Sleet snow problem late friday night into early saturday. Look at the weekend coming up in ten minutes. Temperatures are mostly in the 30s this morning and as youre planning out the rest of your day, plan on a lot of clouds today and maybe a chance for a sprinkle or two later on this afternoon. Melissa has a lot going on in traffic this morning. Chopper 4 just got over the scene. This looks like a pedestrian that was hit. This is green belt road at kenil worth avenue. You can see a partial closure here of some of those lanes. And before pennsylvania avenue with that left lane blocked as well. Beltway looks okay. 16th street closed between l and k this morning. L closed between 17th and 16th. That is a fire at the capital hilton this morning. Do have two lanes blocked on 66. Not causing a major backup but we are seeing some slowdowns. More on this breaking news coming up in just a minute. We are following breaking news right now out of a fire broke out inside the Capital Hilton Hotel. This is on 16th street. Justin finch is joining us live with the latest. Good morning. Reporter hey, there. Good morning. Were right around the corner of k and 16th streets. Things are normalizing at this hour. Fire crews packing up, investigating inside and guests are also back inside their rooms after quite the scare this morning. I want to take you now to some video from some moments ago. Youre looking at fire crews fanned out across the capital hilt hilton. Guests having to leave their rooms after reports of a fire breaking out in the laundry room in the basement at about 4 37 this morning. That fire broke out somehow in a laundry receptacle, perhaps a laundry bin. At that point the sprinklers above were triggered and contained that fire right where it broke out. Now, back out live here, we do know theres minimal damage in that basement fire did break out. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. There are no injuries to report. And guests at this hour are back inside their rooms. Traffic here on 16th street is opening up to cars. Back in to you. Thank you for the update. Were also covering Northern Virginia right now. We know that route 7 is back open this morning, this after a deadly crash there. Take a look. This is the view from chopper 4. It was over the scene yesterday as fire crews finished their work. The Sheriffs Office tells us that one person was killed. This is the look from the ground. This is a different vantage point. Deputies had to shut down all lanes on route 7 near yellow schoolhouse road because of this crash. And a driver being charged with drunk driving after hitting Fairfax County police chief. He was treated and released from the hospital with minor injuries. Police say he was rear ended while he was stopped at stone road. This is out in centerville, before 9 00 p. M. The federal government is now taking culpepper county to court. The Justice Department says the county acted illegally when it blocked the construction of a mosque. Specifically, the county denied a sewage permit application to the Islamic Center of culpepper. It prevented them from building a small mosque on land it had already purchased. The county considered dozens of similar permits and never denied any of them. Breaking news here in the news room, we just got word in that president elect donald trump is in fact, tapping exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson to be the next secretary of state. Sources told nbc news this was going to happen. Donald trump making that official. The press release just moments ago. We know that tillerson has never worked in government. Hes been with exxon his entire ceo since 2006. He has close ties with russian president Vladimir Putin, a point of contention among some. Tillerson has to be confirmed by the senate. Pictures here of him with Vladimir Putin. So he faces those confirmation hearings. But it is official that president elect donald trump is tapping exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson to be reck setesecret state. Back to you. Thank you. A major announcement about Donald Trumps cabinet that kristen just mentioned and well have more about that and other cabinet picks. And we know that president elect donald trump headed to wisconsin tonight. That is the next stop. Hes continuing his thank you tour. Vice president elect mike pence also joining him at a rally in wisconsin. Texas governor rick perry has been tapped to be Trumps Energy secretary. When perry first ran for president in 2012 he couldnt remember the name of the Energy Department as one of the agencies he said he would eliminate. That was during a debate. That moment became known as his oops moment. Heres a look at our top stories right now. More than 500 people were on a flight that had to be diverted to jfk due to a bomb threat. The flight had departed from houston and was headed to germany. This is twitter video sent from a passenger. Nothing suspicious was found. D. C. Officials are expected to be on board metros plan to close early every day of the week despite initially being against it. Maryland and virginia Board Members have already agreed to the proposal. More than a foot of snow is covering six mid western states right now. It is already impacting tens of millions of americans, and temperatures are expected to fall even more. Well, many of you are furnaces and while you do that there is a family who does want you to hear about their warning. This is about a silent danger. Charles matthews says that sunday morning his family, they turned up the furnace and he says suddenly they all became nauseous, groggy, his daughter even fainted. It turns out their furnace broke and it leaked Carbon Monoxide which is an odorless, colorless gas. Were incredibly lucky. They detected it before they even came in the house. Thats how strong it was. The family spent nine hours at a hospital. After released they immediately went to a Hardware Store and bought these. These are corarbon monoxide detectors. Firefighters say you should have one of these on every floor of your house. There is a search for this missing Montgomery County man. Carl tubbs jr. Police say he lives home. They say he suffers from schizophrenia and dementia and was last seen leaving for an appointment yesterday morning. Call police if you know where he is. And were also posting his picture to our nbc washington facebook page. New this morning Prince Georges County police are trying to track down several people who could be connected to a home invasion. Thats right. Its a story weve been following all night. They say as many as five suspects made it inside of a house on franklin avenue last night. Then they say they ran away. Were working to learn if those suspects were able to get away with anything. We do know some good news that nobody was hurt. Prince georges countys Liquor License tried to use his job to get out of charges. The report says he told police he only had one drink at mgm national harbors grand opening before being involved in a minor traffic accident. Officers say that caldwell asked if there was a way to the 72yearold lost his balance three times during a field sobriety test. He also told officers he had no memory of the crash. 6 08 right now. Bill cosbys case, the Sexual Assault trial for the comedian takes a new turn. Why it may come down to a fight over who can testify. Two crime scenes just miles apart. Police search for clues and a killer good morning, everyone. President elect donald trump sent out his pick for secretary of state. Rex tillerson despite concerns over his ties to Vladimir Putin. Peter, there had been a not so short list. How did Rex Tillerson rise to the top . Reporter this was the biggest prize in Donald Trumps cabinet and that statement put out just moments ago describes Rex Tillerson as among the most influent Business Leaders in the world and deal makers and obviously for the man who wrote the deal, donald trump that was one of the most impressive things about tillerson. While he has no government or diplomatic experience he does have years of experience building relationships with world leaders, a point that donald trump has noted on multiple occasions. That includes the leaders of countries like saudi arabia and yemen and with Vladimir Putin in russia. Thats why some members in congress think this could be a contentious confirmation battle going forward. Marco rubio saying anyone thats a friend of vladimir is not what im looking for in a secretary of state. However, there have been some influential republicans voicing their support for Rex Tillerson in recent days to donald trump. They include former cabinet members like bob gates, the as well as the other individual, james baker, a man that has met privately with donald trump as well. Another one of those finalists for secretary of state was the 2012 republican nominee, mitt romney. My sources familiar with the conversation last night say that trump and romney spoke, that romney was appreciative of the opportunity to be considered. Romney putting out a statement after ward calling it an honor to be on that list. Stand by. Andrea mitchell, peter just mentioned, heres a guy that comes to this job if confirmed with no Foreign Policy experience, but he will also be, if confirmed the first secretary of state in u. S. History with no Public Sector experience after the Election Year weve just come through with the feelings of Trump Supporters across the country, is this a very trump like choice . Reporter this is a trump choice because hes a deal maker, a business executive. They view that as a plus. Whether or not that holds when he goes before the senate for confirmation hearings remains to be seen. There have been as peter was just saying some some criticism from republicans and they cant lose too many republicans to get him through committee and on to the floor and get him confirmed but they believe he has such strong executive experience that this is all going to be a plus. They do have praise for him from several people. Im told that in fact, jim baker despite what Trump Officials have been saying never met with donald trump but does praise Rex Tillerson because he knows him very well from texas. Rice and gates did meet with donald trump and so they are hoping that that validates Rex Tillerson, but this also comes as trump in a statement says that hes hoping tillerson can reverse decades of misguided u. S. Foreign policy, a real all right. Thanks to you. Again, donald trump has chosen Rex Tillerson, the chairman and ceo of exxonmobil to be his choice for secretary of state. Much more on this story ahead. This has been an nbc news special report. Youve been watching nbc news special report on donald trump confirming that he has named exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. This was considered the grand prize in his cab thet appointment. One that was highly anticipated. He had several candidates. It took several weeks for him to come to this decision and he took the risk of a very, very intense confirmation process, which is probably going to follow both democrats and republicans saying that there is going to be intense scrutiny and also its going to shine a light on exxonmobils dealings with moscow in the past, so this perhaps is only the beginning. Lets check in with chuck bell to get to the forecast. Expecting some really cold weather heading our way. Sure are. We have today and tomorrow to get ready. We have thursday and friday to bundle up and hunker down. For today though, temperatures are mostly in the mid to upper 30s right now. So if youre going to go outside and do your morning jog, know its going to be very cold. Tlouds thicken up during the day today. Couldnt rule out a sprinkle or two later this evening with temperatures in the upper 30s to near 40. Some of those might be flurries out toward the valley. Not expecting a big impact. But for the next couple of days dangerous cold comes our way thursday and friday with temperatures down below zero at times. The early lean on the weekend, not much in the way of sunshine. A whole lot of rain chances for much of the weekend but cold enough at the beginning we may have a sleet snow rain mix to get things started on saturday morning. The whole fiveday forecast coming up in a couple of minutes. A brand new problem that just popped up. Overturned car on fisher avenue. So sending chopper right now to check out this overturned vehicle this morning. Westbound green belt road. That is where chopper just left. That was a pedestrian that was struck. 295 southbound still has two different problems. East capital crash in the laeft lane and before pennsylvania avenue left lane is blocked there as well. 270 south and the top of the beltway looking typical right now as we look at travel times in virginia. 66 that is okay. Remember to listen to 103. 5 fm when you hop in your car today. This morning d. C. Police are trying to figure out whether a car jacking and a deadly shooting are connected. The crimes happened less than two miles away from each other. Someone stole a womans car near Chevy Chase Circle and two hours later someone shot and killed a man on 32nd str i thats only a block from where he lives. His mother spoke just hours after learning of his death. He was just a good person. You say climb up on the roof, theres a bug. He would do it. Im his mom. Hes the best son ever. Investigators say it appeared the shooting happened from inside the car. No word yet on a motive or the suspects. Today bill cosby is expected back in court for a key hearing before his Sexual Assault trial. His attorneys are trying to prevent 13 of his accusers from taking the stand. Prosecutors are hoping the testimony will show a pattern of behavior from the comedian despite allegations from dozens of women, cosby is only charged in one case. The trial is set to begin in the spring. President elect donald trump is taking to twitter to bash defense contractors. Trump tweeted that lockheed martins firefighter jet Program Control and that billions of dollars can and will be saved on military purchases after his inauguration. Many investors are worried the Incoming Administration is planning broader federal spending cuts which could threaten u. S. Factory jobs. Future First Lady Melania Trump appeared in a Montgomery County court yesterday. The Court Session was just a scheduling conference. The defamation suit was filed in september after blogger published an unsubstantiated rumor that mrs. Trump worked as an escort. The stories were retracted. There is growing frustration this morning for people who want to protest Donald Trumps inauguration. The National Park service has not approved permits for organized events. Its reserved the natiol mall until it decides what it will use. It is violating the first amendment. People have the right to speak out. This is the nations capital. It is following guidelines set up in 2008 to reserve public land. Trumps Inauguration Committee said it is making its decision on space as fast as it can. Organizers say they will continue to work to find routes for their cause. Chuck bell standing by with more on what we can expect. A lot of cold. And a lot of clouds today. Right . You bech ct ya. Maybe a sprinkle or flurry into the Late Afternoon hours. Knot nothing terribly impactful but a big blast of way colder air is coming in. Temperatures dropping to 20 to 30 degrees colder than weve been. Windchills down near zero. Thursday, friday, perhaps on into the weekend as well. So have your nbc washington app downloaded. Follow me on twitter. You can be a friend follower on facebook as well. Ill do all i can to help keep you ahead of the blast of cold. Theres your fiveday forecast. 40s today with a lot of clouds around. Thursday and friday into the deep freeze we go. All right. Thank you. A grinch caught on camera. Christmas lights are stolen. One homeowner is offering up a little incentive to take christmas. A gunman walked into the pizza place. And aac and m at t. J. Maxx, marshalls and homegoods, weve always believed the holidays should be about joy. Where days are filled with magic, not madness. Its why we have amazing prices on thoughtful gifts, everyday. Lets bring back the holidays. All right. Come on. We all need a dose of cuteness at this hour of the morning. Take a look at these adorable panda cubs. And theyve been named. Show mom some respect. The names mean happy daughters. Theyre expected to make their debut later this month. You cant get enough panda video. These are like the only animals that as they get better they get cuter. All the rest of us, its like ugh. Kept for you. Those baby cheeks and theyre quickly becoming more rare. Theres actually a new study out this morning that examined millions of kids involved in a government food program. They found the number of children at risk for obesity later in life is going down. 15 were at risk in 2010. That number dropping to 12 2014. Not all chubby babies end up being chubby adults. Before you pack those lunches tree house foods has issued a recall on certain macaroni and cheese cup products. Three brands may be contaminated with salmonella. These brands include big win origin original, cheese club express and great value. You can check the best by dates included in this recall. Slashing metro hours. You may be doing an about face to support the change. And he may be the next reck e secretary of state but who is Rex Tillerson . And get ready for another big change in the weather. Chuck bell returns with the 4 things t know about youor he wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. With his army shirt looking all nice. Thank you for serving our country and im like, thats my dad. Male vo no one deserves a warmer welcome home. Thats why were hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. Im very proud of him. Male vo comcast. Metro hours, new support for the change that could cut your commute short. Pizza shop gunman. His family says one walked into that restaurant. Rex tillerson just nominated. The exxonmobils ce could be the next secretary of state but were digging into his past before he heads to washington. Good morning, everyone. Its 6 30. A bitter cold blast at your doorstep. Chuck bell has the 4 things to know. Maybe we dont want to know so much. Keep it to yourself. You may want to hear them but you need to know about them. How about that . Four things to know for today. Lots and lots of clouds coming our way this afternoon. Could ring out a sprinkle or two. Not expecting anything heavy many the Rainfall Department but a few sprurnginkles later. Thursday and friday will be many the deep freeze. The cold air will get scoured out over the weekend but not before we have a chance for wintry weather thursday and maybe some flurries out many t in the valley. Now it is time for melissa who has got problems. Overturned vehicle near 109. Chopper 4 on the way right now. 270 south before 370, do have a new crash here and this one is on the shoulder but you can see we are slowing things quite a bit and you can see that Police Response there in the distance as well. Outer loop at New Hampshire avenue, a crash many the right lane this morning. We westbound green belt road. More on this problem and live pictures coming up. Thank you, melissa. Right now guests are back inside their rooms after this happened at the capital hilton. A fire broke out no one was hurt. Today is a key hearing ahead of bill cosbys Sexual Assault trial. His attorneys are trying to prevent 13 of his accusers from taking the stand. Prosecutors want their testimony to show the comedian had a pattern of inappropriate behavior. Former Texas Governor rick perry is expected to be named Trumps Energy secretary. During his first run for president in 2012 he could not remember the name of the Energy Department as one of the agencies he would get rid of. And were following breaking news right now from president elect donald trump. In the last 30 minutes he for l formally nominated exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. He called him one of the most accomplished Business Leaders and deal makers in the world. Now people are asking who is Rex Tillerson. He is 64 years old and he received a Civil Engineering texas. Tillerson has spent his entire career at exxon. He was fired as an engineer in 1975 and rose through the ranks to become ceo in 2006. He is a long time republican supporter according to the wall street journal he supported jeb bush during the primaries and did not donate to the trump campaign. But here is where there is some issues, some controversy. He could face some trouble getting confirmed because of his ties to russia. He signed an agreement with russia that is worth up to 300 billion. It allows exxonmobil to drill in the offshore arctic oilfield but the agreement has not taken effect due to u. S. Sanctions against russia. Vladimir putin awarded tillerson the order of friendship in 2013. More Congressional Republicans now announcing their support of an investigation into the cias North Carolina senator is leading a bipartisan inquiry. Senator john mccain is expected to share a related probe. Ten members of the Electoral College are also demanding an intelligence briefing before next mondays vote. A hearing is set for today in the case involving edgar welch. He is the man charged with firing an Assault Rifle inside comet pingpong last week. He faces charges including assault with a dangerous weapon. Well, metro continuing its investigation into a really scary incident that happened on the rails yesterday. Officials want to know why two rail cars separated from a red line train during the morning commute outside of the twinburg station. Were live this morning at that station. This comes just as metro announced plans to reduce hours. Reporter it sure does and like you said, that impacted service here on the red line yesterday has learned that this was not the first time Something Like this has happened. Metro officials still scrambling to try to figure out why this continues to happen. Now, the two cars separated on an eightcar train. 40 passengers were on board. Some of them had to literally walk up the tracks to get back to the station. A similar incident happened back in january. Metro is set to vote just this week to slash late night hours to allow for more time for maintenance on the system. D. C. Officials had initially held back on this, but now they appear ready to sign off on slashing those hours. Yesterday i spoke to Montgomery CountyCouncil President and he addressed the incident yesterday morning. In my opinion we are going to see a story like that every week. Okay . It is true that this system is struggling. To me the question is, whats do you wash your hands and say oh, sorry, its struggling. I guess we wont give you any more money. Reporter that metro board vote is expected on thursday. Back to you. All right. Thank you. Honoring a mother of four. How a Northern Virginia community is coming together to support a family tragedy this holiday. A Carbon Monoxide poisoning scare plus a warning about an arctic blast. The four things to know to keep your family safe and warm. Reporter the investigation is now underway after a fire breaks out in the capital hilton. At we know coming up. Wh no matter how the markets change. Hilton. At we know coming up. Wh at t. Rowe price. Our disciplined approach remains. Global markets may be uncertain. But you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. May not always be clear. But at t. Rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. So wherever your Retirement Journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. Call us or your advisor t. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Good morning. It is now 6 40 on your tuesday morning. Im storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. 40 degrees downtown and by the out to the bus stop, it will be cold. A little bit of filtered sunshine early this morning but clouds will thicken up during the course of the day. Afternoon temperatures will get up into the mid and upper 40s so youll need your warm jacket and your scarf. May want to have a small umbrella as well. A chance of a few sprinkles later on this afternoon and early this evening. Daily grade today is officially below average. Tenday forecast which includes a couple of days in the deep freeze. Thats coming up. Chopper 4 over this problem here. Overturned vehicle here. This is fisher avenue and white sper sheary ro sperry road. 270 southbound before 370 starting to see some real slowdowns because of that crash on the shoulder. Taking a look at the travel times it is going to take you a while to get from germantown down to the spur on 270. Top of the beltway looking typically slow. If you have questions in your mind about the roads listen to 103. 5 fm. Trump and tillerson, the big secretary of state announcement just 30 minutes ago. Lawmakers already preparing for a fight. Opening night at mgm ends with a dui arrest. What a county official had to say to police that got him in trouble. Hotel fire. People controversial choice. Secretary of state announcement and reports of russian influence. I think this is getting blown way out of proportion. Rally for rose. A Community Mourns the loss of a beloved restaurant and mother of four. Silent killer as the temperatures drop, four things to know about keeping your family safe and warm. And dying wish, a fiveyearolds final words with santa. Whats this i hear youre going to be missing christmas this year . Your time is 6 45 and were following breaking news out of northwest washington right now. A fire broke out inside the Capital Hilton Hotel on 16th street. Justin finch is joining us live with the st reporter good morning. At this hour the fire is now under investigation. There are no injuries to report as you can see business appears to be back to normal at the capital hilton from the outside here. Lets take you now to some video from earlier as the response to this fire was at its height. D. C. Fire spreading out here across 16th street going inside to see just how this fire broke out. We do know that it did break out close to 4 37 this morning in the basement in a laundry room. We are told that fire appears to have started in a receptacle, perhaps a basket or Something Like that. The sprinklers did go off and contained that fire to that room. However, guests were still evacuated as a precaution. Back out live here, we can tell you that guests made their way outside the hotel, went across the street until they were called back in. The fire under investigation. No injuries to report this morning. Back in to you. Nk road is back open after a deadly crash. Take a look at your screen here. This happened on walker mill and addison road south overnight. You can see where that driver of that mini van crashed into the light pole near the gas station. Were working to learn how many people were hurt and what caused the accident. An alexandria neighborhood is holding a huge fund raiser to help a mom who died crossing the street last week. Multiple restaurants will offer special menu items tonight from 5 00 to 9 00. All of the proceeds will be donated to the family of rose cruz who was an employee at market to market. Cruz was killed by a driver whom police say failed to yield. She leaves behind four children. Prince georges county Liquor LicenseCommission Chairman apparently tried to use his job to get out of a drunk driving charge. That is according to a Police Report detailing his arrest. It says that he told police h national harbors grand opening before being involved in a minor traffic accident. Officers say that caldwell asked if there was a way to quote, make this go away. He lost his balance three times during a field sobriety test. He also told officers he had no memory of what happened in the crash. Donald trump just tweeting weve been monitoring right now. He wrote , i have chosen one of the truly great Business Leaders of the world. Earlier this hour he officially nominated exxonmobil Ceo Rex Tillerson for that job. Some lawmakers including john mccain and marco rubio had voiced concerns especially with his relationship with Vladimir Putin. Its not as if theyre intimate friends. Not as if theyre god parents to each others children. I think this is getting blown way out of proporon confirmed by the senate. Other picks in president elect Donald Trumps cabinet includes former Texas Governor rick perry. He is expected to be named energy secretary. Yesterday gary cohn was appointed as the National Economic council. You can catch more on trumps pick for secretary of state in just a few minutes on the today show. This guy is a real live grinch. Take a look at this Surveillance Video out of iowa. It shows a man out on someones front lawn. See what hes taking . Hes taking the christmas lights. He uses a getaway car. The homeowner is offering 100 reward to put this man behind bars. This is a heart breaking reminder about appreciating your loved ones this holiday season. Santa granted a dying tennessee childs last wish. A terminally ill boy was dying his one wish was to not miss christmas. Santa received a call from a nurse and rushed right over. Santa gave the boy a toy and held the child as he took his last breath. You just tell them youre santas number one elf. Im sure theyll let you right in. He goes, they will . I said, i know it. Just anything. He gave me a big hug. I had a hold of him and he says, santa, can you help me . Santa says it was the hardest visit he ever had but he was happy to bring that little boy some christmas magic even if only for a moment. He said that the boy was more concerned about missing christmas than dying. And hes only five so he probably didnt even understand what was going on. But santa said that it is giving him inspiration to continue to visit children even though it hurts. He says hell do it again. Thats how you know it was the real santa. That was the real santa. We are getting cold weather coming our way. The cold forecast, tomorrow just kind of a regular december. Bundle up kind of a day, but wednesday night into thursday, the winds will really pick up and the temperatures will tumble. So thursday will be dangerously cold outside, and thursday night into friday morning, windchills could easily drop below zero. That would be life threatening amounts of cold, so really start planning now. How are you going to layer up and bundle up . Protect your pets, your pipes and your plants and also dont forget to protect the people. Outside, stay ahead of the weather by following us on our nbc washington app. Find us on twitter and facebook. Meanwhile were looking for a cloudy day today. Clouds continue to thicken across parts of the ohio valley. Notice the snow hours across parts of cincinnati. It may be a flurry or two here early this morning in the southern valley. The air surface is relatively dry so a lot of this is drying up before it gets to the ground. Here you can see by 5 00, 6 00, 7 00, 8 00 this evening there might be some rain showers or sprinkles out there mainly north and west of town. It could be cold enough for those to be flurries out west of the blue ridge. Right now its typically chilly. Mostly in the 30s this morning. Daytime highs today mid to upper 40s under thickening clouds. Your chance of getting rained on today, less than 40 . For tomorrow the last day to get things done before the cold settles in. Low to mid40s around here. Weather alert for thursday and friday for the dangerous cold thats moving in. We may have to be weather alert on saturday as well. The sleet snow rain mix will become all rain by saturday afternoon and sunday. Good morning. Low of 15. Makes me cold already. Chopper 4 this morning over 270 southbound as youre approaching 370. We sent them over there from that situation. You can see a little bit of delay as youre headed southbound because of that problem on the left shoulder. This was the problem where chopper was just a couple fisher avenue at 109 had that overturned vehicle and they are alternating traffic through the area. Westbound green belt road, the right lane getting by. A pedestrian was hit. Southbound before east capital, crash in the left lane. All these problems here near the capital hilton with that fire. Those are clearing out of the way as far as the road closures. Quite slow here from an earlier accident on the right side of the roadway. All right. To the rails. Some big changes for metro. It will likely change how you get home especially late at night. This comes as metro tries to figure out how two rail cars separated on the red line. Darcy spencer is live at the station with details. Good morning. Reporter well, good morning. Yesterdays incident wreaked havoc here on the red line for some commuters. Again, that happening yesterday morning. Heres hoping for a smoother commute. Metro still trying to why exactly that happened yesterday. About 40 passengers were on board when these two cars separated. Some passengers had to walk back to the metro station and a similar incident happened back in january. The board expected to vote this week on slashing late night rail hours. D. C. Officials now appear ready to vote in favor of that. That vote happens on thursday. Back to you. Thank you. Well, we dont have to tell you, it is getting cold outside. Youve got to listen to chuck bell and its officially not even winter yet. Thats right, but now is the time to make sure that your house is ready. News 4 consumer reporter susan hogan has four things to know about staying warm and safe this winter. Well, winter storms and cold weather can really wreak havoc and also be pretty hazardous to your home but if you plan ahead you can keep your home safe and warm all winter long. First thing you really need to do is winterize your home. Insulation not only keeps the draft out but it keeps your heating bill from hitting the roof. Check your heating system now. Dont wait. Have it serviced by a professional to make sure its clean and also working properly and ventilated to the outside. Get a certified Chimney Sweep to inspect your fireplace and chimney. Remember also to dispose of your embers safely. Youve got to put them in a metal container outside away from your home. Losing power can be disastrous for a number of reasons as you can imagine. If you have a generator, remember to use it properly to avoid Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Never use a generator inside your garage or home. Make sure you get a generator that is rated for the amount of power that you actually need and frozen pipes are another big problem that can really wreak havoc in your home. We did a whole story about how frozen pipes, how you can right now on our nbc washington app. Just search frozen pipes. We are following breaking news right now. President elect donald trump has formally nominated Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. In his statement trump calls tillerson one of the most accomplished Business Leaders and deal makers in the world. A fire broke out inside a laundry room in the basement of the Capital Hilton Hotel this morning. Nobody was hurt, but guests were asked to evacuate the hotel for about an hour. The cause is still under investigation. Bill cosby returns to court today for a key hearing in his Sexual Assault trial. His attorneys will try to block 13 of his accusers from taking the stand against him. It has been a run to the deep freeze. Temperatures have dropped 10 to 30 degrees below normal. And its only expected to get colder through the week. If you have any flights, check them before you head out. Absolutely right. Not looking for anything more than just aho couldnt rule out a few sprinkles later this afternoon. Not any heavy rain expected. Tomorrow is quiet but the cold air races in thursday morning staying below freezing most thursday and friday. Chopper 4 looking at that volume headed southbound on 270. Earlier a crash there near 370. Off to the side of the road but still seeing some real delays. We want to say thank you for joining us early on this cold tuesday morning. The today is next. Well see you in 25 minutes. Ve a great day. Ha good morning. En breaking news. Its rex. Good morning. Breaking news. Its rex. Moments ago, the president elect nominating rex tiller son for secretary of state. The exxonmobil ceo with no government or diplomatic experience and controversial e ties to russia set to face a tough confirmation. Polar prnlunge brutal temperatures across the midwest. Minus 3 in mississippi, and threequarters of the country could be blanlgt by a deep freeze. Air scare, forced to make an Emergency Landing at