plus the man behind one of the most notorious corruption schemes is just hours away from learning his fate. good morning. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang on this tuesday, december 6th, 2011. >> warm temperatures out there. 59 degrees right now. i guess that's because of the clouds, right? >> enjoy it while you can. >> right. >> we're going to have a big cooldown coming. in between now and then, yes, we may get a little snow. i'll have details on that in another few minutes. right now let's deal with the rain. we've had the rain moving in overnight at reagan national. it's at 57. just a few light sprinkles there now. we've got a south/southwesterly breeze around 10 miles an hour. a long stretch of rain stretching from alabama to eastern canada. there's snow farther west of there. closer to us, just some rain, that area of moving green that is rain. scattered showers from west virginia into northern virginia, the district and maryland, advancing to the north and east.

they'll be with us off and on into the afternoon. right now it is mild ahead of that cold front that's out in the midwest. it's in the 50s from the moun ta mountains to the atlantic beaches. for the day today our sunrise will be at 7:12. by then some more rain around as well as off and on through the rest of the day. passing showers are likely. highs reaching low to mid-60s by early afternoon. more rain tonight. a look at your evening planner in ten minutes. eun and joe? >> tom, thanks so much. >> thank you very much. right now crews are cleaning up a tanker truck accident in bowie. route 3 is shut down in both directions at route 450. megan mcgrath is live on the phone with details. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. they were trying to get southbound lanes of route 3 open by 5:00 a.m. they're not quite there yet. they've got sand trucks on the scene. right now they're trying to mop up the fuel that spilled from

that tanker onto the roadway. they can't open the lanes until they get a better handle on that. they certainly don't want anyone getting into trouble driving through the area. that's where we stand. route 3 still closed in both directions in the area of 450. of course, this is going to impact people who leave the house early on their way into work. if you are heading north on route 3, they are going to detour you. they're going to force you off onto route 50. that's as far as you can go. you can go either toward washington or toward the annapolis area. you have to exit at route 50. if you're heading south, they're going to have you take a left on 424. it's still early in the rush hour, but if this continues on much longer, we're going to start to see significant delays through the area. the good news here is that they have offloaded all of the fuel from this tanker. there were 9,000 gallons inside the tanker. fortunately, when it slipped on its side in this accident, it didn't suffer a major rupture of

the tank. so not all 9,000 gallons leaked out. they're estimating about 100 or so gallons perhaps leaked out onto the roadway. that's good news. the job isn't as big as originally feared. they are on the scene now with the sand trucks. the trucks are trying to haul things out of the way, clean up the area. until they can do that, all lanes remain closed. now they're making every effort to get this job done as quickly as possible for the sake of at least open some southbound lanes. but for the time being, that's not going to happen. back to you, eun. >> all right, megan. so far, no backups, right? >> reporter: no. we're not seeing any significant delays, but it's only a few minutes after 5:00. still very light volume. if this drags on a whole lot longer, we could see some significant delays starting to stack up. >> megan mcgrath live on the fo phone for us. megan, thanks so much for that update. >> let's see what kind of traffic impact there is because of this accident and elsewhere. here's danella. again, i'm thinking 424 is

your best option. if you're traveling northbound on 3, you're forced on 50 anyway. you might as well jump on 424 and reconnect to 3. same thing southbound on route 3. you're forced off. i would jump on 424 and continue my commute. going to keep watching this and let you know when your road is reopened. the good news is the volume is light, and it's not too much of a problem just yet. if you're taking bridges in our area, let's start with the wilson bridge. volume is very light. not seeing any problems as you make your way towards the american legion bridge. you are in the clear. not seeing any issues traveling on the outer loop as well as on the inner loop. if you're traveling in southeast, making your way across the sousa bridge, it is nice and quiet at this time of morning. and also, if you're taking the rails, i'm not seeing any problems on the rails. so far no reported delays on metro, the marc, or the vre. joe and eun, back to you. >> thank you very much. today's sentencing day for former prince george's county executive jack johnson. johnson pleaded guilty to charges he took bribes from

developers in exchange for favorable treatment. he faces up to 14 years in prison. tracee wilkins is live outside of johnson's home in upper marlboro with more. tracee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, joe. it's not expected that either jack or leslie johnson will receive the maximum sentence, but it is expected that both prosecutor and judge will have their way and send a message to all that the pay to play schemes in prince george's county, that culture is dead. we stood just outside of this very home and watched as federal agents raided the johnson house and then brought out the county executive jack johnson in handcuffs in november of 2010. in may johnson pled guilty to extortion and witness and evidence tampering charges. according to sentencing guidelines, he could be looking at 11 to 14 years in jail. just a few weeks ago this video of johnson illegally accepting money was released. prosecutors say johnson collected anywhere from $400,000

to $1 million in bribes starting shortly after entering office in county executive in 2002. prosecutors also say johnson groomed his wife leslie johnson to take over the pay to play schemes once he was out of office and she was serving as county council member. johnson reluctantly resigned from the council seat amid pressure from the rest of the board. she will face sentencing this friday for her support of her husband's schemes, that includes charges for tampering with evidence. prosecutors caught johnson trying to flush a $100,000 check and stuffing thousands in cash into her undergarments as agents raided their home last year. johnson will be sentenced -- that's jack johnson will be sentenced today at 9:30 a.m. at the federal courthouse in greenbelt. his wife is expected to be sentenced again this friday. tracee wilkins live this morning in upper marlboro outside the johnson home. back to you all in the studio. >> tracee, thanks very much. of course we will be in the courtroom for johnson's sentence. as soon as it happens, we'll let you know right here on nbc 4 and on our website,

nbcwashington.com. we have breaking news in afghanistan. there has been -- there have been three deadly attacks overnight. a suicide bomber attacked a shia shrine in kabul. at least 14 people have died and 150 have been wounded. hundreds of people had gathered for a festival. then we learn a bicycle bomb went off followed by a motorcycle bomb in kandahar. investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a house fire at a federal judge's home. u.s. district judge liam o'grady and his family were not injured. when they arrived at the house on massachusetts avenue in mclean, flames were coming from a second story bedroom. it took oth50 to 60 firefightero put the fire out. the u.s. marshal's service is also investigating. the fire did about $100,000 worth of damage. tonight another sign of the holidays. the capitol christmas tree will be lit this evening. house speaker john boehner will do the honors and will flip the switch and turn on the lights.

he'll get help from a second grader from california. the 65-foot sierra white fir arrived last week after a cross country trip. it was elected last week and now has more than 3,000 ornaments on it and 10,000 l.e.d. lights. the theme of this year's decorations is california shines. the lighting begins on the west lawn of the capitol building. >> our time is 5:09. moving full speed ahead, how newt gingrich is stepping up his newt gingrich is stepping up his campaign as the republican

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good morning. 5:11 this tuesday morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. a wet morning moving from areas of south to northeast. some scattered light showers from eastern west virginia, shenandoah valley, across northern virginia into the district of columbia and much of maryland. these will be with us off and on here throughout much of the day. it's a mild morning. we're in the 50s from the mountains to the beaches. right now in the mid and upper 50s, montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's counties and the district of columbia. sunrise at 7:12. we'll have occasional showers throughout the day and a mild day with highs reaching low to mid-60s by early to midafternoon. then a mild evening with some more showers after sunset until midnight. we'll have it down into the upper 50s by then. big changes on the way beginning

tomorrow and the end of the week and he can w and weekend. could get some snow. danella, how's traffic? route 3 between route 50 and route 450 still shut down. if you're traveling this morning, best bet jump on 424 and continue your commute in either direction. on the roadways and if you're traveling on i-66, you're very clear right now. still a lot of green in our area. 66 outside of the beltway, no problems in both directions. a live view right now at fairfax county parkway. traveling east and westbound on 66, looking good outside the beltway as well as inside the beltway. i'm not seeing any issues for you this morning. this is the view at leesburg pike. traveling east from the beltway to gw parkway, your speed is 61 miles per hour. not so bad. give yourself extra time. the roadways are wet this morning. joe and eun, back to you. >> a word to the wise, if you jump on the roadway and see a car coming, get off. >> thank you, joe. 5:13 now. 59 degrees. ahead on "news 4 today,"

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president obama will once again push congress to extend the payroll tax cut that is set to expire at the end of the month. president obama is urging republicans to keep their word to the american people on not raising taxes. president obama says taxes on the average american family would increase by $1,000 if the cuts are not extended. meanwhile, the democrats have scaled back their extension in the hopes of being passed. the sticking point seems to be the tax on the very wealthy. republicans plan to introduce

their own plan. republican presidential candidate mitt romney will pick up support in decision 2012 today. former vice president dan quayle is expected to endorse mitt romney for president. the republican has largely stayed out of the national political spotlight in recent years. romney's main republican rival newt gingrich is rolling out a new ad in iowa. >> some people say the america we know and love is a thing of the past. i don't believe that. because working together, i know we can rebuild america. we can revive our economy and create jobs. >> gingrich is in the lead in iowa in the latest polls. the gingrich campaign is spending more than $200,000 in air time in iowa over the next 14 days. mitt romney, rick perry, and ron paul are already airing ads in iowa. two of the companies blamed for the gulf oil spill are now

pointing fingers at each other. bp has filed a lawsuit against halliburton, accusing the company of destroying evidence about the quality of cement used to seal the well that blew out. halliburton was in charge of pouring that cement. bp also says halliburton destroyed incriminating computer models. bp has asked a judge to penalize halliburton and recover the computer models. both companies were found to be at fault in the worst oil spill in american history. jerry sandusky accused of trying to tamper with the witnesses. in an interview with "the new york times," sandusky has said he's stayed in touch with the alleged victims, including having dinner with one over the summer. all eight of the victims are expected to testify at the preliminary hearing. a new report says that former penn state head football coach joe paterno and several

board members of sandusky's three mile charity invested in a major real estate deal back in 2002. that's around the same time sandusky was accused of raping a boy in a penn state locker room. this is according to a website the daily. paterno and three second mile investors just secured financing to build a $100 million luxury retirement community. they also invested a golf resort, a coaching website, and a chain of convenience stores. paterno and the charity have come under fire with some people questioning when each knew about the abuse case. one of the three men accusing former syracuse university assistant basketball coach bernie fine of molesting him admits he's guilty of child molestation himself. zach tomacelli told the associated press he abused a boy when he was 13 and 14. he worked as a counselor at a camp the victim attended. he initially pled not guilty to

those charges, but then he told theasm p he plans on changing some of those pleas. the same woman who claimed to be a relative of the infamous hijacker d.b. cooper says the fbi is closer to solving the case. in august marla cooper came forward and said she believed her uncle was the man behind one of the country's biggest mysteries. cooper now says the fbi told her the investigation is winding down. the fbi did recently admit it is conducting forensic tests, including partial fingerprints that could be linked to the case. cooper's story became part of crime lore after he hijacked a plane, demanded ransom money, and jumped from the airliner over oregon. his body has never been found, but several people have claimed to be relatives of the criminal. >> 5:21 is the time. time again for a look at the forecast. tom, we had drizzly rain overnight. >> everything is wet. all the roads and streets. that's fender bender weather. take it easy.

allow space between you and the vehicle in front. give yourself time to stop. we've had showers from southwest to northeast all night long. they continue scattered light showers across east and west virginia, northern virginia, areas north and west of i-95 is the main area where we're getting rain now. south and east, maybe a little bit of drizzle and some patchy fog. it's mild. we're in the 50s from the mountains all the way to the atlantic beaches. right now district of columbia, mid and upper 50s. also mid and upper 50s, montgomery, fairfax, and prince george's county. for the rest of the day, sunrise at 7:12. more rain likely tonight. we'll have sunset at 4:46. a mild evening. down in the upper 50s by midnight. occasional showers through the daylight hours on wednesday. 50s in the morning, down to the upper 30s by wednesday night. by then we could have rain change over to a period of wet

snow wednesday night that may accumulate on grassy areas west and north of i-95. then getting cold on thursday morning, near freezing, and then sunny thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, monday. each day cold. highs in the 40s. morning lows below freezing. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. crews are still working to clear the accident that has route 3 shut down in both directions between route 50 and route 450. i'm urging you to jump on route 424 to make your commute this morning. as you make your way out of urbanna, to frederick southbound on i-270, you're slow. as you get to clarksburg, lanes open a bit, and you see some relief. at west montgomery avenue, you can see traveling southbound a little volume, but no major delays at this time. you're clear as you make your way towards the spur. northbound on i-270, no issues there. if you're traveling on i-95,

getting busy as well at north fairfax county parkway. no delays yet. a two-day sentencing hearing begins today for illinois governor rob blagojevich. he was convicted on 18 counts of corruption, including trying to sell president obama's senate seat. he could face the stiffest sentence for corruption in the state's history. the judge will announce the sentence tomorrow. ratings agency standard & poor's is warning it may carry out an unprecedented mass downgrade of euro zone countries if eu leaders cannot come up with an agreement on how to solve the region's debt crisis at a summit. they placed the leaders of euro zone countries on warning for credit negative, including germany and france. it prompted the leaders of germany and france to assure they would take all necessary measures to improve the european economy. that message sent stocks down around the world, including

asian and european stock markets. meanwhile, u.s. futures at this time are up. two women are disputing what happened in a crash involving detroit lions football player ndamukong suh. the crash happened this past saturday. the defensive tackle is currently suspended for this play on thanksgiving day. he stomped on the arm of green bay's evan dietrich smith. suh told police he tried to avoid a taxi early saturday morning and hit a tree. two women claimed suh was trying to show off and left them injured when his car crashed. oklahoma state university says it may consider ways to prevent another scene like this one after football games. saturday 12 people were hurt when thousands stormed the field. thousands were celebrating osu's win over rival oklahoma. several options could be explored, including beefing up security and handing out fines to people who rush the field. tonight the nba will release the full schedule for its shortened season. the announcement will be made at

7:00 on nba-tv. we already know that five games are scheduled for the season tip-off on christmas day. they include the boston celtics at new york knicks, miami heat against defending champion dallas mavericks, and orlando magic at oklahoma city thunder. each team will play 66 games this season. the capitals offense is finally starting to produce, but the team just can't buy a win on the road. they fell 5-4 to the division leading florida panthers last night for their fifth straight loss away from the verizon center. the caps were down three goals at one point and tried to make a comeback but fell one goal short. they'll try to get back to their winning ways in ottawa tomorrow. a win on the road might be even harder to come by next year. the nhl has approved a league-wide realignment that will mean more rivalry games for the caps. washington will be in a conference with pittsburgh, philadelphia, new jersey, the rangers, islanders, and carolina hurricanes.

that means six games against the penguins next year instead of four. the new realignment splits the league's 30 teams into four conferences due to geography. there are a lot of cocky fans who would like to see the caps play the penguins. those would make for good games. >> great rivalry there. a pitbull that wandered off eight years ago will be back home in virginia for the holidays. >> got to hear this story. her name is petunia. somehow petunia wound up 2,700 miles away in california. a woman walking her own dogs found petunia in a wildlife area and took her to an animal shelter. workers found a microchip that traced back to the chancellor veterinarian clinic in virginia. the clinic then identified the owner. how did she get there? she did have souvenirs from 47 of the 48 states. >> what has petunia been doing for the last eight years? >> sight seeing. >> there you go. she looks good. >> hanging out and doing a lot

of sniffing, i would imagine. >> what a great reunion. >> 5:27. coming up, keeping hope alive. what the family of a missing

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good morning. welcome back. we're tracking a developing story out of maryland as crews are scrambling to clean up a massive fuel spill after this truck accident. plus the man behind one of maryland's most notorious corruption schemes is just hours away from being sentenced for his crimes. good morning. i'm eun yang. >> good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. welcome back to "news 4 today." it's tuesday, the 6th of december. take a live look outside. kind of brightening skies. we still have clouds overhead. warm temperatures too, 59 degrees. >> that's not dawn yet. it's still an hour and a half away from sunrise. those clouds reflecting the lights from the city, and those clouds have been producing rain overnight. everything is wet. allow yourself extra time. good morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. right now at reagan national airport just down river from

capitol hill, it's at 57 degrees. a little bit of light rain there. much of the rain is to the west and northwest of the i-95 corridor. and that has been continuing to roll in southwest to northeast over the last couple of days actually, slowly creeping east, but now it's arriving on our doorstep. farther to the west, they're getting snow in parts of illinois to missouri, kansas, oklahoma, and even north texas, where temperatures are down to 7 degrees in amarillo, texas. unbelievable. very cold air there. and it's going to be getting closer to us tomorrow night. and right now, though, we are getting some rain, some scattered light showers across eastern west virginia, parts of northern virginia, loudoun into fauquier, prince william and fairfax counties. farther to the north across the potomac, getting a few sprinkles into montgomery and frederick and howard counties. temperatures are mild. we're in the 50s from the mountains to the atlantic beaches. throughout the day today, occasional showers. sunrise at 7:17. we'll have a mild afternoon, low

to mid-60s. more rain tonight. a look at the evening planner in ten minutes. eun and joe? >> thank you. right now crews are making progress cleaning up a tanker truck accident in bowie. the southbound lanes on route 3 just opened. the northbound lanes are still shut down at route 450. news 4's megan mcgrath is live on the scene with details. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, joe. just the last few minutes, crews were able to reopen the southbound lanes at 450. that's good news for folks coming from that end of bowie, coming from the crofton area trying to get down route 50. the northbound lanes still closed. take a look at the detour behind me here. they're going to turn you around and force you off on route 50, where you can go toward washington or toward annapolis. you're not going to be able to continue on north on route 3 from this point. take a look at this video. this is the accident that we've been dealing with all night long. it involved three vehicles, a car, a box truck, and a gas

tanker. that tanker flipped over, went into the median. fortunately, the main gas chamber, the tanker portion of the truck, did not rupture. there was a small leak, about 100 gallons or so of fuel did leak out of the truck. we didn't see that massive rupture that was the fear initially when this accident occurred. they have removed the truck from the scene. it's out of the roadway. they have sand trucks on the scene. they're mopping up the fuel. the part about the reason northbound lanes are still closed is that i'm told that there are fire hoses that are extending all the way across those lanes in the northbound direction. until they can wind up those hoses and get them out of the way, they can't reopen the lanes. it's just not good for the hose fo for the traffic to run over them. they're trying to continue with the mop up and cleanup. right now if you want to head north on route 3, you're not going to be able to do it. you're going to be forced to detour at route 50. if you're coming in the southbound direction, the good news is the southbound lanes at

450 is now reopened. one little wrinkle here because of those hoses, if you're coming off of 450, if you're coming from the direction of racetrack road or down 450, you're not going to be able to take a left onto 3 to go north. you have to take a right headed to the southbound direction because of those hoses. hopefully, that won't be the case too much longer, and hopefully we'll get the northbound lanes open soon. with more on traffic, we go to danella sealock. danella? >> good morning. that is good news that southbound is open. northbound, if you're forced on 50, i would head towards annapolis, get on 424 and continue northbound if that's what you would like to do to continue to head northbound. that is a good sign. traveling on i-270 in maryland, still seeing big delays heading out of frederick all the way down towards clarksburg. it's not until you get to clarksburg road that you will see a little bit of relief and continue as you make your way towards the spur. not so bad just yet. traveling on i-95 at fairfax county parkway, getting busy as you head onto 395. here's the view now.

taking 395, not so bad at all. here's duke street. a little volume, but you're making excellent time as you make your way towards the 14th street bridge. as you head towards the 14th street bridge, you're clear as you make your way into the city. eun, 58 miles an hour. back to you. today jack johnson will learn his fate for what prosecutors call one of the most notorious corruption schemes in maryland history. the former prince george's county executive pled guilty to the charge he took bribes from developers in exchange for favorable treatment. tracee wilkins is live in upper marlboro with more. tracee, good morning to you. >> reporter: eun, good morning. it's not expected for jack johnson to get the maximum penalty in this case, but the prosecutor is asking the judge to send a message through johnson's sentencing saying that pay to play schemes in prince george's county are dead. we stood outside of this very home and watched as federal agents raided the johnson house

and brought then county executive jack johnson in handcuffs out in november of 2010. in may johnson pled guilty to extortion and witness and evidence tampering charges. according to sentencing guidelines, he could be looking at 11 to 14 years in prison. just a few weeks ago, this video of johnson illegally accepting money was released. prosecutors say johnson collected anywhere from $400,000 to $1 million in bribes starting shortly after he entered office for county executive in 2002. he's due in court this morning at 9:30 a.m. in prince george's county at the greenbelt district courthouse. tracee wilkins live this morning. back to you all in the studio. >> tracee, thank you. we will be in the courtroom for jack johnson's sentencing as soon as it happens. we'll let you know right here on nbc 4 and on our website, nbcwashington.com. opening statements are expected today in the case of a man accused of killing his supervisor at suburban hospital in bethesda.

prosecutors say that keith little admitted to stabbing his boss roosevelt brockington jr. to death on new year's day. prosecutors say brockington gave little a poor employee performance evaluation and told him he would not be getting a raise. the family of missing wssc worker is thanking those who have helped search for him. duckett was woichirking for the wssc's managed hunt department. he was trying to recover a deer using a boat. the boat was found 300 yards from where he launched it. crews have been searching around the triadelphia reservoir. so far they have found no signs of duckett. the prince george's county committee passed a sweeping

ethics reform bill. d.c. chair kwame brown said he would push the proposal through. council members met to talk about thomas' situation. some said they want him to step down while others want the investigation to play out. >> certainly, if these allegations are proved true, it's an outrageous breach of the public's trust. >> thomas is under investigation for allegedly using $300,000 in district money to fund personal trips and expenses. he's denied any wrongdoing but has agreed to repay the money. our time is now 5:39. christmas controversy. why a

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nice landing. it was. your home and auto policies and save. don't worry, tiny people. flo is a gentle giant. bundle home and auto at progressive.com. holiday displays there. good morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein in stormcenter 4. this early tuesday morning, everything is pretty much wet all over much of the region from showers. we continue to have showers passing southwest to northeast, scattered light rain, eastern west virginia, northern virginia, and areas generally west of i-95 in maryland. these are advancing north and east. they'll be with us from time to time throughout the day. it's mild. we're in the 50s from the

mountains to the beaches. right now low to mid-50s in montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's counties. upper 50s in district of columbia. throughout the day, occasional showers. sunrise at 7:12. a mild afternoon, into the low to mid-60s with occasional showers that will continue into this evening. we'll be down in the upper 50s by midnight. could get some snow tomorrow evening. we'll look at that, the end of the week, and weekend along with photos from my latest school visit in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. an overnight accident still has route 3 closed at route 50. southbound, your lanes have reopened. northbound, crews are still working to clear this accident. it appears as though the fire department has some hoses on the ground, and they have to get that off of the roadway so you can continue your commute this morning. we're going to keep watching this for you and let you know when you get both of your lanes back. route 3 southbound, your lanes are open. also in prince george's county, route 4, an accident at suitland

parkway involving a single vehicle. shouldn't be too bad. traveling i-95 northbound at prince william parkway, that's where you'll start to see some delays. >> 5:43 is the time. starbucks apparently isn't just for coffee anymore. why you what makes the sleep number store different? the sleep number bed. with the sleep number bed, it's not about soft or firm. it's about support where you find it most comfortable. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. on a traditional mattress, there is no adjustment. you get what you're buying that day. with our bed, you change the setting to something you like. this way, if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. wow! that feels really good. it's hugging my body. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are.

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welcome back. lou town county is ringing in another christmas controversy. now all christmas displays in front of the county courthouse could be banned again. angie goff with more on what's putting a damper on the holiday cheer. >> good morning, eun. it seems the dispute over christmas displays is becoming a tradition in loudoun county. this year a shocking display dividing the people. this morning loudoun county

officials will decide whether to ban all christmas displays on the courthouse lawn after this skeleton wearing a santa suit on a cross was torn down. a mother and son put up the display to show that christmas spirit is dead, overcome by commercialism. an enraged woman tore it down. she was offended. and then a heated public hearing where residents debated christmas versus free speech. >> the display was provocative, but in the united states of america under our constitution, provocative is protected. >> i have one word to describe what i felt this morning when i passed the courthouse square in leesburg, and that word is obscene. >> the argument is reminiscent of 2009, when christmas displays on the courthouse lawn were banned after the constitutionality of this nativity scene was questioned. last year that decision was overturned, and ten displays were allowed on the lawn based on a first come, first served basis. now this morning county

officials are meeting and expected to decide what to do with the decorations this year. as for the woman who put up that skeleton, we hear she has no plans to do it again. for the one who tore it down, still no word if she'll face any charges. eun? >> this is very sensitive. you can't make everyone happy in a situation like this. >> as we have seen three years in a row. >> angie goff live in our news room for us. angie, thanks so much. this morning investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a fire in a judge's home. u.s. district judge liam o'grady and his wife were not injured. when they arrived at the house on massachusetts avenue, flames were coming from the second story bedroom. it took 50 to 60 firefighters to put the flames out. u.s. marshal's service responded because they are charged with protecting federal judges, and it was a federal judge's home. this morning the loudoun county sheriff's department is asking for your help to try to catch a purse snatcher.

oddly, this happened last month in the parking lot of the dulles crossing plaza in sterling. police say a woman was loading items into her car when a pickup truck bumped into her shopping cart, and then someone reached over the driver's side window and grabbed the woman's purse before speeding off. there's a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. virginia's democrats filed a lawsuit in richmond to stop republican plans to control the majority in the state senate. after last month's election, democrats lost their majority in that chamber, and now each party has 20 senators. now democrats want a judge to keep lieutenant governor bill bolling from voting as a tiebreaker when the senate organizes next month. just days after a group of 30 occupy d.c. protest were arrested, the group is planning to erect tents in mcpherson square. 31 protesters were arrested for failure to leave this wooden

structure, which was deemed unsafe. organizers now plan to put up army tents complete with wooden floors and heat. they will serve as a warm space for which to host meetings in winter months. they are negotiating a permit with the park service and plan to have the tents up this week. >> it's time to take back the people's house for the people. d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton rallied another group of proe protesters on the national mall. they call themselves the people's camp, and they're organizing a week of protests to, quote, take back the capital. today a group of demonstrators that include the unemployed, union leaders, and a local group called our d.c. today the winds dying down in southern california should allow power crews to get back to work. folks in santa barbara have not

had electricity since the storm blew through last week. hurricane force winds caused the damage. >> strong winds. but right now the rain is the story? >> yes. everything is wet. allow yourself extra time. take lie ak ta look at the . we've got a long line of rain. scattered light showers coming through since late last evening. they're generally with us west of i-95 although they're beginning to creep a little farther to the east across virginia, west virginia, much of maryland, north and west of 95, is where it's mostly wet. south and east, it's all cloudy. a little bit of fog is beginning to form through central virginia and the shenandoah valley where temperatures are in the 50s. it's 50s from the mountains to the atlantic beaches, including the nearby suburbs as well as in downtown washington. highs reaching low to mid-60s this afternoon. so a mild day but occasional showers. it's not going to be wet all day long.

sunset at 4:46. this evening we'll have a few more occasional showers. may have periods whereof normal rain. we'll have a shower from time to time. by dawn tomorrow, mid-50s. that may be the warmest part of the day on wednesday. gradually turn colder throughout the day with occasional showers wednesday. wednesday night, we'll be dipping down into the 530s. by then, we could have periods of wet snow mainly to the north and west of i-95 and accumulate on grassy areas wednesday night and around dawn on thursday. sunny cold weather each day thursday through the weekend into the first part of next week with morning lows below freezing. afternoon highs in the 40s. now last week i traveled to silver spring and visits the st. john the baptist school there and talked to students there. we had a great time talking about weather. they already studied weather, and they knew a lot about it. we had a lot of fun discussing the different types of weather and tornadoes and storms and what makes tornadoes and what

makes storms. great group of students there. want to thank teacher aileen smith there in the back on the right for the presentation to the st. john the baptist school in silver spring. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. crews are working to open up the northbound lanes at route 3 at route 50. right now chopper is over the scene and tells me the tanker is out of the roadway. you're looking now. southbound is open. however, northbound still closed at this time. going to keep watching it for you and let you know when you could have your lanes open again. also, prince george's county, route 4, pennsylvania avenue have an accident at suitland parkway. police are on the scene of that accident. taking the outer loop of the beltway, starting to see some delays at university boulevard as you make your way towards georgia avenue. no accidents on the beltway on the outer loop or inner loop, you're in the clear. on the rails, looking very good. no delays on metro, marc, or vre. eun, back to you. >> thanks very much, danella. there are still three weeks to christmas, but you might be surprised at just how many people say they are already done

with their holiday shopping. according to a new survey by america's research group, more than one-third of shoppers bought their gifts in november. those that didn't finish said they are now taking a break from shopping according to the survey. that's because many shoppers spent more money than they planned to on black friday. this season more companies are spreading the holiday spirit. career builder reports 58% of employers will throw holiday parties this year. that's 6% more than last year. 40% of companies will give out a holiday bonus. people who bought tickets through ticketmaster over the past decade may receive credits towards fees they were charged as part of a class action lawsuit filed in 2003. the suit gives up to $1.50 per customer for up to 17 tickets they bought and up to a $5 credit if the tickets are delivered by u.p.s. eligible customers are being notified by e-mail.

starbucks will sell beer along with your cup of java. the "chicago tribune" reports the chain will test out alcohol sales in some of its chicago stores. starbucks hopes the move will increase evening sales. if everything goes well, starbucks could sell beer and wine across the country. right now only stores in the pacific northwest sell alcohol. if you ever wanted to own an nfl team, today you can buy in. the green bay packers are selling 250,000 shares of stock in the team beginning at 9:00 this morning. they are $250 each. unfortunately, you won't get much out of it. the stock is essentially worthless because it doesn't pay any dividends, but your money will go to renovations to lambeau field. the packers are the only publicly owned team in the league, and their last share sale was back in 1997. maybe you'll get invited to the owners box, though. >> that would be good. a tv host is getting ready to tie the knot, according to

"people" magazine. rosie o'donnell is engaged. she and girlfriend michelle browns met at the starbucks in september and have been an item ever since. o'donnell has four children with previous spouse nickelodeon market director. they split in 2007. this evening the capitol christmas tree will be lit. it was erected last week and now has more than 3,000 ornaments on it and 10,000 l.e.d. lights. house speaker john boehner will flip the twitch to turn on the lights with help from a second grader from california. the theme of this year's decorations is california shines. the lighting ceremony begins at 5:00 this evening on the west lawn of the capitol building. >> that's always a big night. >> yes, beautiful. >> although trees are getting lit. i guess we're getting close to christmas. >> yes, we are. >> better start some shopping at some point. ahead at 6:00 a.m.

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will be channeling teddy roosevelt today. say it ain't snow. rain is heading this way. when it could turn into some big wet flakes. plus breaking news overnight. a deadly attack targeting a religious gathering. sentencing day in just a few hours. the former county executive brought down by a corruption investigation. we'll find out how much time they'll spend locked up. good morning to you. thanks for joining us on "news 4 today." i'm eun yang. >> and i'm joe krebs. we do have clouds above us. we've had rain overnight. let's go to tom to look at the forecast. >> if it snows, we'll blame eun. >> i said say it ain't snow. >> going to have to deliver if you insist. >> no, tom. >> not now. not this morning. it's rain. it's way too