Of marijuana in d. C. The Council Chairman insists theres no violation. People need to realize its not a cost involved in this. Its not an Operational Program here. It may ultimately be decided by the courts. In the meantime it is popular in d. C. I think it was voted for and we should go ahead. Would you use more if its legal . I smoke it but i dont drink. Mayor bowser says she has directed the chief of police and the director of the Health Department to form a task force to monitor the implementation of Legal Marijuana in d. C. Reporting live from northwest washington, sam ford abc 7 news. Thank you sam. Legislation allowing lawmakers to regulate marijuana like alcohol is advancing in maryland marylands house of delegates. Today, the House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on the issue and its not clear when the committee would vote. The legislation would allow residents to grow Marijuana Plants and prevent up to one ounce of the drug in maryland. Alaska is now officially the third u. S. State to legalize recreational marijuana. This follows a vote in november allowing people to grow and consume marijuana in private. Selling or smoking it in public is still illegal. Punishable by a 100 fine. For the past few weeks, this area has felt more like alaska than the mid atlantic. Some slightly warmer temperatures are coming. Chief meteorologist doug hill has details in the storm watch weather center. Doug . Hey there, maureen. Slightly warmer temperatures for tomorrow before it turns colder again, one of the great things for this time of year is the sunlight lasts longer in the evening. Looking live at the rooftop camera from the ice. That line of clouds, that line of clouds is the leading edge of the influence of a storm system off the carolina coast bringing snow and pushing some of it a little bit closer. Reports out of southern maryland, some of the snow reaching the ground and the heavy elements across shore. This will move out over the next several hours. Theres another opportunity for snow and perhaps some could reach the metro area. For the moment were in the mid 20s. Well below our average high and tonight drop into the teens in many areas. 16 to 23 the overnight low temperatures. It will be cold with just kind of a light wind around the area and as we head through the day tomorrow, looks pretty nice to me. Close to 40 degrees but all changes tomorrow night as clouds increase ahead of that next storm system. Theyll be going to our south. Well talk more about the possibilities of snow in parts of our area for thursday morning. Maureen . Doug thank you. Our record cold combined with the snow and ice on the ground are making it difficult for many to simply accomplish their daily tasks. Suzanne kennedy is live in Silver Spring with how people there are coping. Suzanne . Maureen, these are the decisions that people are having to make these days. Walk on the sidewalks here where its full of ice and snow and very challenging and difficult to walk on or walk over here in the street which some people are doing. Neither of them good options but they are just some of the frigid frustrations we are facing these days. It shouldnt have been this hard to clear sidewalks today in riverdale. This plow truck was able to get started before it got stuck. Crews were trying to unearth a sidewalk buried in snow and ice. Big huge dump trucks come and push all the snow up on to the sidewalks so its hard for us to shovel. Students walking to school had to navigate these treacherous conditions. Its hard. Almost fell like three times so i started walking in the snow. Rosa is having a rough week and its only tuesday. She knows first hand because of an experience she had just yesterday walking to the bus in her Silver Spring neighborhood. I thought it was wet and slipped and fell. And broke my ankle. A water main break on third street in riverdale allowed cold water to flow down this hill. It left ice on driveways. Dangerous conditions for pedestrians and drivers. In downtown Silver Spring patients going to doctors appointments had to navigate parking and walking on a thick patch of ice. Doesnt look like they cleaned it up too much. Too much ice instead of snow. Here in montgomery county, its a 50 fine if you dont shovel your walk. Across from the street of where i am on eastwest highway, theres a nursing center. They clearly have shovelled their front walkway but here on this road that leads down to a public bus stop its an absolute mess and its unclear exactly who is responsible for this sidewalk and with this morning weather that were going to have tomorrow and a freeze again tomorrow night likely the conditions are going to get even more dangerous. Reporting live in Silver Spring, maryland suzanne kennedy, abc 7 news. Thanks suzanne. Take care out there. The icy conditions have kept icebreakers busy on our waterways. Today, Maryland Bureau chief brad bell went aboard the john c. Widener to look at the efforts in the chesapeake bay. Wideners captain told brad they didnt have to start breaking ice this winter until earlier this month. There is an explanation tonight for why dominion power is emailing its customers asking them to conserve energy. The Power Company says its set an all time record for power usage last friday. Of course thats when we have the record cold temperatures and the wind chills. The previous record for usage was set in july of 2011. Montgomery county police are treating the death of a 95yearold colesville man as a homicide. Body of dan belvin was found yesterday at the randolph senior village apartment. Sources tell abc 7 news the retired navy veteran was stabbed several times. Police have not revealed a motive or named any suspects. New details in the story you saw first on 7. The Animal Welfare league of arlington says two dogs poisoned last month were given caffeine pills. In both incidents, the dogs ate sausage laced with the pills. The sausage was left on the ground near the corner of North Columbus street and lee highway. Neither dog suffered permanent injuries. Coming up on abc 7 news at 6 00 why the Veterans Affairs secretary says he falsely claimed to have served in special forces. Plus the final decision from the department of justice on whether to charge George Zimmerman with a hate crime. And what weve just learned about the driver whose car rolled over on eighth street killing a pedestrian. A Silver Spring man is charged with seconddegree murder following yesterdays deadly crash at fourth and h streets in northwest d. C. Police say james chandlers vehicle was going more than twice the speed limit when he lost control and hit Phillip Snodgrass and another pedestrian. Snodgrass was killed. Prosecutors say chandler tested positive for p. C. P. And admitted taking several prescription drugs as well. Two Virginia State troopers are recovering tonight after car crashes. One was hurt after his cruiser was hit on westbound i66 this afternoon. Were told hell be released from the hospital tonight. Doctors released another trooper from the hospital after a collision on i95 in Prince William county. The trooper was running radar this morning when an s. U. V. Slid into his patrol car and a third trooper was involved in a crash during a high speed chase in suffolk, virginia. His vehicle was destroyed but that trooper was not hurt. New information tonight in the Trayvon Martin case. George zimmerman will not face federal civil rights charges for shooting and killing a florida teenager. The Justice Department says investigators could not prove the shooting in 2012 was racially motivated. A jury acquitted zimmerman of killing the 17yearold. Zimmerman said he shot martin in selfdefense. A nurse accused of sexually assaulting patients may be back in court today in may after rejecting a plea deal. Jared kleine is charged with assaulting three women under his care at d. C. Hospital. A fourth woman says she, too was abused. Kleine also faces a complaint in prince georges county. Next on abc 7 news at 6 00 the secretary of the v. A. In damage control. Coming up his reason for misspeaking about his military career. Plus a beautiful sunset out there tonight. But theres more snow on the way. Chief meteorologist doug hill breaks down the conflicting models to tell us what to expect. Coming up in sports, all the kings men are here pitchers position players have all reported. Weve got the latest from veeieira vieira florida wit new developments tonight in the fight over funding the department of Homeland Security. Senate leader Mitch Mcconnell now says a stand alone funding bill will come to a vote. The holdup has been over a republican push to defund president obamas executive orders on immigration. The house and senate must approve legislation by friday to avoid the furloughing of 30,000 Homeland Security employees. He was brought in to clean up the department of Veterans Affairs. But now, v. A. Secretary bob mcdonald is conducting damage control. He admitted today he did not tell the truth last month when he said he served in special forces. Chris pabst in the newsroom with mcdonalds explanation. Secretary mcdonald said today he had no excuse in making up his military service. He was trying to find Common Ground with a homeless veteran and said something that was not true. I made a mistake and i apologized for it. The mistake that veteran Affairs Secretary bob mcdonald is talking about happened last month in los angeles when he had this exchange with a homeless veteran. Special forces. I was in special forces. The former Proctor Gamble c. E. O. Was in the military with the aerprmys 82nd airborne. He did graduate from west point. But he was not in the special forces. An elite group that includes the seals and green berets. President obama supports mcdonald saying we take him at his word and expect this will not impact the important work he is doing to promote the health and well being of our nations veterans. But others do not support him. So as a veteran, you think he should step down . Yeah. Yeah. He lie. Why would he lie . Now, at his press conference today, secretary mcdonald said he never considered stepping down. Live in the newsroom chris pabst, abc 7 news. Thank you, chris. A winter storm has brought beauty and chaos to an area that rarely sees snow. The beauty is in wrightsville beach, in southeastern North Carolina. They got a thin blanket of snow there this morning. The chaos is on North Carolinas roads where the state Highway Patrol responded to hundreds of crashes. At least one person was killed. Florida wildlife officials now believe 19 manatees rescued from a storm drain had gone there seeking warmth. Rescuers worked through the night to free the animals that were not hurt. All of the manatees have been released back into the wild. Poor things. Aw. They are. And theyre noble creatures. I can understand why theyd want to get warm. Yeah this is getting old. It really is the whole thing and a little snow now in southern maryland. Lets get to the story and show you what were dealing with. More snow. Numbers wise running in the mid 20s and the numbers right now as far as current temperatures are running at least 20 degrees below average for this point in february. A little bit more than that actually, 28 at this hour at reagan national. Mid 20s elsewhere and temperatures will fall tonight. Now, officially at reagan national, 29 was the high today. Even with some sunshine that was 20 degrees below our average high. This mornings low is 14. Normal low 33. You can see the numbers are out of wack from these continued intrusions of arctic air. Tonights range 16 to 23. Thats way above the 4 below zero record shattering low recorded at washington dulles this morning. At this hour, temperatures are cold across the eastern part of the country even in raleigh, they had snow 25 degrees there and wilmington North Carolina, places you dont think of being bitterly cold. Well see a little subtle change in the wind tomorrow. Might get as close as 30 degrees. We have to keep our eye on another storm system. Theres the first one. Even some of the snow reaching up across southern st. Marys county but it will all be pushed out by this cold front. See it moving in from ohio . It will push it right out. See a little clearing tonight and get the colder temperatures and tomorrow we have to keep our eyes on another storm system thats developing across the Southern Plains and deep south. This one is going to run along to the east and pretty much head to the georgia or South CarolinaNorth Carolina coastline on the day thursday. But in the process, its got a lot more moisture to work with and push northward. Big question is will we see any snow . Theres the possibility of that during thursday morning. Once again with the southern track, the better chances of snow measurable snow will stay south of the area. In advance of this new system a wide area of winter storm watches all the way to southeast virginia and the outer banks. Large area in pink winter storm warning. This area will pick up five inches or more of snow and maybe some ice mixed in. Clearing skies around our area tomorrow but a rapid increase in cloudiness tomorrow night. Here comes the effects of the storm as it heads out to the carolina coast. See some areas of snow possible. This is one model solution. And another model to keep the snow further to the south. Well track it as it develops. And then it should be out of here during midday hours of thursday with a little clearing to follow. Heres the story. Through the rest of the night, and the day tomorrow partly cloudy. Temperatures near 40 degrees. Were only putting a 50 chance of snow for thursday in the metro area. Higher probabilities the farther south and east you go. Look, much colder. Colder friday and a little bit of improvement over the weekend with sunshine warmer temperatures and some rain early next week. Maureen . Thank you, doug. Well, our Robert Burton is in warm vieira florida where the nats are taking attendance today, i understand. Yes thats right, maureen. Im so upset, i wish you could be here with me where its 66 degrees. Thats right. Were in vee as a Small Business owner you wouldnt deliver just half of what you have to offer to your customers. So why are you settling for halffast internet . Only verizon fios comes with speedmatch. Upload speeds as fast as your download speeds. 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Thats when the nats open here at space coast. The gang is all here in vieira. Every nats pitcher and position players finally reported to spring training. Everybody is optimistic. So are the fans that waited at every corner to grab a loose ball, get an autograph. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it. Support from the fans and for them to make an effort to come all the way down here to see us a great tribute to them and we try to give back as much as we can. The first full squad workout is thursday. Players say that Spring Season opener against the nats couldnt come any sooner. Getting excited to face a hitter and not your own hitter and get the thing started. Switching gears from baseball to basketball. The whiz have a big one tonight. The Golden State Warriors or the best team in the nba, theyll make their way to d. C. Tonight. Stef curry hopefully will be sitting out tonight. Hes suffering from a sore foot. This is nene on the court with the rest of his teammates saying i still believe in you guys. Heres john wall. I still believe in these guys. This is a time when you go through something that youre not going to be making and as hot as we was earlier in the year and its tough on us. Were not getting good shots in. Try to get to the freethrow line. Of course we all want to see the wiz get back to where they were earlier in the season. The maryland terps have a big one tonight. The Wisconsin Badgers are ranked fifth in the country. Maureen, back to you. Thank you. Enjoy yourself in vieira. Looks good. Wait until he comes back here. Still will be cold when he gets home. Take a look at the numbers. Tonight, well drop down into the 16 to 23 degree range with partly cloudy skies. And tomorrow, getting near 40 for one day and then get a whole lot colder than that. Steve rudin will have the latest on the potential of thursday morning snow when he joins us tonight at 11 00. Thanks for being with us. World news tonight with david muir comin on this tuesday night, the commuter train collision. The fiery explosion. Slamming into a truck on the tracks. The cars flipping. Victims treated on the scene and our team is right there. Leveled. The neighborhood wore rid about the smell of gas. Workers arriving to investigate. Then the explosion. The workers raced to the hospital. The deadly driving across the south. 12 states covered in ice. The truck dangling from the highway. And tonight, the cruise ships now stuck at sea. Under fire. The head of Veterans Affairs brought in to repair the v. A. Now apologizing after saying he served in special forces when he didnt. Martha raddatz standing by. And is this the new face on the front lines against isis . The 28yearold american who left the u. S. To take them on. Look on that road. Youll see isis flags. Tonight, were right there