hello and thank you for joining us, i'm j.c. hayward. president obama took his first trip to fort bragg this morning. he thanked u.s. troops for their service as the war in iraq winds down. right now, the president says he's focusing on getting troops what they need when they return home.

tara mergener reports. >> reporter: president obama and the first lady took off for fort bragg, north carolina. they're welcoming members of the military home from iraq and honoring the nearly 4500 who lost their lives in combat. >> we've given the iraqis an opportunity to have a democracy and to be successful. it is now time for us to bring all of our troops home. >> reporter: the president's trip comes as the nearly 9 year long war draws to a close. some 6,000 u.s. forces left in iraq will be out by the end of this month. but in meetings with iraq's prime minister earlier this week, the president promised the u.s. will help with security issues, fighting terrorism and training iraq's military. about one million american troops have served in iraq since the war began with a conflict officially coming to an end, the white house is pushing hard to help veterans get the help and the jobs they need on the homefront. >> we have a moral obligation to all of them, to build a

future worthy of their sacrifice. >> reporter: the unemployment rate for veterans is higher than the overall rate nationwide. congress passed a white house proposal to offer businesses a tax cut when they hire men and women who served in iraq or afghanistan. this is president obama's first trip to fort bragg, special forces stationed there were among the first soldiers in iraq at the start of the war. they helped lead the surge in 2007. tara mergener for cbs news, the white house. fort bragg is home to the army special operations including the 18th airborne corps and the 82nd airborne. the man charged with firing shots at the white house and an attempt to kill president obama is scheduled to be in court today. oscar ramiro ortega hernandez of idaho has been charged with firing an assault rifle at the president's home last month. a bullet smashed into a window of the living quarters of the executive mansion but it was

stopped by ballistic glass. friends of the suspect say he began acting strange in recent months. federal prosecutors are asking for him to undergo more psychiatric testing. sky 9 was over the scene of a deadly collision involving a pedestrian. police say the unidentified man was struck and killed while walking on interstate 270 south near germantown road this morning. traffic was backed up for several hours while police investigated and cleared the scene. the driver who struck the person stayed at the scene to talk to investigators. so far, that person has not been charged. well, the ntsb, the national transportation safety board, is now recommending a ban on all texting and all cell phone use by drivers. they say that these distractions are costing lives on our roads. the ntsb is suggesting a ban on

all personal devices and that would include hands-free devices. the only exception would be in emergencies and if you're using your gps. people are sounding off! >> it is no different than talking to a passenger in the car. >> i think texting is far more dangerous while driving than talking on the phone. >> if you need to ban it all, then maybe the safest for everyone. >> ten states already ban all use of hand-held cell phones but no state has a complete ban that includes hands-free devices. fairfax county police want to announce a correction regarding charges involving a man from vienna, virginia. they say the 21-year-old francis reed has been charged with child abuse, not murder, in the death of his 2-month-old daughter. police rushed to an apartment in falls church on saturday to an unresponsive child. amber reed died later that day.

her father remains in police custody. we're turning our attention now to the latest information in the penn state sex abuse scandal. former football coach jerry sandusky waived his preliminary hearing yesterday. meanwhile, two school administrators accused of failing to properly report suspected abuse will have pretrial hearings on friday. tim curly and gary schulz are also accused of lying to the grand jury investigating sandusky. the cases against the two men could hinge on assistant football coach mike mcqueary's testimony. he claims that he witnessed sandusky sexually assaulting a boy back in 2002. what would your life be like without metro? well, the transit system did a $200,000 study to find out. metro says that the study was meant to quantify the transit

agency's impact including things like higher property values and more tax rev us in. the kind of information that metro can use when lobbying for more tax dollars and while riders say metro is a necessity, most would have preferred that the study money go elsewhere. >> fix the escalators. use it to fix the elevators. need more access for the handicap. >> i would add another line in another area. >> a whole nother line. >> yeah. >> what color? >> pink. >> who in their right mind would build metal es caters exposed to snow, ice, rain and heat. that's one of the reasons why they're breaking down all the time. >> metro is spending $150 million to replace its aging escalators. in fact, for the first time in more than a year, all three escalators at the entrance to the foggy bottom metro station

have been working this month. still to come when 9news now continues, gems from elizabeth taylor's jewelry collection are hitting the auction block. they did that last night. you won't believe what some people paid! >> but first, time is running out to extend the payroll tax cuts past the end of this year. find out why the senate is against the current proposal and how it could affect our paycheck.

a bill to extend payroll tax cuts beyond the end of the year is on its way to the senate. but democrats on capitol hill say that bill is dead on arrival. that's because an item that the house republicans included in the bill, it would speed up a controversial oil pipeline project that critics say threatens the environment. >> we've passed a large bill that contains many of the priorities of our caucus and the white house. we've worked to find common ground. >> we're wasting time catering to the tea party folks over there when they should be working with us on a bipartisan package that can pass both houses. >> 160 million americans could see their paychecks shrink

without the extension. and retaliation, democrats are threatening to hold up a critical year-end spending bill. if that bill does not pass, there could be a partial government shutdown at midnight on friday. "time" magazine's person of the year for 2011 was announced today and the winner is the protestor. the magazine cites dissent across the world from the middle east to europe and the united states as the reason for this year's selection. time chooses a person of the year at the end of each calendar year to recognize the most influential person to have shaped events of that year. whether for better or worse. elizabeth taylor's spectacular jewelry collection went on the auction block in new york city. her famous jewels fetched an incredible amount of money, almost $116 million. far more than what experts

expected. alexis christoforous reports from christie's auction house in new york. >> $3 million now. >> reporter: collectors and fans of the hollywood actress packed christie's auction house in new york for the chance to own one of elizabeth taylor's legendary jewels. the crown jewel of her collection, the iconic 33 carat potentially flawless white diamond ring. a gift from husband richard burton. it sold for $8.8 million. another burton gift, this bulgari emerald and diamond necklace fetched $6.1 million. 80 earrings, necklaces, pendants and rings went under the gavel in what is one of the most important jewelry auctions in a generation. >> a hallmark of this entire collection is the quality of the stones and the craftsmanship. >> it took elizabeth taylor a lifetime to amass her jewelry collection. christie's says it is one of the finest in the world.

and as rich as taylor's jewels are, so are the stories behind them. like this cartier diamond tiara which she wore to the 1957 academy awards. a gift from her third husband, hollywood producer mike todd, sold for $4.2 million. after a fierce bidding battle, the rare pearl necklace known as la peregrina which queen mary of tudor once owned, sold for a staggering $11.8 million, a record for any pearl jewel. but for these well-healed bidders, the legend of elizabeth taylor makes her jewels priceless. alexis christoforous, cbs news, new york. is your head spinning yet? the sales of elizabeth taylor's art, clothing and memorabilia will be held later this week. an online only sale of some items runs until saturday and part of the proceeds will go to the elizabeth taylor a.i.d.s.

foundation. coming up next, howard and the forecast. >> j.c., it is kind of chilly after the winds are light. with cloud cover, look at the temps as we go to break. we're looking at mid-40s from hagerstown down toward winchester. we're only in the upper 40s with a few spots now playing with the 50 degree mark. we'll look at live doppler 9000 hd and the seven-day forecast going through the weekend when 9news now at noon returns. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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hi, my name is amanda. i'm currently stationed at anderson air forest base, guam. i wanted to say hi to my family in alexandria, virginia. happy holidays, everyone. i miss you and i'll see you soon! virginia's first lady and the officer's wives' club are teaming up to spread some holiday cheer to our fighting men and women. the home-baked cookies will go to nearly 1,000 single soldiers living at fort belvoir. virginia's first lady murine mcdonnell wants to give our service people a taste of home as a gesture of appreciation. >> i'm here to support the troops. i have a program called sos, serving our service member families and they're doing a wonderful gathering of cookies for our single troops.

>> in the past, the group collected more than 100 pounds of cookies to give to soldiers. >> well, a group of current and former washington redskin players helped make christmas a lot merrier last night. they signed autographs from fans who donated toys for the children's national medical center. the toy drive was held at the nordstrom's store in dulles town center. the donated toys will help provide presents for youngsters spending the holidays in the hospital as well as some other charitable groups. i like those stories. that's wonderful. ok, so we're going to have great weather. this week. >> you can't really complain. it is december. we don't have any snowstorms on the horizon. nothing too cold either. get a little bit of rain. a couple of sprinkles today out west. tomorrow is going to be scattered showers and after that, this last weekend, to go shopping, what did you get me, j.c., before the holiday, the weather will be fine.

it will cooperate. just a little bit on the chilly side. let's get you going with a look at the day planner for the rest of the afternoon. lots of clouds to talk about. only an isolated sprinkle mainly west of washington today. as temperatures will struggle to get toward that 50 degree mark. winds will be nice and light, too. don't have much of a wind chill to discuss. wind out of the south and southeast at 5 miles per hour or less. by 7:00, we're back down in the mid-40s. by 9:00 tonight, that will drop off. we'll have a low about 40, maybe upper 30s in town with the mid-30s in the suburbs. more cloud tonights that tend to keep a lid on how far the temperatures will drop. we've been watching showers out to the west. as they get toward the state line, the whole area has been fizzling, losing upper level support. plenty of clouds streaming in. switch it over to doppler, light sprinkles now between newmarket and woodstock tracking toward luray. er coming out of moorfield as well. isolated sprinkles is the only concern we have. temperaturewise, these are the

wind chills and not much cold here with 30s and 40s. lots of 50s, even near 60 in lexington. our local temp running in the mid to upper 40s. great falls is 45. 46 for haymarket and manassas. 50 degree reading in college park. crofton, 51. columbia, 50. upper 40s, montgomery county. much of prince george's county and even here in washington. reagan national sitting at 48 degrees. slow, a slow climb so far today. a south wind barely noticeable at 3 miles per hour and our dew points are in the 30s. this is quite a storm system across the country. jet stream is ripping out of the pacific. taking a big dive here. if you follow the clouds here, you've got one jet going north. you've got this other jet coming across the baja of california coming through texas and then look at all of the rain that's been falling across portions of the upper mississippi valley in the midwest coming into illinois. heavy rainfall here. likely slowing down some air travel through chicago. not good news. that's one of the busier

airports in the country. then rain has been making the turn east. look at the southern end falling apart. up to the north, cleveland area, up toward buffalo, they'll be sticking with those showers today. so, a couple of isolated sprinkles on the future cast out west, this stuff is going to have a tough time holding together here but up north into pennsylvania, new york, yeah, they'll get some showers. tonight, partly to mostly cloudy. it will be dry tonight. then we watch out west. the rains that we've been watching today, they'll start to move east. tomorrow morning, 6:00 a.m. pittsburgh, down toward cincinnati. seeing the showers up toward rochester and syracuse. they'll be rolling toward us later in the morning. 10:00 a.m., north and west of town. winchester, frederick, maryland, could be seeing some showers. this will come through middle of the day. scattered showers at 3:00, some going across southern maryland a little bit later. doesn't look like a tremendous amount of rain but we will have nuisance showers from midmorning through mid afternoon. this front is going to come through tomorrow night. i don't think there is going to

be much weather with it. it will cool us down for friday. then a little wave on the front. likely staying to our south. that will allow colder air to move back in for saturday and sunday. so, today, 50, 52 with the isolated sprinkle west. lots of clouds. tonight, we're back in the 40 degree range in town. 30s in the burbs. scattered showers. friday, though, a little bit cooler down to 50 degrees. the weekend, that looks good. little chilly but good. temps in the mid-40s. we warm up with rain returning late monday into tuesday. don't go anywhere. 9news now at noon, we'll be right back.

if you have too many desserts and you want to get in shape, get off the couch and go to my web site, jchayward.com. for tips from celebrity trainer. you know, i was a sad subject. that's all i can say. sad, sad, sad. go to jchayward.com. don't forget to like me on facebook. ok. now, i'm one on one today with a special guest. arnold duke is the president of the international gem and jewelry show that is being held this weekend at the expocenter. you had signed up for the contest, you could have been a winner because i'm going with ten winners on saturday. i'll be there. you didn't have to go to new york to attend christie's auction. just come out to the gem and jewelry show and you can see some fabulous, fabulous -- everything that i've looked at, i said first thing, this fabulous watch, cartier. he could leave this.

said, sure! $10,000. i went oh, no. i guess you better take it. we have some other watches. >> these watches are only $5 reach. >> they're lovely. >> we have such a wide variety of merchandise at the chantilly expocenter. over 400 exhibitors from all over the world. >> it is going to be great. you can buy things that are already made. you get estate jewelry. these are pearls that are not finished. >> that's right. those are unfinished strands of pearls that sell for about $100 a strand. right in front of it, however, is a finished strand with a gold and diamond clasp. this probably runs about $1,000. the nice thing about the show is there is something for everyone, jewelry from 25 cents up to $1 million and more. >> you brought me a tiara. i can't wear it. >> this is over a million dollars. >> oh, my goodness. >> this is gold, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds that belong to princess michael of kent. but not everything is that

expensive. we have a wonderful assortment of all types of gems and jewels in everybody's price range. >> a lot of people are getting into making their own jewelry. earrings and bracelets and necklaces. so, this is a great show. if you make your own jewelry or you want to try or you can get it as a finished product. these are absolutely gorgeous. let's talk about these very quickly. let's talk about this. >> antique jewelry -- i brought a nice assortment of antique and estate jewelry. that's a beautiful platinum and opal pin. right in front of it is a cigarette case that belonged to jackie kennedy onassis that is tiffany and gold. that was eva perone's. that is a sapphire and diamond pin that was eva perone's. >> you were at christie's. you put a bid in. >> the last two days, i've been in new york. we didn't get anything last night. everything exceeded our bid by more than a million dollars. >> we're talking about the elizabeth taylor jewelry. >> there is more jewelry today and tomorrow and i'm confident we'll come home with something.

>> go out to the show this weekend. the international gem and jewelry store at dulles. and see -- >> the dulles expocenter. >> friday, saturday and sunday. >> it will be fabulous. of course, they're a sponsor for the jchayward web site. we thank you for that. >> we have something for everyone. it will be a spectacular time. >> come back and visit us at 5:00.