. breaking news. major delays27 oafter an accident involving motorcycle officers from montgomery county. we'll have the latest on the officers and avoiding the lane closures. two women have spoken onev national tion about allegations they made against me based on events of nearly 15 and 20-year-olds. >> lieutenant governor justin steps to taking new acear his name. the fts the virginia leader says prove he did not sexual assault two women. and we are back to sunshine on a bea wednesday here in the washington area. this sunshine ain't going to b around for too long so soak it

in while we have it. and check on the forecast and when the rain rurns coming right up. >> announcer: "news4 midday" starts now. good morning. welcome to "news4 midday." i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm molette green. let's begin with breaking news. two montgomery county police officers are in the hospital following this crash on i-270. chopr 4 flew over the scene in clarksburg showing the emergency response. the crash involving police motorcycles shut down all lanes of northbound i-270 between clarksburg roaddr and old h road which is a span of a few miles. now rnght now traffic is b diverted through the scale house or the weigh station 355 and other roads in that area, you can expect heavy delays. right now it is also n clear at caused that crash and we're going to keep you updated as soon as we learn more from police. police officers chasing a suspect had to stop and save one

of their own. >> and now one of the officers is fighting for his life. montgomery county police were investigating a shoplifting case when the suspectan off and a officer tried to chase him but suffered a medical emergency and collapses. other officers found and performed first aid until he was taken to holy cross hospital. >> i want to thank the community for kping our officers, especially this officer, and his tmily and friends and shift mates in yourughts and prayers specially over the rest >> at last check the officer was in critical but stable condition. it is still unclear what kind of medical emergency he experienced. policeid catch the shoplifting suspect. >> sex assault allegations against the virgigoa lieutenant rnor front and center again todayth aes convened. >> justin fairfax insisted that encounters were consensual, spking minutes ago he called

for an investigation. >> because of the nature of these allegations, they should be assessed by professional law enforcementto investi who have the tools and the training to determine whether or not the results of his leasueg the.tr polygrap test to the public. house republicans want to hold hearings on the allegations but democrats say it would be political. the two accusers have said they only want to speak pubcly if it is in a bipartisan setting. news 4's northern virginia bureau chief julie carrie will be there for the session and look for live report this is afternoon. it will be a really windy afternoon. the national weather serviceas issued a red flag warning for d.c., that warning goes into effect from noon until 8:00 this afternoon and during that time sure not to use your outdoor grills or pyre --our fire pits which could become out of

control. and w want to take a closer look at how strong the winds will be. >> chuck bell, do we need to tie things down. >> hold on to things night and tight and make sureas if it is collection day, bring the cans back up and put them in the garage as soon as you can. gusty winds, around 2o 30 miles per hour. it could cause traffic cams to tumble over and outdoor lawn furniture might be thrown sarn and so dry and gusty winds and i know people had branches and leaves down from the winter. today is not the day to burn those hecause you don't want wind fanning the flames. outside of the wind later in the day, man, is ea ay do be outside. there is the basement of the monument and the che y trees putting on a show around the tidal basin. bout thengs to know forecast. loving the sunshine. the wind out of the west today will be a nice warming wind as m the air down the front range of the blue ridge mountains and the blossoms should have no trouble hanging pe for today but rain drops for

the friday could an end to the peak blooming period and warmer than yesterday large margin and high today near 67 and perfect weather for baseball and make sure this one wins with a w and not a al. >> actresses lori loughlin and felicity huffman will appear in a courtroom today. they are involved in a fraud admissions scandal they call varsity blues. chris poone hasmore. >> reporter: it is far from the stage or the movie set but the spotlight is in tense for lori loughlin and felicity huffman expected to enter pleas today os charge of conspiracy and fraud. lythe hod stars haven't said anything publicly since surrendering to authoriti after a 10-month fbi undercover investigation dubbed operation varsitylo blues. uisville lynn and her husband paid $500,000 inri bs to make

sure daughters were accepted at the university of southern california. huffman is accused of pays $15,000 to a proctor for changing answers before turning in her ex >> there could be no exception for the wealthy and there is not a separateriminal justice system either. >> reporter: at least 50 people including high profile lawyers and moneyostanagers and ceos ar involved in a scamo get recruited as athletes even if they didn't play sports and to olp students cheat have others take standardized college entrance exams. the mastermind william rick singer pled guilt to charges including racketeering and conspiracy and mey laundering and faces the possibility of more than 60 years in prison. chris pollone, nbc news, boston. despite the rain, family and friends came together to remember a woman who wased muhis past weekend.

ashanty carmen was shot to deatn fairmont heights nearhe d.c. line and carmen was transgender and police are trying to determine if that played a role in her death. friends say her murder highlights the danger transgender people face every day just forhaxisting. >> w to come together. only love canill fear and hate. we have to love each other and respect each other for whatnd who we are. >> before the vigil detectives caassed the area looki for information that could lead to carmen's killer. there is a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction. developing this morning, a northern virginia pet sto under investigation amid accusations of animal abuse. >> the humano site of the u.s. went undercover in a petland store in the city of fairfax and

found evidence the store was letting animals die. stin finch has the hidden camera video taken inside. pe>> reporter: this and store off main street in fairfax now under scrutiny and investigation after a human society hidden mera investigation uncovered dead rabbits herend a whole lot more. we do have the video to show you now, and a warning, it is going to be graphic. found inside of a freezer, the humane society found at least 14 dead rabbits and say staff indicated to them that six o jured rabbits were refused proper vet care and instead were left to die. the humane society tracing rabbits sold to this petlande sto a breeding farm in e, centervillaryland and the conditions there were and crowded and filthy. kind of like puppy mills. they also say the owner there counts at least 60 rabbits a moh soldo this petland store.

that means they were doing so, the humane society said without a proper usda as we come back. we could tell you byti every indi it does appear this store is still open and operating, however they are dog so und a fairfax city police investigation. a search warrant was care youut carriedo go inside and seize animals and documents. at this time, though, no word yet on any charges. we'll bring you all of the developments as they come in to us. in fairfax, i'm justin finch, nbc4. morning abouthis why you don't want to forget to unplug your electronics after done using them. overnight we lea a heated blanket is to blame for a house fire in nth potomac. montgomery county fire said the blanket was on a bed and left on the family of four wasn't home at the time. neighbors saw the flames and called 911. fire officials say the blazero ded the second floor and

much of the attic. new information in a sto g th a lot of attention on social media. the motherr- of a 10-yeaold handcuffed and put into a police cruiser is talking to nbc4. chiquita williams said her son is traumatized. police detained the boy over the weekend because he fit the description of a suspectan i armed robbery. officers found a cell phone and a bb gun from the alleged robbery but williams said her son is innocent. >> him being with the o gro kids, of course he's going to be a suspect with it. dbut my sonn't touch anything of what was going on. >> the department released a stement saying once officers realized how young the boy s, they contacted youth and family services who then contacted his mother. new this morning, the decades-long project to clean up th chesapeake bay needs help and maryland governor hogan is leading the charge. hogan and the d.c. mayor murial

bouser aed to stop the huge cuts to the chesapeake bay clean-up in the president's 2020 proposal. it would slash the budget by about 90% but in the letter hogan and others are asking wmakers to do what they can to secure more funding for the bay, asking for $90 million in order to stick to a deadline of restoring the bay by the year 2025. the current opioid crisis could be preventing some people from get the pain relief they need. coming up, a woman who iaid her pa five times worse than it was in child birth. and we have the latest on the chinese woman charged with illegally entering mar-a-lago. what police say she was what police say she was rryingat redfin, we charge you a 1% listing fee.

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for the first time in history, chicagoas elected an african-american woman to be mayor. ffri lightfoot won in a ru

election with nearly 75% of the vote. during herry vic speech she thanked the people of chicago, commenting on the progressive steps the city can takeoing forward. lightfoot will be the first openly gay mayor whenhe takes office in may. after taking some heat from fellow republicans, president trump has reversed course on his calls to revive the fight over obamacare. yesterday the president said he would wait until after the 2020 election and said woe soon make public a plan that would acre the affordable care act, repealing the law without replacing it could lead to tens of millions ofeople losing their coverage. and the president is also causing some controversy over the way he spoke about representative alexandria ocasio-cortez. the freshman lawmaker from new york helped draft the democrat's climate change resolution referring to it as the green new deal. president referred to her as a young bartender.

>> the green new deal. done by a young bartender, 29 years old, a young bartender, wonderful young woman, the green w deal. but it is crazy -- >> the president was speaking at the annual national republican congressional committee dinner. he also joked about former vice president joe biden w has been accused by several women of acting inapprriately. > today we're hearing from the white house whistleblower raising red flags about more than two dozen ttimp administ officials. g> she spoke exclusively with nbc news say the officials got top security clearances despite objections from career white house staffers. tracie potts have more. >> reporter: tricia newbold is speaking out to protect the country. >> it is important that we stant up to do the r thing, no matter what. >> reporter: newbold tells congress the white house

overruled her recommendations 25 times approving security clearances for son-in-law ivanka and his daughter ivankrump and others with serious disqualifying issues like foreign influence and conflict of interest and financial problems. >> it is very concerning. could be substantial manipulati by other countries, drug abuse, all kinds ofin . >> reporter: newbold approached the house oversight committee. >> she was scared >> reporter: the committee elsued a subpoena for the former white house perso director to explain how security clearances are proved. >> they are asking for personal and prite and confidential information from individuals that they know that they have no ri tt to see andy're putting the 3 million people that do have a security clearance at risk. >> reporter: and we're now learning about a security scare at president' florida estate. a chinese citizen arrested at the a mar-a-lago cluber

talking her way in. authorities say her story didn't addom up. the was arrested with not only those two passports you ju saw, but four cell phones, a laptop, a hard drive, and a flash drive with malicious software. she said she was goingre to swim but authorities say she did not have a swimsui tracie potts, nbc news, washington. new this morning, maryland governor larry hogan is ordering state flags be lowered to half-stef effective immediately in honor s offf sergeant din ora flores who died yesterday after being rear-ended by a truck. the crash happened on hanover pike in reisterstown, maryland. her car was pushed into the intersection andas hit by a tractgo-trailer. thrnor tweeted his condolences to the family saying she served our state and country with great

former pharmaceutical executive martinskrely is in trouble again. from behind bars, he is now in solitary confinement. the assiated press reports the so-called pharma bro was caught with a cell phone in prison and trying to run his newar ceutical company from the inside. he is serving seven-year term for securities and conspiracy charges and the bureau ofon pr has not yet confirmed that report. now to a different kind of battle in the ooid epidemic. doctors hoping to fight the substance abuse by limiting prescriptions. >> but it may cause another crisis for the millions of americans living with chronic pain. nbc's senior national correspondent kate snow reports. >> this is the nuts and bolts that came out of my spine. >> all of this was in your back yeah. >> maria has had 13 back

surgeries and she's in so much pain she never goes beyond the front porch and her body is destroying her connective tissue. >> this is probably five times worse than child birth. >> five times worse? >> yes. >> every day? >> every day, all day. >> rorter: for more than a dozen years of high dosesf opioids through a pump and patch and pills kept them at bay and they say she never abused them but then they tapered it down to less than half it would be. >>an i could go outsidplant a flower and walk myal zauggs a of that i can't do any more. >> she tried everything from medical marijuana and to stero injections. >> you are given three choices, live in agonizing intractable pain that doesn't go away or yoe go totreet and get the

drugs off the street that could kill you or commit suicide. >> reporter: she understands why the cdcen kurjed to tapering off, too many lives destroyed but maria and chronic pain patients feel they're beine punished they've done nothing wrong. >> i think there h been some good aspects that came out of the cdcuidelines there have been detrimental unintended consequences. >> reporter: chief of pain medicine at stanford said the gu elines have made physicians worry they are in trouble if they don't ruceprescriptions. >> the fear is incredibly real. i'm on the phone on a regularh basis w docs who are being told just get people off opioids or get rid of those patients. get them out of the practice. because everybody is running scared. >> reporter: mackey and other experts sent a letter to the cdc last month urging it to clarify the guidelines for patients like maria. >> i'm not involved in my life

any more. and i wan my life back. i want to be able to function. >>hat was kate snow reporting. the washington wizar are parting ways with their long-time president and general manager. ernie grunfeld led the team for the past 16 seasons. in a statement team owner ted lee oensis said we did not meet our goa for qualifying for the playoffs and despite playing with injuries to several key players we have a culture of accountability and responsibility, end quote. the search for a new team president will begin after the .eas virginia tech expected to lose a basketball coach today. multiple outlets reporting the head coach buzz williams is expected to step down today so that he could take over the program at texas a&m. the aggies fired their coach after the team failed to make the tournament. accordin to sports illustrated, williams could meet with his new team in college station as soon as tonight. williams helped lead the hoagies

last ncaa tournament t three seasons. bryce harper -- >> and bryce harper will be at nats park this morning for today's midday game. coming up, what head to say about his t-so-warm welcome back. >> and what chuck bell has to say about our weather and whether it will warm u washington and whetherhe wind wi tll

well at nat's park bryce harper made his return to washington and fans didn't exactly welcome him back with open arms. >> when he returned as a philly, he is greeted with boos. >> bryce harper. >> and fans were creative with signs, blasting brice for leaving d.c. max sher zur kept up the

momentum and he struck out but then ended up with the last laugh cru hing ae run into the second deck. here is what he said awkward home coming. >> i didn't know what it would be like and i heard the boos but for me that is part of the sport and the game and i try to remember the city of philadelphia is sitting back at home and cheering and screaming and yelly at their tv happy as hecklp that i'm a philaa philly but knowing that i've got these guys back at home loving me, that is all that matter >> he's all good. making this night even worse, philly beat the nats 8-2. > this is just the first of 19 match-ups against harper's new team this season. >> the next one happens today at 1:05 at nat's park. he posted a heartfelt thank you before theamame on instaut it appears most can't forgive him for keaving. don'w how long it will take. >> a few.

>> i just did the math. he's getting paid $393 million for the next 13 seasonsnd that is $161,000 a game for the next 13 years. >> he's oka >> if someone wants to boo me and giveove in me 16 philly. >> no doubt. hopefully we'll turn that tround ann that upside down, whatever that means, it wouldn't look like a "w" but lets turn out with win today and win two out of three in the series. for now it isll about the sunshine. a beauty of a day to spend quality time outside. that time of the year. don't rget to puttour sun block on going out to the naps game, song enough to pinken your forehead if you are not careful. the blossom as like the tidal basin. snowfall in charlotte, north carolina. only a tenth of an inch butrl south of cte an inch to an inch and a half and i thought what is the latest we've hadin

of snow. our latest one inch or more, and we've had trace amounts of snow deep into th month of may, but for a full inch or more, latest, april 12th, 1918 and dulce full inch in 1973 and baltimore, maryland, two inches on april 11th, 1894. so we are within spitting distance to not worry about accumulating snow around here. a little bit of c snownot be ruled out until we get into the month of may. but it won't happen the next couple of days. 67 and sshine and breezy today. 6lot more clouds and tomorrow. i'll see you in a few more mrts and time out the rain chance and see if it will impact your weekend. il is distracted driving aweness month. coming up, the group joining forces to get your eyes back on the road. and a little device could help you fight depression and help you fight depression and anxiety and even insomnia.fz

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>> announcer: y're watching "news4 midday." a crash this morning leftme soone seriously hurt on suitland road in prince george's county. the victim was hit near a bus stop at silveoa hill rd. the driver of the striking vehicle remained on the scene. the road is back open now. april is distracted driver's month and new government numbers reveal a troubling >> they say deaths involving distracted drivers are an epidemic out there on the roads. >> news 4 live in northwe d.c. with what police and transportation officials are doing to stop this. hi, drew. tell us what is going on. >> reporter: good morning. ight nowt is going on is a massive ackdown on distracted driving here in northwest d.c. there have been so many ticketst written in j the hour that we've been here. i'm not exaggerating.

we've seen at least 2gepeople pulled over and written ticketstror disacted driving here in northwest. we'll show you video that we shot maybe 20, 30 minutes ago. and you could see driver after driver here in nthwest being pulled over and issued citations for distracted driving. mpd is kicking off an eve a todayyou mentioned. it is distracted driving awareness month a kicking off an event today to beisible out the roads to let pple know that if you are caught on you cell phone while you are driving n the district, you will be pulled over. >>'t d drive intexticated. yes, you heard me right. intexticated. you'll see increase easorcement officers will stop anyone caught using their handheld phone wle driving. >> reporter: so mpd wanted to clear up a misnomer out there

and something people seem to be getting confused. you are not allowed to use your cell phone in any way while you're in your car and that car is in drive. so that means if you come up to a red light,o checking social media or checking text messages or anything like that. poce say if you need to use your phone, to answer a text message or a phone call, you need to pull over and have it in park. can't do it at a red light and can't do it while you are driving. the latest from here in northwest, back to the studio. >> drew. >> thank you. two verge schools will be testing groundsl for a men health pilot program. freedom high school inhantilly and charlottesville high school ste among chosen for the teen mental health fid program. the schools will work with the national cncil on behavioral health and lady gaga's born this way foundation to help respond to friendsay whoe developing a mental health or substance abuse problem. >> >> are you experiencing problems with depression and anety or insomnia but

unwilling or unable to take medication, and perhaps you have tried alternative approaches that don't seem to now there is an fda clear handheld medical device to work at home known as a cranial electrical stimulator and may help you out. psychiatrist dr. joshua winer joins us today to discuss this fascinating nonmedication treatment alternative. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> thank you forng us. >> my pleasure. >> to talk about what this is all about. it sounds a little like science fiction so tell us about the cranial electrical stimulation. how does it really work. >> this is an amazing device. so basically when you are trying to help someone feel b the conditions, depression or anxiety, think about activating the brain cells and causing release of serotonin and there are other alternative means to activa brain cells and cause the release of serotonin.

this device does it through electricity. so what you are doing is your put -- you put ear clips on youd ears wear the device for roughly one hour a da but you could do anything while you are wearing it. you could watch tv, play video games i wear it while i'm doing my work during my lunch b iak and whais doing is causing the release of serotonin but also very importantly it causes your brain to produce what are called alpha brain waves.so ou have different type of brain waves, alpha, beta, delta, gamma, beta but alpha are the ones that your brai wis generatin you are medicating or in a relaxed state and this is a handheld meditation devicent >> which pat are the best candidates for something like this? >> almost everybody could benefit from this to be honest. with y so how many people out there have a hard time falling asleep at night, they we up during the night multiple times, or they're having some anxiety and they get stressed out, this

device is truly the most remarkable thing i've in my career. i think medications are amazing. i see tons of success with medication. but when you compare this to any kind of treatment out there, whether it is an alternati treatment and even i would put this up there head to head with medication in terms of effectiveness. it is not good for my busiss. >> righ this is a wake-up call for a lot of people who can't do the usmedication or hasn't worked. >> or don't want to. so i've had seval patients that have come in to see me and ihiagnose them w anxiety or depression and say, look, dr. winer, i know medication is an option but i would prefer to do a nonmedication approach. what is the most likely thing to rk, this is always what i recommend. and i have had several patients who have gotten one of these devices and never seen me again and just sent me an email and sa this is amazing thank you so much and i've had the experience of having patients g off their medication and just use this device as the alternativeo medication.

that is really impressive. so do you always have to ask your doctor? is tha part of the optionlan or do you need to ask specifically for this -- >> i could tell you this, almost nobody knows about this device. >> right. this is brandew to me. it is amazing, and it has been around for a little while. there are mor coming out and the fda just cleared one last week b this is the best data and the one that i highly recommend. some of the others copycat fromd thisice. but what you need to do is you need to find a doctor that has some familiaty with this because in other parts of the world, this is actually sold over-the-counter. >> really? >> yes. but not in the united states. the united states you need a prescription. it could be provided by an md or any other mental health professional or dentists could prcribe these. go on alpha-stim.com which is the website and find out morebo information how you find somebody to provide a prescription for this to get sie. >> what is that w again?

>> alpha-stim.com. because it is stimulating your brain to produce theha arain waves which are the meditation-like brain wavesth a success rate with this device for treating the conditions isro ahing 90%. >> wow! >> yes. >> you have just saved a lot of people a lot of anxiety and maybe get a good night's rest. >> it is amazing. it is notheap. $795 but when you think about the cost of dr. visi, time, medication costs over time, it is not such a bad deal when you think aboutt in those terms. >> dr. joshua winer thank you for bringing this to our attention. >> my pleasure. >> back to you. >> good rminion. target isan edixper abongutn this week. take a lk. one is on connecticut avenue in cleveland park, and the other is on georgia avenue in shepherd park. they are both small format target stores and each one will

employ more than 100 employees when they open on sunday. and that is not the end of the expansion. ore stores are slated to open in tenleytown andit ivy next year. >> i love walking in target. i feel so welcome and then my pockets just open up. all right. >> it is designed that way. >> i know. 11:38. after yesterday's cold,ramp weatonditions are trying to improve. but the dry weather doesn't stick around for very long. chuck is back with a lookhead our next chance of rain. and game, set, and match. the city open tennis tournament will stay in washington and the impact will felt well beyond the court. ♪ here i go again on my own

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we have breaking news now in montgomery county. montgomery county fireue and re called to the scene of i-270 at t watkin's mill road bridge construction site. that is on northbound 2 between montgomery village

avenue and middle brook road in gaithersburg. when they got there,y t found this, an overturned crane. the operator of the crane was actually out of the equipment and thankfully has not suffered any injuries. these are live pictures from chopper 4 over the scene there on northbound 270, an overturned crane and the crane looks like it might be damage the but thankfully the operator not injured. traffic is getting by thede nt. we'll keep an eye on it and keep you up to de on the air and online. tough day on 270 northbounde >> oh, . >> an accident earlier. sunshine for today. beautiful. a pretty day it is to be outside. >> and everybody seems to be right along that tidal basin. kind of a nightmare. eason. with good these are the days the chamber of commerce lives for in the washington area. sunshine, putting on a beautiful show down there at the tidal basin. winds out of the south fm 10

miles per hour and will increase from the west and could be as high as 30 miles per hour at times. so a little on the blustery side later on in the day. temperature-wise, it is nice out there. 63 in leesberg and warrenton and now 59 in martinsberg and 59 gaithersburg and 56 in washington. highs today 67 degrees. again, a little windy later on in the day. i tomorrow stithe mid-60s but a lot of clouds but a lot less of a breeze to contend with for tomorrow. that is good news. storm that brought us r exploded when it went off the coastline. wind gusts over 100 miles per hour on some of the off shore buoys so quite an ocean storm. our next weather maker is this mass of rain chances across parts of the upper midwest and show you when the rn chances move in. today nothing to worry about. tomorrow at 7:00 a.m., skies becomi more and more cloudy as we go through your thursday. ilt rain chances i think hold off u probably late tomorrow evening. this is 8:00 tomorrow in our futu weather and still the

nearest drops are just into the panhandle of west virginia. nt much of a r chance around the washington area for tomorrow. friday that is a differentor 7:00 a.m. friday, occasional showers likely. steadyain likely later on friday afternoon and evening. so your friday night out on the town, date night could be a little on the rainy side. the weekend, here is saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. the rain starting to pull out so we'll have a cloudy start saturd and a relatively sunny finish. here is saturday at 7:00 and sun is not down until 7:30. so that is nice and sunny for the second half of your saturday. sunday we'll start ut with sunshine but it will turn cloudy later on in the day and we're likely to have showers back into the picture as we get into monday afternoon. so most of your weekend will be dry but i could run into a little chance of a rain drop early on saturday morning and a little chance for a rain drop late sunday. but most of the weekend nice and in the 70 in fact, think we can string about four days in a row t together i 70s. >> chuck, you're batting a

thound. thank you. friday is prom night. even if you've outgrown high school, the special event that is supporting a special cause. and a competition that could benefit you. the g changescery stores are making to get and ssep your busi.

the annual best buddies prom will take place at the ronald reagan building on friday. the prom gives students ahance to dance the night away and gives adults the chance to pa vake in a reception with tasting stations from top chefsi best buddies the largest organization dedicated to ending the also physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intd --he intellectual and developmental disables. joining us now our chef and his buddy chef edwin miller joining us withore.

welcome both of you. chef xavier, the vip reception at tm is a great way for best buddies to raise money for new schools and for new school and jobs programs. tell us some of what folks who attend will get to eerience? >> chef edwin and i came up with the dish we're going to serve for the vip reception for thees tonight. and you want to explain what we'll do. >> yeah. we're springing up flowers and salad and we're -- like i know like any idea for i know that this is from the f prom the youth party for the culinary from davis center, fred-- her ozzy, matt and andrew and sky -- >> yeah. >> so we came up with this idea,

edwin and i, to do because we use flowe i aide of the salad. >> so edwin you have been part of best buddies since middle school. have you made a lot of fends? >> for alton high school for -- with dr. john and mcmcdermott and miss mcgrill and like the others like i think like it is what we coul do a didn't before know that and where they are going to prom and we're working lale princ clayton, he is a from e good steps. >> you like the principal and your friends. >> oh, yeah. that is what i like -- like the others. >> and you look cooking? >> yeah, i like cooking. like the others. just look cooking is for me and for graduates, f work.

>> let me just ask you, chef xavier, what you've brought? >> we brought a littlepl s so we'll do the day of the event on friday night for the vip. and this dish is a little way it is and you eat wh your eyes first and this is all of the beautiful flowers so it is going to be a -- i'm very excited. >> how about the fd. you've got these beautiful flowers in the greens. >> yes, well afterhat we're having a different setup for the adult and for the kids we're going to be participating and so for the kids it is a littleit more like kid friendly like mac and cheese andrt com food. >> that is good. >> yes, not just the kids,o. adults >> it is a favorite period. >> yes. >> how many youngsters are you expecting? >> we are expecting this year the event up to 800 people for the kids and 550 for the adult.

>> so chef iedwin, whatit like to work with chef xavier? >>ell for prom, he is my best friend. yeah, it was for prom, we're from -- from culinary arts progra >> you worked with him a few times right? >> yeah. like a hundred times. >> well i can tell you're doing a great job and your isplay is beautiful. thank you so much. >> yeah, thank you. wonderful. no probe. >> so nice to have you. thank you very much for having us. >> and that is the best buddies promdan f night. wendy rieger and tommy mcfly will be part of the event and for more information on the prom and for information on how to get tickets go to bestbuddiesprom.org. >> thank you so much, pat. happening today, wholewi fos be slashing prices on rindreds of items we first told you about the cuts yesterday but that is not the only big news impacting shoppers across the country. walmart and google are teaming

up to make grocery shopping easier. explains.sten dain dahlgren >> reporter: at whole food stores across the country, expect cuts on things like meat and produce and including lettuce, tomatoes and tropical fruits. two months after raising prices, the company now saying customers will save about 20% on hundreds of items. we thought of whole foods as whole paycheck. so what they're trying to do now is really rebrand themselves. >> reporr: whole foods touting the third price cut since being acquired by amazon in 2017. the grocer also doubling the number of exclusive deals for amazon prime customers who already save 10% on many sale items. it is the type of digital partnerships other stores are trying to tap into. walmart announcing plans to team up with google to roll out voice ng capability and expanding delivery and low prices. >> right now the way the consumer shops is on their sofa. so any way a grocer can make it

more convenient for that customer to shop, they'll do that. >> as competition heats up at the checkout line, the biger wiay just be the consumer. kristin dahlgren, nbc news, brooklyn, new york. and look at that live look out there. beautiful day. we're going to be right back. "news4 midday" continues in just a bit. >>

> good morning, i'm frank

holland at cnbc headquarters. verizon is launching a new smartphone plan for kidalled just kids is the first from a major wireless carrier to meet the needs of both parents and their children. it includes five gigabytes ofnt mo by data and unlimited talkan text and parental controls such as content filters a limits of time spent online and has a safety mode meaning they siuld keep data even if they go after the monthly limit without any additional charges with your krr nbc morning business report, i'm frankan ho >> let's get the kids idou game, set and match and the citi open tennis tournament will stay in the district. >> it ha been he for half a century but on the verge of leaving but as mark segraves reports, it will have an impact well beyond he cour >> reporter: when it started in 1969, it was called washington star international tennis tournament. and while the sponsorship has anged over theyears, the mission remains the same.

to carry on the vision of one of ws founders, tennis great arthur ash who one of african-american kids to see championship tennis in a public park. y rs later the citi open is one of the only major tennis tournaments played in a public park and sending the profits to local charities, raising money for the washington tennis and ucation foundation which operates tennis centers like southeast. the mark hicks is one of thes. instruct >> >> it is just life-changing every day. i could see smiles on faces that i didn't s in the beginning. i see challenges that kids have when they first ce here, they are no longer there. >> repter: the citi open returns in late july. in the district, mark segraves, nbc4. >> well this co d be a gre day for tennis but for the wind. >> we have to check that out.ho much wind and when can we get it out of here. >> well t win hasn't kick up

too much yet. windiest from 2:00 until about 7:00 this evening. and honestly, a good day ten time outside playing tennis and if you don't feel like hitting the ball, go to professionals and go to nats llpark 1:05 against the phillies and game time temperatures in the 60s. not to bad tomorrow. rain likely start to finish on friday and then more showery weather early next week but they weeken guys, looks awesome. >> fantastic. >> and that is "news4 midday." thanks for being with us. we're back on the air this afternoon first at 4:00. >> get news and weather updates any time with the nbc washington app. have a great day. i'm paige, and well the abttle thing that i likt the grilled chicken sandwich is that it's picture perfect. it's juicy and it just has all the right combinations. i think i could be considered a grilled chicken sandwich influencer.

my name is frank and the little thing i like about the grilled chicken sandwich is the first bite. i love how juicy the chicken is but there's also the tomatoes and the lettuce and it's incredible. make sure you get it with waffle fries, because that's my favorite.

we're live in five, four, three, two, one. ♪ >> there it is. right there. j.lo's massive 15 carat emerald cut engagement ring. don't try to guess what that cost. that j.lo's been engaged. it will beer fourth marriage. welcome to "access live." >> whenou get a ring like that, it's the first time. it might as well -- nothing else counted. >> no this does seem different to me. >> i w out on saturday night and i think i had two shots of tequilaom andebody was