belvoir. quarter mile. out toward culpepper or less with a quarter mile visibility of tappahannock over toward parts of southern maryland. cold stuff. that's in manassas at 39. 41 winchester and culpepper. frederick, hagerstown, 47. we're at 49. la plata, 51. we're going up today. upper 50s to 60s. here's monika this friday eve. not too much going on. >> not too much going on with the exception of 66. there had been an accident at the prince william parkway. it has been moved to the shoulder but caused delays out of gainesville. now an accident reported on the inbound side of the roosevelt bridge as well. we'll go down to 95 looking good with the exception of slow traffic as you come up from quantico into dumfries and across the occoquan river. by the way, an accident in woodbridge, this is on the west side of i-95 at old bridge road. that one just reported. let's take a live look if you're planning to head up on 95 in woodbridge itself, things are looking fine as you head up into springfield. your normal slow spot on to

395. we'll look there now if you're planning to head north on 395. no problems. just the volume at around duke street. as you head for the 14th street bridge, across the bridge span, you will be just fine this morning. i'll tell you about an accident that just came in on howard county on route 144 at 6:15. back to you. thank you, monika. a prince george's county mother threw a temper tantrum and found herself on the naughty list. >> but now, after an apology, things are being made right. >> this is a story you'll see only on channel 9. mahogany jackson was waiting in line to pick up toys from toys for tots for her children. she said someone took her cell phone but police didn't take her claim seriously. that's when jackson admits she flew off the handle. she is saying sorry for her mistake. >> i do apologize for getting loud and belligerent about my cell phone. i think i could have handled it in a different situation. and if you accept my apology, you don't have to accept it

from me. you don't have to forgive me for what i did. don't have to overlook for what i did. just please don't do this to my children. that's all i ask. >> 9news now took jackson's apology to toys for tots. it accepted the apology saying children should not be punished and the toys are waiting to be picked up. >> a report is due out today to congress about the progress being made to fix arlington national cemetery. cemetery management is making sure mislabeled graves are fixed and the bodies are buried in the right places. in an interim report issued last month found that the problems are indeed being fixed. well, it has been one year and one day since a fire at that time takoma education campus in northwest. today, a celebration and rebirth of the school. there is going to be a ribbon cutting at the reconstructed facility. it will house the catalyst arts integration school. classes had been held at the old meyer elementary school in

the interim. santa has about two more days before he has to fire up the reindeer. >> for a lot of other people, the christmas trip is getting underway right now. >> surae chinn is live at national airport with more on the holiday travel. pretty empty the last time we talked to you. how is it now? >> it is getting busy. you might see a lull here and there. you look far down the road here. you can see through the terminal, some people going through. it is getting busy as we get into the 6:00 hour. but 92 million americans will be traveling during the holiday season through the next week or two. and 2.2 of which will be washingtonians. that's about 40% of the d.c. metro population. for those of us sticking around town, that might be a positive. fewer cars on the road for sure. but if you are taking a flight, here are some dos and don'ts, some good reminds here. you can take the aerosols, gels, liquids, as long as they're under 3.4 ounces. with the exception of breast milk and formula and medical liquids, you can take care of it but you just have to know

that tsa will most likely inspect it. wrapped presents are also ok but know if they go through the machines, if tsa agents want a closer look, they'll unwrap the gifts and definitely don't bring those snow globes. you don't want that because tsa will confiscate that because they can't exactly measure the liquid inside. also, tsa wants to remind you the homemade apple pies that you want to bring to the holiday dinners are ok on those flights. make sure you're not bringing the jams, jellies, the gift baskets that might be hiding the dressings or wine bottles. so, some good reminders here. just make sure you know what you're taking on the checked bags or on your carry on. a good reminder so you're not stopped at the checkpoint. back to you. >> thank you, surae chinn live at national airport this morning. >> before you hit the road this holiday, head to wusa9.com.

get real time information on airport delays. check out live traffic cameras around the region. get the forecast, all of that and more at wusa9.com. it is 6:05. i'm jessica doyle. i'm watching your money. we know it is the holiday season. you don't want to be thinking about your taxes right now. we get it. but you can do a couple of small things right now that could save you big money in april. consider this a financial gift to you. anny is the director of wells management at tia and she joins us now with some end-of-the- year tax advice. >> thank you for having me. it is obviously a very busy time of year. it is a great time to do some year-end tax planning. >> we'll start with taking advantage of your 2011 tax breaks. what kind of tax breaks do we want to keep in our minds this time of year? >> there are a couple of things that are expiring at the end of this year. they have to do with tuition tax breaks and teacher credit for classroom expenses. another thing that people may

want to think about is they may have taken some capital gains in their portfolio earlier this year and we've had a volatile market, right there. may be some losses in their portfolio. folks can -- most people can offset up to $3,000 in earned income with capital losses. if you have above and beyond that, you can carry that forward to 2012 as well. >> that would be a nice way to reduce that tax bill come april. now, when we're talking about gathering our tax deductible expenses, you're talking charities, that kind of thing. medical expenses? that can come up as well? >> absolutely. for some individuals, there are certain limits. for certain individual, medical expenses may be tax-deductible, our charitable deductions you may be able to take as well. >> we want to max out our 401(k). everyone is thinking about spending on holiday shopping. we should really be spending on our retirement as well. why do we want to max out our 401(k)? >> what will make you most

successful is not your investment portfolio. it is how much you've saved. you should certainly take advantage of at least contributing enough to get your company's match. if you can contribute more, even better. the limit this year are $15,500 moving up to $17,000 next year. max out if you can. >> you have one final thought for us. >> sure. the final thought is just like you wouldn't take a road trip without consulting a map, it is very important to have a financial plan in place. don't make your financial decisions in a vacuum. >> really great advice. anny, thanks so much for coming in and reminding us we want to give ourselves the gift of a financial future. >> thank you for having me. >> absolutely. andrea and mike? >> thank you, jess. >> today marks one year since president obama siped a bill ending the don't ask, don't tell bill. >> a female couple in the navy sharing a homecoming kiss publicly for the first time. >> it was in norfolk, virginia.

marissa just came back from nearly three months at sea on the u.s.s. oak hill. she kissed her girlfriend. she's also in the navy. petty officer third class snell. >> it is nice to be able to be myself. it has been a long time coming. i've been in for almost two and a half years and this is recent the changes have come into effect. it has been nothing but positive. it has been pretty awesome to say the least. >> geta's mother saw the kiss is happy for and proud of her daughter. it is 6:08. in eight minutes, time for cool schools. we'll show. >> program that is helping eighth graders learn adult financial skills. it is really cool. we'll let you know who is behind it all. >> up next, howard has our mild thursday forecast. your weather first on this first day of winter is next right here on 9news now.

let's get you going. another mild day. mild start to winter. we had records yesterday. 61 at dulles. 62 at bwi, both records for the day. 61 in washington not a record. your bus stop forecast on this thursday morning, mild. partly sunny. when the sun comes up here in another hour and change. some patchy fog off to our southwest, south and southeast with temps in the 40s and 50s and the sunrise at 7:24. if we see any sun, it will be early. some spots right now enjoying a soft the cool crescent moon rising but other areas are clouded over at the moment. upper 50s at noon. light winds today northwest to southeast, 5 miles per hour or less. as temperatures push toward the 60 degree mark for a high. by 8:00, 54. don't be surprised if we're raining by 8:00 p.m. there is a lot of rain in texas that will race quickly off to the northeast. the fog issues down south. down the river here fort belvoir, quantico, fredericksburg, stafford up toward culpepper. many areas at a quarter mile or

less. over to the tappahannock airport is where we're seeing the fog. the rest of us have some clouds and breaks and some cool temperatures west in the low 40s. 39 in manassas. gaithersburg, 47. 54 in tappahannock. in d.c., we're at 49 degrees right now with light winds. pretty comfortable. dew point at 44. texas storm developing quickly. look how fast the rains in the last 12 hours have really expanded. now, the energy responsible for tornado watch, across parts of louisiana and in ispy until 1:00. not out of the question with the rains tonight we may get a couple of rumbles of thunder to mix in as temperatures tonight will dip into the 40s and tomorrow only recover to the 50s but the rain, the clouds by noon. the rain after dark tonight will be heavy at times. here is a look at the next three days. 61 today. rain tonight. gets out of here probably before dawn tomorrow. 53 on friday. partly sunny conditions. saturday, cooler. mid-40s. for christmas day, looks like we'll have upper 40s with a

chance of a shower mainly south. monday, tuesday and wednesday, still dry and cool. highs 45 to 50 but for this time of year, not bad at all. let's go to monika in for you at 6:15, timesaver traffic. >> overall, things have not been too bad. we've had a little incidents around town. nothing major to report luckily. the beltway is looking good. we'll zoom in all the way up into frederick. things are fine here. up in mt. airy, watch out for the accident with crews on the scene closing down route 144 between st. michael's road and woodbine road. once you're on i-70 over to 270 you're oh we'll take a live look. basically delays coming down from urbana into clarksburg. here at route 121 it breaks loose as you head down toward germantown. a little bit heavy toward the rockville area. beltway on the northside of town, overall delays here not too bad. route 29 to georgia avenue. otherwise, you're fine into bethesda and 27 o and down

across the american legion bridge. back over to the graphics. i took a look at everything on the trains running on time, metro, marc and vre. let's go into virginia at 6:25. mike and andrea? >> sounds good, monthen ca. time to hop on board the cool schools bus. we're headed to a new time and day to highlight the best programs in education from now on thursdays at 6:15 a.m. is where you can find it. did you ever wonder if you could learn how to apply for a mortgage before it truly impacts your budget or would you like to know how to manage your debt and balance your checkbook so you wouldn't rack up the excessive fees? middle schoolers, you're about to meet already know how because they've been to finance park. >> i was married. i was 29. i had two kids, an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old. >> i have a gross yearly income of about $40,000. >> actually, they're both eighth graders who get to conquer some serious adult challenges for the day. >> are you ready to see finance

park? >> after six weeks of learning financial facts and figures in their las rooms at carson middle school, students hop aren't bus to finance park. where their new adult reality sets in quickly. >> where they find out that $100,000 in salary doesn't mean $100,000 in their pocket. >> taxes, social security, healthcare costs, they see it come out of their fictional check. >> i compare it to my friends in terms of how much i want to pay for taxes. >> nonprofit junior achievement built this really cool space with the help of capital one bank right behind frost middle school in fairfax. during the day, students learn how to apply for a mortgage, fill out a car loan application, buy insurance and there is even a storefront for investments and giving to charity. >> when kids understand how to manage their money and how to make the good choices, they'll be better consumers ultimately. >> just before they finish all of their calculations, they get one of these, an unlucky chance card, something in real life that could really wreck your

budget like the added expense of your engine blowing in your car. students are not allowed to finish the day in the red at finance park so they have to adjust their whole balance sheet. >> so, it definitely gave me some insight on how adult life is going to be and how i'm going to have to manage my money well and be careful with it. >> just 14 years ode and they already have real life budget experience without the real life consequences. so, what do you think, cory? >> it is pretty cool, yeah. >> sure is pretty cool. if you have a cool school, e- mail me at mhydeck at wusa9.com. maybe we'll be profiling your program soon. cool schools is airing at 6:15 a.m. on thursday mornings. >> uva playsity first game ranked in the top 25 and we'll check out today's morning lights. >> today, another check of the question of the morning. listen up everyone in the newsroom. 55% of us hate it when a coworker does one of these

things. is it a, hums a song, b, calls out sick or c, interrupts us while we're working. facebook friend who calls himself harvey wallbanger says d, ask me how my weekend went. it didn't include you for a reason. i'm going to go with a. >> i think our buddy harvey is a little upset. >> i won't ask about the weekend. >> keep the guesses coming. we'll have the answer at 6:53.

it is a relatively mild day once again for december. winter actually began at 12:30 with the winter solstice. today, we'll be pushing toward 60. average high is only 45. your day planner, little bit of sun early. some fog early as well. clouds will thicken up and they'll be with us all day as temperatures get toward 60, 61 for a high. rain returns tonight. could be heavy at times, maybe

even a few rumbles of thunder before it pulls out early tomorrow. let's go to mike and andrea now. >> sounds good, howard. in sports, a big honor today for d.c. boxer lamont peterson. he will get the key to the city. >> peterson won the super lightweight title. it was bout held here in d.c. peterson is a d.c. native living in ward seven. he will get the key to the city this afternoon at the wilson building. virginia men's basketball team hadn't been ranked in four sbc. it is now -- in four seasons. it is now 24th and got its test in seattle last night. mike scott did not get the cavs down scoring a career high 33 points. virginia is topping seattle. uva is now 10-1 for the first time in over a decade. congrats, guys. >> last night in fairfax, george mason hosting duquesne. visitors got out to an early 15- point lead and never looked back. four players scoring in double digits for duquesne. patriots lose. they host manhattan tomorrow

night. >> it is 6:24. time to check the morning lights. every day this month, we're showing off your holiday displays. >> we have video from manassas, virginia. sent to us by the cherry stone family. there is a train in christmas lights, dancing christmas tree and even more trees and lots of -- i want to see the train. amazing color. this is a great job. then here are the trees. again, this is are great display. >> e-mail your photos or videos to you at lights at wusa9.com. you can also post it to our facebook page. be sure to include your name and where you live. still ahead, what's behind the rush at the mall? people aren't just there to shop. >> the presidential campaign trail winds through arlington, virginia. learn the challenge newt gingrich is giving to mitt romney. >> speaking of challenges, what about your commute this morning? monika, over to you. there is one challenge in the mt. airy lisbon area in

maryland. route 144 is shut down between st. michaels road and woodbine road. use i-70 as your alternate route. coming up, another look around area roadways coming up at 6:30. you're watching 9news now. we'll be right back.

we're back at 6:29. this is the place you can always get your weather first. a live look just south of springfield interchange in virginia. 46 degrees there right now. check out the traffic. not too bad for this time of the morning. apparently a lot of people have started their christmas vacation. >> it looks like a lot of lights but they usually are more concentrated. >> we want to thank you for starting your thursday with us. i'm andrea roane. >> i'm mike hydeck. meteorologist howard bernstein out on the we're -- weather terrace. usually he has the 180s. >> i could use a light jacket. some spots are closer to 40. i was noticing here even on the knockout roses, we have buds getting ready to bloom here. i'll cut them down when it gets colder if it gets colder. it will be gorgeous here in another few days. we certainly have the warm weather around and the more rain on the way. let's talk about our day planner for you on this thursday. a few breaks of sunshine this morning. some patchy fog south.

temps in the upper 50s by noon. as we'll go overcast this afternoon. rain arrives tonight. highs from 57 to 63. rain overnight in pennsylvania has pulled away. so, this morning, we're left with clear to partly cloudy skies and fog in spots especially south of town. fredericksburg down to zero visibility. quantico, up toward fort belvoir, watch out, some of the fog rather dense. also parts of the northern neck and extreme southern st. mary's county. temps from 39 in manassas and orange. those are the cold spots. the 50 in cumberland and gaithersburg. la plata, also 49 degrees going toward 60 later on. i'll come back, talking about the christmas weekend in about 12 minutes. right now, inside to monika with timesaver traffic. >> everything is doing fine on the roadways. we do not have any big issues to report. good morning, everybody. we'll first take a look at 66 where you've got a little bit of slow traffic out of manassas over here at lee traffic. can't complain about that. we'll go a little further in.

it slows down route 50 to nutley street. let's take a live look outside. if you're planning to head on the northbound side of i-95, you've got the slow traffic from the occoquan river into newington. a little further north with a live look into springfield on the northbound side of 95, just a volume but everyone is moving pretty well heading for 395 which is where we'll go next. you've got the brake lights beginning in landmark as you head up toward seminary road. it pretty much breaks free up to the 14th street bridge. coming up into maryland at 6:45. andrea, back to you. thanks, monika. we're hitting the campaign trail and getting a check op the race for the republican presidential nomination. we're less than would weeks away from the iowa caucus and mitt romney finds himself back in the lead in the latest poll. rasmussen polled 750 likely voters in iowa. 25% backed the former massachusetts governor. texas congressman ron paul is at 20%. former front-runner newt gingrich is now in third place

at 17%. the former house speaker will travel to richmond today. gingrich was in arlington last night. he's making sure he has enough signatures to get on the primary ballot in the commonwealth. the deadline for that is today. speaking with supporters last night, gingrich issued a challenge to mitt romney. >> i challenge romney for 90 minutes in iowa next week anywhere, any time. [ applause ] >> no response yet from the romney campaign. governor romney spent wednesday campaigning in new hampshire. that state holds its primary january 10th. ron paul says he had nothing to do with newsletters written in the '80s and '90s which bore his name. he admitted to writing part of the same newsletters which contained racist language. our partners at "usa today" wrote one newsletter written in 1992 said 95% of black men in

washington, d.c. "are semi criminal or entirely criminal." years ago, paul said his writings needed to be maine context. now, he says he didn't write any of them. >> well, there aren't many members of congress left in washington. they've all gone home before any kind of compromise on extending the payroll tax cut took place. the white house, however is not giving up. >> separate phone calls to speaker boehner and leader reed. in his call to speaker boehner, the president reiterated the need and his commitment to work with congress to extend the payroll tax cut for the entire year. and the fact that the short term bipartisan compromise passed by almost the entire senate is the only option to ensure that middle class families are not hit with a tax hike in ten days and gives both sides the time needed to work out a full year solution. >> now, as of right now, the tax cut is going to expire december 31st. for the average person that, means about $1,000 less in your

paycheck for the year. >> you probably noticed the morning commute is getting lighter each day this week because more and more people are leaving town for the holidays. surae chinn is live at national airport to see what the exodus looks like at this point. good morning, surae. >> good morning. a lot of them are at reagan national. if you go down the sidewalk, if you can see them, things are picking up here. you can see some of the passengers coming out here and definitely the terminal is picking up. business is picking up. it is getting a lot more crowd and we're going to see that in the coming days as well. well, 40% of washingtonians will be traveling at least 50 miles or more. that is up from last year. looking at the specific numbers, 5.6 washingtonians live around here. more than 2.2 million will be travelling in the 12-day period before now until new year's day, up 1.5% from last year. two million will be traveling

by car and the rest by air and rail. well, nationally, 92 million americans will be traveling. but travel by car is still the favored choice. this is the second busiest travel time of the year for the past decade according to aaa. and despite gas prices being lower, we're still paying nearly 30 cents more a gallon this year than last. travel by air is down and that might be because ticket sales are up 21%, at least the fares we're paying for is 21% higher. tsa also wants to remind you if you're traveling by air to turn off your cell phones, your electronic devices, more of us are traveling with all of these electronic devices and flight attendants are seeing more people refusing to turn them off so we don't want to be another alec baldwin where he was kicked off the american airlines flight for refusing to turn off his smart phone because he was playing a game on his cell phone. so, i think tsa is saying it is all in the name of safety. we can all try to turn off and

use -- not use our devices for at least half an hour while we're traveling. so, some good advice. it is just about safety. mike? >> good advice indeed. thank you, surae live at national airport this morning. >> it is also just about following the rules. jessica doyle is watching your money when it comes to holiday travel. >> if you're doing it on the ground, how much are you going to pay as far as travelling is concerned when you gas up your vehicle? >> a lot of folks are gassing up about $3.20 a gallon and they're happy about that because think about where we've come from. it is a bargain compared to a couple of weeks ago. gas prices locally are down about 12 cents a gallon over the last month. but aaa says we're still paying the highest gasoline prices in history. for the final two weeks of the year. taking a look at local gas prices this morning. aaa mid-atlantic says drivers are paying $3.23 a gallon for regular throughout the washington area as of today. the price was $3.727 a gallon a

week ago. this time last year, we were paying $3.02 a gallon for gas. including today, just three days to finish up that christmas shopping, believe it or not, some folks are already returning their purchases. the national retail federation says shoppers will return a record $46 billion in holiday merchandise this year. couple reasons why, we have been on a shopping spree with record sales on black friday and cyber monday. a surge in online shopping with free or return shipping and some gift buyers are bringing purchases back to take advantage of additional markdowns. >> the american movie version of the best selling book "the girl with the dragon tattoo" hit theatres nationwide yesterday. there has been such excitement about the movie, h & m has a line of clothing out inspired by the got look of the main female character, elisabeth which is a problem for the long- time partner of stieg larsson. lots of intrigue here. eva and larson were a couple for 30 years. they never got married.

he died without a will at age 50. his brother and father inherited the rights to his work. they came up with all of the merchandising deals. ava said larson would not have sold clothing. he would have used the buzz to call attention to violence against women which are major themes in the book. she's very unhappy about this. >> that was the law. he didn't even get along with his father. >> they were estranged. >> unbelievable. >> different laws. >> thanks. >> can't wait to see the movie. >> me neither. >> the time is 6:38. in nine minutes, an update on the earthquake repairs of national cathedral. we'll talk with the headstone mason about the massive work underway. >> another warm day headed our way. high of about 61. a look ahead to the holiday forecast coming up next. you're watching 9news now.

>> thanks for waking up with us. we're glad you're here. i'm wondering, you had shown yesterday some plants that are actually starting to have buds on they will. we have some weather out on the weather terrace. i wonder if the frns will go down for the ski industry and will go up for the golf industry. >> golf season starting early. even on winter rules? >> exactly. >> muddy rules. >> let's start with the bus stop. actually, this was sent to me from john over in kent islands. look at the crescent moon. just within the last hour or so. we thank john for e-mailing that to me. hbernstein at wusa9.com.

love showing your great pictures. temperatures mild for december. 40s and 50s. patchy fog out there, also. skies will be partly sunny at least to start. sunrise, 7:24. i think the clouds will roll in quickly today. by midday, we're overcast just about 58. light winds out of the northwest will turn to the south-southeast at 5 miles per hour or less. high temperatures actually up around 60, 61 today. yesterday, we set records at dulles and bwi. by 8:00, rain moving in from the southwest. temperature back down to 54. the rain returns tonight. might even have a little bit of thunder. cooler this weekend and on christmas, just a chance for a shower. a rain shower as temperatures should be well in the 40s. visibility issues, they're worse down south from quantico to fredericksburg to stafford. some of the visibilities, quarter mile or less. we have half-mile, tappahannock and also in southern maryland but in d.c. and points north and northwest, no problems there. your temps, 51 in rockville to

44 in alexandria. 46 in centreville this morning. manassas the cold spot at 49. also in vienna, 46. national is at 49 with partly cloudy skies. and calm winds. really very comfortable for this time of year. and all of the rain tonight is coming at us from texas. heavy rains here. tornado watches now, tornado watch for louisiana and mississippi. we could even hear a couple of rumbles of thunder with the rain. today, 61. rain tonight, could be heavy at times. it is out of here early friday. friday, 53. saturday, 46 on christmas eve with partly sunny skies. if you're going to seat 'skins host the vikings, cool football weather for them. 49 on christmas day. maybe a shower late. possibly a flurry or snow shower into monday morning. monday's highs in the mid-40s. it is now 6:45. here's monika samtani. >> generally speaking, it has been very quiet this morning. i'm happy to say although i do want to tell you about this one accident in the mt. airy lisbon area. it has been blocking off route

144 between st. michael's road and woodbine road. so, go ahead and use i-70. you can see that's a little heavier than normal because of the closure on route 144. 270 itself is a little heavy from route 80 to route 181. we'll take you over to the beltway. northside of town. brake lights begin at university boulevard as you head for georgia avenue. no big deals to report here. we'll go back over to the map. if you are one of those that takes the bw parkway and route 50 inside the beltway through cheverly, you're ok. no problems to report in the northeast corridor as well. coming up in my next report, another look at the big picture at 6:58. andrea, back to you. our time is 6:46. the washington national cathedral is busy this week as we get close to christmas. it is celebrating the holiday as it also rebuilds from last summer's earthquake. with an update on the rebuilding process, we're joined by joe alonzo, the

headstone mason at the cathedral. joe, welcome here. you've brought along some of the artifacts that fell from the cathedral and this beautiful cherub face is one of those things. the first time you walked into the cathedral right after the earthquake, you describe the damage as mind-boggling. four months later, give us a progress report. >> four months later, we have got the cathedral open once again. it opened on november 12th. and those were some frantic months trying to get the building made safe. we spent that time removing lots of damaged stone, building scaffolding, stabilizing the areas that were a little dangerous but i feel good about what's been accomplished in the last months. the building is safe. christmas services will be starting christmas day. so, the building is open and ready. we've got a lot of work ahead of us. but again, i feel good about where we are with the stabilization of the building

and the stone work. >> you say you've learned some things. you're going to have to do some renovation. you've learned some things from the earthquake that will help prevent it being -- if it happened again, as catastrophic as it was this past august. >> yes. that's something this winter, as we're coming up with our game plan for the reconstruction, we are going to do some things engineeringwise, engineers are advising us and there are some things that we're going to look into to try to not prevent something like this but maybe try and minimize the damage if it, god forbid, were to ever happen again. i brought a couple of artifacts here. >> exactly. it just shows you some of the beautiful pieces and i was thinking geez, just put some cement on and stick it back on. that can't be done and the repairs are expensive. two generous donors have come forward. they have a matching grant that people can take advantage of. >> until the end of december, very generous supporter of the cathedral has agreed to match

all donations dollar for dollar. there is information on that on the cathedral's web site, nationalcathedral.org. there is also some great photographs and documentation of the damage way up high, just some great photos of the work, of the damage of what we've been involved in over the last few months. >> there you are up high. >> yes. >> you were part of that original restoration in the '80s. how much longer is this going to take? still lovely seeing the cathedral without scaffolding. >> there are at least ten years if not more of work. you look at this stone work, this is all hand carved. little cherub there. that was way up on top of the central tower. these are small pieces, of course. i couldn't lug in. a lot of the stones we removed, a lot weighs hundreds of pounds. as you can see, this is all hand carved. >> exactly, some of the artisans, the skills just aren't there. we do have to go but the

christmas services are going on. joe and his crew, they're going to continue. and we may have to wait ten years but it will come back. >> yes, we have some talented people there working on the carvings. thank you. >> happy holidays to you. >> at 6:49, we want to tell you, we'll have a check on the news before you go coming right up after this break.

welcome back. 6:53. today is thursday, december 22nd. here is a check of the news before you go this morning. metro has pulled 16 of its rail cars out of service. its reaction to tuesday's incident where a brake fell off another 5,000 series rail car and nearly 300 people had to be evacuated. metro tez is still trying to figure out why the brake failed. >> pepco won't appeal its $1 million fine. the maryland public service commission hit the you utility with the fine for subjecting

customers to long outages too often. it also ordered pepco to file a detailed and updated work plan for the next five years. u.s. treasury is going green. the u.s. green building council awarded the historic white house neighbor a lead gold certification yesterday for its efficiency and power savings. the 175-year-old building is the old toast get this certification. >> time to reveal the answer to our question of the morning. which was 55% of us hate it when a coworker does this. is it a, hums a song. b, calls out sick. or c, interrupts us while we're working. >> yeah, mike, what's the answer? >> the answer is a, hums a song. >> oh, well. sounds like a buzzing bee or something. we'll have one more check on traffic and weather right here when 9news now returns.

so, you may or may not know this. one more thing before you go. in the senate, it is ok to say to your constituents neverry christmas but in the house, it is not. >> they can't say merry christmas. they can't post it to send out cars that say merry christmas to their constituents in the house. >> but in the senate, it is ok. >> here's what one representative has done. >> we're not able to say to our jewish friends what we would like to say and we're not able to say what i've said all of my life since i was a child when i meet people in the grocery store and i see me friends and fellow family members. >> he didn't say it there

either. >> the staffers were in the background wishing people their various greetings. you know, we just want everybody to get along. >> we're a melting pot. >> die get why the house can't do it but the senate can. >> go figure. bipartisan goes out the window. howard? >> check this out really quick. beautiful sky this morning over d.c. another pretty sunrise. posted a picture on facebook and twitter. as for the seven day, 61 today. rain could be heavy. clearing out early tomorrow. monika? >> quick look at 66 on the inbound side. an accident is blocking the two right lanes. it is slowing things down with authorities on the scene there. jess? >> as for wall street, we're looking a teeny, weenie bit higher. we're hoping for better news when we get the jobless figures out. >> last-minute shopping advice plus how to stay warm if it ever gets cold. >> monika i and i will be back at 7:25 with a live update on traffic and weather. have a