erica edwards, nbc news. >> anchor: turning now to the race to the white house. ben carson is facing scrutiny over comments he made about his past and beliefs. his campaign changing its tune saying carson was never offered a formal scholarship to west point. contradicting what the candidate wrote in his auto bog raffi of he is also being questioned about a story in the book where he explained he once tried to stab a friend during a fight. it's just the latest in a string of controversy turning the republican candidate for president. carson is also defending a much publicized beliefs about the pyramids. >>> i think that's a plausible explanation . >> reporter: scientifically . >>> i happen to believe a lot of things you may not believe >> reporter: also today the secret service ordered up security detail for carson and donald trump . >> anchor: chris christie officially joining new hampshire hampshire's primary today. this morning the g.o.p. candidate signed the necessary documents and paid a piling fee to get his name on the state's presidentdowntial primary ball

erica edwards dives into the details. all right. we don't have that package.e'll come back to that story in just a second. >>> first we want to tell you about the drone that made it onto the white house lawn. coming up u, the local company says it just developed some new technology to make sure it never happens again. >>> and olympic gold medalist michael phelps opens up about his battle with alcohol. why he says there were moments he wished he was dead. >>> yuck. yuck. yuck. that's what it is today. i mean, look at that. this is a shot down toward national harbor. it is nasty outside. we've got the light rain, the drizzle, a breeze in the air. we've got the fog coming in, too. take a look. a little bit of a different vantage point down toward downtown. look at the fog that's really rolled in here over the last half hour or so. not just the fog but, again, we're dealing with light drizzle, some mist, some light rain. that will continue. temperatures have come down by 6 degrees in the last hour from 61 down to 55. northwest at 17 miles per hour. those winds gus

erica edwards has more. >> reporter: like many kids his age, 14-year-old ben hinkel is rarely far fromis phone. >> natural to me. if it's not in my pocket, something doesn't feel right. >> reporter: the average american teen spends nine hours a day watching tv, playing video games, surfing the web, listening to music or texting using some kind of electronic device. for kids between the ages of 8 and 12, it's six hours a day. >> kids spend more time with technology than they did with their parents, time in school or any other thing. >> reporter: the non-profit commonsense media surveyed more than 2500 teens and tweens across the nation. more than half multi-task, watching tv, texting or using social media while doing homework. experts say parents can help manage kids technology use by loing at their own. >> if you're constantly glued to your cell phone or computer, you're not setting a good example for your kid. >> reporter: the trick is to help kids learn how to use media without losing the ability to connect face-to-face with others. kids like ben prove it can be done. >> they seem to

erica edwards, nbc news. >>> now back out to logan international airport in boston, where we brought you breaking news off the top of the show. massachusetts state police say there is no tie to terrorism to that scare in the air. a bush airways flight from lon london landed the logan's airport in boston within the last hour or so after a passenger got out of control earlier we were told the passenger tried to enter the cockpit. turns out the woman was intoxicated and tried to open the exit door while the plane was midair. no known connection to terror in this incident. >>> an investigative unit exclusive. taxpayers paid for it, so where is it? tonight at 11:00, investigative reporter focuses on the bay area medical center and millions in missing property that nobody can account for. we're talking about hundreds of pieces of equipment that disappeared over the past few years. there's no record where it is. >> we can't say 100% that things weren't stolen or placed in locations that shouldn't have been. that's certainly possible. >> now, since our investigate inunit started asking quest

nbc's erica edwards shows us food safety tips so that doesn't happen at your house. >> i blew it. i blanked. >> reporter: a few weeks ago on the "today" show matt lauer showed whatnot to do on thanksgiving, handling raw turkey then eating without washing his hands. viewers gobbled him up on social media. >> what kind of mail did you get from this? >> i got some beauties, enjoy salmonella for the next 24 hours idiot. >> reporter: his mistake obviously hurt no one, but the potential from harm of eating raw or undercook eed meat or otr contaminated food is serious. >> nearly 48 million people get a food bourn illness annually and that results in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. >> reporter: the usda says turkey is safe to eat when it reaches 165 degrees. the pop-up timer is not as good an indicator of temperature as a meat thermometer because you can use it to gauge the temperature in several parts of the bird. >> the temperature should be checked in the thickest part of the breast, the innermost part of the thigh and the innermost part of the wing. >> reporter: after it ge

. >> as nbc's erica edwards reports, it's not because more kids are suddenly effected by the disorder. >> reporter: the national center for health statistics now says one in 45 u.s. kids have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. that's dramatically different from other previous estimates of one in 68. here's why. researchers changed how they asked parents about their children's developmental delays. >> what it suggests is we're asking questions better and that people are aware of the diagnosis and using that label. and perhaps this is a label or diagnosis that's being used instead of other diagnoses that may have been used in the past. >> reporter: over the years the definition of what conditions fall under the autism spectrum have broadened. >> now a much wider variety of children at all levels of intellectual functioning, different types of level skills are receiving an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. >> reporter: while the diagnoses increased, the percentage of other developmental fell. others may push for an autism diagnosis with getting much-needed services for th

erica edwards, nbc news. >> all right. hope he stays healthy. a varied group of winners are among this year's presidential medal of freedom recipients. among the winners, director steven spielberg, late yogi bare berra, barbara mikulski and barbara streisand. world peace, culture or other important efforts. >>> there is exciting news today about our panda cub. we now know when we'll get a chance to get our first look at bei bei at the national zoo. >> the little cub will make his public debut a few weeks after mas christmas. set your calendars. look at that. the three-month-old. now he's 12 1/2 pounds. that is larger than both his siblings were at the same age. the panda house has been closed since august to allow the mother and cub to bond. >> she is mighty cute. >> yeah. >> seems to get cuter by the week. >> yes, he is. people will be marking their calendars, believe me. >> oh, yeah. >>> meteorologist veronica johnson is in the storm center. we is have rainy changes on the way, huh? >> that we do. we should just look at the panda. unlike the f

erica edward has more on the reason behind that rise. >>> one in 45 kids in america has been diagnosed with an that's according to a new report from the national center for health statistics and as much different from previous estimates of one in 68. experts say this does not reflect a rapid increase in the number of kids affected by autism. researchers simply changed the way they surveyed parents asking specifically if the doctor had autism. >>> when you ask this, you are probably going to get a higher response rate of people saying yes, some within once gave my child that label. the important question is, does . >> anchor: it's possible some doctors only suspected kids had autism . >>> what we may see with childrens a preliminary autism diagnosis who are wait fog that . >> reporter: regardless, numbers show a growing awareness of the disorder and through the years the definition of the spectrum broadened to include more children. experts also say some families may push for a diagnosis of autism to help get much needed services for their children. >>> money follows diagnosis. and ther

erica edwards, nbc news. >>> news 4 at 5:00 starts now with jim and wendy. >>> now at 5:00, a gun shotfter a knock at the door and a father answers to find a gun in his face. >>> plus an elaborate plan to steal your money. what police found in one apartment that's now leading to investigations in multiple counties. >> and for the first time news 4 confirms deaths in our area that are linked to synthetic drugs. >>> and we have a team of reporters working the story to explain the impact on you. >> storm team 4 focuses on the big changes for your weekend, but we're going to begin with a knock at the door. what followed led to a father being shot as a young child was inside. let's go right to news 4's chris gordon. he is live along clement road in silver spring. chris? >> reporter: wendy, some of the residents here in this neighborhood have lived here more than 40 years so imagine their shock and surprise when they heard the news that last night at about 7:00, two men walked up to that front door and shot the homeowner. >> this afternoon two detectives, a police officer and a friend of the

nbc's erica edwards reports. >> reporter: everything started at 49:23 a.m. local time. >> heard some gunshots and explosions. >> reporter: a press conference was held here and we've learned a lot from it. we've learned about not only raids here overnight and in the early hours of this morning but also three attacks in paris on friday night. we learned there were in fact three teams, three cars and that they were all coordinated. we also had confirmation there were reports of a cell phone found in a trash can outside of the bataclan with a text message about getting ready. we're going in. in terms of the raid here overnight what we did learn is they went into two different apartments. we know there were eight arrests, seven men and one woman. there are at least two dead. not everyone has been positively identified at this point. there was a belief that perhaps the man called the mastermind of these attacks, abdelhamid abaaoud, could be in that apartment. >> i must say that abaaoud and salah abdeslam are not part of the people -- are not part of the people in

erica, thank you so much. >>> a check of the weather now from al. >> announcer: "today's" weather brought to you by edward jones. a financial services firm. >> next several days we'll be watching pacific moisture, flash flood watches and flood watches as well. a cold front makes its way across washington. rainfall amounts, upwards of 7 to 8 inches. risk of landslides, a big, big problem there, and we're also watching this area down through the southwest, and i should say into the southeast and the gulf coast. enhanced risk of strong storms and tornadoes possible. northern louisiana into central arkansas. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happentonight with more rain and drizzle tomorrow. it will also be breezy, although between systems. we only had a little rain yesterday with most of us only getting a quarter inch or so, but we have a lot more rain heading our way for today and conditions today... and probably some fog off and on. it is warm this morning with temps in the upper 60s in southwest iowa. southeast winds are 10-20 mph, gusting to 30 and will stata strong today through tomorro

erica, thank you so much. >>> a check of the weather now from al. >> announcer: "today's" weather brought to you by edward jones. a financial services firm. >> next several days we'll be watching pacific moisture, flash flood watches and flood watches as well. a cold front makes its way across washington. rainfall amounts, upwards of 7 to 8 inches. risk of landslides, a big, big problem there, and we're also watching this area down through the southwest, and i should say into the southeast and the gulf coast. enhanced risk of strong storms and tornadoes possible. northern louisiana into central arkansas. that's what's going on around here's what's >> that's your latest weather, guys. >> all right, al, thanks very much. up next, charlie sheen speaks out and makes a personal announcement. after this. hi, tom. how's the college visit? does it make the short list? yeah, i'm afraid so. it's okay. this is what we've been planning for. knowing our clients personally is why edward jones is the big company that doesn't act that way. kohl's has everything you need to create a winter wonderland! and right now - you'll get

erica, thank you so much. >>> a check of the weather now from al. >> announcer: "today's" weather brought to you by edward jonesa financial services firm. >> next several days we'll be watching pacific moisture, flash flood watches and flood watches as well. a cold front makes its way across washington. rainfall amounts, upwards of 7 to 8 inches. risk of landslides, a big, big problem there, and we're also watching this area down through the southwest, and i should say into the southeast and the gulf coast. enhanced risk of strong storms and tornadoes possible. northern louisiana into central arkansas. that's what's going on around the country. here >>> our weather stays dry with cool mornings and warm afternoons. it's still chilly in the north bay 34 degrees. 51 degrees in san frn and the east bay looking at highs in the mid 60s with a lot of sunshine and breezy. winds continue to increase as we go through the day and gusts up to 30 miles per hour. look for a high up to 64 degrees in san francisco in the north bay. have a great day. >> that's your latest weather, guys. >> all right, al, thanks very much. up ne