i'm tracee wilkins.ing up on news4, the program that's giving them the success. >>> and here's a look at your evening planner. 69 degrees right now. by 9:00, we'll be in the mid 60s. by 11:00 p.m., cool around 60. similar tomorrow, but much warmer on sunday. i'll be breaking i t >>> i gotta tell you, i think this says it all. at a time when schools are cutting back on arts programs, prince george's county is pouring more into theirs and it's paying off big time for students at northwestern high school in tracee wilkins shows us how five teenagers received nearly $2 million in scholarship offers. >> in my education, go ahead, i wouldn't separate them. >> when did you start painting? >> two years ago. >> reporter: these five northwestern high school students are serious artists. >> i'm mostly digital and graphic design. >> i do mostly drawing and painting. >> reporter: all told, they've received more than $1.6 million in scholarship offers to universities across the country. >> accepted to school of the ar

i'm tracee wilkins coming up on news4 what people thought of what they saw here. >> and the danger ofergy drinks, the potential health risk in >>> doug, we've been busy watching this bird. >> there was a big bird behind us. we put it on our facebook page. >> it's blown away now. >> go on our facebook page and look. it looked like it was this big. >> let me go check that out. >> but in the meantime we notice how beautiful it looked outside. >> and then we saw the sunlight, gorgeous behind us. >> i we've got two tower cams, one normally looking up to the north and another toward the south. the one looking up to the north is showing the sunshine that we've seen across our area. we're really looking at many nicer conditions. you can still see the clouds off in the difference. that's the storm finally pulling away. we saw the clouds just about all day and here's the sunshine and boy have temperatures responded. 71 degrees right now. temperatures dropping a little bit next few hours down to 65 by 11:00 but a beautiful, beautiful evening. now temperature-wise, 73 frez ricks, look at charlott

i'm tracee wilkins.ing up on news4 at capitol heights elementary, >>> today at capitol heights elementary school the focus was all on girls. it was girl empowerment day and the staff went out of its way to make sure the young female students know just how much they matter. tracee wilkins was there and has this report. >> reporter: girls aren't afraid of bugs. >> it's so cute. >> reporter: and they're not afraid to dream. >> a president of the united states. >> i want to become a lieutenant like my father. >> i rock. nice. >> reporter: today the girls got their own day of empowerment, learning how far they can go and how much they can do. >> it's fun and really exciting, because i never did this at my old school. >> reporter: they're building their dreams one rock at a time. >> what we believe here at capit capitol heights is all students, but particularly this day, our young ladies have a voice. >> you have to make sure your supplies will go in the village safely. >> reporter: the girls practice some act

the bureau chief tracee wilkins is at the scene. what are you seeing?> e let me show you what it's locking like here on route 1. they are now allow iing a few cs to come in and make a right and then make their way around this off campus housing here. the apartment complex and back out to route 1. let me advise you should probably avoid route 1 if you can between campus drive and green belt road because they do have this section of route 1 shut down. just a few cars making off the is a mixed use building. we're told six stories. it appears the fire started on the fifth floor and quickly spread to the sixth floor. they are still working to try to put this fire out that started at 9:00 a.m. the good news is this building was under construction and was not inhabited a at the time of this foir. they are still working to try to rent this building out. it was under construction when it started. right across the street from it, a senior center, a home there where seniors lived. we talked to one resident who described what the conditions are like inside that cen

. >> tracee wilkins shows us how that is paying off big time for students in hyattsville. >> they go hand in hand. i wouldn't separate them. >> reporter: when did you start painting? >> two years ago. >> reporter: these five northwestern high school students are serious artists. >> and i'm mostly digital and graphic design. >> i do mostly drawing. >> reporter: they have received $1.6 million in scholarship offers to universities across the country. >> i'm going to the institute of art in chicago. >> i got accepted to howell university in >> you look proud. >> i am very proud. >> reporter: this will be the first full year graduating class for the visual and performing arts program. >> it's really been an honor to watch them grow, experience lots of hardship, overcome. >> reporter: like rafael. where are you from originally? >> el salvador. >> reporter: how long have you been here? >> four years. >> reporter: he's headed to school on scholarship. >> i'm one of the thousand students who came to this country. and didn't have a chance to go to high school. >> reporter: these twins lost th

tracee wilkins has been tweeting from the scene and joins us live with what's going on there now. >> reporter: let me show you what's happening here. this is a different view from what we've seen throughout the day. there you can see that the smoke, it appears like it's almost dissipated. that's a very different view when earlier today when dark smoke was billowing from that building and pouring out as firefighters tried to battle the fire chopper 4 showed what it looked like from above with what appears to have been a number of floors that collapsed inside of this building, because of the way that it was structured and because it was at one of its most vulnerable points. it was not occupied yet. they were finishing construction. there were crews working inside when the fire started on the fifth and spread to the sixth and up to the roof. none of the sprinklers had been turned off yet and the access to water in that area was limited. it was also very difficult for firefighters to access the building to fight the fire because of how it's structured. they could only fight it from one s

i'm tracee wilkins, news4. >> in prince george's county today a special tribute to police officers whonored for their dedication to duty. the county hosted its 40th annual public safety luncheon today. a number of officers received valor awards. he was awarded host umussily. he was killed just over a year ago by friendly fire. >> we have a heads up now. if you drive on i-66 parts of the history with close for the next two nights so v. dot crews can work on those express lanes. between route 7 and gleeb road starting at 9:30 tonight. they'll close for 20 minutes intervals between a.m. you getting all this wendy rieger. >> yes, i am. >> i'm phoning it to myself. >> you can expect those single plain closures to kick in again at 9:30 at night. >> or you can go hide out in the verizon center all weekend, the cavs quest for the cup continues tomorrow. >> this series will be the 10th meeting between the capitals and penguins. the latest installment of that long-standing rivalry between the caps and penguins. you've heard it before and you'll hear it a lot this week. the caps looking for reven

tracee wilkins is at the scene. this was a tough one to get under control. >> reporter: this was a tough one to get under control, and there are lots of reasons for why that was the case. i want to show you what it looks like right now as thmo george's county firefighters and all the other fire departments assisting them to get this building to this point. a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was still under construction, during a vulnerable time. and now firefighters are saying they're going to have to be out here all night. >> our biggest challenge here has been access. >> i can't believe that they've been fighting it for so long. it's really crazy. >> i feel sorry for the people who have leases. i don't know what they're gonna do. >> i saw this building under construction, and the top six floors are almost entirely only wood. >> reporter: firefighters say it was like battling a wood pile, surrounded by concrete. >> all that wood, it's very hard to catch up to it. >> reporter: as the fire burned at the newl

in college park, i'm tracee wilkins, back to you. >> the weather sure didn't help thank you. >>> for the second time in a week, arrests on capitol hill today. four demonstrators were arrested after lighting up a joint on the east side of the capitol. many of those who were taken into custody were also arrested on thursday when protesters tried to hand out free marijuana on the hill. news4's meagan fitzgerald joins united states from the capitol with details today. meagan? >> reporter: jim, there were about 20 people who came to the capitol, many of them took to the microphone to describe why they feel marijuana should be legalized. once they started to smoke joints on capitol grounds, that's when police rushed in. >> i come in peace. cannibis is peace. cannibis is love. >> reporter: that's what marijuana means to those who demonstrated on federal property right near the capitol steps. but once they started to spark up. >> everyone medicates differently. >> reporter: that's when police rushed in. >> to my four protesters were arrested. but before they were -- >> your whole thing is tr