spending a few hours at an air base in the western part of the country snapping selfies and speaking with membe of the military. this, by the way, the president's first time to travel into a war s zonece taking office nearly two years ago. and that unann as the president is facing criticism here and abroad over his plans toithdraw troops from syria and potentially others from afghanistan. >> the president facing another big issue back here at home. the partial government shutdowni now in fifth day. >> meantime, we are following a surprom wall street where the dow was picked up more than 900 points. erasing losses from that terrible christmas eve day of g. trad >> team coverage of all of it starting with blae alexander capitol hill. a big surprise today? >> reporter: yes. that is something that president government shutdown at home, he talked about a wide range of topics as he wasro addressings. et also focused on the shutdown. now, the senate iso come back tomorrow. as of right now neither

democrats nor presishnt trump aring any sign of budging. gday president trump mak a surprise visit to u.s. troops in iraq. hist trip to a combat zone as commander in chief. something he faced criticism for not doi during his nearly two years in office. the president and first lady melania trump thanking troops for their service. he also focused on the battle over border wall funding athem as the partial government shutdown reaches day five. the president sing this on christmas day. >> i can tell you it's not going to be open unt we have a wall, a fe te, whateverhey'd like to call it. >> reporter: president trump again digging in on money for e border wall something democrats have said they will not fund and critics say will not work. >> they will neither stop illegal immigrationor do they stop drug trafficking. >> reporter: negstiations at a dstill since saturday. the stalemate coming as customs and border protectn faces new cro scrutiny following the death of

an 8-year-old child in custody. he was taken to a hospital for trtment and died late christmas eve, becoming the cond migranthild in u.s. custody to die just this month. last week homeland security secretary kirstjen neilsen grilled about the first death. >> what i canel you -- >> i'm talking about people who have died in your custody. you don't have the number? >> i will get back to y with the number. >> reporter: the government ordering medical checks on every migrant child in its custody. and today neilsen said in a statement she is going to seek help from outside agencies for help in providing medical care. meanwhile, top house democrats say that they plan to hold hearings into both of those deaths once they take house control. >> all right. blayne alexander, thank you. ews4's chris gordon is measuring the impact the shutdown is having on federal employees. people visiting the district's biggest tourist attraction. >> as a matter of fact, he is at one of them. the lincoln memorial today.

chris, i don't see too many peopleehind you there. >> reporter: there is a possible health hazard here tonight at the lincoln memorial because of the federal government shutdown. what i'm referring to is they have put out four portable potties here between the lincoln memorial and the korean memorial for the public because the public restrooms arewe closed. , you know that on the fourth of julyr an inauguration there are hundreds an hundreds of these units spread around t ml. well, it appears the situation tonight isar unsanand possibly dangerous. there are plenty of tourists visiting the lincoln memorial for the holidays, but there are no park rangers on handnd here the public bathrooms are closed because of the government shutdown. there are a few portaonotties and lines of people waiting. >> they are really bad.

they are filled to the brim. no one is taking care of them. >> reporter: at grels in the historic c and o canal the oate is locked. cars have t turn around and pull over on mcarthur boulevard. this family is visiting from belgium. is it a disappoint that you can't get in and park? >> a little bit. it okay. we'll walk a little bit more. but, yeah. >> reporter: here in southwest washington the sidewalks a empty compared to normal work days when federal employees usually line up to buy their lunch at the food tcks tha line the curbside. >> it's very i make maybe $60, $70 only from the morning. reporter: as compared to? >> on that time we sell around $200, $300 at least. the minimum. the very bad day. >> reporter: some of the federal employees who are working here today are worried about money even though they have not been furloughed. >> every day we check in. we get the latest oo find whether or not we are working

today or not. >> reporter: do you know, are you working tomorrow? >> so far i am working tomorrow. but i can't guarantee anything other than tomorrow. >> reporter: are you getting paid? >> i think i am. i hope. so far, yeah.getting paid, >> reporter: now, there is uncertainty among feder employees, but this is something that we are certa it appears that there are inadequate bathroom facilities heret the lincoln memorial and it is creating an unsanitaryco ition that some agency, whether it's d.c., local government,ed oral government that is working, needs to check on and correct. that's the latest live from the oln memorial. back to you. >> okay, thank you, chris. l hope they will be checking on thater on. our coverage on the shutdown showdownontinues the next few ours on air and online in our

nbc washingtonapp. you will find free and cheap thgs to do. search shutdown. thiss a major travel day. triple-a estimates 112illion americans are headed home from their christmas destinations by air, rails, and roads. many of those people impacted by a sto out west. derrick ward is at reagan national airport right now checking out the situation there. we will check inim with coming up on news4 at 5. meantime, storm team4 chief meteorologist dug kammer is tracking the conditions. >> today a beautiful afternoon. we have sn plenty of sunshine. nice temperatures. a little bit above we have that storm coming our way. right now 46 degrees. our average high i 44. with sunshine and light winds, not a bad day at all. it's a cool day across the mid-atlantic. not bad across our area. we are clear, dry, sunny. sunshine today. sunshine early tomorrow. back to the west that storm, we

are watching it very, very closely because that storm is eventually going to be making its way our way the next couple of days her we will b watching that storm system with some heavy rain as it makes its way in on through the next couple of days. here's what i'm talking about. as we move on out -- nop't i cove out. trust me. there is a storm. there it is! now it's moving out. okay. for us this way. it didn't want to come here. me storm didn't want to come. unfortunately, it'ing its way our way the next few days. much more on whats this med something else for new year's eve. see you in a few minutes. >> i will let you work on the storm team4 rebelioi radar there. ruth bader ginsberg is out of the hpital now. sh underwent cancer surgery last week. ancer removed from her left lung. doctors say they were able to remove all of the disease.an ther was discovered after the jurist broke her ribs in a

fall at the supreme court last month. this is the third time this 85-year-old woman has been treated for cancer. despite her health problems, she has never missed arguments atth court. the court is set to meet next on january 7th. we expect to see her there. in indonesiaemporary shelters have been set up this weekend following the past weekend's tsunami. people are now being ord stay away from the coast over fears of more severe weather. the death toll is now more than 420 as the search continues for survivors. .here is nbc's sarah harm just orter: survivors a beginning to deal with the aftermathf this devastating tsunami. more than 20,000 people have now be displaced from their homes turned into refugees in their own country, and concern now centers on the very real risk of a second tsunami. the volcano that started this whole thing conties to erupt. the coastal region is under an

extreme weather advisory. authorities are warning people to expect big waves and to get as far away from the coast as they can. at least half a mile to be safe. yesterday, there was aan when false rumors spread that a second wave was on the way. people were absolutely desperate to reach higher ground. of course, it wasn't real, but the sense of fear is very real. sarah harmon, nbc news, indonesia. several families now without places to call home tonight. take a look at this map. we want to show you the american red cross has said it responded to five locations on christmas day. they helped displace families. the fire stretched from loudon county to capital heights, maryland thchlt is video of a fire that you can see here. the smoke billowing out of the top floor of this structure here. seven adults and two children made it out a safelyng with

the family dog. so good news there. no word on the cau of that fire. a holiday disaster for a local fily has a happy ending. you might remember the sheer family who we profiled just last week. flames tore through their maryland home over the wkend. what it's meant for their christmas holiday. >> reporter: barbara harrison ntroduced you to rob and reese sheer and their four adopted kids on friday. they have a new book called forever family about thech lenges and joyce of adoption. two days later their house in darns town caught fire. they wer home enjoying family time when they noticed an unusual flame by the feplace. >> all of a sudden i saw a little smoke coming out of the, looked like the mantle. >> reporter: they grabbed a fire extinguisher, but it wasn't enough. the flames spread quickly. everyone wasble to escape with all the pets. >> my son grayson was asleep upstairs and he woke upitthe

room with smoke and he had a panic attack his house was on fire. >> reporter: their tree and presents were all okay, but the family was fced to spend christmas eve away from home. >> whether it went up in flames or not, i knew because of all the water and the damage that that does and stuff like that. i just really thought we didn't have a hom >> reporter: the damage was not as bad as it could have been. the fireplace and wall have been cordoned off. an air purifier roars in the living room. th were able to return home to spend christmas day together. hey were touched by the generosity of the community, offering clothing, shoes, blankets, and a place to stay. to me more than anything the number of friends who reached out to us. theeople who truly we believe are our family. even wt we consider priceless

christmas ornaments, they can all be replaced. your family, your kids, they can't. a montgomery county fire spesman says t fire was ruled accidental. chimney fires he says are common is time of year i our area. fire officials recommend having your chimney and fireplace spected at least once a year. just ahead, a local dog kennel vowing to rebuild. >> animals trapped inside as it nt up in flames. ahead, hear an owner describe the rescue effortsndhe toughs decisi that had to be made. an ultimatum sparks outrage after a high school theater wat cut his hair on the spot. news4's cory smith helps navigate the many happy returns at local malls. >> christmas has come and gone but t holiday shopping season continues. the rush to

heavy snow and rainstorms moving through much of the u.s. could create dntgerous road ues for mills millions of travelers. an end of the week storm here in our area. >> of course, it's friday. it's going to rain.

it's been happening all year. >> that's the way it's been going. thepp holiday sg season not quite over. malls across the dmv were packed score ople trying to last-minute deals and return those items that they didn't want. news4's cory smith live at pentagon cityal where the rush to make the returns is on in full steam there. i see lots of folks behind you, cory. >> reporter: yeah, leon, you would think people would be at home sleeping off the turkey and everything like that. i mean, take a look. pere are a lot ofple here. this is our second stop today. they were in bethesda earlier. people either cashing in on gift cards or, as you said, making those returns. so how do you know they are making that return? ll, you just spot them by the people who walk into the mall with bags ful of stuff. now, according to the national retail federatio u.s. retailers this year are expected to handle about $72 billion worth of holiday returns. that's about 10% of their total

holiday sales. we have bee asking people all day why are they making their returns. the answers range from it dn't fit, the wrong color, to i didn't like it or it was too ugly. utale brutal honesty. anyone who returns a gift,t comes with another decision as oon as you get to the cash register. do you want store credit or cash? when you return something, are you a store credit orash type of person? >> cash. >> reporter: why cash? saying cash. >> because i can buy what i want shth cash. >> i prefer the i might not want to shop at that store. >> rorter: yeah people being brutally honest today. coming up inhe next hour, we will talk to more shoppers about the post-christmas rush. we will also talk aboute a lit bit of return etiquette. do you tell someone who gave you a gift that you returned it? i have got some interesting answers, to say the least. see you guys in about 45 back to you. >> what i want to know is if it was too ugly did they have

enough nerve to tell them it was too ugly? that's what i want to know. >> we are betting the answer is no. >> all right. thanks, cory. all right. all those christmas presents are unwrapped for sure, but the tree they were stowed underneath probably is still up in your a hous if that's the case here is a friendly reminder to not letrehat t dry out and become a fire hazard. according to the national fire protection association, a dry tree can burn faster than newspaper. the american red cross ss in december and january they are peak months for house fires. take a few minutes, check out that tree and your smoke alarms and make sure there is water in the base of that tree. >> it doesn't matter anymore. the tree itself has -- allhe sap has created an area where the water can no longe penetrate into the tree. >> it needs a fresh cut? >> yes. but you have the ornaments on

there. you need t to do somethi allow the water in. >> do you take the tree out and dump it? >> honestly, that's the safest thing to do. i am keeping mine up for ather ek because that makes my wife happy. but you know what? i have actually made new cuts sometimes in the tre while it' still up. >> i have done that. >>e very careful doi that, too. it's a tough one. >> we hearve stories year about houses that catch on fire because of the trees. >> better to toss it. >> it is. >> we are not ready to clean up yet. are not reaor the season to end. we are not ready for christmas to end, everybody. we need some snow, don't we? >> doesn't seem like christmas yet. >> exactly. i'm dreaming ofte a w christmas. we haven't seen one in so long. we didn' see one yesterday. we are not going to see anything white anytime soon around our area. a lot more in the way of wet. rightow we have got sunshine. actually a nice afternoon. right now current temperature at 46 degrees, winds out of the

south nine miles an hour, sunshine, not a lot of wind. it's a pretty nice dr day. e see an even better d tomorrow. 49 in cullev pupper. ybody above coverage today. no rain to speak of currently, but you don't have to go too far. nothing on our region. clear skies tomorrow. look at this system. it's a big storm. another big storm making its way across the country from houston all the way up to canada. most of this rain, even heavy s rain,w back towards the ski resorts towards new mexico, this little upper-level low, you can see the spin here w making its up. notice the severe weather popping into parts of texas. could see the possibility there for some tornados. then one big trave area that you watch, district. a big hub, especiall for american airlines. if you have flights in and oou of dallas, be delays in that area. the rest of the east coast, if

your family is traveling, i-95, i-70 looking great around our region right now. that will be the caseos for of tomorrow as well. but here it is. future weather tomorrow, 1:0 sunshine. no clouds out there. looking pretty good. but the clouds move in during the afternoon here is 4:00. here come the clouds and by around 9:00, 10:00 we see some light shower activity. that's what it will rst, light shower activity tomorrow evening. overnight into early friday morning that's when it gets on the heavier side. if you are coming back on friday morning, yeah, friday is going to be a littlbit of a mess here. around noon friday the heaviest of the rain, the storm syste passes way to our north. we are warm. we are close to 60 friday, but the warm weather moves in. the rain moves out by a or 5:00. so friday evening if you are heading out to dinner or getting ready for the weekend, that right now is looking at least friday night into part of the weekend. so tomorrow s 50 degreeshine early, clouds late, but ade nic mber day. not bad at all thursday.

friday once again we have the rain early, but then getting o of here 60 degrees for a high temperature. that's a warm one. 55 oy. satur 30% chance of showers on sunday with a high of 44. not much in the way of rain better chance of rain unfortunately new year's eve to new year's day. if you have festivities new year's eve, you need the umbrella as well as the jackets. all right. thank you, doug. >> snow shovels soon. all right. coming up next, all smiles on christmas. >> after months of talking about a royal rift and tension mons the so-called fab four, the new generation of royals appear to be united on this holiday. > the amazon effect has upended brick and mortar businesses everywherri now it'sd, if you will, to impact property prices as the compan

prince williamis and wife duchess kate along with prince harry andoi meghan markled the queen for christmas day. as lucy kafanov reports, the royal couple put on a united front despite rumors of mounting tension between them.or

> rr: it's a royal tradition. the christmas dayer churchce at sandringham. despite rumors of tensions, no signf discord. it was all smiles for the fab four. >> yes, there have been disagreements. yes, there have been teething problems. at the end of t day these are two brothers who are close and love each eiother. wives, although different, are family. >> reporter: the duchess of cambridge radiant in red. mom to be meghan markle now the duchess of ssex styling her baby bump in victoria beckham. her majority the queen beating e dhil in a smart coat and hat. husband prince philip relaxing back home. no need for concern, says the palace. the 97-year-old duke is in good health after the service time for an epic christmas dyner. the fam gathering to watch the theen's speech.

the 92-year-old monda work joking about her year. >> it's been a busy year. two weddings and two babies another child expected soon, it helps to keep a grandmother well occupied. >> reporter: f h meghan,er second christmas with the royals. her first as a royal. it's been a year of change for a family steeped in royal tradition. celebrating the holidays together as theyorge their own paths. now, we didn't see any of theun st royals, prince george, princess charlotte and baby prince there is no hard and fast rule about this, but children typically don't attend the family service until they are older. by next christmas, harry and meghan will have their newest addion to the famil we will have that to lookar fo to. next, a local kennel goes up in flames with dogs trapped inside. >> we will come through this. we are going to be rebuilding

our kennel. >> still ahead, an owner describes the rescue efforts and he thanks the community for their support. a class that actually encourages kids to fly planes.

we are continuing to work wbreaking news as cross 4:30 this evening. we are t getting first video

back here in the newsroom of the president and the first lady's visit to iraq today. president trump and melania trump meeting with theroops in the western part of the country there, taking photos, shaking hands, and speaking with members of the military. this is president trump's first visit to a war zone since taking office nearly two years ago. the president now making his way back towards the u.s. stay tuned for updates ons. his trav back here at home flames ripped through a local dog kennel on christmas eve taking th lives of several animals. more than half of the dogs at the hunt club near frederick survived the fire. >> tonight neighbors and first responders work together to save as many dogs as they could. >> reporter: nestled i the scenic hills of frederick county, maryland, middletown county beagles has been raising hunting dogs f 50 years. the night before christmas, 25 were living this this kennel on the large farm. just before midnight a fire broke out, many of the beagles

were trapped i the burning building. dr. brooks ahall arrived as the fire was being put out and neighbors as well as first responders were trying to care for the injured dogs. >> there was probably 15 dogs in the house being held by multiple members of the club. kids from 14 to adu ts that are ing to carry for them until i got there. >> reporter: al ster store who runs the kennel tried to save as many beagles as possible. >> we still have a pack of beagles. welcome through this. we are going to be rebuilding be kennel and we will bigger, better, and stronger. >> reporter: six dogs died in the blazeog three other had to be euthanized because their injuries were so bad. dr. ahalt says it was one of the worst tra he has witnessed. >> to see how bad the burns were, smoke inhalatio.

just like humans when there is a fire. we had to make hard decisions on some dogs. ter: the cause of the fire remains under investigation. in frederick county, maryland, mark seagraves, ws4. the u.s. customs and border protection is making changes after a second child died while in their custody. both this month. here now to look at the hospital in new mexico where an 8-year-old boy from guatemala died on christmas eve. he was detained withis father in el paso, texas, last week. immigration officials say theyw lan to conduct, quote, secondary medical checks on all childrenheir custody, but it's not clear exactly how and where those checks will be conducted. an emergency school board meeting set tonight after the treatment of a new jersey high school wrestler gained natiol attention. the wrestler was given an ultimatum. cut his dreadlocks or forfeit his match. 16-year-oldndrew johnson had 90 seconds to decide. he cut his hair and won the

match. new jersey sports officials have opened a civil rights investigation and sidelined the referee responsible. now the board will decide if the refs -- will decide, rather, the ref's fate. a russian space agency says someone drilled a potentially deadly hole in their soyuz capsule and now investigators are looking into thiysry high above us. four months ago a tiny hole was discovered when the caple was docked at the international space station and at first the scientis suspected that a meteorite caused it. now a russian cosmonaut who examined the hole bieves it s drilled from inside the capsule. a criminal investigation has not been ruled out with manyanting to know if that hole was drilled during orbit or bydaomeone on the ground. they may only be in high school, but some montgomery county student are already learning how to fly planes. model planes, that is. >> it's all part of a new aviation program being offered at the school.

aimee cho visit this class. >> we are working on gliders. >> reporter: usually, if you try to fly a model i airplane class, things can get a little bumpy. >> what did you do? >> reporter: in this mcgruder high school clsts. >> any qns what we are doing today? >> reporter: it's the only way to pack. >> the test. >> f have aling it won't work too well. >> reporter: welcome to the new aviation course. >> i am enjoying it. unique people need in the world and i think it's great to pursue it because it will help people. >> the airspace is really cool. to be a part of this and helpo ki some things that maybe they didn't havepp antunity to do before is very rewarding. >> here is a glider. >> back to therawing board. >> reporter: the class is a pilot program, one of the firts of kind in maryland. >> it's going really good. i really like it. it's fun to kind of like make your own stuff and you can test it. >> a chance to adjust it. >> reporter: the students are making small planes for now. many say they have big htans. >> i m want to be a pilot some day.

i want to fly overhe coast of hawaii and just bask into the sunset. >> i like wanted to be paid for aveling anyways. so i figured pilot would be the best option. >> it's awesome. to see the light bulb come on, to think i could do this the rest of my life as a career and joy is cool. >> reporter: a journey getting these students ready for takeoff. in rockville. >> look at that smooth sailing. >> reporter: aimee cho, news4. >> what a wonderful class. >> that looke like so much fun, doesn't it? >> yes. >> good for you. a new york city police officer is receiving praise for the way that he was able to fend off a group of drunken men on a subway platform and he did it without pulling out his gun. get them while you can. which vehicle mels that used to be popular are going away for good. and check out storm team4 radar from snow in the north to severe weather in parts of texas. this massive storm system

heading our way. it moves in ler tomorrow. i will have more on the timing and impact. doug will let you know you have a lot obudeadlines in youness, right? we miss deadlines, we don't get paid. what if you lost your network connection? you gotta be kidding me. chaotic. our gig-speed network letsou download files

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if you need a reason, here's one. a reason to stick to your new year's resolution to get healthy. in a new report published today, a cancer journalor clinicians, relationship a between obesity and the risk of 13 cancers. l thet includes breast and liver cancers. the report says exc s body weight was responsible for nearly 4% of cancer globally in 2012. the american canr society says by the year 2030 they are expecting there to be more than 21 million new cancer cases around the world. auto buyer preferences are changing these days and automakers are responding. so come the new year you co bid farewellme of the most recognizing vehicles on the

road. these are the list of cars going away. chevy cruze, ford folk volkswagen beetle and toyota prius v will goway. ford's taurus and c-max, chevy's impala and volkswagen touareg and hyundai's azera. hobd ay doing a with the crz and nissan theuke. the cadillac, c 2-6, xts a st s going away for now. starting next month it will cost more to mail yourd letters packages. it will increase by a nickel on january 27th. cethe postal ser has been facing pressure because of a revenue shortfall. forever stamps, the price will jump from 50 to 55 cents. and metered mail increases from 47 to 50 cents. additional ounces are d in price, costing an extra 15

cents. the changes were approved last month. if you were hoping to win a multi-million dollar jackpot this christmas, you are out of luck. you have another chance friday. last night's mega millions drawing had no jackpot winsrs, which mehe prize money jumps to an estimated $348 million. your odds of winning about 1 in 302 million. that's all. back inoctober, a single winning ticket was sold for the largest mega millions jackpot ever. $1.5 billion. remeer how badly we felt the next morning after that? by the way, that winner that is not yet claimed the prize. can you believe that? >> only has 180 days to do so. >> better get on it. amazon's arrival in northern virginia could already be havin a drastic impact on home prices an sales. >> bureau reporter explaining for us what it mns for the bottom line in that area next.

and today is a perfecday to sit in the mall traffic as you make those holiday returns. the end of the wee willook a whole lot different though. storm team4 is tracking a

if you are just joining us, let's get you caught up with four things to know. >> this afternoon we learned the president and the first lady made a surprise visit to iraq. this, by the way, the first time president trumpas visited with troops in aba com zone since he became commander andhief. the president tried to defend his decision to pull troops out ia s counting military gains against isis. in washington, the government shutdown remains in place. now in its fifth day. withde the pre and lawmakers out of town, it's not clear when we could see any mov aent toward potential compromis gsked how long it could last, the president dur his trip to iraq said, quote, whatever it

takes, adding, we're gonna have a wall. the wild ride on wall street is now taking things back towards positive territory. on monday we s the worst day of christmas eve trading ever with the dow falling 650 points. today single day of trading ever, picking up more than 1,000ra points and eng the losses we saw on monday. > today is a big day for holiday returns. theer national retail fion estimates the u.s. retailers are expected to handle some $72 billion worth of holiday returns this year. that's 10% of their total holiday sales. analysts have made predictions about the affect amazon's hq2 may have on our area. >> first the first time we are seeing numbers suggesting a spike in home sales. >> david explains. >> reporter: more than a month after amazo announced northern virginia as one of the hq2

locations the numbersre in and we are seeing a huge increase omen ites to real estate demand. according to the website dcurbanturf it shows an increase compared with this time last year. we caught up with a realtor ol hearing from all over the country i intereste buying as potential investment properties from our area. >> people were hoping to swoop up some bargains. we don't have that many bargains in this area. it's reall to find something to get the returns that they are looking for. in our case, a lot of thest ins have backed out or decided to look elsewhere. >> reporter: according to some financial experts, the spike may be sholived. at 5:00 we will look at the trends going forward and what it expected in the real estate markets and how that could impact those of you who desire to buy, sell, or even rent. in arlington, david culver, news4.

turning to the weatherw, doug we are not going to get a white christmas. what kind of post-christmas weather are we looking at? >> a rainstorm before christmas. now a rainstorm after christmas. a rainstorm new year's eve. that's the one i am watching. a lot of people are going to be out news eve. so we'll be tracking that one for you, too. andhen, yeah, i don't really see any chance. >> we would like to have aon wa if we can't have a wet one. >> we have that. temperatures are well above average the last few days, really the last two weeks. today another day above averageh our averah 44 degrees. didn't feel a whole lot above average, but with sunshine and light wind it was pretty nice thisftnoon. 46 degrees now. dropping quickly tonight. clear skies allows temperatures to drop. 41 by 7:00. the 30s by 11:00. is think temperatu will average a little bit above where they normally are this time of year as youake up tomorrow morning 34 inside the city is where we're going.

46 degrees in leesburg right now, 46 towards cannon springs. they'llelative in time of year. no rain right now. but take a ok. we have got a big system. another huge system making its way through the center part of the country. snow up there towards the dakotas. severe weather, this is a d dallas.atch aro severe thunderstorm watch into parts of texas thchlt is actually the storm that is going to b makingts way all the way across the country and eventually into our area by friday. a more on what to expect, let go it amelia right now. this is coming in thursday night into friday. igcould be another one? >> absolutely. we are talking about some heavy rain in the forecast at times on friday. that storm system that is heading our way causing the first responders bowl to be canceled today in dallas of the severe weather with it. now, this is tomorrow at this time. notice w the white on the map showing plenty of clouds across the area. once we head into the evening and overnight hours, 10, 11:00 p.m., this is when showers

start toove into the area. friday morning you are heading into work, it is a soggy go on the roads out there. this is 8:00 a.m. on friday. notice rain across the entire area as we head to the lunchtime hours. we are sti tracking rain, heavy rain is most likely around the area on friday. the evening hours rain starts to move out of the area. but we could see over an inch. if you have travel plans friday, wet roads and the potenti for flooding especially in low-lying areas. by waterways, creeks, streams, and rivers, we have had to much rain this year, the wette year or record by far. we are tacking on to that on friday. the outdoor ice rinks not a great idea on friday. you want tom gorow or saturday when we return to dry weather. the evening parties friday night, at that point we start to dry out across the area. but during the day on friday we will beid trackingpread rain. again we return to dry conditions on saturday. omthe chance for showers out

there on sunday. monday during the day, doug, is looking dry. like you were saying, a few of those new year's eve plans out on mondayliould be d with some rain out there on monday on ll tuesday as well. >> yeah, r could. let's look at the next couple of days here. we have the rain on friday. 30% chance of shower activity o. sund not a lot. a couple of showers, temperature around 44. saturday, by the way, looking pretty good. it is monty into tuesday t we have a better chance of showers. it's really monday night. monday for a high of 47 degrees. if you are getting out for the evening hours for new year's eve, maybe you are checking out some of the fireworks locally or just hanging out downtown, yeah, watch this. the conditions at least for 40s. we stay there. it's not going to be a cold night. we are expecting rai during this time. most of it will be on the mod lit side >> light to moderate. i am not anticipating any heavy rain. it's something we will continue to watch f you will need the umbrellas monday night into tuesday. starting off the n year on a mild note, 54 degrees, in the 40s in towards next week. so there you go, guys.f

end18 and hello 2019. >> all rht. thanks, doug. next, a tenseon confronta caught on camera. >> video showing a new york ty police officer single-handedly fighting off ank d mob to defend a woman. first, jimros in the ne with a look ahead at 5:00. >> hi, guys. it is almost that dreaded time of year. this time aroun we are helping you save on those taxes. our consumer reporter susan hogan will join us to find out what's different this time and what you can do to save yourself time and money. plus, d.j. sweringer kked off the redskins for critical comments about a coach. days later he signed on with another team. and for the first time we are hearing from head coach jay gruden. and metro making safetyes upgrow to some 30 stations. we are goingo show you where. see you soon with those stories and a good deal more in just minutes.

back to you. see>>

a new york city police officer is being hailed as a hero for fighting off five men who triedo attack him. the officer was alone when all this went dow and the department is praising him for both what he did and what he didn't nbc new york's michael george has the story. r orter: one officer versus five attackers. the officer shouts, stand back, as he backs away. he kicks onef them, knocking them down, and the officer says he doesn't want to hurt them. >> i don't want to hurt you. >> reporter: thi video has been viewed online more than a million times. police say it started when a woman flagged down the officer in the east broadway station in lower manhattan saying these mey sexu harassed her. the officer confronted them alone and they came after him. s poli the men are all homeless and were intoxicated.

at one pnt the officer backs away. a man lunges and then falls on to the train tracks. >> oh, ooh! >> reporter: the officer s radid t down the tracks. now officer ali is being praised as hero. not only for what he did, but do. he didn' use his gun. >> the police officer said toe that he didn't pull out his firearm because he felt it would escalate. >> reporter: the mayor tweete at extraordinary professionalism and bravery by nypd officer sayed ali. there is a call for answers about what happened to pleathes men. they were arrested crime, sleeping in the subway, and the police union says they were release. they say had i gone the other way, we might have had a seriously injured or dead police officer instead. it's wrong they were notharged for attacking him. >> those individuals should not have been let goll and espec they should have been given to

mental health, the res they need. >> way if go, officer ali. the former police commissioner of new york tells our sstter n ofthis is an indicat growing quality of life problems in new york city. news4 at 5 starts right. >> here we go. right now at 5:00, folks, tracking a winr storm for the end of the week. you can see it on our storm am4 radar. out to our west, chief meteorologist doug kammerer will explain what it means for us. we begin tonight at 5:00 with breaking news, and this new video, president trump marking an important first in his role as commander in chief today visiting american troops serving here in a war zone. >> the president and first lley washington on christmas day just as he was taking heat for being the first president in several years who did not visit troops for christma

>> as abc's hans nichols reports, it's important to take note of exactly where the first couple stopped today. >> reporter: i think it's important to note where the president is going, but where he isn't going. it doesn't look like he is going to baghdad or afghanistan. that's where the motions are in place to withdraw some 7,000 of the 14,000 u.s. troops there. so the president is sending a signal just by where he isn't going. now, accordi to the reuters reporters and ap reporters traveling with the president, his next stop in germany. this looks like it is a one-off trip in western iraq. not going to baghdad. i think the key question is will he meet with political leaders in iraq. >> that was hans nichols reporting. was a surprise trip. that's why there were so many questions still. but in the coming hours we are going to learn more about the president's itinerary