scott macfarlane, news 4. >> thank you, scott. and soon enough visibility will be a huge problem out that way. stay safe and as scott reminded everyone, it is the side streets that are really bad already. he said just off of germantown road, things get dicey. >> where he was walking it was clear but, again, the sidewalks piled up. some folks tell the difference between the curb and where the street goes off. >> we mentioned about the lane markings. there are none. we saw that firsthand as we made our way into work this morning. we know in talking with highway patrol in maryland that disabled vehicles have been the real problem. that's what's keeping the snowplows from being able to do their jobs. they're blocking all these ramps. just a reminder to stay home and stay safe. >> let's go to chuck bell who's tracking more of this. as we saw in germantown, coming down very hard there. >> it's coming down seriously fast. i'm still working on a couple of graphics for you. what a great amount of snow we'll continue to see. want to thank e

that was scott macfarlane reporting... all of the cases being reviewed by senator grassley are scheduled to go to trial in the next six months. an eastern iowa woman could face animal neglect charges for housing 45 cats in her home. it happened in the town of beaman in grundy county. heres a look at the home -- this clearly a hoarder home situation two local animal rescues have taken all the cats from the home and the tenant has since moved. kwwls olivia mancino actually saw the house in person...she joins us now live the two women who rescued all these cats took me to the home today they have the cats in their posession now, split between the two of them they have been able to adopt some out but a lot of the from the outside, you can see there is trash everywhere but it doesn't even compare to the inside.. when we opened the door, the smell knocked me off my feet... and take into consideration the cats were rescued in october.. the home has been empty for months but the home is destroyed a very sad situation thats been we

. >> we want to get straight to scott macfarlane. you said those plows are working hard. >> yes, they are. somebody who's working one of those plows walked by me and said it just got real. visibility is getting near zero in parts of germantown. i'm told the same is true it clarksburg and gaithersburg, most of montgomery county. i'm walking in a parking lot. a lot of people walking on major roads. somebody walking along clopper road in montgomery county. it's the easiest place to walk because they're aggressively plowing. we're hitting a spot in the storm in this part of montgomery county where it's difficult to walk and see in front of you, much less drive. as i've said earlier, these storms in montgomery county, traditionally, historically are tougher up county, into clarksburg, damascus and poolville. we're at a gas station that's open here in germantown. it's popular. we're near some workers who have to be on the job, plows, police and fire. for now they're the only ones on the road. that's a good thing. live in germantown this mo

scott macfarlane broke the story and joins us now to tell us what the feds found. >> investigators found operators of the stone quarry plant in leesburg failed to ensure enough inspections were done to keep the plant safe and they released the image you're about to see of the silo collapse. it killed 18-year-old daniel potter. potter was inside that silo august 3rd when he was crushed

live in germantown, scott macfarlane, news 4. >> thank you, scott. we want to go with jennifer mcchord with vdot. good morning to you, jennifer. >> good morning. >> bring us up to date on how things are looking with this storm. >> the crews continue to through. it's continuing to control that. they are continuing to make rounds on the main roads and the subdivisions. we hope you're still at home and not driving because we are seeing a few folks getting out there. >> i'm thinking this is something different. you mentioned to us yesterday morning when we spoke during news 4 today you are plowing the major roads and doing these neighborhoods at the same time. >> yes. especially when we're looking at this much snow, a flood or two or more of snow. they cannot hit that height of snow. they need to push a few inches at a time. we need to get that off the road a little bit of a time ka within can manage the snowfall. smats something people have complianced about year after year, how long is it going to get for them to get to my neighborhood? >> we have plow

in germantown, scott macfarlane, news 4. >> it doesn't look too slow.e were going fast. >> we aren't the only ones bracing for the blizzard. >> along the jersey coast they're also worried about a dangerous storm surge. >> they sure are. brian thompson is on the jersey shore where voluntary evacuations are right now under way. >> reporter: on the jersey shore more and more communities are receiving evacuations and in barn barnegat and the surge of the ocean water will come close to matching sandy regardless of how high it does come, many people are taking it seriously. some people are saying they will stay. nonetheless, law enforcement is worried about having to do rescues in high-water vehicles with blizzard conditions, white-out situations and high winds of up to 50 or even 60 miles an hour. that's why these voluntary evacuations are taking place in community after community here in new jersey. in barnegat, i'm brian thompson, nbc news. >>> a massive winter storm. >> conditions are getting worse by the hour and once it's over, this snowstorm will be me

the i-team's scott macfarlane broke the story on the nbc washington app today. up until 2013 andrea turk was director of white house services. she supervised about 15 switchboard operators and turk dread time sheets forcing an employee to accept unearned overtime pay and made the worker funnel the money back to turk. she stole thousands of dollars and she was fired after details of all of this case came out. >>> he survived a year-long ordeal imprisoned overseas. now a washington journalist is talking about what he wants to do now that his time in prison is over. >>> it will be a busy night for storm team 4 and we're looking for a chance of snow and now 48 hours away and team coverage on this weather alert day first at 4:00. >>> storm team 4 tracking light snow for your evening and then a major storm system that is forming and making its way through the country and that's for the end of the week and first part of the weekend and you can see storm team 4 radar and there's light snow trying to get its act together and the air very dry. so it's going to be a while

. >>> this is scott macfarlane.g up on news 4, a police sergeant here >>> a man worked as a police sergeant in a high-profile post, but now he's the one that's been arrested. >> a federal cop is accused of embezzling from the government. it's the latest in a series of cases against federal workers. >> reporter: this sunoco gas station is the scene of the crime according to newly filed court records. the navy yard police sergeant is charged with imbez element using a payer funded government fleet car that's supposed to be used to fill a navy police chevy impala. they say he might have done so dozens of times, racking up thousands of dollars in illegal purchases and the feds raided their home in temple hill, a home where he was staying and today we found the home has since been vacated. they didn't immediately return request for comment and a recent i team investigation say this type of crime is more common than you think. >> this is not limited to the d.c. area. >> no, it's nationwide. >> reporter: the inspector gene

we have her full statement on our website now, nbcwashington.com. >> scott macfarlane, thank you. >>> one year later, a look at the changes and challenges in the wake of this deadly smoke incident on metro. >>> two men wearing masks go into that house demanding money. when they don't get what they want, they open fire. now a man is dead. murder in waldorf. coming up, news 4. >>> growing pains for a new 911 call center. we'll tell you about the communication issue some police communication issue some police officers now have to de ♪ know you can keep your financial big picture under control. communication issue some police officers now have to de know you can see how much you have to spend and whether you should transfer funds. know you can easily keep track of what you're putting away. and know you're budgeted for the great escape. thanks to virtual wallet by pnc. ♪ >>> well, let's take a look, this is that squall line up toward the maryland/pennsylvania border along 15. look what's happened here along the emmittsburg area. that snow came through quickly and quickly put down about upw

scott macfarlane, "news4." >> we've wrapped up technology.ou can search traffic signals. >> it is back to work for leaders in arlington county. they're meeting to talk about the upcoming budget, county tax rate and budget. they'll be streaming it online as well. >> getting to work in this area can be challenging. some cities in traffic congested areas are trying to make your rush hour commutes more bearable. employees will be requires to offer mass transit. san francisco has a similar regulation that's already in place. >>> it's 5:50. today mayor muriel bowser will participate in the 5k. this is video from last year's event. things get under way at 9:00 this morning. >> 5:51 now. chilly start to your morning. but then again it is january 1st. >> absolutely. we certainly haven't had too much chilly weather to talk about lately. chuck, could the cold be coming in with the new year? >> yes, indeed. it's going to stick around for a while. what to expect for the new year? finally cold. temperatures this afternoon, about a ten degree drop. snow, we

scott macfarlane found a powerful man from iowa who's sifting through the clues of d.c.'escribe lens. >> you won't see him in the video but he'll say he was there the day john gear was killed by a fairfax police officer in 2014 as he stood in his door. he said he grew frustrated as the investigation into the shooting continued for months and months. >> i wrote a lot of nasty letters to people and didn't get a response. >> he asked them to announce who would get charged. >> the only person who got back to me within day was senator grassley. >> senator charles grassley represents iowa and hi never heard of the shooting until he read about it in the newspaper. he asked the justice department to answer why the investigation into the case including local law review was taking so long. >> i wrote a long letter asking a lot of questions and eventually the family had to go to court to get these personnel records opened up. >> soon thereafter the judge ordered fir fax county to release the name of the officer involved. in his order he cited charles grassley's inquiry as the reason

. >> "news4's" scott macfarlane has seen reports that nurses have left in droves. >> after two toursaq and eight years in the military, thor wall says he's seen the v.a. system up close. >> the first person you see for any kind of treatment is when a nurse brings you back, gets your vitals, get you checked in, and does that initial assessment of you. >> reporter: but walz says he's know itted new faces. we discovered he's right. they showed 12% of the nurses who started the year working at the martinsburg v.a. medical center have either retired or quit since. at the maryland v.a. system, 11% have and neil as many at the major medical center in d.c. in each case, significantly more leaving in 2015. >> there's a fatigue to being a nurse, but there's also significant gratification to being a nurse. >> reporter: susan george is one of them retiring at the end of the year. she'd served for decades at the v.a. including nine years at the maryland medical center in martinsburg. >> i've always loved being a nurse in every place i've been. >> reporter: why is this happening? they're facing hu

scott macfarlane, news 4. >>> i'm meagan fitzgerald in alexandria. an ms-13 gang member appeared in court and edwin umana is being held without bond. alexandria police say 22-year-old eduardo almendares was found dead in a park. he was motivated by the ms-13 gang to kill the victim. this type of criminal activity is on the rise in our area. coming up at 5:00, a gang expert speaks about who these members are and the impact they're having on our community. >>> weather and some changes that are moving in on us as we head to the weekend. let's go to storm team 4 meteorologist doug kammerer. is the temperature going to move in the right direction now? >> it moved in the right direction, pat. yesterday the coldest day we've seen so far and a high of 32 and windchills in the teens all day and today, take a look at the numbers. wow! what a difference a day makes and 21 degrees warmer in d.c. with a high of 53 and we got to 53 and 55 in martinsburg and some incredible warmth that moved under a southwesterly wind and that warmth will stick around, too. this ev

scott macfarlane, news 4 i-team. >>> it warmed up quite a bit, doug. >> enjoy it if you like the 50s then things go downhill and then next week, do you think yesterday was cold? >> don't say bring it on again. >> why not? it's wintertime. >> it's hot in the summer. >> bring on the snow and not the bone-chilling cold. >> why stop there? >> bring it on. ? let's take a look and show you what's going on across our region and looking pretty good there and the buildings all lit up and 46 degrees and temperatures dropping through the 40s and it will be rather chilly this evening and again, not cold like it was last night. last night we were down to 23 at gaithersburg and we're at 41 and baltimore coming in at 47 degrees and college park and that's the cold spot. >> it's not going to be cold and no rain to talk about now and here's the rain down to the south. we have the storm down here that will be making its way our way and it will bring rain this way and you're expecting quite a bit in the way of rain tomorrow night. bring it on. that rain coming during the evening hours and if you're hea

news 4's scott macfarlane was the first to report that a federal employee was a suspect. we'll have more on the sentence coming up on news 4 at 5:00. >>> arlington police are looking for a man who robbed a bank and he passed a note to the teller and no one saa any weapons and he got the money and took off running. >> i'm tracee wilkins at national harbor. surely you've seen the video where dirt bike riders and atv riders shut down the road leaving drivers where in the world were the police. it turns out something similar happened at national harbor. this video was caught by a maryland delegate who happened to be walking down the sidewalk when he said what had to be more than 100 drivers on atvs and dirt bikes came riding down the middle of the street. at some point someone took to the sidewalk and one person nearly striking him and he said something needs to be done. >> it's reckless. it's dangerous and this is something that i don't think we can say is acceptable because it's not acceptable and to say there's nothing we can do about it i don't think is an acceptable answ

as scott macfarlane reports they've intervened after watching a report. >> carmen is paying for her 2-year-old's day care nearly broke her because the feds were months late reimbursing her the money they promised. she says six months later she's finally been made whole. >> it's gotten much, much better. >> they were late in sending out day care subsidies and weren't returning phone calls, either. we investigated and found thousands of other families suffering the same problem. the general services administration which runs the army day care fee assistance program had a backlog of 9,000 late payments and 10,000 unreturned calls and emails. congress ordered the feds to make fixes and administrators said they're bringing in a private contractor to take over the management of the program including carmen's payments. >> i'm glad they're in capable hands. >> they deserve to be doing that that with the peace of mind with what's happening with their family at home. >> the army parents will be in good hands and the general services administration and army say in the past two month happens they

scott macfarlane broke this on the nbc washington app. >> good evening. her name is andrea turk, director of information services at the white house at one time overseeing 15 employees including white house switchboard operators that's until the fbi arrested and charged her for theft. she's now scheduled to appear in court tomorrow. >>> andrea turk served four years as a staffer inside the white house. the fbi got a tip behind turk from someone inside the white house counsel. turk executed a time sheet scheme insisting one of her employees accept extra, get overtime pay and funnel the money back to turk. sometimes in cash, sometimes by wire transfer telling one of her workers she had bills to pay and quoting the affidavit, i'm going to need help. no answer when we tried to reach andrea turk at home and by phone for comment. the white house tells news 4 turk was fired when they became aware of the details of the case. . according to court records, turk managed the time sheets and she became very aggressive in requesting personal favors and assistance from

. >> news 4 i-team reporter scott macfarlane and has more from federal court in greenbelt, maryland. >> reporter: the former high-ranking federal law enforcement officer has admitted to the crime, but for eight hours today, defense attorneys and prosecutors have argued over the punishment and those arguments will continue well into the evening. >> prosecutors opened today's hearing saying chris bartly abused his position of trust. bartly admits he tried to make meth while on duty inside the secure government facility he was supposed to be policing and he's pled guilty to a felony facing up to five years in prison and he did so with facilities holding a nuclear reactor and explosives on the campus. near i-270 in gaithersburg. prosecutors showed photos of the lab and showed a picture of drain owe he bought as part of the effort. a fellow officer and firefighters testified bartly lied to them when they arrived on the scene after an alarm was triggered by heat in the room. bartly claimed a butane lighter had explodeded. windows burst in the lab. bartly never endangered others and never s

as scott macfarlane reports the house has called a hearing next week to make sure that's happening. >reporter: our investigation caught the attention of congress and they've ordered administrators of the day care payment program to appear back here wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. >>> hundreds of army families nationwide caught up in a nasty backlog. they were promised reimbursements for their day care bills, but the reimbursements came la and they failed to return phone calls and emails on time by the thousands. >> reporter: maryland army captain first alerted us about the problem this summer and then told congress the problems were crippling her family's finances. >> those who serve their country make sacrifices and we should not sacrifice the health and the safety of our children. >> the u.s. general services administration administers this program. the u.s. army fee assistance program and acknowledged this fall they were struggling. bills were being paid late and inquiries from parents weren't being responded to. >> we in the public sector have a sacred obligation to do the very be

. >>> scott macfarlane at the live desk.e learning about the passing of eagles founder glen frey. he died from rheumatoid arthritis and pneumonia. and words cannot describe the love and respect he's given to us. his family, and millions of fans worldwide. glen frey was 67 years old and not just a member of the eagles, but also a successful solo artist. wendy, back to you. >> wow. thank you. >>> neighbors in springfield may want to keep their curtains closed as police try to track down a peeping tom. this picture of surveillance video of the man the police are looking for, they don't have his name. they're suspected in several chases on homes on gloucester avenue and giles place and that's two blocks from crestwood elementary and he's suspected of several cases from the end of december through last friday. >>> the family of an ohio man shot and killed by a police officer will receive a settlement worth more than $5 million. the university of cincinnati will pay the family of samuel dubois $4.8 million. the school will also pr

scott macfarlane, thank you, scott.you ever feel like you get from one red light just to get the next one just ahead. ere is a certain art required with proper signal timing and in the district it's been tough tore make it happen. transportation reporter adam tuss joins us now live from freedom plaza with a closer look with the city's plans to get you up to speed. adam? >> reporter: jim, this is a big effort, but think about this. some traffic lights in the city haven't been retimed in 30 years. now, there is a herculean effort under way to retime the lights here and this will affect you whether you drive in d.c. or if you're from maryland or virginia. >> even on a biting cold day like today you'll find a lot of this in the district. >> and even on a bitter cold day like today you'll find plenty of this in d.c. and, well, you'll always find this in the district. now the plan is to make this and this work together better by taking better care of this. >> and there are over 1600 traffic signals in d.c. radja is a traffic

scott macfarlane.we are counting the days until the redskins' first playoff game and the first in three years. >> we have team coverage tonight. veronica johnson has your game day forecast and we begin with jason pugh at redskins park. how is the team looking two games out before the big day. >> reporter: the redskins putting their final touches on the matchup with the green bay packers which should be a very fun game for all redskins fans. one player was back at practice today after missing yesterday's session. that is chris baker, swaggy. yesterday he celebrated the birth of his newborn daughter and i asked him after practice what it's like to be a new bad. >> it's a humbling, a blessing experience to see my baby court and to see my wife standing there strong, delivering the baby girl is just happy. >> i'm happy for him. i've been basically through the process with him and praying for everything to go good and i'm throwing his football and it will be one hell of a year for swaggy. i'm just happy to,

scott macfarlane breaking inging this story for us tonight. >> jim an internal review found over the course of a few years, hundreds of thousands of dollared collected from high school sports ticketed and concession sales were not deposited for weeks or for months. the audit reports poor recordkeeping and delays in getting cash to the bank. and they call it gross negligence by a former add straiter. they don't refer to that add administrator by name but makes clear they're referring to stephanie evans, who resigned a few weeks ago. auditors say her colleagues found $32,000 in cash in locked bags in a locked cabinet waiting to be deposited for months in her offices. that includes proceeds from the annual turkey bowl football game. the audit also questions why the athletic director allowed some student fund money money set aside for student athletes to be spent on hospitality suite buffets and, quote, extravagant gifts for sports events. one d.c. council member says that was inappropriate. >> the student activity fund has specific directions on what it can be used for and can't be used

>> our coverage continues now with scott macfarlane. he just filed this report from germantown. >> reporter: here we are along germantown road in germantown about a mile from i-270. you can see the condition of the road and maybe you can see the speed of those cars. i would aren't feel comfortable out here without a four-wheel drive vehicle. it's dandy when you're going straight, but when you get a red light it is so difficult to get your traction. you are about to see the last ride-on bus leaving the transit center to getting to germantown road and you truly see the difference on the roads. without a four-wheel drive it's tough sledding and i-270 we're seeing cars going 2 miles an hour and still some vehicles going in and out, but at this point, mostly plow vehicles. in germantown, scott macfarlane, news 4. >>> scott's been out driving around and sending back reports and good to see that he will be over before reporting and we'll be on the air very early tomorrow morning starting at 5:00 a.m. you are looking at a live picture of the sc

scott macfarlane showed us. >> in a short stretch we hid three red lights, two of them less than 20 secondspart. traffic is always a complaint here. amy says they've long tried to alleviate it. >> they're trying to change it so you don't have one thoroughfare but you have other options. >> reporter: internal memos reveal montgomery county is considering a less expensive but still ambitious plan to alleviate traffic further. they call it adaptive signal control technology, technology to allow them to adjust to the flow of traffic. it will cost about $90,000 per signal, potentially millions. downtown wheaton and two areas of the rockville pike, near i-370 and the pike rose district which is not far from the sandwich shop this man and his team run. he says they take a hit when traffic snarls along randolph road outside. >> we have a small business and it does affect our numbers at the end of the month. >> reporter: but the county is not considering roads inside the beltway because they say those roads are already overcapacity, too overrun for traffic technology to save. i'm told if the down to

this quickly became the most-read story on nbcwashington.com once the i-team's scott macfarlane broke story. >> the fbi and homeland security, remain concerned that terrorists sustained interest in youed kroed venues to say there's no specific credible threat for the game being played in santa clara, california, and super bowl 50 raises questions about a recent series of underground vandalism against fiber optic lines in the bay area of california and more than a dozen of them, unsolved attacks within a 50-mile radius of the stadium since 2014. the assessment raises concern someone is prodding, testing the system for a more, quote, complex plot. it also says the recent paris attack show the most vulnerable target could be fan sxeshgs vents outside the stadium where it is freer to move and you fooer checkpoints and there is a quote of a malicious actor could operate a drone in close proximity to the stadium and a risk to the fans and the aircraft designed to protect the game and stadium. >> the safety of people and you need to think about all things that could affect the stadium and no

scott macfarlane broke the story on our app and he joins us in the studio with the details. scott?her name is andrea turk, the former white house director of information services and according to court records she managed 15 white house switchboard operators and approved their time sheets. fbi records obtained by news 4 say it was the time sheets that got andrea turk in trouble. >> in court records obtained by news 4 an fbi special agent said andrea turk dread one of her employee's time sheets over 20 pay periods in 2012 and 2013, giving that amy unearned, extra overtime play and insisted the employee funnel the money back to turk, thousands of dollars, sometimes in cash and wire transfers according to court records. turk acknowledged having financial problems and she told her workers i'm going to need help. no answer when we tried to reach turk at home and by phone. she was fired when they became aware of the details of the case. turk managed the time sheets in her department and they say they were told she became very aggressive in requesting personal favors and assistance from t

. >>> this is scott macfarlane at the capital, coming up on news 4 at 6:00, congress intervenes as arer a news 4 >>> the man accused of providing the weapons used in last month's deadly attack in san bernardino, california, pleaded not guilty today. prosecutors say enrique marquez purchased the assault rifles used by syed farook and tashfeen malik. the couple shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others in that december 2nd shooting. >>> and today we're learning more about the dramatic shootout between police and those two shooters. for the first time deputies who played a pivotal role in that gun battle are talking about the encounter. tony shin talked to the deputy who finally shot and killed syed farook. >> shots fired! >> it was very, very frightening. i was very scared. >> deputy sean walland is remembering the moment he came face-to-face with syed farook and tashfeen malik, a husband and wife terrorist team who had just killed 14 innocent people at the inland regional center. >> i exited the vehicle and both suspects were firing at me. >> it happened here on san bernardino ave

scott macfarlane broke this story online and joins us to tell us what this is all about. what happened? >> pat, internal auditors for d.c. public schools say there was gross negligence in the handling of money by d.c. public schools' former athletic director. they don't refer to her by name in the report but their investigation makes it clear they're referring to stephanie evans who served from 2011 to 2015. auditors say her colleagues found $32,000 in cash in locked bags waiting to be deposited for months in her offices. and the internal reports says hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds from ticket sales and food sales at high school sporting events, turkey bowl football game included, were deposited weeks or months late even though the bank in which d.c. public schools has an account is just down the street from athletic department headquarters. the audit also questions why athletic director allowed some student fund money, money set aside for student athletes, to be spent on hospitality suite buffets and, quote, extravagant food for adults and vips at district

for now in greenbelt, scott macfarlane, news 4. >> the first officer charged in the death of freddie gray is appealing the judge's ruling. a ruling that would force him to testify against one of his colleagues. a lawyer for officer william porter argued that giving him immunity would not protect him from new charges. officer porter is scheduled to testify against officer cesar goodson next week. officer goodson was driving the van when freddie gray died last april. he's been charged with second-degree murder. his trial begins on monday. >>> a man murdered outside his home in charles county, maryland, has been identified and in the meantime police are trying to find whoever it was that killed him. lydel wood was shot in the parking lot of his town home and it happened in waldorf yesterday afternoon. several nearby schools were told to shelter in place as police searched for the shooter. >> now to the controversy over what some would call the birther battle and the republican presidential contest. donald trump is on the attack against his closest competitor. ted cruz was born in canada

at the live desk, i'm scott macfarlane. >>> i'm david sculver in chantilly, virginia. it is a lot quieter than it was the past weekend. the nation's gun show has wrapped up and i want to show you video from the past weekend and thousands lining up attending discussions of an executive order that could expand background checks with gun sales. >> it is a political vendetta on the president's part against the constitution and gun owners. >> they're praising the action from the president. coming up at 5:00, we'll delve deeper into this issue specifically from a virginia perspective and we'll show you how some here believe that the administration within the governor's office is following along the president's lines and what reaction is to that. that's ahead in our next hour. in chantilly, i'm david culver, news 4. >> now to storm team 4 and the chilly changes on our doorstep. >> if you thought it was cold today, just wait until tomorrow. >> doug, you've been telling us to get ready for a week now. >> you've got that right. it's cold outside right now. the current temperatur

scott macfarlane obtained a copy of their internal assessment and he's working on that story for news 4 at 5:00. >>> to be clear, the memo from the fbi and confirmed from homeland security saying there is no credible threat against super bowl 50 in santa clara, february 7th, at least not yet. the recent terrorist attacks show the possibility of attacking outside the stadium where fans might be gathered and security sweeps might be less vigilant and they're concerned about recent vandal attacks against fiber optic cables in the bay area. more than a dozen since 2015, someone severing the fiber optic lines intentionally. what connection could that have to the big game in three weeks? i'll report in a few minutes on news 4 at 5:00. >>> urgent calls for help go unanswered for eight long minutes. >> he started to convulse, had a seizure, fell out of the exam chair. >> what a 911 operator was doing inste of taking emergency calls putting people's lives in danger. >>> you're watching news 4 at 4:00. >>> we're in the ice box as we approach the top of the hour. we're calling it a weather alert

scott macfarlane, news4 i-team. >>> someone stole a senator's car while it was warming up.ow we're learning how he got it back. >>> today is the anniversary of the signing of the fair pay act and the woman the act is named after says we still have some work to do. >>> unequal pay hurts us. it hurts our families, and it >>> it's been a week since the blizzard hit our area, and we just learned all that snow caused a roof to collapse in laurel. take a look. it happened at a townhouse on south shore drive. the weight of the snow caused the roof to cave in. the red cross is helping the folks who live there find another home and the city is encouraging people there to have their roofs checked out. you want to make sure the snow is clear so nothing happens like that to you. >> thank you. >>> she was the nation's oldest female veteran. alyce dixon was 108. we're told she died in her sleep wednesday. the ves tra-- she was born in boston in 1907. she joined the military in 1943 becoming one of the first african-american women in the army. that's according to the va. she later worked

scott macfarlane broke the story on the nbc washington app and joins us with what the feds found. >> u.s., mine and health and safety administration, failed to replace parts and failed to ensure enough inspections were done to keep that quarry safe. they gave us this image of the silo collapse with their report today. it killed 18-year-old daniel potter of west -- of front royal. potter was outside the silo when he was crushed beneath tons of material. news 4's review of the federal investigation showed a 2012 inspection site and an area of concern and recommended changes be made and annual checks be conducted, but the feds say the recommendation was never acted upon and they found bolts inside that were corroded. the u.s. health and safety administration had issued a citation against the company and it's luxe stone corporation of virginia. it hasn't been revealed yet and we do know the company has the right to appeal it. in a statement to news 4, the company said if anyone in our company had any idea that a failure like this could occur we would have taken steps to correct it immedi

at the live desk i'm scott macfarlane. and we're talking about cold temperatures and i want to show you the cold temperatures this morning, we didn't see the wind. 8 in martinsburg, and 9 in manassas and 20 in d.c. and it will still be a cold start to the day and waking up heading out to the bus stop and the temperature around 25 degrees in and around the beltway. so kind of on the cold side for sure, and we'll need the jackets and coats, as well and up to about 40 degrees with more cloud cover moving on in, and a lot going on in the next couple of days and we've got rain in the forecast and colder air and warmer air and even a little bit of snow and veronica has that at 4:48. >> all right. thanks, doug. >>> there are a lot of high-tech gadgets unveiled at the consumer electronics show today and they promise to entertain you, help you get fit and even make your commute easier. some of the highlights include wearable technology in workout gear. there are mats for your fridge that will let you know when you're running out of

scott macfarlane canvassed the counties today and was surprised by some of what he found. he's live in gaithersburg with more on this. >> reporter: wendy, so many areas it is so easy to be stranded. we're on cherokee lane year ridge view middle school. we spent the afternoon watching that man that owns that gray car shovel a path from his driveway to the road. for the other homes there's no answer. it's clear they won't be cleared out tonight. this is amelia, born 24 hours before the snow started burying frederick. mom was induced and avoided a midblizzard trip to the hospital but the problem is they couldn't get home. >> by the looks of it, it was pretty intense. there's like an eight foot mound of snow piled up right outside of our driveway. >> reporter: their neighborhood near route 15 was buried until this afternoon when the side roads were finally cleared. they spent five days at frederick memorial hospital. >> we were up pretty much all night. >> yeah. >> trading responsibilities as new parents do. >> reporter: in montgomery county, this woman lives alone and played

. >> reporter: scott macfarlane, "news4." >>> new this morning the powerball jackpot is going up againthere were no winners in last night's $340 million drawing so when you're going have a chance to win $400 million. how does that sound, making this the biggest jackpot since 200020-inch 13. >> i like it. so today the redskins taking on the dallas cowboys. the game starts at 1:00 this afternoon. the last regular season game but not much is on the line since the team already clenched the playoff spot. they'll see who they face. they could face the seattle seahawks, minnesota vikings, or the green bay packers. >> dedicated football fans in buffalo, check this out. they cleared out the stadium ahead of the game. the lake-effect snowstorms jumped a foot this week. the team pulled out a cal to fans to come out and several. today the bills take on the new york jets and they want to bundle up because the forecast, get this, calling for more, yep, you got it. >> more snow. >> more snow. >> did you see that little chute they had there like a snow slide. >> it's like an on rachlgs something tells