jane carter has lived in the selkes' neighborhood for 36 years. >> i'm still kind of shocked. i'm still kind of shocked. we're just a small little community and i'm very sad. kevin: it's unclear why mother and daughter were flying from spain to germany. family home sitting quiet tonight. >> live every moment that you can. that's the only thing that i can say. i'm sure they didn't have no idea that something like this was going to happen. it's a real tragedy. and i hope they find out what happened. kevin: so far, the selkes have only released a written statement in which they said our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of yvonne and emily, two wonderful, caring amazing people who meant so much to so many. we're live in nokesville this evening, i'm kevin lewis, abc 7 news. leon: conflicting information on the crash. they were reporting that the cover of the second black box had been found with nothing inside. but investigators later disputed that fact at a press conference. as ryan nobles reports, the french government is looking for a full accounting of what went wrong. >> a black box has been found. at this very moment it's being worked on. ryan: the president of france chancellor of germany and the spanish prime minister visited the region where the plane went down. investigators are trying to determine if the crash had anything to do with terrorism. something b.e.a. the french version of the ntsb has yet to rule out. many of the gaps won't be filled until they're able to get information from the two black boxes. the cockpit voice recorder has been found but badly damaged. >> we need to know what the pilots are doing, what they were saying if they were communicating. ryan: meanwhile, the grisly task of recovering the human remains continues high in the french alps. it won't be easy. it could require d.n.a. checks that may take several weeks. this as the families begin the grieving process hoping for answers in this terrible tragedy. in washington ryan nobles abc 7 news. alison: and developing now. the army has charged sergeant bowe bergdahl with misbehavior before the enemy and desertion. >> misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place carries a maximum potential penalty of a dishonorable discharge, reduction to the rank of e-1, total forfeiture of all paying allowances and possible confinement for life. alison: you'll remember he was held captive by the taliban for five years before his release last year. he was freed in that controversial prisoner exchange involving five members of the taliban. bergdahl is accused of walking away from his unit in afghanistan in 2009. an upcoming hearing will determine if bergdahl will face a court-martial. leon: let's check on the weather here this hour. rumbles of thunder could be shaking parts of the area tomorrow. but at least it's going to be warmer. alison: that's right. let's get to our chief meteorologist doug hill in the stormwatch weather 7 center. sounds like a pretty spring like day tomorrow, doug? doug: we get these march, april still kind of fall back to winlterwinlt er -- winter pattern and get a preview of spring and fall back again. here in arlington high above the belfort furniture weather center. 53 degrees outside right now. few breaks or bright spots in the overcast but generally cloudy skies across the region. it's a small batch from the waldorf moving northeast, should cross over through charles county into southern prince george's and calvert county before long. we'll have a complete play of this kind of pattern early tomorrow morning. temperatures, low to mid 50's. a little cooler to the north, already just west. already in the 60's. and that's a preview of what's coming our way. tonight, cloudy. should be some fog overnight and a little rain for the morning hours in spots. skies will brighten through the day. we can hit highs 74 degrees by the afternoon and then through tomorrow evening showers and some gusty thunderstorms all a possibility. the strong cold front moving this way. we'll look ahead to the next seven days for you in a couple of minutes. alison: see you then. meanwhile, this is just in from prince george's county where we've learned the school system says students will be in class next thursday. this is to make up some of the time lost to snow this winter. school will be out two hours early april 2nd and the 3rd through the 10th will still be spring break. so student had seven snow days in prince george's county this year. this system will be extending the calendar until june 23rd. leon: everybody knows that mother nature did a number on the roads across our area this past winter and today, the district launched its annual push to try to fill up the cracks and craters out there. pothole palooza comes with a promise to get the potholes patched fast. stephen tschida is following repair crews for us this morning. let's check in with him and see how things are going. how is it looking out there? stephen: we are in the thick of pothole palooza. we're tagging along with this repair crew all day. check it out. we have a puddly pothole right here. this year because of some improved technology and some new avenues of approach to potholes they promise to get these fixed faster than ever. the pothole tiller is on the road along with an army of workers. ddot is tackleing potholes with the same aggressive strategy it uses to clear snow. >> try to avoid. stephen: pothole palooza is a rite this spring. this winter left roads potted or pitted. mayor bowser: i think it snow or sleeted every one of those 10 weeks. stephen: crews will work seven days a week 10 hour shifts and they're getting help from improved technology. this will aid in tracking and guiding the crews and the operation now is under a unified command center. the goal to get a pothole repaired within 48 hours of a report. instead of the former timeline of 72 hours. >> happy. real happy. >> because they -- wear and tear on people's cars and stuff. stephen: back live now. giving you a real close look at how they are repairing these potholes. now, ddot tells us that in the two weeks leading up to pothole palooza, they filled in more than 7,000 potholes. by the time pothole palooza wraps up they expect to fill more than 12,000 potholes. reporting live stephen tschida, abc 7 news. leon: maryland's new governor was among those trying to get a casino to national harbor today. larry hogan was on the tour of the construction for the new m.g.m. casino the last of six planned casinos in the state. he did a status report of the entire project coming up at 6:00 tonight. alison? alison: we have new information tonight in the arrest of that university of virginia student that made headlines all over the country. today, terry mcauliffe ordered that all alcohol beverage control agents be retrained on the use of force, cultural diversity, community policing and interaction with youth. the executive order comes after martese johnson was arrested last wednesday. photos of that 20-year-old covered in blood were broadcast and published all over the country. well, an impassioned plea today from the widow of a local lawyer found murdered in a d.c. hotel room. brianne carter is live in northwest washington with the new information on this case. brianne? brianne: alison it has been nearly two months since david messerschmitt was found dead inside a fourth floor hotel room here at the donovan hotel. and not only tonight are we hearing from the wife we're also hearing from police who are now saying the person seen in that surveillance video is a woman. >> the world has lost a good person. brianne: through tears, kim vuong, the wife of david messerschmitt today spoke out for the first time since her husband was murdered last month. >> my husband and my best friend in one day, i lost the most important person in my life. and the man i loved so much. and i have no answers. brianne: back on february 10th authorities say messerschmitt, seen here on this facebook page was found stabbed to death inside a fourth floor room at the donovan hotel. according to a search warrant obtained by abc 7 credit cards, condoms and clothes were also found in the room. at the time, police released this surveillance video of a person of interest. today with enlarged images from that video, police said they believe the person is a woman. today, vuong standing beside visibly upset members of david's family urged people to take another look at the video. >> if you don't recognize that person of interest or have any information about the crime please contact the police. even the smallest details could help. brianne: and back here live police are saying tonight they are following a number of leads and looking into a number of different things including whether or not david messerschmitt may have been on any app prior to he was found murdered inside of this hotel room. now, at this point, police are also telling us this is still a very active and ongoing investigation. up to $25,000 being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this case. reporting live brianne carter abc 7 news. leon: new developments in last month's shooting at frederick high school. they have filed charges against 21-year-old brandon tyler and 19-year-old chandler davenport. two teens were injured in that shooting outside of a basketball game february 4th. police would not comment on a motive but they would say there's a gang connection and the victims and the suspects knew each other. alison: coming up on abc 7 news at 5:00 memorial mess. we'll have reaction to the photo of two kids playing on one of the national mall's most emotional memorial. leon: a little later, what investigators found in the boston marathon bombing suspect's apartment that prosecutors are using to build their case. alison: researchers raise concerns about pollution and pregnancy. brad: i'm brad bell in western maryland with a 2-month-old bear cub. stay with us. we'll alison: from cargo to hero. check out this video of two elephants helping keep a tractor-trailer from flipping over. this happened in louisiana. police say the truck was carrying three elephants when the driver pulled off the road and got stuck on a soft shoulder. so he unloaded two of the elephants and they helped him keep the truck from tumbling into a ditch. leon: that's what every car needs a tool kit with an elephant in it. alison: we've been looking forward to this next story coming up much the mayor department of natural resources wants to keep tabs on the state's black bear population. leon: that's right. so each spring agents fan out to find bear cubs and their mothers and they tag the bears for future monitoring and today, they were out near deep creek lake and maryland bureau chief brad bell went along with them. brad: deep in the hole in a hillside along a cold mountain stream a black bear has given birth. state biologists have been tracking this 12-year-old bear with a radio collar for more than half her life. today, it's time to change the collar and check her cubs. with mama tranquilized, the cubs come out of the den first. >> this little bear cub right now is about 2 months old and she's clinging to me tightly. you can see, it is a bear. look at the claws on this paw. the greatest concern, they say, at this point is trying to keep them warm. brad: it takes two to pull the bear from the den. the veterinarian checks her out. >> she looks great and looks very healthy. brad: the three cubs are weighed and get ear tags. the maryland department of natural resources bear program keeps track of 21 female bears, the only way they say to monitor the help of a growing population. >> back in the 1950s there were almost no bears at all in maryland. now here we are with a very robust regional bear population. brad: more than 1,000 is their best estimate. bear habitat is expanding, too. the reproducing bear population has reached poolesville in montgomery county and in the years ahead it's expected suburban bear sightings will grow more common. >> these animals are really tolerant of people if we can just learn to be tolerant of them. brad: he's hoping that sharing the glimpse of these creatures in this way will help people better accept the possibility of a bear in the backyard. in maryland brad bell, abc 7 news. alison: brad looked pretty comfortable snuggling up with that bear. now. leon: in a few years, the whole bear's paw will be that big. alison: warm tomorrow? doug: a little taste of spring. for one day, we'll take it for sure. let's get started with our coverage. let's look at current conditions. gray and damp out there. 54 degrees at reagan national airport. actually only four to five degrees below average for this time of year. making progress there. sotherly wind at 8. at the moment we have a couple of moments of light wind and showers moving across the potomac river into areas of southwestern and prince george's county. from mount vernon eastward and moving through brandywine crossing potomac into calvert county. a few more. that should be that. tomorrow morning, few more showers as the leading edge of the warm air arrives. with the cold air we've had and cold ground and warmer air coming, fog is a possibility through the overnight and early morning hours as well. as far as numbers, a big difference when you go from west to east. north and east especially aberdeen and harford county maryland, 43. 54 at reagan and then you go west of the mountains and it warms up a little bit in the mid 60's. that's the warm air that will head our way. tonight, temperatures will drop but not that much. in fact, temperatures holding steady. only de-gropping. maybe only dropping a degree or two tonight. patchy fog is possible as well. what's happening in the west right now gives us a clue of what may be happening tomorrow. and this is an area of much warmer temperatures. 81 in little rock. 75 at nashville. 76 in charleston. this wedge of warm air is developing ahead of the next cold front that will have a profound effect on the weather and may arrive with thunderstorms in some areas by tomorrow evening. in fact, right now, we're looking at areas of showers and storms in parts of the central and southern plains as we're starting to see the warm air collide with the cold air and as part of that, i want to give you a live look at the weather bug network from tulsa, oklahoma. 76 degrees and look a thunderstorm in progress. it's moving out of frame but a pretty healthy thunderstorm indeed. very indicative of a spring pattern change. so tomorrow, we get a little activity in the morning. some showers and then as we get through the afternoon and evening hours we'll break into the sunshine. this is 6:00 a.m. what it may look like for showers in the area. as we get through mid morning and afternoon, we'll pop into sunshine and get the sotherly winds to push us into the 70's in many areas. and then tomorrow evening, 7:00 8:00, 9:00, this line of thunderstorms and rain showers may move through with gusty winds. start to turn cooler behind this for the day on friday. and turn much colder around these parts by the day on saturday. so we'll warm it back up. again, this is just the painful slow process of transitioning to winlter weather patterns, spring weather patterns around the mid atlantic and the rest of the country for that matter. tomorrow morning, some fog and some light rain in the morning. we'll break out into sunshine. 66 by midday. 72 to 74 by late afternoon or evening. and then the showers and storms will be a possibility. we'll back it off by 20 degrees. count them. 20 by friday with morning showers. clearing late in the day. saturday, breezy. partly cloudy. highs only 40 to 44 degrees. sunday warmer near 50 and then a nice warmup monday, tuesday and wednesday back into the lower 60's. alison: ok lots of changes every single day. moving in the right direction. thank you. leon: absolutely. moving on now this morning i had a great chance to go and hang out with some wonderful people today. we had -- we celebrated the scan of their 13th annual prevention awards luncheon. we'll see a group that is all about stopping child abuse and neglect. wonderful folks and they honored five different award winners from the various counties in the area. amazing people doing some amazing work to help kids and save them from abuse and teaching families how to do it on their own. wonderful people. alison: great job. all right. you might remember the song "i can't drive 55". well still ahead, how one car company wants to help you maintain the speed limit at all times. leon: and a little later, food and friendship that turn some lives around. alison: first, here's a look at what's coming up tonight on abc. alison: "7 on your side" with a health matters report now. according to a new study, a pregnant mother's increased exposure to air pollution appears to be linked to changes in the brain and behavior of their children later in life. scientists aren't sure why this link is so prominent and they admit a larger study is necessary. but it does raise concerns about the invisible effects that air pollution might have on those that smoke. they are giving a former u.p.s. driver another chance to prove her claim of pregnancy discrimination. peggy young of lorton sued the atlanta based package delivery company after she says she was forced to take a leave of absence or risk her pregnancy instead of being offered lighter duty. today in a 6-3 vote in favor of young, the justices threw out lower court rulings that rejected her lawsuit. leon: word tonight that celebrity chef jacques papen is recovering from a stroke. the 79-year-old was at his home when she started noticing symptoms. it was a minor one but enough to cancel an appearance in d.c. scheduled for this friday. he was able to cook some soup this morning and she expects her dad to make a full recovery. the u.s. senate special committee on aging heard testimony on combatting alzheimer's disease. the former restaurateur and her husband were among those who smoke. smith closed her union station restaurant after being diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's. >> this has been something that's very new to me because i've been so healthy for a long time but i've never had anything like this. but what i'm going to do is i'm going to fight. leon: last november smith became disoriented and spent the next 17 hours wandering around new york city. the department of health and human services have set a goal of preventing and effectively treating alzheimer's by 2025 e. alison: gary bettman was on capitol hill discussing the importance of hockey in higher education. members of congress as wellf will join part of their team to face off against lobbyists in the seventh annual congressional hockey challenge. all proceeds go to the nhl's thurgood marshall college fund. leon: coming up on abc 7 news at 5:00, going in a different direction. what sent teenage girls in a tizzy about one of the biggest boy bands. alison: dishonorable behavior? we'll take a look at the controversial swirling on line after this picture of kids climbing on a national monument. reporter: a former member of congress seems to be living a mystery life in dubai and his friends are concerned. i'm sam ford. that story is coming up o leon: a call tonight to help the wife of the district's first congressional delegate. friends tell abc 7 news that walter's wife is on the verge of losing the family home the home that has been in the family for 50 years after he traveled overseas and has not returned. sam ford explains how all this happened. >> walter if you hear about us and know about this, we want you to come home. sam: friends of d.c.'s 82-year-old former congressman walter fontroy told reporters they haven't seen him in three years. he's in dubai, they think, but they know he's in bankruptcy, his northwest d.c. home is in foreclosure over a $650,000 loan and they're seeking donations to save it for his 80-year-old wife dorothy who lives there. >> these funds will not go to congressman himself. they will go to his wife. to help her while she deals with whatever -- this is obviously more traumatic for her than it is for us. sam: he was a top aide to dr. martin luther king d.c.'s congressman for 20 years and pastor of new bethel baptist church for 50 years and he was in libya to see muammar qaddafi when rebels killed qaddafi. he was feared dead too. he returned to d.c. and then went to dubai to work on world hunger he told friends. >> he just believes he's so close on this mission. so close. sam: there are media reports he may be avoiding the u.s. because of a bench warrant involving a $50,000 bounced check. his lawyer rejected that. >> did you tell him there's like a storm brewing over here? >> he knows that. sam: barnes said he last spoke with him three days ago. reporters had many questions, why is he broke when a 10 term former congress member gets a pension? are there health issues involved here? his friends could only say they don't know. reporting from northwest washington, sam ford, abc 7 news. alison: we know two of the 150 people who died in that germanwings plane crash are from nokesville, virginia. yvonne selke worked as a contractor at booz allen hamilton for the last 23 years. her daughter emily graduated from drexel with a major in music industry. she worked back here in alexandria and also served on the executive board of the guama sigma sigma sorority. virginia governor terry mcauliffe is ordering a complete retraining for the commonwealth's alcoholic beverage control agents. this comes after that high-profile arrest of martese johnson in charlottesville. state police are already investigating that arrest. and for the first time police narrowed the search for a person of interest after a lawyer was murdered at the donovan hotel just last month. they now believe the person seen on surveillance after david messerschmitt was found stabbed is a woman. according to a search warrant obtained by abc 7, credit cards condoms and clothes also found in that room. leon: jurors in the boston marathon bombing trial saw more potential explosives material found in the alleged attacker's home. among the items recovered from dzhokhar tsarnaev's apartment, b.b.s, nails and pressure cooker parts. they say that his brother tamerlan who died in a gun fight with police was the mastermind. alison: nigerian officials say boko haram kidnapped hundreds of women and children. 400 were abducted earlier month. the militants rounded up students and teachers from primary schools and then just disappeared. it happened as the group retreated from that city. leon: a california woman reportedly abducted from her boyfriend's home has been found safe. denise huskins was found 400 miles south of where her boyfriend says she was snatched in the middle of the night. the main question though is why did he wait 10 hours before calling police? investigators confirm that there was a ransom demand. >> question that we all wonder is why, why so long? you know was he incapacitated. was there a reason that he took so long? was he -- did he feel threatened? leon: police say that officers found a boyfriend's toyota camry reportedly taken during the abduction. alison: a study of nearly is 1700 videos show distraction plays a bigger role in accidents than originally thought. distractions were a factor in six out of 10 crashes. that is four times the number previously thought. the most common distractions were talking to other passengers using a cell phone, looking at something other than the road and reaching for something. well, ford says it has a new car that can help you drive the speed limit. the company says the s-max can scan traffic and adjust to keep you within the speed limit. but you can still temporarily override the feature by pressing firmly on the accelerator. leon: driving the speed limit usually not an issue around here this time of day. alison: nope. leon: wishing you could drive the speed limit is the issue. jamie sullivan is watching the roads for us. jamie? jamie: definitely under the posted speed limit right now. we have an earlier crash on d.c. 295 that really jammed up south. it was actuaclosed. the thing is that's not typically where we see our afternoon volume. it is heading outbound. we've got that right now. 395 from the 14th street bridge continuing to the beltway. we also have the jammed up traffic. let's talk 95 so getting from the capital beltway continuing then, a little bit closer towards the occoquan it will take you about 19 minutes. that's your average and delays for you. really seeing a lot of heavy traffic prompting the american legion bridge averaging about 14 miles an hour. i want to talk about a crash that is coming in. pretty serious one. it is heading westbound on the toll road near centreville road. two lanes are blocked. this will be for you heading from the beltway outbound on the toll road. if you are trying to get to the airport, this is the dulles airport, give yourself quite a bit of extra time. we're already seeing about a mile and a half of bumper-to-bumper traffic. let's take a look at 66. live look. we'll show you what we got as far as volume. both directions. this is our traffic right near 123. and then taking a look at what we've got as far as delays. mainly seeing this on 395. this is our traffic closest to me that's heading in but again, outbound is the issue in the afternoon. slow traffic for you near duke street. that's a look at the delays and accidents. back over to you. leon: thank you. update now coming into the abc 7 newsroom about devin stills' daughter the professional football player made national headlines when the bengals signed him to keep his daughter covered as she was fighting cancer. in the last hour still instagrammed and updated the world that her cancer is in full remission. the #throwing the biggest kid party ever. way to go! alison: that's great news. happy to hear that. it looks like the popular boy band one direction is going in a different direction. you may have noticed maybe there were a lot of crying directioners today? whether in person or on social media. that's because zane malik is officially quitting the group. he said he wanted to be a normal 22-year-old and enjoy private time out of the spotlight. this follows his recent exit from the band's current world tour where he cited stress as the reason for leaving. leon: coming up on abc 7 news at 5:00 -- how a morning of exercise followed up with some pancakes is helping some young men stay out of jail. this week's harris' heroes just ahead. alison: how the government is responding to an accusation of chemicals in a popular flooring product. leon: u.s. capitol police say congressional parties are getting out of hand. their urgent r alison: students at roger heights elementary school in bladensburg, maryland took a bite out of childhood hunger today. watch that right there. they joined more than 800,000 students throughout the state in a synchronized bite into an apple. the event raised awareness about the importance of school breakfast as part of the crunch to end childhood hunger. leon? leon: looks good. something else to chew on here literally. a d.c. man was proving that sometimes it doesn't take a big brand, but takes food and friendship to help others turn their lives around and stay out of prison in the process. he started a weekly gathering at his home that includes friends and some former felons and that makes grant mclaughlin and his pancake saturdays this week's harris heroes. they start their saturday morning with a short jog through southeast d.c. then it's on to some light and not so light exercise. following their workout, this group which includes by the way, some former felons come together to support each other over breakfast. >> what do you got in there? >> a little chicken sausage. a little turkey bacon. some pancakes. leon: during the week he works in a d.c. office. on saturdays, he's a cook. >> people around this table lift each other up. leon: he started up the informal group at his house known as pancake saturdays along with his roommate. avilla was a teenager when he was convicted and now he's turning his life around. and trying to help others do the same by sharing his story. >> need somebody to be there and give you some type of love and affection and some type there. leon: better chance that you're going to -- >> most definitely. leon: mclaughlin says the goal of pancake saturdays is simple. >> i'd like to be better at making pancakes but -- >> goal is really to make a difference. leon: he says anyone can make a difference. all it requires is a willingness to take the first step. >> whatever it is that you think a contribution can be, just make it. >> good job, guys! leon: this group flukt waits from week to week. different groups show up and share their time on saturday mornings and they all get a lot out of it. mclaughlin hopes his pancake saturdays inspire others to step fared and make a positive impact in their communities and all it takes is thinking about it and doing it. alison? alison: great story, leon thank you. they are the only local team left dancing. still to come how the lady terps are preparing for the sweet 16. horace: i'm horace holmes at the national mall. it's not at all unusual to see people down here taking pictures at the various me morms. well there's one that was taken here that is causing quite a bit of talk across the country. we'll show you the photo and tell you what it's about coming up next. alison: we're counting down to the first pitch for the nats this season. as of today, just 12 days to go. we'll be right back! leon: trending now, a photo of two kids along the national mall. alison: this picture didn't show them taking in the monuments. they're actually climbing on one of the me morms. it's the vietnam women's memorial, in fact, and it's just down from the wall and the lincoln memorial. horace holmes went to the national mall today to get raekdz. horace: albert wright a vietnam veteran here from san diego to see the memorials was offended. >> i think it was disrespectful. horace: "it" is this picture snapped by the cleveland photographer matthew munson while on a visit to washington to the war memorials that's caused so much talk. >> not a playground. horace: he posted on his facebook page the picture of young children climbing on the vietnam women's memorial. >> you can see in the picture obviously the veterans looking on and stuff. horace: his facebook page was swamped with comments from people all over the country and the picture went viral on the internet. the debate is over whether it is appropriate for children to be allowed to climb on this or any other memorial on the mall. >> that's probably not appropriate. pretty hard if you have you know, kids. they can jump on there before you have a chance. horace: today, we saw many children approach the memorial. in most cases, their parents instructed them to back off. >> i don't see that big of a deal with it i guess. but i don't -- i wouldn't want my kid to do it. horace: there are signs posted all over this area of the mall prohibiting food beverages and smoking and encouraging all visitors to respect the memorials. but is this disrespect or harmless child's play? >> if children are interacting with the statue because they were moved by it that might be appropriate. but if they're just climbing around because it's a toy to climb on maybe that's pretty disrespectful. horace: and as you can see we have quite a group down here now taking a look at this memorial. according to the photographer matthew munson here are the circumstances surrounding and leading up to taking that picture. he says this is actually the parents of those two young children who encouraged them to climb up into the statue to take a photo. regardless of what the circumstances, it's caused quite a lot of talk across the country. reporting live downtown horace holmes, abc 7 news. leon: thanks horace. month long commemoration of a key event in the civil rights movement ended with thousands of people on the steps of the alabama capitol today. the daushz of martin luther king jr. and former alabama governor george wallace took part in the event and that includes bernice king reading a speech on the steps that her father gave a speech 50 years ago today. alison: coming up tonight at 6:00, new developments in that plane crash in the french alps. what we're learning about a local mother and daughter who were on board that plane. plus concerns over the new m.g.m. casino being built at national harbor. why some say billion dollar project isn't living up to its promise to the community. plus, it's not political parties but holiday parties irking some at the u.s. capitol. the message capitol police are sending congress. that's new on abc 7 news at 6:00. leon: all right. party down on the hill today better stay indoors. probably better idea for that. alison: i know. tomorrow will be a different story, right, doug? doug: what we have around here is indeed a taste of spring coming but it is a one-day deal. we have some showers east of the city right now moving eastbound towards the chesapeake bay and over the eastern shore where they're turning a bit heavier. full look at things right now around the area. skies are cloudy and temperatures are cool. but tomorrow is our big warm day here. we may have a repeat of some showers in the morning before the temperatures rise. also going to have some fog around the area tonight. 50 in washington dulles and frederick. 53 degrees in fredricksburg and to the west of the area we'll see temperatures a lot warmer to the southeast. 72 in greenville north carolina. 76 in charleston west virginia. we're getting rid of our warm wedge and we'll enjoy some warmer temperatures but only briefly tomorrow. any chance even one day of warm weather can speed the cherry blossoms along. i know the guy that knows that answer. steve rudin down at the tidal basin. what are you seeing? steve: not a lot out here today. let me tell you, busload after busload people coming, where are you from? here they are. they came here early hoping that they would see the cherry blossoms. they're about two weeks early because this is all we have right now. just the buds. peak time right now we're looking at around april 11th through the 14th. the average peak bud or bloom, i should say april 4th so we're a little bit behind schedule this year. if your allergies are beginning to bother you, there's a reason why. with the warmer temperatures ahead, we are going to look for that pollen count to jump. right now trees now in the high category and the weeds and the molds not that much of a problem. and we are going to look for things to gradually get worse and worse as we move through the coming weeks. want to take you back here and look at this. can you guess what this is? we'll head back to doug. doug, you have a guess what this may be? doug: not really sure. steve: this is a beaver guard. doug: oh! steve: it's a beaver guard and most of the trees have the guards on them right now. a few years back we had that beaver that came in and chopped down some trees. doug, back to you. doug: all right steve. the story here tomorrow is a taste of spring in the air. highs in the 70's. afternoon thunderstorms. talk more about that in a few minutes. back to you guys. alison: ok, doug. thank you very much. tim: not going there. it's not 11:27. leon: no it's not. tim: the nfl draft will be held april 30th this chicago. the first time the draft has been held outside of new york city and this one promises to have a few surprises. now, the redskins have the fifth pick overall. new general manager scott mcclelland said washington will take the best available athlete even if it's a quarterback. he's hoping that the heisman trophy marcus marioti is still available. he fell in love with his strong arm, quick reads and stable feet. they promised the spot to r.g. iii so the question begs, are the redskins serious? >> we think it's worth the risk to hit the reset button if he's that good of a football player if we decide he's that good of a football player, i think we should do that. then we should do that, you know. we'll see. you know that has not been determined yet obviously. we still have some time to determine whether or not we want to go that direction. but he's a heck of an athlete, i'll tell you that and jamieson is a heck of a passer. tim: how many times have the redskins hit the reset button? let's go to women's basketball. maryland terps are the number one seed in the region. and are leaving for spokane, washington, where they'll meet an old rival, the duke blue devils. oh, what a great matchup. duke and maryland. but now it's big 10-acc. that plus the fact that maryland is the last team still alive in the tournament. the pressure is building, stakes are higher but the maryland women seem to be handling it well and are excited to represent the area. >> it gives us great confidence obviously, we had a great game. lexi had a great game. but everything is going to go good for that game. a lot of people stepped up and stepped up last game. so we're going to get in the flow of the game. whoever has a great night, we'll be hyped for them. tim: more on that game coming up at 6:00. the nba washington wizards play indiana tonight in the phone booth. wiz kids need a win badly. i said last night, and leon got on me. i said the wizards quit against the warriors the other night. coming up in sports at 6:00 bradley beal responds to that. come on man. they lost by 30. defense was nonexistent. wizards scored one basket in the third quarter. i said quit. we'll see what bradley says. i know what you said. leon: i got my man's back. tim: i know you did. i know you did. alison: thank you. all right, coming up next on abc 7 news at 5:00 the federal government responds to reports about a popular company's flooring. leon: alison: "7 on your side" with a consumer alert now. a second blue bell ice cream facility is now linked to the deadly listeria outbreak. a contaminated ice cream cup was traceed to a plant in oklahoma. now, earlier this month, the company recalled 10 products linked to a texas plant. so far, five people have been sickened. and three died. all of those are connected to a kansas hospital. the federal government tonight wants to know more about exactly what chemicals lumber liquidators was using in its flooring. leon: joce sterman is in our newsroom and has an update on the i-team investigation for us this evening. what's the latest? joce: we have been hearing from customers all over maryland d.c. and virginia. they want to know whether their floors are making them sick. and now someone else wants to know too which the consumer products safety commission. the chairman of the cpsc confirmed today it is investigating lumber liquidators. it's still too early to tell whether any of the products have been recalled. that company is based in virginia but their laminate is made in china. now, lumber liquidators maintains their flooring is safe and they're cooperating fully with the feds and gave some of their testing data to the agency. customers, though are still concerned including eve murphy. we talked to her recently. she told us once she moves into a house where that kind of laminate flooring from lumber liquidators was installed, she got very sick. we took out samples of her flooring and sent them away for testing. we are still waiting on the results. we're expecting them in the next day or two and the cpsc says it will be doing its own testing. right now, the consumer products safety commission says it is focused solely on chinese made flooring from lumber liquidators but agency says their investigation could expand. we're keeping an eye on the investigation, too. as soon as we get the results of our own laminate testing, we'll bring them to you. joce sterman, abc 7 news. leon: thank you, joce. thank you for joining us. that's it for abc 7 news at 5:00. alison: but abc 7 news at 6:00 starts right now. maureen: tonight, one black box has been recovered and the other remains missing following the crash of a germanwings plane in the french alps. two of the three americans on board were a mother and daughter from prince william county. kimberly suters is live in our newsroom with what she's learned about this developing story. kimberly? kimberly: maureen, the selke family released a simple statement tonight. it reads "our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of yvonne and emily selke, two wonderful, caring amazing people who meant so much to so many." inside a tightly knit neighborhood in nokesville -- >> still kind of shocked. kimberly: a shock too much to avoid right now. among the 150 people on board the germanwings flight 9525 that crashed into the french alps a beloved mother and daughter from jane carter's community. >> this little neighborhood has been here 36 years and nothing like that has ever happened. kimberly: yvonne selke became a government contractor with booz allen hamilton 23 years ago. the same year her daughter emily was born. this emily's profile picture. a woodbridge high school and drexel university graduate selke'sorority sisters posted this photo and message on facebook. "she always put others before herself and cared deeply for all those in her life." the crash victims come from 15 different countries. investigators are looking into every possible cause of the crash including terrorism. only clues at this hour one badly damaged cockpit voice recorder. >> we need to know what the pilots were doing, what they were saying, if they were communicating. kimberly: surviving family members gathered wednesday morning. neighbors struggled to find words that expressed the depth of their grief. >> live every moment you can. that's the only thing i can say.

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