this morning russia's transportation minister said pilot error or a technical problem likely caused the crash. 92 people were on board. rescue teams are looking for survivors, but say it's likely everyone died. there was a memorial service at sochi's airport today. russian president vladimir putin declared today a national day of mourning there. people around the world are remembering pop star george michael. he died yesterday at 53 years old. >> his pub lisist says he died of heart failure yesterday at his home. the legacy michael leaves behind. >> reporter: george michael first became a worldwide star with pop duo wham in the early 80s when the british song writer and producer went

the 1987 album faith sold more than 20 million copies around the world. born georgios kyriacos panayiotou to a greek immigrant father and mother the singer won wide praise for his tremendous vocal raij range, but his risky behavior and brushes with the law kept him in the headlines. a grave bout of pneumonia left him near death in 2011 but he pulled through to survive. >> i've never appeared on stage and left disappointed to this day. >> reporter: according to statements sunday from his publicist saying it is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend, george, passed away peacefully at home over the christmas period. the family would ask that

privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. george michael dead at the age of 53. >> still so shocking to me thinking about that. just so random, like you said earlier. >> dinner last night with friends and we all pick up our phone and it's like another one, another death of a well -- you know, somebody we all knew and loved. >> right. >> well, yeah, people tweeting about it on social media. elton john, ellen degeneres a few of the celebrities who went on line to hear how sad they were about george michael. >> actors and comedian also wrote that michael was an icon an ally and a legend. he will be missed for sure. a lot of people are praying for carrie fisher right now. she's being treated in the hospital right now after she had a heart attack on a plane last week. that was friday actually.

posted on twitter saying she was in stable condition now. she also said she would give an update if there is one. a winter storm continues to make its way through the upper midwest. a white christmas to the region. some parts of the state were blanketed by as much as 18 inches of snow. that's a foot and a half. the blizzard conditions have made it almost impossible to travel on roads. slippery roads, low visibility have caused many accidents, shutting down major interstates, even. treacherous conditions because of snow and ice in arizona as well. some highways had to be shut down after multiple accidents sent people skidding off the road and right into each other. flag staff got 10 inches. no such luck around here if you're into that sort of thing, a lot of snow. >> not a white christmas at all. >> into that sort of thing. yeah, we all would have l

little snow on christmas, but now that's in the rear-view mirror a lot of people are happy to see it go we the wayside. we have a lot of clouds outside this morning and though there's not much of a rain threat in the forecast, a period of drizzle or two might keep things on the damp side for today. milder for tomorrow, a little better chance for some showers late tonight into the first half of tomorrow, but tomorrow up near 60 degrees. there's no bitter cold anywhere this week although it will cool down a bit between now and new year's and the early lean on new year's, 2017 looks like it will start out on the wet note. the whole forecast coming up at 4:51. until then, see you soon. a good day after christmas to you, jack taylor. >> good day to you as well. if you're headed out on virginia and south on 95, a little bit of a head's up. a tractor trailer broken down. weave got two right lanes closed. 95 southbound headed downward the prince william parkway.

dealing with 50 eastbound. the ramp was temporarily closed to remove the accident from the ramp. 50 is unaffected in either direction. 4:35 now. it's the thought that counts when it comes to the gifts some people say, but sometimes that gift, especially when it comes to clothes may need to be returned. >> walmart opens this morning at 6:00. target an hour later at 7:00 and most of the malls in the dmv will open between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning. you can look on our nbc washington app for specific times. and here's something else you want to keep in mind for today. don't expect to check the mail. just stay inside where it's warm. the u.s. postal service is closed today in observance of christmas because it fell on a sunday. only priority mail express will be delivered today. well, as christmas comes to a close, the start of kwanzaa gets underway.

celebrates family, community and culture. this is a picture from the celebration last year. today there will be a celebration at the four walls education center in d.c. at 5:30 this afternoon. the celebration will have performances from the kumba kids and the african dance company. also being celebrated through january 21st is hanukah. the national lighting was held near the white house and this is called the world's biggest menorah. the menorah is next to the national christmas tree which is also attracting holiday visitors from around the world. president-elect donald trump will wake up this morning in his estate in south florida with his inauguration just 25 days away. trump has

meetings. he announced he will close his foundation before taking office. edward lawrence will have details on that in just a few minutes. president obama spent part of his christmas calling troops. he called one member of each branch of the military to thank them for their service. the president and first lady also thanked troops in person on sunday in hawaii. that's where they're spending their holiday. it is the last time he would take part in his annual tradition as president. we will get a break from the bitter cold, but for how long? chuck is updating your what to wear forecast. developing right now, officers on leave after a deadly police shooting in florida. y the chief says therwhe sure, you could sit around all night waiting for a pizza to be delivered.

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4:40 is our time right now and we're off to a pretty temperate start. >> our average low temperature is right around 30 degrees so we're about 5 to 10 degrees above average on the 26th of december. if you're going to be out and about today, as much as you love what you got, sometimes you've got to bring it back. the wrong size perhaps. temperatures mid to upper 30s for now. not a big rise in the temperatures. we'll inch our way into the upper 30s. you'll need a hat, maybe a light jacket.

needing an umbrella. lots of clouds meaning today will be marginal at best by most standards but rain chances are only about 20%, so not much of a rain threat for today. we could have some freezing drizzle up across southern pennsylvania. better rain chances for tomorrow with some milder air coming our way. we'll be up near 60 tomorrow. a complete check of the whole ten-day forecast coming up in ten minutes. >> all right. we're going to start off with a little bad news, unfortunately. it's in virginia on 95. it is south southbound. authorities on the scene of a crash. two right lanes are taken away. it's not causing a huge delay. the beltway itself otherwise looks good. the inner and outer loop, all lanes accessible. that ramp to 202, an earlier crash that had temporarily closed the ramp. that has now clear sod you've got all travel lanes available. back to you. >> it's 4:41. 25 days until donald trump takes the oath of

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welcome back. president-elect donald trump will take the oath of office in 25 days. >> he's already having an impact when it comes to the way he reacts to world events. >> reporter: we know that he's inserted himself into world events via twitter. however, over the past 24 hours the president-elect has taken off of twitter other than to wish folks a merry christmas. we don't expect that silence to continue. he has a few spots left to fill in his cabinet. thre b

the director of national intelligence, secretary of agriculture and secretary of veterans affairs. >> i want to take care of our veterans. >> reporter: as he pulls over those posts the confirmation hearings on some of his current picks will start before mr. trump is sworn in. both attorney general nominee jeff sessions and rex tillerson will face fights in early january as democrats are likely to bring up conflict of interest issues. >> he has recruited a cabinet of winners. these are very successful powerful people who like winning and are prepared to work very hard to win. >> reporter: mr. trump ran a nontraditional campaign and he's broken from tradition as president-elect. he tried to get a u.n. resolution concerning israel tabled, threatened to pull a defense contract from lock heed martin and a nuclear arms race with russia. >> you haven't seen

like this where a president-elect is speaking out in all sorts of issues in a way that is drowning out the person who was still president. >> reporter: mr. trump will become president january 20th. donald trump saying in a statement that he does not want any potential conflict of interest. reporting live in washington on capitol hill, edward lawrence. back to you. >> since you mentioned the foundation, any idea how long it might take to actually make that happen? >> reporter: that's the catch. it would have very quickly. however, the new york attorney general's investigating the foundation so they can't dissolve it until that investigation finishes and there is no time line on when that investigation could finish. so it may not be dissolved by the time he's sworn in as president. >> we'll see. thank you so much, edward lawrence on capitol hill. 14 before the hour and developing out of jacksonville, florida, now, an investigation underway into the police shooting death of

man. sheriff's deputies say the man was holding a gun when he was killed after a brief standoff. they say it began with a 911 call where he threatened to shoot himself, others and police. >> i feel bad for the families of everyone involved. i feel bad for the officers who were put in this position, but unfortunately, if you point a gun at a police officer, you are going to get shot. >> deputies say the man was shot after he refused to put his gun down. the officers involved are now on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. a frightening tragic christmas for several people in new york. five people are recovering from a shooting inside the nightclub. the club's owner was killed. this happened early yesterday morning just out side of the city. about 200 people were in the club at the time and police have arrested a man. the state of emergency has been declared in a town in southeast michigan after a

you can see where one home is partially collapsed because of this. people who live in nearly two dozen homes had to be evacuated. they got the call on friday after one homeowner felt his house sinking into the ground. it's not clear just how big that sink hole is but engineers think it may have started because of a possible sewer failure below the home. a 7.6 magnitude quake shook chile yesterday. about 4,000 people were evacuated but few reports of damage. many of the widespread power outages were reported though. no one has died. two brothers in prince georges county have been receiving acts of kindness from a first responder who helped save their lives. the little boys are just two and three years old. police say the children's father stabbed them last month, but now paramedic lieutenant pamela graham has since befriended the family.

christmas at her home where the boys had presents under the tree. their mother says she's grateful for her new friend who has even helped raise money for the family to relocate. >> we talk frequently. she asks how i'm doing, i ask how she's doing. she's a really good person. >> i'm very happy to see that they are doing much better than the night that i saw them. >> the boys also got a visit from santa, playing the part was a prince george's county fire rescue dispatcher. he was at the 911 call center when the call came in about the attack. now, the children's father, christian dillard is charged with attempted first degree murder, assault and unrelated charges. >> there are some beautiful people in this world who step up and do things like that just out of the kindness of their hearts. >> that is a perfect example. >> on this day after christmas for some of us that means

score stores and shopping malls. >> i will not be going. we break down the number of exchanges and returns that will certainly cause a lot of headaches. >> some retailers could see as many shoppers today as they did in the days leading up to christmas, but this rush has to do with returns of gifts that are either damaged, not working, don't fit or those you just don't want. odds are, you'll return one out of every ten gifts this year. more gotten online. >> 40 to 50% of things gotten online can be returned. >> reporter: what retailers do with all those returns. >> maybe they sell it like an open box merchandise. best buy does that a lot or in some cases it has to be sent to a wholesaler. >> reporter: there's also pressure on retailers to please

are exploiting the transaction. >> many women, in fact, will order dresses or clothing in more than one side because they're just not sure. they never intent to keep all three of those dresses, just the one that fits. >> reporter: but sure as christmas returns a year from now, so will some of the gifts. nbc news. >> it's just a part of the season. you give a gift, you take a gift, you take a gift back. >> that's part of it and what's usually part of it, it feels so mild to me out there. >> last year we were 71 drees on christmas eve. so compared to last year it's frigid outside. by typical standards this is not all that cold for christmas time. temperatures should be around 45 degrees and will be a couple degrees warmer than that by later on this afternoon. kind of a cloudy sky out here on your monday morning. it's going to stay cloudy all day long. upper 30s and low 40s now. we'llnt

periods of mist and drisz l. not much of a rain threat for today but i couldn't rule out a little drizzle from time to time. we'll be tweeting out updates on the forecast on our nbc washington app and also on my twitter and facebook pages. i'll do my best to keep you ahead of the weather. there's a chance for some rain today in milwaukee, chicago and st. louis has milder air is being drawn up out of the gulf. a better rain chance tomorrow but with the increasing rain chances, we'll be near 60 tomorrow afternoon. right now just a little bit of a pocket of freezing rain here across parts of central new york and central pennsylvania. we're far enough above the freezing mark where i'm not worried about us having to worry about any freezing drizzle this morning. little pockets of mist outside and areas of very light rain. all cloudy and notice how hardly anything in the way of green blobs showing up. there's not much of

best chance for a rain tomorrow up to about midnight. by tomorrow afternoon we should be getting back to some sunshine around here and at least three or four hours of really mild weather. here's today's forecast then. 49 with drizzle today. 61 tomorrow. most of that rain chances in the first part of your tuesday. so i think tuesday afternoon looks nice. wednesday a little chilly around here. that's just about average. another chance for passing showers on thursday. rain drops, not snow flakes with temperatures in the 50s. cold and dry for a friday and for saturday which of course is new year's eve. mostly cloudy, a risk of a couple of showers around here. there will be rain drops, not snow flakes with temperatures up near 50. the forecast there, not too many days colder than average. saving some money on the heating bills. let's go over to jack taylor in the glass enclosed nerve center. >> thank you

see this at this hour but we had an incident down on 95 south at the prince william parkway. it was a tractor trailer stopped in the roadway. somebody ran into it and we're starting to get a large delay building quickly south on 95. otherwise, relatively clean and green here. looking good. we'll give you a live shot in maryland. 270 southbound, there's really no problem whatsoever. if you do have to get out, doing any kind of returns or if you're getting out making a trip back home, you should find nothing in your way as you head out. back to you. >> well, christmas with a view like no other. the unique perspective from the international spa ce

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being on board the iss gives us a slightly different perspective of christmas. reenforces the fact that we should live as one people and strive for peace. >> that was american astronaut peggy witson talking about the perspective you get when celebrating christmas in space. the astronauts sent that holiday message back to earth. it's obviously quite different up there. the crew did have a christmas feast. dehydrated turkey, potatoes and chocolate

queen elizabeth is still recovering from a cold. the queen did send her annual televised christmas message. she spoke about being inspired by the people she meets. >> i often draw strength from meeting ordinary people doing extraordinary things. volunteers, carers, community organizers and good neighbors. unsung heroes whose quiet dedication makes them special. she is 90 years old and is in good health. pope francis delivered his christmas blessing at st. peter's square. the pontiff urged people to negotiate peace in war torn areas of the world. from vatican city to bethlehem, christmas celebrations continued.

thousands of people attended a mass led by the top roman catholic cleric at the church of the nativity in bethlehem. it is the biblical birthplace of jesus. and after the recent terror attacks security was a lot tighter than usual this year. and stay with us. news 4 today continues at 5:00 a.m. now at 5:00 a.m., he was loved and inspired. a generation of musicians, how fans of george michael are remembering the late 80's icon. >> still can't believe george michael is gone. just another one. >> shocked everybody yesterday and so young. more on that in just a couple of minutes here. right now we want to take a look at our weather headlines. chuck bell is in the weather center. >> yes, indeed

tough one more me. he's only four years older than i am, so yikes, that's scary. i loved his music through high school and college for sure. our forecast for today, a lot of clouds out early this morning. don't plan on getting any sunshine on your monday. rain not all that likely today. could have a better chance for showers late tonight into the first part of the day coming up tomorrow, but tomorrow a little break of sunshine and very mild weather. it will be colder and a little drier around here as we get to new year's weekend. 40 degrees right now. upper 30s and low 40s for the remainder of the morning. temperatures holding steady this evening as southerly breezes bring better chances for rain in for early tomorrow, but any sunshine tomorrow afternoon, we should make it into the upper 50s and low 60s. a closer look at that new year's holiday forecast coming up in a few more minutes. let's go over to jack taylor. >> thank you. we've had some delays in virginia rolling south on 95.