there will be some criminal charges filed with regards to this incident. >> the investigation in the colorado balloon case is taking off. maiming or developments expected in a matter of hours. plus, a mother and baby trapped by flames in a prince george's county apartment building. how they made it to safety. and another wet, wicked morning. is there ifany relief from the rain in sight? >> good morning, everyone, and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm keith garvin. it is sunday, october 18, and it's another wet one. meteorologist chuck bell is up in storm center 4. chuck, good wet morning to you. >> good wet morning to you as well, keith. and happy sunday, everybody. but don't get your hopes up too much that mother nature has sent anything in the way of improvement our way. unfortunately, the clouds and the rain and the wind, the cold continue on into your sunday morning. outside right now, temperatures are bone-chillingly cold out there. 39 degrees in manassas right now. 39 in frederick, maryland. 40 degrees downtown. 38 in prince george's county. 41 in annapolis. 37 degrees in martinsburg. here's a check of doppler. most of the rain this morning is up into suburban maryland, moving into northern and eastern maryland, but still an awful lot of light rain and drizzle around town. rainfall amounts in the past 48 hours, nearly 2 inches of rain downtown, well more than 2 inches across prince george's, montgomery and frederick counties. 2.5 inches in annapolis. freeze watch in effect for overnight tonight, into tomorrow morning as the rain does finally end later on today. skies will start to clear out overnight tonight. that will set the stage for a very cold start on monday morning. not expecting a freeze in downtown, but almost every location west of the blue ridge first thing tomorrow morning will be close to or below freezing. keith? >> okay. thank you, chuck. we are following a developing story right now out of colorado where policeman on filing charges in the balloon boy saga. the sheriff has not said who will be charged or what charges that person will face. jay gray has the latest from ft. collins. >> reporter: the bizarre situation surrounding the heene family took another strange twist saturday as richard heene, a self-proclaimed scientist and storm hunter and a reality show participant, delivered what he called a, quote, big announcement. >> i have people e-mailing me, calling me. they have a lot of questions. i don't know how to, quite frankly, answer any of them other than i've got a box, and so later on tonight, 7:30, i want to meet you guys again. i can look these questions over and then i can answer them. okay? so i'm going to place the box up front. >> reporter: investigators apparently had questions they didn't want to leave on the family's doorstep. heene spent more than seven hours at the sheriff's office with investigators. his wife mayumi close to five. while officers wearing viim's advocate jackets apparently stayed with the three young boys at home, their parents answered questions and deputies built their case. >> we have made some significant progress in this investigation. we're in the process of drafting and completing drafting and obtaining some search warrants, and we do anticipate at some point in the future there will be some criminal charges filed with regards to this incident. >> reporter: for now, the heenes are back at home. the evening press conference he had promised never happened. the family apparently dealing with a much more serious set of questions now. jay gray, nbc news, ft. collins, colorado. >> the sheriff says the heenes could be charged with a class three misdemeanor, but police are also talking to the faa and other agencies to see if federal charges could apply in the case. a news conference is scheduled for today at 1:00. more than 160 people forced out of their homes because of an apartment fire in prince george's county. early yesterday, fire broke out at the i'm peeran village apartments. the flames trapped several people, including a mother and her baby. derrick ward talked to a hero who helped both get out safely. >> reporter: the 911 call started coming in around 8:45 this morning. raging fire was burning at the village apartments. >> firefighters from berwyn heights, greenbelt, branchville, college park stations were the first to arrive and encountered heavy fire conditions on the second and third floors of this apartment building. reports of numerous civilians trapped inside. >> reporter: firefighters rescued a number of those trapped. some jumped from upper balconies before firefighters arrived. among those awakened by the flames was luis and dino in his ground floor apartment. his cousin sprang into action to alert neighbors of the danger. >> the people who live in the top floor, they can't come out. they come out from balcony, but they can't get down. >> reporter: dino says he and his cousin made their way to a second floor balcony and helped those above down, but one woman remained trapped on an upper balcony with a a baby in her arms. she couldn't climb down. >> so i tell her to drop her. so she dropped her off to me, and i catched her. >> reporter: after the life-saving grab, he says he and his relative continued helping people to safety, but no one could restore a sense of safety. back in 2007, there were half a dozen arson fires in the sprawling garden apartment complex. >> i don't know what's going on here in this complex. everyday occurrence. i don't know. >> reporter: this fire went to three alarms, with hundreds of firefighters responding. a number of families have been displaced, and fire department is working with the management company and the red cross to see that they find shelter. in the meantime, the cause of this fire is still under investigation. in greenbelt, derrick ward, news 4. >> nine people were taken to the hospital. two of them are in the burn unit with serious injuries. d.c. firefighters say they had no trouble putting out a fire on chain bridge road. flames spread to the walls, attic and roof area of a house yesterday. one person inside the home got out in time. trouble with the low water supply in the area has been a prob plem in the past, but firefighters say the pressure was sufficient to fight yesterday's fire. that pleased people who live in that neighborhood. >> they had three hydrants hooked up in like a minute. so, they apparently have learned at least where the good hydrants are. then i was glad to see that. >> yesterday's fire happened close to the home of former d.c. school board chair peggy cooper cafritz. back in july you may recall it took firefighters almost an hour just to find hydrants that could provide enough water to fight this fire at her home. creigh deeds has picked up a key endorsement in the race for governor of virginia. "the washington post" is backing the democratic candidate, and tops edition of the paper. it claims he has the good sense and political courage to deal with virginia's transportation problems. deeds campaigned yesterday in northern virginia with governor tim kaine. the two rallied for support from hispanic voters in falls church and visited local businesses in the seven corners area. deeds' opponent is also calling on some big names on the campaign trail. senator john mccain joined bob mcdonnell in virginia beach yesterday. the two spoke to veterans. mcdonnell served in the army for 21 years. he says he is a fiscal conservative who will work to balance the state's budget. it is now 6:07, 39 degrees outside. ahead on "news 4 today," a look at sports and redskin fans, find out if this nasty weather's going to clear out in time for today's game. chuck's full forecast coming up next. this is like groundhog day. another night i go to sleep, it's raining, and i wake up again and it's still raining. >> that's right. on top of that, it feels like february. >> oh, yeah. foit bli a lot colder. >> man, ugly weather again overnight last night, into early parts of your sunday morning. hopefully your sunday's at least getting off to a nice start with a hot cup of coffee, hot chocolate, electric blanket, whatever it's going to take to stay warm and dry outside. best of luck to you on your way out the door on your sunday morning. it is cold and wet and windy again. there's a look at your nation's capital early on a sunday morning out there with rain still coming down, especially in our maryland suburbs this morning. the rain is tapering off now across much of northern virginia. asou look there at the capitol dome in the far distance under a cloudy skies, temperatures are hovering near the 40 degree mark. 39 downtown. 40 here at the station. north wind at 20 miles per hour has the windchill -- the windchill, keith -- down to 30 degrees. almost freezing. good thing the windchill can't actually freeze water. rain so far since thursday more than 2.5 inches of rain here in the washington area. temperatures as i mentioned around the area, upper 30s to barely 40 degrees outside. 41 in annapolis. 44 degrees down into southern maryland, 40 in fairfax county, 39 degrees in frederick, maryland. some snowflakes across the high spots. far western portions of the west virginia panhandle. as you can see here, the lion's share of the rain now is north and east of the capital beltway, up into suburban maryland. still some drizzle and light rain down across parts of northern virginia. the bulk of our rain is behind us. we might still get another half an inch of rain or so today, but again that will be mainly in the maryland suburbs today, especially for you folks toward annapolis, out into the eastern shore. that's where most of the rain will be today. you can see already most of central virginia is rain free and the clearing line, believe it or not, the clearing line way down here into southwestern virginia. double barrel of low pressure working its way up and off the coast today. cold air spilling back behind it as the skies clear out. look at this. frost and freeze warnings all the way down to atlanta, georgia, for overnight tonight. that does include areas west of the blue ridge mountains, up into eastern west virginia as that area of low pressure does pull away, by 8:00 tonight, most of the rain confined to t eastern shore and the great state of delaware. most of the rain will be over with here in the washington area by sundown tonight. skies will clear out. and you won't believe it, but the sunshine will be back tomorrow. so for today, cold, wet and breezy. the rain will slowly be coming to an end, but if you're headed out, one of the 90,000 faithful headed out to fedex field today, about 45 degrees and some light rain and drizzle at kickoff. but sunshine is back, keith, for monday, tuesday, wednesday and thursday. >> okay. we're going to need it four days in a row because we've almost forgotten what sunshine looks like. >> a bright eastern object in the sky tomorrow morning. >> in sport this morning, more hockey from alex ovechkin. here's your sports minute. >> good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with the kals talls. last night, caps hosting the predators. alex oh vetch chin scored two goals in regulation. the capitals bead the predators 3-2 in a shootout. college football, maryland hosting rival virginia. the terps turn the ball over four times, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown. the terps have 20 turnovers in 7 games. virginia wins it 20-9. they've won three straight. meanwhile, maryland has lost 4 of its last 5. fourth ranked virginia tech on the road against 19th ranked georgia tech. the yellow jackets qb rushed for three touchdowns, helping georgia tech knock off the hokies 28-23. in soccer, d.c. united needing a win against columbus to keep their playoff hopes alive. in the first half, a meal yoe scored his tenth goal of the season. the black and red hang on to win it 1-0. it will comeow to the final game of the season next saturday. that's your sports minute. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> next up, "reporter's notebook," an inside look at the stories affecting your community. stories and the 15 minutes with forecast but for now here's pat lawson muse. >> good morning. welcome to "reporter's notebook." i'm pat lawson muse. gaining ground in math testing. there is good news for d.c. students today, fourth and eighth graders showed significant improvement in scores on the national assessment of educational progress. panel, this is a test considered the nation's report card. the gains were in fourth and eighth grades. the highest gains in the nation, five points up for fourth graders, six points for eighth graders. interestingly enough, although d.c. students still scored well below the national average, they did better than students anywhere else in the country. >> well, you know, this is very encouraging. hats off to those that are responsible for this because d.c. schools and the students need such a pitch, such a boost that this has been very encouraging. and i think michelle rhee and the mayor, you know, they letting the public know that, hey, our kids can learn under good conditions. >> is this a boost for the city's reform effort? >> well, i'm sure that michelle rhee would like to think that it is, and that her reforms and her boosting of the -- as she would say her boosting of the talent on the end of the teaching end of the line would help. the question is, are better teachers coming into the is is tem? are they more motivated? are the children listening? are they being innervated by this -- sorry, energized by this? are they being inspired? if they are, then she's doing something right. if this is just a blip, well, that's something else. but she could certainly claim that there's evidence that shows that her proposals are working. >> jim, it doesn't sound like a blip on the screen. >> again, the last tests were 2007. we were seeing significant improvement from those scores. i'm sure a lot of people are going to be in line to take credit for this, but i would think that some of the initiatives that engage paren in the process of education, i think, are going to be one of the indicators that you can track. there's nothing like having parental involvement in the success or failure of a child's education. >> let me say this and i want jerry to -- if it didn't work, if something went down, you can be sure she'd be getting royal blame for this a lot of blame. say she isn't doing it, tough talk, no good. now we'll see. >> this ladies' on a good platform on the road ahead. >> interestingly, maryland students showed only minor gains. there were no improvements in the past two years in virginia. >> that is a little -- >> is this a warning? >> it's a little -- well, there's concern nationwide, and this is something the president has taken up as part of his domestic agenda in that there are plenty of folks who are pushing math and science education as to make sure that america continues to be competitive in the global marketplace. we cannot continue to be the most so-called advanced and industrialized nation in the world and continually watch our children do more and more poorly on -- in their educational quest. >> how about education in the virginia governor's race? >> that is an issue. northern virginia particularly. >> right. your question -- going back to your question about virginia doing poorly, certainly this has to come up because educators in northern virginia are very, very concerned about mcdonnell's platform, whereas those who support what the teachers who endorse deeds. this -- besides transportation, pat, education in virginia has been a see saw ride. i mean, the university of virginia on down to the public schools. there has been this tug of war, taking money from and to. and here you got mcdonnell saying, well, he wants to take money from here -- education -- to put over here. doesn't sound too good right now. >> you have to think, though, we're in tough economic times. there's a lot of va veitravail. there have been cuts in education. there have been cuts in teacher pay and in teacher jobs. this could all be having an effect nationwide and also in virginia. >> we're seeing picres here of creigh deeds and bob mcdonnell who faced off again in another debate this past monday. very civil debate, in fact. meanwhile, mcdonnell held a women's rally in northern virginia this past week to showcase his support among women. one of the women showcased was democrat sheila johnson, who has crossed party lines to support mcdonnell. she didn't take a lot of questions. she took no questions about the controversy. >> she wouldn't even talk to the press. >> about her mocking of deeds which she apologized for and mcdonnell didn't want to talk about that either. is it a dead issue? are we done with that? >> i think it's -- one of my colleagues indicated in the green room, it was not a macaca moment for sheila johnson, per se. but i think that as she has said, which is interesting to me, is that this is not about party. this is about the platform of these individual candidates, and mcdonnell is her guy. >> well, it doesn't set well with some people because already you have one organization of people with disabilities that have come out now and voiced their opinion, saying that they really, really are very upset with mcdonnell campaign because they don't feel that it's gone far enough with apologies. >> well, it doesn't seem to be catching on, and the question is, is there a record of either -- of the people who said it or the people in the campaign, is there any kind of a record that they've done this for a long time? or was this a one-time, inadvertent thoughtless slip? if it's a thoughtless slip, i think people are willing and forgive and forget. >> doesn't seem to be making an impact in terms of numbers, the latest polling numbers. bob mcdonnell is still leading creigh deeds significantly. in fact, he's widened his lead now to about nine points. why hasn't creigh deeds been able to gain more traction in this race? >> jerry pointed out when we were talking earlier, mcdonnell's lead was much greater at one point when the thesis issue came up. deeds started to make some inroads in various demographic groups, particularly with women. you see mcdonnell has done a lot of focus on women in the last days of this campaign in order to shore that up. i think if you look at the latest advertising put out by the deeds campaign, they are still even -- maybe a little more subtly, but they're still hammering at his positions on women's issues, including equal pay and -- >> they can hammer all they want, but i think mcdonnell has -- i've talked to other people in northern virginia who say that advertisements showing the women speak bg the positions he's using, what, an attorney and a particular advertisement saying that mcdonnell has appointed me to this position, that is very, very helpful. >> he's fighting back. >> he's fighting back. but the thing about it here -- i'll let you go, dave. >> that's okay. >> the problem i find with the campaign on deeds' side is a very poor public relations job. >> i think deeds' campaign from the start almost, except for the big rush they got from the moment when they discovered the thesis by mcdonnell, they got a big shot then. other than that, the campaign -- this is what people tell me -- has really not gelled. it hasn't been a good campaign. he's not sure how close he wants to be to the white house. the white house isn't so sure about how close they want to be for him. things are not so good for democrats and the president as they were a year ago. the president isn't running. all these things are combining to not help mr. deeds. >> i think you're on to something there. one of the deeds spokesmen real sently said something to the effect that, well, mcdonnell is more aligned with gilmore bush than he is obama