one person is dead after a tractor trailer crashed bursting into flames on the beltway in forestville. it happened late last night. neil castillo shot this video and posted it online this morning. two other vex were involved. traffic is still backed up on the interloop near d'arcy road while officers investigate. >> reporter: this has been the effect of this morning's deadly crash. all morning long on the beltway traffic has been backed up. this as investigators are still working to put together all the pieces. it was a violent and fiery scene this morning on the beltway in forestville. a tractor trailer explosion left the driver dead and at least one other person injured. police say around 11:00 last night there was a three-vehicle crash just before d'arcy road. while investigators are still working to piece together what caused the chain reaction that led to the crash, they say one of the vehicles may have been parked and unoccupied and on the side of the beltway, leaving the tractor trailer and another vehicle in motion leading up to the crash. a spokesman for the maryland state police stay alcohol has not been ruled out as a possible factor in the crash. the tractor trailer driver, who has not been identified, died on the scene. the driver of another vehicle was transported to the prince george's county hospital for treatment. the tractor trailer crashed in to the d'arcy road bridge embankment and flames from the crash charred and damaged the d'arcy road overpass. that road was closed for most of the morning until officials rendered it safe for driving. the inner loop of the beltway was narrowed down to two lanes causing major backups throughout the morning rush. at this point there's still no word on any possible charges. in forestville, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. and let's take a look at road conditions right now. tanya hutchins is keepi ining ae on things today. >> reporter: things are actually improving. delays in some spots and traffic dissipating in others. at the beltway on the inner loop at exit 15. you can see the delays do continue here. but take a look a little further back. this is at central avenue, 214 exit 15 and the delays have dissipated. we did see delays going tall way back to 202 landover road. so things are improving, which is good news for drivers. barbara? >> thank you, tanya. let's take a look outside at that sky. blue sky after a cold early morning. are we going to see things warm up? let's see if the warming trend continues. >> it has warmed up rapidly just in the last couple of hours. we pulled out of the 30s and now well into the 40s. around the region after some morning clouds have cleared out, we've got quite a bit of sunshine. these are the temperatures already near 50 degrees in the shenandoah valley. farther east in the mid-40s and mid-40s right near washington and prince george's and montgomery counties. reagan national now at 47. around the chess is peek bay temperatures in the 40s. after a cold start. we were in the 20s in many locations. warmer in the mountains, which is rather unusual. out in western maryland, western west virginia, in the low 50s. we've had these high clouds drifting over the region this morning, but they're drifting off to the south and the east and to be replaced by lots of sun for much of the rest of the afternoon. we'll have the winds beginning to pick up a little bit perhaps gusting to around 25 miles an hour as we climb into the 50s by the middle part of the afternoon. and a look at tonight as well as some interesting things happening on the sun. a big solar flare there yesterday. i'll show you video of that. the biggest snowstorm in korea in a hundred years. i'll show you the satellite image of that. this is really quite amazing. that will all be coming up. >> an interesting winter for a lot of us. look forward to seeing that. >> students at north point high school had to deal with tough news this morning. one of their teachers was murdered. police say chris hoffford was at a busy intersection yesterday when his neighbor pulled up and shot him. news4's megan mcgrath joined us from the high school where horford taught for the last few years. >> reporter: we're actually here at the sheriff's department. they're handling this investigation. but students of north point high school returned to class this morning still reeling from the knowledge that their teacher had been killed in a bizarre murder/suicide that happened yesterday afternoon. now, there are a lot of unanswered questions, and investigators are trying to figure out what the relationship was between the two men. now, they can say that they were next door neighbors, that they knew each other, that this is not a random act of violence. and they can also say that both have had recent brushes with the law. now, this all began to unfold late yesterday afternoon. investigators say 24-year-old chris hofford, a second tier teacher at north point high school, had left the school and was driving home. at a four-day stop at an intersection of middleton and billingsley, another vehicle driven by his next door neighbor, 22-year-old robert becker, pulled alongside him. becker got out of the vehicle and opened fire, killing hofford. becker then turned the gun on hills and committed suicide. students and parents at the north point community are just absolutely stunned by what's happened. >> like all the kids liked him. i didn't really hear anything bad about him. he seemed like a cool teacher from what i heard. >> it's like unbelievable. your own neighbor. >> reporter: now, chris hofford had recently received a summons for theft, specifically the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle. now, north point high would not comment on that case. his neighbor robert becker, the shooter in this case, has had several run-ins with the law including one burglary in which several guns and a crossbow were taken. he spent time behind bars for that crime. a lot of things that still need to be worked out. police are going through what relationship they had and also whether any of these court cases are perhaps involved with this. so still a lot of unanswered questions. barbara, back to you. >> thank you, megan. new today a suspicious death overnight in gaithersburg. police found a man dead in an apartment across from lake forest mall. a news4 crew was on the scene as investigators tried to piece it all together. the man's body was taken to the medical examiner's. officers say a woman was found in the apartment. she's been taken to the hospital. police are calling this a domestic incident. today we've learned the name of the u.s. immigration and customs agent shot and killed in mexico. special agent jaime zepata was killed when gunmen opened fire on his suv. it happened yesterday as he drove from mexico city to monterrey. a second agent was also wounded. the agents were stopped at what they thought was a military checkpoint. there are reports that the checkpoint may have been set up by drug traffickers. they were in that country to help fight its drug war. sharon baker and mike leggett will speak out this hour in favor of proposed tax hikes that supporters say will save lives. they support legislation that would increase maryland's alcohol tax by a dime a drink. a recent study by the bloomberg school of public health suggests the tax hike could save dozens of lives each year. researchers say the tax could also generate $215 million in revenue for maryland. critics say the tax hike could drive consumers across state lines to save money. our time now eight minutes after 11:00. coming up t latest on a reporter from cbs news that was brutally attacked while reporting on the tumultuous events in cairo last night. plus why cyclist lance armstrong says he's calling it quits for a second time. she's in washington taking care of her fiance injured in afghanistan. we'll have results of her surprise makeo this week, make pasta night more exciting for your family with a little help from the italian sausage experts: try... since 1945, this delicious italian sausage has been made with only the most premium cuts of pork and unique blends of quality herbs and spices you can actually see. and the taste? why not let the empty plates speak for themselves. make pasta night a weekly dinner your family looks forward to. choose johnsonville, america's favorite italian sausage. brand power. helping you buy better. right now pro and anti-government protesters were clashing in iran. the confrontations began along a funeral procession route. state tv reported that the funeral was for a government sympathizer killed monday during riot, but opposition groups say the man had been advocating protests. and in bahrain protesters have set up a tent city in the capital square. many joined the funeral procession for one of two men killed during clashes with riot police earlier this week. cbs news correspondent lara logan is said to be recovering from a sexual assault and beating she suffered while covering the celebrations in cairo after president hosni mubarak resigned. stephanie gosk is in cairo and has the story for us. >> reporter: when the news broke that egyptian president hosni mubarak resigned, hundreds of thousands of egyptians in tahrir square erupted in celebration. a statement from cbs news says correspondent lara logan and her crew were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. moments after this photo released by cbs news was taken, the network says logan was separated from her colleagues by a mob of more than 200 people. she was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating. cbs news say the group of women and an estimated 20 egyptian soldiers pulled logan to safety allowing her to return to her hotel. in the days leading up to mubarak's resignation, journalists had become regular targets, detained, beaten and even killed by both security forces and pro-mubarak protesters. >> chief foreign correspondent -- >> reporter: logan is an experienced journalist who has spent most of her career covering the world's most dangerous places including the wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> that was stephanie goss reporting. howard kurtz of the daily beast reports that logan is likely to be released from the hospital today and that people familiar with the situation say she is, in their words, in remarkably good spirits. the pentagon is denying reports that general david petraeus is stepping down. the report is that he would be out of afghanistan by the end of the year. but pentagon spokesman geoff morrell says the report is not true. he says that petraeus will rotate out at some point but that point has not yet been determined and it will not occur any time soon. until then he'll continue to be ably leading our coalition forces in afghanistan. today on capitol hill, republicans will continue to try to slash billions from president obama's budget while democrats try and save it. house republicans already approved $61 billion in spending reductions, which would eliminate hundreds of programs. president obama says that will threaten the economy not help it. today he'll be meeting with democratic leaders to discuss the cuts. both sides have to agree on a spending plan by march 4th to avoid a government shutdown. it doesn't look like metro will be getting any more government funds to help with its safety effort. an amendment by congressman jerry connolly to restore money to metro was killed by republicans. back in 2008 congress agreed to pay metro $150 million a year to help with safety improvements. connolly argues that part of the budget should be used for metro considering that 40% of all federal employees use the transit system to get to work. lance armstrong has raced his final race, apparently. and this time he says he means it. the tour de france winner is retiring from competitive cycling for the second time. armstrong became a legend after battling back from cancer to capture the tour de france seven straight years, actually. with success, came controversy, though. armstrong was often rumored to have used performance enhancing drugs. he retired in 2005, only to return four years later. that comeback, however, never yielded the success that came earlier in his career. quite a biker he has been. tom kierein joins us now. you haven't been on the potomac rowing lately, have you? >> no, it's too icy. now it is warming up. get your bicycle out. put the top down on your car, too. as we've had some milder air beginning to push in. now, this is just beginning a three-day stretch of above average temperatureses. right now outside we've got the bright sun pouring down on the potomac river. we have the view from the nasa solar dynamics observatory that showed an incredible solar flare that erupted on the surface of the sun yesterday. this is a video of that solar flare, that bright white spot is where this huge area on the sun blasted out some radiation into space, and that is now just beginning to hit earth. it may disrupt radio communications and maybe even give us an aurora later on tonight. let's take a look that sky over the potomac river. a nice blue sky now after we had some morning cloudiness. 40 degrees at reagan national. now at 47. december and january at the airport there, colder than average in most of the region. colder than average the last two months. but february has been running about average for temperatures. and that's going to change over the next couple of days as we see warmer than average temperature. look where we were this morning. down into the low and mid-20s throughout much of the region. about a 32 at reagan national. frederick down to 21. so was manna sass. it has warmed up 27 degrees there. right now it's at 47 in salisbury and we're now well into the 40s to even near 50 throughout much of the region. out of the mountains, a mild morning as well. this is our mildest morning of the winter so far in the last couple of months. in the low 50s there. upper 50s parts of kentucky. that's the source region of our winds coming out of the south and west of the surface. west-northwesterly will continue to bring just a few drifting high clouds over the region lart this afternoon. meanwhile, yesterday and the day before eastern korea got hit with their worst snowstorm in a hundred years. this is a satellite image showing all of eastern korea from north korea all the way down to southeastern south korea blanketed in very heavy snow. reports of hundreds of travelers are stranded and they've had to bring out their army to get throw assist them and to rescue many people stranded by this very heavy snowstorm in eastern korea and stories of roofs collapsing there. no snowy weather for us. we have this benevolent pattern that will be in place here for the next couple of days, this high pressure that's been over us since yesterday. drifting off the atlantic seaboard. we'll have our winds shifting into the southwest. that will draw in warmer air that will be with us later today, tonight and in to tomorrow as well as on friday. then later on friday, we'll have a cold front beginning to move in to the midwest. that will be sweeping through on saturday bringing an end to our little mini heat wave. for the rest of this afternoon, we'll have temperatures in to the 50s with a rather blustery wind. and gusting to oornd 20 to 25 miles an hour. then tonight should be mostly clear and chilly. temperatures upper 40s to low 40s by midnight. by dawn tomorrow we'll be in to the mid-30s. then during the day on thursday, temperatures should climb nicely and rebound tall way up to around 60 degrees by mid-afternoon tomorrow. then even warmer on friday. in fact friday morning's lows will be about the average high for middle february. during the afternoon, peaking near 70. then some of that chillier air begins to move in on saturday. 50s, then drop saturday afternoon with gusty winds, then plummet all the way to the 20s sunday morning. then sunday afternoon rebounding a bit back to the mid-40s. then maybe a chilly rain coming in late sunday night and then off and on on presidents day on monday. that's the way it looks right now. >> tom, thank you very much. we're going to head out and check the traffic again to see how things are moving. here's tanya hutchins. >> we aren't out of the woods yet. we still do have delays on the inner loop. exit 13. things are getting better. elsewhere in maryland, in gaithersburg, we do have a road closed. there's a gas leak there. so police have closed off the road. you may want to avoid that intersengz right now if you can. just avoid the area. police have closed it off. back to you, barbara. >> thank you, tanya. it is 11:20 now. still ahead, meet the local dog who took home top honors at the westminster dog show. plus, are you having a hard time getting your teen out of bed and off to school in the morning? sleep is probably the key and could be causing other problem. but first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. actors have the oscars, football players from the super bowl but for dogs it's all about the westminster dog show. one very lucky dog from virginia is celebrating a big win. >> best of show is the deerhound. >> a scottish deerhound from virginia was named best in show. this is first time a scottish deerhound has ever won best in show. hickory beat out more than 2500 other dogs to do so, and this morning the now famous dog is making the rounds including spending some of the morning visiting the "today" show. well, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it is supergranny. anne simpson has reached hero status in great britain after she thwarted a jewelry store robbery with just her handbag. and this morning, the purse swinging crime fighting grandma spoke to meredith vieira exclusively on the "today" show and explained how she fought off the robbers. >> it's just a two-handed thing. just a two-handed thing like that. except that i -- i had him get round -- you say their heads, but actually they had mega helmets on. it was not going to impact on them. i hoped that it would distract them from doing what they were doing. >> she initially thought someone was getting beat up, but when she realized it was a daylight robbery, that just made her plain mad, she says. our time right now, 11:25, coming up in the next half hour, jailhouse confessions from the world's most famous swindler bernie madoff. the breathalyzer mess in the district getting worse. why d.c. police won't be able to use them any time soon. and the start of a nice warm-up for the end of the work week. tom keirson back. right now on news4 midday, we have breaking news from charles county. police have just released new information on the relationship between a local teacher and his suspected killer. north point high teacher chris hofford was shot in a bzy intersection in charles county yesterday. the shooter his next door neighbor robert becker then turned the gun on himself. police say both men are part of an ongoing auto theft investigation and believe the case was the motive for the murder/suicide. this morning, police are also trying to figure out what caused a deadly crash in prince george's county overnight. one person died after a tractor trailer crashed bursting into flames on the beltway in forestville late last night. two other vehicles were involved. traffic is still backed up on the inner loop on d'arcy road while police investigate. the mastermind behind one of the country's largest ponzi schemes is speaking out this morning for first time since his arrest. bernie madoff gave his first interview to "the new york times." the former financier maintained during the interview that his family knew nothing of the crimes, but he implicated some major banks and hedge funds as being complicit in the scheme. he said the banks, quote, they knew, but the attitude was sort of, if you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know. madoff also said that he is helping a court appointed trustee to recover billions that he swindled from his clients. madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in north carolina. and happening today, president obama will unveil a new action plan for a project known as america's great outdoors. the program is aimed at helping more americans connect with nature. at the same time, it will help conserve at protect the nation's public lands and water as well as our cultural and historical areas. the plan was developed with the help of more than 100,000 americans who contributed their thoughts on this project. and a guy who like the great outdoors, whether it's icy cold or hot as you know what, you are always out there. >> and i love our national parks, too. they are treasures. and we all should enjoy. right now it's beginning to warm up. this is certainly enjoyable. outdoor recreation and exercise weather. there's the live view from our city camera. there's capitol hill gleaming brilliantly in this bright february sun. we've warmed up now to the mid and upper. even warmer shenandoah valley and into the mountains, many of those locations have it will the 50s. over the last 12 hours we've had cloudiness drift off to the south and east. upper level flow. but the flow at the surface is generally coming in to the south and west. that's sweeping in milder air that will be with us this afternoon as we peak in the 50s. then even warmer tomorrow. morning lows mid-30s. afternoon highs to around 60 on thursday. downright balmy on friday afternoon. we'll have temperatures reaching near 70 degree, call in sick, then on saturday, the low 40s and afternoon highs in the mid and upper 50s. a blustery wind. we'll have quite a bit of sunshine, though. but that will usher in a big change, down to the 20s on sunday morning. might get some chilly rain on presidents day on tuesday and that's the way it looks right now, barbara. >> thank you, tom. this morning brand new information about a former pentagon official dead in a delaware landfill. according to a wilmington newspaper, crime scene investigators spent about three hours inside john wheeler's delaware home. they left with a large paper bag and several manilla envelopes. a medical examiner determined that wheeler was assaulted before his body was dumped in that landfill. the story regarded brandon banks is changing again this morning. news4 has learned that a tube is inserted in banks' chest to keep his lung from collapsing. it turns out the redskins return man suffered a stab wound to the left side of his chest during a fight outside the nightclub over the weekend. earlier reports calledate superficial wound to the side. banks' agent james gould insists that banks was the victim despite witnesses account that say that banks and his friend chris nixon were the instigators. a team doctor is monitoring banks' recovery. this morning, a local family's dog is recovering after it was shot by police. the officer opened fire on the chocolate lab yesterday afternoon in a neighborhood off foxhall road. the officer was investigating the report of a damaged vehicle. one witness said the dog appeared to be running toward the officer. police haven't released any other details about the incident. there's no word on the dog's condition this morning. police in the district will not be able to use those breathalyzers to nab suspected drunk drivers any time soon. news4 just learned that it could be months before breathalyzers are back in use here in d.c. this comes about a year after reports surfaced that the machines weren't properly calibra calibrated. efforts to fix the problem have failed. the district's acting attorney general have also ordered an investigation into problems with about 50 cases involving urine analysis. that's the current method used to test blood alcohol levels. we'll go back out to the road to see if things are moving around okay out there. here's tanya hutchins. >> we do have one problem spot in maryland. the traffic lights are out, the signals are dark. you have to treat it as a four-way stop. things are improving. actually out 4 5 at 50, arlington boulevard, things are running smoothly will. and out by the accident that we had 495 in which marlboro road things improving there as well. back to you. >> thank you, tanya. >> children and teens need more sleep. and many are not getting it. today's teens are chronically sleep deprived. study have linked sleep deprivation to attention problems and even obesity. dr. joshua weiner joins us with more. but first of all, we know that the sleep -- amount of time gets are getting to sleep are on the decline. >> right. >> why is that? >> i think it has to do with the fact that kids have just so much on their plates. they have more homework, i think, than they did years ago. they're involved in more extracurricular activities. then on top of that, i think that electronics and caffeine have something to do with it as well. studies have shown that the electronic use, in particular, the use of computers can really impact the release of melatonin, which is the sleepiness hormone. that may keep kids awake longer than they should be. >> but are they awake because they're so in to what they're doing on their computers or do you think actually the melatonin is keeping them awake? >> actually, its taps suppress of melatonin's release that's not making them tired so they don't feel as tired, so they're staying up a little bit later. >> some schools are addressing this problem. some are letting kids, especially teenagers, start school a little bit later in the day. do you think this is a good idea? >> i think this is a great idea. the average teen needs about nine hour of sleep but the average teen is getting about six hour of sleep per night. there's a real significant difference in the amount they need versus what they're getting. when schools start later, studies have shown that those kids who attend those schools have improved attendance, improved motivation, decreased rate of depression, they're visiting the nurse's office less frequently. and there's been a decline in those school districts of 40% in the number of traffic accidents that their kids are involved in. >> i guess some of the first question wes should ask you is how much does a teen require? is it the same for all teens? are some kids able to get by with less sleep? >> there are 134 people able to get by with less sleep, but in general the recommendation is nine hour. clearly if kids are getting six, they're way deprived in the amount of sleep that they need. >> i know you're the psychiatrist. you treat the problem. but what can we do to keep it from happening? is there something parents can do to kind of force their kids in to bed early? >> one thing is that parents should really encourage their kids to have a very ridge you had sleep schedule. so they want to have them going to bed and waking up at the same time. they want to discourage their kids from napping. on weekends, you really want the try to encourage your kid to stick with a similar sleep schedule. kids won't want to do that. they want to stay up to 1:00, or 2:00 in the morning. see if they'll go to bed at a more reasonable hour. make sure that kids know that computers and electronics might be keeping them awake, might be decreasing the amount of melatonin that is secreted. talk to your doctor about the possibility of using a light box or supplementing melatonin to help with getting into a regular sleep pattern. >> what would you say? maybe they should stop using the computer an hour -- >> two hours. >> two hours. i'm glad to get that number then. two hours before bedtime. >> before bedtime. the problem is that kids experience a shift in their biological clock as they reach puberty. so melatonin is actually secreted once you hit puberty. kids aren't getting tired until 11:00. one of the reasons why it's important for schools to consider starting earlier. >> dr. josh wra winer. always great to see you. good ideas for getting our kids to sleep a little bit longer. thanks a lot. and it is 11:3p now. still ahead, good news on homen construction. we'll see how investors are wall street are reacting this morning. first two of our healing hearts makeovers coming up. the loved ones of military men recovering at walter reed. planning on flying delta or american? plan on paying more for your ticket. both airlines just raised their fares again. the only fare hike at this point affects first class, business class and seven-day advance purchasing tickets. flights up to 500 miles d $20 e. and anything longer than that will cost you $60 more each way. officials say the hike in price is in part a result of higher oil prices. bookseller borders filed for bankruptcy protection and will close some stores. we're going to check in now with hampton pearson. he joins us with more on that and the rest of the day's bisseusiness headlines. >> we've got the markets trading in positive territory driv bin a surprise jump in housing starts, strong earnings reports. right now the dow is up 48, the nasdaq up 17, s&p up about 6. housing starts jump 14.6% in january to their highest level in four months to a seasonally adjusted right of 596,000 units. new building permits fell to an annual rate of 562,000. but even that was still stronger than expected. producer prices rose 0.8% last month while the so-called core rate which excludes food and energy rose half a percent, the most in more than two years. inflation concerns there. on the corporate front t long awaited takeover of sanofi, they'll pay cash along with performance payments based on certain drugs. discount retailer family dollar stores saw stocks surge 25% after the company received an unsolicited takeover bid from the tryon group. that offer between 55 and $60 a share on a cash basis. borders group has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will close about 200 stores. and finally, comcast, cnbc and nbc/universal's new parent company beat estimates on profits, revenues and announcing an increase in the annual dividend. fourth quarter revenues were up. barbara, not a bad start for our new bosses. >> not a bad start. thanks, hampton. >> you got it. yesterday we celebrated valentine's day with some wonderful women with very big hearts. they're here in washington a long, long way from their homes to offer love and support to their loved ones. those loved once are wounded warriors being treated at walter reed army medical center. they shared their stories with us. and we had some prizes for them provided by our sponsors neiman-marcus and prn partners. >> we wanted you to feel pampered. skin, cool accessories, we want you to feel that this is your day for everything you do for your husbands and sons. >> every day a certificate to come and get your hair cut and colored at our salon. everybody here is going to get -- >> there were lots of surprises in the bags. some had invitations for various beauty treatments including several xleecomplete makeovers. a perfect prescription for pampering for ladies who spend so much time caring for loved ones who need them here, a long way from home. like dorothy who is here with her husband major stewart moon who was just about to deploy for another tour of duty in afghanistan. >> we found out right after thanksgiving that he had cancer, and then right after christmas we found out that it was actually two type of cancer. he's not going to be able to deploy and they've decided to keep him here for his treatment. that's how we came to be at walter reed. >> dorothy joined the other makeover candidates first at neiman-marcus. how do you feel about a makeover? how do you feel about having something new done? >> oh, my gosh, that's just amazing. fantastic. >> here she looked at some of the new fashions and talked with stylist liberty jones about her lifestyle, then it was on to a consultation with bobby brown makeup consultant joanie. >> we empower women with makeup. it sounds silly or simple, but when you put a little makeup on a woman, it lifts her mood. she knows she's pretty, but now she knows she's pretty powerful. >> with your face shape, we're going to contour it a bit more. we're looking to get more lift and give aw little more volume. >> then the fun began. ♪ and then -- >> are you ready to see your new look? >> yeah. >> here she is. dorothy, you look wonderful. fantastic. nice applause for you. turn around so we can see the new you. fabulous. how do you feel about it? >> awesome. this has just been the most incredible experience. i'm over the moon happy about it really. >> well, we are so happy that we were able to do this for you. and you look absolutely fabulous. so is it fun? >> oh, so much fun. folks at neiman-marcus, bobby brown makeup counter, they just -- i feel like a princess. it was a terrific experience. >> you look like a princess today. you're making me cry. you look absolutely wonderful. the best part was that you had some fun. i know you haven't had a lot of chances to have fun in the last year. so we are so happy to have you with us. and let's talk to our ladies who made this all happen. from neiman-marcus, tell us how you make your decisions about what to do with dorothy. >> she's so easy to work with because she's so positive and a wonderful spirit. we want to do something a little glam and high energy. she has her wonderful sunglasses, very cool. ooh-la-la. we also wanted to do a little trend inspiration. the boat trend is huge. and the pants are from eileen fisher. a nice punch of color. really looks great with her coloring and her hair. >> and big for color this week. >> we are. >> for spring. >> yep. and fuchsia's one of the biggest trends. pinks, reds, all those colors are huge for spring. she just models it beautifully. >> she looks fantastic. >> talk about the hair. >> well, her hair was almost a virgin, which was great. it's so easy to work with. she had really, really dark hair. and i wanted to soften that up and add some baurwarmth to it, highlights to the top and bring out the gold flecks in her eyes. we lightened up her hair. she was wearing it very heavy. we softened that up, lightened it up, but made it easy for her to do because she is busy taking care of her husband and helping out with that. she needed to look that way every day. >> thank you so much to pr as partners, and neiman-marcus for having so much heart to give to the ladies who are taking care of their husbands, their sons and their fiances, what did your husband think when he saw you? >> he loved it. especially the hair cut. he said it was rock 'n' roll. >> you have a great time with your brand new lookp we're so happy we could do it. we hope that you'll join us for the rest of the ladies. we've got a lot more to come with our healing hearts makeovers. if you were watching monday, you will know that jennifer also joined us on valentine's day when we were hosting some of the loved ones of wounded warriors being treated at walter reed army medical center here in washington. thanks to our sponsors neiman-marcus and prs partners, she also received a day of beauty. when the loved ones of wounded warriors being treated here at walter reed in washington came to visit us on monday, four found extra surprises in their gift bags offering complete makeovers. one was jen ifer from wichita, kansas. she came to washington to be near here fiance, army specialist eric coleman who was injured in july and afghanistan by a rocket-propelled grenade. >> he has a fractured clavicle and scapula and lacerations were on his face. so he's got scarring and had a broken jaw. >> jennifer's first stop was here at neiman-marcus. >> i think this would be really pretty on you. >> she looked over the possibilities and picked a few things out to try on. she was excited about the idea of a brand new look. were you surprised when you found out they were giving makeovers to all of our guests? >> oh, yeah. >> what did you think? >> i couldn't believe it. it's awesome. great. >> her next stop was for makeup. with bobby brown expert jody. >> we want to make sure that she feels comfortable and confident and to give her a few items to lift her mood. >> nice to get something for me. it takes a lot away from you being here. and it's nice to have a day to relax. ♪ >> then it was on to pr as partner, where jennifer met her stylist. >> so jennifer, today we're going to brighten it up. and we're going to make it look like you're the love child of gwyneth paltrow and lorne con d conrad. but low maintenance. >> how did jennifer feel about the hair that's falling on the floor around her? >> excited. ready for a change. >> and how did it all turn out? >> oh, wow. >> awesome. >> and here she is now, the madeover jennifer. welcome. you look terrific. >> thank you. >> utterly fantastic. how do you feel? >> amazing. >> yeah? was it fun? >> a lot of fun. incredible. >> what did your fiance say? >> he loves it. especially the makeup. >> is he watching on tv now? >> i hope so. >> you look absolutely wonderful. i want to introduce liberty jones from neiman-marcus and mary quinn daniels from pr as partners for making this happen. she looks wonderful. >> we had so much fun. >> why don't you tell us, first of all, liberty, what you did with the clothing. >> sure. well, she's got beautiful eye color. we wanted a really bright color to punch up her blue eyes which bobby brown did the makeup for but you can really tell how good the makeup looks with this color. we wanted something bright and great. this is neiman-marcus, we wanted to do something a little cool and funky, modern. jennifer is young. the black pants and the black top, perfect because she can dress that up, dress it down. she can go to the supermarket, runs errands, if they're going to grab dinner, do that, too. >> look at those hot shoes. those are great. >> those are vera wang lavender label. they're youthful, chic and something she can also walk in. and that's important because i know she's on her feet a lot during the day. we wanted her to be comfortable, too. >> you've been spending a lot of time taking care of your fiance. he was injured back in july. this hair is beautiful. mary quinn daniel is responsible for that. >> well, jennifer has tons and tons and tons of hair. and it was petty much her natural color. she had not had highlights in for over a year. i wanted something that would dance around her natural color and give it a lot of glow but that she could get some mileage out of. so we used some wella blond and a little bit lighter and a little bit darker than her natural. she should be able with the lightness of the haircut and the softness of the highlights, she should be able to get three months out of the look. it is really user friendly, easy, i promise. >> you look absolutely fantastic. why don't you do a little spin around, a little model turn so we can see the whole thing. >> runway, runway! >> fantastic. congratulations. we are so happy that you were able to do that. and say hello to all the other wonderful ladies who we got to meet. >> hey, girls. >> thanks again. and we will look forward to seeing our next one tomorrow. >> yes. i think two. >> two tomorrow. two tomorrow. going to be fantastic. take a look at some of the stories we're following for news4 this afternoon. pat lawson joins us with a preview of things to come. >> i'm enjoying these so much. they look so great. they're wonderful. coming up today on news4 at 4:00, a teach ser lashing out after her suspension. she wrote a profanity-laced blog describing her students as lazy. then game on, how local athletes help a cancer patient accomplish his ultimate goal. this is a story you certainly don't want to miss. plus maryland lawmakers want to raise the alcohol tax. tell us what you think about that on nbc washington's facebook page. we'll share the results at 5:00. bright sunshine around the region now and wef had our temperatures warm up to dram ikscally, 20s this morning, now into the 40s. a bit of a blustery wind out of the southwest and even warmer on thursday and friday. over the weekend turning windy and chillier on saturday. it will drop out of the 50s saturday afternoon down in to the 20s on sunday morning. and then sunday afternoon back into the 40s. our next chance of precipitation may be late sunday night and perhaps into monday, presidents day. right now look like a chilly rain. looks like it will be too warm for any snow. then drying out after that on tuesday. you can follow my forecast on twit are. have a great day. we'll see you tomorrow morning. >> thank you, tom. and that's news4 midday for today. we thank you for being with us and invite you to tune in for news at 4, 5, 6 and then tonight at 11. don't forget to come back tomorrow. we'll have all the news, weather and traffic. but we have two more of our wonderful ladies. these are moms of wounded warriors being treat eed at the hospital here at walter reed. that's at 11:00 tomorrow morning. see you then.