they go to big public events now? >> the russians have been very cooperative with us since the boston bombing. obviously old habits die hard. there are still suspicions sometimes between our intelligence and law enforcement agencies that date back 10, 20, 30 years back to the cold war. but they're continually improving. i've spoken to president putin directly. he's committed to working with me to make sure that those who report to us are cooperating fully. in not only this investigation, but how do we work on counterterrorism issues generally. in it terms of what the response of the american people, i think everybody can take a cue from boston. you don't get a sense that anyone's intimidated when any go

to fenway park a couple days after the bombing. there are joggers right now i fwa guarantee you all throughout boston, cambridge, watertown. and i think one of the things i've been most proud of in watching the country's response to the tragedy there is a sense of resilience and toughness and we're not going to be intimidated. we are going to live our lives. and people i think understand that we have to do everything we can to prevent these kind of attacks from taking place. but people also understand in the same way they understand after a shooting in aurora or newtown or virginia tech or after the foiled attempts in times square or in detroit that we're not going to stop living

our lives because warped twisted individuals try to intimidate us. we're going to do what he wiwe . which is go to work, raise our kids, go to ball game, run in marathons. and at the same time, we'll make sure everybody is vigilant and doing everything we can without being naive to try to prevent the at that time tack attacks f the future. >> you are 100 days in to your second term. on the gun bill, you put everything into to try to get it passed. obviously it didn't. congress has ignored your efforts to try to undo the sequester cut. there was a even a bill that you threatened to veto that got 92 democrats in the house voting yes. my question to you is do you still have the juice to get the rest of your agenda through this congress? >> if you put it that way, maybe i should just pack up and go home.

golly. i think it's a little, as mark twain said, rumors of my demise are exaggerated at this point. look, we understand that we're a divided government right now. republicans control the house of representatives. in the senate, this habit of requiring 60 votes for even the most modest piece of legislation has gummed up the works there. it comes to no surprise that right now things are pretty dysfunctional up on capitol hill. despite that, i'm actually confident that there are a range of things that we'll get done. i feel confident that the bipartisan work that has been done on immigration reform will result in a bill that passes and gets on my desk and that will be

an historic achievement and i've been very compliment taker aryt efforts of republicans and democrats. it is true the sequester is damaging our economy, hurting our people, and we need to lift it. the only way we'll lift it is if we do a bigger deal that meets the test of lowering our deficit and growing our economy at the same time. and that's going to require compromises on the part of democrats and republicans. i've had some good conversations with republican senators on far. thoseconversations are continuing. there is a genuine desire to move past not only sequester, but washington can dysfunction. whether we can get it done or

not, you know, we'll see. but i think the sequester is a good example. this recent faa issue is a good example. you will recall that even as recently as my campaign, republicans were saying sequester is terrible, this is a disaster, it will ruin our military, be disastrous for the economy, we have to do something about it. then when it was determined that doing something about might mean that we close tax loopholes for the wealthy and well connected, suddenly, well, you know what, we'll take the sequester. and the notion was somehow that we had exaggerated the effects of the sequester. remember? the president's crying wolf, he's chicken little, sequester no problem. and then in rapid succession suddenly white house tours, this is terrible, how can we let that happen.

meat inspectors, we have to fix that. and most recently, what are we going to do about potential delays at airports. so despite the fact that a lot of members of congress were suggesting that somehow the sequester was a victory for them and this wouldn't hurt the economy, what we now know is that what i warned earlier, what jay stood up here and warned repeatedly, is happening. it slowed our growth. it's resulting in people being thrown out of work. and it's hurting folks all across the country. and the fact that congress respond to the short term problem of flight delays by giving us the option of shifting money that's designed to repair and improve airports over the long term to fix the short term

problem, well, that's not a solution. so essentially what we've done is we've said in order to avoid delays this summer, we'll ensure delays for the next two or three decades. >> why did you go along with it? >> hoold on a second. so the alternative of course is either to go ahead and impose a whole bunch of delays on passengers now which the does not fix the problem, or the third alternative is to actually fix the problem by coming up with a broader larger deal. but jonathan, you seem to suggest that somehow these folks other there have no responsibilities and that my job is to somehow get them to behave. that's their job. they're elected, members of congress are elected, in order to do what's right for their constituencies and for the

american people. so if in fact they are seriously concerned about passenger convenience and safety, then they shouldn't just be thinking about tomorrow or next week or the week after that, they should be positioning about what's going to happen five years from now, ten-years from now or 15 years from now. the only way to do that is for them to engage with me on coming up with a broader deal. and that's exactly what i'm trying to do, to continue to talk to them about are there ways for us to fix this. frankly, i don't think that if i were to veto, for example, this faa bill, that that somehow would lead to the broader fix. it just means that there would be pain now, which they would try to blame on me, as opposed to pain five years from now. but either way the problem is not getting fixed. the only way the problem does

get fixed is if both parties sit come down and say how are we making sure we're investing in things like rebuilding our airports and roads and bridges and investing in early childhood education. all the things that will help us grow. and that's what the american people want. just one interesting statistic when it comes to airports. there was a recent survey of the top airports in the country -- in the world. and there was not a single u.s. arnt that ca airport that came in the top 25. not one. not one u.s. airport was considered by the experts and consumers who use these airports to be in the top 25 in the world. i think cincinnati airport came in around 30th. what does that say about our long term competitiveness and future? so when folks say, well, there was money in the faa to deal with these furloughs, well, yeah, the money is this pool of

funds that are supposed to try to upgrade our airports so we don't rank in the bottom of industrialized countries when it comes to our infrastructure. that's what we're doing. would yo we're using our seed corn short term. and the only reason, because right now we have folks who are unwilling to make simple changes to our tax code, for example, to close loopholes that aren't adding to our competitiveness and aren't helping middle class families. so that's a long way of answering your question, but the point is that there are common sense solutions to our problems right now. i cannot force republicans to embrace those common sense solutions. i can urge them to. i can put pressure on them. i can rally the american people

around those common sense solutions. but ultimately they themselves have to say we want to do the right thing. and i think there are members certainly in the senate right now and i suspect members in the house, as well, who understand that deep down. but they're worried about their politics. it's tough. their base thinks compromise with me is somehow a betrayal. they're worried about primaries. and i understand all that. and we'll try to do everything we can to create a permission structure for them to be able to do what's going to be best for the country. but it will take some time. bill plant efe. >> as you're aaware, there is a growing hunger strike at began

t guantanamo bay. is there a surprise that they would prefer death? >> it is not a surprise that we have problems at guantanamo. which is why i said we need to close guantanamo. i continue to believe we have to continue to close guantanamo. i think it is critical for us to understand that guantanamo is not necessary to keep america safe. it is expensive. it iss it is inefficient. it lessens cooperation with our allie allies. it is a recruitment tool for extremists. it needs to be closed. congress determined that they would not let us close it.

and despite the fact that the people in guantanamo despite the courts saying they could be returned to their country of origin or potentially a third country, i've asked my team to review every currently being done in guantanamo, and i'll rein-gauge wi rei engage with congress to make the case this is not something in the best of the american people. and it's not sustainable. the notion that we'll continue to keep 100 individuals in a no man's land in perpetuity, even though when would e're winding the war this in iraq and afghanistan, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist network,

when we've transferredin iraq a afghanistan, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist network, when we've transferredin iraq a afghanistan, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist network, when we've transferredn iraq an afghanistan, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist network, when we've transferredin iraq a afghanistan, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist network, when we've transferredin iraq a, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist network, when we've transferred authority in afghanistan, the idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests and needs to stop. now, a hard case to make. i think for a lot of americans the notion is out of sight, out of mind. and it's easy to demagogue the issue. i'll go back at it because i think it's important. >> continue for -- >> i don't want the individuals to die. obviously the pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can. but i think all of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this. why are we doing this.

we've got a whole bunch of individuals who have been tried who are currently in maximum security prisons around the country, nothing's happened to them. justice has been served. it's done in a way that's consistent with our constitution, consistent with due process, consistent with our traditions and rule of law. the individual who attempted to bomb times square, in prison serving a life sentence. individual who tried to bomb the plane in detroit in, prison serving a life sentence. somali who was part of al shahad, in prison. so we can handle this. and i understand that in the immediate after math with 9/11 with the traumas that have taken place why for a lot of americans the notion was somehow that we

had to create a special facility like guantanamo and we couldn't handle this in a normal conventional fashion, i understand that reaction. but we're now over a decade out. we should be wider. we should have more experience in how we prosecute terrorists. and this is a lingering problem that is not going to get better. lele it will get wourrse. it will fester. so i said before we'll examine every option we have administratively to try to deal with this issue, but ultimately we'll need help from congress and i'll ask some folks over there who care about fighting terrorism but also care about who we are as a people to step

up and help me on it. chuck todd. >> mr. president, thank you. nate bachus referred to the implementation of your health care law as a potential train wreck and other democrats whispering never usness about t nervousness about the impact on the political campaign. why does senator baucus believe this is wrong? >> i think that anytime you are implementing something big, there will be people who are nervous and anxious about is it going to get done until it's actually done. but let's just step back for a second and make sure the american people understand what it is that we're doing.

the affordable care act, bom ca obamacare, has been with us for three years, gone through supreme court tests, effort to the repeal. a huge chunk of it has already been implemented. and for the 85% to 90% of americans who already have health insurance, they're already experiencing most of the benefits of the affordable care act even if they don't know it. their insurance is more secure, insurance companies can't drop them for bad reasons. their kids are able to stay on their health insurance until they're 26 years old. they're getting free preventive care. so for the average american out there, for the 85% to 90% of americans who already have health insurance, this thing has already happened.

and their only impact is that their insurance is stronger, better, more secure than it was before. full stop. that's it. they don't have to worry about anything else. the implementation issues come in for those who don't have health insurance maybe because they have a pre-existing condition and the only way they can get health insurance is to go out on the individual market and they're paying 50% or 100% more than those of you who are lucky enough to have group plans. people too door poor to get hea insurance and employers don't offer them . maybe they work for a small business who can't afford to provide health insurance. so all the implementation issues that are coming up are implementation issues related to that small group of people 10% to 15% of americans, now, it's still 30 million americans, but relatively narrow group who don't have health will insurance

right now or are on the individual market and are paying exorbitant amounts for coverage that isn't that great. and what we're doing is we're setting up a pool thso that the can pool together and get a better deal from insurance companies. and those who can't afford it, we'll provide them with subsidies. that's it. that's what's left to implement. because the other stuff's been implemented and it's working fine. the challenge is that setting up a market based system, basically and online marketplace where you can go on and sign up and figure out what kind of insurance you can afford and figure out how to get the subsidies, that's still a big complicated piece of business. and when you're doing it nationwide relatively fast and

you have half of congress who is determined to try to block the implementation and not adequately funding implementation, and then you have a number of members of -- or governors, republican governors, who know that it's bad politics for them to try to implement this effectively and some even who have decided toimp pleme to implement and state legislatures say don't implement, when you have that kind of situation, that makes it harder. but having said all that, we have a great team in place. we are pushing very hard to make sure that we're hitting all the dead lines and the benchmarks. i'll give you a recent example. we put together initially an application form for signing up

for participation in the exchanges that was initially about 21 pages long. immediately everybody sat around the table and said this is too long. especially in this age of the internet, people aren't going to have the patience to sit there for hours on end. let's streamline this thing. so we cut what was a 21 page form now down to a form that's about lee pages for an individual, a little more than that for a family. well below the industry average. so those kinds of refinements we'll continue to be working on. but i think the main message i want to give to the american people here is despite all the h will uhu he have and cry and sky is falling predictions, if you already have health insurance, that part of obamacare that affects you is already pretty much in place.

what's left to be implemented is those pr those provisions to help the 10% to 15% of the american public s unlucky enough to not have health insurance. if you have a pre-existing condition, this structure will make sure you're not left vulnerable. but it's still a big undertaking. and what we're doing is making sure that every single day, we are constantly trying to hit our marks so that it will be in place. and last point i'll make, even if we did everything perfectly, there will still be glitches and bumps and there will be stories that can be written that says, oh, look, this thing is not working the way it's supposed to and this happened and that happened. and that's pretty much true of every government program that's ever been set up. but if we stay with it, and we understand what our long term

objective is, which is making sure that in a country as wealthy as ours nobody should go bankrupt if they get sick and that we would rather have people getting regular checkups and gone to the emergency room because they don't have health care, if we keep that in mind, then we'll be able to drive down costs, we'll be able to improve efficiencies in the system, we'll be able to see people benefit from better health care and that will save the country money as a whole over the long term. >> cooperation of a handful of governors, particularly large states, that you can fully implement? >> i think it's harder. no doubt about it. >> can you do it without? >> we will implement it. we have a backup federal exchange. if states aren't cooperating, we set up a federal exchange so people can access the federal exchange. but, yes, it puts more of a burden on us. and it's ironic since all the folks say they believe in

empowering states that they will end up having the federal government do something that we'd actually prefer states to do if they were properly cooperating. let's see how we're doing on time. last question. where is anthony. there you are. [ inaudible question ]. >> -- is there room for who are c more conservative proposal than the one in the senate on immigration. and second for mexico, yesterday the mexican government saidcons one in the senate on immigration. and second for mexico, yesterday the mexican government said all

contact with the u.s. law enforcement will now go through [ inaudible ] is this change good for the u.s. relationship with mexico, do you see the layer of security and cooperation can be maintained? >> on immigration reform, i've been impressed by the work that was done by the gang of eight in the senate. the bill that they produced is not the bill that i would have written. there are elements of it that i would change. but i do think that it meets the basic criteria that i laid out from the start. which is we've got to have more effective border security, although it should build on the great improvements that have been made on border security over the last four to five years. we should make sure that we are cracking down on employers that

are gaming the system. we should make the legal immigration system work more effectively. so that the waits are not as burdensome, the bureaucracy is not as complicated, so we can continue to traattraction the b and brightest to our shores in a legal fashion. and we want to make sure that we've got a pathway to citizenship that is tough but allows people to earn over time their legal status here in this country. and the senate bill meets that -- those criteria. in some cases not in the way that i would, but it meets those basic criteria. and i think it's a testament to the senators that were involved that they made tough choices and of it compromises in order to

hammer out that bill. now, i haven't seen what members of the house are yet proposing. and maybe they think that they can answer some of those questions differently or better and i think we've got to be open minded in seeing what they come up with. the bottom line, though, is that they still have to meet those basic criteria. is it making the world safer, is it dealing with employers and how they work with the governments to make sure that people are not being taken advantage of or taking advantage of the system. are we improving our legal immigration system. and are we creating a pathway for citizenship for the 11 million or so who are undocumented in this country. if they meet those criteria but slightly different than the senate bill, i think we should be able to come up with an

appropriate compromise. if it doesn't meet those criteria, then i will not support such a bill. so we'll have to wait and see. when it comes to mexico, i'm very much looking forward to taking the trip down to mexico to see the new president. i had a chance to meet him her, but this is the first more extensive consultation, an opportunity for his minister, my cabinet members who are participate to go really hammer out some of these issues. a lot of the focus will be on economics. we've sent so much time on security issues between the united states and mexico that sometimes i think we forget this is a massive trading partner responsible for huge amounts of commerce and huge numbers of jobs on both sides of the border.

we want see how we can deepen that, how we ccan improve that and maintain the economic dialogue over a long period of time. that doesn't mean that we're not going to be talking about security. i think that in my first conversation with the president, he indicated to me that he very much continues to be concerned about how we can work together to deal with transnational drug cartels. we've made great strides in the coordination and cooperation between our two governments over the last several years. but my suspicion is that things can be improved. and some of the issues that he's talking about really had to do with refinements and improvements in terms of how mexican authorities work with each other, how they coordinate more effectively, and it has less to do with how they're dealing with us per se. so i'm not going to yet judge how this will alter the relationship between the united

states and mexico until i've heard directly from them to see what exactly are they trying to accomplish. but overall what i can say is that my impression is that the new president is serious about reform, he's already made some tough decisions. i think he'll make more that will improve the economy and security of mexican citizens and that will improve bilateral relationship, as well. and i don't want to leave out that we'll also be talking to during my visits to costa rica presidents of central american countries, many of whom are struggling with both economic issues and security issues. but are important partners for us because i think the vision here is that we want to make sure that our hemisphere is more effectively integrated to improve the economy and security of all people.

the that's good for the united states, it can enhance our economy and improve energy end inside. there are a whole range of opportunities and that's the purpose of this trip. i'm sure those who travel with me will have a chance to discuss those opportunities. >> jason collins-will- >> i had a chance to talk to him yesterday. seems like a terrific young man and i told him i couldn't be prouder. one of the extraordinary measures of progress that we've seen in this country has been the recognition that the lgbt community deserves full equality. not just partial equality. not just tolerance, but recognition that they're fully a

part of the american family. and given the importance of sports in our society for an individual who has excelled at the highest levels and one of the major sports to say this is who i am, i'm proud of it, i'm still a great competitor, i'm still 7-foot tall and can bang with shaq and deliver a hard foul and for i think a lot of young people out there who are gay or lesbian who are struggling with these issues to see a role model like that who is unafraid, i think it's a great thing. and i think america should be proud that this is just one more step in this ongoing recognition that we treat everybody fairly.

and everybody's part of a family. and we judge people on the basis of their character. and their performance. and not their sexual orientation. so very proud of him. all right? >> speaking for about 50 minutes from the white house press briefing room and covering a range of topics including foreign policy, syria, the prison at guantanamo bay and domestic issues including his congressional agenda. let's get to chuck todd who has been listening along with us this morning. and chuck, wide ranging is an apt description for that news conference. the president even returning for one more at the end. what is your headline? >> i would say politically the headline is but for congress, it seemed the answer to many of the questions including guantanamo, of course the budget in that question and this idea that here he is 100 days in, six months from his re-election and the fever hadn't broken and so i would say it's the but for

congress press conditions here as far as the president's explanation of some of his struggles of late. >> much more on "nightly news". this has pain an nbc news special report. good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. >> i'm keith russell. we begin with the press conference by president obama that just wrapped up. news4's angie goss is at the lives doing with more. >> hi, keith and barbara. this is a long news conference. we are talking about 50 minutes 37 the president covering a wide range of topics. everything from guantanamo bay to boston to the furloughs and health care, immigration. even giving praise to the wizards jason collins minutes ago who came out yesterday and announced that he was gay. in the beginning he had no opening statements. the president just started taking questions from reporters from the get-go.

first issue on the table was syria. possible use of chemical weapons and whether the u.s.' credibility was at risk for making such a strong stance. >> the use of chemical weapons would be a game changer. for the international community. what we now have is evidence chemical weapons have been used inside of syria but we don't know how they were used, when her used, and who used them. we don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. >> now by game changer the president said it would mean rethinking the range of options available to the united states but wouldn't go as far as to say that would this involve military action. when asked about the controversy surrounding suspected boston bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev the president says during the time he was investigated there was no indication that he was a threat. today marks the first 100 days of his second term and talking

about his agenda ahead and looming congressional gridlock he once again put out his hope for big deal to cut the deficit and also took the time to say again the sequester hurt americans pointing to the faa furloughs and decision that will soon reverse as we saw. before all of that chuck todd noted that the white house -- when congress is away it gifts them more control of the stage. over the message when there is hardly anyone in town to give them pushback. >> there were a lot of messages today. now the family of a fallen police officer from our area is that the national law enforcement officer's memorial downtown. his name is being added to that memorial. pat lawson muse's megan mcgrath is there live now. >> reporter: being a law enforcement officer can be a very dangerous job as this memorial demonstrates. carve flood the marble are the names of more than 19,000 law enforce many officers who have died in the line of duty. and just a short time ago, more

names were added. we have the unveiling of those names here that we can show you. there are two that have a connection to our area. chris young was a 7-year veteran of prince william -- of the prince william county police department. on new year's eve he was responding to a call. his emergency lights and siren were on but as he went through an intersection he was struck and killed bay car. also being honored on the memorial is a national park ranger with a connection to our area. margaret anderson worked at the c and o canal national park from 2004 to 2008. she was later transferred to the mt. rainier national park in washington state and it was while there when she was making a traffic stop, she was shot and killed. their names are being added to the more than 19,000 other law enforcement personnel who have been killed in the line of duty. we have family, friends, and as well as co-workers that are here for this ceremony. and as just saw a short time ago

they actually unveiled the names, newly carved names, on the memorial. we are expecting to speak to some of the family members after everything wrapped up here. after the ceremony is completely over. my colleague david culver is going to be talking to some of the folks getting their impressions on the importance of the memorial and what it means to their families and we are going to have that later on in our show. "news4 at 5:00" and 6:00. reporting live in northwest, megan mcgrath, news4. keith, back to you. >> all right, megan. we are going to go back to the live desk now with angie goss for another breaking story. >> we have breaking news just in to the news4 newsroom. right now we have a smash and grab in friendship heights. we are being told that within the last half hour, there's been a big robbery at a luxury jewelry store on wisconsin avenue in chevy chase. at this point this is what we know. the suspects -- several of them, we are told. they got away. we don't know at this point what they were able to take with

them. police are on the scene now. it is going to be your best bet to avoid the area. wisconsin avenue in chevy chase. stay with news4 for updates throughout the show. a crash that snarled the morning commute is still causing lingering delays in virginia. motorcycle and a tractor trailer collided on i-95 north near the fairfax county parkway around 4:30 this morning. the motorcycle driver died and the investigation had the road shut do you completely for more than would hours. at the worst delays backed up as much as 11 miles. it is better out there now but still slow knowing. new this morning a driver in a serious early drng morning accident in northwest d.c. that driver expected to be okay. the car ran off the road near 5th street and harvard, jumped a sidewalk and landed on the side against a fence surrounding the mcmillan reservoir. police are still trying to figure out what caused that crash. one lane nearby was closed but the road is now back open.

today could be your last chance to see some exhibits at the smithsonian at least until fall. the museum complex plans to close sections of lee buildings tomorrow because of sequestration. news4's tony tull is live on the national mall with more. what can you tell us? >> keith the good news is that although will will be closures, closures will not be that extensive. we did catch up with a couple out-of-towners to see if these closures here at some of the museums will impact their experience. >> closing the exhibit, it sucks. we are out here from arizona. came to see the smithsonian. >> not going home with a picture of it. we feel disappointed but all the experience here in washington is very good. >> reporter: no matter where you look the sequestration is having an impact on everything, smithsonian museums are no exception. certain select portions of exhibits will be closed. linda st. thomas says not to

worry. the closures will be so minor that museum-goers may not even notice. >> all of the museums are open normal hours from now through the end of the fiscal year. i don't think that it would change anyone's travel plans or visiting plans. >> reporter: specifically in the smith seasonian castle, the common room will be closed which, as you can see here, home to different artifacts. >> it is a room inside of the castle which has displays from all of the smithsonian museums in cases around the edges. >> reporter: additionally the african mosaic will shut down in the national museum of african art as well as a few galleries selections in the museum. no need to detour your weekend plans. it will be fully open. for this family they don't feel the closures will impact their experience. >> we are liking it a lot. i don't think that the experience will be worse because of this. >> reporter: the reason for the minor closures, reduced security that comes after an announcement

$42 million in cuts has extended to a security contract at the smithsonian uses to supplement their own security force. also affected was travel, building maintenance, hiring freeze was also put into place. the smith seasonian wants folks to know although they will have reduced security they will have ample security on hand and folks coming into the news kwlum have nothing to worry about. that's the latest from down here at the mall. >> all right, tony. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us now. still some drizzle out there around our area. >> not as widespread as it was this morning. we have quite a bit of cloudiness continuing spreading all across the region this morning. then last week, i visited upper marlboro. went to this school. the perrywood elementary school in prince george's county. and talked to these very bright, happy students about all different types of weather and had a terrific time.

i want to thank teacher sherita women son for the invitation to this wonderful school in prince george's county. these students asked a lot of great questions. i talked to them about the importance of paying attention to the forecast especially in severe weather season which we are now entering and it was terrific time at the perrywood elementary school in upper marlboro. let's take a look at the sky over washington is gray. there's maybe a little bit of a drizzle around. still drizzle being reported at reagan national airport. we are at the 59. humidity way up will. got an east wind. that east wind has been bringing in the cloud cover and also a few sprinkles. these areas in green on the eastern shore, they had a few sprinkles. also shun shine northern delaware, northeastern maryland. all cloudy west of there. cloud cover breaks up a bit from front royal west up on the ridges. shshine breaking you on. very low clouds. ceiling is only a couple hundred feet and will stay cloudy much of the region for the rest of the afternoon. and temperatures are generally in the mid and upper 50s.

we hardly budged at all since dawn. and during the afternoon, we will see the highs only reach maybe another few degrees up from where they are now. and we will just be in the low 60s. now going forward into tonight, i think we are going to see any precipitation chance, any rain, light rain, or sprinkles ending. and then by dawn on wednesday we should get sunshine back and quite a bit of sun tomorrow. looks like a terrific day and we will be drying out and we will have just a few clouds in and out as we get towards the end of the week. pollen count, which has been lately, will just be in the medium range. it may get medium high tomorrow. thursday, pollen forecast, allergy forecast back down to the medium range. not extreme range like it was last week. here is the four-day forecast. partly cloudy tomorrow. thursday and friday. 40s in the morning. afternoon highs near 70. here's a look at your weekend. sunshine saturday and sunday for your outdoor plans. should be beautiful. highs around 70. morning lows 40. we are going to keep that mild pattern going into monday.

that's the way it looks. >> all right. thank you, tom. still ahead, much more on "news4 midday." [ male announcer ] when you've got fios quantum internet, you get it. that feeling only 100% fiber optics can deliver. and no matter how many more devices you get, that need more from your internet, you know you can handle it. just don't let all that power go to your head... [ dad ] surprise! [ noisemaker blows ] [ male announcer ] okay, let it. supercharge your internet speeds and get more out of your devices than ever before. switch to a fios triple play online for just $79.99 a month for one year and we'll triple your speed for free with an upgrade to fios quantum internet with no annual contract required.

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we have a reporter headed to the scene. more on the breaking news story, smash and grab. news4 news4's mark seagraves is on the scene. >> reporter: details are sketchy. what we know from policening to -- from the scanner during the police chase, they smashed in one of the cases and took as much as $150,000 designer watches and pled the store and got into a car and then there was a police chase. montgomery county police chasing them from here in bethesda. just a few blocks from the d.c. line over into d.c. and then somewhere around connecticut avenue and cleveland

park area, they lost the -- car that they were chasing. i talked to the police official who said right now, all they know is that they had a call about a robbery and they do not have a lookout for any suspects or vehicle descriptions where we can -- what we can tell by looking in the front door you have at least a half a dozen police inside and they are talking with the employees and they seem to be reviewing the videotape hoping that there is surveillance video of what happened. you know, this is not april isolated incident here along wisconsin avenue. it was not too long ago right down the street one of the stores had the same thing happen where they stole designer purses. we are hoping to get more information from police as this story unfolds. >> do you know whether there was a weapon involved? have you been able to find out that? >> reporter: we have not heard anything about a weapon being displayed and i can tell threw's no paramedics or first responders from the fire or medical teams. it does not look like anybody was injured here.

i was talking to one of the shopkeeper next door who said that they didn't even realize anything had happened million the police put up this yellow crime tape. so it looks like no one was hurt. we don't know if a weapon was displayed. all of those things we are hoping to have answered once police are able to comment officially on this robbery. >> mark seagraves reporting live from chevy chase at the jewelry store there. >> no injuries but a lot of stolen jewelry. that's for sure. the timeup.

including storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. back with another check of your weather. wizards center jason collins became a household name overnight. he has more than 87,000 twitter followers. growing more than 2,000 in the last 24 hours. collins just became the first

active athlete in any major u.s. sport to announce he's gay. he tweeted last night that he's been overwhelmed with the support that he received. he told george stephanopoulos this morning that he always knew he was gay. >> i describe it as you know the sky is blue but you keep telling yourself that it is red. >> you fought. >> it yes. in the beginning. i think -- they call it like the 12 steps. you go through. anger, denial and just -- but when you finally get to that point of acceptance, there's nothing more beautiful. and just allowing yourself to, you know, really be happy and be comfortable in your own skin. >> the wizards released a statement about collins coming out. the team said it is proud of jason. >> in the air to right field. josh hamilton is back at the

wall. and there will not be another inning. a walkoff home run for brandon moss. >> oakland should have gotten straight as. brandon moss, two-run home run in the bottom of the 19th to end a marathon 19-inning game against the l.a. angels. 10-8. game lasted nearly seven hours and ended almost 2:00 a.m. west coast time. the players better be resting well right now. they have to play again tonight. a loss to the national last night may be more costly than expected. manager davey johnson says pitcher stephen strasburg. he saw a doctor after the game and was given medication. strasburg looked uncomfortable on the mound. sometimes shaking his arm after a pitch. he got a month-decision in the game and just one win this season. >> $50,000. >> if you tune in to "ellen"

today you will see why these folks are cheering. this is a reaction from students and staff at a school in manassas when ellen surprised them with $50,000. the money will make sure everyone can afford the right clothes for new school uniform program. you can see whole story on "ellen" today at 3:00 here on news4. we have time for a final check now on our forecast. here is tom. >> low clouds with us. sheer the view from space. storm team 4 satellite radar and not really seeing any rain. we are just getting some little bit of light drizzle, some scattered sprinkles into the cloud cover. and it is going to be a cool day right now it is just in the upper 50s to 60 degrees. later, low 60s. lot of cloudiness around and slight chance of a sprinkle or drizzle later this afternoon. overnight tonight cloud cover breaks up. we will get sun back tomorrow. partly cloudy and wednesday, thursday, provide. morning lows, 40s and afternoon highs near 70. and 7-dayoutlook into the weekend. saturday, sunday looking terrific with shine. cool mornings, afternoon highs near 70. looks like it will be mild again on monday.

have a great day. see you tomorrow morning. >> you too, tom. thank you. >> that's "news4 midday." thanks for joining us. tune in to "news4 at 4:00," 5:00 and 6:00 later today for all the day's news. >>