if you've been outside this morning, you know it is cold. look at the current temperatures, but these numbers don't tell the whole story. storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell tells us how much colder it feels because of the wind out there. and the cold temperatures are doing nothing to help already bad road conditions. news4 crews have been spread out across the area all morning to see where travel is best and where it's worst. good morning, everyone, and welcome to "news4 midday," i'm barbara harrison, it's wednesday, january 22nd, 2014. and we begin this midday with a wind chill advisory across much of the region. strong winds and frigid temperatures are making it feel like it's below zero out there. that advisory will expire in about an hour now.

yesterday's snowfall brought daily records, you know, you felt them. the official total at reagan national was 3.8, although other areas in the district saw more. new york city had 10 inches. parts of new jersey saw 15.5 inches, and philly got just above 13 inches. those were snow total records. it does not look like the snow will melt anytime soon in our area, despite today's sunny skies. storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell is in for tom kierein and begins the winter storm coverage. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. good wednesday morning,  everybody. temperatures are struggling to get out of the single digits. we've made it above single digits in many spots, but that's only half the story. wind chill advisories continue at least until noon. unlikely they'll have to extend the advisory beyond that. look at the current wind chills. minus 13 in hagertown. minus 9 the current wind chill in leesburg. winds are still gusting between

20 and 30 miles per hour. so it's very windy outside, and there's a lot of blowing snow around, as well. current temperatures -- single digits to low teens across much of the area right now. it is 13 degrees in college park, 10 at andrews air force base, and 9 at reston town center. silver spring, here's your planner forecast the rest of the day. 15 by noon. 18 is all you'll muster in silver spring for a temperature. 16 by 6:00 tonight. and back down to 13 by 9:00. so what's coming? near-zero tonight, and snow chances tomorrow and again on saturday. more on all of that when i see you next, barbara. >> all right, we'll see you soon. if you're heading out on the roads this afternoon, you may still see this, a clear road meeting one still covered in snow. we found these conditions early this morning in kensington in montgomery county. things could stay this way for a while with the temperatures in the single digits. news4's megan mcgrath is near

tysons. how does it look out there? >> reporter: things are starting to get better. we've seen quite an improvement in the last two hours or so. take a live look. we're on the inner loop of the beltway, just passed the dulles toll road, and you can see we have wet pavement here. the plows have come through, they've gotten all of the slush, it's not even on the shoulder any longer, so just wet pavement. which that was not the case earlier this morning. we were seeing a lot of slush. we were also seeing shoulders that were covered in slush and snow pack in some places. the continuing problem is going to be those neighborhood stre s streets, and they may be a problem for a few days because of how cold it is. this fender-bender on the dulles toll road, one of many this morning. slick spots tough to see in the predawn darkness. these are the express lanes at 4:00 a.m. in tysons corner. and here they are four hours later, still pretty bad in places.

just look at the ramp to the toll road. most drivers have been sticking to the regular lanes of the beltway, though. they're in good shape, just wet. >> i was on 495 this morning. it's not too bad. i saw one accident, though, getting on the 66 from 495. but really, it's not bad. >> they're all clear. they still have trucks on the road right now. they're still putting salt down. but as i know, i just came from stafford, virginia, it took me about 45 minutes to get here. >> reporter: and these are some of the guys responsible for the clear highways. vdot crews worked through the night plowing and salting. >> later, last night, we got a handle on it. and today, the sun will make it a little easier. >> reporter: while the main roads are mostly clear, there is still plenty of ice and snow pack in the neighborhoods. just getting off your street can prove challenging.

>> it's a dangerous-type thing, if somebody is walk -- they can walk, it's -- it's going to be dangerous. >> reporter: and we have a bright, sunny day, and so, that's helping things to melt a little bit. but keep in mind that the spots that are in the shade, the neighborhood spots that are in the shade, they're going to take a while to thaw out. so we're going to pretty have some issues and no doubt some school delays and problems tomorrow, as well, because not because of the major roads like this one, but because of the neighborhood streets. barbara, back to you. >> yeah, i experienced them coming in. thank you so much, megan. be careful out there. as chuck mentioned, lows in the single digits this morning. the frigid temperatures made it harder for road crews to do their work. >> as you get below 18, 19 degrees, the chemicals don't work that well at all. >> this morning, we saw some slick roads in montgomery cou y county. most of the major roads were treated, but we also saw some roads covered with a mixture of snow and ice there, as well. with more on the very cold conditions, news4's darcy

spencer joins us live in silver spring. darcy? >> reporter: well, good morning, barbara. we've been dealing with quite a bit out here. we've got the snow. we've got the ice. we have the cold. and now, we have this bone-chilling wind. we've been talking to people all morning about how they're dealing with this. imagine if you had to take a bus for work, there were people out waiting at this shelter, in the bitter cold. fake a look here, a lot of people walking around sheer. there is a lot of ice on the sidewalks, very treacherous conditions. how would you describe the cold today? >> bone chilling. >> reporter: it was an icy, cold commute for people getting back to work today. >> it's really cold! >> reporter: for some, taking mass transit and waiting at the bus stop in temperatures dipping well below the freezing mark. >> i'm very, very cold. i'm not driving, because

everything is ice. i'm scared to have an accident. >> reporter: elinore jackson had a 20-minute walk in the arctic air to her job in downtown silver spring. >> as long as the snow isn't up in my boots, i can get out. it's the wind. it's definitely the wind. >> reporter: and you have to step carefully. ice-covered sidewalks can be treacherous. >> trying to get around the best way i can, be safe, and not falling. >> reporter: ramesh used a towel to clear several inches of snow from his suburu. for him, the cold's not a big deal. >> i think we all acclimate. i think that's just one of those things, yes, it's cold out here, and i wouldn't want to be out here longer than five minutes, but at the same time, again, it's not as bad as i thought. orte his wife, though, well, she's not used to it at all. you just got out here within the last minute or two. there's a tear rolling down your cheek. >> that's right. that's how cold it is. it's freezing. i've got multiple layers on.

you know, just doing the best i can here to stay warm. >> reporter: so everyone doing the best they can to stay warm. now, a little bit of advice, you've got to wear the hat, you have to get the scarf, and you have to wear gloves. if you go out in these conditions, without being prepared, chances are you're going to regret it. reporting live in silver spring, darcy spencer, news4. >> it looks colder than it looks. thank you. the winter storm is having a ripple effect across the country's airports. all three of the airports here are open and operating on normal schedules. this is a live look at reagan national airport. right now, more than 1,400 flights have already been cancelled today. reagan cancelled 67 flights, dulles cancelled 26 flights, and bwi cancelled 19. it's going to take some planning if you want to get around town without having to drive. metro buses just running on snow emergency routes right now. to see what that means for your ride, check metro's website.

metro rail is on a regular weekday schedule today, but there have been lots of delays today. and d.a.s.h. resumed service at 8:00 this morning. buses that service the pentagon just stopped running at 11:00 to account for the federal government's two-hour delay. angie goff is following breaking news for us. angie? >> barbara, good morning. a gruesome discovery in anne arundel county. over the bay hills golf club, in arnold, maryland. investigators are still searching for evidence after a woman's body was found in the snow here early this morning. someone walking their dog spotted the body and called police. police calling the death suspicious, and they've even called in their homicide unit and the medical examiner to take a look. still no word right now on how long that body was on the golf course, but we're hearing it was probably out there for several hours, and we just checked in with police, and they say they're still trying to determine how the woman died, and they have not yet at this

point -- or they're not yet willing to say if they're looking for anyone in particular connected to this case. that's the latest from the live desk, barbara, back to you. >> thanks, angie. new today, a man was seriously burned trying to light a cigarette using his stove. this happened in montgomery county. firefighters say his clothes caught fire. the fire happened just before 5:00 this morning inside a home on decatur avenue in kensington. at last check, he is in the hospital with life threatening injuries. and right now, the snow and wind causing major problems for parts of new england. coming up, how much worse conditions are expected to get today. plus, the supreme court hearing a case right now that would give child abuse victims a new weapon against those viewing and profiting from child pornography. we'll be right back.

we want to show you what this winter storm is doing up in new england. a blizzard warning is in effect right now for parts of massachusetts. this was what it looked like earlier this morning. the storm dumped a foot of snow on parts of the state. we'll have much more on the conditions in massachusetts and a report later in this hour. and despite the subzero freezing temperatures, dozens -- thousands of pro-life demonstrators are preparing to take part in a march for life event here in the district. right now, groups from across the country are gathering on the national mall for rally at noon, and then they will march to the supreme court. this year, organizers are focusing on adoption as an alternative to abortion. the demonstration coincides with the 41st anniversary of roe versus wade, the supreme court decision legalizing abortion back in 1973. well, should a victim of child pornography be allowed to sue for restitution, money from his or her abuser? that's what the supreme court

heard arguments on today. defendant doyle parelene is appealing a lower-court ruling that holds him financial responsible for posting pictures of his 8-year-old niece. he is appealing the ruling that requires him to pay $3.4 million to the victim. lawyers for the victim say abusers should be held financially liable for the entire cost of harm the victim suffers. president obama will launch an initiative to combat sexual assault on college campuses. this comes after a report says one in five women have been sexually assaulted at college. the report says only 12% of student victims report the assault, though. obama's giving the task force 90 days to come up with recommendations for colleges to prevent and respond to sexual assault. former virginia governor bob mcdonnell insists he and his wife did not break the law. federal prosecutors charged them, though, yesterday with illegally accepting thousands of dollars in gifts from johnny

williams sr., the former ceo of a dietary supplement company. domenico joins us with more on the former governor's response. and this timing surprise you at all for this -- for this to be brought back up? >> well, there was some indication before the election that they didn't have all of their interviews wrapped up, and that they were going to wait until after the election. it's not totally surprising, because you see this sometimes with prosecutors where they don't want to appear to be too political, so they wait until perhaps after an election. so they don't have one side or the other accusing them of doing this to throw an election to the other side. >> let's have a listen to what the former governor said in the press conference yesterday. >> -- falsely and wrongfully accused in his public service has been wrongfully attacked. >> now, we've heard that from him before, right? >> yeah. and i think that's part of what his legal defense is going to

be. whether or not this is actually a case that prosecutors are going to wins still up in the air. i mean, an indictment is one thing. i mean, you know, with the old joke that, you know, prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich if he wanted to, right? >> yeah. >> whether or not it can be proven is a different situation. of course, though, all of the admissions show that there was really some unethical behavior here, and there's now going to be this push for ethics reform in the state because of it. >> do you think there was some deal made between the prosecutor and the accused to wait until after the election to make this announcement? >> yeah, i don't have any reporting on that, so it's difficult to know. like i said, sometimes they wait, i think, until after the elections because they don't want to be in the political buzzsaw and make this less political. we have to see what the reporting is on that. >> another virginia politician is making headlines, ken cuccinelli. what did he have to say? >> ken cuccinelli, really surprisingly, decided to say

yesterday he thinks chris christie should step down as rga chairman, which is really amazing considering more than $8 million was pumped into cuccinelli's campaign from the rga. a lot of the money was money chris christie helped to raise for him, and it's even more fascinating that christie's top political advisor went and made that exact claim, to say, hey, we helped you out here, and now you're trying to throw us under the bus? you know? >> so i guess we can expect to see cuccinelli trying to make a bigger statement, or have a bigger role did. >> anybody can go on cable news, but i don't know that -- i don't know that that means he has a political future. >> all right. we'll continue to watch this, lots going on. >> thank you. >> thanks a lot. >> and for from domenico and the rest of the nbc news political team, check out first read on nbcnews.com. we're going to check on our weather now. >> yeah. >> a lot going on in the weather. >> yeah, at least the sun's out, and the wind will start to fade away once we get to about sundown this afternoon and into

tonight. now, it's still going to be brutally cold tomorrow morning, but the wind chills will not be as severe tomorrow morning as they were this morning, and as they really still are right now. outside on your afternoon, bright sunshine for now. this was our forecast yesterday for forecasted amounts. we went generally in the 4 to 7-inch range, right through the heart of the metro area, and that's just about where we ended up, as well. the snow totals, reagan national, one of the low spots at 3.8 inches, but that's essentially 4. bwi at 5.3. and dulles airport at 8.5. most of the heart of the city, inside the capital beltway, 25, 30-mile radius of washington, in the 4 to 7-inch snowfall zone. better amounts -- better, depending on how you like snow -- higher amounts, i should say, across northern parts of maryland. now, we have to get rid of it all so we can drive safe around town again. that's going to take a while. 12 degrees right now at national airport. winds northwest at 17, lowering the wind chill down to minus 5.

so minus 5 here, minus 8 the wind chill in gaithersburg right now. minus 11 still in northern maryland. minus 4, even down into southern maryland and hovering near zero, culpeper to fredericksburg. future wind chills. here we go forward in time. temperatures subzero, now wind chills in the single digits, above zero by later this afternoon. by 9:30 tonight, notice they're not dropping back down below zero. they're still in the single digits, but even by tomorrow morning, because the wind is going to be near-calm by tomorrow morning, so, yes, it's going to be cold, but without the wind, it's not going to necessarily feel as severe. by tomorrow afternoon, temperatures once again starting to rebound just a bit. we should make it into the low and mid-20s tomorrow. but it's going to be ferociously cold for the remainder of the day. a lot of blowing snow around. you really need to dress in your layers. temperatures will slowly recover a bit. maybe into the upper teens to near 20 degrees today. that's really going to be about all we can hope for across much of the region. and again, with a clear sky and a fading wind, it's going to be

bombs away on the low temperatures tonight. the good news is, we have the sunshine back. no more measurable amounts of snow in the immediate future. good sledding weather for today. if you end up with the day off tomorrow, as well, good sledding weather for tomorrow. the bad news, of course, is more really cold weather. single digits in the morning, subfreezing high temperatures for the rest of the week. and a lot of dangerous ice out there. so you really need to be careful. download our storm team4 weather app, as well. we'll thailor the forecast. tomorrow afternoon, even though it will still be cold, a little possibility of a flurry or two around about lunchtime tomorrow. shouldn't add up to anything more than just a quick little coating. here's the seven-day forecast now. 18 today. wind chills in the single digits. numbers in the single digits to near zero by tomorrow morning. highs tomorrow, mid-20s, 30% chance of a coating of snow. that will not be a big deal, so

that's welcomed news. staying awfully cold through friday. saturday, another chance of a coating. and then another shot of arctic air comes in early next week. so we are not done with the cold by a long shot. >> this is going to end up being quite a winter, isn't it? >> you betcha. february looms. >> i know. all right. come on back, we'll see you again shortly. >> okay. coming up, a look at energy costs during this blast of cold weather, and there are thousands of little neighborhood roads across our area, we'll look at how you can make sure that your road will get plowed. first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. ♪ [ perdue ] they say you are what you eat. well, at perdue, we say you are what you eat...eats.

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shortage and costs are jumping 1 to $2 for people to fill up their tanks this winter. [ shouts ] despite the freezing temperatures, some people took advantage of the day off for a good old-fashioned snowball fight. in dupont circle last night, about 200 people came out for the d.c. snowball fight association's first event in three years. yesterday's 5 inches in northwest was the perfect amount, and the type of snow for a fight, we understand. the event was a big hit on social media, too. the organization began trending on twitter. and you'll want to watch news4 at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00 this evening to see who will have pat collins' snow stick to see how much snow fell. the best hat wins a pat collins snow stick. we've received hundreds of pictures from folks showing us how they keep their heads warm

when the weather is as cold as it is. and this winter storm is becoming costly for a lot of us. coming up, the budget-busting costs of keeping the roads clear in parts of our area. plus, damage during the winter storm, the cleanup mishap that could cost this new york apple store almost $500,000 to fix. and bright sunshine right now is doing very little to warm us up. the wind also makes it feel even colder. storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell will be back with when that bell [ male announcer ]when that pillsbury grands biscuits.

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it's 11:30 now, and temperatures are still in the teens, and it could be days before we get above freezing. but that cold weather won't stop thousands of pro-life demonstrators taking part in a march for life today. the event kicks off in about 30 minutes with a rally on the national mall.

news4 news4's derrick ward is live there. are you seeing people out there? >> reporter: people are starting to show up. we all know about how the snow and near-arctic conditions that we're having here have delayed or shut down a lot of things, but take a look back there, across the vast snowy expanse of the national mall, if you look at the stage, you'll see a few hundred thousand people, at least a few thousand people are expected. so the weather didn't shut down everything. some people just couldn't wait to leave this ice-encrusted city. >> i need to get to the heat. i need to get out of d.c. now. >> reporter: others couldn't wait to be here. >> yeah. i'm excited for it. >> reporter: really? a day that only a polar bear could love. it was certainly fewer people than usual on the streets, thanks in part to schools being closed and the federal government opening late and offering liberal leave. leah mccarthy was headed to a warmer place. >> to nairobi, kenya. >> reporter: on a day when air travel and ground travel was disrupted because of a winter storm, she was on an odyssey before she even left the states. >> i have to get to jfk, because

they rerouted me from dca, i have to take a three-hour train, and then, hope i get to kenya on time. >> reporter: and in the predawn hours on snow-covered streets, the first leg of the journey to union station was proving the hardest. >> i need a cab. my cab's been coming for two and a half hours. >> reporter: for these folks in town for the annual march for life, ground transportation wasn't the issue. but the first leg of the in-found travel, they simply needed to get to the verizon center. the bigger challenge, how to keep warm? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: that bison hat can't hurt, and neither can layers. >> i brought lots of jackets and sweaters. >> reporter: once inside the verizon center, for a premarch rally, there was plenty of help keeping warm, and as for the intrepid traveler bound for africa via paris, something to look forward to. >> it's 54 degrees there, which is summer compared to here. this is miserable. >> reporter: now, once this march get under way, we'll see there's strength in number and

also warmth in number, and i'm hoping -- i'm sure a lot of the folks are hoping to take advantage of that. as for the traveler, i did help her hail a taxi. hopefully, she's well on her way to new york and eventually on to africa where it's warm. live on the national mall, derrick ward, news4. >> thank you, derrick. stay warm. the bill for prepping the roads for all of the snow is starting to wrack up, we understand. crews there have spent over in frederick county, maryland, spent more than $700,000 so far this winter on salt and materials to treat the roads. that amounts to about 11 tons of salt, more than the past two winters combined. >> a lot of nuisance storms, a lot of small ice events, small snowstorms, but the temperatures have been so low this year, it's caused us to use a lot of material. >> crews have reordered salt supplies three times this season, and say they will put in another order as soon as they get this round cleaned up.

well, areas in and around new york city, cleaning up from record snow totals this morning. central park measured 11 inches and the airports nearby recorded anywhere from 7 to 10 inches. the buildup on the roads did make a mess for drivers out there. check out this video of a traffic jam on the upper east side in manhattan. some people say they were stuck on buses and the backups for more than two hours. and take a look at some of the damage this storm caused in new york city at the apple store. this is apple's famous fifth avenue store. part of the cube there shattered. people posted these pictures of it on instagram. it could cost more than $400,000 to replace that broken glass. well, you may recognize these steps. check it out. kids in philadelphia took advantage of more than a foot of snow to turn the steps at the philadelphia museum of art into the perfect sledding hill. wow. need some moguls in it. these are the steps made famous,

of course, by the "rocky" movie. and look at the time-lapsed photos of how fast the snow fell around here. this is a video taken outside our studio, just as storm team4's chuck bell forecast, 5 inches fell here in northwest. that's the most snow the district has seen in three ye s years. of course, now the high winds and freezing temperatures have moved in. and we're going to check in again with chuck bell for the latest, he's gone outside there to see the 5 inches for himself. >> yeah. >> feeling pretty cold out there, i guess, huh? >>, o it's cold. and it's also really, really bright outside. all of the reflected daylight off the snow really means you need your sunglasses on. i don't have mine on, because i'll only be out here a few minute, but i'm squints because of the brightness. don't forget the sunglasses today. these are some of the views from the cameras stationed around the area. this is from our tower camera looking southbound past the key bridge and the memorial bridge there down towards reagan airport. bright sunshine for sure. this is the view from the other

side looking northbound over the capital beltway and the woodrow wilson bridge. notice the ice on the waters of potomac. that is not safe for people or pets to be on. stay off the ice, everybody, and that's the view from our reston camera. you can still see some of the snow flying and blowing around out there in what is a bitterly cold day. winds are still gusting between 20 and 30 miles per hour. so blowing snow will be continuing to be a problem. temperatures are inching their way out of the single digits now, but it will be a cold day to be on the outside. current wind chills are still below zero. we'll recover a little bit later on today with highs into the upper teens and low 20s. wind chills pretty much staying in the single digits. and then, for tomorrow, cloudy skies and continued cold, temperatures in the mid-20s, a chance of some snow tomorrow. if you look at our thermometer out here, it's showing 50 degrees, because we're in the sunshine. but that's not the way it actually feels. i promise you, it feels like it's below zero. back in to you, barbara. >> i know. i've been out there.

thanks a lot. if you, out there, want to know what the streets are looking okay outside your house, you don't even have to look out of your window. angie goff is here to explain how u can do it. >> reporter: yeah, if you woke up this morning and wondered, when is my street going to be plowed? look no further. get online, log onto vdot.org for the digital snowplow tracker. here you can see most of the trucks -- a lot of them out there -- in northern virginia as well as in the fredericksburg area. you can plug in your address and get the option to take a look at live traffic cameras around where you live. over in maryland, on the prince george's county website here, you can zoom into where you live and use a legend to tell what's been salted and what's been plowed. montgomery county's website has a snow map. here you can plug in your address and then request service. and in the district, dc.gov has a snow-response reporting system. this is updated every 30 minutes or so. but note you do have to zoom in to where you live, and then click start, and then the trucks

right there, the little icons, will pop up. i posted all of these helpful tools at our website, nbcwashington.com, just search the word "plow." barbara? >> okay, thanks, angie. well, it may be sunny out there, as we just saw, but it's still snowing in massachusetts. in fact, part of the state is under a blizzard warning right now. mike seidel from the weather channel is in plymouth, massachusetts. >> reporter: out here on the south shore, the cape, south of boston, this is the only spot east of the mississippi where we have snow still flying. the rest of the areas that were hit hard -- philadelphia, over a foot of snow, new york city all ended -- the bitter cold has moved in. but here, about 45 minutes south of boston here in plymouth, it is still coming down. we've got winds off the atlantic, we're getting ocean-effect snow. and the visibility continues to drop with each wind gust. it picks up all of the dry, powdery snow. you can make out the homes in the distance. but again, the visibility is down around a quarter mile. dry, powdery snow because temperatures in the midteens.

wind chills around zero. over at logan airport, not as much snow, but still damage done as far as departures, cancelled so far 130 flights, about a third of their daily schedule there at logan. north and west of boston, hardly any snowfall. very sharp edge. but down here in plymouth county, as much as 18 inches. and when you get the wind with this fluffy snow, you get blowing and drifting. right now in this part of the parking lot, a you few inches, then you walk over here, one of the drifts, and this has been the concern through the morning hours, trying to keep the highways open, and look how deep the snow gets. almost up to my waist. this is the issue right now along with the colder air coming in tonight. the snow will begin to back off by midday here, a little later out on cape cod, where they've had upwards of 7 to 8 inches of snow, and the temperatures tonight plummet. at logan airport, about 2 degrees tomorrow morning, 22 degrees off the average low.

not quite cold enough to break the record for tomorrow, which is 6 below zero. a lot of snow, in fact, boston now has had about 70% of their seasonal average today, and here in plymouth, they're concerned about running out of rock salt for the roads, if we keep it up at this pace. back to you. >> all right, thank you, mike. schools in boston were cancelled today even though the city was spared the worst of this storm. with 15 days away from the winter olympics in russia, this morning the international olympic committee is downplaying an e-mail -- threat by e-mail sent to hungary, germany and italy. the e-mail tells the delegations to be careful in sochi. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports on the u.s. security preps. >> reporter: u.s. officials say the terror threat in sochi is the highest of any olympics, yet russia isn't cooperating much with the u.s. about it. vladimir putin, president and former kgb chief, has said russia can handle it.

>> and certainly, vladimir putin's past history, the long, cold war history between the united states and russia, makes any likelihood of requests either before the games or catastrophically after an event far, far less likely in this case. >> reporter: but the u.s. is taking some precautions on its own. a small number of fbi and state department security officials will be on hand, mostly to protect the american delegation. and two u.s. warships will be positioned in the black sea in case americans need to be evacuated. but experts doubt russia would ever ask them to intervene. >> there's too much bad blood, too much mistrust between the security services for them to link arms and say, we're going to work on this together. >> reporter: but that may be changing. russia's top general asked joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey for sophisticated electronic sensors from the u.s. to detect remote-controlled bombs in sochi. if they are sent, u.s. military personnel would have to go along with them.

the terror threat in russia comes mainly from the caucuses, from suicide bombers, including women known as "black widows." russia is on the hunt for at least five suspected bombers -- two men and three black widows. ♪ yet most u.s. team members -- like snowboarder kelly clark -- say they're not worried. >> i'm not worried about any safety issues in russia at this point. you know, we're so focused on our competition and on our sport. >> that was richard engel reporting. president obama spoke with vladimir putin by phone to talk about security for the olympics. the white house says the u.s. is offering its full assistance. the time right now 11:42. parents and students, listen up. many schoolchildren staying at home today will have the makeup -- they will have to make up the missed class time, and we'll tell you about that. also coming up, small cars may be better on gas, but new crash test results are putting the safety in question.

we'll run down those results for you coming back in a minute. stay w [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [ male announcer ] you say tomato. ♪ old el paso says diced tomato stand 'n stuff chicken tacos. ♪ you say what's for dinner? old el paso says start somewhere fresh.

well, school may be out today, but some systems already scheduled a makeup day. d.c. public schools added two more days in june to their calendar. in fairfax county, student also go to school on presidents' day, february 17th. they'll also have classes on april 7th, which was supposed to be just a teacher workday. prince george's county might tack on three days at the end of the school year. that won't happen, though, if the state grants waivers to forgive the lost days. well, for now, though, you can expect kids to be doing more of this today. some are taking advantage of the snow to make a few bucks. >> how much are you making? >> around, like, 10 bucks a house. >> not bad. that young man could make a pretty penny with all of the snow. he lives in montgomery county, which saw between 4 and 8 inches

of snow yesterday. and you can check to see if your child will have another snow day tomorrow morning. "news4 today" will be on a half hour early at 4:00 a.m. with the closings, weather, and traffic conditions. many teens experiment with drugs and alcohol, but when does experimentation begin a problem and cross the line? what should parents do if they suspect their teen has a drug or alcohol problem? dr. joshua wynner joins, and good to see you. thank you for making it through the weather. >> sure. >> start by telling us what percentage of teens will drink alcohol and use drugs during their high school years, or earlier? >> well, they will use it earlier, but when you're looking primarily at high school, that's the time where there's the most use. so when you look at the last 30 days, about 40% of high school students will say that they have had something to drink in the last 30 days. when it comes to marijuana, the number is 23%. cocaine is 3%. but the big thing here with

regard to alcohol is that 20% of kids say that in the last two weeks, they've binged on alcohol, and that's defined as five or more drinks in the two-hour period of time. so it's really binge drinking, which i think is the biggest problem. >> so is this a lot higher than it was, say, 10, 15 years ago? >> you know, not really, no. many of the numbers seem to be going down. with the case of alcohol, it's trended downwards. marijuana, it went down for a while, and now it's creeping back up over the last few years. but it's relatively the same what it was 10, 15 years ago. >> do you think allegations of drug use by some of the pop stars like justin bieber and miley cyrus are making a difference in the interest in alcohol and drugs? >> well, you know, we know that the media has a significant impact on how much kids drink and how much they use drugs, and just the behaviors they engage in. i don't want to exaggerate the impact that can happen. the parents need to be aware it's not just the media. the parents have an absolute

influence on what their kids do, as does the social network that the kids hang out with. those two factors are the most important factors in determining whether kids drink or do drugs. >> you moon if parents are using alcohol and -- >> well, no -- >> -- probably not drugs in front of their kids, we would hope not. >> right. >> they'd be more likely to drink? >> they would. what i really was referring to there is the parents' attitude towards drugs or alcohol. >> i see. >> the one thing i've mentioned before on the show with you is that those parents who take this approach where they say, you know what, we'll have you drenk at home, we'll have you drink on holidays, your birthday, just so you try it here in the safe environment, that's sending the wrong message. those kids actually end up drinking 50% more when they get to college than those whose parents say, look, we don't accept this. this is not something we're agreeing to, and there is going to be a consequence if you engage in these behaviors. >> and you do hear that a lot, because the parents expect that maybe their kids will experim t experiment. but what's the difference between experimentation and actually having a problem?

>> well, you know, there's that fine line, right? my saying would be, if parents suspect that there's a problem, they need to listen to their gut. you know, i would say -- because people like numbers, i would say if your child is drinking or using drugs twice a month or more, you need to think about there being a problem. and pay attention to, has their behavior changed? are they withdrawing from family? are they doing poorly in school? are they getting in trouble? have they gotten caught by the police? all of those will be weighed into that decision as to whether there's a problem. >> is it appropriate, do you think, for a parent to go through a child's room and look through their things and look at their social media, as well? >> i think that if you have no suspicion that your kid is doing anything, i think it's inappropriate to do that because that's just going to damage the relationship, cause trust issues. however, if you have reason to believe that those things are going on, i think it is appropriate for parents to do these things. i just think they should do that with the kid's knowledge and say, hey, i am concerned about this. and i want you to show me your phone, i'm going to look at

things, i'm going through your room. it might cause a big fight, in fact, it probably will. but that's better than doing it on the sly and then coming back and saying, i went through all these things without your knowledge. >> all right, dr. weiner, thank you for that advice. >> thank you. the time is 11:51. coming up, small cars being called unsafe. plus, storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell will be back.

a highway safety group is releasing a scathing report this midday that calls out one specific type of car for being so unsafe, they say it shouldn't be driven until changes are made. nbc's chris clackum has the story. >> reporter: after testing 11 models of minicars, the insurance institute for highway safety released results that could have a big impact. >> only one of the 11 vehicles earned an acceptable rating.

none of the vehicles was rated good, and the rest were marginal and poor. >> reporter: the chevrolet spark is the one getting the acceptable rating. the other ten were rated marginal or poor in what's called a small overlap test, which replicates what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or an object like a tree or utility pole. institute researchers say the minicars' occupant compartments were way too vulnerable during the crashes. >> that is supposed to be your survival space, and when you start allowing that structure to collapse and buckle in on you, you're hurting the ability of the seatbelts and air bags to do their jobs and protect you from injuries. >> reporter: the poorest performers in the tests were the honda fit and the fiat 500. a statement from fiat reads -- the car immediates or exceeds all government-mandated safety requirements and continues to offer a high level of protection in the four main crash types

identified by the iihs -- side, rollover, rear, and moderate-overlap front. while honda's statement saying, a completely redesigned 2015 honda fit will come to market in just a few months, and we anticipate it will earn top safety scores. in all crash tests. in light of these results, the institute goes so far as to suggest drivers go bigger until the minis get safer. >> minicars are some of the lightest vehicles in the u.s. market. so that gives them an inherent safety disadvantage from the start. >> reporter: the institute praised the manufacturers for making them safer after previous tests. chris clackum, nbc news. we're following several big stories. physical, the cold weather isn't keeps thousands of pro-life demonstrators frommic thatting part in the march for life. this is a live look at the mall

where the rally will kick off in a few minutes. the winter storm is having a ripple effect across the country's airports. this is a live look at reagan national airport. right now, more than 1,400 flights have already been cancelled today across the country. and we'll know by tonight if one of these people is the winner of pat's snow hat challenge. pat collins will announce tonight on news4 at 6:00 whose winter hat has earned him the pat collins' snow stick. >> love that. that was great. >> snow sticks. time for a final look at the forecast, chuck. >> that's right. i cheated. i got my snow stick the old-fashioned way, i went to pat's desk and took it out of the drawer. temperatures today, only in the upper teens, low 20s. 18 in washington. only 24 tomorrow. cloudy skies and maybe a passing flurry or two tomorrow. another chance for a little light snow on saturday. but neither one of them look like they'll add up to too much. but subfreezing highs all the way through the rest of the week. only saturday will we be briefly above the freezing mark, and

more real cold arctic air is due to arrive here next week. the super bowl is outdoors in new jersey -- >> oh, my -- >> -- on groundhog day. i'm just saying that could be trouble. >> just sayin'. all right. thank you, chuck. >> all righty. that's "news4 midday." thanks for joining us. be sure to tune in for "news4 at 5:00" 6:00 and 11:00, and don't fo forget, the snow stick will be given to somebody. until then, have a great day and we'll see you in the morning. [ male announcer ] when your small business has verizon fios,

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stand by, billy and kit. stand by camera 2. we're live in five, four, three, two, one. >> a big apple chill. a winter white house and a new england nor'easter all rolled into one. welcome to polar vortex 2.0. this is "access hollywood live." i don't want to tell you what the temperature is outside the stage door here. >> i feel guilty, billy. >> it's on its way to about 70 something. i'm billy bush. >> i'm kit hoover. i moved out here coming up on four years. to look back at that, that's where all my friends live back there in connecticut. all