clean street. >> reporter: the owner of toro mata, a peruvian arts store, says businesses should get property tax relief or help to make it through the next 15 months. >> we need some sort of relief to survive, or there are going to be an awful lot of business closings here in the near future. >> reporter: transportation officials say that the construction will be limited from 7:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. they'll also complete this road work in phases to try to soften the blow. that work could start as soon as tomorrow. reporting live from northwest, darcy spencer, news 4. >> all right, darcy from adams morgan, thank you. it will be the end of an era for redskins football. clinton portis and the redskins are breaking up. today c.p. talked about it. hakem is more with the legendary running back. injury-plagued, tough season before that. >> i think it's about time that the redskins and clip ton portis called it an end. it's about time i think. both sides are ready just to move on. i think the official release will finally make it official. because that's what an official release would do, it makes it official. you know clinton portis was not released today because the nfl offices are closed. a source close to the situation tells us it will happen, it's a matter of when. redskins must release portis before the current collective bargaining agreement expires friday. if they do not release him before friday they'll have to wait until a new cba is in effect. although the team hasn't officially parted ways with portis, he's owed $8 million next season and coach shanahan hinted friday they would let portis go. he ranks second all-time in rushing in franchise history. he described his time in d.c. as a love/hate relationship, expressing his appreciation for the coaches and owner dan snyder but portis does not want to take a pay cut. it's time to move on. parting ways with the organization is best for both situations. i can't grow within this situation. he went on to say the same passion i had while playing for coach gibbs isn't there. it's clinton portis. for now it appears his career with the redskins is over. those are strong words, that he has no passion right now. that's all you can ask for, honest, move on and hopefully they split amicably and say, good luck to you. >> we'll come back in a few minutes. appreciate that. more signs tonight libyan leader moammar gadhafi is losing control. hundreds of protesters have taken over the city closest to libya's capital. anti-government forces have been chanting "gadhafi out" and "free libya." secretary of state hillary clinton said the united states is reaching out to libyans prepared to offer any kind of assistance to a post-gadhafi government. for the first time in decades the virginia house and senate voted unanimously to approve amendments to the state's $80 billion spending plan. the plan offers more aid for public schools and for state and local government pensioners. the general assembly adjourned its regular session shortly after approving the budget. and before wrapping up their session the virginia general assembly also voted to outlaw synthetic marijuana and bath salts. authorities have suspected both drugs in overdose cases and sicknesses as well. synthetic marijuana is commonly sold as spice or k2. bath salts have been known to be used as hallucinogens. virginia governor mcdonald says he will sign that bill. if lawmakers on capitol hill do not reach a budget compromise our local economy will take a hit. visitors to washington spent the day on the national mall enjoying nice weather, a ferris wheel as well -- excuse me a carousel. this weekend could be their last chance to enjoy those things. if lawmakers can't come to agreement the federal government will shut down. >> with the museums closed and the national zoo closed, it does mean that there are implications for tourists. so you can expect, unfortunately, fewer tourists coming to town if they hear that washington's shut down. >> many lawmakers say they're optimistic that they will reach a budget agreement by friday. that's one of the many stories we're following in the week ahead. tomorrow, the westbound exit ramps from interstate 66 to monument drive and stringfellow road will be open to all traffic during nonpeak hours and on weekends. currently the ramps are only open to hov traffic during rush hours and closed all other times. wednesday students at lake braddock secondary school in burke say they will walk out of class. students for democratic society organized the walkout. they say they are protesting more than $1 billion in cuts to virginia's education budget since 2009. friday, 1,600 registered nurses say they will go on strike from their jobs at washington hospital center. it's in response to salary cuts and staffing issues. the nurses are members of the national nurses united union. hospital officials say they will bring in nurses from major medical centers the day of the strike. hollywood bad boy charlie sheen is fighting back. >> epic. epic behavior. >> it's sheen's first televised interview since production was halted on his hit tv series. why sheen says he's still in control of the situation. we'll tell you all about that. how high will they go? what's sending gas prices soaring at record speed? the local schoolchildren who went to work at the white house tonight. hey, chuck bell. >> hey, craig. we have raindrops on our western doorsteps here in the washington metro area. and these raindrops promise wet roadways for your monday morning commute. but spring fever headed our way. 70? st protesters in madison, wisconsin, are being kicked out of the state's capitol building. about 200 protesters had been camping out over a week since governor scott walker announced he wants to take away union bargaining rights for deepers and other state employees. today walker issued the order to clear the capitol so it can reopen for normal business hours tomorrow morning. gas prices are on the rise, hitting a two-year high nationwide. aaa says prices have risen 19 cents a gallon since last week. the national average for a gallon of regular is now $3.35, the highest level since 2008. friday, gas prices jumped 6 cents in one day alone following a 9% rise in the price of crude oil. we talked to some drive hoarse say they aren't changing their habits -- yet. >> we drive mostly around town and we're not changing any habits. >> not that much. because i'm a commuter at maryland. so i have to get to school. >> analysts expect the turmoil in the middle east and north africa, along with increasing demand as spring arrives, to push prices up to $3.75 a gallon for regular. president barack obama hosted america's governors tonight at the white house. mr. obama had some help from young budding chefs from right here in washington. kids from tubman elementary were busy working in the kitchen helping the white house chefs cook the meal. they helped prepare the vegetables, picked straight from the white house garden on the south lawn. they helped with dessert action we're told. it was all part of the first lady's let's move campaign, an effort to reduce childhood obesity. hollywood's biggest night. still ahead here, the hits and misses of the 83rd annual academy awards. and it could be a lively start to the work week, folks. chuck's going to tell us about unsettled weather. today we're going to surprise people with the taste of activia. there you go. strawberry and vanilla. thank you. that's good. wow. this is really good. great flavor. it's really creamy. it's really tasty. oh, wow! jamie lee curtis! it's activia! it's delicious. really? were you surprised that that's activia yogurt? i am shocked. i thought it would have like a little bit of an aftertaste. it's really yummy. it's delicious. it's hard to believe it's that good for you. it's so good. try the fabulous taste of activia today. taste it, love it, or it's free. ♪ activia zsa zsa gabor's husband says he chased two burglars out of his house with a baseball bat this morning. prince frederick von anhalt told tmz the intruders got as far as the living room before he chased them away. he says he fell while he chased them and hurt his hip. he says some paintings, a laptop, and the camera are all missing. charlie sheen is demanding an apology from cbs and "two and a half men" creator chuck lorre. it will be sheen's first televised interview since his hostile public comments against cbs and lorre. this week the network stopped production for the season. when sheen called the executive producer "a contaminated little maggot." cbs has not said if it will chance sell "two and a half men" for good. >> you're angry. >> i'm not angry, i'm passionate. everybody thinks i should be begging for my job back and i'm going to forewarn them that it's everybody else that's going to be begging me for their job back. >> it is an interview you do not want to miss. you can now watch the first part of the charlie sheen interview tomorrow morning on "today." it is hollywood's biggest night. as the oscars are awarded for the finest in film, stephanie stanton now with a look at who walked away with one of those coveted statuettes. >> reporter: under sunny skies but chilly temperatures, hollywood's a-listers hit the red carpet for the 83rd annual academy awards. >> i'm happy to be here. and no matter what, i'm going to have a great time. >> i don't hope to accomplish anything other than being relaxed and enjoy it. >> reporter: best actress nominee nicole kidman wore white. fellow nominees amy adams and a pregnant natalie portman donned purple dresses. all eyes are on portman, who is expecting to take home the best actress oscar for "black swan." already tonight "the fighter" has scored another one-two punch. melissa leo won best supporting actress for her role. christian bale won best supporting actor for his performance as a crack-addicted former boxer. >> do toys here get played with every day? >> reporter: "toy story 3" for best animated feature. "an less in wonderland." honors for best adapted screenplay went to aaron sorkin for "the social network." david seidler took best original screenplay for "the king's speech." those films are widely seen as the main contenders for the night's top honor, still to come, best picture. >> it's been a good night for "the king's speech." tom hooper took the oscar for best director. natalie portman won best actress in "the black swan." best actor went to colin firth in "the king's speech." you saw that one, i saw that one. fantastic film. >> i liked it. >> fantastic film. it will be a travesty if it doesn't win best film. tomorrow evening we could be in for quite the night. >> we really could. another very bug change in the weather coming our way as we go through tomorrow. another probably going to be our fourth 70-degree day in february. it's been a long time since we've had a february that mild. so big changes there. any time you get a real surge of warm air at this time of the year, typically right behind it comes a very potent cold front. that will be bringing us a chance for some severe weather tomorrow afternoon. so keep a weather eye to the sky. how powerful of a system is it? check this out. this is tucson, arizona. those are golfers huddling under an umbrella from a hailstorm. they're trying to play golf this afternoon, they were ducking and covering. in the desert there's no tree to hide under. luckily these were not lightning-producing storms. look at that hail shaft coming out from the bottom of the cloud there. this is from the blimp taking some of the aerial coverage. the hailstones weren't all that big. there you go, sometimes we talk about golf ball-size hail. these are just little pea-size hailstones. nonetheless an amazing day in tucson. a lot of cold air dropping down to the south. and warm air bubbling up to the north. we get the warm tomorrow and the cold on tuesday. and the transition tomorrow afternoon could cause some trouble. 60 our high today. 49 right now with a light north wind. temperatures upper 40s to near 50 here at the 11:00 hour. so a very mild night by february standards. out on the radar, a couple of sprinkles south of town out towards warrenton. showers west of the blue ridge into the shenandoah valley. a patch of rain showers coming through portions of west similar where flood watches are out. this is just going to be enough to get the roads wet between now and your morning commute. but look at the severe weather tonight. eastern oklahoma moving through st. louis, missouri, on the front side, tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings. on the back side, rain changing over to snow. accumulating to a couple of inches in a few spots. look at this, current temperatures 73 in memphis. 62 st. louis. 30 in chicago. so that huge contrast, lots of moisture coming up from the gulf of mexico for the system to work with so the springlike humidity will bring springlike energy and the chance for springlike severe weather here tomorrow afternoon. give you a check of the timing here in just a second. there goes that area of low pressure racing up to our north tomorrow. dragging the cold front through here. about 8:00 tomorrow night. hind that front, we could see some very strong winds. as the high pressure builds on in late monday night into early tuesday, we could still see winds gusting between 40 and 50 miles per hour. so with all the wind that we've had the last couple of days it will be just another slap in the face for mother nature. slight risk for severe weather here tomorrow. moderate risk into portions of southwestern virginia. as far as the timing goes, there goes those rain showers here late tonight. 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, this is 4:00, severe weather possible. 5:00, right through washington. and about 7:00, 8:00, clearing portions of southern maryland. so start off temperatures in the upper 40s to near 50. highs tomorrow mild. low to mid 70s tomorrow. with a chance of sort of some thunderstorms and some very gusty winds. there's the extended forecast. another windy day on tuesday. mild for wednesday. then more chilly stuff comes our way thursday and friday. next weekend looking a little on the wet side for now. >> another windy one. >> yes, indeed. >> a lot of those lately. >> march came early this year. coming up in sports, who clocked the fastest 40 at the nfl combine? hakem's going to tell us all about that. the terps try to keep pace with the tar heels. terps and tar heels. >> yeah. maryland needed to win and they didn't. they have two games left in the regular season, miami and virginia. even if they win it won't be enough to persuade the ncaa selection committee. maryland needs a miracle. the terps win the acc tournament in two weeks they'll earn automatic bid to the big dance. tonight, however, the terps couldn't make it happen against 19th ranked tar heels. here's how it went down. north carolina, yeah, little guys mighting dancing. gary williams of the terps, maybe, maybe not. maryland down early. trailing by six. freshman terrell, talented young man, drives, throws it up. count it. stoeg land had a career high 28 points. later in the half, adrian buye drives, get that out of here. starts the break. kendall marshall fines tyler zeller for the dunk. zoeller had 25 points. unc up 43-31 at halftime. second half. terps down nine. howard for three, no good. terps were, ouch, 2 of 12 from beyond the arc. marshall, though, saves the ball and check it out, goes five-hole on tyler zeller. harrison barnes who beats everyone to the bucket for the lay-up. he had 21 points. number 19 north carolina defeats maryland, 87-76. terps fall to 18-11 overall, 7-7 in the acc. the 15th ranked maryland women defeated boston college in their season finale. the terps earn a first-round bye in this weekend's acc tournament. clinton portis was not released today because the nfl offices were closed. but a source close to the situation tells us it will happen, it's just a matter of when. the redskins must release portis before the current collective bargaining agreement expires friday. if they do not release portis before friday they'll have to wait until a new cba is in effect. the nfl combine in indianapolis, attention on this guy, heisman trophy winning quarterback cam now ton. the redskins have met with newton. this afternoon he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds. >> faster than you. >> definitely faster than me. some experts believe the redskins will take newton, i say they probably should go defense. who's the fastest qb? former virginia tech hokie tyrod taylor, clocks in at 4.51. he can move. tailor likely won't be a first rounder but does have talent. former maryland terp dorrell scott. he must protect this house. running the 40, a 4.34. the fastest time at the combine thus far. the defensive backs run on tuesday, those buys are quick. another former maryland terp, wide receiver torre smith, he decided to forego his senior season to enter the nfl draft. and some experts saying he will go in the second round. here's what smith and tyrod taylor had to say about their experience at the combine. >> it is what it is. it's a big business. they're going to break it down. try to find out what your strengths, what your weaknesses are. to me it's not an issue. no one's perfect so you know you're going to have weaknesses. you've got to figure out ways to make them strengths. >> you know what your weaknesses are. that's whati do work out for, to try to get that out of your game. as far as people are saying you can't do certain things, you let it motivate you to go out and play even better. tonight on "sports final," "washington post" columnist mike wise and lindsay czarniak host a sports edition of the oscars. we didn't have the budget for the statues but mike and lindsay did get dressed up. >> coming up on "sports final," we branched out from reality. it's oscar night. what is better than the oscars and sports? we brought in "washington post" columnist mike wise to help us do the unveiling. we've got three great categories, mike. >> yes. in the category of best director, the nominees are mike shanahan, bruce boudreau, flip saunders, jim riggleman. >> the category of best actor. john wall, stephen strasburg, deangelo hall, and alexander ovechkin. >> best drama, same actor nominated twice, albert haynesworth, albert haynesworth again, donovan mcnabb, gilbert arenas. >> by the way you look great. i can't wait to find out who you're wearing. >> thanks. thanks to my wife for letting you borrow her dress. >> let's see who gets the sports oscars in "sports final." >> i think mike wise was rocking nordstr nordstrom. >> he probably rented it. >> still, it looks nice. back with the guys who take the expression, everything's better with bacon, to a whole new level. ♪ [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. the weather, what's the time frame for these storms tomorrow? >> we're going to be most under the gun starting after about lunchtime tomorrow. any time after noon tomorrow, especially folks out towards the blue ridge, that's the time frame you need to be looking at, around lunchtime. future cast micro cast model. 4:00 tomorrow afternoon, areas of yellow are where the strongest possibility of thunderstorms are. so at 4:00 p.m., what may be a line storms just north and west of town, about 5:00, 6:00, through the heart of the city. by 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, through the tip of southern maryland. a very mild day tomorrow, in the 70s for a brief time tomorrow morning. then very strong winds possible with the storms and strong winds to follow behind the cold front through the day on tuesday. >> unseasonably warm, then nasty. >> right. >> thank you. time for that weekly look at the odd, unusual, or just plain strange. tonight we go to iowa. home of those famous presidential picking caucuses and the hawk eye state. also home to a lot of people who really seem to love bacon. so much so, in fact, they started a festival there. 1,600 bacon lovers showed up for the fourth annual blue ribbon bacon festival. there they are. along with old-fashioned bacon and an appropriate mascot, the event features all kinds of bacon-laced goodies. bacon bleed marys, brownies, ice cream, bacon, bacon, bacon. >> i like it. >> that's all for the news tonight. "news 4 today" starts at from college to combine. sitting on the bubble. the terps face a must-win in chapel hill. and inside adam's head. one of the newest nats lets us in on a personal struggle he hopes will inspire others. >> it just got to a point where i'm like, it shouldn't this be hard to focus. >> good evening and welcome to "sports final." i'm lindsay czarniak. we begin with football. nfl coaching staffs are camping out in indianapolis, scouting talent at the nfl combine. coach shanahan indicated a couple of days ago he might be looking for a new running back. the redskins have decided it's best to allow nine-year nfl vet clinton portis an opportunity to look for work elsewhere already they could release him as soon as tomorrow. i spoke to clinton portis by phone. he expressed his appreciation for the years the organization has given him but he also spoke in the past tense. he said it was a love-hate relationship and he shared this statement. it's time to move on. parting ways with the organization is best for both situations. i can't grow within this situation. the same passion i had while playing for coach gibbs isn't there. portis says he does intend to play somewhere else with a team he says hopefully where he can use his talents to the best of his ability and be appreciated. >>. the redskins had their eyes peeled at the combine. among those making the most of their time to shine, maryland's dorrell scott, the fastest among offensive players, running a 40 at a lightning-fast 4.35. coach shanahan is searching for talent at several positions. he sat down with larry michael to talk about his strategy in indianapolis. >> i think this is just a