Im ready to go. This morning, were thinking about snow maybe moving in. Right now we have partly cloudy to mostly clear sky. Its clouding up to our south. Southern maryland, parts of virginia. Way out here in west virginia, there may be a few wet snowflakes showing up. But still quite a few hours away from any precipitation moving in. Right now, its cold. Were near freezing in the suburbs and Montgomery County and in prince georges county. Arlington and fairfax. Generally the mid 30s there as well as the District Of Columbia and across west virginia, temperatures a little above 30s. Well have rain in the afternoon hours but then changing 6 00 p. M. To 2 00 a. M. Thursday to some snow. I dont think were going to get much at all. Less than an inch. In this light blue zone north of washington, west of washington and all of that just accumulating on grassy areas. The road temperatures should be way too warm for it to stick to any roads. It may stick to a few roads. Thats way out in western maryland. Right along the pennsylvania border, with maryland and otherwise this is going to be a minor event. All rain elsewhere points south and east. Im back in ten minutes. A look at your first 4 traffic is danella. Good morning. Well head to the beltway. Crossing over the wilson bridge, an accident in the through lanes. Now its in the shoulder lane. This is as you travel the outer loop. It was in the through lanes, outer loop of the beltway. Now thats out of the roadway. A live look at traffic across the wilson bridge getting by without any issues at all. Prince georges county further in, this time at pennsylvania avenue, inner and outer loops are clear. As you loop around to Montgomery County, a live look at connecticut avenue. If youre traveling the beltway in virginia, a couple work zones in place. Well check them in ten minutes. 4 32. The massive manhunt for a former lapd officer accused of going on a deadly rampage appears to be over. Angie goff is at the live desk with more. Police believe that search for that most wanted man in america right now, it is over. We just got word from investigators that theyre trying to identify Human Remains Found in the search for an accused cop killer. They found a charred body where they believe the exlapd officer Christopher Dorner barricaded himself. Forensic tests have to be done now and dorner was holed up in that big bear cabin after he killed another officer during a gunfight with police. The officer killed is believed to be his fourth victim after he shot and killed three others this month. Angie goff. One of Police Officers that detectives believe dorn oar killed, Michael Crane will be laid to rest today. Crane and his partner were stopped at a red light when according to police dorner drove up, opened fire on their car and fled. His partner was wounded but did survive. Crane leaves behind a wife and two young children. The ecomony is once again front and center for president obama. It was the focus for nearly half of the president s speech. The president will visit an auto parts plant in asheville, North Carolina today. Creating middle class jobs providing technical and training increasing manufacturing are part of the plan outlined. He also sought to change the recent tone on capitol hill, which is focused heavily on the debt and spending cuts. Most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of our agenda. Lets be clear. Deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. It is not a bigger government we need but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broadbased growth. Now, central to the president s plan to reignite the middle class is education. He made an unexpected plan for Higher Quality preschool education. He wants to focus on math, science and technology. He asked congress to withhold federal aid to colleges who dont keep tuition costs down. He wants to raise the minimum wage to 9 and create a federal program to spur infrastructure project. The economy sen trick speech is prompting a strong spops fre from republicans. Marco rubio said the president has an obsession to raising taxes. Instead, we should grow our economy to create new taxpayers, not new taxes. So our government can afford to help those who truly cannot help themselves. Rubio was followed up by another conservative voice, rand paul, who offered the tea party response. While he also focused on the economy, he blamed both parties for failing voters. Washington act in a way your family never could. They spend money they dont have. They borrow from future generationsment then they blame each other for never fixing the problem. Tonight i urge you to demand a new course. Demand washington change their ways or be sent home. Paul and rubio also ride to characterize the president as a Big Government man at a time when Smaller Government is needed. Gabrielle giffords deserves a vote. The families of newtown deserve a vote. The families of aurora deserve a vote. The night turned emotional when president turned to reducing gun violence. He named some of the biggest Mass Shootings in the past year and called on congress to vote on gun control in honor of the vic tils of those shootings. Many on hand wore green ribbons to remember those hurt and killed in the newtown shooting. The president mentioned universal background checks and smaller ammunition magazines but primarily used it as a rally cry to push a vote. The Senate Judiciary committee will have a hearing on Immigration Reform. Homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano among those scheduled to testify. Last night president obama urged congress to send him and Immigration Reform bill. He said theyve tightened Border Security as well. For the First Time Since his surprise announcement that hes stepping down, were hearing from the pope this morning. Well go live to the vatican. Also ahead, a look at jobs longer Cruise Ship Passengers stranded at sea will be on a troubled ship. Plus, sounding off. Were hearing from geogonzalez since performance enhancing drugs welcome back. Quickly before we go to weather. Want to say hello to students a is vitted at elliott hine middle school. Went to the radio production class they do there. Interviewed by two of the young ladies in that class who asked a lot of really great questions. Its encouraging to see young people sort of look at our profession and sort of take a stab at it. A little threatening at the same time. Think did a great job and i appreciate the time. I had to think through. Its live. Aits n Internet Radio broadcast that they do. Had to be quick about it. Similar to the way we do things here with producers and such. We want to go to live pictures of the vatican, Pope Benedict xvi. This will be his first ma mass celebration. This is live pictures on this Ash Wednesday much the beginning of the lent season in which christians will observe a time of reflection and prayer and of course, this will be an interesting season as Pope Benedict prepares for his final days as the pope. Right. This is his regular weekly audience that youre watching live. Just started a few minutes ago. The pope literally just took to the stage. Later today, hell hold that Ash Wednesday service as well. A lot of folks who were not planning to be at vatican city changed their plans. We, of course, will continue to monitor this as a the morning continues and bring you updates as changes happen. Now lets check the forecast. Storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here with changes. Tom sm. Clouds are rolling in from the south and west and producing some precipitation by later this afternoon. Right now in the low to mid30s most of the region. As we look at the day ahead, its going to be chilly this morning but ought to climb into the 40s by 9 00. Mid40s by noontime. Then rain developing early to midafternoon when the temperatures begin to drop and then changing to some snow. Does look like some wet snow. Mostly melting on most roadways as we get into the evening hours. Ill show you the totals im expecting and the sevenday outlook in ten minutes. A look at traffic now with danella. Good morning. Good morning. Well head to virginia checking on roadwork. Outer loop of beltway, past little river turnpike, the left lane is blocked. Closer to the interchange, another work zone, this time blocking left and right lane. Youre seeing a bit of a delay from braddock. Aaron and eun, back to you. The push to punish parents whose kids dont bother to show up for school. Firing back ago the accusations of cheating. What gio gonzalez is telling fans. Top dog. A look at which Pampered Pooch took best in show at the Westminster Dog Show and im angie goff at the live desk. Pope benedict xvi makes his first public appearance since his decision to step down. Were looking at him moments ago walking into the church. Hes actually these are going to be live pictures right now. This is just moments ago when had he walked into the church. And there is the audiences response. Just a huge warm welcome to the pope this morning. What hes doing, hes hosting a general audience. This is not a mass but a meeting that happens weekly between the pope and his faithful. He is going to celebrate his final Ash Wednesday mass. Today might be the last time he actually leads mass. Because of this, its going to be held at st. Peters basilica instead of the normal place, the church of santa sa bin a on the evantino hill. Well keep a close eye on vatican city and other changes expected today. At the live desk, angie goff, news 4. The party is over in the french quarter. Now the cheenup begins in new orleans. Mardi gras crowds party until midnight on bourbon street. An estimated 1 Million People traveled there this year and pumped about 144 million into that regions economy. Now to new developments on that stranded cruise ship. The disabled Carnival Cruise ship could arrive in alabama as early as tonight after catching fire and losing fire over the weekend. Tugboats are slowly pulling it. Theyre dragging the boat from southern mexico back to o the state. More than 3,000 passengers and crew members on board that ship right now. It has no power except for generators and customers are complaining about no Running Water or air circulation. Carnival apologized and offered a full refund, plus a future cruise. Today the family of a maryland baby found murdered will hold a vigil for her. Montgomery county police say her 14yearold uncle beat and suffocated her in in apartment in white oak. He was babysitting the baby while his sister was working. Hes charged as an adult in her death. Tonights vigil will be held tonight in silver spring. All training exercises are suspended after a Maryland Police trainee was shot in the head during an exercise. It happened on the ground of a closed Psychiatric Hospital in owings mill. The trainee was rushed to surgery and in critical condition. Theyre investigating the incident. The human rights watches about allegations mishandling cases. They say hundreds of cases were not documented. A private firm will look into the claims. Kathy lanier was highly critical of the report when it was released in january. She claims it does not reflect the current culture of the department and the Research Methods were flawed. D. C. Council is reconsidering language in a proposed School Truancy bill. The provision requires parents of chronically truant students to be prosecuted. According to the washington post, more than 5,000 children missed more than a month of class in the district last year. The proposed law would make d. C. s attorney general prosecute cases after ten unexcused absences per school year. Parents found guilty would have to take a parenting class, do Community Service or even face jail time. Critics call the penalties harsh and he can pensive. Gio gonzalez is confident his name will be cleared for using performanceenhancing drug. He insists he never used peds. At the end of the day, ive never taken performanceenhancing drugs and i never will. Youre stunned, shocked, your name was brought up out of nowhere. You cant do nothing about it. You have to wait it out and listen to whats going on. You cant jump the gun or yum to conclusions. Gonzalez says his father was a patient at the clinic at the heart of the investigation. He says his pear was a leg legitimate patient who went there to lose weight. Lawyers for barry bonds will ask a federal court to ask for his conviction to be thrown out. He was convicted of not answering whether he ever used performanceenhancing drugs. His lawyers say the answer was never misleading nor untrue. Bonds is not expected to appear at the appeal and judges will rule on the case at a later date. For the first time this season, the capitals are on a winning streak. A lead. Its sew solo. Score the caps stormed back from a twogoal deaf stoit force overtime and brour thrilled the team to a win. Alex ovechkin chipped in a goal. They stay in florida and take on the lightning on thursday. Virginia has bragging rights over Virginia Tech this year when it comes to college hoops. The cavaliers trounced the hokies, 7355 last night in charlottesville. It was uvas second win. The cavs won by 16 points in blacksburg. Theyre in second place in the acc. The cavalier take on North Carolina this saturday. Soon youll be able to leave your friend a ticket without leaving your seat. Ticketmaster will let you transfer ticket digitally. You and a friend or Family Member will need to have the mobile app. You just sign into the account and email your ticket. The feature hopes to be up and running this spring. Americas top dog is only about a foot tall and weighs less than 15 pounds. An affenpinscher named banana joe won the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. He beat out the english sheepdog nee named bugaboo. A bijon frise was the winner of the nonsporting group. An american fox hound finished first in the hound group. Youll see banana joe live, of course, on the today show after news4 today. Its such a fun show to see the breeds. Theyre so cute. It really is. Professional. If you can say that about an animal. Theyre trained for this kind of performance. Good for them. Congrats. Lets turn to tom kierein for an update on the forecast. This morning, we have clouds rolling in. We might get a little wet snow by the time you head back home. Right now, weve got a mostly cloudy sky over washington. North and west, though, its mostly clear. Kind of partly cloudy and 36 at reagan national. By 6 00 a. M. , our temperatures will be climbing into the upper 30s or so. Later today, up into the mid40s. Right now, we have temperatures right near the freezing mark in Montgomery County, arlington, fairfax, prince georges and well have those temperatures hold steady here as weve got the precipitation now beginning to roll our way. All rain now, kentucky, indiana, tennessee. Thats going to be moving to closer to washington. No precipitation around the metro area. No travel problems weatherwise. Clouds on the increase. The areas in green. Scattered light rain may be moving in perhaps around 2 00 into the metro area. Some steadier light rain by around 4 30, 5 00. Then this area in the lavender, thats wet snow that may move into the Shenandoah Valley by then. This evening by 9 00, may still be raining in washington points south and east. North and west, this could be accumulating wet snow and quickly zipping out. This is as of 2 00 tomorrow morning. Heading out over the eastern show and clearing out over that. Here are the totals im expecting. Less than an inch on grassy areas. North and west of the region. Melting on roadways and farther north along the pennsylvania border, there may be one to two inches. Through the morning hours, well be Holding Steady in the 30s. Into the 40s by 9 00. By noontime, the mid40s with clouds around. In the afternoon time period, well get the rain and changing over to snow overnight tonig and ending by midnight or so after that. On thursday, sun back in the 40s. Might get flurries on friday night. But before then, nice day. Up near 50 friday afternoon but maybe flurries as cold air moves in friday night and off and on flurries possible on saturday. Highs reaching the mid and upper 30s. A cold day sunday with sunshine. Afternoon highs still cold monday with sunshine. Next chance of precipitation looks to be rain on tuesday. Im back with frequent updates throughout the morning. Next one is ten minutes. First 4 traffic with danella. Tom, well start and head down i95 in virginia making the trip out of stafford heading northbound towards dale city. Nice and clear. A live look past dumfries road. North, southbound, clear, continuing all the way to 395. No issues to report. On 395, checking for construction, accidents, no delays. None of that. Nice and clear commute heading towards the 14th street bridge. Traveling along i270 in maryland, your commute is coming up in ten minutes. Over to you. 4 54 now. More than halfway through winter and our area has not seen a major snowstorm yet. That has left plenty of money for coffers in d. C. And virginia. Its spent more than half of its budgeted 41 million this winter. The Highway Administration says repeated deployments have drained part of the budget. But in virginia, its only deployed crews about a dozen times. Theres a big effort to stage crews now. To stage every