of two or three seconds and two or three more gunshots. >> a developing story out of maryland. one person shot and killed at busy mall. police searching for a gunman. this happened outside the nordstrom's store at towson town center at 7:00. as police officers went into the mall the customers were told they couldn't leave. in the hours that followed, police searched that mall and searched trash cans inside and customers were stuck inside and continued to shop after a thorough search, shoppers allowed to come and go as they pleased but the nordstrom's entrance is closed. police arrested members of the occupy d.c. protest. they were protesting a bill that allows the president to detain individuals suspected of terrorist activities.

they will face charges of disobeying an official order. republican house leaders decided to wait for tomorrow to vote on the payroll tax cut extension but it appears to be dead in the water. the senate approved the measure over the weekend. it would provide a two-month extension on the tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits. g.o.p. leaders want a year-long extension. the lights are back on? san francisco after two power outages. the first delayed the start of the monday night football game between the steelers and 49ers by a half an hour. there was a second outage in the second quarter of the game. the 49ers say that preliminary cause appears to be a transformer failure. the lights are still out along a busy road in wheaton,

maryland. it's a stretch that saw two pedestrians killed over the weekend. shomari stone got results hen he called popco tonight but the residents are not satisfied. >> many of the residents want to see action and results. not just the crews to count the number of street lights out and go back to the station and put it down. they want to see things fixed out here. they say say the two accidents are a reminder of why the lights need to be fixed. if you look right up here many street lights are out just like that one. >> i'm quite upset about this problem. >> reporter: edwin jackson lives between connecticut avenue and randolph road. a dozen street lights are out leaving the neighborhood in darkness. >> it disturbing. >> reporter: it is disturbing two people were killed near his home in separate crashes this weekend. on saturday morning a car hit and killed a 59-year-old at a

bus stop. later that night a car hit a man who was crossing in the middle of the road. >> i see women and children and strollers walking and there is no visibility for them. >>er we talked to people who live along the road and they are concerned about walking in the dark. you can see what it looks like when the lights go out. >> not safe at all. and i hope they get it fixed. >> it have you called the county or pepco? >> quite a few times. >> reporter: tonight we called and they sent out a crew while they decide whether to repair or replace the bubbles jackson worries about the accidents. >> is it going to happen continuously. >> reporter: at this hour, police are investigating these accidents and they want more information about them. now, as for the residents they're going to continue to call popco and shine a light on

the problem until the street lights are back on. back to you. >> thank you. blizzard warnings in half a dozen states as a major weather system sweeps across the central parts of the country. new mexico hit by heavy snow shutting down roads there. icy conditions caused an accident involving a prison van in colorado. and that same system is heading in our direction this week. doug kammerer is here to tell us what to expect. >> that system will make its way our way. 50-mile-per-hour winds in colorado. storm 4 doppler radar nothing to show you right now just until you move just over the mountains in maryland and west virginia starting to see rain here. all of this rain, it extends through st. louis and right down to the gulf of mexico, houston,

dallas, rich that and here's the snow and that blizzard. this is a monster of a storm. will the weaken as it moves to the northeast but it will bring us changes over the next couple days. i'll show you how will the affect your workweek coming up. as shoppers try to knock out the last-minute gift lists one manmade a $20,000 donation to help people who paid for items on layaway in k-mart. darcy spencer has more. >> reporter: this woman showed up to make a payment on her layaway to find that the $300 bill was paid in full. >> i'm shocked. i'm sweating and feel like crying. >> reporter: she is one of 150 rerecipients of an anonymous donor's generosity, a man store owners call an angel.

he donated $20,000 to pay off layaways consisting of children's toys and clothing. >> we were told to take care of the kids to make sure they have a good christmas. >> reporter: the associate has broke the great news to several customers. >> what are some of the reactions you have got someone. >> praise the lord. merry christmas. tears of joy. visibly shaken. >> reporter: this associate had her layaway paid off by the angel. she owed more than $100. >> what does it mean to you? >> wow. it has meant a whole lot. i wish i knew who did it. i have to say thank you. that's all i can say is thank you. >> reporter: the store managers have contacted all of the lucky customers. now all they have to do is come into the store and get their items in time for christmas. their bills now have a zero

balance. darcy spencer, news4. the search is on tonight for the thieves who ripped open hundreds of letters and packages meant for families in our area. police say the thieves rummaged through mailboxes in the area of waldorf and stole mail and packages looking for gift cards and things of value. anything they didn't want was dumped in a park. two baby jesuss are missing days after this one was recovered by police. officers are trying to track down stolen figures from the south point shopping center and from a furniture store off route 3. the suspected prankster last week was caught after posting a picture of the baby jesus on her facebook individual pa. two robbers rip out of a cash register and point a gun at the

cashier. this is the latest in a string of robberies at 7-elevens. jackie bensen has the latest on this. >> reporter: the most recent crimes happened this morning. and once again they were caught on tape. now, what we're told is that in the first case two armed robbers terrorized a clerk at the 7-eleven here and cleaned out the cash register. an hour later one of the same suspect is seen picking up money from a dropped cash box a mile away. police are trying to determine if they are the same men who robbed three stores on november 29th. two of them 7-elevens. is it well known that 7-eleven which is owned by the southland corporation has some of the best security in the business and they're not seen as a frequent target of robberies as other stores. but in this case, four 7-elevens have been robbed. police believe possibly by the

same people. back to you. >> thank you. police in prince george's county are defending their actions after an eight person this year was killed by police over the weekend. 35-year-old rodney edwards was killed in palmer park after police say he pointed a gun at an officer. eight deadly shootings involving police is the same number that d.c., montgomery and fairfax counties have this year combined. >> what we're left to answer that question is with another question and that question we have is why have 12 people in 2011 chose on the confront uniformed prince george's county police officers with firearms. >> the police say they recovered a loaded gun from edwards but the family says that is not true. the officer is a two-year veteran of the force.

cops looking for whoever vandalized a ball field after they were resoded. police say someone drove a vehicle on the field and caused a lot of damage. it's it's not clear what caused a golf cart to wreak havoc at cowboys stadium this weekend. it plowed into a crowd of people. seven people were injured including the coach of a high school team that played in a championship game. despite an increase in education spending bob mcdonald's budget proposal is drawing criticism for cuts to preschool programs. the proposal adds funding to k through 12 funds but includes big cuts for pre-k programs for

low-income families. >> he's proposing an $81.6 million cut in pre-k despite all the evidence that pre-k is the best long-term investment for job creation and economic growth. >> the budget includes an increase of $200 million in higher education funding. the general assembly will take it up next month. the alexandria sill citi council has changed its mind about an amendment to the leash law. it would have made it illegal to yao u.s. only an electronic collar. the change was met with letters from dog owners and business owners who attract dog owners not wanting to keep their pets leashed. the county will re-examine the leash laws and work on language to make everyone happy. bon voyage to the floating dorm on the bay in southern maryland.

the cruise ship that housed 200 st. mary's college students weighed anchors yesterday. school officials say that health and air inspections have deemed the dorms safe again and they will be back open after the holiday break. maya angelou's argument. and the swan song for illegal gun and drug rings across the area. god is good for letting him come home now and i'm very excited. i'm very happy to see my dad. >> we'll see the reunion

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the man accused of shooting a high-powered weapon at the white house will stay in prison. he will remain behind bars until the grand jury decides if he will go on trial. he is charged with trying to kill the president in the shooting last month. mr. obama was out of town at the time when five bullets hit the family quarters of the white house. the government has no witnesses identifying him as the gunman. authorities say illegal drugs and weapons worth $7 million are off the streets thanks to a two-year undercover sting operation usings a fake recording studio, d.c. police and federal agents arrested 70 people. it netted 160 firearms and hundreds of pounds of drugs. investigators say some of the weapons are linked to unsolved crimes in the district. is it not your typical rap war maya angelou has beef with

rapper common stemming from a song that the two collaborated on. an lue wrote the track. but the song is peppered with the n word which she calls vulgar and dangerous. she regrets the collaboration. common admits he didn't tell her he would use the word on the track. a seventh grader calling it the best christmas ever. she and her brother were surprised by their recent deployed father. he is serving in afghanistan and still on tour. but he was given leave for the holidays. his daughter cried. you see her there as he walked out on stage at st. columbus catholic school this afternoon. >> a lot of things are going through my mind. that's my dad. should i run up and gave him a hug?

>> i was happy and i gave him a hug. >> i'm excited and happy to see my dad. >> she is going to be around his arm for the week and a half. >> reporter: he is working with the afghan government to set up their court system. >> kids say that all the time. it's the best day ever. but in this case she will remember that one. >> indeed. it warmed up so much today. >> it did. we started at 29 degrees. a very cold day today and one of the coldest weekends we have seen the entire year with temperatures in the low 40s ale weekend long. this morning a cold start but with the southerly wind we warmed up to a temperature of 52 degrees. well above the average of 46. outside right now we are still above the average high. once again we're still in the upper 40s across much of the region. here's how the day was. 52 at the airport.

29 was the low. and the coldest weekend since january. but the warm air is racing back into the area and is it here to stay at least for a while. 48 is the current temperature right now with the winds out of the south, southwest at 7 miles per hour. any time we have that southerly component we will be warmer. the temperatures around the region, 52 in west virginia, 45 in manassas. 52 in calavert county. 49 in reston. and rockville at 49 degrees too. nothing to show you on the radar across our area. but that is a different story when you widen out here. the shower activity coming in and drying out as it hits the mountains. but by tomorrow morning we could see some of those making their way to the east of the blue ridge. watch out for tomorrow morning and through day tomorrow.

we have a lot of rain coming. it's a big storm. blizzard warnings in effect they could see 10 to 20 inches of snow, 50-mile-per-hour winds. that's how powerful this storm is. and that's the weather wii going to see here. not the severe weather but the warmer weather as more mild air races in here. here's the rain in our area earlier and the frontal boundary will be draped across the region tonight and tomorrow. we'll see showers, not an all day rain be. you notice where the front is. the cold air around state college, pennsylvania. maybe snow for them. but for us we will be warm on wednesday. some areas on wednesday if the wind is just right could hit 60 degrees once again for the third or fourth time this december. then the front moves through here and we see sunshine early on thursday before the clouds roll back in and another storm

rolls back in too. we'll see two storms back to back. one wednesday and one thursday night and another one for the weekend. cloudy and not as cold. 34 to 39 degrees tomorrow. we may stay in the 40s all night tonight. tomorrow the numbers up there. 44 to 49 degrees. cloudy and cool. patches of drizzle and shower activity tomorrow. 57 warm on wednesday with rain likely. rain late in the day on thursday as the next storm moves in providing rain thursday and friday. then saturday and sunday there will be another storm there on christmas. that's what you are looking at. >> what is that? >> that is jingle bells swinging and it says christmas. if you have an ipad zoom on into that sunday forecast. it says 45 for the day on christmas. but that storm is one to watch. it looks like mostly rain but could end sunday morning as other stuff. >> we will stay tuned.

>> just zoom in on your screen at home. >> pull it out. still to come, a $300 million shot if the arm for twitter courtesy of a saudi prince and he never sent a tweet. good news for the capitals and wizards as young stars return to the fold. i'm major tracy coleman in afghanistan. i'd like to say happy h

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we're kind of in this tough head space with the redskins where they're winning but then you have the cowboys deal and what -- >> you have to be careful with our winning. they won once recently. >> winning. >> is it amazing what one win can do for a fan base.

for the redskins thumping the giants brought what ifs too. what if the skins never started john beck or lose to the cowboys twice by a combined five points. two more wins and they are in the thick of the playoff race. but they're not. >> but whatever. >> but he can't help but looking ahead. >> you always want to play well and you want your best players to step up and they play to their level. and you're talking about getting better or getting worse. you are always hoping your football team is improving even thoen you are not playing for anything but pride. we have a chance to evaluate those guys on a day-to-day basis. >> this story will make you happy. >> oh, yeah? >> the wizards open up the regular season one week from today and nick young is back in

washington. signs a one-year contract worth 3.7 million. young expected to have several other teams bidding for his services but the market never developed. he says he is going to take it out on the league. now it's time to play. >> it was a tough decision. i wanted to be back with the wizards. we worked hard to get something done but we couldn't come to an agreement. so got the work harder and get back with the team and play basketball, really. skrirz tech on a three-game winning streak hosting the ospreys of north florida. rob brown with a miss. but it goes right back to brown. and this is what i like to call a man jam. posterized. virginia tech up by 9 at the break. second half, hokies turning defense into offense. they get the steal.

green running the floor. and virginia tech wins 84-55. the hokies 9-3 on the year. kevin nickel bury and howard buy son taking on indiana. hoosiers up by a bunch. a pass and victor going victor dunk-po. a huge jam. i remember when he got those passes from quinn cook. and jordan with five on the shot clock. are you serious? hits the leaner. indiana crushes howard 107-50. to hockey now. good news in the injury department for the caps. jay beagle took part in a full practice today and mike greene also back on the ice this morning. greene on the ice in full gear working out with the capitals'

strength and conditioning coach before practice. he missed 17 can have been games with a strained right groin. he visited with a specialist last week and rejoined the team on the trip in colorado. there is no timetable for his return. >> good to see him on the ice. >> ola-dunk-po. >> twe

twitter got a big check in the mail. a saudi prince investing $300 million in the website. he now holds a strategic stake in the company. he is the 26th richest person in the world. he is not on twitter and never sent a tweet. if you think you have it nice at your office. wait until you see the facebook headquarters. they completed their move to a property in menlo park, california. two caves, two coffee

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