that is the latest from the wtop traffic ceer.bridge but that's not causing a delay either. back to you. >> thank you. it's going to be a pretty stressful day for anyoneha that to catch a flight, if you're heading out of town today, here's some friendly faces here to help you get ready to deal with some of the traffic stress. news 4 transportation reporter adam >>> welcome back. traveling over the holidays could bestressful. >> then you see these guys and some of that stress starts to melt away. adam tuss explains how one airline is using dogs. id a friendly, furry face to combat the h stress at the airport. >> man, i haven't seen anything like that in an aiort. >> mee lily, brooke, and oliver. >> they're the love of my life. for di just left her dog the holiday break and this brought back a warm feeling. >> did it remind you of you dog here? >> absolutely. there's one especially that looks just like hi >> these dogs bring smiles about everywhere they go. and that's the point. rgat you about this part of the trip. >> all of these

wtop's dave dilldine is in for melissa mollet. >> chuck bell is in.ne more big drink of water coming from mother nature. that arrives onfriday. maybe a little chance of some wet snow coming up onr' new y eve. that's a very sll chance. don't start planning snow man names yet. wednesday off to a considerably colder start than wednesday. most areas are 5 to 10 degrees colder now downnto the lowo mid 20s. mid 20s now in prince gorges county. 23 in columbia,maryland. 27 at marine base quantico. all sunshine all the time. sun is not up until 7:25 this morning. still a couple more hrs for that. all sunshine this afternoon. daytime highs today, mid to upper 40s. nothing to complain about there. 47 in leesburg. 45 in culp i'll let you know when the rain is most likely to arrive and how long w into thekend it's going to hang around. good morning, dave dilldine. >> good morning, chuck. easy commute. no beltway issues in maryland and virginia. southbound d.c. 295. the work zone at pennsvania ovechkin, bumpy ride. all lanes getting through and moving well. expect

. >> wtop on stand by with a check on our commute. >> couth get a inch to an inch and a half of rain today. all just padding the record that we have already long ago set. theirport should be having no trouble breaking their record today but weather alert for you, flood watches are posted again for today. it's going to be all rain. nowhere near cold temperatures. near0s this afternoon. rain on all corrs of our viewing area here early this morning. you'll need your umbrella now and need it later on in the morning. you'll need it for lunchtime and the afternoon and the way home as well. the rain should start to taper off after about 5:00 or 6:00 this aernoon and the later you'll be going out for your friday night, the more likely it will be dry. temperatures up close to 60 degrees thisoo afte let's get a look at tds r now. >> on the inner loop of the beltway, the truck is nea rockville pike and this is going to take a couple of hours perhaps. most of the rush hour. jackknife truck went through the guard rail. half of it on the beltway and half of i off the beltway and the left side is p

that's the latest from the wtop traffic center. back over to you. >> thank you, sir. it 3 is minutes after the hour and the holiday travel rush is in full swing. akousands areg their way across the country now and it seems no matter where you're going, t roads will be pretty wet. >> all of this rain couldn't come at a worst time. news4's justin finch is live at reagan national airport where he's keeping an eye on the skies. what are you seeing? >> well, a lot of concern about rain across the country today. a few spots in california but as we look at the lines here, it's wh you want to see. the lines are moving very quickly at this hour. one in three americans will travel 15 milesr more this holiday. taking planes obviously, they're taking trains, buty moshey are driving close to 102 million people will be on the roads this holiday season. 're talking about $2.37 a gallon. and if you're wondering where everyone is going, aaa says florida is a top destination this year. a lot of fol want to go somewhere and be warm for the christmas holiday. back ino you. >> they were s

wtop's dave dildine is here. hey, dave >> hey, slippery when wet. new crash at pennsylvania avenue.e just getting by, two lanes to the right. a crash in montgomery county on the inner loop, getting by in one lane to the right. slippery but with no incidents on 495 in virginia. veryu.yo >> thank you. up> we will have a check of your forecast coming ext. >>> gd morning everybody. it's raining hard across most of the d.c. metro area f now. we have a little break across parts ofni central vir now but there will be more moderate rain later this morning andoo afte flood watches are issues. a storm team4 weather alert toda temperatures are mild, mid-to-upper 40s now. we will be near 60 today. an inch to an inch and a half of rain bween now and 12 hours from now is eacertainly likely. dry weather for t >>> another local news update in 25 minutes. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> back at:3on a friday morning, december 28, 2018. it's the calm during the storm, so to speak, in times square. rain isn't stopping preparations for the world's largest new year's eve party. >>he folks are flocking here to new

once you hop into your car, turn it to wtop, 103.5, they have traffic on the 8s.c issues out here. you can see visibility is down bit. we'll keep the clouds and fog around. any heavy raintoday, there could be spotty areas of moderate rain but we aren't talking about the widespread heavy rain we saw last night. any winterlt weather, i aybe if the isn't didn't get out of here until late this afternoon we could change to snowflakes in the higher elevation bus we're just going to have rain. t probleorrow morning, flooding issues ongoing. flood warningsoughout the area, all those areas shaded in green, those are flood ewarning. treams are coming up out of their creek and low-lying areas creating floo east of i-95, seeing moderate rain north of annapolis and then some more light rain towards oughoun county and t fauquier county but look at the rotation on this. it's spinning out of here. it's an area of low pressure that continues to spin as itft up to the north so it will continue to move to the north and out of our area as we go through the afternoon. temperatures in

wtop reports a new air traffic control system calls fortolanes ly lower.t system saves fuel and money, buttincreases the noise around surrounding neighborhoods. back in july, the fountyed the petition but the agency didn't take any action. the faa is reviewing that petition and will decide what to do next. >> 5:50 now. chuck bell joins us once again to talk about this really cold weather. snow to the south of us. >> the snow totals have been ratherim essive. wintergreen, virginia, snow reso out in the valley was the big winner at 21 inches of snow. not far from there, charlottesville had a solid 10 inches on the ground.ri e, maryland, 6 inches. another big threat for ice tomorrow morning. we'll probably have to be weather alert on tuesday morning as well for the possibilityerf some slippery conditions. it's t melting and refreezing that will cause trouble. if you're traveling together, south of roanoke, down into parts of north carolina, still very cold and unsettled weather there. temperatures to get you out the door o your monday morning, 25 now in montg

remember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm when you hopn your car. >> we have now dropped 20 degrees.now n washington. northwest winds are averaging nearly 10 miles per hour across much of the area.n so w you combine the low temperatures and the wind speeds these are theind chills that you'll walk out into this morning. wind chills into the 20s and low 30s in the valley.up r 20s and low 30s for much of the d.c. metro area but there n't be much of a warm up today. a mix of clouds and sunshine but notice how temperatures, becau the northwest wind will keep pushing ever colder air into the region, we'll stay cold all day. afternoon temperatures peeking only up to maybe as much as 45 around the city, but if you're going to go down to the u.s. capitol today, that line could be long. wind chills will be in thel 30s day. that cold front is well tour south and the cold pattern is now here to stay and as far as anything that we could turn into snow, we have a couple of opportunities for some snow flakes. here's future weather starting at 5:00 this afternoon. a o fair amoun sunshine during the

>> wtop is standing by with a check on our commute ts morning. it's a little bit busyom in s places. we begin with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. he's answering the question, how >>ch rain are we going to get, chuck? probably for most of the area around an inch of rain. could be less in the valley. probably half an inch there. close to an inch around most o the city but you get down into southern maryland and the eastern shore, could be 2 inches of rain. weather alert f you todor the possibility of localized flooding. definitely mild. temperatures getting close to 60 degrees today so the mild air comes super loaded with moisturelo there's the watch. pretty much down along the corridor down into parts of central virginia. rain everywhere this morning. heaviest rron culpeper county. hat's headed in over the next little bit temperature in the low to mid 40s around town and up near 60 degrees later on in the afternoon.nd heaviest steadiest of the rain between now and 3:00 or 4:00, there are indicationshat the rain should be coming to an end a

wtop's dave dilldine is in. >> and chuck bell israing rain. >> the last thing we need isra .ow this time around. there is a chance that next monday morning we might have a little wet snow mixing in with rain drops. this friday event will be all sdrain. your w morning is starting off considerably colder than yesterday. temper 1ures 5 to degrees colder this morning than yesterday morning. everybody in the d suburn below freezing. the only spot above freezing. national airport next to the unfrozen potomac and annapol next to the unfrozen bay. once you're away from the watere eratures are way below freezing. planner, mid 20s this morning. mid 40s at noontime. 100% sunshine. it is off to a cold start. you'll need to put your warm o jack this morning and have the sunglasses ready to go. umbrellas, dave dilldine, won't need those until friday. >> won't need theei wipers er, i guess. right now traffic is moving quite nicely. marylandmajors, 95 and baltimore washington parkway, it's a good go heading south of the beltway. in virginia, traffic is moving wellnd if you're heading north f

right now we want to check onte your com with wtop's dave dildine in your first4 traffic.e the delay froman gewn to gaithersburg. a vehicle caught on fire earlier in the hour south of montgomery village. all the activity was moved to the right shoulder. slow going southbound through germantown on i-270. that is the latest. back to you go thank you. >>> we will check your forecast next. stay with us. (vo) get six months free apple music, on the network you deserve. ♪ ♪ ♪ little girl and boy land ♪ while y dwell withiit ♪ you are ever happy there daddy, it's christmas! ♪ childhoods, joyland never let go of your dreams. the mercedes-benz winter event is back. lease the glc 300 for $459 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. by sponsored"today" is ercedes-benz. the best or nothing. >> so yesterday we looked back t the biggest stories of the year. this morning we are going to celebrate all the fun that we shared togetherun here a studio 1a and around the wld in 2018. ♪ ♪ >> hi, guys! >> we are kicking off the year right because hoda is o

. >> we'll check in with wtop's jack taylo for more in just a moment. sun coming up 20 minutes after 7:00 but a beautiful morning once again. once again, clear skies leading into your tuesday morning. you can see that wind picking up just a little bit. we had breezy conditions throughout the night. we'll continue to see winds 5 at to 15 miles per hour throughout theday. and continue to head into the lower to mid 40s for the afternoon with plenty of sunshine. we also have christmas on the way so we'll talk about those forecasts coming up in a few minutes, but first let's talk to jack taylor. good morning, jack. >> good morning. eastbound prince william parkway we have continuedy activ around the crash on the right side of the roadway. traffic is a little bit heavy am yoe through the area. two lanes to the left are getting so. oute 9, traffic had been temporarily stopped wit tow truck on scene now. white's ferry closed today due to the high water on the potomac. ack into you. >> it's5:03. now a developing story from chicago where officials say two police

remember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm when you hop in your car. i> the skin care business is a multibillion dollandustry. treating your skin is much me than just looking good. more on the benefits of these anti-ageingex products >>> and this band is really on the road. see dave matthews band performing new music on ellen this afternoon before they take the stage at the capital one arena tonight. see it at 3:00 here on nbc 4. then stay tuned for news 4 at 4:00. hey, batter, batter, batter, batter. [ crowd cheers ] like everyonfe i lead a busy li. but i know the importance of having time to do what you le. at comcast we know our customers' time is valuable. that's why we have 2-hour ap, including nights and weekends. so you can do more of what you love. my name is mito, and i'm a tech oager at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. >>> welcome bacn wopend thousands of dollars on cosmetics every year. skin care is a booming business, especially for anti-ageing products. >> winter weather candd put stress on your skin. a skin

let's go to wtop and find out the latest on all the traffic troubles this morning. >>n backup interstate 270, this is where it starts. chopper 4 flying above it, southbound 270 at clopper road. look at the backup it's causing southbound. the original wreck at interstate 370 that eventually worked this into place hased cle it comes down to this secondath crash in 117 interchange. you can see traffic is getting by very slowly. e'll take you south into montgomery county. slow go southbound through gaithersburg staying right past that crash. >> dave, thanks. >>> still ahead, the mad dash has begun. we're not talking about morda ho shopping. we're talking about the returns. >>> and be sure t catch ellen this afternoon at 3:00 and stick around for news 4 at 4:00. 6:21 right now. 6:21 right now. z2ydpz z16fz y2ydpy y16fy >>> the day after chrtmas oked a lot like the day before at many malls. this is time-lapse footage taken inside tyson's corner center i virginia t it wasn't onhe after-holiday sales that caused the crowds there but the rush to return gifts. i was there at

ethen we'll hav an update on your commute from wtop's jack taylor are we going to see sunshine today lauren? s> we will get some sunshine. thank goodn we'll see some sunshine out there because we're due for it after this weekend. it felt like it was raini all weekend. leave the umbrella at home today xtd the clothes at home today. not only are we going to be dry, we'll be on the mild side. we'll have plenty of sunshine. sun coming upfter 7:00. 39 degrees by 6:00 a.m. by 8:00 a.m.th temperatures i low 40s, so not too bad as you make your way out theor but who to wear on this monday, windbreai rs. n't know if people wear those anymore. but breezy as the winds start to up.k it's going to be much cooler. temperatures 50 today but low 30s and 40s tomorrow and still yreezy. but wednesday more sun and thursday more rain. we'll time-out the rain on thursday and tk aboutour christmas and christmas eve which is coming up on our ten day recast. but right now, let's talk to jack taylor. >> good morning, water street, shocking, flooded out. u'll find it blocked for now. it's closed. route 450 is

. >> wtop on stand by with a check on our commute. >> couth get a inch to an inch and a half of rainoday. all just padding the record that we have already long ago set. theirport should be having no trouble breaking their record today but weather alert for you, flood watches are posted again for today. it's going to be all rain. nowhere near cold temperatures. near0s this afternoon. rain on all corrs of our viewing area here early this morning. you'll need your umbrella now and need it later on in the morning. you'll need it for lunchtime and the afternoon and the way home as well. the rain should start to taper off after about 5:00 or 6:00 this aernoon t

let's turn now to wtop's jack taylor in for melissa this morning. of e's a lot of trains out new carrolton. new word on impact of service at this point? >> thankfully, what we can report so far is normal service will be on tap this morning. as of yet, not effecting service on tro. now we have a crash, but it's in virginia. the incident is along the right side of the roadway. causing a till light big delay. we'll start on the inner loop, maryland, you have the right lane getting by. two work zones on the outer loop of the beltway. and on theuter loop i virginia. two left lanes will get you by and light volume not causing a big slow down. >> thank. >> we tur now to the forecast. storm team 4 meteorologist laur rickets is in again for chuck bell. >> hey there guys. al fairly c morning especially compared to yesterday. temperatures in the 30s to d around 40rees right now here in the d.c. area. we'll probably take a fde ees off of those as we head through the morning before daybreak. sun coming up about 7:15. 7:22 isct the e sunrise. nothing is going on

. >>> now let's check in with wtop's jack taylor in yr first 4 traffic. >> good morning. on 210 northbound. crash activity near kirby hill road. the right lane isetting by. it's causing massive delays out of fort washington. 395 main line northbound after glebeid road an at was put on to the shoulder. major delays inprgfield. 66 east we had two trodeles. 28.in sy. both in the middle of the roadway. >>> a check of your forecast is up next. stay with us. >>> it's a mostly cloudy and chilly start to the morning. temperatures in thepper 20s and mid-30 for most of the area. clouds will lower and thicken and rain chances go up with time. 's likely to be raining not long after 2:00 or 3:00 this afternoon. look at all that rain. this means it will be no sunshine at all this weekend and 100% chance of rain tonight and tomorrow.80 chance of showers most of your sunday, too. >> another local news update in 25 minutes. >> back to "the today show." >>> as we take a look at the temperatures and conditions at 5:00, partly sunny to mostly sunny skies, 65ee guys. at 13. falling barometer.

wtop reports that the 51-year-old pleaded guilty to stalking her. police say he plotted to get a gun and extremely jihad writing in her possession without her knowledge. >> the main suspect in the france christmas market attack is dead. he was killed in a shoot out with police. three people were killed and four people were hurt in a rampage on tuesday. there's no indication that the group directed him. christmas market is expected to reopen today. >> close to a dozen bomb threats in our area are believed to be part of a nationwide hoax. one of the threatst was s to university of maryland yesterday along with schools, governmenti ngs, and businesses, they have been targeted coast-to-coast. most received an e-mail claiming a bomb was planted in the building. the note warned the only wayo an prevent xplosion was to pay a ransom in bitcoin. the response has tied up first responders and snarled traffic. the fbi says it is working with senderolice to find the >> your time is 4:34. here are your other top stories wee llowing. this morning, a local mother i

i'm dave dilldine from th wtop traffic center.ace between the headlights and tail leets. headlights and tail leets. that's the case all our dad was in the hospital. headlibecause of smoking.. that's the case all but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doin the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know w, we know how. when your blanket's freshness fades before the binge-watching begins... that's when you know, it's half-washed. next time, add downy fabric conditioner for up to 7 days of downy freshness. downy and it's done. sometimes a cough gets in the ee way of a good night's that's when he needs vicks vaporub. proven cough medicine. with 8 hours of vapors, so he can sleep. vicks vaporub. goodnight coughs. >>> you're watching "news 4 today." >>> american service members celebrated christmas overseas far from home. nbc news caught up with some soldiers in poland trying to get in holiday spirit with a christmas spot near their base. america's military i

according to wtop, prosecutors is dropped charges against jonathan edward miller on friday. it's unclear why the charges were dropped. a jury acquitted la qun phillips who was charged with attacking the woman. the woman was pregnant when th attack happened last year. phillips is the father of the by ba she delivered her baby early and tsffered severe burns. >>> terrifying momt bwi thurgood marshall airport after a passenger loading bridge failed sending six people to the hospital. paramedics were helping a with a medical situation get off it will southwest flight yesterday. the southwest flight. airport officials say that's when there was an issue with the equipment on the movable connector from the airport terminal to the plane. the flight just arrived from bwi from the dominican republic. witnesses describe the incident as traumatic. >> about two seconds after she walked out there was this loud crash. it was traumatic and everybody rushed to the front of the plane and the flight attendants were like please sit down and nobody ew what was going on. >> that's frightening. si

. >> wtop is tracking the road for us this morning. let's start though with storm team 4 c meteorologick bell. i have to say, that radar pictureooked busier than the reality i dealt with this morning. >> i understand what you the heaviest of the rain may already be in the rear-view mirror but that doesn't mean it's not going to continue to sprinkle and shower on us for the remainder of the day. areas to light to pockets of moderate rain this morning. but no heavy rain at this point in time. the real weather story as you're getting up early, be ready for it to feel like ringtime. temperatures are 15 to 30 degrees warmer now than they were yesterday.ev unbely mild. we're 61 in washington now at 4:00 a.m. 63 in prince george'scounty. 64 in southern maryland. it literally does fee like t first day of spring and the winter solstace is today. we're upper 50s a low and mid 60s all day today. rain chances don'tnd until midnight tonight leaving us colder for the weekend. more about tha coming up. good morning. >> good morning mr. bell. as you h

let's start with a check on the roads with wtop's dave dildine.er loop with one broken down in the left center lane and the crash before springfield on the left side. noigns of a rush hour on 95 or 395. heavier traffic this afternoon in tas district,ound on the freeway near main avenue a crash on the left side. back to tyou. nk you. >>> we will have a check on your forecast when we come back. you have a lot of deadlines in your business, right? we miss deadlines, we don't get paid. what if you lost your network connection? you gotta be kidding me. chaotic. our gig-speed network lets you download files up to 20 times faster. and we go beyond fast with 4g lte backup for complete reliability. so, if you lose your network connection... ♪ ♪ you won't miss the deadlines. having the confidence of something that's never gonna go down would be priceless. one more way we go beyond. call today and pay just $49.95 a month for fast, reliable internet. comcast business. beyond fast. >>> good morning. i hope you are enjoying your thursday morning. the sun is shi

our news partners at wtop, jasop isting on this event in frederick, maryland.s a wonderful life walk. they're going to do a viewing of it's a wonderful life at 3:00. then again at 7:00. then they'll walk through the town of vefrederick. similar to what they do in the movies. for in a ifea you'red to that, it's getting a lot of interest. temperatures in the 30s. dodging showers through the earl portions. bring those umbrellas. other events going on, we are at the walk to end hiv.ow s later. most of that dry. the scottish walk in alexandria, i'll see you there. a passing shower possible for that. and then come say hi to me a the wharf for the boat parade. busy today. boat parade, i'l be there tonight. some rain. tommy mcfly will be in alexandria. tree lighting ceremonies, wet conditions out there for the tr lighting ceremonies. gaithersburg has one. there's a lot around the area. rain moving in from thean south west to the northeast. showery this afternoon. again, here's the showers moving through. a little lull in the precipitation asghe go thr the afternoon. an

wtop's dave dildis in with that.s getting by. a crash investigation. 66 is okay. a brief incident. that is clear. maryland jammed on 270 southbound beyond germantown. and past the on-ramp from middlebrook road a single lane getting by the overturned vehicle. back to you. >>> a look at your forecast when we come back. stay with us. >>> certainly a beautiful d to end quality time outside in the sunshine today. it's a little chilly, 33 here in washington. all the suburbs are down below freezing this morning. i need yourinter coat today. afternoon highs mid-to-upper 40s. dry most of tweorrow as , but rain likely a lot of it coming up on friday and again late sunday. ♪ >>> we are bk at 8:30 on this wednesday morning, the 26th of december. we are happy to have a s st-holiday crowd here with at rockefeller center. good morning. a lot of folks decided to spend the day with us. a lot of people got up really early in the morning. we thought we'd say hi to of the first people in line. >> who is it? >> it's mary. where is mary?

we got that fro our news partners at wtop.ary and i have been talking back and forth, swift water rescue going on rightnd now in prince william county. these are avgoing. we'reg flooding issues but we're not seeing steady rain we were seeing as we went through the day yesterday so we will continue to have flooding issues until the waters recede and i don't see them doing that perhaps until we get into tomorrow so again we could be dealing with roads that are down for some time. we got two and a half inches of rain yesterday just here in d.c., portions of montgomery county got over three inches and todaye' tack on to that but maybe another quarter of an inch. so expect occasional showers out there today. as wehr gogh your monday winds will pick up. we'll have a little bit of a wind out there today but it will be breezy as we get into your bnday afternoon and tuesday also a little on the breezy side but for these three days we ve sunshine. thank goodness. we have sunshine monday, tuesday, and wednesday. not today, though, plenty

wtop traffic. >> dave, thank you, sir. it's 4:20 now and still ahead, art home chnology. there's dozens of tech upgrades you can make to your home right >> we're giving you a crash course in them. also remember to catch ellen todaynbc 4. show starts at 3:00 and stick around for >>> the possi lities are endless. >> this morning, news 4 consumer reporter susan hogan is working chr you with a crash course on those high- devices. >> alexa, turn off the likes. >> dan doesn't just write about smart home products, he uses them to his one must have device, a smart speaker. >> alexa, lock the front door. >> smart speakers make it very easy toonnect all the different products. >> to use a smart speaker as a hub or control center of sorts, you'll find three main options. amazon's alexa. >>> the $120 amazon cloud cam is a consumereports best buy and if you want surveillance inside and outside of yourhome, consider the net gear arlo o2 art camera for $220. >> susan hogan reporting there. consumer repts also looked into another smart device. smart smoke detectors. if you're considering

according to wtop radio, prosecutors dropped charges against jonathan edward miller yesterday. l.o.s.t. wk a jury acquitted quin phillips who obviously had been charged with attacking andrea she was pregnant when the attack happened last year. phillips is theather of the baby. greenwich delivered her baby early and suffe d severeburns. it's unclear why prosecutors dropped charges are against mier. >>> a fight in prince george's keep the over a medical marijuana some protesters including those from connect church held sig in camp springs today on allen town way. connect church used to be located next to the pposed dispensary. the church put a summer day camp across the street from it. prince gorges county prohibits medical cannabis dispensaries from being within 500 feet of certain places suc as daycare and churches. they say the camp is 300 feet away which makes it illegal. >> going on on the county level that we need to get to thebo om of it. somebody needs to. that's the reason we'reto here y. >> church leaders say prince george's county has not stepped up and pulled the perm

that's thet from the wtop traffic center. back over to you. >> thankchou so mu. general motors isiring skill sets of the future. gm is shifting it's focus to autonomous vehicles and away from older technologies and thei rehiring iive is called take two and it's aimed largely at women who have technical expertise. it's a 12 week paid try out. it gives perspective employees a chance to see if the timing is right for them to return giving the company a chance to see if their skills are a goot. >> so far pretty successful too. >> i love this idea too. brace yourself for even more cai comms. they're coming to replace tse. >> you'll be ready for big changes in the way that you buy one. >> all of those car commercials you'll notice ts week is just december living up to its billing as one of the biggestnt for car buying. >> you won just climb the mountain. >>t's somethinglse car buyers may notice is the new longer terms on car loans. >> 84 months for 7 year auto ans are not uncommon. >> matt jones with car buying advice sit edmonds.com says loans have gotten longer becau

tat's the very lat from the wtop traffic center. >> that's okay, dave. you tell your jokes to us. we'll laugh. >>> all right. 4:54 right now. the wizards just can't catch a break after another brutal loss on the road. they were topped by the detroit pistons 106-95. the wizards now have 16 road losses this season, the most in the nba. things could turn around as the team's next three games are back at home. the first one at capital one arena tips off tomorrow night against the chicago bulls. >>> rightow the redskins have a few more practices before their final game of the season. they square off against their division rivals, the philadelphia eagles. this morning we're hearing from d.j. swearinger after h release from the redskins. he was let go after publicly criticizing the coaching staff after last weekend's tgh loss in tennessee. the forr redskin tells us he did not think his lead to this.ld wouldefinitely tnk it cost my job. i'm a very passionate player. i put my heart in this face t the camera in my after we lose a game, i may say some things i shouldn't say. i got to control

mitchell miller from wtop radio in nation colorado contractualol: shutdown update. mass in session for four minutes today. no immediate the end saying for partial government shutun, senate to hold a pro forma session on monday. back to kansas city, missouri, and democrats line, marie. >> caller: i'm concerned about schum and pelosi. i'm democrat but they've got anywhere minds closed. they need to open up, talk to the president and get this situation that they're in now about the wall. all they have to do is sit down and taj. that's all i have to say. >> host: lawrence in maryland, federal government worker. >> caller: hi. i'm a federal government worker, have been for over 40 years. i am really appalled that federal employees continue to be low hanging fruit during shutdown and furlough. i don't think that we have ever voted to be shut down, and any other government or private industry has not put their employees on a furlough where we have no idea if we are going to get another paycheck after this one that comes out at the end of the week. >> host: lauren from mary

more aut that and whether the rain drops linger into the en we good morning wtop, dave

. >> wtop is tracking the road for us this morning.orologick bell. i have to say, that radar pictureooked busier than the reality i dealt with this morning. >> i understand what you the heaviest of the rain may already be in the rear-view mirror but that doesn't

mitchell miller from wtop radio in the nation's capital who covers politics on capitol hill. shutdown update. senate was in session for four minutes today. no end in sight. senate to hold a pro forma session monday. back to kansas city, missouri. democrats' line this time. and marie. go ahead, marie. caller: yes. i am concerned about schumer and pelosi. i'm democrat but they got their minds closed. they need to open up. talk to the president. and get this out of the situation that they're in now about the wall. all they have to do is sit down and talk. that's all i have to say. host: all right. laurice in maryland. federal government worker. hi. caller: hi. yes, i'm a federal government worker. have been for over 40 years. nd i am really appalled that federal employees continue to be low-hanging fruit during shutdown and furlough. i don't think that we have ever voted to be shut down. and any other government or private industry has not put nair employees on a if you are -- their employees on a furlough where we have no idea if we are going to get another paycheck after this

let's turn now to wtop's jack taylor in for melissa this morning.new carrolton. new word on impact of service at this point? >> thankfully, what we can report so far is normal service will be on tap this morning. as of yet, not effecting service on

wtop of the hour shepherd smith reporting. see you then. >> dana: -- endorsing a new election in the hotly contested ninth district. state officials have refused to certify the results of the november race between mark harris and dan mccready. today's statement references separate allegations. lots of court action coming linked to the mueller investigation. hours from now lawyers for paul manifort will face questions. also lawyers for michael flynn are filing their sentencing document. tomorrow is sentencing day for the president's former perm attorney, michael cohen. we have our fox judicial analysis. does this mean this is wrapping up? >> this is gravely seriously. i only laugh because it's so much coming at one. there is a phase wrapping up. i don't believe the mull i remember investigation is wrapping up. he keeps getting new evidence. he has about 16 or 18 russians he has to try. will he try them in absentia. and three, the federal prosecutors in new york alleged in the cohen filing they have evidence that the president p

wtop entertainment editor has some ideas for the weekend. >> all right,s christmas over, you're digesting that ham, you might be returning some gifts, checking out different things with the family over the holidays, so i wasn't to give you some independent decembdeas. you can still check out "the nutcracker" at warner theater. that's there until december 28th. you can see "a christmas carol" at ford's theater until december 30th. you can check out "efl"s musical at olney theater and "love factually" through december 31st. if you want non-chridmas relathings, there's lots of concerts this weekend, too. we have anita baker at mgm national harbor, we have the roots at silver spring, nrbq will be at hamilton life, trombone shorty at the anthem. it sol the most tickets of anyone. d.c. is becoming a music town. that's so great. and you can head over to the black cat, if you want, for a different vibe on new year's for the y nr's eve ball. you can check out movies like "green book," vice, if beal street could talk. if you have young kids, "mary poppins returns." lots of options for you. i'm ente

remember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm when you hop in your car today. >> meliss thank you.ight, another candle will be lit on the national minora. thousandsttended the lighting ceremony. and the u.s. army band kicked off the cayemony yeste afternoon. >> and in his message, president trump honored the victims of an october shooting at a pittsburgh synagogue. >> nowo a christmas display you'll probably be hearing about today. a home in texas is going viral this morning and it's not because of theincredible light know. it's that ode toational lampoons christmas vacation. this a little bit too real for so people. a man walking by thought it was real. he was recorded on the famil surveillance camera trying to rescue the man. turned out to be a mannequin of course. they thanked him for trying to lend a >>hand. here's four things to know. the skins have a make or break game in philadelpa tonight. winning put them for a tie in the nfc northeast. a loss would almost take them out of the playoffs. >> a historic day in prince george's county today. angela alsobrooks will be thet firso

wtop reports some improvement cosmetic include more lights and concrete dividers. >> the department ota transpon announcing 1.5ll n in grants today. it will fund 91 projects across the country. ow$20 million will god the platforms at several metro stations. another will go toward the interchange at belvedere road. >>> to th forecast. the colder temperatures are sticking around for the next coupledays. unfortunately. >> yeah. and it is really giving it that wintry feeling. doug? >> reporte cold side.y on the we saw it into the 40s, 46 degrees at the airport. and everybody into the 40s after the teens early this morning. it was ata by cold night last night. everybody waking up to some frost, too. out here at zoo jlights,t opening up. starting to see the crowds getting in here as well. and it will be a very nic night. bundle up because you know it will be chilly. hagerstown at 37 degrees. the numbers will continue to fall toght. e next couple days, what will we beseeing? staying cold through thursday. rain chances friday into the weekend. wegl be watch how much rain we can .expe we need ov

right now we want to check on your commute with wtop's jack taylor. >> thanks.ng. good morning.he crash on main avenue has the right side of e roadw getting by. the left side is blocked off. crash in arlington on 110 northbound near marshall drive. right side, ng the staying left to get past. >> thank you. >>> we will take a break now. we will check your forecast next. next. . next. . you have a lot of deadlines in your business, right? we miss deadlines, we don't get paid. what if you lost your network connection? you gotta be kidding me. chaotic. our gig-speed network lets you download files up to 20 times faster. and we go beyond fast with 4g lte backup for complete reliability. so, if you lose your network connection... ♪ ♪ you won't miss the deadlines. having the confidence of something that's never gonna go down would be priceless. one more way we go beyond. call today and pay just $49.95 a month for fast, reliable internet. comcast business. beyond fast. >>> i'meo mlogist lauryn ricketts. a beautiful morning out there right now. plenty of sunshine, blukies. that is the wa

remember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm when y hop in your car today. >> good morning, facebook wants to into the paid tv business. the social media giant is talking to hbo, showtime, stars sd others about a plan to sell those companyeaming services on its site and stand alone app. you can watch them on facebook watch but also likely on other platforms like ku facebook has been trying to build up video content on its site. it began streaming old episode of buff fireworks the vampire slayer in a deal with 21st century fox. >> that's quality television right >> do you remember buffy? >> no, never watched single episode. one northern virginia school is showing others what it means to care. >> molette is live with details west briar elementary school wide campaign focused on inclusion. >> good morning. the goal here is that no one is out because -- >> i care. >> i capa. of national inclusive week. there you have all the hands the students, the achers, everybody is on board, lead by one of the pta parents and of course the principal. talk here and ready to about this crazy hair that's part of

remember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm when you hop in your car today. >> a six figure budget deficit hasing the future of thel catholic sch in prince george's county until this announcement. >> two weeks ago i opene letter and there was a check from an anonymous donor for $200,000. [ applause ] ee well, that money is more than enough to holy family catholic school open next year. the donation brought teachers, parents, and students to tears. holy family raised more thante qu of a million dollars in the last six weeks. >> what an incredible gift. >> it will keep the doors open. >> the gift giving countdowns are on in a dwaferent tonight marks the third night of hanukkah and we're just 21ays away from christmas. three weeks. and it doesn't mean all the good deals are gone. >> but how do you know you're getting the best deal on your holiday gie'? ther an app for that. susan hogan is working for you with these tips to save as you get ready for the holidays. >> it seemsike everywhere we turn during the holidays, there's signs promising big deals. we have simple steps to make sure that you rea

remember to listen to wtop when you hop in your car, eun? >> melissa, thank you. i52. for youthe community this morning. remember back in october molette green told us about a local dance team that needed help raising money for uniforms? >> this morning tny b road dancers are joining us in our studio for a special surprise. molette is with them. what's going on, molette? >> 6:15, earlier in the hour, the national cheri blossoms festival folks surprised these ladies with these new stumes. hold them up. back in october when we visited them at their apartment community where they have their community center we saw themda ing then and we showed their costumes. sharika robinson is the coach and they talked to a usut their plight trying to raise mopy. they came short. they came up short but the national cheri blossom festival came to the rescue with these costumes, paid for them. diana mayhew is still because she has one more surprise announcement. and what would that be? >> so we are excited to invite you allo join us for this coming spring and perform in the nation cheri b

remember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm when you hop in your car on o this friday ing.thank you, melissa. it's now 6:52. new overnight, kevin hart will no longer host the 2019 academy awards. he wrote he didn't want to be a distraction on a night that should beyelebrated so many amazing talented artists. soon after thenc annent that hart would host the oscars he came under fire for old tweets that were considered homophobic tweets. joked his biggest fear was his son coming out as gay. the academy has not responded to hart's departure from the show. >> working for you this morning. >> the salvation army picked up all angelree donations. we adopted more than 100 angel tree children. gifts range from scooters and bikes t dolls, trucks, books,le arning toys, about everything that y can imagine. the angel tree program has been able to put presents under the tree forbout a million children across the country. es news 4 is just one of thousands of com that participates in this eprogram. we'r happy to help makes christ happier for families in our community. and obviously a bigh

keep it with our news partners at wtop. i'm on air with them. then we have meteorologists ont air throughhe day. we're on every ten minutes so we'll let you know if t can change and we've seen it change a bunch of times. if it slips to the .cnorth, we may get snow. if it stays to the south, fredericksburg, you may be dry. so this track can still change. is storm system off to the western coast of florida right now before it tracks to the carolinas. do we have problems tomorrow morning? yeah. outh, especially through virginia, if your travels take you through richmond into north carolina, watch out, lot of snow in those areas. temperatures cold enough to support 30s throughout the day. look at this moisture right here, raleigh getting pummelled with snow, same as asheville. there is ae very f line of who is seeing snow and who isn't. you may see flakes in dry ricksburg but a lot of air is winning out so this dry air is trying to competeis with moisture from the deep south and the dry air is winning. that's why we sve thatrp cutoff line. but that

wtop dave dilldine is in for melissamollet.news is the two people wthat were inside the home able to get out uninjured. >>> president trump spent christmas at the white house talking with memberse military and tweeting about the government shutdown. p theresident said congress needs to include 5 billion for a trder wall between united states and mexico. >> however, he does not have the votes in the republican ntrolled coop and that leaves hundreds of thousands oer f workers in limbo. they do not know when they will get their next paycheck. >> news 4's nicole jacobs is live where federal agents are on the jobuthey're not being paid. nicole, good morning. g >> reported morning to you,aaron. federal workers have seen shutdowns but they believe this cod be one of the longest as it's expected to last well into january. you can see behine tsa agents hard at work as many are all over theuntry. they're working without getting paid. they won't see tse paychecks until president trump and lawmakers end the dispute over funding for border

week >> wtop entertainmentditor jason freely joins us now. critics seem to love "roma."mercial on it andfi was kindooked. so what do you say? >> it's a very impressive movie. it's the latest by alphonso coron. this one i'd say is his most personal work because it's inspired by his own childhood growing up in the early '70s in mexico city. it's sort of a love note to the nanny he had growing up in his middle class family. it's first-time actress playing this who we interviewed if you want to check it out online. but this is all about the gorgeous black and white cinematography. there's takes that he's so famous for cutting that it will pan across the clotheslines of the city scape of mexico city. it's beautiful to look at. from the opening shot, he's in command of the me credits happe mopped suds on the floor as she's washing the floor. then we see aeflection in the puddle and he's reflecting on his life and child wood. the water becomes make sure you flip that mental swit going in. spanish subtitles, but it's very impressive. i think it'll win the foreign language oscar

rember to listen to wtop 103.5 fm whe you hop in your car today. >> spirit week is a little different at one northern virginia school. >> kids at west briar elementary are usinghis week to promote kindness and caring. molette is hanging out and has details on their i care campaign. very sweet, molette. >> it really is and the whole goal is that no one is left out hereecause why? >> i care. >> they did af whole bunch o activities all week. one of the most obvious ones is the crazy hair as you can see. the crazy hair. we're celebrating everybody's differences. that's the whole goal of this. pta mom spear headed this whole week of activities, right? >> >> let's run down a couple of those. on monday we did i am uniqueer d yone came with crazy hair to i celebrate anddentify what makes us unique. on thursday we did something special calle i standp for others and we wanted to teach them about how to identifyll ying and what to do when they see ito we have our high stocks, standing up our socks and on friday we did the jigsaw puzzles. every class got a jigsaw puzzle to identify and celebrate

remember to listen to wtop when you hop in your car today. >> thank you. >>> 6:53 right now.here plenty of holiday fun happening all over our region. >> this mornings 4's molette green is live montgomery county. she is a the the garden of lights atrook sid gardens where there is a huge display in front and center. really is beautiful there. >> reporter: absolutely anntastic. id to let you guys know that the magnificent holiday lights display over brook side gardens celebrating theolidays is up. chopper 4 flew over the scene. we he the view for you. i don't know how many lights but tons of lights and tons of man hours. it will be up through the new year. right here, jeff patterson, wave, jeff, he hired the people and does the display and did it year after year. you check that out and you come every day during the weekday, pay $25, fill up a car full oeople and see the lights. during the weekends you come and pay $30, fill up the car with as many as that. jeff matulla is the guy, the show chairman who helped put alf this together and emily is the lead train operator right here.