a murder suspect opens fire on police as they try to arrest him in the district. officers shoot and kill him. we're live at the scene. good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 midday.

i'm barbara harrison. it's tuesday, march 18th. and in the news right now we're learning more about the man police shot and kill this had morning. megan mcgrath is there now. megan? >> reporter: the union block of k street is still blocked off. it was the scene of an early morning shootout. police were trying to arrest a man for -- wanted for murder. but before they could nab him, the suspect came out of the back of the home and opened fire on polic police. >> lot of gunfire. definitely unbelievable gunfire. had to be at least 10, 15, to shots. >> shootout in the unit block of k street northwest. special fugitive task force wanted in a recent murder. construction workers saw the

team staging in this parking lot just after 6:00 am. >> they were all congress fgreg talking to one another. bam, it was a war. >> police say the first shots fired came from the murder suspect they were trying to arrest. investigators say he came out of the home and opened fire. police shot back, killing him. >> we had officers in the front and around back. we had a perimeter around the place. he came out with a weapon, exchanged gunfire with our task force members and was shot. >> reporter: the man who was killed is believed to be the gunman who fatally shot 19-year-old dickerson on j street northeast on february 27th. over the last week and a half, investigators had come up with several addresses where he might be staying. k street being just one of them. more than one member of the task force opened fire. police have not released the

name of the man who was killed. we should also mention that none of the law enforcement officers were hurt. reporting live from k street, megan mcgrath, news 4. barbara, back to you. >> thank you, megan. news 4's melissa mollet is following a developing story for us at the live desk. >> all clear after a report of a suspicious powder. the first one this morning at a dorm. the school saying that one was for possible ricin. it field tested negative, now is being tested in the lab. police, we understand, now talking with a person of interest. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. >> thank you, melissa. live look outside right now, storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with his first forecast. still gray out there, tom. >> few breaks in the overcast. little bit of sunshine has been break out over the last couple of hours. temperatures are now above freezing most of the region. the big story is the approach of

spring. it's only two days away now. spring arrives on thursday, march 20th. just a couple of days away. looking at storm team 4 radar now, sprinkles of light rain in the northern neck this morning. we're getting a few of those now in st. mary's county, southern charles county. this may try to rotate a little bit farther up to the north. most of this is going to stay well south of the metro area during the rest of the afternoon. few other sprinkles right now showing up right along the beaches near rehoboth down to ocean city, and around virginia tidewater. temperatures now with the cloud cover are beginning to hit the upper 30s. reagan national at 37. prince george's county, montgomery, fairfax now into the mid 30s. upper 30s now in alexandria, falls church and arlington. and much of the shenandoah valley, mountains of west virginia. many locations are there are into the mid 30s. a warming trend still coming our way.

warmer weather. a look at that and the weekend in a couple of minutes. barbara? >> thank you, tom. opening statements are under way in the court-martial of a former naval academy football player. the military trial for joshua at a time -- tate was supposed to start yesterday but was delayed because of the snow. he is accused of assaulting a woman at an off-campus party. the woman says she was too drunk to remember what happened but heard she had sex with multiple partners. three former navy football players were accused. tate is the only one still charged. >> the driver of the bus that flipped over on 95 in stafford county is still in jail. charged with reckless driving, being held on a $5,000 bond. police say he was driving too fast when the tour bus flipped yesterday morning. four passengers were hurt. the princess tours bus was heading to georgea from new york. we're starting to learn more about the man possibly connected to three murders in alexandria.

charles sevrence used to run a bed and breakfast in cumberland, maryland. the former neighbor tells us he was an eccentric man who bathed in a big bathtub or several of them in his front yard. he says he was clearly educated but often at odds with the authorities. >> it's a shocker, but in a way, it's like there's a fine line betwe between, you know, genius and sthanity. and i think he walked that line. >> he is facing several charges in loudoun county. they have not publicly connected him to the killings of the three, but in court yesterday they said sevrence has been linked to those killings. they want him kept behind bars because they believe he will try to leave the country. these photos you see here were presented to a judge of sevrence outside the russian embassy.

he went there, march 7th, asking for asylum for unknown reasons but was turned away. he is being held without bond pending another hearing tomorrow. today we'll hear from the democratic candidates for mayor of d.c. their stand on women and family issues. there's a forum at metropolitan ame church downtown today. a group called aware is co-sponsoring the forum. it's dedicated to raising awareness about issues affecting african-american women and families. d.c. mayor vincent gray's lawyer says he's willing to go to court to clear his client's name. defense attorney robert bennett says u.s. attorney ronald macon is out to get the mayor. last week, businessman jeffrey thompson pled guilty to running an illegal shadow campaign that helped gray get elected four years ago. thompson says gray knew about that campaign. the mayor says thompson is lying. gray hasn't been charged with anything but bennett told news 4's tom sherwood, quote, let me

make it clear. i don't think he should be indicted, but if he is, we intend to go to trial. the prince george's county council could approve a plan to create a special district, several business districts. the county would offer tax breaks and offer perks to lure businesses there. supporters say that would help prince george's county compete with montgomery county's i-270 technology corridor. and right now, vice president joe biden is in poland, talking about the crisis in the ukraine. what he says the u.s. will do against russia, following the treaty with crimea. plus a plow driver goes a wrong way in arlington and it's caught on video. we hear from the man who is in the video and why he's facing criticism this morning. stay with us. we'll be right

have brand new information in here right away. news chopper crashed near seattle near in the space needle broad street if you're familiar. we don't have any information on what happened to the helicopter's crew or what station that may have been from. take a look at this picture as well. two cars struck in the crash. you can see huge flames and smoke. one man in a vehicle in this crash is now in critical condition. barbara? >> thank you. we'll be back to you. a snow plow driver is off the road today after a controversial video surfaced. take a look at this. you can see the plow driver on the wrong side of military road. according to the man taking this video, the driver wasn't moving for oncoming cars. the man who shot the video was almost hit by the truck driver and he wanted to make sure someone would believe him.

>> this is really dangerous. and so i kind of went after him at first. you know, what are you going to do to get the attention of a snow plow? i just thought nobody is going to believe me. i just shot a little video of it. >> that arlington man we just heard from has been fielding some backlash for recording the video while driving. he says he was being safe and thinking about the greater safety of the roads, not himself, he says. well, 24 brave military men will be presented with the medal of honor today. only three of the two dozen men are still alive to personally receive the distinguished awards. most of the men and minorities were very -- were denied the honor due to prejudices in the past. all the recipients are from world war ii, the korean war and the vietnam war. and we are going back to melissa. she's following. let's find out what's going on. >> vice president biden saying more sanctions are now coming for russia.

he is in poland, of course, today, reassuring our allies, calling russia's actions in crimea a land grab. signing a treaty to officially absorb crimea. it has to be ratified by both houses of parliament. all of this, of course, as leaders of the g-8 summit have said they will suspend russia's participation. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. let's get more insight on the obama administration handling of the crisis of the ukraine and russia and the united states as it's involved. mark murray joins us now to talk a little bit about this. so, this crisis affecting the u.s. why and how are we handling it? >> the united states is handling it pretty deliberately. one of its biggest functions is making sure that the european union and all european allies are on the same page with the united states. and trying to prevent russia from doing anything else. it remains to be seen whether the sanctions and other types of

tough talk from the west can prevent putin from doing anything because he's actually broken this in the past. i kind of have a little more of a political lens on thing thes. they have elections seven months from now and president obama is focused on something that seems a very tricky situation, unresolvable at a time in which his party seems to me in need of a pep in its step domestically. >> sometimes it can help a president, we've seen it in the past, to help face down an enemy. it helps him to gain support from the rest of americans. what is this doing? >> absolutely, there is often that rallying thing, but often when you send up sending your own troops into conflict. no one is talking about the united states or even european countries sending troops to bolster ukraine, if russia actually makes a more move toward the west. so, in some ways, the administration is kind of stuck in the situation where it's trying to resolve a tricky diplomatic crisis. at the end of the day even if it gets its best determined

outcome, can you spike the football in the end zone and make everyone very happy? the white house would like to see europe on its side 100%. for putin in some capacity to be able to back down and find an off-ramp ou >> are allies joining in with this demand for sanctions? >> absolutely. that's one of the strengths so far of the administration, and one of the achievements that they can actually point to, that right now the west looks unified. the question is, does that continue to remain the case when russia provides so much natural gas to europe? >> one quick question about the health care website and people signing up. how are we looking these days? >> enrollment has gone up. they crossed the 5 million mark yesterday. the administration announced. it looks like they're on pace to hit 6 million by that march 31st deadline, when everyone has to have health insurance or you pay a penalty. there might be some exceptions there. i think the bottom line is despite all the problems, all the tough coverage that they've received, deservedly so, all the political attacks from republicans, enrollment has been

growing exponentialily. 800,000 in the past two weeks. we'll see more before march 31st. the administration can see that as a sign of success or at least progress. >> we'll continue to watch that. >> thanks, barbara. >> for more from mark and the rest of the nbc political team check out first read on nbcnews.com. tom is here to talk a little bit about the weather. i think you have some good news. >> finally. >> good. >> finally. >> i'm afraid to ask, actually. >> every minute that goes by, we have the snow melting. that's going to continue to do so here for the next several day. now we're above freezing. i think we'll stay above freezing here for the next several days. most of the snow should be all gone here by friday. and there is a leadened gray sky over washington. national cathedral in the foreground off in the distance. potomac river to the right of the screen. on the horizon, that is prince george's county. 37. cloudy. light northeasterly breeze

around 5 to 15 miles an hour. a little bit of sun has been trying to break through. also it's cloudy with a few sprinkles in charles county, st. mary's county. parts of calvern county. this has been a persistent little batch of moisture hanging in this morning. just a few scattered, very light sprinkles of light rain there will be around for maybe another hour or two. temperatures are well above freezing now in the mid and upper 30s, despite the cloud cover, it is in the upper 30s on the eastern shore and right around the metro area. farther to our west and north, much of the mountain region, shenandoah valley, most locations there above freezing. it's a little above freezing. panhandle of west virginia, northern part of the shenandoah valley. fredericksburg, culpepper, manassas. by the afternoon, we might get a few more breaks in the cloud cover. maybe a little sun coming up. overall, still quite cloudy.

ought to make it into the low 40s in the metro area and points south north and west, hovering around upper 30s to 40 in the afternoon. mostly cloudy tonight. temperatures not as cold. only gradually dropping back down to the upper 30s by midnight tonight. and then by dawn tomorrow, we'll be down to the low 30s. we are gaining daylight every day. in fact, we are gaining about two and a half minutes than we had yesterday. we'll continue that trend. minutes per day, around two, 2 1/2 minutes now till the end of march. it drops off by the time we get to the summer solstice. average temperature this time of year 58. we'll be quite a bit below that here today. tomorrow should be in the upper 40s to near 50. thursday, finally getting a little bit above that average on the first day of spring on thursday. then friday ought to make it in the low 60s. and then on saturday, well above

the average high. ought to be about 10 degrees above the average high on saturday. then turning a little bit chillier as we get into sunday and the first part of next week. highs reaching upper 40s tomorrow. and we'll have quite a bit of cloudiness around. maybe a few light sprinkles or a shower around lunchtime. any chance of rain ending late in the evening. that first day of spring on thursday, looking great up around 60 degrees. on friday and saturday into the 60s each afternoon. we might get a passing shower on saturday for your outdoor plans. keep that in mind. sunday, a little bit chillier as well as into monday as we get some sunshine back. the snow is melting. >> ahh, spring is coming. it really is. >> it's inevitable. >> thanks a lot, tom. you may want to try your luck today. you have 400 million reasons to play the mega million lotty. we'll check out all the excitement for you. first a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

i'm melissa mollet at the live desk. want to update you quickly on this news chopper that crashed in seattle. we now know two people were killed when it went down near the space needle. we now know this chopper belongs to an abc affiliate there, apparently coming in for a landing when it hit the billing, went down and explode into flames. we know one person also in critical condition. barbara? >> thank you, melissa. support is pouring in for a virginia mother killed while jogging last week. jamie rowley died on waxpool road in ashburn. a website has been set up for the family and has already raised

winning big. more on the $400 million payday from northwest. >> barbara, mega millions, like al all these state-run lottery ga games, is a numbers game. he here now, the numbers behind the number numbers. >> now selling $137 million a minute. chances of winning the big mo y money? 1 in 258 million. a woman is more likely to give birth to two sets of triplets. >> what would i do? quit my job. buy me a house. >> probably help people.

>> i would, too. >> and help yourself? >> of course. support the grand kids, things like that. >> reporter: if it seems these days the larger jackpots are more frequent, it's because they are. three of the top four mega million payouts have come in just the last three years. one reason for that? more players. in 1996, only six states participated. mega millions is played in 43 states, washington, d.c. and the virgin islands. to date, gamblers have wagered a staggers $35,206,034,931. for the lucky 241 jackpot winners, payouts exceeded $17 billion. it's also been a boom for state governments. more than $12 billion in profits that pay for state services. in some communities like massachusetts, the money goes toward police. in other communities toward

education, like in idaho. if you hope to win and keep your identity a secret, there's only a few places you can do that. in this area, maryland would be one of those places. ohio, north dakota, kansas and delaware. so, all i can say, barbara, is if i win, don't worry about it. i'm going to tell everyone. back to you. >> yeah. i guess i might do the same. thanks a lot, kerry. >> we're staying on top of new developments in the search for the missing malaysian airlines plane. how the u.s. is changing its search efforts and we'll get a better timeline on what happened out there. new this morning, federal agents announced a major underground child porn bust. news conference just wrapped up. plus warmer weather on the way. storm team 4 meteorologist t

i'm melissa mollet. chuck hagel just wrapped up an independent review. number of workers with security clearances and conducting better background checks. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. >> now to the deepening mystery in malaysia, airlines flight 370 we're talking about. u.s. officials say the plane's change of course was programmed through a computer system in the cockpit. nbc's tom costello has the latest in the investigation. >> reporter: in the indian ocean, the u.s. navy is now scaling down its search operations. the destroyer, u.s.s. kidd will stop searching, leaving only p-3

and p-8 in the skies above. >> reporter: 11 days later no hint of where the plane might be. >> the entire search area is now 2.24 million square nautical miles. this is an enormous search area and something that cannot possibly search on its own. >> reporter: malaysian authority have come under criticism for contradicting themselves saying a critical system did not shut down after the last call. flight 370 leaves kuala lumpur at 12:41 am. 1:07 am last acars data transmission. the next transmission scheduled for 30 minutes later never comes. at 1:19 am the co-pilot radios all right. good night asthma lash malaysi

controllers hand him over to vietnamese air traffic controllers. at 2:15 am, the last military radar contact. all that's left are those six pings being transmitted somewhere along two very long arcs to the north and south. the last one at 8:11 am. meanwhile the families of the missing can only wait. >> the first couple of days all i could do was replay memories and, you know, see him and, you know, open his closet and smell the clothes. >> reporter: in beijing, philip woods' girlfriend believes he is still alive and has started a facebook campaign for flight 370. in texas, woods' brother waits for the phone to ring. >> how are you doing, brother, you know? you can survive this. he can. he is surviving this. >> that was tom costello reporting there. new this morning, china claims it's looked into the

background of the chinese nationals on board the plane and says there's no evidence any of them were involved in a hijacking. for now, the focus remains on the flight crew. and today, in the oscar pistorius murder trial, olympian's lawyers cross examine the police officer who took photos of the 2013 valentine's day crime scene. the defense team says the photos proved police moved evidence around the investigation. prosecutors say pistorius intentionally killed reeva steenkamp. he says he shot her by mistake, thinking she was an intruder in his home. we'll check in with meteorologist tom kierein, when can he tell us -- or will tell us, i hope, when we can see signs of spring. i think you're outside. yes, you are. we don't see any spring outside, tom. >> it still looks like winter and feels like winter. there's still about 4" of snow on the ground here in northwest washington.

overcast sky. weak sunshine coming through the overcast. there's the live view from the storm team 4 city camera overlooking washington. later today, might get a little sunshine coming through. a lot of cloudiness. right now we're in the mid to upper 30s. ought to hit low 40s mid to late afternoon. cold tonight. clouds around down to the mid 30s, starting off tomorrow morning and during the day wednesday. should be partly sunny. might get a shower middle of the day or a sprinkle of light rain. only about a 40% chance. highs reaching upper 40s to near 50 tomorrow afternoon. then finally, getting a little bit above the average high of 57 on thursday, first day of spring with sunshine ought to make it up around 60 degrees. then on friday into the low 60s, upper 60s on saturday might get a passing shower. but nothing to really interrupt your outdoor activities too much. chillier sunday and monday. bit of a blustery, chilly wind now. >> thank you, tom. new today, out of d.c.,

several federal agencies announced a shutdown of one of the largest child exploitation rings in the country. about an hour ago, officials revealed they arrested 14 people who had abused at least 250 children in 39 states and five countries. the ring was centered and included tips to entice young boys to upload sexual pictures and videos of themselves. most of the kids were in their early teens. we're getting new insight into how baggage handlers in san diego's airport moved around secret cargo across the country. federal agents say four baggage handlers use their work badges to walk through security while carrying backpacks filld with cocaine and methamphetamines. they would then hand them to passengers who already walked through security. federal agents are working with the tsa to make sure this doesn't happen again.

billionaire heiress of the mellon bank has died. bunny mellon married paul mellon in 1948. he was one of the world's richest men. she had money before that, though. her grandfather invented listerine. learning about the victims of a deadly house fire. cell phone video shows how intense the fire was over the weekend. neighbors say a man went back into the burning home to try to save the woman that he lived with. we've learned she was 74 years old, a retired nurse in a wheelchair. >> she was a family woman. i mean, she took care of a lot of her family members. and they were all very close. >> family and friends have been leaving flowers at a memorial outside the house. investigators have not said what started that fire. if you are concerned about your child's homeworkload, this story is for you. a new study out this morning says students' homework burdens

have barely changed in 30 years. according to the annual brown center report, the share of 17-year-olds who said that they had one or two hours of homework on a typical night dropped from 27% in 1984 to 23% in 2012. the percentage who spent more than two hours a night on homework stayed the same at 13%. one of d.c.'s favorite tradition sincere canceled this year. the annual pachyderm parade, barnum and bailey circus this year. the parade wasin delay in cinci. you can still see the elephants in the big show at the verizon center thursday through sunday of this week. and news 4's melissa mollet is following more breaking news for us at the live desk. let's go to her now. melissa? >> shutting down the syrian embassy here in the u.s. along

wyoming avenue in northwest. also closing two consulates because of the continuing three-year war overseas in syria. the u.s., you might remember, withdrew its diplomats from the damascus embassy in 2011. barbara? >> thanks, melissa. 11:38 is the time right now. health check if you suffer from migraines. what you need to know that might save you some time and some money. plus, we take a closer look at face and body soap, something you probably don't think about, but you should. why federal investigators are looking into a certain chemical found in some soaps. dr.

this is doug gansler. i'm running for governor - but this campaign is about you more than me. it's about brianna, who will breathe cleaner air because as attorney general i forced polluters to put in place $4.6

billion dollars in pollution controls. for caren, i fought big banks, winning $1.6 billion in mortgage relief for her and thousands of marylanders. for myra and her kids, they're safer because i brought the beltway snipers to justice, and fought child pornography and internet predators. for eric and mickey, i went to court to fight for marriage equality. for hundreds of baltimore kids, i started an inner city lacrosse league. and when a judge blamed an 11 year old girl for being sexually abused by saying "it takes two to tango," i took that judge on. i don't put up with things like that, it's not who i am. i take on tough fights and get things done for the people of maryland.

i'm melissa mollet at the live desk. two people killed, one person in critical condition. a news chopper owned by an abc affiliate in seattle. it was taking off when it crashed near the space needle. you can see all of that debris.

again, two people dead. one person, be in critical condition. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. >> thank you, melissa. when you check twitter, you may notice some changes. what's new in the twitter verse, angie goff is here. >> before you flip out, this is only a test and only some of you will see it. selected users can try out a new timeline. it kind of resembles what we see on facebook with & google plus, bio on the left, and this design is more picture focused. another focus called fave people. can you dpro you can group your favorite people and sign up for alerts when they tweet. this feature is reportedly being tested among a small group of android users right now. it's very common for twitter to do this before rolling it out to all of us. >> we'll look for it. thanks a lot, angie. an idea of what to do with

those old video games you're tired of playing. bring them to walmart. a store credit for used games. you can then shop for other used games other customers have brought in and they'll be on sale at a reduced price. in news 4 your health this morning, neearly one in seven prenatal visits are conducted by doctors without a specialty in obstetrics. teen mothers, women with medicaid or women who don't have insurance. moms over 30 with private insurance are the most likely to see a specialist throughout their pregnancy. people complaining of regular headaches may be getting an unnecessary and expensive test. a study found one in eight people who complain about migraines wind up getting a brain scan. experts say the scan only reveals problems in about 3% of the patients. several national guidelines have discouraged these scans because their effectiveness is being

questioned. there are so many products out there that you can use to wash your body and your face. some may contain a chemical, though, that could be potentially dangerous when fighting an infection. dr. cheryl burgess joins us to explain. welcome. good to see you gl good to see you. morning. >> love when you come to warn us about stuff and tell us what's good out there, what's new. a chemical in deodorant soap, right? >> it's triclosan in deodorants, toothpastes, kitchen sinks, towels, toys. it is there to be like an anti-microbial agent. >> to kill germs? >> to kill germs. >> what does it do if we put it on our skin? >> the concern that the fda has is that it can accumulate systemically. we absorb it. over the years since the 1960s when this ingredient was available in like deodorant

soaps -- i have some examples of irish spring and dial here -- this one doesn't list it on the label. that's one of the concerns the fda has. >> but it has it in it? >> this one should. most have it in it. it's just not listed. this one is definitely listed on the liquid dial. so, they're in a lot of ingredients. like i said, even toothpaste. and so we really need to know, so that if you choose to avoid it, you can, until we know what the further studies are going to show. >> does the fda control the labeling on things like soap? >> well, the concern is that they may be producing super bugs or microorganisms. also, there are hormonal changes that can occur and impair muscle function. they feel it could affect like heart muscle. >> do you tell your patients not to use deodorant soaps?

>> i don't. the thing is, it's left up to the person, first of all. second, we don't have clear data to say that it does actually do that. if you have concern, you can avoid that. that's why the fda is requiring that it goes on the label, so that you do know. for a substitution, just regular soap and water will clean your hands. you don't have to go as far as a deodorant soap. your hand san advertise esaniti drying but contain more like an e e ethol alcohol preparation. >> you just need soap and water and need to wash for how long did you say? >> sing happy birthday a couple of times and make sure you get your thumbs. people will go like this and their thumbs are the most used digits on the hands. >> what should people look for when shopping for face and body soaps? >> it depends on your skin type. some people are oily on the face and dry from the neck down.

we have -- these are called synthetic detergents. those areeallnot classified as soaps. when we look at these preparations, they're going to be a little bit more moisturizing. so, olay and dove are some of the gold standards in the market right now. but they have more mineral oil, other ingredients in it so that it doesn't dry you. >> do you find most women buy the moisturizing soaps but men think they have to have the deodorant soaps? >> that's true. people who work out a lot or athletes feel they need a deodorant soap. cleansing the skin with soap and water will cleanse the bacteria off and odor causing bacteria. >> does deodorant soap actually keep you from sweating? >> no, it does not. it's primarily the fragrance. phalates provide fragrance for these types of preparations also

on the fda's list for possible being a carcinogen. we have to worry about all those ingredients right now. >> is there a good cleanser? we tell people they need cleansers. what are cleansers? >> a cleanser is something that is going to remove debris, oil, dirt off the skin. and you can use a lotion and that will do it. so, people who have dry, sensitive skin can use a cleansing lotion to remove it. you don't always need something that's going to lather and foam up and get the debris off your face. >> all right. thank you, dr. burgess. >> you're welcome. >> thanks for coming in. we'll see you next week. it is 11:49. signs of spring are blooming in the district. plus, storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein will be back with a look at the forecast. when warmer

i'm melissa mollet at the live desk. all you oprah fans, listen up. she will be coming to the area. virginia's eighth district, big fund-raising event featuring oprah will be held in arlington saturday, april 5th. chapman has raised about $ 200,000 so far. no doubt this will give her another boost. >> thank you, melissa. lots of people love bacon. they like it so much, some want to turn it into a serving bowl. it's called the perfect bacon bowl. liz crenshaw answers the question, does it really do that? >> reporter: some say everything is better with bacon. >> i thought it would be fun to make this bowl they show on tv. >> introducing perfect bacon bowl. the easy way to make delicious, edible bowls out of bacon.

just minutes you'll have tasty, toasty, perfect bacon bowls. >> reporter: we brought it to cliff in bethesda, maryland. it came with four bacon bowl molds and a recipe guide. >> the unique design allows the bacon to crisp up evenly while grease collects in the channel so can you pour it out of your diet. >> but -- >> does it really do that? >> i love bacon. first thing i had to do was take three slices of bacon for each bowl. >> reporter: following the directions, cliff started constructing his bacon bowl. >> slightly overlap strip two when wrapping strip three. >> reporter: after building several bacon bowls he put the first batch in the oven. meanwhile, he cooked two other bacon bowls, one at a time, in the microwave. cooking time, 2:30. >> i hope it's ready. oh, no. that's not crispy enough. >> reporter: directions say you might need to add more time. >> i don't think it's quite

ready yet. >> reporter: after an alotted total of four minutes in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds, cliff was satisfied with its crispiness and, as the perfect bacon bowl claimed, it collected a lot of grease. meanwhile it was time to check the batch of bacon bowls in the oven. >> 35 minutes, they're looking pretty good. i think they're done enough to take out. >> the look of these bacon bowls were deceiving. >> that is definitely undercooked. >> reporter: as directed, cliff added more cooking time to the oven for a total of 44 minutes. >> this bacon bowl is still undercooked, liz, too flimsy to be used as a bowl. >> reporter: in the end after lots of trial and error with timing, one of the five bacon bowls turned out crispy enough for cliff. >> in the microwave, we got one winner and it was excellent. >> reporter: but cliff called the whole process time consuming. we reached out to the makers of the perfect bacon bowl. it sold us cook time may vary depending on specific appliance

model used and elevation. the perfect bacon bowl product went under extensive testifying and has gotten high marks from consumers. size and structure of the bacon bowl may vary depending on the type of bacon or cooking method used. so the perfect bacon bowl, does it really do that? >> we had no perfect bacon bowls. there was one pretty close and i was very happy with that. >> reporter: for $23, would you buy them? >> no. if they were $10, yes, i would give it a shot. >> reporter: liz crenshaw, news 4 today. and we're staying on top of a couple of stories now. police told us about the man officers shot and kill this had morning in northwest washington. they say he was wanted for the murder of a 19-year-old girl last month in northeast washington. logon to nbcwashington.com throughout the day for updates on this story and we'll also have more on news 4 at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 this evening. vice president joe biden

slam i slamming russia's moves on ukraine this morning. more sanctions will be imposed soon, they say. pictures of blossoms outside the kennedy center, already starting to bloom. but don't go running to the tidal basin just yet. the blossoms you see in these pictures are a different type and tend to bloom a few weeks earlier than the ones on the tidal basin. the cherry blossom festival begins thursday, though. peak bloom is supposed to happen around april 8th through the 12th. we can't wait, tom. how about a bacon bowl for your birthday? >> oh, yeah. >> just what you wanted, i know. >> wonderful. hey, yeah, that is so wrong, seeing the blossoms in snow. >> i know. >> the good news is that the snow continues to melt, as we're above freezing now. 38 at reagan national and mid to upper 30s elsewhere.

low 40s by later this afternoon. temperatures will be not as cold tomorrow morning, down to the low and mid 30s. and we might get a little sun today otherwise a lot of clouds. might get a late morning or early afternoon sprinkle of light rain. hi highs reaching near 50. then first day of spring thursday. sunshine up around 60 degrees on thursday afternoon. and then might even hit low 60s friday and partly sunny. over the weekend, bit milder saturday into the upper 60s. might get a passing shower on saturday. shouldn't interrupt your weekend plans too much. bit chillier on sunday and monday. have a good afternoon. we'll see you tomorrow morning. >> all right, tom. thank you. and that's news 4 midday. thank you for being with we invite you to tune in at news 4 at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 and we'll be back at 11:00 for news 4 midday. we hope you plan to join us. see you then. have a great day and see you in the morning. ♪ something right ♪ i.

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