the president phones congressional leaders to demand action. good afternoon, i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm jim handly. here is what's at stake for you if lawmakers can't reach a deal over the payroll tax cut. january 1, the social security tax rate goes back to 6.2% from the 4.2%. paychecks will be $40 smaller on average. long term unemployment expires and doctors face an estimated 0 20% cut in their medicare payments. the clock is running. neither side seems will ing to make the next move. brian mooar has the latest. >> reporter: with taxes set to go up in ten days, president obama called john boehner to turn up the heat. >> the ball is in the house's court. there's a compromise available. >> reporter: they are refusing

to pass a senate compromise and are digging in for a bite. the senate is gone away for the holiday. >> all we are asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. >> reporter: they passed the 60-day extension with broad support. >> it's agreed to. >> democrats and the president down are all but daring the house to let it die. they won't allow a vote, but staying in session. >> mr. speaker! mr. speaker! mr. speaker. we would like to ask that we bring up the bill. >> reporter: house democrats are demanding a vote on the bill but they are not in charge. >> we'll be here every day wa waiting for them to come to the floor of the house to take up this legislation to get it done. >> reporter: the first family is

in hawaii, president obama is staying here in the nation's capital waiting to see whether re republicans blink first. speaker boehner is showing no signs of backing down. >> unemployment rates across the country fell last month. 43 states in the district added jobs in november. that's the most states to report a drop in the past eight years. thousands of jobs were added across washington. virginia fell from 6.4% to 6.2%. the district's rate fell from 11% to 10.6% and maryland fell from 7.2% to 6.9%. as jobs increased, so did home sales. the national association of realtors says sales of previously owned homes rose 4% last month. this brings the annual rate to

4.4 million homes this year. construction is on the increase. builders reporting 9.3% jump since october. it puts them on track to build 685,000 new homes in 2012. rioting sparked by the firing of penn state head football coach will carry a hefty price tag. that november riot cost $190,000 in damage. most of it happened when a tv news van was tipped over by an angry mob of students. seven arrests are pending. paterno was fired a few days of jerry sandusky was charged with sexually abusing children. a disturbing end to a high-speed chase in orlando. two men trying to escape police t-boned an suv. take a good look.

it happened around noon. they were suspects in a home burglary and took off when officers tried to stop them. they reached speeds of 80 miles per hour. there you go. conditions of the people hurt in the crash are unknown. police say the two suspects suffered the most severe injuries. the man known as the underwear bomber wants a new lawyer. he try ed ied to blow up a plan headed to detroit by a bomb hidden in his pants on christmas day two years ago. he pleaded guilty to the charges back in october. he has a strained relationship with his current lawyer. he want as muslim lawyer, preferably a male immediately. the hearing is scheduled to take place next month. a man is facing neglect charges after a he left his toddler alone in the apartment

for 24 hours with no food or water. police arrested anthony yesterday. investigators say officers found his 2-year-old daughter inside the apartment. she was cold and hungry. she's expected to be okay. he is charged with reckless endangerment and neglect. he could face ten years in prison. we'll have the latest on the investigation coming up on news 4 at 5:00. travelers hit the roads and took to the skies as the area embarked on the beginning of a holiday travel season. 2.2 people are expect to travel 100 miles or more from the washington area. they predict fewer will be flying nationwide. reagan national airport was a busy place as many travelers decided to leave before the rush. >> hopefully getting there early, earlier flights, not waiting until 2:00 in the afternoon, getting stuck in the rush hour traffic.

that's my plan. >> experts say the busiest days will be between today and december 23rd. you can expect a bump in traffic december 26 through 30th. it's been mild today. it's been wet. will this mild, wet weather last through the holidays? >> a little dreary out there. chuck bell has the first word from the storm center. what about it? >> good news, it's very mild outside. bad news, hardly anything in the way of a cheery look to the sky out there. nothing but gray skies and rain drops out there for now. it's mild. 55 in washington. 60 for baltimore. 61 in culpeper and fredericksburg. 62 in st. mary's county. hagerstown and cumberland in the mid-40s. cold air in the west virginia panhandle. plenty of rain in metro

washington. a break to the north and west. not done with the rain chances until midnight tonight. we are zoomed in tight here. loudoun county, montgomery county, light to moderate rainshowers at this time. they are lifting to the northeast. more showers to charlottesville and culpeper. they are headed to fredericksburg. the line across southwestern pennsylvania, one or two rumbles of thunder. temperatures remain mild. temperatures mostly in the 50s. tomorrow, another mild one with highs up near 60 degrees. not much in the way of long-lived sunshine. soggy and sloppy ride home. more rain before christmas. maybe two chances of rain before christmas. give you that in the seven day forecast, coming up. >> thanks, chuck. there are only 13 days left before the iowa caucuses. among the gop candidates,

another front-runner is emerging. it's ron paul. mitt romney and newt gingrich are battling it out. michelle franzen has the latest. >> reporter: they continue to make the rounds before the holidays, taking jabs at their opponents and taking some heat on the campaign trail. in des moines, iowa, protesters interrupted newt gingrich during a speech. the rift between gingrich and mitt romney is getting bigger as the iowa caucuses get closer. >> mitt has more baggage than the airlines. >> a political action group launched and attack ad in iowa. >> drop the negativity. let's have a debate over who can best solve america's problems. >> i know the speaker would like to say we shouldn't have negativity. look x, if you can't handle the

heat in this little kitchen, the heat that comes from obama is going to be hotter. >> reporter: in the latest poll, it is ron paul who leads the the pack with 28% followed by gingrich with 25% and romney at 18%. >> if he takes iowa, it's tremendous news for romney. if ron paul is second in iowa, he sucks a lot of the oxygen out of the room for the others. >> reporter: a wild card that could set the tone for the republican presidential race. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. >> gingrich will be holding a rally at 7:30 tonight in arlington. that will take place at the key bridge marriott. he is hoping to collect enough signatures at the town hall style event to get on the ballot in virginia. >> we are just getting started here. talent judge piers morgan under questioning today. critics think he knows what was

going on. >> ashton kutcher is not wallowing in sorrow over the break-up of his marriage. ♪ this is the town of captain jack spar row ♪ >> the top youtube video that is

>> recently divorced actor ashton kutcher may be enjoying the single life. his marriage ended last month. last night, he was spotted in berlin in the company of three women. tmz reports he entered a swanky berlin apartment with one of them. kutcher is in berlin to attend a series of business meetings. "america's got talent" judge

piers morgan is on the hot seat. the inquiry brought out a celebrity's who's who list of celebrities and athletes who were victim to tabloid tactics. it's a chance to hold journalists and their bosses accountable. stephanie gosk has detains from london. >> reporter: before taking over for larry king, pierce ms morgas a newspaper man. morgan testified and denied any knowledge of illegal phone hacking. >> have you listened to recordings of what you knew to be illegally obtained voice mail messages? >> i do not believe so, no. >> you either did or didn't. >> reporter: today a reporter

who went to jail for insider trading said hacking regularly took place while he was editor. >> it's very unlikely he didn't know what was going on. there wasn't much he didn't know about. >> there were moments when the cnn anchor said he was aware of unsavory or illegal tactics. the man who made his start in newspapers defended them and criticized the judge and his hearings. >> i think there has to be a lot of better balance here. the good things it newspapers were doing and continue to do are not highlights at all. >> reporter: this ongoing criminal investigation is not about the good newspapers do, it's a chance to reign in what people think is acting above the law. instead

stephanie gosk, nbc news, lon do. youtube has the list of the most watched videos. at the top was a 14-year-old girl singing about a day of the week. it was a video we would all like to forget. ♪ it's friday, friday, gotta get down on friday ♪ >> she posted the video after her parents paid a company to make this video. it went viral with 180 million views. the song "friday" became an unlikely chart topper in the music world. >> eat it. >> oh! >> nope. did he really say that? youtube's list included animals, of course, with the dog tease. the man taunted over the dog and voiced the reaction. 76 million views.

♪ >> the cameo on "snl" was enough to boost michael bollton. he played a raving "pirates of the caribbean" fan. at number four was a video of twin babies appearing to have a goo goo, gaga conversation. nylon cat appeared to hamster dance. a minnesota woman took her passion for christmas cards to the extreme. the rest of the family is not as enthusia enthusiastic as she is. here is kevin tibbles with the story. >> reporter: perched, as always by her sewing machine, she has the next big secret. how do you come up with the ideas each year? >> sometimes they come to me in dreams. or my husband refers to them as

nightmares. >> nightmares. for nearly two decades sue handmade costumes and got her family to pose for christmas cart that is take elaborate to the extreme. there was the choir year, the elf year, the toy soldier year. friends now clam mor for them. even friends of friends want to see what she's come up with. no one knows before the white envelope drop sbos into the mai. >> the reality is when we get together to do it, we have a good time doing it together as a family. >> wait, there's more. the christmas bulb year. the poinsettia year. the gingerbread year. >> it is what it is. there's not getting any out of it. you are in this family, you are in the card. >> our family maintain as closeness. it's a wonderful tradition. >> reporter: now she boasted of

two son-in-law's, andy who can be bribed. >> as long as i get the cookies with chocolate on them and a couple beers, i'll do whatever she wants. >> i do feel very, very special. ♪ >> reporter: a sneak preview of this year's masterpiece. sue and rob johnson as mrs. clause and santa and all the kids as reindeer. mike, the newby is rudolph. >> are you ready? >> i was never ready for this. >> at least you didn't have to wear make up. >> are you thinking about next year? >> oh, yeah. >> what is it? >> can't tell you. >> reporter: a welcoming family, allowing a complete stranger to

put on the hoofs. >> where is matt lauer when i'm doing this? >> merry christmas! >> merry christmas to you. >> you have to be brave to marry into that family. they are having fun. >> yes. you can't buy those cards in the drugstore, off the shelf. >> homemade. the real deal. >> good news to report about the model who was injured when she accidentally walk sbood a plane propeller. a big change planned at a popular chain restaurant. >> for all your news, go

the clock is ticking to mail those christmas gifts to loved ones. today is the deadline to send priority mail packages so they arrive before christmas. tomorrow is the final day to sepd packages by express mail. >> running out of time. >> get busy. >> put mom's christmas card in the mail today. >> tomorrow, we talk about the weather. >> yeah. >> it's nice, but not like it

would be the day before winter sol stas. >> you would think it would feel cold around here. no sir. today, near 60 degrees and near 60 again tomorrow, everybody. hard to believe it is the third week of december and oh, christmas time stays away now. you can almost feel it. out there, yuck! what an ugly day to be outside today. not suitable for man nor beast. cloudy skies have been the rule all day long today. drizzley, moist, rainy and yucky. not a lot of positive adjectives. we can't say we need the rain. we are seven inches ahead this year. the kennedy center. 55 degrees now in washington. a south wind blowing at 14 miles per hour. temperatures upper 50s to near 60 now across the metro area and the high spots into the shenandoah valley.

the colder air isn't too far away. it's going to take awhile before the colder air settles in. evening temperatures, mid-50s at 7:00 and mid-50s around 11:00 p.m. most of the rain is ending between 10:00 and midnight. it's a slow go for everybody commuting home. every corner of the capital beltway is on the soggy side now. light to moderate rain headed towards spotsylvania. it's going to keep the corridor on the wet side. there's a line of embedded thunderstorms. southwestern parts of pennsylvania. it's part of the front itself. we will clear out late tonight. there's so much more moisture coming our way. sunshine is going to be at a premium. there's tonight's rain here. most of the rain ending around midnight. it won't stay dry for long. we'll start out dry tomorrow.

enjoy the dry start while you can. tomorrow, late in the day, the warm front comes into the area. as a result, rain chances return with it. the rainshowers could be on the heavy side late thursday night to friday before the colder air settles in. for overnight tonight, cloudy and mild. rainy for a couple hours. wake-up temperatures upper 40s to 50. that's mild. tomorrow, breaks of sun early in the day. turning cloudy. mild tomorrow with temperatures into the upper 50s to near 60. oh, the rains are back for late tomorrow night into early friday. then as we head into the all important christmas weekend, colder for sure. saturday looks like a dry day with highs in the 40s. saturday night into sunday, more moisture coming our way. you know, we probably -- odds of having a white christmas in the classic sense very, very slim. the odds of seeing a snow flake

are inch iing upwards. might be cold enough. >> there's always one. even one will do me good. >> the best we can do, one. still to come, a delivery man is in trouble after what a youtube video shows him doing to a package. >> no, he did not just do that. the feds

welcome back, everybody at 4:30, i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. here is what's happening in the news this hour. travelers hit the roads and took to the sky as the holiday travel season kicked into high gear. fewer people nationwide will be flying this year. planes will still be packed. the busiest days for travel will be between today and december 23rd. then, between december 26 through the 30th. despite the upcoming holiday, presidential candidates

are not taking a vacation from the trail. ron paul has taken to lead in iowa with 13 days left before the state's caucus. meanwhile, the rift between mitt romney and newt gingrich is appearing to grow after romney released attack ads in key states. president obama called house speaker john boehner to settle differences over the payroll tax cut. if they don't reach a compromise, millions of workers will take a pay cut january 1st. millions of others could lose their jobless benefits. stocks ending on a relatively flat note. the dough up four points, nasdaq fell 25 and the s&p 500 ended two points higher. federal aviation administration made new rules to make sure pilots are rested before they fly.

it came after pilot fatigue was suspected in a plane crash near new york. we have the story. >> reporter: after the crash of flight 3407 that killed 50 people near buffalo in february, 2009, investigators blamed pilot error and more specifically pilot fatigue. it's what's behind new rules announced wednesday. transportation secretary ray lahood laid out new regulations that give commercial pilots longer breaks between flights. >> a new rule that guarantees commercial pilot haves the opportunity to get proper rest before entering the cockpit. >> reporter: from now on, they will get a minimum ten hour rest period between flights. they will be limited in the number of flights they fly daily and weekly and puts the burden on the pilot to speak up if they don't feel up to flying. >> every pilot has a personal responsibility to arrive at work

fit for duty. >> reporter: the airline pilots association is happy with the new rules except they don't apply to cargo pilots. >> i'm going to invite the ceos of the cargo companies early next year in january to come to my office. i'm going to encourage them to voluntarily adopt this rule. >> reporter: the rules take effect in two years and are the first to address pilot fatigue in 25 years. nbc news. here is one that reminds us there is always a camera somewhere. youtube video of a fedex delivery man hurling a computer monitor over the gate of a home. it's gone viral. the footage was posted yesterday. it's been viewed more than 2.5 million times. according to the video's caption, the person who received the package posted the video. they were home at the time and say the monitor inside the package was broken.

no doubt about it. fedex released a statement saying the employee has been disciplined and the customer satisfied. where and when the incident has happened has not been established. a woman in arkansas can prove to her mother she mailed her christmas gift last year. mary beth mailed a package containing a gift card and flannel nightgown through the post office to her mother in florida. it finally showed up on her mother's doorstep a year later. she tried to track it down numerous times. post office officials apologized to the family. the white castle hamburger chain is considering adding alcohol to the menu. the 90-year-old company known for sliders and fries is testing out new concepts. they are monitoring the sales of beer and wine at a location in indiana. they are trying a modern

barbecue. sales are doing better than expected but still, there's been a decision on whether or not to expand on the new contents. >> i have a friend who swears by white castle hamburgers. she has them mailed to her across the country. >> that is loyal. now she may be able to wash them down with who knows what. more to come on news 4. winning a contest to get a $380,000 lamborghini. a few hours later, his luck ran out. we'll check in on the model recovering after accidentally walking into a moving plane propeller. >> this is a big merry christmas to our kids in washington, d.c. anderson air force base i

hope my family is ready, gift cards are popular. how do you keep them all organized? >> there's an app for that. wendy rieger is here to tell us

about it. >> it's called swagg. it's for your iphone or droid. when you get a bunch of gift cards instead of stuffing them in your wallet and carrying them around, upload them on to this app. swagg. oops, you are not seeing it. let me tell you about it. you import your cards, you can give someone a card, it will hold it for you. you show your phone to the store and they can read it off that. it can keep track of it. also, you can get different special offers for it. there are 4500 merchants across the country using swagg. best buy, you can look at the offers. you have a gift card and great offer that is go along with it as well. you get to save more money that way. if someone gives you a card and you run upon someone after christmas and think i didn't get them anything, go through swagg

and send them a card to their e-mail. it's just really, really cool. it's called swagg. it's a free app for your iphone and your droid. again, 45, 000 billion people are a part of this. so, you can't lose. and, this way you can't lose your gift card. it's a good way to keep track of things without keeping track of things. back to you. >> it's kind of cool. they don't junk up your wallet. >> exactly. >> it's nice not to lose them. >> it's a great thing. >> you can't forget to spend them. swagg with two "g"s. coming up, we find out what's behind the mystery illness sending parents of small

children to hospital emergency rooms. tune in for foodies tonight at 9:00. we are talking with guy who tells veronica johnson about his favorite things to eat in the area. >> d.c. 9:30, a lesson on how to be the life of the party. we head to bethesda to meet the local d.j. schooling others on the turn tashls. check out nbc 4s new and improved iphone app. there's an easy to navigate top stories list. the videos play out on your phone. you can find the latest weather forecast and, of course, breaking news alerts. check us out at the itunes store. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone.

a record breaking snowfall has brought russia's capital to a standstill. four inches of snow fell in moscow today. forecasters expect another four inches to fall within the next 24 hours. the unexpected presip caused a number of accidents across the city. it kept commuters stuck in traffic for hours. the amount of snow that fell today was five times the daily norm for this time of year. they are digging out. >> the mayor here gets in trouble for a lot of snow, if the mayor of moscow can't handle

it, he's in trouble. >> he may be in trouble today. >> the russians, of all people, four inches brought them to a stop? >> trouble for somebody, no doubt about it. absolu absolutely, positively no snow for us in 24 to 36 hours. christmas morning, still a slim chance of seeing a snow flake. don't get your hopes up too much. for now, it's just stuck in the soup outside. it's mild and it's wet. temperatures are in the mid to upper 50s across the area. 55 now in washington. 59 degrees in manassas. 57 degrees in falls church. 57 in leesburg and reston, 57. gaithersburg and germantown. doppler, plenty of rain around the capital. most of the rain in an run dell county. another good line of moderate rainshowers coming across i-95 to the north of fredericksburg.

it will be slow going along the 95 corridor for your drive home from work. we can't completely turn off the rain chance until midnight because of this line of showers here. embedded thunder with that line out there. not expected to make it into washington but can't rule out another drop or two. overnight lows holding in the upper 40s to 50s. a break or two of sunshine early on in the day. temperatures climb into the upper 50s to near 60 degrees. the colder air arrives into thursday night and friday. friday afternoon, high temperature about 56. that is about lunchtime. then temperatures falling after that. saturday looks chilly. a little bit of sunshine, highs in the 40s. more moisture and air coming in late saturday night and christmas day. 99% of it will be all rain at least here in the washington area. there may be a chance for a few snow flakes in the high spots.

folks in western maryland, some of that could be a little bit of snow. again, don't expect much in the way of white christmas chances here in the city. sorry about that. >> a lot of folks are going to be disappointed. >> the one day a year we can forecast snow and people are not mad at us. more and more kids are ending up in the hospital if flew-like symptoms. it's not the flu and stumping doctors. >> the cause is found in many common household products. erica edwards has our report. >> reporter: young children have the ability to turn anything into a toy, especially the family's remote control. it's what max was playing with an hour before he became ill a year ago, suddenly throwing up his dinner. his mother retraced his steps to figure out what was wrong with him. >> found the remote and i couldn't find the button

battery. >> he swallowed the battery inside the remote. it lodged in his esophagus. once there, it's a matter of hours before it creates an electrical current and burns through tissue. caregivers don't usually see it happen and it can be difficult for doctors to diagnose. >> children will asymptomatic or irritable. symptom that is are consistent with the illness we see in children. >> the poison center found an increase in battery ingestions over the past 25 years. they have been linked to 13 deaths. now consumer products safety commission says they are group is taking a close look at the batteries. >> we have countries looking at button batteries because children find these small shiny things and put them in their mouths. >> reporter: max and his family

are lucky. he recovered with minimal damage. >> we tried to take all the precautions we could think of. this wasn't one we ever, ever thought of. >> now, they are telling their story in hopes of protecting other children. erica edwards, nbc news. when we come back, the video of a house fire where neighbors

it was a dramatic scene overnight in detroit where two people were forced to jump from the roof of their burning house. video of the ordeal show neighbors encouraging a man seconds before he hit the ground. a woman trapped in the second floor was forced to jump. they had to do it to save their lives. the downstairs of the house was completely engolfed in flames when firefighters got there. the cause is under investigation. a guy in utah won $380,000 lamborghini saturday and wrecked it six hours later. he won the car at a contest at a byu game. he hit the road right away. gave friends and families rides well into the night. on the final ride, he hit a slick spot, lost control and slammed into a fence. the hardest part was telling his

wife. >> my heart pretty much fell out. you know, that feeling where your heart drops and you are like oh my gosh, what do we do now? >> david did one very wise thing before he did all that foolishness. he ensured the lamborghini before driving it. repairs are covered. he says he will drive more carefully in the future. after winning that, you have to take a joyride and show off to your friends. >> just don't wreck it. still ahead, we'll update the progress of a model who was severely injured after accidentally walking into a

skiers in california are trying to find outd what cause add 7-year-old boy to fall from the ski lift. he was a member of a ski team near lake tahoe. he fell 60 feet while practicing with the team sunday. he died. the resort is not le leasing the boy's name, but is cooperating with investigators. there's news about the young model who suffered severe injuries when she walk into a small plane's spinning propeller. she's recovering faster than

anybody expected. >> reporter: for lauren scruggs, the road to recovery has been miracle after miracle. her parents are writing on her blog. there's probably no better ipd indication she's returning to herself than her renewed passion for fashion. the fashion blogger, according to to family is picking out her own clothes, dressing herself and exercising to stay in shape. >> lauren is a fighter. you guys don't know her. her personality, she loved to work out. she was healthy before. the physical therapist says do ten of these, raise your leg and she does 12 or take 20 steps and she takes 30. >> reporter: she's been moveed from intensive care to rehab. she's requesting her favorite foods. significant developments about her critical injuries. her left hand severed, skull

fracture and brain injury. doctors had to remove her left eye. >> she shouldn't be alive. we feel blessed that that. she has challenges ahead and we do, too. we are lucky to have her. we really are. >> reporter: they know they could have lost her the night she walked into the propeller of a small plane after getting out of it after dark. deeply religious she says lauren credits jesus for what they have accomplished so far. they write who so many discovered. her spirit is amazing. that's news 4 at 4:00. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now. tonight at 5:00. stealing from the troops. thieves take a truck filled with presents for our service

members. congress is threatening to take a chunk out of your wallet. what could happen if they don't pass the payroll tax cut. good evening. i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly. we begin with an investigation into more than a dozen car thefts in montgomery county. police arrested the men responsible. they are protesters from occupy baltimore. pat collins has one victim's story. pat? >> reporter: two guys who claim to be part of the occupy baltimore movement charged in a theft scheme. you might call the story occupy montgomery county jail. meet alan miller. he installs audio and video systems. that's his full-time system. this morning, he played the role of theft detective. on elrod road, he was putting in

a home theater system. it got late and things got suspicious. it was about 1:30 in the morning. the job just about done. he walked out to his truck. he noticed a car down the street with a light, the inside light on and a figure in the car. he didn't think much of it. until he went to his truck, opened the door and it was a mess inside. >> i found a mess and my phone was gone. >> reporter: then you realize, hey, these guys are ripping off that car, too. >> right. exactly. >> reporter: they took off by the time you figured it out? >> right. >> reporter: he had an ipad with a special app. >> i used the ipad and located my phone. then i called the police and they tracked the person down. >> reporter: that findmyphone app led police to upton, near the bushes and a dumpster where