the fairfax county bus employees, that's over 1600 buses. that's larger than the entire greyhound fleet. that's a lot of buses to maintain. what happened was these buses have been sitting for a couple of weeks before the christmas break, before the holiday break. then when you try to start them all back up, sometimes you have a hard time getting them going. that's what happened yesterday. about 200 routes were affected. students had to wait outside, as you mentioned, for about an hour. we talked with fairfax county officials about it. >> even with us doing the starting the past 30 days, letting them run for 30 minutes, sometimes the cold cranking amps is just too much. >> reporter: so what's going to happen this morning is fairfax county officials know there is an issue. they'll get out there nice and early to see if they can get the buses started up and make sure everything goes as planned. there is a way to track whether your

more. there is a little website that they have put together for that. we have it listed on our nbc washington app, guys. you can check there. back to you. >> adam tuss. adam, thank you. in southeast d.c., kramer middle school will open this morning on time. crews worked all day yesterday to fix a pipe that burst in the basement. that caused flooding and a big mess. school officials are asking students and parents to use the front entrance today. archbishop carroll high school is closed because of plumbing issues because of the cold weather. millions of americans are dealing with this blast of arctic air. take a look at this scene in florida. icicles on the orange trees there. sheena mentioned they got know in northern florida. there are winter storm warnings in effect for much of the deep south all the way up to new england. >> biting in the face, just cold. it's no way around it. i don't think you can

prepare. >> there are at least 15 deaths that are being blamed on the deep freeze across the country. keep an eye on the nbc washington app for the latest on the forecast here and any problems the cold weather is causing. it's 4:32. we're following news out of the korean peninsula. chris at the live desk. >> leaders in north and south korea are talking. they made the initial contact using a special hotline that hasn't been used in two years. south korea offered a talk with the north about the winter olympics. the north wants to send the athletes and some of them have qualified technically. the olympic games start in 36 days in pyeongchang south korea. tension is high between the u.s. and north korea. kim jong-un claimed head

trump responded with this tweet yesterday saying, i, too. nbc news is told the north might be about to test another ballistic missile. today a maryland man accused of car jacking and assaulting police officers will make a appearance in court. he tried to wrestle out of his handcuffs in the hospital and hurt two more officers. police say he led officers on a chase last week through centerville. it ended when he crashed into a mini van carrying a mother and her five children. he assaulted two police officers as he tried to get away there. one child is still in critical condition after being ejected from the mini van. new details on the person found inside a burning car. they have now released the

carise lewis was from hyattsville. detectives say she had been shot multiple times. take a look at this video from chopper 4, firefighters battling a town house fire in bowie. spanish oak lane. firefighters tell us this fire started in the basement and spread to the upper floors. they say no one was hurt. i'm chris lawrence back at the live desk with some breaking news. the president of the mormon church has died from natural causes. in a statement from the church of jesus kleist of latter day saints, he died late last night at his home in salt lake city. more than 60 million people around the world are members of the church. monson had ser of the of president since

with temperatures in the freezing temperatures, a man's search for his father is even more serious. he was seen at the beltsville costco on baltimore avenue yesterday. the son said he has dementia and will not be able to communicate. he does not have an i.d. on him either. if you see him, call 911. two huge lottery jack pots are still up for grabs. tonight's powerball drawing is worth $440 million right now. we haven't seen a powerball drawing that big since august when someone in massachusetts won more than $758 million. the mega millions jackpot is worth $400 million. the numbers here, 1, 42, 47, 64, 70 with a megaball of 22. none of those are my numbers. >> i would never play

i might do a 1. i like a 1. >> the next mega millions traug is coming up. another look at your wednesday morning drive when we check back in with melissa. first to sheena with more on the snow and arctic air that's here on the way. more to come, right? >> yes. all of that. basically all of the above. and we showed you that video in florida of the icicles hanging. i think those were orange trees, but what they do in florida when the weather gets this cold, the farmers turn the sprinklers on. it creates an igloo around the crop. that just shows you how far south the cold air goes. look at florida right now. i'm showing you this because this is really where our next storm system is evolving from. it's going to organize eventually. let's take a look at north florida. a wintry mix. snow near tallahassee. this is

the snow chances, these are actual temperatures, not wind chills. it is 1 degree in manassas, 7 gaithersburg, 16 degrees in washington. the good news is no snow for your commute. that is tonight. back in the 30s, melissa. not too bad today. >> the cold weather is affecting water main breaks. take a look at marc. we had cancellations because of the mechanical problems caused by this. on marc, penn line train 408 and 413 canceled. 406 delayed until 7:20 this morning. as far as the water main break, we have the right lane getting by the water main break. and in hyattsville, route 1 southbound near crittendon getting by there. northwest, woodley road between 32nd and

blocked. one minute he was having a good time at a party, the next he was paralyzed. >> it's not the news you want to hear when even colder weather is on the way. how your electric bill may be going up. don't be surprised if your son or daughter is seeing extra

before we start, i just want to say if anyone still doesn't have fios, please stay out of the way so your lag doesn't get us all killed, ben. what's so good about fios anyway? uh. what's so great about a 100% fiber-optic network that makes your gaming system actually work awesomely? hey. did you take out the trash? haha, garbage boy! dad, i already took out ben. it's not funny. gaming is best on a 100% fiber-optic network. so get fios. now, just $79.99 per month with a 2-year price guarantee with a 2-year agreement.

you're watching "news 4 today." welcome back. 4:41. this is a story that a lot of you are reading on our nbc washington app. a 19-year-old football player at marshall university in west virginia is paralyzed after he was shot at a new year's eve party. >> larry aaron iii was trying to protect his girlfr.nd two men started arguing and then all of a sudden started shooting. aaron was shot in the lower back when he stepped in front of his girlfriend to shield her from the bullets. his parents say they feel helpless and upset about what's happened. >> i am so upset. i know they say you're not supposed to ask why but, you know, my son had everything going for him. >> he's been very calm but he has had a few breakdowns. that's to be expected.

aaron because the bullet is lodged in his spinal cord and surgery could cause more damage. anne arundel county police are looking for witnesses from that party so they can identify the shooter. a child says two men tried to kidnap her from her yard before school. the 8-year-old was waiting for her dad outside the family's home at elm and pine avenues in tacoma park yesterday. the girl says a gray mini van pulled up. a man in the front passenger's seat tried to open the door and told the girl he had candy. the child said she pushed the door closed, ran inside and told her father. she said the man who spoke to her has a nose ring, a pimple near his eye and a flower tattoo on his left hand. the gray van has dents and damage below the rear passenger window. anyone walking to school or work this morning, you are going to want to bundle up, way up, sheena. >> oh, yes. we're not even talking about the wind chill this morning, eun. some of our

degrees right now. that is the actual temperature. the winds are calm in the district. it is 16 degrees. another very frigid start to the day. but a little bit of an improvement this afternoon relatively speaking and they'll talk about the snow chances overnight. that's coming up. climate change impacting a lot of things, but chocolate? >> you better not take away my chocolate. >> the shortage that could be just a few years away.

well, good wednesday morning. we are not talking about a wind chill this morning, we're talking about actual temperatures. take a look at them. we have calm winds and this is in part why it got so cold overnight. 4 degrees dulles, manassas is very close to being below zero right now. we'll talk about what to expect later on today and who

tonight. that's coming up. chris lawrence here at the live desk with breaking news. getting word of a fire in prince gorges county. right now firefighters are on the scene a basement fire in a town house. we've learned it has spread up to the first floor. it's on carissa lane just a couple of blocks away from laurel high school. if the kids are heading there this morning, they may see a lot of activity in that area. the first floor has been compromised. crews are backing out. they just did a search of the place. found no people -- nobody is hurt inside basically. they got most of the fire knocked out but, boy, they had to call in help from montgomery county, howard county and anne arundel county as well. news 4's justin finch is heading to that scene. aaron, we'll send it back to you. >> chris, 4:46 right now. congress is getting back to k

>> as president trump is tweeting to north korea about his nuclear button, news 4's tracie potts is live on capitol hill with what the president is saying now. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: eun and aaron, good morning. it started when kim jong-un said he has that nuclear button on his desk at all times. the president now tweeting back, as he put it here, will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that i do have a nuclear button but it is a much bigger and more power full one than his and my button works. at a time when tensions have been escalating between the united states and north korea, there had been much concern about bringing that down, the president almost seems to poke the bear here with his latest tweet about nuclear weapons after kim jong-un said that he had missiles that can reach all the way to the united states. >> tracie, we know we have two new members being sworn into the senate today. what can we expect from doug jones and

>> reporter: tina smith out of minnesota, she's replacing al franken. she doesn't change the balance of power here. doug jones begins to do that. now there are 49 democrats and 51 republicans. what that means is when budget negotiations come up, very soon because we're less than three weeks from that deadline, it could be harder for republicans if they can't pull their own party together to get a majority instead of having a two-vote margin, they've now only got one. >> tracie, thank you. it's 4:48. good news for people in fairfax this morning. the city says they will accept refund requests for pre-paid taxes. this will happen until the real estate tax rate is approved at the city council meeting in may. the city anticipates that in most cases a refund check will be processed within three weeks of the request. new charges could soon come against a sterling man accused of supporting

on friday. in federal court yesterday afternoon they said duncan fled from the raid trying to destroy evidence in the process. duncan was planning to carry out an attack in the name of isis. he's currently being charged with obstructing justice and impeding a federal investigation by trying to destroy federal evidence. the man accused of a deadly workplace problem in harper county back in october has been indicted by a grand jury. brady prince shot five co workers and three of them died. according to our news partners at wtop, he's been indicted of three counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. he had another shooting there and there was another attempted manslaught manslaughter. in maryland he's facing life with the possibility of parole. investigators say a

traffic moments before a car hit him on crane highway. a metro transit canine officer ran into the boy near chadford drive. the accident happened around noon in the brandy wine section of prince gorges county. the officer is on paid administrative leave. maryland police are still investigating. extra security will be on hand today when students return to one spotsylvania county high school. on monday the spotsylvania county's sheriff's office was told about a warning to kids about going to school at masoponics high school. it was vague but they decided to bring in extra help. pepco wants to charge maryland customers more to help pay for grid improvements made last year. on tuesday a maryland increase of more than 5 ds

last week they wanted to cut the bill. here's some not so sweet news. the coco plants that are used to make chocolate treats could become extinct -- >> no. >> -- in 40 years. >> extinct? >> extinct. gone. >> how am i going to continue to live? >> they teemed up with mars company, that's the people who make snickers, m&ms working to create coco tacau plants that could survive warmer temperatures and dryer weather conditions due to global warming. last year mars pledged $1 billion to sustainability efforts. >> i think mars understands the severity of the situation. >> yeah. >> that kind of money. >> when you have an addiction. >> right. >> in all seriousness, as much as i love chocolate, it's big business as well. you think of all of the holidays and the special occasions and the daily doses of chocolate just to get me through my

>> aren't there synthetic chocolates already? >> they're not as good. >> is valentine's day going to go away? maybe that's going to go extinct. >> god, wouldn't that be nice. >> don't say things like that out loud. >> okay. every guy's like quietly at home, like i know, right? >> it will be fine. someone will figure out a way. >> too big a business not to figure out a way. hopefully you figure out a way to stay warm. it's cold outside. wait until you see some of the numbers if you haven't seen them yet. we're not talking about a wind chill. not this morning. this morning we have calm wind, frigid temperatures below ten degrees. right now for part of the area. snow overnight for some of you. not everybody, but some of you may be seeing some snowfalling through the overnight hours and then leaving for most of the morning commute. then colder air moves in. believe it or not, it will be getting colder around here. right now 4

7 gaithersburg, leesburg, 1 degree in winchester. district, 16 degrees. clinton coming in at 8 degrees. now if you're brave enough to go exercise this morning, again, i would suggest doing it inside. definitely layers. not a lot of wind though. warm jacket this afternoon. look at this. we're actually going to be in the 30s. that is an improvement relatively speaking. pretty sad to say, but it is an improvement. so below normal for this time of year. our next storm system is organizing around florida right now. it will stay off shore when it gets here but take a look at florida. the pink shows you near gainesville either about a wintry mix or maybe even sleet falling. we have snowfall near tallahassee. southern part of georgia, pretty rare event. here's future weather. as we go through tonight, there's the storm system i showed you. florida off the coast, 3:00 a.m., snow south and east of the district into early tomorrow morning. then leaving but again a track shift could mean higher or lower snow chances. also watch this

again, it is still over florida. less than an inch possibly in the district. other than that, about 1 to 3 as it gets farther away closer to the coast. look at these temperatures that will follow. 19 for a high friday. 18 for a high saturday. keep in mind that wind will make it feel a lot colder. let's check the roads this morning, melissa. at least they're dry right now. >> that is good. i do appreciate that. taking a look right now at the roads as you take a big look at the beltway, all of the main routes into town and out of town, don't have any real big problems there on the roadways. we do have a lot of water main breaks still hanging around. this is the one from yesterday still there. marleau heights, saint barn abu street near the highway. hyattsville, clinton street getting near the water main break repairs. woodley road between 32nd street and 34th

4:54. just 36 days away from the start of the winter olympic games in pyeongchang, south korea. i will be heading to south korea to bring you full coverage. another maryland native will be there but she's competing. she's earned a spot on the women's olympic hockey team. she's a graduate of wooten high school. she cried for two days when she found out her daughter made the national team. it is a huge, huge, big deal. what an honor to represent your country center stage. >> it will be fun. start february 9th. you'll be heading over a few days before that for our live coverage from the game. almost the entire month of february. >> i can't believe it's already here. big news for all you fixer upper fans. a major announcement chip and johanna gains made that could soon have them redoing a room in their own home. if you use i-66,

lanes are not very popular. now there's a new survey. this time yesterday morning she was probably getting ready for school. today she is fighting to stay alive. alive. before we start, i just want to say if anyone still doesn't have fios, please stay out of the way so your lag doesn't get us all killed, ben. what's so good about fios anyway? uh. what's so great about a 100% fiber-optic network that makes your gaming system actually work awesomely? hey. did you take out the trash?

dad, i already took out ben. it's not funny. gaming is best on a 100% fiber-optic network. so get fios. now, just $79.99 per month with a 2-year price guarantee with a 2-year agreement.

you're watching "news 4 today." 4:58 right now. she just wanted t

school. >> but crossing one of the busiest roads in prince gorges county ended with an 11-year-old in the hospital. a car struck the child tuesday morning on pennsylvania avenue in suitland. she suffered life threatening injuries. she was headed to drew freeman middle school. the driver did stay on the scene. >> it's bad. kids got to cross here and then go over there. then you've got to worry about the traffic coming around and the traffic coming more than one direction. >> yesterday's incident came just one day after news 4 first reported on a statewide proposal in maryland. one lawmaker wants to review the safety and engineering of sidewalks and crossings near every public school in the state. it does not appear the new rush hour tolls on i-66 in virginia are encouraging drivers to carpool. our news partners at wtop sur y surveyed 1,000 drivers and here's what they found. more than half of them said their commute has

month. 1/4 say they have shifted their commute times to avoid the tolls. most commuters say they are sticking with their cars. "news 4 today" starts now. right now on "news 4 today," another bitterly cold start but today a chance for a slight warmup. storm team 4 breaks down the temperatures we could see today. >> it's very hard to concentrate. like a lot of the conversations that we have in class today is about how cold it is. plus, the cold taking a toll on our schools. the low temperature spotted in classrooms and why your kids could be outside longer waiting for their buses. and can you buy yourself a tropical island after the mega millions drawing? the results of the drawing and duelling jack pots up for grabs tonight. good morning,