that's all we're getting these days. >> "news 4 today" continues now at 5:00 a.m. >> here it comes. snowstorm is approaching our area. when it will get here and who will have the most shoveling to do. we'll tell you. good morning, i'm j krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this thursday, december 16th, 2010. we're going to take a live look outside, 5:00 a.m. it is 2 degrees. definitely cold enough for snow. and there is snow due to our south right now but it's slowly approaching our area. >> actually it's rapidly moving. >> rapidly? >> it's going to be in to our western and southwestern suburbs here, probably in another couple of hours by:00 this morning. then right into the district, maybe an hour or so after th. but it is ntinuing to advance from southwest to northeast, and is moving quickly. now the closer view of the radar showing the leading edge of that snow now, just now coming in to

madison and green county, orange counes, just about to come into culpepper county, perhap in the next oh, half hour to hour and a these counties in color under wier weather advisory. northern virginia, much of west virginia, much of maryland, including the district of columbia, as well aselaware. temperatures are cold enough for it to stick. only in the teens in the suburbs and rural areas, near 20 close to washington. and this snow, allue to a weak area of low pressure that's going to passing south of the region. but close enough to us to give us some snow, and we'll have light snow throughout the day today. highs only reaching upper 20s. sunrise 7:21. sunset 4:48. looks like that band there in the middle is where northern virginia, the district, and the nearby suburbs in maryland will get about 1 to 3 inches as well as northern shenandoah valley. farther north not as much. farther south, more, mixing with sleet in the middleof the afternn there. jerry, how's traffic? >> calm at the moment. clear, dry road surfaces. i-270 southbou headed out of frederick to urbina, right here at 118 and german town moving

along very, very smoothly. let's see if that's the case from the west. 66 eastbound from fair oaks headed toward route 123 continuing toward the capital beltway, no early worries there. headed west on 66, that'soving along nicely. one more stop headed on or to the key bridge, no wries whatsoever. traffic moving along very well. let's check the rails. first check of the morning, and so far, everything is looking good. metrorail, vre and marc with no early delays. joe, eun? >> jerry, thank you. >> vdot is preparing for the impending storm this morning. it has me than 200 crews ready to go. news 4's tracee wilkins is live in vienna now with more on the preparations there. tracee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. they have 225 crews spread out around the county. but, they have up to 800rews ready to go forossible storms is winter. we found out about this last night. vdot met with concerned citizens who live in fairfax county to assurehem that vdot is

prepared for whatever snow may come our way this winter. they've doubled time and resources from 600 pieces of equipment to 1800, tripling their efforts. they've already hired more drivers and staff. but for this storm, th are warning drivers to be careful. >> we normally pretreat, because to keep the roads from freezing, bridges, hills, things such as that. but because of the temperature never got above freezing today, we weren't able to brine and pretreat in most of the areas. >> reporter: so it could be a slippery ride forolks this morning. but they do have the crews out there ready to conquer this snow as it begins to fall and treat it that way and plow off the roads as quickly a possible. of course, that pretreatment always helps, so there is some concern there. now there's also concern in the neighborhood they're asking folks who live fairfax county to park on one side of the street, and also use their driveways, as well, so that they can get those plows down your street as quickly as possible they're saying that eventually

they want to ask the homeowners associations to make this a rule. but in the meantime they're hopi folks will go ahead and help out. tracee wilkins live in fairfax county. >> all right, tracee, thank you. you may want to make other plans if you take white's ferry to work. it is closed again this morning. the ferry connecting montgomery and loudoun counties was closed yesterday afternoon because of ice. happening today, the house of representatives is expected vote on the president's tax promise today. the senate already passed the $858 billion package, renewing the so-called bush-era taxuts set to expire at the end of the moh. we're taking a live look now at the capitol. it also extends unemployment benefits and cuts the social security tax. it also allows estates as large as $10 million to be passed to heirs tax free. house democrats say it's a bad deal. >> we worked hard to negotiate an agreement that's a win for middle-class families, and a win for oueconomy.

now we can't afford to let it fall victim to either delay or defeat. >> this is a bad deal for the american peopl >> is it the right thing to do, to borrow money from the chinese to give tax cuts to billionaires? >> house democrats will try to reduce the size of inheritance that can pass to heirs tax-free, but the house issent expected to ultimately pass the senate bill. the senate will once again decide whether to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. the house passed a stand-alone bill yesterday that would allow service members to acknowledge that they are gay. democrats in the sate say they're committed to bringing the legislation to the floor of congress before congress adjourns for the year. but time has been set for a vote on the bill. and today, president obama will talk -- will discuss, that is, a white house review of the war in afghanistan. the status report is expected to conclude that u.s. forces ca begin to withdraw in july as pland. it will also reportedly find that afghans will be able to take over security in their country byhe end of the year 2014. this is the first major review

of the president's shift in strategy in afghanistan which he unveiled lasdecember. news 4 has learned that d.c. mayor elect vincent ay will reappoint cathy lanier to chief of police today. the official announcement is expected to be made at a news conferencehis afternoon. lanier became the first female chief in city history when she was chosen by mayor adrian fenty in 2007. she has been with the department sinc1990. we've also learned that gray will name kenneth ellerbee as the city's new fire chief. ellerbee ia former assistant fire chief here in washington and rrently serves as the chief of the sarasota county fire department in florida. still owns a home in alabama in ward 7. ellerbee will take over for chief dennis reuben who announced he will not stay past the end of his contract on january 2nd. 5:06 is your time now. the redskins quarterback talking about professionalism with donovan mcnabb is talking about the possibility of being benched.

plus, a new request in the murder case of a uva student. why defense attorneys want t know more about the victim's medical istory. and next all is quiet right now. but snow is on the way. it's coming fast. tom has your weather and a look at you traff charlie, zach and jb ha a reputation

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information from us in the past six months or if you want to sign up your school, business, or church, please call 202-885-4663. or e-mail osinghelp@nbcwashington.com. this is the sign-up for the system. not to close or delay openings. weather and traffic on this thursday morning. good morning, i'm meteorologist tom kierein. we have snow now moving in to west virginia, the shenandoah valley of virginia, and central and southwestern virginia. it's advancing to the east and to the northeast, leading edge of the snow right knew into the central shenandoah valley and into the highlands of west virginia. it's cold enough for it to stick. temperatures there just near 20 degrees. we're in the teens to near 20 closer to washington. right now, 22 at national airport. the ght snow throughout the day today, with highs only in the upper 20s. these are the total amounts i expect. that band in the middle 1 to 3 inches across northern virginia, highlands of west virginia, the district of colbia and the nearby counties in maryland. and farther south, though,

higher amounts, 3 to 5 inches, perhapfrom fredericksburg to charlottesville, may mix with a little bit of sleet before it ends this afternoon in southern maryland and the lower eastern shore. then overnight tonight we'll just have cloudy skies and by dawn tomorrow we'll see some sun back. a look at friday, and in to the weekend, that will be showing, it look like, a settled pattern. sunday, thinking about maybe some snow right now looks like it will stay out to sea, thankfully. a look into next week in ten minutes. how's traffic? >> tom will start this time around. downtown, southeast, southwest freeway or 395 if you will, between the anacostia and the potomac rivers picking up a little bit of early morning volume. nothing to worry about there. good news. let's see if that good news continues on the capital beltway inaryland. that's the inner loop. that's the outer loop traveling between i-95 and 355 moving along very, very nicely. we do have word of an accident on the beltway. prince george's county. inner loop of the beltway as we head around toward route 5.

branch avenue. police are headed over to check on that. rails, so far no delays, no delays, no delays. so good morning on marc, vre, and metrorail. joe and eun? >> thanks very much, jerry. >> it is now 5:12. 22 degrees. ahead what michael vick says about possibly owning dogs in the future. >> also attorneys for the local man accused of murdering a uva student want to dig deeper into the victim's medical history. >> next the fbi joining the search for what investigator say could be another craigsl ♪ i'm gonna get it, i know i'm gonna get it. ♪

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today, wikileaks founder julian assange will be back in court fighting to get out of jail. a judge will review his bail request again. swedish authorities want him to remain behind bars until his extradition hearing. they want to question him about

sex charges. he surrendered last week in london. meanwhile his supporters are ying to raise the $300,000 needed to post bail. they say that he is being unfairly held because his website lead thousds of secret u.s. government documents. the fbi has joined new york police in looking for a poible serial killer. the bodies of four women hav been found on a beach in long island. police are trying to figure out if one of the victims was a missing woman om maine who was an escort on craigslist. investigators are also looking into the possibility that the killer browsed craigslist looking for women he could meet and kill. police are also trying to figure out if t disappearance of a second escort from new jersey is also connected. by now you've ceainly seen the bone-chilling video of a man opening fire on a school board meeting in florida. now authorities believe that man had been planning that attack for quite awhile. 56-year-old clay duke, holding a pistol, painted a red "v" inside a red circle on the wall, and

began ranting about the firing of his wife by t school system. the superintendent took responsibility to try to get him to relax. one woman, ginger littleton was allowed to leave but she came back and tried to use herurse to knock the gun out of duke's hand. she said later that she was trying to help her fellow board members. >> i don't think anything was going through my mind except for the fact that these guys were sitting ducks. they were lined up like pigeons on a wire. >> police are looking at duke's facebook page where he post a copy of his rant, and a calendar they found in his mobile home that had tuesday's date circled. the murder investigation surrounding a university of virgia lacrosse player h taken an unexpected turn. the judge is now reviewing the medical records of yeardley love after defense lawyers fo the man accused of killing her sa it may not have been all his fault. news four's craig melvin reports. >> reporter: a few days ago there was actually talk that attorneys for george huguely, yeardley's onagain off again boyfriend were close to reaching a deal.

today those same attorneys asked the judge for yeardley love's medical records. the defense team hopes to prove that huguely's actions, while traumatic, did not cause her death. at a hearing in charlottesville, huguely's attorneys called a former chief medical examiner who testified that yeardley love had an abnormaheartbeat and because of that condition she likely died from a lack of oxygen to the brain. the examiner who testified had access to e autopsy results, including some detailed photographs. the doctor said that love's medical records could answer several questions. among them, did she suffer from chronic shortness of breath. did she have frequent chest pain? was she chronically tired? was she on medicines that might cause an abnormal heartbeat? meanwhile, the current chief medical examiner who performed the autopsy on love's body concluded that she died from blunt force trauma to the head. prosecutors are calling the defense's request a fishing

expedition. but the charlottesville judge has decided that he will review love's medical records to termine whether they should be released to huguely's attorneys. there's another hearing set for january 21st. george huguely is from cvy chase. he went to it the presgious landon school. if convicted he could spend the rest of his life in prison. aig melvin, news 4. the image of michael vick has certainly been on a roller coaster for the past five years from superstar to conwitted felon and now it appears that he's on the road to redemption of a sort. now rehabilitated he sayse would like to own a dog once again. although he currently cannot legally own a dog, because of his 2007 sentence for owning and operating a dogfighting ring. >> i would love to havanother dog in the future. you know, i think it would be a big step fore in the rehabilitation process. i miss having a dog right now.

i wish i could. my daughters, they miss having one. and that's the hardest thing is telling them we can't have one because of my actions. >> vick now mentors children about the evils of dogfighting. who will start at quarterback for the redskins this sunday? that is one of the hottest questions at redskins park this week. there's several reports that donovan mcnabb will be benched against the cowboys. some coaches are apparently concerned that he manot be healthy enough to play. mcnabb, though, says he's fine. meanwhile he coach mike shanahan is not revealing who will be under center on sunday. >> you know, i don't go through the starting lineups. i told you guys that before. talk about it every week. sooner or later, you come to the game, you'll find out who's starting. >> if i don't get the -- get that from, you know, the guy who makes the decisions, then i don't focus on it. the only thing i can really put my mind on is what we need to do in order to beat dallas. >> the redsks and the cowboys square off at 1:00 sunday down in dallas.

well, unlucky ven. washington has now dropped its seventh straight game. this time in an overtime loss to the anaheim ducks. washington peppered anaheim goalie jonas hiller with 32 shots but only ended up with one score. the caps now head to boston for game with the uins on saturday night. >> more tough losses for more of our teams. >> they're going through a tough time now. >> we've got to trn things around. >> all right, tom, tell us about the forecast. let me tell you about a couple of schools closing, calvert and charles county and king george county closed. >> closed because of the snow that's moving in? >> it already hit those areas? >> no, it has not hit those areas yet but they're anticipating that it will. it certainly is snowing now across parts of virginia and west virginia. you can see it's advancing quickly to the east. rit now getting light snow, potomac hihlands of we virginia, as well as farther south now in the shenandoah valley and south and east of

there from charlottesville to nearrichmond. it is continuing to advance to the north and east. right now, it's cold enough certainly for it to stick. only in the teens to near 20 degrees. in washington. we'll stay in the 20s the rest of the day about this ght snow. sun rise 7:21, sunset 4:48. that band in the middle, 1 to 3 inch total amous by the time it ends early this evening across northern virginia, northern shenandoah valley, district of columbia and the nearby suburbs in maryland. higher amounts farther south, lighter amounts farther north. then on friday, saturday and sunday, we dry out, highs each day in the mid and upper 30s. lows in the 20s. looks like that storm we're talking about for sunday, oh, thankfully, the trends are that it's going to stay out to sea. maybe the far eastern shore along the beaches might get some light snow. but that storm is looking ke it's going to be pulling away from us and keeping us dry for the weekend. but looks like it's going to stay cold all the way into midweek next week with highs only in the 30s, morning lows, 20s. and now let's check traffic. jerry, how's it looking? >> clear, dry road surfaces so

far. checking downtown washington, or close to downtown anyway, along interstate 66 inside the capital beltway near spout run. both directions of i-66 moving along very nicely between the roosevelt bridge, the dulles connector, and the pital beltway. so good news there. elsewhere, the rush hour picking up just a little bit of volume. but the good news is no jor incidents to report. and again, as you make e trip on over, let's head on to northeast washington, and there we go, nework avenue, that's looking pretty good. don't have any cncerns to worry about. let's head south to the woodrow wilson bridge, or i-270. your choice along 270 southund from germantown headed on down so far so good. now to the rails we go, where everything is moving along all right on metrorail and vre. marc, we do have one delay, and that brunswick, 870. that's delayed about 11 minutes. joe, eun? >> all right, jerry, thank you. >> our time right no is 5:22. one more school to tell you about that is closed today because of the impending snow, st. mary's county school system in st. mary's county, maryland,

osed. but the offices there are open. and coming up now, airfare on the increase. >> plus firefighters releasing new information about this raging fire on the block in ltimore. and next, this is morehan just a police car. a local man buys a piece of movie history.

a local man now owns a piece of movie history. a big fan o ford mustangs now

he owns one that was featured in the 2007 movie "transformers." in the movie the car is a bad guy nicknamed barricade. instead ofrotect and serve the slogan on the side reads, to punish and enslave. it is a souped up engine and is stillfitted with camera mounts from the movie. those are always campy. and he has big plans for the car. he says he will show it off at car conventions, rent it out, and lendt out for charitable functions. >> for your next birthday party. >> maybe. well it may cost you a little more the next time you fly. several u.s.irlines have raised their fares by up to $10 per round trip. farecompare.com ss that american airlines started the trend at boosting prices on flights over 500 miles by $5 each way, and by $3 each way for shorter trips. the higher fares were then matched by united, continental, delta, southwest, us airways, alaska frontier and virgin america.

experts believe increase will like stick. our time right now is 5:26. today could be the day, the tax cut debate is put to rest. what it would mean foryour bottom line. >> plus, a lasting ima of the brutal winter, a tower of ice. what is under all that ice anyway? >> my head. and next, a fast-moving snowstorm approaching our area. when will it arrive?

ready to go. the plows are prepared to hit the streets to deal with a fast-moving snowstorm. good morning, i'm eun yang. >> good morning to you, i'm joe krebs. welcome back to "news 4 today" on this thursday. the 16th of december on a bitter cold night. investigators believe a space heater may be to blame for a fire that tore through an aspen hill apartment building. firefighters say it bre out just after midnight in the 2900 block of hewitt avenue. one person was taken into the hospital with smoke-related injuries. those can be very dangerous. >> such an important reminder. those furnaces, got to get everything checked to get your house ready and be safe. here it mes. already we're picking up on radar and weatr observers and watchers reporting light snow now, potomac islands of west virginia, the shenandoah valley and south and east of there from

near charlottesville toward richmond it continues to advance north and east. leading edge of that snow right now is into the shenandoah valley from harrisonburg. we see that darker blue area, coming down a little bit harder, and up farther to the north there, in the southern page county and charlottesville, stanton, virginia, waensboro, they are getting some of that light to moderate snow there. and it's still dry around the metro area. we have increasing clouds. it's cold, only in the teens to near 20 degrees. now 22 at national airport. certainly going to stick when it falls. here's the forecast for today. all the way throughhe day, just remaining in the upper 20s by this afternoon. and light snow from time to time with total accumulations across northern virginia, the blue band in the middle, as well as the suburbs in maryland, the district of columbia, about 1 to 3 inches. much lighter amounts farther north. heavier amounts farther south from stafford and spotsylvania county tough culpepper, shenandoahvalley. 3 to 5 inches perhaps there. southern maryland, as well, lower eastern shore, maybe mixing with some sleet there,

too, by the end of the day. then as we do get into the weekend, things will dry out and settle down. looks like no snow for sunday. details, frequent updates with this snow throughout the morning. stay tuned. w's traffic, jerry? >> tom at the moment, clear, dry road surfaces. that's very good news for the morning commute to this point. as we take a live look, on the woodrow wilson bridge from the virginia shoreline, the outer loop, the inner loop, both directions between alexandra and oxon hill, travel loanes are opn for you. the 270 corridor southbound and head on down to rout 28, the overnight roadwork has been clred but there is an accident. just moved to the shoulder 270 southbound, so you frederick folks heads up for that. everything should be out of the roadway, but i'm told a little bit of debris in the roadway along the right side. one more stop, inner loop and outer loop around arlington, boulevard. so far moving along nicely. out tohe rails we go. metrorail and vre with no delays. marc, brunswick 870, 18 minutes behind schede.

joe? >> all right, jerry, thanks very much. the roads could be a mess later today when that winter storm does finally arrive. vdot says, though, it's prepared r the snow. tree wilkins is live in vienna, virginia, this morning with the latest out there. good morning, trace sooe. >> reporter: good morning,es. they have more than 200 crews out here on the roadways ready to take care of whatever we get this morning. even more importantly, they're ready for this entire winter. after what happened last year, th the blizzard, it really has changed the way that crews around the area deal with snow fall. vdot met with concerned citizens who live in fairfax county to assure them that vdot is prepared for whatever snow may come our way this winter. they've doubled plowing resources from 600 pieces of equipment to 1800, tripling their efforts. they've already hired more drivers and staff. this mooting was put together by state representative doug england. he said he was very happy with what came out of last night's

discussion. >>ne of the most exciting things i've heard tonight is vdot making an effortto put devices on a lot of their snow plowthat allows them to actually track the location of the plow. this is new technology that will help vdot ensure that streets are getting plowed when they should and it will give citizens more information about when plowing has happened. >> england says he put that meeting together last night so that citizens could get information. there were some folks who were concerned about the way things went after the blizzard last year, and th also after the rainstorms, as well. they wanted to know more about what their utilities and road crews, et cetera, were doing to make sure that everyone was safe and taken care of after we have these major weather events. one of the things that they're asking folks to do here in virginia, vdot is requesting, park on one side of the road and use your driveway so that they can get those crews on your street and clean up the snow as quickly as possible. tracee wiins, live in vienna.

back to newhe studio. >> all right, thanks very much. happening today, the house is expected to vote on the president's tax compromise. the senate already passed the $858 billion package, renewing the so-called bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of the month. it also extends unemployment benefits and cuts the social security tax. it also allows estates as large as $10 million to be passed to heirs tax free. the president brokered the deal with republicans. but house democrats say it's a bad deal. >> we worked hard to negotiate an agreement that's a win for middle-cla families, and a win for our economy. now we can't afford to let it fall victim to either delay or defeat. >> this is a bad deal for the american people. >> is it the right thing to do, to borrow money from the chinese to give tax cuts to billionaires? >> house democrats will try to lower the amount of tax-free money given to heirs but the house is expected to ultimately pass the senate bill.

the senate will once again decide whether to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. the house passed a stand-alone bill yesterday that would allow seice members to acknowledge that they are gay. democrats in the senate say they're committed to bringing the legislation to the floor of congress before congress adjourns for the year. but no time has been set for a vote on the bill. the appeal was previously cluded in a defense funding bill but it was defeated. and today, president obama will discuss a white house review of the war in afghanistan. the status report is expected to conclude that u.s. forces can begin to withdraw in july as planned. it will also reportedly find that afghans will be able to take over security in thei country by the end of the year 2014. this is the first major review of the president's shift in strategy in afghanistan which he unveiled back -- rather a year ago in december. when vincent gray won the mayor's race last month, he promised change. today we will hear what some of ose changes are when he

appoin several key city leaders. the leader of the city's police department, however, is one thing that will stay the same. news 4's megan mcgrath joi us live from d.c. police headquarters with more. megan, good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning, eun. that's right. vincent gray later on this afternoon is going to announce two key public safety appointments. and news 4 has learned that gray will be keeping police chief cathy lanier. lanier has been talking tohis transition team for some time. sheakes it very clear that she considers herself to be a career d.c. employ ear that she wanted to stay on the job and we have learned that she will stay in her post. laer joined the department in 1990. she's the first female police chief. now gray will also announce the replacement of re chief dennis reuben. now news 4 has learned that the new fire chief will be kenneth ellery. someone that folksin the department are already familiar with. ellerbee was a former assistant chief in the d.c. fire department. he left to become the fire chief at sarasota county, florida. now he always kept hisouse

here in d.c. ward seven and again he is going to be appointed later today as the new d.c. fire chief. now, vient gray will make the formal announcementuring a press conference later on this afternoon. but, again, two very high profile, very important positions. and we're gng to learn more later on this afternoon. eun, back to you. >> all right, megan mcgrath in northwest washington. megan, thank you. former british prime minister tony blair is in d.c. today to talk about how america an other countries can help countries in africa. blair will speak at the fairfax hotel at embassy row in northwest d.c. the center for globa development is hosting this event. blair will talk about creating the africa governance initiative, which operates in sierra leone, rwanda and liberia to help produce poverty through better government. 5:38 is your time now. 23 degrees. right now you may need that morning cup of coffee. but it may surprise you how many children rely on a daily caffeine jolt, as well. >> also some incrible video showing just how cold this

wintry bla is. what's underneath all that ice? >> and next, inching closer. the snow is almost here. your weather and trafficre next. st ♪electronic santa song

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time for weather and traffic on the 1s. listen up, we've got snow coming our way. good morning, i'm meteorologist tom kierein. looking at the radar over the last couple of hours you can see it's advancing rapidly to the east coming in from a weak area of low pressure passing south of the d.c. metro area throughout the day today and bring us some light snow. right now getting light snow near charlottesville and into the shenandoah valley and west virginia. right now just another 20 degrees to the teens. many eas, so it's going to stick. snow falling all throughout th day. light snow, highs reaching upper 20s. one to three inch amounts across northern virginia, the district, and much of maryland. lighter amounts north, higher amounts farther south, and then into theeekend looks like a settled pattern but still cold. how's traffic now? >> take a live look. picking up volumealong i-270 southbound now as you begin the commute out of frederick.

there was an accident, it's over to the shoulder. all lanes are open. let's pop over, i-66, a little volume here. a little volume there. nothing to worry about. downtown, south capital street from the douglas bridge still moving along well. out on the rails, the only delays we have right now are on marc rail brunswick 870 is late, as is brunswick 890, close to 20 minutes late eh. joe, eun? >> more delays for marc. >> thanks very much, jerry. it is now 5:43. ahead this morning, a popular service for flyers that could soon be made available for free. >> plus, marion barry a crime victim. what common mistake he made that helped the crook out. >>nd next, quick work by police after a rus

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5:46 is your tim now. time for a check of this morning's top stories. vdot is prepared for today's impending winter storm. it has more than 00 plows rey to clear streets in northern virginia. crews we not able to pretreat most roads because temperatures did not get above freezing in many areas. >>now it's up to the house of representatives to pass the tax cut comprose brokered by the president. the senate passed the $858 billion package. it rens the so-called bush era tax cuts set to expire at the end of the month. it also extends unemployment benefits and cuts the social security tax. also allows estates as large as $10 million to be passed to heirs tax free.

a judge now is reviewing the medical records of yeardley love. the uva lacrosse player found dead in her apartment earlier this year. love's ex-boyfriend george huguely has been charged with her murder. but his attorneys believe an irregular heartbeat may have actually caused her death. a man suspected of opening fire on prince george's county police officers is now behind bars. is happened around 5:30 last night in the 4500 block of silver hill road near the suitland metro station. it began when police received a call from a man who had recently beenrobbed. the victim told 911 he spotted the suspect in the area. when officers approached a man matching that suspect's description th say he pulled out a gun and began shooting. the suspect initially got away but police did catch up with him overnight. a popular northwest shington nightlub remains closed, even though the d.c. liquor control board is allowing it to open again. d.c. 9 has beenlosed since october when police say four club workers and one of its

co-owners chased, tackled and beat a man who threw a brick through the club's window that man later die and the men were charged in connection with his death. those charges were later dropped. marion barry now has his car back after it was stolen a few days ago. on saturday, barry parked his car outside the patricia harris education center in southeast. the car thief didn't have to work too hard, though, as barry left the keys in t ignition. the 2002 jaguar was recovered on tuesday in ward 7. no one's been arrested. barry also had a c stolen back in 1993. a virginia doctor is accused molesting two of his patients his name is mohamed nizar hussein. police say he touched a 36-year-old woman inappropriately back in september inside his woodbridge, virginia, practice. he is also accused of kissing 54-year-old patient in his office back in october. hussein was arrested on charges of sexual battery and assault. he haseen released on his own

recognizance. a court date is set for january. investigators now say ty know where last week's massive fire in baltimore's downtown block area started and they're looking for the person who actually started it. atf agents say thefive-alarm fire in the city's adult entertainment district was set by a person. they say it started in a video booth inside an adult bostore. investigators aren't sure whether the person who set the fire was trying to cause harm or was just trying to stay warm. two strip clubs, that bookstore were destroyed. several city offices were also damaged. the federal government is seeking billions of dollars from bp and other companies over this spring's oil spill in the gulf of mexico. the juste department aounced yesterday that it is suing bp and eight other compies, including transocean, for the largest offshore oil spill in s. history. the lawsuit argues that e companies should bheld liable without limitation for all

damage caused by the spill. >> we intend to prove that these violations caused or contributed to the massive oil spill, and that the defendants are therefore sponsible, under the oil pollution act, for government removal costs, economic losses, as well as environmental damages. >> the government says more than 200 milliogallons of oil leaked from the well. bp disputes that figur 1234r >> there's another hole in the roof of the metrodome in minneapolis. fourth teflon panel tore sterday afternoon. the weight of 17 inches of snow tore three panels on the roof, causing it to collapse on sunday. not ear when this of will be fixed or when the vikings might be able to play at the metrodome again. now the vikings will face e chicago bears at an outdoor college stadium. but there's a lot of work to be done there. look at that. crews are busy clearing the tcf bank stadium of the university of minnesota campus, where there are snow drifts inside of up to

five feet. >> yikes. >> and the plows cannot be used on the field there, because they will, perhaps, damage that field. and check out this frozen lighthouse on the shores of lake erie. it doesn't even look like a lighthouse. this is near cleveland. frigid winds blew water spray on the lighouse and of course it froze, making it look like a giant ice sculpture. it's beautiful, though. >> it is. so of takes the romance of being a lighthouse keeper out of the picture, doesn't it? yes. are you in there? anybody in there? >> could you imagine? >> maybe it's an unmanned lighthouse. >> i would hope so because that person would be frozen. my goodness gracious. >> the great lakes lighthouses are all unmanned and automatic computerized ones, now. yeah the strong winds that came acss the great lakes are continuing to bring in the cold air this morning. but thankfully the winds have died down here. but now here comes snow. we've got low pressure that's approaching our region, and where yo see the moving white, that is snow. ing reported by observers, and

also the radar. we're getting some light snow, beginning to reach the ground. parts of the highnds of west virginia, the central shenandoah valley and farther south and east of there near charlottesville toward richmond. now the closer view of the radar showing the lding edge of this snow is just now in t dison county, and it's beginning to thicken up a little bit. where you see the darker band, that is rockingha county, that's an area band of a little heavier snow. a little bit heavier around charlottesville. right now it's just a light to moderate snow there and it is advancg farther tohe north and east. but right now, around the metro area, we don't have any snow. we do have the clouds increasing. all these counties in colo under winter weather advisoriea, northern west virginia, northern virginia, the district. much of maryland for today for some accumulating snow. and it's certainly cold enough for it to stick. right now temperatures are in the teens to just near 20 degrees all around the region. and out in the mountains, only in the single digits right now. so much of that snow begins to ll as evaporating before it reaches the ground.

eventually it will there. now here's the wider view over the last 12 hours. this storm system is moving rather quickly but it is a weak area of low pressure nonetheless. it has quite a bit of moisture with it, advancing to the east, passing south of washington b close enough to washington for us to get some aumulating snow beginning here, at about another two or three hours. so for the bus stops this morning, most areas will just be cloudy. but farther south and west will there be some light snow, the teens and low 20s. light snow throughout the day with highs in the upper 20s. and these are the total amounts i expect from this storm, one to three inches across nortrn virginia, the district, the nearby suburbs in maryland. more farther south. less farther north. might mix with some sleet, too, in southern maryland. then cloudy tonight, a little sun back tomorrow morning and mostly sunny on friday. highs upper 30s. thankfully looking dry for the weekend. now that coastal storm appears farther east out to sea. sunday probably won't see any snow, remaining chilly and colder than average all the way into next week. how' traffic? >> over in prince george's county near route 4, and looks like it's moving along pretty

well. but we did have that accident on the inner loop at route 5. you may still find it a bit sluggish near branch avenue. the drive in from the west along interstate 66 near the exits to go to the capital beltway and out to the distance. back to the inner loop, no worries. head on over elsewhere, kenilworth avenue making a trip on in to the district or out of the district for that matter under a light volume. out to the ils we go. metro veil and vre still with no delays. marc brunswick 870, 24 minutes behind schede, train 890 down to only about 6 minutes. eun? >> all right, thank you, jerry. you will soon be able to surf the web for free while waiting for a flight at dulles international or reagan national airport. airport officials tell the washington examiner that free wi-fi is coming to the two local airports in the spring. both airports already provide wireless access but users have to pay for it by the day. vwi marshall airport also charges for wireless internet access. an airport spokesperson tells

the examiner it is exploring the free wi-fi option, as ll. and you will soon be able to fly from vwi marshall to newark, new jersey on southwest airlines. the discount carrier announced that it will start offering nonstop flights between the two cities on june 5th. we found tickets online for just $49. southwest also announced that it is purchasing new, larger planes that could eventuly fly internationally. the airline plans to administrational service when it completes the purchase of air tran airways, which flies to mexico and the caribbean. that snds really nice about now. >> it certainly does. some people are not very happy with mcdonald's happy meals. in act one woman has filed a class action lawsuit against the fast food giant. she claims that mcdonald's uses the toys in the happy meals to bait -- as bait to lure kids a parents to the calorie-loaded happy meals. the woman filed the suit with help from the center for science in the public interest. the self-styled food police. and she's not seeking monetary damage, she says, but she says she just wants mickey ds to stop advertising the toys to children.

a mcdonald's spokesperson says they will, quote, vigorously defendheir brand. the u.s. government has outlawed the sale of dropside baby cribs after more than 30 infants and toddler deaths from the cribs in the last ten years. the dropside cribs hava side rail that moves to allow parents to more easily lift their babies in and o of the cribs. but the rail can sometimes detach from the crib and the babies can get caught in the gap. day cares and tels have had to replace any dropside cribsy june. the rules do not apply to those already in use in private homes, but none can be resold. in today's news for your health, a new study says children are getting a daily jolt of caffeine. researchers at the university of nebraska say out of a survey of 200 children, 75% had caffeine every day. children as young as 5 consumed cough even if daily perhaps in colas or chocolate.

kids 8 to 12 had the equivalent of about a cup of coffee per day. there are no set guidelines on how much caffeine children should have. experts say parents should keep it to a minimum. it is the season for giving. and now you can help a child in ne have merry christma generous gives have already donated 10,000 gifts for the toys for tots program sponsored by the prince george's county police. t there is a tremendous need for another 45,000 toys. you can donate at any county police or fire station. >> and you can also drop off unwrapped presents at union station today. today is the last call toys for tots drive from 7:00 to 10:00 this morning. as an added bonus to stop by they're also giving something away. they're raffling off a playstation 3. get on out there and donate a ce toy for a needy kid. a new report takes a look at how the commute is changing in our area and when you should not leave for work. >> but you might want to think about leaving work early today. expected to be a slick and snowy

commute home. meteorologist tom kierein's forecast is coming up.