. right now a developing story on a deadly metro accident. we'll update the condition of victims and what sent that bus barreling off the road. also, windy and cold today. but we're tracking a warmup in your forecast.

plus, the showdown. iran makes threats to cripple the world's oil trade. rockville pike still closed northbound just past the nashville institute of health following a frightening fatal car accident this afternoon which killed one person and sent 8 others to the hospital. >> the crash involved a pickup truck and a metro bus heading to lake forest mall. matt jablow has been covering the story all afternoon, and tonight he joins us live from the scene with the latest information. matt. >> reporter: anita, it sure was a frightening crash this afternoon. nearly seven hours later, police are still trying to figure out exactly what or who caused it. >> it just felt scary. >> reporter: it was right around 4:15 this afternoon when a swarm of emergency vehicles responded to rockville pike at alta vista road just north of the national institute of health. that's where a pickup truck traveling southbound collided with a metro bus traveling northbound. >> i felt the bus kind of sway and then it was just like bang. we just hit. >> reporter: the driver of the

pick up was killed and eight people on board the bus were hospitalized. two with life-threatening injuries. >> one lady fell on the bus and she was face down. >> reporter: one of the critically injured was the driver of the metro bus who was trapped in the bus for more than an hour before finally being freed by firefighters. >> everybody else was pretty shocked. >> reporter: the cause of the accident remains under investigation. the wilma graham, one of the passengers on board the bus, said as far as she could tell, the pickup driver was clearly at fault. >> i got up and everything happened and i went to see the bus driver and the truck just cut her off. so after that all we know is we hit the tree and this is where i am. >> reporter: back now live as you can see, they're getting ready to tow away the metro bus that was involved in the crash, which means that rockville pike northbound should be reopened in just a few minutes. the identity of the tow truckdriver, the pickup truck driver killed in the crash has not yet been released. anita. >> okay.

matt jablow, thank you for that. 2011 ends with americans paying the highest annual average ever for a gallon of gasoline. and with the pending international crisis, that could make 2012 even worse. gary nurenberg explains that iran's threat to close an international shipping route could have us all digging deeper into our wallets. >> reporter: one-third of all oil shipped by sea passes through iran which they say they can close as easily as drinking a glass of water. >> the feed fact would be to in -- immediate fact would be to increase oil prices. >> reporter: iran's threat is a reaction to new sanctions expected soon from washington and the european community aimed at iran's oil industry, efforts to get iran to back off the development of nuclear weapons. >> it's really a war of nerves. and iran -- iranians are really angry at us. they have to pay a high price for the sanctions and they want to send a signal to the u.s.,

they're trying to get us to back down. >> reporter: they said block the trade will not be tolerated. the iranian military is nearby conducting exercises. >> any miscalculation could mean we're drawn into conflict and that would be a -- that would be a tragedy for the region and the world. >> reporter: the united states has the military strength to reopen the strait. >> but it would mean attacking. the iranian navy attacking. so that is war. >> reporter: a potentially world changing nightmare. but many iranian experts don't believe it will come to that. >> i don't think the iranians will carry through this threat. i think it's a game of chicken. >> reporter: they add that iran itself sells oil that goes through the strait and shutting it down to shipping would especially be committing economic suicide. this is a story that is going to unfold over the next few weeks. a story potentially of war and peace and the economy of the

world. it's important. derek. >> great words, gary. thank you. now, new at 11:00, we're now seeing what may be the first release photos of u.s. government contractor allen gross being held prisoner in cuba. these were taken by a woman inside a military hospital where the cuban government is holding gross. she and another jewish leader from the synagogue spent nearly two hours with him on monday. they're the ones standing on either side of him in the photos. now, gross is not so thin anymore and his health is pretty good. gross has been held in cuba for two years now. he's accused of trying to undermine the government there. he has insisted he is innocent. in two days presidential candidates will caucus in iowa and tonight there is has been set back for michelle bachmann's campaign. her former candidate is now endorsing ron paul and it's paul that was in the cross hairs of the other candidates today. they attacked him on the campaign trail for saying the u.s. should not bomb iran to

keep it from developing nuclear weapons. but the texas congressman quickly fired back. >> actually one of the people running for president thinks it's okay for iran to have a nuclear weapon. i don't. >> i think the more iowa yins look at ron paul, the less attractive he'll come. >> they police the world, tell other people how to live. >> a new cnn time orc poll shows paul trailing mitt romney by 3 points while former front runner newt gingrich plunged to fourth place. perry filed an emergency order in federal court today. perry is asking for an injunction to ask the board of elections to include him off the ballot. virginia left him off because he didn't get the required number of signatures in on time. it came one day after he filed a lawsuit over the whole issue. the virginia senate race is

now a little less crowded. tim donor announced he will no longer a run for the legislation. it was because of the overwhelming support for the other nomination. well, it has now been one full year since a teenager named phylicia barnes disappeared. police found her body months later. she was from north carolina and today friends and former classmates came together to honor her with a memorial at her high school in the town of monroe. for felicia's mom, it was bittersweet. >> it made my heart sing because they really cared enough about her to do something like that in all of the hard work they put into it. but it bleeds because it reminds me of the tragedy all over again. >> now, maryland state police

say they have made some progress in finding felicia's killer, but they've chosen not to give any information. a man accused of slashing female shoppers on the behind might have left of the country. he has surfaced in peru and now they're seeking to extradite him back here. they have issued a warrant for his arrest back in september. they believe he used a razor blade or box cutter to slash nine women in the buttocks while they were shopping. fortunately nobody was seriously hurt. be careful what you wish for, the local occupy protestors have now got a permit to keep their tents up in freedom plaza all through most of the winter months. the national park service says the new permit runs from january 1st to february 28th. the current permit runs out on friday. the group has camped out since october protesting everything from corporate greed to the continued presence of u.s. troops in afghanistan. the national park service is losing ground. 11 acres of it, to be exact.

the park service will no longer have control over union square. that is a piece of the national mall that sits just west of the capitol. the architect of the capitol will now oversee the piece of prime real estate and u.s. capitol police will have authority there. the switch caught the park service by surprise. mothers across the countries staged a nursing at target stores today, including moms in our area. it was in support of a woman that said she had a bad experience while breast feeding in the aisle of a target store in texas. employees harassed her and she later went online to complain about it. >> they all came and started like walking by and shaking their head and rolling their eyes and shaking their head, no, no, like i'm doing something so horrible. i'm feeding my baby here. >> i don't want maria to grow up and nurse in a world where that would ever happen. >> target has apologized and says moms are free to nurse their babies anywhere in their

stores. the company says it's going over that policy with employees. anny. >> it's pretty cold out here. and temperatures have been dropping down into the 20s. you'll really feel the chill in the air tomorrow morning. here is a look at your wakeup forecast for your thursday. 20s by 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning. 9:00 still cold but partly cloudy. 31-36 degrees. bundle up. i've got your seven day and new years forecast coming up. still ahead tonight. >> we have a problem here. >> the parking ticket problem. with dc raking in nearly 1 hundred million bucks this year in tickets, some are starting to ask is it fair? plus, a massive recall of build a bear toys just days after christmas. that is coming up. melwood and wusa9 salute all that serve at home and abroad this holiday season.

>> hi. i'm daniel buckles. i'm here in afghanistan. i would like to send a shout out to my fiancee, friends and family back in arlington, virginia. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller.

over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ the washington dc veterans

affairs medical center and wusa9 salute all that serve at home and abroad this holiday season. >> hi. my name is sergeant clifford george stationed here in afghanistan. i want to send happy holidays to my mom, my dad, my sister in silver spring, maryland. happy holidays and i love you. in tonight's consumer alert, a major recall from build a bear workshop. it's recalling about 300,000 colorful heart teddy bears because of choking hazards. the bears eyes can lose en up. they can -- loosen up, they can fall up and children can swallow them and choke on them. customers who have one can return it for another stuffed animal. so let me ask you, how many parking tickets did you get this year? new figures out today says dc issued nearly 2 million parking violations in 14 months time. only two other cities topped that. chicago and new york. and as our delia gongalves tells

us, triple a calls it excessive and an easy way to make money. >> reporter: even on a windy day, the parking ticket will not blow away. >> we have a problem here. >> reporter: triple a mid-atlantic says district officers wrote 1.6 million parking tickets in fiscal year 2011 by may. the city collected $50 million and is on track to far surpass last year's revenue of 80.4 million and fiscal year 2009, 70.7. >> i understand that for safety purposes and fire trucks and everything. but they're making a killing on it. >> reporter: in fact, off meters alone , the city has grossed $9.5 million in just three months. money which goes to the district's general fund. >> if you are using the revenue of the tickets for the proper funding of other programs, then it's okay. >> many people complain about them being trigger happy, and

that's exactly what they are. in many cases, they start writing the ticket before the meter actually expires. >> reporter: as we follows an officer around 21st and i, he appeared to do just that. enter a vehicle's tag number and then walk away only to return and print the ticket the moment the meter ran out. and while many are just doing their job, some get a bad rep. >> between baltimore and washington, i call them the ladies of hate. they're ambassadors of the city. they charge you fines for parking. it's horrible. so the more we can do to kind of not give them that opportunity, i think the better it is for me and my family. >> reporter: delia gongalves, 9news now. >> that 1.6 million tickets delia was talking about equal about 5,000 per day or 350 an hour. and if you break it down even further, the numbers show roughly five tickets are written every minute of each day until 10:00 p.m. in the district. well, parking tickets, speed

cameras, bag taxes, do you ever get the sense your local government is just out for more of your hard earned cash. well, derek says he thinks so. and that the new bag tax in montgomery county may

in downtown 47 degrees. it will be a few degrees above 44. annapolis in the upper 40s. pax river in southern maryland,

you'll be the warmer spot at 50 degrees. here is a look at how your day breaks down after a cold start in the 20s. by noon chilly and increasing clouds out the afternoon mid to upper 40s will be our highs. your next three days, a little bit better on friday where temperatures are going to be around 54 degrees. a little -- a little raindrop on friday because of a slight chance of a little upper air disturbance to bring us maybe a shower. but it's a very slight chance. i think for the most part we will be dry. new years weekend looks good. temperatures in the 50s. new years night not bad. a little chilly. we can deal with it. and then the big changes come monday and tuesday with temperatures in the upper 30s and then monday i got a little snowflake on there. we may have a slight chance for some snow. but right now it's a very slight chance. not a big storm. nothing to really worry about right now. >> okay. mild or not, derek and i agree, you have to keep your christmas tree up until new years. >> you have to keep it up friday. >> i'm going to wait until sunday. >> some people just

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town.

>> well, we're all well aware the capitals post season struggle the past few years, but the only team they have been able to beat is the new york rangers. caps hosting new york. john carlson here with the shot. tony brower with the deflection. caps go up 2-1. capitals then go up 3-1. caps go on to beat the rangers 4-1. >> we haven't had many leads at all for a while, so i thought we played really well. >> we came out playing the right way and the guys put together a good 60 minutes. >> and the redskins face the pre-season self proclaimed dream team sunday. both with disappointing seasons. so with the pride on the line, the redskins are hoping to head off to the season in a high note. >> it's a division game against the philadelphia eagle football

team. it's in their place on new year's day. for us, going into the off season with a win will do a lot for our psyche. >> wizards in atlanta looking for their first win of the season. the hawks get off to a fast start. joe johnson with the 3 puts the hawks up 11-0. wizards try to come back. john wall driving. but mcgee with the follow-up dunk. wizards get within two points but atlanta pulls away late in ç game. wizards drop to 0-2. before the season, the georgetown hoyas were picked to finish 10th in the big east considering 3-fourths of the team are under classman. but from what we've seen, these guys are for real. tonight they proved why. taking on fourth ranked louisville, second half they cause the turnover. the easy dunk. hoyas are thinking upset. tied at 63. simms with the miss.

porter says i've got your back. watch out for that guy. georgetown holds on to the lead. pulls off the=ñu ranked louisville 71-68. >> it was a very good win against a very good team and a very difficult place to play. so we're worried about validations right now. we just want to try to keep the team winning. >> alex land finally making his terms debut as maryland hosts albany. see what the big guy can do. terps up 22-13 and the two hook up again in the final seconds of the first half. maryland goes on to beat albany 83-72. george washington hosting uab tonight. uab went on a 17-1 run in the first half and gw, well, they just couldn't recover. george washington loses to alabama birming ham. >> georgetown has been impressive. we have a team ranked in the top

25. >> something washington oriented to root for. >> exactly. between them and the lady terps, we have at least

and that is our broadcast for tonight. thanks for sticking around. >> bundle up tomorrow morning, right. and don't forget you can always find us at wusa9.com. good night.