prevent this from happeni in your hom>> first at 4:00 we want to begin with the nasty crash on one of the busiest roadways in northern virginia. good afternoon. >> nearly a dozen vehicles t includin big rigs involved in this pileup hereaung delays after the morning rush. >> this is along 395 in the sherlington area. >> repter: police are trying to figure out how this pileup happened. but those folks involved are lucky to be alive. >> we started seeing the cergency vehicles. >> weould see a bit of a pileup. >> reporter: just after 10:00 this morning, first responders rushed to the scene of a ten

vehicle pileup in the hov lane. two dump trucks and eight cars collided. >> i work on the fourth floor on the building bind . >> reporter: he ran over from his office building to take pictures. >> any time you see a card rai up, elevated on a barrier or even another car, you think, that's a pretty b crash. >> reporter: arlington fire says one person was taken to the hospital while cars were towed away and police continue their investigation. this isn't the way anyone would want to start the week. en you see a crash like this, you know it could have been much worse. >> i wouldre say that the lucky to be alive. when you get a crash like that during a major rush hour, bad things can happen. >> reporter: now police say one geof the big challenges was containing and safely removing the fuel and liquids from theca on the roadway here. they say they got everything towed away and cleaned up safely

by around 1:00. >> all right. thank you. meantime this weekend'ses storm wasnsibility for dozens of crashes throughout virginia. state police p were urgingple to stay off the roads. even troopers weren't immune to troubl two were hit by vehicles that lost control on the highway. all, police reported 47 tcidents andops responded to 54 disabled vehicles. right now a major winter storm is moving out after dumping snow in parts of our area is woat as much as feet of snow further south. jay zbra in narlotte,th carolina. as people down there begin on dig out. jay? >> reporter: yeah. a bit of a break right now. through day today, we have seen rain, sleet, snow. it has been a mess not only here but as you talk about in the southeast. in the carolinas, onearf the

areasst hit, we've seen some very thick snow can he some tough ice that has split trees, downed power lines, hundreds of thousands still without power going into wha will be a cold night. and air travel has been a mess as well. thousands of flights either canceled or delayed. that will continuehrough week because of all the hubs and the different routing systems. while we're getting a break in the temperatures in charlotte, its expected to drop again this evening. everything on the ground. the water, the snow, the ice, refreezing and it could be a mess tomorrow morning.ot r one of the areas in this storm from texas through virginia that was hit hard, fredericksburg. at's where nicole jacobs is with more. >> reporter: tis the season for snow. while it may be a littlearly for some -- >> we expected it a little ter, january, february. >> reporter: there's no turning back w.no >> it is seasonable and the snow

makes everybody more in the festive mood. >> reporter: a winter blanket, one packing threelusinches. >> much more than we all thought. >> reporter: and temperatures are just as chilling. so it's time to shovel it, salt it, scrape it. especially if you're hitting the roads. it is much safer than the alternezive. below fing overnight, causing slick dangers and a snow day fm school. trench sflil fredericksburg. a hill perfect for a dayndff a a quick study break. >> a finals 10:00 a.m. >> reporter: a relief for a kid of f words. >> fast. >> reporter: just letting the sledding do the talking. roen it is all said and done and the temperatures again -- >> it's slippery. >> reporter: let's just call it an early dose ofnt . where there's surely much more

to come. the big question is, what will happen with all the waternd all the slush on the roadways t. toni when the temperature drops, of course it will freeze, giving more reason to be extra careful on you commute. nicole jacobs, news4. >> partsri ofe william county got should snow to cause a few problems this morning. it gave some children the a day of drivers had to brush off snow before headingo work. it made driving dangerous. we found vehicles having trouble going up and down hills. talk ammerer joins us to about a refreeze tonight? >> yep, temperatures will d down to below freezing right through early tomorrow. so yeah, we'll have somems probn the roadways. if you have an area of snow, the

roads, it will be refreezing. we've seen some rain and fixing snow around the raleigh area. even around norfolk. a little rain/snow mix. this is all moving out. behind it though, we are getting on the colder side. nothing in our area. we won't see any rain or snow any time soon. we're moving into a fairly dry pattern. that should make a lot of us happy. look at this. theindchills now, 27 in richmond, 29 in ocean city. the cold air is l ked inplace. we'll have a couple really chilly days is that then temperatures going way up but at a cost. is. know what that just in time for the weekend. much more on that next and a reminder, when you need an update on the weather, you have it right here in theat all of now to some breaking news in

charlottesville where the same jury that convicted james fields of murder is deciding how much time he'll spend in jail for it. scott mac farlane is in the newsroom. >> he killed heather heyer and dozens of others with his car. today, the jury heard impact statements from the families of the victim. f heaces up to six life materials. the sigh sigh terrorist sa-the e had been suffering withmen illness but he was not insane at the time of the liattack. carey is in the courtroom

now and she'll join us in a bit. we have some breaking news. amica has got talent host and spice girl mel b has announce that had a sn unexplained injury. she said she suffered the injury in new york and needed the surgery to prevent her from losing her hand. she said the surgery took three hours. e also suffered two broken ribs. she didn't go into any more detail about what actually happened to her. when we know more, we'll update you right heren news4. president trump's former lawyer and fixer mhael cohen will be senate intelligenced nednesday for violating campaign finance laws w he paid two women to keep quiet about affairs with his boss. >> he said he t paid women at the president's direction. >> president trump won't another

twitter attack today against familiar targets, james comey and michael cohen. president trump today denyinge ever directed former personal attorney michael cohen to pay off two women who claimed they had affairs with donald trump. on twitter, the president called the payments a simple private transaction. not a violation of campaign finance laws which cohen is going to jail for. >> pple who say this is about giving money to women to be quiet don't understand the gravity of directing money, through money laundering, through bank aud, wire fraud. >> reporter: president trump denies the affairs and his supporters say it was cohen who broke the law. h> if you hire an attorney to deal wit your issues, you assume that attorney will follow legal bounds. >> reporter: som believe it was cohen's attempt to negotiate a deal for the trump tower in moscow. >> i think in the long material,

russian collusion will bereuch consequential and will lead to criminal charges. >> reporter: the president ain attacking the former fbi director james comey, claimingcomb lied repeatedly to house members during a six-hour door meeting. comey firing back. >> we have to remind ourselves, thedent of the united states of america is publicly announcing that peopl are committiimes, they should be in jail. private citizens. that's not okay. >> reporter: comey will return to capitol hill december 17th to answer more reestions. thedent meanwhile is now searching for a new chief. john kelly leaves at the end of the year.o backyou. >> all right. thank you. a woman accused of being an unregistered foreign agent for russia is expected to change her flu he court this week. maria buttina was in court this she was accused of pushi

moscow's general. she is charged with conspiracy and failing to rister as a foreign agent. we have learned she is expected to pad guilty. it is not clear if a plea agreement has been reached. you may remember, the d.c. former police chief retired a few years ago as head of security for the nfl. next only on news4. we talk to kathy lanier about players accused of domestic violence and her commitment tot tackling t issue. plus, there is an issue being debated over whether you shou allowed to keep a hedgehog in your home as a pet. hedgehog in your home as a pet. and merry

james: this is alana, a very busy mom. she and her husband reginald wanted to grow their family. but alana is one of thousands in the dc area with kidney disease alana is healthy aoying fa full life.owe i'm james brn and meet my friends, alana and reginald - soon to be parents of two. to learn more about kidney donation, r visit the and joy paul kidney center at gw kidney.org or call 1-833-kidney3. at gw kidney.org or call(music throughout)

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shirlgton. in case you didn't know, the holiday season is in full force. >> and the snow is the icing on the cake. ut that holiday spirit doesn't bring joy to everyone. news4 looks into what causes the holiday blues and how to get through it. >> reporter: surrounded by alls, the sa jingles and decorations, some folks get a real case of the holiday blues. >> it creates almost impossible

expectations. >> reporter: he says our brains are divided into two sections. one focused on what we have. the other on what we want. >> when we anticipate something, we use the future circuits. that's don't mean. >> when the christmas season no longer anticipated but it's he, he with switch out of the future into the present chemicals and that can actually feel like a crash. >> reporter: for most folks, it is perfectly okay to say bah-humbug. >> people who stay in the past are in avulnerability. if it is starting tontfere with your ability to work, toit interact w loved ones, that might be a problem. >> it is hard to pull out of a funk, but not impossible. with the holiday blues, might say, i don't feel like

going out and going to this partyghut push throu it. it will help. >> talk to friends face to face. end timeith your dog. more than anything, lots of hugs. >> it leads to an almost symphony of happy chemicals. >> and that holds true no matter what time of year.ch s lawrence, news4. i don't know if this would brighten yr spirits but this is something you probably didn't know. eels were once common in our local creeks but they're rare now. there was a recent check on our waterwaysnd they found afew. while some aquautic life is thriving, the health of th streams worsening because of run-off of leaky sewer pipes. the restorationneroject is way to improve aquatic lif >> you knew that.

about the eels. >> ll, i saw all kinds of crazy stuff. i would be throughout. this was quite cool. i just saw the chopper. it was up earlier. no snow around the d.c. mro area. then you go south and we saw tons of kids out there dislng. it was quite amazing. out there now, not too bad. look at the snow can he look at the line. there they are. look at this. 6.0, fredericksburg, culpeper at three inches.

fairfax, d.c., bowie, nothing. no snow. nothingut sunshine. some clouds too. we're at 40 degrees, the temperature. the winds out of the north at ten miles an ho i. a chilly afternoon for sure. with heighterwinds, cheering skies, and snow cover. the sun will plummet big time. actually, itouoes coulde in 30 minutes. this is the storm. trying toet to d.c. and then finally made its way down. for us, we're not going to see any of that. we're going to see a really nice night as far as the rain and

snow go. we've got some sunshine for the next couple days. l member, the temperatures tomorrow morning w in the low 20s. maybe even the upper teens inside the city. we go below freezing as we. we'll have a a little more of that. thursday. then we get to friday and we're watching pretty good storm. this will be another big storm for our area. this will push our r nfall totaup. ehat will make us the wettest year ever in d.c. metro area.

if you have weekendplans, it's not looking like the best for you. jennifer lopez is back on the big screen. >> on one with j lo who joins us next with a peek. and some major medicine that and some major medicine that was recalled.

alright, everyone. santa will be right back, if you're goingk him fory,o tech this year, you got to ask for fios too. sorry, why ithat? because fios is a 100% fiber-optic network. don't you guys want all of the tech on your wish listto ork as awesomely as you dreamed? i'm back! and he's back. 100% fiber-optic network. 100% phenomenal. switch to fios gigabit connection, plus tv and phone with a 2-year agreement and get a year of amazon pme on us.

jennifer lopez said her new film is a glimpse of wter life might have been like had she never becom a superstar. >> andl only the youee her on access. what do you think? >> i told j lo to cal me klo. the new movie comes out on the 21stit s all about reinventing yourself. i asked her about doing that in

her own life. >> so many moments. i don't thinkhere's just one moment where you fall .do there are so many moments where i thought, should i just give up singingr acting. when the movies are not going right or the song doesn't hit or this pehappens. le are telling you, that only happensld for 20-year and i go, no. i don't believe that. >> isn't that interesting? i would never think of j lo as going through that. where she is now, in her 50s, she is a girl boss. she doesn't take no from anybody. i gave a quiz. i asked which character they would be on sex in the city and it is hysterical. >> we want to hear that.

>> how greatid j lo look? i have to be honest. even better in person. >> she never looks bad. >> we agree. >> okay. >> many people back on track here, have seasonal sniffles. >> yeah. there's a lot of thaton going. some folks are sick with the cold or the flu. others are suffering from this. christmas tree syndrome. e we'llain what it is and how to avoid it. plus, the head of nfl security talking about what the league is doing about its players accused of domestic violence agast women. violence agast women. what we don't on enough

it hasn't always been easy, has it? ♪ there have been days when you doubted yourself. ♪ and days when you were ready to quit. ♪ and days when you webut you didn't.t. ♪ because you had the courage venture into somethinger if i leave you with just three words of advice: never...stop...growing. [cheering]

well, some of you needed salt this weekend. how does this storm stack up to storms in th past? amelia? >> well, we had report setting snow in many parts of north carolina and virginia. take reston, for example, only

100 miles awayit register its s single day event in december gith about a foot of snow pil up. think about that. if you're in the district and you travels an ouhour, and a half on saturday, you would have run into a foot snow. so take a look at this. at one point, a half million people were without power. from raleigh to boone andround the asheville ar. parts of north carolina had a winter's worthf snow. the amount of snow they would expect for the entire winter season with this storm system to give you an idea. all the snow borders and skiers love to hear about this. asheville, north carolina, got

about 11 inches.e roanoke c in at 15 inches of snow and raleigh, north carolina, reporting about six and a half inches. back here at home, check out what we call the gradient. we talk about no snow to impressive snow. picking up a half a moot of snow. we have about two inches around waldorf and then saint mary's county, between four to six inches ofsnow. we see it in areas north we'll have more on that and i'll have more on the cold we're dealing wi in the cold stem. >> the line of this storm was really impressive. unbelievable. >> we start a new weeks with a white house in flux. >> the white house is dealing c.

>> potential legalth concerns f president trump as his former fixer getsho ready to lear much jail time he'll get. and robert mueller slightly shows his hand in the russia investigation. what's the next is the white house prepared to respond? >> here to talk about all of that, white house correspondent kristin welker. let's start with john kelly. his departure, the writing was on the but then you hear aboutthis, at do you make of it? >> reporter: the writing was on the wall but the takeaway is it doesn't see people are lining up to filling john kelly's position. as you point out, nick ayers is the chief to the vice president curreny. we don't want to say turns out but it fell apart. they couldn't come to an agreement over t at of time he would serve and some other key details. who are the names we're looking at? one of them, interestingly,

acting ag matthewwhitetaker. nick mulvany. also, mark meadows. 's chair of the house freedom caucus. why would he be talked about? well, they think he can help. ottom line, there is month one in place and this does come at a critical time. there have been some new developments, including of course on freeway. president trump directed michael cohen to make t khear macdougal,

to keep them spiltith the affairs, and those are affairs the president has denied denied wrongdolly ing. the white house is concerned. democrats ramping up their rhetoric and that makes that job of chief all the more critical. >> and there's robert mueller. the white hse continuing on say there's no there, there. >>eporter: we could get more court documents and we'll get the senncing of michael cohen. and resimber, the pnt submitted written answers to robert mueller. we know that his legal teamas been in touch with robert mueller's team. are they asking for an in-person interview with the president? we don't know the answers just

yet but we know it is unresolved. there is still some unsolved business. we don't know how much longer this investigation will last. president trum continues to lash out increasingly, calling it a witch hunt. thank you for joining us. and nbc news will be followingt all thedevelopments on nbc news at 7:00ight here. christmas trees can be pretty to look at and many love the sme of fresh pine. but for some there are real consequences. t is called christmas tree syndrome. they can cause sneezing, itchy, watery eyes ane s head congestion as .we

spores will continueo grow in the home as long as you have the christmas tree. >> you can havehe christmas tree farm put it on the shaker before you takeit. artificial trees come with allergy problems of their own though. they gather dust when they're stored and that's another issueful. >> yeah. what do you like? >> i love a real tree. a major medicine recall has people confoued. shld they take their blood pressure medicine or skip it? also, common household items up in flames. what you need to do to

hey, batter, batter, batter, batter. like everyone, i lead a busy life. but i know the importance of having time to do what you love at comcastow our customers' time is valuable. that's why we have 2-hour appointment windows, including nights and weekends. so you can do more of what. my name is tito, and i'm a tech ops manager at comcast. we're workin, to make things simpsy and awesome. james: this is jane. she's a busy consultant with an active lifestyle. jane is also a kidney donor. h after donati kidney to maurice, jane was back to her normal activities in just a few days. and kidney donpeion didn't cost jane y. i'm james brown. meeticy friends jane and maure. jane didn't know maurice, she just wanted to help someone kidney donationan too.to learn t

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consumer alert about several blood pressure medication recalls. now a warning from the american heart asion. let's get right to susan hogan who is working for with you this important safety information. >> reporter: that's right. usually when we report on recalls, we tell to you stop using the product. in this case the america heart association is warning you not to stop taking your recalled blood pressure medication. according to doctors, the risk of abruptly stopping the drug may be higher if the treatment is stoppedimmediately. the patients are being told to stay on the recalledat medn until their doctor can find a comparable treatmen pharmaceuticals expanded the recall f the blood pressure medication to exist all existing lots of the drug thatave not been expired. the drugs are recalled because of trace amounts of an impurity

which may cause canc this latest recall as well as many others include ingredients made in china and once again, until your doctor has prescribed with you an alternative blood pe medication, you are being advised to continue taking it. we have a complet list of all the recalled medications right now. just search blood pressure drug recall. back to you. the fda is telling people no to eat raw cookie dough. not only the raw eggs but uncooked flour can contain salmonella or e. coli. >> folks love cookie dough. they like it bter than t cookies. >> it's the truth. good stuff. but you have to be careful. the nfl is under intense criticism about thedl hg of players accused of domestic abuse.

>> that's right. only on news4 you'll hear from the nfl police chief and head of security. 0s andin the 30s and we'll fall into the it's n the holidays until...

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we're following butaking news o of charlottesville. the jury tha convicted james fields of murder a other charges is deciding how much time he'll spend in prison. four prosetion witnesses told the jury how ited cha their lives. back here in our area, a rough start to the week for commuters.

ten vehicles including couple of big rigs involved ia pileup on i-395. we're told just one person had to be transported for minor injuries. maria buttina was arrest in the july. she is accused ofin infiltrat powerful organizations like the nra to push moscow's agenda. and parts of our area cleaning up after a serious nter feet ofno i sw north carolina. at least three deaths are being blamed on that storm as well. l tried write t ship. only on news4, jackie bensen

sat down to talk about forward progress but alsoe s reason loss losses. nfl running back ray rice punching hisirlfriend in 2014 and tmz obtainedideo of kareem hunt kicking a woman in a hotel last february are shocking and similar. in 2016, kathy lanier was hired as vice president of nfl sturt. >> there were extensive reforms we in place. detail protocol were put in

place. the it seems like they learned nothing from r the rice incident. that they are finding out about it from tmz. >> what we don't do is talk about it. i think to some extent, the perception isco ect. it is not getting out there the way it should. >> kareem hunt wasrrested by police. hunt has still not beened questiy league investigators in what lanier describes as an investigation that has been underway sincefe uary. the victim has refused to talk witnesse and gather the evidence before you go speak to the alleged perpetrator. weas knew there video we had to get our hands on.

the nfl was not able t obtain the hunt video until it was obtained by tmz. they said the league would likely face such similar cases because of the lag of subpoena . powe >> they provide it to a member of the press. stthey have f amendment protection so they can frequent anonymity of that person. we can't do that. nor do we want to get into the habit of getting people to steal from their employer >> she said the league on on track to have the fewest number of player arrestsyince t started keeping track of these things in 2000. that incs domestic violence arrests.

news4. some of us got snow last night and some were happy that ere was just a little of it. >> you had snow. >> yeah. >> you said it was pretty. >> yeah, it's alwaysetty. take a we sent the chopper over that area. and it was great watching theop r fly right down i you go it and you say, there it is. ck up four to seven inches of snow from the storm lastnight.t i wasing all these kids doing some sledding. look at how much of the hill they've used. a couple of these kids getting

involved. >> you don't want to go off that danger hill. you hit the fence and you're a-okay. that's what some of us woke up to. how about the conditions?s. clear sk it will continue to be on the cold side. below freezing quickly. and36, gaithersburg. 37 in manassas. the temperatures will fall very, very quickly. the winds will start to subside. and clearing 60s. we had some clouds earlier. night.oes mean a cold for many of you in our southern zones, it will be more of a

mess. we're talking about the teens and 20s. and for most of us, it is about the cold. you want to reach for the large latte wednesday and thursday. you know it will get colder around here. notice freeway, down to a medium. with thear up, right now, this is what you can expect. in washington, 31 in annapolis. the gloves, the scarv and the hat as well. if you're in red, this includes stafford, king george, parts of

calvert county. knew see something wet, you wan to treat it asck bla ice. 94 -- we go above average for a challenge on friday but any time we to that, that will bring in another storm so out ahead of that, friday into saturday. behind the system on sunday. and then cooler again for most o next week. a lrain potential on 40 and saturday. ming up, make sure your lau room doesn't go up in flames. >> reporter:e've seen an

uptick in laundry room fires. keep s know you have to this clean but this is just the beginning. >> and that's next. wendy rieger has a look at what is new. >> we're live as the jur is deliberating the sentence for the charlottesville murder trial. julie carey is ithe courtroom with reaction once we get it. and then the shopping score. did you know that some shops are attaching a sce to you? and helping students with special needs becomeef and adam tuss, who i don't h recognize whes not in that c chopper 4, will be joining m at 5:0 you know when you're at ross

and you find a deal on cookware that makes you say. yes! ...oh, yeah! bring on the holidays! that's yes for less. everything you need to prep, cook and serve up the season. it feels even better when you find it for less-at ross. yes for less. james: this is jane. she's a busy consultant with an active lifestyle. jane is also a kidney donor. tter donating her kidnmaurice, jane was back to her normal activities in just a few days. and kidney donation didn't cost jane a penny. i'm james brown. meet my friends jane and maurice. jane didn't know maurice, she just wanted to help someone in need and you can too. to learn more about kidney donation visit the gw ron and joy paul kidney nter at gwkidney.org or call 1-833-kidney3.

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there have been 20 fires in the past ten days i dryers. prince george's county bureau chief tracee wilkins has tips to keep you and your family safe. >> we could have lost everything had iprd to other apartments. >> reporter: his neighbor had a dryer firen saturday. >> he said he smelled smoke but he didn't know where it was coming from. >> reporter: some people are displaced and he wonders how to preventap it fromning again. with about 20 residential commercial dryer fires throughout prince george'sth county i last ten days, county fire officials are

concerne >> it is causing a build-up. >> wood is the problem. it is easily ignitable. and often, it is not just in the lint trap. >> weeed to do some prevention. >> reporter: there are a few things you can do. most of it happens in here. you need to make sure the lint filter is clear but also where it comes o of. it needs to be vacuumth. and vacuum in these areas, and pay attention to what's going on with the venting. inside this could be a lot of plinlt could easily ignite. ifou're not in aos on your own once a year, make sure you hire a proefl. >> if you live if an apartment manager, the manager is

responsible for cleaning the vents. so important to do. especially this time of year. >> thanks. now. at 5:00 starts forced to steal? new video of a porch pirate hern maryland. >> the consumer reporter will tell what you they're watching for. the score you're getting and how it affects the deals you get. >> right now, thisreality for millions acrosshe southeast. >> yeah. people from texas to right here, digging out and plowing through what's left. one of the worst hit areas is the carolinas. they saw more than a foot of

snow, leaving thousands without power. at least three people were killed. >> meanwhile, closer to us in fredericksburg, no major issues but icy roads are still forcing schools to close today. despite thewarnings, it still came as a surprise to some. >> we expected it in january, february. >> the snow is over but tisre's the rk of a refreeze. the temperatures will be dipping way down below freezing. >> let's take out that word possible. we're going to see the water freeze very, veryquickly. the sun is down and the temperatures are falling. this only hped to create more

arnd