ir i'm veronica johnson. we are going to show you the more interesting local stories making news. among them, a megamillions mystery. what we know about the maryland resident that claimed the biggest jackpot in lottery history. we share secrets of staying slim. >>> he made national headlines of a viral video. we meet the man behind the batman mask. he's a real-life hero. >>> they are dubbed the real life amigos. we don't know a lot about them. pat collins tried to get to the bottom of this megamillionaire history. >> reporter: they hid behind that big check and wore gloves to disguise the millionaire mystery. they could be our best buddies if we could find them. finding the winners could be most difficult. it could require special investigative techniques. let's go. they were modest. they were, i think, humbled by this stroke of luck that they have received. >> reporter: they call themselves the three amigos. they don't want to be identified. they are splitting all this money. >> hey, what about us? >> reporter: clue, the three winners are all maryland teachers. one works at an el

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i'm veronica johnson. we're going to show you some interesting local stories making news this week. among them how georgetown restaurants are making a comeback just a year after potomac flood waters swamped the hot spots. and now pink wildlife could be roaming the area. what the color has to do with keeping ticks away. and a local olympic hopeful shares his determination. >>> first a remarkable accomplishment by surgeons at the university medical center. 22 face transplants have been performed around the world. but the one they performed on a virginia man was the most extensive one to date. erica gonzalez reports on his transformation. >> reporter: richard norris' high school prom picture. normal in most standards. then in 1997 a terrible gun accident left the virginia man severely disfigured. >> you can see the individual as he lived for 15 years of his life behind a mask. >> reporter: this is norris after multiple rounds of reconstructive surgery. little did he know that over the last ten years, doctors at the university of maryland had been working on how to perform the most exte

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i'm veronica johnson. we are going to show you some of the more interesting local stories making news this week. among them, a doggy on a diet. er with following this pet's weight loss journey and learning why he got so big in the first place. and to find it is not so fresh. how one guy got a ticket probably for something you have hanging in your own car. and a never-before seen wedding ceremony. why this couple decided to say i do inside ikea. first, though, will it create business opportunities or borbon street in the district? city leaders are weighing whether to let bars and clubs to stay open later. >> reporter: this was the scene in ad amounts morgan after closing time on a summer weekend. depending on who you talk to, d.c. mayor vince gray proposes to extend bar hours. revenue raising measure in the 2013 budget will make this either better or worse. >> cathy lanier, won't be any problems. we will be fine. there will be plenty of officers to handle any issues. >> reporter: the proposed measure would

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storm 4 meteorologist, veronica johnson is joining us with more about possibly happens tomorrow. >> life threatening situation from texas northward up towards kansas. let me take you back to norman, oklahoma you. can see some of the damage that did occur. winds along with the tornado that touched down. were up to 70 miles per hour. there was reports too, of lots of hail in the area, to golf ball sized. multiple sightings of tornadoes. damage throughout the area and possible injuries. they'll get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. this will be a slow moving system. again. there its that risk. well out ahead of it. some warm air. you're look being hind me at record high temperatures for saturday and sunday. at least one of the days this weekend. we could get very close to that record temperature. i'm tell you more coming up. awe signed good. thank you, veronica. an update on the story you saw first on 4. the fbi raids on all three campuses of virginia's act college cam pulspuses. agents took boxes from act building in manassas. the school suddenly shut down last tuesday. weeks before

. >>> yeah, i'm veronica johnson in for tom kierein this morning. and -- >> i know! >> great to have you with me. >> how did you not get the day snauf. >> are they in con kuhn sokocon? the temperatures in the low fourth and a chill in the air -- low 40s and a chill in the air. rain, wind, what month is this again? check the calendar. >> supposed to be april. >> feels like march or maybe february. it's crazy. 43 at reagan national. wind out of the west at 15 miles per hour, occasionally gusting to 30 miles per hour. look at the rain we've had since yesterday morning. almost two inches in southern maryland. hollywood, st. mary's county, gaithersburg, .73 inch. andrews air force base, 1.28, fairfax, the district of columbia, the heavier rains south and east of washington. temperatures in the upper 30s in northern montgomery county, frederick county, into western maryland. and right now, it is snowing. see this little white patch? it's april 23rd for crying out loud. it's snowing in allegheny and garrett counties. western allegheny and garrett counties. this is going to

meteorologist veronica johnson joins us now. veronica, the day has been fine. >> yeah, the day has been fine. it's been another breezy day for us with that mixture of clouds and sunshine. guys, the wind today not quite as strong as it was yesterday. take a look at the board here. across the area, locations, frederick down toward cull pupper and fredericksburg, winds today not quite as strong. gusting between 17 and 25 miles per hour. take your attention just to the west. coming off the ridges, slightly higher. from 30 to 35 mile per hour gusts winchester towards shart lotsville. we're going to start to lose that wind. for today, through today, red flag warning remains. that means high fire danger with the lack of rainfall, low humidity and with that wind. not just here but from new york down to south carolina we're seeing red flag warnings. the other thing, of course, the pollen being kicked around again. that count at 436 grains per cubic meter. good thing is the tree pollen is starting to decline across the area. but still runn

>> veronica johnson has your first weather word. how about it, veronica? >> well, we're going to be moving in the direction more like for late april around here. how about today? we're ten degrees higher than we were yesterday at this same time. up to 60 degrees now, our wind out of the southwest at 8 miles per hour, but it has been another breezy day for us. we're getting some current gusts through the area at 20 miles per hour. those winds are going to start to settle down very slowly for the late afternoon and evening hours. we're at 62 degrees currently in rockville, maryland, montgomery county. good afternoon to you, college park coming in at 63 degrees right now. it's 64 in warrenton, virginia. so across the area now just running a couple of degrees below average today. and not a bad day with more sunshine throughout the area. that big area of low pressure that produced all the nasty weather through the weekend and even that snow yesterday up north, that area of low pressure just north of new york now. you can see where the cloud line is just over th

veronica johnson is in storm center 4 with the forecast. >> at least today was nice, right? we're back to shine in the area and nice warm air. it's not going to last for very much longer considering this unsettled pattern we're in. up to 70 degrees today. yesterday in the mid 60s throughout the area. you have to look really hard to see those few clouds that are around the area. we've got a warm front just west of us that is going to be making its way north and northeastward giving us that rainy talked about. i'll tell you when it will start in a few minutes. our temperatures in the upper 60s to 70 degrees. rain to talk about and a possible cooldown for the upcoming weekend. back to you. >>> we're learning now of curfew violations linked to the secret service scandal. that revelation came at a beefing today on the pentagon of the military personnel hiring prostitutes in colombia. homeland security secretary janet napolitano was questioned on the investigation. nbc's brian mooar has more on the developments. >> reporter: homeland security chief janet napolitano tells congress

veronica johnson will tell us. >> doing a little better as we move through the evening hours. we had morning showers, now afternoon clouds and you're probably asking where is the sunshine? how about the higher temperatures where it's 63 degrees, currently reagan national airport, wind out of the south at 9 miles per hour, but a lot of moisture is in the air, so it's definitely a bit damp out there, a damp feel to the air. the rain, the bulk of it to the south, area of low pressure has been making its way eastward since early part of the day, pulling the rest of the moisture with it, but still a cold front, so we might get a brief shower around 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, a real brief shower coming through the area. but if you want to know where the warmth is, take a look over our area, then west. petersburg, west virginia at 76 degrees. cumberland, maryland, 72. 70 in charlottesville. winchester and martinsburg have broken without sunshine and that sunshine may be making its way eastward. we can do better than the 60s, chantilly, 64, arlington as well. prince georges county, 62 in bowie

. >> veronica johnson joins us to tell us where. veronica? >> when we say showers, we mean showers of, well, two kinds. we had rain showers and we had some snow showers around the area, even some grapple was falling with a little bit of cold air aloft. big story today, of course, just how chilly it's been. cool afternoon but, boy, we started out with temperatures near freezing and there was in fact a freeze watch. that potential of freezing temperatures that was posted by the national weather service across northern maryland. here is a look at those temperatures that started our day. 34 around mount airy, montgomery county at 34 degrees. 36 manassas. look at all the areas that were right in the low 30s early this morning. as far as the overnight goes, well, freeze warning still out for western portions of our area. we are talking about a little bit in the way of more rain showers, though, falling. about an hour ago haymarket reported a mixture of a little bit of light snow and rain but it's all scattered around the area and certainly is very

meteorologist veronica johnson is live in the storm center. hey, veronica. >> heating up in a big way as we move into the weekend, guys. as far as this morning we started out quite chilly. a lot of locations in the 30s. take a look to the north. frederick and mount airy starting at 32 degrees. 34 the start in bethesda and germantown. manassas, virginia started out at 34 degrees. say adios to temperatures like this because, yeah. we are going to be warming up. 66 right now. we've got that wind out of the north-northwest at 10 with a gust of just 17 because you know the last couple days we've seen some higher winds throughout the area. so that breezy system moving out, area of high pressure moving in. and it's going to be giving us a warm surge of air this weekend. numbers across the area right now, georgetown 66. 67 degrees now in fredericksburg. 65 degrees in waldorf, maryland. the clouds from early this morning, late last night, those two gone as high pressure has been moving in so on your fast forecast a gorgeous evening. might need to break

storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson has your first forecast. veronica? >> this is going to be pretty crazy. this is something i haven't seen in a while over our weekend where you've got split personalities and big changes taking place during the weekend. out there right now, it's nice and quiet. and it doesn't look like anything is going to be happening. right? but it is. as far as the pollen goes, that's been creeping up. we've had two dry days. it's at 134 grains per cubic meter. yes it's still tree pollen but is at least on the decline. grass pollen coming along now. it's low today but we'll see it climb especially through the month of may. the storms that we're talking about for the weekend, we have one area of low pressure just west of detroit, another one north and east of dallas, texas. those are big ls on the map that will be affecting our weather this weekend. we're in the 70s now. it's again delightful out there. no problems whatsoever but we've got storms to talk about. the possibility of severe storms with hail, high winds, and we've got wint

meteorologist veronica johnson joins us now with more on tonight's forecast. hey, veronica. >> hey there. yeah, i think the fact there were a few of those little puffy clouds in the sky made it even pretty. you know, we have been boring, just a little less exciting after they had been completely clear sky. under a partly sunny sky. temperatures in the 70s, upper 70s. that's where we are at now. 77 degrees at reagan national airport. far from the 89 we hit yesterday. 22-mile per hour wind gusts. breezy today, too. throughout the area spots like benning, big afternoon to you. you are at 77. cooler now to the north. 68 in gaithersburg. montgomery county, spots like colesville, sandy spring, ashton, 68 degrees. then we have 66 in winchester. upper 70s, though, in fredericksburg and stafford, down to the south. bit of a weather front coming through the area. as far as your winds go, they are gusting right now. other spots at 23 miles per hour. like leesburg so breezy evening for you. and it is blowing around thele pollen. double this week of what it was last week.

meterologist veronica johnson has the first forecast, what about it? >> yeah, it's looking good for us the next couple days. that does include the weekend, but take a look at this morning, just how low the temperatures were, up to the north in the 30s, frederick county, maryland, howard county, montgomery county starting out at 36 to 34 degrees, frederick down to gaithersburg, 30s, mid and upper 30s to the west. leesburg at 37 to start the morning. overnight temperatures will be low once again, there is the possibility of frost. we have frost advisories posted in all those counties in that blue, from hagerstown, gaithersburg, culpepper, far off to the west in the light blue, mainly west of i-81, a freeze warning. tomorrow morning, some spots, some neighborhoods when you wake up, there could be frost on the grass and on some of your sensitive plants. as far as cloud cover goes today, yeah, you noticed a partly cloudy sky here for the afternoon. puffy clouds coming in. even a sprinkle or two, we stand at 59 degrees, below average today, little less wind

>> meteorologist veronica johnson is in storm center 4 and we're talking about the big "r" word aren't we? relief. finally. >> right. relief from the pollen. right? and because our water table, our ground water tables need that rainfall our streams and rivers were starting to get a little low around the area so, yes. we did get, you know, enough around here, anywhere between 0.1 and 0.25 inch. we'll talk about the next big storm coming up. >>> this is an nbc news special report. here is brian williams. >> good afternoon from new york. we're coming on the air to let you know a true american original has left us. dick clark has died at the age of 82. he first burst on the scene for most of us as the host of the saturday afternoon staple "american band stand" and that's how we first saw so many musical groups of the era. from then dick clark went on to host just about everything, became a super successful host of a megaproduction company, and always hosted new year's eve from times square. we saw him as recently as this past new year's eve, still struggling to communicate after his last s

meteorologist veronica johnson is in storm center 4 with a look now at what the storm did closer to home. veronica? >> yeah. as promised we got the two seasons in just one weekend, right? and now that the chill is here, the snow out west, how long is that snow going to be falling? take a look at this. deep creek lake, garret county, maryland. if you look really hard on the picnic table right there between the two log cabins it looks like 3 or 4 inches on the ground and that was taken earlier. the snow continues to fall in that county. there in garrett county and oakland down to the south still under a winter storm warning. adjacent counties just east of there like allegheny and mineral county in areas of maryland under winter weather advisory until 2:00 a am tomorrow. again, the snow continues to fall. they are on the southern edge in areas of maryland. pennsylvania, western pennsylvania, and western new york around here again things will be shutting off in a couple hours including the rain showers that most of us have had. we're in the mid 40s to upper 40s throughout the area. 49 degree

veronica johnson, we going to enjoy this a while longer? >> no. not for much longer at all. this warmth is well out ahead of the weather system and all the way up the coast of boston. they were in the 80s today. we topped out in the upper 80s. 90 degrees at baltimore tying the record there set back in 2002 but 89 degrees at national. reagan national. so a couple degrees away from the record. nonetheless, folks will agree that today was a little on the sticky side and maybe a little too warm too early. the other thing of course that we've been dealing with the pollen. it's almost double what it was last week running at 1228 grains per cubic meter. oak still making up much of that. what we need is some rain around here. that is exactly what we're going to get. a little bit of rain. we'll have to wait for it. i'll tell you when it's going to come to our area in a couple minutes. >> thanks, veronica. >>> lots of people are loving this warm weather. feels more like june out there. pat collins is at dupont circle with a look at how people are coping with the sudden change in our t

. >> meteorologist veronica johnson is in storm center 4. >> it is still looking stormy for this weekend but less of our weekend now. i'll give you the rest of the details coming up. as far as today goes we started out with clouds and fog early part of the day and have been seeing clearing, sunshine, a big area from central pennsylvania right on down to central virginia. but look at areas west around minneapolis, around chicago, it is stormy there and it is there over the central part of the country that at least one part of our upcoming storm system is organizing. more on that coming up later. but oh, what a fantastic day it's been. 72 degrees the current temperature. north wind, light breeze out there out of the north. that dry breeze for us. we've got laytonsville and wheaton at 68 degrees. glendale and green belt in prince george's county at 69. fairfax city and vienna coming in currently at 67 degrees. so a very nice evening it will be as temperatures drop to 66 by 7:00. again, a clear sky for us. it's going to be a very starry night. we'll drop to 54 by 9:00. 62 degrees or actually

meteorologist veronica johnson is in the storm center with your first forecast. >> that's right. it's going to be crazy this weekend. we've got so much that's going to be going on weatherwise. out there right now we've got a sunny sky. just a few little puffy clouds in the distance there. we've had two dry days so that pollen count getting a chance to shoot right back up. it's at 134 grains per cubic meter. it's nowhere near where it was earlier this week. we were running around 1200 to 1300. the fact is, it's climbing. it's going to get squashed back down big time not only for the weekend but next week. you'll see why in a moment. that grass pollen, too, is coming along but it's not going to peak until we get to may. as far as clouds this morning, there were a few again and even some patchy fog just down to the south of our area. we're going to see some high clouds come in tonight then thick clouds for tomorrow and this weekend affected by these two storms. two areas of low pressure. one moves through. one moves up the coast. in the mid 70s we're already running a few degrees hi

veronica johnson has a loo just how hot we got. >> first let's go to pat collins live at dupont circleheat out there. >> reporter: let's take a look across the street at the big sun trust thermometer. it's 4:59 and it's showing 94 degrees right now. today a lot of people had off but a lot of people had to work, too. many of the people who went to work still managed to enjoy the day. if you know

meteorologist veronica johnson is tracking it all from the weather center. j.v.? >> that's right. so many areas from the northeast through mid-atlantic states are abnormally dry to moderately dry. january, february, march among the top ten driest such periods on record for at least seven of the northeastern states. all we have to do is look around here. i took this earlier today. this is patapsco river in howard county. see right along the banks there, it's getting pretty low. we need some rain, folks. i'm going to have more photos coming up, or you can like me on facebook. that's right. it runs 39 miles out of baltimore into howard county and frederick. red flag warning here today because of the dry conditions. breezy, too. it's blowing around the pond. we're at 436. at least we're seeing that pollen count on the decline. but what about the rain? when's our next best chance? i'll have it for you coming up in just a couple minutes. >> all right. thank you. >>> they call themselves the three amigos. two public schoolteachers and a school administrator from baltimore have come forwa

. >> let's get your first forecast from meteorologist veronica johnson. how about it? >> yeah. after some fog, too, this morning and we could see a little more of that fog developing during the overnight but the clouds that we talked about that were lingering early part of the day, here they are on satellite as we go back some six hours and now you can see again we're left with the clear skies right around washington. and up to the north into pennsylvania. head off to the west and you can see all that rain, those stormy conditions in minneapolis up at the top of your screen right under the banner there. chicago, too stormy. that is an area of low pressure. that's just part of the storm that's going to be coming our way for the weekend. so we've got just one more nice day here coming our way as we get ready to round out the week. we're at 70 degrees right now. your wind is light at just 3 miles per hour. as we look ahead, for the rest of the evening, this is going to be quite pleasant for getting out. again, a little bit of fog for tomorrow morning and, you know, we're talking a

veronica johnson joins us with a look at the broader impact of all these dry conditions. it's a combination of things, isn't it? >> it is a combination of things. really, doreen, it goes all the way back to this past winter. we've had a lack of rainfall for the spring. but, remember, we didn't get much snowfall here. neither did the northeast. areas of new england this past winter. let me take you right now to suffolk county, new york. this is out on long island. brush fires there. in fact, there is 2,000 acres that quickly went up in flames. fast moving wildfire. doesn't take much when you have a lot of wind blowing. they've been closer to that area of low pressure where the wind has been, in fact, more intense. again, suffolk county, new york. that was earlier today. i just was on a fire mapping location showing that that fire is contained. but there's a couple more burning brush fires in new jersey, in pennsylvania, and one just west of shenandoah. 200 acres burning there. abnormally dry through so many areas of the northeast, even moderately dry in areas of eastern ma

storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson tells us when the winds will die down. nice day today. >> yeah, nice day. we've had a fair amount of sunshine around the area but boy oh, boy that wind as you said really blowing around the pollen. blowing around a lot of trash. and the trees have been swaying back and forth. easy to see why. take a look at some of the current wind gusts. those winds gusting currently between 25 and 30 miles per hour. as high as 39-mile-per-hour gusts in baltimore and 36-mile-per-hour winds right now in annapolis, maryland in anne arundel county. we expect to see breezy conditions so the winds are going to start to diminish a little bit but still breezy for the evening. that's all because of a big area of low pressure up toward the north and high pressure off to the east. we've got some clouds, more cloud cover off to the west around west virginia, and you can see those clouds actually producing a few rain showers right now. very, very light showers and/or sprinkles around portions of our area. right now we've got 67 degrees. the temperatu

meteorologist veronica johnson is in the storm center tracking chance force rain now. >> yes, we are talking about some rain around the area. but a lot of folks are going to say who took the warmth away? yesterday felt like july. today is like march. and we are going to keep going back in the calendar. it is going to be a little on the cool side tomorrow. 74 is our temperature now. take a look. we have clouds out there currently throughout the area. the wind has been gusty. 22 miles per hour gusts out the there currently. 70 degrees to the north in frederick, maryland. 74 degrees, adams morgan, takoma park and montgomery county at 7 on. happening on to 78 degrees in stafford, virginia. there is the rain on radar. how soon will it get to us? i have it coming up in just a couple much minutes. >> thank you. >>> when we come right back on "news4 at 5:00" tonight, we have a whole lot more to come. don't mess with this capitol hill grandmother. tonight the unusual weapon she used to scare off a would didn't shall robber. >>> bourbon street in d.c., details behind the controversial plan to

johnson's season be over before it starts? you're watching "early today." . >>> very good morning welcome back to "early today" i'm veronica de la cruz. here are top headlines this morning. >>> after days of white house pressure, the republican led house is expected to vote on a bill that would prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling. john boehner argues the bill should be paid for by cutting money from president obama's health care overhaul. >>> connecticut became the nation's 17th state to abolish the death penalty yesterday. the measure, however, only applies to future cases, and not to the 11 men already on death row. >>> u.s. marine who criticized president obama on facebook is being given an other than honorable discharge. 26-year-old sergeant gary stein will lose most of his benefits. >>> with the help of california school children, nasa launched a special probe to study the sun's most intense radiation storm since 2003. a weather balloon equipped with a rubber chicken, camilla wore a space suit equipped with sensors to measure radiation. >>> now here is another look how wall street will kick off the day.