>> now, abc 7 news at noon. on your side. jummy: here is a live look outside in arlington. there is a little bit of wind. it is so warm. let's get to eileen whelan with a look at the forecast. you can see those few people walking around in short sleeves. incredibly warm. and at least have some record making temperatures to tell you about. at reagan national we have tied the record at 69 degrees.

we have broken the record at dulles. the previous record was 66. and bwi right now at 70 degrees. that is high degree of tires and the record. 72 in leesburg. 70 in manassas and winchester. it is briefly. -- it is breezy. have breezyinue to conditions through the rest of the day and a good bit of cloud cover. rain aroundg some fredericksburg and leonardtown. those of you in southern st. mary's county will be getting that rain. i have even seen some lightning strikes as well. warm weather. we will talk about the potential for record-breaking christmas temperatures. thank you.

now we want to take a look at traffic. steve kerr showing joins us. delays,here are some especially on i-95. here we are on i-95 in virginia. traffic is heavy heading southbound. you can see it slowing down. near 234.too bad it is going to be very slow on the way to fredericksburg. , doing ok oneltway the outer loop of 270. 95 looks pretty good as well. thank you.

we have an alert for residents without power in mclean. a downed tree is to blame for the loss of electricity. after this morning on delaney drive, power officials say it will take at least three hours to restore that power. just in time for the holiday rush, a new rule from the transportation security administration. from now on the tsa says those body scanners are no longer optional. john gonzalez is at reagan national airport with more. rush ise holiday travel well underway here at reagan national airport on christmas eve. the tsa is once again adjusting protocol. last christmas there was a big push to prevent customers from flying with their laptops on board. this year, the change is right here at the security gate. you can see how busy it already is this christmas eve. in light of recent terror

attacks and because of the busy travel time, tsa agents can now require all passengers to go through the body scanners. previously travelers have the option to be patted down. officials say that technique is just not reliable enough. >> most of the time i go through. i actually didn't know it wasn't required. it's fine by me. why can definitely see people for religious reasons wouldn't want to go through body scanners and for older people. it might be difficult for them. and just people who are more private. it's kind of invasive. recent homeland security report uncovered major security breaches at many checkpoints around the country. investigators were able to smuggle mock devices and banned weapons and pat downs did not find the contraband. passengers say they like feeling safer in the sky even if it means longer lines. jummy: roads are back opened

near dupont circle after a security scare. this was the scene around 9:00 last night. police responded to threats against two businesses on connecticut avenue. we knew it was some sort of phone threat. it was enough to shut down part of the city. nothing suspicious was found and everything was back open about two hours later. the clock is ticking down. you just have a few hours left to get those presents wrapped. as sam sweeney shows us, many last-minute shoppers are still out today. good afternoon. the clock is ticking for you last-minute christmas shoppers. we are here in gaithersburg at the kohl's that has been open 24 hours. take a look at the calendar here. thursday, december 24, 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. hours if youre

waited until the last minute to get those gifts. we have been out here all morning since about 4:00. most of the shoppers out here have been men and a few minutes. my husband is still in bed. he's going golfing today because it's 75 degrees. so i'm going shopping for him. >> i wanted to work out and all the gems are closgyms are close. were the bravele ones. most people didn't want to go on camera because they didn't want their girlfriends or wives to see them out shopping for last-minute gifts. you areeriousness, if coming out, remember to slow down and use caution in these parking lots. montgomery county police reported five pedestrians struck in just a two-hour time period last night. everyone is in a rush.

we want you to have a safe holiday season. just six more hours in the holiday shopping day remaining. i'm sam sweeney. jummy: if you don't know what to give us the perfect present, gift cards are one of the most popular resins this season. -- most popular presents this season. how do you know if you are getting the best deals? lookingoffer tips like for discounts that offer bonus cards for free. >> there's been a lot of confusion about whether cards lose their value over time, and it's important that consumers read the fine print. all, make sure gift cards don't go to waste. starbucks expects gift card sales to hit a record this christmas eve. we have experienced downpours in the metro area today. but a dangerous and deadly storm swept through the country, sparking tornadoes killing several people in several states.

officials are still searching for missing residents. more from jeannette reyes. >> i think that's a tornado. jeannette: a strong line of powerful and deadly storms turned up tornadoes from the midwest to the south last night. indiana, iowa, mississippi and tennessee survived nearly two doesn't twist or's that left seven people dead and 40 injured. in holly springs northern mississippi, a seven-year-old boy was among the dead. this region was under the biggest threat. about 4 million people took cover as a massive funnel cloud tour across the area. drivers were trying to figure out how to escape. >> there's a tornado in front of us. >> settle down. tennessee, the work to clear vital roads began overnight after strong winds andugh vehicles around

destroyed homes. tornado damage here. out west, the roads were a snowy mess in utah. 80 mile-per-hour wind gusts in california tore the roof off this building and toppled tractor-trailers on this major freeway. >> it scary -- it's scary. in the south and midwest, states of emergency until residents can pick up the pieces. coming up on abc 7 news at noon, a controversial cartoon is making waves on the campaign trail. why one candidates is a major newspaper went over the line. and a florida man accused of landing a gyrocopter on the front lawn wants to try his hand at politics. what he is running for. and are you ready to do away with your atm card? the new technology that could make them a thing of the past.

and baby, it is not cold outside. we will check in with eileen to find out how long the winter warmth will stick around.

>> you're watching abc 7 news at noon. on your side. jummy: welcome back. now to the race for the white house. republicans on the attack. donald trump going after hillary clinton and ted cruz intensifying his attacks on the mainstream media. here's tom llamas. on anator ted cruz taking major newspaper, saying it crossed the line for some cheap laughs. outraged the washington post ran this cartoon depicting his two young daughters as toy monkeys

attached to his presidential campaign after the five and seven-year-old appeared in a christmas campaign ad on television. several gop candidates came to the senators defense. marco rubio called the cartoon disgusting in a tweet. >> not much ticks me off. but making fun of my girls, that'll do it. all of us learned in kindergarten, don't hit little girls. it's not complicated. don't make fun of a five-year-old girl. >> donald trump telling fox news the cartoon was inappropriate. thing to talk about your children but it's another thing the way they were depicted. i won't even mention how they were depicted. these are two beautiful children and you just can't do that. >> and jeb bush saying this. >> this is off-limits and ted cruz is right to be outraged.

>> even extending the message across party lines. >> don't mess with my kids. don't mess with marcos kids. don't mess with hillary's kids. don't mess with anybody's kids. >> donald trump and hillary clinton continue to clash on twitter. trump tweeting this morning after clinton said trump is known for having a penchant for sexism in an interview. he tweeted, i have great respect for women. be careful. jummy: that was tom llamas. who landed a gyroscopic on the lawn of the u.s. capitol as a political protest is now running for congress. douglas hughes will run for the congressional seat held by representative debbie wasserman schultz, the chairwoman of the dnc. his lawyers argue that his felony conviction does not make him ineligible to run for congress.

it feels like flori when you step outside this afternoon. warm and muggy december. eileen: it is so odd. i can't remember a christmas eve like this. it really is something so completely strange. i will show you some of the top warmest christmases. i want to start off with current conditions. it is soonly warm but humid outside. 65 degrees at reagan national. is 63. point we talk about the dew point a lot in the summertime because the dew point temperature gets close to the air temperature and then you really feel the stickiness. we have a lot of moisture in the atmosphere. we had heavy rain yesterday and this morning. because of the saturated ground there is still the potential for rain later this evening and a

flash flood watch is in effect for the entire d.c. metro area through this evening. most of the area is dry. southeastern sections of the viewing area, southern prince george's county seeing some of that heavy rain. there is moderate rain approaching leonardtown. we will have the chance for a few more showers later today. most of the rain is out of here. front.his little cool aboutere is nothing cool these temperatures. lower 70's for the rest of the afternoon. sunset tonight at 4:51. our average is 45 degrees. well above that. tonight, maybe a few showers. otherwise mild. kind of a rare occurrence. we have a full moon.

a full moon happening on christmas is not that common. the last time was in 1977 and it won't happen again until 2034. it's going to be hard to see with the clouds. 69 degrees tomorrow. as far as records, it is definitely possible. in 1964, 72 degrees. we will see. we will at least get to a top three status. we stay above average the next seven days. the coolest day is monday. it will be cold and showery. in 1964, 72 degrees. nonetheless, merry christmas. jummy: santa is delivering warm temperatures. taking action to make food safer. details on how chipotle plans to

jummy: in business news, the number of americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, reflecting a stable job market. the labor department says applications for jobless aid declined by 5000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000. that's nearly a 42 year low. changes are coming to the fast food chain chipotle just days after the cdc began investigating a second outbreak of e. coli affecting customers in three states. the burrito giant announced

overnight that in the next few weeks it will start adjusting the way it cooks and prepares ingredients, for example, onions will be boiled before being chopped and covered with lemon to kill germs. students were sickened with norovirus. an official for the hyatt hotel chain says it's system has been hacked. someone installed malware on the hotel computers used to process customer payment. they have not confirmed whether any sensitive information was stolen by hackers. the company says customers can feel confident using payment cards at hyatt hotels worldwide. abc 7 is working for you. don't miss our 7 on your side 30 minute special on tuesday, december 29 at 8:00 p.m. right

here on abc 7. the way you shop may change in the future. new technology that would make an atm card a thing of the past. gio binet tesez explains. gma andank gave exclusive look inside its innovation lab, where they are in the early stages of testing this high-tech atm that uses your eyes instead of a card to verify your identity. >> we are always looking for innovations that will bring simplicity to your lives. >> the maker of the atm shows us how it works. 007.is is very doubl andou register your eyes then schedule transactions through a banking app. when you arrive at the atm,

>> identify yourself, get your money. there is no more card. in.re is no more p >> bank of america is testing them and jpmorgan plans to roll them out in 2016. citibank says this new technology makes your bank account even more secure. is the secondan most reliable marker on your body behind dna. >> when people are thinking of iris scans, they will think of grabbing an eyeball and putting in front of a machine. that can't happen. cyber security experts agree. byit will add security providing a level of uniqueness that doesn't exist with simple password. >> the electronic frontier foundation says there could still be vulnerabilities if an unauthorized person is able to hack into a system where your biometrics are stored. jummy: interesting stuff.

some good news in fort washington. piscataway drive has reopened more than a year and a half after 28 families were forced from their homes in may 2014. a landslide on a hill above the road caused extensive damage. this summer, the road rebuilding started. neighbors had to get creative to cope without driving. >> we built trails through the woods and then stares down the hills so that we could bypass the construction area. >> we are glad that we are able to drive to our homes in time for the holidays. jummy: the repair work cost $15 million. unseasonably warm, but will the rain last through the holiday? one last check of the forecast with eileen.

jummy: definitely a warm christmas eve. eileen: temperatures in the upper 60's to low 70's for the rest of the day today. maybe an isolated shower. tonight, cloudy skies and about 60 degrees. there is a full moon tonight. 69 tomorrow. it will be one of the warmest christmases on record. jummy: thank you. thanks for joining us.

>> there are some people in this world with the attitude, "hey, it's only money." you won't be seeing any of those people on our show today. it's time to play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ thank you very much. hello, everybody. i'm chris harrison. welcome. are you guys ready to play "who wants to be a millionaire"? [cheers and applause] me, too. our first contestant is an educator who's been rewarded for her unique ways of motivating students by being named teacher of the year not once, but twice. from sparr, florida, please welcome jill stephens. [cheers and applause] hi, jill. >> hi. >> good to see you. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you as well. welcome. >> thank you. [cheers and applause] >> what do you teach? >> i teach biology, marine science, and envivironmental management.