starts now. a busy road shut down for hours after a frightening crash that left a car wrapped around a pole. what we're learning about the conditions of those who were in that vehicle. >> plus, banks are easing their restrictions on target customers this morning as we learn the retail giant is now under investigation for the massive security breach. welcome to "news 4 today" on this tuesday, december 24th, christmas eve. i'm aaron gilcrist. >> i'm barbara harrison. a lot of government workers aren't heading home because of schedule. opm says the government will remain open today despite tomorrow's holiday. opm says that's been their standing policy for years when christmas falls on a wednesday. the government has remained open six of the last nine times it happened since 1946. well, if you are heading off to work or maybe out to the malls to do some last-minute shopping, a lot of folks doing that, you will need to bundle up today. we are dealing with a big-time return of winter this morning.

temperatures in the 30s right now. it might get colder than that. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here to maybe help us find a silver lining too, tom. >> yeah. right now we don't have much wind. that's the silver lining. it has turned much colder. here are your weather headlines. a chilly morning, maybe a snow shower and then a cold christmas eve and christmas day. temperatures right now are in the upper 30s to low 30s right around washington and our southern eastern suburbs around the bay. farther east and west it has dipped into the 20s from northern montgomery county, frederick, washington county, allegheny county in maryland and the panhandle of west virginia. only near 30 degrees. east of there, loudon county, prince william, much of fairfax and stafford, spotsylvania, culpepper right near the freezing mark. it's a little bit above freezing in fredericksburg, northern neck where it's in the mid 30s. later today we have a chance of a snow shower. i think that's going to be in by

this afternoon, maybe between 1:00 to 4 or 5:00. partly sunny sky. don't be surprised if you see a few flurries flying through the air. maybe a quick burst of a snow shower coming through. not producing any accumulation. temperatures will be above freezing but it won't feel like that with that blustery wind gusting to 25 miles an hour. the wind chills will just be in the low 30s as we get into the afternoon. then things settle down tonight under a clear sky. we'll have a cold christmas eve and a cold christmas day. i think temperatures tonight right back down into the 20s by late evening and by dawn tomorrow the low to mid 20s starting off christmas morning but should be bright and clear. a bright and sunny christmas day, maybe just a few clouds drifting through. highs only reaching the mid 30s tomorrow. winds will be more settled on christmas day. then christmas night should be clear and cold. temperatures back down into the 20s. in for danella sealock checking

on our roadways this morning is maynard edwards. good morning, maynard. thank you, tom, and good morning. we have some transit things to mention. metro is running on time but both marc and vre are running on an s schedule. follow first four traffic on twitter to find out exactly what that means for your commute this morning. here's a live look at 95 at 216 in maryland. as you can see, light volume moving at full speed. then over columbia pike at briggs chaney, no problems there. overall you have a really easy commute this morning. aaron and barbara, good morning. >> good morning, maynard. 5:01, 5:02 just about. four people are in the hospital after a serious crash near joint base andrews. a car slammed into a poll around allentown around midnight. take a look at the damage. we're told one of the victims suffered life threatening injuries. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. police are looking for a driver who pulled a hit and run

on statin road last night. according to d.c. police it happened during rush hour. the man hit by the car was air lifted to a nearby hospital. doctors say his injuries are life threatening. d.c. police have issued another safety warning near gallaudet university after a woman was sexually assaulted and robbed over the weekend. d.c. police officers tell news 4 two men attacked the woman on west virginia avenue northeast over the weekend. that woman was walking alone around 2:00 in the morning on saturday when the men approached her from behind with a knife and forced her into a nearby alley where they assaulted her. since the woman was attacked from behind, she was not able to give police a good description of the attackers. extra police patrols have been sent to that area. well, today is your last chance to enroll in the health care plan if you want to be covered at the start of next year. the white house extended the deadline to enroll by a day. this is for anyone who tried to sign up yesterday but had trouble with healthcare.gov. the deadline to enroll through d.c.'s exchange was still last

night. maryland's deadline is friday. virginia's is today since it follows the federal time line. target may wind up helping to foot the bill for all those fraudulent charges stemming from the hack of their credit card machines. security experts say it's likely the banks that some of the 40 million affected customers will sue target for money to help reimburse cardholders. chase says customers can now withdraw $250 a day or spend $1,000 on purchases. and the government is now stepping into the investigation as well. target says the department of justice has launched a probe into the breach. the retailer has already launched its own investigation with the help of the secret service. and you may still get a busy signal if you're trying to get through to a target customer service center. the phone lines for the retailers are still jammed now. target says it has more than doubled the number of people answering phones, but even with the extra help the backup is still pretty big. the retailer says as of

yesterday it had spoken with 17 million customers. four minutes after 5:00. struggling to get enough sleep at night? you're not alone. how much shut eye americans admit they get at night. also ahead, the grinch striking just before christmas. the unusual entry these thieves made before making off with all of one family's holiday presents. and it's a cold morning. good morning. starting off temperatures at or below freezing north and west of the metro area. and a cold christm

i'm melissa mollet at the live desk. a rally underway in thailand. take a look at this. hundreds of antigovernment protesters trying to prevent candidates from registering at an election. they're blocking the entrance so that they can't register. they're tee manneding the president step down. nine parties including the president were able to register yesterday. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. 8 minutes after 5:00, a new study shows women can eat nuts during pregnancy without increasing their baby's risk of nut allergy. of the children in the study,

140 were allergic to nuts. those whose moms ate nuts at least five times a month during the pregnancy were 69% less likely to have nut allergies than those who rarely consumed nuts. if you don't feel like you get enough sleep, you're not alone. a new gallup poll shows americans don't get enough. adults sleep between 7 to 9 hours a night is the suggestion. 40% say they get 6 hours or less. 59% say they sleep for at least 7 hours a night. >> i don't know when the last time was i got seven hours of sleep. >> i sure didn't get it last night. i was so worried i wasn't going to wake up to get here. >> that's the reality for a lot of folks who have to get up early. you don't sleep restfully. you get less. >> yeah. i was waking up every 15 minutes. tom kierein, you're used to this. i bet you don't get enough sleep either. >> no, i do, actually. you know, i go to bet around 5:00 p.m. i get up around 1:00 a.m. i get my eight hours. it does make a big difference.

right now, a clear sky around the region. winds picking up. temperatures in the low to mid 30s metro area. with that wind it feels like it's only in the 20s. the winds gusting around 5 to 15 miles an hour. temperatures are near freezing farther north and west and some of the wind chills down into the low 20s shenandoah valley into western maryland. around the bay, too. even though it's in the mid and upper 30s, the wind chills feel like it's only around 30 degrees. so for the day today dress accordingly. you will need a warm coat this morning. temperatures will be holding steady in the low 30s for the next few hours. lots of sunshine though and the winds though will begin to pick up by noontime and during the afternoon we could have gusts to around 20 to 25 miles an hour. wind chills in the 20s to 30s even though temperatures in the low 40s between noon and 4:00. between 1:00 until maybe 5:00 p.m. a possibility of a passing snow shower quickly moving through with those blustery winds or maybe just a few

flurries flying through the air, perhaps just a sprinkle of rain and then it will clear out tonight and it'll be turning colder for christmas day. how much the temperatures drop? that's coming up at 5:21. look at the rest of the week and the weekend as well. maynard edwards, how are the roadways now? >> very well so far, tom. good morning. the dulles toll road running along just fiene. here's a live look at the dulles toll road not far from the airport. no slowing. no problems to worry with. here's 495 near the robinson tunnel from 267 the dulles toll road out to 295, 12 minutes. winter weather continuing to take a toll on a large part of the country this morning. how the icy conditions are impacting local travelers trying to get home for the holidays. also ahead, why those holiday goodies we're enjoying did you get chips for the party? nope.

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welcome back. it's 5:14. right now reagan national already pretty packed even before the sun has come up. this is one of the busiest travel days of the year and it's going to be a hectic one for thousands of travelers. more than 250 flights across the country have already been canceled today. that's according to flightaware.com. we did just check in with reagan, dulles and bwi marshall. none of them is dealing with any major delays yet. this is what's causing many of today's cancellations. the upper midwest, new england. those places still dealing with the effects of the winter storm that ripped across the country over the weekend. look at all of that ice. the power is out in hundreds of thousands of homes. utility crews say they may not restore electricity to everybody until next weekend. here is some good news if you're driving out of town for the weekend. virginia is extending lane openings. the closures will be suspended again next week for people

traveling for new year's. new this morning, at least 14 people were killed in an explosion at a police station outside of cairo, egypt. investigators believe the blast was caused by a car bomb. the explosion was so strong it caused part of the building to collapse. more than 100 people were hurt. no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but the interim government is blaming the muslim brotherhood for orchestrating the attack. also new this morning, a bomb scare in pakistan's capital delayed the first hearing in a high traes son case against former president mushara. an explosive device and two pistols were found miles away from his residence. he didn't attend the hearing due to security concerns. the charges stem from his decision to fire and detain judges in 2007 after declaring a state of emergency and suspending pakistan's constitution. musharaf is due back in court january 1st. edward snowden says his mission has been accomplished.

he told the washington post he's satisfied because journalists can talk about nsa's surveillance programs. he's not trying to bring down the spy agency, he's working to improve t. president obama said last week he would consider changes to how the nsa collects data on millions of americans. happening today at the international space station, in about two hours a pair of astronauts will embark on their second space walk on the international space station. just after 7:00 two americans will remove and replace a failed cooling pump which failed last week. the pair was out on saturday as well. hopefully they'll be able to finish repairs this morning. this will be the first time in 15 years for a scheduled space walk on christmas eve. police in prince gorges county hope social media will help them with a case. he was shot outside of a house party in land dover mills on saturday. hundreds of people attended that party. it was well publicized on the news.

police are scouring social media hoping to learn who was there. pickney's grandmother is looking for answers. >> he slept in the bed with me when he was young. he called me mama. yes. and he -- i always protected over him, always have protected over him because that's my only grandson. >> it is still not clear who fired the shots or if pickney was the actual target. police say the home where the house party was held was under foreclosure. coming up on 18 after the hour now. police in maryland looking for this woman in connection to a possible mall fight that took place on black friday. it happened at the annapolis mall. you see some of the video here. police say two people jumped a 17-year-old girl at a victoria's secret store punching her in the head. the victim said the beating was unprovoked and she did not know the women behind it. if you have a doggy door in your house, you might want to make sure that you can lock it. one california family can tell you why.

thieves used the gimlick's doggy door to break into their house. the burglars stole the kid's presents from right under the christmas tree. they also took jewelry, electronics and an urn with his grandmother's ashes. >> i'd like to recover some things, particularly my mom and dad. >> they have some clues about who broke in. a neighbor's security camera captured this video of the thieves walking in and out of the house for two hours. >> boy, never thought about that, the doggy door. >> you wouldn't think anybody could squeeze through there. >> except somebody small and opened the doors and did it that way. pretty awful. 19 minutes after 5:00. want to take a look outside with you this morning. 37 chilly degrees outside our studios. a nice look at the dc skyline there for you. after all of the clouds and rain we had yesterday. >> yeah, it's a beautiful morning even though it's cold out there. tom says we're going to feel this cold for a while, too. tom? >> good morning. yeah, the sky cleared out overnight. just a few high clouds lingering

over the bay. a few low clouds in the mountain. elsewhere, it has cleared out. we are drying out as well. here in the storm team 4 weather center, getting reports it's down at or below freezing west and north of the metro area. as a result there may be a little bit of ponding of water remaining from yesterday. could be freezing up a little bit. watch out for that. the pavement looks wet. in fact, that may be a little patchy ice. otherwise, most of the pavement is dry. but it is near freezing to below freezing across most of maryland, most of virginia except southern maryland and central virginia. fredericksburg over to southern maryland, the bay, northern neck is generally in the mid 30s and mid 30s right in washington, northern and western suburbs though, most locations are below freezing on this christmas eve morning. shenandoah valley as well and into the mountains, most locations hovering right around 30 degrees. and the pavement is drying out there for the most part, too. so for the day today you should not have any travel problems.

if you're leddi inheading up an the atlantic sea coast, we'll have highs reaching the low 40s this afternoon. by noontime should be around 40. we'll be hovering in the low 40s for a couple of hours mid afternoon. that's when we'll have clouds building, upper level disturbance coming along through along with gusty winds. that disturbance might trigger a few passing snow showers or a flurry. generally from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. after that we will clear out and get cold tonight. the temperatures will begin to drop back down into the upper 20s by midnight tonight and then by dawn on christmas day we'll have temperatures down into the low 20s under a clear sky on christmas morning. then christmas day itself we'll have sunshine tomorrow. highs though only the mid 30s but a lighter wind. winds will diminish overnight. then christmas night will be clear and cold right back down into the 20s again. then by dawn on thursday, it will be in the mid 20s and thursday afternoon the mid 40s and partly cloudy. as we get towards friday and the

weekend, a settled weather pattern. cold mornings in the 20s. afternoon highs 40s. friday, saturday, sunday may get into the low 50s. getting a little bit colder again. first part of next week highs reaching low 40s on monday. now checking our traffic and road conditions on this christmas eve morning, here's maynard edwards. >> thank you, tom. this christmas eve commute is not a problem so far this morning. you did hear tom mention that you might run into a puddle here and there and with these freezing temperatures that could be a little patch of ice. do be mindful of that. 301 at maryland route 5, no problems. no cars really. here's another look heading into prince gorges county on the beltway maryland 210, no problems there. then 95 at oxen hill road running at full speed right now. we do have one crash that's still plaguing us a bit, idylwood road still closed. 5:22 now. it is highway versus runway in the battle of holiday traffic. a new survey from trip advisor

showed a little more than half of americans traveling for the holidays will be hitting the roads, which is up from last year. most of the people questioned said they're driving for cost reasons. the average cost of an economy ticket is up 9% from last christmas from the airlines while gas prices are about 4% lower and may continue to fall. so some good logic there to take the road trip. while you are enjoying all your holiday goodies and gifts, you could be putting your pet in danger. >> nbc's curt gregory has more on what to look out for this holiday season. >> reporter: there's a lot of interesting stuff around the house at this time of year, but what's a treat to some of your guests may be very dangerous to the animals who share your home. just ask the companies who sell health insurance for pets. >> they see a 285% spike in the number of calls and claims related to chocolate ingestion in that week around christmas

and new year's. >> like lilies, poinsettias, holly. >> the list is so long i couldn't possibly name them all. >> reporter: which is why professionals recommend that you avoid the internet for information if you have a concern and consult with your vet or the aspca's 24/7 poison control center. new shiny decorations hanging from a new place to investigate can quickly become dangerous and costly. >> the bills for your animal accidentally ingesting something can easily be more than $1,000 depending on what they ate, how fast you notice it, and just how toxic or dangerous that item is. >> reporter: the water in a christmas tree stand can be harmful to drink as can more palatable libations. a cup left on the floor is an inviting temptation to those who don't know when to say when. >> and they don't know enough to

moderate themselves and only have one little taste. they tend to drink a lot if they do try and drink it. >> reporter: and that can be a problem for all sorts of visitors this time of year. curt gregory, nbc news. you know, i had a dog that got into chocolate once. it was unbelievable what happened. he couldn't walk. i had to pick him up in the middle of the night. >> you have to keep them away from that for sure. >> chocolate is really dangerous. >> i did learn the poinsettias, it's okay. the dog shouldn't eat that but it's not toxic for them. >> who would have ever thought about the water in the christmas tree. >> yeah. everybody celebrating. you don't think of that. >> the countdown is officially on. any minute now you'll be able to track santa on norad's santa tracker. >> satellites are tracking the big guy as he delivers toys all over the world. already out there doing his thing. this year there are a few little extra things, too, like a secret file about the santa tracking mission. some games your kids can play on the website. even santa's favorite music.

we'll tell you what's loaded up on his iphone apparently. the talking santa app for the iphone and android phones lets kids speak directly to santa. the app is free although don't -- you don't want to talk to him too much. he has a lot of work to do. >> that's right. >> don't want to have to pull the sleigh over. >> what do you imagine he's listening to on his ipod? >> i don't know. >> same thing we've been listening to? >> justin timberlake probably loaded in there. >> i'd like that. >> time right now is coming up on 5:26 and not the holiday gifts they had in mind. one business owner's surprise message to his employees just days before christmas. also ahead, the clock is ticking for all of you who still need to sign up for health insurance. why president obama gave everyone an extra day to get coverage. and those chilly winter temperatures have returned to our region. how things are shaping up for christmas with your forecast next with weather and traffic on the 1s.

staff sergeant fisher stationed in south korea. send this to my mom in

looking at stories making headlines right now. four people in the hospital right now after a car slams into a pole at joint base andrews air force base overnight. today is your last chance to enroll in a health care plan through the federal government if you want to be covered at the start of next year. and target may wind up helping to foot the bill for all of those fraudulent charges

stemming from the hacking of their credit card machines. we will have much more on those stories throughout the morning. first, good morning to you. i'm aaron gilcrist. >> i'm barbara harrison. it's tuesday, december 24th, christmas eve. and if you're going to need -- if you are going to go out, you're going to need to bundle up this morning. it's really cold out there. temperatures have dropped 30 degrees since what we saw on monday morning. >> and it could get even colder before it's all said and done. storm team 4's meteorologist tom kierein is here. folks, tom, need to bring out the gloves and scarves and all of that today, right? >> yeah, dress for winter weather. a big change in temperatures. chilly morning. at or below freezing north and west of the metro area. some of the rain yesterday left some puddles and some of those may be freezing up a little bit so if the pavement looks wet far forth and west of the metro area, watch out. some of that could be patchy ice. it could be freezing up. it's above freezing in washington. southern and eastern suburbs, northern neck, eastern shore, most of those locations are in

the mid to upper 30s. later today a disturbance will be passing over us. a chance of a snow shower this afternoon. partly sunny, blustery wind. gusting to 20 to 25 miles an hour even though temperatures will be in the 30s and low 40s. it will feel just like around 30 degrees with that gusty wind this afternoon. again, don't be surprised to see a snow shower quickly coming through or maybe a few scattered flurries generally between 1:00 and 5:00. then a cold lichristmas eve and cold christmas night. down to the 20s by late evening. the low 20s by dawn christmas morning. tomorrow should be bright and sunny, but highs christmas day only in the mid 30s. and then a light wind tomorrow will be settling down into tomorrow night, too. clear sky christmas night down into the 20s again tomorrow night. now maynard edwards in for danella checking our traffic. good morning. >> thank you, tom. good morning. so far it's an easy commute on this christmas eve. here's a look at the

southeast/southwest freeway passing maine avenue with no problems. 395 near seminary. no issues to report if you're headed to reagan national airport. you'll have a little wait at the airport but getting there won't be much of a problem. coming up we'll check our montgomery county commute and some possible metro delays we'll mention on our next report. aaron and barbara, good morning. >> good morning to you. 5:31 your time now. today really is your last chance to sign up for health insurance through the federal exchange if you want to be covered when 2014 starts. the white house extended the deadline to enroll in obama care by one day. nbc's danielle leigh live on capitol hill. danielle, good morning. >> reporter: aaron, good morning. deadline day take two. the idea is the administration wanted to make sure that anyone who tried to sign up for insurance yesterday but didn't get to possibly because of delays on the website is going to finish that job today.

min vaughan is one of the millions of americans breathing a sigh of relief. >> are you married? >> yes. >> reporter: caught in yesterday's scramble to get her father-in-law insurance, she now has today to get the job done. >> better for him to be covered and be safe and not worried about it. >> reporter: this morning the website is advertising the one-day extension granted in response to the record number of visitors to healthcare.gov, so many not everyone who tried could get through. >> we wanted to make sure that people who are trying to sign up today were actually able to do it and get covered. >> reporter: republicans attacked the last hf minu-minut. >> there's going to be problem after problem. >> reporter: health industry opponents are talking about the problems to come. >> they need a couple of weeks to process a normal number of enrollments. now they only have a week to process a high level of enrollments. >> reporter: insurers are

warning keep your paperwork. the next deadline is december 31st. that's when premiums are due. many insurers are giving people until january 10th to pay. 5:33 your time now. it may be too late to ebb roll in a plan if you live in the district. the d.c. exchange be's deadline was still last night. the state pushed back its deadline last week. today is the deadline in virginia since it follows the federal government's time line. this morning d.c. police are asking for your help to find the men who broke into a radio shack. take a look at this surveillance video. police tell us two men broke into the store along brentwide road in northeast d.c. last thursday morning. it's not clear how much money or how much goods or what they took. the men got away with some stuff though. a worker at a popular fairfax animal hospital is out of jail this morning after being accused of stealing a credit card of a client where she worked. police say 21-year-old filindora

thompson took the card from the town and country animal hospital on fairfax boulevard. they began the investigation to say that a customer said she lost her credit card at that business. she said her card was used to make several purchases. thompson is charged with felony credit card theft and fraud. today an appeals court in utah could block same-sex weddings in that state. a u.s. district judge overturned the gay marriage ban on friday. yesterday a judge agreed to let same-sex marriages continues while the state appeals that. so far 700 couples have obtained wedding licenses. for now they joined d.c. and maryland as the 18th state where same-sex couples can legally wed. 5:35. melissa mollet following breaking news at the live desk. >> get aways in the u.k. being disrupted right now as the area is still being pummelled by severe weather. take a look at some of this video. unbelievable. northern ireland and scotland seeing high winds, heavy rain. at least three people have been

killed in the storm. power outages at gatwick airport. disruption to facilities, delays, cancellations. tens of thousands of homes without power after storms caused damage to the power lines. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. and you should head to national harbor today if you're looking for something to do with your children. you'll see a guy kruszing down the potomac. there he is. do you recognize him? his elves will be there, too, and so will the grinch. they'll all be on jet skis. the fun starts at 12:30 today. >> that's how you make christmas official around here, santa on jet skis. not really in the spirit of the holidays, the surprising message a sarnd wish shop owner sent to his employees just before christmas. also ahead, it's the unfriendly side of the holidays. people fighting for parking spots as they try to get their shopping done. the steps some are taking to get that hard-to-find space. good morning. wind chills now in the 20s under a clear sky.

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the holiday shopping frieen may be wrapping up but the day after christmas shopping is just about to begin. don't expect to find great deals on tech products though. the best prices on big screen

tvs and other gadgets, those come in late january right before the super bowl. looks like a chicago sandwich shop is not in the holiday spirit at all. the boss fired its employees sunday night via e-mail. the firings come a few weeks after workers were september -- snarks subshop participated in that fight for 15 rally seeking higher wages. owners say the firings have nothing to do with that strike. instead, the owners are blaming the slow christmas season. the e-mail also says the restaurant will close for a month so it can be remodeled and become a burger joint. employees can re-apply for their jobs after the restaurant reopens, the boss says. 20 minutes now before the top of the hour. you know, this time yesterday it was warm outside. >> oh, i know. >> 60 plus degrees. >> it was like spring. boy, it's not like that out there now. it is chilly. tom, where is the temperature now in washington? >> it's a little above freezing. there's the sky over watching ton.

capitol hill and the washington monument under a clear sky. few clouds over the bay. farther to the west, low clouds over the mountains. hour by hour, 36 at reagan national. northwest wind around 5 to 15 makes it feel like it's only around 30 degrees. we'll stay right in the low 30s through 8:00. lots of sunshine. then clouds build by noontime. by then winds gusting 20 to 25 miles an hour. that blustery wind will be with us through the afternoon even though we're hovering in the low 40s i think. we still are going to be feeling much colder with that gusty wind. it will only feel like 30 degrees in the afternoon. in addition, there will be an upper level disturbance that may trigger a few passing snow showers, maybe a few scattered flurries. there's a 30, 40% chance of that between 1:00 all the way until around 5:00 p.m. then clearing and colder tonight into christmas day. we'll look at that and the rest of the week coming in ten minutes. maynard edwards, how's traffic? >> traffic is moving along okay. we have some extensive metro delays this morning, tom. the blue line heading towards franconia springfield is being

reported as running quite slow now. let's take a look at the other rales. marc and vre both running on an s schedule. you can check with your rail provider to see what that means for your morning commute. here's 495 at the american legion bridge. no problems there. the montgomery county beltway an easy right. less than ten minutes from 270 to the beltway. coming up, i-95 to virginia. aaron and barbara, good morning. >> thank you, maynard. we'll tell you why the generosity of people in our region could make the holiday special for extra families in the region in need. >> if you're not heading to work, chances are you're heading to the stores to do some shopping. we're live at tysons for those already out in search of a good deal. stay with us. hello. this is sergeant latoya lewis. i'm stationed in germany. i'd like to

15 before the hour. right now some last-minute shoppers are trying to nab the final deals before christmas morning. as time runs out, stores have extended their hours trying to accommodate those stores. news 4's megan mcgrath is live where she's seeing a few gift givers trickle in. >> yeah, a few. it's not absolutely as swamped as you would imagine. it's pretty slow, but we do have shoppers here, and we also have a lot of deals. we're inside the macy's and you can see 50% off. another sign over here, 60% off. if you use your macy's cars, you get an extra 15% off. retailers really trying to make that last-minute push to get as many shoppers in to spend a little money before the end of the holiday season as they can because they got off to a really strong start this year but actually sales have been down for the last three consecutive weeks. that, of course, is very -- this is an important time for retailers. they can make up to 40% of their

annual sales during this period so they are doing everything they can to try and bring shoppers in and boost those numbers. macy's here has been open around the clock since friday, 24 hours a day, and they're going to stay open until 6:00 tonight and that, of course, is great for folks who want to avoid the crowds and there really are no crowds here at all. we haven't seen a single line at a register this morning. we spoke a little while ago to one gentleman who works today, and he says this is perfect for him, that he can get a little shopping done before he goes into work. >> a few more things to top it all off. getting rid of the last little bit of money that i have. go ahead and feel good for giving all the christmas presents. >> reporter: and we are seeing some folks with some bags so they're actually doing more than just window shopping. they're actually making some purchases. folks that we talked to that say that they're just picking up a few things.

we haven't encountered anybody who's doing all of their shopping here this morning. seems like folks are just kind of tying it up and getting a last few things in the final hours, and that's what retailers are hoping for. again, they're making that last-minute push. want to do everything they can to boost their sales, but we're going to have to wait and see just how it all turns out. reporting live from ties sons corner center, megan mcgrath, news 4. 16 and a half neck in the men's section. if you see anything, you know? >> still have some shopping to do, don't you? >> definitely. for sure. 5:47 now. if you're brave enough to venture to the mall today, you will need to be patient. >> just finding a place to park can spark mall rage. adam watched people battle for spots yesterday at tyson's corner. look what he saw, drivers getting out of their cars to hold a space. other drivers cutting off fellow shoppers when they saw an opening and then taunting the other drivers once they scored that elusive spot.

adam made sure these shoppers left their animosity in the parking lot when they walked in the mall. >> when i pulled up, i looked at you. >> yeah, that was fine. were you planning to take that spot? >> no, i was waiting for the other parking spot. >> i wanted to make sure i didn't mess you up. keeping the peace, keeping the peace. >> that was nice. >> that never happens. come on. >> that was really nice. going to give you a sense of how serious of an issue this can be. aaa came up with a list of tips for surviving the holiday parking lot problems. that list, skipping the main entrance and trying to find a spot as far away from the store as you can get and you'll get a little exercise, too. >> that's right. try your desktop maybe. do it online. 5:49 right now. 2014 could be a better year for one dc teacher fired last year. the school system is trying to hire that person back. turns out he or she was fired because of a poor performance review. problem is, that rating should have been higher. there was a mistake of the value

that teacher added to the student achievement was calculated. in fact, 44 teachers in the district received inaccurate evaluations. the new head of prince gorges county schools has hired some help. dr. kevin maxwell added four new executive level positions. the cost -- they cost the school system more than $1.5 million. maxwell says the new positions will help make the school system more organized. montgomery county was feeling generous this year and was able to hand out more toys to tots than anticipated. they had 20,000 extra toys to hand out. yesterday families originally who couldn't get into the program were able to take part. the toys for tots collected about 98,000 toys this year. that's compared to about 36,000 toys last year. well, he doesn't even know the families he's helped this christmas quietly paying off their lay away debts, but one secret santa hopes his actions will inspire you. northern virginia bureau

reporter david culver has the story from sterling. >> reporter: when you see stories with a shadowy figure like this, it's often because the person is scared to speak out. but this man, who we'll call nick, isn't afraid, he's humble. >> any investment you make in the happiness of a stranger clearly pays a return 100 fold. >> we tracked nick down after hearing of his generosity. last week he walked into this toys"r"us in sterling, bought just a few presents for his kids and dozens more for at least seven our families. the second time this month paying down the lay away. why do it? >> i would say the bigger question is why not? i've heard of people doing it so i went to the manager and asked if i could do that and they said yes and they printed out a list of people's lay away items, all the ones that were going to be due within a week. >> reporter: we checked with our affiliates and found nick is not alone. in wisconsin a mystery person walked into this walmart and paid for 13 families who had

gifts on lay away. in florida this man went straight to the lay away counter, covered the debts of 76 people. >> the dollar amount doesn't matter. it's just the act of trying to make a difference when you hear somebody in need. >> reporter: some things you should know about nick. he lives comfortably but he is far from ostentatious. just a few gifts under his tree for his family and he wants his actions to spread. >> i would say if this story touches you, that you should take up my torch and its light will lead you off the path of cynicism and indifference and its fire would warm your heart and it's warmed mine. >> in sterling, virginia, i'm david culver, news 4. we're getting ready for some cold weather all day the next two days, right? >> yeah, tom kierein is here. this is what you would expect. >> hey, tom. >> christmas time. the warm stuff we had was nice but it was a little unusual.

>> it was weird. now we're back to christmas like weather. good thing santa has skateboards. no snow around here. no white christmas. and it's cold though. sky has cleared out overnight. view from space showing a few clouds around the region this morning and the temperatures have plummeted. now if you're traveling, you should not have any travel difficulties weather wise up and down the atlantic seaboard from florida all the way to maine. there is a few snow showers here western new york state around buffalo and western pennsylvania. elsewhere, the rest of the country looks great. just a few snow showers in north dakota, south dakota, idaho, northern wyoming. the west coast looking great as well. no travel problems weather wise on this christmas eve day, but it is a cold morning. our temperatures are just near freezing. most of the region except a little above freezing in the bay. north and west though it's at or a little below freezing and any water didn't evaporate overnight could be freezing up a little bit. if you see a little ponding around, that may in fact be ice so watch out for that especially

farther north and west after that rain ended yesterday. it did dry out a lot. most of the pavement is dry right now. hour by hour today we'll have our temperatures hovering in the low to mid 30s through 8:00. a bit of a blustery wind. clouds by noontime 40 degrees. during the afternoon a possibility of a flurry or snow shower with a blustery wind. it will feel like 30 degrees with winds gusting to around 25, 30 miles an hour. the winds diminish tonight. down into the 20s tomorrow morning. how cold will it be? the temperatures dropping down to the low 20s by dawn christmas morning after a clear night. sunny tomorrow for christmas day. highs mid 30s. clear and cold again christmas night and then on thursday and friday, highs 40s. morning lows 20s. a settled pattern into the weekend. highs 40 saturday, low 40s monday. maynard edwards is checking road conditions and travel around this christmas eve. good morning. >> good morning, tom.

you heard tom mention there were no travel problems up and down the east coast. that's our story. 95 north and dale boulevard. no problems to report. same story over route 1. a nice, easy ride. and even the earlier metro problem we had on the blue line, those delays have cleared. we are still, however, dealing with marc and vre an s schedule. for details on exactly what that means for your commute, you can follow first 4 traffic on twitter. aaron and barbara, good morning. >> okay. thank you. 5:54 right now. if you own a hyundai or a kia car or suv, you may soon be getting a check in the mail from the automaker. cnbc's jackie deangeles with that story for your money. good morning. >> good morning to you. hyundai and kia have settled claims that they inflated fuel ratings. the $400 million settlement covers 900,000 vehicles sold in the u.s. from 2011 to 2013 years. the automakers say they can

choose a one-time payment or a lifetime reimbursement program under which they get a debit card to pay the difference between actual fuel economy and what the companies had stated before. a court should rule on the settlement next year. as the clock is ticking down, holiday sales continuing to slide. retail watcher shopper track saying sales at brick and mortar stores fell 3% while customer traffic plunged 21%. friday to monday were expected to be the busiest days of the season. heavier discounts have hurt overall retail sales. happy holidays. >> same to you. >> thank you. later today, cardinal donald whirl will celebrate mass at 10:00. tomorrow cardinal whirl will lead the noon mass of the basilica at the national shrine. tomorrow night he'll visit the guests at the shrine's christmas dinner. today francis can fryers

will kick off the seven nights of lights. it will bless 1,000 luminairies set up along the exterior of the monastery along quincy street in northeast washington. volunteers will light the candles. they'll stay lit through new year's eve. each luminaria is dedicated to an individual for whom prayers will be offered throughout christmas week. this event starts at 1:00. a prince gorges county family was surprised yesterday when a group of firefighters showed up at their door. >> yeah. they weren't there for any sort of an emergency, they were there to hand out some holiday cheer. take a look at this. firefighters in laurel teemed up with san ta to surprise a famil in need. they brought food baskets and toys for the three little boys in that home. over the last year the department collected information about families in need and earlier this month they choose one family to help out and the camp family won. >> we were at the point where we wasn't celebrating christmas.

it makes me happy that we get to celebrate now. >> this fire crew has been carrying on the tradition for several years. some of the firefighters we heard from said it's their favorite part of the year and best part of the job. >> that's wonderful, isn't it? that's the spirit of the season. >> it is. right now a new agency is jumping into the investigation into the security breach at target. and now how the store may be held responsible for some of the losses banks are seeing. plus, getting ready for a cold morning. some of you are seeing freezing temperatures and by tonight it