electrical outlet powering that tree --owering the tree's lights overheated. the fire ignited and spread. the kids were ages 6 to 8. your time now is 4:30. new information overnight in a crash that hurt two paramedics and caused beltway traffic that may have slowed you down. these are pictures from the inner loop off st. barnabas road. a woman sideswiped an ambulance around 8:00 and sent it into a ditch. overnight we learned there were in patients inside. we also learned of a secondary crash that set a pole through another car, barely missing the driver's seat. today, terror charges in alexandria. two men go before a judge. federal agents arrested joseph baro c baroke on saturday.

prosecutors say that hassan introduced farouk to others overseas. we are expecting a new trial date in an unusual case happening in fairfax county. andrew smoel and his wife alesha are charged with a brutal attack of a couple. andrew's lawyers plan to use involuntary intoxication as a defense. prosecutors counter that attack -- that the attack was well planned. good morning. storm team 4 weather alert day, what you need to know about the forecast for today. dangerously cold windchills again this morning. we're going to stay in the deep freeze, highs today in the 20s. there is a little chance for some flurries coming your way for tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening. no accumulation expected but wednesday clipper. but still a possibility of a big

snowmaker coming our way friday and saturday. more about that and your future weather coming up. current windchills below zero across most of the area and temperatures in the teens. it is a dangerously cold morning out there. the next 24 hours not much improvement. 15 now. 22 at 7:00 tonight and 16 by this time tomorrow morning. melissa mollet now, dry roads, one good piece of news in the forecast. >> nice dry roads this morning, we'll take it for now. this morning looking quite good. beltway, no problems on the beltway right now. very little road work happening perhaps because of these cold temperatures. it is just too brutal to be out there. prince george's county, looking good as well. don't have any problems in that area. 29 between 66 and salt run parkway, left lane blocked each way until 3:00 this afternoon. see you back here in ten minutes. >> thank you, melissa. back to the breaking news in prince george's county, multiple injuries from a fire on knoll

book drive in chillum. the fire spokesman calls it a tragedy. molette green just arrived on the scene. what are you finding out. >> the fire is now out. take a look at the house there where firefighters pulled four people from that burning structure. their injuries described as critical. we learned four people, two adults, two children, who are fighting for their lives. there were a total of seven people in the house at -- when the fire broke out. again those four people that were injured trapped inside. we're in the 6700 block of knoll book drive off 4 10 in chillum. no word on a cause. investigators are just beginning to look into how this fire started. but, again, a tragedy in this neighborhood here. and a very large presence of firefighters and trucks out here in this community. they'll be here for a while, looking for a cause of this and

we'll stay on top of the latest developments. back to you. back here at the live desk, monitoring a developing story out of pakistan. at least 11 people killed, dozens of others injured by a suicide bomber. the taliban now claiming responsibility for the attack. it happened in the outskirts of the pakistani city of peshawar. sources tell nbc news a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle drove into a crowded police checkpoint. we'll continue to monitor this story for updates. doctors in germany are checking out washington post reporter jason rezaian before he's cleared to come home. rezaian was in prison for 18 months in iran. he and four americans were part of a prisoner swap that led to their release. part of rezaian's imprisonment

was solitary confinement for 49 days. >> he's my brother. he looks like my brother. we talked about the warriors, baseball, what is going on in the world. >> two other americans are at the medical center. a third is now back in boston. it is 4:35 and today we'll find out about a new plan to make housing more affordable in arlington. virginia governor terry mcauliffe is making an announcement in a few hours at the community center. since 2000, average home prices there have gone up more than 140% and the average rent has gone up 90%. it could soon be just a little bit easier to pay a cab driver in montgomery county. a bill up for discussion today would change credit card requirements for drivers. there is also a vote planned this morning to increase penalties for selling tobacco products to minors. another bill today urges the county it adopt a new effort to reduce the number of traffic related deaths. we're working to find out

more about a memorial service for a dedicated community activist in prince george's county. greg hall died in a car crash yesterday morning. he unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the maryland state house in 2013. police say an suv crossed the center line and hit hall's car head on. investigators are still trying to pinpoint a cause. >> i don't know what to do. hopefully we can get some answers now. >> parents push for those answers. students in prince william county go back to class today, even though there have been threats of violence against four high schools. police just made an arrest, a 17-year-old faces charges now for a threat made on snapchat against patriot high school. there has been similar incidents at three other high schools in the county recently. police tried to ease fears at a town hall meeting last night. they have said repeatedly that threats are not credible, but parents are wondering how they know that. in one case, officers say they used social media to track down

a suspect who lives west of mississip mississippi. >> we have to balance our approach to make sure we're not -- our kid. >> since the threats began, police have increased their uniformed and plain clothes officers at county high schools. >> as we mentioned at the top of the show, it is a weather alert day and several schools are on a two-hour delay this morning. >> it is all because of what is on your screen. dangerously low windchills. yikes. look at the numbers, what you ned to know before you send your kids out the door in the next weather and traffic on the 1s.

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a dramatic fire rescue caught on a firefighter's helmet camera. they were called to an apartment fire on saturday morning in fresno where a mother and child were trapped inside. the child was passed through the window to a firefighter and lowered to safety. six other adults inside the complex were rescued, no one was hurt. as we all know, winter means a lot of -- washington post found that northern virginia streets are in bad shape. nearly 80% of local streets are in poor or very poor conditions. in prince william county, 70% of streets have potholes, corroding asphalt and other problems. arlington streets in much better shape with 40% in need of repaving. fairfax officials want the state to reallocate money for the

local roads instead of the highway. 4:41. weather alert day. we need to check in with chuck bell to get us ready for our day. be sure to make sure you are safe outside, stay safe in the bitter cold, put that hat on today, you could lose as much as 50% of your body heat through your head. as you get dressed for work, layer up with lightweight loose fitting clothing, wear a scarf to cover your mouth and lungs from the air. you can also add some waterproof boots and sturdy shoes. i always have trouble keeping my feet warm. what should we do? >> it is going to be another moderate to high impact weather alert day for you. bitter cold, wind, once again this morning, windchills back down below zero. as you were mentioning, what to wear day, your heaviest coast, warmest hat, everything you got to try and stay warm today. bus stop conditions, schools on delay. have our nbc washington app ready to go. that not only updates you on the

weather, but on school closings as well or delays. temperatures near 15 this morning. only near 25 later on this afternoon. still tracking the chance for big snow coming our way, friday into saturday. more about that coming up in a few more minutes. could have a pbig impact on travel. see you in ten minutes for that. here is melissa mollet with traffic. >> still have a problem in northern virginia, 29 between 6 and salt run. left lane blocked in each direction. and that's going to last until 3:00 this afternoon. other than that, looking quite good now, and pretty light here on the road work this morning. probably because of all of the cold. 270, northbound and southbound, looking good. that's not 95 or 198. i'll get it for you here. inner loop and outer loop, no worries there. i'll see you then. cruz versus trump, clinton versus sanders. how the rivalries are boiling over today as the poll numbers tighten in iowa. and when was the last time

you have seen this, yeah, look closely. where some drivers are able to get gas for less than $1 a gallon.

for the second day in a row, it is a weather alert day here at news 4. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell is monitoring the day ahead as well as the snow in our future. he'll break it down for us at 4:51. now to what is happening today in decision 2016. candidates are spread out across the country, campaigning to get the upper hand. nbc's tracie potts is monitoring the rivalries, growing strongers here from capitol hill. good morning. >> no question about that, good morning. we're also looking at the numbers we're expecting some new nbc poll numbers later this morning. but for now, the latest ones that came out overnight showed the republican party taking more of a hit than the democrats when it comes to negative campaigning. let's start with the

republicans, because trump increased his attack on ted cruz, ted cruz said he won't respond, but he is talking about donald trump on the campaign trail. he said he's going to keep it about the issues and not make it personal. our poll shows that four in ten voters, talking about voters overall here, democrats and republicans, have a more negative view of the republican party because of the tone of this campaign. but it is not having as much of an impact on likely republican voters. now to the democrats, hillary clinton and bernie sanders both focusing on the south, today, sanders is in iowa, our poll shows that democrats want experience over change. that could end up benefiting clinton. the poll also shows that more than half of democrats aren't really phased about the tone of the campaign. >> tracie potts live from capitol hill, thank you. disturbing trend in fairfax county, we're learning that the number of deadly pedestrian accidents has nearly tripled in the last four years. it seems a lot of roads in the

county are in the easy to cross. police say with the potential for snow this weekend, more people may be forced to walk on roads if sidewalks are not cleared. police are asking home and business owners to play their part. >> we urge people to shovel their sidewalks so that people who have to walk or have to go catch a bus or walk their children to school. >> well, according to fairfax county's lease there, 11 pedestrian fatalities last year, up from four pedestrian fatalities in 2012. >> 4:47 now. the supreme court is weigh a major decision on the future of voicing your political preferences. hearings start today in a case from patterson, new jersey. the high court will decide whether the first amendment stops the supervisor from demoting a public employee. >> fire officials in prince george's county are trying to figure out if a space heater caused a fire in temple hills. a woman was trapped in her

basement during the blaze on sunday. she suffered burns over 40% of her body. firefighters found five homes in the neighborhood with no working smoke detectors. a good reminder to check your smoke alarms and keep space heaters three feet away from bedding, drapes or furniture. firefighters in herndon will operate out of their temporary facilities longer than expected. their new station number 4 is set to open up in october. the state of the art facility on spring street will replace the firehouse that had been operating there for about 60 years. changes ahead in your child's school lunch. a new senate bill i't giving cafeterias more money, but offers more flexibility. the bill eases requirements on -- and delays how soon schools need to cut sodium levels. there is a new elementary school under construction on liberty hill court in woodbridge. the naming committee will consider names of people who

made contributions to society. go to hilton high school tonight at 7:00 if you want to be involved in the nanaming proces maryland transit officials are expected to name the contractor who will design, build, operate and maintain the light rail line. the purple line will connect the bethesda and new carrollton metro stations. estimated to cost more than $2 billion if all goes according to plan. construction could start late this year and the line could be open for business in 2021. gas prices in parts of michigan hit record lows yesterday. got to see this to believe it. a price war between three gas stations forced one station to advertise gas at 47 cents a gallon. now despite the area around the station being snow covered as you can see, cars and drivers lined up just to snag that deal. the price war made michigan the first state to see gas at less than a dollar in decades. today, though, prices are back

up, $1.50 a gallon. it did not last long. but, boy -- >> still over $2, california, hawaii, they got the sunshine. >> that's right. chuck bell -- >> who wants to pay $3 for gas in hawaii instead of being here right now? >> hello. >> i'm the snow lover. not necessarily a bitter cold sub-zero windchill kind of a lover. no doubt. >> minnesota weather. >> absolutely right. cold stuff out there again for today. what to expect this morning. a bitter, bitter start to the day. windchills running between zero and as much as 15 below zero in rare spots out there early this morning. there will be plenty of sunshine come our way. that's not going to help too much. how about plus 12 in martensburg and hagerstown, 16, washington. 16 annapolis. 13 in frederick. so temperatures through the course of the day, we will improve a little bit, but we'll

probably still be in the teens through about 9:00 or 10:00 this morning and highs today only mid to upper 20s at most. current windchills running between zero and 5 or 8 below zero early this morning. windchill advisory goes until noon time today. future windchills are all running below zero this morning. by noon time, windchills up to about 10 above. during the middle of the day, notice there is not much improvement there. but here is some slightly better news as we go into the late night hours tonight into tomorrow, the wind finally lays down, that will take some of the bite out of the cold. a little chance for flurries coming our way for tomorrow. and still tracking a possibility for a big snow event coming our way friday and saturday. here is tomorrow's future weather. chance for flurries in here between 4:00 in the afternoon and about midnight tomorrow night. all eyes are already turning

towards the weekend storm indeed, arriving during the day on friday. should be mostly snow friday afternoon into saturday morning. accumulations could be very substantial. still a little bit too early for numbers to put on it. but significant, probably 6 to 12 inches or more in some places. it has the potential to even be a blizzard with howling winds, computer models generating near hurricane force winds on the jersey coastline, travel and power likely to be badly impacted friday into saturday. what you should do now is start coming up with your plan b already for your friday and your saturday. if you have travel plans to get out of town friday or saturday, if you can leave early or push them to sunday or later, this is a good time to go ahead and do that. there is your seven day forecast, cold and windy today, a couple of flurries tomorrow, not looking for a big impact on that. thursday, cloudy and chilly. there is that big snow chance, friday, friday night into saturday. we're all over it, have our app

ready to go. melissa mollet has the nbc washington app. >> uyou're making me nervous. it sounds look a lot of fun and perhaps a snowman or two. northbound and southbound rolling along fine here this morning. beltway at saint barnabas looking good, inner loop and outer loop, no problems in that area. 66 and 95, again, we're nice and on time, perhaps a little too quickly there inbound on 66 this morning. top of the beltway is green here this morning and a lot of these routes not having any construction on them because of the cold weather and cold temperatures here. back in ten minutes. we'll see you at 5:00. we're following breaking news in prince george's county, where firefighters are on the scene of a house fire. what we're learning about injuries, that's straight ahead. today marks the beginning of tax season. we're getting you ready.

what to do to make sure you get the most out of your return. your time now is 4:54.

welcome back. if you're just waking up, we want to bring you up to date on breaking news in prince george's county where four people are in critical condition after an early house fire. take a look at the scene there. firefighters working really hard to take care of that fire. molette green is on the scene gathering the information and we'll bring you an update in

minutes. the other big story of the day, it is a weather alert day, the latest and all the school delays, that's coming up. machines we depend on while we shop, and small businesses depend on to grow. now, the news 4 i-team uncovered a growing number of complaints against a huge corporation that rents out credit card swiping equipment. thousands of business owners across the country have been sued by northern leasing systems. the company provides credit card equipment but court complaints accuse the company of intimidating clients into paying thousands of dollars through fraudulent lawsuits. a d.c. beauty shop owner tells the i-team it happened to her. >> it is hard, but, you know, you have to go on and try to climb from it. she is such a good force in this community. to see someone like her, have something that negative hit her, it bothers me. >> more on the backlash from small businesses and how northern leasing is responding

to these allegations of racketeering schemes. that's coming up tonight on news 4 at 11:00. we'll take a minute today to click through a new website, all about how to respond to an active shooter situation. georgetown university published it recently. campus police chief jay gruber says you'll find a 30 minute course on what to do. right now only groups or departments can sign up for it. today, law enforcement officials and other experts will meet to discuss the page. we'll post a link to the website on our nbc washington app. neighbors in northwest washington can have their voices heard on a new redevelopment plan. community members are meeting tonight about the future of the park morton house community. it calls for redeveloping the state on morton street into a mixed income and mixed use development. start getting your documents together for 2016 tax filing season begins today. can you believe it? it is that time of the year. today is the first day it start filing your 2016 income tax returns. the irs expects to process 150

million individual tax returns this season. now, a big change to know about this year is the filing deadline. april 15th out of your head. we think about that date. the new date is april 18th. april 18th. that extra three days are thanks to the district celebrating emancipation day on the 15th. as you prepare to think about what you're going to do and how to file your return, the irs recommends e-filing. e-filing is the fastest and most secure way to receive your return. 70% of taxpayer are eligible for free file and you won't have to wait forever to get your return. the irs anticipates issuing most returns in less than 21 days. to find out which kind of retirement accounts allow you to contribute all the way up until tax day, check out our nbc washington app. as if you needed another

excuse to binge watch, netflix says it is going to pump out more shows this year. the streaming service says it is making a special effort to produce programming for children and families and wants to offer 20 new shows in that cat dpoego alone. a remake premieres of full house in a few weeks. breaking news out of chillum, maryland. we have new information on the tragic story. two adults and two children pulled from a burning home. molette green just spoke to firefighters, what she learned in just minutes. i'm eun yang. we're keeping a careful eye on the dangerously cold temperatures, negative windchills. it is a weather alert day. news 4 and the storm team are here with what you need to know, including some school delays. let's begin with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. a very cold start this morning, dangero