politically incorrect, and that sweater cost them $100 million. geoff: oh, snap! craig: yeah. [laughter] anyway, this is -- this is a lovely thing, but i've noticed that any time i put on a christmas sweater, i don't know what it is, i just look like a serial killer! [laughter] i kind of do! i put it on and i'm like -- [laughter] it's like when i'm in drag. whenever i've had to be in drag, it is the weirdest thing. on occasions in show business, you might have to be in drag. when i'm in drag, i look more like a dude when i'm in drag than i do when i'm dressed as a dude. i have the same problem with a christmas sweater. i put it on to look kind of

lovely and wholesome. i put on the sweater and i look like i want to wear you as a hat. so i'm sorry. anyway, i want to thank everyone over at nbc for this lovely gift and i would like to thank everyone at cbs. [laughter] for lovely gift that they will be getting me. [laughter] p.s., i have lowered got a sweater this year. good night, everybody.

with 40 seconds of sheer terror. >> it's a potentially deadly seatbelt problem that has choked children and trapped others. find out how to check your vehicle. plus a big day on the hill stretches big into the night. could new tax hikes hit your pocket book. and more bad weather

threatens your morning commute as snow turns to ice. no luck having a thursday night thaw. we are in for a friday morning freeze. right now salt trucks are working the roadways. flights at all three local airports have been delayed or cancelled. now the federal government will be open on time. we have a listing of school cancellations on the bottom of your screen and on our website wusa9.com. but for a look at what we can expect in the morning, let's go to tom in the 9news weather center. >> good evening. we are not looking at temperatures getting above freezing until after the noon period tomorrow, and that will only be for an hour or two. so the ground temperatures which are slow to rebound will most likely stay at freezing or below. this is the snowfall today. heavier accumulations slightly to south. we did pick up our first inch 1.5 at reagan international. just shy at dulles and just

under a half inch. now the clearing has begun. now the temperatures are falling. we're seeing teens in manassas and leesburg. we're looking at teens, 18, 19, 14 degrees in fredericksburg. these numbers will continue to fall. it's going to take time for anything to melt. it's really just going to continue to be maintenance retreatment on the roadways. now that we have this one under our belt, i've got to tell you about the potential of another storm this weekend and it could be significant. i'll have those details for you in just a few minutes. . >> all right, tom. we saw today where some people were riding on clear pavement as others faced a nightmarish commute. brittany morehouse joins us with a look at your morning commute bright and early tomorrow. brittany. >> reporter: that's right, anita. the biggest problem people may face may be in their own neighborhood. streets like this not plowed very well because you don't have

a snow friendly vehicle you're going to run into problems. good news is, if you can get past that part, you're going to see a lot of payment. tonight we saw a -- pavement. tonight we saw a lot of clear roads and we met one little guy trying to help with that. >> can i get that for me. >> reporter: not to be with old, the 4-year-old is helping clear his dad's car, even though today is his birthday. is today really your birthday? >> yes. he lift me up. santa gave me toy. >> reporter: santa also gave him super fun snow, he says, that could be fleeting. >> it would melt it. >> reporter: that's right. and then it will turn into ice. >> yep. >> reporter: that's right. ice. it certainlya concern weighing on driver's minds tonight, including adam's dad. >> tomorrow is one of my worries when it gets a little icy. >> reporter: worries that andrew has been tracking at wpob radio. he's been talking to listeners. >> a couple of things we've heard, people who fail to scrape all the snow off the cars and

people who didn't have their headlights on, especially in the middle of the day when the snow was coming down much heavier. so a lot of drivers are concerned how do you forget this. we just came out of snowstorms not that long ago and here we are with fundamental things people are forgetting. >> reporter: so fundamentals will help with tomorrow's commute. 9news now has traveled down interstates. we went down main arteries. we also hit the side streets where you live and for the most part we saw a whole lot of pavement. many, many salt crews and plow drivers like this guy who has been on the clock since. >> 5:00 in the morning? >> yes. >> reporter: whoa. that is more than 12 hours. >> i know. i have to go. >> reporter: so while he rests, others are clearly taking over. >> one snow up here. >> reporter: well, not everyone drives to work. a lot of people take the sidewalk. so don't forget if you have -- if you live in a house, it's your job to be clearing the

sidewalks. anita. >> yes, it is. brittany, thank you. flying out of town tonight? you might be in for a rude surprise. we heard about several flights cancelled. delta has cancelled 15 flights this evening due to an inability to properly deice the plane. reagan national reported 1.5 inches. dulles international and bwi have seen delays due to the weather. tonight parents might still be scratching their head over why some local school systems decided to send students home a couple of hours early, especially since early meant right when many roads were potentially at their worst and snow covered. one of those school systems prince george's county. >> the beginning of the day there was no snow. so we don't make a call based on the forecast. so we make a call based on what we see when the call -- when the precipitation is actually in place. >> meanwhile, a county school

bus carrying students collided with a county snowplow. the snowplow driver was hurt and a student on the bus had a suspected asthma attack. both went to the hospital. a lot of accidents today across northern virginia as well. and even though much of fairfax county saw only about two inches of snow, it was enough to bring traffic to a crawl on major roads. don't forget you can get your latest traffic report before you head out starting tomorrow morning at 4:25 a.m. on our 9news now morning show. it looks like we are minutes away from the final vote that will determine will we all start paying higher taxes in a couple weeks. the house is still at work right now on that plan to extend tax cuts and unemployment insurance. now, that is the house. but in the senate earlier tonight, the tea party won a big one in the ongoing budget battles. gary nurenberg is following for us. where does it stand, gary? >> reporter: anita, they're pretty close to a vote. we're watching the house floor right now. as you said, we could get a

final vote on that tax bill in just a few minutes. as the senate tried to pass a trillion dollar bill and the house worked on the deal to extend tax cuts and unemployment benefits, local tea party activists watched carefully. >> it's kind of a kick in the teeth. it's almost immoral. because they were voted out. america spoke. they said we want new leadership and now they're trying to ram stuff through the majority of americans who are against. >> reporter: but within an hour of the interview, the senate gave up on that spending bill loaded with earmarks, including more than 66 million inserted by mark warner. john mccain gave credit to the tea party. >> for the first time since i've been here, we stood up and said enough. stop. >> reporter: the senate will likely approve a short-term spending measure instead. the action later thursday night was still in the house, and that tax and unemployment compromise. what does it mean to you? >> failure to pass this legislation will be the equivalent of reaching into the

bank account of every middle class family and pulling out an additional $5,000 next year. >> reporter: conservatives hate that the bill 's extension of unemployment is not paid for. liberals hate it for other reasons. >> too much debt, too few jobs, too much risk to social security. >> reporter: after long delays, it appeared thursday night the bill is on the way to passage. what we get from the house is that could happen between 11:30 and 11:45. right now, anita, there is no money to run the government after a few days. that's likely to get fixed. the big vote coming on the tax and unemployment compromise any minute. >> a busy night on the hill. thank you for watching it for us. the next time you ride the metro, you might be stopped and have your bag checked before you get on. today metro announced random inspections of passenger bags targeting the transit agency terror plots. metro and tsa officials will

check for hazardous materials. >> we will swab the contents, the outer contents of a particular package. we will put that swab in this machine. >> metro says bags generally won't be open for inspection unless equipment suggestions there is a need for a closer look. if riders refuse a bag search, they will not be able to bring that item into the station. the program is based on similar policies in boston and new york. in tonight's health alert, an fda decision that has some breast cancer up in arms. the agency is recommending the drug avastin should no longer be used against breast cancer because it doesn't increase survival for most patients and comes with potential and significant side effects. but for those that do respond, the results can be startling. >> twice you've had the appearance of a breast cancer. twice you've gotten the avascontinue with chemotherapy.

>> yep. >> and twice the tumor has been reduced in size. >> it has been eliminated. >> they're trying to find out why only a minority of drugs respond that way. it's also approved for colon, kidney, brain and lung cancer. seconds of sheer terror. >> still ahead tonight, her son gasping. she pulled over fast. a safety belt was strangling him. >> he said i'm choking. >> it's ñúñú

a local mom has an important warning tonight. she was driving her mini-van when her son became entangled in a component of the seatbelt that wouldn't unlash. it could have been much worse. >> it was 45 seconds of sheer terror. >> reporter: driving her three young sons, anne marie suddenly heard her eight-year old utter some frightening words from the back of the mini van.

>> he said i'm choking. >> reporter: shaun had laid down to nap and somehow caught himself in one strap of a 3-point seatbelt. >> i tried to untangle it to remove it from his neck and i could not. >> reporter: he struggled to free himself. >> it was making it tighter around me. and it was making it go higher. >> reporter: anne marie pulled over and frantically started yanking at the strap. >> his face was very red. he was speaking strangely. >> reporter: the more she pulled, the more it retracted. >> it was tight enough that i couldn't fit my fingers into the -- in between the strap and his neck. >> reporter: unlike the other seat belts , this strap didn't have the orange push button release. shaun's 11-year-old brother raymond grabbed a pen and plunged it into the latch. >> raymond got the pen and undid

the latch. it was all over. >> reporter: shaun was left with strangulatin marks on his neck and burst capillaries in his eyes but has since recovered. ironically a warning label on the 3-point system only cautions against leaving the seatbelt components unlatched. there is nothing about the potential danger of having it latched. she happens to drive a 2007 honda odyssey, but a honda spokeswoman told us this situation is a known concern within the industry and goes beyond honda to many other vehicle makes and models. she did report the incident immediately to both honda and the national highway traffic safety administration. >> you can feel her panic and you can imagine what that would be like. what can a mom or dad do to prevent this. >> reporter: if a child is properly restrained in a booster seat or seatbelt it shouldn't

happen. her son may not have been wearing his seatbelt as he laid down. but even if he wasn't, she beliefs all latches on the three-point seatbelt should have some type of emergency quick release button that even a child could operate. something to think about. >> it sure is. andrea, thank you. good warning for all of us. never give up. a young man in virginia says that is the motto that got him through one of the toughest times in his life. 25-year-old kris tate. last year he was riding a motorcycle when a suspected drunk driver hit him. because of the injuries, he lost his left leg but i never gave up. now he's back on the job training clients as a fitness instructor at the fitness first gym in reston. >> i'm back. i have a lot of medal in my legs but i can still train and do whatever i need. i'm feeling a little tired. a little under the weather. i can't really make an excuse for not coming out and not getting into shape.

>> chris's friends and co-workers rally behind him and he has forgive the driver that hit him. here are winter weather snapshots from all day. it was our first significant snow. ben shackelford shared these beautiful views. this is the corner of the courthouse. and mary zahn showed us photos of her pups at play. and, of course, they're extra warm in their super preppy doggy design winter gear. wusa has also teamed up with the marine corps reserves for toys for tots. you can donate a new, unwrapped toy to any local fire station through december 22nd. you can find more information on

wusa9.com. click on toy drive and it's such a good time to do it. so many toys on sale. it doesn't cost a lot. >> and a plastic shovel could always come in handy. >> it's going to be tough? it's going to be an interesting weekend. there's still a lot of uncertainty. >> oh, that sounds great. >> we're pros, though. we can handle this. now we had all of the practice throughout the day driving. there is the potential here of a significant storm. we use computer models when we forecast and there are a variety of them. some are not all in agreement. so the next 24 hours is critical. but right now 50/50 chance is good enough for me to let you know about this, and it could be a significant snowfall. more on the timing and what we could see in just a few minutes. let's run through snow totals. we have had a trace here and there at reagan national, but that's not considered

measurable. reagan national 1.5. frederick 2.5 inches. fairfax 1.5. dulles just under an inch. eight tenths. and bwi under a half inch. brandy station comes in a big winner at 4.5. so lesser amounts towards the north and a little bit greater amounts towards the south and southwest. but we're starting to see some breaks in the cloud cover. we're going to get the temperatures really starting to fall. from around the beltway area to the east still in the 20s. and that is nice. but there are a number of teens on this map. thank goodness the winds were light. we didn't have the blowing and drifting of snow. that would have caused whiteout conditions. it would be dropping the temperatures down even faster with wind chills in the single digits, but you don't need the winds. here's the outside story, still going to be slick. it's going to take time for the road crews to continue to retreat and retreat. it's the only way we're going to see this start to go away, because the temperatures are not going to help us out. some melting with the air

temperature tomorrow slightly above freezing for maybe two or three hours. it doesn't help with the ground temperature. sunday storm back in the forecast. we talked about it throughout the week that maybe we're going to have one. computer models wanted to put you to the south now wants to bring you to the coast again. 47 is the average high. we haven't seen temperatures above average. today's snow moved off very quickly. not a major storm system. there is a little burst of energy, maybe a little mountain snow. i want to show you the weather map, because this system down to the south is fine. but we put in the future cast model. again, there are several of these computer models. and this one showing, yes, we're going to have moisture just underneath here see some of the delays. start to see the green. this is the a corn that could become the oak and it begins saturday night into sunday. a couple of storm pass. this one slides off. this is great. if we can have it off to the east of us, even wrap yorn

moisture wraparound moisture. we could be looking at six inches of snowfall -- 12 inches plus. there is some great uncertainty with this. the next 24 hours will be critical. partly cloudy by morning. digits to 23 downtown. tomorrow i think we'll have some cloud cover move in late in the day but the bigger story the temperatures remaining unseasonably cold. only the freezing mark. and that plays a critical role in sunday's possible storm. now that we're all pros, are get prepared. >> i'm hoping we go to track a and leave us alone. so the wizards can't beat the nets. >> and that is sad because the nets won eight games. they were, by far, the worst team in basketball last year and they have to beat somebody. it's been a lonely road for the wizards this year. 13 tries away from home. not a single win. we'll show you their effort in

jersey tonight. plus the skins dodging the snow to get ready for the cowboys. and the latest edition of the good, the bad and the ugly. anita is going to like this one. 9 sports next. xx

it's time for 9 sports with brett haber, the best sports in town. >> okay. 23 games in the nba season. allow me to recap all of the wizards road victories this year. [ silence ] >> okay. we're done. they had a golden opportunity to seal the deal against the nets team that is worse than they are. flip playing without john wall. it showed early. wizards getting the rebound here. but faber steals it and dunks it. wizards fell by 23 at one point. but they battled back. gilbert nice bounce pass here. would you believe that ties the game at 75 after being down 23? but then after all of that, they

skwaunder it. lopez with the floater there and the wizards now 0-13 as they fall to the nets by eight. down a level, jeff jones nau dipping into the big ten to play northwestern. off to the layup here. they get it off to john sherna. big enough for you? baseball news with jayson werth arriving, out goes josh willingham traded to the a's today. willingham jacked 16 last year. nats also resigning pitcher chen wang for a million bucks. this sunday will be a meeting between the redskins and cowboys and normally we would make a big fuss about that. when the skins are 5-8 and the cowboys 4-9, it doesn't exactly deserve a fuss. still the cowboys probably have a bitter taste in their mouths from the last second loss to the skins in week one.

imagine if the redskins only one six games this year and two of them were against dallas. >> it's the kind of team we have with players that we have on this team that's going to fight with our backs against the wall. >> with dallas you throw the records out the window and we're going to fight. we're going to fight. we're going to scrap. we'll have fun. >> good hat. meanwhile because of the snow, today's practice was actually moved indoors to a nearby gym. players had to drive themselves in their personal cars to that gym. mike shanahan says it's time for dan snider to buy and build a bubble. the fans have spoken and we have ourselves a winner for the dchigh school sportsnet game of the week, and that winner is yorktown at wakefield. a little cross town shootout. katie couric will be pulling for them. you can vote for next week's

poll at dc.highschoolsports.net. and now it's time to look at the excellent and not too excellent time of the year. we do a drum roll here. december 16th i'll need a better one. driver of the packers, he's been out this for 13 years and won't go down. goes past the second and third guy. three guys try to tackle him. that is a pretty good catch for a 35-year-old guy. this is the last play of the game in fresno. this is the quarterback garrett steel. he is going to swing the ball down field and he has a man that goes all the way to the house. play lasted 25 seconds. that is forever in a football game. >> amazing. >> here is the bad. worst hero. cowboys running back choice. his team got whooped on on

sunday and after the game he gets michael vick to autograph the glove. come on, where is the pride. [ laughing ] >> you can't do that. worst new mascot. they introduced an inflatable cannon but, i don't know, does that look like something else to you? like something you would see in a 1950s army hygiene film. and then it is shooting t-shirts out of the end. you can't -- that just doesn't look right. >> it's puffy. >> it's puffy but another thing too. [ laughing ] >> here is the bad. the guy, oh, my gosh, listen to the anthem ♪ at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ . [ singing stop ] >> boo. >> you want to crawl under the table. >> he started over and they booed