this early? it is a crisp day out there to be sure. we've got breezy conditions, cold temperatures primarily in the 30s this morning. put on the coat this morning, you'll need it. and we'll see cooler temperatures later today. late take a look at what's -- let's take a look at what's going on out there. 38 degrees right now in washington, dulles airport is at 35, bwi marshall 37 degrees and winchester, virginia it's 34. in harrisburg it's a cold 25, ocean city at 36. sentinel satellite radar, skies are mostly clear, very little in the way of cloud cover and so nothing in the way of precipitation and that's the way it's going to be today. high pressure settles in, quiet conditions and dry for today. so the forecast looks like this, it's a simple one. mostly sunny skies, seasonal temperatures, cool, but this is where we should be for this time of year. we're looking for a high of 53 degrees. more on the forecast coming up in just a little bit. right now let's go to julie

wright, get an update on traffic. hey, julie. reporter: tony, still very much a busy commute for everybody that's traveling inbound this morning. looks like we lost our camera shot there. busy commute for those traveling in on 66. not only do we are big delays leaving gainesville over towards business 234 with a wreck on the shoulder. but we've also got delays through centreville and fair oaks headed towards the beltway. westbound 66 leaving the beltway, accident activity report there had in the two right lanes. meanwhile, as you're traveling along southbound along 270, slow traffic germantown south of mba, more delays approaching montrose road. no accidents to report at this time at the top stretch of the beltway, it does slow around 95 headed towards georgia avenue. the i.c.c. is still open and free for you to use, traveling each way between laurel and gaitersburg. that's a check of your fox 5 on time traffic. >> thanks, julie. checking this morning's top stories now, gary giordano is

back in the u.s. in new york city this morning, in fact. authorities in aruba still say, though, the glaitersberg -- gaitersburg man is the prime suspect in the disappearance of robyn gardner but didn't have any evidence to hold him any longer. giordano spent four months in an aruba jail, claiming gardner drowned after they went snorkeling. the woman wanted for a series of bank robberies and carjackings around the area behind bars. authorities caught up with stephanie schaub yesterday after she tried to rob a bbt bank. she crashed on old georgetown road and took off running. schaub was already wanted for two carjackings and two bank robberies. police also taking down a man accused in a string of carjackings at a wheaton shopping center. he is 50-year-old henry sanders. he's expected to be in court today for a bond hearing. police say that he carjacked three older men at knifepoint in the past week and made them take money out of atms. a bank surveillance camera

captured a fourth younger victim. sanders is facing charges in both montgomery and prince george's county. another big story this morning, howard university facing a civil lawsuit filed by a group of students. >> they claim that they were sexually assaulted and harassed by a school employee and the university didn't do anything about it. fox 5's stacy couldhang is live -- cohang is live at the university with details. stacy, good morning. reporter: good morning. the reason they are now suing the university is they say the university did not act to protect them from this school employee, and so they have filed that civil lawsuit. however, they are also airing their complaint here. they've talked to us here at fox 5. the case centers around george bright aboo. that man apparently ran the university's work/study program and some female students of his claim he used his position to sexually harass and sexual assault them, to lure them to be alone, to grope them. they claim they went to school

officials to report this incident and that the university did nothing to act upon their complaints. >> around april he called me into his office, he told me he wanted to speak with me, help him with some work. he then started touching me and started saying inappropriate things to me. >> i sort of felt like it going into the university and now coming out in a completely different light. reporter: these students did not just stop reporting it to the university, they went to metropolitan police department. we're told that bright abu was charged with misdemeanor sexual assault and has been sentenced to 60 days probation. in the meantime, howard university says the university did indeed act on the complaints. they also contacted police and they fired bright abu. reporting live, i'm stacey cohang, back to you. >> stacy, thank you very much. penn state held a town hall meeting last night to give students a chance to vent some concerns and frustrations

regarding the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the campus. the president and other administrators were on hand to answer questions from the audience. just before that forum, a new student filed a new charge against assistant coach jerry sandusky. he says sandusky sexually abused him more than 100 times between 1992 and 1996 and threatened to harm his family to keep him quiet. that 29-year-old who filed the suit is not among the eight victims mentioned in the grand jury report. congress is now launching an investigation into the mishandling of the bodies of war dead at the air force mortuary in dover. the main investigative panel in the house of representatives will meet today with the government whistleblower. the chairman of the house oversight committee is asking pentagon chief leon panetta for records going back to 2002. now, the committee also wants a list of everyone involved in handling the remains of war dead. it's a possible step forward for a proposed youth curfew in montgomery county.

later this morning the county's public safety committee will meet to discuss the issue and take a vote. the curfew would apply to ages 18 and younger. it would be in effect between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on weekdays and midnight to 5:00 a.m. on weekends. there are a few exceptions. the full council is expected to take up the issue next week. occupy washington is about to lose a few campers. a group of about 25 protestors plan to march to georgia starting today. they will start their trek at the martin luther king, jr. memorial on the mall and end at king's graveside in atlanta. well, it might be a fortunate thing for herman cain that the next gop debate is more than a week away, but by then the republican presidential candidate could be out of the race, and as fox' doug luzader reports, while he continues to question his candidacy, the rest of the field is passing him by. reporter: out on the campaign trail now, it's all about herman cain's fall and the rise

of newt gingrich. >> you are making an accusation, quite frankly, that is not true. reporter: herman cain on the campaign trail and on the warpath at times with reporters. still dogged by a georgia woman's allegations of a long- term extra-marital affair, cain says he will see his wife in person tomorrow and decide whether to stay in a race that is taking a heavy personal toll. >> a lot of the american people are starting to see through this whole character assassination on me, and so those are the things that i am reassessing and i will make the decision over the course of the next several days, starting with the assessment with my family because that is absolutely my number one priority. reporter: but for cain the bigger problem may be growing irrelevance. in the national polls he is slipping. before the latest allegation he was in third place. cain is facing serious headwinds in serious states like new hampshire. the same day he was accused of having an affair, he had dropped into single digits there, in a race that is

increasingly a mitt romney/newt gingrich matchup. >> i would have thought originally it was going to be mitt and not mitt. it may turn out to be newt and not newt. we're having to redesign our campaign strategy because we're at least 60 days ahead of where i thought we would be. reporter: all of that as the iowa caucuses are a month from this weekend. in washington, doug luzader, fox news. well, some big news in local politics to tell you about too. a senior republican official says virginia attorney general ken cucinelli will run for governor in 2013. it sets the stage for a showdown between cucinelli and bill bowling. he made headlines for filing a lawsuit challenging president obama's healthcare law. new this morning, it didn't take long for former washington caps head coach bruce budreuax to find a new job. the anaheim ducks hired him last night after the ducks fired randy carlisle who'd been

there for seven years. he was let by by the caps monday after the team got off to a bit of a slow start. the caps and ducks have already played this season and so they won't meet again unless both teams get to the finals. he's already out in orange county. he will be formerly introduced later this morning. >> the world of sports is zipping like that. >> bling and you miss it. it is 10 minutes past the hour now. coming up next, a day of awareness and remembrance, people worldwide unite to fight the spread of aids. and help has arrived in a country where children struggle to get any kind of education. details of a decades-old show that we know and love right here in the u.s. making its debut in afghanistan. as we head to break, let's head outside right now, take a look at traffic out on 270 right now. a lot of brake lights as folks are heading into work on this chilly december 1st. it is in the 30s in most areas this morning. tony's got your update coming up next and julie will check traffic. officially 38 degrees at reagan national airport. [ baby coughing ]

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as we check headlines this morning, hillary clinton is offering burma's leaders improved cooperation. she is the first standing secretary of state since 1955 to visit myanmar or burma. hillary clinton telling leaders there that more reforms are needed, including breaking military ties with north korea. she also said the united states is ready to help burma more if it stays on the path of democracy. and the u.s. stock markets soared yesterday after a new rescue attempt was announced for europe. the dow shot up more than 490 points, the biggest gain since 2009 and the rally continued in global markets overnight. the u.s. federal reserve joined other central banks around the world in giving banks cheaper access to loans in u.s. dollars. but the move does not solve

europe's debt problems and european leaders are meeting today to find a long-term solution. well, you certainly know the characters, cookie monster, big bird, elmo, but you might not realize where they are now. they made their debut in afghanistan today. "sesame street" will be broadcast on two channels in is time. the hope is the program will help young afghans learn basics the same way it helps millions of children all around the world. "sesame street" started here in the united states back in 1969. going strong for 42 years. >> i was going to say, where's my man ernie, but he was right there too. ernie never gets any shine. he doesn't. >> you're right. he deserves more. >> he does. >> bert is holding him down. >> never really thought about it that way. >> i have. he's my favorite. i'm glad they get the opportunity. >> why is bert holding him down? >> i don't know. let's move along. >> i know why, because he wants him to stay in the apartment, he doesn't want him to get famous and move out and become a whole thing like elmo did.

>> you put a whole back story on that. >> you don't realize how much i loved "sesame street" as a kid. >> ernie needs a new agent. let's check the forecast. >> i'm the only one who cares, after all. >> you're getting paid in "sesame street" dollars. >> i'll live on "sesame street" right now. 38 degrees in washington. hey, it's much colder in the eastern u.s. and across much of the nation. 30 in raleigh, 39 in boston. rochester at 34 degrees. check it out, you know, hey, it's the beginning of meteorological winter with it being december 1st. you can see temperatures in the 20s, 30s and 40s in much of the nation. out to the west, 56 degrees in los angeles, 57 in san francisco. late look at the satellite. first of all, quiet conditions, lots of sunshine. out to the west you see a little storminess there with some rainfall across portions of southern and central california. they are dealing with major winds out there, wind

advisories, wind warnings in effect for regions of california from san francisco down to san diego. they're having winds gusting up to 70 miles an hour in some of the canyon areas in california. so some real big problems out there. they are westerly winds, so it's an onshore flow and they're going to continue with this at least through the day today. here's your five-day forecast, high today about 53 degrees under sunny skies. tomorrow more of the same, 56 and sunny. saturday couple of clouds, 51, on sunday we think a fine day, 57 degrees. even milder on monday, but monday also brings some clouds and some rain. we'll have more on all of that coming up in just a little bit. >> tony, thank you. let's check with julie and get a look at what's happening on the roads. hi, july rhode island zy. reporter: here's the story, coming in from the west this morning, it has not been easy, a good hour at least trying to get from gainesville into smas and centreville. then a. the crew in sky fox over the scene of the accident

tying up your commute, as long as the dulles greenway right here at the sickland road overpass. there's the accident activity. we got one car off the road on its side. we've got fire and rescue units on the scene. we've just seen them transport at least one person into a medivac helicopter called to the scene. we've got the eastbound stretch of the highway completely shut down. that's what you're looking at along the top left side of your screen there. we also saw authorities spreading out an absorbent in the highway so there's a possibility there may have been a fuel spill involve inside this crash as well. again, this is the eastbound stretch of the dulles greenway after sleeve mill road at the sickland road overpass where this activity occurred. the eastbound lanes still blocked off. it appears at the bottom right side of your screen, there may be some traffic getting by on the westbound side of the highway. this is definitely causing major tieups for those traveling inbound on the greenway this morning. if you're traveling north of town, accident activity reported on the outer loop near connecticut avenue. that's a check of your fox 5 on time traffic. today is the 23rd

anniversary of world aids day. it is a day of awareness and remembrance for those who have lost their lives. >> it's also a moment to highlight the advances scientifically in the effort to save lives. let's get more now from craig bozwell. >> being hiv is not a death sentence. reporter: thanksgiving in boston. >> the stigma has changed a lot, still not completely gone. reporter: hundreds of hiv- positive people are gathering to celebrate life. this is family. we love each other, we support each other, we uplift each other, so this is a time for all of us to come together as a huge family. reporter: they're hardly alone, the united nations estimates 34 million people have hiv worldwide, 1.2 million of them are in the u.s. despite the staggering statistics, there is some hope. >> about 2.7 new infections happen every year. the good news is in a way that this actually has been on the

decrease in the world in general over the past few years. reporter: the american foundation for aids research helps fund the daunting search for a cure and says scientists are confident they'll find one. >> i think the scientific community is really feeling quite optimistic at this point in time that we are in our lifetime going to be able to find a cure for hiv. reporter: there have been many medical advances since the virus was discovered 30 years ago and many are helping hiv patients live longer, healthier -- healthier lives. >> you can live with the virus and i've known so many people that had it way before me, who's had it like 30 years, 25 years and they're still living. >> we can live a wonderful, happy life, we're just like everybody else. reporter: president obama delivers his first major speech on aids later today. he'll be joined by george w. bush and bill clinton along with musicians alisha keyes and bono. >> craig, thank you. the united nations estimates there were 1.8

million aids-related deaths worldwide last year. today free tests are being offer inside a number of places across the area. d.c.'s department of health will be set up outside the wilson building from 10:00 until 3:00. howard university is offering free testing from 10:00 until 3:00 and free tests will also be offered at prince george's community college from 11:00 until 3:00. coming up on 21 minutes past the hour right now on this thursday morning. next the debate over arsenic in apple juice put to the test again. also a major victory for the nearly 8 million americans who take lip tore. why the cholesterol-lowering drug just got a whole lot cheaper. the tradition continues. it is shaping up to be a big night on the eclipse and our annie yu has your back stage pass this morning. good morning, annie. reporter: good morning, steve and allison. that's right, it's a very exciting time in the nation's capital as we gear up to kick off the 89th national christmas tree lighting. it is magnificent. take a look. it's not lit yet, but this is the first lighting of a new national christmas tree, so

we're going to find out all about it coming up in just a bit. the droid razr by motorola.

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. a health alert for users of the top-selling drug lipitor is the most top-selling drug ever. the second generic form of itor will soon be sold in the united states. the food and drug administration has given an indian company approval to market the drug which helps manage cholesterol. last night's decision came just hours after pfizer, the maker of lipitor lost u.s. patent protection. right now pfizer is producing another farm seul cal company -- pharmaceutical company in return for a share of the profits. the generic versions mean patients will likely see lower copays. steve. a disturbing new study supporting claims by dr. oz that the apple juice given to millions of kids everyday contains arsenic.

a new consumer report study now found 10% of the juices tested did have arsenic levels higher than what it allowed in water by the fda. laura evans spoke with dr. oz about these latest findings. >> well, i'm not surprised by these findings. there were other groups, smaller groups, maybe louder than us that have been looking at arsenic levels in apple juice and found them to be elevated as well. last week the fda had released its own data they'd been collecting for a few years with arsenic levels again above what we allow in drinking water. this is the last in a series of studies that have supported the argue about we need to get serious about what arsenic can do. if i could make a point, it's not the short-term problems, that's what the fda has been looking at, it's the long-term issues of cancer, developmental delays, diabetes, heart disease that accrue over many years of exposure and we take that into account, you really have to revisit how much we're allowed to tolerate in our communities. the goal would be zero. can't get there, but let's get close to it. >> so, dr. oz, given what you're just saying now and the

report that now concurs with your findings and the other dozens of reports you've talked about, will you go back again to the fda to ask for them to take another look into taking action on this? >> we've been talking to the fda continually since the show aired. we had some difficult times, obviously, early on and they were upset that we had aired the show, but i have talk today them on the phone, we've had followup dialogue. i met with the juice products association. on tomorrow's show we're actually going to have the juice association, the people who make the juice on the show talking about this. there's some questions we have to ask, they are tough questions. i know it's uncomfortable. i'm confident the fda based on our conversations will revisit that level of concern that they have tolerated for the last few years and i'm optimistic they're going to move it back in a direction. here's the question for everyone listening, would you buy money to pay apple juice with arsenic levels in higher than your drinking water? i think the answer is no. >> laura evans reporting with dr. oz. 7:27, 38 degrees out there on this thursday morning. still ahead, the grammy nominations are out. we're going to fill you in. also he went from a

political longshot to the one- time gop frontrunner. now his presidential bid up in the air we'll say for now. we are going to talk more about herman cain and what's next for him after the break. first, though, a look at "my fox half off deal," a tasty one, a dozen gourmet cupcakes from sweet times, or things in northwest d.c., that's a $30 value. some flavors to pick from, red velvet, sweet potato, okay, and sweet and sour lemon. log onto our website, click onto the my fox half off link. sweet themez. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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you saved us hundreds. what was that? the discount double check? it's when we comb through your policies and make sure that you're getting all the discounts you deserve. no, i get that part, but you guys are doing my move. the discount double check move? that's my touchdown dance. so you're a dancer? no, i'm a quarterback. oh, a quarterback. mrr. i'm a robot. mm, mm. ee, er, ee, er. get out of here. [ male announcer ] aaron rodgers got his. how about you? rodgers! discount double check! [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. lady gaga last night opening up the grammy nominations show with a version. the concert a special in l.a. featured performances by katy perry. as far as the nominations themselves, i guess you could call them winners with the nominees, right? >> sure. >> the winner with the

nominations connie at seven, adele and the foo fighters each had six. the ceremony is february 12th. both of you watch these awards shows more than i do. is this common -- >> i've never seen that. >> that is new during the last couple of years, they've managed to turn the nomination itself into a concert and a show. >> gotcha. >> smart, i guess. >> sure. >> why not? congratulationses to kanye west and adele. now the interesting thing -- i suspect she will rest her vocal cords. she had surgery. good for her. raves for that album, for both of her albums. >> so popular. let's take a look at what's going on out there. we're going to start with the current temperatures around the region. it's a cold start to the day. it is 38 degrees now in washington, 37 degrees currently in baltimore. dulles airport at 34,

winchester is at 34. ocean city at 36 degrees, and we will continue to see cooler temperatures through the course of the day today and for the next several days temperatures more seasonable. now, it is windy out there. it's breezy is what i'll say. those winds are blowing about 10 miles an hour. so gotta factor that in. it gives us wind chills this morning, a wind chill of 29 right now in d.c. is what it feels like to your skin, 29 at dulles, 25 in winchester, feels like 30 right now take a look at the satellite and radar composite. really nothing to see here, very quiet conditions, as we continue to see mostly clear skies. that's the way it will be during the course of the day today. there are some clouds off to the north and west. that takes a while to get here. in fact, not all that cloud cover will get here, but a frontal boundary will and it'll drop our temperatures briefly for a day or so. so the forecast for today looks like this, lots of sunshine, seasonal temps. our averagify for this date

will be at 52, we'll be at 53, right where we should be. another clear night tonight, cold, in the 30s. many of you will be at the freezing point or lower. for your five-day forecast, we're looking at tomorrow 7 of about 56 degrees under sunny skies, cold at night again, 30s, cooler on saturday, 51. sunday not bad, 57 degrees, mild. monday chance of some rain showers moving their way in. that's a look at what's happening with the weather. now let's go to julie wright and get an update on traffic. hey, julie. reporter: tony, we'll take you out to the west where a very serious extent has occurred. that's where we find the crew in sky fox. it happened on the inbound stretch of the dulles greenway after shreve mill road over the sickland road overpass. we're told four to five vehicles were involve inside this wreck, one of which is overturned on the road off to the right. there was another vehicle off the road to the median. a helicopter has been called to the scene. we know of one person who has been transported away. we're also being told from authorities that four to five people were injured and some

have suffered life-threatening injuries. we'll keep you posted with more details as they become available. but right now for your outbound commute on the eastbound stretch of the dulles greenway, it is now starting to stack up for about a mile before shreve mill road. battlefield parkway could save you some time if you want to use that as an alternate route. the eastbound stretch of the roadway heading up towards the accident scene, we can see from sky fox that some traffic is squeezing by using the left shoulder only. we don't know if they're trying to alleviate some of the traffic backed up or not. there is some traffic squeezing by using the left shoulder. to avoid this delay, bail out early. we have some traffic squeezing by to the right. quickly we'll take it back inside, 66, a tough commute here as well, still big delays coming through manassas and centreville, heading eastbound towards the capitol building. all lanes are open. if you are making that trip along the outer loop, you're going to slow at dandoran street here at telegraph road. there all lanes are open. traveling northbound on 395, you're slowing from the beltway

to duke street. pentagon trying to get across the 14th street bridge, the problem once you cross over to the freeway, the southwest freeway, a stalled car at sixth street tying up the left lane. that's a check of your fox 5 on time traffic. after weeks of sexual harassment allegations and now accusations of a long-standing extra-marital affair, republican herman cain says that he will decide within a few days whether to stay in the presidential race. joining us with the latest political headlines, correspondent national journal major garrett. good to see you. welcome back to the show. let's talk about herman cain, is this pretty much, this news of the affair, is that the end of the road for herman cain or might he come out of this meeting with his family and say, you know what, i'm going to keep on pushing? >> he may continue to stay in this campaign. i doubt it. most reporters i know doubt it, but here is a 99.99% certainty, he's not going to be the nominee. i don't expect him to last through the new hampshire primaries, even if he stays in

this race. all of the atmospherics around the cane campaign are nearly catastrophic. yes, he has decent crowd size, but in addition to all the things you mentioned, he is simply -- he has simply not proven capable of dealing with foreign policy, national security questions with any level of credibility and i think that is the essence of his drop in the polls. republican primary voters no longer see him as a serious potential nominee to run against president obama which they did about two months ago. >> just on the other side of this because goodness knows we've all report ond these scandals, you've covered these scandals. what's worse, this affair perhaps or the harassment allegations? >> well, the harassment allegations are contested and contestable. the statements from his attorney are very carefully drawn which leads you to the conclusion that something happened, and in iowa and south carolina for values voters, voters within the iowa caucuses and the south carolina primary who care about values and the

connection between political statements and personal morality or personal consistency and behavior, that's a big deal breaker, and so that's a big problem for herman cain. >>late talk now about newt gingrich leading the pack at least in buzz. how good are his chances and are the stumbling blocks, the road blocks too great for him to really go all the way? >> let's not kid ourselves. newt gingrich is a serious competitor for this nomination now. he leads in iowa, he is gaining rapidly on mitt romney in new hampshire. he's polling well in south carolina and the latest poll yesterday had him up by 25 points in florida. if newt gingrich wins three of those four contests i've just mentioned, mitt romney is in very serious trouble. i would say this campaign is reaching a very interesting strategic tipping point. the romney campaign had a plan to knock rick perry out as soon as he got in the race and they executed it very effectively. they need to decide now if they're going to try to knock gingrich out and develop a plan and execute it in the next three or four weeks because if

they don't and gingrich outperforms in iowa and come noose new hampshire with a huge degree of momentum and beats romney there, wins the first two, i would say romney's campaign is effectively over. >> what do you think has been the x-factor in sort of shooting gingrich to this new level of popularity? >> well, it had always been a notion that republicans really didn't like mitt romney. it's now not so much a notion, it's becoming an operational factor in the race. voters are saying in the republican primaries and caucuses we're not really comfortable with romney and we want to find a real alternative. after checking out perry, bachmann, cane, now they seem to be cova lessing around ging refrigerator z rich. many things could go wrong. gingrich could be harassable as he's shown to be, he could be overreached but he's disciplined as of late and that discipline is allowing people to feel more comfortable with him and seeing him as a more possible nominee. if he continues that, romney better do something about it. >> how about his track record in the past, how big of a deal is that? >> look, when this campaign began and he was asked about

his infidelities before, newt gingrich game up with the oddest formulation and excuse i've ever heard in american politics, i was so passionate about america i cheated on my wife. well, that one didn't fly for obvious reasons. if he goes back down that road again, it will be nearly catastrophic. what he has said since then is i have made mistakes, i'm fully accountable, i regret them. and if he stays in that scwhroan, he can at -- zone, he can at least have a chance of getting by. but i would say in this whole values question, don't forget ron paul in iowa, don't forget michele bachmann and rick santorum because they will in the closing weeks campaign very aggressively on this campaign of values, culture and consistency and they may find an opening with the problems herman cain is having now and those that newt gingrich had in the past. >> major garrett national correspondent with national journal and we dare say a friend of the show. hope to see you again. >> you too. >> steve, over to you. >> allison, thanks so much. still ahead arks utah man

recovering after a -- well, a bizarre incident. he was shot but it's who pulled the trigger that has everybody talking. you'll want to stick around to hear what happened. also another holiday troop greeting this morning. >> hello, this is allisa jackson calling from rose barracks in vilsack, germany to my mom and cousins living in the washington d.c. area, happy holidays and know that i would much rather be there than here, but know that i love you. six months and counting. i'll see you soon.  i take my multi-vitamin

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who i totally trust. omega-3 supports not only my heart, but my brain and my eyes too. probiotics helps with my digestive balance and my immune function. and fruit & veggie has antioxidant properties. new pronutrients from centrum helps make nutrition possible. checking headlines this morning, the reverend billy

graham in stable condition in a north carolina hospital this morning awaiting word from doctors on whether he has pneumonia. graham was admitted yesterday suffering from congestion, a cough and a slight fever. billy graham is 93 years old. steve, would you read this next story for me, please? >> really? >> i can't read it, steve. just read it. >> okay. here's the deal, a guy goes hunting, hunting birds out in utah and he was shot in the buttocks. he was shot by his dog. yep. the dog pulled the trigger. police say the 46-year-old man climbed out of a boat to move some decoys in the water, but he left his .12-gauge shotgun across the bow of the boat. the retriever saw the opportunity, jumped at it, stepped on the gun, causing it to fire, shooting the man in the buttocks with the pellets from about 10 feet away. he was not seriously hurt, in part because he was wearing waders. >> he's a good boy. >> what a story they have to tell. here's the worst part, it wasn't his dog, it was his

buddy's dog. >> he's still cute. >> the dog was, like, where's my buddy. you know how dogs -- >> no time for chat. >> i'm sorry. let's go to our temperatures. >> i didn't think i could get through that story. >> you can't put a story like that before the weather. 38 degrees in washington, 37 in baltimore, 34 in manassas. now let's pull this out a little bit and you can see that across the eastern u.s., yep, the cold air is here. check it out, 23 right now in columbus, ohio, pittsburgh, pennsylvania 29, beckly, west virginia 24. surface map, we'll show you what's going to happen today, high pressure, that's dominating. it means quiet conditions, calm conditions, lots of sunshine today. that cold front doesn't get through here until tomorrow and it brings some cooler air with it. five-day forecast look for a high today of about 53 degrees under sunny skies, a couple of clouds tomorrow, 56. some clouds saturday, 51. but i mentioned clouds, good amount of sunshine all these days. sunday for the redskins game looks great as far as your weather goes. there you go, that's the latest on the forecast. >> good deal.

>> thanks, tony. let's check in with julie and get a check of traffic. hi, july rhode island. there were reporter: there's one dog tonight that is not eating kibl any more. >> keep an eye on beagle bailey. reporter: i know. i'm worried. i'm hoping he's in his bed sleeping. i might have to share that pumpkin pie with him tomorrow, tony. all right, guys, it's been very busy out here on the roads. the outer loop of the beltway tied up from van dorn street, telegraph road, the wreck now, again, there were at least four to five cars involved in this crash, at the top left of your screen, turned down the embankment there. it appears there was some kind of spill involve inside this crash as well because we do have absorbent spilled out onto the highway. traffic coming eastbound can squeeze by using the left shoulder only. the medivac chopper has come

and gone. we're told four to five people were injury inside this scene and some, unfortunately, are suffering life-threatening injuries. we will keep you posted with more details. een on the dulles greenway, the left shoulder gets by. bail out at battlefield parkway or shreve mill road. that's a check of your fox 5 on time traffic. we need some help decorating our fox 5 christmas tree. we cover it with ornaments every year that you send in and we also get some help from local charities that we're going to feature everyday for the next couple of weeks, and then we donate the whole deal, the tree and all the ornaments to a worthy group here in the d.c. region. here's the address if you'd like to help us out and send an ornament to us at the fox5christmastree, -- fox 5 christmas tree, wttg, 5151 wisconsin avenue northwest. washington d.c. we can't return the ornament, but we'll make sure it gets to a worthy cause or charity so otherses can enjoy it. it's the district's turn to celebrate the holidays with the flip of a switch.

>> our annie lu is gearing up for the national christmas tree lighting. good morning, annie. reporter: good morning, allison and steve. things are definitely under way for the big ceremony tonight. as you can see they're still making the preps and getting ready for the big ceremony tonight. and coming up we're talking to someone who's heavily involved with the event. so you definitely want to stick around with us on fox 5 morning news. 

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. it's been almost 90 years, the 89th annual national christmas tree lighting will take place tonight. >> annie yu this morning down on the ellipse giving us a preview this morning. good morning, annie. reporter: good morning, steve and allison. i am very, very cold. so here's my advice to you if you want to come out here, bundle up. don't forget your gloves. i forgot my hat, obviously, but

your scarf. it is very cold. you're right, this is the 89th annual of the national christmas tree lighting and it's amazing out here. i mean, it is beautiful, the sun is rising, they're getting ready for the big ceremony taking place around 5:00 today. there is a preshow at 4:30. and this year you can also watch it online which we'll link to our site. but, you know, all of this wouldn't happen without the help of the national park foundation and national park service and that is why our good friend neil mulholland, president and ceo of the national park foundation joins us. good morning, happy holidays. >> happy holidays. good morning to you, annie, as well. >> thank you very much. neil, if you could just tell us, we're all very excited about the lighting ceremony here at the ellipse, but it takes place at presidents park. can you tell us the significance behind that? >> presidents park is one of our 397 national parks. it has a history that dates back to 1923 when president calvin coolidge walked down from the white house to light the very first christmas tree with a group of citizens from

washington d.c. and sang christmas carols. so here we are 89 years later carrying the tradition forward. reporter: and for those of us who aren't familiar with your foundation, can you talk a little bit about that? >> yes. the national park foundation, we're the nonprofit foundation to support the national park service, we support educational initiatives for the park service, restoration projects, youth engagement proximate engagement projects and we do events like this like the lighting of the christmas tree and the easter eggs in the spring. reporter: of course the big star tonight is the big tree itself and it is just beautiful, amazing. it's not even lit yet and it's just awesome and decked out in l.e.d. lights. that's something you guys have been doing, i think it's the fifth year in a row. talk a little bit about that. >> one of the things we tried to do here is set examples and we try to make this tree green and green every year, and through energy efficiency and through our partnership with g.e. lighting, we have 65 sets of l.e.d. lights on here that make the

tree both very energy efficient and green. reporter: and, of course, this tree is new this year, the last tree was toppled by strong winds, can you tell us about this tree? >> yes. it's a new tree, we call it our marathon tree because it's 26.1 feet tall. reporter: it's a lot shorter. >> it's a lot shorter. it's a living tree, so it will grow every year. yay for that. it's a colorado blue spruce, so it continues the tradition of a colorado blue spruce being the christmas tree. reporter: can you tell us a little bit about the show, what people can expect to see if they come out here tonight? >> we have an incredible show tonight. it's going to be hosted by carson daley, we have a broad spectrum of talent from rodney atkins, to big time rush, marsha brody,eliot goulding. and for many kermit the frog will be here tonight. in addition to that we have our tony-award winning santa claus and the greatest feature of the show is we have the obama family, the president and the

first family will be here to light the tree. reporter: excellent. thank you very much, neil. so if you plan to head on out today, log onto our website, myfoxdc.com. we have a link to theirs where you can find all the information. again, bundle up, it's going to be very, very cold tonight. it's already cold now, and coming up in the next hour we have a very special guest, kermit the frog will be joining us live out here. rehearsal is going on now, they're doing mic checks and just doing a rehearsal, as you can see, so stay with us. back to you, allison and steve. 7:56 right now. coming up next hour, in light of the sex abuse scandal at penn state, advice on how to protect your child from a sexual predator. also coming up after 8:00, steve, tis the season to deliver holiday cheer. >> oh, it's going to be busy. >> i love this time of year. the busiest mailing day of the year just weeks away now, and despite recent budget woas, the u.s. postal service says they are ready. we'll talk to the postmaster general coming up in about 30 minutes.

first, though, a reminder about our campaign, it's tomorrow, you can stop by any one of these four locations, bring your nonperrishable food items starting at 6:00 a.m. and the truck also be there all the way up until 11:00 tomorrow night, all to benefit the capital-area food banks. hope to see you there. 7:56. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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in fast-acting effervescent formula, and new super-convenient chewable tablets! five current and former students are suing howard university claiming sexual assault and harass thement. we are live on the howard campus this hour. the future of herman cain's political campaign is in jeopardy now. the sex abuse scandal at penn penn state school have prompted many parents to wonder what can i do to protect my child from sexual predators. the fox medical team shared some answers. we'll have that coming up as well. good morning, thanks for being with us this thursday morning. not a bad start to the day out there, although, annie, you were saying how cold it was. i think it's going to warm up.

>> it sounds like the sun is going to come out later, so hopefully it'll warm up later. >> yeah, the sun is out now. we'll have a cool day but a seasonal day. highs in the low 50s, not bad at all. >> not bad. >> i think for the tree lighting around 50 degrees or so. not bad at all. >> for december 1st especially. >> cold start to the day, that's for sure. take a look at the temperatures out there as we see most of the region is in the 30s. some of you even in the 20s here and there. and it certainly feels cold because of the breeze that we've got. 39 degrees is the current temp here in washington. let's see. we've got 37 at dulles airport, 41 at quantico, 41 in cambridge, maryland, martensburg, west virginia is at 34 degrees and winchester at 34 degrees, we're seeing some of these temperatures update as we speak. here's a look at the sentinel satellite. one of the reasons for cold temperatures this morning, no cloud cover whatsoever. you may see one or two clouds out there, but for the most part skies are clear, bright sunshine this morning, might slow down your commute a little bit and we'll see plenty of sun

today. it'll be cool, breezy this morning, but the winds do die down. look for highs in the low 50s. we'll have more details on that forecast coming up in just a little bit. >> we look forward to it. tony, thank you. let's check in with julie and get a look at traffic. a busy morning, unfortunately, july rhode island julie. unfortunately. reporter: four to five people injured on the inbound stretch of the dulles greenway after shreve mill road after the sickland overpass. that's where we find the crew in sky fox. there has been a change in the traffic pattern at the scene. we are now finding the left shoulder and left lane are able to get by as you guys travel inbound this morning on the dulles freeway. that will be a change. the helicopter has come and gone. there were at least five cars involve inside this crash. as i mentioned earlier, four to five people suffering injuries, some, unfortunately, life- threatening injuries. again, if you are traveling inbound on the dulles freeway, you will get by this time, single file to the left. a few moments ago we did have two left lanes getting by. there was a spill involve inside this incident. that's why we have the absorbent on the highway. they are continue to go clean this up. if you are coming eastbound on

the dulles greenway, may want to bail out at battlefield parkway or the shreve mill road. heading outbound towards ashford, the lanes are open. quick peek at what else is going on. westbound on 66, an unusual delay here traveling towards the beltway. accident activity there has traffic squeezing by to the left. so big delays right now westbound on 66 from before route 7 headed back out towards 495. accident activity reported southbound on the gw parkway south of 123 and then 270 still on the brakes leaving rockville headed for the split. that's a check of your fox 5 on time traffic. >> julie, thank you. our top story this thursday morning, a group of students is suing howard university. now, they claim a school employee had a pattern of sexually assaulting and harassing them and that the university did nothing to stop it. fox 5's stacy cohang is live in northwest now with the details this. stacy, good morning. reporter: good morning to you again, allison. this is a group of a -- this is a story about a group of female

students that say they tried to get the university to take action against this man and that the university did nothing. that is something, i will tell you, that howard university disputes. now, the man's name is george bright abo and he ran a work/study program here at howard university. some female students say that they took part in that work/study program and that he used it as an opportunity to lure them into situations where they were alone with him, where he sexually harassed them, sexually assaulted them, they claim that they went to the university officials and complained and asked for help but that the school did not take action. >> howard university, they had a duty to protect the students. in this case they did not. >> it is absolutely regrettable they continue to let this man work there, and we have made a point that we will not allow this to happen to future howard university students. >> shocked at the institution, at howard as a whole at how everybody can know what's going

on and yet nobody is doing anything about it. reporter: now, the students did take their complaint to the metropolitan police department and bright abo was charged with a misdemeanor sexual assault charge and given 60 days probation. howard university says they did act and that as soon as the allegations came to light that they contacted the police department and that bright abo was fired. nonetheless, this group of students yesterday filed a civil suit against the university. reporting live, i'm stacey cohang, back to you. >> stacey, thank you. penn state university students vented some frustration regarding the jerry sandusky sex scandal during a town hall forum. the president and students fielded questions from the audience. the new president vowed to raise the ethics to a new level. it brought up concern of many future graduates. >> a lot of us are worried right now about how that's going to reflect how we go out into the job market because our degree now comes tacked with this. >> i can assure you that

universally we've been told that's not the case. they're not only not retreating from their interest in penn state students, many of them are reemphasizing it. >> the first lawsuit has now been file inside connection with the penn state scandal, come frg a 29-year-old man who claims jerry sandusky sexually abused him more than 100 times over a four-year period. that man is not, however, among the eight victims mention inside a grand jury report. a fourth alleged victim is surfacing accusations against former syracuse basketball coach bernie fine. the molestation victim's advocate says the man's family contacted him last week. that family has also reportedly talked with the district attorney's office and police. one of the accusers said the abuse started back in 1984 and ended in 1990. he said he tried to talk to police in 2002 and they told him at that point it was too late to prosecute. a man accused in a string of carjackings at a wheaton shopping center is expected to be in court today for a bond hearing. police say that henry sanders

carjacked three older men at knifepoint in the past week and made them take money out of atms. a bank surveillance camera captured a fourth younger victim who said he was kidnapped outside the high atsville home depot and forced to take money out of an atm. >> he said take out the money otherwise i'm going to kill you. i put in the check number for my card and finally, he said give me my money. i prayed. >> that man eventually took off running, was able to get away. again, sanders is facing charges in both montgomery and prince george's county. police in maryland also arrested a woman wanted for a series of bank robberies and carjackings. officials -- officers, i should say, say that they caught stephanie schaub after she tried to rob a bb and t bank in mclean yesterday and that she led police on a chase along the beltway into bethesda where she crashed. schaub was already wanted for two carjackings and two bank

robberies. gary giordano, the prime suspect in the disappearance of robyn gardner in aruba is speaking out this morning. giordano stopped in miami last night after aruba let him leave. this morning he's in new york. he just told abc news that contrary to reports he was not drinking the day that robyn gardner disappeared. he also said they were not snorkeling at a remote location, but 100 yards from a snorkeling store. well, he went from a political longshot to the one- time gop frontrunner, the one to beat. now a slew of scandals around presidential contender herman cain, leaving his presidential bid up in the air. fox new's juliet hudy with more now. reporter: in recent weeks herman cain's campaign has been hit with a string of accusations relating to alleged sexual harassment. most recently from ginger white, a georgia woman who claims the two have had a 13- year extra-marital affair. cane says the allegations are affecting his family.

>> i have denied these charges, but the fact that sometimes they are distorted, it hurts my family when they are twisted sometimes in the media, so i have got to make that my number one priority. reporter: in an interview with fox's only neil cavuto, cain says he was acting ago a friend to ms. white. >> she was someone i considered a friend, although apparently she's not, that i was helping because she was having financial if troubles. reporter: while campaigning in new hampshire, cain fights back against reporters who he says are making false accusations about how he's handling the scandal. >> i have discussed this with my wife many times since monday. you are making an accusation, quite frankly, that is not true. now, i said -- i said face to face -- you going to be contentious but you want me to answer your question? reporter: the embattled candidate suggests the allegations are just a tactic to have him drop out of the race. >> if your opposition is determinedbring you down, they will stop at nothing.

notice all of the attacks that have been on me for the past few weeks. the only thing that they are trying to do to bring me down or knock me out of the race is character assassination. reporter: cain says he will make a decision about his presidential bid after speaking to his wife in person. he expects to do that on friday. in new york, juliet huddy, fox news. just two days after getting fired from the washington capitals, former cap's coach bruce budreaux has a new job. he heads to california to take over the ducks. the caps let him go late on monday night. last night the ducks hired him after firing their coach, budreax is expected to run practice today out in orange county. he's already out there. and then he will be formally introduced. he has to get some work, and then they announce him. this time of year, heading to southern california, no complaints. 10 minutes after the hour,

38 degrees on this thursday morning here in d.c., not in orange county, right? a new disturbing study supporting claims by dr. oz that the apple juice given to millions of kids everyday does contain arsenic. more on that when we come back. then it is world aids day today. coming up cheryl lee ralph, one of the original dream girls is going to join us with more on her efforts to raise awareness. stay with us for that. it's 10 minutes past the hour. 

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8:13. it's 39 degrees on a thursday morning. let's take a look at some of the stories making headlines this morning. two separate attacks killed 17 people in iraq this morning. the marketplace car bombing and assault on the home of an anti- al-qaida militia leader came on the third day of a visit by vice president joe biden. a congressional committee now launching an investigation into the mishandling of remains at dover air force base. the chairman of the house oversight committee is asking pentagon chief leon panetta for records from the mortuary going back to 2002. in montgomery county, a vote on a proposed curfew is

due later this morning by the public safety commission and then next week a final vote is expected by the full council. again, that's next week. officials will discuss banning loitering in front of building entrances at this morning's session starting at 9:30. the sexual abuse scandal at penn state has proomented many parents to wonder -- prompted many parents to wonder what do i need to do to protect my child from a sexual predator. our fox team found answers for us. good morning, dina. reporter: good morning, steve. boy, this is a conversation that nobody really wants to think about, but we feel that it's important to talk about, and what's happening in the news sort of gives us a launching pad to get into this awkward conversation. the first thing that parents need to know is how often this happens and how rare it is for kids to actually admit that it's happening. 90% of the time kids will live with this secret forever, only one in 10 will ever admit that they are a victim of sexual abuse, so it's very important to understand. they feel so shamed by this

they don't want to sthair this with anybody. recently i visited a center that sees hundreds of kids that are victims of sexual abuse every year and how often this happens is really sobering. >> actually, abused before they reach their 18th birthday, and if you do the math on that, in any classroom there are a classroom of 20 kids, there are probably four kids then in that classroom that are at risk for abuse. reporter: yeah, so one in four girls, one in six boys. let's talk about what you do. first of all, you have an age- appropriate conversation and only you can decide what that is with your own child. but talk about a message of empowerment, that is you say to your child, your body is yours, you can tell anybody not to touch you at any time. it belongs to you. the other thing, you have to convince a child is that their bathing suit area or however you want to phrase it, but it's

very simple to say your bathing suit area is private. 40% of the time a family member is the abuser, almost all the time the child knows the abuser, so you have to make sure a child understands this is not stranger danger, we're talking about people you may know, and most important is even if they promise not to tell anybody, even if it's a secret, they need to share this information with mom or dad or somebody that they trust. and, steve, if a child confides in an adult, it's important to remember that you say i believe you, i will help you and remember that kids very rarely lie about sexual abuse. >> need to make sure that kids understand that the parents are just as serious about it to get the kids to make sure that they can confide in that parent. yeah, disturbing topic, but things need to be done so we're aware of it. let's talk about something else briefly. we've heard a lot about the apple juice situation recently and the possibility of arsenic in apple juice. now we have new developments. reporter: yeah.

boy, this leaves us scratching our head as well because as parents we don't know what to do. it all started with dr. oz a couple months ago, became very public, sort of a public scare when he found arsenic levels in very popular brands of apple juice. the problem with apple juice is that so many kids drink it everyday. so consumer reports just came out and confirmed what dr. oz found, arsenic levels in apple juice, they found it in grape juice too, they did some samples, it wasn't in every brand, but the fda has also done studies. here's the problem, no one can seem to agree on what level of drug dug is safe in the -- arsenic is safe in the apple juice, so what do you do at the end of the day or at the beginning of the day when it comes to giving your kid apple juice? i talked to an environmental medicine expert and the advice is just be careful. do small amounts and be aware that the risk is there and we need more data on what this arsenic can do to our small children. >> we're probably going to get that soon. might take a while, though, but good advice neent.

deena centofanti, our fox medical team. time to check on our weather again and a little warmup factor too. >> we could use that today, tony, because there's a little chill out there. >> sure could. time for the "my first 5 photo of the day." check her out. this is tetyana. she's got a little attitude there. getting ready to celebrate a birthday on monday. >> looks like she's going to be 3 maybe. >> something like that. they didn't include her age, but she looks like she's ready for it. happy birthday to you in advance, tatiana. >> happy birthday, sweety. >> very cute picture. if you want to send us your child's picture, go to myfoxdc.com and click on mornings. here we go, temperatures across the region, we are at 39 degrees right now, just gone up a little bit. cincinnati, ohio 28 degrees there, 28 in chicago, buffalo 23. down to our south temps in the 20s and 30s, so a cold start to the day across most of the nation, as we check out these

temperatures. there are some 50s down to our south, but it's nine degrees right now in international falls, minnesota. here's the national map with satellite and radar. now, here we've got quiet conditions, lots of sunshine today. if you're going to the west coast, there are wind advisories in effect from san francisco down to san diego, winds gusting up to 70 miles an hour in some of the canyons there. there's also some rainfall. five-day forecast, look for a high today of about 53 degrees under sunny skies. next several days we have seasonable temperatures, good amount of sunshine until monday, clouds and rain are possible. that's the latest on the weather. we'll have more coming up with tucker barnes in just a little bit. allison, back to you. >> thanks so much, tony. cheryl lee rolfs starred in the original broadway cast of "dream girls" of the 1980s and she has been a strong advocate for hiv aids education since that time. she's the director of the div foundation which raises awareness about hiv aids.

she joins us now on world aids day to talk about why it is still vital to get the world out. she's also going to tell us about a new dance production. good morning to you, good to see you. >> great to be seen, allison. thank you. >> let me just ask you, every time that we've seen you, you just have that beautiful smile on your face and you're ready to talk about the fight to annihilate this disease. how have you stayed so energized, let me just ask you that, after all these years? >> thank you so much for asking me. i will never forget december 20th, 1981 when i made my broadway debut, you know, in the midst of the best and the worst times in my whole life, the best, of course, was being on broadway in this hit musical "dream girls," but the worst at the same time was when my friends just started dropping dead of a mysterious disease, just up and down broadway. this disease was just blowing out the light of energy, creativity one human being at a

time like candles on a birthday cake. and when i saw my friends die under stigma, shame and silence, i said we've got to do something. we've got to do something for them, we've got to be better human beings, and all these 30 years later people are still dying under stigma, shame and silence. i remain energized that we must continue to fight the good fight against a disease that is 100% preventible and that's why i'm committed to helping people fight hiv their way. >> you've really seen, sadly, the evolution, if you will, just for lack of a better term, of this disease. it has gone from being what they used to call gay man's cancer to now being so pervasive, especially in the african-american community. how do you feel watching this happen? >> you know, for me it's very, very difficult because, like i say, this is a disease that is 100% preventible. it does not have to happen.

you know, but i think in so many ways the disease is now testing our humanity. who do we love, who do we not love, who do we care about, who do we not care about. 30 years ago folks didn't care about gay folks getting sick. it's, like, that's those people. now here we have people of color. people are, like, well, what do we think about those people. the hard fight is going to be where it's transitioning to right now which is young people and it's everybody's child. so if our humanity is truly being tested, we better stand up because i have to ask people are you ready to beur your child, are you ready for your daughter to be barrental, not have the ability to have children, we have to stand up and fight this disease, so for me it remains hard. but as the mother of two teenagers, i'm, like, not on my watch, not on my watch. >> now, alvin allie has a project opening today produced

by bristol myers scwib. can you tell us about that? >> it's so wonderful. for us, the fight hiv your way contest invites people to take a photo. it's a photo essay contest, take a photo, write an essay, shed light on your own personal hiv-aids story and then send it in. 10 winners are chosen. this year 10 to 20 of them have been put together in a new coreo graphed piece by the dance theater company and it is called "home." it will debut tonight and i've got to tell you, this fight with the arts along with it is taking it to a whole other level. the arts remain transformitive. please visit fighthivyourway.com. because we want you to see and know more. and if you don't know where to go to get tested, visit testtogether.org, but get in there and fight hiv your way.

>> sheryl lee, ralph, you are dynamic, beautiful and dedicate inside this fight. we appreciate it. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. 8:24 right now on this thursday morning. it's december 1st already, believe it or not. if you haven't already started, you better start thinking about the holidays. up next, important deadlines you need to meet when it comes to mailing packages and holiday cards this year. and we will also be live on the ellipse where the national christmas tree will be lit later today. kermit the frog is one of the stars of the program and kermie will join us live later this very hour. stay with us. l an ordinary breakfast pastry

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it is 8:27 now. let's take a look at some of the stories making headlines this morning. the reverend billy graham hospitalized with a possible case of pneumonia. the 93-year-old evangelist is suffering from congestion, a cough, light fever. the hospital says that graham, though, was alert, smiling and waving to staff when he arrived there yesterday. the reverend was treated for pneumonia in may too. the faa promising to make changes before the christmas travel season to avoid passengers from having to endure the long delays on the tarmacs. the changes will include conference calls with airports and airlines several times a day and a hotline and web page for airports to alert both the

faa and airlines of problems on the ground. 14,000 homes in southern california without power after fierce seneca winds swept through -- santa ana winds swept through last night. the wind storm is expected to last until tomorrow. lights even went out at los angeles international airport and surrounding roads causing flight and traffic delays. winds up to 70 miles per hour. >> big time wind. >> we were just talking that this morning. >> the santa ana winds. >> you got the canyons, yeah. nothing around here, quiet conditions, but it's a little cold. >> good all green all good thing we don't have the winds here this morning, it would be real cold. >> you got that right. let's get right to it and show you the numbers and we've got a couple things going on. we do have a bit of a breeze out there and you mix that in with temperatures in the 30s and it feels like 20s. i'll show you the wind chill here in just a second. here are the temperatures and they'll be slow to warm up here as much of the area has gotten at or below freezing this morning, not so much on this

map. good morning. hey, here we are in washington, 39. 38 in baltimore. there you go, fredrick is 28 at the moment and harrisonburg in virginia is 27, but 34 in winchester and hagueerstown. cold start to the day. yesterday we hit 51, probably a degree or two better than that today. but it should feel a lot better for you. more sunshine and less wind. that'll be the big difference from yesterday. here are the wind chills. the entire area below freezing with the exception of fredricksburg when you mix in the winds which are generally out of the north and west, 10 to 15. they will lighten up this afternoon. so the winds will be with us this morning, but later today things should gradually get more comfortable. here's the sat/rad. here is the quiet weather pattern. we're doing it all over again. high pressure building in and will deliver a couple of beautiful days. cool this afternoon, highs in the low 50s, cold tonight and we'll do it all over again tomorrow. cold front, weak one out towards chicago will get in here friday night and early saturday, brings us a little bit of cloud cover, but we're not expecting any rain and some cooler temperatures behind it.

there's your five day, 53, 56 tomorrow, i mentioned the cold front there friday night, highs on saturday 51, but we should be dry this weekend. redskins game looks fantastic, mid-50s sunday afternoon, maybe a shower on monday. that's a look at weather. allison and steve, i'll toss it back to you at the desk. >> tucker, thank you very much. believe it or not, it is already december, today being december 1st, of course, and more than 16 billion cards, letters and packages will be sent throughout this holiday season. the postal service estimates it will process some 30 million pounds of packages just sent to military bases alone around the world. very busy time of year and we want to go to the top and when we say to the top, straight to the top to see what's happening. joining us from postal headquarters, the postmaster general patrick donoho. >> thanks for having me. >> you can put it better than we can about how much traffic you expect to get through the postal service this holiday.

>> well, like i say, we're going to deliver about 16 1/2 billion pieces of mail, our heaviest day will be december 20th, about 800 million pieces alone that day. so our people do a great job, they're ready to go. the key thing is that you get your mail into our system as quickly as possible. you mentioned sending mail over to the troops, iraq, afghanistan, get it in now, no later than the 10th and we'll make sure we get that delivered. from a standpoint of mail across the country in the u.s., december 20th for first-class mail, priority mail, that's our two to three-day package product, december 21st. and if you are a procrastinator december 23rd for express mail and we do deliver express mail on christmas. >> that's really putting it off to the last minute. important to note the deadline for the troops overseas, you want to get that in as soon as possible. let me ask you, especially for the young ones out there, you want to get the postmark from

the north pole, is that still a possibility this year? >> absolutely. we will postmark from the north pole. if you want to do that, please go to usps.com, that's our website, all the instructions are there. you can send as many letters as you want up there to the north pole, we'll get that postmarked for you. >> let me ask you in general terms because this is the time of year we talk a lot about the postal service and how busy you are. we know it's busy year round, but unfortunately we hear talk about perhaps not as busy as in the past. i know you wanted to set the record straight about what's happening with the postal service. are you seeing a decline in the mailing and first-class shipping? >> the shipping is growing. we grew last year 5% on our priority mail, 15% on the last mile of what we call parcel select and that's where we team up with u.p.s. and fed ex, , a lot of the e- commence, our advertising mail, standard mail has been growing. where we're hurting is first- class mail. people pay bills online, we know that. that's why we've got to make

some changes, we take no tax money, we're 100% self- sufficient, so we've got to do what any other business would do and that's tighten the belt and that's why we're making some suggestions for change. >> i know those suggestions go to congress. here's the million dollar question or in your case, the postal service, the multi- billion dollar question, what happens, what do you do now to make sure you stay afloat financially? i know you're looking at technology trends in the future. is there anything you can enlighten us on? >> sure. we've got a plan to take $20 billion in expense out of the organization. that's what we have to do to get back on firm footing and to be profitable. a lot of that we're going to do on our own, we're working through those things now. we do need congress' help on moving from six day to five day. we're working with them. i think we'll see that take place in the next year or so and that'll help us to get back in good financial state. >> i know you're looking for help from congress, but if you can successfully take $20 billion out and still balance it, you might be able to help congress in some of their dealings as well. you might have a good

partnership in the future. >> thanks, steve. >> thanks so much. great talking to you, postmaster general. allison. >> steve, thank you. more startling numbers about poverty in the d.c. area and how it is hurting our children. the census bureau says last year more than 30% of school- aged children in the district lived in poverty. in montgomery county it was 9%. both areas saw increases. the washington examiner says d.c. is one of 73 cities in the nation to pass the 30% mark. you can help out a little bit. you can help feed the less fortunate with fox 5's 10th annual stuff a truck. it's tomorrow at the giant food locations on your screen. drop off your nonperrishable food items to us, the trucks from 6:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night. it's all for the capital area food bank. 35 minutes past the hour now. do you have an overdue library book, perhaps one you forgot about, you didn't want to take it back because you were worried about what happened or a hefty fine perhaps?

we'll tell you how to return that without paying the fine coming up. >> that's nice. also nice, a look at today's "my fox half off deal." $15 gets you a dozen gourmet cupcakes from sweet themez in northwest d.c. that's a $30 value. pick from happy birthday vanilla, maybe something different like sweet potato cupcakes, red velvet is there too. go to myfoxdc.com and look for that on the right side of the page. as we go to break, here's another holiday greeting from overseas. >> hi, this is karen williams talking to you from germany and we'd like to send a hello and happy holidays to mom and dad hague and all of our relatives on the east coast. we love you and we miss you and hopefully we'll see you soon. bye.

just into the fox 5 newsroom, a sign the job market remains weak. the number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose for the second straight week. the labor department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose 6,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 402000. if you are one of the many still looking for work, don't forget to check out our job shop and our job of the day is at georgetown university hospital. the hospital is looking for a patient registration associate in its foot and hand center. for more on this job and many others, go to myfoxdc.com and check on the jobs tab at the top of the home page. it worked for the department of tax and revenue and the dct. now an amnesty program being launched itself. it'll run from december 5th through february 5th. the library will forgive fines on any overdue lost damaged books and other materials. it is 8:40 now on this thursday morning. coming up, the new national

christmas tree will be illuminated for the first time tonight. >> illuminated. does that mean lit? >> something like that. >> and there will be all kinds of big names on hand. annie yu is hanging out with one of them. annie, good morning. reporter: good morning, steve and allison. i haven't seen kermit the frog just yet, but i know he's inside santa's workshop over there. guess what. i just saw big time rush rehearsing and they sound amazing. they totally put us in the christmas spirit. everything is just gearing up for this kickoff tonight. and coming up we are going to sit down with kermit the frog to talk about his latest movie, but also his role in all of this. back to you.  to make a commitment is to see things through. confident that no matter what the obstacles we can build something better, together.

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. welcome back. it's time to say good morning to our fan of the day. facebook fan of the day. it is janna gray from fredricksburg, virginia. she says that she can't start her morning without us. if you want to be tomorrow's fan of the day, find us on facebook by searching for fox 5 morning news, no spaces between fox and the number 5 and post a

comment under jana's photo. i hope it's jana. if it is not, i apologize. we love you. sorry about that. it was a big night for the music business. >> grammy nominations were announced last night and anymore that means a big show in itself. the night's leader with the most nominations, kanye west, nominated for seven grammies including song of the year for all of the lights. adele nominated for six grammies, including album of the year for "21" and record and song of the year for "rolling in the deep." and the foo fighters and breuno mars also with six nominations. >> as far as the nominations are concerned, we couldn't be happier, and for us i think "grenade" is our trophy song. we've been fortunate to work with a lot of artists but i think i can speak for all of us, i feel like we did something with that song.

>> other multiple nominees, lady gaga, lil wayne and scrillics who landed a bid among best new artist. >> i love that show. >> grammies coming up in february i believe. it is 8:45 right now on this thursday morning. up next we'll go back to the ellipse. >> annie yu goes one on with kermit the frog when we come back. stay with us. how can you turn away kermie? we'll be right back.  [ male announcer ] citibank's new app for ipad makes it easy for anne to view her finances from anywhere. like gate d12 for the next three hours.

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at the ellipse with another big time name that's part of the show. annie, good morning. reporter: good morning, allison and steve. yeah. we just saw big time rush do their rehearsal. it was really exciting. they got us into the christmas spirit and, of course, another star of the show kermit the frog. >> good morning. reporter: hi, kermit. >> how are you? reporter: of course we can't forget about our good friend john consumer safety director who is actually sponsoring this event today, right? >> that's right. reporter: kermit, let me start with you. your muppet movie just came out. >> that's true. reporter: how are things going with you? >> great. there's nothing like seeing yourself on the screen. miss piggy isn't glad about that. reporter: how is miss piggy? >> she's about 40 feet wide. she's well. she's actually in nashville to do a country music special tonight. reporter: you miss her? >> she's actually in nashville to do a country music special tonight. i'm quite happy to be back in washington d.c. for the tree lighting because this is where i'm from originally. i started here in 1955.

reporter: excellent. now, what exactly is your role in all of this tonight? >> well, thanks to my friend john who's an old pal john and underwriter laboratory invited me to become part of the national tree lighting here at the white house, like in the back garden of the white house, so we're thrilled. reporter: now, i understand you're going to be doing some events, specifically a book reading. tell us about that. >> well, it's a new book, you might not have heard of it called "twas the night before christmas" and i'm doing that with the first lady. reporter: you were -- when you were called to do that, what was your reaction? >> i was thrilled. immediately i was happy to be here. i just had to figure out what floatis meant. reporter: excellent. there's also an important message we want to get out to everybody, all the boys and girls out there. tell us about that, please. >> why don't you take this one since it's your department. >> we ask everybody to commit a minute to safety, we're all busy this time of the year, water your tree everyday, check

your lights to make sure they're not broken. if you find them broken or cracked, get new ones. they're cheap enough and they're good insurance for your family and watch those candles. >> nice closeup. reporter: it's a message we seem to repeat year after year, but it's so important. >> that's true because we still see accidents happening. 12,000 people a year make hospital emergency room visits because of decoration incidents. so you can imagine it's a big deal and a lot of people get hurt, so keep in mind, commit a minute to safety, look at safetyathome.com. kermit is there. >> a decoration incident, wow, that's like piggy putting on her makeup. reporter: now, before we went on the air you also gave me a cute little way of remembering the heat for the space heaters. >> right. keep your combustibles like your bedding, draperies and furniture three feet from the heat. reporter: very good. >> three feet from the heat, you can remember that. >> that's a good one, yes. reporter: so kermit the frog is going to be out here what time? >> i don't know. sometime tonight. after dark.

reporter: kermit, you don't know your own schedule? >> i have peeps to do that for me since the movie. reporter: that's ridiculous. can i come work for you? >> sure. reporter: i love you so much. thank you for all you do. if you're interested in heading out tonight and coming out to visit kermit the frog and all the wonderful stars today, make sure you log onto our website, myfoxdc.com. we have linked your website, what was it again? >> safetyathome.com reporter: we've linked that with the nationaltree.org. >> annie, i'm so jealous. >> i wonder if kermit has a second favorite color. >> i try to get to fox whenever i can, being a fellow animal. reporter: can i get a kiss? >> now you're just rubbing it in. kill her shot. annie, thank you. oh, boy, that is a lot of fun. isn't it cute? >> uh-huh. >> he's timeless. i wonder what he uses for his skin. >> i don't know. he looks good. >> he does look good. since the '50s. it ain't easy being green. >> you're green with envy.

>> we would love for you to help us decorate the fox 5 christmas tree. it's decorated with donations and we donate the whole kit and kaboodle, all the ornaments are given to a worthy charity in the d.c. area, the address is on your screen. the iraq war veteran who built a treehouse for his sons at their falls church home has won the battle to keep that tree house. mark grapein's tree house violates some of the community's zoning regulations, the zoning board said it had to come down. he built this for sons while he was serving overseas. yesterday the board reversed its decision. now the board says the grapeins can keep the tree house as long as they take it down in five years. >> the boys will have had a treehouse growing up. i don't know too many 30 years old that are hanging out in a tree house. sooner or later the tree house

has to come down, but i wanted it to be a tree house as part of their childhood. >> he got a lot of support from as far away as new zealand after a friend started an online petition at change.org. the cars of tomorrow going green and not just literally. japanese car makers showed off their new fuel-efficient models. nissan has a new electric car that can drive itself and find parking spaces. welcome to the future. honda's new electric cars have portable batteries that are small enough for a scooter, and toyota debuted a new plug-in version of the prius. >> i think my future i would just like to be able to find a parking space in d.c. just find a spot. it's coming up on five minutes before 9:00 on this thursday morning. tony is back up after the break. he'll join allison to take you up to 10:00. much more coming up after 9:00. >> including we are putting our black history knowledge to the test, actor greg alan williams will join us in studio. he is the host of "black

college quiz," it's a tv show that is taping right at howard university today. stay with us. fox 5 morning news will be right back. 

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good morning, everybody. welcome back to fox 5 morning news. i'm allison seymour. >> i'm tony perkins. right now at 9:00, a group of students is suing howard university. the claim, sexual assault and harassment. we're live on campus with a full report. then the 2012 race for the white house, is the republican field about to get shorter? word this morning that herman cain could be just one day away from deciding whether to call it quits. so why tomorrow? and we have a little dose of history for you today. actor greg alan williams is hosting a tv show today called "the black college quiz." he'll visit us in studio with some questions for all of you

at home. we'll tell you all about that show and the taping in case you want to go to it. just a couple of ticks away from 9:00 now. we say good morning to our tucker barnes in the weather center. good morning. >> hey, allison, tony, good morning, everybody. cold temperatures to start the day. overnight falling back generally in the 30s, even some 20s in the outlying suburbs. going to be a cool start to the day and this afternoon bright sunshine and less wind. should be very comfortable with highs expected to be in the low 50s. let's kick it off with a look at the current numbers. at reagan national we're in the lower 40s, 42 the update at reagan national. 36 fredrick. hagerstown, good morning, 38 degrees so much of the area here, leonardstown still in the 30s. again, we'll be slow to warm up here. still a little bit of a breeze out of the north and west. with wind chills values it feels at or below freezing. bring along a jacket here as you head out the door. we should have a nice warmup this afternoon. check out your sentinel satellite. i don't have anything to show you, less cloudiness than yesterday. should be a bright