we're following a developing story out of pakistan. five young americans have now been charged with terrorism. it has been aough and dangerous morning commute. several accidents have shut down major roadways. and happy st. patrick's day. from the white house to dublin, people are showing off their irish pride. "news 4 midday" begins right now. good morning, everyone. welcome to "news 4 midday." it is wednesday, march 17, 20 # 10. we begin with the developing story out of pakistan. five northern virginia men arrested in december have been charged with six counts of violating state and antiterror laws. the young pakistani-american men appeared before a judge this morning. we're joined now with elaine from the news room. >> reporter: the men were active in their youth group at a mosque. they are from alexandria. this morning they pleaded not guilty to all charges against them. these five young men, including a former dental student at howard university, could face a life sentence in a pakistani prison. a judge will hear their case because there are no jury trials in pakistan. authorities say the group went missing in late november. they obtained visas from pakistan's embassy in d.c., claiming they were to attend a wedding there. but police investigators we tipped off, claiming they approached two militant groups with ties to al qaeda. they allegedly used facebook and youtube to make contact with extremists and asked for training but were denied. their family and friends in virginia say at the time of their arrest, they saw no signs of extremism. >> during my time, knowing these young men, i never observed any extreme behavior from them. i never became suspicious that they were planning to do harm to anyone else. i have always known these kids as fun-loving, career-focused children that had a bright future for themselves. >> reporter: pakistani police say the group hoped to battle u.s. troops in afghanistan. one left a disturbing video in virginia before his arrest. today in court they denied every making contact with extremists and said they were being tortured in jail. the first part of their trial begins later this month and that could take about six months. back to you. >> elaine reyes. thank you. traffic is moving this midday along the baltimore washington parkway in green belt after a deadly accident brought the morning rush hour so a standstill. all southbound lanes were closed after a car flew off the road and crashed into a median around 4:00 this morning. the mab behind the wheel was killed. northbound traffic was also brought to a halt while police investigated. southbound lanes reopened around 78:00 this morning. police are still piecing together exactly what happened. a pedestrian was killed while walking in capital heights is morning. that person was hit by a car after 4:00 this morning on hampton park boulevard. the driver of the car did stay on the scene. hampton park boulevard was shut down in both directions while police cleared the scene. there is no word on the victim's identity. we also have a traffic alert along the george washington parkway. northbound lanes are closed in the area of the first overlook while police investigate a deadly truck crash that happened on monday morning. 11:03 is your time. let's get the latest on any troubles on the roadway. jerry has the latest. >> good morning. it was a very busy and for a lot of folks very frustrating commute. we settled down a little bit in some spots. other spots are we jammed because of midday roadwork. that's the outer loop of the beltway, leaving virginia. outer loop at the dulles tollway, crews will be out there for part of the midday. heavy and slow from springfield up towards 66. no incidents. however, crews did some additional lane striping in the overnight hours. on the beltway at interstate 66 interchange. seems to be confusing, as a result, traffic is roll, very slowly through that intersection. back to you. >> looking outside right now, bright sunshine. that is quickly warming us up. we love this great weather. let's get the first forecast from meteorologist top keem kie >> we had quite a chilly start but with the bright sun angle, there's that royal blue sky over american university in the foreground, virginia in the distant, excellent visibility. temperature continuing to climb. in the morning lows, got down into the mid-30s in prince georges, mayor fax. many locations were below freezing west of interstate 95, upper 20s to near 30. it has warmed up quickly. any 60 degrees in washington. mid 50s to upper 50s in prince georges county. arlington, fairfax and montgomery counties. all around the region, continuing to climb. eastern shore, temperatures are near 50 degrees. over the last six hours, high pressure moving in from the north, giving us this spectacular blue sky that will be with us throughout the rest of the afternoon and mild temperatures, we should make it into the upper 60s by midafternoon with a light northerly westerly breeze. a look at the weekend coming up in a few details. >> we'll see you then. thank you. right now, mayor fenty and city health officials are making a major announcement about the aids crisis. washington has one of the highest aids/hiv count. kimberly suitor downtown. >> reporter: you can see the press conference is going on behind me. interesting new numbers coming out. first time the district is saying they can report there a decline in new aids cases of 33%. that's a major improvement. now, the rate of hiv infection is still going up in the district, but officials credit that to better testing. in fact, the district tested more than 95,000 people the last time it counted. that's more than double what they did the year before. so testing has improved. the hiv rate is going up because of better testing but fewer full-blown aids cases. yet still people are asking, when is hiv testing going to become part of your annual physical exam? >> i think it's scary. i think it really is. >> reporter: to be single in 2010, living and dating in d.c. >> more shocking is the fact there are so many young people infected. that's what's really scary because 10, 20 years ago from now, those -- they're the powers that be. >> reporter: one of those rising powers, michael gilbert o his way to class at a technical class. he and his friends have strong opinions about kids who don't use condoms. >> they don't care about their life. >> reporter: what do you mean? >> like they don't use a condom, they don't know what they take a risk of catching. >> it's stupid not to use a condom, especially in marriages as well, that you never know. >> reporter: she makes biannual testing a family affair. now that the stigma of hiv is less severe than it used to be. >> now is not like a hush-hush, a dirty disease. >> reporter: but it's the old reputation of aids as a death sentence that's made testing harder to come by. >> i think it's gotten better over time. but there's still a fair amount of stigma. we attack about it the at the clinic. we would like to see it just as people get their cholesterol screened that we do the same thing with hiv. >> reporter: the people we talked to in the southeast say the time to make testing routine is long overdue. you think it should be easier for people to find out if they have -- >> i think so, i think so, i really do. if not now, when? >> reporter: and at the podium now, the head of the d.c. department of health. one thing the department is trying to do is get primary care physicians to make hiv screening part of your annual health exam. they also say ers across the district of columbia will do hiv screening as part of their regular screening. and also the whitman walker clinic does free screening for anyone who walks in the day. now back to you. >> kimberly, thank you. new add midday, he is officially thrown his hat into the ring. baker has announced he will run. he will succeed jack johnson. baker made it official this morning. >> anybody ready for a new day? is anybody ready for a new day? is anybody ready for major change in prince georges county? >> johnson defeated baker in 2002 and 2006. a new exhibit is opening at the smithsonian national museum of natural history. the exhibit called the hall of human origins is a perfect exhibit and explores human evolution over 6 million years. it tracks major milestones of human development including when humans started walking upright and started speaking. on display are more than 285 fossils and artifacts including the only knee andra thol skeleton in the united states. very cool. this morning the senate is working on passing a jobs bill. coming up, we'll tell you who could benefit if the bill get the green light. plus, tiger woods, we'll tell you what his coworkers think of his plans. a mix of holiday cheer and politics at the chous if i had to sit on a bench during the middle of a game due to diabetes it would frustrate me. in a basketball game a couple minutes could mean a big momentum shift. my bayer meter is very important. 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(announcer) the contour meter, only from bayer. now the senate is set to vote on a jobs bill today. it's expected to pass the legislation, which would give companies that hired unemployed workers a temporary tax holiday. the bill would also extend highway and mass transit programs through the end of the year. this is the first of several jobs bills democrats have vowed to enact this year. democratic party tim kaine is calling it the fullcourt press to pass health care reform. president obama has been making phone calls and having private chats with lawmakers who voted no last time on health care reform. now house democrats are weighing a tactic that would allow them to vote only on fixes to the senate plan. by doing so they could deem the whole reform measure passed. democrats say it's legitimate but republicans are outraged. >> most people, i think, in the house at this point have voted for something exactly like this or very similar during their professional career. >> i don't care what trick they try. it's not going to work. this is the biggest vote that most members will ever cast. you can't hide from it. >> democrats will meet tomorrow to decide how to proceed. they hoped to have a final vote by the end of the week. president obama will get to make a small -- take a small break from health care reform to mark st. patrick's day with irish prime minister cowan. this is the fountain in front of the whithouse that has been dyed green. the annual meeting is a mix of light-hearted cheer. right now irish is dealing with massive budget cut. this is a scene this morning in dublin where there was no problem finding a rich pride. thousands lined the street to take in the annual parade and festival and millions more watched it live on television. what a beautiful day for a parade in washington, d.c. tom kierein has the latest on this great forecast. >> hi, eun. midafternoon in dublin, 55 dgdz there and partly cloudy. kind of chilly. here, we're approaching 60 degrees. we've got a beautiful blue sky. that's the live view from on you skywatcher camera. as we take a look at the view from our city camera at this hour, that is showing the sunshine pouring down on lincoln memorial and monument on the mall. right now at reagan national it is 59 degrees. and the long range out look calling for warmer than average temperatures for the last week march. it's certainly going to be warmer than average for the next several days. right now on radar, we do have just a scan of the sky. and that's it. no precipitation. it is 59 in washington. and it's in the upper 50s in montgomery, arlington, fairfax counties and mid-50s in prince georges county, southern maryland near the bay, northern neck and east bay. eastern shore in the mid-50s. still a bit chilly in the mountains. near 60 in southern virginia. we do have a clear sky across all the entire region from the mountain city aantic beechs, courtesy of high pressure. we had that beautiful blue sky yesterday afternoon. this is when i visited the friends community school in college park, maryland, and prince georges county. this is a new school and a green school. part of it is the fact it has very thick insulation made of compressed straw that keeps it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. the classes there were certainly bright. the students had a lot of fun. we had a blast talking about all different types of weather. and the teacher that invited me standing next to me in the back, michele. and the students were certainly delightful. we had a lot of fun talking to the friends community school in prince georges county. well, over the last 12 hours, this high pressure has moved in from the north and cleared out the entire northeast. we certainly do need it to dry out. we still have flooding problems in new england. and we do have a little rain now moving into georgia, out of florida for the spring breakers there. they're getting rain. that'sssociated with a coastal area of low pressure that is going to be becoming close to cape hatteruss tomorrow but not coming close enough to us to give us cloudiness. friday morning that will move off to the north and east and pull away. for the rest the afternoon, sunny and mild with temperature climbing into the upper 60s. just a delightful spring day and a light northwesterly breeze around 5 to 10. overnight tonight, just right around sunset, we' see the crescent new moon in the western sky along with venus. that will be the bright spot near the moon. by midevening into the mid-50s. sunset is at7:17. by dawn tomorrow at 7:15 we'll be near 40 degrees under a clear sky. then lots of sun again tomorrow. we should climb to near 70 degrees on thursday. and friday, more of the same. fort in the morning, sunny, afternoon highs near 70. on saturday as well. morning lows, mid-40s. afternoon highs near 70. on saturday morning, as the sun trust national marathon in washington at the 7:00 a.m. start it shod be chilly, in the mid-40s. for the rest of the marathon, by noontime, climbing quickly. should be up in the low to mid-60s by then and a sunny morning. then on sunday, increasing clouds. a front will be approaching. might have a little sunday sun in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. looks like we might have late afternoon showers. thundershowers may come in as the front pulls in colder weather for the first part of next week. at least temporarily. it should clear out, though, monday and tuesday, sunshine. and afternoon highs monday low to mid-50s. may be in the forlgs fort to near 50s on tuesday. quite a chill behind that front. that's the way it looks right now. >> thank you, tom. let's head to jerry edwards and get an update on this traffic. >> can't catch a break out there. tough going everyhich way you turn at midday. left side of your screen, i-95 jammed from the beltway headed down toward newington and lauritan. takes away the right lane southbound. ma have a work zone northbound. so heads up both directions. let's see how we're doing along i-270. southbound, construction crews out there right at 9:00 this morning, much to the displeasure of late morning commuters. from montgomery village to 370, now finally no delay but just be aware of the construction zone. back to you. >> thank you. it looks like frederick county, maryland, will not be the 51st state. yesterday they voted not to succeed from maryland. they made the alternative to putting up with what he deemed as financial irresponsibility in annapolis. he wanted to apply to congress as a new state. the panel of commissioners voted 4 to 1 against that measure. 11:20 is your time. still ahead on "news 4 midday," could losing weight be as he's a si as popping a pill? pepsi announce it's dropping out. where u'll no longer see the soft drink. and a new musical coming to the district. we'll hear from the creator of the kid-friendly show. first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. it's a new kind of pepsi challenge. the soda maker says it's joining the fight against childhood obesity by limiting options in school. they say they will no longer sell full calorie sugary sodas in school by 2012. they are expanding this policy worldwide make tgt first soid da maker to do so. coca-cola has made similar moves. coke says it will not sell its drinks in primary schools unless parents or school districts specifically ask for them. trash talk over march madness may be spilling over onto capitol hill. university of maryland alum steny hoyer tried to pass a resolution recognizing the terps tournament berth. it seemed sweet enough but california congressman john campbell shot that resolution down. it seems he's bitter that he pulled the resolution last year honoring the university of california-ir california-irvine. terp fans may be unhappy with president obama's final four picks. he has kansas and kansas state going to the final four. he picked a pairf wildcats, kentucky and villanova. his pick to win the tournament will be revealed but he's pretty good at predicting games. he predicted north carolina to win it all last year and the tar heels did just that. coming up in the next half hour of "news 4 midday," tiger woods' return to golf is good news for sponsors but how are players reacting? we'll tell you what carmaker is now having braking problems. d.c. says pay up. the city says less people are fashion -- fewer people are paying for parking in the wrong. tom kierein is back with more on our delightful forecast. ♪ [ male announcer ] now the best seat in the house is in your house. in fact, with the fios total ticket, it can be in every room. unlike cable, only fios gives you a multi-room dvr that lets you record shows in one room and watch them in up to six other rooms. one dvr puts you in control of all your family entertainment. now you can get a mui-room dvr plus set top box free for six months when you sign up for fios tv, internet and phone. you'll get tv with twice as many very satisfied 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but they expect that because they doubled the number of resident they've tested for hiv in recent years. drivers are taking detours along the george washington parkway. northbound lanes are closed near the first overlook while police investigate a deadly truck crash that happened on monday morning. all traffic is being diverted to spout run parkway. tiger woods is returning to professional golf. he announced he will play in this year's masters starting three weeks from tomorrow. it will be his first tournament since november when the image he spent years p