they were going to be making an announcement about an important change to our national delivery schedule. >> that announcement made just minutes ago. what will change when you get your mail? good morning. welcome to news 4 midday. >> it's wednesday. february 6th, 2013. >> we have breaking news out of washington right now that limb pact you and people nationwide. the u.s. postal service just wrapped up a news conference where it was announced that saturday mail delivery will end. those aren't the only changes. angie goff joins us live in the

studio to break it down for use. >> good morning. slashing saturday mail delivery is a big move that the usps must be done. here's what it means for you. starting august 1st, the post office stops delivering and collecting first class mail and letters on saturdays. however, they will continue to deliver packages six days a week. now, if your post office is normally open on saturdays, that's not going to change. however, u.s. postmaster general patrick announced today there will be hours reduced in 9,000 offices across the country. saturday service cuts would save $2 billion annually but they need $20 billion to close the debt gap. they have lost $41 billion over the past six years as more people turn to e-mail and online bill pay options. >> our new approach is based on a great deal of customer input. it reflects a strong demand for package delivery on saturdays and it still engables the postal

service to achieve significant cost reductions. >> and donahue says they're going to focus more on package delivery, anner where there's been 14% growth over the last couple of years. the agency continues to ask congress for help. and if lawmakers don't act soon the usps could come close to running out of money by mid march. and it's still not clear if eliminating these saturday services can be done without congressional approval but the postmaster general did say today that the agency believes it is a legal move. angie goff, news 4. just a few minutes ago the boy scouts of america's executive board announced they delayed a decision on whether to lift a ban on gay scouts and leaders, a decision that was supposed to take place today. this is breaking news just in to our newsroom. the board said it will take action on this issue during the national meeting in may. last week the board announced it was considering overturning the ban and leaving tissue up for local troops to decide. gay rights advocates are

thrilled about the potential change but some scout leaders say it goes against their values. >> i think fair-minded americans know that discrimination is wrong and that the boy scouts were out of step of america by excluding gay young people and telling non-gay children that discrimination was an american value. >> it's not hate. it's not bigotry. it's a choice about how to raise my children and what i perceive to be my christian values. if yours are different, great. take your values in places where you have people that agree with you. >> earlier this week president obama supported the boy scouts ending its ban on gay members and scout leaders. they say they should have the same access and opportunities everyone else does. virginia rail ek press is now inspecting tracks. two incidents caused delays around an hour and a half this morning. crews say it had a broken csx rail on one track and disabled freight train on an alternate track. it stopped all trains at the brook station in stafford. when it resumed they could only

go four miles an hour at one point. vre expects to have normal service by this afternoon. are there any other problems? who do we ask? of course, danella sealock with the traffic. >> right now the traffic, tracking two. police are we responding to the first one, i-95 southbound in maryland at the icc. they're responding to an accident in that area. so far not seeing delays. but if this is your commute, give yourself extra time and use caution. let's shoot inbound 50 at collington. now here's a live way at the beltway in green belt. you can see the loops. as far as accidents, nice and clear. even as you head towards the bridge. no accidents to report. both chambers of the general assembly passed bills to increase the fines and make texting while driving a primary

offense. the fines would jump from $20 to $250, making it a primary offense means police will be able to pull you over if they see you texting while behind the wheel. right now it's a secondary offense which means police can only give you a ticket if they pulled you over for another violation. a house bill in virginia has virginia governor bob mcdonnell saying it is his last chance to change the state's transportation funding system. the state senate rejected two amendments. the remaining house bill gets rid of the gas tax as the governor wanted and makes the sales tax 5.5%. but the legislation cuts mcdonnell's proposed $100 fee for hybrid and alternative fuel cars. turning to the weather. we are starting to see a little clearing and a little sunshine. what does that mean? storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein with the first forecast. >> pleasant february morning under way. we've had a quite a bit of wind that's been picking up over the

last 12 hours. we had the cloud cover early predawn break up. this is the latest view from space looking down. you can see that cloud cover just north of washington and into northern prince george's county and montgomery county and farther north there, howard county. a lot of cloudiness there in the mountains. south, charles county and calvert and tt mary's, an arund arundel. bright and sunny in fair fooks county and prince william and parts of loudoun county have some sunshine but it's all sunny farther south towards stafford and spotsylvania where temperatures are warmer. already in the upper 40s there. reagan national is at 46. under the clouds north and west, temperatures there are only in the mid and upper 30s. these are the temperatures right around the bell way in the nearby suburbs in prince george's county now, mid 40s, near 40 in montgomery county. low to mid 40s in arlington and fairfax and in washington.

well, there's a potential major winter storm that's going to be affecting the northeast. we'll look at that and what its impact may be here. your seven-day outlook is coming right up, keith. >> tom, see you in-studio in just a few. >> all right. a new bill introduced in d.c. could make it harder for students to cheat on standardized exams. it would also establish a series of integrityprotocols and require security training for proctors and monitors. cheating claims reported high rates of wrong to righter ray showers on tests at more than 100 schools. new this morning. a d.c. public schoolteacher is getting a national educator award worth $25,000. the surprise announcement happened this morn at ann beers elementary school. megan mcgrath was there and joins us live to tell us what happened. tell us a it. >> it was a big surprise, barbara. you can see the sign behind me,

ann be anne beers elementary school, home of the cheetahs. now it's home to one of the best teachers in the country. it was billed as a celebration of school achievement. but when philanthropist took the microphone it soon became obvious that something special was afoot. >> how much is this now? >> reporter: with help of the students he used flash card to write out the number $25,000. then came the big surprise. the third grade teacher, jacqueline simms, was getting a check for that amount, $25,000. she had no idea. >> oh, my gosh. i'm completely surprised. completely surprised. i'm in awe. i never would have imagined that i would have been receiving this award today. >> reporter: jacqueline simms is the winner of the milken educator award, an honor given

to teachers who ro moat excellence in schools and have had an exceptional i'm pat in the lives of students. >> as a young child i've always wanted to teach. i'm just really inspired. i want people to learn. and i just get really passionate about that. a-ha moment, and so i wake up every day and this is what i enjoy doing. >> reporter: while simms was surprised, they say she was an obvious choice. >> her creativity, her flexible, her willingness to do more than the norm, more thann uncanny ab create structure. >> reporter: simms is an advocate of students with special needs and has worked to include students of all learning levels in the general classroom. simms was among the teachers who who started a saturday school program, math and reading scores went up and beers elementary was named a 2012 award school. she was been a passionate advocate for the students. >> she has a lot of tenacity.

we call her around here the pit bull because she knows how to get something done, she knows how to pull the best out of every staff member, she knows how to pull the best out of i'vely student. she has a student i lovingly call sidekick. last year you did not hear anything t from the child. she was very quiet. very reserved. this year shes has just blossomed in ms. simms' class. >> reporter: she says ms. simms has taut her a lot. >> she helped me with my reading. last year i was down on my reading and now i'm high. >> reporter: what will simms do with the $25,000? she says she doesn't really know. remember, that she was completely caught off guard by this. she did not have a plan. however, during the program, before she got the award, the topic of motorcycles came up. so after she learned she was the winner and that she was getting $25,000, she said, perhaps there might be a harley in her future. in southeast, megan mcgrath, news 4. barbara, back to you. >> that's fantastic. she deserves whatever she

decides she wants to use it for. nothing better than a fabulous teacher. thank you so much. okay. >> sure. in other news we could learn more about secret court proceedings in the case of the man convicted of killing chandra lee i have. the judge will hold a hearing this afternoon to discuss reporters' request about information about those closed proceedings. we aren't sure what the meetings were about. he said last month he may have had his conviction thrown out or may have his conviction thrown out because a key witness in the trial was not credible. we expect to learn more information about the health of a georgetown man charged with murder. a judge will decide who he can continue acting as his own attorney. mooth was taken to the hospital last month because he hasn't eaten since december. he is set to go to trial next month for the death of his 91-year-old wife. mooth claims his wife's death was the result of an iranian hit intended for him. and new this morning, a

police-involved shooting as landed a man in the hospital and injured an officer. it started as a call for domestic dispute. just after 11:00 on 13th street and northwest. officers say when they entered a home there they ran into a man with a knife. one of the officers fired his gun. the suspect was shot in the face, but he's in stable condition, we understand. one of the officers suffered a minor injury. both people are expected to be okay. positive news now. prince william county has a new police chief. last night county supervisors named steven hudson chief of police. a 30-year vet of the department, hudson joined the force as a patrol officer and worked his way up through the ranks. he replaces charlie bean who retired last year after 24 years on the job. 11:12 is our time right now. coming up, the latest on a powerf powerful earthquake and the tsunami generated by that quake. they're t not here to promote a movie or tv show. the serious issue that has some

hollywood stars backing lawmakers right here in d.c. st

not exactly a warm welcome for iranian president mack muld ahmadinejad in egypt. four men are custody after this protest. cameras caught one man throwing a shoe at ahmadinejad. the iranian leader was visiting an ancient mosque in cairo. he wasn't hurt. throwing a shoe in the arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect. egypt and iran have had a strained relationship for decades. major concerns building this morning over a white house policy discovered yesterday that allows americans to be targets of drone strikes. nbc news obtained an internal memo that says u.s. citizens that are top leaders can be

considered that kind of strike. the potential targets also don't have to be charge with a crime. legal analysts say that threatens constitutional rights. >> it is a chilling document. it sets out the government's claimed authority to carry out the targeted killing of american citizens but the limits are really vague and elastic and is very easy to see how they could be manipulated. >> it really is unreasonable to expect that the u.s. will always have specific evidence about a plot. instead, this allows some flexibility. >> the obama separation says they are confident strikes follow federal and international law. the pentagon is expected to announce this week a policy change that would extend some military benefits to same-sex couples. partners could have access to base gyms, commission sar shopping and theaters. the allowances would likely not cover health care benefits.

the military would likely require documentation that documents service member same-sex spouse. right now president obama is in annapolis at the democratic senate caucus. he's urging fellow democrats to help prevent billions of dollars in spending cuts from taking effect. he's calling on the senate to pass a short-term deal that would avert what's known as sequestration. millions of dollars in domestic and defense spending cuts will automatically take effect march 1st if no budget deal is reached. and deja vu all over again for john kerry. he will sworn in again as secretary of state. vice president joe biden will administer the oath during a ceremonial swearing in this afternoon at the state department. kerry was officially sworn in last friday. at least six people are dead and three others injured after a massive 8.0 earthquake in the solomon islands. this is new video we have from you for the western solomon islands far away from where the earthquake hit. there was a tsunami warning hours ago but it's been canceled. the quake did cause two smaller

tsunamis damaging 50 buildings and homes. it's too early to fully assess the damage and complete death toll until they can get into the damaged and destroyed buildings. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us now. that's a pretty scary scene over there, isn't it, in that part of the world? >> depends on the underwater topography and the type of quake, whether there's going to be a big tsunami. here, well, we've had february acting like february of all things. and we've had some wonderful photos sent in from space looking down on the planet by one of the space station astronauts. look at this view of the andes moun takens from south america, you can see the curvature of the earth. that thin blue glow there, that's the atmosphere. it's really thin. only about ten miles deep. here's another photo looking straight down on new york city at night on a clear night taken also by chris hadfield, the

international space station astronaut. this an amazing picture looking straight down on part of the out back of australia. it looks like a modern art painting. there's amazing color there and different types of striations there on the topography. wonderful photos by chris hadfield, international space station astronaut. and i've been tweeting some of these and putting these on the facebook, too. great to follow along with that. right now reagan national is at 46. there's a live picture of the washington monument. northwest wind about 15, occasionally gusting to around 30 miles an hour. other temperatures now in the mid 40s in fairfax and arlington county and prince georges, charles, calvert, st. mary's. there's more cloudiness west. northern prince george's county where temperatures there upper 30s to around 40 degrees. wide variety of temperatures this afternoon. these are expected highs around -- rather, these are the current temperatures. right now near 50 in culpeper

and in fredericksburg a bunch of southern maryland, mid 40s. only in the miffed 30 nasdaq western maryland and cumberland and hagerstown. just the upper 30s. and it's all cloudy there. now, expected highs this afternoon all depending on the cloud cover which over the last 12 hours we've had that cloudiness really pretty muc hanging in just north of washington but all sunny down to the south as a result certainly going to be milder there with where the sunshine is. hour by hour through the day, around the metro area, see the temperature. perhaps hitting the upper 40s in washington and the nearby suburbs here. the next couple of hours. not going to last long. and then a plummet midnight to near freezing again. the winds gusting 20, 25 miles an hour. as we go forward here throughout the rest of the day today we'll have the cloud cover breaking up a little bit this afternoon and overnight tonight into tomorrow, clouds close in by thursday afternoon. this is the leading edge of some rain moving in. this is as of late thursday night around 11:00 p.m. and off

to our south and west. this area in lavender is a potential mix of maybe some snow, sleet, and freezing rain. this is as of dawn on friday. rain elsewhere. and then just a wet day on friday. may end as a little bit of a mix north of washington on friday night. so we've got big changes on the way here. four-day forecast showing that. it's going to be a little bit chillier tomorrow. on friday that morning mix bay be just all rain the rest of the metro area. not much of an impact even where the mix is. over the weekend, sun returns. breezy and cold on saturday. warmer sunday, up near 50. nice day. on monday, maybe some more rain. highs in the low 50s monday-tuesday of next week. >> i'm ready for spring. >> it's ready for us, too. let's head to the roads. here's danella. >> good morning. barbara, i'm checking up on an accident reported just a moment ago. good news, as you make your way inbound 50 at collington road, accident was blocking the right

lane, it's gone now. let's head to the beltway and construction on the inner loop 3 once you get to rockville pike, you will start to hit the brakes and here's why. barrels are out and it is blocking your left lanes. back over to you both. >> thanks, danella. 11:23 is the time. still ahead, the votes are in. going to tell you the changes being made to the game of monopoly. always expect a man to be paul ryan fekt. >> a perfect pairing on stage. meet the young stars of "our town"now at ford's [ male announcer ] when your business is powered by verizon,

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diet soda mayhem if you're watching your weight. but a warning before you mix it with alcohol. a new study says it can make alcohol more potent and get you

more drunk. diet soetd da combined with alcohol can cause a person to get drunk faster. regular soda with sugar tends to stimulate your stomach much like food and can delay your bloodstream from absorbing that alcohol few more hours before chris brown is scheduled to appear in court in los angeles. prosecutors filed a motion questioning whether the r&b singer completed all of his community service hours. brown, from virginia, performed his community service in parts of virginia. all stemming from the 2009 beating of his girlfriend rihanna. the l.a. district attorney's office says brown's services were unsupervised and should be punished for a recent fright with singer ocean. ocean by the way is not pressing charges. it's 11:27 now. coming up in the next half hour, stopping gun violence. how some big name stars are helping lawmakers here in washington make some changes. plus, a dangerous rescue operation we first told you about on "news 4 today." we'll have the latest on what happened to driver and passenger

of this truck. and we're seeing a little sunshine out there this morning. tom kierein will be back with a tale of the sun coming out and much warmer weather. we hope so.

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a major announcement from the postal service this midday. saturday mail delivery is soon going away. the postal service says it will stop home and business deliveries on the weekends, starting august 1st. deliveries will still be made to post office boxes. the move is an attempt to save $2 billion a year. president obama is in annapolis for the democratic senate caucus. the white house is keeping quiet for the most part about what the president will say. we can tell you that he's speaking about several issues on his domestic agenda including the budget battle with republicans, gun control, and immigration reform. and about an hour ago the boy scouts of america' executive board announced they delayed a

decision on whether to lift a ban on gay scouts and leaders. the board now says it will take action on this issue during its national meeting in may. artists, politicians, physicians, and the clergy are joining forces to demand congress and president obama take action on gun violence. >> i still haven't gotten over connecticut. >> doing nothing will fail. doing nothing has failed. to people who question the potential effectiveness and/or practicality of these measures, to the people who say it would have happened anyway or we won't catch everybody, i say doing nothing has failed. >> congress must now act on a sensible plan to keep assault weapons out of our neighborhoods, out of our schools, and gunses out of the hands of dangerous and compromised people. >> the activists at today's news conference on capitol hill stress that they want to protect the second amendment but they say congress also has a

responsibility to protect the public with the proper gun regulations. maryland governor martin o'malley is making his case for strict we gun laws in the state. he's testifying today before the senate committee about his plan. prince george's is also testifying in favor of the bill. gun rights activists are protesting today in opposition of the measure. on to virginia. a 10-year-old in alexandria could be expelled for bringing a toy gun to his elementary school. the police arrested the boy after he showed off a fake weapon on the bus monday. took him to juvenile detention. he was released hours later. the boy is now suspended. meantime, a d.c. father is doing everything he can to find his 6-year-old daughter. his ex-girlfriend and the baby's mother took her six days ago. eric tells news 4 he has raised

arianna since on his own since she was born. he says the girl east mother ebony anderson came into town with her 30-year-old boyfriend williams last thursday and took the daughter to a grocery store and he hasn't seen the daughter since. news 4 has learned williams is wanted for probation violation in arkansas. >> i'm doing everything that i can to get my daughter back. she don't know her. you know, she's -- that's -- you know, they're strangers to her. i've had arianna all her life. thieve strange e they're strangers to her. >> the court granted burkes temporary sole custody of her r his daughter. coffee is blamed for severely burning a toddler. 2-year-old boy was trying to drink hot coffee at a home on golf estates drive when he got burned. he was flown to a local trauma center with serious skouding injuries. investigators say it appears to be an accident.

today lawyers could present a plea deal for a man shooting the security guard at a headquarters of a christian lobbying group. he is due in court on charges including committing an act of terrorism. he opened fire inside the family research counsel downtown. prosecutors say he did not like the group's opposing stance on gay marriage and abortion. a security guard responding to the gunfire was hit but survived. he is apparently negotiating a plea deal but lawyers have not released details of that agreement. d.c. major vincent gray says he has major plans for economic growth in the district. he outlined his plans in the state of the district address last night. he said d.c. is poised to become a hub of technology jobs. he's planning a trip to qatar this year to quart foreign investors. he announced plans to spend $100 approximately on affordable housing. he hopes to make d.c. the greenest and most live valuable u.s. city, he says. >> i think it's obvious the long-time residence as well as

casual observers alike that the district is now a big league city. >> the mayor's address did get some negative attention. a group protested outside over plans to close a number of schools. let's check in again with tom kierein for the latest on our forecast outside on the storm team 4 weather deck. how does it feel? >> it's nice. we've got a little bit of a wind. it's not too bad. we have some sun here. i can see the difficult len nation between the clouds and where there is sun, northwest. there's the wind. live view from the view there at union station. you can see that flag moving in about 20 to 25-mile-an-hour wind. as we take a look at the next several days we going to have big changes. this afternoon, upper 40s. much of the region. the wind will diminish later tonight and mostly clear early evening and clouding up and then mostly cloudy on thursday and colder. 20s in the morning, afternoon highs. 40, or so. friday morning, should be above freezing most of the region. however, up to our north and

west, a wintry mix. perhaps blue ridge west. shenandoah valley. northwestern maryland. freezing rain or wet snow early on friday morning. elsewhere, all rain during the rest of the day, even out in the shenandoah valley where they might get that mix. it's going to change the rain there, too. all ending friday night. and then down to the 20s saturday morning. sunny on saturday. a bit of a blustery wind. and then on sunday, yeah, a bit milder with sunshine near 50. might get rain on monday. a little sun back tuesday. highs 50s first part of next week. that's the way it looks, keith. >> >> larry: tom. come on back inside, man. will do. >> going to check on the midday traffic now. here's danella. >> barbara, still checking on the construction. inner loop of the beltway. i'm not looking forward to this on the drive home. here's what's happening. inner loop at connecticut avenue. once you get towards georgia avenue, cones are blocking the left lane as you get closer. a bit of a delay as you travel the beltway in that area.

i- 5 in maryland. here's a live look at i-95 at 100 between the baltimore beltway and capital beltway. nord and southbound, no issues to report. taking a look at 395 between the beltway and 14th street bridge, clear. back over to you. today the alabama boy who spent almost a week hostage in an underground bunker is celebrating his 6th birthday. these are new details emerging about the fbi's heroic rescue of ethan. authorities say the kidnapper jimmy lee dykes allowed members of the hostage team to deliver supply but they tricked him, tossing a flash bang device into his bunker to distract him. the rescue team shot and killed dykes during the raid. they also found explosives in and around the bunker and were able to disarm them safely. ethan was taken to the hospital after being rescued but was deemed okay and able to go home. nice ending to that scary story. now, meantime, the veteran charge with murdering a former navy s.e.a.l. is reportedly refusing to meet with his

court-appointed lawyer. he is currently on suicide watch and being held on $3 million bail. accused of murdering two men at a texas shooting range last weekend. he apparently confessed to his sister about the shootings who called 911 a short time later. the educators who lost their lives pro eltecting school chiln will get a top honor. president obama will posthumously award the medals to the principal, the school psychologist, and four teachers killed in the newturown, connecticut, shooting in december. they will be given next friday. the medal honors americans who perform exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. one person has died in a violent crash in florida. the accident happened on an exit ramp in ft. lauderdale. look at that. as you can see, the truck ended up halfway off the ramp. his front end pinned against a pillar. the driver was pulled out and taken to the hospital.

the passenger died at the scene. police say a second car was involved in that crash but they are unsure exactly how this all happened. the time now 11:40. still ahead, out with the old, in with the new. the change monopoly announced just this morning. oh, well, i don't think it's possible to be perfect. >> well, my father is. >> and we'll talk to these young stars about their roles in the timeless play

what could you buy with $45 million? well, a one of a kind picasso painting. the portrait of picasso's "muse," marie teresa walter was sold last night. also on the auction block, a work by monet. despite tough economic times, prices for the most sought after artworks in the world have soared in recent years. one of the world's most

famous board games is making some major changes. monopoly is making a change to the player tokens. all of the original mall pieces were up for retirement, you may know. the public was able to vote on one of five new pieces. their choices included a diamond ring, guitar, a toy, robot, that is, and a cat. so the new token five options, diamond ring, helicopter, guitar, cat, robot. the winner is, in a drum roll, is the cat. >> the cat. the new token will make its debut later this year. if you're partial to the -- talk with more on that and the rest

of the day's business headlines. hi. >> hi, barbara. in an effort to cut costs the postal service is halting deliverys of first class mail on saturdays. officially get rid of saturday delivery will save them $2 billion. in terms of wall street. the wall street markets right now are imitating a zigzag pattern. on monday the markets sold out, data out of europe. yesterday we saw a rally on wall street with the dow hitting 14,000 again. and today, markets losing a little bit of steam. dow jones industrial down about 6 points on the day. a lot of stocks specific news to follow. earnings still to focus. disney hitting records highs this morning on back of its strong earnings. strength in media networks. word it's planning films based on "star wars" characters fuelling the gains. signs of life at zinga, enough to satisfy investors as now. the social gaming company said 2013 would be unprofitable but we're still seeing shares rally on the day.

and ralph lauren shooting higher on guidance the company seeing momentum in the americas, improvement in europe, and big margin gains for 2013. so some of the stocks we are watching today. back over to you. >> sema, thank you. well, i better show you how our town lies. up here is maine street. way back there is the railway station. tracks go that way. >> the classic play "our town" is on stage right now in ford theater. cast members join us this morning with a look at what it's like to play these familiar roles. good morning. a normal novel, you have to tell the audience what's going on. how do you do that? >> well, i address the audience. i sometimes stop action that's happening on stage. >> do you have the ability to just take it upon yourself to

say, stop? >> well, it's written in the script. >> i got you. >> it's written in the script that i say stop. you know, now we're going to skip a few hours or we're going to go back in time, you know, or to lay out the town itself, you know, to describe the town. and to tell the story of the families. >> so you have to be great at your job because if you have -- >> i better be. >> if you're not a good story teller, nobody can follow along. we have to follow you. >> yeah. i'm lucky that way. it was sort of in my genes. >> we were talking additional the commercial break, asking you guys are you're from. you're from niagara falls. you're from bethesda. welcome home. >> it's nice to be here and here in washington audiences where all my friends and family can see the show. >> in terms of the show, wie talked before the show. it has limited props. you say no props. >> yes, that's correct. >> how do you do that? >> it's a challenge, for sure.

we've had an incredible miami dire mime director who helped us step by step. it's a challenge because we don't have anything to hind behind as actors. and in a way i think that's what enhances this production and it says that, you know, what's most important are these words and what we're saying and how we're connecting to people is what's more important than all the stuff and things we have to do. >> is it a little bit easier to focus on your role, that you don't have to worry about props moving in and out? >> it's -- it's -- i would say it's more difficult to speak, say your line, act, work of your fellow actor, and have this invisible thing in your hands. i think it's definitely a difficult challenge. >> you got to make-believe. >> yes. >> make ourselves believe what's not possible and what's not there. nichol nicholas, you're from mobile, alabama. >> mobile. >> 75th anniversary of this play. why is it still popular? >> because it's universal story, i believe. when i first read it, i was

like, wow. this could have been written yesterday. i mean, the things that are talked about in the play are amazing. love and how we should just really look at everybody and enjoy everybody while we have the time. >> you're talking about enjoying everyone while we have the time as i look at you obviously this is a diverse cast. >> yes. >> but the setting in this play takes place in new hampshire in the early 1900s. how do audiences relate to the fact that that's not the way it would have been back then? but this is the cast and it's a very diverse cast? >> but it's a story about people, and so that doesn't matter. it's an american story. you know, i think it not only is it an american store rirks it's just a human story. so i think if it were being played now, that's the way that it would look. and i don't know, it works. people love it. they love it because everyone is like, i see me in that story. i think that's what's important. >> every person's story and

everyday town, everyday people. >> right. >> and alisa, one final time. why would you make a plea for people to come out and see the show, as a hometown girl? >> well, i would say it's got a really important lesson in it and i think most people have read it before, studied it, and school or seen it in school or been in it in high school, but the more life you live, you go and revisit the story from back in 1938 and it applies today to everybody's lives and these universal elements of love and family and life that we all share. and i think everybody can walk away and appreciate the little things a little bit more. >> new hampshire, known as the granite state. you guys are definitely a rock solid cast. portia, alisa, nicholas, thanks for coming on. "our town" will be on stage through february 24th. the time now, 11:50 right here on "news 4 midday."

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this morning one of the oldest social service charities in the nation's capital announced it received a major donation. richard herman bequeathed them $28 million. the charity provides mental health counseling, child welfare and other services. herman died in november a few months after his 100th birthday. he inherited his wealth from his father who was a chief engineer of a railroad company. one of america's most recognizable skiers is on her way back to the states staits for surgery this morning after a terrible accident. lindsay vonn went down hard in austral australus a traustria. she was airlifted to the hospital with two torn ligaments in her right knee and a broken

bone in her leg as well. it could take six to eight months for her to get back on the skis. coach essay that should give her, though, time to prepare for the 2014 winter games. speaking of the winter games, the countdown to the opening ceremony officially starts today. sochi, russia, will welcome athletes from around the world a year from today. construction is at a high clip there as they build most venues from scratch. $50 billion. already concerns about the weather. temperatures have been well above freezing and in black sea resort town so far this winter. the mayor say they are making plans to keep the games going with temps as high as 50 degrees. conditions are better in the surrounding mountains which have been getting plenty of snowfall. the "today" show transformed the plaza into mt. rockefeller for winter games competition. why can't we have that much fun? matt, savannah, natalie, willie

geist finished an obstacle for us in front of fans. in the end, it was matt lauer's dump bucket technique that helped him finish ahead of his on-air competition. tom, you've got to make it snow for us. >> looks like fun. looking now at the stories we're following this afternoon. we have a preview of things to come. hey, pat. >> coming up this afternoon on "news 4 at 4:00," "star wars" spins on. a spinoff starring yoda might not be too far away. life after secretary of state and the new development that could provide a hint about hillary clinton's future ambitions. and tonight on "news 4 at 5:00 q. ", how the postal service cuts will impact the district. we'll find out how the changes will impact the community and small businesses. all those stories and the latest on today's news coming up starting at "news 4 at 4:00." >> time for a final check of our forecast. >> a tale of two skies this morning. we've got a lot of cloud cover north and west of washington but south and east it's albright and

sunny. we're on the divided line here in northwest washington. that's the view from space. temperatures under the clouds are colder. upper 30s near 40. where there's sun it's already in the mid 40s to upper 40s. reagan national is at 46. may actually get a little bit warmer there later this afternoon. a bit of a blustery northwest wind. friday morning, predawn. may be a bit of a mix west and north of interstate 95. sun back for the weekend. near 50 on sunday. enjoy. >> okay. we will. thanks, tom. ♪ let's hope the wizards are watching this. they could use a player like little titus, the 2-year-old may be the youngest master at trick shots. everyone in our newsroom is blown away with some of the shots he was draining. and apparently we're not alone.

we just checked and more than 670,000 people have watched this highlight reel on youtube. >> fortunately we've come to suspect every kind of video -- >> that it may not be real? >> right. what do you think? >> the one where he bounced it from up at the top of the steps, if it wasn't real, it's still amazing. >> 2 year old. >> young titus. a future in the nba, we hope. that's news for midday. thanks for joining us. tune in to news 4 at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00. >> we will be back tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. until then, have a terrific day and we'll see you in the morning.