this is not your average investigation. we have multiple scenes. we have many victims and it will take time. we cannot rule anything out. >> back here in our area, president obama ordered flags to be flown in half-staff in honor of the victims. you can see them at the white house and the u.s. capitol lowered earlier today. >> president obama spoke with the mayor of san bernardino and told them the entire nation is thinking of that community right now. >> speaking earlier today at the oval office he made some brief comments about what we know about the shooting and also called for action. >> it is possible that this was terrorist related, but we don't know. it's also possible that it was workplace related. as the investigation moves forward it will be important for all of us, including our legislatures to see what we can do to make sure that when

individuals decide they want to do somebody harm we'll make it harder for them to do it because right now it's just too easy. >> we have team coverage tonight from california, to northern virginia and the district from the renewed calls to change our gun laws to what we are learning about the victims, and the impact of this mass shooting being felt across the country and in our region, too. and i'm meagan fitzgerald at the live desk where we are learning more about some of the victims killed in the attack. 57-year-old nicholas thalasinos was a health inspector. we spoke to her wife jennifer, her husband was a man of deep faith and passionate about politics. 37-year-old michael wetzel was a father of six who was a health inspector supervisor, and a sister has just confirmed that sierra clayborn was also killed. her family is not yet ready to

release any more information. we also just obtained this picture of daniel kaufman. his boyfriend says he also worked at the renaissance pleasure fair for 16 years. his uncle told knbc that his family is devastated and that daniel was a good person who was loved by so many. >> as more names come in we will bring them to you and try and tell you as much about those stories as we can. in the aftermath of that shooting, gun control advocates renewing their calls for change, in northern virginia, it coincides with a big gun show that is there this weekend. news 4's david culver continues our live team coverage from the prince william county fairgrounds. david? >> reporter: hi there, meagan. it's called the manassas gun show and the vendors are essentially going to be setting up according to the promoter of the event on 175 tables for gun

buyers to browse through. the vendors will be here tomorrow and it will start on saturday and continued on sunday. it's been scheduled for month, but it's timing after the most recent mass shooting had some gun control advocates pushing for changes. >> we need to change the gun laws and need to make it much more difficult for people difficult people to get their hands on more weapons. >> the fact of the matter is that gun control as a matter of public policy has failed miserably whenever it's been implemented. >>. >> reporter: clearly a very divisive issue. this gun show may attract a lot of customers. there were more background checks on this past black friday than any other single day on record. more than 185,000, that is up 5% from black friday last year. and there are some 300 million firearms in the u.s. that's roughly the population most of them are used legally.

tens of millions of americans do not own guns and we should point out our affiliate in richmond caught up with governor terry mcauliffe today and he had some harsh words for those who are opposing gun control. i'm going to share some of those with you when we join you at 6:00. for now, jim, let's send it back to you. >> thanks so much. the massacre in california is just the latest in what's already an alarming trend in our country when it comes to mass shootings. here in our area you'll recall just two years ago when a gunman opened fire killing a dozen people at the navy yard in 2007, the deadliest mass shooting in modern history when a man killed 32 people on the campus of virginia tech. they put the total at 2013 at 355, meaning we've had more mass shootings than days so far this year. those numbers include six in just the past week alone. despite that, gun sales are on the rise. take a look at this. again, david mentioned, black

friday, the fbi says it had more than 185,000 requests for background checks to buy guns and that's more than any other single day in recorded history. perhaps the most staggering stat out there today, there is an estimated 300 million firearm owners right now. the u.s. nearly, enough for every single person in this country. nbc news has a deeper look at the gun issue and its shootings including how our nation compares with other countries worldwide. to get behind those numbers go to our nbc washington app and search shooting stats. d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton says the district remains the most secure city in the united states. norton met earlier today with the heads of the fbi washington field office and the u.s. capitol police. she said reported decisions by some schools to postpone trips here to the capitol over security concerns are in her words, misguided. a muslim civil rights group

is calling for more police protection at a virginia mosque after a threat of deadly violence. the caller referenced the california shooting in a voicemail left yesterday. his group, will do to your people what you did to them. the council on american islamic relations on calling on police and the fbi to investigate that threat as a hate crime. the images from the streets of san bernardino show the police response. the investigation, and we've posted some of the photos of the police efforts that day in the washington app. search streets of san bernardino. >> the sun did make a comeback after days and days of rain. boy, did we need this. >> we did. the national treelighting ceremony happens tonight, as you know. a lot of people are outside and it's kind of chilly out there, doug. >> it's chilly. i'll tell you what, for the tree lighting and it's some of the best weather that we've had over the past four to five years. temperatures on the cool side and the wind is blowing and we have a bit of a windchill.

40 degrees and 35, gaithersburg and 42 down toward the fredericksburg area and it will be a chilly night tonight and temperatures will dip quickly as we move into the overnight hours and today windy and on the cool side for sure and lots of sunshine over the next couple of days and after all of the cloud weise saw and we need more vitamin d and we'll get it tomorrow and we'll talk about the weekend forecast and let you know which way temperatures go and i've got you coming up at 5:25. >> the now the national tree lighting is taking place the white house. there is a live look at president obama and the first family just about to flip the switch, we hear. >> it's always a big, vent. this is happening at the ellipse. the treelighting first started in 1923. it was originally a project by the d.c. public schools and it has grown so much larger now. back in those days president

calvin coolidge lit a 48-foot fir tree decorated with 48 colored bulbs sdwloo actress reese witherspoon is hosting this year's events. the musical performances include fallout boy and crosby, stills and nash. because of the road closures for the lighting the mood isn't quite as festive outside on the roads. transportation reporter adam tuss is out there in that mess on the sidelines watching it out on 14th and pennsylvania. adam, how are we looking so far? not pretty so far. >> why is it i always get stuck outside in the mess? i can't be inside looking at the tree, but outside, yeah. a lot of people forget every year that the roads close down right around rush hour every year when this event happens and then we get this, absolute gridlock. this is 14th street right at pennsylvania avenue. take a look, all of the way down. of course, this road is always a bad spot, but you add in the road closures and it just compounds the fact and these

road closures out here stay in place until 9:00 tonight. >> like clockwork at the stroke of 2:00 p.m. the road closures kicked into high gear. d.c. security presence definitely noticeable and that's likely by design. for drivers trying to get back from manassas, a slow roll. >> did you know that they would be shutting the roads down here? not at all. >> we get home early. >> as soon as the road closures started the traffic did build up and been and debbie from bethesda trying to keep a good attitu attitude. >> has it been bad? >> this is pretty bad. >> we came across from dupont circle and the whole thing. >> from dupont circle it's a mess? >> pretty much. >> reporter: patience getting home tonight. and back out here now live as you take a look at 14th street all of the way down to independence avenue and they

have 15th and 17th street closed and parts of constitution closed and if you're coming through here, be patient again and the road closures are in place until 9:00 tonight. back to you guys. >> thank you, adam tuss. you know that dog that stood guard over its owner after a fire is banned in prince george's county. now we are learning what could happen to the pit bull that's in a shelter right now. plus women will be allowed to serve in the military in ways they never have before. we'll tell you about the historic decision. this is chris gordon at the police trial.

court for the family of freddie gray. jurors in the trial for a police officer charged in gray's death got an up-close look at the police transport van where his neck was broken. news 4's chris gordon joins us live in baltimore with more on the videos played in the courtroom today. chris? >> well, doreen, the courtroom was filled with the sound of freddie gray screaming. on the witness stand, brandon ross, his friend who said gray was like a brother to him. they were together on april 12th and ross took the cell phone

video that was played for the jury. he said he took it to show how police treated freddie gray when he was arrested. >> two videos showing freddie gray being arrested on april 12th were played for the jury in court by prosecutors. freddie gray's mother left the courtroom in tears escorted by family members. >> the jury got to view the police van which was towed to the courthouse. jurors asked no questions. >> officer porter's lawyers contend that freddie gray was crazy, although he weighed only 132 pounds, he was shaking the van, hitting his head against the wall. that's when they say he was injured. >> the van will become a very important piece of evidence because that's where everything took place. that's where officer porter and freddie gray had conversations with him. >> earlier in the day half a dozen police witnesses testified for the prosecution. john buildheimer says he taught

the defendant, officer william porter at the police academy that the general orders require officers to secure an arrestee with a seatbelt. prosecutors contend, porter didn't belt him in leading to gray's fatal injury inside the van. >> someone is locked up or in a van that's a criminal they still need to be taken care of in an emergency situation. >> reporter: some members of the baltimore community are attending this trial and they say they want to see it for themselves and ahead you'll hear who they think, which side the prosecution or defense is making the strongest case so far. that's the latest live at the baltimore courthouse. back to you. >> thank you, chris. one of every 20 federal prisoners released by the feds last month in the landmark release was from the d.c. area. the bureau of prisons released 6,000 inmates on halloween.

164 will return to live in virginia, 92 in maryland, 14 to d.c. the u.s. government tried to ease prison overcrowding to reduce sentences for some drug offenders. the motives are still unclear, but tonight we've learned that yesterday's attack in southern california could have been far worse. right now investigators are going through a massive amount of evidence found at the center where the initial shootings occurred as well as the shootout with police and at the suspect's home. we get the latest now from nbc's gina kim. she's live in san bernardino. gina? >> reporter: hi there, jim. we were able to move closer to the scene of the attack yesterday and you can see the inland regional center behind me and all of the unmarked cars. all of the cars stranded in there by the employees and staff who had to flee real quick. anyway, it's still very much an active investigation scene. now, what we learned from the police briefing this morning, very shocking. this thing was so much more

complicated than we had feared yesterday. these two suspects fired 65 to 75 rounds at the center. then they fired about 76 rounds at police officers during the chase and then on top of that they discovered that they had 1400 rounds of ammo in the car with them or on their bodies and when they went to their homes they had thousands more and then also 12 pipe bombs, and they were also -- they had the tools to make ieds, so this is serious stuff, lots of thought and planning in the making and they're now thinking this was supposed to be a lot bigger than it was supposed to be yesterday. so it might have been a little bit of a mixed blessing that they were able to stop these guys a few hours after the attacks. another thing that we're learning is that the male suspect syed farook had -- may have been an extremist in his islamist views because the fbi was watching some people of

interest in los angeles that had jihadist views and farook was known to associate with them. >> all right. jinah kim reporting from san bernardino. thank you, jinah. a big change in policy for the u.s. military. starting next month, all combat jobs will be open to women. there are 20,000 roles only open to men. they include special operations, driving tanks and leading infantry soldiers into combat. ash carter said our force of the future must continue to benefit from the best america has to offer. he said that includes women and carter gave the different branches of the military 30 days to come up with plans to accomplish that. ♪ ♪ first-place redskins. >> has a ring to it, right? >> it's a dallas week, too. carol maloney is live in redskins park. you have to imagine that the

guys are pretty pumped up for this one, carol. >> stop me if you've heard this before. the redskins locker room, more energetic and lively than we've seen it all season, and i know i've said that before, but it's true. it's amping up and it's dallas week and the guys' energy in motion knowing what's at stake. >> the good teams know starting in november, every game is like a one-playoff game week and i'm looking forward to seeing what the rivalry is like. >> a rivalry renewed. redskins and cowboys and a whole lot to play for. >> you can't go of the cowboys because they can embarrass you if they get going and i know they're three and whatever, but the record will speak. >> it will be a great atmosphere. both teams have a lot to play for and the cowboys are still in it and obviously we're in the driver's seat in the division right now, and we have to stay

there now and this is an exciting time for us and an exciting time for our fans and hopefully we can take advantage of that monday. >> game and prep just beginning and dallas week the motivation with the future at stake. >> there is an energy not so much as hunter -- i think there is an energy just because of what we had to play for and it's a meaningful game in december and we will be ready and charged up as a result. the redskins are shying away from the favorite as they take the playoff mindset each week. meantime, over in college park a new era kicks off. d.j. durkin introduced today as the new head coach of maryland and durkin comes from the university of michigan where he served as the defensive coordinator and all of the durkin family in attendance like abigail and luke, the new coach reportedly signing a five-year, $12.5 million deal. jason pugh goes one-on-one with the new coach and he tells

us why maryland is the pick. back to you guys. >> thank you. holiday shopping protection from crooks online and there is one very important thing you can do when you finish buying your gift. a true sign that the holiday season has arrived. there's reese witherspoon for the national tree lighting ceremony and continues down on the ellipse. stay with us. >>

you know my crew, malia, sasha, michelle, grandma. happy holidays to reese and everyone here tonight and everyone watching at home. now, let's begin the process of lighting the tree. we have a countdown going on. we'll start at five. here we go. five, four, three, two, one! [ cheers and applause ] >> merry christmas, everybody! ♪ ♪ >> wow! it's beautiful.

>> it is a spectacular shot. i love all of the gold and yellow to it, too. that thing really pops and what a day we had for it down there. a little windy, but other than that, not too cold and wet, and the first family looks beautiful there, and it's nice to see them all together and we've commented at the turkey pardoning, the obama daughters are so grown up now. ♪ ♪ >> we'll go straight to doug kammerer in the weather center. those people look cold and it doesn't look as windy as it felt out there to me, doug. >> we'll see that and that's exactly what's going on there. still a lot of performances for the national christmas tree lighting and a very nice evening across the area of the ellipse after the tree was lit a couple of minutes ago and i've been down there for five years and i was excited to go and didn't make it happen. >> and will be nice for the next

couple of days and the sun will come out tomorrow and it will come out the next couple of days, too. ending on a pretty nice note. as i mentioned, the winds beginning to calm and that produces a windchill. 46 in d.c., down to 40 and that's the windchill in the d.c. area and some of you in the low 30s and look at the temperatures, 36 around la rhea and 40 in win chester and we're on the cool side for sure and it will be a chilly night tonight and the bus stop forecast. 39 to start off and this is inside the beltway and most of you around 30 to 32 degrees in the suburb and get ready for that, cool temperatures between 3:00 and 4:00, so with plenty of sun and lighter wind tomorrow and we'll see a nice afternoon. no rain to talk about and after four days of rain we'll see quite a bit in the way of a dry spell as we move on through the next couple of days. our air starting to come out of the northwest and the northwesterly flow starting to give us the cooler numbers

overnight tonight and it will help us a little bit tomorrow to get up on the warmer side as the wind makes its way down the mountains. here is the storm system that's caused rain, and look at the flow way out into the atlantic and the areas of snow and rain up toward maine and the rest of the country is very tranquil and go out to the northwest to seattle to see the storm and that means for us and we'll be on the quiet side for tomorrow. upper 40s to 52 degrees in d.c. and fredericksburg and 46 in win chester and 51 over toward annapolis and your impact particular, today we said low to moderate because of the colder air and because of the wind and tomorrow on the low side. breezy and cool, but lots of sunshine and a nice day out there on your friday. you'll need the coats and jackets and that will be about it. in the next couple of days looking better and 53 on saturday with light wind, that coming with plenty of sunshine, too. saturday will be a great day to get the christmas tree and sunday looking good and temperature around 55 degrees and monday, a high temperature

of 52. so monday during the afternoon, not bad, but we've got something going on on monday night. that's right. monday night football as we take on the cowboys and the redskins, of course, in first place and we'll see if you can get that going and game time at 8:30 on monday night. 49 at 8:00 and 45 or 46 at 10:44 by midnight and it will be a chilly night out there and all in all, not a bad night at all if you'll be out toward fedex field as we welcome in the cowboys. there's your four-day forecast. much, much nicer than what we've seen over the last four days. guys? >> thank you, doug. now at 5:00, the district's flag is proudly raised and the story behind this picture gave people in the city some bragging rights. sgr new questions if the shooting in california was a terror attack. pete williams found specific links to terror. i'm mark segraves in the

wake of the mass shooting in california, faith leaders in o

just in to the live desk, a new interview with a man who shared a cubicle with syed farook. he is the suspected shooter in that mass killing in california. patrick packari was at the holiday party that farook targeted and he was in the bathroom when he opened fire. >> it sounded to me like there

was explosions and gun fire almost simultaneously. i looked back in the mirror. like a wall and you can see some reflection and see what's actually going on, and i can see myself starting to bleed. even with a weapon you can't defend yourself laying on the ground cowering to stay alive and maybe help somebody else later. >> baccari managed to hold the door closed, everyone killed was a friend including farook that he described as quiet, but likable. police and the fbi say it's too soon to know the motivations from yesterday's deadly attack in california, but there is mounting evidence at least one of the suspects could have been radicalized and could have ties to jihadists. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has a look at that

angle tonight. >> we have been told earlier today that the people who staged the shooting, syed farook and his wife left behind an explosive device with a remote control. what's more important about that is the fact that it had a similar design for the remote control as was used in the boston marathon bombing. a recipe for how to use the remote controller from a model car to set off a bomb. that recipe has been in a couple of versions of the al qaeda published "inspire" magazine which raises the question is that where syed farook got this? was he a follower offal ca afaf qaeda's "inspire" magazine. we are told by officials as they check his communication devices that he had been talking on the phone in the past year with people that the fbi was concerned about who were, if you

will, people of interest, people who had expressed radical jihadist ideas and he was in communication with them and then the fact that they were having all these bombs ready to go, they had all of this preparation done. it certainly suggests the possibility of terrorism, but every aspect of this could point in a different direction, as well and that's why they're being so careful about trying to decide what the motive was or whether it was a mixed thing some jihadist idea and then got mad at their employees and their fellow workers and decided to move things up and shift it to this. they just don't know. >> pete williams, nbc news, chief justice correspondent. faith leaders in our area are coming together to pray and call on elected leaders to enact tougher gun laws. they want something done on the national and local level. it's a plea many of these clergy have been making for years. >> the time is -- >> now! >> the time is -- >> now!

>> the time is -- >> now! for gun reform in america. >> gathered on the steps of this church on the d.c.-maryland border, dozens of leaders signed on to an open letter to elected officials. they're calling for more restrictions on guns including universal background checks and limits on purchases and limit storage requirements. they say the mass shooting in california was the last straw for them. >> it's not each about this shooting, but this shooting in a sense has become the projeshial last straw on the camel's back. the fact is that if we tolerate one mass shooting after another and we are just hoping to move on to the next. >> our fight is not with politics or with ideology. our fight is for life and we cannot simply fight with prayer as god's partners in the ongoing work of creation, it is not enough to hope and pray for change. we must demand action for gun sense, for strong leadership, fearless in the face of opposition. >> it's too easy to get a gun in

america, and so it's time for us now to say we want to take action. >> just about every clergy member at today's event indicated that gun violence had touched their lives at some point and they pray that the shooting in california would be the last time they had to make this plea. >> for god's sake, can we please stop this? >> critics say they're politicizing a tragedy. metro board members got their first look at a new report that shows customer satisfaction plummeting on the rails. delays, breakdowns and miscommunication are all said to be contributing factors to that drop. metro made the point that the riders on the blue, orange and silver line had been frustrated after it was caused by the station armory station. >> our riders are a community of people and lately, the thing that has brought them together more than anything else is their

anger and frustration with us. i would love to harness their affection and i think many of them do have a lot of attentiff for the system that they run. >> this was the formal meeting for paul wiedefeld. the system will improve. rate now the ceremony is under way for the national tree lighting. here's a live look now at the ellipse near the white house. >> we got a chance to meet the woman who was picked to introduce the first family at the tree lighting. at age 94, betty sauskin is the oldest active national park ranger. her great-grandmother was born a slave. she says she is sharing this honor with her. >> so that on inauguration day of january 20, 2009, i had a picture in my pocket of my great-grandmother experiencing that with me, and now i get to

bring her to the tree lighting ceremony and that represents more than i can say. >> what a moment. betty is an avid blogger and once was named woman of the year by the california state legislature. >> quite a moment. now that holiday shopping is under way, you'll have to protect your package deliveries from front-door crooks. find out how some people in alexandria are making sure their gifts arrive under the christmas tree. >> and shake-up, where and how you shop in d.c. is changing. >> you can help us share the warmth this winter. nbc is collecting coats for kids and the needy. head to the bank on south fairfax street in alexandria with your donations and get the

if you've ever considered adoption as a way to build or add to your family, you may want to join us this saturday at the annual adoption expo. whether you're interested in adopting from foster care, internationally, privately, whatever, we'll have experts in the field to help you out. the annual adoption and foster care expo attracts a lot of people for different reasons. as many reasons as there are

ways to go about adopting. >> we'll have 40 different organizations there. families can come and learn about adopting a child from this community, from overseas, infants, teens, young adults. the expo have attracted people who wanted to know where to begin. >> we're pretty passionate about adoption and we saw some advertisements and thought let's stop by. >> at nbc 4 we've been pretty passionate for years about helping families to adopt through foster care, and we asked the family to stop by for a visit and share the way their family was formed. >> i know that my sisters came from saigon, vietnam. >> jennifer and her husband adopted gill jan 14 years ago. >> you don't remember very much? >> no. >> have you been there? >> once last christmas, it was fun. >> they had quinn three years later, but a few years after

that they decided to adopt again. >> you came into a family that already had a couple of kids, huh? how did that feel? >> well, i liked the attention. >> the adoption expo can help. >> i think if anything that was the piece that when i look back that i missed and i wish i would have had. >> that missing piece you'll probably find here. >> the adoption expo is this saturday at the carnegie library in d.c. that begins at 11:00 a.m. and for more information just search adoption expo on nbcwashington.com. as always, if you have room in your home and heart for any of our children please call the special adoption hotline. the number is 1-888-2-adopt-me. >> a happy-looking family there. >> indeed. so nice to have so many people to answer so many questions all at one place at one time.

>> it works for a lot of people so we expect a lot of people to come out and i'll be there. >> we'll see you there, barbara. so have you started your holiday shopping? >> i have. i don't know about you, handly. if you have, there are still basic things you can do to protect yourself. we have the tips that could save you time and money. the pit bull precious who stood guard by her owner after he was injured in a fire has been united with family and so has her puppy molly. coming up on news

news reporters: it's a fish, but it's been changed. genetically altered by scientists. critics call the process creepy, and label it frankenfish. narrator: genetically engineered salmon was just approved by the fda - no labels required. disturbing, right? get this. if your state wants to label gmos, congress is trying a year-end sneak attack to block your right to label. call congress. demand clear labels, not high tech gimmicks. don't let them overturn state gmo labeling. protect our right to know.

>> the holiday shopping season is wellnder way and we are working for you, helping you keep your information safe and secure. our consumer reporter erika gonzalez is here with four things you can do to help protect your identity. >> doreen, you want to be able to shop with peace of mind so before you make another purchase it may be worth it to implement some of the following so you can start by changing the password on your credit, your bank, your email accounts and change them now and then change them again after the holiday shopping season, a tip that we got from the u.s. secret service. next, limit your purchases to just one credit card, limiting the number of statements that you have to

review or you can get a card just for the holiday shopping season and the credit agency experian recommends a credit card that you can throw away when the holiday shopping season ends. also set up charge alerts. i want an email any time a transaction is made over $20 or any time something is purchased with my card online. number four, when shopping online, try to avoid open, public wi-fi spots. your connection and your sensitive information won't be secure. it's hard to deter fraud altogether, but what we can do is do a better job of being more vigilant. so keep a close eye on those statements this holiday shopping season. back to you. >> before you click purchase on your next online gift order, a head's up tonight, more apartment buildings are saying they won't accept your deliveries. cnbc's diana olick shows us how some properties are handling the

holidays a bit differently. >> reporter: barely two days after cyber monday, retail's little helpers are rolling in. santa's slaves got nothing on ups and fedex this year and department landlords like monogram residential trucks are struggling under the weight of it all. >> our portfolio which is 11,000 units in operation right now and 4,000 under development we have this year estimated 300,000 packages coming in. >> this becomes a real challenge for the industry in the last several years. >> reporter: so monogram turned to tech, installing ipad-controlled lockers in some of its buildings. package carriers access them directly, no more mail room. >> it's a very easy search system. >> you find the name and take a picture of the label so you have a record of that. you save the label and we choose a package locker size.

put it in and the recipient gets an email or text message. >> tenants retrieve their packages as a security camera watches. it can cost up to $30,000 to install, but in high-end buildings. >> it's absolutely a requirement. >> but other landlords claim this won't be able to handle the surging supply especially in larger buildings. that's why one major reit camden property trust simply said no to packages in the mail room and managing this glut was costing them more than $3 million a year. >> productivity was absolutely part of the, kwagz and it came down to more of allowing our employees to take care of our real estate which was the business that we're in. >> camden property trust has 65 thousand department units. last march they rolled out the no-package policy which was not popular with tenants.

>> we have a few residents tell us they plan not to renew their lease, but any time you make a change to a policy, and some residents. >> they deliver and leave packages there. they claim 75% of tenants have opted to do that and more than 100,000 packages have already arrived that way. >> it doesn't bother me because we have a lot of security here. they've left things -- i've seen things on people's doors for weeks. >> safer by elevator, perhaps, than by sleigh. diana olick, cnbc, alexandria, virginia. >> a huge honor today for the district government in paris. the district beat out nearly 100 cities for the green energy award. it honors efforts to reduce the carbon footprint. the bowser administration's

windpower purchase resulted in the government's energy being reproduced by a renewable source. earlier this week, news 4 broke the story about plans to put the solar panels on 50 government buildings. the wind and solar power deals are expected to save taxpayers about $25 million over 20 years. veronica is here with a check on our weather. lots of wind out there today. my goodness. the sun was nice, though. >> exactly. i love the way the weekend is looking. it's within reach and sight. here we are approaching friday. >> we have more scenes, of course, from this evening and the national tree lighting. great weather this evening and not all that cold. nobody having to put the gloves on this evening and i don't think we'll need them over the next few days and certainly windy as we mentioned today as we get into the evening hours and for the day tomorrow it will be breezy and we'll still need the light coats over the next few days and nothing too major

in terms of any big storms heading in. not as cold. today it felt more like we were in the low 40s, with that wind and tomorrow closer than 50 degrees and going way up. >> if you'll be walking the dog we have a clear sky right now and high pressure has moved in and temperatures, mid-40s to low 40s, late evening and no more soggy days coming our way and we've had five back-to-back days with clouds and drizzle. lots of sunshine, the weather will have a low impact on our day tomorrow and again, a light coat is what you'll need as temperatures start out around freezing in a few locations just below 30 -- 39 degrees and range in temperatures across the area. while it is going to be breezy, i think we'll have less and less wind as we make our way through the day tomorrow as we top out 52 degrees in d.c. and waldorf, la platta and 52, culpeper in the upper 40s around olney and gaithersburg. on saturday, it will be a very nice day.

we're into the low 50s and it's going to be cool, but nice. those temperatures around 53. it's more like early, early part of december. >> meanwhile, some sunshine early in the day on sunday and then we'll start to pick up some cloud cover for the afternoon, but we top out at 55 degrees. so a little higher and temperatures than what we'll see on saturday. those clouds will make their way in from west to east on sunday, and i think not into late in the day, it will be a good-looking day and a good feeling day and it will be great weather for picking out the perfect tree in the tree farm this weekend. morning, dry. quite chilly, though and cautionary conditions and just wait until you hit 10:00, 11:00 a.m. before you do head out and nice conditions and we get the green light for the afternoon as we have seasonable sunshine across our area. >> our temperatures for the month of december will be as a whole, running above average. we tell you that and any storms we get is looking like rain and just head out to washington.com

and check out the winter forecast and it will be there all winter long as we get ready to get the cold during january and february. if you want to know how much snow we'll get go to nbcwashington.com. from the 50s to a dip in the temperatures on tuesday and notice the dry conditions until thursday next week at this time. we've got a lot more coming up. details on your weekend forecast on news 4 at 6:00. thanks, veronica. it is the most shared story on the nbc washington facebook page over the last 24 hours. a dog standing guard over its owner yesterday after she was injured in a fire in landover. the video was shared all over social media yesterday. a dog stays close to its owner after the house goes up in flames. news 4 has more on the fate of a very faithful pit bull. >>. >> oh, my god. >> she's back with people she

knows and loves. >> i'm glad they survived. we're animal people. >> precious stood guard next to her owner after she was hurt. it made it difficult for emergency management services to get help for the woman who was passed out on the front lawn. >> the loyalty between the two and as we approached the dog became aggressive and did lunge at us. >> eventually they were able to lure precious away long enough to get the woman on to a stretcher, but pit bulls are banned in prince george's county. so precious and her one puppy who made it out of the fire were transported to the prince george's county animal shelter and that's where megan comes in. she said she couldn't stand by and watch her sister lose her dog. not now. >> she just wanted to protect her mommy, that's all and protect her house. >> so she's taking her to montgomery county where she lives. >> that's a great reunion. we're excited especially when you have a tragedy. >> there was an elderly father and his daughter who were

injured in that fire yesterday. coming up at 6:00, the latest on their condition. in upper marlboro, i'm tracee wilkins. news 4. any mayor can cut a ribbon. d.c. mayor muriel bowser cut lumber to open a big box store and it's all part of the growth in the nation's

a retail boom is happening in the district. one of the latest stores is a

$17 million lowe's in northeast d.c. tom sherwood has the good news. >> find what you need? find everything you need? >> yes, sir. >> okay. thank you. >> tyree woods mostly works with commercial contractor here at the lowe's in northeast, new retail in an area that's long needed it. >> my parents live here. quite a bit of my family lives here. >> you had to run to another county. >> thankful for work near his home. mayor bowser officially opened the $17 million store just providing 150 mostly full-time jobs all part of the dramatic retail turnaround throughout d.c., a growing city no longer losing most retail to the suburbs. it is so huge and it has changed quite a lot i would say in the last decade. >> just since 2010, the district has added 3 million square feet of new retail and there's another 2 million under way right now. 37 new grocery stores have or

will open. >> we've reversed the leakage issue. >> what about the mayor, a homeowner herself handled that saw. >> was that the first time you've used a saw? no, it's not. i've used saws, sanders and i'm an excellent painter. >> other big box stores are coming soon, plus 3,500 units of new housing, some in the $600,000 range. in the district, tom sherwood, news 4? hi. right now at 6:00, the question is why. >> a question still unanswered in the deadly shooting spree carried out by a husband and wife team in san bernardino, california. >> there was obviously a mission here. we do not know why. >> the investigation now focused on both digital and social media. we are getting new insight into how that shooting spree and then the gun battle with police unfolded. we've learned today that two

separate fbi teams from our area are now assisting with that investigation. one of them is on the ground in san bernardino, re-creating the crime scene and collecting evidence. >> a second here in d.c. will analyze computer drives and cell phones in an effort to create a digital profile of the shooters. we have team coverage tonight. we begin with meagan fitzgerald. she's at the live desk. >> meagan? >> jim and doreen, much of what we're learning today shows how well prepared and well armed syed farook and his wife were before storming the social services center in san bernardino. investigators found more than 1500 round of ammunition in the suv the couple was driving. another 5,000 rounds in their home. there were also 12 pipe bombs and bomb-making supplies in the home. at inland regional center police say the couple fired between 65 and 75 rounds and three pipe bombs were found bound together and attached to a remote control car.