good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. monday, march 26, 2012. and right now the u.s. supreme court is taking up the obama administration's sweeping health care law. 26 states are challenging the law's central requirement that all americans get health insurance. the key questions for the high court are should every american be forced to have health insurance? and if so, what are the government's boundaries of power? arguments began at ten cloak this morning. the hearing will last for three days. the high court not expected to make a decision until june.

anticipation of this landmark case people started lining up outside the court on friday night for tickets to get inside. news4's tracee wilkins is live in front of the high court now. >> reporter: people needed to line up outside because they wanted to make sure they would be able to get inside and this is all done on a first-come basis. that's how you get a ticket to get in to hear the cases. some folks have the opportunity to listen to the entire argument today. lowers just be there for a few minutes and then they are going to have to move and allow the next folks in line to take a seat. now, the line is a lot shorter here outside the supreme court because people who are now waiting for tuesday's argument, they are holding their places here. they also have place holders here as whole are waiting for folks who would like to see tuesday's argument or prapt wednesday's argument as well. but whether you are inside the supreme court or outside you definitely can tell that something is happening here. you can see over my shoulder, we have lots of protesters who are making sure they are going to be heard whether they are in or out. they have waited through days of

rain, cold temperatures, and other obstacles. >> the worst part was at 3:30 when the sprinklers turn order. >> reporter: all for this moment. >> 7:30 i will be back to hand out tickets for today's case only. >> reporter: these are folks from around the country. >> i'm from california. >> reporter: who waited outside the supreme court to hear what the highest court in the land has to say about the future of health care in america. monica heymann has been here since friday. >> it has been an experience. >> reporter: she's not only a supporter of the patient protection and affordable care act she says this case is deeply personal for her. >> i have two sisters right now who don't have health insurance and they are counting on the law to be upheld in order to continue in -- in order to get covered and continue being healthy. if anything happens they are not going to be able to afford it. >> reporter: carol is on the fence about the legislation and wants to hear argument firsthand. >> i am at place where i believe we need health care. i don't personally have insurance right now. i had it one point.

i'm not sure this is the best place. i feel like we need to build a good, solid foundation which to continue to build on this. >> reporter: there are also folks who are in opposition to what conservatives have labeled obama care. they want to see the supreme court decide against the health care act. >> we believe that if the government succeeds in doing this, that they need -- force us to do this, they can force us to do anything. >> i think it is dangerous to give the government the power and tell them that they can force people to buy something. >> that's why we need to keep our health law safe and strong! >> reporter: after two years of debate around the country -- >> getting in the line here. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: -- these are the people that will be sitting front row as history is made. we are expecting six hours of arguments between today, tuesday, and wednesday. each day will have a different focus. today's focus is going to be

whether court action is premature considering no one had to pay a fine for not having insurance as of yet. the arguments for this morning recollection expected to last 90 minutes. i'm tracee wilkins, life at t--e at the supreme court. president obama is in south korea attending a sum it nuclear safety. earlier today he held bilateral talks with a number of world leaders. the president acknowledged differences with russia on key issues including missile defense. he also praised kazakhstan for its decision not to pursue nuclear weapons. before today's meetings, the president spoke at the nuclear safety conference and said north korea needs to change its actions or face further isolation from the world. the president also discussed efforts to create worldwide nuclear protection. >> we are building an international architecture that can ensure nuclear safety. we are under no illusions. we know the nuclear material

enough for many weapons is still being stored without adequate protection. >> the president's trip comes at a time of heightened tensions with north korea. administration officials insist his visit is aimed at strengthening ties with the south and not provoking the north. the white house says that the u.s. is working with china to prevent north korea from launching a long range rocket next month. doing so would threaten the deal for frayed the u.s. the international community condemned the move calling it a violation of u.n. sanctions. north korea has said the rocket's flight path will avoid other countries. south korea says it will shoot down the rocket if it strays into its territory. taking a look outside right now, little bit cooler this morning. and the temperatures are expected to drop tonight. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. hey, tom. >> hey, barbara. good morning. it is early -- early looks and feels like spring. with everything greening up we have daffodils and tulips and for sith yeah out and magnolias and we have some freezing

temperatures on the way that will stop spring in its tracks by later this afternoon. right now, though, just past 11:00, temperatures are near 60 degrees around washington and nearby suburbs, prince george's, montgomery county, farther south in the 60s. fredericksburg, 65. shar lotsbu charlottesville, 65. northern shenandoah valley, panhandle of west virginia, western maryland, upper 40s to near 50 degrees. that includes hagerstown, out towards cumberland. all areas in blue to our north, they are only in the 40s and 30s. look at buffalo, 32 degrees right now. chicago is only 40 degrees. earlier this morning parts of southern ontario, northern michigan dipped into the teens. right now view from space showing a mostly clear sky. plenty of sunshine and for the afternoon, we will have temperatures climbing nicely up to around 70 degrees to our south. and it should make into the mid and upper 60s around the metro

area. but chillier weather farther north and west. we will talk about the colder weather coming in tonight. i will show you which counties are under a freeze watch and warning. we will look at the rest of the week in a couple of minutes. >> thank you, tom. we will go out to the roads and check the midday traffic with danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning. earlier we had a rash on the outer loop of the beltway. just at old georgetown now here is the thing. it blocked would of your right lanes. now it moved to your right shoulder lane. that crash involved an overturned vehicle and you are still seeing significant delays from georgia avenue as you make your way towards the accident. here is a look at connecticut, looking much better. cars which are at stay standstill. looks like we have opening as you make your way on the outer loop of the beltway. now let's head to the 1th street bridge here. bridge work continues. and it is taking away would of your right lanes. your travel speed right now not so bad. 52 miles per hour. you make your way from the beltway to the 1 9sds is bridge. that trip taking 12 minutes at this time. >> thanks, danella. big crowds will be gathering

in cube later today to welcome pope benedict xviing to the island nation. the pope is expected to arrive at 4:00 this afternoon in the coastal town of santiago where he will celebrate mass. from there he will travel to havana to meet with raul castro. catholics in cuba hope the pope as first visit to the country in 14 years will help bring economic and political changes. catholicism has been repressed since the revolution with many followers being jailed or thrown out of the country the the wife after maryland man was jailed in cuba. she's hoping that the pope's visit there will help free her husband. judy gross is hoping supporters of her husband will be able to nudge pope benedict into addressing his case when he sits down with cuban leader raul castro. alan gross of potomac has spent more than two years behind bars accused of spying. his wife says his health

deteriorated rapidly while behind bars. new from overnight. virginia experienced yet another aftershock. 3.1 quake hit about eight miles south of mineral. that area was where that 5.8 earthquake hit last august, you will remember. dozens say they felt the aftershock but luckily there are no injuries or damage being reported this morning. it is the largest quake to hit virginia since january 30 and one of more than 100 aftershocks to hit since last year's earthquake. republicans inning the district will get a chance to show support for their presidential candidate. the d.c. republican committee will hold its primary straw poll tonight ahead of next week's primary. gop front-runner mitt romney is expected to be the winner. he's already been endorsed by some republican leaders here in the district where gop voters tend to be socially moderate. after his big win in louisiana, the primary there rick santorum is stepping up his attacks on romney.

santorum claims romney's 2-1 delegate lead is bad math and does not reflect what he calls his growing popularity with republican voters. during a rally sunday santorum told supporters romney's views are you don't know electrically disqualify him from being the gop nominee. he adds romney is the worst republican option to be put up against president obama. doctors are defending dick cheney this morning as a former vice president recovers from heart transplant surgery in virginia. the 71-year-old had the successful procedure on saturday at inova fairfax hospital. that's in falls church. some question if cheney received special treatment getting a donor heart considering his age. however doctors say that current rules place medical need as a top criteria for transplant no matter what the patient's age. it is the same hospital cheney had a heart pump. neighbors turning to crime

fighters when thieves try to steal a man's minivan. then let the games begin. the hunger games hit the big screen. we check out the box office records.

breaking in our van. >> neighbors in northeast d.c. banded together to stop two teens from stealing a car. it happened friday night in the

5200 block of 4th street. a man saw the teens breaking into his car and started recording it. after a couple of minutes, though, he decided to try to stop them and enlisting the help of neighbors. eventually thrp able to wrestle one of the teens to the ground and retired police officer handcuffed him until off-duty officers arrived and arrested the suspect. . the teen is charged with attempted theft, assault and destruction of property. montgomery county homeowners could soon be paying more to help fund new express bus lanes. the county's transit task force says it will push for a property tax hike when they release their report next month. the group tells "the washington post" rapid bus transit is the cheapest way to ease congestion in its highly congested traffic corridors. task force also says a property tax increase is a better option than income or sales tax hikes. the maryland women's basketball team is on its way to the elite 8. the lady terps overcame a huge deficit early to defeat

defending champions texas a and mm's women's team. maryland trailed by as much as 18 points but stormed back ending the game on a 21-4 run shocking the aggies' 81-74. next up, top seed, notre dame tomorrow. fireworks marked the beginning of the cherry blossom festival. thousands of people stood in the rain for opening day, even though most of the blossoms themselves are fading. the peak bloom is already over. rain washed away a lot of the blossoms over the weekend. and there are still several events planned for the rest of the five-week festival. you can take in. take a look outside. look. you can see not quite as full of bloom as they were last week about this time. you can see all the wind blowing out there. that camera is really, really shaking. winds shook a lot of the blossoms to the ground and i guess the rain washed them out. i was out there over the weekend and they were still hanging on. a lot of them are gone now. >> rain did a number on them. now the wind is doing a number on the blossoms.

no doubt on your block, you are seeing the blossoms swirling down the sidewalks now as we had the winds at bouncing our camera around and gusting to around 30 to 35 miles an hour. you can see a lot of the blossoms have come down there at the tidal basin. right now at reagan national 59 degrees. and we have a wind there. that sought of the northwest at 20 miles per hour. but had had a gust there just in the last few minutes to around 35 miles an hour. and the winds will stay blustery here as we get he the rest of the afternoon. now looking at the temperatures, look out in western maryland, coupleber land 48 right now. that cold air already beginning to move in. and hagerstown only 51 degrees. by contrast fredericksburg is at 65. and it is hitting the mid 60s in parts of southern maryland and northern neck as well. right in washington, the nearby suburbs, we are in the mid and upper 50s. going to stay that way here for another couple of hours 37 may warm up a little bit as we get into the latter part of the afternoon. beautiful clear sky and

beautiful blue sky overhead. for the afternoon, near the high temperatures expected. and it may only get to the mid 50s or so out in western maryland and in -- up to washington county, northern shenandoah valley and in into the panhandle of west virginia may get to 60. closer to washington, mid and upper 60s during the middle part of the afternoon. and then southern maryland, northern neck, through parts of central virginia, may get up to near 70 degrees for a brief time. then the big change moves in. for the rest of the afternoon, sunny, mild and breezy as high pressure pushes in. we will have that sunshine and around the metro area into the mid to upper 60s, winds gusting to 35 miles an hour. overnight tonight while the clear skies, sunset is at 7:26. lit get quite chilly. around sunset near 60 degrees. and then by midnight down to the mid 40s and by dawn tomorrow, yes, freeze. all these counties in blue, dark blue under a freeze watch meaning probably not as cold as these areas under the freeze warning in the lighter blue. shenandoah valley, panhandle of

west virginia, much of western maryland, west virginia, right along the counties near the pennsylvania border, and eastern shore, likely there it will get down below 302 tonight. if have you any tender plants outside bring them in. we will have winds diminishing as we get into the evening hours. by afternoon we recover back in the 50s with sunshine. and then on tuesday night, not as cold as we get into wednesday morning. and temperatures should be down into the upper 30s and near 40 and increasing clouds on wednesday. could get showers moving in on wednesday and perhaps late afternoon and into the early evening hours. then drying out after that for thursday and friday. and then into the weekend with highs in the 60s, saturday and sunday, we will have clouds coming in saturdayafternoon. we might get a shower saturday night but the rest of the weekend now looking dry and it is bye-bye blossom. >> take care of those tender blossoms, ones that are just coming up. anything coming up because we will freeze tonight, you think. >> yeah, that's right. some of the daffodils will be shocked. >> welcome back thank you. >> you had a nice week to be

off. okay, tom. thank you. we are going to check in again on our midday traffic with danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning. bash are, still checking the beltway in montgomery county. had an accident at old georgetown road travel lanes are open now. looks a lot better. there was lot of crowding. nice and clear on the inner loop and outer loop. still seeing road work, bridge work actually slowing down across 14th street bridge and taking away two of your right lanes. stick to the left and you can get by and so far travel speeds not bad. 52 miles per hour. and if you are traveling on i-95 live look at fairfax county parkway. no issues to report as you connect on to 395. travel speed 63 miles per hour. barbara, back to you. >> thanks, danella. "the hunger games" set a record at the box office. making it the most revenue ever on a film that's not a sequel. the blockbuster film made $155 million this open weekend. making it the third best debut for any film ever in terms of

revenue. the harry potter finale and 2008's -- "the dark knight" were the only films to make more. analysts expect the action film to make as much as $700 million worldwide. 11:20 is the time. still ahead on "news4 midday," why learning a second language is important and apparentlyies kwi. we need a 6-year-old who is now speaking two languages other the one he spoke when he was growing up. 6 years old and speaking three now. we will tell you how he did it. here is a look at what's hot now on nbcwashington.com. i was paying too much with cable.

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[ male announcer ] visit verizon.com/greatdeal. that's verizon.com/greatdeal. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. fios. a network ahead. knowing a second language can open many opportunities while stimulating the brain as well. this morning we are talking about why it may be easier to learn a second and third language as a little kid and joining us is 6-year-old benjamin rivera from reston. his mother, carol, is with us. good morning to all of you. >> especially to you. i understand that you are speaking a lot of languages that they don't even know at your home, is that right? >> yeah. >> how are you doing that? >> where are you learning? >> i go to children's center for language and culture and then i go to language -- to speak

spanish, french and chinese. >> spanish, french and chinese. and at your house everybody just speaks english, is that right? >> yes. [ speaking spanish ] >> would you know how to say this? benjamin's mother over here. >> i would know only through taking classes as an adult so his accent is much better than mine. he does correct me and corrects my husband. but only through a difficult process of learning as an adult. do i know some spanish now. >> i just used up my entire vocabulary in spanish. but your teacher here, not the teacher but you are with the company language, is that right? >> right this is something that the d.c. school system has decided to adopt. is that right? >> we are -- we are opening our own centers we have here in the d.c. area as well as in the local schools. we are in the d.c. metro area in fairfax county public schools as well as schools in maryland's public schools, private schools we have a couple of schools in d.c. where we are working now

with the d.c. public school system to offer our programs there. >> tell us how it works. what age do kids start learning thee other languages? >> language stars they start at 1-year-old. but children are able to learn additional languages from birth. so -- they have amaze capacity to learn languages during this window of opportunity that they have and -- to learn any language easily and naturally. >> we have always heard of the language acquisition years. most kids are at home at those ages. so they don't -- they are not exposed to a second or third or fourth language. but are you saying that you would like to bring them in at 1-year-old to your centers to learn the language? >> right. they could do it earlier. at 1-year-old we choose to -- start them because we can interact with the kids. they do it in a full immersion involvement. lot of fun activities that engage them so they can textu l texturalize the language. >> that's usually through speaking and not so much with writing. and -- you are not teaching him to write spanish in and mandari

yet, are you? >> informative to learn to speak living language are in the young years and focus really on the verbal. >> can you converse a little bit with him so we can hear how good he is in spanish and mandarin? [ speaking foreign language ] >> fantastic. you understand it is not a language that has ever been spoken at home. particularly not mandarin. do you speak enough man dab are into be able to converse with him in mandarin? >> we'll see. [ speaking mandarin ] >> let me just ask you quickly, are you teaching him more than -- two languages at the same time?

>> right. children have -- because of this amazing capacity they have to learn languages, it is -- wran is hardwired for it. we can teach them many languages and -- at the same time as long as we give them the right context to learn it in -- that's we believe full immersion context. >> are you pretty happy with seeing him gain all of this language skill? >> oh, i'm thrilled. he's actually taking three languages at language stars right now. spanish, mandarin, and french. and we are happy about the spanish because my husband -- his father is from puerto rico. never taught my husband spanish. my mother was from japan and never taught me japanese. we wanted our children to learn beginning at a young age. so we are so happy. >> congratulations. you are doing a great job with those languages. i guess he will be fully verbal in a lot of languages by the time he's -- our age. >> we hope so. we hope it is going to give -- >> quickly, how do people learn about this? >> they can take a look at

languagestars.com and talk to their school administration about bringing it to their schools. >> languagestars.com. thank you for coming. benjamin, thank you. you spoke so well. it is 11:28. coming up in the next half hour, dozens are expected to march for justice for the florida teen shot and killed by a neighborhood watch commander. breaking her silence the wife of the american soldier accused of killing 17 afghan civilians talks exclusively to nbc news. plus, does the cooler weather mean we will freeze tonight? tom has our forecast coming up. stay with us.

right now on "news4 midday" the supreme court is hearing the argument over president obama's health care law. and there's quite the audience outside watching the debate inside actually and some -- many outside supporters and opponents. the law started lining up those who don't want it and those who are in favor of it started lining up outside the high court on friday to get tickets to go inside. the oral arguments are expected to last three day was the decision coming in june. dozens of protests and rallies will be held for trayvon martin today. exactly one month after he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer. george zimmerman claims he shot the 17-year-old after a confrontation. martin was not armed. zimmerman was not charged. martin was wearing a hoodie carrying an iced tea and candy when he was killed. that's why supporters of trayvon martin wear hoodies at many of

the rallies. they say they want hate crime charges to be filed against zimmerman alleging his motives for shooting the teen were racist. >> stand in solidarity with the family of trayvon martin and we stand in support of our children who deserve better than to be stigmatized and stereotyped. >> today members of the legislative black caucus of maryland will hold a rally. calling for george zimmerman's arrest and the rally will begin at 2:00 at the state house in annapolis. another rally will be held in florida. later tonight martin's parents speak at a city council sponsored town hall meeting. new today, a man in an afghan army uniform shot and killed two british soldiers at a nato base in southern afghanist afghanistan. it happened in the helmand province. there is a possibility that the man was an insurgent who bought or stole an army uniform to launch an attack. the wife of the u.s. soldier

accused of killing 17 afghan civilians is speaking out for the first time. military prosecutors say the murders came in two waves. the u.s. is investigators say staff sergeant bales returned to his base after the first attack and slipped away to kill again. in an exclusive interview with the "today" show bales' wife says her husband showed no signs of post traumatic stress before he deployed to afghanistan. carolyn bales says she feels there is more to the story that she doesn't know yet. >> this is not him. it is not him. >> how do you -- how do you get your head around that -- >> it is devastating to hear and it is -- it hurts. it hurts my heart. you know. it is very, very -- saddened. >> bales faces 17 charges of premeditated murder including the deaths of women and

children. he also faces six attempted murder charges. court proceedings will be held in washington state. military officials say there are no plans to begin those hearings any time soon. people in chile are recovering today after a 7.2 earthquake. the quake hit late in the middle of the country. officials ordered evacuations after fears of a tsunami but so far no waves have hit the coast. amazingly there have been no reports of any deaths or major damage from that huge quake. we are going to check in again with tom kierein for the latest on our forecast. tom? >> good morning. brace yourself for a big change coming our way overnight tonight. between now and then, though, a delightful spring day although the winds rather blustery. sky watcher camera overlooking the increasingly green canopy of trees in northwest washington. off in the distance we willing at southern montgomery county on the right and on the left you can see southern loudoun county.

you can actually make out some of the blue ridge mountains way off to the horizon. and we will have this bright sunshine warming us up this afternoon. right now, though, temperatures around washington, upper 50s. near 60 degrees. farther to our south, 30, 40 miles, into the mid 60s now and farther north and west, big change. cumberland continues to drop. just 46 degrees out in western maryland. and all these counties in blue will likely have a freeze by dawn tomorrow between about 3:00 a.m. and 9:00 on tuesday morning is when we will have the coldest air with us. areas of dark blue, freeze watch, northern virginia, district, nearby suburbs and maryland. but those areas in light blue will likely have the coldest temperatures, including shenandoah valley along the pennsylvania border as well as the eastern shore. many of those locations dipping into the 20s tomorrow morning. what a dramatic drop from today. and then tomorrow afternoon with sunshine into it is 50s. increasing clouds wednesday, afternoon or evening shower. dry for thursday, friday and most of the weekend.

saturday night may get a shower. high 60s saturday under and. >> tom, thank you. let's head back out the roads. we had problems earlier. >> good morning. thank you, barbara. taking the outer loop of the belt roy, montgomery county, no issues now the accident is clear out of the roadway. you are taking the red line, switch problem at shady grove metro station causing you delays on the red line in both directions. out to the roadways. taking i-270, no issues there. live look at father hurley boulevard. clear on -- 270 in both directions. and look at 66, no issues at fairfax county parkway in both directions. eastbound travel speed 47 miles per hour. you are clear. even on 66 inside the beltway. back over to you, barbara. >> thanks. construction mistakes mean drivers will soon see orange cones on maryland's intercounty connector. starting next week, crews will begin fixing pmature cracks found on four bridges along the new $2.6 billion toll road.

a review found at least four bridges were not designed with enough steel to handle the wear of traffic long term. state officials say there are no imminent safety concerns but they are fixing the cracks as a precaution. new video study shows electronics are the biggest cause of distracted teen drivers. the videos which started recording only when the car made abrupt moves showed that talking on the phone or texting while driving was the most common behavior that distracted young drivers. the study also revealed that in nearly half of the videos, the driver looked away from the road for a short period of time before the incident. they were three times more likely to look away because of an electronic. 4-year-old child recovering this morning after getting a foot caught in a metro escalator. it happened at the dupont circle station. the 4-year-old's foot was stuck between a step and the side skirt of the escalator. police spokesman says crews

stopped the escalator and removed the child's shoe. shoppers in prince george's county will not have to pay extra if they get those plastic shopping bags at the store. a bill that would have given county lawmakers the authority to impose a five cent fee on disposable bags died in the asbloifrm the weekend. supportders not persuade them the tax would do enough to help the environment. montgomery county says that its five cent tax on bags which took effect in january raised $154,000 in its first month. first lady michelle obama will host several students with green thumbs for spring planting at the white house today. they are going to plant vegetables in the kitchen garden. the white house selected six groups after getting letters about their own gardens at their schools. doost students from harriet tubman is invited in today's

planting. the first lady started the garden to start a national conversation about children's health. our time right now is 11:38. coming up on "news4 midday" why drivers are wasting more time stuck in traffic these days. delays are adding up out there. there is a new exhibit about a former diplomat forced out during mccarthyism. his daughter shares how davis changed from a diplomat to an artist. >> we say farewell to joe krebs. joe retires on friday. i sat down and talked to him about his decision to retire. why now? plus, what he is looking forward to the most in the next stage of his life. out on the streets gathering tall news that happens in your neighborhood while you sleep. plus your weather and traffic on the 1s. tom kierein talking about the possibility of record lows. 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.

you will likely notice gas prices make a considerable jump in the days ahead. many oil companies planned to switch from a winter blend to a more expensive summer blend in april. that could add 10 to 20 cents per gallon. analysts expect pump prices to reach $4.25 a gallon before we see any sort of drop in mid may. right now in our area aaa says the average is $4.13 a gallon in

the district. in maryland the average is $3.93 which is up a penny overnight. in virginia dryers are paying about $3.83, which is also up almost a penny and in west virginia, you are paying about $3.93 a gallon. much of that gas is going right out the window according to a new government report. the treasury department says u.s. drivers waste nearly 2 billion gallons of gas a year having to sit in traffic. costing drivers more than $100 billion. the government reports also says drivers spend more in car maintenance due to poor road conditions. president obama is using the report and support for his plan to upgrade his transportation infrastructure. there is new questions in the facebook passwords and who should have access to those passwords. we are going to check in with cnbc. >> hi shall barbara. yeah. today's stocks are performing

extremely well. all major indiceses up more than 1% after federal reserve chairman ben bernanke addressed the economy at a conference in virginia this morning. bernanke says the u.s. job market remains weak despite three months of strong hiring, bernanke also saying further job gains will require stronger consumer and business demand. he also indicated the central bank is prepared to keep its low interest rate policy in place for some time despite recent signs of economic growth. and the parent of american airlines will ask a bankruptcy judge this week to let it throw out its existing labor contracts so that it can negotiate new terms. amr is bankrupt and wants to cut a billion dollars in costs. the practice of employers asking for facebook passwords has gotten the attention of two u.s. senators. the democrats chuck schumer -- of new york and richard blumenthal of connecticut are asking attorney general eric holder to investigate whether the practice violates federal law. facebook is warning employers not to ask job applicants for their passwords to the site saying that it violates their

right to privacy. surely one that will get a lot of attention there. barbara, back to you. >> thank you. a new exhibit is now open at the strathmore about an american diplomat and artist who was forced out of the foreign service during mccarthyism in the 1950s. the exhibit is called a singular view, art and words of john payton davies jr. he was a med am of freedom recipient. it was destroyed when senator mccarthy accused him of being a communist. once davies was fired he moved to peru and became an artist there. joining us is his daughter tiki davis. welcome. >> thank you. >> you are an old friend of ours here at channel 4 because you used to run the press office until recently at the kennedy center. you know -- we know you and i just did not know this side of your life. tell us a little bit first before we look at the art about your dad. he was a diplomat representing the united states in peru at the time? >> when he was fired he was in peru but before that, he made

his career mostly in china which is where he was borp. and in india and in russia or the soviet union at the time before, during and after the second world war. and as a reporter, as were many of his colleagues, they saw that indeed there is the picture -- that the future of china lay with him and not shanghai shek and that was a very unpopular view to take in the united states. and it is one of the ones that had senator mccarthy going after him. >> what was that like for you as a child and your family to have these charges filed against your father? claiming he was a communist. he is an american. >> absolutely. he was -- as somebody said to him, are you pro-communist or are you pro-nationalist? he said no, i'm pro-american. meaning i'm here to defend the interests of the united states and whatever country i am assigned to. at the end of his career he was in peru and, of course, shipped him back to the united states to

answer the charges. he was charged nine different times. they brought him up to security charges and eight of the times they cleared him and in the ninth tomb they said it what was for lack of judgment. judgment being, of course, he was going to take over. >> so show as you little bit of what he created having gone to live there, he did not have to leave the united states but he decided -- >> he could not get a job in the united states. so -- >> because -- >> because of the mccarthy hysteria. so the book is called china hand which is just -- has just come out. which is part of the exhibit at strathmore which is there until april 14. he -- without knowing what to do, created a furniture factory in peru and started making furniture. and then he started designing furniture which he did beautifully, so much he won awards for it. he then expanded into monoprints. starting mostly with the pre-colombian designs. this is a chimu warrior, an area

in -- north coastal peru. most of these designs were tiny. they were either in textiles or pottery. and what my father did was he blew up the designs and had them cut and in huge mahogany blocks and then would pull the prints off of that. what makes the monosprints that every one is different. >> this one? >> this one is a head of a lohan from my father's chinese origins because he was born actually in china, baptist missionaries. the lohan, 18 buddhists lohans, the disciples of buddha and they are often in front of the buddhist temples. >> now were you surprised that your father had this talent, that he hadn't been using before he -- ended up leaving the -- foreign service. >> yes, indeed. we were all -- delighted, first, he found a way to make a living. and then this came out.

he always had a very good eye. he -- he would -- was taking pictures with his -- back in the '30s in china. so -- in a way i was than really a surprise because he was always such a visual person. >> people will be able to see all of this and hear more about his book at the strathmore. >> correct. >> that's coming up, the exhibit -- >> goes through april 14. >> it is a singular view. singular view, the art and words of john paton davies jr. now open at the strathmore in north bethesda. runs through april 14. great to see you. >> delighted to see you again. >> very nice to see you here. >> thank you. >> it is 11:49. and still ahead on "news4 midday," we begin to say farewell to my longtime co-anchor, joe krebs. as he prepares to retire this week. we look back at his career. who is that sitting next to him? meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check of the forecast.

this week we say farewell to a dear friend and colleague joe krebs. he's retiring on friday. and news4's aaron gilchrist talked to joe about his long career in news at his home. >> this is something i have been doing for 42 years almost. and i have been at channel 4 for 32 years. to do something different from

that, whatever it is, is going to be a really significant change and it is beginning to occur to me. >> broadcast bug bit joe as a child. >> between 1k38 8:15 we would listen to the nbc world news roundup. >> today's roundup includes spot news pickups from three overseas points. >> reporter: i would hear those guys all over the world and the anchors here in washington and the correspondents throughout the world and i just thought that sounded like the neatest thing in the world to do. >> reporter: and do he did. with his brothers in the basement of his st. louis home. >> kjfg radio. we had to add the r because i have a brother rob. we had turn tables and would spin records and we would tear out articles from the newspaper and pretend like we were reading the news. >> broadcasting would be a dream deferred for joe. instead he goes to law school. then on to the u.s. navy. the microphone was still calling

and at 27, joe answered landing a job in greensboro, north carolina. >> the news director said okay, sit down here and type your story. and i never type ad thing in my life. so i was literally -- trying to put my story together. >> reporter: he got the hang of and it earned a job in baltimore and then set his sights on the nation's capital at news4. >> i knew this building that i worked in all these years was the home of nbc news in washington. so that was like mecca to me. this is a horrible sight. for 14 years joe was the man on the street covering everything from politics to roller coasters and from crime to punishment. among the most memorable stories for this former prosecutor, trial of john hinckley. >> jury was able to listen to all the psychiatric testimony, all of these important legal distinctions, and listen to you will of this and come up with a verdict that decided -- very gutsy verdict that ruled that he was not criminally responsible.

she was not guilty by reason of insanity and i just thought that was an extraordinary experience and very difficult decision. >>eporter: but the job meant a little 23u7b, too. when was the last time you got in a fighter jet and had the pilot sago for it? >> to be able to pull back on the stick and have that plane go up and up and up and then he said look over your head and you can see the con trail coming around. you make a complete circle. it was thrilling. >> welcome back to the second half of "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. >> reporter: joe has called the anchor desk home alongside barbara and then eun. continuing to serve the people. every morning, laugh, smile. all the news washington needs to know. >> go to work every day and take your job seriously. and mean to do it well and try to do it well every day. that's the challenge and in many ways because that's the challenge, that's the fun of it. >> reporter: aaron gilchrist, news4. >> please share your memories of joe with us. head to our facebook page. and post a comment or send us a

tweet with the hash tag good-bye joe. we are not going really say good-bye to him. i think he changed less than i have over the years. let's take a look now at as a matter of fact stories we are following on news4 this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us in the newsroom now with a preview of things to come. >> hey shall, barbara. the newsroom will never be the same without joe krebs. coming up today on "news4 at 4:00," another local contestant tries make to it the live show of "the voice." a preview of tonight's battle round. is a popular social website legal since to share photographs on that -- website? we will have that story. tonight at 5:00, grooming a pet can be a real challenge but one product promises pain-free haircuts with no mess. so does it really do that? liz crenshaw has the answer on news4. we start at 4:00. >> thank you so much, pat. it is time for a final check on our forecast. here's tom. >> winds blustery now. coming in out of the north, bringing in cold air. and here's cold facts for

washington. the record low tomorrow morning, 34. and the latest last freeze was april 29. so we can get late last freezes. and we are going to have near freezing temperatures tomorrow morning. right now, though, as we approach noontime, temperatures are around 60 degrees. you a round the washington metro area, mid 60s to our south. only in the 40s out mountains. all these counties in blue under a freeze watch and warning for tonight. those areas in light blue, likely getting down to the 20s by this time tomorrow morning. all the details for you tomorrow morning, bright and early. >> we will see you tomorrow. director james cameron is probably glad to be back on solid ground today. he just returned from traveling to the deepest point on earth. the "avatar" and titanic director explored and filmed the mariana trench 200 miles southwest of guam. he's the first human ever to get down to the trench which is 7 miles down. all the way down there.

cameron traveled down there in specially designed submarine called the deep sea challenger. he also collected scientific data and specimens for scientists to be able to study. and that's "news4 midday" for today. we thank you for joining us. invite to you tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, tonight at 11:00. we will be back tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. with "news4 midday." hope you plan to join us for that. have a terrific day and we will see new the morning.