messerschmitt was found stabbed to death in the hotel and police have been looking for a person of interest for the last couple of months in the case. just last week his wife made a plea to the public looking for help. we've just learned an adult female was arrested this morning and is being question right now. our other big story at 6:00 a potential tipping point in the debate of gay rights and religious freedom. >> it has reached beyond indiana into presidential pol ficks now sports and the business world. >> today the governor of arkansas refused to sign his state's version of a religious freedom law that critics say could be used to discriminate against gays and lesbians. he was under pressure from walmart and from his own son not to sign it. indiana lawmakers are already rewriting the law that they passed last week. and tonight the coaches of the final four men's basketball team have released a joint statement saying, in part, each of us strongly supports the positions of the ncaa and our respective institutions on this matter that discrimination of any kind

should not be tolerated. nbc's jay gray is live in indianapolis where the final four is set to tip off this weekend. jay? >> reporter: hey there, doreen. yeah as you described, criticism growing tonight, lawmakers at the statehouse as well as in arkansas now rushing to find a fix to help perhaps ease the anger and attention to the issue right now. after watching the meltdown in indiana -- >> it's been a tough week here in the hoosiers week rnchsstate. >> reporter: -- in the wake of the new law. >> the issue has become divisive because our nation remains split. >> reporter: this afternoon, arkansas governor ace is hutchison looking to keep his state out of the fray sent a similar measure back to the legislature just days after saying he would sign the controversial bill. >> my position is clear. i've asked them to remedy it. i've asked them to change the

current law, and i've asked them to recall it and change the language. >> reporter: the move comes after a sternly worded message from the ceo of the nation's largest retailer arkansas-based walmart calling for hutchi sorn to veto the measure and as indiana state leaders -- >> this bill is completely flawed. >> reporter: -- now scramble to modify their new religious freedom act. >> i want to make it clear in the rfra law that the religious freedom restoration act does not give businesses the right to deny services to anyone. >> reporter: clarity he hopes to achieve by removing and rewording parts of the current measure to ensure business owners can't use the law to refuse services to gays and lesbians by citing religious beliefs. >> this is a completely self-inflicted wound. >> reporter: a wound that's still fresh after a convention and concert in the hoosiers state were canceled and as the final four now prepares to tip off here. yeah, and the national outrage over the issue may not end here.

nevada lawmakers set to take up their religious rights bill next week. that's the latest live in indianapolis, jay gray news4. >> jay, thank you. maryland governor larry hogan's office call it's a political stunt but a state senator is calling for a ban on state-funded travel to indiana. democrat senator richard madeleine know is openly gay married to a man. in the letter, the senator notes that a random waiter to refuse to wait on the hogans if he objected to the governor's wife's divorce. a spokesman says the governor stopped reading when the letter mentioned his wife. tonight a fairfax hospital is meeting with police agencies to make sure that a prisoner escape such as the one yesterday never happens again. a suspect overpowered a guard got out of the hospital and got all the way to southeast d.c. before he was caught. our darcy spencer is in fairfax county with more. darcy? >> reporter: jim, we'll have more on the statement that was just released by the hospital in

just a moment. first, we learned today more about where this suspect was hiding out during the massive manhunt. fairfax county homeowner confirms that he was apparent inside her house in the woods. she tells us why she thinks he picked her house. >> i know that they're heavily wooded, a good place to hide. >> reporter: apparently we're having some technical difficulties with that piece. but what we can tell you is the woman says that this suspect confirmed by police was at her house in fairfax county. we don't know for how much time yesterday. but apparently when he carjacked a vehicle he went ahead and drove that car into her garage at her home, and he was apparently trying to fix a tire. she went inside the house. she provided us photographs of some of the damage inside her

house where a window was broken, the door was broken, and apparently went inside also took some clothing. it was from that point that he ran into the wodods and stole another car. she's hoping he will face charges in connection with the break-in at her house. we mentioned a nova fairfax hospital released a statement late this afternoon. basically confirming they will continue to accept patients there who are being detained. here's what part of the statement says. we will continue to clinically care for patients under police protection and are meeting with the law enforcement agencies to ensure this type of event does not occur again. so they will continue to allow inmates to be treated at the hospital. they're going over things. again, they want to make sure nothing like this happens like what happened yesterday morning. back to you. >> darcy spencer, thank you. a virginia state senator is one of three people declared the newest enemies of the islamic state. senator richard black a vietnam

veteran and an isis magazine called him the american crusade crusader. >> i'm not easily earned. it is what it is. you know, that's the breaks. i've been out on the battlefield in vietnam many, many times, and so being here once again, been there, done that. >> a former cia official and former presidential candidate rick santorum are also on that isis list. senator black has been outspoken in his criticism of isis, and he's warned that if damascus falls the islamic state will take over syria and then jordan and lebanon as well. i'm chris lawrence at the live desk. the u.s. and iran have extended their talks for one more day as they try to hammer out a preliminary agreement to limit iran's nuclear program. just a few hours ago secretary of state john kerry finished meeting with iran's foreign minister in switzerland both were supposed to be headed home by now. u.s. officials say they don't

want to ignore the possibility of reaching an agreement, what's keeping the two sides apart? the u.s. is demanding that the initial deal has to lay out specific limits on what iran can do with its enriched uranium. iran wants more general terms the u.s. also wants to remove sanctions over time. iran wants them gone up front. the deadline for a final deal isn't until the end of june, but if nothing gets on the table right now there very likely will be no deal to make by then. at the live desk, chris lawrence. >> thanks chris. nearly a dozen people were taken to hospitals after a dump truck rear-ended a metro bus today. chopper 4 was over the scene that happened just a couple of hours ago on new hampshire avenue in the white oak area of montgomery county. we're told no one was seriously injured. investigators are still trying to figure out just what caused that accident. an 8-year-old boy with a curiosity about fire is thought to be responsible for a fire that displaced dozens of people in suitland, maryland.

prince george's county bureau chief tracee wilkins now with the bigger issue of kids playing with fire. tracee? >> reporter: jim, this happened at the capital crossing apartment building here in suitland. as you can see behind me it started on the first floor apartment then the damage just made its way up. as you said, dozens of people now displaced because of what this boy did and fire officials say it's not as uncommon as one may think. >> if's a natural curiosity about >> reporter: fire investigators say that may have been what led to an 8-year-old boy playing with a lighter and setting his apartment on fire. >> it's not uncommon to have juvenile fire setters, especially around his age. >> reporter: but frank conversation may make the difference. and especially if they are males. >> if you notice your child has a mere curiosity about fire, talk to them about it, explain to them the good things fire does and explain to them also the dangers that fire brings with it.

>> reporter: everyone made it out of this fire safely. red cross is back on the scene today helping folks find some place to live. the child responsible was cited and now will get some help. >> we have a program called juvenile fire setters, a counseling type service, intervention. that family is invited to attend. or you could be referred to it which is in this case what's going to happen. >> reporter: again brady says this kind of behavior is more common in young males than young girls but it's worth having the conversation if you have a child who you think has an issue with this. back to you in the studio. firefighters in clinton had their hands full battling this house fire today, started in the kitchen in a home. the fire spread to the outside of the house, igniting some brush. six people live in this home. they were able to get out safely, all of them but the fire did a lot of damage to their home. a show of unity tonight at duke university after a hateful

symbol was found on campus. somebody hung a noose outside a building that houses the center for sexual and gender diversity and the center for multicultural affairs. a school official called it hateful and stupid. students are holding a rally on the steps of duke chapel. the focal point of the campus in durham north carolina. an e-mail from the university president says the school has been jilted by several racial incidents in recent weeks. developing tonight, nbc news has learned that democratic u.s. senator bob menendez plans to step down as the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee. it comes just hours after he was indicted on more than a dozen federal corruption charges. the indictment contains 14 counts including bribery and conspiracy. menendez is accused of using his office to improperly benefit a florida eye doctor. menendez maintains he did nothing wrong and has scheduled a news conference for 7:00 p.m.

new at 6, a virginia lawmaker is under fire and has charges against him dropped. we'll tell you why he still might not be able to run for office. wounded warriors from across the nation gathered here in d.c. today. their message on the steps of the lincoln memorial. the news4 i-team getting results. action that could change the way sex assaults are investigated inside a local national guard unit. we're looking good across the area, toward reston, not many clouds in the sky at all. today 50s and 60s, tomorrow we say hello to the 70s.

>> announcer: you're watching news4 at 6. tonight, we have learned that the person shot at the national security agency gate had a criminal record. ricky hall was charged with assaulting a woman back in 2013 and then last year charged with robbery for stealing clothes from a store. a friend of hall's tells the associated press that hall was transgender and worked as a prostitute in baltimore. a man picked hall up that night, took her to a hotel in howard county. but then hall stole that man's car and then tried to drive it past a checkpoint at the nsa. tonight reaction that could lead to big changes in west virginia following a news4 i-team investigation.

tisha thompson showed us how some women in the west virginia national guard say they faced retaliation when they tried to come forward with their stories of sexual harassment and rape. tisha is here with reaction from the state lawmaker who saw that story. tisha? >> doreen, last week we introduced you to lieutenant colonel teresa james the highest ranking guard member to come forward with a rape allegation in the country since the guard started tracking these crimes in 2012. she says she waited six years before reporting her rape fearing her 34-year career with the west virginia national guard would be destroyed, which she says is exactly what happened. >> her career was ruined and that she is being forced into retirement that is not what should happen to a victim. >> reporter: west virginia delegate barbara flesh ire was alarmed when our investigation revealed the state's national guard unit doesn't have a way to criminally punish soldiers accused of rape and sexual assault.

>> according to lieutenant colonel james there's no procedure for cart martialourt mashltting in wave wf. >> reporter: the i-team found most rules do not apply to national guard units across the country because they are state militias, which must follow their state laws. when we spoke with the head of the west virginia national guard, james hoyer, he insisted lieutenant colonel james was not retaliated against and did not think west virginia needed to change the state's uniform code of military justice. >> we don't have a criminal investigation division so we have to rely on our civilian law enforcement partners who have the experience who have the crime labs, who have all those things in place. so i think right now based on what we have and the relationship we have with our folks in the civilian court system and law enforcement, we've got the tools we need.

>> reporter: the statute of limitations in lieutenant colonel james' case ran out. california lawmakers just eliminated their statute of limitations for rape in the military. one of several state that's have recently overhauled their laws to protect service members from sex assault. delegate flash our wants west virginia to be next. in response to our investigation she's introduced house concurrent resolution 155. it has 14 co-sponsors and creates a special committee to study what she calls a very complicated issue. so the house can craft a sex assault bill to prevent retaliation and properly prosecute offenders. she fears if they don't do something now, it could lead to a dangerous problem inside the guard for future rape survivors. >> well if they hear about what happened to lieutenant colonel james, they won't come forward. >> the west virginia national guard says james' attacker resigned from the guard. to see why some say that was sust a controversial outcome, check out our series on our app nbc

washington in the investigations section. tisha thompson news4 i-team. >> thank you. doug is here with a look at our weather. things seem to be looking up around here. >> we're turning a corner. >> good. >> you know why that's good for me? because i finally have good news to talk about. >> you can stop wearing your disguise when you go places. >> and you guys can smile at me when i come up. you guys are my friends again. thanks. it's been cold over there in the corner. let's look and show you how things are because, again, we have seen beautiful weather all across our area. look at that, just a great shot right now. not just sunshine, not just mild temperatures, but we're starting to see the leaves on the trees, starting to see the flowers start to bloom, even the cherry blossoms. we can see them. they're right around the corner. current temperature sitting at 60, winds out of the north at about 7 miles per hour. around the rest of the area, 55 in gaithersburg, 61 in frederick, 63 in culpeper luray and charlottesville and 54 along the chesapeake and river.

nothing on the radar, dry over the next 24 hours or so. our next chance of rain comes on friday. tomorrow as far as the driving impact goes, no real impact from the weather. cool to start, 42 degrees, with some sunshine. by tomorrow evening, look at this 70 degrees between 4:00 and 7:00. nice and warm, put those wind doughs down in the car, take that drive. it will be a nice one. only factor tomorrow will be a little bit of wind. satellite and radar showing a few clouds trying to stream on in but they're getting out of here quickly. most of the east coast is on the dry siefd. chicago right now 72 degrees, minneapolis minnesota, 82 degrees. they're seeing the warm air, and that warmer air makes its way our way tomorrow and into friday. friday, the next chance of rain here's friday at 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. sorry. just a few showers located around 6:00 a.m. see what happen whz it gets bad? you start to cough again. there we go with shower activity around 9:00 also some showers

down toward southern maryland. but not an all-day rain. we'll be a-okay from that. future weather picking up on cloud cover during the day but later on we get a-okay, too. vance, thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> i'll take the glass. >> thanks buddy. >> anything else i can do? >> can i get ribs? right now, nice and warm. friday at 5:00 p.m. we've got that front moving through and we do have showers, maybe a rumble of thunder or two during the day, too. highs tomorrow 70 degrees 72 in fredericksburg, 67 in frederick and again we have plenty of sunshine during the day tomorrow. warm and breezy, impact forecast up to 67 at 1 dlk, 70 at 3:00, warm and breezy. but again, not bad to get outside. on friday, isolated showers during the day but not all day. 75 on friday we cool on saturday a high of 55. only 63 degrees on sunday right around average for easter and opening day for the nationals looks great with a high

temperature of 67. next chance of rain tuesday and wednesday. but, hey, we're still above average. i'd like to change my order. can i get wings instead, please? >> give him an inch and they want a foot. my goodness. we'll see doug. coming up tonight, uber cannot compete with cabs at local airports but that might be changing. and it's one of the most common crimes on d.c. streets. the new video tonight that could

the ceo of lufthansa airlines visited the site of last week's germanwings plane crash today. carson spore laid a wreath at the memorial in the french alps. he spoke briefly to reporters but refused to answer questions about an e-mail co-pilot andreas lubitz sent in 2009 saying that lubitz had severe depression. lubitz is believed to have intentionally crashed the plane into the alps killing all 150 people on board. a show of support for wounded veterans today. hundreds of supporters of the wounded warrior project gathered on the front steps of the lincoln memorial. the organization says the current generation of wounded veterans faces enormous challenges and should not have to do it alone. today they asked for the public's help in finding solutions. one supporter of the mission was badly burned in the 9/11 attack at the pentagon.

>> our veterans face significant challenges in mental health, recovering physically, economic empowerment issues, transition to the new career and working from a status of surviving to thriving. >> for information on how you can help, we invite you to visit nbcwashington.com and search "wounded warrior". customer service at the internal revenue service is abysmal according to the man who runs that agency. john koskinen is the irs commissioner and in a speech yesterday he said more than $1 billion has been slashed from his budget in the past five years. koskinen estimates the government has lost $2 billion in revenue because there are fewer audits and he says 60% of the taxpayers who call the irs cannot reach anyone to help them. he calls that an abysmal level of service. coming up at 6:00, a battle between history and a push to ease traffic jams. a local road project not dead

yet but adam tuss reports why it is now a long shot. punishment for the substitute teacher charged with fondling middle school students. why his plea deal almost fell through in court today. loudoun county where fuzz 4 has lerped the death of a baby rushed from this townhouse to the hospital last october has been ruled a homicide. why that baby's father is not be

i'm chris lawrence at the live desk. more breaking news in the murder of a capitol hill lawyer at the donovan hotel. we have learned not only who police have arrested for that murder but what led them to her as well. her name is area mira goumen. she's a 21-year-old woman from southeast d.c. there you see the victim, attorney david messerschmitt. police say they arrested goumen this afternoon and charged her with first degree murder in his death. he was found stabbed in the thomas circle hotel back in february. now, sources tell news4 goumen went to that hotel to have sex with messerschmitt. she met him online and they had a series of correspondence online. that is what helped lead detectives to her. they arrested her this morning. the only thing that's not clear is if the woman who is seen in that surveillance video we've been watching actually is goumen. news4 shomari stone is on the

gather more information. he'll have an update at 11:00 and we'll be pushing out any alerts we get on this case on our nbc washington app. for now, i'm chris lawrence. first on 4 tonight, we have learned that the death of a baby from leesburg virginia, last fall has now been ruled a homicide. >> news4 started tracking this case in october when we learned the death was considered suspicious. tonight, even though the cause of death is known no charges have been filed. here's northern virginia bureau chief julie carey. >> reporter: rest in paradise devin is the title of the facebook page the baby's mother created after her daughter died last fall. this is the leesburg townhouse where devin alice was being cared for by her father last october 3rd the day he tells police she fell ill while he was feeding her. the 9-month-old was first taken to a local hospital, then airlifted to children's national medical center. she died on october 5th. we've been following the case ever since, especially after we

found this search warrant affidavit in the case suggesting the death was suspicious. the court document reports children's hospital doctors found devin had injuries consistent with blunt force trauma and that the baby had multiple broken ribs, some appeared to be old injuries. the family could quote not provide a valid explanation for why the injuries had occurred. the family told police her ribs were broken because she likes to hit herself in the chest. now we've learned the district of columbia medical examiner has ruled devin's death as a homicide, that she suffered blunt force impact head trauma. a big question remains, though. who injured devin and caused her death? no charges have been filed yet in the case. when we contacted leesburg police about the homicide finding, they issued a statement saying, a thorough and complete investigation is being conducted. however, we have not received the official written report from the office of the chief medical examiner. the baby's mother lives here in winchester, a relative tells me

that a week ago monday she and devin's father welcomed a new baby into the world, another little girl. but news4 has learned a protective order has been filed at this courthouse that, for now prevents the baby's father from seeing the child. in winchester, virginia, julie carey news4. a special honor today for one of d.c.'s finest. earlier today maryland congressman elijah cummings presented officer dorian desant desanttoes with the congressional badge of bravery, the officer whose shot took down the gunman at the navy yard shooting. after receiving the award, he says he's merely the keeper of the award for all of his fellow service members who step into the line of fire every day. 12 people were killed when a navy contractor opened fire two years ago. a man who once worked as a substitute teacher in cumberland county is facing prison time after he pled guilty to child sex abuse. his name is jose pineda accused

of inappropriately touching four girls at three separate middle schools where he worked. prosecutors say the principal at one of those schools knew about an incident more than a decade earlier but never reported it. that principal has since retired. >> the school system, the police department, and my office are working collaboratively to try to make sure that what happened in mr. pineda's case does not occur again. >> as part of his plea, pineda will face up to five years in prison. he might also be deported and he'll be on the sex offender's registry for rest of his life. it's one of the largest ever drug seizures and cash seizures in loudoun county history. it happened yesterday at the marriott at dulles town center in sterling. it followed a three-month-long investigation. two suspects are in custody this afternoon along with cocaine, heroin marijuana, pcp ecstasy and $60,000 in cash. the suspects are from new york and connecticut.

the question is whether to build a new road to handle growing congestion or preserve history. conflict over that question is one reason the new bi-county parkway in northern virginia has been put on hold. the proposed ten-mile roadway would connect prince william and loudoun counties. our trps reportadam tuss has more. >> reporter: jim, this is turning out to be one ever the most controversial road projects in the entire region. it's putting the manassas battlefield and the traffic that goes along with it right in the middle. majestic. beautiful. full of history. but also full of traffic. future development clashing with the past. >> we're always adding more houses and people and the road improvements are always following too far behind in my opinion. >> reporter: part of the proposed solution to congestion here would be to build a parkway connecting loudoun and prince william counties, a sthait shot

from 66 to dulles airport. as partd of the deal, some roads like the intersection of lee highway and sudly would have to close. it was on this battlefield that stonewall jackson was given his name. it's the battle of bull run. but this is the intersection that planners are talking about shutting down so that the bi-county parkway can go through. pastor bath mitchell is the senior pastor at this church that dates back to the 1700s. he says if small roads shut down to allow the parkway to go through, his church won't make it. >> it's like cutting off your oxygen really. what would happen to a business if it depended on the traffic going by and suddenly the traffic is not going by there? >> reporter: others claim the bi-county parkway won't help congestion, rather hurt it because the road will just bring more development. now, again, if you want to check out exactly where this road rub

runs it oes on our nbc washington app. you can see it now. doreen, back to you. >> adam, thank you. uber has a temporary fix that's supposed to help people who want to use the ride sharing service to get home from fwo local airports wmau radio reports that the app will show drivers where airport property ends. and when a rider puts in a request, a driver will be put into virtual queues at reagan national and dulles. right now only taxis are allowed to wait outside airport terminals. uber says it's working with the airport authority on a long-term solution. one uber driver in new york city was verbally abused by a police detective. we'll report how the department is responding to this new very well phone video. >> reporter: it's a national network of thieves targeting moms in the middle of the day, going after their personal checks and using disguises to cash them. i'm david culver in fairfax county. coming up, we'll tell you who

experts say are behind the crimes. temperatures in january, february, and march were well below average. we already know that. but here's the good news. april is starting off above average. we'll talk about the warmer weather moving in and talk about that one cool day as well in my forecast in a few minutes..

a man was caught on video during a robbery outside a building in northwest d.c. last week. the guy appears to snatch a woman's cell phone and then run away. this happened at 11:30 at night last wednesday. building surveillance got a good view of the guy's face. if you know him, you're asked to call police. tonight the felony charges against a former virginia delegate have been dismissed, but his run for the state senate is still in jeopardy. a judge threw out the forgery charges against joe morsi today saying a plea bargain signed after a sex scandal absolves

himful related crimes. he was found guilty of having sex with a 17-year-old girl who worked at his law office. she had a baby recently no word on the father. morrissey resigned his state delegate seat to run for the state senate, but the democratic party now says he didn't submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the primary. morrissey is promising to fight that decision. the new nationals baseball season starts this weekend, right here. there's a charity game on saturday and the opener on monday against the mets. tom sherwood took a preview tour today of what fans can expect on game days this year. >> reporter: the most obvious change, new metal detection gates for fans mandated by major league baseball. inside, racing presidents teddy engaged in his own security battle promoting "star wars" day for july 19th, one of the on and off-the-field attractions this year.

its attention to detail like the nats 100,000 square feet of new grass for the players, new clothing lines for military and college fans, and special beer among other attractions targeting individuals, families and ticket buyers at any price range. >> we continue to make sure that we have very affordable seatss available at every game, $5 tickets every game. >> reporter: but there are high-tech tablets for ordering food and merchandise in every luxury suite, including the new club 24 a season ticket table for four here goes for up to $95,000. nationals fan mike hill of northern virginia is a former orioles fan. he was checking on tickets and parking for opening day, surprised that ten years of nats baseball. >> i just saw all the merchandise, i didn't realize it had been ten years. i love it. i grew up an orioles fan. when i found out the nats were coming, i think cal rip ken retire nd 2003, and i made the transition. i feel nothing for the orioles

anymore. >> reporter: in the district, tom sherwood, news4. police call them the felony lane gang. new at 6:00, david culver shows us who these thieves are and how they're targeting moms in virginia. dramatic steps to fight a drought in california. how some businesses a

. >> announcer: you're watching news4 at 6. i don't know where you're coming from or where you think you're appropriate in doing that. that doesn't -- that's not the way it works! how long have you been in this country? >> a new york city cop is on what is called modified duty now

after verbally abusing an uber driver. the passenger in that car recorded this video. it has since gone viral. our new york station has learned that the detective in this video is part of the city's joint terrorism task force. they say he had apparently just visited a critically wounded fellow officer before this incident. a national gang network is moving into our area looking for moms who are out on their regular errands. crooks are hoping to empty their bank accounts. northern virginia bureau reporter david culver shows us who thieves are recruiting to get this easy cash. >> reporter: it's quick and easy. using a device similar to what's shown in this youtube vivid yoe demonstration, a gang of thieves are targeting moms who leave their purses in cars. >> they're surveilling day care seshts centers, shopping centers where

people pull in to park for a few minutes or hours. >> reporter: louis griever retired fbi is consulting with the winyard group tracking the felony lane gang. >> the perpetrators try to take advantage of the check or checks that might be in that purse or wallet. >> reporter: the name comes from drive-through bank lanes like this one behind me. the suspect will pull up, then try to cash the victim's check using a second victim's i.d. the whole time trying to keep as far from the teller as possible. >> go to extremes to try to camouflage how they look. i've heard of wigs and masks and that kind of thing. >> find a woman, a drug addict or prostitute, that kind of resembles the victim. >> reporter: in the past ten years, the gang spread from south florida northward, make its way into our region. >> you take a step back and all of a sudden this is a criminal organization defrauding people and the american taxpayer of tens to $100 million. >> reporter: louis warns even after you close your checking account banks suffer because of

the lag time. >> the banks have to make a balancing act of convenience against security. >> reporter: the gang is in 34 states currently and growing. in fairfax county david culver, news4. there continues to be a serious drought in california and today the governor of that state ordered mandatory water restrictions for the first time in that state's history. now some bars in san francisco are trying to do their part. they're offering discounts to customers who order their drinks with no ice. one of the owners says it is a drop in the bucket, but perhaps it will inspire others to start thinking about conserving water. pretty nice day for a stroll along the tidal basin today. we're just starting to see signs of pink down there the cherry blossom florets are starting to bloom. the park service says heyou can see the pink blossoms on 70% of the trees. they're still saying the best

time to see the blossoms will be april 11th through the 14th when they expect them to be in peak bloom. things do seem to be looking up around here when we get a nice day like this and we're starting to see the cherry blossoms come out. spring is almost here. >> and a lot of other trees are already blooming. actually allergies are high right now as far as that's concerned. we've got the nice weather finally, and i think we've got a very nice streak here over the next seven days. that will help the cherry blossoms tremendously. look at this shot out towards reston town center. looking from our reston live camera. no tysons corner looking out there from the area around reston town sterntcenter, up to the east. it will be a very pretty picture coming up. we do have some green along the tidal basin a couple of trees are starting to flower, bloom just a little. 60 degrees the current number 59 by 7:00, dropping to 53 by

11:00. it will be a cool night tonight but a very nice night, 58 in rockville, 56 in bowie, croften, reston herndon sterling around 56 57 degrees. take a look at these numbers. 83 in omaha. it is 82 in minneapolis minnesota. much warmer there. we have yet to see 80 degrees in our region. those will try to move our way. we won't get quite there. we are talking about some warm weather, though. tomorrow 47 cool, breezy at 1:00, lots of sunshine clouds in of the afternoon but temperatures around 70 degrees by 5:00. then by friday 75 degrees. i think we'll see shower activity but we're not talking about all-day rain on friday. maybe some showers early and then maybe a chance of a thunderstorm late in the day. this weekend back down to 55. this will be the only day we're seeing cool weather, saturday.

a shower is possible early, most lineally before 8:00 a.m., breeze dwri cold for of the easter egg hunts in the morning, by the afternoon 63, not bad. opening day, 67 game time 4:05 as we take on the mets at nats park. looking very good here, look at the temperature, 67 at 4:05, 63 in the seventh inning, last out coming up 60 degrees. pretty good forecast for opening day. >> we like it. sports coming up. we're going to tell you who the terps men's team says will be back next year. also, george mason's new coach wants to take his team back to the final four.

>> announcer: this is the xfinity sports desk brought to you by xfinity your home for the most live sports. heather who is diana's producer, wrote this really cool tease about what's happening with the maryland's men's team. i didn't read it. >> i read it. >> i was giving her the props. i'm not reading it now. >> heather wrote it. i'm kidding. >> it's really cool. what did you say, terps fans are staying mellow as mellow stays. you go, heather. >> she's good. she's also a terps fan. >> there you go. >> i just said are the terps about go going to be good this year? they're going to be great. they say. ever since they lost to west virginia, everything else for the terps has been a win the this past week one of the best

recruits diamond stone committed to maryland. and today mellow trimble has officially i'd zooided to return to college park. this was the message on the terps' facebook page. trimble says he's excited about spending another year with his teammates and building on what they accomplished this year. trimble led the term terps in scoring this year with 16 points per game. in fairfax, dave poulsen introduced as the new men's basketball coach at george mason university. he's got some experience. i caught up with the new man in charge, and the first thing i had to ask him, why george mason? >> i think the immediate draw was 2016. the immediate draw is, wow this is what can be accomplished.

that's very much on my mind. >> reporter: since then there's sort of been a little frustration because fans got a little taste of what george mason can do. how do you plan to bring them back? >> i think the first thing is you build a team they can rally around. you're not always going to the final four but you'd like every fan to say, that team played hard, they played together they played smart. they were fundamentally sound. that's a group of guys we can rally around. >> reporter: you've got three daughters? >> yes. >> reporter: three daughters and you coach men all day long. is that a nice balance to go home to a bunch of women? >> well, you could say it's a nice balance to leave home to coach the men. it's easier to coach 14 college-age men than the three daughters in my life ki telli can tell you that. nothing is more rewarding than the time with my daughters. >> i think i caught him off guard, but he spoke the truth. >> i like it.

>> absolutely. >> he's like speeding to practice. those fairfax police better be ready. it was interesting to see because everyone remembers that 2006 run. that's all anyone wants to talk about. he really wants to build again based off that, those memories. >> we would love to see that again, this whole town was just jacked up. >> especially right now feeling the final four coming up. wizards back at the verizon center to host the sixers. philly one of the worst teams in the league. the wiz have lost five of their last six. good news, though. kris humphries is back. he's been out for over a month. he's been able to watch and see what this team needs. >> we've got to just kind of continue to get back to where we're playing aggressive "d," being physical, using what our strength is our size and mentality in the post. i think it starts with that dominance of people not wanting to mix it up with us. >> the mentality is come to angry and play really hard to prepare ourself because we have a lot of things to do.

they don't have nothing. they don't play for nothing right now. caps taking their team photo as they get ready for their final road trip of the season. the team in a good mood after last night's 4-2 win over carolina. a game that showed a milestone. for the caps it's all about the playoffs and making sure they get in by playing well. >> you know what? anything you earn you appreciate a lot more than when someone gives it to you. you really do. for everything in life, you know, you give a 16-year-old a brand-new car, they don't appreciate it as much as if they have to work for it. there's my real-life parallel for you. i keep going back to those, the marriage and the real-life parallels. >> it's true. that's why you start off with a bad car.

"n

on this wednesday night, cheating scandal. one of the biggest in american history. teachers and administrators found guilty of secretly changing test scores for thousands of students raising questions about the pressure not just on students but on teachers to measure up. running out of water, the worst drought in a thousand years. tonight, an unprecedented crackdown. millions of homeowners and businesses ordered to cut back in a big way. is it for real? the alleged video recording of the final seconds onboard that plane as the airline's boss refuses to answer our questions. and severe outbreak. massive hailstorms, hail the size of baseballs. tonight, how they formed so big as a big part of the country faces a dangerous night ahead. "nightly news" begins now.