announcer: now, "abc 7 news at noon," on your side. jummy: white off the top, the affordable care act is front and center on capitol hill this -- right off the top, the informal care act is front and center on capitol hill this hour. are pence and barack obama facing off. what are the battle lines and what is likely to happen first? karen travers joins us from capitol hill with the latest. karen: republicans say their top priority when donald trump becomes president is to repeal and replace the a ford will care t.

to strike down part or all of the law. but a second part, replacing it, will not happen overnight. democrats say they will do everything they can to block those efforts. the halls of conference -- the halls of congress bustling with the ip's, a rare visit to obama, hill by president strategizing ways they can protect the affordable care act from republican efforts to dismantle it. democrats emphasizing that some 20 million americans who now have health care. >> the republican plan to cut health care would not make america great again. it would make america sick again. >> republicans holding their own meeting on obamacare with vice president elect mike pence. the first order of business is to repeal and replace obamacare. erin: but -- karen: but republicans are divided on how to do this for

-- it will not go into effect until 18 months to three years, given republicans time to come up with a replacement. the white house says the president is deeply concerned about what it calls a bait and switch move. and donald trump another tweet storm this morning. questioning the conclusions of 17 u.s. intelligence agencies, that russia was behind the dnc cyber attack. trump writing on twitter that julian assange said the russians did not give him the hacked emails. the president-elect seemingly taking the word of a fugitive hacker over the intelligence community. republicans say they are taking the obamacare repeal and replace plan slowly so they do not pull the rug out from any american that relies on it. president obama says that if he fights the battle right, the republican plan for a replacement will be their undoing. jummy:

with abc 7 as we close in on inauguration day we have all the latest developments on our social media platforms and always at wjla.com. we want to turn to the forecast. here is a live look outside at parts of the region, blanketed with fog for much of the morning. it looks better. now the sun is coming out, and what may be coming next? a little snow, but doug hill is here with all the answers. doug: that is a possibility later tomorrow night and friday morning. in the meantime, sunshine and the wind will pick up, driving things in -- drying things out and pushing those temperatures up to a low to mid 50's this afternoon with gusty breezes, plenty of sunshine to dry things out across the area. as far as temperatures tomorrow, a lot colder. mid 20's in a lot of areas. 23 in germantown, 28 in the city. 29 in dale city. sunshine with clouds increased through the day. they will

weather disturbance coming in from the northwest. that will increase the cloudiness. temperatures a lot colder, only 37 for a high temperature. a quick look at the futurecast to give us a sense of timing. we will be in the middle to upper 30's, and an area of light snow is expected to move out of the mountains. the main area will come into the overnight hours by the time you all wake up on friday morning. be patchyhere will snow around the area, but accumulation we think will be very light. in the tenths of an inch, maybe up to an inch farther north. the concern is happening when it is very cold, early friday morning before rush-hour. the concern is about slick spots. we will talk about that and the cold weather that follows friday afternoon to friday night, in about 10 minutes. even on a clear day, commuting in this region can be a hassle. today drivers had some obstacles that included part of the

that included part of connecticut avenue shut down for several hours after a massive tree fell across the road. john gonzalez has more on today's challenging commute. john: with all this rain, sometimes the ground become so saturated, trees take up needing. that is what has happened in montgomery county. county tree crew has finally arrived. the chainsaws are out, the wood chipper is on the road. part of this tree has already been cut up by a chainsaw, and it stretches across pretty much the entire busy roadway here. this is connecticut avenue between georgia avenue and -- the traffic has been turned around for several hours now. the tree came crashing down at around 6:30 this morning, and it is a heavy, hardwood tree. fortunately, no one was injured because it came crashing down right next to a ride-on but stop

-- a ride-on bus stop in aspen hill. dense fogk at this that moved in. there was a fog warning on i-270 and 495. that fog made visibility very poor at times. it appears the weather may have played a factor here. you can see where the tree came from. it is a heavily wooded area, the tree very saturated. montgomery county police have had the road closed off for some time as the work continues in aspen hill. that is the latest from connecticut avenue. jummy: the commute was rougher for dozens of train passengers in brooklyn, new york. at least 100 people were hurt after a train derailed there. one witness said the train failed to come to a complete stop in the train station and hit the bumper at the end of the track. none of the injuries were serious. transit union officials are

they call widespread safety failures in metro. porter, --rtation how transportation reporter brianne carter will have more. has mayor muriel bowser just signed a law to help crack down on criminals ordered to wear a gps monitoring device. stephen tschida has more, live in northwest with more on that. stephen: about an hour and a half ago, mayor muriel bowser signs this gps monitoring legislation. what it does is, it gives these various agencies which require these gps monitoring devices -- such as the court service agency, rehabilitation services -- those agencies which require a suspect and offender to where a device now have

device. if someone does not where it, they can face jail time. this is not related, according to the mayor, to the murder of tricia mccauley, the yoga instructor who was apparently abducted and murdered christmas day. the suspect apparently had been ordered to wear a monitoring device and had not in put on. >> this piece of legislation has been moving since the summer, where we identify the gaps. so i would not necessarily link what we have done today to ms. mccauley's case. thes. mccauley's case, offender had not gotten the gps device. even if he had, that does not mean that he and ms. mccauley would not have crossed paths.

now, the mayor also called on the court system to be more efficient, quicker in putting these gps devices on offenders once they are ordered to wear them. opposition,o some given these -- giving these agencies to enforce these devices. the aclu may be opposed to it. the mayor said if they are going to fight this new law, she will see them in court. stephen tschida, abc 7 news. jummy: taking a news around the nation, the penalty phase begins today for dylann roof, who has been convicted of killing nine people. jurors are deciding whether to give him the death penalty. he is representing himself, but he is not allowed to approach the jury, the witness stand, or the bench. overseas we have new developments in a deadly nightclub attack in turkey. the foreign minister says the gunman has been identified.

suspect, still on the loose, has not been released. five more people were arrested overnight. they are all believed to be isis militants who helped plan the shooting that killed 39 people. isis has claimed responsibility. coming up, a memorable speech for all the wrong reasons. how he ended up in this scary situation. also, which diet is considered the best when it comes to losing weight fast? has to pays someone for mariah carey's new year's eve performance. now two people are out of a job. there is not a lot to worry about, which is great. the one issue we do have is having inbound, three hundred 90 five crossing the 14th street bridge. a lot of volume. averaging 13 minutes, again, just to get into the city. no p

avenue. new york avenue looks great. this is the slow stretch you see northbound on the bw parkway. 270 a live look outside -- near falls road looks great. the roads are drying out. not too much to worry about in the way of what roads, but bridge repairs are happening throughout the day today. crossing the arlington memorial bridge, everything is scheduled to wrap up by 2:30. that is a look at the traffic.

announcer: you are watching "abc 7 news at noon," on your side. jummy: it has happened again. a young boy caught on a ski lift as a sundance resort in utah. take a look at this video.

chair monday. eventually two ski patrol members were able to drive him back onto the chair using that letter. he is ok. the same thing happened there just before christmas, when a also got caught on the ski lift. prince george's county -- a prince george's county family got a rude awakening this morning. a device that is supposed to save the lives ended up doing more harm than good. suzanne kennedy shows us the damage. suzanne: this is the fire hydrant that malfunctioned early this morning in the 4900 locked of wheeler -- in the 4900 loch of wheeler road. it came in through the garage and went right into the basement. five rooms of this home are flooded with about two inches of water. the fire department could not turn off the hydrant. the water continue to rush into the house until re

>> it was just mud, water, leaves, just going. could not stop it. about 7:45, 8:00. it kept on running. suzanne: wssc has arrived on the situation to clean up and figure out what went wrong with that hydrant. in oxon hill, suzanne kennedy. back to you. jummy: today electricians are trying to figure out why the lights illuminating the washington monument have gone dark. the national park service says the issue may be with the automated program that controls the lights. the red blinking lights at the top are still working, the monument has been closed since august because of ongoing problems with the elevator. i will be a good idea to this museum. nationalets for the museum of african american culture are available. the tickets are going fast. the museum will give out a number o

may will be made available on february 1. aug: the crowds might be little lighter. even though it is brand-new. this might be a great time to take advantage. weather-wise, it is interesting, every day a different weather pattern. we had a little rain and fog this morning. now the sun is coming out. it will be beautiful this afternoon. maybe some snow tomorrow night and into friday morning. it is fun, jummy. a look at national harbor. all to the west, northwest, you can see the blue sky closer to the horizon. that is the clearing trend with the cold front that follows the rain from yesterday. the temperature, 54 degrees at reagan national. the wind out of the west that's west- the wind out of the at 7 miles per hour, continuing to push temperatures up

24 mile-per-hour gusts at the airport. 26 miles per hour in hagerstown. the wind will gust at times, probably 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 this afternoon. satellite radar, you see the back edge of the precipitation and the front. that continues to slide off to the east and southeast. already, highs to the west. there is an upper-level disturbance that will move across the country quickly. it will be brought to the east and southeast over the next 36 to 46 hours. eventually it will form into a storm system off the coach. this is a fast mover, not a lot of moisture. but these systems have a history of laying down a coating of snow , an inch or less, probably less than an inch in most areas. right now, coming up with the high elevations is a different story. the soy area is spreading to the south and east with some winter weather adviry

area, but this futurecast shows the system traveling to the east, then tomorrow afternoon, west of the metro area. >'dj,xi do not expect a lot. the timing as well shows the majority of precipitation is off to the coast, especially saturday morning as a second stronger storm system develop s. snowfall potential in the 10th seven inch. couldith the cold ground mean a few slick spots friday morning. today, the numbers -- 56 39 tomorrow. as we get through the weekend, a chance of precipitation south and needs of the metro area. otherwise, just a cold stretch ahead. jummy: we will keep you updated -- the stormwatch 17 mariah carey has fired or

choreographer. the pop star has been getting hammered on social media since , which hadance technical difficulties. she says she is mortified over what happened. aregeorge michael paz fans rushing to download his music after the pop icon's death. from the weeked previous. he died on december 25. his manager says the singer suffered heart failure. coming up, a new ranking of the best diets, which includes which one

jummy: we have a 7 on your side consumer alert about gas prices. they are expected to reach a

the average cost for regular unleaded will spike to $2.49 per gallon, up from $2.13 in 2016. that means u.s. drivers could spend $252 billion more at the pump than last year. the price increase is the november decision by opec to cut back on oil production. make losing weight and new year's resolution. 45 million americans try diets every year, but often people fail to reach their goals. what is the key to winning the battles of the bulge. you commit to eat healthier, but then you fall off the wagon. you recommit. then -- the cycle of yo-yo dieting is real. some people managed to break that. how do they do it? to find the psychological keys for change, "u.s. news & world report" talked to some

succeeded. beth lost 90 pounds with weight watches. to ben i committed healthy in january, i decided to quit smoking cigarettes. multiple changes can be overwhelming and a recipe for failure. make getting healthy a step toward getting something or someone you love. >> one day i looked in the mirror and said enough is enough. >> he lost 50 pounds. >> the motivation to become a fit father was several factors -- one was the fact that i had young kids, two little girls. beating thatit a he followed a pagan eating -- he followed a vegan eating strategy. stress, iosttraumatic just started eating. my emotions. >> her advice is do not wing it. she saw an add for a fitness program.

maybe i can do it. >> she lost 100 pounds doing cardio, and following the program's clean eating guidelines. >> instead of a bad habit, it becomes a good habit. "u.s. news & world report" has just released its best diets for the seventh year in a row. the dash diet is the best of all. followed by weight watchers. the hmr program was weight -- was rated the best fast weight loss program.

jummy: authorities in texas are looking for a would-be bandit who got a big surprise when breaking into the home of a grandmother. and swung myaround gun and pointed it at him. he ran. jummy: she says as the robber took off, she started firing that .38 is still at him. she is not sure if she had him, but she says she was sure trying to. look over the next 10 days. more men sunny this afternoon with a breeze. and sunny this afternoon with a breeze. a dusting of snow on friday. a warm up next week. jummy: thank you for joining us.

>> you know, they say money can't buy happiness, but i've given a lot of money on this show, and those people all look happy to me. so, why stop now? let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to the show. are you guys ready to play "millionaire"? [cheers and applause] let's do it. as a college student and president of his fraternity, our next contestant has a lot to prove and big plans for the million. from petersburg, indiana, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome zach riddle. [cheers and applause] welcome, zach, how you doing, man? >> nice to meet you. [cheers and applause] right there? i don't know where i'm going. >> i thought you were just gonna do a walk-off, that's it. >> i never know where i'm going. they--i already got