right now, a new push to help in the case of a missing firefighter. i'm barbara harrison with why the family is asking for help to get into nicole mittendorf's cell phone. and we have the latest news from flint where criminal charges could be filed today in connection with the city's water crisis. bright sun and blue sky, gentle breeze fluttering the leaves. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. we'll look at how much longer this pattern is going to last. news 4 midday starts now. developing story for you this morning. it's now been a week since anyone

county firefighter nicole mittendorf. darcy spencer with the latest. >> reporter: there was a post on facebook through the search site for her from the family indicating that they were needing some help, some legal help. apparently they're wanting to get access into her cell phone. there could be critical information to help with this investigation. that's the very latest on that end. fairfax county's fire chief also just updated us within the last hour indicating that she did call out sick for her shift one week ago. and now the fairfax county urban search and rescue canine team is helping with the search. at a briefing with reporters officials confirmed missing firefighter nicole mittendorf called in sick for her shift last wednesday. that was the last day family had contact with her before she disappeared. officials did not want to be spec a

her disappearance, but they do say normal procedure would be to call in before 5:00 a.m. >> at the present time there's still no news related to the disappearance of nicole. >> reporter: meantime, for the fifth straight day searchers are looking for mittendorf in the shenandoah national park. they're focusing on a 10 mile area around the white oak canyon trail. a ranger found her minicooper in a parking lot here saturday night. while the last contact she had with family was a week ago, she was reported missing two days later on friday. fairfax county's urban search and rescue team is now helping with that search. >> it's a very rugged terrain. it is a huge area. and they have to work under daylight. >> reporter: mittendorf works out of the fair view station in fairfax county. that's where crew mates are hoping for her return. >> all i'm saying, nicole, if you can hear us, reach o

your home is still here and we're waiting for you. >> reporter: back out live, this is the fire station where she's based out of the fairview station 32. this is where a candle light prayer vigil will be held this evening at 7:30. they're going to gather here to hope and pray for her safe return. barbara, back to you. thank you, darcy. today, family, friends and colleagues will attend the funeral of a prince georges county firefighter killed in the line of duty, john ulmschneider will be laid to rest today. the 13-year veteran was trying to get into a temple hills home friday night to check on a person thought to be having a medical emergency. that homeowner says he thought someone was breang in so he opened fire. fire departments as far away as baltimore city will help respond to emergency calls in prince georges today so that local firefighters can attend the funeral. a teenager charged in the stabbing death of a relative heads to court today.

dennis adams was stabbed by a 17-year-old relative earlier this month at a home in arlington. the name of the teen has not been released. police say a domestic dispute led to that stabbing. this afternoon a judge will hear arguments in a couple of the trials surrounding the death of freddie gray. gray is the baltimore man who prosecutors say died as a result of injuries he sustained in the back of a baltimore police van. prosecutors are asking the judge to enforce their requests that officer garrett miller testify at officer edward nero's trial. they were the bike officers who first arrested gray. six baltimore police officers face charges in the april 2015 incident. hours from now we'll find out exactly what charges three people are facing for the water crisis in flint, michigan. michigan's government is accusing two state regulators and a flint employee of misconduct in office, among other misdemeanor and felony charges. the michigan attorney general is expected to

this afternoon. right now we've got plenty of sunshine and a clear sky. there's a live view from the storm team 4 tower camera, there's the national cathedral and washington monument in the distance. you can start to see a little bit of haze in the air. some of that is pollen dust, and mostly oak tree pollen which has been building the last several days. and it's in the high range. storm team 4 radar not showing any rain anywhere in the vicinity. that would help to wash some pollen out. that's not going to arrive for a few more days. right now we're in the low 60s, most of maryland and virginia, reagan national is at 62. shenandoah valley in the mountains hovering right around 60 degrees. bit of a cooler day on the way. average high this time of year is 68. we'll be a little bit warmer than that today. milder weather moving in toward the end of the week and our next chance of rain that's coming up in a couple of minutes. thank you, tom. president obama is in saudi arabia right now. he's working on repairing the relationship between the saudis an

saudi arabia is critical of the u.s. policies in syria and iran. the president met with king salaman privately this morning. they're both attending a meeting between several gulf countries tomorrow. >> the nuclear court imposes no limits on the united states and that what we're doing in the department of defense hasn't changed. >> that was defense secretary ash carter. he will also be at tomorrow's meeting. you heard him talk about iran there. isis will also be on the agenda. carter is calling on the other countries to increase the action the country is taking against isis and also wants more political support mplgt it's impossible to catch us, that's what donald trump is saying this morning after a huge win in new york last night. hillary clinton dominated as well saying it's inevitable saying she will be the democratic presidential nominee come november. nbc's tracie potts reports from washington.

>> reporter: hillary clinton the projected winner in new york this morning with more than half the votes and 177 more delegates. bernie sanders picked up 105 delegates so far. he says new york's closed primary will registered democrats only isn't fair. >> some 3 million new yorkers were unable to vote today because they had registered as independents, not democrats or republicans. and that makes no sense to me at all. >> reporter: donald trump also wins his home state by a landslide. >> we don't have much of a race anymore based on what i'm seeing on television. we're going to go into the convention, i think, as the winner. >> onward to victory. >> reporter: ted cruz came in third shutout in new york. he moved to pennsylvania. his game plan to win the nomination during a contested convention. >> yeah, look at this, huh? >> thanks for fighting for us. >> reporter: john kasich finished second in new york and pi

he's concentrating on upcoming states, especially indiana, hoping the midwest will once again keep his campaign alive. the next set of primaries next tuesday in maryland, delaware, pennsylvania, connecticut and rhode island. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> tracie mentioned maryland voters have their say tuesday april 26th. polls show maryland voters favoring trump and clinton by double digits. the capitals have the first round behind them in their quest for the stanley cup tonight. they're playing the philadelphia flyers at 7:00 this evening. a one game suspension received for that hard hit on monday night. if they win they play the ping wins or rangers in the second round. you can watch the game in style tonight at the washington center. the washington capitals are inviting fans to watch the game on the jumbotron there. doors open

at 7:00 p.m. and won't cost you a thing. the entire party is free. if you are a parent, a new warning for you this morning. the highly concentrated drug becoming more popular with teens. >> and strongest aftershock yet in ecuador. latest scramble for safety and the latest effort to get help the nra and its campaign cash are what stands between us and gun reform. "searing tragedy struck in a place parents felt their children were safe" chris van hollen met with nra lobbyists to craft a loophole that would let the nra skirt a new campaign finance law and block gun control. but democrat donna edwards said "no" to the nra loophole and stood up to the gun lobby. and she would ban assault weapons. democrat donna edwards, maryland's next senator. working for us pac is responsible for the content of this advertising.

i don't believe that big money can buy votes -- not in our district. and i won't claim to have single handily passed just about every bill in annapolis.

not when our basic rights are being threatened by trump and cruz. i'll stand up to their bigotry and be a passionate voice for maryland women and families. in tv and in business, i built relationships. as a woman in the house, i'll do the same to get things done. i'm kathleen mathews and i approve this message.

hundreds of people are missing in ecuador right now. the chances they survived the massive earthquake are very small. the quake hit on saturday. it measured 7.1 on the richter scale. the death toll reached 525 this morning some 230 others are still missing. while the searching continues and volunteers are providing food and water for the people who were injured or lost their homes. the other earthquakes we have been monitoring, the big ones in japan, officials there increased the death toll to 48. search teams say they found a man spotted in a landslide yesterday. three people are still missing in japan today. police in fairfax county are warning parents about a marijuana derivative that's growing popular among high school students. the derivative is often referred to as hash. it's a strong resin that is extracted from the marijuana plant. police say the hard waxy substance is highly concentrated. side effects from the drugs can cause hallucinations, panic attacks and even

behavior. the imams ages are still to to watch as today marks the anniversary of the columbine high school massacre. two teens went on a shooting spree at the school in littleton, colorado. the shooting happened at a time when mass shootings like this were far less common than today. virginia lawmakers will be back in richmond today. they will have to consider a plan that would hide the identities of pharmacies that supply execution drugs. the attorney general says he thinks the proposal would not violate federal law. governor terry mccaul has proposed the measure to deal with the state's shortage of execution drugs. religious leaders have been rallying against this plan. >> to anyone asking why it's such a big deal, i say you deal with that. you be isolated from a one specific location and have you branded as someone who is not fit for that location a

how you feel about it. >> this morning for transgender students like the young man you just heard from there, a federal court is siding with him in his fight to use the boys bathroom in his virginia schools. nbc's pete williams has more on the ruling and its potentially far reaching implications. >> reporter: in the first ruling of its kind a federal appeals court says it's sex discrimination to bar students from using the restroom that matches their gender identity. it's a victory for a virginia high school student gavin grim who was born a girl but identifies as male and has undergone hormone therapy. the appeals court upheld u.s. department regulations th require public schools to treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity. the ruling applies to four other eastern states that are in the same federal judicial circuit including north carolina. so it likely means that state's controversial transgender bathroom law passed last mo

>> reporter: -- cannot be enforced in public schools including colleges and universities. north carolina's governor says he's asking his state's lawyers to study the rule. >> this is a major, major change in social norms that is going to be new news. not only to the state of north carolina but also to the 27 other states that don't allow this at this point in time. >> that was pete williams reporting. there is another twist in all of this. pastor jordan brown from austin, texas, says a gay slur was written on a cake he'd bought from a whole foods market. we're now learning that the store has surveillance camera video and the store claims it shows brown leaving with the cake and the cake had a label on the bottom of the box at the time. however, photos taken by brown after he left the store show the label on the top of the box. the store and brown say they are both planning to take legal action. i'm erica gonzalez at the live desk. we've got an da

breaking news alert that we sent you yesterday about a plane crash near the chesapeake bay bridge. we are just getting word that the two victims have been identified. those are richard hess, 63 of ellicott city, maryland. janet of ellicott city. the faa now investigating. again, two people on board that plane that crashed yesterday have been identified as richard hess and janet metz. at the live desk, erica gonzalez. there are youngsters in schools and sports organizations all over the washington metro area who are getting to play ball thanks to a local guy who saw a need and sought to fill that need. >> and that guy is max, the founder and executive director of leveling the playing field and joins us of andre lee.

what max has done, but how did you get started with this? >> i started leveling the playing field during my senior year at syracuse university. i was equipment manager for the football program and noticed just a huge waste of sporting equipment going on in college athletics, even youth sports as well. and i knew about programs like andre's, there's a lot of organizations out there and low income communities that just simply can't afford baseball equipment, lacrosse equipment, hockey gear. so as a result a lot of kids are not getting the opportunity to play sports. so it's a pretty simple solution. if there's a lot of wasted equipment out there, there's a lot of kids on the sidelines because lack of equipment, why don't we create an organization to funnel that down to programs that need it. >> great idea. >> so in the three years that this program has been going you've done some pretty amazing collecting and passing on of equipment to kids, haven't you? >> yeah, so we're three years old. we're a two-person operation. so we're pretty small organization. we've donated over $1.4 million worth of equipment to over 250 programs now in the d.c. area. that's impacted over 80,000 kids

sports, which is a huge thing. >> and, andre, you know a lot of those kids who have benefitted. talk to us about that. >> absolutely. in our league we have -- we service around 200 youth from ages of 4 to 15. and a lot of them don't have because we deal with inner city kids, a lot of them don't have equipment to play. >> so yours is baseball, right? >> yes, baseball. >> balls and bats. >> yes, gloves, broken in gloves. and max has been tremendous in helping us. >> so as we look at all the donations that you've made just this year, max, tell us what's up next and how can people who are watching you right now pitch in so to speak, no pun intended, and help. >> yeah, we're growing demand for what we're doing is huge. this year in just over 100 days we have received over 60 proposals from programs that need our help. we're about to start working with d.c. public schools,

if you're a youth sports league, a parent with a garage full of equipment, if you want to donate financially, just go to our website www.levelingtheplayingfield.org. there's a ton of ways to get involved. volunteering at our warehouse. we constantly need help there. if you care about sports, this is a great opportunity to give back to kids who may not have had the same opportunity your kids had. >> anything specific your team needs? >> everything. baseball and everything. max is setting up batting cage for me. >> senators satchel page little league team here in the district. one other question if you had to compare the various sports, which one would you say you need the most equipment for? >> i would say baseball, just think about the equipment of the sport and how expensive it is. baseball is expensive, a lot of gear, lacrosse, hockey, the thing about andre's league is the kids can't -- the parents can't afford to be paying $100, $200 to play baseball. so if he has to buy the equipment and spend $20,000 or

supposed to offer an affordable price to the families? we help him keep his program to $60 for a season. which is unreasonably low and the only reason he gets that is the sporting equipment. it helps the program in a huge way. >> keep up the good work. good luck with your team this season, andre. >> thank you. >> we hope you get lots of stuff this year. >> you guys are hitting a home run. >> absolutely. >> scoring big. >> thanks a lot for coming. warm out you want to get outside and play ball. >> yes, it's winning weather. it's great weather. tom is back with a look at our next chance of rain and he'll tell us when the temperature could hit 80 again. if you sit a lot at home or work, we have weight loss motivation to try to get you back on your feet. >> i want to hear th

kids: he came here from rocky married 27 years. raised 6 kids. including 5 boys. he had grandpa move in with us. glenn: we loved having him as part of the family. it's what you do. kids: in congress, dad will protect president obama's legacy. he'll fight for jobs and protect social security and medicare. glenn ivey will never quit on you; and we should know, we're his kids. glenn: i'm glenn ivey and i approve this message. i'll take on the republicans for all of us.

here's some news for your health this morning. cutting down on the time you sit at work may help you lower your body fat. researchers at the university of southern denmark also say reducing your sitting time can cut down the risk of chronic diseases. 300 workers were tested by using sitting and standing desks. after just one month those using the standing desk lost over half a percent of body fat. hey, colleagues, hear that? it seems more and more of you are skipping your breakfast cereal too, pat, did you skip yours this morning?

>> i didn't. how did you know? she must have been in my kitchen. researchers from the group the firm lux say more people are snacking on bars and yogurt for breakfast. i had some of that too. cereal sales globally have fallen steadily since 2011. children typically have been the biggest cereal consumers. right now only about half of children between 2 and 11 are choosing cereal to start their day. >> okay, what did you have this morning, tom? >> oatmeal. >> oh, yeah? >> with blueberries. >> very healthy. >> and add some cinnamon. >> oh. >> little bit of soy milk. >> it's not helping much with the pollen, is it? >> it's not. and there are a lot of people complaining about it. it's okay. complain away. might help you sleep psychologically to deal with it. my car's got that dust of it now, that yellowish greenish dust. despite that it's still certainly looking joyful outside. look at washington showing off. it's just flat out showing off now.

>> and your pictures are always beautiful. >> oh, well thank you. i'll show you one i took here this morning right here at nbc 4. and it is warming up nicely now. we're into the low 60s. so kind of a fresh and cool day underway. the temperatures cooler than they certainly were yesterday. right in washington low 60s. near 60 degrees shenandoah valley, panhandle of west virginia, gorgeous blue waters of the bay sparkling in the morning sunshine. terrific day to get a run in, take a brisk walk. temperatures will be in the upper 60s around noontime, about an hour or so. and then during the middle part of the afternoon hovering in the low and mid 70s. then toward the end of the evening back down into the 60s. and a great night tonight to go to a caps game viewing, if you're going to be going to the verizon center for the big viewing tonight between 5:00 and 7:00 on the way there it's going to be hovering around 70 degrees. 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. when you're heading back home you may need a jacket, so bring a jacket with you if you're going to the viewing tonight for the caps game.

pollen count is high. tree pollen count it is mostly oak tree pollen. post your pictures, i took this one right at dawn here on our front lawn here at nbc 4. look how green the grass is. and the spring colors are certainly showing up. then tomorrow the mid 70s. and increasing clouds. some rain washing the pollen out of the air. that's good news on friday. then dry weekend to follow. we'll be in the low to mid 70s saturday, sunday near 70 and low 80s on monday. may get more rain on tuesday. that's the way it looks. thank you, tom. getting your child asleep and to stay asleep is a struggle almost for every parent. in just a few minutes a psychiatrist has the best sleep advice for parents of young children. and another carmaker could be in trouble for lying ab

several big stories right now starting th a missing firefighter in fairfax county. fairfax fire and rescue say they want whoever, whatever help they can get to find nicole mittendorff. she's been missing for a week. crews are looking for her in shenandoah national park and there's a prayer vigil for nicole in fairfax county toni t tonight. about 90 minutes from now family, friends and colleagues will say a final farewell to a prince georges county firefighter killed in the line of duty. funeral services for john

ulmschneider will be held tonight. he was trying to check on someone thought to be having a medical emergency. that homeowner says he thought someone was breaking in, so he opened fire. fire departments as far as from baltimore city will help respond to emergency calls today in prince georges so local firefighters can attend his funeral. well, we now know some of the charges three people are facing for the water crisis in flint, michigan. michigan's government is accusing two state regulators and a flint employee of misconduct in office among other misdemeanor and felony charges. the three people will also face evidence tampering charges. we expect to hear more at 1:00 this afternoon at a news conference. i'm erica gonzalez. just in to the live desk, montgomery county states attorney john mccarthy has just announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer of the neck. we are told that he's being seen by doctors at johns hopkins who will finalize a treatment plan for the state's attorney

this month. we're told that he is very confident that he will recover by this summer. again, new this morning montgomery county state's attorney mccarthy announcing he has been diagnosed with cancer of the neck. we're going to of course stay on top of this story and we wish him well. back to you. >> thank you, erica. developing, another car company says it lied about its testing information. now mitsubishi is apologizing. the company admits saying employees manipulated testing and made up data to make their cars fuel mileage seem good. the misinformation was used for four minicompact cars, the ek, ek daze and daze rukes. mitsubishi says it won't sell those models any longer. police are saying slow down to cyclists on the capital trail. they say bikers are going way too fast well over the 15-mile-an-hour speed limit. while officers could start ticketing cyclists, they're only

people who use the trail to walk and run say they're glad to hear this. >> and i'm from western new york. we have bike trails all over. and everybody is very polite. no, here they would just a soon run you over. >> maryland national capital park police say cyclists should be going even slower than the limits when it's crowded out there. they also want pedestrians to be more aware of other people on the trail. most of the d.c. council wants to change the way the city's tags look. license tags. right now the phrase on d.c. license plates reads, taxation without representation. 11 of the council's 13 members said yesterday they want to add the word end. so the phrase reads end taxation without representation. the city's 670,000 residents do not have voting rights in congress. the new plates could be available later this year. if you're like many parents of younger children,ha

for you to get a good night's sleep. well, getting your child to sleep on their own and in their own bed can be a real challenge. dr. joshua joins us to talk about that because it's something a lot of families face. >> absolutely. such a common problem. >> let's start with bed sharing. a lot of families start doing that, mothers nursing perhaps. and they want to sleep with the baby. what do you feel about that? >> not a good idea. and the reason is is because about 70% of kids who end up dying from sleep-related disorders, things like sids, actually they found that bed sharing was the reason, or contributing factor. so, you know, a bed is a hazardous place for an infant or a newborn because you've got lots of pillows, heavy blankets, all these things including the parents who can smother their infant accidentally. so certainly not a good idea if you have a newborn you can get a little bed to sleep next to your bed, a co-sleeper, or you can have their crib in their room, but you do not wa

in bed with you. when it comes to older kids, i don't really care. i think it's not the best idea, certainly not going to be conducive to getting a good night's sleep. it's not good for your sex life. but it's not really going to have any detrimental effects for the child because think about it, many people in many parts of the world are sharing beds out of necessity. they don't have multiple rooms where their kids can sleep. >> yes, but sometimes you hear from families, okay, we started this when he was a baby. now he's 8 and still wants to sleep with us. >> well, that's the biggest problem is that it becomes very, very difficult to break this habit. once you start it. so you need to be thinking in the long-term do you really want your child in bed with you for a long, long time? because if you allow them to stay in bed with you, you are going to have a battle on your hands trying to get them out of your bed. >> okay. there's that problem, that you've started it, the child wants to go to sleep to begin with, but what about the child who wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to come in and sleep with you? >> there you have a choice. either you're too tired to get them back

them sleep with you, but i think what might be better is you have a blow-up mattress or something on the floor and they know if they come in they can go to sleep there. but if you want to take them back to their room, which i think is the best idea, you want to be very boring, very calm, you don't want to talk to them. you walk them back to their bedroom, you pat their back, give them a kiss and leave. >> yes, but that can be very disruptive to the parents' sleep. so i opted for the one with the bed on the side of the bed. >> yeah, i think that's a good way to go. >> and they were satisfied with that. what about the kid who gets really scared at night? and sometimes that's what children will say to their parents. you can't push them away at that point. >> right. or they might learn that that's what they need to stay, right? they might learn that. what you want to do is maybe get a night light, maybe a noise machine because they hear all these different things. i've had some patients actually get walkie-talkies so they can

you want to encourage them to stay in their room. give them a little magnesium or vitamin c, young kids are very susceptible to the placebo effect. if you say to your child i'm going to give you a little bit of this juice or medicine, vitamin, sort of medicine going to help take away some of these worries, that's going to help them feel a little bit calmer. we dulgts know it's a placebo, but for them it's fine. >> but you wouldn't give a child a sleeping medication to get them to sleep through the night, would you? >> it depends. so i do sometimes recommend melatonin but it depends on the age of a child. certainly under the age of 6 or 7 i'm not recommending anything. maybe you could do what i said a little bit of juice. tart cherry juice can help with falling asleep, but you're utilizing that placebo effect. >> i guess the big thing is consistent. >> consistency is key with all of this. it's like playing a slot machine, if a kid knows sometimes they're going to win, sometimes they're going to lose, that's a very powerful

to ask the next time hoping to get the answer they can sleep in bed with you. if you're consistent and back to your room, you're going to have a better chance of winning. >> thanks a lot. >> my pleasure. >> good to see you. >> you too. >> back to you. "people" magazine names the most beautiful woman in the world, after the break. plus, houston bracing for the worst waterways are still rising through unprecedented rainfall. how the city is now preparing for more

but sierra club chooses jamie raskin for congress they all talk about climate change. because only raskin wrote laws to reduce our carbon footprint and is leading the fight against fracking in maryland. raskin: i'm jamie raskin, and i approve this message. the nra and its campaign cash are what stands between us and gun reform. "searing tragedy struck in a place parents felt their children were safe"

that would let the nra skirt a new campaign finance law and block gun control. but democrat donna edwards said "no" to the nra loophole and stood up to the gun lobby. and she would ban assault weapons. democrat donna edwards, maryland's next senator. working for us pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. nc breaking news out of prince georges county. new video into the newsroom of a two-alarm fire. this is specifically on the 5000 block of silver hills court. we're waiting for an update from officials there on the scene, but what we are hearing is that this started at the ground level of an apartment building that spread pretty quickly. we've learned that a number of p

again, we're still waiting for an update on whether or not there were any injuries, but again, crews on the scene -- or we do have a crew on the scene, i should say, waiting for an update from authorities about this two-alarm fire in district heights. at the live desk, i'm erica gonzalez. we have seen unprecedented rainfall, record flooding, but the worst may be yet to come in texas. waterways are still rising and flooding neighborhoods. and there's more rain in the forecast. nbc's janet shamlian has the latest from houston. >> reporter: as houston continues to deal with the aftermath of this unprecedented flooding, cypress creek has overflowed its banks and now flooding dozens of area homes. this morning, a new danger in flood weary houston. cypress creek bulging beyond its banks, spilling into hundreds of homes. >> and we thought we were okay. last night we went to bed and the water had receded. and there was no rain. and then we

our front door. >> reporter: and then it was inside. the family packed up and left the only way they could, on an airboat manned by sheriff deputies maneuvering through neighborhoods that look like this. we joined them as they answered call after call. it's nonstop life saving work. for some the reality of leaving home hitting hard. >> we're just kind of stuck. i don't really know what to do. kind of going through the motions right now. >> reporter: another rescue at a senior center. dozens of elderly in wheelchairs taken to drier ground. >> it's an awesome amount of water. more than i've seen in my career. >> reporter: more than 1,000 homes have flooded, $5 billion in damage. and this heartbreaking statistic, at least 7 people died in the floods including a mom of three who became trapped in her car. >> she called me, she told me she's in trouble, water all around. >> reporter: for the

lives uprooted with no idea whe. what now for your family? >> to get, tom? >> well, it does look like three waves of rain coming through over the next several days, over the next ten days or so. so they're not done with this pattern there. unfortunately it's just going to add to their misery. well, here we need a little bit of rain. it's been dry. there's a live view from our tower camera though that's not stopped things from greening up. we are certainly green. that's the live view overlooking american university park in

northwest washington in the foreground. off in the distance is montgomery county. and all around our region your weather headlines for the next several days, warmer than average temperatures will be continuing. rain looking likely on friday. and then a dry and mild weekend to follow. right now storm team 4 radar not showing any rain anywhere in our vicinity. it's an enormous area of high pressure that's sitting upon us right now. great day for a bike ride though. not much wind around. temperatures by 1:00 will be around 70 degrees, bright sunshine. need the sun block. and by 4:00 we'll be in the mid 70s with a very light breeze. few high clouds coming in by late evening temperatures back down -- i should say early evening in the upper 60s. by late evening it will be back down into the 50s. so cool night tonight. and then by dawn tomorrow the low 50s starting off thursday morning. during the day on thursday afternoon highs into the mid 70s tomorrow. then some of that rain coming in thankfully washing pollen out of the air. that's going to be on friday. occasional showers, no flooding or anything, maybe half an inch of rain. temperatures climbing into the low 70

just in time for the weekend. saturday partly crowd cloudy, highs into the mid 70s and a little cooler on sunday. feeling like summer again on monday up into the 80s and a chance of few passing showers on tuesday with highs in the 60s. here are just some of the stories lighting up social media this morning. we spotted this next story on mashable.com. a teenage boy who returned the wallet of australian actor chris hems worth not only had the chance to meet the actor, but he also received a big bonus. check this out, the teenage boy who wrote a letter to hemswoth management saying he found the actor's wallet also put in a request for tickets to the "ell "ellen" show. then you can see he was invited to tell the story on the show with hemsworth and that's when he received a big surprise. ellen degeneres gave him a $10,000 reward for being honest. honty is the best policy. all right, the queen of england turns

celebrate the queen is getting a lot of attention because of a much younger royal who's taking the spotlight. little prince george appears on his first set of -- always steals the show wherever he goes. so cute. according to e news the photo was taken last year and the photographer had to place little george on a box for the shoot. very sweet indeed. don't you like the socks too? take a look at this incredible video. this is just hard to even watch. a professional stuntman back flips blind as an approaching race car driven by another stunt car heads right toward him. yikes. a world renowned stuntman, free runner and gymnast, he is now the first person to ever carry out a blind car dodge, and probably the last because who would be crazy enough to do that? oh, wow. finally, "people" magazine announced today the most beautiful woman for 2016, the cover girl right there, jennifer anniston. back to

we're getting you ready for passover. >> take a look at this, new ideas for the traditional meal and recipes you can use ay tinm i'm chris van hollen, and i approve this message. narrator: an attack ad from the campaign for donna edwards. so untrue. so outrageous that president obama said, "pull it down." the obama white house called the ad on chris van hollen and the nra "misleading." the sun says van hollen and president obama have the exact same position. the post praised van hollen as a "leading champion on gun safety," and condemned the edwards ads that "mislead" voters. donna edwards. will she say anything to win an election?

passover 2016 is upon us, and people of the jewish faith will begin the observance this friday evening at sun down. friday night means for many of you the first passover. chef and author, welcome back. so great to have you, how have you been? >> always great to

here. >> we love the things, we've seen you make all kinds of wonderful desserts. you have a cook book on that. now you have a new cookbook all about passover. >> right. after two dessert books this is my first food book. fun to put something out different for a change. >> some things are a must, brisket and potatoes. >> right. what i tried to do in this book was take traditional things and make them more interesting. i have fish with fresh salmon, chicken meatballs that look like mozza balls. i always try to have new things. there's always going to be a plate on the table -- >> this is so beautiful. >> be careful those little trays slide. >> beautiful. >> story of the israel identities in egypt and bitter herbs and bits of green -- >> people actually t

>> there are all different kinds. usually have both. >> and apples and raise sins? >> right. apples, walnuts and sweet wine, the dried fruit with prunes, figs, dates. >> wow. >> and i have both in the book. i tried to do that. >> what are you making for us today? >> so today i am making roasted eggplant with a bell pepper vinaigrette. so passover for me is about fresh vegetables, it's springtime. i don't want to have heavy, heavy food. so in this recipe super easy as is everything in the book. and basically you take eggplant and you cut it into i don't know 3/4 inch or inch slices and you put it on a pan. so i just brushed the pan with a little oil and put my slices there. >> a baking pan? >> you could use anything. in passover we use a lot of disposable pans because we're cooking for so many people. so any pan, a grill pan, you can do this on the outside grill. and then i take some tumeric and cumin, doesn't matter, you broil

turn them over, brush some more oil and sprinkle some more spices on top. >> in the oven? >> right in the oven. i use the broil feature. it's really easy and ends up looking like this. so you have these really nice roasted eggplants. >> how much on each side? >> about five minutes, you know, you have to watch it. i'll put them on a platter overlapping like that. i'll heat up some oil in a pan, and then i will take onions and peppers and i just wanted to show the audience quickly how i cut these nice little cubes. you want to make sure you have a pepper that's flat. and then you cut into little tiny strips, like long strips like this. and you can do this with any color peppers. i use red or yellow or orange. >> you're really good at that. >> and line it up and cut little cubes. you can do this too, barbara, i am certain about it. and then you do the same thing with the onion. and then you have look at these beautiful colors. >> those are gorgeous. >> so you heat up the oil. >> you see that's yellow, orange and red peppers. >> it's such a great contrast with the dark eggplant. and then you'll heat up the oil and add that to the pan. >> how long

cook? >> cooks like two minutes. put some red onion in which i cut off the little pieces and i'll cook this up for about two, three minutes and then i add some white vinegar and some sugar. so it ends up being kind of a sweet and sour thing. you cook this for one minute. so four minutes and then you take this topping, which looks like this cooked, and you sprinkle it on top and it's like a marinade. >> see if we can show that from the top. that is beautiful. >> super easy. and what's so nice about this is you can -- you serve it at room temperature. so if you're having -- don't worry about heating things up. i like vegetables i don't have to deal with, put them on a platter and i'm done. >> put this on the table with all the other things. >> right. might do buffet -- usually do buffets a lot for holiday just because it's hard to pass everything. >> i'm the kosher baker so i love my dessert. these are cookie bars with coconut, dried fruit, anything you like throw in those with an almond paste. but these i love

passover. so i made merengue shells, you can fill with whip cream, chocolate mousse and put fresh fruit on top. >> i bet you made those from scratch. >> that takes too long to make on tv. those are my triple chocolate biscotti, always a staple at my house. >> so easy for you. >> no, they are. i promise you this book is easy. so i know it is. >> thanks so much for coming. the new passover menu is her book. we're always glad to see you. >> thank you so much. i hope everyone will buy the book. it's on sale at amazon right now. very happy about that. >> pat, you want to come over here. >> yes, indeed. delicious foods on another delicious spring day. tom is back in just a few minutes with a look at when rain could helwash a little of thep

i don't believe that big money can buy votes -- not in our district. and i won't claim to have single handily passed just about every bill in annapolis. we can't settle for the same old politics, not when our basic rights are being threatened by trump and cruz. i'll stand up to their bigotry and be a passionate voice for maryland women and families. in tv and in business, i built relationships. as a woman in the house, i'll do the same to get things done. i'm kathleen mathews and i approve this message.

the nra and its campaign cash are what stands between us and gun reform. "searing tragedy struck in a place parents felt their children were safe" chris van hollen met with nra lobbyists to craft a loophole that would let the nra skirt a new campaign finance law and block gun control. but democrat donna edwards said "no" to the nra loophole and stood up to the gun lobby. and she would ban assault weapons. democrat donna edwards, maryland's next senator. working for us pac is responsible for the content of this advertising.

sometimes challenging a big strong athlete like john cena is not a good idea. that's what jimmy fallon thought what happened last night on the "tonight show" there were lots of flying objects. take a look. >> john and i are about to play a game of sticky balls, which of course refers to these balls which stick to these velcro suits we're wearing. >> the professional wrestler versus the television host. in this battle they had 45 seconds. in the end fallon walked away the winner. how about that? >> oh, wow. >> tougher than

weird games, doesn't he? >> he's an entertainer. >> i know. i love to watch that show. hey, tom, good day to get out, huh? >> yeah, get to the playground. there may be a line waiting at the slide as we've got great spring weather underway. temperatures are climbing into the 60s now as we approach the noon hour. it's in the low mid 60s metro area north and west, near 60 around chesapeake bay. but climb about another ten degrees by late afternoon low to mid 70s increasing clouds tomorrow in the low to mid 70s again in the afternoon. then on friday welcome rain coming through. welcome certainly for the allergy sufferers. that should wash some of the high pollen counts we've got out of the air on friday and making it much more comfortable to get out on saturday with the sunshine back in the highs in mid 70s. might feel like summertime on monday, another chance of rain on tuesday. thank you, tom. that's it for news 4 midday. thanks for being with us this morning. we're back on the air at 4:00

>> you'll be here at 4:00. you can get your news and weather any time with the nbc washington

♪ today on the meredith vieira show. you will not believe what one girl is doing. and plus, adorable babies and terrifying adults. we are revealing the all- time favorite viral videos. and josh holloway, talking about how he almost did not get the part. >> and locked away ten years. >> like income a bad mood. >> how he finally became a free man. all starting right now on meredith. ♪