Transcripts For WRC News4 At 5 20171211

Were all very friendly people. We interact with any of our neighbors. Were close to everybody. Were outgoing. We talk to our neighbors, like, you know, every day. Reporter so, who is youll a . According to officials he came to United States from bangladesh in february 2011. Hes a permanent resident with a green card and at some point he had a taxi drivers license that expired in 2015. Back here in our area, a former Metro Transit Police officer is set to go on trial for terror charges. Jury selection for the case against Nicolas Young got underway at federal court in alexandria this afternoon. Prosecutors say he tried to provide Financial Support to isis in the form of gift cards. Officers arrested young last year after he apparently gave those cards to an fbi source. Court documents show investigators had him under surveillance for about six years. Youngs lawyers are calling this Montgomery County community. A 17yearold boy discovered dead in the woods, and this evening new information about navid sepehri and what he may have been doing in the hours right before officers found his body. News4s pat collins joins us now live in bethesda with the latest details coming in. Pat . Reporter jim, the balloons, the flowers, the candles, the memorial at the place where it happened. Friday is going to be designated whitman strong day at his high school. Students will have a chance to write a chance on a whit man strong paper chain as they work through this grief and sorrow. But its not going to be easy. The sudden death of navid sepehri has brought a great sense of sorrow to the people here. Its disastrous for people who know about it and think about their own families and children. Reporter how fragile life can be . Yes, and how much small events can then wind up being the end of your life. Reporter navid sepehri, 17 years old, a senior at walt whit man high school, found dead yesterday evening in the woods near the bannick burn swim club. At the place where it happened, his friends and classmates created a memorial today. His name spelled out in candles, flowers along the fence line. Its been devastating to everyone, even people who dont know the student. Its devastating to the whole community. Reporter navid last seen alive saturday night. They say he was at a party on elgin lane. Police called there to break it up. This is how it played out on the police radio. The caller is anonymous. Said there is an under age Drinking Party at this loud, there is a bonfire in the backyard. Theres also people inside and out on the front lawn. Its a large group and says it is under age. Any units coming into elgin, call if you see any vehicles, stop them, they may possibly be drunk. Reporter navid was one of the teens who left on foot. Some of his friends concerned about his safety offered to call him an uber, but he reportedly said, no, i got this. He was last seen about 11 00 p. M. Saturday night. He wasnt reported missing to the police until afternoon on sunday. He was found dead in the woods as the sun was setting. And now police say they found no evidence of foul play here. They are waiting for the medical examiner to determine the exact cause of death. Wendy, back to you. Pat collins. It was cold out there on saturday night, and turning to our forecast, we have some more cold nights heading our way. Lets get the latest from doug. Yeah, a chilly one out there right now, but not all that bad. Average high temperatures in the mid to upper 40s. That is about where we were today. Temperatures cooling quickly once the sun has gone down. 41 at the airport, 35 in richmond, 45 in hagerstown. Everybody in the upper 20s to around the freezing mark in the city. The big story right now is going to be the temperatures tomorrow. Ahead of the storm system, you can see the storm. Look at the spin in the atmosphere. Not a strong storm from a snow perspective, but extremely cold air behind this. And this is going to be a strong storm once it reaches our area and, boy, is it going to change things big time. Turning much colder tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow early not bad. Tomorrow afternoon, a lot different. Wind chills in the teens and it could be there by this time tomorrow night. Of course we are tracking more snow chances, too. A couple of which could have an impact on your forecast a couple days there, too. See you back here in 15 minutes. You have our attention, doug. Thank you. New concerns tonight over hate and racial bias on a local campus. This semester alone, there have been more than two dozen incidents at the ufrniversity o maryland. Prince georges county bureau chief Tracee Wilkins talks to students about what is working and whats not. Reporter yeah, you can see here this sign saying that the bus stop where lieutenant Richard Collins was killed as a memorial is one of things thats changed here. Another thing thats changed, for the first time the university of maryland is keeping track of racial bias incidents reported to the university and heres what they are finding. 27 incidents of racial bias and discrimination investigated this semester alone on the campus of the university of maryland. According to a new report, the university is releasing next week. I didnt know it was that high. Kind of upsetting. Reporter this all comes after the may murder of Second Lieutenant Richard Collins, an africanamerican student from Bowie State University stabbed and killed while visiting the university of maryland by a white umd student. The case is being tried as a hate crime. Umd spokesman said the university is proactively dealing with race and racial bias. I dont know if you can say proactive because Something Like this did happen. Reporter the bus stop where collins was killed is still a memorial. One sign is adding this is no longer a bus stop but a murder scene. The discussions have moved into the classroom. We discuss this issue in class pretty heavily. Two class periods, we talk about a lot of awareness. Reporter students say more work needs to be done. Probably the best thing to do is have those interactive and difficult discussions and have members of the Community Involved as well. Try to keep a positive mindset. Real i love this school and hope things will change. Reporter the university has developed a new office to deal with these issues and a l im Tracee Wilkins. Back to you all in the studio. They shared their stories in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, but with the momentum of the me too movement, three women who accused then candidate donald trump of inappropriate physical contact have decided to make their stories public yet again. This time they are hoping congress will take action. Leon harris in our newsroom with a closer look at this. Leon . Well, wendy, the women are part of a new documentary that features interviews from 16 women who have accused President Trump of Sexual Harassment and assault. They say after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, they noticed a wave of accountability sweeping across different businesses, but they say the one person not facing any kind of back lar is President Trump. And now they Want Congress to open an ethics investigation. None of us want this attention. None of us are comfortable with it, but it is this is important. So, when asked, we speak they were willing to investigate senator franken. I think its only fair that they do the same for trump. Im more concerned about as a culture in our country what is acceptable behavior. And if the standard that our president is setting, its not high enough right now. As you might expect, White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders faced multiple questions about this issue today. And sanders repeatedly said that this issue had been settled in last years election. The president has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations. And this took place long before he was elected to be president. And the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump. Now, you have been weighing in on the survey on this issue on our nbc washington Facebook Page all afternoon, and we want to know what you think. Congress, should they launch an investigation . Well, so far what we are hearing out there say yes, they should. Wendy, jim, back to you. Leon harris. Thanks, leon. Tomorrow well see firsthand the potential impact of the me too movement in a pivotal special election down in alabama. President trump once again throwing his support behind embattled candidate roy moore. With robocalls. Former president obama is doing the same for democrat doug jones. Recent polls have been extremely tight. If moore wins, he could face an ethics investigation right off the bat in these accusations by at least nine women, including alleged child molestation. If jones wins, Democrats Gain the senate seat and potentially have a chance at the majority in 2018. Meantime, this is going to be a marathon couple of weeks up on the hill as republicans hope to get their first major legislative win with the house and the senate trying to reconcile that tax plan. And then next friday is the deadline for a plan to fund the government, among the funding issues, Hurricane Relief for texas, florida, puerto rico. And the Childrens Health Insurance Program that provides lowcost care to more than 8 million kids. They were the new family on the block, and then a fire destroyed their house. Ahead, how neighbors rallied to turn what could have been a tragic situation into something positive. Plus, a health condaleeza rice crisis affecting the youngest generations of americans. Why some are not receiving the help they need. Hes just 18, works at chipotle and he could become operas next big star. The young man with big dreams is hoping to strike a in a matter of weeks, transgender people will be able to enlist in the military again. The opponent gonna announced its decision today. This runs directly counter to an order from the president. Youll remember President Trump banning the service of transgender people in july. Well, already two federal courts have ruled against that ban. The pentagon says the enlistment of transgender recruits will start january 1st. Why do they take innocent people and find a way to make you its not if you saw this video on social media over the weekend, it probably moved you, too. Thats keaton jones visibly upset while describing to his mom how the kids at his knoxville, tennessee middle school, tease and bully him all the time. He says other students call him ugly, make fun of his nose and tell him he has no friends. Well, hes got a lot of friends now. After his mother posted that video, all kinds of people expressed support for keaton, including Tennessee Titans delanie walker, singer kelsey balerini and retired race car driver dale earnhardt, jr. There is an acute Health Crisis growing among American Children. Experts say it has critical implications for our countrys future. The centers for Disease Control reports that one in five American Children between the ages of 3 to 15 million children have a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral disorder in any given year. But only 20 of these kids are ever diagnosed. Ever receive the treatment they need. Over the next few months, nbc nightly news will look deeper into this issue, and their Senior Investigative correspondent Cynthia Mcfadden joins us live to tell us about this. Why so many now . Why so vulnerable about this generation . Reporter you know, experts we talk to say they are not sure there are so many more than there ever were, its just that its coming into the light. Mental illness has carried such a stigma, so much shame that people didnt want to talk about it, people didnt want to look at it. But it is the ability to analyze whats going on in kids brains is Getting Better it is coming into the sunshine. Experts hope this will lead to more treatment. It is as you note, stunning that only 20 o illness or disease are getting any help at all. Are we equipped to diagnose them and get them treatment . I mean, were looking at health care for children about to be cut. Can we help them if we diagnose them . Reporter well, listen, thats a good question. There are very few child psychiatrists in this country. Very few access points. Schools are now taking this up. Were going to be in future episodes talking in news stories talking about what schools can and are doing to help diagnose and get help for kids. But its difficult. And one of difficulties is the parents are often ashamed and dont know what to do. So, knowing when you have a teenager who is going through usual teenage angst and a teenager that has a real problem that needs to be diagnosed and treated, parents arent so sure so were going to give tips. Wonderful. This is something we need to be talking about, and especially the shame. Because we do something here called changing minds. We need people to get over the stigma of this because you dont treat this early, and this can compound itself over time and over time, and become a real, real crisis for the individuals and for the family. Reporter and for society. Kids drop out of school. Kids end up in prison. There is a direct pipeline to all of this. We hope were going to open some eyes with this series over the next several months. Cynthia, we look forward to this series. Thank you for doing this. Reporter well be in touch. Thanks so much. The nightly news series is called one in five kids at risk. It kicks off tonight with more on whats led to the increase in these disorders, and some of the innovative programs created to deal with them. Some of the solutions. Thats nbc nightly news immediately following news4 at 6 00. You dont hear about too sing opera, but there is a young man in the district who does. Hes a graduate of the Duke Ellington school, of course. Nbcs Kerry Sanders reports on his efforts to fulfill his dream against some financial odds. Reporter Anthony Anderson considers himself lucky, even if not everything in his life has been. Heres a picture of my father. I keep it on my mirror to remind me of him. Reporter when anthony was 3, his dad was killed in a driveby shooting. Anthony learned to speak german. And italian. All parts of a most unusual dream, something inside him drew anthony to opera. Reporter opera . Yes, opera. Reporter your friends laugh . Yeah, they did. But not any more. Reporter and last year, after being among the few in his family to attend college, he was forced out because he couldnt afford tuition. But after four years at Duke Ellington high school for the ar a with a tutor, being a College Dropout was painful. I just didnt have that money. So, the dream came to an end, or so i thought. Reporter but saint lukes coral director had another idea. She invited next to perform. I felt like i had something that i had to sing for. Reporter it may well be anthonys greatest performance ever. The audience so engaged, they raised 40,000, enough for the next year of college. For a young africanamerican man in this society who is chosen not only higher education, but in an area that not too many young africanamerican males choose. Reporter opera. Opera. Reporter soon several universities heard about anthonys story. Julie art, the over land conservative, due kaine university. Reporter no final decision yet, but big dreams ahead. I want to travel the world with my voice and share it with the people. Reporter striking the right chord, an encore for a bright future. Kerry sanders, nbc news, washington. That is incredible. And hes from right here, right up the street, Duke Ellington. I know. Oh, my gosh. I cannot wait to see where he goes from here. Remember that name. The sky is the limit. Coming up on news4 at 5 00, children spend hours in their classrooms, but one area is facing a major shortage. Ahead at 5 00, how they are planning to entice more teachers to local schools. Storm team4 tracking a major temperature drop. The chance of some snow. T ugs got i mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow. But after an electrical fire from faulty wiring, marys vintage clothing and designer shoe collection were ruined. Luckily, the Geico Insurance agency had recently helped mary with renters insurance, and she got a totally fab replacement wardrobe at bloomingdales. Mary was inspired to start her own fashion line, exclusively for little lambs. Visit geico. Com and see how affordable renters insurance can be. All right, doug, its a new week and youre talking perhaps some snow again, is that right . A big puffy coat. Huge. I mean tomorrow night is going to be such a difference. Tomorrow is not bad. Especially early. Today has been pretty darn nice for this time of year. Tomorrow is not bad and the bottom drops out tomorrow night. We have a couple snow chances. Its nothing to write home about as far as the amounts of snow. Its going to be the timing that is going to be a big issue. Lets look and show you whats happening out there now. Pretty nice night. On the cool side, temperatures dropping quickly, down to 41 now. Actually 44 miles per hour. Heres what were looking at. 44 degrees d. C. , 39 winchester, 39 luray, 42 in gaithersburg. Its going to be a cool night tonight, but not terribly frigid. Were going to see temperatures well below freezing in most locations, but not all that bad. Take a look at the radar, nothing to show in our immediate area. We are tracking some shower activity up toward the north, but most of that is not hitting the ground. What im really watching, though, is the system back to the west. You can see it, the spin here in the atmosphere. This is a very strong area of low pressure. Its coming out of canada. So there is not a lot of moisture. This is not much of a rain or snow maker for us, although there is a slight chance of some sprinkle activity early tomorrow morning with the front. You can see a little bit of sprinkle here, a chance tomorrow at 7 00 a. M. Im not too worried about that. I am worried about the cold. The clouds get out of here, the sun comes out. Look at this, the snow starting to pile up towards the mountains. Winter weather advisory, 6 to 12 inches in the mounai towards snow shoe in west virginia. Nothing in our area tomorrow other than the cold and, boy, does it get cold and stay that way. High temperatures tomorrow, were going to see them early in the day. Around noon, up to 48 degrees, maybe 50 by 1 00. So, not bad. Chilly at 45 degrees and windy. The winds are really going to pickup. And by 7 00 tomorrow night, wind between 15 and 20 degrees, temperature of 36, 36. Look at these wind chills tomorrow evening. Tomorrow at 2 00, not bad. The wind chill upper 30s to low 40s. Watch what happens by 7 00. 15 in d. C. , 8 back towards martinsburg, 11 in leesburg. You can see a dramatic drop. Temperatures dropping some 20 to 30 degrees. At least thats the feels like temperature today to tomorrow. Waking up to single digit wind chills. Martinsburg at 3 00, gaithersburg 9. A Winter Weather alert for weather alert days for both tuesday and wednesday. 50 degrees on your tuesday with fall 31 on wednesday with those wind chills in the teens all day. A chance of snow wednesday into thursday morning. Now, again, even if we see just the dusting, its going to be with temperatures well below freezing. So, the roads, anything that falls will stick on the roads immediately. We could see a delay early on thursday morning. Thats something to watch out for. Friday, another chance of snow. This is more significant snow fall on friday. Not everywhere, but i do think we could see some location thats pickup maybe an inch or two, i95 eastward again. You folks east might get to be the winners again. 43 degrees saturday, cool as we head into next week, too. No warming temperatures as we move into the next ten days, but, guys, were going to track this week. This week a cold and stormy week. Doug, thank you. A faulty chimney now blamed for the fire that forced a local family from their home. And just ahead, outpouring su of support for a family that lost everything and learned they gained so much more. Plus a woman got a ride in a ride share and hospital. The Investigation Underway after it feels good to be back. Announcer youre watching news4 at 5 00. Now at 5 30, a senior Law Enforcement official tells nbc news the man who detonated that pipe bomb in the heart of mid town manhattan did so in the name of isis. Police say he used develop cocrow and zip ties to attach the homemade device to his setting it off at the height of the morning rush at one of manhattans key transit hubs not far from times square. The bombing suspect and three others were injured. All of them are expected to survive. Authorities tonight say that that suspect is a 27yearold from bangladesh who came here back in 2011 and is a permanent u. S. Resident. An ashburn family who just lost nearly everything in a fire, back on their feet now thanks to a huge outpouring from their community. They had only moved onto birds nest place last month, but the neighbors say they barely knew that they barely knew jumped into action friday evening when the home caught fire. Our Northern Virginia bureau chief julie carey joins us with this lovely and generous story. Jules . Reporter you can see where the fire started, the fireplace back here, and the damage so extensive, this house so unstable, that it is off limits right now. I want to show you something take a look at this sign posted out front. It was put there by the neighbors that have just surrounded this family with compassion and care. It is hard. Thats my bedroom right there. Reporter as rita looks at whats left of her home, she is overcome, not by grief, but by gratitude. Theres really more good coming out of it than anything we lost in that. Reporter this is what neighbors saw when they heard the fire trucks friday night and ran out onto the culdesac. It all started with a fire in the fireplace. Ten minutes later, i can see things slowly dropping outside my window. Reporter as ritas husband went out back to investigate, there was a loud banging on the front door. A man driving by saw the flames and ran to the house to warn the family. And as i opened the door, this gentleman says, your house is on fire, you need to get out right now. Reporter the Good Samaritan [000 32 58;00] two of the three kids. 10yearold peter was just changing into his pajamas. He grabbed leah and ran. He told me, come on, come on, go, go, go. I was so worried about like everything. Reporter once outside the neighbors they barely knew swooped in to help. We took the kids into my house because they were freaking out in the front yard watching their house go up in flames. Reporter the basement, their new refuge. She and others neighbors jump into action setting up a gofundme page thats already hit 30,000. The women also put the word out on facebook and ashburn residents started showing up with donations. This is unbelievable to me. Reporter childrens clothes, brandnew boots, toys for 3yearold leah. So many items it takes two garages to hold them. Im in tears over it because i cant say thank you enough to all these people who dont even know us. I am so grateful to belong to such a community. I cannot thank everybody enough. Reporter now, they were renting this house, but after this whole experience, they are determined to find a new place as close to this culdesac as possible. Wendy, back to you in the studio. Who can blame them with all those new friends. What if you have Something Like youre renovating and you have a lovely dining room set that is just not going to fit into your new decor, will they take furniture as well . Reporter you know, they have cut off all the donations of clothes and toys. Theyre good with that. But take a look at that Facebook Page and they are going to start looking for some furniture donations soon. Okay, great. Good to know. Thanks, jules. There is growing concern tonight about who you are getting into the car with when you use one of those ride sharing apps. Another woman says her driver attempted to sexually assault her over the weekend. News4s Kristin Wright talked to some ride share users today who are thinking twice now about their trip. Reporter police say the woman was getting a ride from a Ride Share Company when the capital between 4th and 5th. The attack was violent. The Woman Told Police the driver groped her and then put his hands around her neck and choked her when she started to yell. She fought him off and got out of the car as he tried to sexually assault her. Police say he also punched her. News of the attack is unsettling to people in the neighborhood. Of course im very disturbed by that. I have used uber, never lyft. Always had a good experience. So it makes all of us think about personal safety and what steps we can take to protect ourselves. I work a night shift from 3 00 to 3 30, so i uber back here every night at 3 30. Of course im a male so im not worried about that, but i feel for the woman and i hope they catch him. Reporter police say they havent confirmed if it was an uber, lyft or another ride share. In the district, Kristin Wright, news4. And were working for you with four things to know before you hail your always plan a ed, and have a route in mind for your driver. Make sure you have a place inside to wait. Try to avoid waiting out on the street if at all possible. And verify your driver. Make sure you are getting into the right car. And share your trip details with friends so they can make sure you arrive safely at your destination. Virginia is facing what experts describe as a critical shortage of teachers. And new steps are being taken to reverse this. Governor Terry Mcauliffe signing an executive order today that includes new funding to recruit new tempratureers and achers an current ones. Their incentives for minority educators who are looking for a job in the school system. We need to incentivize teachers because everybody, i dont care what your zip code is, the color of ones skin. Every child in virginia is entitled to a great quality education. The governor also asked virginias governors board of education to offer education as an something that is not currently offered. A trail blazing journalist and the first fulltime africanamerican reporter for the Washington Post has died. Simeon booker was 99 years old. And according to the post, booker died yesterday in solomons island, maryland. For decades he worked as d. C. Bureau chief for ebony and jet magazines and reported on one of the many of the milestone stories that helped galvanize the civil rights movement, including the murder of emmet till back in 1955. To the montgomery busb boycotts in 1965. Booker was born in 1918. He retired a few years ago at the age of 90. Youre hoping to travel for the holidays but havent booked your flight . Dont worry. Where and how experts say you can still find some deals. And its been a problem since the 1940s. It is still a hazard and it is quite likely is taken to stop the dangers from the cords of Window Blinds. And temperatures were sei seasonable out there today. This time tomorrow we could have temperatures 15 degrees below where they are now. Plus the winds, a whole bunch of systemscoming our in news tonight, there is promi a debilitating disorder that affects more than a Million People in our country. Researchers say that intense workouts may actually slow the progression of parkinsons disease, enough that the patient can notice a difference. They say the key is exercising three times a week, and getting your heart rate between 80 and 85 . Experts warn this is not a cure, but a way to manage symptoms. Some alarming statistics about the number of children accidentally hurt by something that is probably in your home right now. A new study finds nearly 17,000 kids hurt by Window Blinds and shades since 1990. 300 of them killed after getting entangled or strangled by the cords. The injuries continue despite the addition of warning labels. But under a new safety proposal, manufacturers would be required to make cordless blinds available by the end of next year. The smoke alarm protecting your home may soon be obsolete. Well tell you about the new law that is t and they provide entertainment to some, income to others. Why some residents want to see a crackdownn street performers. O and wed like you to be part of ours. So our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. You pay what we pay. Not a cent more. U. Its our way of saying happy holidays. And welcome to the family. The chevy family. Use your employee discount for everyone and trade up to this silverado all star to get a total value of over eleven thousand dollars. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. You live in a busy bustling city, so, when is noise too much noise . Thats a question the d. C. Council is trying to answer after dozens of downtown residents and businesses today complain that loud music and bucket bands are a louder and louder nuisance. News4s tom sherwood has our story. Reporter amplified street music blairs in chinatown near the capital one arena. Bucket it is too much for a sophomore at George Washington university. They moved downtown to gallery place to enjoy the vibrancy of the city. Not to endure endless music that invades their upper floor home the noise is so significant that our daughter cannot use her software voice over programs to complete her homework and perform other tasks of daily living. Reporter Emma Mitchell said she sometimes stays at school because at home is too loud. It allows me to write papers via dictation and without the computer and my iphone, i wouldnt be able to interact with the world. Reporter the mitchells are part of a loud crowd of downtown businesses and residents urging the city to enforce noise laws or pass tougher ones. This is an especially sensitive issue in areas like downtown where all matters of sound is constantly being created. Reporter or to Councilmember Jack evans who represents downtown. He said nearly 10,000 people live there now with lots of intrusive noise. But the councilmembers say civil rights laws limit enforcement. Labor Union Leaders dont want laws to inhibit their demonstrations. They urged the city to enforce current laws worked out years ago. The council was very, very good about drafting. What we have is a number of situations is a lack of enforcement. Reporter in the district, tom sherwood, news4. Loudoun county Fire Fighters sifted through debris today just hours after a house fire killed a man. The fire happened last night on taylors town road in level itsville. Fire fighters say the unstable house has made it difficult to investigate. Not clear how the fire started. The victims name has not been released. Its fires like those in virginia, like that one in virginia, that maryland fire officials hope to prevent. And starting o to be used if you live in maryland. As news4s Darcy Spencer reports, the days of replacing those small batteries will be over. Were Prince Georges County Fire Department checking smoke detectors. Reporter Fire Fighters go door to door in capitol heights. Letting residents know a new law goes into effect january 1st. It will make smoke alarms in most residents homes outdated. The alarms that run on 9 volt batteries need to be replaced with these, alarms with ten year batteries sealed into the unit. Fire fighters installed one for free in this residents home. Smoke detector is good for ten years. Reporter some see it as an advantage, especially for seniors who may have trouble reaching the detectors to replace the batteries. After ten years, you replace the entire unit. Reporter fire chief barks battery to use it in something else, sometimes it dies. Weve had five fatalities in Prince Georges County, all did not have working smoke alarms. So, this gives you a chance. Reporter these ten year alarms also have a hush button. If the alarm goes off, say, while youre cooking and theres no fire you need to silence it. You need to install an alarm in every level of your home. Not Everybody Knows about the law so this is what were doing is good. Reporter they wont be able to remove the batteries from the new alarms. Safety improvements Fire Fighters hope will save lives. We are live here at the chapel oaks fire station in capitol heights. One thing to keep in mind with these new smoke alarms, they cost a little more than your old alarms. 20 to 25 apiece. The good news is if you live here in Prince Georges County, you can call 311. Fire fighters will come out to your home and install one for free. Reporting liin heights, Darcy Spencer, news4. That is good to know. Were just weeks away from christmas now, and you plan to travel, but you havent booked your flight, fear not folks. Experts say there are still some deals out there, and the key is avoiding those peak travel days. Nbcs dan shcheneman explains. Reporter there are two words to keep in mind. Book now is really the key, with just being a couple weeks out from the holiday season. Reporter there are also a few days you should avoid. When you look at airfare, the best thing you can do now is really avoid the peak travel days which are going to be december 23rd and the 26th. Traveling on the holiday can really help you out for savings. Reporter many travelers hope to enjoy the Winter Weather. For ski destinations its all about colorado and utah. Reporter while others want to escape it. When we look at beach big one this year. Reporter in addition to rest and relaxation, vacationers want one of a kind experience. Many can be booked with the help of reward programs offered by major hotel chains. These can be over the top experiences in major league being in the dug out. Reporter a chance to add wow factor to your holidays. Dave scheneman, nbc news. Just to the south they are creating more snow ahead of ski season. Winter green resort in nelson county, virginia, firing the snow canon since last thursday. So far 9 million gallons of water turned to snow have helped cover those slopes. Winter green hopes to have seven of its 20 slopes ready to go when it opens this friday. Pretty nice, huh . We didnt get that much this weekend. We did get something on saturday as doug promised. We may get help from Mother Nature later this week, doug. Thats right, guys. Lauren and i Seven Springs doing it and liberty also going to be opening on friday. So, theyre going to see some snow. Maybe some natural snow over the next couple days. We have a you couple systems floating through the air why. Its pretty busy in terms of weather this week. It will cool down, but we also have snow. Thats the bigt thing first. The temperatures. Lets show you what im talking about. First out there right now, not a bad night. Temperatures today got into the mid to upper 40s, average this time of year. Were at 44 right now, winds out of the south at 8 miles an hour. Not a bad evening. 46 leesburg, 49 culpepper, 43 in fredericksburg. There arent going to be any issues. Storm team4 radar dry, going to stay that way the next couple days heerp. We are watching the system. Not coming through our area right now. Back to the north and west, this is a very potent system. It is fairly dry, but behind it, it has some arctic air and boy does it get cold behind this system. Youre going to notice a big difference between the time you step out the front door tomorrow and lunch to when youre coming home for shift as far as those temperatures are concerned. Temperatures dropping quickly right on through the day tomorrow. High temperatures into the upper 40s to low 50s. We have the colder air bringing snow back towards the mountains were talking about here. But for us it is just the cold. With more on the cold, Lauryn Ricketts has more on that. It is going to be a shock to the system for a lot of people tomorrow evening. Temperatures will be in 30s and 40s, they come crashing down after lunch time. Lets show you the maps right now, exactly what is going to happen with that arctic frontal system that will roll through the area. We can go to max 1. I was going to say max 1. Again, thank you so much. There is that frontal system right there. This is tuesday at midnight. But as we go through the morning, were going to be fine after lunch time. Thats when were going to feel the big change. The winds are going to pickup. It is going to be blustery by tomorrow afternoon through tomorrow evening. Temperatures are coming down. In fact, we could be in the 20s be the Single Digits and teens. Not only thats correct we have a couple systems were watching. This one were watching for thursday morning. We get to early tuesday up in canada. A clipper system thats coming through. Wednesday night into early thursday morning. We already have the scold air in place. We could see slight snow accumulation around the region. Again, temperatures on the roadways will be enough to support even just a little bit of accumulation. So, when you make your way out on thursday morning, we can have some delays that we may be dealing with on early thursday morning just because it is going to be so cold. Winds will die down late on wednesday, but by thursday that is something were going to have to focus our attention on. Not only that, but we have to focus our attention on friday. Because we have yet possibly another system, doug . We have another alert day tomorrow and wednesday. Because of the cold primarily and the wind with those wind chills into the teens as were talking about. We may, we may be weather alert on thursday morning and then for snow. So, thats something well be watching. Windy conditions tomorrow turning much colder. Going for a high of 50. But again, afternoon temperatures and evening temperatures much colder with wind chills in the teens by 6 00, 7 00 tomorrow night. 31 for a high on wednesday, teens all day. Cold with a morning snow fall. Afternoon snow fall on friday. Friday looks like the best chance for accumulation during the day on friday with a high of only 32, little better as we head towards the weekend. Were going to have much more on this, some of the latest data coming in right now. Ive got it for y President Trump has a mission for nasa. He signed his first monthly si director today to send astronauts back to the moon and beyond. The event coinciding with the 45th anniversary with the last manned mission there. Apollo 17 lunar lander touched down on the moon december 11, 1972. Its something most kids can only dream about, getting to talk to an astronaut and space. It happened for the students at an Elementary School in woodbridge. They used a special ham radio system to connect to the International Space station and talk to mark van de hye in falls church. News4s amee cho was there. Reporter the excitement in this gym, you could say it was out of this world. 600 kids here from a reallife astronaut. The when the space station was directly above the school, just a ten minute window. When the time came these kids were ready. And i want to contact. My name is mark. What is your favorite park being in space . Over. What it is like when you are first in space and get back to earth, over . My name is patricia. What inspired you to go into space . I was nervous, but it was cool that you could talk to an actual astronaut. It felt really good because it was the moment in like a persons life where you get to speak in front of a crowd and a lot of people are watching. Students work hard on a 14page application to be selected for this day. They were only one of 24 in the world. It is exciting to see their faces and see. This is a real world application they havent seen before. He was nice. And id say courageous. I wouldnt do that in it were me. A little hard to address you back to earth. Over. Reporter just ten minutes of talking, but in the process learning a little about space and a lot about possibilities. What do you want to be when you grow up . Probably a scientist or an astronaut. I want to be either an a Aeronautical Engineer or football player. Most people can do anything even if theyre small. Reporter in woodbridge, amee cho, news4. Now at 6 00, terror near times square. This is a fact of life whether youre in new york or london or paris. It can happen anywhere. A man on a mission to kill in the name of isis. But his plan back fired. A night of partying ends in tragedy. Its been devastating to everyone, even people who dont know the student. Why a High School Senior went running for cover and was later found dead a few m get ready for a drastic temperature drop as doug tracks the potential for more snow this week. Plus the me too movement hits the oval office. The only reason im here today is because this offender is now the president of our country. Mayhem in manhattan this morning as a man tries to target commuters and tourists at the height of the morning rush. Tonight security has been zepd up as the motive emerges. The suspect told police that he was inspired by isis, taking a page from the terror play book online. He allegedly built the bomb himself, strapping it to his body with velcro, and zip ties. But things didnt go as planned. Tonight we have team coverage. Nbcs Pete Williams has a closer look at the suspects past. But but we begin with Edward Lawrence live in new york with the attack being described as low tech and amateur. Edward . Reporter good evening, doreen and leon. Here on the ground in new york