weell you about this. nest. >> announcer: "news 4 today" starts now. first, though, we'll have request and dedaaation from n -- no. we'll wake up to more cold weather. it's 6:00 a.m. and it is only 23 degrees outside of our studios in northwest washington. probably feelsolder in some places. and your wednesdet not gting much warmer than this. sorry. >> yesterday's temperatures were just the beginning, folks. it will be even col today. that means you'll nd even more layers to try to stay wm if you're outside. that's when you wrap the scarf all the way up to your eyes trying to stay warm. >> and you're still co. >> right. 6:00 a.m. now. good morning, everybody i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. melissa mollet has a look at the wednesday morning commute. first we have to check forecast with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell and forecast that feels more like january. >> sure does. i bould sayy it's cold outside but in the metoo movement i don't want to get i dot slippery slope.

skies are clear outside this morning. a beautiful golden glow there to the eastern sky. don't let that pretty picture fool yo is cold this morning. 20 now at dulles airport, 18 in winchester, 17 in gaithers 21 in prince george's county and the wind is blowing too. wind chills are hovering between 5 and 1 degre midwinter cold for sure on a march morning. here islaourer then for today. it will be bright and sunny all day. it will als stay windy and cold all day. afternoon temperatures today just a few hours above about 30 to 32 degrees. that's it. and another real cold start coming up tomorrow morning. melissa mollet, good morning to you. >> good chilly morning to you, chuck bell. 3unt rainer southbound route 1 atth street, everybody getting left to get by the water main break. they're obvkusly hard at w on this. no word on when things might be cleared out of the way if y heading into northeast going

down rhode island avenue could be a problem for you. southeast inbound at sterling ve a crash there. laurel southbound 29 after johns hopkins road, two right lanes blocked by that crash. initlly we weren't seeing any lane closures now w are. 70 to the spur 48 miles per hour going to take you 37 minutes. eun? >> melissa, thank you. your time is 6:02. we begin with yet another ng lesson schoo during black history month. a white principal admitted using th n word durin a black history month assembly. >> this of course comes less than two weeks after a student at a loudon county school were instructed to be slaves during an activity. news 4 justin finch is live outside new hope academy with more on this latest situation. justin, good morning. >> reporter: aaron, eun, good morning. for a lot ofts par they say this is just an easy call to make. you don't use the nor in front of children at school period.

but now the principal at the center of this all wants the public and for parents toea her side. principal joy morrow who is white says last week during their blackon history celebration they had a cancellation last minute so she stepped up to speak, sharing more than two decades old talk about how dr. king influenced her own life growing up. she grew up in iowa, she says during the 1970s in a very racially charged time. ae says before she got into using the n wor using that talk that she did warn students about the intimate levels of their conversation. >> there's a lotf ways to get your point across without using the actual word. i thinkhat saying the n word would have suffice as opposed to ying the word. and she invited you know a lot of potential trauma for kids th are goingome and having these difficult discussions with r parents. >> reporter: principal morrow did speak off camera with new and offered the apology you're seeing here in part saying i've

apologized. i look at it and think i could have handled that differently. my appro hh may note been the best, but i am a passionate educator. maybe my wor were ill chosen and i own that. but please do not miss what was trying to say. we do have her full statement on our nbc washington app and our website, but parents are saying, too, that maybe it's just time for new leadership and for principal morrow to step down. we're live here in hyattsville, i'm justin finch, news 4, back into you. >> justi thank you. a montgomery county elementary schoolteacher has been arreste for possession of child pornography. damon taught physical education at ashburton elementary school in thesda. police say the investigation does not appear to involve any picturesf students. the news 4 i-team reports he is a 28-year vf erane school district. he has been on leave from the school since january. developing this morning in northeast washington, police are trying to track down a driver

who h a man and took off. this all happened near the intersection of rhode island avenue andee franklin str northeast. it was just after 9 last night. the road was closed investigate but it's open now this morning. we expect to get an update on the victim'sondition later today. lawmakers in montgomery county are pushing to make drastic changes to how police-involved shootings are investigated. that stems from this shootingst year. an officer shot and killed robert white outside aon in silver spring. the officerhought white was armed, he was not. the death investigation was turned over to howard county prosecutors for impartiality. now county council members are proposing a law that require ese investigations be handed over to another law enforcement agency and unaffected prosecutors. council members say that move would increase impartiality. c thenty police chief says the plan might be hard to put into practice > so i'm not opposed to an impartial outside investigation. what i can't have is the chief

of police in this county is response time that leaves a victim, a body, in the street for hours waiting for someone from another jurisdiction to get there. >> in a few weeks the law enforcement trust and transparency act will be on the agenda for the public safety odmmittee. happening tay on capitol hill, another round the president's former personal attorney michael cohen will testify before congress for the fourth time in a week. but you won't be able to see it. the meeting with the house intelligence committee will happen behind closed doors. cohen is set to start serving a three-year prison sentence in may for several charges including lying to congress. well this time last week the nuclear summit with president trump and jong-un was falling apart. nbc news reports north kor is rebuilding a long range rocket site. a washington think tank released hese pictures following their full report lastweek. one of the authors of the report says it appears the north isin

prepg to build a nuclear intercontinental ballisticss e. these pictures were reportedly taken just two days after the summit talks broke down. 6:07 right now. we're learning new details following the deadly t tnados that cough eastern alabama over the weekend. the local coroner says 7 of the 23 victims who died are from the same family. the victims were wean the ages of 6 and 89 years old. this morning, a handful of people are still unaccounted for. president trump is scheduled to visit southeast alabama on friday. d.c. publicoo s officially has a new chancellorn his nominatas approved yesterday by the d.c. council. he comes to the distrt from dianapolis where he served as school superintendent. he also wsked chief of staff for durham schools and holds a mastersngrom george wasn university in d.c. he is the third chancellor u mayor muriel bowser.

be extra careful on the parkway this morning. plans to repair the many potholes on the parkway were postponed. turns out the equipment that was e.needed br the national park service tells us it's not sure when those repairs will be rescheduled. we'll try to keep you updated, though. 6:08 now. a new code phrase is floating around bars in arlington county. three simple word, ask for angela. >> so thi ais part of effort to keep people safe and prevent sexual assault. here is how it works. if a partner or a stranger, a date is making you feel uncomfortable or threatened, go to the bar and say, hey, is angela here tonight. the staff will pull you aside and ask wh youneed. >> discreet way of just letting the bartender know or the waitress know that something is not right. >> bar staff members all aroun arlington are training with arlington police on how toto respond to crs in need for complete list of bars that participate in the ask for angela program,ead to the nbc

washington app. well, it's almost spring which means we are just weeks awayrom the national cherry blossom festival. later this morning,wi organizer tell us when they think the cherry blossoms will r bloom 70% of the blossoms are open. this year's festivaln opens march 20th, the first official day of spring. todayhrtians around the world will observe ash wednesday, which marks the beginning of lent. one alexandria church is making it easy for busyworshippers. the alfred street baptist church is offering ashes to go right now. drive by and receive your ashes until 7:00 a.m. a then noon to 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. ashes to go will be given in front of the church at the corner of duke and slfthd streets. ash wednesday's arrival means mardisras celebrati are officially over. you can see the crews here in the live picture trying to do some othe removal of the trash from new orleans early this morning, but some of the scars

from the celebration wever go away. it's going to take a few days to clean up a the trash afthe parties there. new orleans city fishes say that during last year's carnival season 1,200 tons of litterco we ected. >> to put that in perspective that's about 480 full size trucks. it's estimated about 25 million pounds -- people are still walking down the street >> where ahey going at 5:00 in the morning. >> 25 million pounds of beads will have been tossed during the weeks of celebrations leading ua to yest what happens to all those beads? >> they go in the trash eventually, right? 6:10. coming up new details act iv amazon's aal in arlington. when and whe you can feehe impact of this tech giant in our backyard. chuck? eooh, thosee walking home from mardi gras. can you imagine the 6:00 a.m. nlk of shame new orleans? oh, by the way, it's freezing cold down there as well all those people wearing shorts. i'm sure they don'the feel cold. for the weekend around here, saturday will be the dry half. eunday will be the mild half but

it will also raining. complete check of the chill outside the door on your wednesday morning coming right up. ay>> right over the top, >> reporter: all right. i'm checking out a technical boxing class is any get fit for spring campaign continues. l got a ful class with me this morning. t we'lk to the coach coming up n

>> announcer: you're watching "news 4 today." talk about a trafficsa er. look at this. slippery roads may have caused more than 90 cars to pile up on a busy highway in ohio. very hectic scene there. wd. aspoli say one n carot spun too contron o the icy roadway yesterday setting off a chain reaction. dozens of cars were crushed.

goodness, alloh my ta damage. several people were rushed to the hospital. all of them are expected to be okay. wow. w learning more about a suspected case of measles in maryland afterit anal testing health officials in saint mary's county found the patient does not have the virus. the results came back negative. be because measles can highly contagious, the health department had issued a warning and opened a hot line. that hot line has since been deactivated. the young man who publicly challenged his mother's view on vaccination tookr stage here in washington. he wasn't vaccinated as a child but as soon as heurned 18 he did it himself. he spoke before congress taking on the anti-vaxors and social media yesterday. he told congress sites like facebook are to blame forad spg misinformation about vaccine safety. >> for my mother her love, affection and care as a parent agenda too push an create a false distress and these sources which spread hemisinformation should be primary concern of the american

people. 17 states allowci v exemptions because of personal beliefs. he says his younger sibles are still not vaccinated. an important recall for women who take birth control pill. e food and dru administration says birth control pills made by apatex corporation may not be c arrangrectly in the packages. you might take a pilplacebo instead of the hormone pill. if you're unsure whi company makes your birth control pills, it's important to call your local pharmacy to find out. we've posted more details on the recall in the nbc washington app search birth control. firefighters battle anin eay mo fire at a church in grand view, west virginia, on sunday. and what firefighters found inde that destroyed church is leaving a lot of people asking is it a miracle. ke a look. the cole city fire department posted these pictures on facebook. they say not a single bible was burned and not a single cross was armed by the fire.

the department's post said the fire was so hot at one pointrs firefighad to back out. no word on exactly what caused the fire, k but ww what saved the bibles. how about that. >> amen. >> look at god. >> it is 6:16 right now. time to take your fitss journey to the next level. >> molette green is hitting the bag at a new boxin gym in northeast washington. all right, molette, how's it going? >> reporter: as you can see, i have myds h wrapped. i'm ready to put my gloves on. this is the technical boxing class here in noma. a lot of these folks in the class are part of a 90-dayo challengeet fit, so why not come here as part of my get fit for spring campaign andjourney. all right. i'm going to bring over the coach. coach may come over here and talk really quickly. i know we warmed up a little bit. we've done a little foot work and all of that. this is a total body work outin

this class, right? >> yes. for any level. it doesn't matter how old or young you are, what level you have, everybody starts somewhere, but it's designed that we can take all levels. you'll get a good full bod workout. >> i love it. soe've started the pardon warmu process and then we make our way to the bags. everybody thinks you jump into thebags. >> that's a common mistake. everybody thinks you slap on the gloves and start wailing away at punches. it's very important to warm up with other exercises and go through all the points of professional boxer's regimen. we work on the abs the foot work, hand placemen then a the end when the shoulds are all warm and you got the technique down, that'se whe get to really bang on the bag. >> what are we seeing right here. what are they doing? >> she's working on foot work and keeping his balance. he's doing slips a rolls. own your knock comfort zone motto in this class, right? >> i love it, too.

>> you want people to let it go. >> let it go. because a of times you know you have stressful day or omething is going wrong i life, you come into a place like this, you actually forget about it. >> i love it. >> you forget about it. >> i can't wait to get to the bags. oh my goodness, tt will be s exciting. >> we'll have fun with ythat. >> tha so much, coach may. we'll also talk about how you can iorporate those fitness apps into your workout rou hne and you more accountable. we'll talk about that little hour.on in th i got to go back to my boxing. back to you now. >> your hands are wrapped. you're ready to go, molette. >> we'll see you in a bit. thanks. all right. 6:18 right now. chuck, where are we, 23 degrees. >> yeah. >> that's the number it says on the fscreen. eels worse than that. >> yeah. it's aery cold and windy start to the morning today. the good news is, we've been advertising this cold for a full week. >> yep. >> didn't sneak up on anybody. >> that's right.

>> aaron? >> that doesn't make it any easier. >> yeah. we've been atching this cold come and a lot of times we say this quite a bit the more usual the weather event, the farther above average or below average orr storm the bigger events are easier and easier to see at longer range now as forecasts modet better. this cold start this morning was advertised eight days ago on our ten-day forecast. very cold this morning. we're in the teens and low 20s. that's only half the story. the reason there aren't single numbers for temperatures is because the wind never laid down at all last night. it is still very blustery this morning. so wind chills are down near 5 in martinsburg now. incumberland, maryland. 6 in hagerstown. 14 in quantico and 11 the wind area. in the washington bus stop weather forecast plan on wind chills 5 and 15 degrees is morning. may want to look out the window and wait until you see the bus coming towards your street

before you run out to the bus stop. outdoor recess today, bundle up. keep runni the bases kids otherwise you'll be cold today. itluill be veryery for your afternoon. tomorrow, equally as cold in th. morn a little less wind and as a result will be back over 40 grees tomorrow. then we're keeping a close eye on friday because clouds comethn sday night and during the day on friday, it's mostly going to be cold rain drops along the population centers andi-95, but there could be a few wet snow flakes mixed in for northern maryland and shenandoah valley. dry on saturday but rain likely on your sunday. all in the-d fi forecast here you go. 35 at most today. and staying breezy. then tomorrow 42. cold, rain drops and wet snow flakes on friday and melissa mollet, we l alle an hour of sleep on saturday. >> taking a look in sterling, take a look at this overturned vehicle there almost in the median here northbound country

side boulevard chopper showing us at minor road. looks like everybody got out of this okay, b northbound is shut down. his is right near the entrance to country side elementary school. so again northbound lanes right now are closed. ncedbridge northbound 95 p william parkway has a crash. 66 looks okay. accident still hanging around southbound 29 in laurel after johns hopkins road two right lanes are blocked by that accint. no longeingle tracking on the red lines. more on this issue in sterling

>> announcer: you're watching "news 4 today." everyone can breathe big sigh of relief. liberty and justice are back er togeth. >> we knew this was going to happen, right? we hoped for it. >> yes. >> good to see. how about that? the earth conservation core folks on satday said t two love birds were seen mating for the first time since justice left the nest unexpect lid for 18 days. while justice wasgone, liberty sought out new suitors. liberty abandoned the two eggs that she laid before justice disappeared, so liberty'sfo winw new eggs this year has

likely closed. they can just spend some time with eachother. >> right. sh reconnect, get to improve their relation. >> they have next year to worry about the new rieggs, t? >> that's right. now look at this. >> i can't look at this. >> this is what showed up on the eagle cam last etnight. >> out of there. >> this raccoon doesn't belong in the nest. en no. >> appy he made a feast of gs, too. this is animals do what they do. >> ra cccoons are worse at it. >> aren't they called trash pandas. >> yes. so this would probably catch ur eye pretty quickly. just one row house between a tall one. this will get bigger and the rest will be the same size. >> this is what's happening on the street in northwest washington. news cory smi talked to neighbors about this controversial popup and the surprising law thatllows it. >> reporter: in a world full of row homes, one developer has decided to build a popup. itois not down well with

neighbors. in the 1200 block of kennedy street homeowners and passersby are taking notice of the extremd contrast a size and style between their hes andhis five-story behemoth. >> i prefer it to just be ala re you know, one family home. >> reporter: his neighbor deborah powell feels the same. >> i think it's really an injustice to the neighbors. it really is. who would approve something like this? >> reporter: the city did. we captured someone from the department of consumer and regulatory affairs on site this morning. the designs have been approved and reapproved and current zoning laws allowor the home to reach 50 feet into the air. >> this is really wrong. it's a bad decision. >> reporter: the developer sees things differently. for powell, it's a signal thahe whether s likes it or not this is a sign of the times. >> you think you're going to start seeing more of this? >>lu ably. that's just the beginning. >> reporter: we reached out to the depament of consumernd regulatory affairs about the complaints surrounding the construction to hear back.yet in northwest, cory smith, news 4. >> happening a whole lot of neighborhoods in d.c. still ahead on news 4, a

long serving councilman issues an apology over an e-mail that many of his colleagues said crossed the line. >> we'll tell you what it was about. a passenger cruise ship bound for florida, a strong wind gust rocked the boat to its sideg we're takin you on board for that wild moment. chuck? good morning, everybody.n ust about to ready to rise on a very cold wednesday morning. wind chills are down between 5 and 15 degrees. prepare to bundle up. forecast for forecast for t

forecast for t ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ in my johnsonville commcial, we open up in the forest. i'm out in the wild eating my breakfast. and all of a sudden, raccoon come up and asked me, "are those bigger patties?" i said, "yep." wolf comes in and says,

"wow, that's a lot sausage." and we had a good laugh about that. (laughing) and we had a good laugh about that. johnsonville breakfast sausage. fits on a biscuit.

>> announcer: "news 4 today" starts now. frigid, freezing,frosty, biting whatever you want to call it, maybe not outloud. we canll agree it is cold out there, 23 degrees outside of our studios in northwest washington. at least it looks ptty from inside. >> whatever that's worth from inside. >> i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. 6:30 right now. whatever item of clothing keeps you warmest, put it on this morning. keep it on. melissa mollet is standing by with a look our commute. let's start with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. >> after the sun went down

yesterday had a ltle re-enforcing shot of cold air arrive with a gusty northwest wind. that wind is still lying in wait outside this morning. so, layer up before you go out the door. a cold wind blowing this morning. it will be with us all day long. wind chills will stay in the teens for most of the day. very few spots will be a than a degree or two above the freezing mark later this afternoon. because the wind stayed up overnight, temperatures are relativelyniform in the upper teens to low and mid 20s. wind chills, though, a that's cold start. gaithersburg going out the door at 7 degrees for a windhi this morning. 5 in the panhandle of west virginia. 6 in winchester. 9 in southern maryland. dog walking forecast today, cute little tango, beautiful little pointy ears and short coat, he would appreciate a coat. temperatures in theow 20s. again it will be cold and breezy all day long. so probably going to need to shorten up the dog walks just a little bit but at least the sun will be shining, melissa.

always some good news. >> there's got to be some good news.uc thanks, in sterling country side boulevard at minor road, we are still shut down northbound. the vehicle was on its roof. they j flipped it over. seems like no injuries. we have a bunch of peo standing outside of the vehicle, so northbound country side shut down. that's right near country side elementary school. 95> northbound at prince william parkway we had the right side blocked. everything is now o theight shoulder. so it's looking little better there as you're trying to et for prince william parkway. southeast further sterling did jve a disabled vehicle. they say itt cleared out of the way with a tow. that should be clearing up prettyquickly. southbound johns hopkins road two right lanes blocked by that accident. eun? >> melissa, thank you. by now you heard amazon is coming to northern virginia. >> this morning we're getting a better idea how the retail giant

will develop the retail site. drew wilder has details on this deal with arlington county. drew, how is it gng to work? >> reporter: well, part of this incentive packe, aaron and eun includes arlingtonounty paying amazon a portion of its hotel ta revenue but amazon needs to meet certain benchmarks. here is how those will work. first will hit next july. amazon needs to occupy about 64,000 square feet by then and to give you an idea, that's about the siz of the white house. then, by july of 2021,man needs to grow more and occupy about quarter of a million square feet, which is the size of nearly four white houses. but, by 2034, theast year of incentive payments, amazon needs to take up more than5.5 million square feet. now, there is some criticism this deal because there aren't any specific requirements for amazon when it comes to hiring contractors or how much those

contractors should be paid. no atheless,ington county's board will vote on this plan coming up on march 16th. i reporting liv crystal city this morning, drew wilder, news 4. >> drew, thankyou. it's now 6:34. a bethesda man could spend time in jail for allegedly hanging white supremacist fliers. a student at the univeity of rochesters has been sited for posting fliers last fall. the fliers weren't hate speech says his lawyer, or crime, just a violation of town's code. he faces up to 15 days in jail. this morning, the mante conv of kidnapping and killing a 14-year-old girl in maryland is free. he walked out of prison yesterday. dna evidence lirmged him to the murder of nia owens back in 1996. assaulteden sexually and strangled. he was sentenced to 15 years but because of good behavior he was release before completing his sentence. the top prosecutor in princes

george county says she's disappointed but due to state law she could not prevent the early release. a montgomery county elementary schoolteacher has been arrested for possession of child pornography. he taught physical education at ashburton elementary school in bethes bethesda. it d s not appear to invol any pictures of students. he is a8 year veteran of the school district. he has been on leave since january. 6:35 now. you know the saying, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. >> that was clearly the motto for group of would be thieves in maryland. you're about to seeot one but two extremely stupid attempted robberies. take a loo here. here they are. backing a pickup truck into a 71 a few weeks ago. they were tryg to steal the atm. couldn't seem to get it into their dolly and pickup truck so they went a few miles away and tried again on new hampshire avenue, this timeems like they waited until they were

side the store to strategize. >> appears they couldn't get their act togethes far as how they wanted to pull off this theft and what they wanted to do. >> to make matters worse here, the would be thieves here the get away driver left them, took off. once they made it outside, these hapless three fell over a parking stump with the atm landing on top of them. understood wear and everything in the camera ot. oh my goodness. >> classy guys. they struggled to get to their itfeet a there. surely there was an argument, too. then they just ran off, but not without their dolly. came back for that because maybe they'll try again and we'll have more video like this. >> we hope they will just do something else. >> we can hope. 6:36. here is a look at the other top storie we're followinghis morning. president trump says on friday he will visit alabama to tour the areas hit by the deadly torntd the national weather service service it was an ef-4 tornado that tore acros the small town of say legal. 23 people were killed. the young6,t the oldest 89. a handful of people are still

missing. plans to repair potholes on the parkway yesterday had to be scrapped. the equipment needed to make the repairs was broken.ni this m the national park service says it's not sure when those repairs will be resched e rescheduled. health officials say a person w having measles tested negative for the virus. d the healtartment deactivated its hot line. the d.c. counsel till approved the nomination to be d.c. chancellor of schools. he comes from indianapolis wherd he ser as superintendent. he is the third chancellor under mayor. muriel bows happening today, michael cohen makes his return to capitol hill. >> this will be hisourth day of testimony before lawmakers but it will be behind closeddo s. you'll remember last week during public testimony michael cohen told lawmakers predent trump s a racist, a liar and a cheat. he even said the president broke the l h whilee was in office. that testimony ang with two days of closed door testimony led lawmakers to request cohen come back today. he will speak to the house

intelligence committee. h cohe been found guilty of lying to congress, so many lawmakers think he has a credibility problem, but cohen says all of his lying was done on behalf of president trump. the president denies all of the allegations cohen has made against him. still ahead this morning, it's one of the wo ld'sding conspiracy groups often accused of pushing dangerous theories. >> now they have a best seller on amazon and a lot of people want it removed. plus, our molest green is live in the community. she' hitting the punching bag. all right, molette. >> i have the speed bag going this is part of the get fit for spring campaign. i want you to try out boxin and coming up next, how you can

november 17th is national take a hike day. at a-a-r-p, we're all about hikes and other things to keep you healthy. it's why we offer health tips for your body, and your brain. today is your day to make fitness happen. and a-a-r-p is here to help you take on today.

welcome back. it's 6:40. amazon faces controversy over a

book tgt's climb its best seller list. >> this book pushes outlandish and dangerouse conspiracies s say. the dark web movement called qanon was once only available op frints of sbher net and now it's on amazon's best selling book list. the anonymously written book contains a compilation of unproven radical conspiracy theories such as claims that the governmentreated aids. the book currently averages five stars on amazon andamazon's algorithm seems to unintentionally reward that by shing the boop the best sellers list. >> one can publish anything and on thene hand that creates some amazing opportunities but it also means that some reallyt c stuff can get out there. powerful conspiracy theory, emotionally laden stuff is pretty irresistible to a huge swath of people and that's how a lot of the companies make money. >> amazon has not responded to nbc news request for comment and wouldn't give specifics on how the algorithm works or how much

it could get from sells. no here is your cnbc morning business report. goomorning. goog is taking some cues from instagram and pinterest. they're testing shopable ads within image searches. so, for example, tap a shopping tag button to see basic detailin as well as a to buy it. this only appliesed to spons ads. it is currently visible to al sm percentage of users. withc your c morning business report, i'm frank holland. 6:42. check in with chuck bell. >> four things to know about the next couple days. it's all about the cold for today, tomorrow and friday. friday is still watching a little chance for some rn and snow. we'll keep you posted o that. so far looks like a low impact event. i'll show you future weather and the ten day coming up. plus, cruise ship chaos. cameras were rolling when a gust of wind clocking in at more than 100 miles an hour hits the side of a passenger ship. stay wuts.

. >> ann: you're watching "news 4 today." your time is. 6: outrage at a prince georges county private school this morneg. parents upset after a white principal used the n word. s used the word three times during a black history month assembly. news 4ti j finch is outside new hope academy now with more on whatay parents areg about this. justin, good morning. >> reporter: aaron, eun, good morning. we now kw there will be a meeting on monday between those concerned parents and the principal here.ht and as you m imagine, a lot of those parents want more than

just an apolog there are some who say that principalorrow should just step down. principal joy morrow who is white did admit to using the n word during the black history month celebration last shweek. says that she was filling in for a keynote speaker who cancelled at the very last minute. so she stepped up and gave a speech she had not given d more than tades growing up in the 70s in iowa during a racist culture she says. she spoke with news 4 off camera and shared this apolo here reading in part, i've apologized. i look at it and i think i could have han that differently. my approach may not have been the best, but i am a passionate educator. maybe my words were ill chosen and i own that. what i se do not miss was trying to say. but again, that may not be enough for some parents. >> i think that it was a poor decision and then i think to follow it up with a statement that deflected the responsibility for the decision

that she made added insult t injury. >> reporter: parents saying their children came home not only confused but also asking some very tough questions about why their principal would use that word during a black history month event.an you read her full statement on our nbc washington app and on our website. live here in attsville, i'm justin finch, news 4. >> justin thank you. 6:47 now. in an explosive new witerview cbs this morning, r. kelly is fighting back. he's been charged with sexually abused underage girls. buthen asked about it, kelly angrily maintained his innocence. >> how stupi would it b for me to -- with my crazy past and what i've been through oh right now i think i need to be a monster and hold girls against their will, chain them up in my basement and don't let them eat and don't let them out unless they leave shoes down the street from their uncle. stop it. y'all quit playing. quit playing.

i didn't do this stuff. >> still talking about you -- >> kelly pleaded not guilty toh thees and is out on bail. michael bloomberg is one of ica's top businessmen and a former mayor of new york city, but one thing h is not a candidate for president, at least for 2020 any way. bloomberg announced late yesterday he will not run but says he will work to elect a democrat. >> that news may come as a relief to fello new yorker and current occupant of the white house president trump. he's alreadyeang with several house democrat investigations and the fallout from thatled nuclear summit with north korean leader kim jong-un. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house now to explain more. >> reporter: good morning to you. coming up on "today" the latest on north korea a still growing challenge for the president after the second summit with kim jong-un ended abruptly.to john b insisting it wasn't a failure and said there would be more talks, now more evidence that north korea may be bolsm.ring its nuclear prog it comes, of course, as the

white house is dealing with another hurdle thatew investigation by democrats who requested documents from 81 people and groups close to the president. today mr. trumpalling it presidential harassment, saying dpms are, quote, desperately in search crime and signaling he may not then over t documents. we'll havell that and more coming up on "today" back to you. 6:49 now. jack evans is apologizing this morning. his chief oftaff used her government e-mail to sound out business proposals for evans.vernment work for while it is legal to earn money outside of the job, some of the councilman's peers think this crossed the line. in fact, council chairman phil mendleson says he plans to reprimand evans. others on the council saysld evs she stripped of his chairmanship over the d.c. finance committee. >> he peddled influence with the chairmanship. he should not no longer be in charge of that committee. >> in retrospect i would have done a lot of things different and certainly made some major

mistakes. >>.c thecouncil is set to vote on evans reprimand in the next two weeks and he is also the chairman of the metro board rectors. metro has launched its own review of the matter to see whether evans violated its code of ethics. >> this morning, metro is trying to hane a ridership issue. new numbers from the transit agtssy are showing the lowest ridership totals in decades. average ridership from july to december was 595,000 trips. that's dn from a high of more than 750,000 weekday trips just a few years ago. metro has been refocussing forts on how tin back riders, but concedes that options like uber and lyft are taking some riders awayid fromg metro to taking a cruise, this morning we're getting our first look at whate pars on a norwegian cruise line ship experienced when i wasit by really strong wind. >> one passenger captured what it was like on board with the cell phone. take a look.

you can hear that commotion, glasses went flying, cups and plates shatter and a lot of passengers held on for dear life. you can see the furniture is moving across the floor there. the captain said a sudden extreme gust of wind clocking in at little more than 100 miles per hour hit the ship and tossed it to the side. i mean, the wind has to be so strong it can toss a cruise ship to the side? >> yeah. wow. pretty maerg. >> yep. chuck bell, tell us more about our forecast today. >> yeah. makes me wander what were they doing sailing in that kind of weather in the fir place. winds that strong are pretty easy to spot on those ship board computers. here in the washington area today, going to be one of our colder days of the coldseason. december, january, february is officially winter, but kind ofh novembergh march is on the whole the cold season. today will be the 11th time this

cold season that we'll have been 10 degrees or more colder tha average. that's just about where we usually are. winter before this one, though, we had 21 days that were more than 10 degrees below average. so, pretty typical stuff. and we usually get at least one of those in the month of march. sis particular coldp in march is coming without a significant chance of accumulating snow for better or for worse depending on how you feel about snow. wind is blowing. so with the sun out and the wind blowing,ind chills are between 5 and 15 degrees this morning. your plann thenor today will be sunny all day long, but again, very windy. afternoon temperatures in the low 30 at most. tomorrow,al e cold. and increase in clouds tomorrow staying dry. we are watchg the chance of little rain/snow mix on friday. future weather, thursda morning ight sunny and cold. thursday evening turns cloudy and by fridayg, morn mostly cloudy and mid-morning up to about noontime msture coming

through the deeper moisture is just down to our south, but the cold air is trapped in the shenandoah valley. there may be a period of wet snow. it will be too warm toac mulate anything. but certainly wet snow flakes possible along i-81 during theid day on . the fact that it's coming during the day also doesn't really mhelp. saturdt of your saturday will be dry. most of your sunday will be wete ally the first half of your sunday. sunday afternoon with the rain gradually tapering off we' back to near 60 degrees and relatively pleasant weather for most of the first half of next week. we only have about two more days of this real cold stuff to deal with. melissa, good morning. >> that is a relief. thank you, chuc chopper 4 over 270 southbound here at the spur everything looking pretty stgood. some volume headed southbound. very normal. northbound 95 at prince william parkway we are slow as you try to get off to prince willi parkway exit. earlier crash on the right side. sterng country side boulevard at minor road, overturned

vehicle should be clearing soon. northbound lanes are shut down right now, though. southeast washington inbound suitland parkway here at firth sterling. some delays that was a disabled vehicle that has now cleared out of way. laurel southbound 29 afteroh hopkins road you have lanes blocked there. alexandra kings stree. crane in middle of roadway. travel time 66 inbound little slowor 95 okay. 270 and the beltway looking pretty typical. sten to wtop when you hop in your car. thanks, melissa. getting fit for spring may get easer for s of you. now is the time to see how far you can push yourself. > molette green is ready to get out of her comfort zone. show us your stuff. >> iin defely did. i'm telling you these guys are punching it out. the guys and the gals. let me introduce you to betsyn jurg who is the winner of a

90-day fitness challenge from last year the reigning queen. betsy, you look good. this is empowering. how you doing? how is your fitness kban going? >> feeling good. i feel like i'm getting stronger through the challenge. i love this is a great way t start the year. you really get into a routine. i love it. so much fun. >> you keep punching away. she's doing grea she's in this class with her husband. look, a lot of people do their rkouts with fitness apps. let's look at some of those apps really quickly right now. some of the topmost popul ones lose it where you can track all of your acvity. the apple watch of course you can track your activitye s well as lth it your calories and of course my fitness pal ofre you can bring in all your friends into your workout. my trainer personally likes my fitness pal here is why. >> i like my fitness pal. you can link to all of your major brands they all have fitness apps but i like my fitnes a pal. it community in itself. if you don't have a trainer, you

have accountable with anp. ap >> all right. some of our nbc 4 co-workers are in this class as well. come along on thi journey with me. send me your pictures and update me on facebook, twitter and instagram because i want this to be a community effort to get fit for spring. that is the latest fromhis boxing class at new box in noma. we're almost done. you all ready? they're all into it. >> looking good, thmolette. k you. >> 6:56. here are four things to know this morning. parents at a prince georges private school are upset after a white princal used the n word. she used the word three times last month in an sembly. she has since apologized. you can read that in the nbc washington app. today organizers from the nation cherry blossom festival will announce when they hink the flowers are reach full bloom. we'll be streaming today'sun anment live on the nbc washington app. jack evans is apologizing

this morning. his chief of staff used herrn gont e-mail to send out business proposals for non-government work for him. it's not illegal b many of his peers think it crossed a line. some are now askingos hee his chairmanship over the d.c. finance committee. the president's former personal attorney will be talking to lawmakers on capitol hill again today. michael cohen will meet in a closed door session with the hoe.e intelligence commit tune in for a recap on the hill >>is evening on news 4 starting at 4. make it a great wednesday, everybody.

♪ we all care about amazing taste. that's why we've been making thbest mayonnaise for over 100 years. hemann's.'r e on the side of food.

. good morning, dangerous deep freeze. bitter cold temperatures blanketing muc of the country this morning. warnings stretching all the way down to florida. al w tell us how long this cold snap will last. at it again? satellite images first obtained by nbc news reveal north kor is rebuilding a key missile launch facility justummi d brok. we're live with the very latest. r>kelly r. kelly speaks. >> i didn't dohis stuff. >> for the first time since his arrest, the notorious r&b singer faces questions and explodes in anger. >> this is not me. i'm fighting for my [ bleep ] life. >> how he answers the disturbing