office, he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in return for political favors. his wife, leslie johnson is facing sentencing this week for conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering. >> sources tell 9news now, d.c. council member harry thomas may take a leave of absence from the council. last friday, the fbi and i.r.s. raided thomas' home. the councilman is accused of diverting $300,000 in public money meant for a sports program for kids for his you are personal use. thomas denies doing anything wrong however he has agreed to pay back all of the money. thomas has not been charged with criminal violations. as monika told us, route 3, route 450 in bowie remains closed after a gasoline tanker truck spilled 100 gallons of fuel on the road. >> after 9:30 last night, a car, a box truck and tanker were involved in an accident. the tanker truck overturn and lanted in the median strip of the northbound side of route 301. emergency workers shut down

route 3 in both directions. the truck was carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline but the quick work of hazmat teams averted what could have been a massive spill. the driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. emergency crews have emptied the oil into a second tanker truck. they're in the process of trying to upright the overturned vehicle. search teams will be back on the job this morning looking for a washington suburban sanitary commission play. chuck dunk et vanished while he was at work on friday. crews found his boat and some clothing. they'll test the clothes to see if the items are duckett's. >> a baltimore police officer is recovering after being shot while serving a search warrant in anne arundel county. according to our partners at wjz, a witness was discharge and the bullet passed through the officer's arm. the injury is not life- threatening. his name is being withheld pending an internal

investigation. a purse snatching team caught on tape and now loudoun county investigators are trying to find a man and possibly two others who they say are responsible. check out this surveillance video from a parking lot, dulles crossing plaza near sterling. a woman is loading items into her car when a small pickup truck drives up, bumps her shopping cart, the driver reaches out of the drive driver's side window, grabbed the woman's purse back on wednesday, november 30th. investigators have released surveillance photos of the possible suspect. anyone with information in the case is asked to call loudoun county sheriff's office. the head of the federal aviation administration is on leave after being arrested for dui this weekend. fairfax county police say randy babbitt was driving on the wrong side of old lee highway when he was arrested. babbitt is due in court in february. bp, british petroleum has filed court documents accusing

halliburton of destroying evidence related to the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. the filing claims halliburton officials destroyed evidence about possible problems with it cement slurry that was poured into the well. the oil must be cemented properly to avoid blowouts. the blowout at the well, the deep water horizon well led to the worst offshore oil spill in american history. a police officer and a bystander were wounded when a man opened fire on an amtrak train at union station in dallas, texas. the shooting suspect was killed when the officer returned fire. the officer and bystander are expected to recover from their wounds. the sentencing phase begins today for former illinois governor rob blagojevich. most legal experts say he'll get about ten years in prison for corruption charges including attempting to sell president obama's former senate seat. blagojevich is expected to learn his fate as soon as tomorrow. another member of the fourth world is being accused

of sexual abuse. two men are accusing the boston red sox's club manager, donald fitzpatrick, of abusing them back in the 1990s. one victim said fitzpatrick assaulted him twice at fenway park. the statue of limitations has expired for seeking criminal charges against fitzpatrick. fitzpatrick died in 2005. both men are still asking for $5 million in settlement. the u.s. postal service is unveiling some big cuts. >> starting next spring, the cash-strapped agency will slow down delivery of first class mail. alison harmelin explains. >> reporter: it is going to take longer for your mail to get to its destination. for the first time in 40 years, the u.s. postal service says it will slow down first class mail starting this spring. >> it is not fair. >> i think it is ridiculous. >> right now, nearly half of all first class mail arrives the next day. but the postal service plans to close nearly half of its 500

mail processing centers. the result, it will take at least two days to deliver magazines, mail order medications and that birthday card to mom. the cuts come as the postal service faces default on a $5.5 million payment for retiree health benefits. as most people move from snail mail to e-mail, the post office has been in the red. >> our network is too big. we have more capacity in our network than we can afford. >> reporter: the postal service already announced the price of a first class starch is going up to 45 cents. 3700 local post offices are set to be shut down. nationwide, 100,000 postal workers could lose their jobs. >> everything in the world is more efficient. the post office is less efficient. the u.s. postal service also wants mail delivery cut down to five days a week. a decision that would need approval from congress. alison harmelin for cbs news,

new york. postal officials say the cuts will save about $3 billion annually. however, the agency is still expected to lose $14 billion next year. 4:36. coming up in five minutes, more and more retailers are looking to hire seasonal employees. >> at 4:49, a once popular streetcar project planned for arlington is coming underfire. >> we're back in with us. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices... in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum...

we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone.

howard will be with you throughout the show. he's actually getting set up on a live shot. we'll have more details on that. i'm filling in along with howard. temperatures right now mild out there. 57 degrees at this hour. bring the umbrella. we have some light rain right now. that's expected all day. by noon in the lower 60s. by 5:00, more light rain expected. temperatures in the lower 60s. i've got your full forecast. also talking about some snow. first, here's monika with your traffic. >> anny, we've been talking about a major multivehicle accident in bowie. on route 3, essentially, it is blocked between route 424 and route 450. go ahead and 6 to 424 or route 50 as your alternate route.

i'll keep you posted on that situation coming up in my necks report. back to you, andrea and mike. >> thank you. it is time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> do you feel like we're living in europe? it seems like that's what we talk about. they're holding us hostage. >> it used to be -- europe the nice place to go visit. now it is such a downer. >> we can't afford to go visit. our retirement plans are sucked up. >> germany and france may be stripped of their stellar credit rating. standard & poors putting 15 euro nations on review for a pock downgrade. it expects to make a decision friday after some of the european leaders. wall street managed to rally on more encouraging headlines out of europe. er this calling for a new treaty to prevent nations from running up big debts like in greece and italy. dow jumped 78 points in

trading yesterday. nasdaq up by 28 points, a gain of more than 1%. s&p 500 tacked on 1%. or about 13 points right there. out-of-work americans have collected more than $434 billion in unemployment benefits over the past four years and taxpayers have footed about $185 billion of the tab. the cost of continuing the safety net will be the subject of intense debate in congress in the coming weeks. lawmakers will have to decide whether to extend the deadline to file for federal benefits through next year. the cost would be $44 billion. more retailers are hiring for the holidays. the pace of seasonal hiring up about 15% from last year. so far, the holiday season, retailers have added more than 547,000 workers, the best showing in four years. experts say stronger than expected sales over the black friday holiday could result in a late surge of hiring in the coming weeks. if you need a job, head to the mall. >> best showing since '07 which is before the '08 crash.

>> we'll take it. >> thanks, jess. researchers are discovering more and more toxins in the food we eat. >> this time, it involves a key staple in the diets of millions of americans. >> we'll have that story plus your weather in less than two minutes.

anny hong is sort of in for howard. where howard is, he will be very cold in a little while. >> he is. >> we'll give you a hint where howard is. we'll see him in the next hour. >> he did say the temperatures would start dropping. >> where he's at main but in general, we're talking about kind of a wet commute as you're heading out the door this morning. we see some areas of light rain right now. grab the umbrellas, make sure the kids have an umbrella with them as they're going to the bus stop because we do see some wet conditions out there.

it will be unsettled for the next couple of days here. here is a look at the bus stop forecast this morning. some light rain, scattered showers throughout the day. temperatures will be in the low 50s to low 60s as you're heading out the door. no need for the heavy duty winter coats. it is a mild start out there. this afternoon, we'll be in the lower 60s by 1:00. light, scattered showers are expected for the rest of today. here is a look at this area of low pressure that is going to continue to give us showers and some unsettled weather conditions. we have another cold front coming through tomorrow and now mix in with some of the moisture which means we're talking about the possibility of some snow in some locations. right now, here's live doppler 9000 hd and you can see we've got some really light, scattered rain at this hour. it is not widespread. temperatures though, it is mild if you're heading out the door. it is 61 in fredericksburg at this hour. 54 in winchester.

culpepper, 57. in pax river, you're also in the lower 60s. it is mild. balmy. 578 right now at the airport -- 57 right now at the airport. winds out of the south at around 10 miles per hour. we're going to see another band of moisture come through tomorrow. so, not only unsettled today. we'll see more rain tomorrow and it will become a little more heavy and widespread. here's a look at your future cast. some scattered showers for the rest of the day. make sure you have the umbrellas handy. then you can see tomorrow early morning, we've got more moderate to heavy rain coming through. and then also cold front coming through which you can see the rain/snow line setting up wednesday night where i think it points west and north of town, could get a little bit of snow wednesday into early thursday morning. i think generally, one inch or less as far as accumulations are concerned. in the immediate d.c. metro area, not too concerned about that wintry mix.

highs today though, check these out. 63 in downtown. 60 this annapolis. 64 in culpepper. same deal for leesburg. winchester also lower 60s. luray, 63. we should be in the lower 50s for this time of year. a lot of locations 10 degrees above the average high. next three days, light, scattered rain today. temperatures around 63. tomorrow, more rain, lower 50s. we'll be dropping temperatures throughout the afternoon. again, wednesday night to thursday, i've got that snowflake there because of the higher elevations north and west of town. we could see the wintry mix. thursday will be gradually sunny. temperatures cooler near mid- 40s. here's your seven-day outlook. near 50. for the weekend, breezy saturday. much colder, only low 40s for saturday, sunday as redskins game looking good. no precip. it will be a chilly one. here's monika with your traffic. >> good morning, anny.

good morning, everybody. the big story from overnight is the three vehicle accident in bowie on route 3 basically between route 450 and route 50. it remains blocked. this one involves three vehicles as i said. one, a tractor trailer carrying 9,000 gallons of fuel. the good news is only about 100 gallons of fuel spilled. the cleanup has been done. now, they're off-loading the fuel off the tractor trailer. that's what's taking so long. no major accidents or injuries. southbound on route 3, your last chance to exit actually is route 424. that will be your best bet trying to get on to route 50. on route 50 itself, you won't be able to go northbound on route 3. you'll have to stick to route 50. keep that in mind for your travel plans. beltway at route 50, no problems to report on the beltway itself. you'll be ok. last live look at the american legion bridge on the west side of town, that's incident-free.

no accidents to report here. coming up, i of course will update you on the accident in bowie at 4:55. andrea? >> the president of the arlington county taxpayer's association says the columbia park streetcar project is full of under why estimated costs and overestimated demands. it would run from pentagon city to the skyline section of fairfax county but now we're learning it will cost $261 million, that's $100 million more than the first estimate. the sun gazette reports local leaders are standing by the project saying it will take cars off the road and stimulate economic development. well, first it was apple juice we heard about and now it is rice. >> arsenic found in rice could pose a health risk especially to pregnant women. randall pinkston reports. >> reporter: cassandra smith is trying to eat right during her pregnancy. rice is something she has on a

regular basis. >> risotto is probably the primary use of rice and we also like to eat stir fries and rice pudding. >> eating rice could potentially expose women like smith and their unborn babies to levels of arsenic. researchers at dartmouth medical school looked at 229 pregnant women who ate half a cup of rice on average. >> women who reported eating rice had higher arsenic concentrations in their urine than women who did not report eating rice. >> arsenic made news last week when a "consumer reports" study revealed unsafe levels of arsenic and lead in some apple and group juices. >> arsenic occurs in water, air, food, soil naturally in the environment. high levels of arsenic can be dangerous. arsenic has been associated with low birthweight, higher rates of infant death and increased cancer risk but experts emphasize those are not the levels we're talking about

here. >> we're not recommending that people stop eating rice. we just need to monitor the amount of arsenic that's in our rice. >> reporter: this expect act mom isn't too concerned. >> for years, people have been eating rice and they haven't been getting sick or drinking apple juice for decades. >> for now, she's not making any changes to her diet. randall pinkston, cbs news, washington. more than 10% of women in the study had drinking water levels which exceeded the recommended limits as well. researchers say it is also important to have your water tested if you have a private well. young women may be able to cut their risk of heart disease if they eat fish. danish researchers looked at 49,000 women all of childbearing age and they found those who rarely or never ate fish had a 90% greater risk of having heart disease than the women who had fish every week. doctors believe the owe make ga

three fatty acids protect the cardiovascular system. >> doctors may need to do a better job when it comes to communicating with parents and their overweight children. according to a university of north carolina study, only 22% of parents remember a doctor saying that their child was overweight. even among parents of very obese children, only 58% recall a doctor telling them about it ivel. if you live in d.c. and owe an overdue book to the library, now could be the best time to return it. >> the public library system has an amnesty program in place through february 5th. you can return your overdue book to any d.c. branch without worrying about paying the fine. the libraries are forgiving fines on overdue cds and dvds. >> time to check on the question of the morning. >> people who do this every day experience better sleep. is it a, workout? b, clean their bedroom or c, watch little or no television. >> that's a good one. i think i know the answer. log on to facebook.com/wusa9

and leave your response. we would love to hear from you and we'll reveal the answer in our 6:00 a.m. hour. we'll be right back.

grab the umbrella and main no jacket with temperatures in the 50s and 60s at this hour. we do have some areas of light

rain. temperatures warming up into the low to mid-60s today thanks to a south wind at 5 to 10 miles per hour. by 5:00, it will be in the lower 60s. more details in your seven-day forecast. first, here's monika with your traffic. good morning. >> good morning, anny. the big story of the morning is a big accident on route 3 in bowie. it remains blocked between route 450 and route 50. take alternate routes to get around this. i'll keep you posted on this situation coming up in my next report at 5:01. andrea, back to you. hundreds of people are expected on the hill tonight for the annual u.s. capitol christmas tree lighting. it takes place at 5:00 p.m. on the west lawn. a 7-year-old boy from california will throw the switch along with house speaker john boehner. the capitol christmas tree lighting has been be an american tradition since 1964. potomac mills mall has announced its next sensitive santa event, an opportunity for youngsters with autism to get to sit with santa without the

loud noises and bright lights that accompany him. the next one will be this sunday from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. we have more information on the sensitive santa event at wusa9.com. the stars come out to see angelina jolie at the premiere of her new movie. >> hollywood pays tribute to the year's best animated feature. bigad shaban has this look in entertainment. >> angelina jolie walked the red carpet in new york for the premier of her directing debut, in the land of blood and honey. she wrote the film which follows the struggles of a young couple whose lives are torn apart during the war in bosnia. >> i wanted to pick a uniform theme. i knew bosnia was one conflict people didn't know enough about. >> you can catch in the land of blood and honey when it hits theatres december 23rd. the nominations are in for the anny awards which

recognizes the top animated movies at the box office. this year's nominees for best animated feature include rango starring johnny depp. puss in boots and steven spielberg's the adventures of tin tin. the winners will be announced february 4th in los angeles. music lovers kicked up their heels in nashville at the american country music awards. the top prize for artist of the year went to jason aldie. wedding bills will be ringing for rosie o'donnell. the host is engaged to michelle round. she probing the news during a commercial break to her studio audience. this will be the second time down the aisle for the emmy winner. o'donnell married her former partner kelly carpenter back in 2004. no wedding date has been set. and that's your eye on entertainment. bigad shaban, cbs news, hollywood. good morning and thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. happy tuesday. i'm andrea roane. >> expecting my invitation to

rosie's wedding in the mail any minute now. >> i know it. >> i think i can get to this one hopefully. >> here's monika samtani with traffic. plenty to talk about from her. >> we'll hear from howard later. anny is here now. had to use the windshield wipers this morning. >> we see some unsettled weather not just for today but for the next couple of days. today, no major concerns. just light rain out there. mild start also. grab the umbrella, the kids need an umbrella. it is mild. we're talking 50s and 60s at this hour. here is a look at the doppler radar. we have light rain going through. if you look at the live doppler 9000 hd, it is just really light, scattered stuff. it is not widespread. throughout the rest of the day, it should be scattered. here is a look at your day planner. temperatures really, we're already starting off in the 50s. by noon, already in the low 60s. again,