good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. monday, april 23, 2012. new today, police trying to determine how a car crashed into a house in prince george's county. crews rescued the trapped driver and it happened this morning in the 8,000 block of old branch avenue in clinton. megan mcgrath is live and has details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. just imagine being inside your home going about your daily business when all of a sudden a car slams into your home

actually goes through the exterior wall and at 7:00 to family here. that's when it happened. police say that the car was going north on old branch avenue when for some reason the driver lost control and the car left the road, drove across the front yard, and slammed into the house right where the garage meets the home. it actually went inside the house. >> well, actually i was asleep this morning and i just heard a big bang. before i knew it, there were fire reduction and ambulances and fire cars. five minutes later. we all came out to see what happened. we just saw this car that ran into the garage. >> it actually did damage to an office area in front of the house and also the good rajs. luckily no one was injured. >> reporter: there were several members of the family home at the time when this happened. but again, as just heard, nobody

was seriously injured. now as for the driver, he did have minor injuries but is going to be okay. at this point no charges have been filed. reporting live in clinton, megan mcgrath, news4. >> thank you, megan. a spring snowstorm is making its way up the east coast. take a look at somerset, pennsylvania. it is covered in a blanket of fresh snow. parts of new york and pennsylvania could see up to a foot of know before the day over. meanwhile, here's a live look from i-68 in grantsville, maryland. it is covered in snow. so are many parts of garrett county as well. here in washington we are slowly drying off after a sunday washout. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us right now with the first look at our forecast. tom, good morning. >> good morning, barbara. we add morning showers that have tapered off temporarily around the metro area. we have had some continuing rain and snow to our west. there is the wide view of the radar showing the extent of this storm. we are getting precipitation from quebec across new england.

all the way down into pennsylvania. virginia, west virginia, and into even north carolina. so it has quite a wide extent. the heaviest snows have been in pennsylvania. already had a foot of snow in laurel summit, pennsylvania, 60 miles southeast of pittsburgh. frostburg, garrett county, they have 6 inches of snow there. that continues farther to the south, too. down near elkins, west virginia. closer to washington, that little pink and white area along the blue ridge getting wet snow up there in the higher elevations above 2,000 feet. there have been a few snowflakes from lyndon, virginia, front royal, up towards just west of leesburg. also there have been some wet snowflakes along braddock mountain and south mountain in maryland as well as catoctin mountain north of frederick and all these areas in color are under a winter storm warning or winter weather advisory, the pink zone, where they could get up to a foot of snow there by later tonight. that would certainly cause a lot

of power outages. it is chilly. holding steady in the low to mid 40s all morning. reagan national, 45 degrees. that's more like february than april, barbara. we have a warmup on the way. we will talk about the rest of the week and weekend in ten minutes. back to you. >> thank you, tom. rain-slicked roads compounded the effects of a deadly accident that made a mess of the morning commute today. the wreck happened around 2:00 this morning between the colesville road and georgia avenue exits. on the outer loop. backing up traffic for hours. news4's tracee wilkins has the latest the investigation from silver spring. >> reporter: this was the scene on the outer loop of the beltway all morning long. traffic backed up for miles as police investigated and tried to clean up a major fatal accident. around 2:00 a.m. this morning, on wet and slick roads, two cars and a tractor trailer collided on the beltway. maryland state police say one person was killed and four others were transported to the

hospital with non-life threatening injuries. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. but the effects of it were clear. the outer loop was shut down until just before 6:00 a.m. traffic was diverted off the bell way and on to colesville road. cars stuck between the accident scene and the exit had to be turned around and redirected on colesville road. a few lanes were reopened by 6:00 a.m. but traffic was still backed up for miles. and not just on the beltway. but on roads feeding into the beltway like route 29. >> no good, no good. we were already running late. >> reporter: have you noticed it take longer this morning? >> definitely. about 15 minutes added to my commute this morning. >> reporter: the accident is sometime under investigation. no formal charges have been filed. silver spring, tracee wilkins, news4. commuters who take the  virginia railway express get ready for a fare hike this summer. one-way ticket minimum is $3.

maximum will go up to $10.65. a monthly pass on the fred rigg ricksburg line will cost $294.10. manassas, $241.20. vre expects to generate $900,000 to pay for rising fuel costs and day-to-day operations. the rate hike goes into effect july 1. right now 28-year-old d.c. murder case is back in court to examine whether eight teens were wrongly convicted. katherine fuller was beaten, raped, sodomized in northeast october 1, 1984. eight teens were convicted and sentenced to 35 years to life in prison. but the mid atlantic innocence project says several of the original witnesses have recanted their testimony. and a court will likely hear from possible witnesses who were never questioned after the crime. and the second perjury trial for baseball's roger klem sons now under way. the government is trying to prove the former superstar pitcher lied to congress about

using steroids. news4's melissa mollet is live in the newsroom. >> good morning. a jury could be seated within the next few hours in the roger clemons trial with opening statementsossible by this afternoon. u.s. district judge reggie walton will narrow the field of potential jurors to 36 and attorneys will select 12 jurors and four alter nature. retrial comes just nine months after clemons' first perjury trial ended in a mistrial. accused of lying to law makers when he said never took steroids or human growth hormone to improve his performance. only two witnesses had been called when the judge declared prosecutor has made a gaffe and declared a mistrial. the first witness in this trial now could be called to the stand as soon as tuesday. on the list of 100 witnesses, that could be called, former players barry bonds and jose canseco. we could also hear from clemons' long time teammate andy pettitte and also his longtime trainer brian mcnamee. he will face a prosecution lineup of five lawyers, more

than double the two from if first trial. this trial is expected to last between four and six weeks. a short trial, though, for this week at least after tomorrow there is a planned recess until monday. barbara? >> thank you so much, melissa. moments ago, president obama announced plan to curb human rights abuses around the world. he toured the holocaust memorial museum this morning. then he issued executive order for new sanctions. it calls for penalties against governments that use technology to impress its people. in the past governments have jammed cell phones and blocked internet use as people tried to organize demonstrations. the new sanctions could lead to a ban on visas and financial restrictions as well. the president also announced new initiatives, including an atrocities prevention board made up of government officials across his administration. >> the intelligence community will prepare the first ever national intelligence estimate on the risk of mass atrocities and genocide.

across government and alert channels will ensure information about unfolding crises and i did excepting opinions kwikly reached decisionmakers including me. >> the president also announced new challenge grants. they are available to companies that create warning technology in countries where mass killings occur. our time is 11:09. coming up, a royal visit to d.c. costs the trial of a former president candidate john edwards begins today. how the lawyer and politician plans to defend himself against the charges that he violated federal campaign finance laws. federal campaign finance laws.

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles in 3 days is-- is huge. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. you just put one foot in front of the other, and you know that you're walking for such a great cause that you just keep going. (man) that you have all these people coming together for one common goal. (woman) the goal is to bring an end to breast cancer. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. (woman) i'll never stop walking, not till we find a cure. (woman) and it has to end, but it starts with us. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. it is the most rewarding experience i have ever had in my entire life. we can do this. you can do this.

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members of congress are pushing to expand the investigation into the secret service scandal. a number of secret service agents are accused of hiring prostitutes in colombia, south america, before president obama arrived there. six secret service members already have been fired or resigned. six other agents and 11 military members are being investigated. now a house committee is giving the secret service until friday to answer 50 questions related to this incident. >> i would say the most important question and so far it seems that there is not a real threat here but to me most important question is did any of those porn nationals have access

at any time to any data, new information, of any type, that could have compromised the president of the united states or made them -- made an enemy for us aware of the practices and procedures of the secret service. >> the house committee is also questioning if any white house staffers were involved in the scandal. the obama administration says there's no evidence to suggest that. as the secret service investigation wideens defense secretary pan ate is traveling to local yeah today. he's visiting brazil and chile as the u.s. military works to build partnerships in latin america. right now in north carolina, lawyers are giving opening statements in the trial for john edwards. prosecutors say the former senator and presidential candidate used nearly $1 million in campaign money to hide pregnant mistress rielle hunter. edwards admitted publicly he did wrong to his family and supporters but insists he did not break the law. his defense team argues the money came from private

donations. edwards and hunter share a 4-year-old daughter. legal analysts say hunter's testimony could be damaging for the case if she's called as a witness for the defense. >> i know that the edwards trial team will be concerned about the fact that people really just can't get over the fact that he cheated on his wife while she had cancer and as she was dying. >> edwards facing six counts, illegal use of campaign contributions and conspiracy. those charges could bring 30 years in prison and fines of $1.5 million. a maryland civil rights leader is in trouble with the law. carl snowden is charged with marijuana possession. he's the director of the maryland attorney general's office for civil rights. his attorney says it happened on friday after a car snowden was in was pulled over for a broken taillight. snowden's attorneys say the investigation will show the case is a quote, nonissue and announced that he would take a sabbatical to pursue a lawsuit

against anne arundel county executive john leopold for allegedly targeting him on a list of political opponents. prince harry is coming to washington. he will receive a humanitarian award here in d.c. for his work with wounded warriors. the atlantic council announced it will present harry with a lineup award monday, may 7, two weeks from today. a spokesperson for the royal family says he will also receive the award on behalf of his brother, prince william, and in recognition of their charitable foundation. it supports british and american veterans charities. the smithsonian will honor betty white next month here in washington. the smithsonian associates program will have an evening with white. that will happen sunday, may 17. white says she started in television before it even existed. she says she's excited about this honor. we are excited about getting betty white back here in

washington. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here. he says it is snowing out there someplace nearby. boy, we weren't red write for this. not again. >> lot of -- >> not that much so far. >> they had up to six inches in western maryland. more than we had all winter here. they had just this morning on april 23 in many municipalities are not prepared. they have not mounted the plows back on their trucks and the salt and sand already has been packed and put away. around our region, we don't need any of that. we just had rain. there is a t gray sky over the capital and the monuments on this monday morning. right now certainly looks like spring. everything is green and it is chicago bully, though, 45 degrees. this is more like late february than late april. and we have a wind out of the west 159 to 20 miles per hour. get blustery as we get into the afternoon. here are the rainfall totals we had so far. around two inches or more in parts of southern maryland around hollywood. that's in st. mary's county,

montgomery county. had three-quarters of an inch or so and andrews air force base and prince george's county about 1.3 inches. and fairfax county, they have had a little over an inch. but more is on the way later today. look at the extent of this storm. we are getting precipitation from north carolina all the way to southern canada. lot of rain in maine and new hampshire now. this area in white and pink, that's snow. heaviest snows are here in west central pennsylvania. laurel summit, right in there, that's about 60 miles east of pittsburgh. it had a foot of that heavy wet snow already. and right along the blue ridge is pink line here, that's the blue ridge. up there above 2,000 feet, this they are getting accumulating snow now from just west of leesburg all the way down to western charlottesville. and north of frederick, too, they have been getting a little bit of snow along catoctin mountain. this is the heaviest snow. many areas around deep creek lake and out in garrett county, they have already had about six inches. as well as down towards elkins,

west virginia. they are under a winter storm warning for up to a foot of snow out there. this is the way it looks. deep creek lake state park, garrett county, this was taken a couple of hours ago. they already have more than that. just reported they have six inches of snow on the gound there. here is another picture. this is from the ski resort in garrett county. they don't -- those are the snow making machines there. they don't need them. that looks like the middle of winter out there. they have six inches of the wet snow there. skiing in april. and the temperatures around the region now are in the 40s. low to mid 40s. for the rest of the afternoon, we will have and hold steady in the 40s and highs around 50 degrees. that's late february rather than late april. and blustery wind, too, gusting to 30 miles per hour. this evening cloud cover begin to break up by late evening. sunset at 7:53. drop in the upper 40s around sunset. low 40s by midnight.

all the way down to the mid 30s by dawn tuesday. sun tomorrow morning. breeze write during the day. afternoon highs around 60 degrees, though, tomorrow afternoon. 10 degrees warmer than today. and we may get quite a bit of cloudiness redeveloping tomorrow afternoon. clouds break up tuesday night. upper 30s wednesday morning. but ought to make it into the mid 60s wednesday afternoon and with sunshine back. on thursday, clouds around and maybe some passing showers with temperatures 40s in the morning, afternoon highs upper 60s. and then on friday, some sun back. and still highs in the 60s. morning lows 40s and saturday looks like increasing clouds could get some rain on sunday. and should be making it into the mid 60s. this morning we want to congratulate our very own news4 colleague barbara harrison for her top honor in the district. this was last night. sound the trumpets. a royal welcoming for barbara at

the washington, d.c., hall of fame society honoring barbara with its legacy award in communications. every year the society honors washingtonians from various industries who have made substantial contributions to the community. just like barbara has and so many have, barbara joins them. congratulations again to barbara and all of this year's induct hes. do you have your medal? >> i do. i-didn't bring it with me, though. it is on my desk. thank you, tom, for that. >> you're welcome. congratulations. >> very lucky to have so many people here at channel 4 for so many years who have supported all of the work. channel 4 our motto has been working for you. our -- we have always been tasked with the idea that we should not just cover the community but work for the community. >> you have done that. >> thank you, tom. we all have. thank you so much for that honor and sharing with our viewers. thank you. 11:is the time. still ahead, baby news from a

hollywood couple who has been dealing with a serious health issue. plus, we begin wedding week on "news4 midday" with new trends in wedding invitations. first, here is [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design? a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel.

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those long lines for the latest shoe craze could be a thing of the past. nike plans to use twitter to help calm the frenzy during future shoe releases. the plan would set up an rsvp system for the new shoes. buyers would have to follow a particular nike store's twitter announcement and carry out a series of steps to reserve a pair. nike is the next big launch -- or has their next big launch for the kanye west air. that will happen sometime in july. so look for your announcement via twitter. ♪ i-want your desire >> look at that outfit.

lady gaga is in washington at madame tussauds's wax museum. the wax figure is on loan from las vegas. news judgment was holding a gaga inspired costume contest to celebrate. so all you little monsters get your best gaga gear on and head over to the museum for free admission today only. top five costumes will win prizes like an ipod or itunes gifts card. lady gaga is going to be on display through the end of june there at the wax museum. > . big news after years of health concerns. they shared their announcement this morning on the "today" show. exclusive. listen. >> well, we said last time we were on the year of the rancics. it turned out to be that way. >> so we are finally having a baby. finally after years of trying. >> and you are using -- sbrag by via gestational carrier. rather than a surrogate which

means this baby is biologically your baby. >> right. >> yes, it is our embryo and we are using gestational carrier to help bring it to term. >> the rancics have documented their struggles to conceive on their reality show on the style network. they told ann curry this morning their baby is due in late summer. the couple says they know the sex of the child but december insided not to tell anyway. a nature of bethesda, she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. the 37-year-old recently had a double mastectomy. d.c. music legend chuck brown is the s in the hospital. a statement on his facebook page read, quote, the brown family wants to extend their thanks and deepest appreciation to everyone for their concern, prayers and best wishes for chuck brown during his hospitalization. they ask for your continued prayers and his family did not say why he's in the hospital. chuck brown is known as the godfather of go go music. he was supposed to play at a soldout show at the new howard cheat they are past saturday.

that show beast phoned until friday, june 29. his next public appearance is scheduled for saturday, may 5 at the maryland harlem renaissance festival in landover. 11:26 the time now. coming up in the next half hour of "news4 midday," george zimmerman is out of jail. what his attorneys say he's doing right now. plus winter makes a return appearance in many places this morning. tom kierein will be back with a look at when we will see a warmup around here. we are ready for it. and dreaming of a tropical vacation. vacation. why right now is a great time

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a spring nor'easter is making its way up the east coast. dumping rain and snow in its path. here is a look at somerset, pennsylvania. look at that. parts of new york and western pennsylvania could see up to a foot of snow. there's also snow in garrett

county, maryland. seven men convicted of murder 28 years ago are back in court this morning. the men were accused of beating, raping, sodomizing katherine fuller back in 1984 in northeast washington. but several original witnesses have recanted their testimony. the court will also hear from several witnesses never questioned after the crime. the man accused shooting trayvon martin is a free man now. george zimmerman was released from jail just after midnight. jay gray has the latest now from sanford, florida. >> reporter: around midnight george zimmerman walked out of the jail staring straight ahead ignoring photographers as he stepped into a waiting suv that drove away. >> i want to get him somewhere where he is safe and available to help me. but it is difficult. >> reporter: in the days leading up to his release his attorney would only say that zimmerman will be in a secure and secret location likely outside of the state of florida. >> you think there are still a lot of emotions wrapped around

the case. we are worried some of those emotions are still negative and that may play out against george. >> reporter: trayvon martin's parents -- >> i believe justice will be served. >> reporter: -- who had been so vocal before zimmerman's arrest remained silent since friday's bond hearing. >> tracy wept in that courtroom, wept the whole time, tears running oulgts out of his eyes. normally he is the strong one. >> reporter: the strength that their attorney says will be tested by zimmerman's release. >> they will have to live with the judge's decision. they are praying and trying to hope that his freedom is temporary because the damage had has caused to them is permanent. >> reporter: zimmerman left jail with a brown paper bag and according to sheriff's deputies a gps monitoring bracelet that provides immediate real-time information on where he is staying. his attorneys said there are a half dozen secret locations they

considered where they believe zimmerman will be safe. security officers with the probation department here say that the gps monitoring system will work anywhere in the country. in sanford, florida, jay gray, nbc news. . >> zimmerman's lawyer said in court friday that his client would probably continue to live in hiding until his trial date. that date has not yet been set. the u.s. marine accused of stabbing another marine to death will be in court this afternoon. 20-year-old michael is charged with second-degree murder. pass say he stabbed philip bushong saturday morning along 8th street in southeast. that's also known as bar action road. the pair started fight when a homophobic remark was made. police believe that the two men did not know each other before the fight. local forensic analysis -- analysts will examine new evidence in the disappearance of

a 6-year-old boy more than 30 years ago. the boy vanished from his neighborhood in new york in 1979. last week an fbi cadaver dog picked up a scene of human remains in the basement of a building on the same street where the family lived. investigators had be tearing up that basement for four days now. no human remains have been found but agents did recover strands of hair, piece of paper, and stains, pieces are -- on pieces of a wall there in that basement. the items are being sent to quantico, virginia, for further abal sis. fbi search team from quantico is now helping find a missing 6-year-old girl in arizona. isabelle vanished from her home in tucson. the girl's parents say they tucked the first grade near bed friday night and she was gone by saturday morning. this morning on the "today" show the police chief said they are investigating every possible lead and not ruling anything out. >> we received about over 100 investigative leads that we have

followed up on. we are current on that. we canvassed the area at least three times going door to door, contacting merchants, looking for video surveillance and any of the businesses that might give us a clue. looking through the landfill and the transfer station where trash was taken earlier in the morning saturday morning to make sure we didn't miss anything there. >> police say the parents are cooperating with the investigation. they are also looking into whether the girl was taken through a window in her bedroom. a maryland minister is continuing to preach despite being ousted from his church and stripped of his membership. she and her husband founded the church 4067 years ago. it has grown into massive complex with a school, senior center and thousands of parishioners. a disagreement with the board of

trustees led to joel'souster last week. yesterday hundreds of his supporters worshipped with him in the ballroom at the metro point hotel in new carrollton. >> here we have the opportunity to worship freely and there they worship freely, we have no problems now. we are expecting to god to work out the rest. >> the new church is being called city of praise. no word on how long they will call the metro point hotel their home. we are going on check again on our weather and see what tom kierein has to tell us about that snow. is it inching any closer to news the district? >> no, i don't think lit get anywhere near us. but the closest snow right now is way out along the blue ridge mountains and in parts of the shenandoah valley. for us here is the live view from sky wanter camera. gray over green monday and the camera bouncing around a little bit. we had winds gusting to 20 to 35 miles per hour. that's a live view looking across northwest washington into virginia. and looking at the radar over the last few hours that area of green is creeping closer to us from the west. now raining.

that's rain in fairfax county and northern prince william into fauquier. loudoun, montgomery, frederick county in maryland. we see the pinks and whites, that's where we are getting rain-snow mix and all snow. western maryland, garrett county. already many locations there have 6 inches on the ground. up into pennsylvania, areas east of pittsburgh already have a foot on the ground there. and that's how much could end up falling in parts of west virginia, area of pink in the warning. north central west virginia. nowhere near washington we won't get any accumulation. shenandoah valley or anywhere east. what we will get passing showers and highs reaching near 50. more typical of late february. than late april. then tomorrow morning, clearing out a bit. some sun in the mid 30s, afternoon highs near 60. bit blustery tomorrow. then more sun around warmer wednesday. could get rain thursday. again on the weekend perhaps on sunday. that is the way it looks now. >> thank you, tom. the supreme court is

entering its final week of arguments for this year's term with an important immigration case still to be heard. it is the government's challenge to arizona's controversial law that some say amounts to racial profiling. pete williams has more on the landmark case. >> reporter: arizona says illegal immigration hits it hard with a third of the nation's illegal crossings coming through the 370-mile boarder and even the president admits america's overall efforts come up short. >> in some the system is broke. and everybody knows it. >> reporter: frustrated by what it considered laksz federal enforcement the state passed a tough new law two years ago. most controversially ut required police making arrests or traffic stops to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being here illegally and to detain them until their status was verified. the obama administration immediately went to court arguing that arizona went too far and got the law blocked. and civil liberties groups

claimed detentions would amount to racial profiling. >> that's likely to be based on whether someone is latino or asian american, what their last name is, whether they speak english, what they look like. all ill legitimate indicators of someone's immigration status. >> the lower courts agreed with the obama administration's claim that immigration is mainly a federal responsibility. the government says that arizona's goal of enforcement at all costs upsets what should be national pray reports. the federal government says that it is concentrating on the most dangerous illegal immigrants. those who commit crimes or present a risk of terrorism and that arizona would flood the system with anyone who fails to have the right papers. but the it stay says it is doing just what congress intended when federal immigration laws were passed giving states some role. >> this arizona law is exactly what congress had in mind especially when it comes to making sure that there's cooperation between state and local law enforcement in the federal i am abrasion issues. >> arizona has already inspired

alabama and half a dozen other states to pass tough laws of their own. now the justices will decide just how far the states can go. pete williams, nbc news, supreme court. >> a meeting in annapolis tomorrow could derail a plan to put a high-end casino in prince george's county. according to the washington examiner, maryland governor martin o'malley wants the gambling expansion bill split from budget talks. he feels talk of adding a sixth casino in the state distracted lawmakers from passing a budget. the examiner is reporting governor o'malty will meet with house speaker and senate president tomorrow. prince george's county executive baker has pushed for $1 billion casino at national harbor. saying it would generate much needed money for the county. a virginia woman tries her luck on the powerball and wins not once but twice. virginia lottery officials say the woman in clark county is the first person to win the double prizes. virginia bought both tickets from the same store in the april

7 drawing. she had different numbers and both tickets won. she will take home $1.4 million after taxes. she hasn't made any plans for spending the money beyond paying some bills. is 1:40 is the time. still ahead why this is a great time to find a travel bargain. we begin wedding week october "news4 midday." "news4 midday." today how to never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles in 3 days is-- is huge. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. you just put one foot in front of the other, and you know that you're walking for such a great cause that you just keep going. (man) that you have all these people coming together for one common goal. (woman) the goal is to bring an end to breast cancer. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. (woman) i'll never stop walking, not till we find a cure.

(woman) and it has to end, but it starts with us. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. it is the most rewarding experience i have ever had in my entire life. we can do this. you can do this. we can all do this together. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime.

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it's about support where you find it most comfortable. you can adjust it however you want so you don't have to worry about buying the wrong mattress. once they get our bed, they're like, "why didn't i do this sooner?" to celebrate 25 years of better sleep, for both of you, sleep number introduces the silver edition bed set, at incredible savings of $1,000 for a limited time. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. looking for a cheap spring getaway, book a trip now to take advantage of the off-peak season. nbc's chris clackum reports. >> reporter: two months before summer and leisure traveling right now is as cheap and stress-free as it gets all year. travel agents destinations are red with barring plans places seeing a nice slowdown as we

head towards summer include caribbean and mexico. gulf coast, florida. southwest. >> reporter: the travel agent says that because it is not the usual time for vacation travel, there are a lot of vacancies. >> that's incentive enough for a lot of these vacation companies and resorts on the ground to offer some of the best prying of the year. >> reporter: cruises which are always a better bargain this time of year are especially so this year in light of several cruise ship mishaps. travel agents are offering free transportation to the port. >> lot of the vacation companies providers are putting out pack ans inclusive of air pair and in some cases waiving air fare to get people out. >> reporter: if you have to pay for a flight book late tuesday into early wednesday and actually fly on tuesdays, wednesdays through saturday. consider getting to destination by train or bus and that

bundling reservation is about the best way to save money while traveling. chris clackum, nbc news. >> big losses to start the week on wall street. we are going to check in with jackie deangelis. she joins us live with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines. hi, jackie. >> hi, barbara. the markets are lower this morning on jitters over europe. first round of presidential elections in france show that sarkozy's time may be up and also he saw talks over austerity mesh nurs the netherlands break down. manufacturing activity in europe slowing down. renewing recession fears. meantime here in the united states, no economic data today but a busy week ahead with reports on housing, consumer confidence, and first quarter gdp expected. also a heavy week for earnings with big names like apple, boeing, 3m and procter & gamble set to report as well. wall mashtd, big story today. under pressure today after "the new york times" reported that the retailer covered up a huge bribery campaign at its mexican subsidiary. this as it tried build stores and market share in mexico.

they issued statement saying it takes compliance with foreign corrupt practice act very, very seriously. and it is a done deal. pfizer is selling its baby food business to nestle for $11 billion. pfizer has been selling noncore business tows focus on developing new prescription drugs. nestle hopes the purchase will help it expand in areas with fast growing populations like in china. companies may be ready to get -- start more hiring. new survey finding 39% expecting hiring to pick up in the next six months. higher demand important workers could also mean higher paychecks. 44% of companies say that wages are rising. >> thank you, jackie. well, it is the wedding season. whether you are getting married next month, six months, next year, we have advice that will help you this week, all week, on "news4 midday." today we begin with those in the early stages of planning, the invitations. sarah walsh is here with some

new trends on invitation. >> the thank you. >> tell us, how soon should you plan on buying invitations before the wedding? how important is it to get that done first? >> the invitations set the tone for the wedding. first we should establish what kind of feel have you for your wed sxhg communicate that to your guests starting with the save the date and obviously on to the invitation. i have a couple of examples if you are doing a garden theme or ballroom theme. >> show us what you have. >> if you are doing something garden themed or more casual, nice wording, together with the families rather than using mr. and mrs., et cetera, it is -- >> that's the garden theme has flowers on the invitation, too. that's a little less formal than some of the invitations we agree more casual fonts, et cetera. and then if you are doing something kind of in the middle, between the garden wedding and very fancy ballroom, you can play with the type. use lower case letters and still use formal wording, et cetera. then if you are having a ballroom wedding, you are

probably going to go with something more all one color. mr. and mrs. both the bride's names and parents' name, script fonts. >> that would not be one you would use if you were having a casual barn wedding or something like that. >> exactly. your guests aren't going to get what the tone of the wedding is from the invitation. >> so how soon should the wedding invitations be sent? i heard some people say a month, some people say even more than that. >> invitations should be sent six to eight weeks before the wedding. the range there really depends if it is a destination wedding, if you sent a save the date, giving your guest it is appropriate amount of time to make their travel plans if they haven't done so already. >> are there any secrets to saving money with wedding invitations? they can be very expensive. >> there are. you can go to a stationery store and take a look through albums such as these -- album we have over here. choosing different print methods will make it less or more expensive. flat print sing a great option if you are looking to save a

little bit of money when picking out your wedding invitation. >> as opposed to engraved? >> or letter press, foil stamped. >> those are all different options. kind of paper, too, where we see this dar in moss stationery stores you will find a big book with lot of different a, b, c, d price list. >> exactly. >> tune of paper, thinner paper lot less expensive. >> exactly. >> you also say that when you are there, you should also buy the papers you are going to need it is a future mr. and mrs. >> yes, great time to pick the coordinating paper. your thank yous will need a lot of those after the wedding gifts. it is nays to have those things coordinate with your wedding invitations. >> what about e-mail? lot of people are sending e-vites now. do you think that will ever be used for weddings? >> i certainly hope not. i think when setting the tone for your guests it sets a very different tone than the

formality you may want of the important date of your wedding. there are other ways to save money if it is a monday yish u or eke opponent friendly issue. there are lots of green options out there as well. >> what about people that want to do handwritten invitations? a big wedding, that would be time consuming. sometimes you can do that, write it out and take it to people who will print them up, your company does it. other companies do that as well, is that right. >> yes. absolutely. most printers would be able to work from your art to letter press or engrave your actual drawings drawings. >> what do you think is the most -- >> we worked with great couture clients. champagne with the label reese done and had those couriered around the city. we have done -- >> champagne to each person invited? >> yes, yes. >> wow. >> $100 an invitation generally

some of our more expensive invitation. >> least expensive? >> invitations start around $5 to $6 an invitation. >> wow. that includes all the insxerts cards and everything. thank you so much for talking to us about invitations. getting us started for our wedding week this week. the most important starting point, invitation. >> thank you. >> we are very happy to have you with us. >> tomorrow we are going to talk about the cake and how a bride should prepare her skin. that's another thing you may not be thinking about for all those close-up pictures that she will be facing. our time right now is 11:52. ellen's surprise for the band i was paying too much with cable. paying so much, you want better quality. for the amount of money that i am paying, my cable company should take care of me.

[ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. get verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month, guaranteed for two years with no annual contract required. first time we saw tv on fios was amazing. i was just in a... in a trance watching it. [ male announcer ] want even more value? choose a two-year contract and pick your bonus: hbo and cinemax for 12 months... or a multi-room dvr free for 12 months. fios internet...the speed, you can't compare. i'm able to take care of things much faster now. [ male announcer ] get fios: $99.99 a month, guaranteed for two years -- plus your choice of bonuses with a two year contract. last chance, this great deal ends may 5th. is change good? in this case, change is very good. [ male announcer ] call 1.866.685.fios. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.866.685.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. fios. a network ahead.

the cats are locked in one of the tightest series in nhl history and now it is headed to game seven. the bruins scored the game-winner just three minutes into overtime before the decisive final game in boston. and the caps never led but kept fighting to tie the game with big goals. players say they are excited but the series has come down to the wire like this. >> it will be nice to go into that ring and less pressure i guess going in there with -- kind of a -- you know, screw you guys attitude, everybody in the building, go up there and play.

play some hockey. >> actually all six games have been decided by one goal and three have gone to an extra period. game search is wednesday night. coming up today on "ellen" -- >> washington, d.c., please welcome back watt son how about that? the talk show host has a big surprise for students at ballou southeast high school. the band corrector sits down with ellen. she has been highlighting teachers and principals who are making a difference at their schools and in their communities. well, today, all that hard work pays off. ellen gives him a $100,000 check to help him and the students continue their good work. you can watch it all unfold today beginning at 3:00 p.m. here on news4. a look now at the stories we are going to be following news4 this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us in the newsroom with a preview of things to come. >> tonight at 4:00, one of the great mysteries of life could be solved. scientists say it is behind the

brain freeze we get when we eat ice cream and drink slurpies. weapons so wicked they seem medieval. you have to see the dangerous booby traps authorities found near a hiking trail. coming up today on "news4 at 5:00," four rules you should know that will stop those wanted robo calls from disturbing your day. liz crenshaw reports on news4. our news starts on "news4 at 4:00." >> all right. thank you, pat. time now for a final check on the forecast. here's tom. >> before you go out for your lunch hour you will need an umbrella. here is a live view from our sky watcher camera. mount order our tower in northwest washington. yes, it is raining here now. after we had a respite from the rain for a while this morning. it has returned into the metro area. you can see it is moving in from the west. areas of green on the radar. we are get something of that light rain. see the white? that's snow. yes, it is still snowing out in western maryland. much of west virginia. they can get up to as much as a foot of snow there. these locations in pink, all those counties are under a

winter storm warning here until late tonight. then tomorrow morning, rain will be gone. we will see sun and in the 30s. afternoon highs near 60. clouds returning for a while tomorrow afternoon. small chance of a sprinkle. bit after blustery wind. sun back wednesday and maybe can get more rain thursday. again, overing the weekend on sunday. that's the way it looks. see you tomorrow morning. >> tom, you, too. don't make any snowmen out there. that's it for us for today. thanks for joining us. be sure to tune in to news4 at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, tonight at 11:00. we will be back tomorrow morning [ female announcer ] with xfinity, you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer ] and best of all, it keeps getting better.

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