"news4 today," i'm eun yang. >> i'm greateaaron gilchrest. we are waking up to warmer temperatures, but the wind is not helping. feels chilly when it whips up. tom kierein here with the forecast. winds gusting to around 20 miles per hour here predawn. they'll diminish as the morning goes on. there's the live view at capitol hill. overhead, a few wispy, high, thin clouds passing over the region now from the west. similar to yesterday morning. but to our south, it's all clear much of southern maryland and northern neck of virginia, then west of there. and where it has cleared out, it's turned colder. in fact, areas around fredericksburg to culpeper, manassas and that area, it's down near the freezing mark. closer to washington, well above freezing. in fact, in the upper 30s in montgomery county, near 40 in prince george's. and it's in the low 40s in arlington county, and parts of fairfax county, the western part, upper 30s. elsewhere, low to mid 40s. much of the region by 8:00 should be around 40 degrees. the northwest winds still a bit blustery.

but it ought to settle down by later today. a partly cloudy day by noon. the upper 40s. by mid-afternoon, only the low 50s. and that's about ten degrees warmer than the average, though. not much of a warmup from where we are now. sunrise, 7:27. sunset at 5:06. i'm back with the hometown forecast in a few minutes. first 4 traffic with danella. good morning. good morning. seeing problems in howard county. if you're planning to jump on old frederick road, it's going to be closed throughout the rush. this is between brachton drive and raleigh tavern live. downed wires, not expected to get moved until later today. to i-95 as well as 295 in maryland between the baltimore beltway and the capital beltway. both directions, traffic getting by with no issues. over to 50, though, westbound, inbound as you make your way past davidsonville road. a crash there. it is blocking the right lane. the green means volume is light right now. now as you make your way between bowie and the beltway on 50, clear there. and here's the live look as you make your way past east/west

highway. no issue all the way, in fact, as you connect it new york avenue. eun? >> thank you very much. 6:02. melissa mollet with a newark national endowment from the white house. >> reporter: good morning. the white house announced that jack lew will be nominated as the next treasury secretary. the president will make the official announcement at 1:30 this afternoon in the east room of the white house. 57-year-old lew served as budget director and chief of chief of staff under two administrations. according to "the new york daily news," if the con virmz is confirmed by lawmakers, he'll be the first graduate of new york public schools to be the top officer. secretary of state geithner is also expected at the announcement. at the live desk, news4. president obama still has cabinet holes to fill, as well. labor secretary hilda solis submitted her resignation yesterday. she says she decided not to return after talking with her family and close friends. president obama calls her a tireless champion for working families. gun rights advocates will make their vases heard this

morning in a -- voices heard this morning in a meeting with joe biden's gun-control task force. the nra, other gun-control groups, and sportsmen head to the white house today. walmart, the largest gun retailer, will be there. yesterday the task force met with victims' groups and gun control supporters who they they were encouraged by the conversation. the task force expected to make recommendations in about a month. new this morning, two families are out of their homes because of fire. first in prince george's county. a fire started in the basement of a home in mitchellville. it happened around 2:00 on the 3200 block of lottsford vista road not far from route 50. as you see, the fire spread to the rest of the house. no word on if anyone was injured or how the fire started. and in fairfax county, a fire started on the back porch of a townhouse in oakton. it broke out just after midnight on bushman drive not far from i-66. the fire went to two alarms as it quickly spread throughout the home. everyone did get out okay. the cause of that fire is still under investigation. this morning, robert griffin

iii begins his road to recovery. he's in florida where he had major reconstructive surgery to his right knee. dr. james andrews repaired his torn acl and lcl yesterday. he expects rg3 to be healed in six to eight months which means he could be back on the football field in time for the start of next season. this was griffin's second major surgery on his right knee. highway tore the acl back in college. the nfl players association the latest group to demand better turf at fedex field. the union says the field was in horrible condition before sunday's game against the seahawks. it conducts a survey each year of playing fields at nfl stadiums. it has not released its latest results, but fed next field usually -- fedex field usually ranks in the middle. that is likely to change this year. >> this is terrible. this is terrible. >> one of the seahawks' players yesterday had some strong words about the field. michael robinson compared the conditions to "working in a sweatshop." he shot this video of the field

before the game. 6:04. this morning a duel action for virginia lawmakers -- a call to action for virginia lawmakers. governor mcdonnell used his state of the commonwealth address to push for incentives. mcdonnell urged lawmakers to sign off on a new $3.1 billion transportation plan, including more money for the dulles metro extension, as well as an education plan that includes teacher pay raises, new teacher jobs, and greater investment in charter schools. he urged the general assembly to put politics aside and get to work. >> if politics trumps effective governing, we all lose. if we are remembered at all, then we will all be remembered for what we actually get done. not what we promise to do. >> mcdonnell also wants to eliminate the gas tax and make up for the difference by slightly raising the sales tax. this morning, 44 states are reporting widespread flu cases. in boston, thing are so bad the mayor is declaring a state of emergency there.

the city already has 700 flu cases including four deaths. that's up tenfold from last year's flu season total. in southeastern virginia, hospitals in the hampton roads area urging all patients and visitors to wear masks while in facilities there. the best advice doctors are giving now is to get a flu shot now. two construction workers from our area are dead after being hit by a car in a work zone. 42-year-old luis tadeo of bowie and 40-year-old victor jackson of northeast washington were killed yesterday morning. a car suddenly veered into a construction area and hit them near the town of northeast maryland near the delaware line. they were both dead at the scene. jackson was the father of 15 children, and his mother says he was turning his life around. >> we just celebrated his youngest one's birthday on saturday. he turned 3. he'll never really get to know him. >> the driver of the car was not

hurt. no word this morning on if he or she will face charges. coming up on 6:07 now. ahead, the really troubling way we are trailing other high-income countries. plus, how police arrested a burglar with a calling card. no one wants to see. and when it's going to feel more like spring. weather & traffic on the 1s. next, the announcement from the queen going against a nearly century-old tradition. [ male announcer ] now at your neighborhood subway: the big hot pastrami melt. we've perfected the pastrami sandwich -- filled with juicy pastrami, pickles, yellow mustard and melted cheese. all piled-high on freshly baked bread. taste one at your local subway today! subway. eat fresh.

a big announcement from queen elizabeth this morning. the queen issued a decree saying that prince william and print sis catherine's baby will -- princess catherine's baby will receive the title of princess if it is a girl. this is a pretty big deal. under ordinary circumstances only the eldest son would get the title of prince. a girl would usually get the title of lady. that's been the case since 1917. the royal bundle of joy is due

sometime this summer. cool. they'll have a princess if it's a girl. >> and apparently the queen has two other great grandchildren already. and as best i can tell, they don't have titles at all. >> this is a first. >> a big deal. 6:11. let's check the forecast. >> eun issues decrees all the time. anybody pay attention? >> i don't think so. weather & traffic on the 1s. 6:1. good morning. we've got a few high clouds drifting over, 44 at reagan national. winds have diminished. the areas in the darker blue, that's where it's into the 30s, parts of charles county, across the potomac west into stafford and spotsylvania, culpeper, fauquier, prince william. in the 30s. mclean in fairfax county, by 8:00 a.m., partly cloudy, mid 30s. by noontime, into the 40s. here's the forecast for the region. hour by hour today, a gradual warmup. we ought to be into the low 50s early to mid-afternoon. back to the 40s after sunset. seven-day outlook in ten minutes. first 4 traffic, danella, good morning.

good morning. checking travel speeds on 66 making your way from the parkway to the beltway, a 13-minute drive. drive times on the beltway, this time we'll look at prince george's county as you make your way past kenilworth avenue in both directions. no issues, but as you drive between 50 or i-95, that drive will take you ten minutes. back to you. >> thank you. ahead, the simple test that could help women in the fight against cancer. killer whales in need of serious help. why there is an international plea this morning. and next, the reasons jerry sandusky's attorneys will argue his convictions should be thrown out.

convicted child sex offender jerry sandusky is back in court. a hearing over whether sandusky received a fair trial. his attorneys say the case lacked proper evidence and that they did not have enough time to prepare. a jury convicted former penn state assistant football coach on 45 counts of child sex abuse last summer. sandusky received a prison sentence of no less than 30 years. 6:15. a judge will likely decide tomorrow whether prosecutors have enough evidence to put the suspected gunman in the colorado movie theater shooting on trial. on the final day of the hearing,

prosecutors showed pictures they say the suspect james holmes took of himself with his arsenal hours before the july shooting spree. they also claim holmes scouted out the theater and took pictures of it a month before the massacre which killed 12 people and injured more than 50 others. a lirr for three of the -- lawyer for three of the men convicted of raping and murdering a woman on a bus in india say they will plead not guilty today. five men are charged in the brutal attack on the 23-year-old woman and her male friend. the lawyer says police badly beat the suspects to get them to confess the crime. he also has accused officers of tampering with evidence and has publicly blamed the victims for the attack. the case has sparked protests across india and calls for more legal protection for women. new developments in the murder mystery of a lottery winner in chicago. court documents reveal the man's family is battling over his estate. urooj 2 khan died a day after winning the lottery in july. the family put a freeze on the

lottery check to keep his widow from cashing it. the medical examiner says khan died after ingesting a deadly amount of cyanide. we could learn more in the next few weeks when the medical examiner plans to exhume the body. the government will pay dozen of gay soldiers who were discharged and denied separation pay under the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. the aclu took the lead on a class-action lawsuit which it filed in 2010 on behalf of more than 150 gay troops. the government agreed to pay $2.4 million. that breaks down to about $14,000 for each person. a developing story out of canada. right now, marine biologists trying to save several whales trapped in ice. the 11 killer whales are sharing a single hole in the ice to breathe. that hole is shrinking as temperatures continue to drop. one scientist think the whales got stuck during a sudden freeze. canada's government says it is aware of the situation and is trying to figure out what can be done. 6:17. google is urging north korea to

open the internet to its citizens or risk being left behind economically. executive chairman eric schmidt says he made the point during a four-day trip to the isolated nation. he traveled with former new mexico governor bill richardson who also pushed for a stop to missile launches and nuclear tests. the u.s. state department criticized the trip as unhelpful at a time they are pushing for u.n. sanctions against north korea. doctors are putting a new spin on an old test. they're using the pap cemetery to spot ovarian and end me tar heel cancer in women. a pap has proven to be a simple and effective way to find cervical cancer. doctors think it can find more. >> one of the reasons we're so excited about this research is that there are no screening tests for ovarian cancer, and it's such a deadly disease because it's detected so late. >> about 20,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year. a new report shows americans live sicker and die younger than people in other wealthy countries. u.s. men apparently have shorter lives than their counterparts in 16 developed nations.

american women also fall near the bottom of the list, living 5.2 fewer years than japanese women who live the longest. and here's one way to stay fit. that's pretty easy -- stand up. a new british study shows standing for three hours a day can burn eight pounds a year. researchers say it can also help you shake that sluggish feeling. you don't necessarily have to waste valuable time while you're on your feet. researchers suggest using a higher desk that allows you to stand so you can still get your work done. how about that? >> and iing is that we get rid of this desk. >> stand for the whole 2 1/2 hours. >> wouldn't you like that? >> how am i going wear my high heels? have to stand on a box. >> you've heard the saying before, caught with your pants down, this next story shows it is not just an expression. >> take a look at this photo. police in washington state say they arrested a naked burglar. >> buddy -- >> a man wearing only underwear and his girlfriend's belt around his neck tried to break into an apartment in spokane. police arrested the 22-year-old.

they say the same man also burglarized several homes nearby over the weekend with his pants and underwear around his ankles. no word on why he picked that particular attire to commit the alleged robbery -- >> some kids do wear their pants low. >> but not that low. i mean, not that low. >> good point, all right. >> what's with the belt around the neck? you're not going to wear clothes, but the melt makes it so -- >> doesn't want to lose it. put it around the neck. makes perfect sense. 6:21. we'll look at the forecast. tom kierein's here. >> definitely wear pants this morning. a chilly start. high clouds passing over. we've got temperatures down at or near below freezing parts of southern maryland and just west of there toward fredericksburg and prince william county, stafford, spotsylvania, fauquier, culpeper, near freezing. closer to washington, upper 30s in montgomery county, near 40 in prince george's. near 40 in arlington. down into the 30s much of

fairfax county. farther west, shenandoah valley into the mountains, most locations above freezing. a few isolated spots near the freezing mark this morning. storm team 4 seven-day outlook, low 50s later today. average high this time of year, 43. and then tomorrow, cloudy, probably some rain off and on friday afternoon interest friday night. earlier in the day in the mountains, highs low 50s. then warming up on saturday when the sun returns. highs in the low 60s. may hit the upper 60s on sunday. maybe near 70 areas south of washington sunday afternoon. chilly rain monday, fuse. chance of that and -- tuesday. chance of that and rain next week midweek, turning colder. danella? good morning. i have an update on the crash. 50 in maryland. as you make your way westbound, inbound at davidsonville road, the crash there was out in the roadway. it's now off to the shoulder lane. your travel lanes are open. now we'll talk about delays on i-270. normal volume. you know how it is when you drive from urbana past 109, very

sluggish. then again, clear in clarksburg. once you get to father hurley boulevard, you seed the volume is increasing as you continue southbound. but right now, not bad as you make the trip through gaithersburg and rockville. over to i-95 in virginia. we'll check travel speeds now. usual delays, about 37 minutes from kwquantico to the beltway. 6:22. 46 degrees. bragging rights for students. which state's schools are ranked number one. plus, plan of action. the meeting of power players happening today to try to lure the fbi. and next, if you are about to hop in your car, there is a new list of the safest songs to drive to.

[ telephone rings ] good evening, this is flo. [laughs] yes, i'm that flo. aren't you sweet! licensed phone-ups available 24/7. call 1-800-progressive. with, back. one annual list of the country's best public schools is out. for the fifth year in a row, many students in our area are at the top of the class. maryland schools are number one in the country. education week's quality count 2013 list gave the state's public school system a b-plus grade. that is the highest grade over any state in the country. meantime, virginia was not far behind in fourth place with a b grade. d.c. placed 45th on the list with a c-minus. the list evaluates things like graduation rates, achievement

gaps, support for teachers, and education funding. d.c. charter school leaders will discuss later today whether to revoke the charter of a school in southeast. board members will discuss whether to revoke the charter for imagine southeast. that school opened in 2008. the public charter school board says the school is underperforming and has missed four out of five of its goals. the board votes to revoke it -- if the board votes to revoke it, the school will lose the charter at the end of the year. currently, 500 elementary and middle school students attend that charter school. >> all right. congrats to maryland schools for sure. >> yeah. it is 6:26 now. why we hope president obama's choice for treasury secretary is better at math than penmanship. a stroke of luck for a local goodwill store. the rare and valuable donation.

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at 6:29, take a look at these temperatures. not too bad, right, but deceiving out there this morning. good morning, everyone. welcome back to "news4 today." i'm aaron gilchrest. >> i'm eun yang. the problem is the wind. it's been blowing this morning. here's a live look at union station. we've been watching the flag. it was whipping around.

now it looks calm out there. that's the kind of weather we've had, up, down, all around. confusing. >> that's right. meteorologist tom kierein is out on the storm team 4 weather deck this morning to make sense of all. tom? the wind actually is dying down a little bit now. thankfully as we approach dawn because it's cold, winds have dropped to five to ten miles per hour. an hour or so ago, gusting to 20 to 25 miles per hour. overhead, high clouds drifting in. the first light of day. beginning to faintly show up on the eastern horizon. we'll have these high clouds drifting over the metro area through much of the day. now where you see the darker blue color, that's where it's in the 30s. that covers a lot of virginia, a lot of maryland. closer to washington, extreme northern virginia, around the beltway and in the district, parts of southern maryland, eastern shore, it's generally in the low 40s. reagan national now is at 44. freezing temperatures in western maryland and highland of west virginia. much of the region above

freezing. montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's counties, upper 30s to near 40 degrees. it's going to hold steady for another couple of hours with these temperatures. here's the temperature graph for today. we'll have it reaching the upper 40s by noontime. low 50s by early to mid-afternoon. by 3:00, under a partly cloudy sky. average high this time of year is 43. i'll be back in ten minutes with another look at the forecast and with traffic, here's danella. good morning. traveling around town, we'll head from the beltway to the dulles toll road. gr from the greenway to the toll road, both directions, no accidents. checking travel speeds from hunter mill road, a seven-minute drive to the beltway. not bad. on the beltway from the dulles toll road here to the interchange, travel lane are open. that drive will take you only 13 minutes. i'm coming back in ten. back to you. >> thank you. now 6:316789 melissa mollet is at the newscast live with breaking news. good morning. >> reporter: good morning,

there's been an explosion in tel aviv near the israeli military headquarte headquarters. we have a live picture of the scene, what is going. at this point, we know that seven people have been hurt. that's video there. you see the fire coming out of car. smoke billowing into the air and people backing away from the situation. we know the blast went off in a car that was next to a bus just a short time ago. the police reporter on israel radio says the explosion was most likely criminally motivated, not a terror attack. at the live desk, news4. today virginia lawmakers are making a strong push to convince the fbi to move to northern virginia. congressmen jim moran, wolf, moran, along with mark warner and tim craane will hold a meetg to use the fbi headquarters as its new home. prince george's county also fighting to bring the fbi it that state. the relocation would bring with

it about 12,000 cuts and cut of the agency's $8 billion budget. this morning, a d.c. police officer is under arrested for sexually abusing a child. officer wendell palmer is charged with first-degree child sexual abuse for incidents that happened when the accuser was a juvenile. police have not said how old the victim is or when the alleged incidents occurred. this morning wendell is on paid leave. a former d.c. police officer will be sentenced today for shooting several people. kenneth fur faces prison time for the bizarre incident in august of 2011. fur was convicted of soliciting a transgender woman for sex outside a cvs in northwest washington. when she refused, he threatened her and a friend a gun. a few minutes layer, fur confronted them, jumped on the hood of their car and shot through the windshield, hitting three people. all the victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries. a 19-year-old daycare employee facing child abuse charges in maryland. police say jonathan cummings

admitted to cummings a toddler. the daycare was being run out of a home in upper marlboro. police say it was not licensed and has been shut down. police are looking into whether cummings was involved in any other abuse cases. it was a rocky dinner for residents of louisa county again last night. a 2.0-magnitude earthquake was recorded around 6:30. the epicenter was just about a half mile from the town of louisa. it has been almost a year and a half since the east coast quake struck that region. the 5.8-magnitude quake caused major damage and sent shock waves up the east coast. 6:34. how did a one of a kind original painting worth tens of thousands of dollars end up at a goodwill store in virginia? this old oil painting of a woman drinking tea was donated to a goodwill location in manassas this week. store employees say they often find gems in the hundreds of bins they go through. but something about this painting was different. >> i didn't know how much at that time but i said, we have

some money here. >> yeah, you do. right now goodwill has no way to prove who donated the artwork. the store plans to auction it on their web site. proceeds will be used to help train future employees. >> wonderful. how fore-- fortuitous for goodwill. you need a garage. the local leader who says maybe it's time to talk about renaming the redskins. plus, which player compared the field at fedex field to working in "a sweatshop." you know about cars that can park elms themselv-- park thems. this has a feature that could come in handy at the mall. a windy, chilly morning. next, talk about taxing, how many billions with a "b" hours we spend on our taxes.

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a new report shows how expensive and time consuming tax season can be. the "wall street journal" reports americans spend more than six billion hours working on their taxes. 60% hire somebody else to do. it another 30% use computer software. on average, individual taxpayers spend more than $250 each year. the biggest complaint could be asking for help. it's becoming more and more likely that if you call the irs you are going to get an automated response. check out this wild scene off the coast of australia. that's a man struggling to get control of his boat. a news helicopter spotted this whirlwind. when the pilot came up on it, he said he thought it was a whale. a rescue eventually saved the man and his boat. i'm sure that was terrifying. >> scary. all right. let's talk about our forecast now. we like it when we see a little sunshine coming over the horizon. and creating that -- we going to

go yellow or orange? orange glow? >> a little of both. we hope it warms it up. >> i say apricot and blueberry. i think we're hungry. there is the sky over the potomac, live view from the nbc 4 city camera early on this thursday morning. 10th day of january. good morning. the winds have diminished. and right now just a few of those high clouds are drifting over from west to east over northern virginia, the district, and much of maryland. it's all clear. southern st. mary's county, northern neck, west of there, as well as much of the eastern shore. and that's where some of the colder temperatures are. in fact, it's down near freezing from fredericksburg up toward warrenton and manassas, culpeper. this area here has the coldest temperatures. closer to washington, upper 30s montgomery county. in the upper 30s near 40 in prince george's, low 40s in arlington county. much of fairfax county now in the upper 30s. for bowie in prince george's county, hometown forecast, upper 30s by 8:00 a.m. partly cloudy then. a lot of sunshine later in the morning. partly cloudy for the lunch

hour. in the upper fourth. here's the forecast for the region today hour by hour. by noontime, should be in the upper 40s much of the region. partly cloudy during the afternoon with a lighter wind. highs reaching the low 50s. sunrise coming at 7:27. sunset getting later and later, 5:06. after sunset today, we'll be back down into the 40s. and then some rain may begin to move in tomorrow. we'll look at that and a warmer weekend and a look into next week with your seven-day outlook in ten minutes. first 4 traffic. here's danella. good morning. tom, we'll start with the rails. if you're taking metro, marc, vre, they're running on time. over to the roadway. howard county still dealing with the earlier crash that resulted in downed wires. so this road's going to be shut down for some time. if you're planning to use old frederick road it's closed between brachton and raleigh tavern lane. be aware of that as you make your commute. new hampshire avenue sluggish toward georgia avenue. no accidents in that area. over to 395. we do have a crash blocking the

right lane. this is northbound at edsall. and you are sluggish from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. that drive will take but 15 minutes. let's head over to 395 southbound. seminary road. you see a disabled tractor-trailer just off to the shoulder lane. travel lanes are open southbound. back to you. >> thank you. 6:42. new, a fast-moving fire forced a prince george's county family from their home. this started in the basement of a house in mitchellville. firefighters were called to lottsford vista road not far from route 50. the fire spread to the rest of the house. no word on if anyone was injured or how the fire started. also new this morning in fairfax county, a fire started on the back porch of a townhouse in oakton. it broke out after midnight on bushman drive not far from i-66. the fire went to two alarms as it quickly spread throughout the home. everyone did get out okay. the cause is still under investigation. a developing story out of boston. a sharp rise in the number of flu cases leading that city to

declare a state of emergency. emergency rooms in boston are flooded with people complaining of flu-like symptoms. the city has 700 flu cases including four deaths. the number of cases already up tenfold from last year's flu season total. virginia governor bob mcdonnell hopes lawmakers consider his plans for the future in the next few weeks. he made a push for legislation in his state of the commonwealth last night. mcdonnell proposed a new $3.1 billion transportation plan including more money for the dulles metro extension. he cited traffic congestion in northern virginia and urged the general assembly to act before it hurts the state's prosperity. >> if politics trumps effective governing, then we all lose. if we are remembered at all, then we will all be remembered for what we actually get done. not what we promised to do. >> mcdonnell also wants to eliminate the gas tax and make

up for the difference by raising the sales tax. he also pushed for an education plan that includes teacher pay raises, new teacher jobs, and greater investment in charter schools. this morning, two construction workers from our area are dead after a car entered the work zone they were in and hit them. 42-year-old luis tadeo of bowie and 48-year-old victor jackson of northeast washington were killed yesterday. police say a car veered into a construction area and hit them near the town of northeast maryland. that's near the delaware line. jackson had 15 children, the youngest just 3 years old. >> we just celebrated his youngest one's birthday on saturday. he turned 3. he'll never really get to know him. >> no word on whether the driver of that car will face charges. 6:44. let's check in with melissa mollet at the news4 live desk with news. good morning.

good morning. we'll -- [ inaudible ] >> thanks. vice president joe biden's gun-control task force turns its attention to gun owners and advocate this morning. the nra, other gun owner groups, and sportsmen head to the white house. walmart, the nation's largest gun retailer, will also be on hand. yesterday the task force met with victims' groups and gun-control supporters who say they were encouraged by the conversation. the task force is expected to make its recommendations in about a month. new this morning, president obama is preparing to make a major announcement about his cabinet for his second term. this afternoon, he will nominate jack lew to succeed timothy geithner as treasury secretary. lew's already part of the obama administration. he is currently the white house chief of staff. he was also budget director during the obama and clinton administrations. now if lew is confirmed, you may

be thrown for a loop when you look at a five or ten-dollar bill literally. look at this sort of a doodle here. believe it or not, this is lew's signature. the treasury secretary's signature appears on the front of paper money, as we know. you could very well see that on newly printed money. perhaps, though, he'll take the lead from his predecessor, timothy geithner's signature was a tad bit messy, you see there. he cleaned it up when he became treasury secretary. the president also looking for a new labor secretary. hilda solis resigned yesterday. she will likely return home to california and run for a seat on the los angeles county board of supervisors. three cabinet members will stay on the job for the president's second term. they are attorney general eric holder, health and human services secretary kathd lean sebelius -- kathleen sebelius, and veterans affairs secretary aaron shinseki. look closely at president obama when he takes the oath of office during his second inauguration. you'll notice he'll have his hand on two bibles. one was used by abraham lincoln, the other by martin luther king

jr. that has extra significance for this inauguration because it is taking place on the federal holiday honoring the civil rights leader. the president used the lincoln bible when he was sworn in four years ago. he'll use his wife's family bible for a private softwarin a day before the public ceremony. today new mortgage rules being announced to -- to late to help those caught up in the mortgage crisis. w we have more. good morning. the consumer finance watchdog is rolling out new rules aimed at curbing risky mortgages. the rules which take effect next year will impose a range of requirements and restrictions on banks and lenders. they'll have to verify and inspect borrowers' financial records and will be prohibited from saddling people with payments totaling 43% of their annual income. now "interest only and no doc loans" which helped inflate the housing bubble will be banned. there will be limits placed on loans that offer teaser rates

that balloon after a few years. plastic is proving to be popular at starbucks. a new survey by ugov.com finds more than a quarter of consumers say they've bought or plan to buy one of the coffee chain's reusable plastic coffee cups to cut down on paper waste. starbucks introduced the cups last month. they sell for $1 each. as an incentive to go green, starbucks gives a ten-cent discounts when you bring in your calm for a refill. the flip side is that if you forget the cup, you have to buy another. then that means this more plastic in the landfill instead of paper. i guess it depends. back to you. >> thank you. this morning, grill grill begins his road to recovery. he's in florida where he had major reconstructive surgery to his right knee. dr. james andrews repaired his torn acl and lcl yesterday. he expects rg3 to be healed in six to eight months which means he could be back on the football field in time for next season.

this was griffin's second major surgery on his right knee. he tore the acl in college. the nfl players association is the latest group demanding better turf at fedex field. the union says the field of in horrible condition before sunday's game against the seahawks. it conducts a survey each year of playing fields at nfl stadiums. it has not released its latest results, but fedex field usually rank in the middle. that is likely to change this year. >> this is terrible. this is terrible. >> one of the seahawks players yesterday had those words about the field. michael robinson compared the conditions to "working in a sweatshop." he shot this video of the field before the game. today a sad sign of the citizens' loss. d.c. mayor gray will pay up for a bet he made with seattle mayor michael mcguinn. they decided the team that lost had to fly the other city's flag in front of their city hall for a day. because the burgundy and gold

lost to the seahawks, the seattle city flag will fly along pennsylvania avenue all day today. it will come down tonight at dusk. d.c. mayor gray said he'd consider changing the redskins' name if the team moves back to the district. >> i think it has become a lightning rod. i would love to sit down and happy to do that, sit down with the team and others concerned with this and see if a change could be made. obviously our basketball team about that with the bullets being changed to the wizards. >> some people say the name redskins is offensive to native americans. and as news4 has reported, the mayor and other city leaders have talked to the team about possibly building a new stadium where rfk is now. today plans will be unveiled for a tribute to the late godfather of go-go, chuck brown. ♪ >> d.c. mayor gray will sign legislation that finalizes plans to build a chuck brown memorial.

it would be built in langdon park in northeast washington. the mayor will also unveil the memorial's design. chuck brown died last may. he was 75 years old. a nice tribute. a good idea. >> indeed. 6:51. time for weather & traffic on the 1s. beautiful sky for sure. >> yeah. sun is going to be coming up at 7:27. this is a live view from the nbc 4 city camera. that cloud looks like a rumpled comforter on your bed. >> it it. >> there is the predawn glow over the potomac. the wind has settled down. 44 at reagan national. it was gusting over 20 an hour or so ago. it has diminished. and looking at the view if space, we see high clouds drifting over the region now, coming from the west. there is a little bit of light rain way out in kentucky and in southern indiana. that's going to stay to the west today. now temperatures under the clouds are a little bit above freezing in the nearby suburbs, mid to upper 30s in montgomery county. it's generally near 40 in prince george's county and arlington

county. back that the western parts of fairfax county, though, near freezing as is much of prince william county, fauquier, stafford, spotsylvania, culpeper. and elsewhere, though, southern maryland, near the bay, most locations there near 40. shenandoah valley and into the mountains now, near freezing or below freezing. here are the temperatures by noontime. we ought to be into the upper 40s. so only a gradual warmup. and then by mid-afternoon, it should be near 50 around the metro area. perhaps the low 50s just to our south. highs in the upper 40s by mid-afternoon to the north and west of the metro area. as we go forward for the day, we have a few clouds coming and going. then overnight tonight, into friday, an area of low pressure will pass north. this area of color is a zone of potential rain as of late friday morning. does look like some of that rain will be moving in on friday afternoon into friday evening and heading out to sea. clearing in time for the weekend. afternoon high today, low 50s. that's about ten degrees above the average high.

low 50s again tomorrow with the likely passing rain activity into friday night. then drying out saturday, beautiful day, into the low 60s. maybe even near 70 degrees for a brief time early to mid-afternoon on sunday. then chilly rain monday, tuesday, turning colder toward the end of next week. danella, how's traffic? good morning. i have an update on the crash along 395 northbound. it was blocking the right lane. now it's off to the shoulder lane. that's good, but delays are just over a mile. we'll head down i-95, northbound at prince william parkway, travel speeds to the beltway, the drive will take but 18 minutes. you're seeing the normal stop-and-go delays. not terrible. a live look at the american legion bridge in both directions, inner loop and outer loop. no issues to report here. however, are you starting to see congestion build as you make your way toward virginia. back to you. >> thank you. ♪ come away with me and i will ride ♪ >> pretty song. you may have heard the song

before, too. that's nora jones' "come away with me." a new study lists the safest songs to drive to. that song came in first place. the study followed female and male drivers and looked at how music affected their driving. rock and hip-hop resulted in more aggressive driving. researchers found softer music calmed the drivers. hopefully not too calm. you still have to be alert. other artists to drive to, cold play and elton john. your commute may take you over it. about 7,000 cars use the frederick douglass south capital street bridge every day. good thing they can't see this every day. under the bridge, you see rust, erosion, holes this. the bridge is 63 years old. engineers say it's in bad shape. but it's safe enough to drive on. plans are in the works to replace the bridge with a new $660 million one. construction could start next year. a car right out of the future. a new car designed by audi drivers and it parks itself. you got to see. this is the 2013 audi ces

driving itself. engineers began planning the car years ago. this year it finally became reality. this is the only car of its kind of the car is equipped with two settings, manual and automatic. engineers say they probably won't begin mass producing the car for another decade. >> the cool thing is you can push a button and the car will pick you up. >> too many bags after you went shopping -- >> i don't have that problem. i'm sure you do. that would be cool. think of a car that drives and parks itself is impressive? imagine a car that pulls through a mcdonald's drive-thru by itself. >> the car doesn't actually do that. but you wouldn't know it from looking at some drive-thru workers' reactions. >> yo! >> oh, what the heck is going on? >> really?

what? >> am i tripping some? come here. >> oh, snap. what just happened? >> oh, that is good stuff. this is actually a prank. an excellent one at that. pulled off by a guy in a car seat costume. take a look at that. he put it on himself and then blends right into the seat. think of it as mccamera-flage. i would be scared out of my mind. close that window quick. >> that is so not right. here we go. drum roll, please. today the oscar nominations will be announced bright and early in l.a. you can expect to hear the name "lincoln" a lot. the steven spielberg movie starring daniel day lewis expected to get the most nominations. others getting buzz, "zero dark thirdy," "argo," "les

miserables" and emmy stone and scar host seth more facfarlane the announcements. stay here to find out if your favorites are nominated. the "today" show will carry it live. the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with weather, traffic, breaking news. we're back here tomorrow at 4:28. hope you join us then. until then, have a great day. see you tomorrow. droid dna augmentation initiated. vision expanding to a 5-inch 1080p hd display and camera.

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that's why i got them pillsbury toaster strudel. warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops for their school. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. mom, pop it. ♪ two inches apart, becky. two inches. t-minus nine minutes. [ ding ] [ female announcer ] pillsbury cinnamon rolls. let the making begin. ♪