easter tradition. the crowds are gone, but there are a few people left here. it was not that long ago that several thousand people gathered for the annual easter sunrise service at the lincoln memorial. this is a tradition that got started back in 1979, when pastor amos dodge was walking along the reflecting pool and saw the sunrise, and then got this going and there were 300 people then. today 6,000 people game. they came from all over, and this woman we spoke to came from new york. >> we are expecting to really enjoy worshipping with a lot of other people from all over the country and the world of jesus has risen. very excited. the highlight of our trip. >> people of all nationalities

come by and all manner of dress, and they are all here for a single purpose and that's to usher in the easter subpoenanda the sunrise from the most scenic view in the cities. we will be here next year i am sure. >> it was absolutely beautiful. the washington national cathedral is getting ready for the second easter service at 11:00 this morning. the church prepared by decorating the entire building in flowers. floorists say many of the deck aeu deckation -- decorations were donated from gardens around d.c. this was easter service at vatican city this morning, and pope benedict celebrated with

tens of thousands in the square. the pope presided over a three-hour long vigil last night, and also worth noting, pope benedict turns 85 years old next monday, april 16th. a pretty looking day outside today. it will be on the breezy side today. winds 15 to 20 miles per hour, and maybe higher than that at times, so hold on to your pabo t bonnets as you head out the door today. and the bright sunshine is starting the warming trend. 56 degrees at national airport. and fredericksburg, 57. st. mary's city, 55. and waldorf and l, 57.

and charlottesville, virginia, a bit of moisture trying to get into the mountains, but the air is so dry those rain drops have no chance of messing up our easter forecast. highs today up to 70 degrees. a beautiful day coming today. a few more clouds and a chance for light rain showers. pollen-cleansing drops is what we need to call them, and they show up tomorrow afternoon. >> music to my ears. >> and your nose. >> and my eyes. >> and everything else. it has been called a miracle. everybody involved in the fighter jet crash is accounted for and there are no major injuries. >> reporter: the big focus for naval investigators at this point is to gather as many pieces of the f-18 as possible and getting a thorough account from both pilots that red up to friday's cash. some sort of catastrophic

equipment failure set the jet into apartments, and many lost everything. there's a program set up for those that lost. on this holy day, perhaps there was devine interventions. tomorrow they will resume in earnest. >> nobody was killed in that crash but it did destroy four apartments. the navy will have access to emergency funds to help those who had lots of damage. residents are advised to file personle insurance claims. governor mcdonnell said the state will help out. and then a military helicopter had a rough landing in western arizona.

the crews were practicing near yuma when the problem occurred. everybody is expected to be okay. a navy spokesperson did not reveal any details, only that something went wrong with a training exercise. she said the navy will investigate the accident. this is a busy holiday weekend for maryland lawmakers. a budget battle could be settled with income taxes going up. lawmakers are trying to reduce the deficit of more than $1 billion for the next fiscal year. senate negotiators accepted a house proposal that races taxes on those that make more than $100,000 a year. rates would range from 5% to 5.5%. and they are also considering lowering tax exemptions for those that make less than $100,000 a year. they must approve the plan before it adjourned on midnight on monday. and prince georges county is

getting more support on rolling the dice. table games and slot machines would be allowed and at five authorized maryland casinos. the expansion bill would allow a sixth casino in the state. friday they approved their own bill that would allow table games but not slots. and any final bill would need state-wide voter approval before coming law. and then lawmakers are close to doubling the flush tax. money would pay for upgrading waste water plants and to restore the chesapeake bay. the senate gave preliminary approval yesterday. the house already passed the bill. governor o'malley is expected to sign tlegislation. a grand jury will review the trayvon martin case to see if zimmerman should face trial.

protesters had a rally for the teen. yesterday was the million hoodie march with demonstrations all over america. in the district the protest began at malcolm x park and marched to freedom plaza where they merged with the remaining occupy wall street protesters. gay students from one of the strictest universities are speaking out to prevent teen suicide. >> it gets better. even on this campus. >> students from bringam young university are taking part of the it gets better product that helps gay and lesbian teens. the school has a very strict view against homosexually. the time right now is 9:07.

they are making mortgage payments and car payments and still in middle school. a lesson for students in fairfax county. did you miss the snow this wint winter

welcome back. the florida pastor that caused a

stir by threatening to burn the koran is at it again. the reverend terry jones says islam's only goal is world domination. americans should take back their country from islam. jones said he is worried the growing muslim population in michigan and the u.s. will opress nonmuslims. pakistan's military believes an avalanche buried more than 60 people. troops from both countries have fought for decades in that region. they have been searching the remote area and digging to reach victims for two days now. so far rescue workers have not found a single person since that

avalanche. a man is seen lashing out at iraq's shiite government. nbc news cannot verify the authenticity. his whereabouts are currently unknown. out spoken baseball manager guillen is back in the spotlight apologizing for his controversial comments. he said he loved and respected fidel castro, and he apologized for his comments. in the past the marlin's leader made comments supporting hugo chavez. >> he gets himself in a lot of trouble. >> he likes to talk and apology.

>> when i need to stay out of trouble, i just talk about the weather. plenty of sunshine coming our way. cloudiness speaking into our easter morning, and we

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as good as expected as the economy added 100,000 fewer jobs than forecasted. what does it mean for the election? it appears the focus on november will be the economy. and unfortunately, we don't that have sound to you. you can tune in to "meet the press," and dick durbin of illinois and john casic joins david, and we have the sound from david talking about job growth or the lack of job growth and how it will affect the economy. >> it's the defining issue. i think that as long as there is an uncertainty, which is contributing to why we are not seeing as many jobs created, it will be something the candidates seize on, both of them. and the president described it as the ups and downs in the

economy, and what he is riding is the confidence game. coming up on "meet the press," democratic dick durbin and john kasich of ohio will be talking about job reports and the upcoming primary. financial decisions can be tough especially in the economy, and often kids are not aware of the costs associated with living day-to-day, and that's unless you are an eighth grader in fairfax county. >> when we get money, it's what can i buy next as far as clothes or video games or whatever. >> a typical eighth grader. get money, spend it. but what if you had a mortgage and car payment and family to feed? welcome to finance park. >> i am age 25. married. i have two kids, ages 1 and 4.

and then i make $58,532 a year. >> i am 28. i am married. i make about $94,000 a year. so that's good. >> eighth graders come through the doors and are handed a new identity complete with financial decisions to make. >> i am a single man with no children. i make $33,000 a year. >> how does that make you feel? >> not too great. >> finance park is made by a worldwide organization dedicated to teaching students about financial literacy. the curriculum starts in the classroom and ends here, a mini town, allowing 14,000 fairfax county eighth graders each year to simulate real financial decisions. >> it's just eye-opening for them to realize how many things have costs associated with them.

>> capital one funded the building while businesses sponsor each storefront. students go to dominion power and buy electricity and to volkswagen for a car, and then to verizon for cable and internet. >> i had to buy my house, and that's $1,350 a month, and utilities i spent $300 on. >> how much for food per month. >> about $1,300. >> that's a lot. >> yeah. >> in order to dream about who they are going to be in a way that is realistic, what it takes to be who you are going to be -- >> students spend the day at finance park and work to achieve a balanced budget. >> you have been able to get it out to balance correctly? >> yes, i am one dollar under my

month lay income. there are a lot of things i cannot have. i cut down on entertainment and vacation and dining out. >> they are encouraged to have a rainy day fund in case of an emergency. >> it's good to know this is how it actually works so i am not surprised how it works in the real world. >> when fairfax county students are not using the park, the park is open to montgomery county and prince georges county and d.c. schools. while we may have chilly weather in the d.c. area, but alaska is digging out from a big snow. it topped the old record from 1955, when alaska got 132.6 inches of snow. chuck, what would do you with that? >> 120 inches is 10 feet. so 132 inches is 11 feet of snow. in alaska, it's not like snow

here where it snows and days later we are not remembering that it ever snowed. there, you name your snowman at thanksgiving, and he follows all the way to easter apparently. >> he changes clothes every day, right? or at least his hat. >> and it was cold across much of northern europe and between those two, warmth right here along the eastern seaboard of the united states. and these patterns, these last couple years have been locking in for longer and longer periods of time. when you get into the snowy or stormy pattern, you tend to have it longer than average. we had that pattern two years ago. remember the snow we had two years ago? yes, indeed, snow lovers harken back with me for a moment, would you please? that was the winter for us. this winter, turns out it will be the third least snowy winter on record. we had exactly two inches of

snow for the entire winter here in washington. 56 right now on your easter sunday morning. no need to worry about talking about snow anymore now that easter is coming and going. notice how dry the air is. dew point temperatures in the teens and 20s. that's an important part of the forecast. i will show you why here in just a second. temperatures are climb into the low and mid-50s everywhere thanks to all the sunshine out there. your sunday forecast for your easter, highs up near 70 degrees. will be breezy like yesterday. winds out of the west, 10 to 20 miles per hour. nothing going on in our immediate area. and these have all been drying up as they come eastbound. and that dew point temperatures in the teens and 20s, these rain drops evaporated the minute they came out. if you look outside, look out to the south and west and you will see more cloud cover in the skies, south and west of

washington, as part of the fading drizzly drops. for us, we are mostly in sunny areas. it will be a beautiful day today. it will be breezy, but mild. no complaints there. a weather front zipping through. rain chances here in washington, i think will hold off until tomorrow afternoon, when cold front number two comes on by. that will bring a quick-passing chance for rain showers and then high pressure moves in and we will be on the cool side of average on tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday. the last time we had more than three days in a row colder than average, remember the snowstorm right before halloween? that's the last time we had that many days in a row below average. for today, another day above average. mostly sunny and breezy at times. highs today, upper 60s to near 70. and tomorrow, mostly sunny in the morning and clouds coming in the afternoon and a chance for showers late in the day and not looking for a lot of rain but

every dp is appreciated, and we're about four inches behind in rainfall and we are swimming in pollen around here, and so anything we can do to clean up just a bit will be appreciated. all of those days will be below average. five days in a row cooler than average, and i don't think we can do it. i put that in the forecast because i think that's what it's going to be, but it has been so long since we have had a stretch of below weather that long for so long. >> march spoiled us, and now april is coming. >> thank you, chuck. moving to sports. the caps wrapped up their regular season and the nationals look to win their second straight to start their season. >> here is your sports in a minute. happy easter, everybody. we begin with the capital's season finale against the rangers. the caps scored three goals in

the first period, and 35 saves, and the capitals beat the rangers 4-1. they will be the seventh seed in the playoff. boston faces the bruins in boston in the first round. let's head to chicago. the nationals have a five-run eighth ining and another big hit from chad tracy to take down the cubs, 7-4. they will go for the series sweet this afternoon. masters, round three. phil mickelson makes a charge on the back 9. four birdies and an eagle. he is in second place at eight under for the tournament. one shot back of your 54-hole leader, peter hanson. and the seattle sounders play to a scoreless tie. that's your sports in a minute. have a great holiday, everyone. >> a tie is better than a loss. the sometime 9:25. maryland lawmakers weigh in on

fantasy sports leagues. will they become illegal? the answer is still ahead. good news for metro riders. why the upcoming fare hike you have been dreading may not be as bad as you thought. >> has the general election begun? will santorum stay or go? the vice president heads to new hampshire. when mitt romney had the big win and the political world declaring the gop race over, all eyes shifted to rick santorum. his campaign says he is not rethinking his plans. and meanwhile, mitt romney and president obama are targeting each other. expect more of that in the week ahead. santorum will stay in pennsylvania all week trying to maintain his lead there. and on wednesday, michelle obama will appear on the colbert report. on thursday in new hampshire, it will be on fourth in the series

for vice president joe biden. that's your look at the week ahead.

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stories for your easter sunday. a large crowd is leaving after an early easter celebration. thousands packed the steps of the lincoln memorial for the sunrise service. this is the 34th year for the celebration. everybody missing in the virginia beach fighter jet crash is accounted for. the pilots and three others injured in the crash have left the hospitals. prince georges county getting more support to roll the dice on gambling. there's a bill approved to bring slot machines and table games to the harbor. there's a similar bill in the house that did not include slots. it needs voter approval before becoming law. right now two people are in custody in tulsa, oklahoma. police arrested the 19-year-old

england and watts. all of the victims are black but police say the attacks were random and may not be racially motivated. >> i am worried about three more citizens being murdered and if it takes it in the direction of a hate crime that's where we will go and prosecute them for that as well. >> one victim said they saw the men in a pickup truck and asked for directions before opening fire. >> d.c. police are looking for men should shot three people playing a game of dice. it happened yesterday afternoon. one person shot was just 15 years old. rescuers took all three people to the hospital and they are expected to recover. neighbors say the victims often gamble outside but never caused trouble before. prince georges county police identified the toddler hit and

killed by a car. the 2-year-old ethan guzman was playing in new carrollton. he was hit by a van. witnesses say the driver stayed on the scene and likely did not see the toddler until it was too late. >> the guy in the van was coming out of the parking lot, and he turned in and the kids were playing on the sidewalk, and the ball kind of bounced off the sidewalk and went across the street, and the little kid just darted after it in front of the van and didn't look or anything. >> and police are investigating and re-creating the accident. they have not said if the driver will face charges. a girl and her father are being hailed heroes this morning. an unattended candle sparked the fire in lorton. a girl who lived up the hill told her father that she saw smoke and he jumped in the van and drove down the street.

the father banged on the door and then rushed inside and told everybody to get out. his quick thinking saved three people and a dog. fire department had to call extra help to put out the flames but nobody was hurt. we have a traffic alert. crews will begin work tomorrow night -- excuse me, on the rockville pike. it's near the walter reed medical center. construction will take place at night to make the situation easier for commuters. two lanes of rockville paoeubg will shut down while work is completed at cedar lane. metro riders can expect to pay more to ride but not as much as they initially thought. next year's operating budget will need $16 million less than they originally anticipated. that means the metro board will look at smaller fare increases, and right now the 2013 operating budget is around $1.5 billion.

the board will consider fare changes in the 2013 budget later this month. and then fantasy sports are allowed to play for cash. they are exsepl ted. the measure will be in place by october, and i bet a lot of people are happy about that, because -- >> they were worried. people have been doing this for years, and pretty hard core vans. >> now it doesn't have to be under the table and it can be out in the open. the feathers were flying yesterday at the national mall. >> 200 people took out their frustration while taking part in the giant pillow fight. it was part of the national pillow fight day. similar battles took place around the world.

a group called the urban playground movement started this event in 2008. the organization encourages people to enjoy public spaces, and also letting off some steam. >> that lady was on somebody's shoulders getting them from over head, and that's not fair. >> i was right, there was a woman wearing a mask. she was wearing her protective gear. pretty good stuff out there. >> right now, it's 9:35. harsh words for president obama. the senator that called the commander and chief stupid. and then one of the most anticipated "snl"

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welcome back. although she's deaf, this morning's wednesday child expresses her way in different ways. >> they created some wonderful pottery at all fired up. >> that's for you, barbara. >> reporter: first we donned our

aprons. >> she signed that she kind of liked the french fries. i pointed out a plate with hand prints on it, and rochel indicated she thought that would be a good one, too. she picked out per paint colors and we were ready to get started. the more liz painted, the more it tickled rochelle. she was amused, but followed directions to hold her hand very still and then pull it up quickly to leave a perfect impression. those who know rochel well say although she cannot hear or speak she always managed to leave a wonderful impression with people who meet her. >> she's a wonderful and vie sraeu shus and very dramatic young lady. she is profoundly deaf. but she loves social interaction and incredibly affectionate.

>> she has spent most of her 14 years in foster care and two years ago she has been featured as a wednesday's child. since then she has been learning to sign. barbara harrison, news4 for wednesday's child. >> if you have room in your home and in your heart for rachel, please call the special hotline. you can go to nbcwashington.com. >> we heard from tony who works here that is that a great place to bring the family or children to make the pottery. you get to keep it. >> and she liked getting her hand dirty. today if you plan on heading out and spending the time with family, what is in store? >> two thumbs up, and a mention

this season of "the voice" is heating up. it's here on nbc 4, and be sure and log on to nbcwashington.com. we have one person from gaithersburg. she was america's first save this past week. she could go all the way. >> and she can flat out sing. that really helps. >> she's got some soul. >> yeah. >> beautiful weather. >> we are singing a nice tune about the weather this week? >> yeah, nothing but blue skies. how many weather songs with we

weave into that -- >> can you sing and give us a sampling. >> there are reasons i am not on the singing shows. outside we go. bright sunshine on the easter sunday. a beautiful day today. we have needed rain chances coming our way tomorrow afternoon, but the rest of the easter sunday looks like a fine day to be outside. and on our skywatcher camera looking out to the west and southwest, there are mid and high level clouds for you folks out from manassas and out towards the blue ridge, and a little cloud cover there. it's all sunshine in washington right now. our temperature stands at 56 degrees. 54 in frederick, maryland. and culpepper, 54. fredericksburg, you are up to 60 degrees. and 52 now in khacharlottesvill where the clouds are thicker.

temperatures will climb in the 60s near 70. and nothing to worry about from a precipitation standpoint today. nearest rain drops to us are drying up to the south of la ray. it's dried up as it comes east of the mountains, because the relative humidity is in the 25% range. the rain drops stood no chance east of the mountains. a little shower chance. we do have cold fronts coming our way. one late this afternoon into the evening, and out ahead of it a beautiful day today. along with the front, one or two spotty showers. and then everybody dry out overnight tonight. it will be a beautiful start tomorrow and then cold front number two slides through it

tomorrow. we will be dry as we start out on tuesday, but temperatures, believe it or not, cooler than average for much of the upcoming week. mostly sunny and breezy at times, 10 to 20 miles per hour, and might be higher than that especially in the high spots. highs today up near 70 degrees. no complaints. and then tomorrow, starting out with bright sunshine, and then clouds on the increase. there will be a chance for light rain showers here later on in the second half of your monday. not a big chance for rain. whoever gets it won't get much. every pollen cleansing drop is appreciated. cloudy and cool for tuesday. highs in the 50s for tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. those will all be cooler than average. and it has been since late october, early november since we had a stretch of anymore than three or four days in a row colder than average, and we'll

take it. no complaints at all. if you want to stay ahead of the forecast, can you follow me on twitter. we will be tweeting about our cold april relative to the warm march. >> it's opposite year. >> i am hoping for a cold summer, since we had a hot winter. >> i wouldn't go that far. and along the gulf coast they are investigating a deadly shooting at a beach party. it happened overnight at surf side beach south of galveston. newspapers reporting thousands showed up to the party afterward spread online. the gathering started out peaceful, and then there was heavy drinking, drugs and several fights. police have not released information about the person that died or the gunman. officials for the afghan and u.s. government say they reached a deal regarding night raids by american forces. u.s. soldiers may follow the

afghan law and constitution. this formalizes the deal already put in place. this is forming a partnership after the majority of u.s. forces leave that country in 2014. syria said it wants written guarantees that its opponents will lay down the weapons before the government withdrawals troops from cities. syria's government says so far it has seen no guarantees that armed groups stop the violent up rising. government troops are to leave cities by tuesday. the leader of myanmar's city has helped to broker peace. she met leaders of the national union earlier today. the group has been fighting the army for more than 60 years.

she met with the company's president and said the cease-fire is a big step towards peace in myanmar. we will take a quick break.

christians in jerusalem are celebrating easter today with a

variety of prayer services. worshippers gathered at the tomb where jesus was buried. easter sunday kau memorandum rates the christian belief in the resurrection of jesus. iowa senator has harsh words for president obama. he called out the president on twitter yesterday. he tweeted constituents ask why i am not outraged on president obama's attack, because the american people are not as stupid at the the ex-professor of constitutional law. he later criticized president obama over his policy on syria over twitter. the chris matthews show followed united states ths this then it's meet the presses. happy easter.

coming up at 10:00 on the chris matthews show, barack obama has all the advantages and disadvantages of running for re-election from the white house. today we look at history. when the experts study past incumbents, but does that predict for president obama this fall? most of the patterns favor incumbent, but is barack obama an exception. and is hillary clinton better off if mitt romney wins this summer, or if barack obama holds it? you may be surprised. join us for great roundtable. now for a look at what is coming on "meet the press." >> good morning. coming up, president obama publicly singled out mitt romney for the first time this week and governor romney returned fire, both showing competing visions for the country and what is to come in the general election. this morning we have our own

preview with a debate between dick durbin, and john kasik. is it possible to get the balance right in the election year with so many controversy surrounding religious liberty. be sure and stay tuned after the program with the press pass conversation with nikki haley. it appears mitt romney has all but locked up the presidential nomination. >> and that, of course, means he is even more of a target for "saturday night live." seth meyers took aim at romney poking fun at his recent primary wins. >> mitt romney on tuesday won the three republican primaries on maryland, wisconsin, and washington, d.c. further increasing his delegate lead.

republican voters decided it's better to phaemarry somebody yo don't love than to die alone. >> that was pretty harsh. >> the show also mocked romney, of course, by having him caving into pressure at various campaign events. musical guests, one direction brought down the house with teens lining up days in advance to get seats for the performance in "snl," and they were just here in washington. >> and sofia vergara, she was on as well. >> drop-dead gorgeous. yes, and also gorgeous, you might want to hold on to the bonnet today, but a nice day. >> yeah, and 70 degrees with a

cardigan? >> well, maybe. a thin one. >> it's a very light cotton mesh more than anything else. it will be a nice day today. >> it's 56 degrees right now, whether weather man. >> looking at her knowing the temperature and all. >> she is looking at the bug at the bottom of the screen. a little chance of a shower tomorrow and wednesday, and most of the week it looks dry and pollen filled. >> pollen filled? >> yeah. while you are going to eat eggs, i will go and hide some. hope you all have a

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