>> given the fact that his sister has come out and is gay and he accepts her for who she, is he seems to be accepting of homosexuals, everybody has their own perception about it. >> matt jablow, 9news now. now, the gingrich campaign is conducting a signature drive here in the district. republicans need to get 296 signatures by january 4th to get mr. gingrich on the ballot. president obama will continue his push for an extension of the payroll tax cuts today. he is scheduled to meet with a group of americans whose taxes will go up if congress does not reach a deal before the end of this month. house republicans are refusing to vote on a short-term senate measure. they want congress to pass a year-long extension instead. a handful of the house republicans are left on capitol hill waiting to negotiate with senators. senate democrats are refusing to talk until the house passes their 60-day extension. house speaker john boehner insists congress could easily work out a deal to pass a one-

year payroll tax plan if the democrats just come back. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us, to erase all of our differences. >> they're not representing the views of the american people. >> president obama called both party leaders. he praised majority leader reed for working out on a bipartisan agreement and urged speaker boehner to take up the two- month essential extension. if the two sides can't compromise, 160 million americans will see their paychecks shrink about $1,000 next year. another two million could lose unemployment benefits and doctors could see payments from medicare cut by 27%. prince william county police are now revealing some more information about a police-involved shooting. this was wednesday afternoon near jefferson davis highway and brady hills road in dumfries. prince william county police

had just pulled over an armed burglary suspect when he ran off. they were able to track him down in the woods then officers say the suspect started to come toward them with a gun. they opened fire, killing him. that suspect's name has not been released at this point. prince george's county police have also charged 24- year-old anthony vincent with child neglect after they found his 2-year-old daughter inside an apartment at capitol heights tuesday. the child was surrounded by filth, severely malnourished and in a heavily soiled diaper only wearing a sweater. officers believe the little girl was left alone for at least a day. they found her after the little girl's mother called police from her hospital bed. she was worried about the child. a neighbor who did not want to show her face on camera said the couple has had other problems. >> the door slamming, the name- calling, the yelling, i guess the fear of him or his reaction, she didn't take it. >> now, the mother, we're told,

has no local family. she's still in the hospital. her daughter is now in child protective services. >> at 4:33, here's a look at other things making news now. airlines will have two years to comply with new faa rules aimed at making sure pilots are well rested. the new regulations require at least ten hours of rest and less time for commercial airline pilots. transportation secretary ray lahood called the changes long overdue. some critics say the rules don't go far enough. eight u.s. soldiers are now facing charges in the death of a fellow soldier who committed suicide in afghanistan. the family of army private daniel cenz said he was hazed and bullied because of his chinese-american background. charges range from involuntary manslaughter. >> bank of america has agreed to pay the largest settlement in u.s. history more than $300 million and it is related to

residentials fair lending practices. you that deal resolves allegations of countrywide, the unit that was purchased by bank of america back in 2008 -- 2004 to 2008 to steer latino borrowers into risky loans. alexis christoforous has more. >> reporter: the justice department complaint alleges countrywide engaged in a nationwide pattern of discrimination from 2004 to 2008. the government says more than 200,000 qualified african- american and hispanic borrowers were charged higher rates and steered into risky subprime mortgages, all because of the color of their skin. >> for example, in 2007, a qualified african-american customer in los angeles borrowing $200,000 paid an average of roughly $1200 more in fees than a similarly qualified white borrower. >> reporter: according to the complaint, countrywide first determined a price and then led

its employees and brokers alter the number. without oversight and without the bow roar's knowledge. >> they were thrilled to have gotten a loan and realized the american dream. they had no idea they could have and should have gotten a better deal. >> reporter: bank of america which bought countrywide in 2008 has agreed to pay $335 million. a spokesman said we discontinued countrywide products and practices that were not in keeping with our commitment and will continue to resolve and put behind us the remaining countrywide issues. the settlement will go toward compensating borrowers to the tune of about $1600 apiece. alexis christoforous, cbs news, new york. now, at the time, in 2004 to 2008, countrywide was the largest mortgage lender in the country at the height of the housing boom and it is blamed for making some of the worst loans by far. 1/3 of them ended in foreclosure or default. coming up on 4:36, at 4:41,

how about a smooth drink with that burger. a number of fast food chains are now adding alcohol to the menu. >> at 4:48, the e.p.a. is announcing a new effort to crack down on air position. >> we're back with your weather first in two minutes. you're watching 9news now.

4:38 on this thursday morning. and we've got some fog down south of washington. watch out for that. temperatures, they're going to be on the mild side once again. low 50s at 9:00. cloudy day expected. highs upper 50s to low 60s. rain returns tonight. more on that and the christmas weekend forecast in the next five minutes. right now, monika, timesaver traffic. >> good morning, everybody. on the outer loop of the beltway at i-66, traffic was diverted overnight because of construction on to the westbound side of 66. turning around at nutley street. watch out for that here inside the beltway at leesburg pike, it is running smoothly. another look at virginia roadways, back to you, andrea and mike. >> time for your first money segment of the morning. >> interesting week on wall street. >> absolutely. yesterday it was kind of boring. >> comparatively. >> we've got economic news coming out. maybe that will turn things

around. make it a little bit more exciting for wall street. we had a mixed showing yesterday with the technology sector taking the biggest hits. the dow stands this morning at 12,107 after picking up four points. the nasdaq dropped by 25 and the s&p 500 was better by about two and a half points. last minute shoppers are less inclined to look for bargains. 25% of people polled by "consumer reports" say they don't care about finding a deal at the 11th hour. they simply want to be done shopping and so they're going to grab whatever they get their hands on. 30% of the people surveyed said their last-minute holiday shopping is done at the supermarket. 25% of them do it at the drugstore. meantime, white castle reportedly considering selling alcohol along with its bite size burgers. [ laughter ] mike is happy about this. it is testing a beer and wine sales at a location in indiana. now, other fast food restaurants have been trying out this concept as well. burger king opened up the

whopper bar in south beach in miami this year. people are liking that. and starbucks is testing beer and wine at a few sites. i wouldn't expect this to be something that would move to all of its franchises in stores across the country. it is one of the kind of novelty things. >> retail would be -- who is the designated driver in the drive-through line! >> at white castle! >> and the other thing you were talking about, the last minute, they don't care how much they spend but i did get in the mail yesterday, my after christmas savings coupon. >> there you go. >> already. >> it is funny. every single year, i wait for the pitch from 7-eleven because they have a lot of holiday offerings at 7-eleven so you can do your last-minute shopping on the way to the christmas party. >> they do. >> that's right. >> thanks. >> you got it. >> all of the warm weather we've been having, not such a great season so far when it comes to the ski clothes. >> we've been hearing howard whine about that.

that story and more plus your weather first in less than two minutes.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now. it is 4:44 this thursday morning. getting closer and closer to the holiday. but so far, no white christmas, even though it is winter officially. >> go somewhere else if you want the white christmas, watch it on tv. >> put on "it's a wonderful life." >> it is just not going to happen. not going to happen. >> all right. >> so, we may get a couple of snow flurries or showers sunday night overnight. looks like a little piece of energy comes through. that's about the only slim chance of snow i could throw at you this thursday morning. let's get going with a look at the bus stop focus here with temperatures, they're mild still. 40s, even some 50s again. yesterday, dulles got to 61. so did national. dulles is 61 was a record for

the date. sunrise, 7:24. we do have a little bit of patchy fog. our day planner, a little sun early. 50 degrees this morning at 8:00. by noon, upper 50s. winds much lighter than the last couple of days. only had a northwest to southeast, 5 miles per hour with near 60 at 4:00 p.m. upper 50s to low 60s and a temperature back to 64. i wouldn't be surprised if it is started to rain by 8:00 p.m. rain into pennsylvania. this morning, partly cloudy conditions. some areas are overcast. underneath that, we've got the fog south and southeast of town. worse visibilities west in manassas and culpepper, quantico, 3/4. quarter mile. that's where your fog situation is the worst and will be for the next few hours. temperatures in the 40s places like great falls at 46. sterling still 51. it is 48 in gaithersburg.

43 in manassas. that's one of our cold spots. andrews air force base in columbia also hits at 46 this morning. officially 50. partly to mostly cloudy with a dew point down in the 40s. south wind. right now only 6 miles per hour. while the chilly air continues across the northern and western part of the country, down south, once again, low pressure reloading here. and ramping up across texas. this is tonight's rain. from houston up toward shreveport, louisiana, this stuff is going to move pretty quickly off to the northeast. be here after dark and most of it will be gone by early tomorrow morning. we may start off with a couple of showers for the a.m. rush. that will be about it. this is yesterday's storm system. quickly racing out toward nova scotia. we'll show you the future cast. clouds thickening up here by midday. we'll be overcast likely before lunchtime. as we head toward evening, we're still dry in d.c. at 6:00. look at the heavier rains into west virginia and pittsburgh moving northeast toward the 8:00, 9:00 hour, light to

moderate rains with the heavier rains coming through overnight. here's midnight. we'll push it toward tomorrow morning now. 5:45, most of the rains by then should be eastern shore, delmarva pulling away from us. mounting rain and snow showers. here comes the sun back for friday afternoon. should be a decent day. temperatures still over that 50 degree mark. today, up around 60, 61. rain tonight, could be heavy at times as we dip into the 40s. low 50s on friday. by saturday, chilly. mid-40s for christmas eve. but dry, partly sunny. 'skins are home saturday with the vikings. weather should be fine for that. christmas day, partly to mostly cloudy. isolated shower or two especially south of town. 49. monday into the middle 40s but you know, this winter is cruising along rather mild. monika? >> i really can't complain about that. and you cannot complain about the traffic either this early thursday morning. things are looking great with the exception of that overnight construction on the outer loop

at i-66 which should be cleared up shortly. everything is looking great around town. 95, you can see all of the green from fredericksburg across the occoquan river right into springfield. where you've got a bit of volume here. let's take a live look at 95 right now. if you're planning to head up to the harbor, it is dark but trust me, there's no real traffic to worry about here. we'll go a little further north to the 14th street bridge along 395 to the bridge span. no problems to report here. back to the map, this time to the west side of town look good on 66 coming in from reston. the dulles toll road in from lees bugg and no problems here in the tysons corner area. we'll take a look at the american legion bridge on the west side of town heading south from bethesda and 270 from frederick. you will be fine. coming up, another look around the area at 4:55. mike, back to you. now, the environmental protection agency announced it is cracking down on pollution from the nation's power plants. the goal is to cut the amount of mercury and other toxic pollutants released from the

nation's oldest facilities as quickly as possible. critics say the new restrictions will threaten jobs and electric reliability. several u.s. airlines say they will not be taking part in the european union's new trade program. the european court of justice upheld a lawsuit against the plan which means after january 1st, all airlines using european airport need to pay for greenhouse gases that their planes emit. if they run out of credits, they need to buy or trade with another airline to get more. >> pepco customers who have expressed their frustration with the utility after the last few weather events have a small measure of retribution. the maryland public service commission fined pepco $1 million for failing to properly maintain its system over a period of years. the psc also noted customers were left with outages for far too long. the commission says the fine was prompted by an usually high number of complaints about pepco's reliability. pepco will also have to file an updated five-year work plan to

improve communications and service restoration by the middle of february. a maryland state panel voted to pay $168 million to lease about 4700 slot machines for maryland largest casino. it would be located at arundel mills mall. under maryland law, the state rather than private casino operators are responsible for buying or leasing slot machines. governor martin o'malley supported the lease. maryland controller peter franchot was against it. >> overweight kids are more likely to develop asthma. there is a new study in the journal pediatrics showing children who are overweight at ages 1, 4 and 7 are twice as likely to have asthma by their 8th birthday than average weight kids but there is some good news. kids who lose the excess pounds by age 7 can let the risk. the reason may be, they say, the hormone leaf tin made by fat cells. it plays a role in inflammation which can restrict the airways.

after all of the undolinging this holiday season, who doesn't want to some fun ways to shed the extra pounds. researchers at michigan state university looked to see if active gaming systems like wii and the microsoft kinect could do the trick. they're good to get people moving off the couch but they don't provide the same cardiovascular benefits as hopping on the ole treadmill. the problem is most games require light to moderate energy usage. the experts say you really need to get your heart pumping to lose the weight. >> bigger may indeed be better when it comes to the size of your brain. >> it is? >> supposedly, yes. a new study from the national institute on aging says people with smaller brains may be more likely to develop alzheimer's. it looks like santa's about to deliver a lump of coal to the region's ski resorts thanks to all of the mild weather we're having. >> many are open but there's not really a whole lot of snow on the ground. scott broom visited ski liberty

where some are thinking about look for gulf clubs instead of skis this christmas. >> all of this warm weather considered a scene like this defies reality. yes, they have been able to make some snow at liberty mountain resort just 75 miles from the capital. >> we have gotten started. >> it is just not enough snow to open for business says general manager eric flynn. >> we've got snow on the mountain. we're so close to opening. we just need a few more nights. >> 130 miles to the west, it is better but not much. these are shots from wisk resort from maryland. it is open but with limited terrain. back at liberty, flynn is keeping it realistic but optimistic. >> if we get halfway cold temperatures around 28, 29 degrees over two or three days, we can start skiing. >> reporter: to prove it, liberty has this video of snow making more than a week ago. the resort pumping water through high tech machines but it only works when it is below

freezing. today, the snowmaker sat like idle jet engines. employees planted fence posts instead of shoveling snow. 1200 part-time seasonal workers are idle. the hotel's open and planning to make the best of christmas while the guys at the golf shop practice putting in the shad dove the nearly naked mountain. great, now it is raining. the economic impact is not good but liberty has been there, done that before and they've 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, 9news now. the good news for skiers, only three area resorts are closed. liberty, white tail and round top. there are nine others including seven springs in pennsylvania, snowshoe in west virginia, wintergreen in virginia, all open although the conditions aren't great. make sure you check on the mountain's web site before you head out to the mountains. >> i've been to liberty when

the conditions aren't great. >> all right. before we head to break, it is time for the question of the morning. >> ok. it is 55% of us hate when a coworker does this. a, hums a song. b, calls in sick. or c, interrupts us while we're trying to work. >> log on to the facebook.com/wusa9 page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer in the 6:00 hour.

welcome back. 4:56. howard here, your weather first. we have fog in spots away from town, generally out toward the southwest. temperatures, another mild day. we start 40s and 50s. upper 50s by noon. clouds return pretty quickly. look for an overcast but dry day with high winds. highs upper 50s to low 60s. rain returns tonight. let's go to monika samtani with an update on timesaver traffic. >> a quick look at the beltway at route 4, pennsylvania avenue leaving andrews air force base into oxon hill. serving running smoothly. in my next report, another look at maryland roadways at 5:00. andrea, back to you. today marks one year since the president signed the bill ending military's don't ask, don't tell policy. yesterday, petty officer second class marissa gata and her partner made history with the navy's's first same sex couple

first kiss. it is a tradition when sailors return home from sea. women say they met during navy training school and have been dating for two years. >> tom cruise is back with a new film in the mission impossible franchise. >> and as in the other, parts of the series, cruise does a lot of his own stunts. >> unbelievable. >> alexis christoforous gets a sneak peek. >> that's not spider-man! it is tom cruise scaling the world's tallest building in dubai. it is one of the many stunts the actor performs himself in the latest mission impossible ghost protocol. >> it was at moments pretty intense. pretty exhilarating. >> tom cruise is back for the fourth time as secret agent ethan hunt and at nearly 50, cruise says he's yet to see a stunt he won't try. >> whenever i can and i just want to entertain an audience, there's no way i was going to let anyone else do it. >> cruise wasn't the only risktaker. paula patton did all of her own stunts, too, as hunt's new superagent and love interest.

>> i think it is that much more compelling when you know the actors are doing their own stunts. i really wanted to take on that challenge. >> jeremy renner joins the high octane agents who go rogue to clear their name after being implicated in the bombing of the kremlin. and there's some comic relief. >> simon pg&e reprises his role as ethan's right hand techy benji. >> it is lovely to be asked back. it means i didn't steal anything the last time and they trust me. >> whether his feet are on the ground or miles above it, tom cruise is proving it is mission possible. alexis christoforous, cbs news. if all of these were thumbs, yea. >> i saw it in imax. the stunts are incredible. not a lot of dialogue to master. it is good. if you like adventure. and guess who really wanted to