tonight a gunman robbed a postal worker, then locked him in the back of his own truck. it happened on one of the busiest streets in the city in the middle of the dinner hour. it happened on 14th street northwest, a block of u street. we're learning it's the latest in a string of robberies targeting the postal service. jackie bensen in that area with more on this. >> reporter: the truck is actually still here on the scene, it's being examined now. those trucks only open from the outside and that postal employee could have been trapped in there all night. a crime scene at the t street postal station on 14th street northwest. u.s. postal inspector police say the robber approached a postal employee as he was closing up, putting mail and the day's cash receipts in the truck parked out front. >> he said "i want all of the

money." he gave the individual all of the money. he stuffed it into a black back pack and locked him into the back of the vehicle. approximately 20 minutes later he was released out of the vehicle by the mostal police officers. he was able to call them using his cell phone. >> reporter: investigators closed off the block. some went into nearby businesses into u street to see if anyone has seen someone running from the scene. officials say there has been a rash of robberies in the d.c. area but this on a crowded street in rush hour is the most brazen they've seen. >> over the past year and three monies we've had several times of postal robberies, this type where they're attacking our postal employees in the evening hours, we've had our postal employees attacked in the early morning hours prior to it opening. >> there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in these cases. the number to call is

202-636-1479. now, in this case we're told that the gunman, the robber, was wearing a gray hoodie and carrying a black back pack. postal inspectors tell us they do think some of these robberies may be the work of the same people. jim and doreen, back to you. >> breaking news in southeast washington right now. four people have been hurt, at least one of them critically in a multi-car crash that has shut down southern avenue in both directions. this is a live picture at ridge road. an infant was in one of the cars but was not hurt. >> big backup for chuters te-- commuters taking the orange and blue lines. it happened in the middle of rush hour, right about the same time as the national christmas tree lighting. just a few weeks ago someone at the tracks at clarendon caused

even longer delays on that same stretch of the orange and blue lines. >> firefighters and police chipped in to help a family in prince georges county that lost three members over the weekend. a donation drive was held at the elementary school in hyattsville. her sister, her daughter and her 6-year-old grandson all were killed. >> i don't know what i could have done to save me daughter's li life, my sister's life, omari's life. it's traumatic. i want to say thanks again for all your support. >> the money raised will help pay for the funeral of those victims. >> apprehension among the owners of the first widespread electric car. the federal government started an investigation after tests

show fire starting from the car's battery days or weeks after a collision. now gm has taken a novel step. shomari stone joins us from vienna tonight. >> reporter: managers at this gm station here in vienna tell us they haven't received any calls about the chevy volt. a lot of people really like this car, it is a hot item. tonight we talked to a woman who absolutely adores her chevy volt. >> i love the car. >> reporter: ann's love relationship with her chevy volt has taken an unexpected turn. >> i'm kind of surprised. >> reporter: her love might have betrayed her. a safety inspection found the battery in the trunk could possibly catch on fire. that's what happened in three government crash tests. ann admits no relationship is perfect. >> things happen so i'm still waiting i guess to get more information. >> reporter: gm will buy back the chevy volt from any owner worried about their car catching on fire. there are 6,000 vote owners

nationwide. they are also offering loaner cars. ann is not giving up on her relationship just yet. >> we've driven over a thousand miles and used about a gallon of gas. >> reporter: a gallon? >> a gallon. >> reporter: that's pretty impressive. >> so it's hard to think about giving it up. we waited a long time to get it and we're really excited to have it. >> reporter: and she's not ready to break up. >> right now i think we'll sit tight and see what happens. >> reporter: now, best of luck with your relationship with your chevy volt. gm is also considering a recall but they want to make sure that first there are safety tests done. live here in vienna, shomari stone. >> occupy d.c. took aim at the democratic party tonight. protesters said the democratic congressional campaign committee was hosting a private fund-raising event inside. occupiers said the event was elitist. and another example of the government's failure to

represent the 99%. today marks the two-month anniversary of occupy d.c., a spinoff of the occupy wall street movement. >> republican presidential candidate herman cain admitted today he never told his wife about his relationship with a georgia business woman who claims to have had an affair with him. cain said his wife learned about ginger white on monday when white went public with her claim of a 13-year extra marital relationship with cain. cain admits he gave white money over the years but he insists the two are just friends. cain said today he will decide whether to stay in the presidential race next week. he said he must first sit down and have a talk with his wife. >> big names in maryland politics were on the witness stand today. a judge was trying to decide whether there was election fraud during the governor's race last year. former governor robert ehrlich was called as a character witness for his long-time aide

bob sherylic. calls attempted to persuade african-american voters in prince georges county and baltimore city to stay home and not go out to vote for mark o'mal o'magli. >> the man accused in a series of carjackings and robberies of oweder men in maryland is being held without bond. the judge called henry levi sand ears flight risk today. he has multiple convictions, pending trials and has failed to appear for several court appearances. he was out on bond for carjacking last month when he began a carjacking spree on men out shop >> el damage estimates are in the millions of dollars as the santa ana winds continue to whip up trouble. usts sometimes going articularly

over 100 miles an hour in some parts of that state. in los angeles, trees and power lines fell last night. that sparked electrical fires all over the place. 340,000 people lost power. traffic was backed up on the roads and in the air. the winds are not expected to die down until sometime this weekend. doug kammerer here wit. >> some the strongest winds these areas have seen in many, many years. we're talking about winds upwards of 100 to 150 miles per hour on top of the mountains and the santa ana winds are known for bringing in very strong winds down the city down toward los angeles. it's all because of this huge area of low pressure, an incredibly strong area of low pressure, combine that with high pressure to the north and you get those grapressure gradientsd you saw peaks of over 100 to 150 mile-an-hour winds and right

back down to los angeles. areas around los angeles picking up winds over hurricane force. extremely windy there. we'll watch that force as it makes its way across the country. >> thanks, doug. >> despite high profile flash mobs involving teen-agers, montgomery county's safety committee today voted not to recommend a curfew. it would have kept kids under 18 off the streets beginning at 11:00 p.m. on midnight, midnight on weekends. >> still ahead tonight ash well known school is sued after denying admission to a student because he has hiv. >> the first congressional staffer to die on the job got a permanent honor at the capital. >> and the first family kicks [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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a candlelight vij it in dupont circle tonight as mayor gray, the whitman walker clinic and hundreds of others marked world aids day. it was one of many events held across the city and the country. hiv is a major concern here in the district. a 2010 annual report found that the infection rate is above epidemic levels in washington. the parents of a 13-year-old are suing a prestigious boarding school after the school denied admission to the student because he's hiv positive. the child, who is not being

identified, is an honor school from pennsylvania. he applied to the hershey milton school. the school said it rejected the boy because of health and safety of other students. the boy said he feels like he's being denied the opportunity to learn. >> to go through this, being denied, just because they have hiv. >> they didn't look at whether my client prevented any threat. they just said 13-year-old boy with hiv, oh, no, that's too dangerous. >> the aids law project is representing the boy in a lawsuit. it calls for the hershey school to admit him and pay unspecified monetary damages. the school administrator said in order to protect our children in his unique environment, we cannot accommodate the needs of students with direct communicable diseases. >> a room in the u.s. capitol has been named for a fallen

member of gabriel gifford's staff. he was killed in the shooting that severely wounded giffords. members of the u.s. house unanimo unanimously voted today in favor of honoring zimmermann at the capital. he was the first member killed in the line of duty. >> the first family helped kick off the holiday season here in washington tonight, lighting the national christmas tree on the elips. there were performances from rodney atkins and big time rush and kermit the frog was on hand, too. the lighting of the tree began with president calvin coolidge back in 1923. federal workers will get new instructions in the event of a snow emergency this winter. there will be an early departure with stragered release times.

there will also be a final departure time after which federal workers can stay in their offices. in extreme situations, there's still a possibility that everyone could be released at once. >> we wanted to report this story last night but simply ran out of time but we got to get it in. they say that a dog is a man's best friend. that's what they say, right? but there's a hunt are out in utah who may need to be convinced of that. the guy was out hunting ducks with his dog and a friend recently in box elder county, utah. you know where that is. they were in a boat. guy got out of the boat to move some decoys. he left his shot gun behind. the dog got up when the owner left the boat, stepped on the gun and caused it to go off. 27 pellets of bird shot hit the hunter right in his butt. he was taken to a nearby hospital. he's said to be sore. but okay. >> and embarrassed.

a little embarrassed. >> the dog "stepped on" the gun. [ laughter ] >> what a story! so kind of cold out there tonight for that tree lighting and all those festivities. >> it was a little bit on the chilly side but not bad when you consider the fact our wind chill last year was about 28 degrees and this year we were around 48 degrees. that's a difference of 20 degrees. today was actually pretty darn nice out there. i got to tell you the weather was not just perfect but the event down there absolutely spectacular. if you haven't done it, you might want to try to get in on it next year because it was really a lot of fun. out there right now, yes, it is on the cold side. 40 degrees at the airport right now. high temperatures today 52. that's the average high for today. low this morning was 48 degrees. we started the month of december. obviously today december 1st. december normally has an average rainfall of 3.05 inches. average snow is about 1.4

inches. i'm predicting we will see below average rainfall but also predicting about average snowfall. when is our best chance for snow? i would saturday third or fourth week of december. where does that put us? maybe right around christmas. wouldn't that be nice? current temperatures, 40 degrees. winds out of the southwest at 3 miles an hour. 40, not bad, right? remember that's at the airport, typically a much warmer spot. look at the cool areas, 27 in frederick, 28 in manassas, and out towards the eastern shore, cambridge sitting at 34. nothing on radar, ail clear right now. it's going to stay that way for the next couple of days. you can see clear describes from new york all the way down towards roanoke, beautiful sunshine. we'll see more of that great sunshine during the day tomorrow. we're going to start off on the chilly side tomorrow but, again, plenty of sunshine and a really nice friday afternoon. i'm going for a fantastic friday for sure with a high temperature

into the mid 50s. then we'll watch a frontal boundary come down. it's going to be a dry front for us but it will cool us down into the day on saturday. most areas staying in the upper 40s on saturday. we will see plenty of sunshine. not all that bad in the day but in the morning and late in the evening it, is going to be on the cool side so you'll need your coats. once again, talking about december. clear and cool tomorrow morning, sunrise 7:08 tomorrow morning. some areas even a little cooler tomorrow afternoon, just spectacular out there. we'll see sunny skies and pleasant for the month of december, 52 to 56 degrees. some areas to the south a little warmer than that with all that sun. nice on saturday, high temperature around 49 so chilly. 54 on sunday and then we move into the next week. next week watching a tough storm system, still a tough one to predict, doreen. it will give as you chance for rain. >> tomorrow looks pretty good, though? >> tomorrow's great. >> still to come tonight, some

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didn't i lear you say the caps pretty much owned the penguins in regular series play? >> yeah. >> so? >> that was before things went south, vance. this wasn't as good as we were hoping for tonight. we knew things were going to slow down for the caps under new head coach dale hunter but somebody needs to start scoring or at least shooting the puck.

for the second straight game the caps on scored one goal. even more disturbing is their lack of shots on goal. 17 in the game and just 2 in the third period. for alex ovechkin one the entire game. it's another home loss for the capitals. sydney crosby and ove meeting for the first time since the winter classic. new head coach dale hunter, man, he wanted that first win to come tonight. first period, five minutes in. aaron asham behind the net. 1-0 penguins on top. can you see dale hunter. oh, man, he is frustrated watching that. early second period, caps even thing up. look at how tasty this shot is, backhand right in there, past marc-and marc-andre fleury. then it's trouble. chris koontz with the shot. looks like a knuckleball but it

was an effective knuckleball. makes it 2-1. that's the final. the capitals unable to get a win for dale hunter. they're 0-2 under their new head coach for the second game in a row. he thought he was still coaching 17 or 18-year-old junior hockey players. listen to this. >> the kids competed or the players competed and we had some chances, you know. they're a good team over there. we had a few chances around the net and, you know, we're getting better it. it just takes time. >> we have to find our way to get success back to what it used to be. it's not frustrating. we scored one goal. we have to score more than one goal to win the game, especially like that. >> they do need to score more. >> georgetown down in alabama where they have another chance to make an early season statement. the hoyas looking for their second win against a top-15 team. alabama ranged 12th in the nation riding a 24-game winning

streak at home. we're in tuscaloosa. hoyas would have their hands full against the crimson tide. a tough environment to play in. did not faze this young man. second half, georgetown up by 3. alabama on the move. look out below, tony mitchell getting up high. he had about five of these alley-oop dunks in the game. but georgetown would answer the call. the pass to henry simms, oh, man, nice move for the big fella. right now it is tied up at 54 with seconds remaining in the game. >> all right. >> kansas state hosting gw. tony taylor leading the colonials. taylor with the pass. david pellham is there. he dunks it in there. gw down by 1. second half gw down by 3. tony taylor again to chromia. how nice is that. 14 points. but k state would begin to run away with it, spradling with the

three. that caps a 15-point -- 15-1 run, 14 points for spradling. wildcats beat the colonials 59-56 is the final. >> donovan mcnabb looking for a new job. mcnabb asked to be released and the vikings are granted his wish. on the college front west virginia and south florida going at it. mountaineers trying to clinch a share of the big east title against south florida. second quarter is where we pick it up, west virginia up 3-0. daniels to landy. pass is a little too high, picked off by pat miller at the 48 and he's going to distance, 52 yards to the end zone. mountaineers on top 10-0. still in the second quarter. great throw and catch from daniel. look at that. he's called inbounds ash 20-yard

touchdown. that makes it 10-7. right now south florida up 27-20 in the fourth quarter. >> there's still time. >> still time for georgeto

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here's something you don't see every day. a midnight surf. a group of 17 surfers hit the waves on sydney's bondai beach to hang ten by moonlight. they wore wet suits lined with

neon tubes and used boards with neon wire so they would stand out in the big dark ocean. and they certainly do. the group of surfing enthusiasts does this once a year. they are celebrating the arrival of summer in the southern hemisphere. that is cool. >> the problem is sharks don't have lights. >> an effort to drum business for shops and restaurants, horse and carriage rides offered for those who donated canned food to the arlington food assistance center. so who won? >> georgetown, how about them hoyas, 57-55. they hit a late 3. >> there you go. >> over alabama. >> tonight show next.

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