t and the latest on the investigation. >> a new poll shows mitt romney is the person to beat in iowa. i have the latest on the republican nomination fight. >> and paying the price for the bp oil spill. who could be facing criminal charges. >> today apple will reinvent the telephone. >> later looked back at those we lost in 2011. "good morning washington" continues right now. >> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> good morning, washington. it's thursday, december 29. i am natasha barrett. >> i am kris van cleve. we begin with breaking news in silver spring. a major traffic accident will be backing up traffic. two dead after a crash on university boulevard. haley is on the scene with the latest. >> police have reopened and the

westbound lanes of university boulevard, something they were not optimistic would happen in time for the morning rush. eastbound is still closed. that is where the accident happened at the intersection of university boulevard and piney branch road near langley drive. two young women are this morning. they are possibly and in their late teens or early 20's. there were three women in the car. the third young woman has been taken to the cost littl hospital with non- life threatening injuries, we believe. there is a vehicle on top of a brick retaining wall that's about four feet tall. as we get closer to accident, it is a mess of mangled metal resting on that wall. police kept all drivers to produce a clearer this area as

accident constructors' do their job to try to figure out what happened this morning. they don't yet know if speed or alcohol were factors in this and early-morning crash that happened at around 3:00 a.m. haley harrison reporting from silver spring, abc 7 news. steve has some other spots to watch for this morning. it has been a busy morning. >> it has. we will start with a look of an accident scene. you can see clearly that the westbound side of university boulevard is getting by the accident. that means you can get up to the beltway from silver spring and from langley park and takoma park. you may want to avoid it because they're still lot of activity. the eastbound side of university boulevard is still closed. you cannot get back down from the beltway.

that is how things are so far. back to you. >> thank you. widespread 20s this morning to start the day. let's check in with the weatherbug network to get the latest numbers. 30 degrees in alexandria, 26 in mclean, 24 in gainesville 25 in leesburg. a cool start to the day. you wanted and had and gloves this morning. mid 40's this afternoon with increasing clouds, seasonable temperatures. a little more tomorrow morning in the 30's low to mid 50's in the afternoon. that is where we will be through the weekend. still looks like some of the coldest air so far this season is on the way by tuesday. our other top story, investigators trying to figure out what happened in the. metrobus and a pickup truck collided yesterday afternoon on rockville pike. >> part of rockville pike was

shut down several of was, creating a traffic nightmare at the height of the evening rush. all lanes back open this morning. the bus was likely headed northbound of rockville pike when it crossed into the southbound lanes and hit the bus. the truck driver died and the bus driver had been cut out of the bus. several other people on board the bus were injured and are expected to survive. >> the driver of the truck jumped the median, hit the bus and the bus shot across the embankment. >> terrible. >> neighbors say that stretch of road where the accident happened is dangerous. they have been lobbying the state for years to do something about it. we will continue to cover this story and bring any developments as we get them on air and on line at wjla.com. you can also see a photo gallery of pictures from the crash scene. a developing story from north korea. the country is paying a final

tribute to a longtime leader kim jong il. a national memorial service began with three minutes of silence. thousands of soldiers gathered the in the capital for attribute led by his youngest son officially named as the country's supreme leader. kim jong il died of a heart attack on december 17. i will voters are still trying to figure out the flavor of the week with five days left. they are running out of time. >> everybody is trying to get attention on themselves. ron paul is rising towards the top of the pack. even rick santorum seeing some light. tahman bradley has a closer look at the changing field. >> it has been a campaign of ups and downs in iowa with a number of candidates looking as though they've been anointed. now it's seems mitt romney is the person to beat at least for now.

for a while and mitt romney thought about skipping the iowa caucuses. not anymore. >> i am running for president. remember the name mitt romney if you get a chance to caucus. >> he is benefiting from the collapse of a gingrich campaign. according to a new poll, romney and topped the republican field in the hawkeye state and with 25%. ron paul in second place with 22%. rick santorum in third place with 16%. in fourth place is newt gingrich who three weeks ago was at the top. the englert and rana are dealing with a threat from the right. first, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum, who has been winning over conservatives spending more time in iowa than his opponents. >> we feel good about the numbers. >> been there is texas congressman ron paul. >> something has to change. something will change. >> he has a strong organization in iowa and got a boost when a state senator an influential

tea party figure, a left michelle bachmann's campaign to sign up with this team. >> ron paul is in the top tier. >> that was the tahman bradley reporting. a: 23 degrees in annapolis right now. >> still ahead on the run. police track down a serial slashing suspects but arresting him could pose a problem. -- 31 degrees right now. >> we will look that the worst and the best in hollywood from

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hi, i support the washington metropolitan artists. exhibit changes every month. support your local art community. good morning, washington. it is a cold thursday morning, 6:10,. 33 degrees downtown. 23 in martinsburg, 25 in gaithersburg. 29 in quantico. not as good ideas yesterday, so we don't have the wind chill to talk about this morning. increasing clouds coming from the west. clouds shown in a gray, part of a weakening low pressure system that will pass to our north and dissipate later on today. morning sunshine but increasing clouds in the midday and afternoon. mid 40's for the high temperature. that is about average for this

time of year, with a light southerly breeze. not as cold tomorrow morning. we will be in the 30's, rising into below to mid 50's. go to mid 50's for the high temperature as we bring in the new year as well. still looks like cold air early next week. breaking traffic now. the four corners area of silver spring. looking over the accident scene on university boulevard at piney branch road. westbound side of university boulevard, traffic is getting by on the right-hand side of your screen. that's headed up to the beltway. westbound has been reopened at the scene of the ongoing accident investigation. eastbound headed down from the beltway is still closed. if you normally take university inbound, if you cannot do that. alan bond lanes are open. in springfield northbound 95,

from newington to springfield, a little heavy but in everything is moving. back to you. >> thank you. harry potter had the magic touch at the box office this year. >> the boy who -- >> the final film in the franchise was the top grossing movie of 2011 with $381 million. rounding out the top three transformers $382 million. and twilight, $271 million. >> we did not spend any money on those. >> i did, actually. i skipped twilight. 33 degrees in the district 6:12. >> idp could face criminal charges for the oil spill in the

gulf. >> fairfax police say that a suspect is hiding in peru. >> a mystery

and oklahoma infant is the third baby to be second from a rare bacteria possibly linked to tainted infant formula. that baby has recovered. an illinois baby was also second. it was initially linked to enfamil powder formula, but tests show no signs of the bacteria in the formula. the man wanted in connection with a series of bizarre slashings at fairfax county shopping centers is still on the run. >> police believe they think you know where -- believe they pinky think they know where he is.

johnny pimentel is in peru. they're working with peruvian authorities to return him to the united states. a man sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint in the was d.c. it happened around 5:00 p.m. tuesday. he approached a woman as she was walking along emerson street and forced into a white van. he drove about a mile, sexually assaulted her then dropped her off in an alley. she was not able to give an accurate description of the man because he was wearing a mask. 2011 was a deadly year for u.s. law enforcement officers. the memorial fund said 173 officers died in a line of duty this year, 13% higher than last year. the group says this is the second year in a row that number has grown. making news in america's money," criminal charges for bp a repeat honda vehicle recall,

and news on holiday sales. sunny hostin has those stories and more. >> , all charges against bp -- criminal charges against bp employees. they allegedly lied to regulators about drilling in the gulf before the horizon well blew up, killing 11 people and causing a massive oil spill. honda is telling its dealers to stop selling some used cars. the automaker's recall for a faulty air bag keeps expanding. sales of 13 million vehicles are expected, the best year since 2008. sales are expected to continue to increase next year. it wthere was a surge in shopping before christmas. shoppers waited for more bargains. i am sunny hostin.

winter is off to a pretty weak start across the nation. whether that is good or bad depends on where you live. ski resorts have shut down in california and utah. no moneyo snow means more money in the budget for city governments. i love snow. the ski resorts out west where speeding up to a fourth of july weekend last season. it was a record-breaking. they may be closed a little right now, but they were going strong. >> it is a completely different story this year. >> la nina is partially to blame for the lack of snow. looks like we will see a shift in the weather pattern going into the early to middle part of next week, providing cold air.

whether we will have snowfall it does not look likely at this time. a big cooldown by tuesday of next week. 20 right now in would. -- in in wod. -- in wininwood, 20 degrees right now. oxon hill, 31 right now. aldie, 22 in loudoun county. similar temperatures on the wider view, widespread twenties right now. no teens. 23 in hagerstown. you want a hat and gloves early this morning. clouds will be increasing throughout the day. clouds shelling in great. this is part of a weakening low pressure system that is not much to talk about. it will pass to our north and fizzled out later on today. we will get left over clouds and

maybe an isolated sprinkle in the potomac highlands. that is even very unlikely. behind that system is another one on its heels that will pass to our north friday night and police saturday. 20% or 30% chance of a sprinkle friday night and early saturday morning. increasing clouds today, mid 40's, normal for this time of year. in the 30 tomorrow morning. in the fifties this weekend. plummeting by early next week. the commute is pretty good in general. university boulevard is closed as you go down from the beltway on the westbound side of university boulevard. traffic moving up to the beltway is open. inbound headed down from the beltway, it is still closed. you have to detour at piney branch road because of the closure of university boulevard. outbound is open headed towards

the beltway. at university boulevard we usually see it the beltway moving slowly. we have a little volume, but no delay from college park to silver spring. on the outer loop at route 7, an accident is now off the road. back to you. >> thank you. 28 degrees in bethesda. >> coming up, we look back on the stars we lost in 2011. you are watching "good morning washington." >> a 17-year-old left-handed by the bullet of a gang member. how he survived. and mark wahlberg survived the streets. next anderson.

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- all week we are looking back debts, the biggest headlines from the past year. today we remember those we lost in 2011. >> although we said goodbye to many people, here is a small group that impacted the world in a big way. >> been left hook by joe frazier -- a left hook. >> one, two three four. >> i will continue to assist humans in alleviating their suffering and agony. >> ♪ i said no, no, no.

>> the throne. >> today apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> i want life. >> ♪ >> [inaudible] [unintelligible] >> -- >> we have a great time, the e street band.

♪ >> that continues tomorrow. >> thanks for waking up with us. still another half-hour. >> coming up, a football hero. and organ player is getting attention to what he did off the field. -- oregon player. >> a cool start to this thursday morning. i

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live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> >> straight ahead at 6:30, a five-vehicle pileup on the highway leads one person dead and almost a dozen injured. it shut down traffic for hours. investigators are searching for answers this want. good morning, washington. it's thursday, december 29. i am kris van cleve. >> i am natasha barrett. two more people are dead after another crash in montgomery county, this time in silver spring a couple hours ago. paisley harrison-jones us live from university boulevard. have you learned anything more? there were three people inside the car. how is the third person doing? >> received a briefing from

police moments ago. we have some more information to pass along to you. including the names and ages of the three women in this car this morning. two of those young women are dead. there is one surviving passenger this morning who is in the hospital. police initially it's a problem away from the accident scene with non-life threatening injuries, but they don't update on her current condition. the driver of the vehicle has died. denise richards was a name, she was 22 and lived in hyattsville. her back seat passenger tamara, nicole -- amtamara michael johnson. and the survivor, lass named ronald -- reynolds, first name

desaline. the vehicle landed on the top of a four-foot retaining wall. investigators looking into what could cause this. police still have east, lanes closed but have been able to open west, lanes of university boulevard near piney branch road this morning. we will bring you the latest on the third passenger's condition as soon as we get it. caylee harrison, abc 7 news. -- haley harrison. the beltway at university boulevard, moving pretty nicely, no problems on the beltway

between college park and silver spring. if you are leaving the beltway to go invalid on university, that is closed. towards piney branch road. but outbwestbound is open. you will see activity on the other side of the road. in virginia, 395 et the 14th street bridge, moving nicely. no delays leading springfield all the way through alexandria and into the district. back to you. >> thank you. cold start today, barry chilly outside. bundle up this morning. temperatures are in the '20s widespread. we don't have gusty wind like yesterday. there's no real until factor to talk about this morning. what you see is what you get. 28 in leesburg, waldorf, 25. damascus, 27. mid 40's this afternoon with increasing clouds. fairly pleasant day overall, mid

40's. not as cold by this time tomorrow. we will be in the low to mid 30's. a warming trends for tomorrow into the weekend. 50's over the weekend. if much colder next week, in the 30's by tuesday. to our other top story, the search for answers after a deadly crash in montgomery county. police this morning are trying to figure out what caused a pickup truck to collide with a metrobus, killing one person. it left 10 others injured. that five-vehicle pileup happened at the start of last night's evening rush-hour snarling traffic several of us. >> traffic on rockville pike is moving again this morning, the investigation is far from over. ben eisler is live in bethesda with the latest. good morning. >> good morning. when you see the front of this metrobus you cannot possibly fathom howe the driver survived. 11 people injured as a result of the crash and one man dead.

>> the worst thing i've ever seen. >> for like yesterday afternoon in a pickup truck going southbound of rockville pike crossed the median and collided with a metrobus. this is the bus after the accident. >> i saw people die. >> the driver was trapped inside. she was with metro since 1998. >> they spent most of the time getting her out. >> the driver of the pickup truck was not so lucky. >> some patients have been treated and released and areothers are stable. >> the most serious victims were transported to baltimore shock trauma. the road has reopened.

there's no word on why the driver of the truck crossed the median. >> thank you. we will bring you any new developments as we get them on and online at wjla.com. you can also long gone for a photo gallery of eye witness pictures from the crash scene. a developing story from north korea. the country is setting its final goodbye to a longtime leader kim jong-il. a national memorial service began with three minutes of silence. thousands of soldiers gathered in the north korean capital for tribune led by his youngest son who has officially been named the supreme leader. kim jong il died of a heart attack on december 17. five days left until the iowa caucuses, the republican presidential candidates are crisscrossing the state in search of votes. >> there appears to be another shake-up in the dynamics of the race. a new poll puts mitt romney in the lead in iowa. texas congressman ron paul is

second period pennsylvania senator rick santorum in third place. -- former pennsylvania senator. >> getting bigger numbers and we feel very good about it. >> former house speaker newt gingrich is now in fourth place. michelle bachmann suffered a setback when one of her campaign people defected to ron paul's campaign. we will have more in a few minutes on this. the man wanted in connection with a series of bizarre slashings that fairfax county shopping centers is still on the run. investigators believe they know where he is. johnny pimentel is in peru suspected of cutting nine women on the behind. none seriously injured. there are working with peruvian authorities to return him to the u.s. the search is on for a man sexually assaulted a woman in northwest d.c. at knifepoint to about 5:00 p.m. tuesday.

she was walking along emerson street when a man forced her into white van. he drove about a mile, sexually assaulted her, then dropped off in an alley. she was not able to give an accurate description because he was wearing a mask. 6:37 is the time, 30 degrees in alexandria. >> school punishment and race. suspension rates could come down to the color of his students p -- student's skin. >> and who we admire the most this year. quicksand's we will look at how

thursday morning, 6:40. welcome back. a cold start to the day. 20 degrees colder now in some locations than yesterday. you will notice a difference. 33 in the district. that is an exception. 23 at dulles airport. 23 in manassas, 27 in winchester, 23 in martinsburg. fortunately, we don't have the wind chill. that's a decided overnight. we don't have a bitter wind chills.

what you see outside is what you get and exactly how would feels. the clouds are increasing moving in from a weakening low pressure system from the west. increasing clouds, not as windy double temperatures this afternoon, mid 40's. 46 for the afternoon high. comfortable into the weekend relatively mild for this time of year. low to mid 50's. much cooler early next week. let the latest on traffic with steve. serious accidents fatal accident on university boulevard, still closed eastbound on university headed down from franklin avenue to piney branch road. traffic on the right side of the screen and headed outbound or westbound towards the beltway those lanes open. you can do that. down from the beltway, you will

be directed away from the accident. give yourself extra time. 395 in virginia, towards shirlington, moving very smoothly. back to you. >> thank you. a big honor for president obama and secretary of state clinton. they have been voted the most admired man and woman in the nation for 20 11. this is his fourth year in a row in first place beating out george bush. hillary clinton beat out oprah winfrey and michelle obama for the top honor. 23 degrees in manassas. >> putting a big dent in perspective. a linemen helped to save a life during a rose bowl tradition. >> and a disturbing reports linking suspension risks on my journey

across america

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in politics, the countdown to iowa. just five days until voting begins. mitt romney is back in front. >> ron paul and rick santorum are gaining ground among republican supporters. now a closer look. it is any day you have a headline. what do you think? >> i think we will see a lot of volatility. the closer we get, the more access to the voters get. we will definitely see that in iowa. it is the final countdown and anything can happen, literally. rick santorum has surged. >> huntsman is not even trying

right now. >> exactly. this shows how fickle voters are. there's always tension between who is going to win in the general and vs who represents what i believe. you are seeing that. mitt romney, some believe he can win the general election. and someone like rick santorum, they believe, identifies with their values. >> good to see you josh. with the iraq war over and troops in afghanistan headed home, the pentagon is cutting back. the pentagon has eliminated 27 jobs for generals and admirals since march. it's part of a broader plan to shrink the upper ranks by 10% over five years. the 9/11 memorial in new

york is proving to be a popular tourist attraction. officials say that 1 million people have visited since it opened in september. the memorial plaza and the mountains opened the day after the 10th anniversary of the attacks. visitors are required to get free passes in advance. there appears to be a racial gap when it comes to school suspensions in our area. more than 35,000 students were suspended or expelled from school last year. more than half of those students were black. experts say potential reasons for the disparity include poverty, and attended by a staff, and differences in school leadership styles. a local fourth grader is suspended after allegedly compiling a hit list. she attends an elementary school in anne arundel county. it contains the names of 35 students and some celebrities including justin bieber. the list was entitled kill list and then was later entitled

"people who are mean to me." several new laws will go into effect in our area and across the country. montgomery county will institute a 5 cent tax on paper and plastic bags. if more low-income women in maryland will be edited for medicaid family-planning. employers in alabama must now check that polluters -employees- --must check that new employees are in the country illegally. and and teenage girls must inform their parents before getting an abortion. much colder than yesterday morning. 20 degrees colder now than yesterday in some of our reporting stations. >> it feels like winter for the first time when you grow up outside. >> one of the rare mornings when it feels like winter, that is today. warning on the weekend. all signs pointing at a blast of

cold air by the early or middle part of next year. we will cooldow down with high temperatures in the 30's on tuesday and wednesday. a beautiful picture of the chesapeake bay this morning. looking back into the distance, we actually have a container ship moving south to north over the bay. sometimes the doppler radar can detect those over the water especially if we have inversion in the atmosphere when the temperature bends the radar beam downward. fun. 20 degrees in inwood, 21 in hancock and laurel, 22 in leesburg. calm wind. these were the coldest temperatures i could find. the winds subsided overnight. we were gusting yesterday.

28 in northwest d.c., 25 in triangle. 27 in damascus. the cold start for the date. increasing clouds coming from the west. gray is the cloud cover streaming towards washington. part of a weakening system. a very weak low pressure system, not much to talk about that will pass to our north and will dissipate later on today. on its heels is another system that will pass to our north friday night and saturday. that could give us a brief sprinkle. for the most part we will remain dry for the next several days. in the 30's by this time tomorrow. low to mid 50's for the high temperature on the weekend. cold air by an early next week. just in time to go back to school. a look at the accident investigation in silver spring

maryland, the branch road. on university boulevard westbound is open all the eastbound is closed. there was an accident reported on southbound rockville pike at veirs mill road. the south outside of rockville pike is blocked and you will be sent on to veirs mill road. watch for that on 355 for an accident just reported a few minutes ago. otherwise around the area doing pretty well. camden line and brunswick lines have delays. back to you. >> thank you. a university of oregon football player is being held as a year ago after saving a man's life during a dinner. the man started choking while eating meat at a beverly hills restaurant. >> he was giving the tilting signal. the chef was trying to help him with the hamlet maneuver and was struggling.

--so i said i can do it. >> oregon offensive lineman mark asper performed this and a member of the maneuver from his days as a boy scout. he's a big man. 6:52, 32 degrees in

ticking our top stories part of university boulevard in silver spring is closed while police investigated deadly accident. two young women died when their car went off the road around 3:00 this morning. a 22-year-old and 19-year-old artist. a third person, a teenager, was injured. a deadly clash between a pick-up truck and the metrobus. a man died and nearly a dozen people injured when the truck and the bus collided on rockville pike. this affects them to investigators believe the man wanted for slashing several people at shopping centers is in proposaperu. authorities want to get johnny pimentel back to the u.s. breaking traffic news with steve in the traffic center. >> another problem. in rockville pike at viers mill

road at the mixing bowl, traffic is being blocked southbound. you are being diverted at veirs mill road because of an accident at the intersection of rockville pike and veirs mill road. looks like the northbound side is open and is subject to police direction. at university boulevard at piney branch road, the eastbound lanes of still closed. westbound is open. back to you. >> thank you. today we will have an increase in the clouds. cold this morning in the '20s. all the way to the mid 40's this afternoon. prize in the mid 50's or low 50's on the weekend. a brief sprinkle tomorrow night. next week, and still hinting at a shift in the weather pattern which could bring much colder air by tuesday and wednesday. >> that does it for "good morning washington." >>