you may remember that shooting happened last month just one day after the paris attacks. the washington post reports that rashaad bug bay cut a woman who was trying to stop him from hurting himself outside of union station. the 25-year-old went inside where officers saw him carrying the knife. officers say he came at them and so they fired. today you can honor the memory of a montgomery county police officer killed in the line of duty. the department is hosting a blood drive in honor of officer nora leota. a suspected drunk driver hit the 24-year-old who died of his injuries earlier this month. today's blood drive runs from 8:00 until 3:00. it's on edison park drive in gaithersburg. you're asking to register online with the red cross. find a link on the nbc washington app. this developing now out of california where people were

wondering about this strange streak of white that went across the night sky. military officials saying this fireball scene across arizona, nevada, is debris from a russian rocket. social media was crazy with photos and videos with what many people thought which is a shooting star or perhaps a meteor that was breaking apart. that russian rocket, by the way, launched monday. eun, back to you. >> thank you, angie. christmas is friday. christmas eve is tomorrow. a lot of you are taking your trip home today. in fact, the numbers are expected to break records. aaa predicts more than 100 million people will be traveling for the holidays. that includes 2.5 million people in our area alone. more than 40% of the people who live here will be traveling. now let's take a look at aaa. people will be taking the train or something else to get to their destination.

130,000 will be flying in the air, of course, and then with extra low gas prices most of you, that is more than 2,260,000 people expected to drive. we want to get you up to speed now on this weather alert day with the four things to know in your forecast. chuck. >> aaron, you need to know we have the dense fog advisory first thing in the morning. it goes until 10:00. i fully expect they'll expand this to include all of the areas down in the metro area. rain can come down briefly moderate to briefly heavy as well. no flash flood advisory. no flood threats. nonetheless, have your rain gear ready to go as rain will increase in intensity as we get out of the early morning and into the mid morning hours. already rain showers in southern maryland and the northern neck. a few sprinkles along i-81 towards charlottesville and lexington. that's your bridge. that is lifting northbound. rain chances are going up, up, up. here's future weather to time

out the rain drops. the moderate batch of rain coming from southern maryland. here come the showers up from the shenandoah valley. by 8:00, 9:00, modern periods of rain coming right into the metro area. most of the rain at 8:00 or 9:00. 3:00 this afternoon. squally april showers kind of stuff. so don't need your heavy coat. do need your umbrella. seven day forecast coming up at 4:51. also going to take a look at the impact the weather will have on different types of travel. speaking of which, here's melissa blais. 95 at 216, scaggsville road, you'll see this. key bridge, again, this camera is on the georgetown side. we do have a crash here on the virginia side as you're headed in. two vehicles and a big police response. we're just not seeing it very clearly there this morning. outer loop at university, we still have the road work happening there.

270 no problems northbound or southbound. prince gorges county rolling along fine. see you back here at 4:41. a sad reunion in the day ahead. the family of staff sergeant peter taub will receive his body. his father tells us he couldn't be prouder of his son. the news though is devastating. >> the first attack americans have had in quite a while. >> yeah. >> and to have it happen to my son is -- i can't get my head around it. >> i want to apologize to the staff sergeant's family. last name is talb, his mother and brother own a restaurant here in d.c. you can see a sign and an american flag posted in the window at the restaurant saying it will be closed while the family mourns the loss of their hero. flags in new york will fly

at half staff today in honor of nypd detective joseph lemm. he, too, was killed in the suicide bombing. now we're learning more about the four other airmen who died as well. major adrianna vorderbrewingen leaves behind be a wife and a little boy. she is the first openly gay person to die. louis bonacassa. michael cinco was from the rio grande valley and chester mcbride had been a college football standout. it is now 4:35. today a man accused of fatally shooting a guest in his montgomery county home heads to court. the shooting happened around midnight on monday on ridge road in damascus. police say he shot mario perez during an altercation. he's charged with first degree murder. damascus road is open in montgomery county after a deadly accident. david harris crashed into a

utility poll around 6:30 last night. it didn't take long for odonton county, maryland, to figure out what happened there. he was waiting to renew his sex offender registration on saturday when he saw a package delivered. he took the package to his car and walked back into the station and reregistered as a sex offender. after watching surveillance video police headed to leonard's home and arrested him. the package was returned to its owner. now to decision 2016. >> what happened to her? i'm watching the debate and she disappeared. >> donald trump slammed hillary clinton for using the bathroom during the democratic debate. he went on to use a vulgar term to describe clinton's loss to president obama in 2008. trump took to twitter yesterday to defend his words. nbc's tracie potts will join us live from capitol hill in ten minutes for more on this

continued debate. developing today, hundreds of black lives matter protesters are planning another scene like this one at the mall of america. they want to focus attention on police officers who shot and killed a blackman in minneapolis last month. the mall asked the judge to ban demonstrators. he said three organizers of that protest must stay away. >> but to all potential demonstrators, it's against the law and there will be consequences. >> now the judge said that she could not order all protesters away, but the mall says anyone who shows up could be charged with trespassing. all right. take a look at your tv screen on this weather alert day. we showed you at the top of the hour what is going on here. well, this is one of our tower cameras pointed at reagan national airport. tough to see anything out there because it's blacked out by the fog. chuck bell says that's not the only thing we're up against today. is free speech protected by the constitution if it's

offensive? how a recent ruling could impact the redskins. and steve this holiday, ford america's best-selling brand is giving you more. the ford holiday sales event... with 0% financing for 60 months on 2015 f-150 and focus and 2016 fusion and escape. plus 1,000 dollars holiday bonus cash on 2015 focus and 2016 fusion and escape. it's the best gift ever. now during the ford holiday sales event get 0% financing for 60 months plus 1,000 dollars holiday bonus cash on select vehicles. see your local ford dealer.

why let someone else have all the fun? the sometimes haphazard, never boring fun. the why can't it smell like this all the time fun. the learning the virtue of sharing fun. why let someone else have all the fun? that's no fun. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop.

welcome back. at 4:40 a new court ruling could impact the redskins. the first amendment protects, quote, even hurtful speech. the government can't refuse to register trademarks that could be considered offensive. the redskins have an appeal in a

completely separate court. the patent office canceled the redskins trademark protection saying the name could offend native americans. the cringe worthy mistake will not stop steve harvey from hosting in the future. he signed a multi-year deal. sunday he mistakenly crowned miss colombia. he apologized and gave the crown to the rightful winner. live television. he made an honest mistake. a lot of people say it was the way the teleprompter was form mated. >> right. social media has gone -- >> here's the thing -- >> somebody wouldn't have got zwlaen crown off of me! i would have made sure i ran down the hall. >> it got a lot of buzz. next few days miss universe and steve harvey. 4:41 is our time right now. good morning, everybody. weather alert day from storm team 4. that means more frequent

postings on our social media platforms and be sure you have your nbc washington app ready to go. right now we have thick fog in the shenandoah valley and fog increasing to thicken up a bit across the metro area. be ready for lower visibility. it will impact your plans today. driving around the area locally, moderate rain and fog. give you the orange conditions there. most of the major interstates are going to be wet within about a 400 mile drive of washington and i-95 in particular due to volume and rain and wet conditions out there. that's going to be an ugly, slow go. air travel, call ahead. a lot of rain at some of the big lb hubs. still in the green mode for now. that is likely going to be changing later today as fog and rain slow things down along the eastern seaboard. call your carrier. check of the seven day forecast and all about the record warmth to come. now another crash update from melissa mollet. >> still have a crash on the virginia side of the key bridge. we know police are out there

trying to get that cleared out of the way. 66 here at gallows road. you can see some of that fog just kind of hanging around here this morning sort of all over the place. 66 right now you can see we're looking good. don't have any issues. 95 this morning. outer loop at university boulevard, we have that road work here hanging around for us. 270 from fredericksburg, 26 minutes clear southbound and northbound. you can sort of see that haze here this morning. remember to listen to our friends on wtop 103.5 fm when you hop in your car. not backing down. this morning donald trump is blasting several people for calling his recent comments about hillary clinton vulgar. what clinton has to say about the fiasco. caught on camera, how a drone nearly took out a skier. look at that. look at that. oh, my

mornings.

look at that. oh, my they're bad breath, bad hair and a bad case of the mondays. and organized wardrobes that help you pull it together. they're showering, shaving, and shuffling. and bathrooms that get big families out the door. they're number ones, number twos, and a number of ideas for three. life's morning madness. and comfortable, organized bed and bathrooms that make them better.

i know where she went. disgusting. i don't want to talk about it. no, it's too disgusting. don't say it, it's disgusting. >> donald trump slammed hillary clinton from returning late from a bathroom break during the democratic debate. he's also now denying he used vulgar language when he was talking about clinton losing to president obama in 2008. trump didn't stop his criticism after her bathroom break. he went on to talk about her loss to the president. trump actually took to twitter yesterday to deny using any rude

language. nbc's tracie potts has more on capitol hill on more on those taunts and what clinton has to say on the front-runner. >> reporter: hey, let's talk about trump. he was talking about the term that he used that was described as vulgar and derogatory. take a look at this tweet. trump says it's not ulgar. he meant to say that she was beaten badly back in 2008. and he's blaming the media in a separate tweet. he says that it's the biased media that incorrectly interpreted what he was trying to say there. now last night at a rally hillary clinton to some degree responded. she was asked about bullies and how you deal with bullies. clinton said, you can't let a bully bully his way into the presidency. listen. >> i'm looking at somebody who's had a lot of terrible things said about me. it's important to stand up to bullies wherever they are, and why we shouldn't let anybody bully his way into the presidency. >> reporter: now waiting in the

wings here is ted cruz. when you take a look at the polls, he is really gaining on donald trump. one of the latest polls quinnipiac shows him within four points. aaron. >> tracie potts on the hill. thank you, tracie. ad spending has topped more than $100 million so far this year according to ad tracking data compiled by nbc news. that's much higher than at the same point four years ago. 1/3 of that spending has come from jeb bush and his allies. the smallest advertiser so far is zwrudonald trump. d.c. mayor muriel bowser is looking ahead. she says she's going to run for re-election. >> have you thought about that scenario, about the possibility of maybe having to run against former mayor gray again? >> we'll be ready for whatever the field looks like in 2018. >> so does that mean that you have decided you will run for re-election? >> absolutely. being mayor of the district of

columbia, especially now and especially as a important who was born and raised here, is the best job in the world. >> mark also asked the mayor about the presidential race and if she's worried about losing staff to hillary clinton if clinton secures the democratic nomination? >> we -- we've already -- one of my folks went to her early on and so i take that as a compliment that we have hired a team that can -- that can work on a national stage and so if any of our folks go there, they will have my best wishes. >> as for mayor bowser possibly moving on to a cabinet position, she said she loves local government and that is where she plans to stay. in the fight against isis, a maryland man accused of supporting a terrorist group will stay behind bars until his child. he's from hartford county, maryland, was charged last week. he allegedly pledged allegiance to isis.

he didn't conduct any attacks. he pretended to sell print beers on ebay. french security will be kept up at churches. they assured religious leaders, quote, everything is being done to guarantee security. 130 people died in a series of coordinated attacks around paris last month. it is 4:50. an american secret service agent is missing. his gun and badge this morning, and that's because a criminal took the items right out of the agent's car. the thief also escaped with a radio and flash drive. this all happened on monday, two blocks from agency headquarters downtown. the news 4 iteam has a new investigation into one of this year's hottest christmas presents. your new drone can get you in trouble with the law. a fast-rising number of calls between drones and police

helicopters and other life saving flights. the report shows drones have interfered, even stopped planes fighting fires in local parks. >> we're not going to kill somebody over some improper use of a drone in that air space. >> what you need to know if you unwrap a drone on christmas morning, plus the punishment for a man who flew his too close to a police chopper in great falls, virginia. a report on our nbc washington app. speaking of close calls with drones, did you see that? >> oh, my goodness. >> can you imagine? a falling drone almost took out an austrian skier right in the middle of a slalom event. it missed the four-time defending champion by seconds there. >> oh, my goodness. >> the drone was carrying a camera to broadcast that race from italy. >> if you see the impact, i mean, that would have caused a serious injury. >> yeah. wow. all this great technology that's available to us now. this is clearly a case where

media's using the drone and it could have been dangerous. >> yes. worley blades and everything spinning around there could have hurt him. >> chuck, this is so bizarro with the fog and mild weather, two days before christmas. >> christmas? what christmas? it's going to be warmer here on christmas than it was here probably back in april and may so really crazy, warm stuff. it's not like it's 75 and sunny, but at least it will be 75 degrees. it is a weather alert day here at nbc 4. steadier rain showers may very well cause derays piling up later on today. thick fog as well this morning. weather alert means we'll have extra postings on all of our social media platforms. follow me on twitter @chuckbell. of course, have the nbc 4 weather app. this morning rain and fog will slow things down a bit, but

relatively light commuter traffic because a lot of people don't have to go to work. midday, that's when the heaviest of the rain will be here. that will have the biggest impact on travel. 9 or 10 this morning and 3 or 4 this afternoon. wait until much later in the day into the evening hours. rain will taper back to occasional showers. thick fog out across the shenandoah valley. i keep mentioning this. i think it will be expanded into the washington area. already light rain down across southern maryland. this is the leading edge of a big push of moisture going away from the carolinas to georgia. flying, little rock to new orleans to dallas to houston. severe weather there. big rain along most of the hubs in the east. that could slow things down. it is not cold. mid to upper 50s. the next big change in the weather really does arrive during the day today. rain and fog in the 50s this morning. that push of strong southerly winds brings in the moderate rain and much milder temperatures. we should be in the mid to upper 60s later on today.

mid 70s tomorrow. near 70 on christmas day and a whole lot of clouds. you're not going to see much if anything in the way of sunshine for most of the next week or more. rain chances, heaviest rain today, hit-and-miss showers tomorrow. could rule out a quick little shower late friday into early saturday. the big story really is the warmth. melissa mollet, it could be tough travel weather unless we get the rain stopped. inner loop between rockville pike has a crash. it could slow things down. we'll let you know as things change here. crash on the virginia side here of the key bridge this morning. again, two different vehicles there involved in that accident on lynn street. fairfax county parkway to the belt way, 9 minutes there. you're seeing haze everywhere this morning. that will be something we have to deal with. top of the beltway looking okay

right now. all the routes into and out of town right here rolling along nicely. more on that crash top of the beltway coming up. we're learning new details this morning about a prince gorges county crash that claimed the life of a local college student. what police say the driver did that could be to blame. and a recent e. coli outbreak comes to an end. why costco says you no longer have to be worried about a specific product. and it's a story that shows why it's better to give than receive. the special gift that t

this holiday, ford america's best-selling brand is giving you more. the ford holiday sales event... with 0% financing for 60 months on 2015 f-150 and focus and 2016 fusion and escape. plus 1,000 dollars holiday bonus cash on 2015 focus and 2016 fusion and escape. it's the best gift ever. now during the ford holiday sales event get 0% financing for 60 months plus 1,000 dollars holiday bonus cash on select vehicles. see your local ford dealer.

your time is 4:58. in you are just joining us, we are following breaking news montgomery county. in the past 30 minutes we have confirmed police are investigating a death on a hiking trail. megan mcgrath is going there to let us know what's going on. our other top story, the weather. it's a weather alert day here on news 4. this is why. we're seeing fog. we'll let you know how this is impacting your day. new details about a deadly crash in prince gorges county. the driver involved in the head-on crash last week was drinking. maryland state police says james calero crossed the line. he crashed into a morgan state university student who just came home from the holidays. news 4 says calero had been

charged with dui before and he was represented by maryland delegate, joseph valerio. he's been criticized for blocking attempts to strengthen drunk driving laws in maryland. today top transportation experts will update what's happening to make airbags safer in your cars. you'll remember the massive recalls earlier in the year for airbags made by takata. they can go off without the driver getting in a crash. this morning the national highway traffic safety administration will update the media. e. coli outbreak at costco has ended. we first told you about the outbreak last month. they pulled the rotisserie checkin salad from all stores after nearly 20 people became specific. taylor farms recalled the diesed

se the fda wants to remind you that toys with lasers can be dangerous for your kids. they can cause serious eye and skin injuries. you should never use a hand held laser as a toy or point it as anything in a motion. the spirit of the holiday season is playing out in arlington. this mother wanted the 6 and 4-year-old to know there's more to christmas than the list for the santa. the students printed a prosthetic hand. they gave it to 13-year-old beccaen sen. >> it was thrilling to see her grab something with her right hand for the first time. >> a lot of emotions in this? >> yeah, actually, there is. it's pretty exciting. >> i really wanted to show them that christmas is about giving to others and not just receiving