>> news 4 today starts now. >> just about 4:30. we take ae look outside. we made it to friday. hooray. and for the first time this week, we are not getting ready for snow or ice, onhe horizon, just as the weekend starts. you know how they do us. on friday, all of a sudden, the rain comes in. >> seems like. >> good morning, everyone. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. let's get your fridayth started wi a look at your commute. first, though, to the forecast. mr. bell? >> yes. i'm worried. you guys have a high chance for rain coming in on your weekend. >> 's justsnow. >> i didn't realize that was the threshold. 44 in washington, with a light south wind. not too much of a windchill. you can see here, quite a bit of a.in across parts of central and southern virgini we're on the northern periphery

of theesain chaere this morning. most of the rain will stay in the southern halff the news 4 nation. all tloclouds. but higher rain chances towards waldorf, into parts of da. mary's city. planner for and the highest rain chance, also here in the front half of the day. most everybody should be rain-free for your friday evening plans. cloudy, chilly and damp. there's not much of rain on your tght plans. saturday will nehave backup plans for your outdoor activities saturday afterno and night. 70% chance of rain tomorrow afternoon, 100% chance ofrr rai to at dinner. >> something not so eat. westfields 28 at provide. we're partially shut down. we're on our way to show you what's going on.

all of the rain, 66, 95. outbound new york avenue, a pothole, that sounds like it'st ea at tires. southbound on 270, no problems. everything is cleared out of your way. had a report of the fuel spill. police are not responding to anything. we'll let you know if that changes. northbound on 270, looking good. beltway, inner loop, out of loop, no worries. >> thank you. d>> developing this morning, a woman is d after a violent crash in prince george's county. e entire end o the car was destroyed here. a car onrl ro spike on old crane highway slammed into another car. the male driver was rushed to the hospital. no word on what caused that crash. > this morning, a loudon county school principal is apologizing for a bisckry month lesson gone wrong. >> students were told to act out the undergrounailroad with

some designated as slaves. this happened at madison truste elry school. third, fourth and fifth graders gathered in the gym and were pth ugh an obstacle course. during the game, some students were told to act as runaway slaves and others as slave owners. after finding out what happened, ten families complained. the loudonnaacp chapter said this clearly shows a die yas bie school system. >> you never see public schools role playing anne frank or hitler or tim mcveigh. s you never that. only slaves and indentured servants. >> three teachers at the school crafted the activity with oversight from a school adnistrator. coming up a 5:00, we'll have the principal's response to the incident and what he plans to do going forward. happening now at the vatican, catholic leaders are ba t for day of the summit

on sex abuse. you're looking at live pictures of the meetings happening there. this is one of the american cainals part of the meetings here. the four-day summit has a theme for each day. yesterday was responsibility. today is accountability. po francis opened the meeting on thursday and asked the leaders there to listen to the cry ong the y seeking justice before several abuse survivors spoke. we'll have more on the summitro thhout the news on news 4 day. a vigil was held in a church at northwest d.c., forti vic of the church scandals. parishioners also prayed for church perform. some led the s group ing and prayer. at gred outside of the embassy. some sex abuse survivors say they are skeptical that any change will come from the four-day summit. they are asking pope francis to introduce sweepingefms. they want transparency, better

aporting and harsher penalties for abuse cover-ups. >> if you abuse a child, you are immediately turne over to law enforcement. if you cover-up the abuse of a child, you are turned over to law enforcement. it doesn't take fourays of prayers and discernment to understand that. >> theatican summit on sex abuse will conclude with another speech from pope francis and a prayer service on sunday. time for a check of the top stories this morning. no new charges for the coast guardfficer accused of plotting a massive terror attack. e fbi arrested christopher hasson after the coastuard foun suspicious internet searches on his work computer. he made posonline describing himself as a white nationalist and saying hets wo kill almost every last person o earth. right now, he is facing just gun and drug charges. "empire" star jussie smollett is out on bond after being charged with staging a

hateme cn himself. authorities say smollett was upset about his salary and wanted publicity. he claims he is the victim of attack. a judge placed a gag order on roger stone. the penal comes after stone posted a picture on instagram, showing the judge with a target next to her face. stone apologized for what he called his own stupidity. order, breaks the gag the judge will put him in jail. he is out on bond right now. he pled not guilty to multicharges handed down by special counsel robert mueller. a major construction project that could affect your commute in virginia. final phrase of the crystal drive two-way nversion. work will start at route 1 and 27th street. this include new traffic signals, street trees and upgrades to the crosswalk markings and ramp there's. expect crews there and the lane closures throughout the week. construction is scheduled to last until this fall. we're getting new details

into what amazon'sn arrival northern virginia will look like. the second headquarters will be spreadss acro three properties in arlington, deck nasignated t called national landing. 241 18thstreet,outh bell and crystal drive. the buildings will have similar characteristics as the seattle s headquar >> we're not your typical headquarter company or tech in that, we only build our inside food service to serve one-third of our employees. we can really push our employees out into tneighborhood, to support the small business community. >> sullin says the campuses are dog-friendly, bike-friendly and sustainable. she spoke at a public forum at george mason university's arlington campus. amazon is expected to generate 25,000 jobs over a 10-year period. and many of them are hihi-paying. >> i that was a part of the deal. they had to start at $150,000 or

something like tha big changes coming to the capital one arena. >> the homes of the caps and the wizards, is getting a makeover. it includes curved monitors, and newsi concesons. and for the first time, the arena will feature a sky ring splay with 9,000 feet of continuous video around the roof line. thargest and first of its find for an indoor american arena. the work willcatart when the and wizards seasons end and should be completed this fall. coming up, the red carpet is rolled out. and the oscars are almost here. what to know about this weekend's big show and why some are bracing for disaster. plus, scary surveillance showing a close call on a busy street. a windshield shattered when a woodenhream fellgh it. ryre on this story and the s behind it. join us at the university of the district of columbia student center for a job fair this

morning. it starts at 6:00.m. don't forget your resume. more details in

you know who that is, righ directed black panther. and kugler will produce "space jam 2." >> you saw lebron james in "train wreck." he did nice job. >> and he's an amazing basketball pyer. >> that's not necessary for a movie. >> that's why they picked michael jordan, right? hollywood's biggest nht is justays away. >> this year, there will be no host. instead, diffent presenters will hand out the awards in a hosty sort of way. >> a hosty sort of way? >> that's a word. >> oh, that. >> the last time the academy awards did this was in 1989.

any considered it the worst in severalyears. >> there's films tart fans exited about. "a star is bo," "black panser" and "black clansman." you can catch the 91st academy awards sunday night at 8:00. i haven't seen most o the movies. good ermorning, ody. wake-up weather on a friday. draindrops this morning. not going to be a washout. but car washing weather? not today. wait until sunday afternoon when the sunshine retur. thechb d ten-day outlook in ten minutes. set your r for the black history month special called "she thrives." it recognizes black women past and present who are breaking down barriers. you hav two chances to watch, tomorrow morning at 5:30 and nday a ic

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you're watching news 4 today. >>fallout from the mueller investigation. president trump's former lawyer and mfixer,ichael cohen, is preparing to tell all. meanwhile, we will not be hearing anything from former trump adviser, roger stone. >> news 4's tra je pottsns us live now. tracie, tell us what we could hear from cohen and why stone won't be talking anytime soon. >> reporter: sues. cohen isibed as the president's fixer. he was his attorney for a long time. a lot of people say he has all of the secrets behind questions about what was going on inside the trumpbusiness. and to some h degris campaign, as well.

his testimony put off several times. now, set publicly on wednesday, before the house oversight committee. he's doing private testimonybe nd closed doors with two other committees next week. roger stone, another trump associate, will not btalking, slapped with a gag order, after posting the picture of the judge in his case next to crosshairs. called into court by the judge. stonee says didn't realize they were crosshairs. but he apologized. the judge has given him a second chance. he is charged with witness tampers,bsuction and making false statements in the russia investigation. >> tracie potts, thank you. anger and frustration erupted when the virginia house of delegates failed to bring the equal rights amendment up for a vote. >> i defend my country. you shoul defend it.

>> the constitutional amen bent, woul discrimination based on genr. the e.r.a. passed in the senate but failed to make i out of the house. daphne portis cried as she left the building saying the passage is lon overdue. >> really thought they were going to pass this thing. really thought, wh all my heart. i mean, this is america. >> shall we go forward with an amendment that so radically ignores an entire segment of the female population, that is unborn girls. >> republican leaders say the passage of the e.r.a. could have unintended consequences and opeh door to broader access to abortion. supporte say they plan to elect new leaders in 2020 to make sure the constitutional amendment happens. >> speaking of the 2020 election, virginians could for

the first time have the to vote early. unlike d.c. and maryland, virginia doesn't all early voting. it only allows absentee voting, where voters need to show a reason why they can't vote election day. they just approved early voting with no explanation, one week prior toe lex da ralph northam signs that bill, it will take effect in 2020. maryland, you may have a thir option when i comes to declaring your sex on your driver's license. it allows you to list your sex, as "f" for female, "m" for male or "x" for unspecified. it prevents people from being denied because the of l applica sex doesn't the documents. the family of a murdered teacher will testify before the they are trying to get a bill named after their daughter and

unborn son. wallin's father is joining with justin reedy to push for laura and reid's bill. it would allow prosecutors file murder charges again someone who is eight weeks thpregnant. bill could jeopardize abortion laws. >> it's clear in the bill this does not affect medical or abortive procedures. >> she would be very proud. fshe is proud us already, for what we're doing. >> in's boyfriend, who was the weather of her baby was charged in her murder. he killed himself in jail. 4:49 right now.so johnson & jo is under new scrutiny over its iconic product. men claiming in a wsuit, the baby powder caused cancer. and the company knew about it. for decades. th company denied its products contained asbestos. but a few months ago, an

internal document surfaced apparently showing the ctspany knew powders tested positive for small amounts of asbestos. now, 13,000 people have sued. johnson & johnson says it stands behe safety of its talc powder and is cooperating with a new investigation. marijuana parties are popping up all over the district. and d.c. police are cracking down on what they call a clear violation of the marijuana law. bu news team 4 investigation tracked hundreds of the arrests and found ty are rarely leading to convictions. >> some are asking whether those police raids are just wasted resources. >> reporter: it's illegal to buy and sell marijuana in the district. but you are allowed to grow it, use it and give small amounts to others. that's created an entire industry in what some call a gray area of the law. the i-team went undercover at pop-up parties.

you can find them every nht of e week in every corner of the district. and some will tell you they are not selling pot. from stickers to socks for sale, the pot comes along as a gift fting pot with the sale of something else, is a crime. >> our goal is to make aests when people break the law. that's what we've done. >> reporter: the i-team tracked down hundreds of arrest reports and case files for two dozen pop-up and shops that police raided. officers arrested those doing the selling. out of 255 people charged, the i-team found 3 went trial. prosecutors say they support the poli efforts but there's a higher legal standard for prosecution. >> marijuanarosecutions in the city have always been very lenient. you know, a lot of them -- they don't pursue a lot of them. >>eporter: tonight on news 4 oi 5:00, we asked the police chief what's the of continuing to make all those arrests? plus, proposed changes to the law that could put a stop to all

of this. a lot of people are saying nike just blew it. the company's shoe exploded and sidelined one of the best college basketball players in the country. duke star zion williamson is day-to-day with a knee strain. he wasnj iured wednesday during a huge game against unc. nike released a statement saying ished zion well. it called the blowout an isolated occurrence and says it is working to identify the issu >> i mean, he made one sudden move and the whole -- just blew right through his shoe. >> of all of the shoes to have all of the problems at any point in time, that was tough. >> so many possibilities about happened.y that >> i have never seen anything like it, watching basketball. all right, chubell. >> yes? >> a nice warsnup after the ow. >> bonus material yesterday afternasn. the forect was were 56 and sunshine. we made 60. >> nice. >> yesterday outernoon.

ife going to bust it, bust it in the right direction and let everybody be happier wath hey've got. 44 in washington. it'soi g to be a cooler day today, courtesy of a l of oud cover. not a total washout of a day. but rain chances are a loter hioday than they were yesterday. you can see the big push of moisture a coming the way out of the gulf coast. pointed straight into the commonwealth now. this is going to continue, or primarily,he southern half of the area. rain a heady taper ered off near the pennsylvania border. there's rain drops o southern side of the city, toward the southern neck. that's where the rain chances are. if it's raining outside of your house now, you're in the favored zone to get more rain, off and on, through the next couple of hours. future weather hints this will be drying up a little bit by later on in the morning. notice how it keeps the rain out of northern maryland and eastern west virnia for most of the day. off and on periods of light rain rough the first part of the

day. everyone should get a drying trend later on in the afternoon. and most of your evening plans will be rain-free. temperature-wise, upper 30s to 40s ihe area. we'll stay in the 40s all day today. cloudy and chilly and damp around. for tomorrow, we'll start off cold in the mid-30s with clouds around. increasinghances, with time as we go through the course of the day tomorrow. future weather, a.00 , cloudy but not a lot of rain. by noontime, 2:00 rain moving in steady. the rain will be late tomorrow afternoon and evening, up to the first part of sunday morning. we should be dry by sunday afternoon. mainly because it's going to get windy around here. southwest winn sunday could gust near 40 miles per hour. but that will push temperatures in theid to upper 60s. gusty northwest wind on monday brings us back to typical february temperatures. we're keeping alose eye on next wednesday for maybe a little rain/snow chance. that doesn a look like big threat yet.

>> good to know. thank you, chuck. centreville, southbound 28, westfields boulevard. a seriouscrash. investigation under way. nicole jacobs will have a live us.ort for silver spring, inner loop before georgia avenue. left side is blocked by an acedent there. est of the beltway looks okay. southboundin 9aryland before 216. we have a crash with two lanesk bl that camera is showing you. in northeast, two situations. outbound new york avenue after bladensburg road. a large pothole. and south dakota avenue, at bladensburg road, crash with traffic stoppe new video is bringing awareness to the state of new york city's subway infrastructure. look here. a beam from an elevated platform fell on to a passing thcar. happened in queens. that beam crashed through the windshield, and barely the driver there. this is what it looked like from

the ground. you see the beam went through the windshield. the mta said the wood appeared to be from a platform that' u beer the tracks for years. ople say it's about time someone paid attention to the infrastructure >> it's a sad thing. is this the w to callheir attention to fix it properly? >> new york city transit workers removed several other pieces of wood after that freak >> the mta promised to have all elevator elevated line of stes. >> freak accident. here is something that will rattle your tas buds. > taco bell, rolling out a new spicy dish nationwide. look. it's called steak rattlesnake fries. >> let me see this thing. >> a combination of seasoned fries, nacho cheese, marinated

steak, creamy ajalapeno sauce ad jalapeno >> i'll tryit. i think it would be better tortilla chips. >> run f the bathroom? oh, run for the border. i got it. understood. still ahead, a local elementary school learns ale on of its own after a black history month exercise that made a lot of people angry. >> we'll explain what was done and how the school responded. plus, thisweek, we've been showing you how to tackle clutter. have we met our match? jim hanley lets us put a popular cleaning method to the test in his newsroom

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>>news 4 today starts now. >> and we start with a live look outside on this friday morning. relatively warm start this day. almost hard to believe, 48 hours ago, snow was falling around here. evidence of that snow, kind of hard to find, right now, if you look around. most of it>>s melted away. t was near 60 degrees. >> it felt great.'m >>aron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. things may be warming up but don't pack that picnic basket. rain.f us are seeing i thought we weren't going to have rain. we're not going to have snow i was getting optimistic. now, i know, i was paying closer attention. i have 100% chance on rain for saturday since wednesday. >> i kn