right now in northern virginia, the family of thi teen-ager getting some closure after the brutal murde of their daughter. what happened in court just a few minutes ago.ea >> ander alert, it is blustery outside. winds are getting 40 toil 50 an hour. and we'll let you know if there's any snow coming up. >> and coming up, the national christmas tree will be all lit up like this. and major roa closures. we'll hp get you ready.

>> good imorning,'m erika gonzalez. >> i'm pat lawson muse.in we're b with a weather alert. we're dealing with a wind advisory. we haveee already gusts of 40 miles per hour. the strong winds making it feel evr colhan it is. >> let's check in withn lau ricketts. how long do the winds stick around? paw do you c today to yesterday if. >> today it's a lot colder than it wasda yest today right around 40 degrees and we have stronger winds so that wind chill feel-like factor is going to be a little lower. it is absolutely gorgeous out there this morning. it's going to be gorgeous as we ntinue throu the day, although a few os saw snow showers out there. wind advisory until 4 p.m., gustso 40 50 miles per hour,

we could have power outages. stained winds at 23 miles an hour, gusts up to 50 miles an hour. we'll talk about any more snow chances and when these winds finally die down. we'll give you that coming up in 15 minutes. >> thank you. the man charged with raping and killing a muslim entered a guilty plea in court. this was back in june of 2018. he allegedly caught the gi 17-year-old, raped, killed her and dumped her body in a police say this was road rage but the victim's family believe it was a bias crime. they will not pursue the death penalty after conelting with victim's family. the trial for james fields

hebegins today. 's the man accused of c driving hiar into a crowd ofte prrs in charlottesville in 2017 heather hyer our northern virginia bureau chief will be in the courtroom. you can look for her live reports at 4. the fbi says hate crimes are on the rise in virginia. the number of incidents spiked nearly 50% last year. in response community and state leaders gathered toh come up w ways to reverse the trend. one of those involved in the talks is jeff danek. he says the synagogue massacre

in pittsburgh is a warning for everyone. >> the fact thath pittsbu happened a week later makes us feel like spray painte is tip of the iceberg and that anything is possible now. a >> alsothe table, virginia attorney general mark herring is rking to strengthen laws against hate laws in the commonwealth. >> security and montgomery county police swarmed the walter bethesdacal center in but it turned out to be f ase alarm. >> reporter: the first reports were tear firing, reaction swift. an activeer sho on the campus of walter reed military medical center. a lockdown ordered. >> i was really scared. they said there was omeone inside the building. >> reporter: a maryland

congssman was among those forced to hide. >> we were getting ready to leave when we were told get into the room, there's an active shooter. >> reporter: police arrived in force, closing roads and searching building 19 where they thought the shooter entered. p insiple prepared for the worse. >> it was pure terror. >> reporter: she pulled her husband and young daughter into a room crowded with children. another man held the door shut for the entire 90-minute lockdown, protecting all oos inside. >> we were absolutely terrified at that point. en, you know, knowing that one of the doors was an easy access point was just unbelievably frightening. >> reporter: but the massive police search turned up nothinga in , there was no shooter, just a drill being planned for another day but somehow botched the navy said on twitter. "the alert was the improper use

of a mass notification system that had been inadvertently enacted without containing words "exercise" or "drill," leaving people fearful and frustrated anddi dem answers. >> somebody, in my opinion, really messed up bad. av're going to to find out what happened. >> that was garrett haake reporting. >> happening now o i-66, drivers can expect some extra stops andra slows in gainesville. the stoppages are happen between now and noon today for the westbound lane. state police should be starting to pull the traffic in that area and there may be traffic stops as long as 15 minutes for the blasting at the intersectionro e 29 and university boulevard, all part of thei-66 outside the beltway project

which is expecte to be done b the end of 2022. the white house will feel much more festive in just a few hours. >> you better bundle up if you plan to go to the christmas tree lighting. here's a look of video from last year. >> chris lawrence is live where theem exct is building and it's definitely cold out there. >> reporter: you said liit. will start closing off the streets here in about two hours. we just came from watching them get set up. it is really cool to see. this isme definitely soing that's going to get you into the holiday spirit. as for the tree itself, it is a colorado blue spruce. it was grown in virginia andpl ted here. president ump and the first season l usher in the withnc a band performa

this will tie up traffic in a ween part of town b 5:00 and te7:00 afoon. a lot of kids have been decorating ornaments for the state's tree. if you were lucky enougho win a ticket in the lottery, two words of advice -- bundle up. >> it is a long night. i think it's worth it. it's a really fun event. i would beprepared. bring lots of layers. you can always take them off and be prepared to wait in line for a bit. there's a preshow at 4:30, the show starts at 5. it is a long ev>>t. think it's a must-do event, great time to celebrate the holidays in the national park. > reporter: but be aware, if you're driving around or walking through this area, look at this map. the street closures are going to be in eerect all aon until about 8:00 tonight.

basically draw a box from 15th to 17th street, pennsylvania to constitution and parts of independence avenue as well will be shut down. eat's going to h a cascading effect around the city. maybe leave work a little earlier or a little bit later. if you're metroingn dre, farrag fa farr farragut north and west probably your best bets. >> pl people questioning the redskins latest

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temperatures outside have ten bitternks to the wind. now imagine not having a coat to keep youwarm. >> and it is something that a lot of families in our community are dealing with. that's why we here at news4 are so passionate about the share e warmth coat drive. our melissa mollet is live with more. >> reporter: what a better thing to do than give this time of year and what an easy thing to do to dig into your closet, find something you haven't been wearing lately and donate it.

great partners in bergman's cleaning, 25 years, right? >> 27.or >> repr: 27 years, 27 years. you can drop the coats off at any of the branches. the medstar nurses at georgetown university hospital are collecting as well. let's talk with major jams hall with the salvation army. talk about why it's so important to be involved in this every year. >> we appreciate nbc4 and the partnership we have, especially with bergman's cleaners. as blessed as w are, there are still people in need. that is prominent at christmaste and throughout the holidays and all throughout the winter season. coes really m a difference. >> they do. peter rgman, you guys have laundered 550,000 coats over the it's an astounding number. thank you. >> it is. we feel lucky to be partnered

with the salvation army and the nurses of georgetown, and of course nbc4 has been our great partner. reporter: why is it important for you to be involved? >> i just seemed like the right thing to do as a family and we had the resources to do it and it'shihe right t to do for our family. >> reporter: we have a big stack he already. dig into your closets, bring your jently used coats to any salvation army and other

locations. a repeat domestic violence perpetrator is set to join the redskins. the 49ers releaseft him a domestic violence arrest involving a woman. on sunday a repor came out police were called out last month for another incident between foster and that woman.e redskins fans have a mixed reaction. yo i have a history of history lent behavior, you should not be involved in anyza orgaon because you pose a risk. >> there are a lot of alabama players that might be able to corral him and utilize him. he's a talent. >> reporter: the redskins said they fully understand the severity of the recent

allegations made against reuben. if true, you can be sure these allegations our organization uld support. cindy hyde-smith wins the senate runoff in mississippi. during her aeptance speech last night she said she won because voters knew she was joking. w> the reason we won is because mississippians ke and they know my heart. thanked president trump who campaigned for her there this week. today the u.s. senate could end up in a showdown over protecting special counsel robert mueller fro being fired. it's a move majority leather mitch mcconnell has all but

guaranteed he will block. >>meanwhile, it's more trouble fo president trump's former campaign chair. i >> reportes unclear whether the senate will vote to protect robert mueller's jo >> we have a lot of thanksgiving to do without taking votes on things that are completely irrelevant. >> reporter: jeff flake is threatening to block president trump's judicial nominees if there's no vote to protect the russia investigation. ew york times" reports that while former trump campaign chair paul manafort was cooperating with the vernment, his lawyer was briefing mr. trump's attorneys. >> manafort clearly is gambling on a pardon. faces virtually life in prison without a pardon. >> reporter: the gsernment wao revoke manafort's plea dealor lying to the fbi. manafort denies that. plus -- >> i love wikileaks.te

>> reporr: -- he denies meeting with wikileaks. congress is also at odds over money for president trump's border wall. >> if the president is saying $5 billion, we can compromise. >> if there's any shutdown, it's on president trump's back. >> reporter: and on thousands of government workers who could use paychecks just before the holidays. and there's not a lot of time left. that budget shutdown deadline is now nine days away. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. today democrats are expected to nominate a candidate for house speaker. this comes as the party prepares to take back control of the house to january following le midtermion wins. right now nancy pelosi is running unapoopposed.

stenyi steny hoyer is set to return to his position. >> today a street is set to be m renamed khashoggi way. he walked into the saudi consulate in turkey on october 2nd and according to investigators was murdered and dismembered. intelligence agencies say the saudi crown prie ordered the murder. the president has decided not to punish the crown prince over the killing. d.c. may see a major recrease in dockless scooters and bike s bicycles. nearly a dozen companies have applied for thecity's new permits, and that would allow anywhere from 100 to 600 bikes and scooters on the streets if that's approved. d-dot is riewing the applications and hopes to issue permits by the first of the year. a chinese scientist who claims to have created the d' wo first genetically edited babies is defending his work and

announcing future plans. and one of these is not le e others. what saved this hug

. now to a developing story that's raising ethical concerns samongentists. earlier today a chinese scientist said there's now ase nd pregnancy involving genetic editing. the same scientist helped make the world's first genetically edited baby. the twins were born earlier this

monthnd had altered the dna to make them resistant to ds. scientists say the changes can be inherited and can harm other genes. we have n video from an australian farm that is making people do a double take. you look here, this cow isn't like the other cows on the farm in the area. nickers, the cow, is 6'4" tall. he was going to be sentto it a slaughter house but he's to big to fit into the processing facility. he he gets to live on t farm. there's apparently an italian cow who is bigger. >> and they've never met. >> they've nevermet. >> go figure. >> oh, man! >> tur now to weather. >> so followinghat --

>> speaking of huge, what a huge change in the weather today. that wind is something else. >> it's awful outside. usually i'm like, all right. >> lauryn say that with a smile. usually i'm like my day is over, i can'tait to go outside. not like that today. i'll stay a work all day. >> no, actually, i'll just run to my car.ol it is out there. we've got wind gusts up to 40, 50 milestan hour. ing about the wind chills this afternoon, we are looking at chills in the 20s. so that's how it's going to feet aloughout the afternoon. now, it kind of levels off as we get through the evening. there's because the winds die downlightly as we head into the afternoon as opposed to gusting up to 50 miles an hour, maybe they're gusting up to about 30 miles an hour. either way this is a g veryty wind out there. we're going to continue to have some pretty strong winds through the remainder of the afternoon. could hav a few power

outages, a few downed trees possible. of court we have a weather alert, a wind chill advisory and wind chill will be in the 20s throughout the day. gusts upwards of about 40 miles an hour. i do expect some power outages throughout the day. the feel-like temperatures in the teens in the shenandoah valley. fredericksburg it feels like 31. lucky you.me so snow showers caught a ride on this breezy northwest wind and rode right into frederick and hagerstown this morning. we could see a few snowflakes flying around but for the most part we're going to be dry with some sunshine. tomorrow we'll have thebr ziness in the morning but the winds finally calm down as we headnto the afternoon. we will have clouds roll in on friday, much lighter wind on

friday because it's settling done tomorro afternoon. some rain showe o friday. saturday morning you might want to do s errands or gift shopping saturday morning. but heavy rain possible w as head to saturday afternoon and into saturday evening. we'll talk about yoursu ay. we have changes for your sunday. not on do we have rain but we have big temperature changes for your weekend. newevelopments out o indiana this morning where six kople were killed in a fire. we nw the majority of the victims were young children. and the dangers of alcohol abuse,specially this time of

you're watching "news4 midday." this morning an indiana community is dealing with the difficult news that six people, including four children, were killed in an overnight house fire. this is video of the aftermath in logansport. t accordin our affiliate, the kids rangedsn a from 2 months old to 10 years old. two adults did make it out of the home. no word on what mayave caused the fire but the holiday season is the most dangerous time of rthe y for house fires. tay buoy state university and maryland's legislators will

launch a scholarship honoring second lieutenant richard llins iii. he was killed back in 2017 just days before hisraduation at bowie state as he was waiting for a bus at the university of maryland college park campus. mike miller and dougeters co-sponsored legislation to authorize the scholarship funds. it will -- the suspect in the case face as hate crime charge. most americans are exposed to around 4,000 ads each day. >> now metro is adding to that with audio ads. your ticket and you'll be homke in b tooime for turkey. happy holidays. >> the compa o says a quote, 45-minute bus ride ads will play

for about 45 seconds. , e ads can be geo target meaning they can be triggered when psing a certain location. if successful, the ads could expand to more buses and the rails. so we hear a lot about the growing problem of opioid addiction but alcohol abuse remains a major issue. r orter: it is holiday season which means holiday parties and alcoholconsumption, t there is a sobering statistic. the rate of alcohol-related deaths increased dramatically in the past ten years, a total of 35%. but for women the increase was a staggering 67%. more people in this country die from alcohol-rela td causesn from the opioid epidemic. psychiatrist joshua warner joins

us.e how many peoie annually from alcohol-related deaths? >> there are 88,000 alcohol-related deaths and that's versus the 72,000 from ioids. we're not talking about alcohol poisoning, so 88,000 people aren dying from alcohol poisoning buthi dying froms clearly related to alcohol consumptio if you die of sir owes cirrhosi rot going to say you died from whatever, it was alcohol. breast cancers are felt to be attributed to alcohol consumption. >> wow. >> gastrointestinal cancer bleeding. there are all kind of issues that will cause death. maybe it's not the exact cause of death like heart attack but

it was the alcohol consumption h that led to thrt atr:ck. >> reporhese are diseases affecting your pbody. >> exactly. >> reporter: why are women more susceptible? >> women are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol. women hav less bodyater in their bodies. percentage greater of fat in their bodies and they metabolize alcohol more slowly. money still makep two-thirds of the deaths related to alcohol, but there' such a growth in the number of women who are consuming alcohol over the last decade, two decades. that's why we're seeing these numbers rise so much for women. if you take a man who is in drinking a cermount and take a woman who is drinking maybe less but the equivalent amount because theom is more

sensitive to that alcohol, the likelihood of a woman having a complication that could lead to her death is greater than for a man. >> reporter: is it advisable to quit what are some handles people can do? >> so absolutely sunsafe top cold turkey. a lot of people will say family members, we're going to just hide the alcohol fromed our l one so they stop, bad idea. if someone is driing the equivalent of six, eight drinks per night and you stop their al hol, you could cause their death. if someone is drinking a fiftho vodka per day, they could die. you can get cardiac

irregularities and tremors and it could lead to heart attacks. if you're a regular drink drinking six drinks or more per day, you want to talk to a doctor and get medically assisted detox from alcohol. >> thank you for your help on this get ready for strong winds for most

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it isidold ou and most people have coats in storage they haven't used in years. i've gotup . >> but somebody could really use them right now. our melissa mollet is live with how you can hope local families who are in need tough our

share the warmth coat drive. hi, melissa. reporter: hi guys. what is better than digging into your closet, finding something you don't use that much and sharing that with someone else? we've beenarers with bergman's cleaning for years now and they haveleaned thousands of coats for us. terry cole, executive vice president here, tell us why you're involved and how folks can help. >> we're a community bank and we're all about serving the needs of people in our community and this time of year, as you said, it's a great time for to us get involved in something where we can really hel people in our community in a different way. >> reporter: and this is your eighth year. >> yes. we're happy to have joined with

people from bergman's cleaning and nbc4, we offer theco enience for people to drop off their coatsor people in need. >> reporter: the nurses at georgetown star are also starting their drive. they are going to hand these out to salvation army clients in januy. what you can do very, very easy on the nbc washington app is share the warmth. i savee extra coats as well. bring them into the station. they're collecting theirs, too. >> i'll dig mine out. >> you're going to need it today for sure. and some hand warmers if you plant on going o tohe

festivities later today. >> it's going to feel lik winter, like christmas down there. >> what's the wind chill going to be? >> about that time, the mid 20s but the winds will settle down. weave the wind advisory until 4 p.m. then the wind starts to lighten up a little bit. when i say lighter, they're not gusting up to 4ho 50 miles an , they're gusting up to 30 miles an hour. a lite bit better but it is going to be bit ear cold outside. but it is a gorgeous day. we have blue skies rightnow. ittle on the windy side. we could have power outages as we contie through the day today. today very windy. doesn't need don't need to tell you that. winds nt to tell you the will start to settle down tomorrow afternoon. still going to be chilly and dry

out there. then we have rain moving in for your friday and also rain onay satu look atra these temres. in the 40s today, feeling like the 20s. look at this, sunday 68 degrees on -- i see erikaooking at me -- 68 degrees on sunday. it is going tom be w but we'll have rain as we head into the weekend. no rn today, a f isolated snow showers riding down on those northwest winds but gusts up to 40, 50 miles per hour as we ctinue into t middle part of the afternoon. you could even see wind chills tonight. wind chills are in the low to mid 20s. still breezy tomorrow night and stilly tomorrow, winds at about 10 to 20 miles an hour with gusts through the first part of your thursday. it's still going to feel in the low to mid 20s at the busantop wind chills will improve

tomorrow. tht the feel-like temperature right now still i teens and mid 20s. that's pretty much where it's going to stay as we head through the afternoon. right now we're dry. we had a few snow showers earlier. we could still see a flake or two flying around out there. temperatures tomorro the mid 40s. heading into friday, the first part of fri gy looksd but the commute home on friday, just a few showers possible. we warm right up on on the weekend but we do have rain showers for both saturday and even into sunday unfortunately. but those temperatures, as i said, are goi to be o the up and up. low to mid 50s oay satu upper 60s on sunday. we'll show you the next ten day coming up in a few minutes. d.c. is not the only city hosting a big tree lighting tonight. a look ahead at the action of rockefeller center this evening. >> and some advice for the home baker if you're one. how to get started making,

putting together and decorating the perfect

the orga national resort just kicked off its christmas celebrate n with more than dozen holiday events and activities. the resort has als added a brand new gingerbread display in

its lobby. it took 18 pastry chefs. executive chef david krcramers joinsith more. you guys are constructing images like the eiffel tower,he sydney opera house. any advice for those trying t make what looks like a shack at home. e do you get the inspiration from? >> we ask people to go back and say what does christmas mean to you? >> if we wanted to try to dole liomething for ourselves, something at home that we could

do a nice little family night with the kids how do you start? i've always had trouble with the together.ing up what do you start with and what's the key to keeping it all together? >> the secret for us are rice krispy tr cts. yo make them, cool them down and you can form your walls and doors and windows ahead of time. >> what is the adhive thaou think works best in keeping things to the and how do you know when you're going overboard? what if it gets too heavy and collapse?ings to >> the greatest thing withrising krispiestreats, it will hold up. and this is gger bread. it's already in precut pieces. like so to give you an idea. we're attaching ourad gingerb

to our rice krispies treatss >> the trick less is more? >> can't go wrong with icing. it's a little bit mess the best part is you can lick the edges off. >> i was about to say, just hand me the pipe bag. when youinish patching yourpi es, it's complete. >> what about the toppings? doou prefer some over others? >> it comes down to whatever flavor profile you want to do. ou can emulate snow with marshmallows, christmas lights with our m & ms, doo with ourcandy canes. one this evening we'll show youu

ifant to do the rooftop, you c use necco wafers. we have a set up where we can help kid make a gingerbread house. >> it looks beautiful and delicious. if you aren't already in the holiday spirit,nbc is hoping to put you in the spirit. rockefeller center will

literally light up with the lighting of the rockefeller christmas the annual celebration has been broadcast live around the world since 1951. the "today" show anchors will host and feature a number of musical rsperf. and then chrissy teigen will st a holiday special. >> reporter: it's been quite the year for john legend. "jesus christ superstar" gave him additional awards. and tonight the couple shares the screen in "a ledgelegendary

weekend with john and chrissy." >> we wanted to bring an album to life and do a christmas special. around it we said let's celebrate christmas like our families used to celebrate christmas. >> that involved gathering a group of all-star entertainers to go house to house. >> they freaked out. they knew they were going to be on tv for something christmas related. they had no idea we were going to be the ones coming over. >> you want to join us? >> yes! >> everybody was super excited to have us there. o none called the cops on us so thatas great. >> a legendary wayo start the holiday season. e to helpg up, a cha sick children in our

this holiday season you may e more than just regular christmas lights around town. >> the light up dr. bear campaign is helping kids shine brightly tough dark times. the bears are on display all acrosshe reason, including bethes bethesda. that's with you'll find mollette

green. >> we're on bethesda rowlong with nurses from children's national. we want to talk to them about why this interactive funding campaign is so important and how you can use your cell phone to contribute to make t hospital a whole lot better. we had the opportunity to see some kids who willpend the holiday at the hospital in children's yesterday. braden is a3-year-old with a lot personality who is the face of this campaign. we want to talk to nurses nina and jackie. >> the holidays are always reallyough for the children. they're away from their families anhopess. anything we can do, any dollari we can g helps to make the time special for them. >> reporter: when you see the therapy room, the art room, the healing garden, all of that for a child going through a tough time just makes the experience

better? >> it definitely does. working ithere, makes me feel like that's what i got to experience when i was younger. so knowing the kids have this now makes it more special. >> reporter: they're goingo ligh up these dr. bear mascots all around the region. the campaign runs through december. go to the web site chien childrensnational.org/light. we'll put a link for all the information, particular light 25 to aum particularr and $10 donation and you make a child's experience much better. right? [ cheers ] we sendvehing back to lauryn ricketts because it is a storm team4 weather alert.

. do you have your mic on? >> i turned it off because talking to someone about the power outages. we are getting power outag through alexandria. wind gusts 40 to 50 miles an hour. still breezy tonight. the wind will settle down but tomorrow afternooternoo unfortunately we have rain chances for the weekend and also into tuesday and wednesday of next week. >> thanks, lauryn. >> that's it for "news4 midday." we're back on the air at 4:00. have a great day and we will see you this afternoon.

♪ great bouncing iceberg. >> i'm sure to stop as gon as herows up, san the. >> let's hope so if he wants the make the sleigh team some day. >> oh no! >> no! >> santa on the naughty list. i mean,ld santa. not a nice guy. by the way, i was watching this last night on cbs. such a classic. 1964. if you think about the messaging of the movie, there was some bullying there. >> he'll grow out of it. >> the dad had to cover up the nose. twitter was having a field day. rudolph was trending again last night. taste the new