Of Going Forward to legalize small amounts of marijuana in the district. The policies take effect tomorrow. Sam ford is live in northwest with how the mayor is standing her ground. Sam . Alison leon a defiant mayor bowser stood here about an hour ago backed by eight members of the council and the d. C. Attorney general and said that in essence, despite statements from the congress, not to implement initiative 71 it will take effect at 12 01 tonight. Our government is prepared to implement and enforce initiative 71 in the district of columbia. Bowser insisted that the citys actions are legal despite claims in congress that the city is violating a law Congress Passed prohibiting the city from spending any money implementing initiative 71. Congressional republican of utah and mark meadows of North Carolina sent bowser a letter yesterday saying Congress Took clear action to stop the law suggesting she might go to jail. But punishment if the law actually took effect tonight. So i have a lot of things to do here in the district of columbia, me being in jail wouldnt be a good thing. But making sure that the will of the voters is implemented and making sure that im doing my job in getting the guidance out to the residents, getting guidance out to our agencies. Now the question is what happens next . Congress could just pass a law overturning d. C. s law. They could always do that. Or they could take the city to court. Well have to say. Reporting live from the john Wilson Building sam ford, abc 7 news. Thanks, sam. Love this kind of drama here. The issue, rather, in the district is going to be the focus of the question of the day here. We want to know what you folks think about the fight to legalize small amounts of marijuana in the district. You can post your answer on our abc 7 Facebook Page and well be sharing some of those responses coming up just ahead here. Moving on to some other news now, we have new details in the stabbing death of a 95yearold man in montgomery county. 60yearold eric dyson has been arrested and charged with murder. And were now learning what dyson claims led to the violence. Maryland bureau chief brad bell is live in colesville with the latest development today. Brad . Yeah the story took a stunning turn this afternoon when we got the Court Documents that say that the accused in this case is alleged, that the two men, age 60 and the victim 95 years old was based on a relationship that was base on sex for money. We can tell you about what happened in this house. It was monday afternoon that police came here and found 95yearold dan belvin murdered in his own apartment. This is a Senior Living center. Picture of mr. Belvin from 1940 when he was getting ready to graduate from n. C. State, served in the Navy World War ii veteran. Mr. Dyson, age 60 also lived in this building. He is a man who has a long history of drug arrests, drug convictions. His name was literally all over the crime scene. Mr. Belvin had notes written that he had to remind himself to get his car keys back from mr. Dyson. Police also learned that the victims credit cards were being used all across the county and eventually when mr. Dyson returns to the scene here he was arrested and police say he gave a statement and this explanation of what happened. He stated that there was a relationship between him and the victim and that the victim would give him cash and allow him to use his vehicle in exchange for sexual favors. Again, that is what he alleged and hell have his name to that. Well the Court Documents allege that this murder actually took place last thursday. And mr. Dyson says he killed belvin in a fit of rage over unwelcomed sexual advances. Now, were continuing to work the story. Well have much more coming up at 5 00. In colesville brad bell abc 7 news. See you then. Thank you. Well also this afternoon, new information in the search for the missing lyon sisters. Montgomery county police and the National Center for missing and exploited children have an update on the suspected vehicle in this case. It is now described as a large, white four door early 1970s chrysler new yorker. Investigators are releasing some new posters. Sheila and Katherine Lyon were last seen in 1975 at the wheaton shopping mall. Anyone with information is asked to call police. They are investigating an officer involved shooting that happened overnight in the 3400 block of azelea place in waldorf. A woman reported her boyfriend was threatening to kill her and when police arrived, they say the man was holding a gun and demanding that the officers kill him. Police say that at one point, an officer feared for his life and fired hitting the man in the torso and the legs. Ive seen the house here that this happened to. Ive seen the people a couple of times. I think they have kids and i its shocking. I dont see i dont know how this can happen. The suspect survives and remains in the hospital. An internal investigation is under way. Three men have been arrested accused of plotting to travel overseas and join the terrorist group isil. Dave has been following this story this afternoon. What are the details here . Two of the men were arrested in new york. Tell us about that. Yes indeed. Two in new york city. One at Kennedy Airport and another in brooklyn. The third was picked up in jacksonville, florida, all charged with plotting to travel to syria to join the Islamic State fighters and wage war against the u. S. Federal officials added one of them spoke of attacking president obama even planting a bomb on coney island and if the trio couldnt make it in syria, they had a plan b. Become lone wolves and wage jihad here in the u. S. It was made quite plain based on their own statements that if they were not able to go that they would seek to acquire weapons here. Handguns, machine guns and seek to attack very specifically police officers. The actual charges against the three are attempt of conspiracy to provide Material Support to terrorist organizations. If theyre convicted, each faces a maximum 15 years in prison. One appeared in the jacksonville courtroom and the other two men are scheduled to face a magistrate in Brooklyn Federal court this afternoon. Were watching these developments and update them throughout the night for you. Alison . Dave thank you so much. Back here locally, we are learning more about the persistent problems for First Responders following last months deadly smoke incident at the Lenfant Plaza metro station. The acting fire chief spoke with d. C. Council members during an oversight hearing today. And Stephen Tschida is live with what problems fire officials are still facing out there. Stephen . Alison acting fire chief eugene jones testified before the d. C. Council Public Safety committee today. Now, keep in mind back on january 12th communication problems were a real issue in that fatal smoke incidents near the Lenfant Plaza metro station. Some passengers that day say they waited upwards of 40 minutes before they saw First Responders and today acting chief jones acknowledged problems persist as far as communication is concerned. Are the radios working in all the stations in the district . The last report that i received did show significant number of failures and im waiting for the update as to when those failures will be completed and i will say that our personnel are ready to respond and have backup measures in place to be able to communicate. Now the acting chief there trying to reassure City Council Members and, of course metro passengers about steps being taken to try to rectify these communication problems. And he did stress that the plan is by march 1st to do away with these encrypted channels these wide scale encrypted channels for communication. They will maintain some enkryption in case theres a security issue in those instances but trying to enable better communication with the surrounding jurisdictions. Reporting live Stephen Tschida, abc 7 news. Coming up on abc 7 news at 4 00 were hearing from the jurors who issued a guilty verdict in the american sniper trial. Why they didnt believe eddie rouths insanity defense. A high ranking state Department Official faces a judge in d. C. After being arrested for soliciting sex from a minor on line. Im Jeff Goldberg, coming up at 5 00, how police in Fairfax County tracked him down and why this crime is much more common than you might think. And trouble in the skies for southwest. Why the airline decided to ground dozens of flights. Attorney for a former marine say they will appeal his guilty verdict. Now were hearing from some of the jurors why they didnt believe eddie rouths insanity defense. Autria godfrey has more. We the jury find the defendant Eddie Ray Routh guilty in the felony offense of capital murder. It took the jury less than three hours to reach that verdict. Not buying the defenses claim that eddie routh was too mentally ill to know right from wrong when he shot and killed chad littlefield and american sniper chris kyle. I dont think hes insane at all. The jury basing the decision in part on rouths confession and apology played in court. As well as the emotional testimony. Who were you married to prior to february 2, 2013 . Chris kyle. Kyle and his wifes story, the focus of the oscar nominated film american sniper which one juror admits he watched before the trial. It gave me a better outlook on chris role. Saying the blockbuster movie, though, did not influence his decision. I basically put the fact that chris was a marine you know, out of my mind and just looked at him as a person. And tried to make reasonable judgment. The final chapter of the saga now written. Weve waited two years for god to get justice for us on behalf of our son. Routh will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Autria godfrey, abc 7 news. New information coming in on that train crash in california. A pickup truck that caused a wreck in this case actually was not stuck, it appears. Federal investigators say that a 54yearold jose ramirez drove that truck on to the tracks and then collided it head on with the train. It was not stuck, bottomed out on the track or Something Like that. It had actually traveled down the Railroad Track itself. Investigators say that ramirez then abandoned the truck and then ran away from the crash scene. He was arrested though about a mile away. His attorney is lashing out saying that police are trying to cast blame on ramirez for an unfortunate situation. 28 people were hurt in that crash. If you are flying southwest today, make sure you check the status of your flight. The airline grounded 128 jets for safety inspections. It said it found those planes were overdue for hydraulic maintenance. It voluntarily took those jets out of service and reported the issue to the f. A. A. Southwest cancelled a fifth of its flights yesterday and expects to cancel about 20 more today. Today now, talk about the weather because its actually pleasant. This is one day only. Remember . Tomorrow, we struggle to get out of the 20s and snow to go with it. A lot of ground to cover. That is first up, Winter Weather advisories, all those counties and places shaded in purple. Winter weather advisories in effect from midnight to noon tomorrow. Areas in pink south and east of the metro area these are winter storm warnings. In this situation, the heaviest snow will be here. Much lighter amounts as you move north through the metro area. Storm center is on the way. Make no question about it. Actual storm center is along the louisiana gulf coast but pulling a lot of moisture to the north and its rapidly expanding north and east. Our radar shows areas of rain, some thunderstorms, snow and ice, mostly snow in places that normally dont get a lot of snow from these kind of southern systems that pass by. As far as snowfall around the area here it will start in the predawn hours and we have in that widespread variety of advisories and warnings. Pink areas are winter storm warnings and all will be heavy snow and in the northern fringes, thats where we expect lesser amounts of snow to fall around the area and thats what well be dealing with coming forward. Lets talk more about the snow. We havent had a lot this winter. Steve rudin has an update on how much weve seen. Lot of folks have been asking how bad is this winter compared to previous winters . And well break it down for you by airport, Reagan National airport so far this winter not so bad sxard to previous years. But pretty much on target. This year 11. 2 inches. On average around 15. 4. Look at Dulles International airport, actually we are now above average in terms of our snowfall. This year 24. 3 inches. A typical season we see normally just around 22 inches. As far as the snowiest seasons on record not so long ago. 2009 and 2010 Reagan National over 55 inches of snow. Dulles, over 73 inches. So the least snowiest sounds pretty nice also not that long ago, 1997 and 1998 Reagan National, just a touch of snow. A little over two inches at Dulles International airport but that was almost almost 43 years ago. We have more snow on the way so well add to these totals. We move through the overnight hours into early tomorrow morning. More on that with doug hill. This is what youre thinking as far as the snow, by the time it tapers off mid morning or late morning tomorrow, one to three generally in this band. Lesser amounts north and north, the farther south you go three to six. Northern parts here closer to the one. Southern parts, potentially closer to three. Remember its not the amount of inches but amount of impact. Come in at rush hour tomorrow it will be impactful. So heres what were going to say as we head through the next few days. Snowy start to thursday here with temperatures climbing from the low 20s to 30s in the afternoon. And then try to become partly sunny. Cold again. Highs in the low 30s with a few flurries. Weekend looks good. Sunshine in the 30s and start to warm things up next week another couple of storm systems could give us rain here monday tuesday and wednesday. It will be all rain unless we get cold air in place. Im guessing those are the days that youll send steve rudin outside. When the weather is nice you have him inside. Crazy how that works. Well see how things are for tomorrow morning. Yes. Ok thank you. See how things are on the roads right now with bob emler in the wtop traffic center. Hey, bob. Pretty uneventful rush hour right now with dry roads and a bit of sunshine out there and things are generally moving along pretty well. 66 volume delays headed out to centreville, not a bad drive out of tysons headed to 270. Had a crash at route 7 and sterling boulevard. Has been cleared and 270 north slows down a bit moving from Montgomery Village and through clarksburg, no incidents in the roadway. Lets take a look at some cameras and see how things look like on the roads right now. On 270 northbound here, just beginning to slow down a bit as well. Theyre not moving very much at all. As you move through Montgomery Village and traffic on 395 headed south into the sun from the pentagon and past landmark does bog down a bit with all lanes open. Im bob emler with 103. 5 wtop radio. All right, bob. Thank you. And coming up on abc 7 news at 4 00, update on the budget standoff involving congress and the department of Homeland Security. Well examine the sticking points and how government workers could be affected by this. And we also have a look at a new study that takes a look at whats considered the most and least addictive foods. Find out if any surprises made the list. If im sweating thats because its 72 and sunny here in vee ir is there an elk in your bed . With sleep number, now theres an adjustment for that. You can only find sleep number at a sleep number store. Right now, save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed. Hurry, ends sunday know better sleep with sleep number. Call it perfecterfect timing for the nationals and d. C. Preparing for another snowstorm. Taking part in spring training in florida. Doesnt that sound great . All right, tim is here now to tell us about whats going on down there in florida. Its almost like a cruel joke. What do you mean almost . 39 and cloudy here with the snow predicted. 72 degrees and sunny in vieira where the nationals are at joint spring training. Entire team is in camp and nats are having a great time watching Ryan Zimmerman adjust to his new position at first base. Pitchers are strong and the hottest topic nationally. Robert burton is there and enjoying his time with the ballclub in the sun in florida. What have you got today, robert . Well its basically been a lot of hurry up and wait. Some workouts here and there. Nothing major. However, come tomorrow thats when things really get going. Theres eagerness in the air here in vieira along with a clean slate. Start of a new season for everybody. Doesnt matter what you did last year, doesnt matter what happened at the end of the year for us. Its about this year and about trying to win a championship. For pitcher geo gonzalez, he became a different player at the start of camp. Healthy, smiling and got a little bit more life in me now. A little more pep to my step. Happy to see my teammates. Today physicals. Tomorrow, the first full squad workout. Everybody is certainly itching to go. I cant wait. I mean it was good to see some of the guys in there. Got to see, you know, bryce coming in strong and healthy, you know dezi challenging each other, who can have the biggest throw . It just goes to show you what kind of year were going to have. When you look at that fu manchu up close, thats r