abc2's roosevelt leftwich joins us with more. >> reporter: in the wake of 2007's virginia tech shooting a protocol was developed. the notification at towson worked fine. it's knowing what to do after that left students confused. this morning a man walked into the pnc bank branch at towson and demanded money. they gave him an undisclosed amount of cash and he fled. eight minutes after it happened, everyone knew, through text messages and emails. >> first i thought this was someone's phone. it came over the intercom. there's been a robbery in the union. so we just closed the doors. >> reporter: the warning system worked. everyone knew. after that what do you do next? do you stay or go. the place where the suspect

fled, they had to stay. >> take añi nice long vertical deskxd and cover the door and gt to this side of theñi wall and hide. >> reporter: others went on as usual. >> i think we all knew not to leave the classroom or wherever we were. they told us where it was. >> you cannot -- >> reporter: this university video outlies the rain way, respond, assess, isolate and notify. in the event of an armed person, you do just what happened, bar the door, move to one side of the room. in slight of what happened at virginia tech, knowing what to do is what people needs to do but in the end it's still unneverring.

>> one girl put her arm out and started squeezing my friend's wrist tightly. >> i wasn't really surprised that it was so close, that it was on campus in the union. it was more to mow like how does that happen. >> reporter: the suspect was caught about a half hour after the robbery. he was found sitting on a bench in the liberal arts building by someone who noticed he matched the description. no weapon was found. roosevelt leftwich, abc2 news. listen up, chocolate lovers. if you like to snack on chocolate it may become expensive. the price is expected to soar. apparently, there's expected to be a shortage of 1 million tons of cocoa beans within the next eight years.

the growing taste for chocolate in china is rising in demand. first in the nation. next month san francisco will become the first major city to pay minimum wage workers more than $10 an hour. the lowest paid worker also earn $10 -- $10.24. taking a look at some of tonight's top stories. thousands of marylanders will go to bed cold without enough money to keep their homes warm. in the past maryland was able to use federal funds but this year those funds are tied up in the budget impasse in washington. a woman was hit and killed an the light rail tracks in baltimore county. they're trying to figure out who

she was. former pool -- penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky is headed for coach. the main witness, who claimed to have seen sandusky abuse a boy in the shower, has changed his story. >> awfully frigid. look at some of the lows, 16. 20s in the city. tonight we'll see upper 20s, less in the way of teens. most of us in the 30s falling towards freezing in frederick. take a look across the state, a few clouds blowing in but no precipitation. we stay dry tonight, which is go.d any precip we get would be of the wintry variety. could be rain out there. that's coming up.

we've been through black friday and cyber monday. now another holiday shopping milestone. today has been dubbed green monday. that's because online sales are expected to hit more than $1 billion and also expected to be the busiest day in history for fedex. we got a firsthand look at all the shipping action. >> reporter: the boxes have been packed. now they're ready to be shipped. it's being called their busiest day in history with online shopping sales expected to hit more than $1 billion. fedex expects to move 17 million shipments around the world. >> we've been planning for the last few weeks, letting employees know what's going on. changes as necessary. >> here at the fedex disbiewtion in rose dale employees are

already prepared for the holidays, but hey -- he, like others are trying to get a head start. >> we have a chance to get the priority customers first. then we do the others. then we still have residential areas. >> reporter: you may be asking what is everyone shipping? from clothes, televisions to unique items. >> we've delivered christmas trees to military troops. as recently as last week we delivered two pandas overseas. so this time of thexd year we delivejá just about anything. >> reporter: 90,000 of these trucks are expected toñr it had the roads. >> we will get things ordered

online and shipped to you in time for christmas. >> reporter: reporting for abc2 news. >> wow, two pandas being shipped? fedex said there are two dates to keep in mind, december 16th, the last day top send the package economy and december 23rd is the last to arrive by christmas and you'll pay the premium rate. you don't have to pay shipping if you want to donate a toy to the kindertime toy drive. this will go to a child in need. you have until december 22 to donate new, unwrapped toys to

celebree learning centers and police barracks. also, if you have instruments sitting around the house, you can donate those, too. we all have to watch out during the holidays. packages may be delivered to your home and someone comes to pick them up. only that someone is not the homeowner. why this couple is making this home surveillance video public for everyone to see. a huge spinks hole almost -- sinkhole almost swallow lad car.

some new video out of seattle. police say an alleged serial robber came face to face with plan employee. the subway employee realize the weapon was only a toy. he ran. the alleged robber's next stop was about 30 minutes later. police least man has robbed nearly 30 pizza and sandwich shops. a tack savvy couple is trying to track down the person who swiped a delivery love their

front point they immediately gave it to police. it took eight seconds for the police to dash on to the porch, grab the item and dash away. they are hoping this video leads them to the suspect. a close call for a driver in new hampshire earlier today. a large sinkhole nearly swallowed their car. firefighters pulled the driver out to safety. the broken water main is blamed for it. donald trump is back in the headlines today for his comments about the white house,. , his words about president obama's performance. social media was a top on the web.

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.

all right. it is a cool night. no question about that. skies partly cloudy. no rain, no precipitation. 39, droply quickly out of the 40s and into the 20s by overnight tonight. it will be another frigid night although a few degrees warmer. united states mixed with high thin clouds it. was a look clouds -- it was a good looking day. again, one of those quietw3 december weather days. we had quite a few like this. frederick today tough time getting much out of the low 40s there, temperatures will be

dropping off sharply. lauren on facebook sending us a holiday photo. got frosty. thanks for that. get us your photos and we'll get them on air. maryland's most powerful radar all sweeps show clear. low temperatures in the teens and 20s. i think we had a few degrees. dulles down to 19 as was winchester, virginia. temperatures climbing into the 40s, now dropping back into the 30s. one 20-degree reading. one spot in easton dropping as we go later this evening. a few high thin clouds, not relly make much of a splash weather wise. all precipitation remains south, south of cape hatteras, north carolina. you can see that high pressure bubble bringing in the chilly air but holding the showers at bay to our south.

bottom line is this, temperatures running chilly in the northeast but not frigid for this time of the year. milder numbers south and west. some of that milder air will work its way in as we go into tomorrow. our future trend show nos cloud cover -- shows no cloud cover tomorrow. by tuesday a few more clouds drifting in out of the west. as the storm looks to make a pass to our north and west, we should stay dry but also we'll see increased clouds. 28 with clearing skies, quite cold. 51, mostly sunnyçóxd and slighty milder. most spots are in the 40s. tomorrow night down to 30, a few clouds cold and dry. your seven-day forecast looking ahead, thursday looking like the mildest day of the week. this weekend we got a fresh cold shot of air but we stay dry, sunny and colder for the

weekend. kelly? >> thanks a lot, wyatt. in tonight's democracy 2012, donald trump no stranger to controversy. over the weekend at a book signing he had a lot to say about the white house. >> it all starts with the president. we have a president who has no clue hop shouldn't be there -- who shouldn't be there. how he got there is amazing. we're really talking about the president and also lots of other leaders are not dog so -- doing so well. >> he plans to moderate a presidential debate later this month. so far only newt gingrich and rick santorum have agreed to show up at the debate. the iowa caucus is less than a month away. the candidates gathered there. we have more on it.

>> reporter: iowa is 22 days away. if you think about it, that's not so famplet now the candidates are getting a little more aggressive. >> knew the, rom -- newt, romney. >> reporter: michele bachmann tried to differentiate himself. it's becoming a heated two-man race. >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> that was probably the best thing i could have done to prepare me. we don't need people who are lifetime washington people to get this country out of the miss. >> reporter: for mitt romney the debate was crucial to stay competitive in iowa. where the median income is less than $50,000, the talk was about

romney's $10,000 mistake. >> i'll tell you what, $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business. >> newt gingrich jumped on the betting bandwagon after romney suggested newt return $1.6 million he made as a consultant top freddie mac. >> if he wants to give back his money to bane, i'll -- bane, i'll listen. >> here's a quick glimpse. it might describe more why it's getting personal because newt gingrich is on to with 22%. look at the candidates who are right behind him. clearly, these candidates are going on the atack, which is 22 days left. >> anything unusual happening?

>> this is a little bit unusual. rick perry is make strides in iowa. last month he was at 5. according to the latest poll he's at 13%. today he's kicking off his bus tour where he plans to hit about 40 cities before new year's. it appears this might be working for him. coming up all new at 6:00, only home took time to assess his recent trip to india and how it will impact our state and as you shop online we tell you to beware. how scammers are trying to track you down. i'm jamie costello. we'll have those stories coming up at 6:00. here's a preview of what you'll

see op world news with diane sawyer.

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forks twitter -- facebook, twitter, karin caifa takes a look back at year of social media. >> reporter: more apps, more

gadgets, trending in 2011 was competition. >> launching season 2011. >> reporter: facebook partnered with skype to add more features as well as google. google plus has a fraction of facebook's numbers since it's june debut but enough to push facebook to roll out major changes in september. the layout is called timeline that lets you document your entire lie. the initial results, an outcry. >> these are the most radical changes. >> reporter: with 800 million friends in one place, google also ventured into music. on top of that market and pushing forward, apple south to stay ahead in the tablet wars. the ipad two rolled out in march. >> it's a completely new design. >> reporter: major competition came from companies not nonfor

its -- not known for its hardware. apple got the tech world buzzing in october. >> i'm pleased to tell you about the time of the phone 4s. >> reporter: it has personal assistant siri. >> who are you? >> i am a humble personal assistant. >> reporter: the day after apple introduced the 4s, steve jobs died. and when this was time for change in egypt, young people mobilized a movement with facebook and twitter. back in the u.s., president heldñr first ever townhalls onxd linked in, facebookñr and twitter and a new gop majority

in thexd house of representativs streamed on facebook. >> today i'm announcing my resignation from congress. >> reporter: anthony weiner's racy tweets raised questions about tweeting and cheating. a university of maryland study credited facebook apps alone with creating 182,000obs. i'm karin caifa reporting. baltimore city's board of public work also vote on a plan to hand over some of the rec centers to be run by private companies. we have a list of them on abc2 news at 6:00 which starts right now. it's the holiday season. it's also the