rain moving through for the rest of today will lead to flooding concerns. all the latest in our updated forecast. this morning students in prince george's county are taking the murder of a mother and her two-year-old especially hard. travel plans ahead of the rain amelia just talked about. news4 begins just now. everyone here in this brighter green under a flood watch. that's going to go through later tonight. this includes the entire d.c. metro area. we'll be tracking heavy rain for the afternoon hours, mainly through 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

we could pick up to an inch of rain, some isolated areas even more. we could see ponding on area roads, so keep that in mind. and we're keeping a close eye on the potomac. a flood warning has been issued in potomac county. also the shenandoah river, the opequon creek. you can find those out if you open our washington, d.c. app. notice the heavy rain. i'll be tracking that moving through your neighborhood in 10 minutes. >> amelia, thank you. right now the rain and snow are causing problems at white's ferry. the ferry is closed due to high water, a strong current and debris in the water. there are also road hazards to deal with at this hour. this is a picture tweeted by the fairfax county police about an hour ago. a water main break has a lane of loisdale road north of newington

road, closed. we've shared the community's intense emotion following an elementary schoolteacher's murder and the murder of her two-year-old daughter as well as the community tries to recover. grief counselors are talking to students where ne shrks shante worked. molette green is here to tell us more. >> reporter: we just got confirmation that the father of the toddler has now been charged by prince george's county police with the murders of both people. as you can imagine here at the school where the young mother taught, grade school children are very close to the teachers, to the aides, everyone in the classroom. so for the young students here, this is a devastating loss. a difficult day back to class in capitol heights. >> everybody know her.

she didn't want to sleep last night. she was scared, yoknow. >> reporter: especially for some of the young students and staff that make up bradbury elementary return with heavy hearts. neshante davis in her first teaching job won't be back to class ever again. leroy taylor dropped his kids off. >> that was the kind of thing that threw them off, them being little kids. >> reporter: grief made the day unbearable. neshante davis and her daughter chloe davis-green died on tuesday before she ever made it in to work. >> it's not right. who can killed a two-year-old. prince george's public

schools offered this statement about how saddened the school is and offered support. >> reporter: again, the breaking news. we just have been able to confirm that the toddler's father, daron boswell johnson, has now been charged with both murders. we're going to continue to stay on top of the latest developments in this case and bring you more information inside our onnbcwashington.com and inside our app and also later today on news4. that is the latest live here from capitol heights, molette green, news4. i'm pat lawson muse. bill cosby is back in a pennsylvania courtroom now. we could find out any minute whether cosby will face trial in a sex assault case. a judge is expected to make a decision on this today. here is cosby arriving to court just a few hours ago. a woman said cosby drugged her

and sexually assaulted her in his home in 1974. he is arguing that he signed a restricted clause. they are to decide if a convicted murderer should get another trial. he is back in court right now. he is serving a life sentence in the strangling death of his girlfriend. this week's hearing is expected to last three days. a record number of people who served sentences they did not commit were set free last year. in 2015, 149 people were exonerated. on average, those who were set free spent 15 years in prison before being cleared of their

charges. the national regist exonerations includedç every g everything, including murder. some schools will be adding summer programs for students who need a little extra help with reading or math. it will also allow students more time to explore art and music. after the break, a transgender girl scout stands up to bullying. plus an explosion roxanne airplane.

a transgender girl scout stood up to a bully saying he wouldn't buy cookies from a boy

in a dress. he set out to sell cookies just like every other girl scout. one man turned her away with some pretty harsh words. she shut her bully down and went on to sell more than 3,000 boxes of cookies. good for her. a touching story right now this morning. a mother in arizona heard the heartbeat of her son for the first time in three years. that's the beating heart of heather clark's 7-year-old son lucas. his heart was donated and is now inside the heart of jordan gonzalez. the mothers met for the first time and heather was also able to meet the little girl her son saved. moving on to the super bowl. lady gaga is going to sing the national anthem at super bowl 50. yahoo reports that the singer will join the star-studded singer

today is a storm 4 weather alert as we track some heavy rain in the afternoon hours. showers moved back into washington within the hour around noon. notice 2:00, areas of heavy rain mainly along 95, and back to the west, montgomery county, fairfax, loudon, even up into frederick county. very heavy rainfall moving through there. heavy rain shifts to southern maryland by 4:00 and parts of the northern net. showers pulling out of the district by 4:30. rain certainly having an impact on that evening commute. there could be showers around tonight, mostly around i-95, but we'll dry tonight and keep clouds around. this afternoon heavy rain and

flooding, focused on the moderate risks. some serious video coming into our newsroom of storm damage in the south. take a look at the homes of some completely wrecked. others had trees fall on them. the damage was confirmed around the alabama-mississippi border. emergency officials say despite all the damage, no one was seriously hurt. an explosion on a somali plane created a giant hole and it was all caught on camera. take a look. you can see the hole in the side of the plane right there in the middle while the plane was still in the air. this is cell phone footage from someone on board. the remarkable thing was how calm passengers were. there wasn't any screaming, witnesses say. they also say they hear the explosion right before a fire blew a hole in the commercial airliner. pilots made an emergency landing, and all 74 passengers were evacuated. officials say there is no evidence of a criminal act.

very lucky there. right now lawmakers asking tough questions of michigan leaders and the epa. >> the hearing is an effort to get to the bottom of water dangers in flint. the latest from the live desk after the break.

from capitol hill, families from flint, michigan are at a hearing at this hour. they're attending the house hearing on the water crisis in

flint. the oversight committee is asking this morning how and why lead got into the town's water supply and what's being done about it. you're looking at live pictures now from the hearing under way right now. earlier michigan's environmental quality director apologized. >> in retrospect, government at all levels should have done more. we must fully investigate what happened in order to make sure it will never happen again. in addition, and most urgently, we must fix the problem -- >> several families who have been impacted by tainted water were at the hearing. right now they're holding a prayer vigil in front of the rayburn building. the focus of election 2016 now shifts from iowa to new hampshire. hillary clinton fresh off a small win in iowa while donald trump is trying to regain his frontrunner status after

finishing seconds among republicans, nbc news edward lawrence explains. >> reporter: new hampshire is one of the smallest states in the nation. this week it's the center of national politics. >> i believe that people of new hampshire are going to make the right decision. >> senator rubio surprised everyone, coming in at a close third. >> maybe if i had spent more time there, i would have taken a day or two off from here. >> reporter: trump still leads. he's up 24 points on cruz. meanwhile, the sanders campaign raised $3 million after placing a very close second in iowa. sa sanders says he remains critical of the gop nomination and beating any nominee. >> it's not real clear whether

he dr. or didn't. bernie sanders up against. this is the first in the nation primary. nobody takes that responsibility more seriously than granite staters. >> hillary clinton already. she intend to turn that around. ment she decided to is a in new hampshire and try to narrow the gap. nbc news, washington. back at the live desk, there is breaking news in the republican race. senator rand paul is backing out. he finished in iowa with less than 5% of the vote. things look even worse heading into new hampshire. a recent poll showed paul at 9%

there. he is getting ready to gear up on a reelection campaign. today area residents could set the tone for state of the state speech. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say many of his patrons were too vocal last year, many calling it ugly. check out hogan's legislative plans for the year ahead. showers moving into montgomery and fairfax counties. you can see heavy rain back along the i-91 corridor. all of this promises to push east during the afternoon hours. temperatures a difficult part of the forecast today. generally we're warm into the 50s across the region. right now we're at 44 degrees. by 1:00, the temperature of 48. by 3:00 p.m. we shoot up to 58, and by 7:00, rain is usually

7:00. the seneca creek, shenandoah river, and the opequon river, you can find out more about those on our app. those are flooding concerns, barbara. if you live in virginia, there are some new bills to target distracted drivers. here's what they are. one would let prosecutors charge you with a felony if you're texting and cause a crash that sexually hurts or kills someone. >> right now you can only be charged for reading texts or e-mails at the wheel. >> a story you will only see on news4 now. a silver spring woman who had her car stolen in december is now getting parking and speeding tickets. the car was stole be out of her

apartment parking lot. she also tells us her laptop in the car was stolen. >> every week since then, i've gotten one to two tickets in the mail. >> personal information from her laptop allowed the suspect to compromise her credit. we'll introduce you to a 14-year-old hero after the break.

toyota is recalling about 3,000 trucks and suvs because the airbags can inflate without a crash. it goes back to 2003. a good samaritan jumped to help and rescue a neigoring

family. >> neighbors are calling that teen a hero now. firefighters caught the flames from inside the house, but before crews got to the burning home, 14-year-old christian beacher had hopped a fence once he saw that fire. he rushed to help the family of five to get away from the house quickly, including his neighbor's special needs daughter. >> they saved us because my special daughter can't work too fast. >> we had to, like, help them get out faster, because if they wouldn't, they would have got hurt. >> christian also helped a woman who lived next door to the fire before it spread to her home. no question why people are calling him a hero. the fact he's remained calm under pressure and went to help those people is quite remarkable. >> amazing. marijuana use and how well you speak. the results of a study after the break. plus an

today is a weather alert day because we're tracking heavy rain moving through the area. it could lead to some flooding concerns with snowmelt. really keeping a close eye on those two weather risks. a moderate risk of high winds because of moderate wind damage. this is the most difficult part of the forecast today, exactly how warm it's going to get. generally we'll warm into the 50s across the area and breezy during the afternoon and evening hours. tomorrow plenty of clouds and cooler with a high of 53. maybe some lingering showers in southern maryland, but for most of us it is looking like a dry day. full sunshine friday and saturday. temperatures in the mid to upper 40s. not a bad weekend at all. and keeping a close eye for rain and snow later monday on into tuesday. >> amelia, thank you. i don't want any more rain or snow, though.

a new study about the internet and how we use it. researchers at a workshop say lots of low income families are unconnected, meaning they have one computer to share or they use their phone. 94% of families have some kind of basic internet access. however, 20% said their internet was cut off because they couldn't pay for it. the underconnected could make it difficult for children to succeed in school and for adults to get a job. we asked a psychiatrist to come in and tell us if long-term marijuana use has been linked to poor verbal memory. >> there was a study just published yesterday looking at people from young adulthood into their adulthood. one is organizing and planning abilities, and the other one was

in processing speed, how quickly yur bra your brain works. what they found is there is no impact on executive functioning or on processing speed for people who are regular marijuana users. now, for people who are habitual marijuana users defined as use -- use ing on a daily basis, after use of 25 years, there was a difficulty of recalling names and numbers. >> this study followed these people from the time they were, what, teenagers until they were older? >> alate teens to mid-20s, yes. >> what percentage wasn't able to remember names and numbers? >> it's really a small number. basically for every 1,800 times or five years, roughly, that somebody smoked over those 25 years, their ability to recall 15 words from a list, 50% of

those people could recall one less name. does that make sense? >> yes, i understand what you're saying. but did they find that the more often the person had smoked marijuana, the worse their memory was for things like that? >> yeah. so verbal memory, verbal recall was worse. but only for 50% of the marijuana smokers. so basically for every five years of regular marijuana smoking that you did, out of those 15 things you were asked to recall, 50% of those marijuana smokers could recall one fewer than people who didn't smoke. so it's a small amount. >> something people need to think about. we want to talk about alcohol and marijuana use when we come back, so would you stick around? >> sounds good. it is a weather alert day. the latest from storm team meteorologist amelia siegal

i'm molette green live in prince george's county. we have learned that a toddler's father has admitted his own involvement in a double murder case that has shocked this county. his name, daron boswell-johnson charged this morning in the double murder in an arrest just 24 hours after police found

neshante davis skmand her two-year-old daughter, chloe davis-green, shot. we are working to get an official motive in this case. we told you yesterday on news4 about a possible custody dispute involved. the interim police chief says his detectives worked tirelessly to charge this highly emotional case. we invite you to look for updates inside our nbc washington app, and of course later today on news4, but again, an arrest in this case, the toddler's father admitting his involvement in the double murder, daron boswell-johnson. that is the latest from capitol heights where neshante davis worked as a young teacher at this school. back to you. right now we are watching for major air travel delays because the storm system hitting us and a big part of the east coast. the problem could extend into thursday with clearing here, but

storms remain in florida and on the carolina coast. the worry here, the combination of melting snow and heavy rain. some are preparing for flooding on the roads, in homes, in businesses. erika gonzalez is in old town alexandria, an area no stranger to high water. >> rain jackets and umbrellas, pups out for a stroll before heavy rain moves in. storm team 4 is forecasting about an inch of rain today. >> it is a weather alert day. flood watches have already been issued for the entire d.c. metro area. heavy rain likely to come in here starting as early as lunchtime in the shenandoah valley through the evening commute here in metro. >> reporter: the blizzard is gone but the new concern? possible flooding. something the old town is familiar with. the hope is that the rain could seriously helped minimize these mounds of snow, but even then, where does it all go? crews across the area are clearing drains as they prepare for a soggy day.

pretty dry here in old town alexandria, but you can find out when exactly the rain is moving in and if it's coming into your area and how fast just by downloading the nbc washington app. for now let's check in with storm team 4 meteorologist amelia siegal. >> leesburg, you'll have these heavy showers moving in momentarily. they'll then continue to eastern areas like fairfax and the district. the heaviest rain 3:00 p.m. in the metro area. flood impacts today and tomorrow. this afternoon we're looking at ponding on the area roads. by the evening hours still tracking that concern as well as some urban '=6flooding. tomorrow it's not so much as the d.c. metro is a concern for flooding, but it's the area creeks and streams. a flood watch available for everybody through late tonight. just about everybody. >> thank you, amelia.

in virginia, a family is preparing now to bury a 13-year-old girl. nicole lovell was murdered. her wake is tonight. her funeral is tomorrow in blacksburg. her mother spoke through tears at a press conference yesterday. she said her daughter loved pandas, the color blue and dancing. she said nicole had many health issues in her life but never gave up. >> we were advised at that time she only had 1% chance of survival. nicole once again beat the odds. after eight months in the hospital, she was released and she started to thrive. >> police have now charged two suspects in this case with murder. police say natalie keepers not only helped david eisenhauer get rid of the body but was involved before nicole's body was found. investigators are also looking into how social media played a role in this case. as we continue to cover the zika virus, we wanted to give you some background.

four things to know about zika. this is not a new virus, number one. according to the cdc, there have been outbreaks in tropical africa and southeast asia. the first case of zika in brazil was diagnosed just last summer. you cannot get zika morn once. once he or she has been in if he could, he or she is likely to be protected from the zika virus. the virus itself is not deadly. symptoms including a fever, a rash and joint pain. charge of the cdc coming up is to get as much information about how long the virus can be seen or ex kreetd in sexual religious courses and base their information based on that knowledge. >> there were two other indications where the virus was sexually transmitted. both -- zika is believed to have

caused serious birth defects.

"star wars" is finally slowing down. for the first time this week, "the force awakens" made less than $1100 a day. the movie will reach its eighth week in theaters tomorrow. it could hit the $90 million mark on friday which would make it the first film to reach that amount here. russian cosmonauts are working outside the international space station. the cosmonauts are trying to work on a new kind of glue outside the station. they're also collecting biological samples placed outside seven years ago.

the first thing they did was to bring out a flash drive celebrating the 70th anniversary of russia's victory day. it has several videos and messages on it that are being released into space. you never get tired of seeing images way inside space. from your computer screen

amazon may be headed to the mall. the ceo of the biggest u.s. operator says the mall retailer are planning to open up to 400 physical book stores. they opened a store in seattle last year. it would be a major reversal for the company who is credited with putting several brick and mortar chains out of business. amazon isn't commenting. meanwhile, smartwatch sales are expected to double. that would be good for apple.

it had record sales of its watch and could see more next month. heavy rain impacting parts of frederick county, right now over the city moving toward mt. airy, moving toward westminster. eventually 70/270. we'll track the heavy rain during the afternoon hours, especially until about 3:00 p.m. heavy rain starting to move into the warrenton area. this will continue in manassas and gainville. here's the timing for the heavier activity moving into the area. it's in manassas by about 12:25. fairfax just after 12:30, the district around 1:00, buie around 3:00.

a high of 53 with a bit of a breeze. we're back with psychiatrist wienn on drug use over the last few years. you said it was actually decreased, is that right? >> it looks at 40,000 kids, 8th to 10th graders, and the number is going down for pretty much each category. so when you have alcohol use, you have 25 kids who said they have used alcohol. 2% use it daily. 21% have used marijuana in the last 30 days, 21% daily. you can see the same thing for cigarettes. this is the first time in

20-plus years they've done this where most people are saying they're smoking marijuana in the next mauer win doed. so alcohol has gone down almost in half. marijuana has gone down 5% and cigarettes have gone down by two/thirds. i'm sure people think, oh, the teenagers these days. they're into such bad things. >> what do you think of trending in a different direction? is that our social attitudes? >> i think kids are actually pretty more savvy about things. you look at things related to stv's, and i think those are actually down. kids are getting more he had indicated. so it's possible that things might turn and and -- the peak

of all of these numbers, really, was. >> i guess we should celebrate our teens for being i back to you. right now a neighborhood,i feel like it's got a lot of what we were kinda talking about. the kitchen is light and bright,new. we should definitely go see it. [agent] hi...welcome i'm maggie.melanie.maggie. so nice to meet you. [mother] this is brendan. [agent] hey brendan. living room.

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right now president obama is making his first visit to a u.s.

mosque. he is in baltimore, this after americans are facing increasing levels of bias. he is expected to speak at the mosque at the top of the hour. bill cosby is back in court where a judge could decide as early as today whether to dismiss sex charges against the comedian or move forward with the trial. let's get right to nbc's chris pallone outside the courthouse in norristown, pennsylvania with the latest. chris? >> reporter: good morning. court is now in a brief recess, its first break of the morning. bill cosby's long-time general counsel was the first witness on the stand this morning. he's been questioned by both the prosecution and defense for the past couple of hours. cosby arrived much as he did yesterday, to cheers from many people in the area who gathered to watch the 78-year-old comedian enter court. he arrived around 9:30 this morning. court started shortly

thereafter. in questioning this morning, cosby's general counsel said it was fully his understanding that cosby would never be criminally prosecuted for this incident that happened in 2004 between cosby and one of his associates, andrea constand. he said the only written thing he had guaranteeing that cosby would not be prosecuted was a press release issued by then-district attorney bruce pastor in 2005 that said he would not prosecute this case. he admitted there was no other verbal or signed agreement that said cosby would not be prosecuted, but he said he also would never have let cosby sit for a deposition in the civil case that ultimately was settled in 2006 if he did not believe cosby would not be prosecuted. let's check in with amelia siegal to get the latest on the weather. >> it is a great day to download the nbc washington app.

you can track this line of storms moving through. as we continue to track these the next few hours, it will really determine our flooding possibilities. veronica and i will be providing updates right here on news4 throughout the afternoon and on wtap as well. you can see heavy rain moving through warrensburg, leesdale. ann arundel, howard county, frederick county as well. that's going to run until late tonight. up to an inch of rain is possible. we're focused on water ponding on area roads and also keeping a close eye on the potomac, barbara. severe storms are pounding the south and midwest right now. tornadoes have destroyed homes and damaged schools while a massive blizzard is shutting down major highways. here's jason mascome. >> reporter: face to face way

massive tornado. storm chasers running for their lives. the twister hopscotching through a neighborhood and college campus in rural alabama. while in collinsville, mississippi, a direct hit. a neighborhood decimated. two dozen homes damaged or destroyed. the first baptist church next door ripped in half. >> you can see complete devastation. >> his family was still inside. >> my wife and son came to the church because we had sin der block walls. we found a room to stay in. >> reporter: millions of americans in the storm's path, some losing everything but the clothes on their backs. others nearly losing it all.

national weather service forecasters will be out here later today to survey the damage, as will the pastor and his family. and the people who live in the neighborhood behind the church to pick up their left after they've picked up. jason rascon. >> you can see how dangerous this blizzard is. a dash cam shows an suv spinning out of control on the roads. wind gusts are reaching to 45 miles an hour.

here are some of the stories that are trending this morning. a recreational pot shop hopes to open in oregon later this year.

a it would be the first drive-through in the state to sell recreational marijuana from a window to customers while they sit in their car. in hopes to open, of course, on april 20. black history month. it is officially here. social media editor brittany johnson has ideas of places to meet this month. >> february is black history month and there are lots of activities taking place. there is also tons of events taking place around our area. you can search black history month and our app for more details, and also we'll be posting a fact of the day every day on our facebook page with respect to black history month. finally, check this out. so adorable! this little guy was res. the furry fellow was given the

name of percy and taken to a nearby zoo. a cow was found near the train station and a cow wadd lerks d -- waddled onto the

. maybe you're already pl planning your menu for super bowl sunday. anna just shared a recipe with me for something called buffalo chicken dip. the denver broncos are taking on the carolina panthers. ahead of the game a bigger kind of battle between the two states. denver and north carolina are in competition for food drives trying to get food to their residents before kickoff. >> it's an easy thing to do. anybody can run to the grocery store and get canned goods and know that they'll all be used. >> one organizer said the number

of people she feeds every year could fill a super bowl stadium. they'll calculate the winner based on the number of donated items, not the amount that they weigh. gail is delivering a pre-drunk driving message before the super bowl. >> if you drive drunk you, simply put, are a short-sighted, utterly useless, oxygen-wasting form of pollution. >> not mincing words there. budweiser hired the budding actress to deliver the message to psa. she goes on to say if your brain was given to science, science would return it. if you want to get a sneak peek to other super bowl ads, you can look on the our website.

i hear prince and coldplay will be making an appearance and lady gaga is singing the national anth anthem. 48 degrees right now. the heaviest rain now until 3:00 p.m. because of flood concerns, today is a weather alert day. we'll keep it dry, a high of 53, and the weekend looking really nice. showers now pushing into the beltway. you can see the potential be. veronica and i will continue to update you, but the d.c. area is going through a flood watch and that's all for now. thank you for so much joining us. join us later at 4:00. have a great day and stay dry out there.

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nouns noups today on the meredith vieira show. she was dumped right before her wedding. and what she did for revenge. and day throw of someone's got a secret. can you guess? collin hanks is here dishing about the prank. and why being on the red carpet. and wolfgang is showing you how to have monster snacks for the super bowl party. it is all right now on meredith. [applause] makes you feel real od