this was a robbery or a hate crime. the police made no arrests. and this morning principals across one maryland county are warning students about dangerous games sent three students to the hospital. the warning is going out to all students in charles county public schools. the superintendent already sent a letter to parents about the possible health risk frequent replying so-called knockout or passout challenge. news4's tracee wilkins reports. >> reporter: it is an old-school game that has been made popular again through youtube and facebook and becoming such a serious problem in charles county that some students have been rushed to the hospital. and now parents are being put on alert. >> this is something -- >> reporter: a lot of the parents we talked with knew what the knockout or passout game was. but they were surprised to hear the dangerous challenge was making a comeback. >> they think it is fun and they think it is, you know, the feeling you get when you fall -- pass out, they think it is, you know, it is fun. but the parents need to elaborate -- it kills brain cells. >> reporter: this is rid yo posted by a nonprofit group warning kids of the dangers associated with playing the game. but most of the passout game video pound on social media is teaching kids how to do it. and the consequences are serious. >> yesterday we had three students taken to the hospital because they had passed out and what we learned was that they intentionally passed out. we had reports from other schools that students had been seen in the nurse's office for the same thing. >> reporter: yesterday at charles county public schools sent out a robo call to its parents encouraging them to warn their children after a number of high school and middle school kids made themselves sick playing the game at school. >> when do you this, you do pass out. you lose consciousness and you can fall. when you fall you can hit your head. you can do brain damage when you lose oxygen to your brain. the ultimate effect is that, you know, someone could die from this. >> reporter: students told school administrators they learned the game online. while they can't access social media science within charles county schools many are doing it at home. >> they should take that down. i don't know why anybody would promote something like that. >> i heard vaguely about it when i was a kid. it is very serious. and alarming. hopefully kids will understand the severity of and it not do it. >> reporter: the school system decided students who are caught participating may face disciplinary action for interrupting the school day and their parents will be notified. releasing the january jobs report and the news is good. the u.s. added 243,000 jobs in january. far more than the economists expected. the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%. the low nest three years. the report this morning from the labor department sent money pouring into the stock market. the dow and nasdaq are both seeing big gains this morning. president obama's expected to comment on the jobs report in arlington this morning. he's expected five-station number five at pentagon city in just a few minutes. he'ses expected to discuss a new initiative that will help returning military veterans to come become firefighters. the president's second trip to virginia this week. he announced a new mortgage refinancing man in fairfax county wednesday. turning to the weather. a much cooler start to this day. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast from the day. >> hey. yeah. the air is appreciate and invigorating and we have a beautiful blue sky with sparkling sunshine and temperatures are climbing into the mid 40s throughout much of the region. reagan national at 46. low to mid 40s. and in arlington, fairfax, montgomery, prince george's counties, throughout most of the region now, we are into the low and mid 40s. we have a little bit of breeze coming in out of the north around 5 to 10 miles an hour and this blue sky thanks to high pressure over us right now and some high clouds begin to push into western and west virginia out of kentucky, ahead of rain and snow system that's been hitting the midwest and the front range of the rockies around denver, major blizzard under way there. i will show you video from that coming up in a few minutes. for us this afternoon, mostly sunny and chilly. light wind out of the northwest around 5 to 10. temperatures climbing into the upper 40s and low 50s. might hit mid 50s across central virginia from fredericksburg, warrenton, culpeper. north of there, it will be hovering around 50 through the afternoon. a look at a cold weekend coming up. maybe precipitation for the weekend. i will have the latest that in a few minutes shall barbara. >> okay. tell us what kind of precipitation you are talking about when you get in here. already. thank you, top. we are going to check on the midday traffic now. here is danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. if you are traveling i-66 heading east out of haymarket, we will take the trip together and looks really good. 70 miles per hour as you make your way by the bypass and centreville, 57 miles per hour. not bad. continuing i-66, even crossing over inside the beltway, you are in the clear. eastbound you can see glebe road, no problem eastbound, westbound as well. i will give you a travel speed eastbound at 54 miles per hour. and from the beltway to gw parkway that trip now take 11 minutes. barbara, back to you. >> thanks, danella. illegal immigrant convicted of a deadly accident in bristow, virginia, that killed a nun will learn his punishment today. police say carlos montoya was drunk when he slammed his car into another car in august of 2010. the crash killed sister denise mosher and injured two other n nuns. the crash happened while he was awaiting deportation. he faces up to 70 years in prison. a second man is behind bars in the murder of an alexandria activist whose body was found in a well in prince george's county. police arrested 20-year-old ivan newman yesterday in connection with lenny harris' death. newman faces murder, kidnapping, and robbery charges. earlier this week, police arrested 49-year-old lynwood johnson. they say they expect to make more arrests in this case. the motive for the murder appears to be robbery. this morning, a teacher and part-time coach at two schools in montgomery county is in jill. he is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student. 47-year-old scott spear is a social studies teacher at julia's west middle school in rockville and is also a basketball and track coach at richard montgomery high school. he is accused of having consensual sex with one of the students that he coached on the track team last spring. we talked to the schools and spear is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. he expected in court for april bond hearing later today. security will be tighter at one southeast d.c. elementary school today as the search continues for a man who sexually assault ad young girl inside. the police are trying to figure out how the man managed to talk himself in to an elementary school on wednesday afternoon. the victim was escorting him around the school when the assault happened. there's a security camera outside of the school but it is not clear that it was working at the time. this just in to our newsroom. montgomery county police have found ab6-month-old that went missing yesterday but there's still -- they are still looking for her 14 year old mother. police released these photos of the girl and her daughter. shawnee was last seen yesterday in the 2200 block of georgian way in wheaton. police believe she is in the wheaton or glenmont area at this time. if have you any information please call montgomery county police at 301-279-8000. and breakout the rings, grab the chips and dip. and hook up the big screen. super bowl weekend is here. and there are plenty of super events throughout the weekend. aaron gilchrist has what you need to know to enjoy the big game sunday. he joins from us the news4 super screen. aaron? >> barbara, this could be one of the most watched event nrs history. estimated 100 million viewers expected to tune in and there's good reason for the hype here. we are talking about two teams that met four years ago in super bowl xlii. in what was one of the most exciting and memorable games in nfl history. the giants spoiled the patriots' bid at a perfect season with a 17-14 win and fans witnessed one of the most amazing catches ever made in super bowl history. the patriots want a little bit of revenge and the giants want to prove they can do it again. both these teams actually have a long history of success in n the postseason. giants won three super bowl rings as do the patriots have on their list. but new england's game came in a span of four years between 2002 and 2005. now, not everybody is going to be tuning in to see the game. historic rematch. some people will be glued to the commercials and entertainment if you will, original american idol winner kelly clarkson will offer pregame entertainment and sing the national anthem. for the first time ever, madonna is going to be performing at the halftime show. she talked to reporters yesterday and said to expect some surprises but nothing too revealing. >> i really don't want people-to-blow the surprises. i want people to be knocked off -- out of their seats from beginning to end. great attention to detail has been paid to my wardrobe. there will be no wardrobe malfunctions. promise. >> sunday is super bowl day. you can watch coverage here on news4 starting at noon. and then the moment football fans have been waiting for, kickoff for super bowl xlvi at 6:20 p.m. barbara? >> all right, aaron. thank you. and news4 is your official station for super bowl xlvi. jim vancehelli are in indianapolis 3 new information about two female tourists in the united states that were kidnapped in egypt. the latest for the race president for the republican party head flood the nevada caucus this weekend. and a special offer for nationals fans starting today. it is called take back the park. we have just released some details that we will bring to you live coming up. also ahead, famous chef probably one of the most famous in the word is joining us. wolfgang puck will be here. does your cable company keep charging you more... and more... and more? stop paying so much for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for our best price online: just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years. you save $600. go to verizon.com/greatprice to sign up now and get $300 back with a two-year contract. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers superior picture quality, more hd, plus america's fastest, most consistent and most reliable internet. why keep paying so much for cable? switch to fios at our best price... $89.99 a month with a two-year 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[ laughs ] now to breaking news out of egypt. nbc news confirmed that two american hostages have been released. they were kidnapped earlier today. "the washington post" reports two women were traveling in a minivan when masked gunmen stopped the van and abducted them. tensions are high in the middle east today after reports of israel could soon launch an attack on iran to prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon. nbc news spoke with several u.s. and israeli officials who say the odds of an attack are better than 50/50. "the washington post" is reporting defense secretary leon panetta believes israel will attack as early as april. iran's ayatollah responded saying any military action against iran or any sanctions will, quote, harm america. panetta, who is in brussels for a nato conference is not commenting on the report which is fueling speculation an attack is imminent. the republican white house hopefuls will be campaigning today in nevada. a day before that state's caucuses. and if new polls are any indication tomorrow could be another big day for mitt romney. the former massachusetts governor holds a 20-point lead over newt gingrich among likely gop caucuses goers in the latest las vegas review journal news poll. rick is an tore sxum ron paul are in a distant third and fourth positions. romney now says that he misspoke when he said he isn't i very concerned about poor people. he made the comment during a television interview on wednesday and repeated it during the so-called clarification with reporters onboard his airplane. he's now calling it an accidental misstatement. romney insists he meant to say he's focused primarily on helping middle class americans hurt by the bad economy. and if you got out early this morning you noticed there was a big change from the day before. it is awfully cold out. >> it feels like winter. at least it feels like it. does not look like it here. but it does around denver. this is video from overnight. they started seeing heavy snow move in to the denver region. that area from colorado springs through denver, up to boulder and into wyoming and central plains getting pounded major winter storm now. and they are expecting up to two feet of snow. here is the radar. that area in white is snow. all across much of colorado and then across the border into nebraska. and they are getting heavy snow there. already snow northwest of denver, boulder, colorado, they had over 20 inches of snow so far. it is still going. it is going to keep snowing the rest of the day into tonight and perhaps ending early tomorrow morning positive before it is finally well over. well over two feet and 40-mile-per-hour winds and cause significant drifting. paralyzing winter storm there. here, though, feels like winter but certainly looks beautiful with blue sky. 46 at riggan national. north west wind only around 5 to 10 miles an hour. elsewhere, temperatures are in the low to mid 40s from the mountains all the way to the atlantic beaches and chesapeake bay. montgomery county, arlington, fairfax drishgts, prince george's county, low to mid 40s and that wind coming out of the north and west and makes it feel like it is in the upper 30s and low 40s with the current wind chills. not a lot of wind around. wind chills are not too bad. as we look at the view from space, we have have a big area of high pressure to thank for the beautiful blue sky. it is going to be in place here today. it will eventually drift or and as it moves off to the east we will begin to see increasing clouds from the west. right now we have plenty of sunshine over the region and it will be with us here through the afternoon. mostly clear night tonight as we go forward over the next 48 hours. and we will be clear through the evening hours and chilly night getting cold tomorrow morning and we will start off with sun saturday morning. and then during the day we will have increasing clouds and that storm system in the plains and in the rockies. moving east but coming into some warmer air. as it does come in this area of green, zone of potential, perhaps light rain. this is sunday around midnight, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. may be a little wet snow in northern shenandoah valley, panhandle of west virginia, northern-western suburbs may have a little wet snow. early sunday morning. by noontime sunday we will begin to clear out. for the rest of the friday enjoy the beautiful blue sky. light wind out of the northwest 5 to 10 as we climb into the low 50s. over the next couple of hours. then overnight tonight for your friday evening plans, partly cloudy and chilly. temperatures mid 40s early evening. down to near 40 by midnight. then by dawn saturday near freezing starting tomorrow morning with sun and increasing clouds saturday afternoon. highs near 50. yes, we can get a little light rain late saturday night, perhaps into right around dawn on sunday. and that's washington and points south. areas just north and west of washington, maybe a little wet snow. that would be western fairfax county, loudoun county, montgomery county and quickly moving off to the east and little bit earlier in the evening, maybe a little bit of the wet snow out in northern shenandoah valley. panhandle of west virginia. sun back sunday afternoon. then we have a clear, dry, chilly pattern monday all through next week. still no big snowstorms here. >> we are not going to get any of that. little bit maybe of what denver is getting. >> it will be weakening as it comes east and getting warmer air thank you. we will see you again shortly. to the roads we go now. see if there are any problem. >> we are still looking good on the roadway. traveling i-95 in virginia, seeing nothing but green for you. heading from woodbridge, making your way to the beltway both directions of i-95 you are in the clear. i will give you a live look at lorton, volume very light at this time. traveling northbound and southbound. i will give you travel speed if you are traveling northbound. 61 miles per hour and from the occoquan river bridge to beltway that trip takes 11 minutes. and if you are traveling on i-270 in maryland in this area as well, north and south, no issues for you. barbara, back to you. >> all right. thank you so much, danella. 19 minutes after 11:00. still ahead, designer goods at a huge discount. we will tell you to find the deals tomorrow only. we are going to sit down with famous chef wolfgang puck. we will ask him about the source as d.c. restaurant what inspires him and a special award he is about to get this spring. a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com 37 . the james beard's foundation lifetime achievement award this year will go to wolfgang puck. it is the latest award for the chef who people say revolutionized how american chefs think about food. wolfgang puck joins thus morning to talk us b the honor and latest venture. good morning. >> good morning. yeah. >> i know. i wasn't expecting you to bring any food. i was so happy you brought us -- >> how could i not? >> i was going to be outset about this. >> some cookies. >> we thought we should honor you by not making you cook. >> thank you, thank you. >> you did bring -- what are these, chocolate chip cookies? >> and then we are celebrating chinese new year a week late but better late than never. we have fortune cookies which we make at the restaurant. >> you celebrate the chinese new year because you do an asian fusion style in most of your restaurants. >> yes. firstation fusion restaurant in america. that was in 1983. and -- >> you were really ahead of the game. >> yeah. because it was fusion, i had never learned about chinese food. hi to do the western style cooking, french cooking mainly andation and asian ingredients and the press said that's fusion cook. >> what made you decide to get into the chinese -- >> i love chinese food. when i came to los angeles, we have chinatown, monterey park. all these different neighborhoods which we -- eth any cal chinese and japanese, too. you know, i would like to open a restaurant with that food. and then i found a little space in santa monica. and -- i opened the restaurant and then the first night i forgot to cook rice. people said -- don't have you any rice? i said i forgot to cook rice. >> what's t