it was a traumatic experience and we're very happy to be here. we're in good health. >> nbc reporter richard engel talks about being held captive for five days in syria. hear how he and his crew were kept this constant fear for their lives. i'm barbara harrison. >> and i'm keith russell. >> a true story of relief after our colleague was captured in syria. >> richard engel and his crew are safe arrest enduring

psychological torture for five days in that war-torn country. angie joins us with more on this harrowing story. >> reporter: good morning. the face of nbc news known for covering some of the world's most dangerous stories found himself in the headlines after disappearing with his crew in syria. >> i'm very happy that we're able to do this shot this morning. >> we're in good health, we're okay. >> reporter: on the "today" show after a terrifying five days of being captive. earlier this morning we got our first glimpse and he talked about the traumatic experience. >> we were with some gunmen, rebels who were escorting us. theyxecuted one of them on the spot and they kept us blindfolded, bound. we were not physically beaten or tortured. it was a lot of psychological torture. threats of being killed. they made us choose which one of us would be shot first and when we refused there were mock

shootings. >> we'll go to a sniper position. >> reporter: engel who is known for his fierce reporting on the front line of war-torn countries say they were crossing from syria to turkey when they were captured. the nbc news man was also there. >> i was prepared to die many times and moving was the hardest part. it was disconcerting to move blindfolded from house to house. >> and you think they're going to take you outside and shoot you. >> or you don't know. >> reporter: in his pocket he still had the pbandages used to tie them up. he said they were loyalists with a mission. >> they wanted to exchange us for four a rain yen agents and two lebanese people who were from the movement. >> reporter: it was a terrifying situation but the crew says despite the ordeal, together, they still found a way to find hope. >> we were not allowed to speak but if you sort of look kind of

peek underneath the blindfold you can see if there's a guard in the room or not and we tried to joke a little bit back and forth. keep our spirits. >> incredible story. right now engel and his crew are safe in turkey and he adds while they're happy to be alive his thoughts are with the many people still in syria being held against their will. barbara? >> thank you, angie. the newtown, connecticut, community is attempts to return to some sense of normalcy today. classes are back in session today at all newtown schools. except for sandy hook elementary school. that building will remain closed indefinitely. its studention will attend a school in the nearby town of monroe. also today, more on friday's victims are being laid or more of the victims are being laid to rest today. funerals are being held for at least one of the students and teachers killed. the first funerals were held yesterday. meanwhile, police are having a hard time figuring out the apparent gunman's mindset because they say adam lanza

smashed his computer shortly before friday's shooting spree. one congressman is about to join gun control advocates in demanding stricter gun laws. and ahead of the brady campaign will present a letter to families of shootings. the letter will be delivered to the white house on capitol hill. the white house says president obama will make gun violence a top priority during his second term. some of the world's largest retailers make changes in the wake of the shootings in newtown, connecticut. walmart has pulled a military style assault rifle from its website. one the police say is similar to the one adam lanza used, dick's sporting goods closed their stores close to newtown and it is suspending the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles in all of its stores in the u.s. and turning to our weather now, what a beautiful day we have here in the nation's

capital. look at that clear sky out there. let's see who our meteorologist tom kierein has to tell us about the forecast. hey, tom. you'd never know it was december. we started off chillier this morning but it is feeling more like a early spring day and as the day progresses, actually it's looking like spring in some areas and i'll show you some great photos coming up here in ten minutes. looking at the view from space we have mostly sunny skies over the metro area but father to the west, clouds that are moving toward us. an upper level disturbance that's sweeping through the metro area over the next couple of hours and bringing in a few clouds from time to time. just a slight chance of an isolated sprinkle. right now, that sun is beaming down throughout much of virginia, maryland, the eastern shore, southern maryland and as a result, temperatures are jumping to around 60 degrees. fredericksburg is up to 62 right now. reagan national at 59 degrees. and it's in the 50s all around

the region and some high spots out of the mountains where the clouds are it's in the upper 40s. we have a dramatic change coming our way by the end of the week and i'll show you that. the storm team 4 seven-day forecast is coming up in a few minutes. back to you. >> thank you, tom. let's check your mid day traffic. danella, we had problems this morning, what does it look like. >> problems on the roadway. the beltway, as you travel the outer loop of the beltway near chain bridge road you see the right lane and two right center lanes blocked by a crash. over to 66, as you head eastbound, seeing delays because of the earlier accident. as you approach nuttily, left lane -- left shoulder lane blocked earlier and that accident was blocking to your left lane and that's why you're seeing delays as you make your way towards the beltway. and a little bit closer, all lined up in the shoulder and you head eastbound and then you're slow. barbara, keith, back over to you. >> thank you very much. see you shortly.

today, drivers in d.c. can put a little more pedal to the metal. certain spots in the district have a higher speed limit. tony is live from northeast d.c. with more. tony? >> reporter: barbara, good morning. pedal to the metal is a good way to put it. the speed come cameras, it's been a hot topic. westbound negotiating avenue in the district, the speed camera you see off in the distance, one of the highest-grossing speed came cameras. $5.4 million. that may change because the speed limit has gone up by 5 miles an hour. new york avenue, one of the busiest roads in and out of the district. the speed limit unchanged for years. until now in a place many have come to know with a speed cameras. >> i got hit by them. i know how to get by them now. keep your speed limit down. >> reporter: at midnight on tuesday, the changes were official thanks to the ruling by mayor grey on monday, they were able to conclude that the speed

limit of four of the district's roads could be increased. >> the government determined that it wasn't a hazard to raise it and i think it's great. get the traffic flow moving a little better. >> reporter: many of the drivers we talked to said any increase is better than no increase but it left some other drivers wanting more. since the speed limit increase across the road was by five miles an hour. >> i think they should go up by more than five miles an hour. sometimes you be in a rush and you do speed a little bit. >> reporter: so where are we talking? on new york avenue the increase comes between the maryland line and east and westbound on blainesberg road from 17th street to new york avenue. on north capital street from michigan revenue to harewood road and finally, canal road between chain bridge and fox hall road. >> a lot of people don't drive the speed limit anyway. i'm concerned about accidents. >> reporter: this isn't the first time speed limits have

increased in the district earlier this month. benning road and interstate 295 both saw the rise in the posted speed limit. and barbara, no word yet on if they plan to continue raising the speed limit on different roads throughout the district. but talking to drivers today was about a 50/50 split between people that were happy it got raised and some others voicing their concerns. that's the latest. barbara, back to you. >> thank you, tony. police are looking for four suspect who is broke into a prince george's county home and shot the homeowner. investigators say the men broke into a home in the 9100 block of lofton road in fort washington. when they confronted the suspects they shot the man in the back. news4 spoke to the man's brother-in-law who said he doesn't think it was a target add tack. >> it seemed like a random act of violence. somebody just took it upon themselves to intrude in the house and try to rob or burglarize it. i don't know. holiday season? people don't have jobs, i guess, and somebody just took it upon

themselves to, you know, do a random act of violence. >> the victim was taken to the hospital with nonlife-threateninging. s. he's expected to be okay. residents of an apartment complex finally back in their homes after a standoff that lasted for nearly eight hours. police say u.s. marshals arrived around 10:00 last night to arrest the suspect at the complex. there was some sort of altercation and the armed suspect barricaded themselves around 6:00 this morning. the suspect was taken to the hospital but police won't say how the standoff ended and if he was injured. dozens of residents were evacuated but have since been allowed back to their pier apartments. >> why speaker john boehner is talking about plan b. does this mean he's cutting off fiscal cliff negotiations with president obama? and our "12 days of giving" continues on "news4 midday." call our volunteers at 202-885-4949. if you can help the group that

helps women in need. we'll have more about the organization if just a few minutes. st

there's finally reason for hope that a deal could get done to avoid the fiscal cliff. president obama and house speaker john boehner are reportedly making progress on a deal. boehner, though, is pitching a plan b if those negotiations don't pan out. he's calling for a separate tax bill that would stop tax hikes from kicking in on january 1st for people who earn up to a million dollars a year. the house speaker isn't giving up hope, though, on a budget deal. they say he's agreed to accept tax hikes on the wealthiest americans and the increase would affect households that earn more than $400,000 a year. until now, the white house has insisted americans earning more than $250,000 a year would pay

more in taxes. the president has also reportedly agreed to more spending cuts and social security reforms. we have a better idea of who will "time" person of the year. the undocumented american, the god parts kel. yahoo! ceo andothers. "time" editors will make the decision and it will be announced tomorrow morning on the "today" show. day nine of our "12 days of giving." during these 12 days we profile nonprofits working to change lives in our area and we invite you to help out these great causes. pat joins with a nonprofit helping south asian women living in abusive marriages and homes. we're profiling. group known at asha. the first asian domestic violence prevention agencies formed here in the united states. you can help by calling the phone bank at 202-885-4949. joining me now to talk about

asha is pria. you are addressing a problem that's prevalent in south ajeanne cultures, prevalent in ajoined cultures and prevalent in american culture. how does the problem translate here for the women you're serving. >> asha, which means hope, was started in 1989. and it was started to give culturally specific help to women here in the d.c. metro area. it's a fully volunteer organization. and when i say culturally specific, the women who come here to this country have language barriers. they have extended family barriers and issues with in-laws and things like what. and social issues with pressures, you know. if they're in an abusive relationship or marriage it's hard to break the marriage because of what people say back home. so those are the sorts of culturally-specific pressures that they face and that's what

started asha. >> what is the specific kind of help you provide them? >> our aim is to empower these women so we would like them to reach a stage that they can make choice about their lives in an educated fashion. so we give various types of help. right from teaching a lady how to drive a car. opening a bank account. giving loans to go back to school. giving loans for temporary shelter and housing and food. legal fees. so these are just some of the ways we help. >> all of your workers are volunteers. >> yes. we're fully volunteer-run organization with just one part time person. and almost 94 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to client services. >> the organization is shas and they are in need of volunteers as well as donations. if you can help, please call our volunteers on the phone bank, 202-885-4949. we'll have more about asha

coming up in a few minutes. barbara? >> thank you, pat. and storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with a look at what to expect from the day and maybe the rest of the week. >> and you said big changes are coming? yeah, right now it feels like spring. this feeling of spring in the air here in december. we had a gorgeous sunrise this morning. i'll show you that. this photo view from our city cam right at dawn over the potomac river and an absolutely glorious sunrise this morning. and here's another view of the sunrise at the reflecting pool. this was taken by angela pan, this morning. beautiful photo there. you see the washington monument in the distance. and look at what is blooming! this photo was taken yesterday. cherry blossoms are blooming. this is near 38th and albermarle in northwest washington. another one of our viewers sent in this flower blooming next to her house. it's december and we have to

remind ourses. if you have interesting weather or nature photos send them to us as nbcwashington.com. there's capitol hill, basking in the sun. 59 at reagan national and a wind from the quest at 10 miles an hour. that's going to increase in speed. over the last several hours we had that patchy morning fog all gone and lots of sunshine from the blue ridge east. blue ridge west is mostly cloudy and upper level disturbance that's passing through over the next few hours and right now ahead of that it's mild temperatures. all these areas in green are in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees but a chill in the air out of the mountains. only in the 30s to near 40 degrees. behind the front, the front yet to get through. so we'll have an abrupt change occurring overnight. montgomery county, mid 50s. upper 50s in the district. prince george's county, most locations, mid 50s and upper 50s in arlington, fairfax and much of northeastern virginia. and this front extends all the way from new england down to atlanta. this front's going to be

drifting on through later this afternoon and as it does come on through we'll have a few collides coming through and as we go forward over the next couple of days we'll have a mostly sunny day tomorrow and during the day on thursday, we'll have another front coming in from the west. that front will sweep in rain. it looks like thursday afternoon and into thursday evening. after that, much colder for the weekend. so a few clouds around this afternoon. a bluster yeah wind picking up and gusts to 25 or 30 miles an hour as temperatures hit the low 60s and then tonight, sunset at 4:48 and partly cloudy, pleasy and chilly and we'll fall from the 50s and down to the 40s by midnight and 30s tomorrow morning. 50s tomorrow afternoon with sunshine and a lighter wind. that rain on thursday, windy and much colder. it will feel like december, friday, saturday, sunday, monday, highs only perhaps around 40 or so and morning lows, 20s over the weekend. so a tremendous change from what we have today. so enjoy it while you can. >> okay. thank you, tom. >> it's 11:20.

still ahead on "news4 midday." the new movement sweeping social media to help the healing following the tragedy at sandy hook. ♪ and "les miz" on stage here in washington. we'll hear how the show has become more and more popular through the years. >> first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

you're watching "news4 midday." to need to wait for "les miz" to come out on the big screen. it's playing right now at the

national theater and two of the stars join us this morning. rihanna and lauren, to tell us why the story continues to attract audiences and you guys are doing this story to stand up ovations at the end of the show every night, very exciting, isn't it? >> yes. >> is this your first time doing "les miz", both of you? >> it's my first time. and it's not for lauren. >> my third time. >> your third time? >> yes. >> is this your first stop with this show? is it a traveling show or just for here? >> no, it's been traveling for over two years now, actually. the tour started two years ago and cast members have come and gone over that time. we're relatively new additions. not really, though. >> i've been playing this role for about six months now and -- >> nine months now. >> both very important roles in this show. but tell us a little bit about the character for people that haven't seen the show. >> she's incredible. she's strong-willed.

deeply in love with marius who, unfortunately, don't love her back and loves cozette but so many people relate to her because she's so strong and open-hearted despite the fact that her love is unrequieted. >> and you're cozette, tell us about your part. a lot of people know it from the younger child who sings that song. there's a castle on a cloud. that music follows you through the show, doesn't it? >> it does. >> tell us about your role. >> cozette is the daughter and she's marries her love and i think of her as her purpose is to be loved and to love. so -- >> you both do an incredible job. we're looking at some of the scenes now. this is an amazing production because someone said, even steven speilberg could want have pulled off some of the things that happened on the stage in this production. pretty amazing. does it surprise you some of the things that are done on that stage? >> yes, actually.

we have some incredible effects in our show that are different from the original version when the show started over 27 years ago. on the paintings of victor hugo who wrote the they've vel and they are stunning. when i saw them out in the audience, not from being on the stage, i was so blown aaway. they are so beautiful and take the story-telling to a new level. >> i think audiences are feeling the same way here who see you at the neeshl theater here in washington. the voices are incredible. yours and those who sing with you. so we're so excited to have you here in washington singing this very famous show and we don't need the movie now. but it will come and people can see it all because the music never dies. >> agreed, yeah. >> thank you very much, gagain, for coming. >> you're welcome. thanks for having us. 11:27. coming up, the next half hour on

"news4 midday." the redskins and marines vine forces to make the holidays a lot happier for hundreds of children. and rain, wind and colder temperatures. that's what tom says. we'll hear the fierk. we'll hear the forecast. and our 12 days of giving. call the

right now on "news4 midday", nbc's chief correspondent richard engel and his crew are free after being kidnapped in syria for five days. they crossed into the safety of turkey this morning. they were captured thursday by a group they believe is loyal to president bashar assad. he said they endured psyche lomg cal torture but were able to escape between a firefight between their captors and rebels. and rhode island congressman urging his come leagues to pass stricter gun laws, he headed the campaign of the brady campaign have a letter signed by families of victims of recent mass shootings. the letter will be delivered to the white house and other

wlooirms on capitol hill. a new movement sweeping social media to help the healing following the tragedy at sandy hook elementary school. it's called "26 acts." the idea of nbc's own ann curry. get people to do 26 acts of random kindness in memory of the 20 children and six adults killed. people worldwide are taking action by donating money to teacher's funds. one woman makes hats for 26 newborns at her local hospital. we would like you to also contribute. check out our ieg facebook page and lus us know what you might do or if someone has done something special for you. some four-legged friends are offering a helping paw to try to ease the pain in newtown, connecticut. ten golden retrievers arrived from chicago. they are mart of a lutheran church charities and hope they can bring some smiles to a town that's been plunged into darkness. >> a chance to bring, i think, mercy and compassion to people. and the dogs are good at --

they're unconditional love. >> maybe it's their innocence, i don't know. aren't they just as innocent as the children? maybe that's the innocence and you just want to embrace them and have a little bit of that -- >> the comfort dog program, as it's called, started in 2008 after a shooting at northern illinois university that left five students dead. right now, the redskins are in the holiday spirit. giving away more than a thousand toys to underprivileged children. melissa has more on how the skins teamed up with santa and the marines to put together a game-winning driver. >> reporter: the home here at fedex field has been completely transformed into the skins' santa shop. elves working hard to make the holiday special for some very special kids. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ >> it was a week before christmas and all through fedex

there were piles of presents. >> you can't forget about molly. she loves soccer. >> reporter: the gifts were lined up by the lockers with care, skate boards and dolls were all there. >> i can't wait. >> the children were thrilled ready to see, the skins santa shop what gifts could there be? >> a baseball bat. >> the marines and the miles an hour, lorenzo alexander in his santa hat, handing out more than a thousand presents. one of this and two of that. >> to be out here and see the kids' faces light up and the parents as well. it's a great feeling. you know, it's what christmas is all about. >> me, i feel honored to do it. >> out in the hall there rose such a clatter doug worthington reece to see what was the matter. another group of kids excited to pick their very own christmas package. one perfect gift. >> this is special. >> always good to give back and it puts smiles on people's faces. >> this is the seventh year the

redskins have teamed up with toys for tots, an organization that this year will distribute toys in our area to more than 100,000 kids. you know, santa is a pretty busy guy and sometimes he needs some extra help. back to you. year all, crime is up in the district this year. despite a drop in murders, new numbers released this morning shows that overall crime is up 4% from 2011. largely, though, in part to a spike in sex abuse cases up 36% from last year. murder took the biggest drop from 2011. down 24%. arson, burglary and car theft, also saw big drops down between 8 and 16%. a search is on this morning for a man that pretended to be a cable worker and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl inside her home in woodbridge. rook at your screen. this is a composition sit sketch. the man knocked at the wood

brooij home claiming to be from comcast. asked for someone that didn't live there and left. he returned and threatened the girl with a knife and forced her into a bedroom and he ran after the gierl began kicking and screaming. if you have any information, call prince william county police. alexandria police are looking for a shotgun taken from a stolen police car. two of the city's police cruisers were stolen last week. one from duke street on thursday and the other from princess street on friday. both cars have been recovered but say the shotgun that should have been in the first car is still missing. alexandria police say they aren't sure how their cars are being stolen. they have sent out bulletins to department regionwide, warning them about the recent thefts. and we'll check in again with tom kierein for the latest on the forecast. he's outside on the storm team 4 weather deck. >> beautiful day. it feels like spring in the air. kind of looks like it, too. and we've had a few blossoms popping out here from maturely and we've got temperatures around 60 degrees. the winds are picking up out of

the north and west and lots of sunshine pouring down on washington. there's a live view from our city camera on this 18th day of december. there's the view from space. we've got clouds over the shenandoah valley into the mountains part of a disturbance drifting over our region now and a few clouds are drifting through over the next few hours. temperatures in the 50s and much of the area but it's already hit the low 60s. fredericksburg a few isolated spots in southern maryland and it may hit low 60s over the next couple of hours around the metro area and the winds will pick up, too, and that brings in colder air. 30s tomorrow morning. sunshine and lighter wind in the low 50s and rain likely thursday afternoon into thursday evening and turning much colder on friday. windy and partly sunny. early-morning to mid day and then turning down to the 20s on saturday morning with a gusty wind and winds die down saturday afternoon and highs near 40.

remaining cold sunday and monday. that's the way it looks right now, barbara. >> thank you very much, tom. >> you have to hear this story. a pair of successful crashes yesterday on the surface of the moon. nasa made twin orbiters ebb and flow and they hit the earth as nearly 4,000 miles an hour. the spacecraft was nearly out of fuel and already finished their year-long mission and during that time they manned gravity differences to help scientists better understand how rocky planets are made. scientists wanted to make sure they didn't hit places where the apollo astronauts landed. two major issueless before the d.c. council as they prepare to leave for the holiday. the council is expected to vote on a bill that would allow liquor stores to stay opened on sunday. it also allows a so-called wine pubs to become legal and grocery stores would be allowed to fill up beer containers for customers to take home with them. they are expected to vote on a plan to open the district libraries on sundays. the changes would cost the district, though, at least $9

million. d.c. is looking for a plan b to the controversial red top meter program. it's aim to reserve about 10% of the city's meters, for people with disabilities and would have forced handicap drivers to pay for parking for the first time. a bill on the prime failed to pass the d.c. council last week, even though the city has already spent $700,000 on new meters. d. d.c.'s department of transtiegs said it is looking for a way to provide mere parking for the disabled. what's new? >> problems on the roads. traveling eastbound, colombia pike. still closed between south wakefield street and south thomas street. this is because of a water main break. hopefully, they should be correcting that and opening up your lanes. for now, those eastbound lanes are poked. 355 in both directions, north and southbound, your left lane and left shoulder lane blocked because of roadwork.

delays in both directions. and checking back up on the crash, 66 eastbound, at nuttily looks like it's clearing. it was in the left shoulder lane but now completely cleared. eastbound travel lanes are opened as you head toward the beltway. barbara? keith? >> thank you. our 12 days of giving continues today. . >> keith, asha meanless hope in some languages. they need you're help today. call our phone bank at 202-885-4949. pria is back with me. many of your clients have h-4 visas which means they are traps, many of them, often trapped. how does asha help them. >> this situation is very unique. when someone comes here on an h-4 visa they pretty much -- they can't work. their immigration status is totally dependent on their

spouse. if they're in in an abusive situation that mooirks matters worse because the spouse has total control on them. >> how do you help them, then? >> when they come to us, we will assign them an advocate, a client advocate who will talk to them personally and take down what their needs are and as a first step, take care of meerch needs that might be food, that might be clothes. that might be grocery shopping or whatever their needs are. and then as a second step, we'll assess their long-term needs and put them in touch with a lawyer. we'll give a down payment on legal fees, almost up to $3 or $4,000. legal fees are extremely expensive. >> there's a misconception that an ajeanne culture's abused women are less educated. that's just not true? >> absolutely untrue. almost 95% of our clients have at least, a bachelor's degree if not more. we have clients who have ph.d.s and who are i.t. professionals, managers across the board.

it's absolutely untrue. the less educated women are the one who is suffer domestic violence. >> asha is a total volunteer organization? >> it is. we have at any given time, between 25 and 30 full-time volunteers. we just have two part time staff people. one is our coordinator who takes all the calls. but we're fully volunteer-run and young. we do all the work we do on a volunteer basis. >> and you need more volunteers? >> we need more volunteers and we fwheed more funds. if you can volunteer in one of the various capacities in client advocacy or web development or events or outreach, those are just some of the options that you have. >> well, you're doing important work. for the women, but for their children, too. >> thank you very much. >> pria of asha. if you can help by donating your time or your funds this holiday

season, please call our volunteers at 202-885-4949. barbara? >> thank you, pat. 11:42 is your time. still ahead on "news4 midday." a dinner option you may not have considered for christmas. >> that's coming over barbara's house. and protecting yourself from

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if you don't feel like cooking on christmas you might be able to hit the drive-through. mcdonalds is urging them to open on christmas day. it's a to boost end-of-year revenue. sales dropped in october for the first time in nine years but rebounded in november. mcdonald's says it's ultimately up to individual restaurants whether they open or not christmas day. small gains this morning on wall street. we'll check in with cnbc bertha

coombs and she joins us live. hi, bertha. >> reporter: stocks usually rise around christmas. we call it is santa claus rally. it's kind of a rally that moves higher and continuing today. the s&p is up for a 4% gain this year. investors are optimistic on signs that the president and house speaker john boehner continue talking and maybe close to getting a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. those automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that take effect 13 days from now. the white house reportedly now asking for higher tax rates for households starting at $400,000 in annual income. apple shares are helping the market. higher on signs of softening in its bitter battle with samsung which dropped its request for an injunction on the sale of apple products in yooish rop. and a sharp sell jooifr when it comes to gunmaker stock like smith & wesson and the tragic sandy hook massacre is prompting

them to drop investments in firearms company that makes the rifle believed to be used by the gunman. they say they will sell its stake from the group that makes the bushmaster rifle. they said it would reconsider its $500 million investment if it did not drop that. barbara, back to you. >> thank you, have a great day. >> you, too. >> see you later. people worry all the time about germs and catching something. there are contagious skin conditions that you should also worry about catching. dr. cheryl burgess joins us with information that could keep you in the clear especially during the holiday season. we know people like to hug and touch and kiss. it's a festive time of year. what should we be on the lookout for? >> any opened sore. we don't know if it's viral, bacterial and people who have these types of conditions should avoid contact with other people. >> so you're prepared to talk about a variety of subjects

today and we have some photos. let's saturday the with herpes. we've all heard about it and i'll go on record, i don't understand and a lot of people don't understand what it is. how you get rid of it. >> you probably heard it called cold sores, fever blissers. >> and the kissing disease? >> yeah. and someone who has a lesion on their mouth, you can hug but you don't have to come in body contact. when a legion or wounds opened, particularly moist, wet or draining, it is contagious to others. and herpes is a virus and commonly you hear more of the negative connotation but a cold sore and a fever blister is a herpes infection and probably, half of the population has it. so it's very important to, if you do have it, there are medications that we can use. prescriptions that can be prescribed and can be used on the legion and cut down the viral spread and contamination. >> really quick in terms of

herpes. is that something for some people it comes back and others it doesn't? >> no. it always comes back. once you contract it, it is there forever. so the bouts of when it becomes activated, it varies from person-to-person. the younger you are, the more frequent the bouts are. the older you get, the more time in between or less frequent they become. >> the more they space out. let's move on to bacterial infections. some can be very serious? >> yes. like staph or as people haerds of it as mrsa. and this is a bacterial infection that -- >> is that what we're seeing here? >> yes. it usually is a contam that in the nose and a lot of people are carriers and in communal environments like daycare and hospitals we see a lot of spread of this bacteria. >> and what would you tell people, you know, in the office place or christmas parties or

holiday parties, around there, mass gatherings, going to church, what would you -- if you had to give people two simple steps to protect themselves. >> well, for one, contact with someone with an opened legion is probably should be avoidable. >> if you can see it. >> if you can see it. and if it's covered, then you're not going to contract it as easily. so, again, if it's covered and the person has something, you're probably okay. if it's opened like on the face, hugging, fist bumping, sometimes people don't want to shake hands. but your hand sanitizers are good. washing your hands often, again, at least for 40 seconds is a good hand wash versus putting your hands under water and drying. we know that we do still carry bacteria and viruss in that instance. >> and lastly, quickly, dr. burgess, talk to us about fungal infections. >> a lot of times at the gym or

pools. it can start out as a toenail fungal infection but it can spread to the feet. if you ever tennis shoes that are infested with a fungus, regardless if you clear it up you can contract it again so you need to throw out your shoes, your tennis shoes, particularly. any warm, moist environment is prone for fungus to grow. >> so be aware from you're surroundings. that's what i took from today's lesson. look for opened legions and do areas u a favor and wash your hands. >> yes. >> you can never be safe enough. >> exactly. >> thanks for sharing that advice this holiday season. >> happy holidays. >> time, 11:52. coming up, the perfect christmas present for a northeastern virginia man. and tom kierein back with

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we have some breaking news right now. the justice department just announced that former cia director david petraeus' mistress won't be charged with cyberstalking. he admitted to an affair with paula broadwell. they stumbled on the relationship after tracking anonymous e-mails broadwell sent to tampa socialite, jill kelly. today a man from wood bridge gets an early christmas present. he gets a $1 million check. how about that? he won the money in the power ball drewing on december 8th. store that sold the ticket gets a $10,000 bonus. friday a woman in arlington claimed the prize and she won the power ball drawing on november 8th. where's our prize? i'd like that. here's stories we're following for this afternoon. pat lawson joins us with a preview of things to come. hey, barbara. coming up tonight, paying at the pump. the hi-tech way thieves can

steal your credit card information as quickly as your fill up you're tank. also, finding the right look to dazzle any holiday party. we'll tell you how you can get the look of hollywood celebrities without breaking the bank. and coming up tonight on news4 at 5:00, kals crime supplements. good for your bones but may not be good for your health. a connection that may be cause for serious concern. see you tonight starting on news4 at 4:00. thanks, pat. last check on the forecast for mid day. what's going on, tom? >> beautiful out right now. if you have plans to head out for lunch enjoy. a beautiful day to take a run, ride a bike. even put your top down the you have a convertible. feeling like spring but it won't last long. clouds closing in from the west. and they'll be with us off and on during the afternoon. right now, temperatures as we approach the noon hour, 61 at reagan national. this is december 18th, for crying out loud and it's in the

upper 50s elsewhere. in the mountains, 40 to around 50 and cooler air will filter in later on a blustery wind and overnight tonight down to the 30s by down tomorrow, low 50s on wednesday. rain likely thursday afternoon and evening and much colder air moves in and it will feel like december again friday, through the weekend. gusty winds friday to saturday. that's the way it looks. have a good afternoon. see you tomorrow morning. >> thank you, tom. >> enjoy this good stuff while it lasts. thanks for joining us. tune in at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 later this afternoon. >> we'll be back tomorrow. heap y hope you