>> we take donated cars. we actually identify the car and identify a family although needs a car. >> reporter: since 1999, vehicles for change transforms used cars to lifelines for low income families. >> years ago when we were getting two or three, four car has week about someone who needs an automobile, we get about five to 10 cars a day. >> reporter: she knew she had to wait. >> we have such a big reach in the marketplace that this allows us to get down on a one on one basis to help an individual family. >> on behalf of wmar tv we're proud to present you with a car. >> reporter: it now rings in a new year of hope for the norriss. >> oh, my goodness. i ged to ride myself to work

today. >> reporter: back in the driver's seat for the first time in months. reporting for abc2 news. >> there are a lot of stories in that car. take good care of it. martin, you run a good program, vehicles for change. what's going on. the roads are wet. what's up, wyatt? >> gift exchanges. got to get those gifts exchanged. maryland's most powerful radar, rain clearing from west to east but obviously, still enough to snag some traffic out there, a heavy band up through cecil county. we've got decent rain coming down in that direction. take a rook at -- look at some of the rainfall totals. over an earn in columbia, just a half an inch in easton and rock

hall. wind gusts up around 25. they will be gusting higher. the rest of the evening 40s, wet, fog is gi-- foggy. much more on your forecast the rest of the week into the new year coming up. investigators have just released the initial findings in that tragic christmas day fire in stanford, connecticut that killed five tam -- family members. foul play has been ruled out. >> reporter: the deadly fire that gutted a stanford, connecticut fire was an accident. it started when someone put red-hot coals into a trash bin on the first floor. >> the fire was caused by hot fireplace ash and embers. >> reporter: a roaring blaze that killed three young children and their two grandparents.

neighbors called 911 and said they woke up to screams. >> a huge fire at the home next door. >> what is the address. >> there's three kids. >> reporter: firefighters say here father, who found his dream job in retirement playing santa claus at sak's fifthth avenue's flagship stores. >> he tried to exit the structure but was overcome. >> reporter: johnson's wife also died. the fire was so intense, the acting fire chief said rescues were impossible. >> i have 70 fighters that i've ordered back today for counseling. they're big burly guys. to see them break down at the

scene was too much to bear. >> reporter: tragically, the grandfather spent his career working in safety. he and his wife moved to connecticut to be closer to their family. reporting for abc2 news new york. tonight investigators are trying to find the cause of an early morning row home. it started after 2:30 on 25th street. a man and a woman made it out of the fire that shot up the duct work. investigators say two other people living next door suffered minor smoke inhalation. no word on what started this fire that happened last night at the white elk motel. nobody was hurt. let's take a look at the economy. same sex couples are paying as much as $6,000 a year in extra

taxes compared to heterosexual couples. 12 states now grant partial marriage rights to same sex couples. they may be able top time jointly on state taxes but not for federal taxes. this means same sex couples cannot combine their income and dediscussions to take advantage of lower tax rates. this year is ending on a positive note when it comes to the job market. it's the longest streak since 2006. the number of people applying for unemployment benefits as dropped to its lowest level since 2008. they expect economy to create about 177,000 job as month this year. well, it was a shopping nightmare for hundreds at mall of america. find out who police say was involved in this post holiday melee. it wasn't rudolph but maybe this was one of his relatives,

the deer that crashed one family's festivities.

look at this. last night the mall of america in minnesota turned into a

shopping night maimplet fights -- nightmare, fights all over the plaissments -- place. 30 police officers had to come out. nine people were arrested for disorderly conduct. police have not said what triggered the fight at the mall of america. one utah family was hoping for santa's reindeer but instead got a five foot deer stuck inside their home for christmas. the keller family said the deer fell through a basement window well and was a little disoriented with its new surroundings. >> all of a sudden i heard hoofs and antlers. >> that's where his nose hit, and then you can see where his antlers hit on the creeling. >> rescue crews showed up and got the deer out. this is in russia.

it's right there an road square. up to 400 skaters can be on the rink at one time and more than 56,000 visitors skated their last year. the skating season will last until next march. hey, this year there were many caught on tape moments that we'll never forget from a break dancing gorilla to a flying gelt man. we'll look back at the amazing video from 2011. >> and as the iowa caucuses heat up, we look at what's on the trail.

a break dancing gorilla, a

flying jet man. we have a look at some of the amazing videos of 2011. >> reporter: a fiery rash in utah turn add group of bystanders into heroes. they managed to lift the car and pull the man to safety. this team should star in a psa against drinking. he had a few too many and tumbled off an escalator. believe it or not, help only fractured a -- he only suffered a fractured elbow. she lid off as they drove away. police caught the suspects. in another deaf defying stunt, this tight walker lost his footing. he eventually pulled himself back up. it's a bird! it's a plane!

it's jet man soaring over the grand canyon. later in the year help spent time soar -- he spent time soaring along swiss fighter yets. this man caught a 90-foot wave. some unique animals went viral, like the break dancing gorilla and this lineness -- lioness in colorado there. was a bird, or was that a bat on a delta flight? and cat stuck atop a 30-foot cactus in arizona. workers tried to net this deer which somehow found its way into the sale -- sealed tank.

this biker racing through spawf -- south africa was more than shaken. reporters became the story in 2011. >> get it out. >> reporter: this sports reporter was nearly backed over but finished his report. and this anchor terrified his news team with a tar ran clow a so glad the news bis made one of the clips. still some rain but a lot of this is pushing off to the east, church hill, easton, back up through queen anne's county.

other than that, things are getting drier. rain totals have been impressive. three quarters of an inch in edgewood. more than a half from laurel to arnold. right now as we take a look, we find basically temperatures warming up a little bit on the south breeze, southwest at six. visibility hams improved in the last few -- has improved in the last few minutes. we had the rain, the fog and the mist, kind of an ugly day. as we look at the weather bug cameras, manchester coming down through the day and annapolis, noticeable lack of sunshine. our cameras shaking in the wind. all right. take a look to the north and west. weave a got temperatures cooling off sharply into the 30s. we're surging into the 50s. it's a rotation around that low bringing you warm air in eastern

maryland, cold air wrapping around the back side of this thing in western maryland. winds are much more powerful out of the south. gusting to 40. easton 37. the winds in oakland are from the north bringing in cold winds. it's an unusual setup but something that will last a few more hours. visibility has improved in baltimore but tough to see if you're going west. tomorrow in the le 40s but with the wind despite sunshine it will feel like upper 30s. tomorrow will be the coldest, most blustery day in awhile. today felt chilly with that cold air. the rain clearing west to east. some snow showers, especially on the northwest side where they're getting heavy snows, detroit through northern ohio and cleveland, wet flakes overnight. that's going to be for points west of cumberland, windy,

colder weather overnight into the day tomorrow, again, struggling to get out of the 30s. that will feel much colder. there are snow showers in western maryland overnight into western virginia. that's a little bit of moisture and by tomorrow all sunshine a clear day. looks good weather wise, but as we go into the latter part of the week, temperatures warming back up. chilly tonight 36, showers and windier. tomorrow a colder and blustery day, 43 but again with the wind it will feel cold are and tomorrow night getting frigid as temperatures fall to the low 20s as we're talking about a hard freeze. it just doesn't hold. that's been the story all winter so far. even in late fall we get a cold shot. then it moderates, moderating on friday and into the weekend low 50s. chilly on new year's eve night.

with air temps in the 50s by day, it's tough to complain. looks like we'll get a colder shot. >> all right. let's take a look at democracy 2012. we're one week away from the kickoff of the election year. now that christmas is over, the candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard. tell us the latest. >> reporter: i want to take you straight out to iowa to give you a sense of the flavor there seven days outñi from campaign buss to passing out cook books, there's no shortage of political fanfare in iowa. >> as ipo==- forward to this last week of campaigning in iowa -- >> reporter: with some vote ares bouncing from one contender to the next. today most of the republican candidates are flooding the state with their message.

the gop white house hopeful also battle each other but they're also up against a powerful message. >> we'll be holding the first true caucus, called the people's caucus. it's lap chance for the 99% to have their opinions heard. >> reporter: there are attack ads. so far they have spent more than $3 million to air ads in the hawkeye state. rick perry dropped just over $1.5 million. compare that with michele bachmann who caffed -- coughed up $58,000. both perry and bachmann are pulling in single digits. who knows, some of these candidates may bum into each other. knew the niewpt wants to bump into mitt romney. he says he will go anywhere in the state of iowa so he can

debate him one on one. >> a lot of bumping going around. you said most of the candidates are in eye want who is not there. >> reporter: we're talking about jon huntsman who spent all of his time campaigning in new hampshire. then there's mitt romney. he had a campaign event early this morning in new hampshire. looks like mitt romney is headed back to iowa. he will be campaigning the rest of the week but looks like this campaigning in new hampshire may have paid off for mitt romney. we heard that he just got an endorsement from a newspaper in boston. >> countdown to iowa is on. all right. countdown to our 6:00 news is on. instead of thinking about where to party this weekend. take a moment to think of something else -- tax breaks. how you can take advantage. with more and more women

surviving breast cancer, we are learning what lifesaving drugs seem to be working. those store rims and more coming up all new for you at the top of the hour at 6:00.

don't think you will be using your gift cards? several options will offer it buy them. you will receive payment eergtd by check or amazon.com gift card. holiday shores helped boost

christmas sales. online sales spiked more than 16% from last year. a lot of them used their mobile device. the dollar amounts made with mobile device jumped 173% from last year. seems like a lot of people are skipping the movies. ticket sales are running $500 million behind last year. experts blame the drop on the poor economy, too many family flicks, not enough star power. ticket revenue is expected to be $10 billion. airlines want to show their appreciation. more than 30 airports have joined the thanks again program that allows flyers airline miles. register a credit card and rack up point. they include delta, american, continental, us airways and

alaska. it as been quite a year in washington with near government shutdowns and some of the lowest approval ratings ever. we'll take a look at how had happened. abc2 news at 6 starts right now. now that we've blown our budgets, it's time to start thinking about tax see son again. how to take advantage of the tax breaks. >> the city is looking to turn this no a round about. we'll explain why they're thinking about it coming up. >> you never know. >> you never know. are you paranoid to look in the back seat of the car? you'll find out in just a moment. this time of the year many of us are busy make new year's eve

plans but there is still time to make plans. what you can do right now. >> reporter: as we finish the holiday shoppers for others, it's time to look at our own financial situation and see what can be done. ed mullens' family has been in the accounting business for 50 years and knows every financial situation is unique. >> every business has different issues. >> reporter: with the economy the way it is, you may need to think out of the box. >> the old standardt( was income and accelerate expenses each year. nowq this has changed. some people are sayingxd let's let's payw3 at the rates. ixd have some losses i can use against that.