good morning, everyone and welcome to "news4 midday." i'm haley barbour, it's wednesday, march 21st, 2012. we begin a disturbing discovery. police find a man shot inside a burning car in prince george's county. it happened around 1:00 this morning on the 1100 block of palmer road in north washington. news4's tracee wilkins is live with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. prince george's county police have identified the victim in this case, but they are no closer to solving what happened here today. let me show you what's left here. this is the burned-out area where the vehicle was found.

but over here to the left, as you can see, two apartment buildings right here near where the vehicle fire happened. this is the end of a very long and narrow parking lot. still, police are saying they don't have any witnesses who are saying that they saw anything. >> i would say quarter to 1:00 this morning, there were about five gunshots. >> this neighbor, who did not want to be shown on tv says the shots she heard outside her port washington outside her apartment building got her out of her bed. prince george's county police say they responded to the berkshire at harbor place apartments at the 1100 block of palmer road for the reports of shots fired. once on the scene, the first responding officers found a vehicle on fire. he pulled the victim from the vehicle and tried to extinguish the fire. >> the police started to arrive and fire trucks and i seen the car was engulfed. i didn't see who was in the vehicle. >> reporter: police have

identified the victim as 33-year-old marcellus jackson of manville road in greenbelt. they say he was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene. they're working to find out how his vehicle caught fire. they don't believe that the fire was intentionally set. people who live in this community say this is not their norm. >> i'm pretty saddened about it and fearful. >> reporter: we've done a preliminary search, we have not found any kind of criminal background, in any relation to jackson's background. police say at this point they still don't know exactly why he was here at the apartment complex earlier this morning. they say that at this point, they have no motive and also no suspect. in fort washington, tracee wilkins, news4. thank you, tracee. and new today, vd.o.t. is planning to take down two highway signs on i-95, following failed inspections. virginia began extra sign inspections last month after a sign fell on a truck on i-66.

since then, crews found two signs had a gap in a joint of the support structure. one of those signs at mile marker 117 near exit 118 for thornburgh will be taken down tonight. work starts at 9:00 and two northbound lanes will be closed. a second sign at mile marker 127 near exit 126 for spotsylvania will be taken down tomorrow night. two southbound lanes will be closed for that work. and we're going to get a check now on delays on the highways around the metro area. let's check in now with danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. we have an accident northbound route 5 at akky road, blocking your lanes in this area. now, over to i-66, we have a crash there, eastbound, this is at lee highway, blocking the right lane you're slow as you make your way towards the accident, just 13 miles per hour. now outside of the beltway, i-66 east as you make your way past

nutley, road work slowing you down and taking away the left lane in this area. also barbara, if you're taking the beltway this time, the inner loop at robinson terminal, very slow. right lane blocked by the road work here. when we come back, we'll check travel speeds, for now, back to you. thanks so much, danella. well, it probably comes as no surprise to anyone around here, but it looks like washington has experienced its warmest winter on record. and now spring is also off to a very warm start. storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson is in the great outdoors this morning and joins us with the forecast. still foggy out there? >> it is still foggy. i'm going to say that's for the period of astronomical winter, from december 21st to or through march the 20th. a little different than our meteorological winter. but we are expecting temperatures to start coming back down toward average here as we move through the rest of spring. so we're going to be cooling down a little bit, folks, this weekend. out here right now, yeah. the sky is still gray.

and there's still a lot of moisture in the air. and of course that was the big problem this morning, all of those millions of tiny water droplets just coming together, the low clouds near the ground to cause us all the trouble with fog. i want to take you back to this morning when the fog was the lowest and how we've improved. now you can see our visibilities are up from 7:00 a.m. as we push forward through to this hour. they're way up now, around four miles in gaithersburg and over a mile visibility in leesburg, virginia. just a little low still down around pax river. and that's where there's still a little bit of mist that's taken place. as far as temperatures throughout the area, we're warming up a little bit. because we've got clouds still across the area. as far as the temperatures go, as we push the satellite past here, we're getting a few breaks down to the south and west. there are the temperatures, 262 in charlottesville. and around fredericksburg. we're still pretty much in the 50s, upper 50s, gaithersburg, leesburg at 57 degrees.

where do we go from here? the forecast for today, 73-75 degrees. i'm not quite as optimistic on seeing more of the sun as i was earlier. so probably not as bright as you'd like it to be. but by the end of the week, some sunshine coming up. more on the weekend's forecast, which again could be a waesh-out. barbara? >> that's not good. >> no. >> we'll have do get everything done before the weekend outside. see you in here shortly. handicapped or disabled drivers can once again find free parking at any meter in the city this morning. the d.c. council voted to suspend the red top meter program. it gives the mayor and vdot 90 days to better explain the program and educate the public. the red top meters were intended only for drivers with disability placards. the drivers got to pay, but got twice the posted time on the meter. the stoppage means you won't be charged a $250 fine for parking

at the meters if you don't have a disability permit. well right now, a former mount rainier police officer is in court learning how long he'll spend in prison for attempted murder. prosecutors say gene gillette lured a plan into his capital heights home last july and tried to sexually assault him. when the man tried to get away, lawyers say gillette shot the man. he's a former two-time officer of the year in mount rainier and an iraq war veteran. he pleaded guilty to attempted murder in november. a major show of support for d.c.'s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender support program. >> they marched outside an i-hop in columbia heights, where someone shot a gay man on march 11th. the demonstration continued towards georgia avenue where a gay man was beaten the following day. a third attack reported the same night in northeast, where a transgender woman was beaten.

demonstrators say they're fed up. >> inform is enough, these are our neighborhoods, too, and we deserve to have some peace in them. >> we want the straight folk to step up and have some courage and talk to people, their friends, their neighbors, co-workers, their clergy. whom ever, where ever and tell them that we're not going to tolerate it and it needs to stop. >> organizers say they were pleased to see that marchers came from every part of the city. a group will take a step toward letting voters decide the same-sex issue in maryland, whether it will be legal there or not. according to the "baltimore sun," a series of workshops start today to train volunteers how to properly collect petition signatures, 56,000 valid signatures are needed to put the issue on the november ballot. tonight's workshop is at saint mark's the evangelist catholic catholic church this evening at 7:00. maryland became the eighth state to legalize gay marriage, along with the district of columbia.

our time right now, eight minutes after 11:00. developing news out of france this morning -- police have surrounded the man they believe is responsible for a deadly shooting at a school there earlier this week. plus, no language barrier for president obama. his recent exchange with a student, stay with us, wie we'll 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.

new developments in the standoff going on in southern france. right now, french police are preparing to storm an apartment building where the man suspected of the deadly school shooting is refusing to come out. he lives about two miles from where three children and a rabbi were killed at a jewish school in toulouse, france. the man has promised to turn himself in, but it has not happened yet. the 24-year-old man fired shots at police when they arrived overnight. at least two officers were injured in the shoot-out. he threw his handgun out of the window, but he still has other weapons, they say. the man is also suspected of killing three troopers. officers did arrest the man's brother in connection with this case. right now, until 2:00 this afternoon, you can sign a book of condolences for victims of those shootings at the french embassy on reservoir road here in northwest washington. the lawyer for the u.s. soldier accused in the shooting rampage in afghanistan says there is a lack of proof about what happened the night of the

massacre. john henry brown questioned the quality of the evidence against his client, robert bales. army staff sergeant bales is accused of killing 16 afghan civilians this month. bales is currently in solitary confinement at fort leavenworth in kansas. brown says he's planning his own trip to afghanistan to gather evidence. this morning, friends and family said their final good-byes to a marine from virginia. marine corps captain michael quinn was buried at arlington national cemetery. he was killed in a helicopter crash last month near yuma, arizona, he was one of seven killed in that accident. today, maryland senator, barbara mikulski will be honored for her service. here's a live look at the capitol this morning. mikulski will be recognized as the longest-serving woman in the history of congress. senator imagine ordmajority lea

reid will highlight her service. she was first elected to the house in 1976 and won her senate seat in 1986. another impressive victory for mitt romney. the former massachusetts governor won yesterday's illinois primary. he beat former senator, rick santorum by 12%. ron paul and newt gingrich finished a distant third and fourth. nbc news's tracie potts looks at the race for the republican nomination after this crucial contest. >> we thank the people of illinois for their vote and for this extraordinary victory. thank you so much. illinois, mitt romney's first big victory in the midwest, he outspent rick santorum 7-1 here and won with 47% of the vote. crucial step romney says in defeating president obama. >> it's time to say these words -- this word, enough. we've had enough. >> exit polls show

superconservatives broke for santorum, 4-10 identified themselves as evangelical or born again. >> we won the areas that conservatives and respects pop late and we're very happy about that. we're happy about the delegates we're going to get, too. >> santorum's banking on romney being forced to give up some of his delegates, if florida and arizona are forced to split theirs. today, he's focused on the next contest. >> we're feeling very, very good about winning louisiana on saturday, i might add. the latest poll shows santorum up by 13 points in louisiana. so after louisiana, there's a ten-day break. and then maryland, wisconsin and the nation's capital, where santorum is not on the ballot. tracie potts, nbc news,

washington. a new poll shows that president obama has a solid lead over mitt romney in virginia. a quinnipiac university poll of virginia voters shows romney trailing the president by eight percentage points. president obama would defeat the other republican candidates even more decisively in virginia. he leads rick santorum by nine points. his lead over newt gingrich is 19 percent. the president leads ron paul by ten points as well. right now, the president is on his way to nevada to tout his plan to make the u.s. less dependant on foreign oil. he'll visit four states over the next two days, where he'll promote his strategy for boosting renewable fuels. while increasing domestic oil and gas production. he'll also defend his decision to block construction on part of a new pipeline from canada to the gulf of mexico. well, several people spent the night in the dark following a strong earthquake in mexico. today, crews are cleaning up the mess there. the 7.4-magnitude quake hit yesterday in southern mexico.

damaging 800 homes and causing 60 buildings and bridges to collapse. the quake was felt 200 miles away in mexico city. so far, no deaths have been reported, though there are many injuries. and the president's oldest daughter, malia, is in mexico right now. first lady michelle obama released a statement saying malia is safe. she's visiting the country with classmates on a school-sponsored service project. and veronica joins us now, she came in from outside to be with us. >> i'll be going back out. how was your drive in today? >> well i walked early this morning and it was very, very foggy. the mist hanging over? >> it was probably some of the worst fog we've seen in a while. >> by the time i drove in, the fog had lifted somewhat. still, foggy, cloudy. >> what's interesting is we knew last week this was going to be a tough forecast all week long. we've got the weather system that's hanging over the area. persistent easterly flow and

it's kind of hard to figure out sometimes where the clearing is going to take place. and who's going to be better off to see some higher temperatures. and so same thing today, folks. but now it's looking more like a mostly cloudy day, 62 the temperature. northeast wind, still light, 7 miles per hour. we've got 60 degrees over in dulles. 61 in fort belvoir, warmest temperatures, college park and 64 and warrenton at 6 4 degrees. 63 up in annapolis right now. look at the satellite over the last couple of hours, how cloudy it's been, fredericksburg, the one spot down there, you're noticing some green. and the green, a little isolated storm. we talked about that early part of the day that we were going to have some isolated showers. and an isolated thunderstorms at times firing up. so fredericksburg, you're getting quite a bit of lightning right now. it is moving southeast towards port royal right now. so throughout the day, we could see more of that firing up. we won't see anything like this. this is areas down south, around

louisiana, around arkansas, where they've been getting a lot of rain around three to six inches or so. that was the case yesterday in eastern portions of texas. around oklahoma. and that rain is moving east. ahead of a weather front. it's a powerful front. not only are they getting heavy rain and flash flooding over here in this area, they're also getting some tornadoes unfortunately. some severe weather. the whole system pulls east and arrives here for the weekend. so we're going to have to deal with tomorrow another day like today. that means that we could see cloud cover from time to time, we could see maybe a little bit of sun. here's thursday morning with i think a mostly cloudy sky to start the day. a few showers around the area. once again, probably a little bit of fog, too, early on tomorrow. and then by the time we get to the afternoon, we'll break out, we could start to see more of the isolated thunderstorms to the south and off to the west. as far as friday goes, friday looks like morning showers, but it looks like we could get a lot of sunshine in here on friday. the sunshine and probably getting up to around 80 degrees

with the warmth. saturday morning is there, you can see all the green around d.c., maryland, d.c., virginia. it is going to be a wet weekend is what it's looking like right now. rainfall deficit close to an inch and a half. and that's about what we could get this weekend. so we could be turning things around very quickly for the month of march, the rainfall deficit. 30% chance of a few showers, mostly cloudy, 74-76 degrees. for your evening temperature, sun sets at 7:22. mostly cloudy, maybe isolated thunder around the area, 61-6 6. here's your weekend forecast. if you want to make some plans for saturday and sunday, as wet as it may be, for friday, though, you don't have the day off, do you? >> friday? >> no, i'll be here friday. is it going to be raining? >> maybe you have the day off out there friday. because we'll go from 75 today, 79 on thursday, 80 degrees on

friday. by the afternoon we should break into the sunshine. but then it's clouds back for the weekend. 67, much cooler, 62 for sunday. again, quite a bit of rain, especially on sunday. we start trending, perhaps back to average or the norms, at least closer to that for the month of april and the end of march. >> you mean we're going to go back to the spring that we missed? >> back to the spring that we missed, right. back to at least 50s and 60s around here for a spell. >> i don't know whether to be happy about that or not. >> thank you, we take what we get, right? we have do do that. let's see what we're glg do get if we go out on the roads with danella sealock. good morning. >> still a few problems, let's start out with northbound branch avenue, your northbound lanes are blocked at accokeek road. all of your northbound lanes are blocked, please use caution in the area. road work slowing you down, this time in virginia. take a live look right now at robinson terminal. as you make your way towards braddock road, you are slow.

and the road work is taking away the light lane, your travel speed, 23 miles per hour and slow at van dorn street. back to you. it's 11:21 now. still ahead on "news4 midday," spring is a perfect time for a home makeover. simple changes can make a huge difference, we'll get some secrets of the trade from an interior designer. plus, we'll introduce you to a young girl who is living the life of a typical 3-year-old -- thanks to a very special dog. but first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

what do you think of this one? really? what's this? this is a rose i made from a turnip. let's try together. perfect. two worlds that fit in one kitchen. come in today and save up to 20% on a kitchen from ikea.

. president obama has a talent you may not know about and it surprised a student at an event in prince george's community at an event there. stefan used sign language to shake president obama's hand. he signed, i'm proud of you and president obama signed back, thank you. and then another student signed to the president, i love you. and the president smiled back at her and shook her hand. well for one little girl, a dog has become a girl's best friend and a lifeline to normalcy. 3-year-old alita suffers from a rare lung disease that requires her to use an oxygen tank, the

problem, letting a toddler learn and grow attached to a ten-pound tank. so her father came up with a solution, a service dog named mr. gibbs. and he carries the oxygen essential to the girl's life. the father told "the today show's" matt lauer that there's a learning curve, but the goal to make her life as normal as possible. >> most service agencies won't talk to you until your child is at least six or seven. so the challenge is for him to listen to alita. he does really well with debbie and i, but it's tough for him to list ton a 3-year-old. we're hoping by the time she's in kindergarten, it's all figured out and he's trained and they just go to school together. >> she's alita, only 500 children have ever been diagnosed with her condition. she could eventually be able to broeth without the use of that oxygen tank.

it's 11:26. coming up, why the girlfriend of trayvon martin is coming by with information about the last conversation she had with the teen who was shot and killed by a member of a neighborhood watch. plus, the benefits of aspirin. it may be helpful for more than just your heart. and after a foggy start to this day, how much it's going to warm up out there. veronica johnson is back with an update for us. 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, police are preparing to storm an apartment building in southern france. where the man suspected in the deadly school shooting is refusing to come out. the 24-year-old man fired shots at police when they arrived overnight. at least two officers were injured in the shoot-out. the man is suspected of shooting and killing a rabbi, three kids and three paratroopers. officers arrested the man's brother in connection with this case. overnight, an officer found marcellus jackson shot inside a

burning car in prince george's county. he was pronounced dead on the scene in the 1100 block of palmer road in fort washington. police have made no arrests in this case. the girlfriend of an unarmed florida teen killed could give some new insight into the controversial case. the case has sparked outrage with many across the country, who say the shooting was raushlly motivated. a 17-year-old, trayvon martin, was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain in a gated community last month. george zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense and has not been arrested. martin's family lawyer said cell phone records showed trayvon was on the phone with his girlfriend when zimmerman confronted him. >> she heard trayvon say, why are you following me? that's when she said she hears the other voice say, what are you doing around here. >> trayvon's parents and lawyer discussed the case on the "today show." matt lauer questioned why the

girlfriend did not come forward right away with the evidence? >> because of the situation that happened with trayvon, and that the fact that she was on the phone with him when he, when the incident occurred, right before the incident occurred. so she was very distraught. she had to go to the hospital. she was hospitalized. she'll also mentioned to us that she had feelings for trayvon. so it hurt her dearly to know that he had passed away. >> mr. crump, as an attorney, does it worry you that what this is is heysay evidence? >> it doesn't, because she is a 16-year-old teenager who just lost a person very special to her. her parents are very concerned. they did not want her to get involved. and twant until mr. martin found the phone records and saw that she called him at 7:12, the police got on the scene at 7:17. he was shot and dead on the ground. >> a prosecutor says a grand jury will meet april 10th to

review the evidence. the drtment of justice is also reviewing the case. today we're seeing images of a man police believe attacked a high school girl in fairfax county. police believe the man grabbed the gill by the neck and dragged her to the ground on a path along wicket road. police say the picture may show the suspect in the attack. officers canvassed the area, but didn't find anyone. investigators tell news4 they do not think this is related to a sex assault on another woman nearby last week. six current and former staff members say a montgomery county school principal bullied them. and filed a lawsuit against floyd sterns, the principal at kemp mill elementary in silver spring. the group accuses him of creating a hostile work environment and are suing the school board for ignoring their complaints. >> the abuse has gotten to the point that i couldn't, i couldn't go into the building any more. >> we're seeking for the board of education, to do what they

haven't done, step in, get rid of this principal, let these plaintiffs, teachers, be restored to the dignity that they have earned. >> our attempts to talk to starnes were not successful. the montgomery county school board called the accusations against starnes false. the d.c. council approved a package of school reform measures they hope will keep kids in school and good teachers in the district. aaron gilchrist is at the super screen with more. >> the new measures are aimed at preparing them for what comes after graduation. let's look at how this will affect students. first, there's an early warning system that would be established to track how students are progressing towards graduation. this would identify students at risk of dropping out and then give them more individual attention. the measure also calls for plan to have all high school students take the a.c.t. or s.a.t. and apply to a college or vocational

school. teachers are not left out. there's a plan for them as well. the package provides for a new incentive program for highly-effective teachers to move to low-performing schools. the city would offer $10,000 as a transfer bonus. offer housing assistance and possible income tax breaks for teachers willing to move. of the 600 teachers who are deemed highly effective last year, 10% worked in the district's lower-performing schools. there's no timeline for when this would go into effect, but the entire package would cost the city about $2. 8 million. >> okay, aaron, thank you for that report. we're going to check in with veronica johnson who is checking conditions outside our studio and has the latest on the forecast for us. good morning. >> good morning again, barbara. outside right now, i don't have much sunshine and we're looking for limited sunshine today. maybe a few more of those showers and thundershowers coming along. but i tell you what, you can see a lot of green behind me now. unlike our winter, you know where everything browned up.

now everything is greening up nicely and we could use some rain. and we're going to, i think quite a bit of rain this weekend. take a look at the image cents in from tom kierein, all of us heren in storm center 4, we may be off, but not off completely. a lovely picture that was of the gray sky, against the bright tulip, kind of an oxymoron. the thundershowers that i speak of are down south. making their way southeast ard friend riksberg and pushing toward -- fredericksburg, pushing towards port royal. they could be producing moderate rain with a lot of lightning. the gray skies, you can see them with a little bit of clearing just south of petersburg, west virginia and front royal, virginia, too. so for today, it's going to take a while, folks, to get a little sun in here. 62 our current temperature. we're going to be going up to highs though, later today, in the low to mid 70s across the area. then again, quite a bit of rain is what we could see this weekend, i'll have more on that.

you know, our deficit right now, barbara, it's close to an inch and a half. here we are in the 20th of the month and we've only gotten about .01 of an inch of rain, so we could use some rain. we'll talk amounts and more details on the weekend in a couple of weekends. >> thanks so much. the arlington county police chief is denying a report that his offices are being told to meet monthly quotas out on the roads. the report followed the release of an internal memo that appeared to outline a quota system for traffic tickets and citations. it was issued by two police captains, the chief says the memo was meant to serve as a performance guideline, and that arlington does not use quotas. >> the mere suggestion of a quota system and a police department damages or sullies the professional reputation of the agency. and i take that very seriously. >> there is no month-to-month or day-to-day numeric quota system

for our officers. and i want to be emphatic about that. >> meanwhile, chief scott says he has rescinded that memo. going to check on the mid didday traffic again and see what danella sealock can tell us about problems on the roads. >> first i want to show you the rails. because if you're taking the rails today, expect delays because of scheduled track work. delays on the orange line, as well as the green line in both directions. now, over to the roadway, if you're traveling the outer loop at van dorn street. we have an accident in the right shoulder lane. but earlier it was blocking two of your left lanes. it's out of the road, but you are going to see some volume as you make your way towards van dorn street and continue towards telegraph road. now the beltway in montgomery county, nice and clear in both directions. no issues to report. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. we'll learn more in the coming days about a major accomplishment for doctors at the university of maryland. the medical center in baltimore is now only the second u.s. hospital to ever perform a full

face transplant. yesterday's procedure in baltimore was 36 hours long and included a tongue and jaw transplant as well. on a 37-year-old man. they plan to release more details about the procedure and a press conference next tuesday. in news for your health now, a new report suggests that aspirin could help prevent and even treat several types of cancer. we're going to get that now from dr. nancy snyderman who has the latest for us. >> reporter: like so many americans, dana started taking an aspirin a day ten years ago to help prevent heart disease. after being diagnosed and treated for colon cancer, his doctor told him to stay on it. >> my doctors in houston told me that aspirin therapy was now something that they thought about as the healthiest recur ens of cancer so i've been taking it ever since. so i continue to do it for both reasons, the cancer and the heart. >> a medical journal said aspirin may have a new role in

cancer and treatment. consider the statistics, people who take cancer have a 15% lower risk of dieing from cancer. a 38% less chance of developing kolo-rectal cancer and aspirin may reduce the risk of cancers of the esophagus, stomach and lung. and it may provide benefits even after diagnosis. aspirin users have a 36% less chance of having cancer spread. >> there's reason for hope that aspirin may have this additional benefit in terms of preventing cancer. but at the same time we also know that it's not a panacea. >> reporter: doctors caution that aspirin still carries risks. it can cause stomach upset and bleeding. but the new findings suggest the benefit of cancer prevention may outweigh the risks. >> my patients will often ask me, is there something i can do to make my cancer treatment better or more optimal. and the answer oftentimes has been no. and this can be incredibly helpful.

>> that was dr. nancy snyderman reporting. a medical experts say it's important to check with your physician before beginning your aspirin regimen because serious bleeding can be a side effect. dr. joshua winer will be answering your questions, he can answer a wide range of questions, from treating depression to parenting device and help with a troubled relationship. if you've got a question that you'd like to ask him, get in touch with us, send us the question, "news4 midday"@nbcuni.com. or leave a question for us on facebook or twitter. it's 11:41. still ahead, safety questions this morning about the new ipad. plus how to add a pop of color to your home just in time for spring.

the new ipad is proving to be one of the hottest items on the market these days, literally. "consumer reports" claims the tablet reaches temperatures of about 116 degrees. that's about 13 degrees warmer than the old ipad ii. despite the heat warnings, the magazine is giving the new ipad a glowing review. it calls it one of the best tablets it's ever tested and raves about its display, graphics and camera. stocks are mixed this morning. we check in with cnbc's saema moody. she joins us for that and the rest of the business headlines. >> good morning, barbara. today the main market mover in the u.s. equities is coming from the housing sector. the national association of realtors reported mixed data on the housing industry. the trade group said sales of existing home sales declined by .9% last month. but january's number was revised

higher. on some stocks that we're watching, hewlett-packard is in focus, it said it was merging its printer and pc business in a major reorganization to save costs and boost growth. the unit will be headed by hppc chief, tom bradley. in other news, walmart, the world's largest retailer will start to carry exclusive angry birds-themed merchandise, as the latest version of the wildly popular video game is released this week. in today's bear market, one of the outperformers in trade is oracle. the software maker reported fiscal third quarter profit of 52 cents per share, six cents above analysts' estimates as sales of new software licenses accelerat accelerated. that's the news, back to you. >> thank you so much. well, it's now spring and that's great time to make some small changes in your home. that can have a really big impact. margaret carter an interior decorator based in arlington

joins us with ideas. >> i like what you've brought with you. >> you really dressed up our set here. >> thank you. >> now we had a segment earlier this week with women's fashion. and they talk about color being so important especially in the spring. is that true for the interior of your home as well? >> absolutely. it does get personal. how much color we want. how much we like it to be monochrome. but i love color. and the new news is how do we combine it in fresh ways. >> are we talking hot colors or cool colors? these mainly seem to be cooler colors we see behind us. >> these are cool cooler colors, i have tips for mixing them with earthy colors and i think that's what it's about right now. >> tell us what you brought. >> the first thing is one of my favorites to do in a bedroom. which is a peach. >> i like peach, too. you can use it all over the house. >> you can use peach all over the house. the thing about peach is it's the most flattering color on our skin.

and when i tell my clients, oh, peach makes our skin look so smooth and lovely, they say, great, i want it in my bedroom and i love popping it with something really unexpected. not necessarily the old turquoise from sante fe days. >> i like that combination, and here you've got, these are all pink colors. >> i love pink colors. and i think it's a really fun way to freshen up a house. and then i want to show ideas of how you could take things that you might already have, and make them with a new paint color that you wouldn't think of. >> so if you've got curtains hanging onned wall, find something else to go with it. >> let's find a modern, edge judge color that we wouldn't normally do. >> how important is it to spend the money on the paint itself? premium paints? >> i don't think it's as important to spend the money on the paints. i do love premium paints, because they really do show great depth. so the ben moore, aura and the

pharaoh and balls are wonderful. but martha stewart makes some wonderful colors at home depot. sometimes i go for her colors because you can buy gliden paint from martha stewart. >> tell us about this color? that's green. >> this is your sophisticated washington sort of embassy row blues. with again, an earthy, olivy colorth and this color is anjou pear from ben moore. and we've got something beautiful blue with it to pop it out. but metallics are the new gilt. >> i see if you took away this, it looks more like embassy row, could you make it more modern. >> we could do something like that and you could peair it wit anything you like. >> people don't have a lot of money to spend on changing the household. what's the biggest thing you could do to make a real statement without spending a lot of money? >> i think the biggest thing is

to clean it up. clean it up, clean out and add white. white trim, white areas, and just freshen things up with white. or just pick a favorite color you have, and pop it wherever you can. in small doses. >> what about pillows? are they -- still in, throw pillows? >> pillows are always in. and changing out pillows seasonally is really fun thing to do. and there's so many ways to buy inexpensive pillows. >> tell us what you brought on the chairs? >> what i brought here is a favorite pillow from west elm, i love west elm's pillows. they're $30 each. >> oh, wow. >> you can't go wrong with that. and i love to just buy what i like. >> they have all different colors, that's on the internet, isn't it? >> they have so much different colors and then there's g galbraith and paul, which is very fancy fabric, but room and board sells the pillows with the fancy fabric and the prices are

fabulous. >> like what? >> like $60 instead of ordering the fabric and making it with a pillow maker for $200. >> wow, that's great. >> i see you've go this beautiful chair is down in a purple. you could fit it in just about any room, huh? >> i love lavender and i love purple. i think purple is just a spectacular fun way to go. especially for spring. >> i love your idea of just cleaning out, getting rid of all the extra stuff and seeing where you are. is that right? >> it sounds really good and just pick your favorites. >> well, it's so great to have you with us today to talk about it. it inspires me. i see a lot of things i like here. we didn't talk about this, is blue on the wall a good thing? >> blue is always one of my stand-byes. i love blue and you can mix it with earthy colors. i picked a blue here that made me feel good. that's what i think we do with blues. >> you make me want to go home and start painting. >> that's what it's all about. >> thank you so much for coming

to talk to us, margaret carter from arlington. >> thank you so much. >> we'll take your advice. 11:51 the time. coming up, hear from a woman handcuffed for jaywalking and meteorologist veronica johnson will be back with another check of the heat returning. [ female announcer ] with xfinity,

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a woman jailed for jaywalking in downtown d.c. said she did nong wrong. layla nimitala said she was trying to walk to a metro station last week when a police officer stopped her on connecticut avenue wrought side a crosswalk. she said he asked her for her identification, but she refused and continued to cross the street. the officer called for back-up and arrested nematala. >> six police officers came. they took my earrings, they took my belt. they put me in handcuffs. and then they put me in a police car and drove me up to jail. >> nematal was charged with failure to obey and with jaywalking. she's scheduled to face a judge on those charges next month. well, dozens of dogs rescued from a puppy mill near kentucky are going up for adoption in our area. 140 dogs were removed from

deplorable living conditions a few months ago. 39 of them were brought to washington, to the animal rescue league in northwest d.c. they'll be available for adoption soon, once they are healthy enough to go home with you. we'll take a look at stories we'll be following on news4 this afternoon. pat lawson joins us in the news room. see the puppies you like, pat? >> all of them. >> i know you do. >> i love them all. coming up on news4 at 4:00, a wave of juice is sweeping the nation a in the form of cleanses that are meant to clear out the body of all impurities and for some people, help them lose a little weight in the process, we'll take a look at the juice craze. and in tonight's installment of what's your workout, small stretch moves that promise big rut, tonight at 5:00. we'll take you inside a fitness class catered to people who sit in front of a desk or at the desk all day, like some of us here in the news room. barbara? >> we sure do. thanks a lot, we'll see you

soon, pat. vgts time for a final check on the forecast. veronica johnson sitting next to me now. >> despite the clouds and fog, don't let the clouds scare you. you can still get outside and exercise some for today. i want to start with the radar. we still have the shower, thundershower hanging on around fredericksburg. it's moving southeastward. heavier rain falling, paulg east towards dahlgren and front royal area. so in the next couple of minutes, you'll be seeing some lightning. the temperatures in the 70s. d.c., 70s, to the south and east, and the 6 0s instead of 70s for the plains. we've got the cooler air coming in with the weather front that will come here saturday and sunday. so some clouds around the area today. very limited sunshine. and still running much above average. the average now, 58 degrees. your evening forecast, we're into the mid 60s by 9:00. isolated shower probably still in the forecast for your early-evening. then tomorrow, 79, the high.

you want to stay weather-ready, we could see more showers. sunshine for friday, the high 80, and the weekend still looking wet. but look at the 60s going into next week after the wet week. it looks as though we could be trending for april back to average or at least close to average as i said earlier. >> no more snow, though. >> no, not going to do that. >> thanks so much. >> that's "news4 midday." we thank you for joining us. be sure to tune in for more news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and tonight at 11:00 and tomorrow morning with news4 at 4:28. [ dog growls, barks ] bring your dog to work day... not our best idea. [ barking ] george! stop it! stop. oh. it was a nice thought. [ male announcer ] some business decisions are better than others. the best decision is switching to verizon. you're good to go. that was fast! thank you. [ male announcer ] speed, reliability,

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