workers without a paycheck and the president is heading to the border. we're look together latest round of failed negotiations with also on the agenda, snow. things are quiet on the radar now. but in a few days, we could be in a different situation. >> omelissa is back with a chec on your commute. but we begin with chuck bell. you're always at theop of our minds. >> i'm throwing snow at the government shutdown. our snow chances for the weekend remain -- dependin how you feel about snow -- delightfully high. an inch, %, that's strong for a couple days out. a chances of four inches or more, 40%. blockbuster of a snowstorm are lower today an yesterday. generally speaking, it might be in the 3 to 6 range. today, in the 2 to 4 range.

high confidence of snow. less confidence in a lot of snow. we have time to plan on that. the snowshowers will not be repeated in as much of a fashion it will be colder today, in the upper 20s to around 30. the wind is howling. windchills are in the teens and low 20s there's no improvements coming today. windchills will stay in the low 20s and upper teens. and wind is gusting over 40. insulated windbreakers, required. >> we're looking at a couple of problems around this one in arlington because of a house fire.s lare shut down there because of the fire response. they should be getting that out of tre wayy soon. but another warning, we're getting reports of ice on the roadway because it is so cold watercause of all of the used to fight the fire. capitol heights, two left lanes by the work zone there. other work zones coming up in a couple minutes.

>> thanks, melissa. the clock isg. tick less than 24 hours, federal workers are supposed to get a check. t for the first time since the government shutdown started, ey won't get paid. >> it is likely all of us here in washington, d.c.,ws k somebody that has been furloughed. it m not be you but it may be a family member or a friend or a neighbor. for800,000 people who are waiting for the congressional gridlock to end, good news this morning. the united way of the national capital area is opening up what it is calling financial empowerment centers. four cente are opening up in a different area of the region. those centers will offer one-on-one finangal plann and budget coaching, tax preparation and counselg. this is a map showing where the centers will be opening. all of this is on our website, nbcwashington.com. the united way is donating to organizations who are helping to provide food and rent

assistance. in less than an hour, news 4 today will be live with representatives of the united way and walk you through the resources to help you novembavi the shutdown. each day, we learn more who is going without a paycheck. secret service agents, border control, marshalsatf and dea areimpacted. and nasa is working withoutway, as is air traffic controllers and tsa officers. >> everybody talks about 800,000 federal employees. that's just the 0,0 of us that work. how many wives, spouses,pa ners, children? >> we don't know when the income stream will pick up again. >> reporte >> the tsa union says some officers are starting to quit. for some furloughed workers, waiting for the president and congress to agree is not an option. mortgages need to be. pa children need to be fed. news 4 met up with two prince

george's county sisters who are both federal workers and pri earners for their families. they came up with the ide of cheesecakes.elling >> we need to make sure we're securing a future for ourselves and for our a famil hopefully for others, as well. >> the sisters bake out of their home in ft. washingt. the cakes cost about 30 bucks and they have10 received yards from across the region and some from texas. w, to the latest on the negotiations today. president trump is heading to the lone star c state totinue making his case for building the border wall. he's going to meet with border patrol agents and take part in a round table discussion. another round of budget talks broke down yesterday. democratic leaders met with the president in the oval office and "the washington post" reports the entire meeti was less than 20 minutes. the president asked house speaker nancy pelosi if she

changed her mind and agreed to pild the wall, when she said no, theresident left the room. now, the president a house advisers are seriously considering declaring a national emergency, which would free up funds and allow construction to start. f> have the absolute right to do national emergency i want. my threshold will be if i can't make a deal with peopl that are unreasonable. >> eight republicans have joided crats in the house to reopen the irs and other financial agencies. but senateajority leader mitch mcconnell says he will not bring that before the senate. the house i expected to try again today, voting on a bill that will reopen departments to help farmers and folks who rely on food stamps. the federal government, with all of its buildings and monuments in the district is d.c. water's biggest customer. the treasury department says it cannot pay its bill in full on time. that quarterly bill is about 16$16.5 million. it only plans to pay $10.5

million, leaving $5 million pa . d.c. water officials joked about cutting off the water to the white house for nonpayment. that's never been lyne and probon't happen. maybe charge the government a late fee. can you imagine the fee on a $16 million ?bi wow. stay with news 4 all morning for live coverage of the shutdown and unite way's announcement. we have continuing coverage in our nbc washington app, search shutdown. well, the number two manth justice department is now out. deputy attorney rod rosenstein is the latest member of the trump administration to call it quits. his departure appears to be an indication that the b investigatio robert mueller is nearing its end. rosenstein is the chief overseer of the investigation. he's been criticized by the president and republicans who oppose it. nbc news reports that rosenstein is expected to step down by his own choice in the next few

weeks. the report adds he expects to stay until mueller finishes his work. we have breaking news right now. maryland senate president mike for r is being treated prostate cancer. meagan is at the live dk with details. >> this is difficult news this morning. "the washington post" is sourcing two people familiar with the situatn. according to the post, representative miller recently started treatment at johns hopkins university hospital for prostate cancer. he received the diagnosis shortly after the christmas holiday. one of the sources describest as aggressive and advanced. the 76-yeaold will discuss his cancer diagnosis with the senate when it meets later this morning. miller is a democrat from calvert county that's served as senate president since 1987. he's thegest serving senate president in the country. we have o reach to miller's

office. we'll update you afo we get ation. >> thank you. >> wishing him the best. lawmakers in our area are ringing in the new year byg bang the gavel and general assembly sessions are under way in myland and virginia. >> they are looking at education funding d raising the minimum wage. th are trying to work with the democratic legislature. he wants maryland to be a model for how congress should work together. there's a different set o priorities in virginia. across the aisle, tax relief is st important. statewide ks of sports betting. and the democrats are working hard to pass legislation on gun violence prevtion. news 4 will keep you updated online and in the nbc washington app. happening now in county, police are investigating several home and car thefts in chevy chase and bethesda. these thieves aren't breaking

windows. they are ting advantage o those who leave their doors unlocked. home security video shows would-be thieves going through neighbors checking for unlocked ors. >> if they would just lock their cars every time they park, we will ideo that shows they pull on door handles and go to the next car. >> theft fro cars is the most common criminal offense in montgomery county and it actually declined last year. > a family in charles cnty has lt another daughter on new year's eve. she was driving when her car left the road and hit a tree. her teenage sister died at the scene. deputies say nadia died after being rushed to the hospital. last night, a vigil was held to remember her. >> i look at the o picture here tonight and i see that she

grew up when i think of her, i imagine this little sixth grade girl. >> the girl's cousin was injured in that accident and survived. deputies say roads were wet at the timef the crash. police in the district are trying to find a pern who was allegedly making a secret recording under a s woman'srt outside of the museum. security camera caught this picture of the man and police say someone saw him put his phone under the victim's skirt last weekend. when the person confronted the man, he ran away.ve howard uity announced a $33 million renovation plan for its northwest campus yesterday. part of the plan includes seven fl of the howard center building being turned into 176 apartments. the housing would be available to students, faculty and staff. there's limited options forg housear campus.

a lot of people want to live in that area. this morning, the district's oldest synagogue has a new home. >>pe screws yesterday rolling the historic building down to a new site down the block. this building weighs nearly 300 tons. it's located on 3rd and "f"re . the building was home to the synagogue. it's part of the capital crossing project. this ishe third move for this synagogue which has had a long history here in d.c. >> it was a synagog for the first 30 years of its life. then, it became a series of african-american and greek orthodox churches, ash barb, a barbecue restaurant, a deli. it's had a remarkable life in the city. >> who knew? >> so much history. now, the building will be part of the capital jewish museum, >hich is set to open in two years. till ahead, our region is

growing fast. to keeps looking at way up. >> we'll look at some of the potential plans when we come back. plus, a new study on alzheimer's disease just wrapped up. what you may be experiencing now, that can be an indication for the disease later in life. good moing, everybody. snow chances remain very high as we get into saturday aftersuon and ay. we've got it in the likely category, a 75% chance of getting at least an inch of snow. some folks, maybe a little better than that t better than that t more abouthe timing and the

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welcome back. 4:14. if you think the d.c. region is crowded now, just wait. it is projected that over the next several years millions of people will move into our area. >> hard to even wrap my head around that.w, metro is taking a look at its operations to make sure it is abl h todle the influx of

residents. adam tuss explains. >> reporter: you know, one of the things metro has t figure out is how they're going to grow as our region continues to grow. think about thi-- by 2045 regionallanners think our population will go up to 7 million. metro is going to be a big part of how everybody gets around. one of the big issues is capacity. how will metro carry everybody? they have a plan in place now to increase the number of eight-car trains, the longer eight-car trains in the system. something that you heard about and can starto gain some steam, is a new tunnel that would connect rosyln and georgetown. rosyln is the choke point of the metro system. that's sething that planners will have to figure out. listen to the general manager when we sat down with him and he talked about the system getting better what's it going to be next year? is there a slogan coming out?

>> not so much as slogan. but we have to be better than good. >> reporter: adam tuss, news 4. later thismorning, metro lead ers will get togethe wto talk aboays they can grow. adam tuss is going to cover that meeting. u can follow him on twitter for updates throughout the day. a new study suggests sleep now may be an early sign of alzheimer's disease. thdi is acc to researchers at washington university in st. louis. the group found older adults don't get deep sleep have more proteins linked to alzheimer's. this study did not find that lack of sleep played a role of cognitive decline, just quality of that sleep. life with a peanut allergy is not easy. now, there's a device that can lp those that suffer fral the peanutrgy. it's a pocket-sized device to connect peanuts in food in a

horestaurant or at . you put a pea-sized piece of fo in a test capsule. the device tests for the nut. if your child sees a message that says peanut found, they will know not to eat that food. if theyee a smiley face, it's safe to eat. while it's icey, it's $290. experts found it worked on prodackaged it can detect trace amounts of peanuts, for example, in a bowl of trail mix. it would be wouth if have a serious peanut allergy. this weekend, join us for the nbc 4 health and fitness expo saturday and sunday, at the washington convention center. storm team is tracking some snow. but there's metro. you can find some ways.ve the is on no matter what kind of weather we have. there's a metro stop right at the convention center. it is free for you and your

mily. >> y can come down and ask chuck personally about the forecast. >> i'll be there both days, noon to 4:00. >> what's the weather lich, k? >> here's the dumbest thing i did yesterday. i went to the grocery store. >> oh. >> after you forecastedsnow. >> we ate the refrigerator down to nothing. i was caught in line with bread, milk and eggs. no idea the panic that caused. >> chuck bell is buying that stuff,oue're in e. >> i should have gone out in the skies. >> another day warmer than average. that completes our streak at 28 days in a row, warmer than average. today will not be warmer than average. it i cold and windy and that is not going to change anytime soon. you say, where is the storm now?

it is way out there. it hasn't started to warm yet.le s show you future weather at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon, as the storm finally starts to get going across parts ofestern oklahoma, western kansas. as it moves eastward, the cold air, which is clearly in place, if you've been outside at all this morning, you know that. the cold air started outith the moisture. it starts out cold and dry. by mid to late saturday afternoon, i think a period of light snow will break out. i remain very confident that we will get snow. i'm a little less sure of the amount. a high chance to get some.te saturday night and early sunday, another wave of snow chances sunday afternoon into sunday evening. i'll show you how much snow was temper to get you out of

urere. the door this morning are in the 20s but in the teens this morningo bundle up. windy and cold today. our forecast models estimates to 5 inches of snow. about what we were thinking. no blockbuster blizzard, melissa. we'll keep an uthated track on totals closer to the weekend. >> i like a lot of snow. i want a good dumping. dumfries near the dale city rest area. right lane blocked. that's a new one. capitol heights interloop. two left lanes are get big the work the rest of the beltway is looking okay. we have wind warnings in effect. no vehicle restrictions. but we have warnings on the bay bridge and harry nicebridge. the attorney for the family of the young girl who svived a shock at mgm national hbor speaks to news 4. >> the tactic she says the casino i using to delay the

process. and on "ellen," claire foy stops by. you can catch "ellen" today at 3:00 on nbc 4. and stick around for news 4 at

you're watching news 4 today. >> this morning, new details about the lawsuit filed by the

family of zanae green. she was shock after couching an outdoor handrail. her fily has filed a lauwsuit against mgm. the family attorney says the company is using stall tactics.a >> the attornedown with tracee wilkins to talk about how selays are impacting them. >> this a tragedy that mgm is making worse and worse and worse. >>eporter: this attorney is representing zanae green's family in a suit against mgm h nationbor after t the-year-old was injureon the pati last summer. she was healthy and vibrant and can't speak or move now. >> she needs 24/7 care of nurses. she needs doctors and equipmentd because she h a trache tube, a feing tube, and this is

forever. >> reporter: 120 volts circumstan circulated through her body as she held one railing and prced eet on another. the railings were improperly installed. the family has filed suit. and thettorney says mgm is not responding to the lawsuit and stling at the family's expense. >> the mom was working three jobs. and now, she's not working at all because she spends so much time at the hospital >> reporter: on monday, the family fil an additional motion to move the case forward. in a statement, mgm said, w were disappointed that we were nnable to reach an agreement last november w the lawsuit was filed but continue to communicate with tir representatives to reach an amicable solution. he is hoping the same. >> everything is wrong about this. everything is wrong. and i hope and trust that they'll make it right. >> reporter: ts,cee wilk news 4.

>> a spokesperson with the prince george's department of permitting, tells us mgm is working on fixing problems found by inspectors. it is planning to meet with mgm weekly. mgm national harbor spokespeople say they are refitting the railings and removing somee of lectric components. it's now 4:26. coming up, an assault investigation widening after a woman in a coma gives birth. for the first time, police break their silence about who they are investigating. chuck? >> i thought we were going to get through january without cold days, it would be rtwrong. winds are blowing today. windchills in the teens to around 20. no b warm-up coming. more about today's chilly weather and those weekend snow chances, coming up. plus, that romaine lettuce recall. as you back your lunch this morning, we have. good ne

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news 4 s todayrts now. >> it's just about 4:30. we take a live lookde out on this thursday morning. it is 32 degrees outside of our s in northwest. that's not counting any wind. i ho your home is warm enough that you can't feel t winter temperatures. it is frigid out there. we have to get used to it becae it's the way it's going to be. it's winter. >> i'm eun yang. >> i'm chris lawrence. chuck bell is here with the o laten the forecast. we'll get to melissa for a check on the traffic. >> didn't janice have twoce we're about to look at the frowny fe for