National captioning institute www. Ncicap. Org good morning washington, it is 5 00. We are on storm watch. We have a nasty weather headed our way. Jacqui, were talking wet, not white. Unless you live along the blue ridge or areas of to the west, you will have a little bit of sleet mixing in. A little accumulation is mixed in there. Do not leave without your rain boots or your umbrella. You can see the rain still hours away. Most of this morning will be dry. Our temperatures are on the chellie side. 33 degrees in d. C. And 26 degrees in martinsburg. Rangel be developing by the noon hour. Temperatures rain will be developing by the noon hour. Well tell you how much to expect, not in a few minutes. Time for traffic this morning. Problem started overnight starting at 11 00. A tractortrailer slammed into the sound wall, a single vehicle crash. A lot is going on. Cleanup continues. Look at all this activity. This is video. They are still dealing with a lot. This will be the maryland beltway on the inner loop as you head south on a 4450 annapolis rd. If youre coming from college park this is a long way. You can see traffic moving through here. We are in the early stages of a rush hour. Keep a close watch on that. Were watching the parkway, shut down in each direction. That is just out of 295. Virginia, we are quiet. Thank you so much. We are getting a look at video from the deadly hot air balloon crash we were talking about earlier out of egypt. Lets get to jummy olabanji. Shes at our live desk. What happened . We do have these pictures from abc. We want to get to this tishri what the scene that looks like over there in egypt. We know this morning, there was a hot air balloon crash. It was carrying tourists. It caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field, killing at least 18 people. This happened in luxor, egypt. That is a tourist destination. We no casualties include a french, british and japanese nationals. Nine tourists from hong kong, as well. We see the area where this hot air balloon the green and yellow one, crashed into the ground. There were three survivors three tourists, and one egyptian. Investigators on the scene are there. They do know that foul play was not a factor. They are trying to figure out what caused the fire. We will check back in soon. Thank you very much. When it comes to Winter Weather our region is not getting the worst of what Mother Nature is burning to other parts of the country. The bond bradley has a look at the harsh conditions. Of ferocious blizzard. The texas and oklahoma panhandles under more than 1 foot of snow. In amarillo texas 19 inches of snow fell, one by gusts up to 77 miles per hour. Here we go. Is a traffic nightmare on roads and highways. Drivers were stranded. The National Guard had to be called in. Whiteout conditions closed all highways in the oklahoma panhandle. In new mexico, i40 was shut down. It costs money to sit still. It also costs money to run that thing empty. Hopefully they get it cleared up. The monster storm brought Hurricane Force winds. Look at this building in north texas. The winds are so ferocious it peeled bricks from the side of the building. It was like somebody ran into the building. It was falling apart. It is headed northeast. The heaviest snow was forecast for the midwest. 19 states are under storm watches and warnings. Kansas which barely recovered from last weeks storm, is bracing for more punishment. We have had a nice winter so far. Now, the last two weeks it is like jeez. This is crazy. I do not like the winter. There is worry about more than snow. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall is possible across parts of the south and middle atlantic. Wow. That is something. A big story, the threat of the sequestration showdown. President obama will be hitting the road. He will be in newport virginia, and they will be talking about it on capitol hill. That is where John Gonzales is this morning. This building behind us that is where the work has to come port come from before friday. The president will be in newport news, virginia to talk about the impact this would have on middleclass families. Are americans more afraid or frustrated . Billions of dollars in forced budget cuts are only three days away. The white house is warning that thousands of teacher and eight jobs are at risk. Hundreds of your children will receive back since. Thousands of defense workers could be furloughed. These cuts do not have to happen. Congress can turn them off any time with just compromise. The president met with the nations governors at a closed door meeting. I think that the president needs to stop trying to scare the american people. You can cut less than 3 without all these awful consequences. Is there truth behind the numbers . Ban mitchell said it sounds like fear tactics. Delays of up to 90 minutes. Some of these consulting contracts, you can lead leave air travel completely unaffected. Homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano has been vocal this week, saying cutting thousands of Border Patrol jobs woodley buss adorable to terrorism. Reporting live would leave us a vulnerable to terrorism. Reporting live, John Gonzales. The senate will consider chuck hagel for defense secretary today. The question is whether republicans will allow an immediate vote on confirmation or demand that the senate use the maximum 30 hours of debate before an upper bound vote. The former nebraska senator faced Harsh Criticism from House Republicans who question his stance on issues surrounding israel and iran. Also happening today, a confirmation vote by the Senate Finance committee for jack lew. He is set to replace Timothy Geithner as a key economic adviser to president obama. Kathy rainier has ordered a nightclub closed after a Fatal Shooting outside the business. This man was shot and killed saturday outside the 1920 d. C. Nightclub. A dispute inside the club lead to the shooting. The suspect is in custody. 5 await is your time. At 35 degrees outside. Still ahead, marking one year since the shooting death of a trade on martin. At tyco integrated security, we consider ourselves business optimizers. How . By building custom Security Solutions that integrate video access control, fire and intrusion protection. All backed up with worldclass Monitoring Centers thousands of qualified technicians, and a personal passion to help protect your business. When your business is optimized like that, theres no stopping you. We are tyco integrated security. And we are sharper. Good Tuesday Morning washington. Its 5 11. Our temperature is at 33 degrees. Adam caskey is coming up in a minute. My name is jacqui jeras. The winds are coming in. The clouds are here. The rains are going to hold off until about midday. Grab your galoshes, the umbrella, you are going to need them by your lunchtime. Our temperature is 47 at dulles. 28 in winchester. Areas i am concerned about Hagerstown Martinsburg winchester petersburg, all of you can get sleet or freezing rain and mixing in. A winter storm advisory has been issued for those areas. Less than an inch of accumulation but roads could be ic. Just rain in the sea. That will be heavy at times. Rain in d. C. That will be heavy at times. I like the galoshes. You will want rain gear today more than the umbrella, because it will be coming hard creek coming down hard times. Were live at falls church. It is currently at 32 degrees at the storm chaser truck. I want to share with you before we jump into the forecast a beautiful photo i have for my facebook friends. This is a sunrise last week over the district. Isnt this a gorgeous shot . She took this one we had a beautiful setting for gorgeous sunrise. Thank you for sending that in. Lets take a look at the flood watch in affect for 3 00 p. M. This afternoon all the way for the evening. This is for the metro area but it also extends up to frederick m. Loudon counties. 3 00 p. M. Through this evening. With our cold ground and lack of vegetation, you get more runoff than you do water actually soaking into the soil. I do think we could see well over 1 inch of rain in many locations across the viewing area. About 1. 5 inches in many locations. The rain should hold off until midday. Little bit of a wintery mix. It will become heavy at times especially through the drive home. It will be a slow go on the roads later today. Warner tomorrow. After that it used to it. Do not get used to it. 66, green lake, off to a quiet start. Lets go to our maryland camera on the beltway. Overnight crews have been dealing with this tractor trailer incident. It slammed into the sound wall. This was on the beltway neera good luck road. If you are on the inner loop before you get to annapolis rd. This is where the activity continues. We have not had any major delays. Let me put you on the map. If youre headed from college park, before you get to 50, to go right lanes are blocked. Before 295, there is a crash. Police say they just reopened the lanes. , very much. It is 5 14. 35 degrees. We will tell you about a new weapon in the fight to catch illegal downloaders. [ female announcer ] from tracking the bus. To tracking field conditions. Wireless is limitless. [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. To more efficient pickups. Wireless is limitless. Law today marks the 20th anniversary of the first bombing of the World Trade Center in new york city. That truck bomb was carried out in a parking garage underneath one tower. That happened in 1993. It killed six people six people and injured more than 1000 others. Islamic fundamentalists were later convicted in the bombing including one mastermind. Today is also the oneyear anniversary of the shooting of 17yearold trayvon martin. Skilled while walking in a neighborhood in sanford, florida. His parents have plans for tonight. In the candlelight ceremony in new york, we have done a peace walk to let teenagers know that they have a right to walk in peace. Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman says he shot martin in selfdefense. He is charged with seconddegree murder. Private funeral will be held for Country Singer mindy macready. 37yearold singer died of an apparent suicide last week at her home in arkansas. Friends and fellow musicians are planning a Memorial Service for next month in nashville. The house has approved a bill to rename and nasa Flight Center in california for the late astronaut neil armstrong. The Flight Research center at Edwards Air Force base would be called a Daniel ArmstrongFlight Research center. Armstrong, who died last year, commanded the historic landing of the apollo 11 space aircraft on the moon in 1969. He became the first man to walk on the moon. The house bill would also renamed the test range. Measure goes to the senate for consideration. Weir coming up and 5 20. Time for us to talk about the day ahead. It looks fine in rock hill right now. Were setting the stage for things to come up in our atmosphere getting rain and developing. Areas to our west could see sleet or freezing rain and mixing in. It will change over to rein in the afternoon hours. You need a little but more than a rain jacket today. At 33 degrees. That is our temperature. Our windchill, 27 degrees. Most of us are waking up to temperatures in the 20s. 27 at dulles. Martinsburg, 26 degrees. 28 in winchester. Culpeper, 27 degrees. The clouds moved and from the overnight hours. The monster is way down here in north carolina, trying to make its way across the state line into virginia. We still have several hours to go before it gets here. You can see the metro area, no problems with wintry weather. It is just off to the west along the sh valley and the blue ridge. Those of you that lives in Winchester Hagerstown you all could see all world of light freezing rain, some icy roads as it starts to come in. What time . Were thinking late morning. Some of the pink is showing up on our futurecast. The elevation around 1000four thousand feet, you will get the precipitation. 10004000 feet, you will get the precipitation. The rain becomes heavy late this afternoon and into the evening hours. Then things will diminish. Askew you spotty showers will be possible tomorrow. A flood watch stretches over into loudon and frederick counties. The rainfall amount amount will reach an inch. A few of us could see fewer ahmanson that. Rain by the noon hour today. Our temperatures in the 40s. It will be a chilly day. Tonight we will see the rain. It will be heavy at times. It will diminish later tonight. 3943 degrees. You can see spotty showers for wednesday and thursday. Or temperatures will be warmer into the 50s. A big cool down for the rest of the week and into the weekend. How was traffic . We start off with dry pavement at least. I395, virginia, not seeing any delays. That camera is at king street. This looks great. Between the beltway and 14th street bridge, all your lanes are open. Heading out of stafford for dale city this looks good too. You can see a little bit of volume on the increase. The beltway maryland, that is where we have been dealing with this crash. The inner loop near good luck road, the right lanes are blocked. , very much. In todays tech bytes cheverly may introduce a mobile hot spot. They are we are introducing a new illegal a new system to catch illegal downloaders. Six strikes and youre out. Starting this week, Internet Users illegally sharing music and movies will get six warnings. If they do not comply, their Internet Service could slow down. There are devices that below the line between smartphones and tablets. Many future samsung funds will come standard with a mobile payments system called paywave. Will allow users to make purchases by using their phone at terminals. How about a mobile hotspot . General motors will equip its cars with wifi. It will give drivers realtime traffic information. Those are your tech bytes. Martin omalley has a new title, cochair of the council of governors. President obama announced the appointment on monday. The council includes 10 governors, including five democrats and five republicans. They will address issues relating to the National Guard and, and security. Maryland state police are expecting a special delivery letter today. The agency is set to receive two of 10 new helicopters to replace its aging fleet. The choppers will arrive at Martin State Airport this morning. State police said the aircraft will be used in at a back transports, search and rescue, and Law Enforcement duties. It is now 5 27. The news continues with good morning washington at 5 30. The redskins ended their season months ago but coming up, learn why one fan i [ anouncer ] ihop is in time square to compare new griddlemelts to your usual breakfast sandwich. A lot more flavor. [ anouncer ] ihops new griddle melts. Made fresh and hot hand crafted just for you. Its like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. Just 4. 99. Its an epic breakfast sandwich. Live and in hd, this is good morning washington, on your side. Straight ahead, with just three days to go until automatic budget cuts take effect president obama travels to virginia to discuss the possible impacts on jobs and the middle class. Good morning, washington. It is tuesday february 26. Im scott thuman. I am greta crews in person a simpson. A Beautiful Day yesterday. Not so much in 4 Cynne Simpson. A Beautiful Day yesterday. Not so much today. You will need the umbrella and raincoat. As you can see on a satellite picture, the clouds build and for the overnight hours. The rain is trying to make its way into parts of southern virginia. I do think it will be all rain heavy at times. It will be arriving about midday. If you live along the blue ridge, along i81, youll see sleet and freezing rain mixing in. Roads could be a little slick. It will change robert rain this afternoon. A flood watch is in affect for 12 inches of rainfall. Your bus stop forecast, address the kids properly in the rubber duck boots. 37 degrees for pickup, 43 by recess, and 44 degrees by drop off. Lets check on traffic. Jacqui jeras, lets get out to the beltway maryland. We will ticket to a video, a serious incident involving a tractortrailer. This is just past good luck road on the maryland beltway. We still have to go right lanes blocked. The tractortrailer went into the sound wall. Cleanup has been ongoing for quite some time. This is the video that looks like at the scene. We have to go right lanes blocked still. As were getting from 5 30 to 6 00 that volume is starting to form. If your headed from college park towards the john hanson highway, this is the deal. Lets go to a 270, the only volume only volume. The beltway in virginia, that is in good shape. Your travel lanes are open. At thank you so much. Just into the newsroom, we are learning that Garrett CountyPublic Schools are closed today. That is the first closure or delayed we have. We will keep you abreast of the situation as we get into more of it. Lets talk about the big subject looming over washington, the latest on sequestration. Three days away from the deadline for automatic budget cuts. Lets go to john gonzalez, live on capitol hill. That has to be the only topic of conversation. At the clock is ticking. The defense subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing later this morning. Of course, what is at stake for the government . A 57 cuts for most government departments. This ad time when billions of dollars in forced budget cuts are only three days away. The white house this morning that thousands of teacher jobs are at risk, hundreds of children will not receive back seat, and thousands of defense workers could be furloughed. The president saying, this does not have to happen. Congress can turn it off with compromise. There are some kids in the president and democrats of using scare tactics. According to Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, the cuts would make the nations borders are vulnerable to terrorism. Thousands of jobs would be cut if the sequester goes into effect on friday. Later today, the president will be in newport news, virginia to talk about the impact this would have a middleclass families. He calls it a devastating impact. Why on capitol hill, john gonzalez. Live on capitol hill, john gonzalez. A jury trial is set today for the principle of Coolidge High School in southwest d. C. Thelma jeras is accused of beating up a woman at the schools homecoming Football Game in november. After the incident, jarrett was placed on administrative leave. A hearing begins today private first class bradley manning. He is accused of giving government secrets to wikileaks. It was the biggest lead of state secrets in history. Charges include aiding the enemy, theft of public property, and fraud. He is set to go on trial in june. 5 36. At 34 degrees. Still ahead, seven is on your side with benefits of a mediterranean diet. How that could my name is jeremy. I wanted to say, good morning washington. That was a good voice. He wanted to show you, one of the good morning washington greetings. We will give you a chance to make one to air on our show. Send us a short video about 1015 seconds long. Send that to gmw wjla. Com. Make our day. It is 5 39. Time to check on the weather. Jacqui jeras, when it when is it going to start raining . Mid morning about. I would like to see you dressed in your rain gear, with an umbrella, in the rain this afternoon, sending us a good morning washington greeting. Will you do it for me . Send me in one of those videos. This morning, were just cloudy. Our temperatures in the upper twenties to low 30s. As we look at current temperatures, we are right around 33 degrees at reagan national. 27 at dulles. 26 in martinsburg. There you can see the satellite picture, showing in the clouds that built in overnight. The rain is in some southern virginia. It will get into western portions of our viewing area first. Hackers town winchester, everybody off to the west, you will see a little bit of sweet sleet and wintery mix coming in. Rain as we head into the afternoon. That is why we have the Winter Weather advisory. A flood watch is in affect for the metro. Good morning. From falls church off of route 7, we do have that flood watch for later today. I have been keeping an eye on that. 34 degrees in falls church. We are expecting a good amount of rain today. This is ok. It may cause some areas of localized flooding. Keep in mind, we are in precipitation got of over an inch in half. There is a look at the flood watch we have in effect starting at 3 00 p. M. All the way through this evening. That is because this time of year, the ground is hard. Get more runoff than you do actual water soaking into the soil and into the vegetation. We do not have much education at this time. Here is your forecast highs in the 40s as we go into the afternoon, with the heaviest rainfall in the afternoon and during the evening. For the evening commute, it will be damp. I want to leave you with this beautiful picture from my facebook friend. Very talented photographer, he caught this beautiful moonrise over the nations capitol yesterday evening. A beautiful picture there of a glowing orange moon right behind the washington monument. Thank you for sharing that on my facebook page. We will have more pictures coming up and more Weather Information as well. Youll want to frame that one. It looks fantastic. We have a dry pavement as mr. Roth that meat. I had the upper metro commuter is, there is a broken down a drain on the orange line. Orange line commuters, you need little extra time. Lets get you out of the roads. Were still dealing with problems on the maryland beltway. We will take you live and the beltway as you head between 450 and 50 near good luck road, some flashing lights, were trying to make some progress. Were not seeing too much of a back up through this stretch. I wanted to give you that alert. Also there is a little bit of volume. We normally see the parkway and flowing towards 295, there was accident activity in the meeting. The median. We will show you the much shot of an nfl player that has gone by roe. John gonzales oh boy. Hes got spirit. Howabout you . We will show you what you in the quest to eat healthy we are on top of the debate on organic vs. Present. Is the food youre buying really different . Seven is on your side as we cook up a grocery comparison. Join us at 5 00. We have heard some strange football bets over the years. You can certainly add this one to the list. It stems from the redskins thanksgiving win over the cowboys. A a fan in tucson arizona that his pregnant girlfriend that the redskins would win. The price . That they would name their firstborn son robert griffin. If the cowboys won, the baby would have been non austen miles. I dont know. Marital discord may be. Redskins fans, get the pompoms ready. Now is your chance to try out to become redskins cheerleader. Usually no boys are allowed but the team made an exception for our John Gonzales. These of the Washington Redskins cheerleaders, one of the longest running pro squads, if not the longest. Theyre very busy during the offseason. Theyre looking for new members. Theyre getting ready to host their audition classes. I am here to find out, what is the business of cheerleading . Do i have what it takes . We practice about 812 hours a week. It is hard work. My audition started off with a stretch. Then it was off to some shaking raising, some head movement, and kicking. I can do the shake. I do not think so. These classes begin this week and will be held tuesdays and thursdays until early april. That is when the official workout began at the cheerleader studio in fedex field. You want to make a figure eight. Is Little Things that get you over the top. How should be addressing, my fitness. Once youre on the squad, it is not about football. It has been great. The football is great too. The excitement you feel from the fans is something ill never forget. These eggs and bruises are something ill never forget. To become a cheerleader, you must be 18 years or older have a fuller parttime job, have a fulltime be a fulltime student, or have a family. A lot of movement. Lucky for me, no geisel loud, thank goodness. No guys allowed thank goodness. By either pour my genes are pulled hamstring. I either split my jeans or pulled a hamstring. He inc. That are flat at the end. Good work, john. For more, head to our web site wjla. Com. You can find actual addition information, applications, schedules, frequently asked questions, everything john needed to know. It looked like hard work. Now on to the much shot that has gone a viral this is desmond bryant. He was arrested on a charge in miami of criminal mischief. He was drunk when he went to neighbors also caused a commotion. Neighbors house and caused a commotion. Majorleague soccer season gets underway. The pc team will travel to houston, the team that octomom of the playoffs last weekend. Last season. The capitals played a hurricanes tonight. Play the hurricanes tonight. The basketball, the wizards have won seven of their last nine ball games. How impressive. Look at this. The bonus the three, slashed. He had 23 points. Down the stretch under a minute to play an attack, goes to the right side, left hand, the third win in the row for washington. The final, 9084. Have a great day everybody. All right, coming up at 6 00 Cynne Simpson and joins us live from los angeles. She has got a preview of todays big dancing with the stars and cast announcement. We will tell you about new rules for smokers at ravens games. Why George Clooney gave our report for greece on the read carpet. Grief on the red carpet. A new Study Suggests that eating a mediterranean diet may be healthier than eating a low fat diet. The study followed seniors who ate a diet full of fruits and veggies, posta, and wine. They have lower rates of helped Heart Disease and smoke. They ate little to no read meat. Strioke. They ate little to wreck little to no read meat. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. It will be a rock, cold dreary day. The morning drive, that is the good news, the drive into work should be fine. What started out with our current at this hour reagan national, 33 degrees. Our windchill at 27. Winds are out of the northeast at 7 miles per hour. Many buss are waking up to temperatures in the 20s. It is cold. You need a little bit more than a rain jacket. Our temperatures only 27 at dulles, 28 degrees in winchester, 26 in martinsburg. 27 in frederick. The clouds moved through overnight, but take a look at the moisture. Very heavy, some of it freezing in the Higher Elevations in north carolina, and it is starting to nudge over into virginia. We have several hours to go. Late this morning is when we will start to see the first of the morning the first of the rain and freezing rain off to the west. It is starting to get a little bit of the rain, sleet, maybe freezing rain mixing in. As for the metro area, by midday the rain will be arriving. And as we head into the afternoon, all rain across the region. It will be heavy for the commute home. That will start to diminish for the overnight hours and into tomorrow with just a few lingering showers in those areas. A flood watch has been issued for washington, d. C. , frederick, loudon, fairfax counties. The potential more than 1 inch of rainfall flooding can be expected. Make sure you do not drive through standing water. Our forecast for today 4045 degrees cloudy rain and sleet off to the west, and tonight low temperatures not dropping a lot, in the 40s, and warmer temperatures as we head into tomorrow. Much cooler by the end of the week. That is the latest on the forecast. What is happening on the roads . Metrorail commuters, the orange line, there is still signal tracking because of her broken down train. Lets check in with news choppers 7 to give you the latest on this crash. This is on the maryland beltway as you approached 450, the flashing lights, we are seeing some improvement. We have more than two lanes getting by. Everything is confined to the right shoulder. This is big news. Were so glad we finally have lanes open. A quick peak and 270, your lanes are open but the ramp from 270 south, there is a crash. Thank you very much. Here is a twist cash strapped pet owners can apply for food stamps for their pets. Lawmakers could be targeting your 401k to fix the nations financial problems. Lets get to linda bell at bloomberg headquarters in new york. As we all know, pressure is mounting on washington over all these budgetary issues. Bluebird news reports that lawmakers may be looking at your 401k. That is because the Retirement Plan is the governments Third Largest tax expenditure. Cuts and tax reductions for top earners Retirement Savings were being considered by democrats as they drafted a plan to avert automatic spending cuts. 48 million americans are on food stamps. Now your pet might be eligible for assistance as well. Were talking about pet food stamps. It is important to know that it is not from the government. It is by donations. Many pet owners are forced to give up their four good friends because they cannot afford to feed them. If you meet the criteria, the program which has applied for nonprofit status gives pat honors are free monthly delivery of food supplies. If you have a pet raising one can be expensive. According to one Association Animal lovers spent upwards of 53 billion on everything from food to a Veterinary Care last year. In case youre interested in signing up or donating, you can go to pat petfoodstamps. Org. Im linda bell reporting for abc 7. Before we had to break, we want you but to go School Districts that are closed. Both in maryland. Alleghany county schools, a garrett