police say the person responsible for this crash that may have killed three children may have been drunk at the wheel, but this morning he is free. g the year starts with the federal government still shut down. the democrats say they're ready to pass a spending plan when they take over the house this ek, but getting the president to sign it still seems like high hopes. good morning. welcome to the new. ye i'm chris laurence. >> i'm mlet greene thank you for starting the year with us on news 4. it's a calm t startthe day. we're thankful to be done withte the w year the d.c. area has ever seen. >> it's been crazy. >> let's check the forecast with amelia a do we get break from the rain today? >> need a break.

>> we do get a break from the rain, not only today but tomorrow on your wednesday. by the wa hap new year. i hope it's off to a great start. here's the lates check on storm team 4radar. all dry across the area. we'll be dry today from start to finish. you will nice the winds. look at the mild air in place. d.c. coming a in 62. 66 in hunting town. you get the idea it's mild out there. especially around gaiter er herg around theerstown t in 40s. we'll see temperatures slowly falling rohout the day today. i'll have more on the cold air that will ben place on wednesday and morehe on rain in a little bit.

♪ o >>ut with the old, in with the new. the rain did not stop the party in new york city. tens of thousands of people from all over the world showed up in timesnquare to ring the new year. fireworks lit up the sky. securi was tight. everything went off without a hitch. inser to home people broug the new year at first night in le alexandria. >> there were dozens of indoor activities. pretty good throughout alexandria. good news for the folks trying to stay out of the rain new year's eve. >> it's wonderful for the kids. good for families. >> first nig takes about 12 months to plan. needless to say plans are

already in the works to celebrate 2020. >> new year, new tolls. starting today the rate for passenger vehicles at the main toll plaza on the toll road i going up to $3.25s. on ramps, it' $1.50. authorities say the increase is needed to in the dulles toll road. we'll have more on tn the next hour. today kicks off inauguration events for d.c. mayor muriel bowser. there will be a 5k run. it will begin on new jersey avenue between "m" and "t" street. that means several roa closures and parking restrictions. tomorrow morning bowser will be sworn in at 9:30. for those of you who need to venture out this morning, metro service starts at 8:00 and runs through 11:00 tonight. both trains and buses will be on a sunday schedule.

rking is free. there is no scheduled track work today. ata metroons are set to be open today after a hazmat scare at eastern market. metro police suspended service yesterday after a man sprinkled a mysterious white powder on benches.he three stations were shut down until tests showedheubstance was harmless. the man was identified as thomas greene. police arrested him a few hou lat later. starting today the l alexandriait cy council voted in june to rename jefferson davis highway. a crash happened last night

between oxen and roberts road in burke. one person died on the scene. three others had to be rushed to the hospital. no word on what caused the crash or the extent of the other peoples injuries. we have an update on a crash that killed three children sunday night. we learned the children were siblings. 5-year-old twins and their 1-year-old baby e'brother. >> also learning the crash may have been caused by a drunk driver. alexis and januita mejia are both in stable condition. their twins, rosalie and isa died. also their 1-year-old brotherdi . friends started a gofundme page to help the mejia's s in the recovery. in tokyo eight people were

hurt after a van crashed into a group of people. it happened just after the clock struck midnight. a man in his 20s was apoested. ce believe the man did intentionally drive into the crowd. no word on terror connections. > a man yelled during a stabbing attack in the uk. a producer for the bbchot this cell phone video it happened at a tran platform manchester, england. three people were hurt including a police officer. at this time policere not calling this a terror related incident. new this mornin police need some help finding this armed robber. this is video from friday in a store in the3100 block of rhode island avenue in the northeast. you can see the man covered with hoodie point a gun at the cashier and take the entire cash drawer. he points the gun again before nning away. if you have any information please call d.c. police. he's a look at the crime

stats in the district. d.c. police say overall violent crime is wn, however there were 160 homicidha ands up 38% from 2017. today is the 11th day of the partshutwn weertintoriaovakler glastnmen working on a plan to reopen the government. >> i'm here. i'm ready to go. it's very important to a lot of people. they're looking to get their paycheck. i'm ready to go any time they want. we're not giving up. we have to have border security. the wall is a big part b ofder security. the biggest part. >> that was president trump calling into fox news to say he's ready to make a deal with m therats as long as it includes money to build a wall along the u.s./mexico border. democrats plan to vote on sixlso ptunr. th ll take up a separate resoluti f funding homeland

security that does not include funding that wall. tourists will continue to feel the impact ofhis shutdown the longer it lasts. the smithsonian says money is running out so museums on the ball and the national zoo will close tomorrow if a deal is not reached. for ahe look at things to do during the shutdown, head over to the nbc washington app. one of the senate's most prominent democrats looks to be on her way tonc anng a run for president in 2020. senator elizabeth warren announced she's forming an exploratory committee. this is the first major steprd to launching a presidential campaign. the video, warren promised to fight for the middle class and take on corruption and greed. it may be a crowd docratic field in the next among those may be running is

west virginia state senator, richard ojeda and julian castro. coming , the man who said he was sexually abused by a priest is testifying and going on theecord with his name and showing his face. >> i believe that he cou do anything. i believed as an adult he would sure thing to me to make his life doesn't change. >> mccar rikacarrick says his c looks forward to doing what's right. or> a maj shakeup in the communications department at the vatican. former fox news reporterreg burke resigned as vatd can sp v

spokesman. his deputy also resigned. burke said we think it's best the holy father is completely free to assemble a new team. the vatican is in the middle of abuse scandal sex that is rocki ing the catholic church. the new years celebration was just as big in north korea as i was in the rest of the world, but the country's leader ended 2018 saying north korea should not be the only country getting rid of nuclearweapons. and amazon shook up the groe grocery world last year, now they're looking on expanding. re on those plans next. and here's how we ended the ttest year on record. 66.28 inches, blowing the old record set back in 1889 out of the water by almost five inches. no rain i the forecast today but we'll have falling

temperatures. i'll have more on that and it's breezy out there. breezy out there. when the winds subside fact: some of your favorite foods stain teeth. unlike ordinary whitening toothpaste, colgate optic white has hydrogen peroxide that goes below the tooth's surface for a smble that's 4 shades viwhiter! colgate optic white. whitening that works.

♪ in north korea thousands of people packed a square in central pyongyang to celeb nte theew year. >> that's right. it happened near a river that cuts through the center of the city. prettyimpressive. north korea's leader, kim jong-un warned the u.s. about makingut demands a denuclearization. >> in his address kim says hiss e for complete denuclearization remains unchanged. he says he mayeeave to a new path if the u.s. continues to demand unilateral action from north korea. >> kim is warning the u.s. against cumiscting north

korea's patience. he didn't say what north korea would do if north kor does not stop with sanctions. walltreet kecapped the o miserable yea a pitive note, but still 2018 was the worst showing in a decade. was downear, the dow about 5%. the s&p was down 6%. you probably y noticed it inr 401(k)s. nasdaq down about 4%. the stock market reopens tomorrow. louis c.k. is back in the limelight andack inot water after some audio surfaced from his act. the audio showed up on youtube this week but was quickly taken down. it has not been veried bynbc news. in the clip the comedian makes fun of the younger generation for too politically correct. hengei appeared to mock survivof de parklchool shooting and

those who identify as nonbinary. the comedian has started to appear at small comedy clubs after going dark for months because of sexual misconduct allegations. ev actor spacey is in baltimore before next week's arraignment on sexual assault charges. a photographer spotted him and trackedma him tnsion outside the city. he's been out of the spotlight after being accused of sexual assault by multiple men. last week he posted a video telling viewers you wante ck. president trump signednt law a new missing alert law for missing aduladults. it is named after billy,ma whic her too old for an amber

alert and too young for a silver alert. the act will empower police toi notify r and tv stations and put information on highway electronics. si less than aee after bu burglars ransacked the anacostia play house, it raised $22,000. the money is enough to fix the damage and then some. on christmas day someone broke in and vandalized the play house getting away with laptops, credit cards and a few hundred a bucks in . just what we need, more grocery options in 2019. azon is planning to open more whole foods locations across the country. according to the "wall street journal," the goal is to make sure customers can have groceries delivered within two hours. amazon prime services can also befoods stores so

you can order groceries online and pick them up within 30 minutes. >> no one can afford more than one bag of groceries at whole food. alexa helped people with their holiday shopping lists. the number of voice activatedrs or via alexa tripled during the christmas season compared to the year before. alexa was also usedp to h people find cocktailip rec for eggnog and moscow mules being at the top of the list. happening tay on nbc 4, the tournament of roses parade starts at 11:00 this morning. >> we can't wait for that to happen. this is the 130th year for they new 's day tradition. preparations have been under way for weeks in southern california. the massive floats will started the 5 1/2 mile course in a matter of hours, marching bands, equestrian units will also be part of this show. it's all before the rose bowl game this afternoon where my husband will be on the couch watching between ohio state and

washington university. >> i think plenty of people wkel be p in front of their tvs all day today. >> enjoying the day ahead. >> the weather today will beet nice overall. >> you might want to be outside. >> exactly. re's mild out t right now. we'll havere tempera slowly falling throughout the day. they'll only fall a few degrees. 62 right now in washington. by 5:00 p.m., falling to 50 degrees in the d.c. metro area. check it out, manassas at 60 degrees. pretty much mild everywhere, even around the mas dixon line. hagerstown, frederick, out towards thebu marti area still already running above normal for this time of year here's wha you can anticipate today. :00 a.m 8:00 a.m., temperatures around0 degrees. by lunch time, noon, still only at . we'll have plenty of clouds out there for the morning hours with

increasing sunshine. as we head into the midday and afternoon hours. 4:00, it is still completely dry out there.er teures around 56 degrees. cold air does move into the area itto the evening and overnight hours. ill be chilly out there tonight. maybe taking the dog out for oni last . a cold start out there tomorrow morning on your wednesday. if you're traveling today, the weather having a low impact on travel. it will be breezy to windy at times. if you drive an suv, you may notice the winds, but not a huge concern. outdoor ice ringks, mild for ths time of year. if you wanted to t run,e the bicycle out, it will be mild but breezy. we will keep it dry tomorrow and on o into thursday as well. i should say thursday, actually, this is the new changeth ien tomorrow. then we have rain moving in potentially thursday morning. we return to dry weather for the

second half of thursday. we have plenty of clouds out there. tomorrow, it's mostly cloudy, a high temperature of 47 degrees on thursday. we have those showers out there during the morning hours, especially in washington ande areas to south. dry for the second half of your thursday. about a 40% chance of rain g.ursday morn temperatures around 50. most of friday day is dry. but friday night we have rain moving into the area. high temperature of 51 degrees on friday. showers looking likely on saturday. on sunday it's breezy.pr ty mild out there for the first full weekend in januy. degrees on sunday. monday, tuesday, wednesday, that mildir looks to stick around with a mix of clouds and sunshine. cooler air movn next thursday. again today, january 1st, it's going to be breezy with increasing sunshine throughout the day. >> all right. thank you. 2019 is looking to be a safer year for your ds. all thanks to a news 4 iteam

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and it's yours just for calling. so call now. with theal newdar starting today, there are plenty of new laws taking effect. several bills have been passed because ofseroblems becf

our news 4 iteam. the changes impact a wide range of issues >> betterr protections for y children, for your wallet, even protections for valuable parking spaces when you drive through d.c. >> educators returning to the classroom in other communities after being charged of misconduct. the virginia legislator took action passing two bills. one requires child protective service agencies to notify school districts if they find a former teach every abuser abuse. >> for families and the students this is important. we need to make sure we're learning from these loopholes. >> the other law requires agencies to notify state licensing officials. >> we would not have learned th if c 4 had not done the

investigative reporting that the hannel is so used to doing and good at. >> the measure passes. >> d.c. council closed a loophole in a housing law after the iteam exposed how some s.nters were using it to extort rent from landlo this buyer lost her sale the night before closing, another told us her sale went through when the renter moved back and saidhe wanted to buy the house. an attorney called this practice a 1$100 million a year industry in the district. but no more. >> happy. very happy. it goes to show when you share your story, sometime there's are others who are experiencing the same thing. >> reporter: thenc c held hearings following our series of aories. home owners realtors showed up pleading for relief. it's a tool for extortion.

and it is awful. >> now, the opportunity to purchase no longer applies to single family homes. >> later in the hour, the iteam will break down a new law that changes how a where you could park in d.c. and how much money is spent to pay for water bills. >> it's interesting. you can look for all of them it investigations from this past year on our a and search investigations. still ahead on news 4 today, ending the government shutdown. >> incoming house democrats say they have a plan to do just that. we'll show you h this would work. and the redskins 2018 season is over. as of today hea coach jay gruden still has a job. what he says he plans on doing to help the team in the coming weeks. amelia? >> it's a dry start to the new year. i am tracking some fogginess around freed rifrederick and martinsburg. throughout the day today, p mild. mild. i'll let you know what you can

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fact: some of your favorite foods stain teeth. unlike ordinary whitening toothpaste, colgate optic white has hydrogen peroxide that grfs below the tooth's suace for a smile that's 4 shades visibly whiter! colgate optic white. whitening that works. with the fireworks and the drop of the ball, 2019 arrived in times square along with a fair bit of rain.

youow see wet everybody looks? plenty of celebrations up and down the east coast. in our area families tk to th streets in alexandria to welcome in the new year. thank you for waking up with us this first dayf 2019. i'm chrisawrence. >> happy new year. i'm molette green. it is a holiday but we're still covering the news for you. we want to begin with aheck of the forecast. we have some fog, some wet roads out ther amelia draper has a look at the forecast. happy new year. >> happy new year. i'm tracking that fog around frederick and martinsburg. in the d.c. area, i'm not picking up o fog. everybody is starting off january 1st tdry. look at radar. the rain from yesterday pushed out of the area. that's off to the east. the winds are blowing out of the sout3est at about miles per hour.