paying attention to not just what's in front of them but behind them a well. walking along this stretch of sidewalk at 4:15 p.m. a wakefield high school student was sexually assaulted monday in sight of these apartments, a gas station, and a bike path. >> this 17-year-old high school senior is walking home. she was approached from behind and had her butt grabbed. scared and frightened she ran to her residence and called her mother who called police to inform us of the situation. >> reporter: the suspect also fled running away toward the gas station. no witnesses have come forward yet, but police are hoping in this busy area someone might remember seeing the man. this woman who lives in the apartments here tells us she hadn't heard of the attack but it won't keep her from walking her dogs. she'll just be more careful. >> i always feel safe. i've gone out in the dark. i have to walk them so i need to go but definitely i will be careful. >> reporter: and coming up on

news 4 at 6:00, i'll it will you about two key things police say might have prevented this teenager from becoming a victim. live from arlington, julie carey, news4. now to a story we first told you first on 4, we are talking act a system-wide slowdown on metro. the transit agency says the speed restrictions are in place now because of the potential for rails cracking from this cold. our transportation reporter adam tuss first told you about this breaking this story this afternoon on twitter. he's now live outside the station at reagan national. adam? >> reporter: metro says this is a proactive move slowing down trains so things like cracked rails don't happen. let's take a look at the reagan national station. there's a speed restriction about a mile south of here between reagan national and the braddock road station, and yet this could change how long your commute takes. metro technicians ride the rails in a sophisticated machine called the track geometry vehicle. it studies the rails and sends

alerts about problems. there's enough concern with some sections of track and the freezing cold that metro's now slowing trains down. metro chief spokesperson dan stessel tells us "you see us putting in speed restrictions as an additional safety step during a season where the potential for weather-related cracked rails exist." and there have been cracks and breaks in the rails recently. he's fine with the move. >> with what's happened in the past recent history, especially the last couple weeks with the cracked rail and the third rail and someone died from that, i have no problem with them slowing it down for safety. i'd rather wait a few minutes to get home and get home. >> reporter: others like peter gatis agree. >> we're always too much in a rush to go everywhere. nothing wrong with slowing it down a little bit. >> reporter: now, metro says trains will be slowed down by about a third of their top speed. we have a list of the affected areas and we'll bring it to you next hour at 6:00. live at the reagan national

station, adam tuss news4. well we are also feeling the stress from this cold doug. what other impact might we expect from this cold pattern? >> the interesting thing is just how cold we've been. actual daytime temperatures have not been that cold but the overnight low temperatures have been the cold numbers. first off you know it's been cold including today where we saw windchills in the 20s and 30s. look at the low temperatures the last five nights. this goes back towards last friday. the average low is 29. we were around 20 last friday 23 on saturday 27 both sunday and monday and this morning waking up to 25 degrees. so some very cold air. that's in the city. some of the other areas where melt row rides in through parts of montgomery county prince george's county into the teens, a couple of those days. that's where the cold air has been. still cold at this hour. 26 in gaithersburg 39 towards fredericksburg and 36 in leesburg. temperatures rebounding during the day tomorrow but then they come crashing right back down and we get even colder than we've been over the past couple days for thursday.

we'll talk about that in just a minute. pat lawson muse on the live desk with a new 911 call for help after strong winds brought down trees all over our area. pat? >> jim, this happened in forest glen maryland where a man narrowly escaped injury. strong winds xwusing brought down a tree into the man's second floor bedroom last night just as he was calling 911. here's the newly released audio. >> i'm just calling because a tree is -- it looks like it's about to fall on my house and i didn't know if i was supposed to call this number or some other kind of i guess -- it's about to -- it's falling on my house right now. >> i'll get the fire department. hold on one second. >> yeah. it just fell on my house. >> what a picture there. his name is chris fisher. he said the tree his house and ripped down power lines around 7:00 last night. at the time he said the wind was

gusting up to 50 miles per hour. at the live december i'm pat lawson muse. back to you. female real estate agents across virginia are being told to be on guard for a potentially aggressive man posing as a customer. the commonwealth's realtors association says in the past week a number of agents have gotten calls from a man who demands to see the listings late at night. they say he refuses to meet during the day or at their office before hand. we're told the calls have been mostly in the southern part of the state but they stretch from hampton roads all the way to richmond. and jesse matthews' attorney wants to delay his trial for that case in fair and accurate in 2005. court documents show his lawyer will ask the judge friday to push back the trial in fairfax county to push it to june. he's facing abduction and rain charges in the attack of a 26-year-old woman that occurred in 2005. he's also charged with kidnap

kidnapping uva student hannah graham this past september. a man tried twice for the murder of a k north carolina teenager has been indicted again. phylicia barnes was found dead four years ago in the susquehanna river. still ahead in our next half hour we'll explain why this case may not make it to court anytime soon. the world is now roundly condemning another gruesome some say shocking execution at the hands of isis. this time the terror group releasing a video that purportedly shows the jordanian pilot being burned alive. nbc white house correspondent chris jansing joins us live with how the president is responding to this latest horrific video. chris? >> reporter: yes, good afternoon. the president and the administration condemning this latest act in the strongest possible terms, wendy. of course it comes on the heels of the murder of a japanese

journalist. and there you see the still photo of that jordanian pilot. it also comes at time when king abdul la of jordan happened to be in the united states and had a lunch meeting today with vice president biden. he is on his way back to the white house. there's expected to be a meeting early this evening between the president and king abdullah. of course they have been a key member of the coalition, participating in air strikes but also providing key intelligence on isis. the question is what this means for the strength of the coalition. obviously this is something that has struck a chord everywhere throughout the many country, particularly in that part of the world, which includes qatar, egypt, other members of the coalition. the president feeling very strongly this will only embolden them to fight isis. what the exact implications will be y have yet to be seen, but he stated strongly today when he was in a meeting with some

people who had written to him act obamacare and he was asked the question about this and he had just been briefed on it. he said this will only strengthen the resolve of the united states and of other coalition members to fight isis. wendy? >> thanks chris. maryland's medical examiner says six people killed in that massive mansion fire in annapolis all died from smoke inhalation and burns. don and sandra pyle and four of their grandchildren died when their home went up in flames last month. investigators say that fire was an accident likely caused by an electric spark near a 15-foot christmas tree. there were no sprinklers inside the home. a woman found dead in a stream near national airport has been identified as 61-year-old cruise krutz ofmaria cruz of alexandria. he was pulled from four mile run stream late on saturday. a homicide unit is investigating sxwroop students will be back in class in vienna tomorrow now that that water main break at their school has been fixed.

that main burst this morning at marshall road elementary. there was also a power outage so classes had to be canceled but it has been fixed and no other customers were affected. major shake-up for thousands of students and parents of one of maryland's largest school systems. chris gordon first broke this story on facebook but new tonight, parents are now weighing in on the search for a new superintendent now that joshua starr is ou >> reporter: the school board emerged from a closed-door meeting with dr. joshua starr and then voted to accept a mutual agreement terminating his tenure as montgomery county school superintendent. >> it's unanimous. >> reporter: dr. starr's resignation is e if i can tifffective as of february 16th but he'll be paid through the end of his contract which expires june 30th. >> we're going to be changing quarterbacks. you know we've had a great relationship. >> reporter: dr. starr lost the support of the eight-member board of education with four

members reportedly feeling he had not closed the achievement gap between white and minority students and were not going to offer him a contract renewal. reporters asked starr why he's leaving in two weeks rather than at the end of the school semester. >> the message is not one of quitting all right, the message i hope would be one that don't get into a fight you know you're not going to win, right. and when the board made it clear that it wanted to go a different direction, i'm not going to fight that. why would i, right? they have the right to do that. >> reporter: tanya hutchens has one child in public school currently. >> sad to see him go but i'm just hoping that, you know they'll have someone like him to fill his spot. >> reporter: this parent had publicly criticized dr. starr's plan to demolish blair ewing school in rockville, maryland for a school bus depot. >> the community felt railroaded. this was a major decision and we had very little input. >> reporter: are you happy to

see dr. starr sflooef. >> not happy, but as i said we're looking for more openness and transparency. i hope we can build a more collaborative relationship with the board of education from here on out. >> reporter: an interim school superintendent has been named, larry bowers who has 37 year ys with the montgomery county public school system. 37 years and this afternoon he was given approval by the maryland state department of education. he will serve until a permanent replacement for dr. starr is found. that's the latest. live at the montgomery county school board, chris gordon news4. marion barry university could one day become a reality. there's now a move to rename the university of the district of columbia after the late former mayor. at-large councilman vincent orange introduced a bill today. he teps the associated press barry was the university's biggest champion. a man killed in front of his fiancee and children. >> new tonight news4 has obtained the 911 call made just

moments after that hit-and-run. >> so two people were struck? >> yes, they both went. >> let's stop whining, okay. let's stop whining. >> tonight pat collins asking firefighters about that call and why the dispatcher sounds so harsh. a growing debate over vaccinations here in northern virginia. many of you parents weighing in right now on our nbc washington facebook page. i'm david culvert in arlington. we'll look at both sides of the debate. also designer babies. a decision about dna across the pond is raising all sorts of questions.

technology has improved our lives, in small ways. in big ways. but what about this? couldn't this be better too? at redfin we asked ourselves the same question. which led us to create new ways to take you inside a home or instantly schedule a tour. but we paired that with our own agents who aren't paid on commission but on your happiness. and that's what makes it all work the world has changed and now real estate has too.

d.c. school officials are apologizing to students and parents after being told that a website exposed confidential information about students with disabilities. we just learned there are 10,000 students whose parents and guardians are being notified by the school system. it was unintentionally open to the public from 2010 until yesterday. the school district locked the site after being contacted by buzz feed. we reached out to d.c. count till member david grasso twhos chairman of the education committee. he says his committee will monitor the school's review of what happened. jim, wendy? >> pat, thank you.

the cdc's most recent numbers from 2013 say more than 96% of children in the district ages 19 to 35 months received mmr vaccine nap's the second best in the nation right new hampshire. maryland ranks eighth with more than 95% of kids vaccinated but virginia ranked 45th in all the vaccines that were taken. 88% of kids having received vaccine. we posted how our numbers stack up against other states on our nbc washington app. now we have more from david culvert. he niece virginia. david? >> reporter: from local departments of health fuel local hospitals. their warning is one of precaution stressing there's no specific threat when it comes to this measles outbreak at least not yet. the pictures can be hard to see. the measles virus showing itself all over this child's body. the site leaves many of the parents eager to protect your young, but the question is how? >> i had all mine vaccinated.

i just think it's safer for everybody. >> i think kids should be vaccinated. >> reporter: that's one perspective and the one supported by many doctors. the centers for disease control urging parents to have their children vaccinated from mee ls before the age of 2 doctors warning they'll need two or more doses for effectiveness. the outbreak is spreading to other states. local health departments say there's no specific threat to our yair but doctors warn viruses can travel and quickly. after an infectious person leaves the location, that virus can live up to two hours on its own. >> the schools are clean. we just have to make sure our kids are yoeb not spreading disease to each other. snu br the fear for some is what the vaccinations can do to your children. many parents say they should have a choice. on our nbc washington facebook page you're weighing in tonight. we asked, what do you think about parent who is don't get their children vaccinated? 87% telling us those parents are irresponsible, but 13% say

that's their right. and you can still weigh in right now on our nbc washington facebook page. meantime among the places where viruses and illnesses spread quickest you know them well. your kids' schools. ahead at 6:00 we look at where local school districts stand on the issue of vaccinations and in particular when parents choose not to vaccinate their children. in arlington, i'm david culvert, news4. a bill that's aimed at reducing suicides among veterans is headed for president's desk and his signature. the senate unanimously passed that measure today. named for clay hunt he's a 26-year-old veteran who committed suicide in 2011. this new law will require the department of veterans affairs to have programs for mental health care and suicide prevention. it also establishes pilot programs for community outreach. on average, suicide clams the lives of 22 military veterans every day. the president says he will indeed sign this bill.

time is running out to weigh in on a plan to start charging the public to use one of the most popular parks in our area. the national park service wants to charge access fees along the entire 185-mile length of the c&o canal, and it wants to raise the existing fees. today maryland congressman john delaney asked the agency to drop it. public comment is being taken until february 22nd. nice icy, cold vista out there. >> it was. we've got some cold weather again. >> yeah. last night was frigid especially when you woke up this morning, too, windchills between 5 and 15 degrees. tomorrow's going to be a little bit different. but we still have a pretty cold night aheld of us this evening. take a look towards reston pap very nice picture of a reston live camera off towards reston town center on the right, dulles toll road and reston parkway in the foreground. another beautiful picture out towards -- you know what, i knew where that was but you moved the

camera! all right. re we're look bug you know what that's 395. my dad used to work in that building off to the right nap's how i know that believe it or not. thank you. did you guys know my dad used to work there? good job. >> we do now! >> 37 degrees currently, winds out of the southwest at about 6 miles per hour. we are going to see those temperatures that are going to be dipping tonight but then right back up tomorrow currently 30 in gaithersburg 39 in fredericksburg 36 degrees coming in around the leesburg area. now, what are we seeing as far as radar is concerned? nothing. no rain no snow around our region. not going to see any kind of a chance during the day tomorrow. as you widen out here, you see why. it is clear from d.c. up 95 towards new york towards the raleigh area. back to the west here's one system. this has all snow around chicago and minneapolis. looks like it's moving our way. right? no. this one will stay just to our north but it will allow for the next one behind it to make its way down. that's our next chance for some snow flurries and a few snow showers. that coming up on thursday.

here's future weather, thursday at 6:00 a.m. notice the cloud cover early in the morning but right around 8:00 a.m. just in time for the morning rush we have some snow coming on through the region. not a lot. and this will move out very very quickly. we're not talking act any kind of accumulation. it's out of here by the noon hour and then it gets really cold and windy. thursday evening is going to be a lot like last night, although i think it could be even colder than that. the best chance for conversational snow flurries from d.c. back towards warrenton and leesburg best chance to be around fed rick and up toward the mason/dixon line. that's really going to be about it. not a big snow event at all. no need to worry act that. tomorrow how about these temperatures? a little better. 49 in leesburg 48 in washington 49 towards fredericksburg. a very nice wednesday. here comes the temperature drop high of 34 on thursday with falling temperatures only 17 early friday morning. that puts many of you in the single numbers early friday morning. we do warm up a little bit on

saturday and then watching that next storm sunday into monday right now i'm not too impressed with the storm system but we will continue to watch right here from the storm center. >> thank you, doug. j we've gotten our hands on charging documents on two parents who left their children alone why they sipped wine. new information on the condition of the children. in the uk doctors may soon be able to make babies from the genes of three people. jool this exclusive neighborhood breathes a sigh of relief when police were here before getting squatters out of this house. why are they back again?

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great britain is become a step closer to becoming the first country to allow suhn technical analysts to create babies using dna from three people. lawmakers in britain's house of commons approved a measure today they hope will prevent children from inheriting potentially deadly diseases. this involves removing the nucleus dna from the egg of a prospective mother and inserting it into a donor egg. >> we're not altering those 50% of genes that come from each parent. it's 0.54%.

>> we've agreed for the last 20 years we shouldn't do and once you cross that line it's very hard to stop, you know going down a slippery slope to designer babies. >> the bill now goes to britain's house of lords for approval. an 11-year-old girl centreville is going places and she's telling everybody about it. iana kinsley is the writer behind the yayah stars website. it's vacation fravl a kit's eye view. this site includes reviews of places she's traveled and local restaurants she's visited. she uses a five-star rating system. she includes reviews written by other kids too and works hard to keep the site fresh. >> bloggers should also keep posts at least once every single week. i make the site for kids that want to go to places and kids that have been to places. >> that's great. the site gets thousands of views every month. well, if you rely on capital

bike share to get around you need to plan ahead tonight. >> the company is getting ready to update its software in just a couple hours. it will have a big impact on how you use the service in that 24 hours because starting at 7:00 tonight you won't be able to pay by credit card and the capital bike share website and the mobile maps will not show where the bikes are available. you also will not be able to become a member or renew your membership on that website either but this is temporary, because the software upgrade will take up to 24 hours. lit help the company with its bookkeeping. an exclusive neighborhood a luxury home and a group cheating the system. only news4's tracee wilkins is there for a million-dollar mansion raid in prince george's county. >> reporter: stop yelling. stop whining. can you get someone else to talk to me? some unfriendly words from a 911 dispatcher. i'm pat collins. the story coming up.

technology has improved our lives, in small ways. in big ways. but what about this?

couldn't this be better too? at redfin we asked ourselves the same question. which led us to create new ways to take you inside a home or instantly schedule a tour. but we paired that with our own agents who aren't paid on commission but on your happiness. and that's what makes it all work the world has changed and now real estate has too.

right now, the 11 call of a deadly injury. >> i'm not sure. the one something on her hip. i don't know. my father he's not saying anything. >> the father was killed by a hit-and-run drive on sunday. he was on the vw parkway and his fiancee was struck and badly injured. >> there are still few leads in this case and now some are saying that call for help was

mishandleded. news4's pat collins join us live near the scene. pat? >> reporter: jim, we've obtained the 911 call for help from that fatal hit-and-run on the bw parkway. you may find it disturbing, not just the description of the scene from the teenage caller but the tone and words from the dispatcher as well. >> can you all please hurry up? >> ma'am, stop yelling. i need a location. >> we're on 295 near bowie. >> 295. that's good. we're located now on a highway. now that's a pretty long road. >> reporter: this was the 911 call for help made to the anne arundel county fire department. it came from the back seat of this car from a teenaged girl. it came after her father and her father's fiancee were struck by a hit-and-run driver on the

baltimore-washington parkway. her father rick warrick, was killed. his fiancee seriously >> there's two people were struck? >> yes. they both -- >> okay. let's stop whining, okay. let's stop whinin it's hard to understand you. two people were struck correct? >> yes. yes. >> reporter: the entire 911 exchange lasted about four minutes. the dispatcher's words, the dispatcher's tone something less than comforting. >> they're just laying here. they are just laying here nothing. they just laying here. >> is there someone else there i can talk to because it's so hard -- >> it's only my little brother and i'm talking better than him right now. >> reporter: here now captain russ davies with the anne arundel county fire department. >> i think to some degree there was a poor choice of words, however, what he was attempting to do was to get her attention, to try to be able to start ascertaining information from her. it was pretty clear at that point they didn't know where they were. >> reporter: but if you had to

do it again -- >> there could be a better choice of words. >> reporter: today we learned that rick warwick was just seconds away from escaping death on the parkway that night. more about that coming up at 6:00. live in laurel pat collins, news4. now to a story reported first on news4 at 5:00. we learned about a raid at a mansion in an exclusive prince george's county community today and it's happened for the second time in six months. this video from last summer when police swept in to arrest squatters. today they are back and have rounded up six people from the home who didn't own it. county bureau chief tracee wilkins is in the neighborhood tonight taking a look at why squatting is such a growing problem there. >> reporter: this security video shows dozens of prince george's county police agents closing in on this mansion on haskell court in tantallon. the home was occupied by

squatters who happened to be wanted. they were living inside this house that hasn't been legally occupied in more than four years. >> once again looked out through my door to pick up the paper and i see a bunch of cars coming down my street. i counted them as 21 cars came. >> reporter: ron weis lives near the home and has been through this before. back in august he watch as u.s. marshals raided this home once valued near $2 million. they arrested 28-year-old saeed evans, he was wanted accused of taking part in the mass shooting that happened in d.c., while ron knew there were squatters he didn't know they were criminals. >> now i know it's possible there are criminals in there, not just squatters. >> reporter: he said this group moved in just weeks after the last raid. he was right to be concerned. you could hear loud bangs as police entered the home. six adults were taken into custody for various crimes including burglary proof that

vacant homes are more than a nuisance in prince george they're dangerous. >> i think that we're well organized but apparently the squatters are even better organized than we are. >> reporter: on news 4 at 6:00 there were a number of people taken out of this house and at least one of them wanted on serious charges. we'll have more details on that. in tantallon, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. after all those foreclosures hit our region we are learning that d.c. will get a chunk of the money from a landmark lawsuit tied to the 2008 recession and housing collapse. standard & poor's will pay nearly $1.4 billion. it will settle a collection of lawsuits over its inflated mortgage ratings. the justice department says it helped trig ter financial crisis. the money will be divided between the federal government the district and 19 states that file lawsuits. we want to underscore our strong commitment to pursue any company or entity that violated the law and contributed to the

financial crisis of 2008. >>ric holder and s&p contributed -- said that the s&p contributed to the worst financial crisis since the great depression. the episcopal church cites privacy reasons for not commenting on reports that bishop heather cook's drinking was a concern from the start. cook is charged with manslaughter and drunk driving in the death of a baltimore bicyclist in december. three months earlier she was consecrated as maryland's second highest episcopal bishop and her boss noticed she was inebriated at the dinner before that consecration. the presiding bishop was asked to talk to her about it. supporters of paid sick leave in maryland say a new bill would actually save businesses money. the institute for women's research policy did a cost-benefit analysis. it found that providing employees with an opportunity to earn paid sick leave would save maryland businesses $13 million annually. the new bill would allow employees to earn up to seven

days of paid sick leave. one of t beloved novels in american literature will soon have an epilogue. >> the author of "to kill a mockingbird" talks about sequel and why it's been in the works for more than 50 years. and we're following a big story in baltimore. the man accused in the death of teenager phylicia barnes has been indicted again. new at 5:00 why prosecutors say they are allowed to put him back on trial. a pretty nice shot out there right now looking towards the northwest. take a look right over here. that is sugarloaf mountain to the north and west. sunset tonight 5:32.

breaking news from southeast d.c. where a shooting is causing traffic problems there. this was the map tweeted out by the d.c. police. one man has been shot about an hour ago near east capitol street and ridge road. we're told there will be an active investigation at that scene for some time. no word on the victim's condition. an area to avoid if you're heading out tonight or trying to get home. more than 50 years later fans of "to kill a mockingbird" will have a chance to learn what happened to scout and atticus finch. a publisher announced harper lee will have a new novel this summer "go set a watchman."

the book is a sequel of sorts to mockingbird despite the fact lee wrote it before the novel. it focuses around scout. it convinced her to write another novel about scout as a child. it will be available in stores and online in july. baseball fans in frederick could see a new name on the city's minor league stadium this spring. nymeo credit union struck a deal. the board of aldermen votes on the name change as early as thursday. the terms haven't been announced but the city could get 35% of the proceeds. tried twice and a third time in the works. why a man accused in the death of teenager phylicia barnes will head back to court. local parents on a wine tasting are i kuzed of leaving their kids outside in the cold. we've just obtained the arrest report and we have new information on the conditions of

those children. and a worker at an excavating company turns the table on a would-be thief.

he's been indicted fen. michael johnson was set free last month. >> but baltimore's state's attorney says she's putting michael johnson back on trial for the murder of phylicia barnes. jane miller of our sister station in baltimore takes a look if this latest twist in this case is legal.

>> reporter: set few a weeks ago, a grand jury indicted johnson again on second-degree murder charges and city state's attorney marilyn moez bee announced today she'll again put johnson on trial. >> this is procedural. i want to make sure we're clear that we are making every effort to pursue justice. >> reporter: it will be the third attempt to hold johnson criminally responsible for phylicia barnes' death. the teenager disappeared in december of 2010 while visiting family in baltimore. her body was found four months later in the susquehanna river. in his first trial, johnson was acquitted of first down murder, convicted by a jury of second-degree murder but a judge ordered a new trial after credibility issues surfaced with a key witness. in johnson's second trial just last month, a judge granted a motion for acquittal filed by johnson's lawyers agreeing there wasn't enough evidence to take the case to a jury. but a few days earlier the same judge had declared a mistrial in

the case. that is the legal wiggle room prosecutors are now trying to squeeze through. they argue once the judge declares a mistrial his role in the case was over. >> this is not double jeopardy. what we're doing is essentially placing this case in a posture it was at the moment that the judge declared the mistrial so we would be entitled to prosecute this case and that's essentially what we're doing now. >> reporter: russell barnes' phylicia's father spoke to us by phone last night. >> we're staying focused and keep our faith going and that we will get jus sis for phylicia. a would-be thief at a manassas company might have wished he'd picked a different target yesterday. a worker turned the tables on him at the place he was trying to rob. some employees at j.b. roy excavating were working late last night when the motion detector went off. one worker found someone inside a truck. the suspect took off, but the employee chase him down. despite being threatened with a

gun, the worker subdued him and held him for police. >> to know that we have employees that care a great deal about this company and that would go to that length for an incident like this is s something that i -- word can't express. >> this was the second time this month a company has been targeted by a thief. the suspect is 17. new details about the d.c. parents accused of leave tharg kids alone in a car while they attended a wine tasting. news4's pat lawson muse is at the live desk. >> wendy, jennie chang and christopher lucas are accused of leaving their two children in a locked car in foggy bottom. the children are just 1 and 2 years old. today we learned these details about the circumstances of this case. the children were left in that car for more than 45 minutes. video from the ritz-carlton shows the parents walked away at 3:44. police arrive at 4:36 and we now know it was only 35 degrees in that car when the children were

discovered. they had coats on but no hats. one child had no shoes or socks. the parents say they were monitoring the children with an iphone that they had left in the car. they are both now charged with attempted second-degree cruelty to children. the children are in the custody of family services. back to you, wendy. >> all right, pat muse. one of the hardest hit areas by yesterday's big storm in the northeast was worcester, mass. that's about 50 miles southwest of boston. you can see the situation from these poewes on social media. people deeming with more than 50 inches of snow. one of them captured it well saying entirely too much snow. yes indeed. >> we're down right balmy here compared to all that stuff, doug. >> yeah guys. we as meteorologists would love the see some of that snow. i talked to some of my meteorologist buddies around the boston region. they want to deliver us some of that snow. they said you could take about half of it. that would be about 20 inches in our area. nothing like that out there

today, though. take a look outside now. a very nice shot. sun went down at 5:32. as i mentioned earlier we've gain close to an hour in daylight since christmastime so we continue to gain about two minutes per day. so some good news there too. 37 degrees right now and temperatures will continue to fall but tonight's not going to be nearly as cold as last night. not talking act those windchills in the single digits or teens. tonight windchills may be in the low to mid-20s. i spoke with some kids down at the captain daly elementary school today. these are the kindergartens. this was my friend elijah doing a little weather with me earlier. look same suit. and there's the other half of the kid right here going from room to room. let me get out of the way so you can see them all. i want to say hi to them. thank you for having me out this afternoon. temperatures around the area 30 degrees in gaithersburg 35 in reston 32 at camp springs and 33 towards annapolis. so yes, we're chilly but we're not frigid. and i don't think we'll see any of those frigid numbers until the day on thursday.

overnight tonight, no problem, nothing on the radar. we're clear and will stay that way tonight. temperatures early tomorrow morning back into the 20s. coldest areas towards northern montgomery county 24 in gaithersburg 26 in fairfax, camp springs around the 28-degree mark. in through northern virginia fredericksburg coming in around 26 and warrenton and culpepper right around 26 27 degrees. yes, it will be chilly but we're not talking about that air that will move the thursday. wait till you see how cold we are then. sun and clouds breezy and warmer 45 to 50 degrees tomorrow. tomorrow is nice. thursday 34 for a high but falling temperatures. yes, we have a chance soft some light snow on thursday but that's it. no accumulation expected at all. it'll just be some conversational snow if that. we drop from 34 down to 17 early friday morning. that puts most of you in the suburbs down around 8, 9, 10 degrees so, very cold air on friday. then we get to saturday and sunday and again, i continue the to get questions, what about sunday what about monday? is this a big storm?

this is something we're going to be watching, still five days out. you know we will keep your eyes all over it over the next couple days right here from the storm center. right now it looks like a chance for a mixed bag coming up during the day on sunday. taking selfies likely contributed to that plane crash that killed two people in colorado. that is the findings by a national transportation safety board report which says a gopro recovered at the scene shows the pilot and his passenger taking pictures in flight. they say the flash went off at a low altitude and may have disoriented the pilot. that flight crashed last may. it was also a night flight. investigators say the pilot did not meet the requirements for night flight with passengers. > rap mogul suge knight fleeded not guilty today to murder charges. after the arraignment he complained of chest pains and was take on the hospital. he's accused of running over and killing two men in compton last week. he could face life in prison if convicted. no word on how he's doing.

bold thieves caught on camera targeting local drivers. warming their cars up for the morning rush hour. the news4 i-team undercover to show you the one thing that could make you an easy target. scott mcfarlane has more on his latest investigation. >> getting ready to drive to work our filling your car with gas, maybe you keep the car running to keep it warm inside. we're work ong a story for 11:00 tonight showing you just how dangerous it is to do so. the news4 i undercover as officers tracked would-be car thieves. they say the thieves were looking for empty cars with those telltale puffs oaf missions coming out of the tailpipe. cops call the cars puffers. a fast-moving group of local crooks try to capital tiz. >> in the winter months when it's particularly cold, people are rushing in the morning, getting their kid ready and go out and start their cars up to get them warm so they'll be comfortable for their family. once they come out, the cars are

gone. >> tonight at 11:00, some of the boldest and most daring of these crooks caught on camera at local gas stations and in local neighborhoods. wait till you see how easy it is to spot these puffer cars. also what some of the crooks are doing with the vehicles once they steal them. scott mcfarlane news4 i-team. >> thank you, scott. a cruise ship rushes back to baltimore. >> why hundreds of royal crib yal passengers say they're sick over the kayway things were handled. and a heroin epidemic is take deadly toll. how one family is handling heartbreak.

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a special ceremony on the hill to honor members of the greatest generation. members of the first special force were honored for their service during world war ii. a teary house speaker john boehner said they saved the free world and can now savor the triumph and share their stories for years to come. a baltimore-based cruise ship is back at sea after it returned a day early when 200 people got sick with something that appeared to be the norovirus norovirus. it was the royal caribbean's "grandeur of the seas" "grandeur of the seas." passengers expressed frustration with getting straight answers about the situation. >> we heard there were three peek sick then another person said it was over 100. >> honeymoon from hell. lost a lot of money, time sick.

i was happy to leave baltimore to go, you know to the islands and now i'm just happy to be home. >> the ship was quickly disinfected. royal caribbean said they returned early because a passenger had a medical emergency that required a land-based hospital. they never thought it would happen to them, a family shake on the core by the heroin epidemic. not everyone would speak publicly about it but a family in ohio is taking a different approach in an effort to save lives. nbc's brian hamerick explains. >> reporter: alex was born with a big family and dreams -- >> he was so smart. >> reporter: deven bigger. >> nobody could beat him on the golf course. nobody could beat him on the baseball field. nobody could beat him on the football field. he was the best. >> reporter: but he was changed by a force his parents describe as pure evil. >> it was a demon. it was heroin and it took over his life. >> it doesn't take more than one time with heroin.

one time you take it and you're out. >> reporter: it killed him last monday. >> nobody wanted it more than him, to get better, and it took over. it took over him. and it made him a different person. >> reporter: now alex's family is preparing for his funeral, watching his life flash before their eyes in dozens of pictures. but they're not keeping quiet about how he died taking the unusual step of mentioning it as part of obituary public in the paper. >> his brother, andrew and his sister allie wrote hi obituary and felt it necessary to let other people know that this drug kills. >> reporter: the obituary says in part "hopefully by making more people aware of alex's struggle we can shed some light on this devastating issue." >> it is an epidemic. it's worse. it's a plague. and it is blanking out an entire

generation. >> i don't know how we're going to stop this but it is an epidemic and we need somehow, some way to stop this. >> reporter: it's left an entire family fighting the demons of their son even after his death. >> our area isn't immune from this heroin epidemic. in maryland it is killing more people than ever before. governor larry hogan is about to declare a state of emergency. hogan's first state of the state address is tomorrow. coming up on our broadcast at 6:00, the king of jordan met with president obama at the white house today. one of the king's pilots was killed in a marbarbaric execution by isis. and some saying student's personal information was vulnerable online for years before it realized the problem just yesterday. and local police cracking down on squatters living in an expensive home. it is the second time police have raided that same house in

months. good evening. i'm jim vance. >> i'm doreen gentzler. we begin with breaking developments in the killing of a jordanian pilot. news4's handle hand is tracking new information from the white house and he's at our live desk with the latest. jim? >> doreen and jim, the king of jordan is meeting with president obama right now before he leaves to return to his grieving nation. king abdullah was in d.c. for a scheduled trip today when we learned that isis had executed a jordanian pilot they were holding hostage. we just got new pictures from the video isis released today. it shows the pilot on the day isis says he was burned alive. nbc news is not showing that video. his execution has led to public outrage in jordan angry crowds gathering in the capital of oman today. the jordanian army has vowed to avenge the death. meanwhile, the u.s. military says the execution just hardened its resolve