Afternoon. Well have sunshine off and on throughout much of the day today. Right now looking at temperatures, all those areas in the light blue are generally hovering around the low 40s. Reagan national now at 50 degrees. A few spots in the north center virginia have dipped into the upper 30s including Prince William county, stafford, spotsylvania to warrenton and fauquier county. Out of the mountains, many locations there near freezing to the upper 20s on this thursday morning, the 10th of january. Right now, suburbs, montgomery county, the mid 40s, mid 40s in prince georges county, arlington, and fairfax. The entire region now above freezing. Heres how were looking hour by hour throughout the day. A blustery wind gusting 10, 25 Miles Per Hour this morning, will diminish by the time we get toward midday, and well get sunshine in and out. Highs just reaching the low 50s much of the region. Sunrise 7 27. Sunset, 6 26. First 4 traffic with danella. Good morning. Good morning. In Howard County reef a crash shutting down old frederick road between braxton drive and rally tavern lane because of the crash. Lets check out 295 as well as i95 between the Baltimore Beltway and the capital beltway. Travel lanes are oath in both directions are open in both directions. On the beltway, the inner loop in montgomery county, nice and clear, outer loop, as you make your way past colesville road, earlier had a work zone that was blocking the right lane. Its now nice and clear. In fact, clear even toward the American Legion bridge. Im back in ten. Over to you. Thanks. 4 32. Melissa mollet has breaking news. Good morning. Good morning. This is actually just in to the newsroom. At least 30 people have been hurt after a collision between two passenger trains in northern switzerland. We understand one train rammed into the side of another at a station near the german border. At this point, we dont know how serious any of these injuries are. Well keep an eye on things and pass information along as we get it. At the live desk, melissa mollet, news4. Today, Vice President joe bidens Gun Control Task force turns its attention to gun owners and gay rights advocates. For that and gun rights advocacy. Yesterday the task force met with victims groups and guncontrol supporters to start a conversation about curbing gun violence after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Vice President Biden says the task force will take quick action. The president and i are determined to take action. I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the unless we can do everything well do nothing. Its important we act. Representatives from walmart also joined the talks. They originally said they could not attend. The task force hopes to put forth a series of proposals in about a month. President obama is looking within his own administration to find his next treasury secretary. He could announce as early as today that he will nominate jack lew to head the treasury. Hes white house chief of staff now and served as budget director during the Obama Administration and clinton administrations. He would succeed Timothy Geithner who announced plans to step down at the end of the month. President obamas already got another cab debtnition to fill. Labor secretary hilda solis submitted her resignation yesterday. She said she decided ton serve during the second term after talking with her family and close friends. Solis will likely return home to california and run for a seat on the Los Angeles County board of supervisors. President obama calls her a tireless champion for working families. Five militants dead in yet another drone attack in pakistan. Intelligence sources say the drone fired four missiles at a house near the pakistan afghanistan border. Several people were also injured there. It is the fifth drone strike in North Waziristan this year. About 40 militants have been killed in strikes including a senior al qaeda commander. Afghan President Hamid karzai will meet with Top National Security leaders today. First he will meet with defense secretary leon panetta at the pentagon. Later tonight he will meet with secretary of state hillary clinton. Yesterday he met with senators on capitol hill. They discussed how many troops will remain in his country after combat forces pull out in 2014. Karzai is scheduled to meet with president obama tomorrow. Today a former d. C. Police Police Officer will be sentenced for shooting multiple people. Kenneth fur faces sever years in prison for the bizarre incident in august of 2011. He was convicted for soliciting a transgender woman for sex outside a cvs in northwest washington. When she refused he became angry and allegedly threatened her and one of her friends with a gun. A few minutes later, fur confronted them, jumped on the hood of their car and shot through the windshield, hitting three people. All the victims suffered nonlifethreatening injuries. This morning a d. C. Police officer is under arrest for sexually abusing a child. According to investigators, officer Wendell Palmer is charged with firstdegree child sexual abuse for incidents that happened when the accuser was a juvenile. Police have not said how old the victim is now or when the alleged incidents happened. This morning, weekend sell on paid admin wendell is is paid administrative leave. Former penn state football coach Jerry Sandusky appears in court this morning. The convicted child sex offender will attend a hearing where attorneys upon argue they didnt have enough time to prepare for his trial last year. Last summer a jury convicted sandusky of 45 counts of child sex abuse. The case rocked Penn State University with allegations of a coverup. Sandusky maintains his innocence. The city of boston is under a state of emergency because of the flu outbreak. This flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in decades. Emergency rooms in boston are flooded with people complaining of flulike symptoms. The city already has 700 cases including four deaths. The number of cases is already up tenfold from last years flu season total. Were seeing a huge increase in patients coming in with the nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, upper respiratory infections with the fevers and cough, body aches. In southeast virginia, hospitals in the Hampton Roads area are urging all patients and visitors to wear masks while in the facilities. The best advice doctors are urging is to get the flu shot now. Flu season can sometimes last into april. Got to protect yourself. Yeah. 4 37 the time. Ahead on news4 today, the state of the commonwealth. What virginias governor considers his top order of business as state lawmakers get to work. And police ask for your help after a Security Camera captures a criminal in the act. And our own up and down temperatures continue today. Which end of the scale well be at today. Here you go little man. [ humming ] [ babbling ] the cheerios bandit got you again . [ both laugh ] the one and only, cheerios. And now. You [ giggles ] the one and only, cheerios folks in louisa county, valley, felt the earth move last night. A 2. 0 magnitude earthquake was reported a half a mile from the town of louisa. Its been almost a year and a half since the east coast earthquake that struck the region. The 5. 8 earthquake sent major damage to the county and shock waves up and down the seaboard. Last nights tremor could still be an aftershock of the east coast quake. Wow. Even that long you can have an aftershock. 2. 0. 4 41. Time for weather traffic on the 1s. Looking outside, scattered temperatures, varying degrees. Cold some splaplaces, warmer in other spots. Tom . A wide variety of temperatures. High clouds drifting over us. Mostly clear over the mountains and in parts of southern maryland, northern neck, eastern shore, high clouds drifting over the metro area. Temperatures generally in the mid 40s, montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince georges, near 50 in washington. Culpeper down to 34. Hagerstown, 39. There are cold spots. Fredericksburg down to 38. La plata in charles county, by 6 30, in the upper 30s. A partly cloudy sky. For the lunch hour, its going to be in the upper 40s there by noontime. Heres the forecast. For the region, although 50s. Not much of a warmup through the day. Just low 50s by midafternoon, sun coming and going. Winds diminishing. Im back in ten minutes with the sevenday outlook. Big warmup for the weekend. Danella with traffic. Good morning. Good morning, tom. Checking on construction along the dulles toll road, this time as you make your way westbound youll see construction scheduled to block the left lane and left center lane until 5 00 a. M. It should be wrapping up. Lets head to 395 southbound. You see a disabled tractortrailer but off to the right shoulder lane. Travel lanes on 395 are open in both directions between the 14th street bridge and the beltway. Continuing on to i95, a live look at lorton. You see northbound no issues, southbound really in between springfield and Prince William parkway, as you make your way from Prince William parkway heading to the interchange in both directions, nice and clear. Im back in ten minutes. Back to you. Thank you. It is now 4 42. 47 degrees. Still to come, dui crackdown. The machine that could lead to more drunk driving arrests. And the hollywood awards season kicks into high gear. Coming up, the movies likely to top the list of oscar nominations. Lucky charms . yer always after me lucky charms whoa. I forgot how good these taste [ lucky ] theyre magically delicious now all General Mills big g kid cereals have more whole grain than any other ingredient in cereals like lucky charms and cinnamon toast crunch, the delicious way to help them grow up strong. The ntsb will talk to the captain of a ship that hit a dog in new jersey. It was headed to Lower Manhattan when it slammed into the dock. The coast guard says all five crew members passed alcohol tests after that crash. Investigators also say weather was not a factor. A judge will likely decide tomorrow whether prosecutors have enough evidence to put the suspected gunman in the colorado Movie Theater shooting on trial. At a hearing yesterday, prosecutors showed pictures they say the suspect, james holmes, took of himself with his arsenal hours before the july shooting spree. They also claim holmes scouted out the theater and took pictures of it a month before the massacre which killed 12 people and injured 50 more. A 19yearold daycare employee is facing child abuse charge after a witness captured an incident on video. Police say Jonathan Cummings admitted to kicking a toddler. The daycare was at a home in upper marlboro. Police say it is not licensed and is now shut down. Police are looking into whether he was involved in any other abuse cases. Caught in the act. Police looking for a man caught on camera breaking into cars in churches. Look at video. This guy didnt have any trouble getting into the jeep because the doors were unlocked. The car was parked outside a home in village park plaza in chevy chase over the new years holiday. No word on what he got away with. The suspect is still at large. Police on the hunt for highend thieves, as well. Two men stormed into this jimmy chu store in chevy chase. The crooks got away with seven handbags yesterday afternoon. A similar incident happened several months ago across the street at another store. Witnesses say four men ran into the store and ran out with their arms filled with designer bags. Police say its too early to tell if the robberies are connected. A frederick, maryland, Radio Station says it is pulling a popular song from its play list because of lyrics about children running from a gun. All the other kids with the pumped kicks better run and run outrun my gun that is the line from the hit pumped up kicks by the group foster the people that has prompted many stations to pull it off the air. Now key 103 is following suit. The stations coo says the song was manually removed from the play list after the tragedy at sandy hook. A computer glitch kept it running as recently as tuesday, though. The song is being removed completely. 13 before the top of the hour now. And lawmakers in virginia have plenty to think about this morning. Governor mcdonald delivered his state of the commonwealth address last night. He outlined several changes for the upcoming year. Mcdonnell is proposing a new 3. 1 billion Transportation Plan including more money for dulles metro extension. He cited Traffic Congestion in Northern Virginia and urged the General Assembly to act before it hurts the states prosperity. Im asking you this session, please do not leave without approving a longterm transportation funding plan for virginia. We must reform and reinvest in transportation infrastructure where job growth and quality family or job growth and fault family time will suffer. He also wants to eliminate the gas tax in virginia and make up the difference by raising the sales tax. He also pushed for an Education Plan that includes teacher pay raises, new teacher jobs, and greater investment in charter schools. A new law in the district is trying to crack down on drunk drivers. Anyone convicted of driving under the influence can be ordered to use ignition lock devices even if its their first offense. The devices prevent a car from starting unless the driver proves that he or she has not been drinking. The law also increases the penalties for driving drunk when a child in the car. It will also be easier for District Police to tell if a driver has been drinking. The city unveiled new breath test machines yesterday. The machines replace faulty equipment that force d. C. To abandoned the test four years ago. Police will use them to catch drunk drivers throughout the city. I dont think theres an acceptable excuse for. It someone whos driving under the influence or driving drunk is actually like a moving missile. About 1,400 people were arrested last fall in a crackdown from halloween through the holidays. A policeinvolved crash turned out to be part of a joint operation. Police in d. C. Tell us that this park Police Cruiser was part of a robbery case in the petworth area last night. Thats when the accident with the cruiser and another car happened near 14th and upshire street. The intersection was blocked off for a while. Both streets are back open. For the fifth year in a row, marylands Public Schools have been ranked the best in the country. Education week released its Quality Counts 2013 list giving the states Public School system a bplus grade. That is the highest grade over any state in the country. The list evalts things like graduation rates, achievement gaps, support for teachers and kaelgz funding. Meantime, virginia was not far behind in fourth place with a b grade. D. C. Placed 45th with a cminus. As many as 80,000 cars use the Frederick Douglass bridge every day. Our cameras got a rare glimpse at how badly the span is deteriorating. Designs are already in the works to replace the bridge over the next five years. If you look under the current 63yearold structure, you see rust and cracks, even holes in places. Engineers say the bridge is technically safe to use, but simply repairing it wont fix the problem. When we weigh all those things to consider, like an old car, you dont keep replacing the transmission, engine, exhaust. You start to think about a new car. This new bridge which connects to south capital street which will be a few thousand feet down the anacostia would cost an estimated 660 million. Construction could start as early as next year. A lot of wear and tear. Obviously. Seems like its time. 4 51. Time for weather and traffic on the 1s. Its been warmer and has me choked up. Snow haters are happy. Snow lovers, were growing impatient. Its not feeling like january. Were off to another morning here. Temperatures above freezing the entire region. Its just a few high cloud cover now coming over the area. It has dipped into the 30s in a few spots. The dark blue areas in the mountains below the freezing mark. Areas south of washington, fredericksburg, warrenton, culpeper, that region, theyre down into the upper 30s. Right around the metro area, temperatures are in prince georges, arlington, fairfax, montgomery counties, mid 40s. Near 50 in the district of columbia. Its in the 40s southern maryland, northern neck, the eastern shore. Going forward, it does look like a few high clouds coming and going. This as of friday morning, could have rain in the mountains. All cloudy east of there. Then friday afternoon, does look like well probably get rain moving on through to friday evening, then it will clear out. Heres how things are looking for today with our temperatures. Well have our temperatures gradually climbing, not much of a warmup. Ought to hit the low 50s by perhaps 2 00, 3 00. Thats going to be it. Well have a partly cloudy sky. Thats your storm team 4 temperature graph for today. And as we get into tomorrow, another cool day with afternoon highs in just the low 50s. Morning lows above freezing. Clouds and afternoon and evening rain ending before dawn on saturday. Saturday, sun back in the afternoon, the low 60s. Soaring to near 70 for a brief, dreamy time on sunday afternoon. Its going to feel like spring a little bit on saturday and sunday. Then yes, january will start to regain its dignity as a winter month. By midweek next week, highs only in the 40s. Could get rain. Highs in the 50s on monday. Maybe some more rain off and on tuesday into tuesday night. It ought to end on wednesday morning, the latest timing on that right now. Im back in ten minutes. Danella with traffic. Good morning. Good morning. Still checking on an accident in Howard County slowing you down if youre taking 99, old frederick road. Its closed between brachton drive and rally lane. Well take a look making the commute in maryland near shady grove. Southbound and northbound. In fact, between urbana and the beltway, youre clear in both directions. No incidents to warn you about now. And as we head over to 50, checking cameras in the area. Heres a live look at 301, you see light volume in both directions. In fact, from 301 to new york avenue, nice and clear. Im back in ten. Well check the rails then. Over to you. Thank you. 4 53 now. Today is sure to be a dark day for redskins fans at d. C. s city hall. A friendly wager will be settled between mayor gray and seattles mayor. The two worked out a deal before the game that whichever team lost would have to raise the other towns flag in front of city hall. Because the burgundy and gold left to seattle last sunday, the seattle city flag trial in along pennsylvania avenue all day today. It will come down at dusk. Its all right. You sound devastated by that. Its its the whole sequence of events after the game and rg3. You hope theres no wind at all. Keep the flag nigce and tight t the pole. Thats right. Coming up, how d. C. Plans to pay tribute to the godfather governorgo, chuck brown. Then how a move could lead government officials to release classified information about the raid on yoebl. Oh progressoh oh oh oh oh what do you know . Oh bacon . Oh oh oh [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying progressoh share your story for a chance to win a progressoh makeover in hollywood. Go to facebook. Com progresso to enter. Today well see how the district will honor the late godfather of gogo. Mayor gray will finalize legislation to build a chuck brown memorial. Will be built in langdon park in northeast washington. Chuck brown died last may. He was 75 years old. Today is the day well find out which actors and films will receive nominations for the 85th annual academy awards. I am president of the United States clothed in immense power. Topping the list of contenders is the latest film directed by steven spielberg, lincoln. Amour argo beasts of the southern wild the best Exotic Marigold Hotel django unchained Les Miserables are also nominations. The red carpet special will begin at 7 00. The ceremony begins at 8 00 followed by news4 at 11 00. Some hijinx make their way to your family room with the sitcom 1600 penn. Bill pullman stars as the president that juggles his quirky family while trying to run the free world. Yesterday i met up with mr. Pullman that pointed out we have something in common. You actually are gilchrest. My gosh. Did you ever think that that name was the president ial name . Reporter you know, it maybe crossed my mind once or twice. But if theres a storyline for president gilchrest to wake up watching the morning news and think maybe hes got a long, lost brother, that might not be a bad idea. I think so. I think it would be a great storyline. Reporter i see the show going on for many years to come. You can see the premiere of 1600 penn at 8 30 followed by a second episode at its regular time, 9 30 incredibly nice guy. Thats a great story idea. Come on. I agree. I agree. You and i both end up in there, then. Whole team. Well take the show on the road. That would be fun. Stay with us, we continue right now at 5 00 a. M. Arps open wide, the guncontrol debate goes head to head. And how classified information could go public about the raid on osama bin laden. Good morning, im aaron gilchrest. Im eun yang. Welcome to news4 today for this thursday, january 10, 2014. Were off to a cold start. Can we expect more throughout the