hello, i'm j.c. hayward. thanks for joining us. the standoff continues as house republicans and senate democrats are not showing any signs of giving in. with just days before the

payroll tax goes up, the president is expected to address the nation at 1:00 today. danielle nottingham has more. >> reporter: the halls on capitol hill are virtually empty except for a handful of republicans. they're calling on senators to come back to washington and renegotiate a deal to extend a popular tax cut. >> it is time for us to sit down and have a serious negotiation, solve this problem so that american workers don't see their taxes go up in january. >> reporter: a payroll tax credit and some unemployment benefits will expire in nine days. the senate passed a plan that he can tends both through february. buying more time for lawmakers to work out a longer extension. democrats argue it is the most sensible solution. >> it is about trying to make sure that bad things don't happen to good people ten days from now. >> house republicans disagree. they rejected the two-month extension and are insisting

senators come back to work to broker a deal that extends the plan for all of next year. the g.o.p. argues the nation shouldn't be making decisions about tax policy in two month increments but at least one republican senator says there will be a political price to pay for this standoff. >> next november, no incumbent is safe nor should they be. >> if congress doesn't act by the end of the month, some two million americans will lose their unemployment benefits and the average worker will start taking home about $20 less each week starting january 1st. danielle nottingham, cbs news, washington. we have just learned that senate republican leader mitch mcconnell is calling for the house and senate to meet to extend the payroll tax cut that is set to expire december 31st. a brazen home burglary occurred in montgomery county and it was caught on tape. the break-in happened monday on brunette avenue near sterling

road in silver spring. the suspect first knocked on the door then kicked the door in when no one answered. surveillance cameras inside the home show the suspect going upstairs. however, he walked out empty- handed. police are also looking for the driver of a green suv seen leaving the home. they believe that the men burglarized a nearby home earlier that day. have you noticed fewer cars around town? that's because 40% of washingtonians are heading out of the city this holiday. and they're traveling at least 50 miles or more. according to aaa, mid-atlantic, that's up from last year, survey chinn is at reagan national airport with a report on holiday travelers. >> i'm hoping to get out a couple of days before the holidays. >> she's going to have lots of company out of roughly 5.6 million washingtonians, 2.2 million will be travelling in the next 12 days, up 1.5% from last year. both will be traveling by car.

when it comes to air travel, liquids, gels and aerosols are ok on board as long as it is under 3.4 ounces. with the exception of breast milk, formula and medical liquids, where more is allowed but they will be inspected by agents. wrapped gifts are permitted but are subject to inspection. and snow globes are prohibited. >> did you wrap any gifts? >> we did when we checked them through. >> are they wrapped? >> of course. >> tsa agents have the discretion of unwrapping the gifts for a closer look if need be. >> ok. well, that's a little bit of a christmas surprise i didn't need. >> more people are traveling and carrying their gadgets around and it can be distracts. flight attendants are saying more people are refusing to turn them off during takeoff and landing. tsa says it is all in the name of safety. >> i've been yelled at once when i was trying to get something off. >> recently, actor alec baldwin made headlines for not shutting down his cell phone. he was busy playing a game and was kicked off the plane.

>> i am addicted to words with friends so i understand that one. >> the groban family heading to the dominican republic plays by the rules. >> sit back, relax, unplug and enjoy the ride. >> at reagan national, surae chinn, 9news now. a lot of drivers are gassing up for the holiday drive. they're happy because they're only paying about $3.20 a gallon for gasoline. it almost feels like a bargain compared to what we were paying before. gasoline prices locally are down about 12 cents a gallon over last month. but aaa says we're still paying the highest gasoline prices in history for the final two weeks of the year. so, let's take a look at local gasoline prices. aaa mid-atlantic says drivers are paying $3.23 a gallon for regular gasoline throughout the washington region. the price was $3.27 a gallon just a week ago. and this time last year, we were paying $3.02 per gallon.

we have an update now on tuesday's catastrophic commute on the orange and blue lines. metro says that it has pulled 16 of its rail cars out of service. after part of a brake on one of the cars fell apart. nearly 300 people had to be evacuated from trains between the smithsonian and l'enfant plaza stations. metro says it is still trying to figure out why that brake failed. just a day after pepco requested a rate hike, the csp -- the pcs, excuse me, fined the utility $1 million for failing to properly maintain its system over a period of years. the psc also noticed customers were left with outages far too long. the commission says that the fine was prompted by an unusually 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 surveillance camera has been set up across from a courthouse holiday display that is causing a storm of controversy in leesburg. the crucified santa skeleton has been vandalized three times since it went up earlier this month in front of the loudoun county courthouse. last time the vandals removed the skeleton's legs. leesburg police set up a surveillance camera at the request of the county sheriff's office. there's no word if the camera has caught the vandals in action. the skeleton is one of ten holiday displays on the courthouse lawn. still to come when we come back, u.s. troops have not been out of iraq for a week and it appears the sectarian violence is on the rise. we'll explain.

at least nine special needs patients were treated for injuries after their van crashed with two cars. it happened this morning on

blair road northwest. right now, the severity of the injuries is not known and police are investigating how this crash happened. at least 60 people are dead following a wave of violent attacks in iraq. terrell brown explains why authorities think that the bombings were a coordinated attack. burnt out cars and debris are scattered across 14 different bomb sites in baghdad. a string of coordinated explosions hit everything from neighborhood markets to a police station. the blast killed more than 50 iraqis and injured dozens more. militants struck with car bombs, roadside blasts and one suicide bomber. the attacks come days after the last u.s. forces left iraq. >> i could not see anything because of the blast this woman said. then the second blast took place. there's been no claim of responsibility but al-qaeda, sunni insurgents are suspected because most of the carnage took place in shiite

neighborhoods. early this week, shiite prime minister nouri al-maliki ordered the arrest of the nation's sunni vice president accusing him of running death squads. sunni shiite classes run the brink of civil war in 2006. many iraqis worried that sectarian violence would spike after american troops left. u.s. officials have expressed concerns about a resurgence of al-qaeda now that the military is gone. terrell brown, cbs news. the majority of muslims in iraq are shiites. coming up, howard has the holiday forecast. >> feels more like easter than christmas coming up this weekend. temperatures going into the 60s once again. we have changes as we head toward tonight and the weekend. look at the allergy update. you been sniffling? tree pollen low and mold spores with the warmth and the humidity moderate. i'll come back and we'll talk about a big storm headed this way tonight when 9news now at

noon returns.

yesterday petty officer marissa get and her partner made history with the navy a first same-sex couple first

kiss. the kiss is a tradition when sailors return from time at sea. the women say they met during navy training school and they've been dating for two years. a prince george's county mother threw a temper tantrum and she found herself on the naughty list. now, after an apology, things are being made right. this is a story you'll only see on channel 9. mahogany jackson was waiting in line to pick up gifts from toys for tots for her children. she says someone took her cell phone and police did not take her claim seriously. so, that's when jackson admits she flew off the handle. she now is saying she is 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 will accept my apology, you don't have to accept it for me.

you don't have to forgive me for what i did. you don't have to overlook what i did. just please don't do this to my children. that's all i ask. >> we took jackson's apology to the officials at toys for tots and they accepted that apology. they say also, that the children should not be punished. and so the toys are waiting to be picked up. ok, she learned a lesson. >> hope she gets her phone back. >> important forecast. >> doesn't feel like the first day of winter. >> i know, it is great outside. >> i'm out there without a jacket, without gloves. >> i love your tie. >> holiday tie on here. >> that's beautiful. >> last time we'll be together here in 2011. i'm going to be off tomorrow and the rest of the year. let's talk about an incredibly warm afternoon for december. yesterday, we set records at dulles and baltimore. not national when we got up to 61 yesterday. low 60s again today. if we get enough sunshine a

little longer, 61, the forecast that might be clipped by a couple of degrees. we'll be in the mid-50s by 7:00. by 9:00, it will be raining. the rain comes in. it could come in rather quickly and heavily. lightning and thunder with it this evening for the first part of the night before the overnight when we'll get perhaps lighter rain. it will get a little heavy for a little while tonight. today, we've been watching the clouds stream in. we've got very thin clouds over us. these are cold. the higher levels of the atmosphere. they look brighter. this is how we detect them. a lot of sunshine coming through. out to the west, you'll notice the rain already in southern ohio and cincinnati, charleston, west virginia. this is moving toward us as we get probably toward the early part of the evening. temps, 68. 68 in norfolk on the first day of winter. 40s though in ohio and much of western pennsylvania. loaningly, we're up to 59 in vienna. 58 in lovettsville.

baden at 60. 509 already in washington -- 59 already at reagan national airport. high, thin clouds. still a decent amount of sunshine. winds have been calm. we expect light winds all day. the dew point is holding in the low 40s. the moisture, there is a lot of it down in the carolinas and southeastern virginia. that's going to be surging northward thanks to this storm. a lot of snow in the central and southern rockies but the severe weather going on this afternoon across areas of the deep south. you see the heavy rains, louisiana, mississippi, alabama, that's tonight's rain for us but this afternoon, this red box is a tornado watch box until 5:00 local time. severe weather coming through new orleans headed toward mississippi, gulf coast and then mobile, alabama and west florida over the next few hours. this will climb into alabama and even the west side of the atlanta metro and with all of this energy coming our way, that's why we've got the threat not just for moderate to heavy rain at times but also a little lightning and thunderer as

well. the clouds will thicken up. you'll be out this afternoon, not too much in the way of problems. stopping the clock at 6:00, i'll advance it until 8:45. watch how quickly the rains roll in especially into northern virginia. there could be lightning and thunder with this as it rolls across the region between 9:00 and midnight. moderate rains north of town. overnight, the showers will come through. if you're an early riser on friday, 5:00 a.m., southern maryland, you'll still be dealing with leftover showers. this will scoot out of here very quickly. we clear out friday afternoon. chillier tomorrow. low to mid-50s with mountain snow showers friday, friday night as well. snow guns will be going in the ski areas. see if we can build some base and have some better skiing as we head toward the christmas week. busy week usually at the ski resorts. 61 at least today. thunder, could be heavy at times out of here early friday. friday, cooler, 53. saturday, chilly and if you're going out to the 'skins game

with the vikings or shopping, last-minute shopping, should be no weather problems there. still cool on christmas. slight chance of a shower south. looks like that storm is going to miss us now. monday, 45. tuesday and wednesday, partly sunny. seasonably dry with temperatures around 50. it is thursday at noon. that means it is time for pet line 9 and let's go show our great dogs, here, this is becky from the lab rescue as i step on to the set. how you doing, becky? >> good. >> this is a nice dog you brought us. >> this is sawyer. >> a chocolate lab. >> he's chocolate. he's about a year old. he is a youngster. >> a youngster. >> yes. >> it is the holiday season. we have the people that are obsessed with the christmas puppy and opening up the package under the tree. but a dog like sawyer, he is house broken. he is leash-trained. >> he's energetic. >> he's energetic. >> take out on a walk once,

twice a day. if you got a yard, even better. have we got concerns with other animals? >> he has no kid history so we're going to say children 10 and above. he's a little too interested in cats. he has a wonderful foster in olney, maryland. they have a cat and he's pretty playful with the cat. so, we're also saying no cats for sawyer. >> how can people contact you, becky? >> easiest way is to get on to our web site, lab-rescue.org. we have an adoption day, next one is january 21st at the petsmart in sterling, virginia. >> if you missed any of that, go to wusa9.com. you are aggressive. wusa9.com. click on petline 9. stick around. we'll be right back with more 9news now at noon from the kitchen in just a moment. good boy.

i'm one on one today with one of my favorite people, steve lucas. he is the chef for several facilities. if you really want good mexican food, if you go to rosa mexicana. they have a fabulous book called rosa's mexican table. and it has some of the recipes, most of the recipes from off their menu. this makes a great holiday book. so good to have you. one of the things i'm excited about, opening up a new restaurant right up the street from the station. >> on wisconsin avenue. >> on wisconsin avenue. what are you doing today? >> j.c., i brought something that is going to make your

holiday just really sparkle and shine and it is going to take the stress off. i have very simple thing here. these are our lom brays. i'm going to take a little shrimp. i have some fillet. some serrano. >> you know the great thing about it is you make it to your taste. >> you're going to mix it. >> i'm going to mix it up. throw a little scallop on here. you can do it on the grill. you could do it in a -- i like a lot of tree zoe. so, couple of exciting things to talk about. first of all, we're open on christmas eve and christmas day. >> yes. >> don't have to cook. >> everything is going to come in. >> she doesn't have gloves on. this one, i'm going to eat. i'm going to eat this one. this is not for everyone else. >> christmas eve and christmas day. exciting, right? >> you don't have to worry

about heating up the kitchen. we'll heat it up for you. we -- like we mentioned, we're opening up right down the road from here. we're so excited about that. >> when will you be open? >> we're anticipating a late january opening. around the 20th. >> that's mine. >> this is yours. >> we got it. >> my hands are clean. >> i brought you some guacamole. >> i know. i never ate guacamole until i went to rosa mexicana because i didn't like it out of the jar. oh, my goodness. i eat the whole bowl now. >> we definitely -- ours definitely does not come out of the jar. they make it tableside. and we are still accepting reservations for christmas eve and christmas day. and you can reach out to caroline to make a reservation. >> you made this spicy you can get it spicy or mild. i like it spicy. >> i like a little pop. a little zing. >> other than that, i have our churros, our hot, mexican doughnuts served with three

different sauces. >> ok. >> the raspberry sauce, the homemade and the chocolate. >> don't forget, rosa mexicana. you can find it all over at national harbor attar the penn center and in a few weeks, on wisconsin avenue. steve, if you see him, tell him i sent you. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> come back and visit us at 5:00.