that where a s.w.a.t. team was waiting. he was taken into custody and sent to a hospital to be checked out. the back of the building faces northern virginia community college. the college is back open this morning after it was locked down during the standoff. no one was injured. and good news for federal workers. it appears that congress will avoid a government shutdown after all of the the house and senate are expected to vote today on a $1 trillion spending package that will keep the government running through the end of the year. negotiators reached an agreement on the bill a little before the deadline of midnight tonight. among the details of the package, the d.c. government is now banned from funding abortions. the pentagon's budget will absorb a hit, but funding for veterans programs will get an increase. president obama's education initiatives called race to the top will absorb a cut of more than 20%. and congressional negotiators will also resume talks today on a deal to extend the tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year. republicans and democrats agree

the extension is important to sustaining any economic recovery. the sides have disagreed, however, on how to pay for all that. we're going to get our first check of the forecast now with meteorologist tom kierein. it is warm. >> it is warm. >> balmy and warm out there. this is just the high point of the day, right? >> this is going to be the warmest part of the day. as the day progresses, we'll gradually get colder and colder. by later this afternoon, back down into the 40s. by midnight tonight, just near 40 degrees. a 20 degree drop here over the next 12 to 15 hours or so. right now at reagan national, it's 61 degrees on this december the 16th. we've got a wind out of the northwest. it's a little blustery, 5 to 10 miles an hour. we've got this blustery wind bringing in the colder weather. already down to the mid-40s in western maryland. hagerstown down to 46 degrees. quite a difference between there and washington and southern

maryland, where it's around 60 degrees, as is much of virginia. montgomery county now down to the mid-50s. and it's into the upper 50s near 60, prince george's, arlington, fairfax counties. over the last 12 hours, we've had quite a change in our weather. we've had few sprinkles and showers yesterday afternoon and evening. we've cleared out a little bit. a few breaks in the cloud cover. sunrise at 7:20. we'll have sunshine in and out the middle of the day. down through much of the region 50 near midmorning. then drop to the mid-40s by late afternoon. chillier weather moving in. maybe a little precipitation tonight. we'll look at that and your evening planner in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? a couple of incidents slowing you down. lower bowie road closed at old chapel road. an accident there that also brought down power lines. crews working to get the lines off of the roadway there. for now, you're closed in both directions. if you're traveling eastbound on 50 at kenilworth avenue, serious crash is taking away your

eastbound lanes. earlier, it was affecting the westbound side as well. looks like westbound is flowing again. so far 50 eastbound at kenilworth, you're not going to be able to continue and head into the city. if you're traveling on i-270 at father hurley boulevard, not seeing any issues there. as you travel and make your way towards the spur, you're in the clear. northbound as well, no issues as you continue your commute this morning. i'm back in ten minutes with another look at traffic. back to you all. >> thank you, danella. we have two traffic alerts that will affect commuters in maryland, virginia, and the district. first in the district, where mayor vincent gray will celebrate the completion of the new 11th street bridge complex that will allow drivers on the east west freeway to avoid getting on pennsylvania avenue. the new bridge will open to traffic this weekend inbound. the outbound should open later in the week. this is the largest project ddot has ever undertaken. and virginia commuters who take i-66 to the beginning of the

beltway, beginning this weekend, you'll take a new flyover ramp that will put you on the right side of 495. that should make it much easier to merge into the oncoming traffic. the new configuration will be particularly useful for drivers trying to get off at route 7 in tysons corner. you will no longer have to ventura cross all lanes of the beltway in order to make it to the route 7 exit. vdot will close all exits from eastbound i-66 onto the outer loop tonight so the crews can prepare for this new traffic configuration. today the man accused of leaking classified information about the wars in afghanistan and iraq to the website wikileaks will be in court. it will mark army private bradley manning's first hearing. it's the equivalent of a preliminary hearing in civilian court. it will determine whether manning will stand trial. the hearing should last about five days. manning faces life in prison if found guilty. new from overnight, the

fairfax county school board approved plans to allow security cameras inside high schools. that's according to "the washington post." the issue of installing cameras in cafeterias came up after a series of disruptive food fights. each school's principal will ultimately have the final say. neighboring public school systems in prince william, loudoun, and fauquier counties already use in school cameras. now to decision 2012. republican presidential candidate mitt romney is expected to pick up another key endorsement. south carolina governor nicky haley plans to endorse mitt romney today. she's a rising star in the republican party, and many contenders have asked for her endorsement. south carolina will hold its primary february 21st. michele bachmann went after newt gingrich. she attacked him for accepting

consulting fees from mortgage company freddie mac and attacked him for not being pro life enough, she says, while he was speaker of the house. >> when the speaker had his hand out, and he was taking $1.6 million to influence senior republicans to keep the scam going in washington, d.c. >> state unequivocally for every person watching tonight i have never once changed my positions because of any kind of payment. >> gingrich was applauded for his attacks on the federal judiciary and his defense of israel. he remains ahead in most national and iowa polls. today current and former penn state university officials will appear in court. they'll talk about what they knew and what they did about allegations of sexual abuse by former assistant coach jerry sandusky. current coach mike mcqueary is at the center of this hearing. he claims to have witnessed sandusky sexually molesting a child in the team's shower room.

but former athletic director mike curly and director schultz say mcqueary gave a less graphic statement of what happened. today barry bonds will find out if he's headed to prison for his obstruction of justice conviction. he's convicted of providing evasive testimony to a federal grand jury investigating a laboratory suspected of selling banned substances to athletes. federal prosecutors have asked to sentence him to 15 months in prison. probation officers are recommending house arrest and community service. one of the biggest drug dealers also happens to be a be a player for the nfl. bears arrested receiver sam hurd for allegedly trying to buy a kilo of cocaine. he told the agent he wanted to buy $100,000 of cocaine each week to distribute.

the five-year veteran faces up to 40 years in prison. to make matters worse, police have a list of hurd's clients, and some are fellow nfl players. this morning federal agents are looking for the king pin in an elaborate money laundering operation to fund a terrorist group. two local businesses have been caught up in the scheme, but agents acknowledge some of the businesses may not have known where the money was going. the court filing says cocaine and used cars were sold, and money was funneled to the terrorist group called hezbollah. investigators say the cars came from arz export in columbia, maryland, and a trading place. they're more than 30 caught up in a scheme across the country. the cars were sold, and the profits would go into the banking system in lebanon. federal prosecutors are going after millions of dollars in assets. it is 58 degrees right now. ahead on "news 4 today," claims the military embellished the record of a medal of honor

recipient.

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weather and traffic on the ones. good morning, i'm tom kierein in stormcenter 4. west and north, it's turning colder. right now down into the 40s in the mountains. closer to washington, it's in the 50s to near 60 degrees. near 60 southern maryland, northern neck through central virginia. over the last 12 hours, we've had sprinkles and showers from yesterday afternoon and evening dissipating. getting some breaks in the clouds right now, and the colder air will continue to come in. by 9:00 near 50 degrees. by late afternoon down into the 40s. by this evening, we'll have a late disturbance coming through, and we might get a few flurries or sprinkles as we get into midevening and late evening. by midnight down to 40 degrees. big changes on the way for the weekend. i'll have details on that. we'll look at that next week coming up in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? tough morning so far. route 197, lower bowie road is

closed at old chapel road. we have an accident and downed power lines on the roadway there. you're shut down in both directions. also this morning, 50 eastbound heading out of the city at kenilworth avenue, all your lanes are still blocked at this time. serious crash taking away all of your eastbound lanes in that area. if you're traveling i-95 north making the trip in baltimore, heading into ft. mchenry tunnel, the right tube, there's some debris in the right tube. be careful if that is your commute this morning. i'm back in ten with another look at your traffic. joe and eun, back to you. >> danella, thanks so much. our time is now 4:43. coming up, the santa spotting that prompted 911 calls. >> 911, what is the emergency? >> there are two loose reindeer on the highway.

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a wrong way crash has shut down the eastbound lanes at route 50 near kenilworth avenue. tracee wilkins is now live on the scene, and she has more on this bad accident. tracee, good morning. >> reporter: if you're headed eastbound on route 50 at 201, this is what you have to do. go ahead on up the ramp. here's what it looks like closer up there. we have two vehicles that collided. one of the vehicles was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes, hit another

vehicle, and it is unbelievable. they've taken them to prince george's county hospital center along with these two individuals. they're very concerned about the possibility that the person heading westbound may have been impaired. they'll have to see what happens with that part of this investigation. folks heading into work this morning, know that eastbound 50 is closed at this time until they're able to open this back up. as soon as they get those vehicles cleaned up, they'll open up the roadway. that could be in the next 20 to 30 minutes. we'll keep you updated and let you know. i'm tracee wilkins live this morning. back to you all in the studio, joe. >> tracee, thanks very much. now this story, a connecticut woman was hurt base jumping in virginia. she and another climbed to the top of the weta television tower, radio tower in arlington

on wednesday night. she was the first to jump but got injured when her parachute got stuck in a tree. the others all ran away and left her hanging there. base jumping has become more and more popular with participants videotaping their jumps and posting them on youtube. all five base jumpers were charged with trespassing. no word on where their next potential stunt will take place or when the charges will be heard. the d.c. council is taking jabs for its annual holiday party. it was held in the washington court hotel near capitol hill, and it was reportedly paid for using council members' constituent service funds. those are the $80,000 accounts that are supposed to help needy constituents. >> well, what we found is that only an average of 12 cents for every dollar spent of this money was spent on real needs. >> every year we have a holiday party that we provide for our staff that work so hard every single day working with the

residents of the district of columbia. this year we've scaled that particular party back, just like everyone else has. >> chairman kwame brown said he will write a personal check to pay for the party and said other council members are free to do the same. at large council member phil mendelson declined to pay his share and planned on skipping the party. the body of a missing wssc worker was found in the triadelphia reservoir. the 35-year-old disappeared after a deer hunt assignment on december the 2nd. chopper 4 captured this video of workers searching the area earlier this month. his body was located yesterday afternoon. duckett worked for the sanitation company for 12 years. he leaves behind a wife and three children. this morning one of america's best known sheriffs is in trouble with the obama administration over his crackdown on illegal immigrants. the justice department accuses sheriff joe arpaio of violating latinos' constitutional rights in some of his crackdowns.

government lawyers say latinos in the phoenix area are four to nine times more likely to be stopped by deputies than non-latinos. the justice department is now giving arpaio 60 days to change his ways or face a federal lawsuit. >> mcso engages in racial profiling of latinos and unlawfully stops, detains, and arrests latinos, all in violation of the fourth and 14th amendments. >> if they're not happy, i guess they can carry out their threat and go to federal court, and i'll be glad to see them in court. >> the justice department's actions came after a three-year investigation. new documents say a lack of motive and faulty evidence led to the acquittal of american student amanda knox in the murder of her british roommate. an appeals court overturned the convictions against knox and her former italian boyfriend in october. in italy courts have to release a document to explain their motivation for reaching a

verdict. the court says that forensic evidence used to support the original verdicts was unreliable and could not ultimately prove that the couple was even at the crime scene on the night of the murder. >> it's just about 4:51. we're going to figure out what the heck is going on. feels like spring out there, almost 60 degrees. big changes too, tom. >> it will feel like winter by the time you're coming home. big changes on the way. we'll have gusty winds throughout the morning through midday. that's when we'll have a lot of colder air continuing to move in from the west. right now it is unusually balmy here for an early morning in december. 61 degrees at reagan national. winds gusting to around 15, 20 miles an hour out of the north and west. that's bringing in some of the colder air. right now out of the mountains it's down into the 40s in many locations as well as now coming into washington county to the northern shenandoah valley, only in the 40s to near 50 degrees there. blue ridge east, though, most locations in the 50s and around

60 degrees in southern montgomery county, prince george's, the district, arlington, fairfax, near 60. northern montgomery county beginning to drop down into the mid-50s as is loudoun county south and east of us. it's around 60 degrees this morning. we've got a few breaks in the clouds. quite a bit of cloudiness south and east and farther to the west. there is a disturbance in the atmosphere over the lower mississippi valley. that's going to be drifting off to the east overnight tonight and bring us perhaps a few sprinkles or maybe even a few flurries, especially in the higher elevations. sunrise 7:20 this morning. we'll be down to near 50 degrees by midmorning and then hold steady to around noontime and down in the 40s by midafternoon. by midnight near 40 degrees. it will be this evening from midevening to perhaps around midnight, might get sprinkles and flurries. don't be surprised if we see that. nothing's going to stick. tomorrow cold in the morning, afternoon highs mid-40s, and a blustery wind. more of the same on sunday.

and then monday a bit milder with sunshine as we get into tuesday evening, might get a shower. and then mild weather moves in midweek next week. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. serious crash shuts down eastbound route 50. this is at kenilworth avenue. all your lanes are blocked there. tracee wilkins is on the scene of this accident. she says crews are hoping to clear it in the next 20 to 30 minutes or so. we will keep watching and let you know when that happens. now, if you're traveling this time on lower bowie road, your closures are right at old chapel road. this is because an accident there has some downed power lines on the roadway for you. going to keep watching this for you as well. if you're traveling i-95 in virginia, i'm not seeing any major issues for you. this is the view at fairfax county parkway. you're looking clear i-95 north and south in virginia. continuing on to 395 is a breeze. not seeing anything in the roadways for you. if you're taking the trip from duke, continuing on to the 14th street bridge, you're clear heading into the city. your travel speed in that area

is about 62 miles per hour northbound on 395 at this time. now back to you both. >> thank you, danella. 4:53 now this morning. president obama is standing by his award of the medal of honor to the marine in the afghanistan war. the move comes after a newspaper that the marine says that a marine embellished his actions on the battlefield. the president awarded marine corps sergeant dakota meyer the top military honor. mcclatchy newspapers awarded many details of meyer's accomplishments were inaccurate. the initial report from meyer's commander said he killed one taliban fighter and saved nine afghans. other accounts from the white house and the marines said meyer killed multiple enemies and saved as many as 36 lives. the marine corps attributes the differing accounts to the "fog of war." the pentagon and the white house stand by the award and have no plans to investigate the discrepancies. just in time for christmas, santa's reindeer have been returned.

comet and dancer got loose on an interstate highway in webster, texas. >> there's two loose reindeer on the highway. >> yes, sir. >> there's a guy approaching them right now. >> older man with a beard? >> no. >> i'm really not being funny. i swear i'm not. >> a man named santa joe, look at him, owns a petting zoo. he says he was taking the reindeer to school for a show and tell when the animals escaped. he says he forgot to lock the door on the trailer. santa joe says he called police as soon as the animals took off. the reindeer were eventually caught, and no one was injured. thank goodness they weren't found on somebody's roof. >> who knew reindeer could live in texas. i thought it was a cold weather kind of thing. >> they're probably not very happy. they want to get back to the north pole, i'm sure. >> santa joe. what a great story. >> what a great name. >> it's a great name. terrific. 4:55. coming up, the donation left in one of those red kettles that will surely give someone a very [ female announcer ] at verizonfios.com,

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today may be the best day of the holiday season to do some online shopping. it's called free shipping day. more than 2,000 businesses are participating in the fourth annual online event. they're offering free shipping if you shop today, and better yet, they guarantee your delivery will arrive by christmas eve. you can find out which merchants are participating by going to freeshippingday.com. this is super saturday. historically, shoppers buy their gifts the last saturday before christmas. this year super saturday comes early. that means stores could give you good deals this weekend and beyond. also, next week could be a procrastinators paradise if the stores lower their prices once again. a pennsylvania salvation army kettle received quite a