11:00 tonight have been cancelled on account of the weather. the day of christmas is usually very heavy travel day, especially when it falls on a sunday. it got off to a frustrating start in the bay area hoping to get a direct flight to washington and atlanta. here at sfo, american airlines has cancelled six flights. virgin, four, united 11. delta about half dozen. that is just a fraction of the hundreds of flights cancelled nationwide. one of the travelers caught up in this mess is a berkeley student which was hoping for a quick east coast vacation. >> i was going to fly into new york for vacation but my flight got cancelled because of bad weather. so i got a refund and i'm waiting to see what is next. >> basically we've had a lot of cancellations to and from the east coast and that will continue. >> what is the situation with passengers the ones that are

waiting for flights? >> i would say the airlines are doing their best to make them comfortable. we have concessions that are open 24 hours a day. we are doing our best with what we've got. >> if there is a sill are very lining, most airlines are waiving the one time fee to change flight plans, but they are asking passengers to do it online. storm hasn't had any impact on oakland and same for san jose. san jose was expecting one flight from boston and one flight from new york tonight and those flights would have turned around but both of those flights have been cancelled. here at sfo, the boards are showing flights to new york scheduled for early tomorrow morning, but a lot of airlines are expecting a late start. now let's look closer at the blizzard back east with lisa argen. >> here is a look at radar. you'll notice much of the white is all in the eastern seaboard.

we have intense area of low pressure in the atlantic and continues to move up the coast. as it does it is picking up the warm moisture and cooler air spreading the snow as far as south as alabama. they have 11 inches of snow in carolinas and virginia and north carolina getting the hardest hit. the storm is continuing to sleight slide up to the north and east. heaviest snow, tonight through tomorrow but blizzard conditions in new york city and in new jersey with over a foot expected through boston. temperatures tomorrow will be in the upper 20s to near 30s for d.c. it's dry in the middle of the country and a new storm system will take aim on our neck of the woods. we'll have a break tomorrow. i'll tell you what to expect for our weather coming up a little later. back here, shoppers were able to return to the malls today to take advantage of those active sales.

you can see it was packed with shoppers. economists say it's a good sign that the economy is recovering. tomas has more from hillsdale mall in san mateo. >> if you are looking for deals on clothing, jewelry or toys, today is the day retailers are offering more for your money. mary is hoping it's a rule and not the exception. >> i realize that i spent a little more. more parties and more spending and more projects. things are feeling better this year. >> after christmas sales account for a large portion of many retailers' income. he believes sales are a little slack. >> the national retail federation they expect $451 billion in the holiday season ending december 31, a more than

3% increase. according to an economist of golden gate university, the figures may be low. >> they are spending 5.5% more. so it's been a stronger holiday season than really anyone predicted. san francisco union square area, some shoppers say they are spending as much or a little more than they did last year. >> concerned about the economy, but you know, we're having good sales and if you can buy now and save later. >> it's an indicator how people feel about the economy. the professor says if consumers feel good about spending an economic recovery could be on the horizon. >> when they are spending more money, there is more jobs, when unemployment numbers improve, people feel more confident. it's good for the economy to see people spending money. >> and they also say the

discounts retailers aren't as steep as they were last year. that may be an indication they are looking at much better sales projections in hopes to make better profit next year. and eight americans have been killed in a tour bus crash in egypt. officials say three tour buses were traveling together in southern egypt around dawn when the middle bus crashed into a parked dump truck loaded with sand. six women and two men were killed. 19 other americans, egyptian driver and a tour guide were injured. >> there are two cases admitted in the icu, both cases have been managed and we are in stable. they are fully conscious and no problems for them. we are waiting to complete our investigation. 87-year-old man from san francisco was taken to the hospital after suffering minor injuries. he is retired federal agent. his wife, a retired professor is

okay. it looks like the full body scanners and thorough pat-downs are here to stay for a while. that is according to homeland security secretary janet napolitano who made the remarks in a television interview today. she was asked if tsa will change its procedures because of the complaints. >> not in the foreseeable future. we are looking to improve systems, but the new technology, the pat-downs, just object i feel safer for our traveling public. >> she dismissed news reports about tests in which guns and knives made it past screeners. many of those airports were high failure rates are very old and the new procedures and new machinery have improved safety a great deal. bay area arrests for driving under the influence are up slightly this season compared with last year. california highway patrol said

police made 40 d.w.i. arrests between december 24 and yesterday. good news, there have been no fatalities during the holiday enforcement period so far. it was also true last year. some 258 d.u.i. arrests have been made statewide. >> up next, a marijuana dispensary goes up in flames. also, dry-cleaning goes green but can it get your clothes

>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. firefighters discovered a set of strange circumstances after a fire at a marijuana dispensary in san francisco today. police say the norcal relief center is licensed but they are not sure if they are licensed to grow the large pot crop in the back room. the meter had also been bypassed. they were also using free electricity. the fire was extinguished and no one was hurt. >> we had a fire on the ground floor where the fire seemed to

start at. >> during the process of questioning the owners of that dispensary. >> even some dry-cleaners are claiming to be eco friendly. have you ever wondered what that means? michael finney takes a look. >> the traditional method of dry-cleaning is petroleum based and could harm the environment. researchers say there are alternatives. >> we researched the full cleaning. and which one is recommended by epa. >> wet cleaning is considered safely. it's water and detergent based and did well in the tests for getting out coffee and wine stains. it had a tough time with lipstick, oil and ink. >> the other process is considered safer. in our tests, they did a good job in getting coffee but less

effective in getting out ink. liquid silicone is a cleaning process is process under the brand name of green earth. epa has not taken a stand on it. >> good housekeeping says it removes coffee and lipstick but left inch. >> this is like perk but they are designed to biodegrade more quickly. in our tests they had hard time with certain things. >> it's important to remember claims or organ i can dye cleaning is not regulated so buyer beware. >> under a new law, california will create an internet based insurance exchange. it's designed to create a more organized and competitive market for health insurance and was made possible by the federal health care overall. the governor signed a bill

making california the first state to authorize an oversight board. it will promote competition among insurance companies and allow consumers to comparison shop for affordable coverage. >> residents can now start recycling their christmas trees next week. trees will be picked up curbside on weekdays during the first two weeks of january. you should remove all decorations and place it next to the trash can before 6:00 a.m. on regular pickup days. for more information go to www.abc7.com and click on see it on tv. >> after a rainy day, we had a nice break today. when we will see another storm? lease lease he is coming up to tell you more about that -- and raiders and mikefafafafafafafafx

we hope you enjoyed going outside and playing. you better enjoy it while you can. >> we had a nice break, some

light showers and we're not talking about any rain tomorrow but more is on the way, tuesday and wednesday. much colder system and a lot of wind. live look from the roof camera this evening, things are quiet but live doppler 7 hd is picking up rain north and south, west of the golden gate. very light returns and go in a little bit closer in the north bay but we are looking at heavier spell east of santa rosa. around yountville, we are looking at rain and these light showers will continue to rotate in i think past 8:00, things will start to settle down. light showers, santa rosa, yountville and heading into the sacramento valley. look for a nice break. it's 56 in city as well as fremont and san jose. with a little more sunshine, pretty decent day, lingering

showers around 8:00. we will have fog especially in the north and east bay valleys. partly cloudy skies and wet and cold weather coming our way tuesday and wednesday. even into thursday, blustery winds, upper 60s in napa. palo alto, san jose, 40 in morgan hill. weak storm system going through the northern portion of the state. that is allowing for the showers to squeeze out a couple hundredths here and there. tomorrow we'll wake up to a lot of cloud cover due to the wet ground and cooling. so after the fog burns off, this weak high pressure is in between the storm systems and this next system is dropping south and bringing rain, maybe half an inch or more through thursday. 39 in tahoe. good time to do that. 67 in los angeles tomorrow. we're quiet after about 7:00 or

7:00 tonight. you'll notice the cloud cover through tomorrow, spinning out a bit for partly cloudy skies. then by tuesday morning, rain heading into sonoma and marin and about noontime, here we are heading into the east bay. then sweeping to the south and east all throughout tuesday afternoon, heavier showers in the santa cruz mountains tuesday night overnight. then into wednesday morning, but much colder air. santa cruz mountains and mount hamilton maybe could see a dusting at the higher elevations. we will be looking for the wettest locks in the santa cruz mountains, inch and a half potential there with to three-quarters of an inch in the only hills. 57 for a dry nephew in fremont. down by the monterey bay, upper 50s for gilroy. accu-weather seven-day forecast, tomorrow no rain. then the rain moves in midday tuesday, really moves out on wednesday. that is when we're going to get

cold showers, the wind and maybe freezing temperatures into new year's eve. >> okay, we will see. on to rick in for shu. that was ugly scene on the 49er sideline today. >> things will probably get uglier. 5-9 49ers still have a chance to make the playoffs if they could beat st. louis today. al davis. win baby. san francisco got off to a terrible start. already down 7-0, smith can't handle the snap. they would retake the lead, he takes this and makes the kicker miss. he takes it to the house, 78 yards for a touchdown and that cuts the lead to 12. late in the second on third and 12, smith delivers a strike to the middle to michael crabtree. she gone. san francisco led at the half

14-12. but the fall of troy begin. this is picked off by former stanford star. following that play, singletary and smith got into a heated argument on the sidelines. coach would later bench him. after the rams got a field goal, and robinson st. louis on top 22-14. alex smith, he loses the football and they recover. 49ers are officially eliminated from the playoffs. it does appear the and is near for mike singletary. york says he would not commit to him coaching the final game against arizona. york says they will hire a

general manager and that, quote, money is no object. >> raiders were only playing for pride because kansas city was eliminating oakland from the playoffs. if they could beat the colts they would avoid the first losing season since 2002. oakland got off to a great start. rookie goes all the way, 99 yards. his third kickoff return this season, a club record. down 10-7. they pull even as he drills a 59-yard field goal. one of four he had today. peyton manning finds him, 18 yards with the score. colts led 17-13 at intermission. in the third, manning hits blair white. manning threw for three touchdowns. in the fourth, raiders try to mount a comeback. jason campbell to miller, but

this would not get the ball back on third and 2. and he is a naked bootleg, colts win by the score of 31-26. oakland falls to 7-8. as we expected to make the playoffs and we didn't reach our goal. >> hardest thing about this season is losing a lot of close games and then winning a lot of big games but not being able to finish some of those close games. >> we are disappointed because we wanted to be a chance to be a playoff team. so our goals have to change for the last week. we'll talk about those things tomorrow and we'll move forward. >> here is how the chief's game went down. he finds him. thanks so san diego's lot to

cincinnati, chief's get a victory. >> so no timetable for singletary's departure but they do want to hire a general manager first. >> thanks a lot, rick. >> and the fockers are back but the critics weren't too happy about it. we'll tell you why coming up. lightning fast. lightning strong.

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the family comedy, little fockers drew the most. it came in number one at the box office with $34 million despite bad reviews. this is a big weekend for the brothers, true grit came in with $25 million. this was the best opening weekend out of all the movies they directed. rounding out the top three, tron legacy, it took in $21 million. and quanza is being celebrated. it's running through january

1st. the name is swahili word meaning the first fruits of the harvest. it's designed to highlight the principles of unity and self-determination and recognizes the cultural roots of all people of african-american descent. that is it for "abc 7 news." we're going to leave you with a live picture from new york's