it could be a historic blizzard. and right now residents in the northeast are stocking up on food and supplies ahead of the storm that could dump up to three feet of snow from new york city to boston. going to take a look at how it's affecting travelers this morning. good morning, everyone. welcome to "news 4 midday." >> it's friday, february 8th, 2013. while new england is preparing to get slammed with snow we are breathing a sigh of relief around here. much of the area is getting just rain this morning. we did find some snow falling in

leesburg but it didn't stick to warm roads. it turned to rain around 7:00, making for a slushy mess which forced some schools to delay the start of the day. the snow is just starting to fall on new york city. when it stops the big apple could be buried beneath a foot of snow or more. nbc news' leanne gregg has the latest from manhattan. >> reporter: hello from new york city here on the west side of manhattan, we've had snow, we've had rain, and now we're getting sleet. the sanitation depot where we are, it is bustling. we've seen so many workers here since very early this morning. and they plan on working 12-hour shifts. maybe even more. the city has more than 250,000 tons of salt and 108,000 sanitation trucks. garbage trucks have plows already attached to them. the plows are ready to go at the first sign of snow accumulation. michael bloomberg suggests that people avoid travel today during

the storm. stock up on medicine, use mass transit when upon. but even transit leaders we talked with are warning of possible service disruptions. city buses will get chains on their tires when needed. it has been snowing here since early this morning. the forecast shows heavier snow in the late afternoon. what the forecast is looking like, possibly a foot of snow in the big apple. the winds later on will be fierce. 50 to 60-mile-an-hour winds. people are hunkering down thinking at leaving work early today. city government, offices are open. city schools are open as well. the dropoff at school was pretty good, i think, for some of the parents but later this afternoon, the pick-up might be a challenge. that's the very latest from new york. i'm catherine craig, back to you. this storm is causing big travel troubles. thousands of flights throughout the east coast are grounded and that's affecting travel right here in washington. news 4's megan mcgrath spoke to

some frustrated travellers. she's live this morning at reagan national airport with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we have talked to a lot of frustrated people. folks who had their flights canceled because of the weather headed to the northeast. now, we have 11 cancelations up on the board here, ray gatt national airport right now. and there are more on the way. >> again, if you are affected by any of the northeast storm places, you need to come to this other line and i'll get youen an earlier flight. >> reporter: carriers like u.s. airway pros active this morning. shifting people headed to the northeast to earlier flights. >> i would like to do that. >> reporter: passenger also seized the initiative, changing their eye titineraries to get a of the weather. >> i asked my assistant to fly me out at 6:30 to be sure to beat the storm. >> reporter: it all made for long lines at airports. lines reminiscent of the thanksgiving rush. >> i'm a little bit surprised

just because things haven't even started yet. >> i came early for the line. >> reporter: so you pecked this? >> yes. >> reporter: at reagan national, more than 100 flights were canceled today. more than 3,000 have been canceled nationwide as airlines brace for what could be an historic snowstorm along the northeast seaboard. >> i had a 6:45 flight out of new york, laguardia, and it was canceled. they switched me to a 12:00 night. i'm like, thads ridiculous. you know it's not leaving p so i just canceled everything, hopped in the car and booked a flight down here. >> reporter: while some airlines had some flexibility, this morning things got tight toward the afternoon. a look at the flight schedule to boston shows the dropoff, 12:05 was the last on-time flight. from there on, nothing but cancelations. these young women will be missing a hockey tournament in canada. >> and now what? >> home. >> reporter: you're going to

miss it? >> yeah. >> reporter: what do you think of this? >> it's terrible. we just -- we wanted to play so bad. >> we were so excited. >> reporter: and you're taking a live look now at the terminal. things are pretty quiet right now. the real action was earlier this morning as people were trying to head to the airport early, make those switches, try and get those planes that were leaving before this weather hits. keep in mind this is not going to be a one-day event either. we're seeing cancelations for later this afternoon. if the weather is as bad as expected, this is going to drag out over the weekend. reporting live from reagan national, megan mcgrath, news 4. back to you. and taking a train might be the only way left to get as far north as new york. as for right now, amtrak is still running. northeast service between d.c. and the big apple. but that's the end of the line. service is canceled between new york and boston this afternoon. and amtrak expects the same can happen in connecticut, new hampshire, vermont, and upstate new york it laer today.

we're still seeing a little rain in some spots. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. tom? >> good morning. most of the rain is over for our region as this coastal storm is rapidly deepening and intensified just northeast of norfolk where there had been 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts just off the coast. some seas are running 20 feet, 20-foot waves just off the delmarva peninsula. and there are thunderstorms on the eastern side of the storm. and way out ahead of it, up at the top of the screen, that's all snow across connecticut, rhode island, into massachusetts. it's just the beginning. we have another band of some rain now. just coming in to west virginia. that's moving east and will likely move into the metro area during the afternoon with just a few additional sprinkles. but most of the rain is now over. and temperatures right now are well above freezing. we're in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees in washington. the nearby suburbs in the prince

george's, arlington, fair fax and month 2k3w0gomery counties. it will turn a lot colder. we'll talk about that in detail and all the timing on that storm hitting new england and what our weather looks like in the weekend and into next week. keith? see you in studio in just a few. let's find out if the weather is affecting traffic out there right now. here's danella sealock. >> if we look at the 14th street bridge, still seeing delays because of an earlier accident. this is as you make your way northbound. crossing over the 14th street bridge, left lane was blocked. traffic getting by without any issues. 14 minutes to get from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. now shoot over to i-270. nice and clear in germantown. no issues as you make your way north or southbound. southbound through rock veil connecting to the beltway. nice and clear. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. right now more than 1,000 police officers continue to manhunt for a former l.a. cop

wanted for killing three people including a police officer. last night investigators found christopher dorner's burned out pickup truck outside l.a. near a ski resort as well as footprints leaving from the scene. dorner is wanted in the shooting death of a couple last weekend and for ambushing four officers yesterday in two separate incidents. one of the officers died. dorner recently posted an online manifesto warn that he would go after the officers and their familys, those responsible for firing him from the force back in 2002008. this morning prince george's police are investigating a deadly shooting from overnight. officers responded to a call on a fire department in capital heights. they found a man who was shot outside the firehouse. so however police believe the man was shot at a different location. she was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. police are still looking for a possible suspect and motive. also in prince george's county, police are questioning four people in connection with a

deadly double stabbing outside the nightclub. officers arrived at the hangar club on old branch avenue in temp hills and found two women suffering from stab wounds. we don't know if it was deadly. we don't know their conditions right now. so far, police have not made any arrests. new this morning, police are trying to track down the man they say robbed a woman at gun point on the university of maryland campus. this happened in a parking lot near the chemical nuclear engineering building at around 10:30 last night. the victim only got a vague description of the robber. we can tell you that she says he pulled a gun on her and made off with cash, gift cards, and other items. the time is now 11:09. right here on news 4 midday, a farewell for defense secretary leon panetta as he warns about slashing the defense budget. friends and coauthors tyrese gibson and reverend run join us in the studio to talk about their new book "manolo

right now friends and family are saying their final good-byes to a civil rights pioneer. christine jones, former mayor state delegate died after rescuers pulled her from her burning home in temple hills. jones was the first african-american to represent prince george's county in the general assembly. funeral service is under way on martin luther king avenue in southeast d.c. farewell ceremony for out going defense secretary leon panetta. one of his last acts as defense secretary was testifying before the senate armed services committee. he discussed last year's deadly attack in benghazi and said budget cuts slowed down america's response to that attack. he also said the looming sequestration across the board spending cuts on march 1st would cause even more damage to america's national defense strategy.

storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joining us now. it's bad up east? >> fortunately we're missing it here. areas off to our north and west got snow this morning. here's a photograph of snow sent in by one our viewers. they got about four inches of snow. narrow band just east of the blue ridge up into western loudoun county send in by andy. as we take a look at what hopefully is not going to happen in boston. this is a photograph from the 1978 blizzard that paralyzed new england. and unfortunately, it's looking like a similar storm. we could have similar scenes although people now know way in advance unlike them 35 years ago that, to stay off the roads and not get caught like that because there were thousands of cars that were caught there along -- that was route 128. if you know boston that's the

beltway around boston. right now, cloudy sky in washington. it's 40 degrees. got a wind coming out of the north around 10 to 15 miles aen hour. there is the radar showing the storm. acting like a winter hurricane. it has very deep low pressure. actually has a circulation around it like a hurricane. it is heading off t to the north. heavy rains along the atlantic seaboard. winds are gusting 60 miles an hour. right just east of norfolk and right along the coastline from lewis, delaware, down to rehobeth. now, the radar is showing one band of snow, or rather, rain moving into the mountains and may turn a little bit into snow as it moves farther east. getting a few flurries now. that band is moving toward the metro area. that's going to be later this afternoon. this morning there was a little quick shot of snow that quickly changed over to rain and now we just have cloud cover lingering. here's the timing of how things are going to be moving along with this storm. mostly dry afternoon. this is as of about 5:00.

change into snow out of the mountains there. may be a few inches way out in western maryland. hylands in west virginia. this is the problem here from long island up into new england. that's when they could get that heavy, heavy snow that's going to be later today and tonight. rain may begin to move in on monday. increasing clouds on sunday. hour by hour through the rest of the afternoon, highs in the 40s. and then winds kick in tonight. gusty winds. may be a few flurries flying through the air. then by dawn on saturday, down to the 20s. and winds gusting over 40 miles an hour. later tonight into saturday morning. and then saturday afternoon the winds diminish. highs near 40. martially cloudy on sunday. light winds. highs mid 40s. near 50 on monday. could get some rain monday morning and then on tuesday some sun back, highs in the mid 50s. maybe a little more rain on wednesday. now, what is happening in boston? it's already snowing there now. joining me now is my weather channel colleague.

eric fisher, how is it looking there now? >> hey there, tom. right now it actually looks quite beautiful in boston. snow started coming down an hour and a half ago. if you look across the common, that's winter new england. see the snow coating the ground, that's all just bare grass when we got here. as the storm ramps up this afternoon, it's going to be a whole different scene here in the city of boston. you mentioned 78. we can go back just two years into chicago, into modern time. when you know she's storms are coming and we had people stranded on lakeshore drive. in a blizzard that was forecast days in advance. even today, even with twitter, facebook, and you've got 24-hour news and all these sources, people still sometimes take risks. massachusetts does not want to take that risk. he has asked everyone off the roads at noon. mass transit shuts down at 3:30. here across new england, down toward new york city, this afternoon this snow will really ramp up. rates two to three inches per

hour. and that is why we have the yard stick here for this particular storm. perhaps up to three feet of snow in some areas. perhaps here, tom, a top snowstorm in boston history. the mark to beat, 27 1/2 inches. that was the president's day blizzard in 2003. >> well, thanks so much, eric. we hope and pray that doesn't happen because people there have long memories and they treb blizzard of '78 which was paralyzing and we hope and pray that does not happen. thanks so much. all right. that's the way it looks. >> looks pretty crazy out there. as he said, it looks like beautiful new england at the moment. >> so far. >> let's see what happens. thank you, tom. let's check on the midday traffic now. >> danella, what's the latest. >> if you're taking the 14th street bridge, still seeing delays because of the earlier accident. this is inbound. travel lanes are open but sluggish northbound 395. in maryland, montgomery kreent, nice and clear. traveling the inner loom as well

as the outer loop. no issues to report. let's continue the beltway this time at prince george's county. no issues past central avenue. and as you continue towards the wilson bridge, this is the view. inner loop and outer loop as well, clearing maryland and in virginia. back over to you. still ahead on news 4 midday, the list of accomplish ms between these two men is very long. now they're joining forces with a new book. why women still searching for the right man might want to pick up this book. they're going to tell you why. we are cooking for valentine's day. what you need to know before taking out the pots and pans. first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

a new book out this week written by two famous men gives men the opportunity to tell women the truth about us. tyrese gibson and reverend run here with the secrets to a man's mind. >> we're spilling all the secrets. >> we're telling everybody what's going on. >> you guys came up with this book "manology" and you guys ron different sides of the track from the excerpts i read. >> i'm married, six kids. he's single and it kind of different seasons of our life. so you're going get the perspective from a marylaried man -- how do you catch a man and i'm how do you keep a man. it's how to you catch and keep a man. >> a couple of quick points i noted. all right. first thing i want -- >> i'm hard to get. >> first thing -- >> that's why you're not caught. >> the first thing a woman should do when she gets a ring. you say a ring is forever. tyrese, you say don't treat it like a championship trophy. wow. >> i mean, the thing is, i think the whole ring thing, especially with the recent beyonce song, if

you like it, you should put a ring on it. i think women are very caught up in the concept of a ring. and when they get the ring, then they run around to all of their home girls and they're showing off, he's going to marry me. the whole time they got their finger up like this the dude that put the ring on the finger because he's got enough money to purchase the ring, he's off smashing your home girl. so it's kind of like, if the ring is on your finger, congratulations. but is your man's walk the same as his talk, as well as his purchase? so the heart ain't right, then the ring don't matter. >> the bottom line is, a ring is like a -- a championship basketball game is when you get the ring, the game's over, you won. in marriage, when you get the ring, the game just started. >> absolutely. >> i understand that. >> scenarios are different. for me, i have a responsibility to the ladies like, look, all of the emotional pieces of the ring, you know, just don't get caught up. if your man's heart is right,

the marriage is a marriage. if you don't have a husband with his actions, he's just married on paper. >> the other thing that stood out for me was how do you have a healthy argument. rev, you said face to face. tyrese, you said via text. i was just joking with you via segment. you text, it's over? >> that's the outcome sometimes. >> he's done it before so he should know. >> well, the thing is, there's benefits in a text message. first of all, i can't respond to what you're saying to me until i finish reading what you said. >> okay. >> right? then i have to respond. now, when you're in person, whoever gets the loudest could cut you off from your thoughts. >> i like that. >> what do you mean? you know what? i ain't even going to say nothing and then you walk away. >> all right. >> that's the benefit of a text. i feel like i can get all of mine out unenter rupped. >> all right. so here we move on to you guys and prestigious careers. rev run you had that five-year run with "run's house."

what's next for you? >> beyond this book "manology," i'm involved in a diabetes campaign going to askscreenno.com. it's talking about diabetes, from african-americans are more at risk and especially over 40 years old. so i'm talking about that. it's about if what you don't know, you can't heal. and many guys my age or just african-americans or people in general, they don't want to go to the doctor. they don't want to know. i don't want to know. you can't fix what you don't know. my job is to the them, yes, my gatt father had diabetes but i'm at risk. i don't have it but i'm at risk. i want to be ready. i tell people to screen yourself. >> can't be ignorant about your health. >> that's right. >> tyrese, let's move on to you quickly. 2011, last album "open invitation." 2011, "transformers." what's next for you? >> "manology." my album "independent" ended up with grammy nomination for the

r&b album of the year so i'm heading to the grammys. i'm celebrating. we did this album in my garage. i just took that leap of faith and everybody showed up to support it. gist want to go on record and say that if my motivation was money, i would only make movies. we did this book because we have a problem with what you don't know. and ultimately we have a responsibility to the ladies, i have a 5-year-old daughter, rev has daughters, and so we can't save the world. that's jesus' job. we just want to give you the heads up about what's around the corner before you get there. and we're not throwing men under the bus. we're just giving people the heads up. if you have a weak stomach, you're uncomfortable with knowing the bold, raw, uncomfortable truth, the book people will be mad that i'm saying this, this book ain't for you. you want to be oblivious to what's going on out there, stay there. go get the book. it's available digitally, nook,

kindle, i book, itune, every digital format. we're in town. holler at your boy. >> we will holler at you tonight at national harbor with your event at match.com at 7:00. >> as well as we're on our way to howard university so come see us up there. we would love to meet you. i got a wet kiss for the side of your -- you know, side. revere reverend, he's married, so he's going to shake your hand like this. >> with that said, i'm going to give both of you guys this, bam. thank you guys for coming on "manology." it's 11:28. coming up in the next half hour of "news 4 midday," checking in again at the local air force. are the delays slacking up because of that major winter storm set to hit the northeast? plus, storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is back to let us know if there's any chance our area could see more snow today. will this sketch help them track this man down? [ male announcer ] when your business is powered by verizon,

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right now potentially historic blizzard has begun to reach the northeast. snow is now falling in new york city. forecasters say more than a foot of snow could fall there. they say boston could be buried beneath two feet or more. schools throughout new england were already canceled today ahead of the storm. the worst of the snow is likely to miss us but if you're traveling out of washington today, prepare for delays. many afternoon flights throughout the northeast are already canceled. amtrak is also reducing service between boston and new york. and let's check in again with tom kierein with the latest on our forecast. he's outside on the storm team 4 weather deck. no snow there, huh, tom? >> no, but getting drizzle now counting down. we're going to have this little bit of sprinkle activity as we get into the afternoon. don't be like me, get an umbrella. i didn't think it was drizzling quite this hard. it just picked up quite a bit as i walked out here five minutes ago. you can see visit has dropped a bit. that's a live view from the city camera. getting this drizzle around the

region. coming from two systems. one is the coastal storm. the other one is a band of some rain now moving into the mountains and then maybe a little bit of steadier rain moving in later this afternoon. right now, all above freezing. 30 toss near 40 degrees. reagan national is at 41. later today into the mid 40s with some sprinkles and maybe a little drizzle from time to time. all ending by late afternoon. that turning windy and much colder tonight. we could have swinds gusting over 40 miles an hour tonight into early tomorrow morning. we'll be down in the 20s. it will feel like the single digits with those gusty winds and temperatures in the 20s. might have a few flurries tonight and tomorrow morning. then sunny saturday afternoon near 40. winds diminish late afternoon, tomorrow. sunday, partly cloudy, mid 40s. again, wednesday next week, as things warm up a bit. that is the way it looks. barbara? >> thank you, tom. local teen is recovering after being hit by a cab that kept going. it happened last night on wheel erode and oxen hill. the dean did not cruise a

crosswalk. neighbors and witnesses called police after the accident. one witness gave police such an accurate account of what happened they were able to track down the driver at the southern avenue metro station. police say the driver is cooperating with their investigation. this morning we're getting a new look at the man police call a serial groper. fairfax county police released this new police sketch yesterday. investigators in springfield believe the man is behind 18 different gropings in just five months. in most cases women reported being grabbed as they walked down the street. police say the investigation is slow going because there's no surveillance video and no forensic evidence. let's check in again now on the midday traffic. let's see what danella sealock can tell sdplus checking the roads a lot better in our area. 14th street bridge is snow as you make your way inbound. as we head over to route 50 from the bay bridge heading to beltway, nice and clear in both directions. inbound and outbound in maryland. landover road, you can see here a lot of volumes.

nice if you're heading out for lunch this afternoon. clear commute into the district. live look at new york avenue. in fact, traveling on new york avenue and throughout the district. check for accidents, not seeing reports right now. keith, back over to you. brendan morocco continues to do more and more with his two new arms. a team of surgeons at johns hopkins hospital performed the hospital's first successful double arm transplant in december. the doctor joins us this morning with more on this ground breaking surgery. and why was it such a medical breakthrough? >> well, it's a miracle. first we had the fans france plant at the university of maryland and now we have the most successful arm transplant right here at johns hopkins. so very exciting. true medical miracle. >> so, what was all involved in this process. if we could break it down for the layman. >> again, brendan morocco was an iraqi vet, lost four limbs when a vehicle he was driving had a

bomb explode. he's been waiting since 2009 and he had a donor. replaced two of his arms. now he has his arms. as he said, it's so important in speaking and talking and gesturing to have these arms. and the likelihood is that he's going to be able to use these arms to tie his shoes, to do activities of that nature. >> will they ever function like his previous arms did? to that degree, will they ever function as if they were his arms from birth? >> sure. probably not. but again, he's not going to be able to do plastic surgery but he is going to be able to grab a fork, use a cup, tie his shoes, important functions. he's going to be able to do definitely mandatory-like needs, life needs. what role did transplanted bone marrow play in this? >> keith, this is another great advance. not only did they use the donor's arms but they gave keith, they gave brennan the

bone marrow which now rejection is the big problem. and in this keeps him from rejecting or helps him keep from rejecting the arms. >> so six hours of therapy a day. >> right. >> how big a part of recovery is that? >> really important. first of all, these arms, they have to wake up. they have to come alive. and therapy can help that happen. it can help soften the scar tissue. it helps with range of motion. it even helps in the generation of nerves and vessels. >> so you talked about the face transplant to start our segment. now we have the double arm transplant. what's next? where do we go from here? >> i don't know. the opportunities seem endless here. the interesting thing is that this, as you know, was funded by the department of defense. they're very interested in doing things that help our returning veterans because they're seeing so much tremendous injuries. trauma medicine is so incredible now people are surviving these injuries. now we have to have a way to put them back together.

>> doctor, you call him a medical miracle? >> he's a medical miracle. he has a great heart and i think we're going to hear a lot more from brendan in the future. >> thanks for breaking it all down. >> pleasure to be here. the time now, 11:38 right here. still to come, a young virginia girl's fight against cancer and the blood drive she has inspired. plus, a meal that may inspire love. food idea for valentine's day. it's coming up quick. it's next thursday. stay w

this weekend there's a great way to help others across our area. the fourth annual valentine blood drive is taking place in burke, virginia. aaron, ethan, and sadie lawyer join us along with terry graddock from blood services. dade i say that right?

>> craddock. >> we're nice to have all of you. erin, tell us how this started? >> sadie was dig nice with cancer at 3 years old. it's a childhood cancer. and our friends came to and they wanted to do something to help. so they made meals for us, they made sure that our daughter anna was taken care of when we were at the hospital and with the doctors. and they found out that she needed designated blood for her big surgery. so they went out and got the blood. it was easy. people were willing to help. on valentine's day of 2010, the big year of the snow, they decided they wanted to do a community blood drive. >> now, were you surprised that so many people were willing to help? you're sadie's father. this was a very difficult time for you as a family, i know. did you think it would be this successful? >> well, brar bra, it was a very difficult time, but the committee that's organized friends of ours, the friends of sadie committee, just knowingfo

them, we were not surprised that they were willing to do so much work on behalf of sadie and other people who need blood. >> sadie, why don't you come over here and talk to me. what is your name? >> sadie. >> and how old are you now? >> 3. >> 3? >> 3. 3 years old. are you going to be there for the blood drive to say hello to everybody so they can see how well you've done since you got that wonderful to the nation from so many people? >> yes. >> you're going to be there? you're going to show them your big smile? >> yes. >> let's see it. that's beautiful. that's great. now, i know that you're with the blood services. how important is it for the people in our community that we have this kind of blood drive? >> it's very important. we're always short of blood. it's wonderful when a family wants to help us put more units of blood on our shelf. the relationship that we have with sadie and her family and their friends who hold this blood drive for us is wonderful.

we really enjoy working with them. >> how do people find out how do give blood? >> we have a blood drive at the woods community center. this sunday february 10th from 8:00 to 4:00. we are really thrilled to be partnering with the burke center community. they provide all the space for us and all of the news to get it out atto the community. >> there are some blood types that are more lothian others. you need others. not everybody has their blood type. how do you tell people to come out and at least get typed so they know when they're really needed? >> so anybody that comes and gives blood we will do a blood type for them, send it back to them in the mail in the form of a donor carded. and we're always short on type "o" blood. >> that's the universal donor. >> yes. anybody can receive type "o" blood and we're always short on that. and because we overuse it in our hospitals. it's in all of our emergency settings.

so we really would love the "o" donors to come out and help us out. >> well, i think you for joining us. we had one of your members, one of the first ones who called us up and said, can you talk about this. hey, sadie. do you want to say something to everybody out there who donated blood for you? do you want to say thank you? >> thank you. >> well, we're so happy that you're here to say that with us. thank you all for coming. >> thank you. >> good luck with your valentine blood drive. >> thank you. it happen on sunday. keith? >> a small precious gem to small gains this morning on wall street. let's check in with cnbc's jackie deangeles. she has that and the rest of the business headlines. >> keith, good morning. stocks are higher on this friday even as a nor'easter heads wall street's way. the dow is up 42 points at this hour. meantime, oil prices are holding steady ahead of the massive storm that is going to dump one to two feet of snow this

weekend. natural gas prices fell 4% yesterday. the northeast is the biggest user of nat gas heat but the u.s. still has plenty of supplies on hand. some retailers could be hurt if the storm knocks out power and keeps shoppers from the malls this weekend. although home depot and lowe's could benefit as people are stocking up on supplies. shares of turro have seen some recent pop in share price. switching gears to the irs, it's cracking down on criminals who use stolen identities to seek thousands of dollars in tax refunds. the agency says that a january sweep of 32 states and prt to ricco found 400 identity theft suspects, including more than 100 arrested. the number of irs identity theft investigations tripled last year centering on high risk cities like san francisco, l.a., new york, and miami. the irs says that its investigations and in-house

filters helped find $20 billion in what would be fraudulent tax refunds last year. >> good to see you. restaurants across our area are offering special dishes for valentine's day. also the options of making something special at home. so chef martinez joins us this morning with his idea of a perfect dish to share. welcome. good to see you. >> welcome. how are you? >> fine. you have a lot of fabulous looking things here. i can't guess what it's going to look like when you put it to the. you call it scallops? >> it's really nice scallop that we did from cape cod this morning. super fresh. and we're going to serve it with a traditional salad and it's basically tomato, some cucumber, green pepper, sherry dressing, some flour, salt, olive oil. simple. but the combination of the seafood flavor with the acidity of the dressing is amazing. so simple to make at home, actually. >> you say it's a great

valentine dish because it's something to share. >> to share because we're going to have tomato hearts. >> tomato hearts. >> open the tomato were simple. >> you use a little cherry tomato? >> yes. this is a tomato. >> okay. >> and if you -- like just got it right there. you're going to see that inside there is like a tomato heart. that's amazing. there is a lot of flavor. >> you take the heart out? >> yeah, you take the heart and you just keep it. you just open your base scallops. you need to make sure that they're super fresh. you put a little bit of sea salt on the top. >> because you don't cook them. >> no they're raw because they're super fresh. >> okay. >> cape cod, you were lucky to get them here. >> i know. this morning. >> super fresh. >> the cucumber, the green pepper, and tomato. >> a little bit of each and about the same amount. >> the same amount. you get a little bit of sherry

dressing which is sherry vinegar mixed together. >> sherry and extra virgin olive oil. >> very good, yeah. >> a little bit. we just put a little bit in each shell. >> that looks delicious. and then? >> and then you have tomato hearts which is very phenomenal. they have a lot of gelatinness there. >> that goes on top of the whole thing. tell me, how do you pick a good scallop? you say it's got to be very, very fresh. how do you know? >> well, first of all, a good scallop always needs to be closed like any shellfish. need to make sure the shellfish is closed and the shells are completely together and always, we use mallet and the shell is close, the shellfish should be

completely safe. we'll add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on top. spaniards will love extra virgin olive oil. what would we do without it. >> i love it, too. we americans love it, as well. what else? >> we're going to put some brur flour. >> now we get into the valentine of it. >> valentine's day. >> beautiful. >> serving as well -- where do you find those? >> you can get those in the grocery store, too? >> in a special grocery stores you can get them. >> and that's it? >> and that's it. >> what is this? >> this is something we serve with our oysters. we have some oysters as well on the menu. so we have some oysters with some olive capers and onion. everything goes inside the oysters. >> i know they're waiting for me to taste that. should i? >> of course. >> okay. >> tell me what you think.

>> fresh from cape cod. >> very good. >> the extra virgin olive oil is especially wonderful. that is very good. i guess you're supposed to sit and feed each other these? >> i would do that for valentine's day, yes. with oysters, with scallops. spread the love. >> spread the love. great. thank you so much for coming. >> thank you very much. >> lots of toppas and this is one of them. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. it's 11:51. coming up, '80s blockbusters returning to the big screen. plus, meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check of the weekend forecast.

at the box office this weekend a comedy about something that's actually becoming a serious problem.

jason bateman and "braidesmaids melissa co-stars when your identity lands in the wrong hands. the hilarious identity thief is rated r. a depressed house wife gets caught in a bloody nightmare in the movie "side effects." rooney mara goes on onity deples sants after her husband channing tatum gets busted for insider trading. jude law treats her but when she wakes up with blood on her hands and no memory a murder investigation uncovers a bigger conspiracy. "side effects" is rated r. spend the weekend getting your need for speed. "top gun" is back on the big screen in 3d. you have six days to see a young tom cruise in theaters before the movie heads to dvd. "top gun" 3d is rated pg. let's look at the stories on news 4 this afternoon. the very latest on the monster storm that could be headed our

way. live team coverage. also, what do you do when your baby starts crying in the middle of the night? new research into whether it's better to comfort your infact or let him or her cry it out. >> i go for comfort. >> i go for cry it out. tom, you're going to be quiet up in new england, i guess, and a lot of places because it's really going to be bad up there. >> a lot of us have connections in new england. a lot of people here lived there before or know people who live there. some of us, i was working in boston in 1978 when the big blizzard of '78 hit there. i remember the par ral sis it caused. i'll never forget my car in the driveway. you couldn't even see the top of the car. >> how many inches did they get? >> it was about 27 inches. the winds were blowing 70 miles an hour. it covered with drifts. there were ten-foot drifts. >> wow. >> was unbelievable. unfortunately this one may be like that. it's already snowing there now. we got a little bit of snow here this morning. there's a live picture of

boston. i believe that's boston common. and you can see it's coated the ground now. it just started. this is just the very beginning of it. we're going to see that perhaps hitting by later today. oh, this came in crooked. anyway, that's a photograph that was out in virginia earlier where they got about three or four inches of snow. narrow band there from that storm that is spinning its way off the atlantic seaboard. heavy rain. areas in yellow and orange from the eastern shore and some very strong winds just off the coast. winds are blowing 60 miles an hour. and the storm has really not even gotten that much -- is as strong as we think it's going to get. it's already much stronger than we originally thought it would be at this point in time. there's a little narrow band of sprinkles. a little rain and snow out there in west virginia and western maryland. that may zip just to our north later this afternoon between now and then. some scattered sprinkles. a little bit of drizzle. it's cold. only in the up per 30s near 40

degrees now. and only going to warm up maybe a few more degrees to our south. holding steady near 40. the rest of the afternoon and cold winds blow in and we'll get gusts over 40 miles an hour tonight into tomorrow. down to the 20s tomorrow morning. it will feel like the teens with the wind. and then lighter winds on sunday, mid 40s. maybe rainier monday, high 50. have a great weekend. see you mond. >> you have a good weekend, too. >> that's "news 4 midday." tune in to news 4 at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00. >> we'll be back monday morning at 11:00 a.m. plan to join us for that. until then m a terrific day, great weekend, and we'll see you [ male announcer ] when your business is powered by verizon,

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