embroiled i scandal. he will join us in the next half hour with the latest. we want to beginith a check on the commute and the forecast. let's begin with chuck bell >> it will be drizzling in the hizzy today. nothing is strong enough to bring u rain o clear us out. we'll in the middle of things today. highest chances of rain will be on theouth side of the area. the coolest temperatures will be to the north. a lot o stuff going on but it adds up to nothing outside. cloudy skies everywhere. and periods of mist, light rain or drizzle possible th highest chances of having rain or drizzle will be in the eouthern half, where temperatures couldlose to 60 today. northern maryland, stuck in a lot of clouds, may not have much of a rain chance but may not get above 50 degrees.

we'll call it 55today. clouds and drizzle, not too terribly told or warm. meh is the weather word for today. >> sounds inner loop and outer loop of the beltway, no problems right now. weoom in just a little bit here. arlington northbound 395 after washington boulevard, a work zone is blockinge the right l there. coming back out, prince george's county, no problems. live look, 270 middlebrook ro. centreville here, 66 east of 28, no issues there. >>ha you. from bad to worse, the commonwealth of virginia has gone from dealing with controversy to full-fledged crisis. what hpens now, anybody's guess. >> ralph northamas denied he's

in a racist medical school yearbook photo but admitted tola putting onck face at a school party. >> his deputy governor is being accused of sexual assault. n> and the naacp is calling on mark herring res after news that he was in black face in college. uise lucas was visibly distraught as reporters tried to get her to commentn o what she just lehened. inside t halls of the statehouse, more confusion. >> a difficult situation. i'm trying to figure out the facts. i'm not calling for anyby's resignation. i don't plan to. i'm asking people not to rush to

judgment. >> he issued reads, in part, the shame of that moment has haunted me for decades and though the lo dire of it pains me. i'm not feeling theay be, and the shock that virginians of oolor may be feeling. this conduct is way reflective of the man i've become in the 40 years since. the allegations of sexual assault made against justin fairfax are graphic a emotional. dr. vanessa tyson is a college ofessor and says she is a proud democrat. yesterday, she released in aphic detailhat she says occurred in 2004. she says a kiss led to the assault. she added that she thinks that fairfax is trying to brand her as a liar. she said, in part, i cannot believe, given my obvious distre, that mr. fairfax thought his forced sexual act nsensual. to be very clear, i did not want

to engage in oral sex with mr. fairfax and i never gave any form of consent. and fairfax released a statement that said, i take this situation veryon seriously andnue to believe that dr. tyson should be treated with respect. but cannot agree to events that i know is not true. as for ralph northam, his situation hit "the washington post." ralph northam must go. in the kacase of mr. northam, wt was done cannot be undone. last friday, he initially said it was him in the photo. backtracked the next day and admitted to dressing in b face at another time. the piece says the backlash on this is not only on northam but the entire state. it calls the damage irreversd

ys his regulsignation is the only way to recover from the mattsi. the c is far from over. beginning in our next half hour, aaronoiilchrist will us live from richmond with all of the latest developments. d you canead more and see reaction from lawmakers online in the nbc washington app and on nbcwashington.com. >> right now, the are very few signs that progress is being made to preventnother government shutdown. >> here's what you can do. tax experts urge you to file your taxes before next friday you are counting on getting a refund. that's when funding runsde out r the l government. the president gave no assurances it won't happen in his state of the union address. in fact, local congressional lawmakers told us, they arene concerd that the president made no ref reerence to theo wos ere furloughed. >> i didn't hear reference to

federal gesernment emplor contractors who suffered through the longest shutdown in histo due to president trump. >> you would never know that 800,000 federal workers and an equal number of contractoy ems were furloughed for 35 days, losing two paychecks. >> he can't say anything good aboutederalorkers unless he lies to them. >> rublicans do not appear to have an appetite for shutting down the government again. the deadlne for a agreement on border security is next friday. happening today, the president's nomin for attorney .eneral may take a step closer to being confirm the senate judiciary committee will vote on the nomination of william bo william barr. democrats are accusing barr because he said heou release all of robert mueller's report. theommittee is expected to approve barr's nomination and will go to the full senate for

its consideration. a principal has been placed on leave following an altercation with a student. it the school says the principal was asked to find a 17-year-old who had just left aclassroom. a school resource officer saw the teen assault brown several times. that officer intervened and sprayed the studenth w pepper spray. prince geicge's county p are now investigating. d.c. police are avestigating a deadly hit-and-run cra a murder. witnesses say the suspect kept pace with olaya as he walked in the lajoie park neighborhood tuesda night. the men exchanged insults and threats when olaya crossed the street. his ancle had hard time putting the family's grief into words.

>> yeah. it e it's -- without anat exaggn, it's literally just killing us right now. >>olice found the car connected to the hit-and-run. no word if the police have arrested the driver. now, to an update of the brazen shooting in broad daylight on monday. it happened at the busiest bus stop in southeast. a 30-year-old openedire at the bus stop, hitting four men. they first thought a little girl was injured by shattered gss but now say she was also shot. all of the victims are expected prosecutors in the district will taking a new approach to tackling cas of gun violence. they're being moved to federal coort. the m made the announcement on wednesday, along with the police chief andhe.s. attorney for d.c. the move is a response to the city's rising murder rate. felons caughith guns will be

sent to federal court rather than superior court. as many as 0as300 cases could f under this approach to gun violence. the change means there are more investig to look into the case. >> to find out where the firearms are coming from, how they're being used and what we can do toprevent further violence. >> critics say this announcement harkins back to the tough talk on crime rhetoric. and that harsher sente es do not work. there's concernhat the shift will overload the public defender's office, that has many more workers to handle cases in superior court than in federal court. breaking news. majorlooding in australia. meagan fitzgerald is at the live desk with new video. >> the video is unbelievable. take a look. you're going to see massive flooding in townsville, greensland, australia. home there's are now completely

uninhabitable. we found this picture in the national archives showing the 2006 federal triale flash flood. you remember how many damage 9 inches received in two days. it gives you an idea ofuc how damage prolonged flooding can cause. back to you. >> thank you so much, meagan. happening toda ivanka trump will unveil a new effort to help women in low and middle income nations. the president previewed the women's global initiative as union the state of the address. >> as part of our commitment to improve community for women everywhere, we are launching the first government-wide initiative focused onomen in developing countries. >> it will provide job naaining, ial help and legal aid to femalehe entrepreneurs in developing world. melania trump will speak at

theational harbor. it's part of the community of anti-drug coalitions of america leadership form. the event starts at noon. 4:11 now. lawmakers in virginia are sure that drivers are always paying attention to the road and not on a phone. the senate and house passed separate measures to ban the use of devices while driving unless it's in hands-free mode. current law bars reading or typing while driving. the new legislation would ban calls and interactions. drivers would face a fine. d.c. and maryland have bands on hand-held devices while driving. you could find up with a $100 penalty. it prohibits writing, send organize reading. fi fines start at $75 and go up to

$135. more changes for the wizards roster. the team announced they are to the otto porter chicago bulls. in exchange, the wizards will be getting jabari parker and porter. porter is averaging 12 points this season. the wizards visithe bulls on the road saturday. and he's tothe only big trade for d.c. m markieorris is heading down to the pelicans. the wizards will be giving up ad second-roundft pick. >> some of the changes are coming at a surprise.h now, w john wall, who knows where he's coming back. people are saying the team needs to start over and rebuild the team. >> it's a domino effect. okay. we are drinking lots. >> cheers. cheers. >> coffee this morning. we had a late night lt night. it was the tenth annual news bash. we couldn't miss out, right?

>> take a look. et, and, melissa mo myself and a few others here at news 4, includi david culver and jim hanly came. the event raised money for women battling breast cancer. it's the capitol breast care center, the ccbc. they do amazing work to get women the treatment they need. this year's special guest, dr. jill biden, the former lady.d she has been an advocate to help omen fight this disease. with earlydetection, it is beatable. >> yeah. nota great message abo only helping women in the fight, but some of the things that are connected to it. like transportation to treatment. very important. >> and it was great to be a amongs of everybody. have you been cited for speeding in maryland? youay have a good argument against that ticket. plus, an app popular for providing direction, now under

fire by law enforcement. we'll tell you why when we come back. a couple of rain drops across southern maryland and tht rn neck here. not expecting a lot of rain today. if you have an umbrella or a if you have an umbrella or a little hair net to be safe.

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you're watching news 4 today. the popular ng, traffic app waze is underfire, for giving away information that police do not want drivers want to know. police are asking the app delete a feature to postf locations speed traps. officers say that helps

intoxicated drivers from speed traps. if you've ever received a speed camera ticket in one of the work zones in maryland, you may want to challenge it. >> lawmakers are pointing out major issuewith that program. >> reporter: in a flash, a new report detailing inconsistencies peed maryland's work zone camera program. >> that's not good. no. that kind of annoys me. >> reporter:ca speciy a report from the state office of legislative audits, showing that for most of 2017, the maryland state highway administration, did n monitor the safe zone vendor. according to the report, there were 18 work zone cameras like this one during the time that the audit was performed. but ten of the sites did not have the proper ainspections.

dealing with speed cameras is a sensitive topic. >> reporter: he led this audit, which showed there was a lack of documentation showing that requirements wereeing met. like a trained operator with the cameras and road sigge showing that dcameras were in use. >> if drivers felt like they faulty tickets, they can challenge. >> reporter: after some drivers who have received speed camera tickets, this is all the more reason to question them. would youic challenge a sunset. >> yeah, i have. >> reporter: did you win? >> yep. >> reporter: you won? >> a couple times. >> reporter: if you don't want a speed camera ticket, don't speed. along the beltway,tu adam , news 4. if it were only that easy, right? we put the pufull report online. search speed camera in the nbc washington app. chuck bell joins us with more on ourforecast. we had a little rain.

it wasn't too bad yesterday, chuck. a dd not bad day to be outside. it up to only 0.03 inches ce rain. it was a high chf rain but it wasn't expected to add up to much. today, the same story. a lot of clouds. precious little in the way of sunshine but not a washout, either. mperatures for this morning are actually mild by this time year. but there's a big temperature range expected today.0 nearown to our south. barely 50 up near the pennsylvia border. temperatures right now, 43 in frederic50 maryland. n fredericksburg. 54 in charlottesville. the warmer a is just down to our south. it may start to lift northth of sun goes down today. temperatures may rise a bit during the overnight hours tonight. for today, plan on clouds and the best chae for drizzle and light rain is in the morning

hours. i couldn't rule out a drizzle chance. temperatures moving into the mid-50s and staying in the 50s overnight. ifou're traveling today, watch out toward chicago and st. louis. this is an ice storm across parts of northeast oklahoma, from tulsa to ft. smith, arkansas. for us, you can see mt of the moisture is down to our south. there is enough moisture a little chance of a shower or two around here. you can see on future fathweath it's mostly about the clouds and theh relatively h temperatures. our average high is 45. 55 today. near-60 by early tomorrow morning, or afternoon. temperatures fall into the 30s tomorrow eveng with a strong northwest wind. breezy and sunny and chilly on saturday. staying cold on sunday, as well. keeping an eye on monday, a little chance for a rain/snow combination still exists. at least the weekend will be unimpeded by precipitation. >> i like that. thank you, chuck bell. looking at the beltway,

outer loop, has some debris in the roadway. blocking twoight lanes. hopefully that get out of the way. arlington, after washington boulevard, work zone blocks one right lane there. 66 loobo okay. but wed at the manassas rest area, has that blocked at that work zone. 95, northbound and southbound, no pblems. montgomery village, our hillshire farm craftsmen-r start the day slsting turkey for incredible flavor. then, they double seal every slice for freshness. the results,th well speak for themselves.

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you're watching news 4 today. >> the 21st century has brought about a competitive job market, the likes we have never seen before. >> this morning, news 4's justin finch explains what you should expect while you're on the job hu and how to stay positiv >> reporter: no doubt, the 21st century job market is full of ups and downs. >> if you're in a situation where you fl relatively safe or secure, you never know when there's going to be another urlough or downsizing or companies lose contracts. >> reporter: if you're on the fence of making a change, he advises his career-hunting clients to decide what they're after, a career or a job. >> you hate your boss. you hate your job. you're doing it for the paycheb.. that's a >> reporter: a career is a passion, motivation for you to put yourself out there and commit to your career search. and you'll have to be

persistent. what can you expect your routine to look like day-to-day as you try to find that new opportunity? >> if you're not working, the standard.ll be you get up and you hit the job boards online. if you're open to calling and you know people to call, you give them a ring. >> reporter: if you are currently working, drew says you may have to apply to as many as ten open positions daily. there's no guarantee you'll get responses. and when you do, theyay not be what you want to hear. >> there's going to be a fair amount of rejection, most likely. you have to have the resolve, the attitude, to keep moving forward to not hear anything back. >> stay positiv and still follow up. don't get discouraged. but do include building relationships with recruiters, h.r. managers and others who can put you in a company pipeline or maybe into a new position. >> you may not get what you think you want. but sometimes, that extra e-mail will get what you want. based on this stillset or based

on that conversation, i like you. >> reporter: a career that could launch a wholept new c of your life. justin finch, news 4. coming up, expandi exercise at school. the new bill that could get your kids moving more. it could come at the cost of learning. details on that ahead at 4:30. here's the good news about to y. it won't bne-chilling cold. there's plenty of clouds around, not much sunshine, and we're stk in the 40s. but it's not bitter cold. tomorrow, even milder. more about that coming up. plus, more o ourop story. crisis in the commonwealth, scdal surroundinghe top three leaders. >> calls for each

news 4 today starts now. >> 4:29 on this thursday, february 7th. make sure you gra that umbrella before you head out the door. ittl will be a ldrizzly in

some points. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm molette green, in for aaron thig. morn virginia is being talked about all over the country this morning. >> its top three elected officialsinre all f calls to resign for separate scandals, dating back decades. we'll get to the allegations against each o them in a moment. first, a look at the forecast and the roads, we start with chuck bell, bteore we in with melissa mollet and the traffiuc check. how rain are we talking here? >> not much. not much in a rain threat. we're caught in the middle ound here. not a strong enough system to bring us rain or clear our skies. we'll i call light drizzle for today. turning windy and col tomorrow afternoon and evening. it will be cold and dry as we head into the weekend. storm team 4 radar shows p