a couple of times the police came out and she didn't pursue help. but the fire of him or reaction mind hit. >> reporter: tonight we can tell you the mother is still in the hospital. her daughter is safe in the custody of child protective services. >> that is the good news, delia, thank you. we have breaking news from prince william county where police have shot and killed an armed burglary suspect. following a burglary in wood

bridge, police tracked the suspect to the area of jefferson davis highway and brady hill road in humphrey, and police say they opened fire when the suspect approached them and refused to drop his weapon. months since rebels killed moammar gadhafi. but today, the libyan ambassador admitted that libya was involved and pledged the help it could to provide justice to the victims. bruce lashawn live at arlington national cemetery. what does this mean? more arrests maybe? >> maybe. not a hundred percent clear, but i will tell you that the families of the pan am 103 victims were surprised and encouraged by the ambassador's words here nearly a quarter century later, family of the hundreds

lost at locker by gathered by a memorial karen here at arlington. st the first anniversary since the death of gaddafi, the man the ambassador says was ultimately responsible. the fbi suggests more libyan agents were involved in the bombing. >> do you think there will more arrests in this case? >> hopefully in the future. >> reporter: the one man convicted was released on humanitarian grounds and is back in libya, near death. the new transition council has sent mixed signals on whether he or any other suspects might be extradited to the u.s. to face charges in the deaths of 270 people in the air and on the ground. and while the ambassador promised his help, he was less than definitive. >> when we have the election, not only the government, the election of the council, we'll

discuss what issues have been connected to these problems what is clear is justice in the bombing remains a priority for the obama administration. >> the end of a brutal regime does not mean the end of the pursuit of justice. >> reporter: now the new libyan government is indebted to the united states for air support and intel that were really critical in the overthrow of gaddafi. that may well be enough leverage to deliver more suspects here to the united states to be tried in what was one of the worst terrorist attacks on americans before 911. bruce? >> thank you for that. >> all right. we've got new information tonight on yesterday's incident on metro's blue and orange line. it says it is looking into just why a part of the brake assembly fell off the chain and hit this third rail yesterday morning. however it has removed 16 rail cars with similar break assemblies for further inspection.

while many passengers were visibly frustrated for being stuck on the drain for two hours, metro's general manager released a statement today that reads in part, our review in part this morning concluded that the methodical and deliberate plan developed with the highest safety precautions possible combined with the exemplaryly work of fire tranceit, police and safety officials resulted in a safe and orderly evacuation in a reasonable time frame; but transit agency is promising to improve communications with passengers and to boost radio communications in underground locations. we've got a traffic story tonight where a 17-year-old girl was killed just hours after going on this holiday break. celina gomez was in a fender bender yesterday on salem church road. when she got out to check the damage, her car was hit by a pickup truck. the high school student was pinned between her vehicle and the car she hit earlier, and she died on the scene. the pickup driver remained on the scene and cooperated with

the police. eight soldiers are facing charges tonight in connection with the death of one of their own. danny chen shot and killed himself in afghanistan two months ago. as manuel gallegus reports, community activists say the chinese american had been subjected to taunting by his comrades. >> reporter: the community packed the streets of new york for the funeral of private danny chen last october. his body had been found in a guard tower in afghanistan, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. now supporters say they're seeing some justice. the army filed charges against soldiers who allegedly tormented chen in the months leading to his death. >> he was strapped to his bed. we were told that they made him crawl while they threw rocks at the back of his back. >> reporter: chen's supporters believe he was the subject of a hazing individual. from his chats on facebook,

they say he know he was constantly fighting accusations he wasn't american. all eight men charged were chen's superiors. chen's mom cried as she recalled that her only son had always wanted to serve his country. chen has thousands of supporters here in china town who are angry that the army has not fully explained the circumstances of his death. some of them hope to get his final autopsy report when they meet with officials in a couple of weeks. >> people that are willing to lay down their lives for this country deserve honor. >> reporter: the eight accused in the death are charged with crimes ranging from dereliction of duty to manslaughter. all have been assigned to a different base, removed from duties and will remain under close supervision as they await possible military justice. manuel gallegus, cbs news, china town, new york. >> the army isn't saying what role the soldiers played the death. the charges range from dereliction of duty to manslaughter.

police released a picture today of the woman accused of stealing a baby jesus figure in fredericksburg, virginia. amanda crelia is charged with grand larceny. police say she victimized or vandalized a manger scene last week. the baby jesus figure was recovered after police received a tip. it seems somebody had seen a picture of it posted on facebook. police say she led them to the stolen figure she had hidden in her father's garage. as the clock ticks toward the new year's eve deadline, lawmakers are exchanging demands over the payroll tax cut. house rerepublicans called on senators to sit down and hammer out a yearlong deal; but senate democrats are refusing to talk long-term until the house passes the 60-day extension president obama called on both party leaders. he praised senate majority reed for working on a bipartisan agreement and pushed boehner to take up the two-month extension. >> we're not playing a game.

we're prepared to have a bill come back and pass it and send it to the president. >> it is the president's job to appoint conferenceees to come to the table. we're waiting for the names. >> if the two sides can't come together, 165 million americans will see their paychecks shrink about a thousand dollars next year and another 2 million people could lose unemployment benefits and doctors who see payments cut from medicare 27%. president obama says he's delaying his holiday vacation until congress makes a compromise. the president found some time today to get some christmas shopping done. first dog bo came along. then it was on to best buy in 30 toe mack yard for video games for first daughters malia and sasha. included a stop at the delray pizzeria. after a brief chat with the employees, the president was greeted by well wishers as he left with three boxes of pizza. >> mmmm. verizon wireless suffering

another nationwide outage. customers around here say they've been dealing with problems for weeks now. annie joins with us details. annie they're supposed opportunity the best network around. what's going on? >> reporter: customers from san francisco, chicago, new york and even here in the washington, d.c. area all experience service interruptions. they've been facebooking, blogging and tweeting, many of them frustrated and wondering if it could happen. >> this particular one was just freezing continuously, and i'm not getting my e-mails and text messages, keep deleting them automatically. >> customers across the country woke up to spotty data connections again. issue is mainly with the 4g network. >> not being able to get online to access it slowed my day up, and i'm a business person, so i need to get my e-mails, and it made the day hectic. >> reporter: service is slowly getting back to normal as the company confirmed it was working on the outage. aer have riseson wireless spokesperson told us its 4g

service is returning to normal this after company engineers worked to resolve an issue with the 4g network during the early morning hours. she added the network was operating normally. we spoke to several verizon wireless customers, a couple saying they had no problems. but several others are growing more frustrated with a company that has built its brand on reliability. >> they think it's an issue with phone. i guess they're concerned with the new replacement. they haven't done that yet. >> the e-mails weren't coming through for 24 hours. comes. >> it has prompted some to start shopping around. >> i'm just thinking about going back to one of them. >> reporter: verizon would not

provide details on if it could happen again. we found a couple of people online asking for a credit. one person said they got $25. it may be worth a call to customer service for you. >> i'm scott broom. coming up nature has not been playing nice, leaving ski irs and snowboarders looking ahead to the holiday week pretty disappointed. >> the showers on the way. we'll show you radar. showers south of town. we had thunderstorms up toward pittsburgh. no rumbles of thunder around here. we'll come back and it will you when the showers go away, when they're going to come back. where it is snowing in the

country now, the new push for the safety follows that 2009 crash of a regional plane near buffalo, new york. 50 people were killed in the incident. investigators determined both pilots were probably fatigued. >> america's skies are the safest they've ever been but we can always do more. >> the airlines have two years to comply with new rules so far no plans to file charges against a passenger who hid two dogeners a hollowed out bike book. tsa agents found them in a bag on an x-ray conveyor belt yesterday. the passenger voluntarily handed over the knives and the book. investigators decided the passenger was not a security threat. well, looks like santa is about to deliver a lump of cole to our region's ski resorts thanks to all of this mild weather. >> yeah. many of them are open; but only

just barely, and some, sad to say, still haven't been able to get going. scott broom visited ski liberty today where i that we're looking at trading in skis for golf clubs this christmas day. >> reporter: they have been able to make snow 75 miles from capital. just not enough snow to open for business says general manager eric flynn. >> we have some snow on the mountain, and we're so close to opening we just need a few more nights. >> reporter: 130 miles to the west is better, but not much. these are shots from the web cam today and far western maryland. it is open, but with limited terrain. back in liberty flynn is keeping it realistic, but optimistic. >> if we get cold temperatures, somewhere around 28, 29 degrees over two or three days we could start to see it. >> reporter: to prove it has

this video of snow making more than a week ago, it pumps water through high-tech machines, but only works when it's below freezing. today the snow maker sat like idle jet engines. employees planted fence posts instead of shoveling snow. 1,200 part-time seasonal workers are idle. the hotel zone planning to make the best of christmas while the guys at the golf shop practice putting in the shadow of the nearly naked mountain. >> great. now it's raining. >> well, the economic impact of all this is obviously not good; but liberty has been there, done that before, and they have always survived for 45 years. they want their customers to know that they'll spare no expense to get this place open once it gets cold. at the liberty mountain resort scott broom, 9 news now. there is some good news. turns out only three of the area ski resorts, liberty, white tail and round top, are completely shut down. nine others including seven springs in pennsylvania snow

shoe in pennsylvania are open although the conditions are not what we would call spectacular. best to check with the mountain's web sites before you make any trips done there to ski. >> you were out west. snow there? >> there really wasn't. there wasn't snow in utah, which is kind of scary. >> you know who's gotten the most snow in the mountains of new mexico. they have the most snow. >> that's where you nationwide to go. >> how about that? >> well, it's not snowing. we're in the 50s and 60s. we'll show you where it is snowing. back to kansas. the good news is the storm has moved away. the shower is what's left of the blizzard; but less than anywhere from 1 to 13 inches in kansas. this is the same story on the left. snow is a little further south and not coming our way anytime soon. i'll tell you that. we're getting rid of rainshowers. most of the activity now east of town east of i-95 and over toward prince george's county and the bay, and everything is pushing to the east.

back to the west, fredricks leadburg with showers, temperatures are still in the 50s. it's ridiculous, 58 bethesda, rockville, springfield and 59 at mount andrews and 59 to the west and sterling. our average high is about 45. puts things in perspective. mild through thursday, mild tonight. both commutes dry tomorrow. rain comes in quickly thursday night. much heavier rain than we saw today. drier and cooler on friday. not crazy come, but cooler on friday. still above average on friday, though. all right. here's our future cast. tonight you walk the dog. no problems. out in the mountains, lingering showers, couple per land west. that's about it. into thursday it's dry. no green blobs around us, clouds return pretty quickly, essentially a mostly cloudy day on thursday; but still a mild day despite the clouds. this time tomorrow night, clouds not much. maybe a sprinkle out toward culpepper; but then it really comes in quickly before midnight. we see some moderate rain out

toward leesburg and south of winchester as you go out 66 past manassas, then gets heavier overnight. out of here quickly. this is early friday morning. if commuting very early on friday you may have a wet commute. but if you go 7, 8:00 it should not be raining anymore. showers ending in the night, mostly cloudy, quite mild, 45 to 52, winds westerly at 10. tomorrow morning mostly cloudy and mild, dry, maybe a light jacket, that's about it, 40s and 50, the winds westerly at 10. by afternoon still mostly cloudy, continued mild, dry through the evening. high temperatures despite the clouds around 60. winds southeasterly at 10. all right. let's break it down. 45 with the clouds, 55 to 60 at noon, and 57 to 62 by evening. got to be kidding me. all right the next 7 days looks like this. it gets cooler on friday. the red skin game kind of football game, dry, and the

storm is going farther and farther south, which is not a bad thing. showers possible late christmas night. we're back in the 50s next week. the sunshine monday, tuesday, wednesday. we're at least near 50. >> wow. i thought we were going to be at 50 on saturday. >> no. a little cooler than saturday. >> i see that. >> . >> all right. you going to the game? >> it's december. >> oh, wow. okay. with the iowa cause such ass less than two weeks away, the back and forth between gop front runners mitt romney is heating up. but coming up next, a look at how you and your loved ones can have a great holiday this year without paying for it through 2012

experts expect more stores will offer the service next holiday season. with a few days to go until christmas it's easy to go overboard on your last-minute holiday purchases. >> that's right. one gift you don't want to take into the new year, we have a look at how to avoid the debt trap in 2012? the worst present you can give yourself is more debt.

avoid the impulse to avoid the sale item or hot toy if you can't pay for them in short order. if you can't afford it, put it down. >> in a perfect world you would never charge more than you could pay in full when the bill arrived. worst case scenario plan to -- >> reporter: shoppers were surveyed and found 56% of them had no idea where they spent their money by the end of the month. >> we work hard for the money and spend it casualty. you will never know where the leaks are until you write done every cent you spend for 30 tase. seeing your spending staring back at you in black and white is a wake-up call. >> reporter: and prioritize your debt. with the new protections, credit card debt is unforgiving, so plan to pay it off. you can boost your score by paying off your big debt first, and then paying on time with every card each month. a missed credit card payment stays in your history for 7 years. >> go to annualcreditreport.com

and print out your report to see how much debt you owe. organization your debt. start calling your creditors to maximize or reduce the interest rate. going into 2012, this is one of the best things we can start to do to start to organization our own financial future and get the right peace of mind. >> finally resolve to get out of debt and stay out of debt in 2012. print out a copy of your credit report and call your creditors to work out payment plans. better to be proactive than carry a new led of debt into the new year. still ahead on 9 news now a somewhat sad sign of the tough financial times, a soldier pawns his purple heart to have extra money this holiday season. i'm preston fisher. coming up i've got the incredible story of a woman who was almost killed in a car crash. but now two years later, she's working side by side with the doctors who helped save her life.

the story is coming up next . but up next, newly released documents shed new light on the federal investigation into d.c. councilman terry thomas

a small community newspaper has also been at work. the freedom of information request forced the d.c.  recreation department to admit investigators are examining more than $800,000 from two grants issued to support programs sponsored by the councilman. >> did you use public money for yourself instead of going to programs? >> absolutely not. i think the body of work that my life represents will defend that and secondly the body of work in which i personally performed those clinics and other things that were involved with this was done, and there was no misdirecting of funds. >> reporter: that was harry thomas earlier this year before he eventually agreed to repay some $300,000 that the city's ag said he misappropriated from a youth sports program. it was before his house was raided by the fbi and irs

agents. earn attorney for the recreation department admits in a letter obtained by the newspaper that documents relating to the two grant are relevant to an on going u.s. attorney investigation into activity conducted by council member harry thomas and related entitys. >> and we have -- >> reporter: general counsel essentially ordered the documents released after the recreation department sought to shield them from the newspaper's freedom of information request. the brooklyn heartbeat obtained records that show one of the grants for $272,000 went to a ward 5 gang intervention initiative. the expenses included $23,000 spent at six flags amuse. park, 12,000 spent at a local movie theater, $8,500 spent on the washington nationals and another $550 spent at a local go cart raceway. the department has no record of who received the grants and no receipts for how this money or

money for the first grants were spent. now, we contacted councilman thomas's attorney fredrik cook late today. mr. cook had no comment about all this. republican presidential candidate newt gingrich is holding a campaign rally in northern virginia this evening. the former house speaker will be headlining an event at the key bridge marriott in arlington. the event is free, open to everybody, and scheduled to get underway at 7:30. meanwhile, though, gingrich is asking opposing candidate mitt romney to call off a group airing attack ads in iowa. he said romney ought to either disown the ads or admit they're part of his campaign. but romney said he can't control what a political action committee is doing. he says if he can't take the heat he says he definitely won't be able to in the campaign against president obama. the defense called justice two witnesses today before resting their case at ford mead.

manning is accused of leaking nearly three quarters of a million classified documents to the whistle blowing web site noble as wikileaks. manning could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of aiding the enemy. and a maryland state panel voted to pay $168 million to lease about 4,700 slot machines for what will be the state's largest casino. the maryland lodge casino would be located at arundel mills mall in ann arundel county. turned law the state rather than private operators are responsible for buying and leasing the machines. >> emergency room doctors save lives every day; but rarely do they get to know what happens to those patients ones they leave the er. this story is different. kristen fisher here with a waldorf woman who has gotten to know the docs who saved her life. >> not just her life, but her babies' lives as well. two years ago, she was 7 and a

half months pregnant when she blacked out behind the wheel while driving on temple hill road in clinton. >> the car veered off the side of the road, hit a tree, flipped over a 30-foot embankment, and the car went topside into a creek. >> shaunee davis was unconscious, pregnant and trapped in a car slowly filling with water. >> they say i was in the water for 10 minutes before they found me. >> she was rushed to southern maryland hospital. >> came in as what we call a cardiac arrest. so her heart had stopped. >> she had a pulse, but she was unresponsive. >> reporter: dr. emil tried to save her in this room in the er. >> she was very close to dying. very close. she was critically ill, and her odds for survival were extremely low. >> reporter: she was transferred to the washington hospital center where, incredibly, she survived, and six weeks later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. >> you never know when it's your time to. go luckily for jaden and i it

wasn't our time. >> two years later she's back in the same er. only this time she's not a patient, but a manager working side by side with the doctors who saved her life. >> it's amazing. everything came full circle. >> reporter: her doctors had no idea what had happened to her. they only made the connection on her first day of work seven weeks ago. >> the actual people who aided in our rescue, it just kind of said to them "you are my hero." they had no clue. >> knock it off. just doing my work. >> to see someone who's life has change. to not only see that, but work with them is a special thing. >> after some short-term memory loss, she made a complete recovery. as to what caused the cracks to begin with, doctors believe she was severely anemic and seems her blood pressure dropped really suddenly, and that's what caused her to black out. >> and here she was trapped underwater, gets out it with

the help of the doctors and has the baby. >> and now she works them. >> a great story. back to you, guys. actually you know what? i have one more story to read. over a hundred dogs that were in arkansas arrived in our area today. the washington annual rescue league is taking in these puppy mill dogs. they have pomeranians and shih tzus. the dogs examined and treated at the state of the art medical center. the operator of the arkansas breeding facility is charged with animal cruelty. bruce? coming up, santa may be looking for one of his reindeer after it's found wandering on the highway. but first an officer walked into a convenience store and what happens next is caught on tape. [ 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.

told the store clerk to fill the bag with money. now, as the robbery is taking place, an officer walked into

the store, but clerk doesn't alert him. it was after the robbery, and the robber makes an exit that the clerk notifies the officer. he pursues the guy, but the robber gets away. all right. we have an update now on the homeless man the focus of a videotaped beating that was hosted on youtube. david ivans, this fellow here says he is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support he's getting from the community. in the wake of the brutal attacks, the police department set up a donation fund on ivan's behalf, and the money donated to the fund is being used to provide him with food, clothing, shelter and other necessities. his alleged attacker sits in jail charged with assault. we're looking at the video. the 17-year-old who allegedly shot the video is also in some trouble facing some charges. he is now in the custody of his parents. >> how hard to watch. over in ohio, it wasn't grandma who got run over by a reindeer, it was rather a reindeer in danger of being run over. >> yeah. one of the animals apparently fell off of a truck.

911 calls from stunned drivers were coming into police at a furious pace. an officer was dispatched and found, yes, there was, indeed, a reindeer in the middle of the road. >> i called in on the radio to dispatch. okay. i have the reindeer, and now i'm at a loss. any suggestions anyone has would be great. >> yeah. i made a suggestion, too. the reindeer was taken to a party when they hit a bump. the door opened and out came the animal. suffered a road rash and a broken antler. the reindeer is otherwise fine. >> but which reindeer was it? >> with her. >> and headed there this morning. still ahead relief for the aching feet. cosmetic treatments being used to cure foot pain. we're here on the weather terrace. this is a brand-new budding rose. that's how warm it has been. it is crazy warm. we'll show you live doppler on the way out. showers essentially around anne

arundel county, across the bay. when the next batch of rain rolls in and a look ahead to the weekend forecast. coming up next, a trip to see santa at the mall ended with two little boys getting the gift they wanted mostly. [ terri ] my husband, hank, was always fun.

never took life too seriously. 'til our son was born... that day, he bought life insurance. now, there's no way i could send our boy to college without it. if there was one thing i could say to hank, it'd be "thank you." you're welcome. hey, hank. [ male announcer ] life insurance you can use while you're still living. you are one lucky lady. mm-hmm. [ male announcer ] learn more from your state farm agent today.

a soldier forced to pawn his purple heart for holiday cash may soon get it back thanks to some total strangers. the owner of a to z outlet says an active duty soldier home on leave needed a few extra bucks for the holiday season, so he reluctantly sold something he had almost given his life to get. when word of the purple heart started to spread, a lot of local veterans wanted to step up and help. >> i had a lot of people walk up and ask me, "how much did you pay for the it? i'll pay for it and get it back." >> it is a treasured thing among service guys. so i thought it would be a good thing to help him out, especially during christmastime. >> the good news is the shop's owner says the medal is not for sale, and he'll keep it safe in the display safe until the

soldier comes back and gets it. that is good news. confirmation that overweight kids are more likely to develop asthma. a new study shows children who are overweight at ages 1, 4 and 7 are twice as likely to have asthma by age 5 as an average- wait kid. here's the good news. the children who lose the excess pounds by age 7, they can have the higher asthma risk go away. the reason may be a hormone made by fat cells, but also plays a role in inflammation, a key way asthma constricts the airways. cosmetic treatments used to make faces look younger are now targeting a whole different body part. our feet. beauty injections are fighting foot pain and a lot more. >> it's like a burning sensation. >> reporter: diana has aching feet and like millions of women her shoes are causing the agony, yet she's not willing to give up her favorite footwear. >> more professional, heels, you know, suits goes better

with heels. >> reporter: diana has painful corns on her toes, thick patches of skin caused by friction. >> i tried the corn pads, wrapping it with band-aids. >> reporter: when that didn't work she turned to a podiatrist for one of the latest techniques in foot pain relief. >> an off barelyube approved for areas on the face for years, and we found it safe and effective in the seat. >> reporter: it is injected beneath the corn and fills up surrounding tissue that has been lost through years of wear and tear. it triggers the body to replace its own worn out collagen. >> by using filler, we can either delay surgery or halt it altogether. >> reporter: that's not the only injectable being used on the feet these days. the doctor also used chemotherapy injections to treat stubborn plantar warts and botox is now commonly used for what can be a smelly foot

problem. >> it is a muscle paralytic, and for excessive sweating in the feet it's safe and effective. >> now obviously injections are not the first line of treatment. how about not wearing high heels so much ladies? but they can help patients avoid subjectly in serious cases prince william and kate preparing to celebrate the first christmas as husband and wife. they are carrying on a new holiday tradition. they are cooking up for people who don't have a home for the holidayms. the royal couple was treated to a talent show at the homeless shelter in london, a favorite of william's mother, the late princess diana. their next scheduled stop for the holiday is at the queen's home for the annual christmas gathering. must be nice christmas with the queen. >> sixty today for the high. >> you need it with 4 feet of snow. >> there is an economic thing with the ski resorts. we have to take care of that.

>> right, right. >> [ laughter ] we know that. >> but we would like a white christmas. >> it can happen. put your order in next year, okay? >> let's start with the radar. we had some thunderstorms actually up in pittsburgh today. most of the showers are now gone from the immediate metro area here west of town. you're done. east of town a couple of showers left over. we'll she you these again. these are very light. nothing heavy fell. less than a tenth of an inch. and some showers down 301, route clinton and some showers across the bay once you get past annapolis into greens town. that's at it, and the showers will continue to move away from us. temperatures upper 50s to near 60, 58 in springfield. we're still looking at 58 in great falls and 59 in sterling. 61 at this hour in college park, and congratulations to all of the december grads. congratulations tomorrow. the university of maryland. you know what? it will be dry and mild. in fact, mild through thursday.

mild again tonight both commutes tomorrow will be dry; but the rain comes in shortly thereafter thursday night. probably about an inch of rain. dry and cooler on friday, but not exactly much of a temperature correction. we're still talking 50s. showers ending early tonight, mostly cloudy, quite mild, 45 to 52 downtown. we have the lows downtown. the average high is 45. by morning, mostly cloudy and mild. just a light jacket will do it. 40s and 50s; and by afternoon, mostly cloudy, continuing mild, dry through the evening. high temps around 60 despite the clouds, and winds turn southeasterly at about 10. all right. the next 7 days, there's a little bit of cooler air on friday, but nothing crazy. 53, 43 on saturday. chilly for the redskins games, but dry. for the most part dry on christmas, too, temperatures near, maybe some light rain or showers christmas night. but each day we get closer to it, looks like it's going farther and farther south. in the wake of christmas still in the 50s on monday and tuesday, and near 50 on

wednesday. >> just wait until january. you'll be fine. >> i've been looking at january. not better either. >> oh, no. warm weather. what a disaster. >> [ laughter ] thanks, tom. >> and now 9 sports with dave owens, the best sports in town. hey, what's up, guys? what a difference a week makes. a month ago we thought maybe the redskins won't win another game. now some are asking, can the skins actually run the table to win the season? mince comes to town saturday. seems like a winnable game. but kristen but set reminds us, "hey, don't sleep on those vikings." >> reporter: the redskins said they want to go out with a bang. after rolling over the giants they have a good chance to make it 2 in a row in the home finale against the vikings. >> morale is definitely up. spirits are up. >> we're just excited to be out there to play together and make plays. >> you just go out as a professional, prepared. you have to play on the line. like it has to mean something for personal pride. >> reporter: after another frailed donovan mcnabb

experiment, minnesota relies on christian ponder, but that's been an akil lets heel for the red skins. they are 0-7 when going up against a knew bio. they like to move around, throwing great on the run, so you have to be focused and pay attention to detail. >> reporter: the redskins d have their hands full with adrian petersen. in his first game back since suffering an ankle sprain he limited 10 carries against new orleans. so the redskins each counts a bit for the big game. >> just watching it on film, even with the hurt ankle he's still able to do things you don't see too often. so we're definitely going to be geared up to stop the run, geared up to defend, 13 goals with him. >> can detain him, put the game in front of me. you have a high chance of winning the game. >> reporter: win or lose, the redskins are assured one thing. they have some serious talent on this team providing a glimmer of hope for next year. >> this is the best thing possible. i mean, the season didn't go

the way we thought it would, and, you know, we just have got to try to build for the future, basically. >> reporter: kristen but set, 9 sports. thank you very much, kb. a reminder. because of the christmas holiday, the redskins game is saturday at 9:00, not sunday. now coming up suspended players brent davis and trent williams are returning to redskins park. why and how? we'll it will you at 6:00. and still ahead on 9 news now, i'm manuel gallegus in new york. the government wants airline pilots to get more rest. we'll explain the new rules going into place coming up. an uninsured woman's medicine is paid for by a complete stranger. i'm peggy fox. coming up, a secret santa story you'll want to hear

is this a common problem? where you want to give money to a charity, but the money may not necessarily go to the activities that maybe you had in mind as a giver? >> you never know. this is the time of the year where we're flooded with phone calls and e-mails and letters in the mailbox, so it's hard to know because we're so generous. we want to do the right thing, and so it's probably a good idea if you just take a step back and think about it before you act. and ask yourself a question, what is it that really matters to you? what are your values, priorities? what interests you? is it your community, an international cause? but you don't need to say yes to every request you get. >> what's fascinating when you start to dive into some of these charities and how they use their money, operating expenses can be very, very high for a lot of these charities so that's your money going to things maybe you wouldn't think about rather than the program's directly that you're most

interested in. how do you find out that information? >> well, ask a charity three questions. before someone asks you for money or before you give to a charity ask them three questions: what do you do? and they ought to be able to say that in a couple of words. how do you do it? and then how are you doing it? ? so in other words, how effective are you at what you do? so efficiency is always an important thing to ask, but so is effectiveness. >> you can see more of jessica's interview at wusa9.com. that's where she also has some advice on tiping this holiday season. this is 9 news now. a plane crashes into a residential neighborhood, killing 50 people, and now two years later, the federal aviation administration is taking stems to make sure pilots never face similar circumstances again. manuel gallegus takes a closer look at brand-new safety regulations. >> reporter: the federal aviation administration is giving tired pilots a br