spread to the garage. substantial damage here. this is all taking place after 1:00 in the morning. we understand two people in their 70s, a couple, were able to get out of the house. we do not believe that they were transported to the hospital. i think they were evaluated there on the scene. so it looks like they may be in good condition. as for this house, a very different story. substantial damage there. the reason behind this fire at this hour, simply don't know. back to you. those are the voices of hundreds of people protesting the trump administration's reversal of protections for transgender students. the justice department and department of education wrote a letter withdrawing the obama administration's policies that called on all public schools to let children use bathrooms that match their gender identity. so

their displeasure about the reversal. >> they are making it a problem around the country they are waving at these poor kids, call them sexual predators and making political hay out of it. >> the family research council praised the decision calling it a victory for children, parents and privacy. >> new guidance essentially knocked down that interpretation. the white house says it gives states the ability to make decisions on the issue. it will have no immediate affect because the old policy notifies schools they would lose federal funds was put on hold by a federal court. this change comes as the supreme court is set to hearing arguments next month on a case dealing with this issue. gavin sued the gloucester county school board for not allowing him to use the boy's bathroom.

28th. 4:32 right now. we're learning more about the house fire that claimed the life of a little boy. 5-year-old stellan lutulo died in that house fire tuesday night. investigators say he started the fire while mailing with a lighter in the garage. his mother and two others tried to rescue the boy, but the flames made that impossible. >> disappoint onned we couldn't get him. we tried as best we can. i really, really feel bad about it. >> that's terrible. >> neighbors have set up a gofundme page to help pay for his funeral. the fbi is now getting involved, asking for anything you can do to bring michaela matai home. it's been about a week

her family last saw. her she is 15. prince william county police now believe she ran away with a man she met online. that man, metie metsla is on the right side of your screen. authorities say they can be headed to georgia. we told you michaela's family is especially worried because she did not take her medication with her.. right now, there is a search for this missing rockville area man. 62-year-old phillip richard warn he. he lives at the montgomery county's men's emergency shelter and was reported missing by the staff. he is without his medication. he is known to hang out around the rockville town center. call police if you know where he is. happening today, protests are planned at a montgomery county baptist center. it's now covered by a parking lot. the property is slated for redevelopment in the future. the county says it's committed

the community. >> we have new video this morning of bao bao arriving in china. take a look. that's the panda express. special plane with all the accoutrements she needed. she seemed to be a little shy when she was finally let out of her cage. but she warmed right up after seeing the bamboo and the other treats spp she is stay in quarantine for the next month. she's bring american germs to china. just need to make sure she's okay. >> she's okay. she looks good. the. >> she took a private yet, for heaven's sake. she will be just fine. we have breaking news in traffic. >> take a look at this problem here this morning. northbound 295 rightow

avenue because of this crash investigation here this morning. if you're headed in from maryland sometime today, we're not sure how long this is going to last. you might want to take suitland parkway instead. problems is on 295 as you're coming up from the bottom of the beltway there right now diverted at malcolm x avenue. megan mcgrath is out there on the scene. what are you seeing? >> well, yeah, we are start to go see traffic slowing down here at the detour at this accident here on 295. you can see that volume is still light. it's still very early. so it is not a major delay at this point. but if this accident lingers a whole lot longer, we are going to start to see quite an impact here on 295. all northbound lanes are closed at this point. the police are forcing everybody off on to malcolm x avenue. so that is the detour. we've got a single car accident here.. there's a debri

we ran into one mostist just beyond who has a flat tire from going through that debris. we're fought sure how long they will be detouring traffic, but for the time being, 295 northbound closed at malcolm x avenue. >> megan, thank you. we're going to check in with her throughout the morning to see the impact on your traffic. right now, let's turn to the forecast and see what we can find out about this warm-up. >> big time warm up, for sure. spring is just breaking out everywhere. >> and i told you, chuck, i saw some showers blooming. we are talk, about pollen levels out there, too. 54 degrees currently in the district. take a look. now our formal highs, 49 degrees. today, we expect 4. tomorrow, 76. as far as records go, today the record at reagan, 78. dulles, 73. to

reagan, dulles, 9 degrees. we're going to be close in some areas, but for a closer look at what you can expect for the rest of the day, let's head over to chuck. good morning. >> hey, good morning. it's so hard to believe that it's still february outside. we might have two or three days like this in a row. so the four things to know about the weather, open window weather has returned, provided you're taking your allergy medication. we're making a run for the record both today and tomorrow. the record at dulles is likely to be broken today. tomorrow, almost everyone will be, a degree or two of the record. saturday afternoon harness, they are in trouble. rain likely between noon and 8:00 p.m. and then a quick with shot of we'll call it colder air. the ten-day forecast coming up at 4:51. you know the saying, they

parking lot. what if it was the other way around? the new push to create more parks than parking spots. >> move over mars as there are seven new planets just discovered. and why florida or hawaii for a vacation? just go to

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. a lot of you were talking about this on facebook today. trip adviser.com ranked ocean city 10th on its 201 traveler's choice list of its top 25 beaches in the u.s. the winners were waysed on reviews and ratings collected during the past year. heard a lot of radio commercials about ocean city and planning that vacation now to go there. >> b i've been. i'm surprised. i have to go look at the whole list, but i'm sure hawaii has to be on there. >> somewhere. >> right? >> it could soon be a lot harder to find a place the to park in downtown bethesda. >> that is because a grassroots effort is under way to make more fields for kids to play on, more playgrounds and a dog park. to get green space, you would have to lose 500 parking

new parks. >> if you're waiting for private property owners, you happen, the value of their property s has dropped so low we can afford to buy it, you'll be wait ago long time. you have to look at the land you have and make the best use of that. >> the county says parking could be replaced possibly putting parking under any new parks created. the next step is to find funding to make this a reality. you might want to break out the shorts and short sleeves today. sheena.the. >> i love the flip-flops. i'm going bring them out this afternoon. if you are about to head had outside and you are about to grab a jacket, you might want to rethink that. temperatures are very mild for this morning. we are in the mid 50s right now and we will not be cooling down. we will get into the 70s today. closer look at that forecast. chuck will tell you how warm it will be over the next seven days, coming up. >

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good morning, everybody. that's a cold front which will bring remarkably cooler air in for the weekend. also ahead, president trump and tourism, how his holding office could impact the local economy. >> the 2017 conservative political conference continues at the national harbor. a long list of gop heavyweights will speak along with staffers and lawmakers.

president trump is set to take the stage tomorrow. and there are several of president trump's former foes expected to speak. >> news 4's jay gray joining us now from capitol hill for a look at today's lineup. >> good morning to you, aaron and eun. there's a lot of focus on this cpac conference. a couple of people who have opposed him and pretty vocally will be speaking today. including scott walker who has lashed out several times. and senator ted cruz who ran against president trump, said he couldn't vote for him at the time. they have since made a peace of sorts. but it will be interesting how he accuracies what is his home base crowd here to see how they deal with the administration and how that crowd deals with him if he has any consequence or problems with the speech. >> and steve bannon i

to speak today. what do people expect from him today? i think they'll see him trying to make the piece, especially with reince priebus. they'll be talking after reports that there is some type of division within the white house between the two men. so they'll be trying to, again, put on a nice, public face as they discuss the situation inside the white house with the cpac members today. >> jay gray on the hill for us this morning. thank you. thank you. there is a growing uncertainty over what affect, if anything, president trump will have on d.c.'s tourism industry. the nation's capital expecting more and more people to visit with more people coming from overseas. that means more money for the competent. >> it remain toes be seen. we focus on what is happening, especially from an international perspective and how that will affect international visitation. so what's the

people decide not to come to the united states because of somebody's policies that are being discussed? >> between 2015 and last year, tourists spent $ billion here bringing nearly $760 million in tax revenue to the district. >> virginia senator tim kaine is overseas. he was in vatican city yesterday, he'll be in london tomorrow. the senator was unable to meet with pope francis coming back with a general audience. he was a missionary for the catholic church for many years in his youth. protection against domestic violence has become one of maryland's top priorities. they will join state legislator to publicly support a bill with such protection. it would

someone may seek a protective order. >> it was a disaster that devastated a community and now a montgomery county police officer is being honored for his heroism during the silver spring apartment explosion. seven people died in the flower branch apartment exploded last august. officer jeffrey hughes received the medal of valor. hughes rescued a family from that fire and collapsed building. >> there were definitely people there that i have seen on a daily basis, once a week or something like that i didn't get to say bye to. i'm there to help them and i'll never see them again. >> hughes used keys to the front frances of the apartment building to get in, pull fire alarmes and knock on doors to help the firefighters on the scene there. more than 50 fami

displaced by that explosion. start digging through the couch cushions for loose change. d.c.'s busiest neighborhood parking is about to cost you more money. new parking rates start monday. the goal of the parking program is to improve availability through demand based pricing. that area includes h street northwest, e street northwest and 11 street northwest. the rates range from $11.50 an hour to $3.25 an hour. new red light cameras are being installed at four locations in the city of fairfax. the cameras will go into spring at the main street and woodland drive. lee highway, fairfax boulevard. traffic signs will be put up when the cameras are activated. now 4:50. we have breaking news coming into the live desk. >> erika. >> let mel

has played out within the last couple of minutes. this is in southeast d.c. calvert street and calvert terrace. we understand park police were in that area just a few minutes ago trying to make a traffic stop when the driver of that vehicle rammed into the officer's car. we understand the officer was injured. fired his weapon and that vehicle, the driver in that vehicle, made off. we're not sure if that suspect was hit by the officer firing off his weapon. but that scene remains at large. there's no closures in the area. about 4:00 in the morning. the park police officer trying to make a traffic stop and that person behind the wheel rammed into this officer. erika, thank you. 4:51 right now. >> chuck, you know what? >> yes? >> i love warm with weather.

is it possible to be this warm at the end of february? >> it is insanely warm. it's likely going to be our warmest february on record. mean while, when the pendulum is outside of walk on one side of the country, it is also out of walk on the other side of the country. the same type of a weather system that brings us the haze, heat and humidity of summer, that is exactly the weather pattern that we have if place. it won't be hazy, hot and humid today, but we will challenge record high temperatures for today and tomorrow both. dulles airport, the record there is only 73. tomorrow, 9 at dulles airport. that's the highest february temperature on record. dwi marshall, probably not going to break records both days, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to be

54. that's above our average high temperature for this time of year. temperatures today, wow, look at that big jump with more and more sunshine coming back by later this morning into the afternoon. hometown highs today, 74 in washington, 74 leesburg, 74 in culpepper. for tomorrow, an even milder start. temperatures near 60 at this time tomorrow morning. and then into the mid and upper 70s tomorrow afternoon. the real change in the weather arrives on saturday. there's the cold front out across the upper midwest now. that will be arriving here saturday afternoon. if you're traveling today, down to the sunshine state of florida where sheena is from, there will be rain across much of the peninsula. here is our ten-day forecast. 70s today and tomorrow. 70 again on saturday. but rain and maybe a few rumbles on thunder saturday afternoon into sunday evening. sunday, blustery and cool and temperatures back above average as we go into the month of march

breaking news right now. this is going to be quite a problem here this morning. take a look at this one. northbound 295 right now shut down at malcolm x avenue. again, all traffic pushed on to malcolm x right now. if you're headed in from maryland this morning, you can use suitland parkway instead. no word right now on exactly how long this is going to last. live report from megan mcgrath live at the scene in just the next couple of minutes. 66 and 95 looking good here this morning. inner ramp to georgetown, do have that ramp blocked right now because of a worm zone. and bottom of the beltway, looking pretty good. an update on that 295 situation coming up. it is hands on experience that most people don't get and it could benefit you. the class teaching students how to build cars and where you can get one on sale this weekend. also ahead at 5:00, our food fears series continues. how one mom managed to make life easier

daughter who is plagued with certain allergies. the new mlb rule that could make the next nats game you go to shorter.

if you're thinking about buying a uses car, you might be able to find one of the most reliable at a big sale this

they were put together by a group of special mechanics. >> for these mechanics, how to fix cars is clear. >> you don't need to force it. it will go. >> that is the timing belt right there. >> i try to teach them as if they were in the shop. >> it's all part of a class that teaches students the nuts and bolts of fixing cars. >> you have to think about the bigger picture in order to fix problems that you don't see in a book or in a classroom. it's something that you don't get from another class. >> i would like to do this as a side job. >> each of the cars is donate bid the community. students learn everything from the basics like changing tires to the more advanced skills like taking apart entire engines. >> learning how to change your tire or changing oil, all those things are practical things to do. >> they're also learning to cash

>> it's pretty cool to see everything you do go back outside and work for someone else. >> that's one of the driving forces wind this class. amy cho, news 4. >> the sale is this saturday at damascus high. it will include used computers that have been fixed up by students in montgomery county. for more information, visit the nbc washington app and search student sales. news 4 today starts now. >> it is 5:00 a.m. just about now. good morning, everybody. >> welcome to news 4 today. we're all here this morning and that is not necessarily a good thing. we'll tell you why. >> yeah. we didn't win any money. >> somebody did, though, in

we're also told there were a few $1 million dollar winners, none in our area. so now we know. let's get you caught up on weather and traffic this morning, as well. some breaking news on the roads, but i think we'll begin with chuck and sheen ma. >> it is mild outside. >> sleeveless weather. we love it. >> i love it. and you know what other people notice? you might not love too much. the pollen levels. the temperatures are warm. things are start to go bloom a little bit early. so the main things out there, here is a look at the pollen levels. today, close to a medium level. friday, saturday shoots up. then we have rain moving and that rain will start to drop a little bit. we're going to continue see them rite rise as we go into spring. temperatures right now, only in the mid 50s. some areas of patchy fog. very warm this afternoon and we'll look at that day