right now on "news4 today," get ready for the big freeze. tom's tracking the chilliest weather we've seen all winter and what could be the first s w snowstorm all weekend. and two men almost got on a plane headed to join isis. how their plan was foiled. and the caucus tonight, right here on nbc 4. good morning. hoping you're having a good sunday morning. i'm adam tuss. >> and i'm angie goff. first, the real cold is ready to return. >> it is. tom's tracking a little more than that in the week ahead,

right, tom? >> yes. we were lulled into a false sense of spring yesterday. got into the upper 50s for most of the regulation. clouds have settled in, temperatures have dropped, but all is claum. we look at the nbc 4 harbor camera. the city lights reflected in the bottoms of the clouds. not much of a breeze. calm waters on the potomac river. there's the capital. temperatures are down in the mid-30s by the nearby suburbs. farther north and west generally in the mid-30s. generally everywhere it's above freezing except luray is 32. manassas at 38. a little bit below freezing. that's going to be scooting by us. then the potential of our first major storm of the season, snow

that is. i'll show you the timing on that. that's in just a few minutes. >> thank you very much, tom. new this morning we're working to learn how a fire started in northern d.c. the firefighters rushed to put out a house fire there. everyone got out of time and no one was hurt. police say none of the residents have been displaced. it's 6:02. developing this morning, two woodbridge men will appear in federal court for allegedly trying to join isis and syria. joseph farok was arrested friday. they arrested him for trying to supply materiels. the two will be in court on tuesday. everything is back to normal at the arlington department. it thood be evacuated after a bomb threat. we're told the threat came from an automated phone call.

dogs hat d to come in. they swept the lobby and smelled something there. people were evacuated. the scene was cleared around 9:30 last night. metro planes had to single track after a man stabbed himself around saturday evening. an ambulance took the man to the hospital. he was in critical condition. the station never closed during that period. gun rights supporters rallied. at issue, no gun stores near schools. they gathered outside a school near franklin sherman el men industry school. they want to move bills through the general assembly that would empower them to keep guns away from schools. >> elementary students can be seated in their classrooms seeing people walking in and out of the store carrying weapons.

that's not appropriate. >> those who have gun permits are law-abiding citizens. one worker is dead after a chemical plant explosion in texas. three people were killed in that accident. workers were doing a routine function when the contractor's equipment exploded. the accident is under investigation. well, a martin luther king tribute is happening tonight in arlington. it's happening at the wakefield high school at 5:00 p.m. it's a celebration with performances of live music, spoken word, as well as a lot of dance. tomorrow many will participate in a day of service to honor dr. king's life. let's turn our attention to decision 2016. today could be the most contentious democratic debate we've seen so far. this will be the last time hillary clinton and bernie

sanders face off. foreign policy could be a big theme tonight following yesterday's release of "washington post" reporter jason rezaian from japan. coming up this morning on "meet the press" chuck todd will review brand-new "wall street journal" poles. hillary clinton and bernie sanders will also be on the show. that's at 10:30 this morning. >> excuse me. did he report his bank loans? say whatever you want. he didn't report his bank loans. that's okay. >> the republican presidential candidate was booed in south carolina. the crowd wasn't happy donald trump criticized ted cruz for not revealing bank loans. trump called cruz out for embracing new york liberalism and his reaction to 9/11. he said the senator criticized

new york and the people of new york. meanwhile the senator suggested trump isn't a serious candidate. >> i think in terms of a commander in chief we ought to have someone who isn't springing out of bed to tweet in a frantic response to the latest polls. >> well, cruz took an off-handed jab at trump after getting stuck in an elevator for three minutes yesterday. he said, all right. well, who put donald trump in charge of the elevate jeer coming up, they were one of the most popular gifts. now there's fewer places you can ride them. the new spots hover boards are being banned. six women, montgomery county, and a whole lot of drama. how a new television show is

6:09. five more birds have tested for bird flu. they're still trying to

determine how many birds are affected on the nine farms. all 60,000 turkeys on the first farm have been euthanized. >> this morning we're learning new details about the investigation into the san bernardino shooting. the fbi says it has not found any co-mess tick links between foreign terror groups. in december the husband and wife killed 14 people in a workplace shooting in san bernardino. the feds say they're also trying to fill an 18-minute gap in the timeline after the tear error attack. before the shooting malik pledged allegiance to isis on social media. a number of university and college campuses across virginia are banning hover boards. they say they pose a hazard. more than 30,000 universities nationally have banned hover boards. several thousand of those gadgets have caught on fire. the ladies of maryland are

going to make their debut. their lives are followed. this isn't the first time local women have been featured on the bravo franchise. you might remember the real housewives of d.c. remember the salahis? >> yeah. >> they had it but it was canceled in 2010. >> they just need more drama. winter brings out all kinds of animals and that ka make for good snow video. take a look at this. a photographer caught squirrels diving. it seems he had a tough time finding his stash of nuts. he can't find it. this poor guy. >> you try finding your nuts. >> we're going to move onto the weather. >> you're 6 years old. >> i am. >> it's sad.

>> please save us. >> i'm going to take over. starting off early on this sunday morning, we've got to clouds beginning to close in. as we look at the live view from the "storm team 4" towercams. you see the clouds illuminated by the city lights. we're off to a rather calm and cold start. we're down to the mid-30s right now. reagan national at 37. prince george's, fairfax county. although lore t although lorton's down to 31. shenandoah in the mountains a little below freezing. the area in the gray and white, that's an area of light snow that's coming out of the carolinas into southern virginia and it's going to be getting closer to us by later this morning. right now we don't have anything

on "storm team 4" radar. no travel problems. the pavement is dry all around the region starting early this morning. here's the timing on that flurry of activity arriving. this is at 8:00. it may be coming into fauquier and prince william county but then coming right into washington in the form of flurries by about 10:00 this morni morning. all of it melting. this area above freezing. this above south will be wet snowflakes and maybe accumulating on grazy areas, southern maryland on the eastern shore as of 2:00 p.m. much of it is going to begin tapering off and then some lingering very light snow on the eastern shore of the northern neck by late this afternoon.

then we clear out overnight tonight. just some snow showers out in the mountains. this area in the light blue zone, some flurries. much of northern virginia and dusting to an inch on grassy areas meaning far southern neck, eastern shore. over the neskt 12 hours. temperatures in the 30s. by 4:00, hovering near 40 degrees. so when that flurry activity is coming down, we'll be above freezing. near 40 degrees by late afternoon. then getting cold tonight. by 8:00 we'll be down into the upper 30s under a clear sky. and by dawn on dr. king day, it will be 20 degrees tomorrow morning. highs in the upper 20s tomorrow afternoon with bright sunshine and the winds will be blowing, gusting to 30 miles an hour. windchills down near 10 degrees. still a bit windy on tuesday. weather alert both days. frigid temperatures near 30 degrees. cold on wednesday. here's our first chance of some akum lathe significant snow look

for friday into saturday. stay tuned, we'll keep you posted on that. it could be our first big snowstorm of the season. >> you've got your shovel ready. you're ready to go. >> yeah. no, i don't. next up is "reporter's notebook" for you. >> we'll be back in 15 minutes with more of the morning's top stories. good morning. welcome to "reporter's notebook." i'm pat lawson muse. tens of thousands of dollars in cash sitting in locked cabinets at the d.c. public schools office. an internal audit shows that since 2011 more than $350,000 from proceeds from public school sporting events has been sitting locked up for weeks after events rather than being deposited in the bank. the audit is being blamed for a former athletic director and it raises questions about the way other moneys have been raised.

they make the statement they take it very seriously and have taken steps to make sure the funds in question are handled properly. will that satisfy anybody who's asking what in the world is going on? >> probably not, and if you look at this, it reminds you of something old school where you left it under a mattress or floorboardso somewhere. >> or a sock. >> that's how this reads. stephanie evans, former athletic director for the city who had to resign said this problem was going on long before i got there, and she said she requested someone, a business manager to be able to handle this so the money wouldn't be sitting in closets locked up and she didn't get what she wanted. i think the other issue here is we're always talking about school systems needing money. here you have $355,000 that

hasn't been dpeposited. as any of us know, as little money as you have, you get a little interest. this would be interest that could be used to hire a couple of teachers at least. >> this is like a prehome rule story that we used to here years ago. everything you say is right. i can only second it and the fact that when she asked for help, she didn't get it, i mean who's running this thing? there should be an investigation by the council. it ee amazing no one knew about this. this is astounding it's gone on as long as it has and the fact that nobody took the money and spent it, that's something but only something. this is a horrible horrible accident waiting to happen. >> we talk about optics all the time. anyone can sort of understand

that. bags of money, and we're talking about $50,000 in some cases. also i then when you look at the audit. there were at least 31 instances where money wasn't deposited. >> if it happened under the berry administration, there would have been an investigation. >> do you expect to see a better response, more specific response from the d.c. public schools? >> we would hope so. like i say, even though congress is not as focused the city now as they used to b i'm sure they're watching. >> former d.c. mayor vincent gray is considering a possible run for office for a seat on the council, in fact, in june. meanwhile a new poll of likely democratic voters shows gray leading in a con test for an at large seat and a double-digit

lead. this poll was likely democratic voters who have conventional poll lines and was commissioned by one of his former campaign managers. so, dave, what do you make of these results? >> it indicates that mayor vincent gray is still a highly popular character in the city especially since the way the case against him even ended up, which they didn't have one but hurt riz campaign. now he considers himself to have a new life, a new chance, a lot of his supporters do. and it looks like if he wants to get back in the action, he could have a very successful outcome. >> bremante, a post-poll back in 2011 showed him leading. they were a little more critical of his term as mayor in that poll. >> i think what's interesting they took two polls, one in november and one in december. that poll showed a little closer, as you said, 49 approved, 42 disapproved.

by december, once the information comes out and maybe potential voters are more informed, i think he moves up to about 50%, 60% who say they may vote for him or at least they thought what he did in office was favorable. so i think that bodes well for him. i think for vincent gray, it sounds like he's going run for something because right after the press release came out that said the district attorney wasn't going to move forward, he said i look forward to being at least involved somehow in alexander. now they have to then get ready to say is the mayor going to be coming for my position. vincent gray said i never lost an incumbency. i think he's readying himself for running. >> it sounds like he's readying himself for a comeback. >> sooner or later he's going

challenge the incumbent, muriel bowser. there's going to be a grunge match. one thing, though, relative to the long case against him, they didn't say you're exonerated, you didn't do anything. they just said we couldn't find enough to prove a case against you that you were guilty, so there could clearly be concerns among voters, you know, how okay is he really. >> meanwhile the current mayor, mayor bowser is pledging a new era of openness. she's published a new open data policy and appointed a new chief technology officer to help oversee change in the way the city shares data with the public. she's pledged to make the nation's capital a model for government transparency. that issue for transparency and openness has been a point of contention for many administrations throughout many mayors' administrations. what do you make of this new pledge and the timing of it? >> well, i think she probably realized she was on the wrong

side of this issue. and i believe the mayor has sort of come out and said that in some ways, saying, well, things have changed, talking for the last year about missouri and now chicago, mayor rahm emanuel can talk to her about video and being transparent and making that open because you have folks calling for his resignation. what i think is fast natsing is this mayor's proposal is saying she should be open by default. the video is requesting why they should not get it. she's clearly gone on the other end, it's going to be wide open. you have to explain why a person requesting this video can't get it. it looks a great on paper. of course, we know sort of the specifics of sort of how you work that video out in terms of the computer systems. they have to catch up from that standpoint. >> well, i mean everyone applauds the mayor for doing this. the question is what will happen? how many -- what are the

resources for it? are there enough resources? funding? a new head of it, funding. the problem was they had these old out-moded computers and we can't crank out the information like you guys wanted. are they going to do something to change that. will there really be change.

welcome back. the general assemblies are back. he wants to get things done, he said, for the people of maryland. democrats want money for education, transportation and police this year. they t others want tax cuts for neighboring states. who's going get what? >> well, hogan has gotten a little because he's been able to make cuts where he can, tolls.

he can say i'm doing what i said i would do and anything i can't do, this democratic general assembly isn't allowing me. he wanted to trim the bunt by about $400 million. i don't think that's going to happen, first of all. so i think in his instance he's already putting out there, listen. if i can't get this done, 80% of this budget here is already mandated where i can't make cuts. so i think he's laying it out there already, this is what i want do, if i can't do it, i've got a system set up by the democrats that won't allow me to do that. so i think what's going to be interesting is to see can he get what he wants. he's got this police reform commission. can they do some reform, spearheaded by the freddie gray issue. >> he's got pretty high approval ratings. >> he has enormous popularity in the state and that persona helped get him elected. he was a different kind of republican. he wasn't kind of a scary guy.

gloom and doom. and there are a lot of disaffected marylanders who might be willing to try a change. it remains to be seen if this personality can move not mountains but maybe move a few hills, get a few things done. it's been very difficult up to now, but he retains his popularity and if the democrats don't overplay their hand, they don't look like they're trying to totally cut him off, if they overdo it, that could hurt him. we have to wait and see. >> what about terry mcauliffe's's plan? they're dealing with a 1g $00 million budget and they're focusing on medicaid again. gun control, transportation, and the issue of tolls in northern virginia. what's he going to be able to get do you think through his republican general assembly? >> i think it's going to be difficult. i think if you look at just the fact that he put a lot of his political capital in terms of trying to get control of the virginia senate. i mean he went out there and

campaigned. he had to flip it by one seat. he couldn't do that. so from an outsider looking in, you would think how much is he going to be able to get done. it's just the opposite of maryland, right? you've got a democratic governor working with a republican controlled general assembly. i just don't see terry mcauliffe being able to gel get a whole lot done. i don't see the history to be able to follow the things he want dochlts he's probably going to have to d like hogan and do the little things around the edges that as a governor he's allowed to do lawfully. >> what about the primary day controversy in virginia. march 1st is the day the primary takes place and there are concerns voters are angry over the gop pledge so now the county board of supervisors is considering whether schools should be closed. >> yeah. the chairman of the body seems

really hot on this idea. she really wants to move and head and try to do it. they're considering it. although other people say, look, you know, their tempers are often sharp around election day, we've been able to deal with problems before in virginia, let's not overdo it now. after all the school kids are in their classrooms generally speaking. we have this in the cafeteria or gymnasium. let's not overdo it. yet there seems to be an awful lot of concern and it's going to be an interesting debate. >> it seems like this is the trump effect, right? it's usually open primaries but now they're saying we want you to sign to say you're really in the gop before you can vote. donald trump's people are saying they're contesting that because they believe it's a reaction to donald trump and they want to keep folks in line from winning the virginia primary. to me it seems like a little bit

of an overreaction that we all know political process. most folks can get out there on the edges in front of the polls as long as they're legally in certain places and you can protest. so i think on the outset it looks like it might be a bit of an overreaction. >> is it a good idea to take the kids out of the middle of the protest? >> that's the problem. it's disrupting the education process. i mean the people who want to do this have two hills to climb. one, political. are they trying to move things so that donald trump doesn't get a shot which a lot of people aren't going to like and the other thing have they overreacting about crowd control. >> some could say it's a learning opportunity for the kids. as long as folks are out there with picket signs and protesting and there's no violence, they can see a history teacher, what is this about, why is this happening and the teacher can say this is what democracy is, it's always pretty and it's orderly and folks can protest. >> thank you both.

and thank you. that's "reporter's notebook." i'm pat lawson muse. "news4 today" continues. it's 6:30 and here are the top stories we're following. we're working to learn how a fire start. everyone got out in time and no one was hurt. right now a woodbridge man is charged with trying to join isis. joseph hassan farrokh was arrested. a polithe police department arlington had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat. the scene was cleared around :30 last night. good morning, everybody.

welcome to "news4 today." i'm angie goff. >> and i'm adam tuss. hope you're having a great start to your sunday. we're talking about cold and that other "s" word. >> ooh, yes, yes. and tom kierein is here telling us when we could see some sleet today, right? >> yes. the "s" word is not "sunny." it looks like snow flurries could be moving into the metro area later this morning. right now all is calm and quiet on this sunday morning. good morning. there's a live view overlooking tenleytown. a lot of cloudiness around being illuminated by the city lights. don't see any daylight yet. temperatures right now under the cloud cover are generally a little above freezing. nearby suburbs, mid-30s. upper 30s, around 40 around the bay. shenandoah valley, few mountains as is parts of nevada. watching this area closely.

the area in gray, that's a little light snow coming out. that's going to be getting closer to us later this afternoon into the late morning hours into the afternoon hours. right now "storm team 4" radar not showing anything falling out of those clouds so everything is dry. i've got the hour-by-hour timing on the flurries. look at our first potential major snowstorm of the season. look at the timing on that. that's this half hour. >> thank you, tom. this morning the united nations general assembly secretary ban ki-moon is welcoming the iran nuclear deal. also today is jason rezaian's first full day as a free man. a report on the sanctions lifted because of that release. >> reporter: the breakthrough was announced here in vienna and diplomats here are calling this implementation day, the day the iran deal came into effect, the day iran was welcomed back to

international market. it seemed like a sweetener in a nuclear deal worth billions to iran and for five americans it was sweet indeed. they were finally freed. >> we have received confirmation that five americans who had been unjustly detained in iran have been released from custody. >> reporter: among those released amir hekmati, a former marine held for over four long years accused of aiding a hostile country. saeed abedini, a christian pastor jailed for over three years. and jason rezaian, a "washington post" journalist held offen in solitary confinement for a year and a half. >> it's spectacular news. we're so happy. we can't wait to see him. >> the "washington post" in statement said we couldn't wait to hear it. matt trevithnick also set to be

released. while the prisoner swap is technically unrelated to the nuclear deal, critics denounced them signing any agreement while they held the prisoners. >> iran has carried out all necessary measures under the agreement. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. at least two americans are said to still be head or missing. we have new details. an american missionary is among those killed in an attack in africa. mike writ erring was among those killed. an al qaeda military group is

responsible for that attack. we now have new information of a man who tried to hit two police officers with his carton friday night. anthony howard threatened to set the home on fire. he recently moved out but the family still lives there. when the police told him to get out of the car, he refused and accelerated toward them. they shot at his car and he stopped inches from them. he faces attempted murder charges. check this out. a raid on a hideout used by the drug lord el chapo. this is one of the hideouts he used after escaping prison six months ago. he left behind things like vitamins and sandals. he's now in a mexican prison. this morning search crews in hawaii are expanding their search for 12 miss mag reens. the marines were on board two

helicopters that went down off the coast of oahu on thursday. the coast guard said high surf is dispersing debris and complicating the search. the coast guard initially said the choppers collided but a marine spokesperson says the cause of the crash is still not clear. a water crisis in flint, michigan, prompted president obama to sign an emergency declaration providing federal aid. the executive order allows fema to provide water filters and other supplies for 90 days. flint can also get up to $90 million in federal funding. michael moore was there. >> upon reading the executive order it does not go far enough. ist's only for 90 days. it's only for bringing more bottled water. band-aids, filters. that's no what we need. >> moore also asked the u.s. attorney general to arrest and

prosecute rick snyder because he knew about the infected water. the d.c. health links app is linking up with a church. it is called the faith in action sunday and it is happening at the campbell ame church starting today. information sessions on health care enrollment happen all week. well, taiwan's first elected female president won by a landslide. she took 56% of the vote, but managing the china's delicate relations. that's going to be tricky. they say the new -- taiwan's new leader must agree that the communist mainland and self-governing inland are part of the chinese nachlgts her

democratic party won 68 of 113 giving it its first majority in the assembly long dominated by the nationalists. we have a developing story this morning about a travel advisory for pregnant woman because of a fast-spreading virus that causes a deadly birth defect. the cdc says the zika virus is newborns. it results in babies born with small heads and brain brachl still is the epicenter with 4,000 cases in the past year. cdc is sending two teams to the country to deal with the crisis there. presidential candidate bernie sanders is changing his stance on the gun law. in 2005 he supported that bill. it comes after an attack from hillary clinton. sanders' campaign says this isn't a flip-flop.

he only supported the bill because it supported child safety laws on guns. the candidates will likely discuss the issue at tonight's debate which will air on "news4" at 9:00 p.m. this week the senate will consider a more rigorous screening process for syrian and iraqi refugees coming into the united states. the fbi will require background checks. the director of homeland security and national intelligence will have to certify that each refugee is not a security threat. it passed the house in november but faces an uphill battle. if that happens president obama has promised to veto the bill. terry mcawe lil wants to overhaul the system. he has asked the general assembly for $90 million to construct two small corrections centers. it would replace aging juvenile prisons in favor of treatment centers. this proposal creates an

opportunity for them to agree. a destroyed pedestrian bridge that runs over the green line in prince george's county should reopen next month. nine months ago a contractor destroyed part of a pedestrian bridge and metro says the company has yet to replace that structure. the bridge was between the greenbelt and college park metro station. a metro spokesperson told the "washington post" they're not happy with the delayed work so far. that same company was supposed to build a new track to test incoming 7,000 series trains. that project is two years behind schedule. >> so the people of st. louis can't be happy this morning. along with losing their football team they're being hit with a multi-million-dollar bill. the team spent millions trying to get the team to stay including building a new billion-dollar stadium. this week the team was approved to move to l.a. the taxpayers have to pay $2.16 million for a stadium that was never broke. the rams own wants to break

ground on a new stadium in los angeles. >> frozen up in the air, says a prayer, and -- oh, please. what a catch. that's insane. >> yeah. did you see it? it was one of the wildest finallies in playoff history. the late night fight between the cardinals and parkers. five months of waiting. now you can see him for yourself. bei bei makes his public debut, marking another adorable milestone.

leading democratic candidates bernie sanders and hillary clinton face off tonight. >> that has become an interesting bacand-forth what do you think he needs do?

is he going for a knockout? >> he's not shown he's very good in these back-and-forths with her. the clinton campaign believes that's one thing they can salvage. bernie sanders has younger voters, he gets the crowds and all that. they think their best moments when they're sitting side by side, which looks like a president, which doesn't seem like a president. that's what sanders has to do. everybody has their own subjective threshold but there's that threshold, does he look like a president. i think that's his challenge tonight. >> but even though he might not be the best skilled debater on stage and she always walks away looking presidential, he is still within striking distance when we talk about iowa and new hampshire. how is that going to impact her message because he might not be the most skilled debater, but he's still been able to have this emotional rallying cry that

is resonating especially with young voters. >> that's right. then you have the fact that you have a situation where he just -- it's the progressive wing of the party. the iowa caucuses are dominated by the progressive wing. they asked democrats do the following words describe you correctly or not. 43% of the iowa democrats call themselves socialists, only 38% of themselves call themselves capitalists. there are some clinton campaign rallyists going around saying, see, this is how liberal and progressive this is and it's going to make it that much tougher. if she loses both, it means at a min fum even if she figures out how to win the nomination,ite going to take her months. >> this past week the gop looked more like a debate between three people. trump, cruz, and rubio. and really trump and cruz are going after each other a lot

now. >> they really are. nobody is more excited about this than marco rubio and jeb bush because they've been beating each other up. cruz and trump had been staying above the fray and now they're engaging. it's the best possible development. the whole wing is panicked. this is what they've been waiting for. trump and cruz are bloodying it up. >> we have to do it to you. it was a good packers week. >> it was, it was. >> look at this. aaron rodgers, this is a hail mary at the end of the game. time has expire and they catch the pass. all right. now we're going to overtime. >> by the way, i really -- i swear nobody's going to believe me. my wife was asleep. they should go for two, they should go for two. just end this, just end this. shock for two and try to ejd the game. >> didn't see that. watch this. across the field to larry fitzgerald.

he doesn't take it to the house but he comes real close. look at the man run here. this is unbelievable. >> i'm trying to see how many packers had a chance to tackle him. five, six. it took the sixth giant there were packers all around him. you didn't show the funky coin flynn. >> no, you've got to see this. >> the coin didn't flip. all the players were going it didn't flip. >> i guess it's good news -- well maybe not but arizona would have won it both times. >> you need an extra cup of coffee. >> i do. i stayed up the whole time. >> i do. >> both hillary clinton and bernie sanders will benefit from this. i'm not on my a-game. >> a reminder to see "meet the press" after "news4 today" at 10:30. chuck has a jam-packed show. stay tuned for that. thanks, chuck. go get a cup of coffee, buddy. he was a very sleepy

5-month-old. bei bei made his debut. >> as you're going too see from kristen dahlgren's report -- is. >> reporter: after months of anticipation and waiting in line, it's safe that all the hoopla hasn't gone to bay's head. the 5-month-old couldn't care if he was the day's biggest draw. sleeping right through his debut. >> he sleeps about 90% of the day. >> reporter: of course, that didn't stop the crowd from trying to catch a glimpse of his roly-poly affection. from the first images of a hairless cub the size of a stick of butter, we've been mesmerized, like a proud parent marking every milestone. his first step, a healthy checkup.

the first ladies of two countries came together to give bei bei his name. and in a way the 23-pound cub is carrying the weight of the world. the panda program, an important diplomatic tie between china and the u.s. bei bei will stay in washington for four years and be sent to china where less than 2,000 remain in the wild. >> we're breeding pan das here and the next generation of pandas will hopefully start to go back into the wild. >> bei bei's mission. how could you not love this cute face. kristen dahlgren, n b bc news. good morning. i'm "storm team 4" meteorologist tom kierein. it will be cloudy. by 11:00, noon time, we may have flurries coming through and ending by 2:00 or so. by day's end, 40 degrees. the fall is going to be melting.

in the late afternoon, low 40s with the sun breaking up. later in the day, back into the 30s. temperatures right now around the region we're in the 30s. downtown near the bay, upper 30s, near 40. shenandoah valley and most locations a it'll below freezing. look at the "storm team 4" radar. the area of light snow coming out of the carolinas is now coming up into southern virginia. right now it's near richmond. locally we don't have anything falling from the clouds that are over us now. hour by hour the timing of that snow coming in, just light flurries. the darker colors, though, we might get a little bit of accumulating light snow. the southern maryland, eastern shore around 10:00 to around 2:00 this afternoon it moves on through. and, again, above freezing so just maybe some wet roadways and wet sidewalks as the flurries melt. maybe just a little be of it light snow here in southern maryland, northern neck, and eastern shore. all of it's done by 4:00, 5:00

this afternoon and we clear out, turn much colder overnight tonight. just flurries in the light blue. maybe a dusting to as much as an inch maybe on grassy areas. st. mary's county, lower neck and eastern part of the shore by the time this all ends. big change for dr. king day tofrmt cold breezy morning. windy and cold during the afternoon. windchills will be around 10 degrees tomorrow as highs will only be reaching the upper 20s with bright sunshine. still a bit gusty overnight on monday night into tuesday morning. so we have weather alert day for monday and tuesday because of frigid temperatures and dangerously cold windchills. on tuesday, up near 30 degrees. but, again, windchills may only be ten degrees to the midteens during the day on tuesday. then wednesday, partly sunny. still cold, but maybe a little freezing during the afternoon. thursday, partly cloudy, near 40, but it looks like our first chance of accumulating snow in

the metro area cominging in changing from rain and sleet to snow on friday. then snow friday night into saturday is the way it looks right now. stay with "storm team 4." we'll keep

"saturday night live" has done it again making a hilarious portrayal of the presidential race. they scared off in the fox business news debate. any time the candidates' numbers fell below 3%, this happened. >> we have confirmation that chris christie has just dipped below 3% in the national polls. >> come on. come on. >> well, the skit also addressed the recent back and forth very

between ted cruz and donald trump. how could they not. >> love it. >> we have much more for you. >> that includes an hour-by-hour look at your forecast withñ6ç "storm team 4" meteorologist tom kierein. stay with us.

right now get ready for a big freeze. tom's tracking a cold front with some of the chilliest temperatures with've seen all winter and what could be, get this, the first snowstorm of the season. two men who almost joined isis. they were prevented from getting on a plane. the democratic candidates squaring off live in their last debate before the iowa caucuses. we've got a busy sunday morning on tap. hope you're having a good one so far. i'm adam tuss. >> and i'm angie goff. welcome to "news4 today." you said sunday fun day. >> sunday fun day, why not. >> we're starting out with early clouds, tom. >> but they're not producing any rain or snow locally. we just have cloud cover over the metro area early on this sunday morning. first light showing up. the sky is brightening a bit. sunrise is at 7:24. as we look at temperatures, it's

generally above freezing in washington. nearby suburbs around the beltway and the bay in southern maryland. parts of northern virginia and maryland, the shenandoah valley, it's a little bit below freezing there. but "storm team 4" radar showing light snow coming into southern virginia out of the carolinas. that is going to be scooting near us later this morning and into the early afternoon hours. nothing showing up on "storm team 4" radar right now. timing on that is going to move in around 9:00, 10:00 in the morning. flurries into the metro area and flurries around the northern neck and eastern shore. temperatures will be above freezing throughout ta time. so anything that does fall is going to be melting on snows. maybe light accumulations in grassy areas. i'll show you. that's coming up in this half hour. >> thank you very much, tom. well, new this morning we're working to learn how a fire starting in northeast d.c. just after midnight,

firefighters rushed to put out a house fire there. everyone got out in time. no one was hurt. police say none of the residents have been displaced. developing this morning, two woodbridge men will appear in federal court this week for allegedly trying to join isis and syria. joseph f aafarokh was charged. mahmoud el hassan was charged with driving him to the airport. the arlington police department had to be ee vanilla yated after a bomb threat. we're told the threat came through an automated phone call. dogs came in and swept through the building and found something in the lobby. employees were temporarily moved to another location. the scene was cleared around 9:30 last night.

>> metro train heads to a single track after a man stabbed himself at the metro station around 7:30 last evening. he was in critical condition. the station never closed during that station. anti-gun activists and gun supporters rallied in maclean yesterday. at issue, no gun stores near schools. organizers support bills moving through the virginia general assembly that would empower lost governments to keep stores away from schools. >> elementary school students can sit in their classrooms and see people walking in and out of the store with weapons. that's not appropriate. this is not about gun control. >> i don't see where it affects the safety of the children whatsoever. people out here that carry guns that have permits and so forth are law-i bading safe citizens. >> now, the proposed bill could keep the gun stores 1,000 feet away from schools. a worker is dead after a

chemical plant explodes in texas. three people were hurt. they were doing a routine function when the contractors' equipment exploded. there were about 1,000 pounds of chemicals inside. a martin luther king tribute is taking place in arlington. it's a celebration with performances. they'll honor dr. kij's life. >> 7:04. lot's turn our attention to 2016. today could be the most contentious democratic debate that we've seen so far. this will be the last time that presidential candidates hillary clinton and bernie sanders face off before the iowa caucuses. that race is now in a dead heat. foreign policy could be a big theme tonight. the debate will air tonight at 9:00 right here on "news4" and

lester holt and andrea mitch really going to moderate and coming up on "meet the press" chuck todd will look at the brand-new "wall street journal" poll numbers and hillary clinton and bernie sanders will be on at 10:30. >> excuse me. did he report his bank loans? say whatever you want. he didn't report his bank loans. >> he was booed in south carolina. the crowd was not happy trump criticized ted cruz for not revealing his bank loans. the gloves clearly came off between the two candidates who are in a razor tight race. now, he said the senator criticized new york and the people of that state. meanwhile the texas senator suggested trump isn't a serious candidate. >> you know, think in terms of a commander in chief we ought to have someone who isn't springing

out of bed to tweet in a frantic response to the latest polls. >> well, cruz took an offhanded jab at trump after getting stuck in an elevator for about three minutes yesterday. he asked, quote, all right, who put donald trump in charge of the elevator, end quote. >> interesting. >> coming up, they were one of the most popular gifts. now there's fewer places you can actually ride them. the new spot hover boards are banned. grab the popcorn. six women, montgomery county, and a whole lot of drama, how a

. now to developing story. turkeys have tested positive for the bird flu.

they're still trying to determine how many birds are affected on nine farms. all 60,000 turkeys of the first farm have been euthanized. this morning we're learning new details about the investigation into the saab bernardino shooting. the fbi says it has not found any direct link to foreign terror groups. in december the huh and wife killed 14 people in a workplace shooting in san bernardino. the feds say they're also still trying to fill an 18-minute gap in the time line after the terror attack. before the shooting malik pledged allegiance to isis on social media. a number of universities and college campuses across virginia are banning hover boards. they say that those boards pose a hazard. nationally more than 30,000 universities have banned hover boards. they're citing warnings that some of the self-blapsing gadgets have caught on fire. are you ready?

the real housewives of montgomery county will be making their debut tonight. looks like they're having a good time. this isn't the first time local women have been featured on the bravo franchise. the real housewives of d.c. that aired back in august of 2010 but it was canceled after just one season. >> you didn't make the cut this time around? >> oh, no. i don't have enough drama. i'm too boring. >> well, winter brings out all kinds of animals and that can make for good video. this video out of northern europe. see the little guy there? photographers in estonia caught squirrels diving in and out of t the snow. they triering to find the stash of nuts underneath the snow. >> it's so cold his hair stands up. >> it's cold. >> that might by b us next

weekend. it might not be long before we start seeing some flakes in our area. tom's tracking your hour-by-hour forecast with how you can plan for the week ahead. and a warm bonfire might sound good but a backyard fire can quickly get dangerous. we're

developing right now at 7:13, the united states and japan agree there needs to be a

strong response to the united states security council to north korea's nuclear test. they say a failure to sejd a clear message would risk further provocation by pyongyang. there's also hope china will join in to work for a stronger solution. >> it's very hard to take any of their overtures very seriously. a lot of people like to light a bonfire in the backyard, maybe a fire pit on a cold night. >> yeah. anything to keep warm, right? but more and more products make it easier to get burned in your own backyard. "news4's" erica gonzalez share as warning. >> reporter: bonfires, fire pits, both are gaining popularity. paul harmon has been lighting fires in his backyard for more than 20 years. >> that's where we all congregate. it also helps with yard cleanup.

>> reporter: but one night this fall he made a life-threatening mistake. >> never had an incident until recently. i remember everything that happened from the blast to my earri ears ringing and turned into a ball of fire. instead of stopping i gave it one more shot and that's the moment you wish you had back and when that can exploded, it literally rocked the neighborhood. >> he suffered 3rd degree burns all over his body and required multiple surgeries at medstar me cal center. dr. jeffrey scupp -- the u.s. product consumers safety estimates 3,900 injuries associated with it.

falling into fire. this shows a man stumble right into a fire pit. in california this girl suffered injuries while roasting marshmallows over a fire pit. >> things that people do very often, so they get very comfortable with setting a fire for a bonfire or fire pit. >> he restores cars for a living but today he works with physical therapy. >> when you're burnt bad enough, your life changes. >> erika gonzalez, "news4." >> got to be careful. a lot of people are looking to get warm. we're talking a big temperature drop. >> and tonight we're talking snow. "storm team 4" meteorologist tom kierein. what's this all about? >> not a lot but something for us to marvel at. temperature are going to be above freezing by the time it gets here so most of it is going to be melting on roadways.

take a look at the sky now on a sunday morning. off to a tranquil start there at national harbor, prince george's county. you can see the waters of the potomac are very calm. don't have hardly any wind at all this morning. a lot of clouds around but they're not producing any rain or snow here yet. later in the morning and through noontime a little bit of light snow or flurries coming through. we'll be in the upper 30s and it will be melting. by 4:00, it will be stein breaking out. it will be up around 40 degrees. and then this evening is when the cold air returns back down into the 30s by 8:00 p.m. the temperatures right now are above freezing in the metro area and around the bay, but to our south it's near or a little bit below freezing from fredericksburg to warrenton, manassas, and the shenandoah valley from western virginia and the eastern panhandle of western virginia and maryland. the leading edge of this snow trying to reach the ground. much of it still aloft.

that's about to come into fredericksburg. southern calvert county, st. mary's, to spotsylvania, west of there and west of shenandoah valley. initially a lot of it is not quite reaching the ground but you may be seeing a few flurries. it's going to be advancing north. by 8:00 this morning the area in the lavender, that's the leading edge of it getting closer in the fauquier, prince william, and perhaps coming into fairfax county. then throughout 9:00, 10:00, it will be coming right into the area. again, some flurries as well as the shenandoah valley and out of the mountains. then maybe some light accumulations of snow farther south from richmond, the northern neck, st. mary's county, northern part of the eastern shore. this band going to be around between 11:00 to 2:00 or 3:00 this afternoon. that all moving out. most of the activity ends in the metro area by 3:00 this afternoon. then we clear out. then some snow showers continue way out in western maryland and the highlands of west virginia.

the darker blue zone here, that's where there may be a dusting to an inch, again, on grassy areas. should be above freezing as this is going to be falling. again, just on grazy areas. roadways just wet. a big change for dr. king day. dress like this young lady. it ooh going to be cold and breezy tomorrow morning. windy, sunny, but very cold the rest of the day on monday. windchills near 10 degrees tomorrow with winds gusting to around 25 to 30 miles an hour. and the winds will stay up on monday night into tuesday. it's a weather alert day because of the frigid temperatures. we'll have updates on nc 4 and social media and the nbc washington app and nbcwashington.com. bright sun. still cold wednesday. up into the mid-30s. now it's the end of the week. there's chance of some rain changing over to snow on friday and some accumulating snow friday night into next saturday.

looks like our first accumulating snow event of the season so far. again, that's friday afternoon and evening into next saturday. stay tuned. >> we'll definitely stay tuned for that one, tom, you can be sure of that one. thank you very much. coming up, it was a scam from inside metro's own employees. employees. how an elaborate employees. how an elaborate our cosmetics line was a hit. the orders were rushing in. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding fast. building 18 homes in 4 ½ months? that was a leap. but i knew i could rely on american express to help me buy those building materials. amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. our amex helped us fill the orders. just like that. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com

it's a story you learned about first through push alert. metro employees stealing from their own transit agency. station managers and others were involved in a fraudulent scheme to sell smart cards for big bucks. it was flat out theft. several station managers and two custodians had been collecting paper cards from riders. after they collected a sizeable stack of paper fare cards which still contained value the employees would transfer the balance of those cards to plastic smart trip cards and sell them at a discounted price. metro spoerksperson dan stessel. >> they were all arrested and will face charges. >> the way it's designed if a rider gets off and doesn't have enough they're directed to a

fare machine to pay the right fare but they were turning a blind eye. >> they would say give the fare card to me and let them out without ever processing that paper fare card. they think the station manager was being helpful. at least the seven were retaining the cards and then going to a vending machine, trading several of them in all at once and then loading that onto a smart trip card. >> the nine metro employees were all fired in that case. well, help is on the way for hungry children and local food pantry shelves. it got off to to a great start. the northern virginia bureau was there as people dropped off donations near herndon saturday. there was another bus at the shopper's food warehouse in alexander. and, of course, you can find out where they'll be next weekend on stuff the bus nbc washington

app. developing right now, a water crisis in flint, michigan, has prompted president barack obama to sign an emergency decoration to provide executive aid. they are providing water filters and other supplies for 90 days. flint can also get up to $5 million in federal funds. filmmaker michael moore was born in flint. he returned home to speak about what's happening there. >> upon reading the executive order, it does not go far enough. it is only for 90 days. it's only for bringing more bottled water to flint. bandaids, filters. that's not what we need. >> moore asks the u.s. attorney general to arrest and prosecute governor rick. >> der because, quote, he knew about the toxic water. they're working with the environmental protection agency to investigate the events

leading up to that. the group will be lobbying for pro-gun bills. the gathering could draw protesters after recent mass shootings. there's a stomp the violence march tomorrow honoring dr. martin luther king jr. it's part of campaign to raise awareness. the march is happening at fedex field. it begins at 9:45 in the morning. registration opens at 7:30. >> you can volunteer at several different events in our area to celebrate martin luther king's birthday. there will be a beautification project at ballou high school. you can find more volunteer opportunities on our nbc washington app. well, coming up, we are in for a big temperature change. look at the wheel there all lit up. that's pretty cool. and it's definitely going to feel like winter this week. tom is updating his forecast with the season's first major

snowstorm starting to take shape. right now a developing story, "washington post" reporter jason redesizaian are their way home. and hunting

it's 7:30. here are our top stories. this just after miechblt firefighters rushed to gallaudet university to put out that house fire. everyone got out in time. no one was hurt. right now a woodbridge man is charged with trying to flee to join isis in syria. joseph farrokh was charged. the man who drove him is also facing terrorist charges. the arlington police department had to be evacuated after a bomb threat. we're told it was made by an automated phone call. the scene was cleared last night. welcome back, everybody. i'm angie goff. >> i'm adam tuss. be ready for the big chill. you need your hat, scarf, gloves. >> the whole nine yards. "storm team 4" meteorologist tom kierein has more. good morning, tom. >> we've had dramatic drop

overnight. now, sunrise was about five minutes ago. we're not seeing it, though, because we've got a lot of clouds around. there's a live view, cotton ball clouds over the capitol. it's all overcast this morning. temperatures under the clouds are in the mid-30s in the metro area. nearby suburbs in the 30s. around the bay, upper 30s. farther to our south, a few locations are at or above freezing. manassas, warrenton, and luray, and up in the mountains of west virginia. the drawer picking up some aloft here this sort of circular gray zone where it's trying to reach the ground. but farther south, south of richmond and up south of fredericksburg is where it is now beginning to reach the ground. but these are just lead t leading edge of some flurries that will be moving into the metro area by 9:00 this morning but most of it melting as it's going to be landing on pavement above freezing and temperatures

above freezing as well. a look at the hour-by-hour timing on that and our first major storm of the season. that's coming up later this hour. >> thanks. t developing now, the plane carried the four released prisoners is just leaving iran. the "washington post" joseph rezaian is on that plane. >> reporter: the breakthrough was announced here in vienna and diplomats here are calling this implementation day, the day the iran deal came into effect, the day iran was welcomed back to international market. >> it seems like a sweet deal. sweet indeed. >> five detained in iran have

been released from custody. >> reporter: among those released amir hekmati, a former marine held for over four long years accused of aiding a hostile country. saeed abedini, a christian pastor jailed for over three years. >> it seems like a dream. something we've been hoping for and praying for. >> reporter: and jason rezaian, the "washington post" correspondent accuse of undermining the regime held often in solitaire confinement for a year and a half. >> it's spectacular news. we're so happy. we can't wait to see him. >> reporter: the "washington post" in statement said we couldn't wait to hear it. matt trevithnick also set to be released. while the prisoner swap is technically unrelated to the nuclear deal, critics denounced them signing any agreement while they held the prisoners. while the prisoner swap is technically unrelate odd to the nuclear deal, critics didn't

like it. >> iran has carried out all necessary measures under the agreement. >> well, at least two americans are still believed to be held or missing in iran. we have new details. an american missionary is among those killed in a terror attack in west africa. mike ritterington was among those killed. we have new neverings of a man who tried to hit two police officers with his car. they say anthony howard threatened to set the home on fire when he incrementally moved out but his family still lived there. when he was ordered to get out of the car, he refused and accelerated toward the officers. he stopped inches from them. no one was hurt.

he faces attempted murder charges. the mexican navy launch thad raid last october. this is one of the hideouts he use. now officials say el chapo left the safe house shortly before the raid there. he left behind things like vitamins and sandals. he's now in a mexican prison. this morning search crews in hawaii are expanding their search for 12 missing marines. the marines were on board two helicopters that went down off the coast of oahu on thursday. the coast guard said high surf is dispersing debris and complicating the search. the coast guard initially said there that the choppers collided, but a marine spokesman said the cause of the crash is still not clear. >> frozen up in the air, says a prayer, and -- oh, please.

what a catch. that's insane. >> yeah. did you see it? it was one of the wildest finishes in playoff history. the late night fight between the cardinals and packers. one person in hawaii has died from a mosquito-spread virus. the new health warning as concern sbreds to the u.s. three questions for the us senate.

congress just voted to label genetically engineered salmon; why not other foods? gmo crops are doused with heavy doses of an herbicide the world health organization says probably causes cancer.

isn't that reason enough to label? 64 other countries label gmos. why don't american shoppers have the same information? tell your senator, high tech gimmicks like qr codes aren't the answer. we need clear on-package labeling. a developing story this morning. there's a travel advisory for pregnant women because of fast burning virus that causes a deadly birth defect. the cdc says the zika virus is behind the spike in the number of newborns with micro sefly. a baby born in hawaii had the buy vai russ and the defect. now the birth defect vults in babies born with small heads and brains. brazil is the epicenter of the outbreak with 4,000 cases in the past year. the cdc is sending two teams to the country to deal with the health crisis. the people of st. louis can't be happy this morning.

along with losing their football team, they're also being hit with a multi-million-dollar bill. the city spent millions to get them to stay including a proposal for a multi-million-dollar building. now they have to pay $2 million for a stadium that was never built. now the rams want to build a stadium near los angeles. you didn't see the end of the game last night on nbc, you missed something special. a hail mary by aaron rodgers ties the game up to go to overtime with no time left on the clock. look at this. he just chucked it up. if you actually watch the replay, he's not even looking after he throws it. he really heaves it up there. but the receiver pulls it in. game time, game toss, arizona overtakes the ball. watch fitzgerald. he doesn't take it to the house but gets pretty close.

he plows through everybody, one, two, three. >> it's funny. if you were watching this, it will pretty much walk you through how wild this was. people saying this game was written by the same writers of "friday night lights." 7:40. we haven't seen much snow all winter, but that's about to change. tom is tracking and how much snow you can expect in your neighborhood. five months and waiting. you can see him for yois.

the "today" show is next on nbc 4. let's take a look. >> erica hill and craig melvin. good morning to you. >> good morning you do. >> just ahead on "today," we have the latest on the american prisoners on their roy home after being released from iran. also ahead this morning the gloves could come off again tonight. hillary clinton and bernie sanders preparing to face off in the last democratic debate for the iowa caucuses. we're live in charleston, south caroli carolina, this morning. plus actor jada picket smith calling out the oscars. steve harvey, how he is

starting to make amends to miss colombia and miss philippines. >> we'll have those stories for you when we get started on a sunday morning right here on "today." >> i mean if there's anyone who can smooth it over is steve harvey. he kind of skated past all of it. >> he kind of signed a new contract after it. it didn't hurt him. >> it didn't hurt him at all, angie. >> thanks, guys. we'll be watching. >> new development this morning in the bill cosby case. an ex-prosecutor is expected to testify. he promised cosby would never be charged but a judge must decide if that constitutes an immunity. there's hearing next month for what cosby's lawyers are calling a nonprosecution agreement. lawyers say she never knew of such an agreement. wen took 60% of the vote but managing the delicate relations is going to be tricky.

beijing says taiwan's new leader says that they have to be sure they're part of a single chinese nation. presidential candidate bernie sanders is changing his stance on a gun law. he wants to reverse a law. now, in 2005 senator sanders supported the bill. the reversal comes after attacks from hillary clinton. sanders' campaign says that this isn't a flip-flop. they say he only flip-floppchan. they'll discuss it tonight which will air on "news4" at 9:00 p.m. this week the senate will suggest a new kreaning. the fbi will require background checks.

certify that each refugee is not a security threat. it passed the house in november but faces an uphill battle. if that happens president obama has promised to veto the bill. virginia governor terry mcauliffe wants to overhaul the juvenile system. the governor has asked the general assembly for $90 million to construct two small corrections centers. it would replace aging juvenile prisons in favor of treatment centers. this proposal creates an opportunity for them to agree. a destroyed pedestrian bridge that runs over the green line in prince george's county should reopen next month. nine months ago a contractor destroyed part of a pedestrian bridge there, and metro says the company has yet to replace that structure. the bridge was between the greenbelt and college park metro stations. a metro spokesperson told the "washington post" they're not happy with the delayed work so far. that same company was supposed to build a new track to test incoming 7000 series trains.

that project is two years behind schedule. he wu a was a very sleepy 5-month-old. he made hearts melt. >> as you're about to see in kristen dahlgren's report, there's no disagreement on what it means to be adorable. >> reporter: after months of anticipation and waiting in line, it's safe that all the hoopla hasn't gone to bei bei's head. the 5-month-old couldn't careless if he was the day's biggest draw. sleeping right through his debut. >> he sleeps about 90% of the day. >> reporter: of course, that didn't stop the crowd from trying to catch a glimpse of his roly-poly affection. from the time he was born, baby bayh b bei bei was a star. from the first images of a hairless cub the size of a stick of butter, we've been mesmerized, like a proud parent marking every milestone. his first steps, a healthy

checkup. >> lungs sound good and clear. >> reporter: the first ladies of two countries came together to give bei bei his name. and in a way the 23-pound cub is carrying the weight of the world. the panda program, an important diplomatic tie between china and the u.s. bei bei will stay in washington for four years and be sent to china where less than 2,000 giant pandas remain in the wild. >> we're breeding pandas here, and then the next generation of pandas will hopefully start to go back into the wild. >> bei bei's mission. how could you not love this cute face. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. >> they are calling it the ultimate lovefest. >> really? >> yes. i was out of town and so bummed to miss it. >> he's not going anywhere. you'll see him. >> i know. but it will be a while before we see another public debut like that. still time to see it.

>> go see bei bei today if you'd like something to do. i'll tell you what. they like the snow. >> yeah. they like rolling around in the white stuff. >> we might get snow. "storm team 4" meteorologist tom kierein has more. good morning, tom. >> good morning. dress like bei bei. you'll need your warm puffy coat. we're below freezing starting off of this sunday morning. the clouds overhead are beginning to produce a few snow flurries. i've got "storm team 4" radar tilted up. that's where they're beginning to fall from the clouds. and then west of there from fredericksburg over to near front royal and luray. but south of there it is likely reaching the ground. parts of the northern neck and down to near richmond, the green zone, a little bit of light rain in southern st. mary's county right near the chesapeake bay. that green zone, a little bit of light rain there. north of there, a few flurries.

it's advancing there. here's the hour-by-hour timing, the flurries getting closer to us and then by 9:00 to 10:00, they come into the metro area and then to maryland. just some flurries. that extends into the mountains. the snow may be coming harder from richmond into the northern neck. the darker zones in southern maryland and eastern shore, that's where there may be a light accumulation on grassy areas. so temperatures may be above freezing. maybe light snow coming to the area. it's going to be melting as it hits the ground and it will clear out and by 4:00, 5:00, right before sunset we may see a little sunshine clearing it up. the darker blue, southern part of the eastern shore, nosh neck, an then down into virginia and southeastern virginia, there may be a dusting, an inch at the most in the grassy areas atz it

will likely be melting on pavement as we'll be above freezing. right now we're at or below freezing. shenandoah valley as well. reagan national at the bay, mid or upper 30s. if you're going to get exercise, do it right now. it's going to be kind of fun. then by late afternoon, sunset, back to upper 30s. post your pictures like jen johnson did. gorgeous clouds there. the d.c. kirchl d.c. dr. king show. >> thank you very much. a father in st. louis denied

his 6-year-old's allowance request with a formal rejection letter. >> the dad took on a role of ceo of dad's saving and loan. in that letter he tells husband son he cannot fulfill his loan request because his fund had insufficient funds and the boy did not do his chorus. he said it was a joke but it was a teaching moment. >> he thought he could get a loan, i can get my loan ahead of time then he thought, wait, it's not my money, he can say no. >> eventually both parties were able to work something out and the 6-year-old got his loan request approved. >> i like that. ceo dad. >> i know. sooner or later they geesht learn how the real world works. >> clean up your room, man. 7:52. four thing use need to know. a fire starts in northern d.c.

just after midnight firefighters rushed to the scene to put out a fire near gallaudet. everyone got out and no one was hurt. a man was charged with trying to flee to syria to join isis. the man who drove him is also facing terror charges. everything is back to normal at the arlington police department after a bomb threat last night. we're told the bomb threat came from an automated phone call. the scene was cleared around 9:30. tonight the presidential candidates will face off in a debate. the debate will air on nbc 4 at 9:00 p.m. this is the last time hillary clinton and bernie sanders will face off before the iowa caucuses. as is often the case, "saturday night live" gets the last laugh. how some big names in continuedy took on the latest. the jokes are already going

done it again making a hilarious portrayal of the presidential erase. they squared off in the mock fox business news debate. any time the candidates' poll numbers fell below 3%, this happened. >> since the last sight we have confirmation chris christie has dipped below 3% in the national polls. >> come on. oh, come on.

>> they were removed from the stage. >> you've got to dance them off the stage. >> the skit as you can imagine addressed the recent back-and-forth between donald trump and ted cruz. so they had a field day roy w that. >> always fun. >> tom, you've got your eye on next week. >> and scattered storms. don't worry. it's not going to be a major storm. it will be melting on the sidewalks. that's a little white snow creeping closer to us and a bigger storm toward the end of the week. i vel more on that coming up later this morning. >> absolutely. thanks so much for good morn.

breaking news. coming home. a plane carrying americans freed by iran, leaving tehran a short time ago. their long-awaited release coming hours before crippling sanctions were lifted on iran for holding up its end of the controversial nuclear deal. this morning, the journey to freedom and the heartbreak for the family of one man left behind. dueling candidates. hillary clinton and bernie sanders set to face off on a debate stage for the last time before the iowa caucus. the night is expected to be heated with the race razor tight. on the republican side, donald trump booed for slamming ted cruz. >> he didn't report his bank local loans. say whatever you want, he didn't