see tay. aaaays today is going to be the busiest travel day of the .c. day season for the area. >> but news 4 today is working for you to make sure your holiday trips get off to a good start. good morning, everyone. i'm eun yang. thanks for joining us on a thursday. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. it is 6:00 a.m. now. f you're not one of the millions of people taking a trip today, you still have to deal with the heavy traffic. melissa mollet is here to help. track condition for the commute this morning. we want to start, though, with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. he's not being very helpful right now. >> he's just doing his job. >> don't kill the messenger. >>erlisten, that wea alert, that music gets us. we know something bad is coming. >> absolutely. another hard hit of rain coming thr way from mother nature later today. morning, it's still dry. dry pavement for all of your activities, but it's cold. most areas are down below freezing this morning in the upper 20s and low 30s. school kids, i know these are some of th toughest days with christmas break looming. below freezing this morning at

the bus stops. cloudy, outdoor recess still possible but cold, and showers likely later today. don't leave home without your umbrella today. your winter coat for the come, t for the chill, and umbrella erfor any time a 2:00 in the afternoon. a solid 1 to 2 inches of rain is coming our wayattarting this afternoon and continuing overnight. so download your nbc washington app. find and follow me on social media. we'll keep you aheadf the storm as best as we can. just knongthis. it's go be a rainy finish. temperatures will be near 60 by midnight tonigig. our hh today comes at 11:59 p.m. >> that is not the time to have the high of the dr. chop right now, beltway approaching 95 and maryland, everything looks like it's p moving alotty nicely. hyattstown, 10, at right now all traffic stopped both directions on 109 because of this crash. trying to get more information on that one. 270 looks okay northbound and southbound. merrifield, inner loop before 66, right side blocked bybr

. sounds like some wood in the roadway. somebody lost a load there. manassas, eastbound 66 after the manassas rest area, crash on e left side. and college park, university at adelphi, dark traffic lights. aaron? >> melissa, thank you. 6:02 now today is expected to be the worst travel day of the holiday season for our area. >> that rain chuck was talking abouton't help at all. more people than ever before are hitting the runways, the ai roadways, and this year. news 4's chris lawrence is live just offi- in springfield with the best times to leave today. hey, chris. >> reporter: yeah, eun, if you have to hit the rd today, i would say download the nbc washington app, start watching us on your phone, and try to g t road this morning. bottom line, here's whatou needo know. there are going to be million of people on the road across the united states this holiday season. in fact, about 112 million, which works outo about onen three americans will be on the

road. so here at sthome, the w time to travel is going to be between 1:00 and 2:15 this afternoon. at that point, it could take four times as long to get where yo going. if it's at all possibl to leave earlier, that's probably going to be your best bet. so why so many travelers? well, gas prices dropped in early december, makg the trip little more affordable. here in our area, of course,um president gave federal workers christmas eve off, possibly causing some folks to adst their holiday plans. we know this is a tough time fow accidentn you start to get into late fall, early winter months. aaxpects to rescue nearly 1 million motorists. boy, look at that number. dead batteries, flat tires, always a good ide to get your oil changed, get your car checked out before you hit the road. ve been experimenting with this new app called drive weather. it's working out pretty well. it's going to show you exactly

what the weather is going to be alonr route and how to adjust it. i'll have more onhat coming up at about 6:45. chris lawrence, news. >>chris, thank you. there was a bit of a scare university. our justin finch is at the live desk with details on an overnight fire.t justin, wappened? >> the georgetown voice reports d.c. fire and wemse dispatched to a fire at the new student center just before 1:00 atm. we have a loo pictures from the scene. this is on the voice's twitter account, showing an evacuation as firerews went in. turns out there was a fire in the laundry room. thankfully, sprinklers were activated and were able to douse the flames. this comes as georgetown is closing out its final exam week before winter break.lu ily, no reports of any injuries to firefighters or students on the scene. back to you. >> thank you,k road is backanto after a car hit atr pedn.

this happened at the intersection with ridge crest drive just off i-270. ight when chopper 4 flew over the scene. a 50-year-old woman was rushed to the hospitawith life-threatening injuries. the 20-year-old driver was also taken to the hospital but is expect to be okay. in the district, where two pedestrians were hit near the natial archives. d.c. police roped off an area around the tour bus here on pennsylvania avenue northwest. hpolice say the people we by that tour bus. they were both seriously hurt. it's unclear if the pedestrians g in the crosswalk or the middle of the street. we are staying on top of a developing story. t a plan to ke government open is in the works. the u.s. house is expected to vote on a bill to keep the un governmentng through the holidays and into next year. last night theenate passed a short-term spending bill to keep the remaining federal agencies open through february 8th.ll the oes not include president trump's request for $5 billion to build a wall on the u.s./mexico border. >> we can make sure we don't end this year the way we began it, with another government shutdown

oncause of democrats' allergy to sensible immigraolicies. >> people do remembethat president trump as a candidate said that mexico, not the american taxpayerswere going to have to foot the bill. so it's wasteful spending to have to build a big, big wall for the entire border. >> the bill does not pay for or raisesivilian employees despite attempts by senate democrats. the house must pass the bill and the president must sign it before midnight tomorrow to avoid a partial government shutdown for the third time this year. president trump declared victory in the fight against isis. with that, he says u.s. troops will return home from syria. >> we have won against is. so our boys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back.co and they'rng back now. we won, and at's the way we want it and that's the way they want it..s >> aofficial tells nbc news this decision came quickly and, quote, right from the very

top. it caught many gop lawmakers and military leaders off guard. the pentagon released a statement saying the campaign against isis is not ov several of the president's strongest supporters said the decision will lead to devastating consequeor our nation and throughout the world. the administration has not released a timetable f withdrawal. it's 6:07. happening today, former film producer harvey weinstein is due back in court in new york city.e a judge is expd to decide whether his sexual assault caser will move d. prosecutors say there is enough evidence for trial. three charges ainst weinstein stem from allegations he raped a woman in 2013. two other charges date back to 2006. weinstein pled not guilty to the sex crime charges earlier this year. look for more coverage on this coming up on "today." today a b jury willin deliberations in the trial of a horrific attack in prince george's county.

police say laquin phillips set his girlfriend one fire while was pregnant. she survived the attack and gave birth seven weeksyesterday in c said phillips did not want the child. our prince george's bureau chief will post update on twitter later today. new details in a murder-suicide that left a mother dead in northern virginia. from katherine martell wasst ck by an suv and shot outside of her apartment.rch police say her ex-boyfriend, opher brooks, killed her and then shot himself. the two were together for eight years and had a 3-year-old daughter. her family says recently she was able to get away from brooks. her mother says she constantly lived in fear because of his threats. >> the child protective services tiowed up. i think the firs he threatened to shoot the social horker. he threatened to the child protective services social worker. >> martell's family says it

would like to start a foundation to bring awareness to victims who are caught in abusive relationshs. news 4 is committed to raising awareness about domestic violence through our safe at home initiative. we have a list of local resources on the nbc washington app. search safe at home. two children helpedetro transit police track down a flasher. police arrested williamno for flashing the children after asking them for sex. line appened o a red train between woodley park and gallery place on tuesday. th children are just 12 years old. now to a story you'll only 4. on news more problems along metro's troubled silver line extension. news 4 has learned about hundreds of cracks in concrete in a rail yard that's critical to this project. transportation reporter adam tuss first broke the story and re. >> reporter: cracking concrete alonghe sillver line. you've heard thatbefore, but now even more problems have

surfaced in the rail yard being built along the next phase. and this rail yard w critical to the entire silver line being able to operate. charles stark, the man in charge alof the project, detailinof this for news 4. >> what goes through your head when you see something like that? >> contractor needs tot. >> reporter: so when it comes to the cracking in these buildings, all you have to do is come here and take a look. this is the main building at this rail yard. you can see there are cracks all over the place. it's gotten so bad in some spott that they'vehese sight lines here to see if the building is actually moving. if anything shakes here, that w sight linel go off. remember, while metro will eventually take over the silver line, the project is being blt by the airport authority. metro says more than half of its tunnels are now wired for ce ular and data service. that includes three new sections of track that just became wireless ready. here they are. the orange and silver lines tween rosslyn. and the green line between

college park and fort totten. metro hopes to make al miles of track wireless by mid-2020. a surprise visit from former president obama brightened a whole lot of spirits this holiday season. more on the heartwarming trip to d.c.'s children's hospital straight ahead on news 4 today. good morningseverybody. itot raining yet, but oh, is it going to rain later today and tonight. flood watch are up, and we're in storm team 4 weather alert mode as this big winter storms con our direction. five-day forecast just a few minutes away. and good morning. we're at six flags this morning, about toake s'mores. we're putting these marshmallows in the fire right now. comingup, we're goingo talk about why this might be a good attraction for you to get the kids out of the house over ther holiday. stay with us. he batter, batter, batter, batter.

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welcome back. it's 6:15. there's a new way to get groceries delivered to your doorstep from giant stores in our area. the company has expanded a partnership with instacart. theervice will offer deliveries from dozens of locations across theny dmv. customers will be able to get same-day delivery within as short as an hour. giant already uses pea pod to deliver groceries to our area. man n a pinch, it can be helpful. but there is a charge. one of santa's helpers made his way to d.c. children's hospital. hat's former president barack obama. >> he donned a santa hat durg his visit yesterday. it was a surprise visit there. the former president showed up with a bag full of presents a plenty of cheer to go around.

♪ and a happy new year >> wherever the fily is, wherever the people you love are, that's where christmas is. that's the whole thing. >> obama spent 90 minutes visiting with kids, their parents, and the hospital staff. >> he lastch visited dren's hospital four yearstgo. gr to see all the smiles on the kids' faces and the people who work at the hostal too. all right. 6:16 right now. it's called the most magical time of the t year. we'rking about the holiday in the park at six flags america. >> this morning our molette green is working for you with another option to enjoy the ghts and sounds of the season. hi, molette. >> reporter: hey, guys. look, i'm in the north pole here at six flags. and look, we're roasting marshmallows with a whole bunch of kids who came to have a little bit of fun this morning with us. this is an option for you and your kids and out of town guests to come to six flags. can i just show you the beautiful holiday lights here at the northti pole sec of six

flags? santa's house is right behind me. mrs. claus is going to be inside. holiday in the park i what it's called. denise stokes, come on in here. this isou three yearse been offering this as an option. >> it is, and it's such a family option where you get to come omt, spend s time with loved ones, all that kind of stuff. it's a little chilly, but that's what people love about it. they love the lights. and it's a great way to get out of the house and do something holiday. for the >> reporter: i feel sorry for the person who hado put up all these lights, but they're spectacular. >> they are. and thas what families love. they take family photos, the whole nine. you mentioned santa a mrs. claus. they're here friday, saturday, sunday. you can visit with them, take pictures with santa. >> reporter: the whole nine. and right after the weekend, you're back open again the day after christmas throu the new year. so just another option for you to get those kids out of the

house and the out gf townsts that some of us have coming. okay. lates the we have more coming up later on in the hour. we have to go check on those kids and marshmallows. back to you.tt >> is mosuggesting you might want to escape from your own family? >> i think that's what i heard. >> i'm so glad to see all of you. i have this leong list of activities outside of this house you can go do. >> i'll stay right here and fluff the couch pillows and stuff. >> that's right. santa better be bringing you an umbrella. if 2018 has taught us nothing else, it's taught us the val of a good umbrella. more rain is coming. rainfall records have already been set in washington and baltimore. dulles airport, our lone airport that's not set the annual rainfall record yet, that record is likely to fall over the next 24 hours or so. right now it's still dry. clouds are moving in fast. you might get a little bit of sunlight just as the sun comes

up this morng, which i about an hour from now. the clouds will quickly move in after that and sea out much of a warmup. upper 20s in the shenandoah valley. right around 30 degrees in most of the suburbs this mning. a cold start. flood watches have been posted from this eveningthrough tonind into tomorrow. so it's a 4 storm team weather alert day. call your carrier if flight out later in the day today. big impact from the weather coming. a cold start. the clouds move in. we'll be stuck in the low 40s for most of the day. once the rain moves in, theil temperatures go up. we'll be near 60 degrees byht midnight ton and in the 60s probably by this time tomorrow morning. the storm's going to have a snarl on air travel from houston, new orleans, memphis, st. louis, detroit, atlanta, down to florida, and eventeslly this comes into the washington area during the overnight areas tonight. here's future weather.

maybe a few sprinkles in southern maryland, but most of us will wait until middle of the afternoon. the rain will come down in buckets between sundown tonight and sunrise tomorrow. 1 to 2 inches of rain possible. winds gusting near 50 miles an hour late tonight. then tomorrowear 60 in the morning, drifting back into the 50s later in the afterson. all t mess comes to a quick end friday night. by saturday morning, the rn i over. it will be dry all weekend. a little breezy on saturday, but weather. that'll make holiday travel a little easier. next half hour, we'll take a look at christmas day and the days beyond. >> thank you, chuck. right now chopper 4 in hyattstown here. this is 109 shut down at i-270. two-vehicle crash. we have a tow on the scene to try and get this out of the way. right now northbound on 109, you're being pushed on to southbound 270. southbound on 109 pushed on to northbound 270. so kind of a mess through there.

merrifield, inner loop before 66, right side blocked by debris. manassas, eastbound 66 after the rest area, crash on the left side. taking a look also at 270. a littl slowdown there. northbound 270 getting on to 109 wellocked right now as aaron? >> melissa, thank y. it's 6:21. we're days away from christmas. if you haven't started your holiday shopping, don't worry. hwe have tips on to get your e cheaplynd quickl ay

welcome back. it's 6:24. here's a holiday challenge for last-minute shpers. find gifts for four friends in one hour and stay within a hundred dolours. >> thi can do it? you know who can? news 4's justin finch. we put him to the test. he went on a shopping spree for us, t 4 news anchor team, as we get ready for the holidays. >> reporter: the challenge has been accepted again. i'm taking it on. four anchors, $100 limit, one hour's time. we're here at the leesburg corner premium outlet store, manager jim gonzalez here. you'rey eyes, my ears, my guide. do you think we can meet the challenge?hi >> i we can do it. >> reporter: first thing's first, set the time. >> threeeptwo, one. >>orter: off we went to the yoga apparel store lululemon.i' m looking for like $25, $30 range. that got me to something i think uruld work for one of the on my list, this versatile scarf. >> you can wear this like seven.

different ways just put them through here, sna it, and now >> reporter: oh, that is cool. and in budget.dn co you see eun in one of these after one of her solid re workouts? looking at socks, i have a reason why i'm doing this. we're recording for news 4. ngm sorry. here's where i'm g omybe you've seen these ankles on social media,hing of a sock-off, i guess, between chuck and aaron.pi i thought i'd tch in and pick ew up a few nairs for them at joseph a. bank. these are like glasses that kind of look like chuck.e theshats, though, kind of look like aaron, i suppose, right? give me a nod, camera, if you agree. yeah, i think so. and ju like that. one more to go, melissa. her social media suggests she might like something christmasy

so we checked out francescas. >> i think i like ose better. >> reporter: so if you were wondering about time, we killed it. 29 minutes. plenty of time to maybe even buy something else, but now the harder part is going to be did i stay in budget. i've got cash left over. >> so here we are. >> you did a gobat >> thank you. >> seriously. i know there was probably a little pressure because he's so partavular. >> you't even see what he got you. >> we'll reveal right now. so yours is tougher to open, melissa. pull on that tape there. i can tell this. we had the budget, the time, ied to be thoughtful within reason. everyone is talking about these

gummy brs. there's no alcohol, they just taste like it. bears. rose gummy that put me at a total of about 96.18. melissa, yours lights up too. >> i love that. thank you. >> mine have reindeer. >> those are excellent. >> it'kind of like weather, chuck. the sky, the sleigh. >> job well done. >> this is fantastic. >> it absorbs sweat well too, i hear. >> i mean, i'm just going to wear this all day. >> and weot you nothing. >> oh, that's okay. just seeing your smiling faces is enough for me. >> thank you. >> that's the right answer, right? >> we'll be right back.

peoule aren't talking how giant's delicious nature's promise turkey is free from antibiotics. they're not talking about our easy grab and go chicken wing trays. or that our sustainable shrimp wrapped in prosciutto makes the perfect appetizer. they're also not talking about our delicious spiral ham glazed with real honey. they're not talking, because they're eating. oh hello, that looks so good. at giant, it's the little things that make mealtime easy, leaving more time for those closest to you during the holidays.

your time right now as we take a live look outside on what's shaping a up to be pretty busy thursday morning. not only will the roads be more congested as tolay travel rush begins, a big storm is headed our teway, thrng plans for thousands of people who were trying to get out of town. we'reinorking for you, t to help you get through it all. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. melissa mollet is here with ee everything you to know

about the morning commute.o first, we have check in with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell because he is talking about some serious rain. >> yeah, unfortunately, the year of the rain drop, 2018, is not done with us yet. we're going to go back to a storm team 4 weather alert for this afternoon, tonigh and early tomorrow for the real possibility of additional flooding. another 1 to 2 inches of rain areawide is on the way. the heaviest of the rain will bi comi tonight. when the rain moves in tonight, the temperatures will go up. it's goi to feel like springtime around here by this timew. tomor right now it feels like winter. upper 20s to around 30 degrees in most of the area.ou get puffy coat and take your umbrella with you. rain is likely later in the afterndn. look how ct's going to be all day today. only into the low 40s for most of the afternoon. weill jump to near 60 degrees by midnight tonight. flood watches arep. heavy rain overnight. again, a solidchnch to two on the way.

melissa mollet, have that nbc washington app downloaded and ready to go. >> and my nbc umbrella ready. hat's the big one i have in my car. 109 here at 270, chopper 4 showing you what's going a on. they'reernating around this two-vehicle crash. one vehicle already towed out of ay. the ramp northbound 270 on to 109, we just saw that opening up. careful through that area. going to see a tiny bit of a delay. a little purplen heree map. 270 looks okay through that section. new problem on thete beltway. our loop between colesville and georgia, left side blocked by a crash. rest of the beltway is okay. inbound 66 after manassas rest area, cra on the left side. >> thank you. today is the worst travel day of the holiday season for our aren that r chuck has been talking about won't help at all. the worst traffic will come between 1:00 and 2:15 p.m. aaa says it could tak up to four times as long to get to

youron destina coming up, news 4's chris lawrence will have tips to help along your journey. lawmakers are working on a pl to avoid a partial government shutdown last night the senate passed a short-term spending bill to keep the government running untilry febrth. now that goes to the house for consideration. then the psident has to sign it. the deadline is tomorrow night to avoid the third shutdown of the year. president trump says isis has been defeated in syria, and u.s. troops will return home. about 2,000 troops have helped get rid of isis inweyria. r, the pentagon says the work is not done yet, and it will transition to the next phase of the campaign. 6:33 right now. this morning d.c. polre searching for two people who robbed a woman near logan circle. >> news 4's megan mcgrath is live along rhode island avenue to explain what happened. megan? >> reporter: well, good morning, guys. we're seeing new video this morning of the t suspects involved in this as well as the crime itself. it was captured on surveillance

video. first, let's look at the robbery. you can see here a woman walks into the courtyard of an apartment building here on rhode island avenue. she's carrying bags. she seems to be unaware that she is beingd folloy two men. now, they hiter from behind. they steal her bag and then run away. this is the1400 block of rhode island avenue. this happened on december 13th. police are looking for these twe le. take a look. suspected number one, he appears to be wearing a down coat, a dark-colored down anat and blue the second suspect is wearing a light-colored, knee-length coat and actually had the hood of that coat up when whe crime happening here. police are hoping someone will reco aize these two people give them a call because they have not been able to identify them, not a of yet. again, this happened on december the 13th, a littler a 9:00. back to you. >> megan mcgrath for us in logan circle. megan, thank you. now to two major developments regarding facebook

and your privacy. one involves a lawsuit filed by d.c. attorney general karl racine against the social media giant. he says facebook failed to protect the data of millions of uss. he focused specifically on the cambridge analytica scandal. that's where third-party personality quizzes took user data before the 2016 election. >> almost half, or 340,000 d.c. residents, had their user information compromised. >> the lawsuit came after "the new york times" explosive report. the newspaperays facebook gave partners such as microsoft and yahoo! more access to your data than previously thought. facebook denies the report. more bad news for redskins safety montae nicholson. tmz has released video of the confrontation that cost him the rest of the season. take a look. nicholson is apparently the man in the red sweatshirt here. the video shows him pushing, punching, knocking a man out. this is outside a bar in loudoun

county earl whiier this week. nicholson and a woman he was with were both arrested and charged with assault and battery. redskins coach jay gruden said he's aware of the video. he says he'll take a look at it. nicholson will not take the field with the team when they play the tennessee titans on saturday. that gameht is r here on nbc 4 at 4:30. our coverage begins ath 3:00 w the redskins pregame report. the washiton capitals' five-game winning streak has officially come to an end. >> y know iturt more because we fell to our arch rivals, the pittsburgh penguins 2-1. the game was neck and neck until this goal that gav the penguins the win. many fans this morning are talking about tom wilson. less than a minute into the game, look at this. the caps forward drops the glove. this was also wilson's first game against thein pen since being suspended. he was ready. the caps are back at home tomo oow night and take the buffalo sabres. he says that's just hockey. >> yeah, it is.

>> 6:37 now if you're looking for ways to keep the kids through the winter break, molette green is working for you. >> reporter: that's right. ggrab those kids, them out of the house fore a liv stunt show. we have pyrotech nicks coming up next. does santa claus himself, need the most trusted

battery this holiday season? yb maybe not. he could trust any batteries will do. or, he could just trust duracell.

welcome back. it's 6:40. the holiday classic "home alone" has made its way back to the small screen. >> the nearly d30-year- film is making a comeback. how's that for making you feel it's a brand new holiday ad. get ready to be transported back in tim with the twist. take a look. >> hey, google, add after shave to my shopping list. google, remind me to clean these sheets later. >> oka i'll remind you. >> that's kevin mcallister all grown up and still living at home. this time ge hasgle home to

keep him company. that's not the only update. remember when he used the michael jordan cutout to fool the burglars? this time he enlisted his name sake, nbain superstar k durant. >> pretty cerl. nows your cnbc morning business report. >> morning. i'm frank holland at cnbc headquarters. if you're still buying some last-minute gifts, there are some retailererthat are og free shipping in these final days before christmas. but you have to act reaivered b christmas eve. t has free two-daypi sh on orders of $35 or more. if you order by 2:00 p.m. local time today. you can also pick up i store if orders are placed by 4:00 p.m. sunday. target has free two-day shipping for online orders b placed saturday. best buy has free shipping until christmas day if you don't minds your purchases arriving just a little bit late. with your morning cnbc and or procrastin report, i'm frank holland. c> storm team 4 weather alert.

heavy raining our way. dog walking forecast, get those miles walked early today before the rain moves in. jake here available rescue from the humane rescue alliance. go to their website, humanerescuealliance.org to find out how to add jake to your family. below freezing this morning, cold all day, and turning wet about 3:00 this afternoonte day forecast coming up. >> my husband is jake. i don't think i can add aother jake my family. beltway here at colesville road. outer loop, someay d 270 also an issue near 109. bo'll talk aut that straight

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it is now 6:45. as you start your thursday, we're in weather alertse mode. re storms are heading our way, prompting a flood watch for tonight. it's predicted to be the busiest travel day othe roads this holiday season. we're working for you with team coverage. first this p morninsident trump is facing backlash from republicans and other lawmakers after he decided to pull u.s. troops out of syria. >> this all comes after the president declared a victory agains isis. nbc's peter alexander is live at

the white house now with more on the fallou from thi peter, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to this move and its specific timing blind siding the president's allies in congress as well as american allies overseas. ev the president's own top national security officials caught off guard. cein a white house pro video posted to twitter late yesterday, the president declared victory over isis in syria, saying we have beaten them badly, adding, it's time for our troops to come back homesh the backla though, as you e,te, almost immedi even from many in his own party. senator lindsey graham calling the notion that isis isefeated fake news, saying it is not true. graham leads a bipartisan group mp senators warning t overnight that the withdrawal would embolden not only isis but syrian dictator bashar al assad. the president's move also appears to ignore recent aice ofop national security officials who have said we still have a long way to go in stabilizing that region.

we'll have a lot more on this and hear from the president new this morning when we see you on "today." >> see you in a few minutes. thanks. we're staying on top of a developing story right now. the clock is ticking to a partial government shutdown.or lawmakers areng on a plan to avoid it. inst night the senate passed a short-term spendg bill to keep the government running until february 8th. the bill does not include president trump's demand for $5 billion to build a wall on the u.s./mexicothorder. house must still pass the bill, and there is no indicatiot whether presirump will sign the bill into law. the deadline is tomorrow nig to avoid the third shutdown of the year. in a few minutes, we'll check in with tracie potts on the latest. we're working to learn more about two accidents involvingri pedes. here in the district, two pedestrians were hit near the national archives. d.c. police roped off an area around the tour bus on pennsylvania avenuet night. police say that bus hit the victims, both were seriousrt it's unclear whether the pedestrians were i crosswalk or in the middle of

the street. and middlebrook road is back open in germantown this morning after a car hit a pedestrian there. this happened right at the intersection with ridge crest drive. chopper 4 was over the scene around 8:00 last night. a 50-yr-old woman had to rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. the 20-year-d dperctrive to be . it's 6:48. now to a develting story t is affecting a lot of holiday travelers. the gatwick airport in london has suspended alllits due to drone activity around t airport. k is the uk's second busiest airport, and it's affecting thousands of passengers. in an interview this morning, an airport official blasted whoever is flying thoseon dr, calling it a, ote, irresponsible act. 112 million americans are t expected tvel somewhere to see family and friends between christmas and new year's. as the holiday travel rush kicks off, a rainstorm will hit the entire east coast. it will impact travel hubs, including atlant new york, and

boston. those airports will see heavy rain and possible flooding, which will impact travel nationwide. >> andurs for area, today will be all about traffic. news 4's chris lawrence has what you need to know before you hit the road. he's live along i-95. hey, chris. >> reporter: hey, aaron. yeah, if you absolutely have to get on the road today, well, would say your best bet is to hit the road early, as i sometime in the next four to five hours. take a look. chopper 4 islying above 95 right now, giving you an idea of what it looks like. thiss prett much your normal morning commute at this point. but look, if you're trying to get out of town today, i would sayownload the nbc washington app, start watching us on your phone, and try to get on the road before midday. take a look. t there are goibe millions of people on the road. about 112 million, one in thr americans traveling. so the worst time fs is

going to be between 1:00 and 2:15 thi afternoon. that point, it could take you four times as long to get where you're going. now, cck has been talking about the weather all morning. something that may help you, i've been checking out this n app called drive weather. our asically -- you put in route. it's going to give you the ng weather all aour route, where it's raining, where it's snowing, and you can even see the radar, see what's u coming adjust your route. more importantly, the time you leave, you can drag that outen to s days. if you have some flexibility, that's going to allow you to sically say, all right, we need to make a rest stop here to avoid the bad weather or maybe i'm drivinghrough pennsylvania, i want to avoid that snow. i might want to leave saturday moing inste of friday morning. so again, hope you're safe out veere. safe t as you hit the road this holiday season. live along i-95, chris lawrence, news 4. >> all right, chris. thank you. melissa will havn more what our roads are looking like in just a few minutes.

>> first, let's head to cze-- ck for more on the>>eather alert. ll is quiet for now, but it is going to be a big blast of wind and rain comin our way from about sundown tonight up into the first half of your iday. so if you can leave early today, this is the best time to get o on t roads because the pavement is all still dry. it is cold. temperatures below freezing in most of the suburbs thi morning. skies were clear long enough last night to get most areas below freezin c now tuds are going to come in. that seals out the sunshine. so it's going to stay col all day. flood watches have been issued for the entirety of the news nation for tonight into friday. rainfall ounts, ateast 1 to 2 inches of rain. locally, 3 inches of rain or more are possible. socold, in the 20s and low 30s this morning. we'll only be the in low 40s foo mothe day as the clouds move in and thicken up. once the rain arrives, teeratures will go up. we'll be about 50 degrees by 8:00 tonight. we'll be near 60 by midnight. we're probably going to be

around 60 degrees by this time tomorrow. nbc washington app has your custom-tailored storm team 4 forecast in there. it's going to be a wide-ranging set ofor impacts from new ans, memphis, st. louis, chicago, detroit, atlanta, charlotte, all the florida airports are going to get hit hardod with severe weather. you can see here all that's coming towards us.ee maybe a of the sun early today, but here comes the heavy rain in for the evening hours. heaviest of the rain late tonight into the predawn hours of tomorrow morning. another wave of moderate rain kely tomorrow afternoon or evening, might even have a rumble or two of thunder tomorrow afternoon. that's not normal at all for december. here's your ten-day outlook. climbing temperatures after the sun goes down tonight. heavy rain gusty winds too. mild and showery for tomorrow. eezy and turning colder, but fortunately dry weather moves in on saturday morning, and we stay dry all the way until the day after christmas. good morning,d elissa. >> grning, chuck. taking a look right now, chopper

4 outer loop before georgia avenue. three-car crash off to the right side. that's better than it was. elays there top of the beltway. as chopper zooms out you can see that doslowwn. inner look and mclean, new problem. left lane blocked by a crash, causing a bit of a delay. in hyattstown, crash at 109 and 270 blocking lanes.ns that purple m we're closed here right now. going to be reopening soon cause they have some tow trucks already on the scene. eastbound, southwest freeway near ninth street tunnel, crash blocking some lanes there. zooming out, manassas, eastbound 66 after the rest ar the left side. travel times now. 66 inbounds looks good. 95 northbound, 34 miles per hour here this morning in virginia. taking a look at 270, 43 miles per hour from germantown to the spur. 95 over to 270 is slow because of the crash. 13 miles per hour going to take you 43 minutes.

now that it's on the right ho shoulder,d get better pretty quickly. remember to listen to wtop103.5 fm when you hop in your car. >> thanks, melissa. it's 6:54. ristmas carols, bright light, and s'mores. talk about a combination. hodays in the parkt six flags promises all of that and more. >> g our moleten is hanging out at the park this morning. she's live in prince george's county with details on the most magical time of the year there. >> reporter:e got hollywood level stunt actors here. we brought the kids over to this part of the park. the stunt coordinator here at six flags is going to talk me through what we're seeing. >> yes, ma'am. you're seeing is the naughty list, the stunt show at six flags america. jack frost runs a coal mine at the south pole and gives coal to the naughty children. two elves from the north pole surp them.town to u su

it's a lot of fun. >> reporter: and there's something at the end. keep watching your tvs denise tells us there's inside stuff too. >> yes, we have indoor shows. we have indoor dining. it's frees to season p holders and members. tickets are as low come on down with the family. >> reporter: holidays in the park. all right. n we hold on for the finale? it's coming. it's coming. aaron and eun h te see the finale. there's pyrotechnics. that's the tease. >> oh, okay. >> reporter: it's coming. it's coming. there it is! that was worth the wait. ckall right. n to you guys. happy holidays. >> molette, thank you. >> naughty list, indeed. tomorrow we're going in the community to bring you the ch>>stmas spirit. here is a special sing aalong of sorts at the fst baptist church in prince ge♪ge's county. ♪

>> you can hear them right here on news 4 today tomorrorn ing. i can't wait. it's going to be awesome. it's now 6:56. here a four thing to know. today is the last day you can mail first-class and priority mail through usps for delivery by christmas. saturday is you last day f priority mailexpress. for other carriers' deadlines, check the nbc washingto app. today, former filr produce orrvey weinstein is due back in court in new y city. a judge is expected to decide whexher his sl assault case will move forward to trial. for more coverage on this next on "today." today a jury will begin deliberaons in the trial of a horrific attack in prince george's county. police say laquin phillips set his girlfriend on fire while she was pgnant with their child. prince george's county bureau chief will post updates on twitter later day. d.c. police are searching

for two people who robbed a woman from behind near loganci le. this happened in the 1400 block of rhode island avenue last week. police say they followed the woman into the courtyard of her apartment building and then attacked her. look for updates on this in the nbc washington app. all right. get ready for more rain. temperatures will be in the cold low 40s all day with the rain moving in. jumpea to 60 late tonight with very heavy rain overnight into emoly ow. could have flooding, so be ready for that. good news is dry weather, much moretr suitable for el, arrives on saturday morning. >> all right. we like the waanthat sounds. you, chuck. that's the news for today. we appreciate you waking up with us. >> tt. "today" show is n we'll see you in 25 minutes for weather, traffic, and any local news. until then a great day. >> make it a great thursday, everybody. as the clock ticks do.

today, thursday, december 20th, ef18 "the nightmare be. christmas. millions of holiday travelers bracing for long delays with that massive storm beginning its march up the east coast. so shoul you leave now or wait it o? al's got the aners. backlash. president trump under fire after declaring victory over isis and syria frpts we have bet beaten them and we've beaten them dly. >> the pentagon blindsided, top republicans slamming the move. >> to s they are defeated is an overstatement and is fake news. >> why vladimir putin is applauding it ts morning. airport chaos, drone sightings forcing offials to shut