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tv   News 4 Midday  NBC  March 23, 2012 11:00am-12:00pm EDT

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a police chase ends in a fiery crash in montgomery county. we have the exclusive video you will see only on news4. good morning, and welcome to "news4 midday," i'm haley barbour. it's friday, march 23rd, 2012. just moments ago we learned two young teens died in the fiery crash. it happened around 1:00 a.m. on account contract avenue in montgomery county. police tried to pull over the car, that was reported stolen in chevy chase. news4's megan mcgrath is live at the scene with the latest for us now. megan? >> reporter: the car crashed on chevy chase circle there. it slammed into that large tree
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and burst into flames. we're learning more about the two people who died in the crash. police believe that they are 14 and 16 years old. now they won't say more until they get the medical examiner's report and a positive i.d. and given the nature of the crash and the fire, that will likely require an autopsy. it unfolded quickly when police spotted a stolen car. the car was fully engulfed in flames. this exclusive video shows the scenes moments before firefighters began to attack the blaze. ruth robbins lives just across the street. >> i call from my neighbor about 1:00 and she said there's gunshots, what's happening outside your home. and i looked out the window and it wasn't gunshots, it was a car engulfed in flames. >> reporter: police say an officer spotted a car full of young people near jones mill road and east-west high way. a check of the tag came back
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stolen. the toyota echo ended up on connecticut avenue and as officers prepared to pull it over they say the driver hit the gas. a chevy chase circle, police say the toyota went out of control and hit a tree. the impact started a fire. police were able to rescue the driver and front-seat passenger. but two others were trapped in the back seat of the burning car. officers used small fire extinguishers to try to put out the flames. but the fire was just too intense. >> it looked like at one point with the flames so high, 20 feet in the air, they were just standing back, they had to wait. >> it was a grim and chaotic scene as police officers tried to free the two teens that were trapped in the back seat of the burning car. one police officer had to be taken to the hospital for burns. as a result of those efforts in fact we're told by police that another officer actually to pull him away from the car. as he was trying to open the door, he broke the window but he couldn't get in the flames were just too intense at that point.
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reporting live in chevy chase, megan mcgrath, news4. and new this morning, a search for a person who stabbed a man outside a mcdonald's in the district, it happened around 12:30 a.m. at mcdonald's near good hope road and alabama avenue in southeast d.c. a man was stabbed in the leg. so far, no arrests have been made. two people are in the hospital because of an early-morning fire in northeast washington. it happened in the 5,000 block of hunt place. one person was burned, another is being treated for smoke inhalation. more than 50 firefighters responded and made quick work of the fire. taking a look outside now, good news, we've got beautiful day out there. are we expecting a weekend soaker? let's find out from meteorologist veronica johnson who is with us today. >> we want a beautiful day, right? it's friday and there's nothing better than that when the weather is nice on a friday. now i know we'd love for it to continue into the weekend, but that's not going to happen this time. at least we've gotten rid of a
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lot of the fog from this morning. it wasn't as widespread as the last couple of mornings, there's our shot, our sky cam, you can see it is a little hazy. the one location where it's hanging on up north. annapolis we had some fog until an hour ago, it was still down around a mile and a half. that lifting as well. your temperatures throughout the area, nice with the clearing fog and the sky cover that's going to be a lot like yesterday afternoon. mostly sunny conditions, with highs getting into the low 80s. some locations, 84, 85, maybe even 86 degrees, not far if here. think we'll see a high of 83 in d.c. 82 in gaithersburg. montgomery county, leesburg, your high 82. for spots around huntington and dunn loring, you'll see a high of 83. but rain is on the way for the weekend. expect your first drops starting after midnight. it will be a good soaker. we'll talk rainfall totals in a couple of minutes.
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>> thank you. and we're going to check on the midday traffic now, here's danella sealock with our first report of the day. >> green line, scheduled track work slowing you down as metro single track between greenbelt and college park. you can expect delays in both directions. over to the roads, we have an accident in d.c., northeast, north capital street at r street. be aware of that, police are at the scene as well as ambulance. and you may have a couple of the lanes blocked so use caution, avoid the area if possible. crossing over the 14th street bridge, work and delays back all the way to crystal city, slow as you make your way to d.c. two traffic alerts for drivers in both maryland and virginia, first, you'll want to avoid a section of route 50 this weekend. that will be shut down for bridge demolition. westbound 50 in arlington will be closed between courthouse road and 10th street.
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crews taking down the bridge that connects 10th street to eastbound route 50. closures start at 8:00 tomorrow morning and the road will open back up by 8:00 sunday night. vdot suggests using washington boulevard to get around the closure. and the navy is holding anti-terrorism exercises around the country. and it could cause some delays around naval facilities in our area. the biggest impact around walter reed medical center in bethesda. officials say nobody outside the campus will see anything out of the ordinary but there will be increased security at the entrance gates. that can mean backups on surrounding roads like rockville pike and connecticut avenue. president obama leaves for asia late tonight, he's heading to south korea for a nuclear security summit. the president plans to make fist first trip to the demilitarized zone. and is scheduled to meet with the leaders of turkey and kazakhst
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kazakhstan. minutes ago, he nominated kim jung nin. >> the vice president is in florida, to speak at a campaign event in coconut creek, florida and will travel to hollywood, florida, toor another fundraiser before returning to delaware later tonight. the republican presidential candidates turned their attention to louisiana this weekend. it holds its primary tomorrow. 46 delegates will be up for grabs. meanwhile, rick santorum is taking heat for a comment he made about mitt romney. the gop presidential candidate says republicans should give president obama a second term in office, if he doesn't win the party's nomination. santorum told supporters in texas that mitt romney isn't conservative enough. to offer voters a clear choice in the general election. romney and newt gingrich are criticizing santorum for that comment.
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both say any republican would be better than president obama. maryland's primary is more than a week away now, but voters can be in casting their ballots this weekend. early voting begins tomorrow in maryland, it runs through next thursday. the actual primary will take place april 3rd. and our time right now, eight minutes after 11:00. coming up, case closed -- the toxicology results are in. we now know what killed singer whitney houston. plus looking for a job? try going across the pond. we hear there's an opening at the british palace.
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cocaine and heart disease were key factors in whitney houston's death. the l.a. coroner released her autopsy report yesterday. the pop singer drowned in a beverly hills hotel bathtub. her death has been ruled accidental. >> we feel with the cocaine, coupled with the heart disease complicated her condition, so as such if she did have a cardiac event, all of that combined to result in her drowning. chances are, had she not had the preexisting heart disease and cocaine use, she may not have drowned when she went down. >> the toxicology report also
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found marijuana, xanax and been drill in houston's system. those drugs are not thought to have contributed to her death. metro riders upset with constant escalator problems can see the upgrades being made. metro has released a video on its website showing workers removing the center escalator from dupont circle's south entrance this week. the escalator had to be separated into seven different pieces because of its size. dupont's south entrance is going a full reconstruction. the escalators are closed to be closed for at least another six months. well just like a lot of students, metro is taking a spring break. starting this weekend, no track work on the transit system so more trains are available for visitors heading to the cherry blossom festival. the break from work will remain until sunday april 15th. the last chance to see the cherry blossoms ott their peak,
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today marks the end of the period where 70% will be showing off their colors. the opening ceremony son sunday and there's a new app that lets visitors browse hundreds of performances, events and restaurants participating in the festival which runs through april. many flowers could come down this weekend. because we're expecting some nasty weather to come to town over the weekend. i guess that might include some wind, then? and veronica johnson is with us to tell us about it. >> wind and heavy rain. if i could really rank our days, today would rag rank way up here, this weekend in terms of getting outdoors, would probably just below nye name, down here. >> a movie? >> playing some games with the family if you get along right? >> house cleaning. >> spring cleaning. maybe find a sale on some spring cleaning and detergent. we've got temperatures up to the
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70s, 72 at reagan national. we're getting rid of the last of the fog across the area. 72 in d.c., 72 in raleigh and 72 degrees in new york. so the warm air right there, jacksonville even in florida, up to 77 degrees. the warm air for us today, but then it's gone. there will be chilly air sneaking in for the second half of the weekend. let's open up the radar, you can see the leading showers into central ohio, and coming up northward. into areas of atlanta, georgia. not just rain, but thunderstorms here. this is one huge storm system. and the spin of it, the area of low pressure, right here in missouri. that's the low that will be over our area for most of the weekend. especially saturday, it will be stormy on saturday and sunday as the low pulls away, still some showers left around the area. we could even get with the storms on saturday, we could be looking at isolated severe storms and that means hail and the potential for gusty winds, so here we are early saturday.
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you can see how much rain the dark green, the yellow, that's heavy rain possible. then the stormy conditions continue for saturday afternoon. there's your area of low pressure passing just to the south as it pulls away, still some showers, but a weekend that's going to deliver a lot of rain, some messy conditions and much cooler air. today's temperatures are running some 20-25 degrees above average. by sunday, we're back to near average. here's a look at your rainfall totals, by late sunday, where we could get an inch of rain. baltimore, just over a half and gaithersburg, montgomery county, close to an inch in leesburg, over an inch in culpepper and over two in charlottesville. the amounts could go up rather than down. a system that will sit and spin for much of the weekend. so for today, again get out. if you don't have anything to do, yet, find something to do outside. 77 to 82 delightful and feeling a lot like june throughout the area. and not a shabby evening, we'll
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see clouds sneaking into the area. but then it's after midnight that i think we'll see 0-first drops of rain. we're partly cloudy, center ice, 64-69 degrees. what to expect on saturday, one to two inches of rain. some storms could be strong, maybe even severe. you'll want to tune in to news4 to see what we've got to tell you about the storms this weekend. 83 for today, 67 for your saturday, rain is likely on saturday. and again, some stormy conditions and then for sunday, still talking about rain, too. it's going to be wet, but i don't think it's going to be as wet as saturday. your high just 58 degrees, barbara. and the rain i think will start to shut off and diminish by the time we get to midnight on sunday. so indeed, the entire weekend is looking wet. for monday, your high, 57. we are going to start drying out at the beginning of next week. notice that the air stays kind of cool at the beginning of next week. 60 for a high, thursday, 69 for a high temperature. so question is, what are you
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doing today? >> yeah, a good day to get out. it's going to be wow, warm enough to go without a jacket. >> without a jacket and without sleeves, thanks a lot. we're going to check in on the midday traffic gn, here's danella sealock. >> checking out the beltway, outer look across the american legion bridge. ways seeing a lot of volume in this area. it looks better now. you may see some delays as you make your way closer to the dulles toll road. not seeing accidents if you're taking the wilson bridge, it looks better. travel lanes are open. travel speed for you making your way from the wilson bridge heading to van dorn street, no the bad, 59 miles per hour. only taking six minutes to make the trip. and if you're looking for something to do this weekend, and you also want to help out members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. you may want to help us by getting out to celebrate the capital queer prom. i'm emceeing, the carnival
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extravaganza. the proceeds go to benefit the transgendered health empowerment organization. the prom will be held at the almas shriner's ball room on k street. carnival extravaganza. hopefully i'll see you there tomorrow night. >> what are you wearing? >> a red dress, i'm so excited. satin and zippers. it will be awesome. >> i want to see it. okay, bring us pictures. we'll see you again shortly. the tower containing the world's most famous clock, big ben, could be renamed after the queen. some senior members of parliament said the tower should be renamed elizabeth tower in honor of the queen's 60 years of reigning. big ben is technically only name the clock has right now. the tower that holds it is actually called st. steven's tower. of the 41 monarchs that have ruled the country, only queen victoria and queen elizabeth have celebrated a diamond
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jubilee. and lawmakers say, this would be a fitting tribute. well, if you've ever dreamed of a royal life, there may be a new job for you. buckingham palace is hiring a trainee butler. the help wanted ad is the official, on the official website of the british monarchy. the hours are long. 45 hours a week. but more may be required. the salary isn't that great, either. $23,000 a year. the ad also says the butler must possess a friendly, polite and approachable disposition. with the ability to maintain confidentiality. closing date for applications is april 8th. our time now, 19 minutes after 11:00. still ahead, we meet the youngest piano player to headline at the strathmore, we talk to this piano prodigy, coming up. but first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. i was shocked to find out how many couples don't sleep in the same bedroom.
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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 the final days of our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends march 31st. there are 400 sleep number stores nationwide, where queen mattresses start at just $699.
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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ a very young piano prodigy is in the washington area right now, the 11-year-old is the headliner tonight at the strathmore musical center,
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making him the youngest to headline there. joining us this morning is ethan bortnick. good morning and welcome. it's amazing to see you, were you wearing a tuxedo? >> yeah. >> do they make them small enough for you? >> actually to the concert i'm going to wear a suit. >> really? >> yeah. i don't really do the clothes, my mom does. >> what is a prodigy? >> i don't know. >> just someone who can do what you do at your age? >> i guess. >> your hands don't look like they're big enough to stretch across the keys. it's amazing you've played that well. how long have you been playing? >> since i was three. >> you started at three. how did you start? >> i was begging my parents for piano lessons. >> did you have a piano in the house? >> no, our neighbors gave us a little toy keyboard.
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but i was begging my parents for piano lessons. they said i was still in diapers, but on a little toy keyboard i started playing everything that i heard. >> is that what you do, you can listen to something and play it? >> yeah. >> with all the chords and everything? >> yes, my parents have been trying to ask how i do it. if you get it out of me, they're going to love it for the rest of your life. >> do you want to share it with me? >> i don't know, i really don't know. >> any other piano players in the family? >> no, just me. we've tried to look, i tried teaching my dad and my mom how to play "mary had a little lamb" and it didn't go so well. >> let's take a listen to some of the music that you play. ♪ ♪
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>> he's only seven years old. ♪ ♪ >> pretty amazing. do you have to have a stool to get your feet? >> well i used to. but finally i now can reach the pedals. so we used to carry like a box. and like it would, it was like a pedal extender. so like there was a pedal on there. and i would press it. and there was like a little presser thing that would press the real pedal. >> now, you're in school. what grade are you in? >> fifth. >> do you travel a lot now? >> yeah, a lot. >> how do you manage to do your class work? >> well, my teacher gives me the homework on the road the.
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but if it's a long trip, i do skype with her. >> we're excited you're going to be here tonight, playing in our area. >> i'm excited. >> we now know what a prodigy is. let's tell folks they can see you, the show is called "ethan bortnick and his musical time machine." tickets are $18-$38. what a wonderful show it sounds like it's going to be. >> it's going to be a lot of fun. i'm going to play all kinds of music. classical, jazz, rock and roll. there will be a lot of surprises and, yeah. it will be a fun show. >> thank you, ethan for coming in. >> sure. >> great to meet you. >> nice to meet you, too. it's now 11:26. coming up, why a sex shop ad in alexandria has some people upset. then new details on the changes that could come to apple's iphone 5. the new report for you.
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plus, will it be a wet, cool weekend?
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right now on "news4 midday." two people are dead and two others injured after a car burst into flames near the maryland-d.c. border. police were chasing the car, reported stolen, when the car lost control and slammed into a tree near chevy chase circle. d.c. mayor, vincent gray is about to release his budget proposal for the 2013 fiscal year. hoping to close a budget deficit of $17 million. the trayvon martin case has become a national issue. earlier today, president obama spoke about the case, saying he thinks about the parents in the tragic incident. >> my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. you know, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. and you know, i think they are
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right to expect that all of us as americans, are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. >> tomorrow, there will be a rally here in d.c. calling for justice for trayvon martin. it starts at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon at freedom plaza in northwest washington. today, the u.s. military will charge army staff sergeant robert bales with killing afghan villagers. bales will face 17 counts of murder, as well as six counts of assault and attempted murder. he's accused of going on a rampage near his base in kandahar two weeks ago. shooting, stabbing and burning villagers, including nine children. bales is stationed in washington state, but is currently being held at a military detention center in leavenworth, kansas. counterterrorism officials say the man accused of killing seven people in france was on a no fly list to the united
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states. mohammed merah was killed yesterday after a 32-hour standoff with french police, he was on the list of known or suspected terrorists since 2010. during the standoff, merah admitted to killing seven people in three separate attacks. including three children and a rabbi outside a jewish school. and we're going to turn our attention to the weather now and take a look at what we can expect this day and the weekend, here's veronica johnson. >> i'm trying to brighten up your day just a little bit more. that's why we're going to start with this shot right here. you can see the washington monument there in the distance. it's beating there with sunshine. 7 2 our temperature. the wind light out of the northeast. look at the other temperatures throughout the area. sandy spring, and montgomery county and wheaton coming in at 73 currently. fort washington and adelphi at 74 degrees, chantilly and vienna at 72. we're off and running right now. it looks as though another ten degrees, talking about the
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warmest day possibly of the year. the radar is quiet, look at ohio and kentucky and the big storms coming into atlanta, georgia, a lot of moisture there and it's going to be a fairly slow-moving system for us. as it spins around our area this weekend. so this is the day you'll want to take advantage of the 83 in d.c. 77 over in easton, a little cooler there. your warmest temperatures, your highest readings will be south and west of us around fredericksburg, culpepper. 83, 84 in charlottesville. when we come back, i'll talk about the rainfall totals for the weekend and the kind of storms becould see on saturday. barbara? >> thank you so much. police in prince george's county are investigating a pair of sexual assaults. one of the attacks happened early yet morning in chillham around this time yesterday morning. police say a man wearing a ski mask broke into a woman's apartment during a long greenlawn drive and assaulted her. we're told the man had some sort of weapon, police have not caught up with him yet. let's check on our traffic now,
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here's danella sealock. still checking things out across the 14th street bridge. bridge work slowing you down, taking away your right lane. seeing a lot of crowding into the city. your delays, pretty delayed on 395. take a look at the pentagon. past crystal city, you are slow, your travel speed, 37 miles per hour. taking about 18 minutes to get from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. watching the american legion bridge, these delays as you continue to the dulles toll road. not seeing any accidents, just congestion at this time. over to you. police are going door to door in the suitland area after a rultor there was sexually assaulted. detectives say she was previewing a home along dupont avenue on wednesday when a man surprised her in the basement of the home. police say the victim was able to fight off her attacker. neighbors say they're shocked this happened in their community. >> when it happened, nobody had,
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you know, noticed anything. they just thinking, oh, you know, someone coming it look at the house. >> police do not believe the two attacks are connected. a baby delivered after his mother was stabbed in the stomach has now died. police say the woman was attacked yesterday morning along ninth street in southeast. she was eight months pregnant. police say the woman delivered the baby at a hospital where the baby died. it's unclear if the woman knew her attacker. police say there were no signs of forced entry in the building where she was stabbed. well, they thought they would clean up. instead, some barbers in prince george's county were busted for stealing tide laundry det jeb intelligent. police fold stolen bottles of detergent long with other stolen items. police say more arrests are coming. an adult store in alexandria
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is the center of controversy for what some consider an offensive sign. the sign outside lotus blooms advertises a class for a certain intimate act that's had some passers-by doing a double take. the owner of the shop said the store is a place where customers can discuss intimate topics without being judged. but some residents are upset with it, saying it sends the wrong message. >> we teach a lot of different workshops on a variety of different topics. mostly we just try to advertise because most people don't know there's an education aspect to the store. >> i find it very offensive, degrading. just wrong. numerous people come down here, mair mainly children, old people, i think it's totally disrespect. >> alexandria city officials say they have not received any recent complaints about the sign. well former d.c. council member harry thomas junior is still behind on payments he owes
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the city. he made a payment of $20,000 to the district. he's paid back $70,000 of the $300,000 he owes as a settlement. he's accused of taking money for youth sports programs and instead spending it on cars, trips and luxury items. he said he doesn't have the money to pay back the city right now. d.c. mayor vincent gray is making his case for bringing the redskins training facility back to the district. he wants the team to build the facility near rfk stadium. he said it could boost the local economy. opponents say the land could be better used for housing or neighborhood improvements. >> the most important issue is, how do we do something that we think will benefit the district of columbia all eight wards, all 618,000 people. >> mayor gray says there have been no official talks with the team and it would be years before anything like this could happen. our time right now, 11:37.
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coming up on "news4 midday," a local grocery chain drops pink slime and a new family comedys playing at the arena stage. and we tal [ 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, and now with our worry free guarantee, there's no better time to switch. get your choice of terms. no activation fees. a 30-day money back guarantee. flexible scheduling.
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giant food is the latest gross remember store to announce it will no longer use beef with so-called pink slime. the chain said it won't purchase fresh ground beef using the filler. it joins safeway, shopper's food warehouse and food lion in the no slime camp. the government says the slime is safe and helps kill bacteria. but schools and parents want it to be banned because they have concerns over its nutritional value. new speculation this morning about the iphone 5. south korean media is reporting the newest version of the iphone will have a bigger screen. sources say the screen will measure at 4.6 inches, more than an inch bigger than the current
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iphone. technology experts say the bigger screen is in response to the samsung galaxy s2 which has a larger screen. the i-foen 5 is expected to be released in the second quarter this year. the ipad newest has complaints. some say a two-hour movie completely uses up their entire monthly allotment-of-data plan. wireless companies have said users should try go on their wi-fi networks as much as possible. courtney reagan joins us with the business headlines. >> stocks are higher, it looks like the dow is up about 28 points, but news from global stock markets around the world do continue to weigh on our markets here domestically. new home sales fell 1.6% in february that was a bit worse than expected. but prices jumped to their highest level in eight months,
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potentially good news for the housing market. as some believe the housing market is beginning to turn around. well banks are lending again. but the problem is that businesses are still wary about spending that money. the fed says that business loans grew 10% last year after falling 9% in 2010 and 19% in 2009. a majority of that loan growth is coming from credit line, not tra kigsal loans. companies are sitting on their hands, they may want to see improvements in the economy before they take risks spending the money again. bank of america is testing a pilot program offering a limited number of customers facing foreclosure the opportunity to remain in their homes as renters. they will take over the property title and forgive the remaining debt on the mortgage. in return, customers can rent their homes for up to three
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years, or at below current market rates, but for now, it's an invite-only program and is being tested with less than 1,000 customers in arizona, nevada and new york. that could be a potentially good thing. but i think they're going to wait to see what the market data produces, how successful the program really is. barbara? >> it will be interesting to see what happens. have a great weekend. >> you, too. ♪ more sense than to make you right. was it my fault that you didn't? >> it was your fault for being so stupid. >> you may want to catch a family comedy here in the nation's capital. "ah, wilderness" is playing at the arena stage in southwest washington. two of the stars are joining us this morning. a 16-year-old student at madeira high school in mclean, virginia. june shriner and william patrick riley. >> it's great to have you here. and june, this is not your first big show at the arena stage.
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everybody was talking about you not too long ago in "oklahoma" right? >> yeah. >> you did a little singing in that? >> yeah. >> no singing in this? >> actually, there is. there's a straight play, but we have a director who decided she wanted to add songs. >> pat rig, welcome to the washington area. is this your first time at the arena stage? >> it is, and my first time in d.c. in general. >> tell us about the play and what a great time you came with our beautiful cherry blossoms. >> the weather is incredible, yeah. it's great. >> tell us about the show? >> well basically it's a nostalgic comedy about this family, the miller family and their middle son, richard, who i play. who is trying to rebel and reading all of this poetry and is in love with muriel here. and it's really just about this family and about life and growing up and coming of age and
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discovering who you are. >> you're from los angeles? >> i am. >> and have you been in the theater business for very long? >> yeah, i've been acting since you know, the sixth grade when i played daddy warbucks in "annie." >> you must have been a young daddy warbucks. >> yeah. >> so june, tell us about your role in the show? >> i play muriel who is the girl, she lives down the street and richard is in love with her. you don't really see her, except for the transitions that i spoke of earlier, you don't really meet her until the third act. which is crazy, but basically her thing is she writes him this letter that she doesn't actually write, her father writes it. it's saying that her love for him is dead. and it freaks him out and that's basically like while the whole story happens. but then they reunite and they have this beautiful love scene. >> what are you, a junior?
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>> i'm a senior. >> you're a senior at madeira. how did you decide you wanted it start acting so soon? what was your first show? >> my first show, i guess in fifth grade i did community theater and i just kept doing community theater until "oklahoma" happened. but it was always like fun and i never really, i always loved it and i always knew it was something that i wanted to do but i never really took it that seriously until i saw what taking it seriously means. >> well patrick is kind of lucky, because all the folks who know him, his friends are back home, they don't get to see him do this. you're acting in front of your friends, are you feeling a little bit -- nervous about that? >> it's weird, it's weird. because i have such a different life or it's just like a different world. but i also have amazing friends and they're so supportive and they're exciting and they want to learn about everything so they're really excited about it. >> any actors in the family? >> both of my parents come from
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the business i guess, they lived in l.a. i was born in l.a. but they did more film and television and not so much theater. >> how about you, patrick? >> no, only one. >> any surprises in the show that we should tell folks to look for? >> there's fireworks. >> between the two of you. >> there's a real moon and there's actual fireworks. >> well i had planned to ask you to sing for us today. at least show us what you sing in the shower. do you sing in the shower? >> do you? >> possibly. >> he won't put you on the spot this time. but thanks so much for coming. >> thanks for having us. >> we'll tell folks how they can see "ah wilderness" in southwest washington on the arena stage. tickets run about $70 plus taxes and fees. sounds like a great show to take the family to. thank you for coming, it's great to see you. it is now 11:48, still
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ahead, red carpet mess, kim kardashian gets a big surprise. plus meteorologist veronica johnson will be back with another check of the forecast. monday morning on "news4 today," it is the start of a big week on "news4 today." monday morning, we begin to say good-bye to our friend, colleague and one of washington's most beloved anchors, joe krebs, his last day is friday, march 30th. don't miss a week of tributes to joe as he looks back at his career here in washington and what he's looking forward to the most in retirement. as always, we'll have your weather and traffic together on the 1's, plus all the overnight news from your neighborhood.
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a maryland woman is competing on nbc's popular show, "the voice." and she was recently in town. tommy mcfly from 94.7 fresh fm joins us with more on his chat with erin willett. >> she seems lovable. >> absolutely. >> tell us about her? >> gaithersburg's own. so i was watching in the audition rounds of "the voice" i was about to go to bed. i hear -- i'm erin willett, i'm from gaithersburg. i stopped her on facebook and i
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found her and she joined the tommy show the next day and she went to the battle rounds against gwen and beat out gwen and now she's going to the live rounds in l.a. to represent maryland and the district. >> we know as we followed her over the last few weeks. that her father died of pancreatic cancer. that, she kept going. >> she kept going. she got the news that he had taken a turn for the worse when she was in l.a. for the battle rounds. we saw that on the show. i was doing the show with angie goth and we were chatting about that she's a true inspiration for people. one of the absolute worst things that could happen, happened. but she took it and with the fire of her father, just rocked it on "the voice." >> it's live, what's coming up. >> yes. >> they don't know who has won. >> they have no idea. >> some people think that they already know. >> well, she knew that she was going to make it on to the live round. the final battle round is this monday 8:00 here on news4.
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and then we go to the live rounds where she compete live and we'll see if she makes it, we'll see if she stays, we'll see if she goes, live on tv. >> kim kardashian making headlines on the red carpet. what happened? >> she was promoting a, not going to say what she was promoting. that's what she wants us to do. she got covered in flour on the red carpet. security comes in and whisks her off. she was set up with some nice leather pants and a blue blazer and a blue shirt. >> was she expecting to be covered with -- >> oh, no, i don't think that was planned at all. >> she's not promoting betty crocker. >> no, the new kim kardashian pancake mix, not her deal. >> a much-anticipated movie opening, "the hunger games," did you stand in line to see it? >> i did not, but the midnight showings have already made $25 million and they haven't finished counting it yet. a fairfax school, a teacher
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brought the whole schoclass to it. >> it's getting mixed reviews, we've heard people so excited for so long and the fans of the book who say the movie is not as good as the book. it's an adaptation, it's an amazing adaptation, so many money has gone into the movie and they're expecting to make so much. it's one of those movie events you kind of have to watch, whether you read the book or not. >> i hear that most people are going to see it to see jennifer lawrence's dyed hair. >> the big scandal of "the hunger games.." >> we've got lots of good stuff. see you next week. >> tommy mcfly, good to see you. we continue to follow the latest on the deadly crash on connecticut avenue as police look into what led up to the crash and who the victims are. also at 4:00, what would you give up in order to have access
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to the internet? lots of people say some pretty weird things. some say chocolate, some say coffee, even showers? if it meant staying online. they would give all that you have? and what happened to all the excedrin. we'll get to the bottom of a headache medicine shortage. time for a final check on the forecast with veronica johnson. >> if we're getting all the warm weather, what's happening out west? this is what's happening. it's been snowing out west. and it's been cold there. portland, oregon thursday morning, very snowy and a bit cold there. as far as here, it could be the warmest day out of the year, 77-82. we'll be feeling like june instead of march. back to reality this weekend. here's the rain. it comes in after midnight. we're wet on saturday, there i stop it at 3:30. a lot of locations will be getting a third to a half-inch of rain. as we advance through sunday. look how wet it's going to be.
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7:00 a.m., an inch down in culpepper. there's the numbers. we'll stop it one more time. close to an inch and a half in culpepper. an inch maybe in fredericksburg. a few locations east of the mountains could get two inches of rain. some thunderstorms expected on saturday and rain continues on sunday, the high, 58. we dry out next week, you got to start planning for what you're going to start doing this afternoon and what you're going to do this weekend. >> i've got things i want to do this afternoon. >> "the hunger games." >> good idea. >> i have a teenager. >> we enjoyed having you here this week. >> i loved being here. millions of people are going to be testing their luck today and for good reason. the megamillions jackpot is now $290 million. a lump sum payment would be less than that of course, a meager $205 million. the next drawing is tonight. megamillions tickets are sold in maryland, d.c., virginia and west virginia. in case you're wondering how
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lucky you have to be to be the winner of this, your odds of winning the jackpot are one in approximately 175 million. but a lot of people willing it thak that chance. and that's "news4 midday." we thank you for being with us today and this week, tune in for more news at 4, 5, 6:00 and 11:00. i'll be back monday morning with "news4 midday." until then, have a terrific day and a great weekend. 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.
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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 the final days of our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends march 31st. there are 400 sleep number stores nationwide, where queen mattresses start at just $699.

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