take a look at storm team 4 radar. the cold shouldn't stick around for too long. . storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein tracking the changes in store for you for the day ahead. >> we stayed damp. temperatures above freezing overnight. upper 30s all night. that's where we are right now. we are getting rain in west virginia. farther east, one line of showers about to move into the metro area. showers in fairfax, montgomery. they stretch west of 95 into stafford and spotsylvania. a few sprinkles in the district, our eastern interns. temperatures are 40. it's right around 40. welcomed warming later this afternoon. turning colder tonight. a wet weekend looking likely as

well. the hour by hour warming for the day ahead. aaron? traffic moving in both directions on the george washington parkway. a small section near windy run is still closed. yesterday they had to shut down 23 and spout run parkway. they finished fixing a big sinkhole last night. let's go to melissa mollet. >> happy to see that is almost out of the way. something else to be aware of this morning in bethesda. east west highway had a single car crash into a pole here. traffic slowing. again, it's move. so that's good of course. 66 and 95. 66 right here heading into town. 36 miles per hour through manassas. virginia, 95, slowest spot again

will be dale city. a little bit of volume in the 6:00 hour. otherwise rolling along nicely all across town. >> we'll see you then, melissa. thank you. later this morning, the rights of pregnant women in the workplace will be in focus at the nation's highest court. the case centers around a virginia woman who says she was fired because she was pregnant. richard jordan is outside with more on this case. >> arguments again in a few hours inside the court. self demonstrators are expected to gather. this case has been dubbed the u.p.s. pregnancy case. peggy young was a driver for u.p.s. about seven years ago. she got pregnant. now, at the time she said she cannot lift anything over 20 pounds but her job required her to lift 70 pounds. she went to her supervisor,

asked for accommodations to be made, to be put on desk duty. she said that was denied. that's when the legal battle started. in the past young lost two cases. but she comes to the supreme court. one of the issues that will be discussed is the 1978 pregnancy discrimination act. legal experts say it is simply too vague. some companies believe they cannot discriminate against them. young says accommodations should have been made for h. so, again, those arguments begin at 10:00 this morning. u.p.s. since made changes to its policy. earlier this week they settled with another worker who had been pregnant. that was settled outside of court. richard jordan, news 4. new this morning, police

looking for two teen boys accused of abducting a man at gunpoint. the victim escaped from the trunk of his own car. the victim was not hurt. i want to show you new video we're getting here. police want to talk to the two women you can see here running through gallery place metro station. a stabbing happened there one week ago. at the time d.c. police told us they were looking for two suspects, both of them women. they are calling the women in the video persons of interest in this case. it is now 6:04. police are trying to figure out who stabbed a woman to death in montgomery county at the white flint station condos east of rockville pike. a maintenance worker said he discovered the woman's body. police would not is say whether the victim and roommate were

related or just shared a condo >> we are learning why federal prosecutors dropped several cases while they investigated one accused of tampering with evidence. they repeatedly checked out the evidence from police headquarters. passengers weighed differently or came back damaged. investigators discovered two guns and marijuana that were never submitted into evidence. refusing to climb for an respond recall. they can explode and shoot shrapnel when deployed. well, tonight you can get a closer look at the plans to overhaul the waterfront. an open house at 6:00.

you'll be able to review phase one of that project, which was approved by city council this summer. it calls for a new pedestrian plaza at the end of king street, a new boardwalk and measures to prevent flooding. private developers will also display their projects. >> showing their anger in ferguson. the problems in d.c. overnight. whether demonstrations will cause problems on the way to work. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is tracking warmer weather with your hour-by-hour forecast at 6:11. but first making it easy to stop online harassment. the new tools being touted by a

welcome back. reporting abuse on twitter is getting a little easier.

they rolled out new tools like harassment or impersonation. you can report abuse of accounts and let twitter know whether violent threats are being made against you or any other user. they come after several other abuses. yahoo! top searches for 2014. ebola was the first. mine craft second. pop star arellano grande in third place. jennifer lawrence. kim kardashian did take the sixth spot. guess she's been quietish this year. >> if that's what you want to call it. let's check the forecast now. we're talking about rain and clouds and dreary and dismal and all kinds of adjectives. >> so it has to get better. >> on the bright side, it's

above breezing. we are getting light rain into the district and maryland. storm team 4 showing sprinkles enough to make everything wet in prince william, fairfax, montgomery, prince george's county. it will be moving through the next hour. a chance of sprinkles mid morning. cloudy, near 50. upper 50s midafternoon. by late afternoon, back to the mid-50s. a look at our weekend rain chances coming up at 6:21. now melissa is looking at improving news on gw parkway. >> finally good news. just spoke with police. southbound at windy run, all lanes now open. we had a temporary closure as asphalt was drying. looking pretty typical here. i want to take a look at a couple of travel times. quantico to the beltway, 45 minutes. about twice as long as it should. 395 into town, looking just

fine. 66 east, no real problem. 13 minutes. 270 southbound and 95 to 270 looking good as well. back in 10 minutes. thank you, melissa. it is all dark now. but final preparations are under way to light up new york city with holiday spirit. we'll take you there live for a look at the lighting of the rockefeller center christmas tree >> more proof you need to ask questions at the doctors office. unnecessary treatment your children could be receiving that could impact their heating.

. new video of a protest in d.c. this will not affect your commute this morning. police did arrest one man last night who may have been impersonating an officer. he had a stun gun, brass knuckles and a vest that said "agent" on it.

. on the other side of the country, people are reacting. a man in washington state in jail after police say he posted threats online saying he plans to kill darren wilson. a grand jury's decisions not to indict wilson for michael brown's death. michael brown's stepfather could face charges. lewis head was reported standing on a car yelling burn it down. they are investigating him as part of a larger probe into everything that happened >> a town hall is happening at howard university today. you can talk about how you can respond to the decision. they talk about the community's response. they say they stand behind

blocking traffic and shutting down stores. >> you are injecting the urgency of now into the process. >> using a deadly choke hold back in july. >> an american school teacher is dead. we are hearing that the 37-year-old woman was stabbed to death in a public restroom. this was at a shopping mall. police are still looking for the attacker and a motive. we do know she does have 11-year-old betweens. aaron? >> angie, thank you. 6:17. a virginia commission wants to create a missing person alert system for adults similar to the amber alert for children and silver alert for seniors.

next year the general assembly is expected to consider recommendations. the proposal would create a new alert system for adults being 21 and 60. it would require police to share information and a photo with virginia state police within two hours of a report of a person going missing. virginia state lawmakers could raise the minimum wage. fairfax county democrat said the move would help the poor and it would help state businesses. >> d.c. united will have a new stadium to call home in a couple of years. $300 million sport complex near nats park. the city will pay to acquire the land in southwest.

the team will pay 150 million to build the stadium. the council expects full approval within weeks. . a team from the ntsb is headed to tennessee to investigate this deadly bus crash. two teacher two. it cs a highway median and t-boned the second bus, flipping it on its side. >> we just asked the community to pray for -- the loss of lives. >> they are trying to figure out whether one bus may have had a

mechanical problem. a major cable problem triggered a blackout. firestations, courthouse and schools didn't have power. the city will spend $200 million on a four-year project. today president obama will meet with incoming majority leader mitch mcconnell. obama and republicans are at odds over his executive actions i'm tkpwraeugz. well, grab a cup of hot chocolate and hopefully you can get into the holiday season with kaerls and lights. tonight nbc's sarah is live with more on the festivities. good morning, sarah. good morning, guys. it will be a great party later tonight.

let's talk about the star of the show, this 85-foot tall norway spruce. this has been on the radar a couple of years, ever since the head gardener here spotted it while driving along the interstate. now it is ready to take its place in the spotlight. 45,000 l.e.d. lights. it weighs 550 poupbts.e people their home three years ago after they learned it was being considered to take the place on the -- the same place on the applaud. it will stay lit until january 7th. after that it will be recycled. april and eun, the search for

the 2015 tree will begin after that. >> dive right into next year too. >> we will look forward to tonight. sarah, thank you. it will be cold for a tree lighting don't. >> yeah. >> let's go to tom kierein now and tell us how it is going to warm up for us. tom? >> let's look at the bright side. we have a welcomed warming on the way later today. but still a rather dismal chill in the air on this wednesday morning with a little bit of sprinkle activity. one band just now coming through. this one at west virginia is beginning to break up as it moves north and east. right around the metro area, a few sprinkles in washington. this area in green down 95 between springfield, fredericksburg. north and east along route 50, 29, 95 and the beltway, it's all

wet. southeastern montgomery and anne arundel. upper 30s to near 40 degrees. this will brighten your move. storm team 4 national harbor live camera. wilson bridge. and everything is damp. later today, you'll just need a light jacket. have the umbrella for just early this morning. and you can ditch the umbrella later today. we'll have damp roads for the morning commute. 30s and near 40 degrees. 50s during the afternoon with dry roads. the weather coaster ride tomorrow continues. upper 40s friday. a lower chance of rain on sunday and monday. i'm back in 10 minutes.

melissa is looking at problems on this wednesday morning. >> brand-new crash eastbound at leesburg pike swished to one lane. slow through that area. # 6 into town, out of town, fine. that's not so bad. 95 headed north through triangle, slow the entire way. lorton, 45 miles per hour. top of the beltway starting to slow. a little bit of a sheen because of the rain we have seen this morning on prince george's county. looking pretty typical, northbound indian head highway. that's running 45 miles per hour as well. back in 10 minutes. melissa, thank you. as much as this happened, i'm still left scratching my head. a teenager okay this morning

after getting stuck in the chimney. the 13-year-old in arizona was trying to get into his locked house when he got stuck halfway down the chimney. his parents were not home at the time. it took a little more than an hour to free him. 8% of americans have depression. only a third are getting treated for it. the most depressed group is women between 40 to 59. more than 12% of women of that age say they're depressed. teenage boys are the least depressed. just 4% of them. many children are receiving unnecessary chest x-rays. they looked at data from 700 pediatric chest or x-rays and found only 12% of patients were positive. results were negative for 88% and did not affect their treatment.

spirits say there are many symptoms for which chest x-rays provide no benefit and expose children to unnecessary radiation. 6:26 right now. just in time for the holiday parties, a new way to get that ugly christmas sweater >> you're so excited about it. >> not even a little bit. >> you can rent them now. representative the run way launched a holiday ugly sweater collection. we needed a collection for that. >> of course we did. >> that rental will set you back about 30 bucks, including shipping, handling and taxes. just in case you don't know, ugly christmas sweater day is next friday, december 12th. i'm tempted. i really am. there's a day for it. you feel like you have to observe that. >> you know? >> can't way to see it. >> well, if you're a fan of the voice and you haven't watched last night's episode, step out of the room. >> there is your official spoiler alert.

new concerns surrounding the ebola crisis. we learn which hospitals in our area are equipped to handle

ebola. still dealing with scattered showers in the d.c. area on this cold and dreary start to your day. tom kierein tracking conditions your kids will be deal with this morning. >> yeah. damp and chilly on this wednesday morning. one more wave of light rain coming through. storm team 4 showing that in northern virginia. just coming into the district. light rain in west virginia. most passing well south the next several areas. just a little light rain in prince george's, the district. right along the potomac. just east of i-95. all the roads are wet this morning. damp side streets. no iciness. upper 30s. upper 30s to near 40 between now

and eight. next weather and traffic on the 1s, big changes on the way hour by hour the next 24 hours. melissa has new information on that crash. eastbound leesburg pike just past the toll road. prince william parkway headed through centreville. it opens up into the vienna area. still jammed as lieu at dale city north. might look a little worse than it actually is. a little bit slow as you pass colesville road. a tad slower than normal down south here. 95 in maryland, cherry hill

road, volume there. >> more tests may be needed. that is the word from doctors. treating a patient that may have ebola. the hospital says there is no diagnosis yet. we know the person is in stable condition. if he does test positive for this deadly disease, they will be able to ham it. a list of hospitals equipped to care for ebola patients. 35 are designated as ebola treatment centers including nih and three others in d.c. staff has been equipped to handle the complexity of the ebola patients. she may have been secretly recorded by a rabbi and has

fouled a class action lawsuit. the student claims rabbi freundel lured her into a ritual as part of a class assignment and then filmed her. there could be 100 victims. >> they are very affected by that. it's a devastating breach of trust. >> the university has released a statement in response to the lawsuit. it says, "we are horrified by the behavior reported to have taken place at the mikvah. the university is cooperating fully with law enforcement authorities on their investigation, as well as conducting our own investigation of ranly freundel's conduct" detectives are working to figure out whether vandalism is loudoun county is a hate crime. someone painted a garage. at least one of the images shows

a swastika. they are work to go figure out who did this. today you can weigh in at steak house and strip club in d.c. you can talk about what you think about stadium club. they are trying to renew their liquor license. tax credits for film production. a report by state analysts. 37 states and the district of columbia offer tax credits this year. analysts question the benefits when production has come to an end. they are questioning why they should get special tax treatment when other areas are struggling >> getting together to discuss the high capacity transit center traveling in dedicated lanes.

montgomery county is studying a possible corridor. the study should be completedly 2016. the meeting is tonight at 7:00. head up. they have started annual deer hunt. those roads may shut down through the run that goes into march of next year. 20 per square mile by the end of this period. strong storms causing serious problems in california. self inches of rain fell in that area. precautions being taken there to keep people out of harm's way when we go to the live desk ahead. closer to home, you will feel like you're on a roller coaster.

giving you a voice. metro stations could be

construction on phase two is officially under way. using your input to move forward on naming stations. they will be the last two stops in the line. the board asked you to vote on what they should be called. a large majority voted for ashburn. and broad run. loudoun east and gateway are also opgs for naming that station. coming up on 4:41. a cloudy, dreary morning to start things off. not so chilly, though. >> let's check in for your weather and traffic on the 1s. a band passing across the

potomac, moving into the district. heading off north and east. it will taper off to now and 8:00 this morning. cloudy. around 50. a few breaks in the clouds late afternoon. tonight we plunge to the big 30s by tomorrow morning. 6:51. melissa is dealing with breaking news and a new crash. >> 395 northbound at edsall road. this is going to build and be a little bit of a mess for some time. just saw there on our camera. a wide look at things overall. looking typical top of the beltway. 295 headed into town. beltway generally looking good. 395 -- or 95 northbound, quantico to the beltway, very

slow. our slowest spot at 54 minutes. 270 south from jermantown to the beltway, 22 minutes. >> a virginia woman's league case taking center stage. how the rule could impact the rights of pregnant mothers. the concern thats that people leaving therefore homes

15 before the hour. in just a couple of hours, a local woman said she was fired because she was pregnant is taking her case to the supreme court. richard jordan is live outside the court this morning with more on what we can expect today. richard? >> aaron, the arguments are expected to last an hour. it could last forever when it comes to how women who are expecting children are treated in the workforce in this country. peggy young was a driver for u.p.s. she got president. she told her supervisor she couldn't lift anything over 20 pounds. her job required lifting packages up to 70 pounds at times. she was asking for light duty or desk duty but her supervisor denied it.

she was forced to take extended leave. that caused her to lose her health benefits. were she is hoping to be victorious. at issue, the 1978 pregnancy discrimination ability. several companies, including u.p.s. that interpret the law to mean that women who are pregnant cannot be fired or have their paycut because they are pregnant. young says she should be treated as a disable theed worker or worker who was injured on the job. that's what the court will be hearing, whether or not the pregnancy discrimination act is too vague and perhaps has to be changed in some way. they say they are still confident they can win in court. they settled another case with another worker outside of court

this week. expecting demonstrators at the court before arguments begin. richard jordan, news 4. police are trying to determine who stabbed a woman to death in the rockville area at the condos on old georgetown road. a maintenance worker told officers he discovered the woman's body. he came to her unit to make a repair and found the door open. >> i don't have any thoughts on it other than it's sad and tragic and scary. >> the woman's roommate was home when police arrived. police would not say whether the victim and her roommate are related or just sharing the condo >> new this morning, the search is on for two teenage boys accused of abducting a man at gunpoint in the district. the victim escaped from the

trunk of his own car. the victim was not hurt. d.c. police asking for your help. they released this video of two women they say are persons of interest in a stabbing in northwest d.c. last week. you can see them running through the gallery place metro center. >> we are learning about an evidence tampering case that led to dropped charges against dozens of people. fbi agent matthew lowry repeatedly checked out drug evidence from police headquarters. when he returned, some packages weighed differently or came back damaged. they discovered two guns and marijuana that lowry seized that were never submitted into evidence. >> five years since a mala n s ldn ba it is bringing renewed calls for alan gross's release. gross was arrested in 2009 and accused of spying for the s government. he was there to set up internet

services in jewish communities. he was sentenced to 15 years i prison. he is threatening to take his own life if he is not released by his birthday. in may. in california, dozens pushed out of their homes because of floods and mudslides. we want to look at the conditions out in san francisco. the rain continue to go fall. storms hitting northwest los angeles pretty hard. evacuations are under way in the area, which was recently burned by wildfire. >> angie, thank you. it could lead to higher taxes or cuts in services if experts don't like what they see. the county's bond rating will be reviewed the next couple of months. they are worried it could be downgraded due to a $179 million budget gap the next two years. a downgrade would mean higher debt payments which would have leaders looking for more money.

>> most of us are putting away money for retirement. but are you saving enough? do you know the questions you should be asking. landon dowdy is here now with that story and a survey raising new concerns about our financial futures for your money. landon? that's right, aaron. a new survey finds 80% of older americans failed the basics when it comes to the financial literacy. they were ask about social security, life experience and how bonds work. only one in four have written a foreman plan. many have not tried to the calculate how much they will need to retire securely. >> landon dowdy live at cnbc. thanks. first lady michelle obama is set to welcome military families to the white house to see christmas decorations. children of military members will take part in arts is and crafts with the white house florists. >> also today, you can head out to the shirlington light up the

village from 4:00 to 10:00 tonight you could experience traffic delays. >> should be a good time-out there. a nice area to mill about and look at the tree lighting. >> it's looking good. we need more lighting. light it up as much as you can. it is so dark and dismal. we need to get our moods improved. nice to see that. light rain moving off to the east of washington. now moving into charles county, prince george's county. the band of green is in no wintry mix. well above freezing. that's going to be moving into anne arundel, calvert and eastern charles the next hour.

behind that, a lot of clouds around. upper 30s in loudoun, fairfax, prince william, fauquier, stafford and spotsylvania. right around 40 degrees. near 40 by thea you'll need a light jacket and umbrella early on. dry roads by. temperatures will be into the 50s. might get a little sunshine breaking out before sunset. after that cold tomorrow morning. mid-30s starting off thursday morning. thursday afternoon, team 4 forecast mid-40s. remaining chilly on friday. 30s in the morning. rain likely friday night, into the weekend as well. the wettest day of the weekend

will be saturday. saturday's temperatures lower chance of rain on sunday. highs in the upper 40s. partly cloudy tuesday. again, up around 50. melissa looking at the crash. . they just pushed it out of the way. 395 northbound at edsall road. that is great news if you're headed northbound on 395. 95 in virginia, north out of stafford county, running 45 miles per hour the entire way. a little slower through dale city. prince george's county at indian head highway into town, approaching the beltway, a little bit slow. typical volume on the outer loo 270 at falls, a little bit of sheen on the roadway. everyone moving nicely. 66 into town, slowest spot manassas. guys? >> melissa, thank you.

6:54. right now all lanes on the on george washington parkway are open. everything opened within the past hour. crews had to shut down southbound. they finished fixing a sinkhole last night. lawmakers will grill the senior vice president of takata. the firm has refused to comply with a government demand forex panned nationwide recall. the air pack can explode and shoot shrapnel. alexandria will look at plans top revamp the city's waterfront. you will be able to review phase one approved by city council this summer. it calls for a new plaza and

measures to prevent flooding. maybe you trust a repair man to come into your house and fix a problem. this morning the "today" show is putting that to a test on a hidden camera investigation >> angle downward so the door comes inoperable. >> how long should it take? >> it should take a minute. a new garage door opener. >> watch the full report in a few minutes on the "today" show. >> we have a school closure in st. mary's. food and nutrition should report to great the mills at 7:30. taking a look at four things you you need to know before you head out the door at 4:56. the christmas tree lighting at rockefeller center in new york.

the 85 foot norway spruce is from pennsylvania. tonight at 8:00 right here on nbc 4. we'll be watching for more protests from ferguson like this one. you can go to town hall at howard university to talk about how communities are responding to the case. doctors in boston testing a patient for possible ebola. preliminary results are expected later this morning. we'll be closely watching a local woman's fight at the supreme court. peggy young says she was fired u.p.s. because she was pregnant. here's your seven-day outlook. a welcomed warming today. after we have a few morning sprinkles dissipate. remaining mostly cloud. highs 50s. chilly again tomorrow. increasing clouds on thursday. highs mid-40s. 40s again on friday. rain likely friday night into saturday. melissa. 395 northbound at edsall.

crash in the middle of the road way. now off to the right side. that is good news northbound on 395. 66 into town, slow through manassas. another nasty spot. i know this is shock to go all of you, but dale city, northbound, after 6:00 it's like sorry, dale city. >> thank you melissa. >> all right. >> that is the broadcast this morning. thank you for waking up with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with weather, traffic, and any breaking news. until then, have a great day. we'll see you tomorrow. >> have a great wedneay, bo.

good morning. drenched. record-setting rains triggering floods, mudslides and accidents across southern california and it could get even worse with another half a foot of rain possible today. breaking overnight, a new accuser comes forward and files a lawsuit against bill cosby, claiming the comedian molested her 40 years ago, when she was just 15 years old. this morning, why she decided to finally go public. inciting a riot? michael brown's stepfather being investigated for his angry comments moments after that grand jury decision in ferguson. could he face criminal charges? tonight is the