousse. made out of the oyster chowder. then pop this right out into this -- >> you have it down in the liquid nitrogen. that's freezing. >> it that's freezing it. >> that's frozen. >> okay. >> so now i will take this silver paint and paint it. >> edible silver paint? >> yes. >> i see. okay. we are running out of time. let's move along. >> some -- green. make it look like -- the shell. >> okay. >> i drop it right back in again.

>> and then here we go. er with going to finish the dish. >> you have to wait for that to thaw to eat. >> it then we have a little tabasco. smoked tabasco. some bacon cream. right here what i have is -- a leaf that tastes like oysters. >> oh. >> garnish it like this. >> it is beautiful to look at. that's bore just. that's it. >> that's it. >> wow. how beautiful. let me see. you can see it. very pretty. that's just a bite which is what they do at rogue 24. >> right. >> yes 24 bites. >> 24 bites. >> that's fabulous. >> it is a fun way of meeting. gives us a chef -- chefs a fun way -- >> entertaining people and showing off. like that. it looks great. congratulations on having this opportunity this week. >> thank you so much. >> good luck with your restaurant. >> thank you so much. >> and reminder, get city is

offering special price packages for the special rogue sessions. you can check them out at guiltcity.com/dc. >> thank you for having me. >> 11:27. coming up the next half hour "news4 midday," more of a mother's survive at of last week's tornadoes. the message she left herb husband when she thought she was dying. tom kierein is back with the great weather we have for mid week. rain could arrive. we will tell you when. the far who punished his daughter by shooting her laptop talks about his relationship with his teenager after all that public scrutiny. stay with us. we will be right back. i was shocked to find out how many couples don't sleep in the same bedroom.

but in the sleep number store, we hear it all the time yeah, nine out of ten couples disagree on the firmness they want in a mattress. i sleep on the couch. with our bed, the sleep number setting represents the firmness that you like on your half of the mattress. don't mess with my side because i'm comfortable. i can adjust mine to my liking and she can do the same. go ahead and switch sides so you can feel what the other side feels like. you're on his side. how does that feel? it's hard. i like my side i like my better, too. side better. this is this is too soft. too hard. why don't we switch back to where you were. i am so glad to be back. oh, yeah. you can have comfort and you can be in the same bed. there's no debate or no squabble because you can have it your way and i'll have it mine. so we save a lot of marriages. discover the amazing sleep number bed, only at a sleep number store where during our semi-annual sleep sale, you can save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends soon.

there are 400 sleep number stores nationwide, where queen mattresses start at just $699. right now on "news4 midday," gop candidates are taking stock of their campaign pass after the primary season's biggest night. mitt romney came out on top winning six states and the biggest prize, ohio. rick santorum took home victories in three states. romney, however, has taken large

league lead in the delegate count. we are hearing more details about the indiana mother that lost parts of both legs while shielding her children from the tornadoes. as the storm approached stephanie tied a blanket around her 8 year old and 5-year-old children and used her body as a human shield as a t twister sent debris crashing into her body. a beam landed on her. the three were in the basement of the family's home. neither of the kids were hurt. not even a scratch. her husband was at work at the time. she thought she was going to bleed to death so she decided to make a cell phone video for her husband. this morning on the "today" show she and her husband talked about that last video message. >> no, i haven't seen it. probably going to be a long time before i have the courage to look at that. i can't look at that right now. it is very powerful in itself. that's probably why i can't look at it. that's going to take an awful long time to be able to take a

look at. >> more i love yous and things like that. but i -- i wouldn't disclose that because, you know, that is -- that is something sacred and very private. and also very difficult for all of us at this time. >> decker is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow. she's expected to walk again using a prosthetic leg. and foot in about three months. a kentucky family says the birth of their son saved them from a tornado. angela went into labor the day of the tornado hit her mother's home and that your camper. luckily she, her husband and mother were already at the hospital preparing for the delivery. >> they evacuated the whole hospital to the basement. we along with, i think, one other person was delivering at the time. sirens were going off. windows all open. >> just minutes after the tornado ripped through their homes, angela delivered aaden.

the family only now has the clothes they took to the hospital. everything in their home was destroyed. we are going to check again with tom kierein for the latest on our forecast. tom? >> warming up. and it is feeling like spring. there's the sky. live view from our news4 high definition sky watcher camera. just a few wispy high clouds, few con trails drifting over now. lots of sunshine. temperatures around the region are climbing. and as we have had this one little band of cloudiness come through, it is going to drift off to the east and we will get more sun during the afternoon. right now temperatures are hitting near 60 degrees just to our south. and right around the metro area, we are in the mid and upper 50s in fairfax, arlington, prince george's county, montgomery counties. right in washington and right near the bay waters, mid and upper 50s now. and later today, climbing into the 60s throughout most of the region and then tonight we will have a cool evening but not as cold as this morning. down to the mid 40s by dawn on thursday. and another mild day tomorrow. but probably more clouds around,

highs, though, reaching the mid and upper 60s again to near 70 degrees. and then after midnight thursday night, we might get a pew sprinkles of light rain that may linger into friday morning and sun back friday afternoon, 60, to be followed by a chilly but sunny weekend. a ts rain monday and tuesday. barbara. >> thank you, tom. the maryland health department now says the flu is likely the cause of mysterious deaths surrounding a family in calvert county. an 81-year-old woman and two adult children all died. the washington hospital center says the brother and sister tested positive for influenza a. maryland health experts are trying to determine exactly how the mother died. a fourth relative is still in the hospital in critical condition. doctors believe that they all had second airin effectses made worse by the flu. the centers for disease control and pref is sending samples taken from the home to atlanta for further testing.

for the first time in 27 days, gas prices dropped. aaa reports the national average for regular slipped less than a penny to $3 bn 76 a gallon. it end ad 28 dent price increase that began february 8. oil fell to its lowest price at about two weeks. here's a look at prices around the region now. in the district, the average is $3.90 a gallon. in virginia, the average is $3.65. in west virginia about $3.80 a gallon. the next time you fill your tank, you may want to buy some added protection. the thieves are targeting drivers by stealing gas. loudoun county sheriff's deputies say thieves are siphoning gas from parked cars. he filled up his gas tank in south ride thing past weekend. he drove home and parked his van in the driveway. a day later, his tank was on empty. >> completely gone. i had just bought the gas. almost a full tank.

>> police recommend you go to an auto parts store, buy a locking gas cap and install that on your car. we are going to check again on the midday traffic. here is danella sealock. >> good morning. if you are thinking about taking the rails, heads up. single tracking along the blue line. as well as the green line. metro has scheduled track work today. you are going to see delays both lines in both directions. over to the roads, traveling on i-95, making your way from dale city all of the way to the beltway, not seeing any issues for you traveling north or southbound, northbound speed 64 miles per hour in dale city. live look now if you are taking i-95 in lorton. again north and southbound. nice and clear. good travel speed of 64 miles per hour. only taking 13 minutes to get from prince william parkway to the beltway. barbara, over to you. >> thank you so much. we have some breaking news coming into us right now here in the district. we are following a story about an emergency crew at adams

elementary school in the you would block of 19th street of northwest for reports of suspicious package there. students have been evacuated from the school while they investigate. update the story as more information comes in to us. we will bring it right to you. in other news now, prince harry apparently is enjoying his trip to jamaica. the royal bachelor raced olympic champion bolts. me made a mad dash while bolt wasn't looking. some neighborhood pulled the prince from his seat to dance with him. there he is dancing. looks like he is keeping up with them. the prince is on tour celebrating his grandmother's -- the queen's, diamond jubilee. his next stop is brazil. today runners will race to sign up for the 37th marine corps marathon. registration opens at 3:00 this afternoon and only 30,000 slots are open for the popular event. last year registration closed at about 28 hours.

this year's marine corps marathon will be on sunday, october 28. in just about 30 minutes, one of the nfl's best quarterbacks will find himself without a team. multiple sources are reporting that the colts will release peyton manning today during a noon press conference. both manning and colts owner jim irsay will be in attendance there. the team decided to let manning walk instead o paying him a $28 million bonus. last night manning and irsay arrived in indianapolis together but had very little to say. >> not going to say anything now. we are just -- you know, we will -- >> we will talk tomorrow. we are good. we will talk tomorrow. we will do it the right way tomorrow. >> manning missed the entire 2011 season after undergoing his third neck surgery. several teams are already interested in him. including miami, kansas city, arizona, and the new york jets,

and the redskins apparently. kids have always dreaded going to the dentist. it now appears there is a gooden roar inform that. cavities and tooth decay are becoming a growing problem for kids. before they are in kindergarten. nancy snyderman has a look now at what you can do to keep your kids kids' mouths clean and healthy. >> just 5 years old owe won't is getting used to the dentist. he has had two cavities in two weeks. something his mother is trying to avoid owen's 2-year-old brother, hudson. >> hudson doesn't have cavities yet. >> reporter: tooth decay in 2 to 5-year-olds is on the rise. according to a recent "new york times" article, dentists are regularly seeing preschool wers as many as 6 to 10 cavities. and ten 'tises say the reason for the increase are hard to find. >> every time a child has a snack with a sugary item, the

mouth becomes acidic. it is the number and frequency of exposure urs in that acidic environment that can cause tooth decay. >> okay, everybody. it is time to brush your teeth. >> reporter: brushing twice a day long has been the prescription for healthy teeth. but it is a habit too many kids apparently aren't developing. >> my son who just turned 4 is brushing his teeth. it is a fight. it is a battle. >> reporter: but dentists say it is a battle worth winning. some toddlers require such extensive dental work that the general anesthesia is necessary. these procedures can cost parents from $2,000 to $5,000 depending on insurance coverage. >> it is in their best point get the treatment done at one visit. that requires either sedation or general anesthesia. >> reporter: the cost of tooth decay can be steep did -- my wife keeps saying we need to get them to the dentist. >> reporter: -- taking steps to prevent it can be as simple as a

playground game. >> natural foods and try to give them a good tooth brushing every night before he goes to bed. hopefully that will keep him healthy, do the best we can. >> reporter: dr. nancy snyderman, nbc news, new york. >> over the past decade the number of pediatric dentists has risen by more than 50%. so the number of young kids needing dental work going to the dentist. it is now 11:42. still ahead, everyone is waiting for the unveiling of the new ipad today. earlier reviews are in on the new features and upgrades. plus, the medications now on the market to help fight alcoholism. stay with us.

you have a chance to own piece of americana. capital city diner in northeast d.c. is for sale right now on ebay. the popular restaurant closed in late january.

the owner moved the diner from a small town in new york after buying it himself on ebay. we just checked and so far there's only one bid for $20,000. if you are interested, you have two days left to put in your own bid. speculation over apple's new e invention will end today. the tech company is expected to release details of its latest ipad. experts anticipate the new version to have an updated display screen, much like the screen on apple's iphone 4. the new ipad is also expected to have faster internet service making it's easier to stream video. >> 4g should feel like the same broadband you have at home, more or less, when you are on the go. and that's a big breakthrough. >> the new ipad is expected to include the voice assistant siri which apple introduced on its iphone 4s. small gains this morning after tuesday's big sell-off. let's check in with courtney reagan. she joins us live with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines.

hi, courtney. >> hi, good afternoon. stocks are higher. dow is up by about 77 points. that's after yesterday's big sell-off. tuesday, in fact the worst day for the dow since late november. and the nasdaq and s&p 500 since early december. handful of economic data helping to guide markets today. payroll processor adp says the u.s. private sector added 216,000 jobs in february and upwardly revised january's payrolls by 3,000 to 173,000. good news for the labor market ahead of friday's government jobs report. the mortgage banker's association says mortgage fell 1.2% last week. financing activities slipped but home purchasing activity increased. netflix is reportedly in talks with cable companies about possibly adding movie streaming service to the lineup. that would make netflix another on demand option for subscribers. reports say at least cable providers could experiment with adding netflix by the end of the

year. it is the real life lies of the machines. ibm's watson come pewter beat the pants after jeopardy's champion. now interest land ad job on wall street. citigroup has wired watson for its retail banking business to advise on risks, port pole yoes, and clients. that's one smart machine. barbara, back to you. >> sounds like it. okay. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> have a great day. approximately 18 million adults in the u.s. are alcoholics. this's no cure for alcoholialco. dr. joshua joins thus morning with a closer look at the medications and how they work. good to see you again. let's talk about first about what is alcoholism. what's the difference between just drinking a lot and being an alcoholic? >> being an alcoholic, difficult question. i think really what people are looking for is what number of

drinks should somebody have to say that they are in the safe zone versus they have an alcohol problem. in general, i think if you are averaging two or more drinks per day, 14 drinks per week, you likely have an alcohol problem. and remember, when we are talking about drinks, glass of wine, we are talking about the amount of wine you would get in a restaurant not filling up the cup to the top. lot of people say well, i only have two drinks per might when, in fact, they are filling up like a mug with alcohol. that's -- you have to realize that even drinking two drinks of alcohol per day has negative consequences for your health. negative effects on your sleep and increases your risk of cancer and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and so on. >> people who are just -- making the drinks in a social way, sit down and -- enjoy the drink they look forward to, it is a habit. is it necessarily something that they can't stop? >> well, i think it depends on how many they are drinking. i think every night you are making a habit of drinking lee-quarters of a bottle of

wine, that is going to be something that's very difficult to stop. your body becomes physically dependent on that alcohol. >> it is habit form. >> it is absolutely habit form. >> okay. so -- if someone wants to quit using alcohol how can they do this? >> i there are two parts tov this. first part is the detoxification process. this requires the help of a medical professional. you are putting yourself at significant risk of having a seizure or going into delirium tremors that can be life threatening. talk to your doctor and tell them you want help and there are medications that can help you taper off of your drinking. you stop your drinking and go on those medications and you taper down on those. or you can go into a detox facility which is often in a hospital where they will do that for you and they will be monitoring your blood pressure, pulse and so on to make sure that you are not at risk of seizures. then the second part is the maintenance part. that's the part that we are here -- i'm here to talk about

today which are the medications that can be helpful to keep you sober and clean from alcohol and really are three that have been demonstrated to have benefits. the first one is in medicine that's a medication if taken makes you very ill if you drink any alcohol. you start vomiting and you feel really sick. sometimes even need to go to the hospital you feel so poorly. the other one is a medicine that decreases the high that people get. decreases that ahhh, calm feeling you get when you drink some alcohol. and obviously that is helpful for decreasing the cravings for alcohol. the third medication is a medication that has been shown to put your brain chemicals back in balance because when you are regularly drinking, your brain transmitters get out of whack. and this medication can help put things in balance and make it's easier to stay soeber in the early stages of your recovery. >> if people are drinking in the evening, and this is something they do on a regular basis

should they try to take themselves out of that habit to see if they can? >> well, i think that it depends, again, on how much you are drinking. if you are drinking, again, three glasses of wine a night, i don't think it is a good idea to go a night without drinking. you need to really make a commitment, i think to deciding okay, this is not good for my health. it is time for me to try to cut down, cut back or maybe seek the help of somebody to completely cut alcohol out of my life. what's shock sing how when i suggest to people that they decrease their alcohol intake, even if they don't think they have an alcohol problem, it is always surprising to them to sit -- come back and say you know what, i can't believe how much better i feel. my sleep is better, energy is better, mood is better, my anxiety is down. i just feel better. >> good warning to people to pay attention to how many drinks they are having. >> exactly. >> thanks so much. good to see. >> did you thank you. it is 11:52. coming up, the father who punished his daughter by shooting her laptop talks about his relationship with his daughter now.

plus meteorologist tom kierein will be back with more on our mid week warmup. stay with news4 all afternoon. ellen welcomes john hamm from "bridesmaids" and that's at 3:00

the father who shot up his

daughter's laptop and triggered a national conversation about parent is talking publicly the first time about this incident. tommy jordan was so angry when his daughter posted a facebook rant about her parents he made his own rant and destroyed the laptop. it has been viewed 31 million times. social service workers launched an investigation. jordan and his daughter hannah marie have made up. this morning they appeared on the "today" jordan answered critics who say he should not have publicly humiliated his daughter. >> you know, you got down to her level. and up shun have done that. well, you know, we tried the adult level. we tried taking the laptop away. twisz we tried taking the laptop away or grounding her. it didn't work. yeah, put it a level i got down on her level and -- exact same format she used, put it on facebook. i put it on facebook.

>> jordan says in hindsight he may have made a mistake but he can't change it now and stands behind what he did. hannah marie is still grounded and she does not have a new laptop yet. a look at the stories we are following on "news4 at 4:00" this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us in the newsroom with a preview of things to come. >> coming up tonight on "news4 at 4:00," doctors' orders. dr. jackie will be here to tell us what we immediate to know to get the most out of the brief office visits. plus, you don't need to trade in your old ipad to get an upgrade. we whether show you how to transforyour model. what happens when you combine pley ates and boxing? it is called piloxing. some say it is the key to burning fat and getting sleek, lean muscles at the same time. >> like a lot much interesting things coming. let's take a final look at our forecast. >> beautiful day under way. temperatures are climbing now as

we approach the noon hour. let's have a look. it is 60 now at reagan national. culpeper up to 63 and it is going to continue to climb and as we get into the afternoon hours into the mid and upper 60s, dreamy early march day. more of the same tomorrow. more clouds around. rain friday morning. then the weekend sunshine back but a chill in the air. that's the way it looks. have a good afternoon and see you tomorrow. >> thank you. that's "news4 midday." we thank you for joining us and invite you to tune in for the news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and tonight at 11:00. we will be back tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. we will see you then. have a i was paying too much with cable. paying so much, you want better quality. it just got more frustrating and frustrating. for the amount of money that i'm paying, my cable company should take care of me. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. switch to verizon fios tv, internet and phone with our best deal online... $89.99 a month, guaranteed for two years. first time we saw tv on fios was amazing.

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