>> reporter: good morning, angie. turns out the vice president was on the heart transplant waiting list for more than 20 months and was at the top of the list since last december. he had a well known history of heart problems and had his first heart attack in 1978 when he was 37 years old. since then, he has had four heart attacks and five altogether. he has had various operations. he had a defibrillator and stint put in, and pace maker. remember his most recent attack was back about two years ago at george washington university hospital. shortly after that doctors decided along with dick cheney and his family to put in an assist device that he carried with him. he was on the waiting list for 20 months since the last operation. yesterday he received the

newhart and is said to be recovering here in nova fairfax. >> thank you so much, mike, for that report. >> good thing he was able to find a donor and things were successful. >> it's amazing what we can do with medical science anymore. the first human to human transplant was 1961967. >> for us, i am afraid our sunday is looking a little sunshine challenged. >> i know. not even a sliver? >> a sliver. a sliver of sunshine today. that will be it, i'm afraid. cloudy skies for now and light rain as well. not a big washout potential for today, but off and on spritz and drizzles will get you there. be a good boy scout, and have your umbrella ready to go just in case.

temperatures are cool but not cold in the upper 40s and 50s now. and 52 now in manassas is fairfax. 52, waldorf. here is how it looks on storm 4 radar. a few sprinkles heading out towards annapolis. a few more lonely showers out towards the west. the blue ridge and shenandoah valley getting light rain here near the wind chester here. temperatures are going to climb into the 60s today. the main area of low pressure causing all the unsettled weather is down across north carolina. it will stay south of us. heavy rain and thunderstorms not likely for us, but with it close enough by the clouds will win the day, damp outside with passing showers. temperatures, as i mentioned, climbing into the mid-60s. if you can see a sliver of sunshine, you might get closer to 70s.

we will talk about what is coming with the sunshine, which may not be good news. >> starts with an "f," frost. >> oh, no. >> where was your head at? >> i was thinking flurries. >> oh, no. rick santorum is the winner with 10 of the states' 20 delegates yesterday. the other state delegates will decide their affiliation later in the race. romney grabbed five delegates. santorum was in wisconsin when he got the news, and he says it confirms his true status as the conservative in the race. >> we talked about how we had a candidate that didn't have their public policy positions sketched

on an etch asketch, but it was sketched on our hearts. i am not running as a consub-tive candidate for president. i am the conservative candidate for president. >> santorum still trails romney by a wide margin in the delicate count. next up for the republican candidates, primaries in d.c., maryland and wall stre maryland. >> david gregory joined us on set earlier, and he said despite the win santorum faces an uphill battle. >> you start to look at the math and the momentum, and something has to change the trajectory of the race. santorum has hung tough but he has not done that. >> david will have white house senior adviser, david plouffe as

well as a special roundtable on trayvon martin's case. and the family of trayvon martin remains confident charges will be filed against the man that killed their son, and that happens as protesters continue to take across the country including here in d.c., demanding justice. hundreds of people rallied in freedom plaza on sunday, demanding the arrest of zimmerman. he says he shot and killed trayvon martin in self defense. so far, police have agreed angering many across the country. >> trayvon will never be called a husband. he will never have a privilege of hearing a child call him daddy. >> zimmerman's attorney says he's aware of the public outcry

and threats. he says zimmerman suffered a broken nose and injury to the back of his head when he says trayvon martin attacked him. robert bales was charged with premedicated murder. investigators say bales returned to the base after the first attack and then slipped away again to kill. that is being contested by some in afghanistan who believe the attacks were carried out by more than one person. the wife of army sergeant bales is speaking out exclusively on d.c. she sits down for a one-on-one interview tomorrow morning on the "today" show. it will be her first television interview since her husband was

charged with murder. and police in california are investigateding a possible hate crime involving an iraqi woman. the woman died on wednesday suffering from major head injuries. the police found a note by her body saying, quote, go back to your own country you terrorists. today is the official beginning of the cherry blossom festival. this marks the 100th anniversary of the japanese giving these beautiful and iconic trees to washington. chuck is worried the blooms will be gone all too soon. >> reporter: you know, there probably won't be as many as there was. this is not the most spring-like day we have had. it may not be the best day to view the blossoms, but it may be just right for viewing something else that will go on down here later today, and that's daytime

fireworks. they get under way at noon. they will be shot out over the taoeul title basin. as you said, this is an important year for this festival. it marks a century since the gift of 3,000 trees from japan to the united states. these trees have remained a sin become of a bond. they do have a certain attraction. >> it's really nice. i mean from far off, you just see that row of pink, so it's really pretty, you know. it would be better if it's a bright day and everything, but it's very invigorating when you go out there and you get the sense of, oh, wow, everything is spring now. >> at 5:00, there will be a festival featuring music and more remarks, and the attendance

of the members from the japanese government down here to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossoms to the united states. >> all of the clouds may be the perfect back drop for the daytime fireworks. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. i think they will be. in any case, it's a good place to be today, just wear a jacket. >> good advice. a little disappointing to see all the green already. >> i know, you know. but it's still pretty. >> they were beautiful while they lasted. nine minutes after the 9:00 hour. speaking of time, getting your hands on girl scout cookies this year, the sweet new app that gives you the thin mint fix right away. he is charged with abusing young boys over a 15 year span, but now there is word that

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ago. that story still ahead. the brother of the gunman killed during a standoff with french police will face a judge in paris today. the brother is being held in a paris jail. he was arrested on tuesday as police closed in on his brother and he could be charged with connection of deadly shootings. all across the country, local businesses were overcome by mobs yesterday. but the mobs were welcomed by businesses as international cash mob days. these cash mobs supported local businesses by spending $20. they used social media to bring

in customers. >> d.c. has such a strong independent business community. they had 300 plus independent businesses they support on a daily basis. >> more than 170 nations around the world were part of the cash mobs, including 20 here in d.c. you know what that sound means. it's time for app of the day if that if you were craving your girl scout cookies, you have until april 8th to get your hands on them. and there's an app that makes that easier. take a look at what is called the cookie locater. simply type in your area code or your city, and choose today, this weekend or the next seven days, and just with the touch of the touch screen there, it's loading and it's gathering all the information. you can find safe way, giant

foods, and the honda store where you will find your local girl scout troop and you can map it out and add it to your calendar. what makes the app so much fun, it has a couple other things you can do here. you can find out the nutrition value of the tag-a-longs. and you can find out what your cookie personality is. you choose your favorite cookie. i have a taste for the lemon. it says i am cheerful, outgoing and fun. i don't know if we will agree with that. >> i like the samoas. >> you are brainy, complex and mysterious. >> i think that's good. >> mysterious anchorman here. and there's an opportunity to click on recipes. you can choose them.

this app gives you more than just locations. you have until april 8th. we will have more of this on nbcwashington.com. and don't forget to stay up to speed on all your news and weather. >> why do you need the recipe? go out and buy them. support the groups. >> you can make the recipes to make something yummy, like a shake. it's looking down right gloomy out there. chuck is in the storm center with details on that. >> your idea of a healthy afternoon is to sit 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 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. and those well grounded. for what's around this corner... and the next. there's cash flow options from pnc. solutions to help businesses like yours accelerate receivables, manage payments,

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keeping your identity safe and protecting the environment. those were two of the goals for yesterday's nbc washington pnc bank shred event. about 200 cars lined up. this was the largest shred event held in montgomery county to date, and each person got up to four boxes of papers shredded. all the paper will be recycled. they say thank you to everybody that came out and participated and waited patiently in all the lines. >> yeah, a lot of people out there. >> they did it safely, though. >> they did. >> and then they were protecting themselves. it's a great thing that you do with the community shreds. >> always a good idea with

shreds. it seems more shredded and diverse that way. >> we were talking about the daytime fireworks. do you think it's going to be good for that? >> we are talking low risers. if you are shooting them straight up, that's not a good thing. the clouds are close to the ground. as large as they keep them low and fired over the basin, they will be all right. not exactly the perfect outdoor weather day to get the festival started for the 100-year celebration. it could be worst. it could be a rain and snow mix, and that would be worse for sure. it's gloomy and gray, and not cold or warm, but just blah on a sunday morning. winds out the north now at 10 miles per hour. east to northeasterly breezes this morning will become more northerly, and eventually westerly with rain chances tomorrow. it will not be the prettiest

day. it will not be a washout. have your umbrella ready to go. temperatures around the metropolitan area in the low 40s and 50s. a touch cooler where it's in the 50s towards charlottesville. passing showers mid-afternoon, and then rain chances drop a little bit and we may get a peek at the sunshine today, but not a hrautd. here you can see on the radar, a whole lot of rain out towards the west of town and going westbound and southwest out towards tom's brook and woodstock, and martinsburg all wet this morning, but not a lot of rain coming down. most of the showers headed southbound down the shenandoah valley.

and since it will stay away from us, we don't really have to worry about a hraulot of rain t. >> we were in the cool and stable part of the air mass thanks to the marine influence. with the low pressure driving further and further down south, it will pull the moisture southward with it. if you will see a peek of sunshine, it will be across southern pennsylvania. a blossom-busting breeze for tomorrow. any petals left thrill be gone with the wind. today, cloudy and damp and

passing showers. sunshine is back, and it will be blustery and breezy. cheery petals flying. tuesday morning, we could have a freeze. be on the lookout. >> it's going to be a body shock for some people. >> a big shock for me. and half of the final four is now set. the other two will be determined later today. that's right, hakem dermish has this morning's sports minute. >> good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with march madness and we start in boston. number two seed ohio state against one seed syracuse, and ohio state knocks off syracuse, 77-70. the buckeyes will play north carolina linea or kansas in the

final four. in phoenix, donovan played for patino at providence. louisville takes the lead, and the louisville beats the gators. at the verizon center, wizards hosting the hawks. wall had a chance to tie in the end, but the shot was no good. the wizards lose 95-92. golf now, going into the final round, tiger woods has a one-stroke lead over graham mcdowell at the arnold palmer invitation. can you watch the final round here on nbc 4. coverage begins at 2:30. also today, big game for the maryland women. they play the national champs, texas a&m. tip-off scheduled for noon. the time right now, 9:25. a fire kills eight people,

including six young children. the happy occasion they were celebrating when tragedy struck. no ordinary wedding crashers. the unexpected guests that made one couple's big day. the supreme court takes up the health care law, and mitt romney appears on "the tonight show" and president obama travels to korea. on monday, president obama will be in korea where he visits the demilitarized zone. for more we bring in pete williams. pete, thank you for joining us. what should we expect? >> the big action comes on tuesday when the court will pay attention to the key question in this case, which is is the requirement that all americans buy health insurance constitutional. congress has very broad powers under the constitution to regulate commerce. the opponents say if people

don't have insurance they are outside commerce

that's a look at your week ahead. and now, from washington's leading news station. this is "news4 today." >> welcome to "news4 today." i am richard jordan. >> i am angie goff. thank you for joining us. former vice president dick cheney is recovering after a heart transplant. the 71-year-old had the surgery on saturday after waiting two years for a donor. cheney suffered five heart attacks over the past 25 years. and santorum picked up 10 delegates defeating mitt romney by more than 20 points.

next up are the d.c., maryland and wisconsin primaries in april. protesters continue to take to the streets across the country and here in washington demanding justice for the death of a florida teenager, trayvon martin. hundreds rallied on sunday demanding the arrest of george zimmerman. zimmerman shot and killed martin but claims it was in self-defense. investigators in the penn state sex abuse case are revisiting a 1998 psychological evaluation of jerry sandusky that says he fit the profile of a likely pedophile. nbc news obtained a copy of the report after allegations sandusky had inappropriate contact with an 11-year-old boy. the psychologist wrote sandusky's behavior fit the profile of a pedophile, but police did not file any charges. penn state released a statement saying it wouldn't comment on that report.

sandusky is set to stand trial in may. new this morning, mississippi state university remains under a maroon alert after a student was shot to death on campus. police say the 21-year-old student was killed in his residents hall late last night. police are looking for three men that sped off in a blue car after the shooting. the victim is only being identified as a junior transfer student. the school sent out text mess edge alerts after the shooting and the campus remains under emergency conditions. and then still trying to come to grips with the death of eight friends and neighbors after the deadliest file the city has seen in years. a fire tore through a two-story home in charleston while they slept. a seventh child remains on life support. neighbors say the victims were having a birthday party on friday night for a 26-year-old

woman who was among those killed. >> when you start to think about young children, and it's -- this is as bad as it gets. >> the charleston firefighters believe the fire started on the first floor of the home. the only working detector was found inside sitting on the counter and not properly mounted to the ceiling. and president obama made a trip to the demilitarized zone. he also surveyed the border himself through binoculars. his visit is part of a nuclear security summit that brought more attention between the north and south. north korea says any mention of the nuclear program will be considered a declaration of war. tomorrow all eyes will be on the supreme court who will hear arguments on president obama's

health care law. the lawsuit challenges a mandate that requires almost everyone to buy some sort of health insurance. opponents say government should stay out of american's private lives and the mandate is unconstitution unconstitutional. the decision will come down sometime in june. in anticipation of the supreme court case, tea party activist rallied at the capital yesterday calling for the health care law to be overturned. former presidential candidate, herman cain, attended the valley as well as attorney general, who was very out spoken of the health care over law filing a lawsuit after the law became official. pope benedict is pushing a message of peace after he reaches out to mexico, a country

torn apart recently by drug violence. the pope told the crowd of 4,000 kid and their parents that they are each a gift of god from mexico and to the world. the large crowd packed the plaza hours before the pope's appearance chanting his name. today is the final day for the pope in mexico before traveling to cuba tomorrow. catholics in cuba are awaiting the pope's arrival. the relationship between both sides have shown signs of improvement over the past few years. the relationship was severely strained when many catholics in the i hrupd nation were outcasts or punished. however, after the government of castro, the church as emerged as an important part of cuban society. it's tough to up stage a bride on her wedding day, but

that's what happened to one happy cup -- couple in england. the queen and prince phillip showed up to the wedding. the queen declined the invitation at first, but then at the last minute decided to crash the wedding. >> we were like, oh, my god, shocked. and only for a few minutes, but to be so close to somebody that you see so often on the tele, you know, it's bizarre. >> no word on if the queen and prince phillip left the happy couple a gift, but that photo probably gift enough. >> he said it was so cool to see somebody up close that you normally see on the tele, and that's the television.

why some senators want the justice department to launch an investigation into a growing controversy involving the networking site. and then it's the start of a big week on "news4 today." monday morning we begin to say good-bye to our friend, colleag colleague, joe krebs. don't miss a week of tributes to joe as he looks back at his career here in washington and what he is looking forward to the most in retiring. whoever said that "less is more"

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4:28 until 7:00 a.m.

welcome back. our wednesday's child this week had the opportunity to get up close and personal with elephants. >> that's right, anthony is a delightful boy whose language skills might be delayed, but he found a way to enjoy his special day. >> reporter: it was anthony's day at the circus. before we took our seats in the stands, anthony wanted the chance to see what was going on before the big show began. being a curious 7-year-old, anthony wanted a closer look. he walked right past one of the giant elephants, sized her up and just kept going. but who could resist, asia, the elephant. he decided to back up and take a closer look. the clown offered to introduce anthony, and he proved he was not afraid when he was willing to give asia a little treat. >> unfortunately, anthony has

been in foster care for most of his young life. we are hoping we can get somebody to come forward and care for him and help him progress and do well in life. >> anthony still has a lot of growing up to do before he can fit into these clothes. the ring master welcomed anthony, and a clown showed him how to jugle. >> he is not verbal, but very affectionate. he likes to play with soft animals. >> anthony got a elephant to take home from the circus. mom and dad would be perfect ones to give hugs back to anthony. >> if you have room in your home and heart for anthony, call our special adoption hotline. you can log on to our home page at nbcwashington.com. looks like he had a great time.

>> oh, yeah. he was eating it up. >> did you see how big his eyes got to the elephant? >> those things, they are incredibly massive. >> looked like he had a good time.

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there's no going back. ♪ don't go away. the voice is heating up. please join me online tomorrow, during tomorrow's episode that starts at 8:00 p.m., and big teuger is also going to be in the chat room as well, and be on the lookout for a guy from maryland, his name is moses stone. he has family here in the area, and he will be competing in the

final round. >> nice. >> yeah. >> it's getting good now. >> i think it was great from the beginning, because all of these are established singers from the beginning. you will get quality from the get go. >> yeah, we have other people from the area that advanced. >> and erin just left on friday for los angeles we will definitely be seeing more of her. for us, today may be a good day to practice singing in the shower. >> or singing in the rain. >> yeah, a cloudy, cool, rainy day. maybe just a long hot shower is what you need today. temperatures maybe in the 60s today, but with all the clouds outside it won't be quite as nice. we got very spoiled with all the 70s and 80s. temperatures are in the upper 40s and low 50s to get your sunday morning started. we will climb up in the 60s

today but not in the 70s which is where a lot of people found themselves enjoying this month of march. a lot of pedals now starting to coat the water in the basin. and the trees are taking on more of a green hugh now that the petals are gone. 54 down at the naval air station. so your day planner for today, more clouds than anything else. you might see a little sunshine from time to time as temperatures climb into the mid and upper 60s. it will be a cloudy day.

showers out here drifting southbound, down the shenandoah valley going south along interstate 81. and steadier rain showers are way down across southwestern virginia. the main area of pressure is well down to the south. it will drag the moisture down with it, but still can't rule out passing showers around here for today. rainfall amounts, one-tenth of an inch. and there comes a weather front zipping through here, probably during the course of the late morning and early afternoon tomorrow. back behind it, a substantial wind tomorrow. will finish off what is left of the cherry blossoms. and then tuesday morning, may have to worry about the frost and freeze warnings for the suburbs. today's high is mid to upper 60s, and tomorrow back in the upper 50s and low 60s. with the sunshine it will be a

prettier day. it will feel more like march for the next few days. a cold start coming occupy tuesday morning. mid-30s in town and on bay side. close to freezing as we finish that out. i run the numbers up to the 31st of march, and with those numbers, we will finish march, number one warmest march in 140 years worth of records, and even with the 36 figured in. >> we can't complain. >> we cannot. a florida man will certainly remember the thrill of victory winning the usa memory championship for the second straight year. he won the contest which

requires competitors to recall 99 names and faces, and a 50-line poem and 200 random words. he says the lack of oxygen helped him to focus better. >> that's amazing. >> i can't imagine climbing mt. everest. the time is 9:51. he can do more than just forecast the weather.

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return. two u.s. senators are calling for an investigation into employers asking for facebook passwords. the senators want attorney general eric holder and the justice department to look into

whether the practice is violateding federal law. last week the associated press reported on job seekers asking for passwords. they have warned job applicants to not give out passwords, and even threatening legal actions against companies. nbc is your place for politics. coming up next is the chris matthews show followed by "meet the press." >> good morning, washington. coming up at 10:00, just as mitt romney has the nomination locked up, his vulnerability is more evidence than before. in this coming week, the focus on the health care law will put romney on the offensive. plus, "mad men" is back tonight. but it's so retro. why is something so retro so seductive?

now for a look at what is coming up on "meet the press." here is david gregory. >> good morning. protests continue across the country over the shooting death of trayvon martin. the president spoke about it when he weighed in this week. his top adviser will join me to talk about that, and the president's re-election campaign. can it survive rising gas prices? and then a special roundtable discussion, and rachel maddow will join me to talk about her new book "drift," and the tough questions it races about this country getting comfortable in a state of war. and then we have a conversation with condoleezza rice. you have one more chance to catch the harlem globetrotters. >> that's right. they will play later this

afternoon around 2:00. they had a tough game yesterday, and it was tough because one of our own was there, and he actually did pretty well. storm 4 chief meteorologist, that's him, number 7. he shot a three-pointer -- no, that's not the one. he made one. >> there we go! >> he represented well, but unfortunately the team that he was on, the international elite team, they could not pull a win over the globetrotters. but he did a good job, and we're proud of him.