the downtown of one of maryland's cities is up for a national award. which community is being singled out for greatness? the christmas spirit is all around us. if you're not feeling it yet, i know just the thing. >> after a week full of questions about who's still in the running for presidential representative for the republican side, we are checking in with the front runners. first, grace is one of 12 semifinalists this for this award. >> reporter: the award is given out by the national trust for

historic preservation. they want to see a main street that hasn't packed into history. >> reporter: it's always tough to run a small business. when they knew this was the place where they wanted to be. they put their restaurant right in a place where she says they feel right at home. >> our community supports each other. wee enthusiastic about each other. and it means a lot. especially when it's a down economy and things are hard and everybody has to work harder. it's important to support each other and care about each other. then you feel like a family. >> reporter: that homey feeling and a main street that remains active and vibrant is why they're one of the ten finalists for the main street award. big names and titles aside, this is a big deal. >> to get to this point is a huge honor for our town. it's huge. there's a lot of -- so

many people have put so many hours into this. it's just great, just being in the semifinals, hey! >> reporter: the national trust for historic preservation looks at towns for their character and vibrancy, and efforts to preserve their history. george washington walked here. you can see a sample of more than 800 historic structures in town goes back hundreds of years. there are new events going on all the time, to generate interest in the heart of town, to shop, look at art, and antiques, even have a bite and a beer. and for a small town to survive let alone get nominated for a major award folks here say you have to hustle. >> it fits into that, excuse the term, arts-partsy town. that's the representation we,

have, and we're trying to increase the local knowledge of that and the regional knowledge of what we have here. >> reporter: they have to put together a packet for the committee, including a video and letters of recommendation, and give it all to the national trust f. they do win this designation, it'll help the town's efforts to increase tourism, and draw new businesses to this already vibrant town. in baltimore, a new plan in the works for the renovation of warden park at camden years. they're drawing a year-round crowd of fans by constructing a park in front of the center field overlook. a look at tonight's top sisters eric west minister woman -- a west minister woman no longer living in her home. neighbors in their community say they saw crews working on the

home recently but didn't realize nol the show, hoarders aired, just how about the situation was. they found seven cats inside, and ended up hauling out 8,000 pounds of feces. today is world aids day. nearly 30 million people have died from the disease since 1981. ceremonies were held

legally across the country, by president obama, former priz bush, and other celebrities. the entire east coast this afternoon, and evening, showing not a cloud in the sky. it's beautiful out today. and warmer if you were out in the sunshine. temperatures cooling off right now. temperatures 41 in glenwood, flirting with the 30s west of town. chester county 43. port mead about 45. the rest of will fall through the 40s, quickly into the 30s. we talk about how things change into the weekend and beyond in a few minutes. the worst wind evening for southern california in a decade. and it's causing hurricane force winds to gust from 60 to 100 miles an hour. >> reporter: it is wild out there! there is nothing better in this world than sitting with a heater at your feet, fish tacos on your plate, and staring out at the pacific ocean. but ten minutes away, look at la, ripped into a frenzy. lax had its lights knocked out, massive delays, and hollywood hills, all the way to sunset and vine felt the strong winds. >> i thought it was an earthquake at first. and then all of a sudden, i heard this huge rumbling sound.

and then the ground actually shook bad. >> look at this. this is los angeles! this is out in california. you know who else is feeling it? utah. and we have some students out this in utah from college campuses in neighboring next next dealing with the wind too -- in new mexico: most of us deal with backups caused by car accidents every day, but nothing like what happened this morning in ten tep. more than 150 cars ended up in just one crash in tennessee. and he didn't exactly make lemonade out of lemons. what one extreme sportsman did when extreme weather hit in ohio.

it's been unusually told in tennessee recently. and this morning, a very thick cloud of fog combined with black ice to create a deadly pile-up of more than 150 vehicles. one person was killed in the crash, and at least a dozen more were injured. it was caused by three separate wrecks including one with a school busful none of the children -- bus. none of the children were taken to the

hospital. but at least 50 vehicles had to be towed away. in cleveland ohio, the weather led to some creative fun. an extreme surfer decided to brave the waves yesterday. he went out on the water with a kite attached to the board and ended up catching more than he counted for. after days with new allegations, embarrassing sound bites, and public appearances, how the candidates' chances are looking as we get closer to the republican presidential primary. and stepping into a mall this time of year just puts you into an immediate panic? we've got some tips with stress for the holiday season.

is

when i joined the national guard, i never thought i'd be saving lives. it's more than money for college. it's built my character and given me a sense of accomplishment. now i'm on a career path, and i'm the leader of my team. i put on the uniform and i have a whole new outlook on life. country, community, family-- that's what matters most to me. if that matters to you, go to 1-800-go-guard.com.

we're just hours away from the annual lighting of the washington monument. we're checking in with a local historian to learn about santa a past first. abc2 news is live in mt. vernon. what about that doll? you think you're going to get it? [ laughter ] >> reporter: of course! santa always delivers . i'm at the maryland historical society right now. and i'm with my new friend here, and i definitely have christopher kinslow. >> i play juan john wilks booth here. >> reporter: how long have you been doing this had? >> since march. >> reporter: this open just during the holidays? >> all year-round, next year, and on the weekends. >> reporter: tell people about

the hours that you're available to be seen. >> the players are available on the weekends, then we also do education and outreach. we have in-classroom field trips. and the museum is wednesday through saturday from 10:00 to 5:00, and on the weekends and sunday, noon to 5:00. >> reporter: and what about something called "divided voices?". >> it's one of our exhibits. because we were a border state and divided, we of course were divided. andy woo like to let the voices of those who shaped history as it happened tell us what happened. >> reporter: and everything in here is so beautiful, but this kind of stuck out here. tell me about this piece right here. >> those are actually our oldest two christmas ornaments made of lithograph print. the tinsel on the edge is tarnished because it's actual metal. and those date from at least 1880. >> reporter: i've seen a lot of pieces in here that i love to see.

i appreciate your time. and congrats on everything . and you really look like booth, i might add. [ laughter ] >> thank you very much. i appreciate t. >> reporter: wyatt, we are here, if you want to have a twist on the holidays you can get a lot of beauty here. i'm going to show you some more. we're going to talk to santa coming up. i'm going to give him my list. now back to you in the studio. >> looks look good times there. put in a good word with santa for me. 48 degrees right now. winds are from the west at 3three miles per hour. beautiful sunshine throughout most of the afternoon today. gorgeous weather, in fact. and sunset, a gorgeous looking sunset there today. and a nice finish to what was otherwise just a quiet day. a little breezy, a little on the chilly side this morning. then temperatures rebounding nicely this afternoon.

oceanside city, quiet, desolate beach down there. maryland's most powerful radar still all clear. temperatures upper 40s to low 40s to the west. we've got 41 in winchester, 48 in baltimore, 46 in easton. zoom in a little bit. you can see temperatures running in the low. so you get an idea of high temperatures getting just benefit the season -- above the season normal. average would be right at 50. tomorrow we'll look for mid to upper 50s. essex about 56. sunshine again. and you see how clear conditions are across the mid-atlantic coast tonight out to the north and west. we do have some additional cloud covering spilling in the upper mid-west, chicago, places like that. this is a weak cold front that will dive south and run through the high pressure dome

that's providing quiet weather right now . and that will drop our temperatures come saturday. tomorrow will be actually a little bit milder. but you can barely make out that cold front. then it washes out over the area. i don't think we'll see much of that in the way of cloud cover. it comes in dry, but it will drop temperatures tomorrow into saturday by about five to sech degrees. then -- seven degrees. overnight, 32, wind goes calm, frost by daybreak. and tomorrow will be 55 degrees with a nice, deep blue cobalt sky that we see in the winter season. tomorrow night, 43 with a light breeze. the forecast shows basically more seasonable weather into the weekend. above seasonable sunday and monday. and then monday night, the storm system could finish off west of frederick, even, as a brief

wintry mix early wednesday morning. in tonight's democracy, 2012, herman cain held a news conference last night to address the accusations of a treason year affair with a woman. he reveals some details about whether or not to stay in the race. do we have any sense of when he's going to make that decision? >> reporter: it sounds like this decision may be made as earlies this weekend. but it appears to be up in the air. the new hampshire union leader released an article quoted herman cain saying his wife didn't know about his friendship with ginger white or the fact that he was providing financial assistance to her until this story broke. apparently he also said if his wife wanted him to drop out of the race, that he'd do that. and last night, herman cain was talking to reports in new hampshire, and he said what he said.

>> since i've been campaigning all week, i haven't had an opportunity to sit down with her and walk through this with my wife and my family. i will do that when i get home on friday. >> reporter: he also talked about fundraising. since the latest allegation, the day the story broke, he took a major hit. throughout the week, he says that fundraising has been up a little bit. but it's nowhere near where it used to be. >> so if he bows out of the race, maybe this could open the door for michele bachmann? >> reporter: right, michele bachmann is poling in the single digits but not lacking confidence. today she was talking about some possible running mates. the list, rick san torum, running on his own, then senator jim giment, senator marco rubio from florida who said he's not interested. then this one is really interesting. donald trump. >> okay.

all right. thanks for joining us live from washington. he may not be running for president again, but senator john mccain still managed to get into the headlines yesterday. a joke about rhode island that didn't go over very well. is it true that justice o'connor was specifically referring to a case where a person was captured on lili? last i week long island was part of the united states of america. although sometimes regrettably. >> the chuck smu marfrom new york asked him to apologize. mccain says he was sorry that he couldn't take a joke. wow. coming up , one local university tried to mark world aids day with a world record attempt. about the record was not the most important part of the day's work. and simple ways that will

help you fight back the seasonal sadness and make it a joyous time of year. our year-long investigation finding tens of thousands of foster children, even infants, being given powerful, mind altering drugs. tonight, who are the doctors who do it? watch on world news.

in tonight's consumer alert, it's only december 1st, but if you're already feeling the holiday shopping pressure, you're not alone.

fights over parking spots, long lines, that can be real stressful. >> reporter: sometimes holiday shopping can seem more naughty than nice. >> [ crowd noise ] >> reporter: a recent survifrom consumer -- survey found 90% of americans have at least one holiday pet peeve, some related to the mall. 60% said crowds and waiting in lines. 37% said it's the thought of debt. 28% said holiday shopping in general. 15% said they dread having to be nice. some of the holiday humbug could be the gloomy economy, and a little shoppers' fatigue. >> i think it does play into the equation quite a bit. i think one of the reasons is because the season seems to be so long these days. >> shopping online is one way to mess the holidays less hectic.

but try shopping hungry. >> you shop at breakfast time or early in the morning. exactly at lunchtime when people are taking a break to have a meal. same thing with dinner. dinner time is a great time to shop. >> reporter: everyone knows to make a list. but think of backup gifts too. >> you have to have a backup plan. listen, things aren't going to any perfectly but i'm here to enjoy the season. >> reporter: after all, for the good and the bad, it only happens once a year. for consumer watch. >> we're used to seeing blue angels flying over annapolis every year, but the team will be taking over another local skyline for the first time ever. girls said they were lied to about an antibullying campaign. now, one charge has come down on the man putting

these assemblies together. >> the people that are infected, but it affects all of us, and this is an opportunity for us to stand in solidarity. marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery of hiv and aids by raising awareness that having the disease does not mean you can't live a normal life. and this season, you're supposed to be happy, so why so glum? what you can do to term your life right-side up. an annapolis man accused of offering up ravens players for local school assemblies then not delivering is now facing charges. dozens of schools from across maryland says joseph gill came to them with antibullying programs featuring ravens players. many of those schools or their ptas paid up front, but the big stars never showed upful one of the ptas on the eastern shore filed a complaint, and now the first