that breaking news is out of odin ton, maryland, a huge fire at an apartment building. let's go to news4's aaron gilchrist. aaron? >> 30 minutes into the fire. we want to take you back to the live pictures from chopper 4 at this hour, as fire crews from anne arundel county are battling flames at this point in the fire. this is at least a four-story apartment building. we can see at least one apartment building for certain. this may have expanded possibly into two buildings. we believe it's the seven oaks

apartments on peaceful way. that's right off annapolis road in the odinton area. we don't know anyone who may be inside the building. we know the fire department has declared this a two-alarm fire, meaning they've had to bring in a lot more crews than they might typically bring in to fight a fire. there are reports about other counties, other localities sending in crews, either to cover some -- the rest of the county or to help with this fire. this is now video we shot earlier at the height of this fire. you can see absolutely intense flames coming from the roof of two -- it looks like at least two sides of one building here, as well as all of the black smoke. we are going to keep an eye on this for you. again, we want to find out whether anybody may have been injured. we haven't had word of ambulances being called. we'll keep watching this, barbara. as soon as we get more information, we'll bring that to you. >> thank you so much, aaron. to a violent crash near the u.s. capitol. a car goes airborne, ending up in a tree.

news4's scott mcfarland is live on the scene with the latest. scott? >> reporter: barbara, a very violent crash in a sensitive area. we're south of the u.s. capitol. you can see what remains of the silver bmw. the crash happened about 3:00 this morning. the car hit not one but two trees and ended up in that condition. let me show you the trees. the trees are laying in pieces before us, a trail of destruction from this car. it wasn't the trees to stop the car, though. it wasn't the police barricades here. it was this huge flower planter, which is actually made to deter cars from coming up the road. it's in shambles here. police won't say if speed was a factor, but all indications are speed played some role in the violence of this crash. let me give you images from earlier. the car did go vertical on a tree. they had to remove it. it took a few hours to do so. the driver is a male. they won't say how old he is or give us backstory on his condition, other than to say he's been transported to a local hospital. no sign of an accident nearby. no sign of a police chase involved, capitol police tell

us, but this car crash a violent one, and we are stepping away from the capitol. coming back here live, if it happens at 3:00 in the morning when the house is in session, there are still pedestrians around. there are a lot of late-working staffers and people hitting the bars nearby. the house not in session, so the streets were likely empty, and capitol police say no signs of anybody else being hurt. that's the story in the southeast, scott mcfarland, news4. >> thank you, scott. the man believed to be the architect of vincent gray's shadow campaign is expected to reach a plea deal very soon. a lawyernvolved in the case told news4 the deal with businessman jeffrey thompson is in its final stages. news4's richard jordan joins us with more. >> reporter: good morning. the fallout from the deal could be huge for the mayor. it could implicate him in the shadow campaign, something he has denied from the start. he has always said he had no knowledge of what was going on. or it could clear his name.

jeffrey thompson is reportedly finalizing a plea deal and telling the prosecutors and d.c. mayor vincent gray's 2010 shadow campaign investigation. thompson was allegedly the mastermind behind the campaign finance scheme, and if the mayor had any involvement, thompson is the one who can give the u.s. attorney the ammunition to pursue charges and seek an indictment. but last night, mayor gray denied knowing anything about the pending plea deal. >> well, i actually don't know about it, gentlemen. i guess we can speculate about it, but i don't know anything about it. >> reporter: thompson is accused of orchestrating the $650,000 scheme that four years ago led to the mayor's election. he is the latest gray associate to negotiate a deal with prosecutors to avoid trial. meanwhile, gray is locked in another campaign now. he is seeking a second term and polls show he is the front-runner in that race. the council members going up against him say the voters should have the whole story before the primary in a few weeks.

>> every resident of district of columbia needs to know the truth or have the u.s. attorney move. i'm happy to see that's happening. >> reporter: now, the plea deal again is in the final stages of negotiations. it could be finalized as soon as today. however, it's not unusual for things to be delayed, for things to be held up, or even for the negotiations to break down completely. so we'll be staying on top of this throughout the day. reporting live at the wilson building, richard jordan, news4. >> thanks, richard. you can follow developments in this case, even away from your television. we'll send out any updates on nbc washington's smartphone app, and you can download that in the apple app store and on google play. new today, a bit of relief for those of you driving toward downtown. navigating the 11th street bridge should be easier. a lane once used for construction is now open to traffic. before today, a cluster of construction cones forced you to merge quickly. early this morning, crews removed those cones. you have a new lane headed into

the district now. the extra space should prevent gridlock. it allows 50% more traffic to get by. and winter's not quite done with us yet. take a look at what drivers in north carolina are facing this morning. freezing rain and snow fell there overnight. this truck had a hard time turning out of a parking lot there. the storm also knocked out power to more than 200,000 people in north carolina. a wintry mix in our area did cause two school districts to delay classes this morning in virginia. skies remain gray around the district, right now, as you can see. storm team4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us now with a look at the messy weather that we were expecting. did we dodge the bullet, tom? or do we still have that on the possible agenda? >> right in the metro area, we're going to miss it, just to our south this morning there was a light coating of sleet and some light icing from fredericksburg west towards charlottesville. a live view over washington from the tower camera overlooking northwest washington, a lot of

cloudiness, and panning up, you can see there is some sun shining through the high overcast. the clouds from an area of low pressure that is producing some rain right across southeastern virginia, and some persistent snow and some sleet, gray and pink zone, in southwestern virginia, where they've had 3, 4, 5 inches of snow. east of there, it's been all rain. it continues to advance to the north. now, coming into the northern neck, an area of light rain. that's going to croft into southern maryland over the next hour or two, and farther west where they are getting some of the snow, that is gradually heading farther to the north and east. it will be near fredericksburg but changing over to rain there as we get into the afternoon. temperatures now are in the upper 30s to near 40 degrees around the metro area, and we'll hover in the low 40s during the afternoon. looking at a wonderful warm-up for the weekend. that's coming in a couple of minutes. barbara in. >> tom, thanks. police are extending an amber alert for a missing maryland girl, possibly kidnapped by her father.

west virginia state police are also now looking for 11-year-old kaitlyn and her father timothy. detectives believe this is all linked to the murder of kaitlyn's mother. police found her dead in her home yesterday morning. two other children were there, but not hurt. timothy verts was living at home despite a court order for him to stay away from the children. police believe he's driving a 1999 dodge durango with maryland license plate number 5aj-4458. and this afternoon, maryland lawmakers will meet to discuss banning the sale of energy drinks to minors. the bill was proposed after a 14-year-old hagerstown girl died. she went into cardiac arrest after drinking two 24-ounce monster drinks within a 24-hour period back in october 2012. news4's megan mcgrath spoke to her parents and teens about the

possible ban. she's live in bethesda. tell us about what they said. >> reporter: barbara, go to just about any store that sells drinks, and you're no doubt going to see the sell of energy drinks, but some lawmakers in maryland are worried about the possible health risks to children, and the general assembly is considering legislation that would ban the sale of energy drinks to minors. they're known by different names, and come in a variety of flavors. but all promise a boost of energy. but so-called energy drinks would be off-limits to minors in maryland under a bill being considered by the general assembly. the proposed ban isn't too popular with some teens. >> people involved in athletic programs, i mean, everybody drinks them. personally, it's a little bit crazy to me. >> reporter: if passed, the bill would make it a misdemeanor to distribute or sell energy drinks to anyone uchbd 18. the first offense would carry a

maximum fine of $500. give away a free sample to a minor, and the maximum fine would be $5,000 for a first offense, and it could go as high as $20,000 for multiple violations in two years. some agree with the intent of the bill -- to keep the supercharged drinks away from kids. but don't agree with the stiff penalty. others think 16 is a more logical minimum age. >> by the time kids are 16, they are pretty much on their -- not on their own, but they make a lot of decisions for themselves, and they'd be more than capable about making decisions about energy drinks. >> i drink them a lot in the past. and they really kind of -- they're not good for you. i think they should be kept away, but not necessarily criminal penalties, even fines. >> reporter: allen with the maryland delaware and d.c. beverage association says public policy should be based in fact and science, and this bill is based in neither. i spoke to her just a short time ago. she says that many coffee

products have more caffeine in them than energy drinks. she also says that other things that are found in energy drinks, other supplements and the like, are all fda-approved. her group plans to fight this bill, and they'll be there at the hearing in annapolis at 1:00 this afternoon. barbara, back to you in the studio. >> all right, megan, thank you. a new gun bill is on its way to virginia governor terry mcauliffe. brendan's law cracks down on people who fire weapons in the air during celebrations like new year's eve or fourth of july. virginia state senate passed brendan's law last night. the house already approved it. the bill is named after 7-year-old brendan mackie. he died on the way to a fourth of july fireworks show last year. and new today, a bombshell witness, the ex-girlfriend of oscar pistorius takes the stand, answering questions about the former olympian's temper, use of guns and cheating allegations. the politician who brought the audience to their feet today at the conservative political action conference.

i'm aaron gilchrist at the news4 live desk. people trying to break up ukraine appear to be digging in even more. let me show you new video. this is a delegation from ukraine's crimea region arriving in moscow today. they ernted the lower house of the parliament there, as you can hear, to applause. this is all after crimea's parliament voted to secede from ukraine and become a part of russia. the u.s. says that vote has no legal standing, other countries are joining in on that statement. ukraine's new interim prime minister said today, quote, no one in the civilized world would recognize a referendum vote in crimea. that vote set to happen in about 10 days from now, to decide whether crimea wants to leave ukraine. barbara, back in to you. >> thanks, aaron. well, any minute now, president obama and first lady

michelle obama will board air force one headed for south florida. they'll visit a high school in miami. the focus of this trip is to promote the value of education for the nation's middle class. president obama will announce a new initiiv designed to get more students to apply for federal aid for college. after today's school visit, the obamas will then spend the weekend in the florida keys. a new jobs report is out today, and it showed the u.s. improved hiring last month, despite winter storms keeping people inside. the labor department says employers added 175,000 jobs in february. the unemployment rate went up to 6.7% after a five-year low at 6.6%. more people started looking for work, even if they didn't find jobs,

they're starting to lay out what the message will be and how they're going to run against each other.

because this is going to be a very, very crowded republican 2016 presidential field. >> you mentioned that rick perry spoke. let's have a listen to some of what he said. >> it's time for a little rebellion on the battlefield of ideas! [ applause ] but instead of looking to washington to find the front lines of the battle, i ask you to look to the states where we find the laboratories of innovation, and 50 different experiments in democracy taking place. >> is that a new look for him, the glasses? >> i was just going to say, i was going to hit on some of this. you know, rick perry obviously took a lot of blow-back in the 2012 election because of his big oops moment, right? >> yeah. >> this is really all part of the new brand, redesign. kind of hipster frames he's got going. he's also ditched the cowboy boots, by the way. there's a reason for that. he had this back problem that

caused him to take pain medication, and some people blame that for some of his lax campaigning, and he says now he's got basic black shoes that help his back. and he feels more energetic. you start to see him, again i was in new orleans before the last time perry ran, and it was really energetic, jumping up and down on the stage, and a lot different of what you saw of him in 2012. and this is a little bit more of the rick perry we're used to seeing. >> quickly, his message and that of the other speakers you think may be similar? >> well, look, ted cruz laid it out yesterday where he said, you know -- like we talked about, you remember bob dole as president, john mccain as president, mitt romney as president, right? well, people like ted cruz, like paul ryan are making the message, we don't need more moderates, we need more conservatives, and paul ryan saying we need to win people over to the ideas. rick perry in that camp. chris christie a little on the other side, saying i don't care how we brand ourselves, let's just win, baby. >> that's the big message. >> right. >>