"news 4 today" starts now. now on "news 4 today" first comes the cold, now rain and snow on the way. tom is busy tracking how you can plan ahead for all this freezing weather. staying on top of breaking news overseas, more than 100 killed in a sudden church collapse. the danger going on in nigeria as that roof comes crashing down. fourth in line to the presidency, donald trump's expected pick for secretary of state and the new concerns about controversial ties to russia. good sunday morning, everyone, i'm mom let green in for adam tuss. >> and i'm angie goff. two weekends to get a lot of your holiday shopping done. >> we have to get it done but the weather is a big factor, too, for the plan of action. >> do you know what the key is,

>> uh-huh. definitely. >> that's right. if you're going to be heading out getting some last minute holiday shopping in today is going to be a good day, just some clouds around, but predawn we had a dusting of line snow north and west of the metro area. storm team 4 radar showing that through predawn this sunday, now it's long gone heading on up into pennsylvania, it's a very fast moving system. did leave a dusting in northern montgomery county, this was near damascus, other folks reporting in from frederick county maryland, hagerstown, as well as the panhandle of west virginia they, too, got that light dusting. this area you see in pink that's a freezing rain advisory from 10:00 p.m. tonight until 10:00 on monday morning. there could be some icing up to a tenth of an inch of ice there. watch out for that for the morning commute tomorrow. a look for our next chance for snow is coming up in a few minutes. dozens of people in fairfax county don't have

back to this morning after this fire tore through their apartment building. the red cross looking to find temporary housing for those who live at the woodlawn garden apartments in the alexandria section of the county. one man tells news 4 that his sister was taken to the hospital because the smoke was so bad. she is expected to be okay, but he describes what happened moments after the fire broke out. >> the neighbors they were like -- i don't know what they were doing but they didn't notice it, so i knocked on the door in order to get he everybody out and then we got out. >> a bus was brought in to help keep people warm as fire crews battled flamesvu last night. investigators are stild looking into what caused the fire. and we continue toécfpno1uj find out more about another fire, this one started inside an apartment complex as well but this was in prince george's county. it happened on dean drive in hyattsville, one person was taken to the hospital. they are being treated in the burn unit. that's what we know. another person wascñ rescued fr the burning apartment but told that the crews afterwards that they were okay. the cause of that fir

not been determined. alexandria police are trying to determine what caused a man to fall to his death from an apartment building on four mile run road. and that's near mt. vernon mjf calling it a death investigation. they say it may be an accident -- may have been an accident, but it's still under investigation. breaking news out of nigeria this morning to tell you about. 160 killed after a church collapsed on to worshippers while they were inside of that church. the number of people killed we're told by officials is likely to go up. the state government saying that it continues to investigate to see if that building's standards were compromised. 38 people dead and nearly 200 others hurt after a series of explosions in istanbul last night. we know out of those 38 dead 30 are police officers. the white house releasing a statement this

the two blasts happened outside of a major soccer stadium. this after fans had already gone home. so far ten people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. president-elect donald trump's highest profile cabinet position we could know who will be nominated this week. sources tell nbc news he is expected to tap exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson for secretary of state. nbc's chris palone shows us why this pick is drawing fire from both sides of the aisle. >> reporter: donald trump in baltimore for the annual army navy football game sitting alongside top military brass, next month he will be their commander in chief. trump met with rex tillerson. nbc news learned he is trump's pick for secretary of state. >> to give trump credit he said he was going to try to surround himself with really successful people who did well. we find ceo,people at the top of

from democrats and republicans. tillerson was his company's liaison to the kremlin and has been awarded russia's order of friendship. casey hunt asked republican senator john mccain for his thoughts on the pick. >> i believe that vladimir putin is a thug and a bully and a murderer and i believe that the relationship between mr. tillerson and vladimir putin needs to be examined. >> reporter: this comes just a few hours after the "washington post" reported the cia believes russia interfered in the presidential election, hacking and leaking democratic party documents, not just to cause chaos but to actively help trump win. >> so you are looking ahead to an early part of the trump presidency where russia is very much going to dominate the conversation and certainly you can expect to hear a lot of tough questions at this confirmation hearing. >> the trump team immediately slammed the cia and said it's time to move on. chris palone, nbc news new york. "saturday nighgdc!eujr pokig fun at donal

the show it opened last night with a parody of cnn's jake tapper in the skit. trump appoints brian cranston's breaking bad character walter white to head up the s?qadea. >> mr. white, how did you even get considered for this job? do you know donald trump? >> no. no. but i'm a big fan. i like his style. he acts first and then asks questions later. i also like that wall he wants to build. nothing comes in from mexico meaning a lot less competition for the rest of us. >> you mean jobs? >> sure. >> and of course we can't leave out kate mckinnon, the skit featured here as kellyanne conway, she was defending trump's cabinet picksóvñ of cou in that part of the skit. >> he surfaced again during the weekend update where they actually called him out and said we know you're

times that he has tweeted them -- >> do we know -- >> -- during the show or after the trump. >> do we know if he tweeted about the skit last night? >> not yet. situation. >> staying on top of that. all right. a controversial ice rink, it's getting a change of scenery in montgomery county. >> it all started when a father built the rink to honor his late that it violated some rules. news 4's derrick ward is live @u rockville to show us where that rink is now and what comes up next. good morning, derek. >> reporter: good morning again. i'mé'7-ñ on the athletic field e jewish community center, the bender community center of late in a diffelw/eñn rockville. time of [çomyear. look over here there is a hockey goal. it's a great story that started actually about a year ago. that's when mark

make shift -- i wouldn't say make shift, he built his own hockey rink in his backyard, used a synthetic surface just as good as ice and it was a tribute to his stepdaughter who had passed away, mel osbourne, and he was i believe viegth#f folks over to play on it. well, it turns out that he actually lives in an area that is an agricultural preserve, they allow housing but you can't have public events there. so the county said you will follow the zoning laws, you have to pull it up. he was trying to get another location, he showed up here at the jcc and they said we are happy to have you. so the ice rink is up now, it's actually going to have an open house later today. we talked to somebody else from the jcc earlier today who said this is a perfect fit. >> i was head of the jcc games, the jewish olympics for 19 years, always pushing hockey and everything like that. so for the development of youth aá rink here where kids

skate is a fantastic idea. >> reporter: now, there are a couple happy endings to this, the county is actually going to build another rink for him out in poolesville where he lives. you can come here between 11:00 and 4:00 today, learn about hockey and have some fun on this synthetic surface. derrick ward, news 4. back to you. >> good news there. we've been following this story for a little while now. today is the day, it's the day you're going to have to dig out your hat and your gloves. tom is tracking a major temperature drop in the week ahead. and much of the country by the way, check out this video here dealing with the bitter cold. this is down south.

he wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. with his army shirt looking all nice. and then people just say, "thank you for serving our country" and i'm like, that's my dad. male vo: no one deserves a warmer welcome home. that's why we're hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. i'm very proud of him. male vo: comcast.

oh, my goodness, look at that. the weather down south not playing.

it's been so cold that this fountain is almost completely frozen over. the water has turned slushy as temperatures dipped into the teens and the 20s. it's still cold and could freeze entirely by the end of the weekend. >> that looks pretty. keep it down there. senator chuck schumer wants federal officials to move faster to require mass transit employees to be screened through federal terrorism watch lists. the recommendation was first made nearly a tech aid ago in a report by the september 11th commission. schumer says that it's, quote, shocking that the common sense safety gap was never closed, end quote. records show the department of homeland security and the tsa have an action pending to require those screenings but it has not beenzç(d finalized. freezing rain could slow you down and cause a mess of your monday morning commute. tom is busy tracking the timing that you are going to want to watch for. christmas trees are part

but in 2015 a family of six died after their tree caught on fire. coming up hear from their relativeo shares safety tips. t

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this. already hearing criticism from both sides of the aisle. we're talking about this man's very close ties to the russian president putin here. they're friends. >> it's funny. if we weren't talking about that you would have republicans not happy that here is somebody as ceo of exxon that said not only do we believe in climate change, but we're going to start budgeting for a carbon tax. so the irony here is that under a different circumstance, under a different news cloud this but, look, with this coming on the heels of the report about russia's involvement in the election and obviously donald trump's made no bones he has campaigned on wanting to have a friendlier relationship with putin. >> absolutely. >> to make your final two picks between mitt romney and rex tillerson, it was always unusual because one believed that the number one geopolitical threat to the world was russia and the other one says i know this man, i'm friends with him i can do business with him, obviously donald trump sided on that

confirmation battle is going to be extraordinarily tough if they follow through on it. one thing you will learn on "meet the press," reince priebus said, hey, no announcements yet. >> but beyond that and beyond even if a confirmation happens what does it tell you? what's being set up here when you already see the president elect going head to head with the intelligence agencies out there. >> and that to me is -- that's the part of this this that is uncharted territory, the consequence of having a sitting president or incoming president publicly question the ability of the cia to do its job. not questioning a specific, questioning a general, by bringing up saddam hussein and weapons of mass destruction and laying that at the feet of the cia. when you make that your response you're basically saying i don't believe anything that comes out of the cia. what happens in a couple years when the united states a clenching some sort of -- perhaps maybe iron iran violates -- we have evidence that iran has

of the nuclear deal. are they going to believe our intelligence? will iran take president-elect trump's comment about the cia and throw it back in our face? so it could undermine the credibility of allegations we make against rogue states in the future. what does that mean? that's the part of this that we don't know. that's the uncharted territory and something we have never seen before from a sitting president. >> the most anticipated announcement yet from donald trump. thank you so much. of course, chief of staff pick reince priebus will be on the show in just a few. this reminder you can see "meet the press," you are going to have to watch this money at 10:30 right after "news 4 today." thank you, chuck. well, many of you are getting your homes ready for the holidays this weekend and that includes setting up that christmas tree. >> that's what we did all this week, angie and i. >> it took usvñh# a week. >> if you're getting a real tree that's the tricky part, news 4's megan fitzgerald has a warning that you need to hear before you plug in those lights. >> what do i look for in

freshness, one that's going to plans itself out. >> reporter: but before you take one home there are critical safety tips to keep in mind. >> what you need to do is when you get home you want to make that fresh cut. just like flowers, it will reseal and it will not absorb the water as it should. >> also another important factor is that you need to unplug your tree every night and when it's unattended. >> reporter: christmas tree safety isn't just important to sher grogg, it's extremely personal. >> i lost my brother, my sister-in-law and their four grandchildren to a christmas tree fire two years ago. >> reporter: it was january of 2015 when this annapolis mansion went up in flames, the blaze sher's family didn't have a chance to escape. >> it was in the middle of the night and there was an electrical fire which caught the tree and it went into flashover in less than three minutes. >> reporter: atf agents determined that the ch

if it was they say it's possible sher se sher's family would still be alive. >> go to the needless, make sure that they bend. >> reporter: now she's hoping these safety reminders will save other families from experiencing her grief during what's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. >> everyone is of course in pain, it's changed all of our lives. for me i've found my voice in advocacy. >> that was megan fitzgerald reporting. another important reminder, unplug the lights every night before you go to bed or even when you leave the house. we have more tips listed for you so you can protect yourself and the family this holiday season. it's in our nbc washington app, all you have to do is search tree safety. let's switch gears and go back to the forecast and see what tom has for us. >> a lot of people want to have a little bit of a white christmas, a little bit. >> just a little bit. >> tiny. >> not covering the roads, but this morning many who live far north and west of the metro area have started off

bit of a light coating of light snow, many for the first time this season. here is a photo that was just submitted to my twitter page, patricia sherwood took this when she was walking the dog this morning. they got a little bit there, dusting in charlestown, west virginia, in the panhandle there, their first snow of the season. that did move on through predawn. it's long gone pulling away heading off north and east. noontime temperatures will be the upper 30s and hovering near 40 into the evening hours. we will stay above freezing overnight tonight, hovering near 40 degrees as some moisture does begin to move our way. hour by hour temperatures will be hovering near 40 and the hour by hour radar potential here showing rain likely, this green zone, the pink zone that's freezing rain. we may have some pockets of freezing rain northern shenandoah valley, panhandle of west virginia, western maryland between starting around 4:00 a.m.v13íát way until maybe around dawn and after that temperatures should be getting

will get rain coming through starting around 5:00, 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, then it continues tracking south and east for the rest of the morning and then most of the rain is gone by 11:00 in the morning tomorrow, then the sunshine breaks out and we will get into the low 50s on monday afternoon. big changes on the way and then as we get into tuesday and wednesday both of those days we will have temperatures in the upper 40s. yesterday was looking like we might get a little snow on wednesday, right now that's off the table, probably not going to get any snow on wednesday, but turning much colder thursday and friday, highs only near freezing both of those days, but on saturday, next saturday, that is the time when we could get some light snow, mainly in the morning, perhaps through midday, then it changes to rain in the afternoon is the way it looks right now and perhaps some rain may linger into

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back with you at 10:25 now. if you ask military kids their one wish for christmas, many will tell you to bring mom or dad home for the holiday. that christmas wish came true for four brothers in massachusetts. their dad an air force sergeant surprised his family moments after they asked santa to bring him home. he had been stationed in turkey. the whole family had been there, but they were forced to leave because it was just too dangerous there. dad wasn't the only surprise, the family dog made it home, o

with santa. >> i love it. >> one they won't forget. every now and then we need a spa day. >> all of us, those on two legs or four legs. a pair of deer in pennsylvania took it a step further. they were -- >> they were caught on camera running themselves through a car wash friday morning. you know the song. the car wash actually posted this video on their facebook page. you can see them enter at that plastic barrier, one breaks through, the other is thrown backwards and takes off through another opening. 10:2hings you need to know. just two weeks before christmas multiple families in fairfax county are looking for a new place to live after a devastating fire. dozens of people were displaced after the flames destroyed part of an apartment building on richmond highway last night. 160 people are dead after a roof collapsed on to worshippers in a nigerian church. the state government says it will investigate to see if

building standards were compromised. >> 38 people dead after a pair of explosions after a major soccer game in istanbul. close to 200 people hurt there. ten people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. and president-elect donald trump is expected to pick exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson for secretary of state. and remember to get your forecast on your nbc washington app, we're updating it by the minute. >> wake up with us monday morning. have a great sunday.

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this sunday morning donald trump, the russians and the 2016 election. the cia has concluded the russians intervened to help elect donald trump. who as a candidate praised vladimir putin. >> i think i would have a good relationship with putin. >> at issue, how did the russians interfere? why did they do it? to what extent did they succeed? i will talk to donald trump's incoming chief of staff reince priebus, the top democrat in the house intelligence committee adam schiff and the former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul. plus, early reaction to donald trump's apparent choice for secretary of state, rex tillerson. the chief executive of exxon mobile who has a particularly close relationship with putin. >> a great