right now at reagan national, under a cloudy sky, light rain and 55 degrees. we've got a southerly breeze. all the way to eastern canada, that area in green. that area in white illinois to missouri, kansas, oklahoma, and texas, that's snow. there's very cold air that way. it's going to be arriving here late tomorrow night. not tonight. right now rain scattered across virginia. all of these are west of interstate 95 where they're getting the rain. mountains to beaches in the 50s. mid-50s montgomery, arlington, prince george's county as well as the district. sunrise at 7:12. we'll have occasional showers throughout the day and mild, up into the low and mid-60s this afternoon. a look at the evening planner in ten minutes. right now crews are working to clean up a mess in bowie in prince george's county.

a tanker truck carrying gasoline crashed and tipped on route 3 last night between route 50 and 450. the driver is okay, and the crash is under investigation. about 100 gallons of fuel spilled in that crash. that takes time to clean up. let's go to danella sealock. >> right now route 3 remains closed at route 50 northbound. southbound lanes are reopened. northbound still working to get that cleared up. the good news is the tanker is out of the roadway. hopefully, you will have the northbound lanes open pretty soon. traveling i-95 in virginia, you are slowing down at prince william parkway. you are going to see delays as you continue towards 395. hitting the breaks as you make your way towards 395. if you're taking the rails, still looking very good with no

reported delays on the metro, marc, or vre. i'm back in ten minutes with another look at traffic. joe and eun, back to you. >> thank you, danella. today jack johnson will learn his fate for what federal prosecutors call one of the most notorious corruption schemes in history. the former prince george's county executive pleaded guilty to taking bribes from developers in exchange for more favorable treatment. tracee wilkins is live outside the home in upper marlboro with more. good morning, tracee. >> reporter: good morning, joe. it's not expected that jack johnson will receive the maximum penalty in this case, but the prosecutor is asking that the judge send a message when he sentences johnson, and he wants that message to be the pay to play schemes are dead in prince george's county. now, we stood outside this very home and watched as federal agents raided this house and then took jack johnson out in handcuffs. he was then executive jack johnson from prince george's county. that happened 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 accepting money illegally was recorded. prosecutors say johnson was grooming 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. she will face charges for her husband's schemes, including charges of tampering with evidence. agents found johnson trying to flush a $100,000 check and then stuffed thousands of dollars in cash in her undergarments. she's due in court this friday. today jack johnson is due in federal court in greenbelt at

9:30 a.m. i'm tracee wilkins live this morning in upper marlboro. joe, back to you in the studio. >> thanks very much, tracee. we'll be in the courtroom for johnson's sentencing. as soon as it happens, we'll let you know on nbc 4 and on our website, nbcwashington.com. the d.c. council met behind closed doors to discuss the fbi and irs probe of harry thomas jr. council chair kwame brown was the only member to speak publicly after the meeting. he said that some members want thomas to step down while others want the investigation to play out. brown says he will meet with thomas soon to discuss the council's concerns. of using $300,000 of city money to fund personal trips and expenses. he has denied any wrongdoing but agreed to repay the money. breaking news. there have been three coordinated attacks overnight targeting shiites in afghanistan. the most significant one was a suicide bomber which attacked a shrine in kabul. we just learned the death toll

has risen from 14 to 54. 150 people have been injured. hundreds of people had gathered there for a festival. two separate attacks occurred around the same time in other afghan cities. right now stock markets across the world are down. this comes as the ratings agency standard & poor's warns it may carry out a mass downgrade of euro zone countries. they placed the ratings of 15 euro zone countries on credit watch negative, including germany and france. it's warning of a possible downgrade if eu leaders can't come to an agreement on how to solve the region's debt crisis at a summit later this week. the warning promised france and germany to pledge they would take all necessary measures to ensure the stability of the european economy. today president obama will once again push congress extend the payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of december. the president will deliver a speech in kansas. the president wants republicans to keep their word to the

american people on not raising taxes. the white house says taxes on the average family would increase by $1,000 if the cuts are not extended. meanwhile senate democrats have scaled back their proposed extension in the hopes of winning passage. the sticking point continues to be a tax on the very wealthy. republicans are expected to introduce their own plan as well. and the president is channeling president theodore roosevelt by traveling to a small kansas town to talk about the need for economic fairness for the nation's middle class. that's where roosevelt delivered his famous new nationalism speech in 1910 in which he called for a, quote, square deal for regular americans. now to decision 2012, a new poll indicates republican presidential candidate newt gingrich is now the clear front-runn front-runner. a "washington post"/abc news

poll found newt gingrich in the lead. romney and ron paul tied for second. former vice president dan quayle is expected to endorse rom fi for president. quayle served under president george h.w. bush. he has stayed out of the political spotlight in recent

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about a popular food that could contain arsenic. good morning. time for weather and traffic on the ones. it's 6:11 on this tuesday morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein in stormcenter 4. radar showing passing showers from southwest to northeast. right now getting light rain northwest washington into fairfax, loudoun county, parts of northern virginia, panhandle of west virginia. getting showers from northern montgomery county into frederick and howard counties and points north and west of there getting a few passing showers. it's a mild morning. we're in the 50s from the mountains to the beaches. closer to washington, montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's county in the 50s. upper 50s in washington.

later today, occasional showers. sunrise at 7:12. during the afternoon, featuring the low 60s to mid-60s briefly with occasional showers. we'll get more this evening as well. remaining mild. down in the upper 50s by midnight. sunset today at 4:46. could get some snow tonight. we'll look at that in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. crews are working to reopen route 3 northbound. for now route 3 northbound still closed at route 50 because of the overnight accident. chopper 4 is there live. you can see southbound lanes are open. again, northbound still closed. going to keep watching this for you all morning and give you updates. now, traveling on bw parkway, you are slow southbound as you pass the beltway, you're at 18 miles per hour taking the beltway. also starting to slow down on the outer loop. report of an accident at connecticut avenue on the inner loop. i hear it's on the left shoulder, but i'm not seeing any delays in this area. definitely seeing delays at

university boulevard. you're slow as you make your way towards georgia avenue. also taking the beltway in virginia at robinson terminal, inner loop getting pretty busy. outer loop getting busy as well. i'll be back in ten minutes with another look at your traffic. joe and eun, back to you. >> 6:12. the common bond

linking president obama to amanda knox.

inchts welcome back at 6:15. for the second time in a week, the tsa is accused of strip searching a woman. lenore zimmerman said she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner on saturday. she said she was worried it would affect her defibrillator. she said agents took her to a room and made her step down. the tsa issued a statement saying, "we do not conduct stristrip searches as part of a passenger screening. our officers are committed to treating every passenger with dignity and respect, and we take complaints seriously." the tsa says it is looking into both incidents. a fashion model is recover after accidentally walking into the propeller of a small airplane. she was coming back from a flight to view christmas lights. she'd gotten off the plane and went to thank the pilot. that's when, her parents say, she didn't realize the propellor was still powering down and

walked towards it. scruggs tried to shield her face but lost her hand and almost her eye. her parents say she's making progress in her recovery. >> i don't know if she realizes all that happened. she's just discovering now that she's hurt, she's injured. >> we don't know if she remembers the accident. >> the 23-year-old edits her own online magazine called lolo for her nickname lo. she has done some modeling and even been featured on the "today" show. this accident occurred in dallas. we now know what investigators were searching for when they raided the home of former syracuse university assistant basketball coach bernie fine. court records show federal agents were looking for pornographic materials and items detailing his alleged relationship with young boys. fine is accused of sexually abusing three boys when they were teens. fine was fired when an audio

recording surfaced and fine's wife could be heard telling the accuser she knows about the abuse. the woman who claims to be a relative of the infamous hijacker d.b. cooper says the fbi is close to solving that case. marla cooper said the fbi told her the investigation is winding down. the fbi did recently say it is conducting forensic tests, including partial fingerprints, that could be linked to the case. the cooper story became part of crime lore after he hijacked a plane, demanded ransom money, and jumped from the airline over oregon. the man known as d.b. cooper's body was never found, but several claimed to be relatives of the criminal. amanda knox says she's hired a d.c. lawyer to help her get a book deal. the move comes after an italian court cleared her and her ex-boyfriend in the killing of her roommate meredith kircher. she returned to her hometown of seattle in october. she has been in customer since 2007. experts suggest she could get a

seven figure book deal. knox has not granted any interviews since her release. there's some new concerns about arsenic this morning. a new study suggests that rice could lead to elevated levels of that chemical in our system. researchers at dartmouth found higher levels of arsenic in pregnant women who had eaten rice a day or two before they were tested. in fact, women who ate just half a cup of cooked rice each day would be getting just as much arsenic as if they drank a liter of tap water with the government's maximum allowable limit for arsenic. arsenic occurs naturally in soil but can also come from pestic e pesticid pesticides. today the nfl is expected to announce the suspensions of two redskins starters for the rest of the season because of drug use. offensive lineman trent williams and tight end fred davis have tested positive for recreational drug use three times, twice since training camp started. as many as 11 players in the league tested positive for drugs after the lockout ended.

only williams and davis are considered repeat offenders. coach mike shanahan says it's a good lesson on character. >> you're going to try to put your best football team together, we know that. we know to put your best football team together, you need talented players. you also need players of high character. to win a super bowl, to be the top organization, you've got to have character. >> davis has been one of the redskins most productive offensive threats this year, and williams is considered the anchor of the offensive line. it was too little, too late for the capitals. they finally started to produce, but the team just cannot seem to buy a win out on the road. they lost 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 tries to make a comeback, but they fell one goal short. they were trying to get back to their winning ways such as they

have been lately in ottawa tomorrow. a win on the road might be harder to come by next year. the league has approved a realignment that would include more rivalry games for the caps. they would now be in a conference with pittsburgh, philadelphia, new jersey, the new york rangers, and the islanders, and the carolina hurricanes. that means that six games against the penguins next year instead of four. this new realignment splits the league's 30 teams into four conferences based on geography. at least 20 teams now need to approve the plan for it to become a reality, though. that would actually be good. >> yeah, make for some good hockey games. >> it would. >> all right. it is 6:21. time for weather and traffic on the ones. meteorologist tom kierein telling us about the wet weather today and some big changes, cold changes, tom. right now it's mild. we have had some overnight showers that continue southwest to northeast. right w getting a few sprimpg ls here in washington and fairfax county, loudoun county, parts of fauquier into culpeper, shenandoah valley, and panhandle

of west virginia. montgomery county, howard, and points north getting some showers as well. south and east, much of southern maryland, northern neck, eastern shore just cloudy now. it's mild. we're in the 50s from the mountains all the way to the beaches and around the bay. even locally here. around washington we're in the mid and upper 50s. for the day, sunrise at 7:12. occasional showers through the day. highs reaching low to mid-60s this afternoon. sunset at 4:46. more showers likely tonight. we'll be down into the upper 50s by midnight. then more rain during the day on wednesday. turning chillier. we'll fall from the 50s in the morning down to the 30s by late evening. by then we could have wet snow accumulating on grassy areas north and west of i-95. that would be late wednesday night ending by dawn thursday. then sunny, dry, cold weather thursday through the weekend into the first part of next week. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. traveling northbound route 3, still shut down at route 50. be aware of that as you make your commute. chopper 4 is still there. you can see southbound lanes are

open. northbound still closed. going to keep watching this roadway. if you're traveling i-95 in virginia, it is starting to be a slow trip for you heading out of prince william parkway northbound making your way towards the beltway. i can show you delays are continuing as you head towards fairfax county park whiway watc these cars. travel speeds in that area, you're at 36 miles per hour. to get from prince william parkway to the beltway, that trip will take you 21 minutes. if you're taking the rails so far, they are running on or close to schedule with no reported delays on metro, marc, or vre. joe and eun, back to you. the m

obama administration arrested for drunk driving. the british economy is so bad that even the queen is feeling the pinch. queen elizabeth receives most of her yearly budget from the british government, and the government is making cuts across the board. that means that the palace will be facing an effective pay freeze until the year 2015. repairs to the royal real estate, including buckingham palace and windsor castle will likely be put on hold. >> i think the queen will be

okay. >> if you still live in a place called a castle or a palace, you're probably doing okay. a pitbull that wandered off eight years ago will be back home in virginia for the holidays. her name is petunia. somehow she wound up 2,700 miles away in california. the woman who was walking her own dogs found petunia in a wildlife area and took her to an animal shelter. workers there found a microchip that chased back to the chancellor veterinarian clinic in fredericksburg, virginia. the clinic then identified the owner. those chips are amazing. they really are. >> what a reunion. she didn't call or write for eight years. >> i wonder if she'll be welcome back or there will just be hard feelings. >> we'll see. i think

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where you will notice a new group of demonstrators in the district today. sentencing day today. jack johnson heads to court to find out how much time he will spend in prison.

>> there are no words to describe what i felt this morning when i passed the courthouse square in leesburg. that word is obscene. >> decoration debate. this morning one county is considering banning a holiday display. good morning. welcome back to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. don't let the pleasant temperature this morning fool you. there is wet weather headed this way, and it could be bringing more than rain. tom is talking about snow. i don't even want to say it, tom. >> i know, but it is december. >> it is. you're right. winter is here. >> we actually got some in october. back october 29th we got bizarre snow that fell. now this morning it's raining. there's a live view from the city camera, and we're seeing a little bit of a pink glow on the eastern horizon, getting a few sprinkles in washington now. otherwise, it's just cloudy in the metro area. we've got 55 degrees at reagan national with a southerly breeze. now look at all this rain. you see this area of moving color in the greens and yellows.

that's rain from alabama all the way to eastern canada. farther to the west, they're getting snow in illinois, missouri, and into parts of kansas, oklahoma, and texas. it's frigid out there now. yes, some of that cold air will be getting closer to us by tomorrow night, but not today. it's going to be mild. we've got showers in eastern west virginia, across northern virginia, the district, and much of maryland. but south and east, it's generally dry south and east of i-95. temperatures there are near 60. farther west and north, we're in the 50s now. we'll stay that way throughout the morning. sunrise at 7:12. occasional showers into the afternoon. highs reaching low to mid-60s. a look at your evening planner. that will be coming up in ten minutes. joe? >> thanks very much. an update on the traffic alert we've been telling you about on route 3 in bowie. crews are trying to clean up after a tanker truck accident last night. let's get an update from news 4's megan mcgrath on the scene. >> reporter: good morning, joe. the southbound lanes of route 3 at 450 have reopened.

we've hit another snag with the effort to get the northbound lanes reopened. take a look behind me. you can see the detour is still in place. northbound route 3, you're going to be detoured off onto route 50. that's as far as you'll be able to go. the problem, the accident that happened last night, there were three vehicles involved. take a look at this video. there was a car, a box truck, and a gasoline tanker that went on its side and began to leak fuel. that tanker is now completely gone. they were beginning the cleanup, making some progress, and then the sand truck they were using to mop up the fuel that spilled onto the roadway, that blew a hose. there was some sort of hose on the underneath of that truck that ruptured. that truck is no good. they're bringing in another sand truck so they can continue with the cleanup effort. they've also got hoses across the northbound lanes as well that they need to get up. until they can do all of that, the northbound lanes will remain closed. we are starting to see traffic slow down, not extensive delays. but if this goes on much longer,

we're certainly going to see things stack up. back to you all in the studio. actually, we'll go to danella with more on traffic. danella? >> good morning. if that's your commute you have to take northbound route 3. if you're forced onto 50, i would head over to route 424 and reconnect with route 3 if that is your route. we'll be on this all morning long. taking the beltway inner loop, an accident this time connecticut avenue. it is on the left shoulder. that's a good thing. however, you are slowing down on the outer loop around new hampshire avenue. i'll give you a look at new hampshire avenue. definitely hitting the brakes. travel speeds slow, about 29 miles per hour to get from i-95 to i-270. that trip takes 19 minutes. joe, back to you. >> danella, thanks very much. we have breaking news. three targeted attacks in afghanistan. the first was a suicide bomber

that attacked a shrine in kabul. the death toll has gone up to 54. 150 people are injured. hundreds of people are gathered for the festival. two separate attacks happened around the same time in other afghan cities, and they killed at least four other people. today is sentencing day for former prince george's county executive jack johnson. johnson pled guilty to taking bribes from developers in exchange for favorable treatment. prosecutors say he took somewhere between 400,000 to $1 million in bribes during his time as county executive. he faces up to 14 years in prison. jack johnson's wife leslie will be sentenced on friday for her role in the corruption case. back in june, she pled guilty to tampering with evidence for flushing a $100,000 check down the toilet and stuffing money into her clothes. she faces up to 18 months in prison. today jurors will begin

their second day of deliberations in that election fraud trial against an aide to former maryland governor robert ehrlich. paul shurich is accused of placing robo calls to tell voters martin o'malley had already won the gubernatorial race, and there was no need to vote in that election. some of the charges carry five-year prison sentences. the job of the man running the federal aviation administration is unclear this morning after his arrest for drunk driving. police pulled over 65-year-old jerome "randy" babbitt along old lee highway in fairfax when he was spotted driving the wrong way. a white house spokesman says babbitt waited until monday morning before he told them of the arrest. attorneys and faa leaders are now discussing his employment status. babbitt is on leave at his own request. opening statements are expected today in the trial of a man accused of killing his

supervisor at a bethesda hospital. prosecutors say that keith little admitted to stabbing his boss roosevelt brockington jr. to death on new year's day. rockington killed little after he was given a poor employee evaluation and was told he would not be getting a raise. the family of a missing wssc worker who disappeared in the triadelphia reservoir is thanking search and rescue crews for searching for him. crews are headed back out to look for chuck duckett. he was last seen friday afternoon at the lake in brookville, maryland. he was working for wssc's managed hunt department. he was on his way to recover a deer using a boat. the boat was found about 300 yards from where he launched it. authorities have been searching the woods around the reservoir. so far they have seen no signs of duckett. a new group of protesters arrives in the district this week. they're setting up camp on the national mall. d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton led a rally for the group known as the people's camp last night. they're organizing a week of protests in an effort to, quote, take back the capital. today the demonstrators, who

include the unemployed, labor unions, and a local group called our d.c., will visit members of congress. tomorrow they plan to protest on "k" street. our time right now is 6:37. the "today" show is coming up next at 7:00. let's check in with matt lauer to see what they're working on. good morning, matt. >> joe, good morning to you. coming up on a tuesday here on "today," we're following breaking news on afghanistan where three coordinateded suicide bombs have killed at least 58 people. we're live in kabul with the latest. also ahead, two more candidates sign up for donald trump's gop presidential debate. and trump had harsh words for one of the men who says he will not attend. former utah governor jon huntsman. this morning the governor responds in a live interview. also, a young model and fashion blogger severely injured when she walked into the spinning propellor of a small plane. her parents will join us and talk about the long road to recovery their daughter is now facing. on a much lighter note,

today's professional stars donny and dr. nancy tackle today's hot topics, including a new pill for hangovers and the return of tiger woods, as we get started on a tuesday here on "today." joe, back to you. >> matt, look forward to it. hope you have a great day. >> thanks. you too. [ baby coughing ]

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no longer blame their commute for making them late. good morning. weather and traffic on the ones. 6)"mcenterma 6)"mcenterma virginia, light rain in maryland, virginia, and west virginia and areas west of i-95. we've had less than .1 inch of rain since last night. but watch out. fender bender weather. 50s all morning. highs reaching low to mid-60s this afternoon. sunrise 7:12. sunset 4:46. this evening some more showers but mild. we'll be down in the upper 50s by midnight. big changes on the way tomorrow

and into the weekend. a look at possibility for snow in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. if you're traveling northbound route 3 still closed at route 50. watching that all morning long for you. also, this time traveling in virginia westbound braddock road, an accident at fairfax county parkway. if you're traveling on i-66, seeing a lot of delays, in fact, as you head eastbound. i'll give you a live camera at this very moment. here's waples mill as you head eastbound towards the beltway. that's where you see the delays. they actually start from the bypass, and you're slow as you make your way towards the beltway. if you're traveling on the rails, minor delay on penn south

whata÷a-sly clogged road could investigators looking into what sparked a fire at the u.s. federal judge's house in mclean. when they arrived at the house on massachusetts avenue in leesburg, flames were coming from the second story bedroom. it took 50 to 60 firefighters to put out the flames. u.s. marshals also responded because it was a federal judge's home. the fire did $100,000 in damage. loudoun county is ringing in yet another christmas controversy this season.

now all christmas displays in front of the county courthouse could be banned again. news 4's angie goff has more on what's putting a damper on the holiday cheer. angie, good morning. >> good morning, eun. here we go again. the dispute over christmas displays in loudoun county is becoming as common as those annual trips to the mall to see santa. at the center of the controversy this year, this crucified santa skeleton. this morning loudoun county officials will decide whether to ban all christmas displays on the county courthouse lawn after that skeleton nailed to the cross was torn down. a mom and a son put up the display, which was one of nine approved this year. an enraged woman tore it down, saying she was offended. that pile of bones has gotten a big response from both sides. >> i think it's extremely, extremely sad that someone in this country would try to debase christmas like this. >> the message to me is that the meaning of christmas, which is

about faith and family, is dead and has been replaced by commercialism. >> reporter: the debate about christmas versus free speech continued at a heated public hearing. it's an argument we've seen before. in 2009, christmas displays on the courthouse lawn were banned after the constitutionality of a nativity scene. this one 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 again. they're 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. back to you. >> angie goff live in our news room this morning. angie, thank you. this morning the loudoun county sheriff's department is asking for your help to try to catch a purse snatcher. it happened last month in the parking lot of the dulles shopping center in sterling. police say a woman was loading items into her car when a pickup truck bumped into her shopping cart. someone in the truck reached out of 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 democrats filed a lawsuit in richmond to stop republican plans to control the majority of 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. another new poll indicates that republican presidential candidate newt gingrich is now the clear front-runner in iowa. a new washington post/abc news poll found gingrich has a commanding lead of 33% of likely caucusgoers. mitt romney and ron paul both tied for second at 18%. the iowa caucuses will be held on january the 3rd. romney hopes an endorsement from former vice president dan quayle today will give his

campaign a bit of a boost. an announcement is expected to paradise valley, arizona, where quayle lives. the republican has stayed out of the national public spotlight in recent years. starbucks isn't just in the coffee business anymore. a pilot program turns out to be a hit, and now it's expanding. cnbc's brian shactman has more on that. brian, good morning. >> good morning. starbucks plan to open more stores that sell wine and beer, adding seven locations in the chicago area. starbucks has been testing a more neighborhood friendly store concept over the last few years to boost customer traffic, especially in the evening. stores offer higher quality like cubed meats instead of pastries. starbucks currently offers five such stores in seattle and one in portland, oregon. concertgoers who bought tickets through ticketmaster over the past decade may be entitled to cash back. that is the result of a class action lawsuit filed in 2003 settled this fall over

processing fees customers were charged. ticketmaster is e-mailing people who are eligible for a credit. it's $1.50 for tickets bought between 1999 and 2011 and $5 for tickets delivered by u.p.s. the catches are you can only use two credits at a time and only at certain venues. of course, this time of year, it du doesn't sound like a lot of cash, but any amount of cash helps with the holiday shopping. back to you guys. >> the more cash the better, brian. thank you so much. have a great day. a large crowd is expected on capitol hill for the capitol christmas lighting. the 65-foot tree arrived in d.c. from california. it is decorated with 3,000 ornaments and 10,000 l.e.d. lights. a second grader from california will help john boehner flip the switch. >> will it be raining for the lighting ceremony, tom? >> probably. if you're planning on going, plan on having an umbrella handy. you'll need it off and on through the rest of the day today. we've had rain passing through.

right now it's just cloudy over the potomac river. there's capitol hill in the distance. a little bit of light showing up on the eastern horizon. we are still, though, about a half hour away from sunrise. it's 55 at reagan national. a light southerly breeze now. look at all that rain, that area of moving color and the green and yellow. that is rain from alabama all the way up the atlantic seaboard to eastern canada. farther west, they're getting snow in illinois and missouri, down into oklahoma and texas. very cold there. getting some light rain across northern virginia, eastern panhandle of west virginia, and across the potomac in montgomery county and howard and frederick counties. this area of light rain is going to be coming into the metro area here over the next hour or so. south and east, though, it's just cloudy. we've had less than .1 inch of rain since this all began last evening. temperatures right now in the 50s from the mountains to the atlantic beaches. montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's, mid-50s. sunrise at 7:12. we'll have occasional showers through the day. we'll have temperatures, mild, in the 50s.

low to mid-60s by later this afternoon. overnight tonight, into the 50s again. again occasional light showers. sunset at 4:46. by dawn tomorrow, into the mid-50s. that may be the warmest part of the day. more rain in the daylight hours on wednesday. turning chillier gradually throughout the day. down into the 40s by late afternoon. upper 30s by late evening. by then we may have the rain change over to a period of wet snow. i-95 that will accumulate on grassy areas mainly. cold on thursday morning. then cold thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, and monday. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. crews are working 4 reopen your northbound route n lanes. this is at route 50. right now they're still shut down. chopper 4 is oiver the beltway. you're jammed at new hampshire avenue as you make your way towards georgia avenue. you are bumper to bumper. travel speed in that area 23 miles per hour. it's a slow commute. traveling in virginia, also

jammed on the inner loop at robinson terminal. it's a mess right now. i'll give you travel speed here too roughly at 34 miles per hour. making your way from i-95 interchange to the dulles toll road. that trip takes 22 minutes. joe and eun, back to you. >> thanks very much, danella. if you're running late, don't blame the train. at least not in virginia. vre is reporting an all time high for on time performance. from january through november, vre trains were on time more than 92% of the time. this is the second year in a row it has improved its on time reliability. ridership is also up 4.6 million passengers have taken the trip on the fredericksburg and manassas lines each year. your drive home from work may be a little bit smoother tonight thanks to a new lane in northern virginia. the new $14 million auxiliary lane opened yesterday on the westbound side of interstate 66, providing an extra lane for drivers between fairfax drive and sycamore street. vdot says it was designed to

reduce congestion and increase safety on that stretch of the interstate inside the beltway. the project took 18 months to complete. it is the first of three improvement projects on i-66. today jack johnson will learn his fate for what federal prosecutors call one of the most notorious corruption schemes in maryland history. the former prince george's county executive and top prosecutor in this county pleaded guilty to prosecutors on charges he accepted bribes for favorable treatment. tracee wilkins is live in upper marlboro. good morning, tracee. >> reporter: good morning, joe. it's not expected that jack johnson will get the maximum sentence in this case, but the prosecutor is asking the judge to send a message with the sentence. he hopes that message will be that pay to play schemes are dead in prince george's county. we stood outside this very home and watched as federal agents raided the johnson house and brought out then 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 collecteded anywhere from $400,000 to $1 million in bribes starting shortly after entering office as county executive in 2002. prosecutors say johnson also groomed his wife leslie johnson to take over the pay to play scheme. she's expected to face her sentencing this friday, but jack johnson is due in court today. in greenbelt, in federal court, at 9:30 a.m. i'm tracee wilkins live this morning in upper marlboro. joe, back to you in the studio. >> tracee, thanks very much. of course, we will be in the courtroom for jack johnson's sentencing. as soon as it occurs, we'll let you know right here on nbc 4 and on our website, nbcwashington.com. >> out the door forecast, tom. let's talk about rain and snow. be ready for a wet day. you'll need an umbrella with

occasional light showers through the day and mild. highs low to mid-60s this afternoon. tonight maybe some more showers. 50s tomorrow morning. and gradually get colder through accumulate on traveling]q sunny and cold through the weekend. danella, how's traffic? >> traveling 66 eastbound at monument drive route 50, you have a four-vehicle crash slowing you down. delays start from the bypass and continuing to the beltway. now back to you both. now b[ male announcer ] citibank's new app for ipad makes it easy for anne to view her finances from anywhere. like gate d12 for the next three hours. citibank for ipad. easier banking. standard at citibank.

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