Nbcs jay gray is live now in midland, texas, where some Service Members rushed to help save lives just seconds after the impact. Jay . Reporter yeah, jim, youre right, heroes here. It began as a celebration to honor our nations heroes but in a matter of minutes at the intersection behind me, it shifted to chaos. Now its giving way to a weekend of mourning here. It stood almost like a memorial to the fallen. Not the kind that was planned or that anyone wants to see. It was tragic. It was devastating. Reporter the twisted metal of a flatbed trailer and the train that smashed into a veterans parade slowly pulled away. But the horror here still lingers. It was a chaotic scene. It was loud. It was noisy. People were panicking. Reporter it started as a pictureperfect day. But that picture changed dramatically. In just a matter of seconds. We need an ambulance on the south side of the Railroad Tracks reporter medics could not save four of the soldiers. One of those Staff Sergeant joshua michael, the recipient of two purple hearts, pushed his wife off the trailer just before impact. She survived the crash. He did not. These guys are true american heroes. Reporter being honored for their service and sacrifice by a group called show of support, that sponsored a parade and hunting trip before it went horribly wrong. Our mission is to determine the probable cause of the accident. Reporter 16 ntsb agents are on the ground now and say their investigation here could continue for ten days or more. But for so many, this tragedy will last so much longer. I havent slept since yesterday. And i dont feel like i want to sleep, because i im thinking that im going to have nightmares over what i saw. Reporter a National Nightmare still playing out in the plains of west texas. And back to the investigation. Now, agents just getting their first look at video from an event recorder on the train. And a dashboard camera onside a sheriffs vehicle. Both were rolling at the time of the crash. Live in midland, texas, im jay gray, news4. A developing story now, rescue teams are searching for two missing workers after an explosion at an Oil Production platform in the gulf of mexico. The fire is out now but four people with critical burns were rushed to a hospital. The platform is about 25 miles off the coast of grand isle, louisiana. The facility is owned by black elk energy. Coast guard Officials Say initial reports indicate the explosion was sparked by a cutting torch. They also say the well was not producing, and that no oil is leaking. First on 4, we are now hearing the 911 calls from a murder case that shook Bowie State University. Alexis simpson was found not guilty on all counts. The former student testified that she didnt intentionally kill her roommate, dominique frazier. Keith russell joins us from our live news desk with our first look at the evidence the jurors considered during their deliberations. Yes, pat, we have that evidence. Youll hear it here first. Evidence that helped convince a jury that Alexis Simpson was not guilty of any of the seven charges from firstdegree murder to involuntary manslaughter. Simpson was accused of stabbing dominique phrase tore to death in september of last year. They got into a fight in their dormitory over loud music. Defense attorneys said simpson was bullied and fighting back when that stabbing happened. Heres a portion of one of the 911 calls from the bowie state form after frazier was stabbed. Take a listen. The caller you heard wasnt the only one to call 911 that night. Tracee wilkins has the 911 call from Alexis Simpson herself following her deadly fight with her roommate. Its coming up on news4 at 5 00. A 1yearold girl at the center of an amber alert is now safe in protective custody today. Police say she was kidnapped by her parents. Officers say eric black and Jennifer Carlwile took their daughter on thursday. They were supposed to turn her over to social services. Police found the mother and her girl in Prince Georges County. Her father was arrested in chesterfield, virginia. Both parents are in jail at this hour. The girl was not injured. Taking a look live outside to the weather. The question today, will there be more cold for the weekend. Yes, storm team 4 meteorologist Veronica Johnson is standing by with the answer to that question. Its a weekend, veronica, be good to us. Youre going to love the weekend forecast, how about that. Youre really going to like it. Theres no big storms coming our way for sure. Now, this morning you probably thought that we were going to get a lot of rain because we were socked in with clouds. Here we we at 10 00 with a lot of the clouds moving out of here. Weve got a clear sky across the area. Look at the satellite and radar, no rain falling around the area. 54 degrees right now over in college park. Petworth at 53 degrees. Franconia and springfield coming in at 51 degrees. Chilly conditions. Were going to drop down to 45 by 9 00 p. M. Under that clear sky. 42 degrees at 11 00 p. M. One terrific evening coming up. For tomorrow morning, were going to talk about the big show in the night sky, and any chance of rai that weve got coming our way. Ill have the details. Former cia director David Petraeus told lawmakers today what he knew about the attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. And he told lawmakers that the Intelligence Community chose not to disclose the al qaeda connection to the attack in order to avoid tipping off the terrorists. Steve handelsman joins us now live from capitol hill with the special treatment Congress Gave to the retired general today. Reporter this is the big set of hearings, hi, jim, from the hill tonight. Republicans are still charging that somebody played politics with what the public was told about benghazi. But petraeus testified that langly didnt do that. Former cia director David Petraeus kept out of sight until he got home. Lawmakers had cleared the way for him to get to the closeddoor hearing without walking through halls. A favorite of the general who apologized to lawmakers for his affair. Petraeus testified the cia figured immediately it was al qaeda that attacked the sufficient consulate in benghazi, killing the u. S. Ambassador and three others. How the cia with an eye on libya missed the threat is still under investigation. But petraeus testimony helped. It added to our ability to make judgments about what is clearly a failure of intelligence. Reporter it did not end the fight over u. N. Ambassador susan rice, who, five days after the attack, denied it was al qaeda. Using cia public talking points that dropped the al qaeda reference. And she did entirely the responsible thing in answering questions based on what was unclassified. Reporter but rice had a motive to spin the story on meet the press. Barack obama running for reelection, he might name her secretary of state. This is an administration led by a president who said when he ran for office that he would take the fight to al qaeda. We have decimated al qaeda. Reporter republicans still charge rice with distortion. She knew at that point in time that al qaeda was very likely responsible in part or in the whole for the death of ambassador stevens. Reporter petraeus knew it was al qaeda. He agreed to put out the different account. But not, he said, for political reasons. Petraeus told lawmakers the cia just wanted to keep secret what it knew, and how it knew it. But republicans up here are not buying that was rices motive. Im steve handelsman, news4, capitol hill. The white house says president obama had a constructive meeting today with congressional leaders about the looming fiscal cliff. The president met with top house and Senate Leaders for more than an hour this morning at the white house. They began talks of how to avert the cliff of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect january 1st. Congressional leaders expressed confidence they could reach a deficit cutting deal before christmas. The president also took a moment out during that financial meeting to talk with House Speaker john boehner and wish him a happy birthday today. Boehner turns 63 tomorrow. The president congratulated the speaker and shook his hand. He joked that the white house staff didnt get him a cake because they didnt know actually how many candles they would need. He gave boehner a Birthday Gift of a bottle of wine. A stunning security breach. Mother who crashed through a gate and started driving down an air port runway with her child in the car. The frightening moment a driver plowed straight into a Police Officer. And the beltway becomes the santa express. How old st. Nick took t you ready tonight on news4 at 5 00, were giving away tickets to hot 99 sold out jingle ball concert featuring justin bieber, casha, flo ridea, and psy gangnam style. Look for the secret star of the day, then enter the name on nbc washington for your chance to win. Each day were giving a pair of tickets for vip floor seats. And one winner will get a meetandgreet with one of the jingle ball artists. In just a matter of hours, the brandnew 495 express lanes will be open to the public. But one very special driver got to take a test run on the new road today. Megan mcgrath has more on what the project means for commuters in northern virginia. Reporter seeing santa claus apparently has its privileges. Jolly st. Nick was the first person to test drive the 495 express lanes this morning. And he had a pretty sweet ride. He ditched the reindeer and went for a convertible tessla roadster. In white, of course. Smooth, straight, convenient. It is just absolutely incredible. Reporter santa used the express lanes to get to his day job over at the Tysons Corner center mall. He starts sitting with the kids today and starting saturday, you, too, can ride. Crews began opening the new lanes tonight. They should be ready to go around 2 00 a. M. If you were out around midnight, what you see is the police blocking entry points. Crews taking down the signs, and youll see all the systems begin to turn on as we turn on the system. By the time everybodys up tomorrow morning, the 495 express lanes will be open. Reporter if you plan to use the express lanes, you need an ezpass. Everything is electronic. Overhead gantryes will be on as you drive by. The toll could be 1 a mile at times. But youre promised a smooth commute. They expect them to run between 45 to 55 miles an hour during rush hour. To reduce congestion, the cost of the toll will rise when the lanes get crowded. The idea is to price some drivers out, keeping them on the regular lanes. Fewer cars on the express lanes means faster speeds. If you want to use the express lanes, but you dont want to pay the toll, theres a way to do that. You can car pool. You just need three or more people in the vehicle with you. Youll also need one of those ezpass flex transponders. Megan mcgrath, news4. News4 transportation reporter adam tuss also took a test drive on the express lanes today. Hell have more on what you need to know, including how they plan to enforce the hov rules. Thats coming up at 5 00. Ladies and gentlemen, one, two, me woo the always humble Steven Colbert unveiled his new wax. He donated his suit, tie, cuff links and lapel pin to make the figure look more authentic. The wax figure itself is based on 250 measurements and photographs. Hear more of what colbert had to say on at 6 00 tonight. Theyve got the arched eyebrow to it, too. Thats good. Thats him. The colbert. Make your brow do that. We have been kind of quiet for a while. Were stuck in this consistent pattern now, stuck in the doldrums, if you will. But i like being stuck. Well be stuck there through next week. Lets head on over. When do we get some clouds . Are our temperatures going to rise highe for us . 53 is where we are right now, and yes, we didnt clear out. We cleared out early part of the day. We got up to 54. Were at 53 degrees right now wa clear sky, sunshine across our area. Weve got 52 degrees over Loudoun County in leesburg. Prince william county, manassas, youre at 52 degrees. Charles county, 52 degrees. And 52 degrees in Prince Georges County around green belt. Not a bad afternoon at all. Theres your clouds moving out. A few left around western maryland. But for the most part, were talking about a clear night. Of course, that is a very good thing, with the leonid meteor showers. Theres a look at the drizzle and light showers that we had mainly along i95 in the early part of the day this morning. But now High Pressure is overhead. So its going to be a dry, chilly evening. Look at the kind of sky well have as the meteor showers peak at 3 00 a. M. You can catch them anytime between midnight and the Early Morning hours. The predawn hours tomorrow. Well talk more about that coming up at 4 45. Tomorrow, sunshine. And a High Temperature around 55 degrees. Then, yeah, that coastal storm that weve been watching for so long, were just going to see a few clouds late sunday streaming in. Even sunday now is looking like a mostly sunny day. Were not going to pick up those clouds until late at night. And for monday then, cloud cover across the area. Theres your northeasterly wind still with the area of low pressure off the coast. Cloud cover on monday, probably still starting the day with a little bit of drizzle. And fog. Until we maybe break out with a little bit of sunshine. Chilly, but nice evening. 35 to 45 degrees with a light wind. Tomorrow morning, a chilly start for us, 26 to 37 degrees. Again, with just a light wind across the area. For tomorrow afternoon, well be somewhere around 51 to 55 degrees. Another nice afternoon for us. It will be much like today. Again, still cool with our average now running at 58 degrees. And then sunday at 1 00 p. M. , as we take on the eagles forecast, clouds, sun, cool, but nice conditions. So heres that consistent forecast that i spoke of. Low to mid50s all the way into the early part of next week. A few additional clouds on monday. A look at wednesday, travel, what do we get. Ill have that coming up in a few. A man accused of stealing a guys bike gets worse punishment than jail time. Im liz crenshaw. Is it better to buy that thanksgiving turkey fresh or frozen . Thats the question. The answers coming up ready for the holidays . Should you buy that turkey fresh or frozen . Is it safe to cook stuffing in your turkey . And is pink turkey really safe to eat . Liz crenshaw joins us now with the gobble gobble edition of ask liz today. You do not want to ask these questions on thanksgiving more. Just ask them now and get them over with. Getting a head start here. The first one comes in from patty in vienna. Whats the difference between buying your turkey fresh and frozen . And how far in advance can you buy the fresh turkey . My sister asked me that question today actually. The department of agriculture helped us with this answer. It says if you buy a frozen turkey, you want to get it well in advance of your meal. But if you have an old bird thats been in the freezer for years, it may simply not taste gas as fresh. Use the frozen turkey within a year for the best taste. The usda said frozen turkeys are safe to eat years later. Just make sure to start thawing the turkey in time for the thanksgiving dinner. If you prefer a fresh bird, wait until tuesday before thanks giving to buy it. By the way, some Grocery Stores do let you reserve that fresh turkey ahead of time. Their refrigerators are colder and more consistent than yours at home. Leaving it at the grocery is good to know. On to the stuffing. The question is, do you stuff the bird or do you cook the stuffing or dressing as some call in a separate casserole dish . Usda helped us answer this as well. It does recommend that you cook your stuffing outside the bird in a separate dish in the oven. The problemis, sometimes the turkey is done before the stuffing reaches a safe temperature, if its inside. Whether you cook that stuffing in a dish or in the turkey, youve got to use a Meat Thermometer to check the temperature. Safely cooked stuffing must reach 165 degrees. By the way, for safetys sake, the turkey itself must reach 165 degrees. Place the thermometer in the innermost part of the turkey thigh. Dont use the popups, just use a thermometer. 165, the magic number. Consumers want to know if pink turkey meat is safe. When we see it pink, and we often do usda again helped us with this answer. It says that the color of cooked poultry, like turkey, is not always a sure sign that its safe. The only way to know your turkey is safe, again, is to use a food thermometer. Make sure its reached the safe 165degree fahrenheit. The meat of smoked turkey is always pink. So you should never be alarmed in this case. We put lots more thanksgiving turkey tips online. Just go to nbcwashington. Com, and search turkey tips. Theyre all there. If you have a question you would like us to consider at ask liz, go to nbcwashington. Com, and connect with me on twitter, and on facebook by searching the consumer watch. At 5 00 tonight, how long does it take to defrost that frozen turkey . Once defrosted, how long do you cook it . We have all the answers at 5 00. If im a guest, theres no leftovers. No worries. Im a vacuum. Liz, well see you at 5 00. Good answers tonight. A World Without twinkies or hohoes . The snack food crisis thats the talk of the nation right now. A Police Officer survived a terrifying crash. What sent another car barreling right into him. Welcome back at 4 30, everybody. Im jim handly. Im pat lawson muse. Federal investigators are on the scene of a tragedy in midland, texas. Four u. S. War veterans were killed when a train slammed into a parade float yesterday. One of the soldiers shoved his wife off the float just before impact, saving her life. 16 other people were injured. Lawmakers say former cia chief David Petraeus provided some clarity today when he testified at a closed hearing up on capitol hill on the attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. Petraeus said the cia knew al qaeda was to blame, but did not want to make the i