word on whether those two schools will will be opened tomorrow, but the rest of the schools opened on time today. >> and students bundled up as schools in the county opened on time today. but four had to close because of power and heat, but the open schools had policies in place for no outdoor recess or fire drills or gym. and still the school superintendent in montgomery is responding to angry reaction to keep the school in session. >> we invite you to keep us online or any time on facebook or twitter. and we are learning about a tragic accident involving a military helicopter, and wendy rieger is at the live destk with more. >> nbc news just confirm ed ted four u.s. airmen have been killed in a helicopter accident in the united kingdom. the chopper crashed on the east earn coast of england in the town of clay. it was part of the air force's

48th fighter wing. this happened in a low-flying training exercise, and not clear what may have caused this crash. we are working to learn more about this accident. we will bring you any updates as we get them from the live desk. i'm wendy rieger. back to you. >> more than 1 million americans lost their unemployment benefits when congress let the emergency extension expire at the end of the year. tonight, president obama is urging congress to extend the benefits n. a narrow vote, the senate voted to move ahead with the extension, but the republican republicans and the democrats are far apart on how to make it happen. and steve handelsman has the report. >> reporter: the procedural vote means that the extended unemployment benefits may pass the senate in a few days, but president obama said it better. >> we are not a people who say, you are on your own. we believe we are all in it together the, and we know there but by the grace of god go i.

>> reporter: there was catherine hackett, mother of two servicemen, who keeps her thermostat on 58 degrees while she looks for work. >> the unemployment benefits have been essential for me to have basic necessities. >> the way you qualify for the program is that you work and then you are let go. >> and they call it a three-month extensioning is a band-aid. >> there is no reason to pass unemployment legislation without creating good, high level jobs. >> and because the democrats want to raise the taxes instead of cutting government, it is still difficult to get to yes. >> reporter: 50 years after democrat president lyndon johnson put a war on poverty, president obama is hoping that

democrats will say yes for pushing unemployment benefits. most republicans are betting that the bigger issue is obama care that they charge is causing unemployment. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, capitol hill. and virginia lawmakers are headed back to work right now in a violent incident involving one of their own is to set the agenda for mental health treatment that could keep people safe in the commonwealth. and a cache of guns and bomb-making materiels found inside of the house, and what the homeowner was planning to do with all of this. >> i'm tracee wilkins in prince georges county where officials are struggling to deal with the broken water main

. >> the first potential death from cold weather is now under investigation in prince georges county. for those who had to work out soo outside in the county, frigid temperatures made it difficult. tracy wilkins is live now in the area. >> this is believed to be a waet weath weather-related death. they are awaiting autopsy reports. you can see the water main break

here in kettering and it is one of the reasons that many parents thought it was a good idea for their kids to stay home from school. >> reporter: it is literally freezing cold. many parents felt that the kids should have had the day off instead of going to school today. >> well, i felt the kids should have stayed home, because especially the elementary kids, they don't need to be out in the environment. >> some parents completely disagreed. >> as long as it did not rain and perfectly dry, they could have gone to school on dry. >> reporter: the two-hour delay allowed the officials to take care of the icing issues for instance this schidewalk was salted and ready for the school kids when they arrived. in kettering a busted water main turned this hill into a ice slope. >> we found out that the house across the street, the water had been bubbling at the end of the

driveway and appears to be another break on this side. >> reporter: and prince georges officials opened up their emergency command center. >> we get the information the fire department, and the department of social services. >> and also emergency services. >> reporter: many felt that the water main breaks were makeing the situations more hazardous, and especially for the firefighters. >> we urge the firefighters to get out of their wet clothing and go inside of the van and get on warm clothes. >> reporter: there is a contractor on the scene helping to start repair ing ting the da. officials say that this is a good example of u.n. one of the water main breaks they may not get to the night, because it is not gushing but a steady leak,

so they will have to start to the repair the water main breaks like this tomorrow. reporting live, i'm tracee wilkins. >> and doug is coming up with more detailsuthe weather forecast. i am wondering, much better tonight, because i had frozen pipe pipes at my house, but they had thawed out, do i have to worry, doug? >> well, yes. if you have a sprinkler system, a lof of those busted and a lot of ice on the roadways, and take precautions tonight, and we saw the bitter blast as dull let set a record of 1 degrees and shattering the old record of 8. and 3 at bwi beating that record and national, record of 5 degrees and we were one degree shy is of that, and that record stood from 1884. so this is really record-breaking temperatures and cold. and the good news, it is just about out of here. 18 degrees is the current

number, and the windchill down to 6 degrees. and around the area, 10 in gaithersberg, and 11 in martinsburg, and 18 in manassas, and so you know that we will be colder through the night. and 1 in gaithersberg tonight, but we are not talking about the 15 to 25 below numbers that we were seeing last night as the wind winds are beginning to come. and that is good news. we have a windchill advisory in effect which does not include prince georges kocounty or fair fox, because it is all back out to the west, and i would not be surprised to see it cancel for windchills of 5 to 18 belows, but some of the threshold may be reached here. so head's up if you are in that area. and head's up, the storm radar is dry, but if we had anything coming in, it would be in the form of snow for sure, and a chance for snow, and some of you are saying, hey, where is the snow? it is cold. and so tomorrow, it is just

cold. we will see a few clouds, but snshine, too, and still on the cold side and temperatures are warmer than they were to daik cold air is just about gone. we will have stay cool on thursday with just a.j. temperatures, and friday, we will see the snow in some areas, but changing over to sleet, and then plain old rain by later on in the day. we will watch this scenario very closely, and if a little bit of more cold air stays in, we could see accumulating air, and we will watch that for you friday morning. and tomorrow, still cold with calm winds and temperatures down to 3 in the suburbs and 11 in the city. no records tonight. i am not worried about the records falling in our area. in dulles, it is going to be 4 below zero. and 38 on thursday, and you will notice the upward trend, and 40 degrees on friday with the 30%

chance of the mix early in day. and saturday a good chance of rain and saturday is rainy day with a high of 54 and 52 on sunday. and sunday is looking very nice, and early next week starting off on the warm note, too, and if you are thinking of heading down to the health and fitness expo, it is a great weekend to do it, and why? because saturday, it is going to be raining, and so you may want to hang out with us with the temperatures at 54, and then sunday, a pleasant day, but that makes traveling to the health and fitness expo easier, too, and you can spin it both ways and as always, doreen -- >> i will see you there. >> i love it. thank you. >> i like the way you think, doug, either way, it is a a good weekend for the expo, and seems like everybody is going to school tomorrow? >> yes, a couple of the delays and you can find them on the website. >> okay. thank you, doug. and a baby who could not wait to come into the world, and quickly found out, it is a cold place. >> and seniors looking for tax

relief to keep them off of the streets. and senator returns to the capital after a high profile tragedy. and

some new developments tonight on a story you saw first on news 4. we told you yesterday about the sears store in landover that is slated to close in march, and news 4 has just learned that the company that owns the old landover mall is now making a bid to turn the property into the new home of the fbi. prince georges county officials have submitted their own proposals for the fbi to reloca to the green belt metro center. for the boom, many real estate taxes are forcing seniors out of their homes, but today, many will not have to pay the taxes. >> this is my neighbor's cat. >> reporter: at 84, annie is a activist of ward one. her father bought this house in the 1920s, before she was born, and risking his education money.

>> he took his tuition money, and put that on the house. and my mother was so mad at him. she didn't know what to do. >> reporter: and tucker still owns the home, and hopes a son inherits it, but the taxes keep going up. >> and not only do we have to keep it up, but then you have taxes on top of it. poor people are on a fixed income can't afford it. if your income is fixed, it is fixed. >> reporter: the d.c. council voted tax relief tuesday today to exempt real estate taxes for anybody 75 who has lived in the home 15 years and earns less than $60,000 a year, and 4,000 senior citizens meet that criteria. >> we don't want them to sell their houses. we want them to stay in our communities where they are nurturing and they enhance our diversity. >> reporter: the council put off a plan by jack evans to cut the property tax increases for all city owners, but the senior

break won wide support. and back to sherman avenue and euclid street delores tucker is pleased. she says that the booming real it state means that there is to shortage of the tax money to get. >> they will get their tax money. they will get plenty of it. every house that is available, it is going to be snapped right up. >> reporter: in the district, tom sherwood for news 4. coming up next at 6:30, the cold temperatures cause problems for several schools in one local county. and the decision of keeping the schools open is causing a lot of heat on line. and one virginia mom fights through the bone chilling cold to deliver a baby on the side of the road. we will have her incredible story. >> and plus an inmatt on the run, and no match for mother nature, and how the escape came to an end as news 4 at 6:00 continues.

it is so cold that -- >> i can't even speak it is that cold. >> i can't feel my nose. >> it is so cold that -- >> i can't -- >> reporter: it is so cold that -- >> i can't finish the sentence.

>> right now at 6:30, people across the region are struggling to keep warm in the bitter cold. >> and talk about a chilly debut, well, we will tell you about the freezing roadside delivery for one virginia woman. >> first the latest on the cold weather from chief meteorologist doug kammerer, and hello again, doug. >> hello, guys. it is so cold that it is 18. that is the current number, but it feels like 6 at the airport. any exposed areas especially around the mall right now, and the wind is gusting up to 10 or 15 miles an hour, and that is going to make some problems as far as the windchill is concerned, but we have one more night of extreme cold, and then term drama, but in a good way, because the temperatures are going up, and by sunday, nice and mild. we will go from 25 degrees below average to above average. >> yes, and despite the deep freeze, many schools in

montgomery county had school today, and that put some pr pressure on the leadership. we are joined by chris outside of the church hill school in potomac. >> and a handful of schools had no heat or leaking pipes or other issues but that is what led up to the criticism of the superintendent to open schools. because of the extreme weather, more cars than usual showed up to pick up students and that blocked paths here at julius west school, and so we asked parents if they agreed with the decision to open it up on time? >> i think it is a fine idea. i don't know why we should have shut them down. it is just cold. >> they should shut them down, because it is too cold. it is cold >> reporter: and the problems caused by the cold caused mack gruder to close, and silver hills, and daily elementary in

germantown closed at noon and so did jackson elementary closed because of no power. and so how are the kids dressed? >> just like that. bundled up. >> reporter: and to today, some complaints with were posted on the social media about the decision to open schools. no thank you, mr. starr, i am not keeping my kids home, because letting the kids freeze at busstops is cruel, and expect lawsuits. thinks he is hurting us? he is going to be cyberbullied more. l.o.l. last month he sent a letter home saying that his family had been inappropriately targeted because of a decision. >> well sh, he said then and he said now he never felt threatened, but the fact is that it should be tweeting to the the

superintendent in the way that our students are doing? many of them are doing it ap e pro -- appropriately and very clever, but some students are going over the line, and honestly, some adults as well. >> reporter: the school leades s are standing by the decision saying that most of the 151,000 students had a meaningful day of instructions. that is the latest live from montgomery county. this weather is causing problems for g.w. hospital in d.c d.c., and they said that the low temperatures caused the pipes to the leak on the sixth and the fourth floors and 26 patients have have been repoved frmoved their rooms while they clean up. >> well, cold weather cannot stop a baby from being born. one virginia mom found it out the hard way. she delivered the newborn in a cold car while on the way to the hospital. and kristin wright has the first

pictures and the frantic 911 ca call. >> reporter: in vienna, a beautiful healthy girl was born, and healthy six pounds and eight ounces and came at the cold of the morning in the intersection of nutley street in virginia center in a car. listen to the frantic 911 call. >> she is having constructions. and yeah, yeah, her water broke, but it is is so cold out here, and i have to do this with the door open is not good >> reporter: in fairfax, he rode five miles from home to work at the fairfax county government center. >> and really not that bad. it is really cold for the first mile, but after i get going, i am really hot and sweaty underneath my coat. >> reporter: and his seat got cold, and he kept pedalling. it won't start, the cold froze the crane's fuel line and that means no new heating system at crunch center on tyson corner. the heat works, but not well. so they ran out to buy a stack of space heaters to keep

everybody warm until we thaw out. >> the fuel line froze and as i mentioned before we have a little heater that we are helping them out at the fuel line to try to warm it up. >> reporter: and at town center, they are shopping and skating, and the cold is not a issue. >> i grew up in florida, so i am enjoying this a lot. it is a little bit different, and a nice change of scenery. >> it is extremely cold. >> too cold. >> my eyes are watering. >> reporter: kristin wright, news 4. >> a plane bound for baltimore had to make an emergency landing, and wendy rieger, what happened? >> well sh, the weather is caus problems at 30,000 feet. american airline flight had a water pipe burst in the bathroom in the middle of the flight, and nobody was injured, but some people got wet. and maintenance is trying the e decide if that plane can

continue to travel. 140 passengers were on board trying to get home or somewhere. from live desk, i'm wendy rieger. we invite you to stay with us throughout the night for updates that you can get any time by following us on twitter or facebook. on the eve of the session in virginia, there was a rare spirit of cooperation between republicans and democrats. ethics reform mean that gifts of $250 or more would have to be refused, and the cap would apply to family members. both parties wants a head start following a gift scandal that has bob mcdonald at the center of a federal investigation. >> and state senator returns to the first day of the new session coming six weeks after a family

tragedy cast a spotlight on the state's mental health system. he was stabbed by his son at their bath county home, and then he stabbed himself. and today in richmond, a new task force went to work to try the fix the system. >> reporter: when fairfax county sandra van low heard about the tragedy of the senator, she immediately felt the connection, her adult son has a mental challenge, and she is an advocate. >> my heart breaks, because you remember the first day, you know, when your child experiences a psychotic break. i can tell you that it is one of the most difficult experiences that you will ever have in your life. >> reporter: now she is serving on a task force created by governor bob mcdonald and charged with recommending changes to spare other virginia families from the pain experienced by the deeds family.

>> we want to have a wholesale look at the system to see what more state government can possibly do to make sure that we are as much as possible 100% right 100% of the time. >> reporter: the deadly incident at his home came a day after the senator sought an emergency mental health placement for his son. it was issued for austin deeds, but a bed could not be located before the order expired. the next morning, he stabbed his fath father, and then turned a shotgun on himself. he is hoping that the task force creation will make changes. >> we will do everything we can to make changes. >> and although he is not speaking publicly, he has introduced three bills and one is the time that an emergency custody order can be issued from a old max to a new max of six hours. and he also wants more beds

available so that nobody can be turn theed away. and the governor is on a fast track for those recommendations, and he wants those to be acted on by the end of the month, and then the task force can go to more complex issues. and companies marketing them as products to lose weight, but the feds disagree and how they are putting the squeeze on four companies involved. >> and the life of a beauty queen and soap opera star whose life was cut tragically short, and what police say is the motive behind the murder. >> temperatures in the teens and how cold is it?

guns, chemicals, and bomb-making materials, and we are told that all of the items seen here were found in a glenn burney man's home.

he is charged with two counts of having explosive materials, and the authorities were tipped off wheeler was taken to the hospital for a chemical reaction inju injury. they say they are not sure what the intention was for the materials and he is not cooperating with the police. tonight, police in venezuela are looking for the gunman who murdered a young soap opera star. she and her husband were attack last night after their car broke down and the 5-year-old daughter survived the shooting, and they were set to return to the u.s. this week. she was miss venezuela in 2004 and been in several spanish soap op operas. four marketers of fad weight loss products will settle a claim by the federal trade commission. sensa will pay the bulk, and hcg

diet direct, and loxa 10, and lean spa was granted a suspended settlement. it did not take the long for an inmate to meet his match. and we will tell you how the police cracked this cold case and we mean

teens on the thermometer and the windchills are colder 20 degrees more in in d.c. than sochi, the site of the olympics. how are we supposed to survive? who better to find out than pat collins who is in dupont circle standing outside.

how it is, pat? >> well, we are live at dupont circle, and we are all layered up and over there at the bank it is 6:46 and 14 degrees, and this is one of those the days that you should go to the back of the class, and look under the bed, and go to the attic and get all of that serious cold-weather stuff. this is no time or temperature to make a fashion statement. if it works, wear it. to stay warm, i -- >> i bring my big fluffy blanket. >> drink lots of hot chocolate. >> my mom bought me ski gloves so i am wearing them. >> reporter: it is cold, washington. but we knew it was coming. they told us it would be here, and boy, were they right. on the big thermometers downtown, the temperatures in the teens, but on a day like

today, numbers don't matter. you know what is going on. it is so cold that -- >> i can't feel my limbs. >> my nose is about to fall off. >> i could hibernate right now. >> reporter: and now it is one thing to go out in the cold, but it is another to go out with about a half dozen dogs. >> i have addison, and woodley, and millie and donte and rudy. >> and she is a professional dog walker, and cold weather, no worries. >> i lived in buffalo for five winters, and this is nothing. >> reporter: hey, you, come over here. show me your cold face. now, it is hard to be happy when it is this cold out, but some people find a way. it is 14 degrees on 7th street and daniel washington. daniel washington's eating ice cream.

>> i know. i'm crazy. >> reporter: why? >> i had a taste the for it. >> reporter: it is 14 degrees. >> i know. >> reporter: well, at least no line at the ice cream store. i have to get a taste of that stuff. live in dupont circle, i'm pat collins for news 4. >> your tongue might stick to it, pat. and freedom could not compete with the frigid temps. one man after spending the night the in an abandoned farmhouse, and the inmate who escaped went to a motel and asked them to call the police so he could turn himself in, and arctic temperature thes of 20 below left him with frostbite on his hands and feet. after being treated, he went back to jailhouse. >> where the heat was on, we trust. >> and we all wanted the be indoors today if possible. >> and i woke up and tried to come the work, and the car would not start, and one of many

areas, and they said 7700 aaa calls today. >> yes, you were waiting and waiting like everybody else or find another solution? >> well, doreen, i know what i am doing there and i'm a real man and know what to do, so i took a taxi. let's see what is going on across the area, another cold night tonight for sure. the temperatures are still below the 20 degree mark, and 18 is the current temperature out there right now, and yes, it is a very cold and breezy night across the region and looking at the numbers as we move through the next couple of hours, it is 17 by 9:00, and then dropping down. and other areas you will see the temperatures fall. and look at the windchills 12 e below in minneapolis, and 9 below in chicago, and 15 down in atlan atlanta, and still very cold, but this is 30 degrees warmer in chicago, and in minneapolis, and

that polar vortex, and that area of low pressure that brings the cold air our way is moving back up to the north away from the area. so say good-bye to the polar vortex, and we won't hear more about that any time soon. we are still dealing with the windchil windchill, and we do have a windchill advisory for areas back towards the west. on the radar, nothing to show. we will be dry through the day tomorrow. overnight low temperatures, and this is what you will wake up to in the morning, 11 in d.c., and 8 to fairfax county and same deal out the prince georges county, and 7 over towards buoy. and the next couple of days, the temperatures are warm, and that is good news, and 38 on thursday after a high of 30 tomorrow. and 30 is better than what we were today, and 40 on the friday and here is a good chance of rain on the saturday, and right now, i have sunday is nice, but we will have to watch out, because we have a couple of storms that are going to be interesting over the next couple of days as we head into the weekend, but the temperatures, they are going up. >> okay.

another athlete gets an invite to this is the xfinity sport

desk. your home for most live sports. >> and diana, a nice change of

pace for the redskins to today? >> yes, positive news despite what you are hearing. i forgot what that word meant. >> and the redskins. >> all right. guys, the tremendous honor for robert griffin iii today after several reports claim that he lost the locker room, and his teammates voted him the winner of the ed block courage award who is the former trainer of the baltimore colts. it is for a player who overcomes adversity, and his was getting over the knee surgery one year ago. and who is the coach right now for the redskins? nobody knows, and they may lose out on the vanderbilt offensive coordinator, because he is expected to meet with washington, but reports peg franklin as the clear front-runner for penn state's head coaching vacancy. >> big job. >> if you went to sleep early or on the air like we were, you

miss ed missed a great one. auburn and florida state, and auburn jumped out to the lead, but in the fourth, it is not to deny the knowles. -- denial the noles. they had a 100-yard touchdown for the freshman and that gave florida state their first lead. and then this play, he bulldozed defenders for the touchdown. 125 yards rushing for him. auburn still up top by four, but then the youngest heisman trophy ever jameis winston continued to add yards as florida state wins their third title. he won the championship on his 21st birthday. >> we want to be all over the

country and the world to be proud, proud of us. >> and proud of being a program, and we wanted to do it right and build a foundation. and these guys, they have given their hearts and souls to us as coaches, and it is unbelievable. >> jameis winston very humble there. and we are just under a month from the winter olympic games. alex ovechkin will be playing in his first olympics. >> you are excited about it, and i mean, it is a big event. it is going to be fun. it means a lot. obviously, i mean, i have my heart here in washington, but it is always fun to play for your

country. it is going to be a fun experience. >> i counted, fun three times. lindsey vonn won't be making it to sochi. one of the most popular american athlete athletes took home two medals in the 2010 winter olympics and consider considered a favorite, in sochi, but last month she underwent surgery from an injury, and then she seemed to be getting back on track for the olympics, but then her knee was not able to compete. she said that her knee was just too unable stable to compete at that level.

that is such a really big loss for the olympic games for her, and after she tried so hard to come back, i thought she could do it, but today the announcement. >> a loss for the fans. >> and even tiger woods' fans. >> yes. and thank you for

on our broadcast tonight, america on ice, the coldest day in decades leaves much of the country in the grip of unusual cold. behind the scenes, a blistering critique from former defense secretary bob gates. tonight what he's revealing about president obama, congress, the war, and what was really going on. drinking too much, a sobering new look at americans and alcohol and the number of people who go too far. and mystery solved. the small group of every day americans hiding an incredible secret for decades. tonight the crime they've admitted to would change things for good.

also, the biggest name on the u.s. olympic team is out, right before the games begin. "nightly news" begins now.