>> out of new hampshire, let's get the job done. >> game on. >> but santorum is also ready to compete following his surprising late surge in iowa. >> i've been to new hampshire 30 times and have been done more events than huntsman and he cheats. he lives there. >> ron paul placed third but still considers himself a winner. >> we will go on. we will raise the money. i have no doubt about the volunteers. >> reporter: for some, iowa could be the end of their road to the white house. after coming in a disappointing fifth, rick perry is heading back to texas to reassess his campaign. >> with a little prayer and reflection, i'm going to decide the best path forward. >> the rest of the g.o.p. pack is vowing to fight on. >> i'm convinced the republican party will pick an heir of reagan, a committed conservative and somebody with a track record of changing washington. >> reporter: newt gingrich is hoping to jump start his bid today in new hampshire while

michele bachmann is heading straight to south carolina. >> there are many more chapters to be written on the path to our party's nomination. >> reporter: she's gearing up for the first in a south primary there later this month. >> reporter: and romney is about to pick up a big endorsement. senator john mccain who won new hampshire twice and was the last nominee in 2008 is apparently going to say today that he will endorse mitt romney. also, we heard her man cain got about 50 votes last night. >> i hadn't heard that one. that was news. susan, what was it? it was still so close but in the end, why did voters say they went for mitt romney and what was the draw for rick santorum then? >> well, you know, i really wouldn't call this a win. it is look as a virtual draw. so, i really think it is a choice by iowans who are a distinct group of people here

to say you know, some of them really wanted to vote their heart. some wanted the romney alternative. some wanted the man who could best beat president obama and so that's why it came out so incredibly close. now it is on to new hampshire. no rest for these guys. we'll see what happens next. but from the looks of it, this skirmish can go on for awhile. >> it appears politics is alive and well in iowa especially if rick santorum visited every single municipality to shake some hands. cuccinelli will defend the law even if he doesn't agree with it. perry failed to get the 10,000 signatures needed on virginia's republican presidential primary ballot. newt gingrich also failed those signatures. turning our focus to a major political story here in the district, d.c. council member harry thomas jr. is said to be preparing to resign from office as part of a plea

agreement with federal prosecutors. >> this all started with allegations that thomas stole about $300,000 which was intended for youth baseball and that he allegedly used it for personal trips, golf outings and expensive items like suvs and a motorcycle. bruce johnson has more on the possible plea agreement which could include some prison time. >> last year, when d.c. councilman harry thomas was accused in a civil suit of stealing some $300,000 from youth baseball programs, he staunchly denied any wrongdoing. >> did you use public money for yourself instead of going to the kids programs? >> absolutely not. the body of work my life represents will defend that. >> the d.c. councilman did agree to repay the money. $50,000 at a time. despite cause for his resignation from council colleagues, thomas continued to show up for work while refusing to talk with reporters. >> anything you can tell us? we haven't heard from you. >> you know my lawyers will

give you a comment. i can't comment. >> reporter: just before the d.c. council recess for the holidays, the ward 5 democrat appeared on the dais and voted for a new ethics bill for city employees. late last year, the fbi and i.r.s. agents raided thomas' home in northeast. carted off items reportedly bought with misappropriated funds. sources tell 9news now harry thomas is phoning his closest colleagues to say he will enter into a plea agreement with prosecutors. perhaps before the week is out. the agreement as thomas explains to friends will force him to resign from office and admit to more than one felony charge. said thomas to one source, couldn't beat the tax charges. he told friends he's looking at a two to three year prison sentence. bruce johnson, 9news now. >> 9news now tried and failed to reach harry thomas' attorney for comment. a final meeting could come in a day or two. today, the d.c. council will take steps to speed up

enactment of a new ethics bill. if it is unclear if thomas will cast a vote. d.c. chair kwame brown wants every high school student to take a college entrance exam even if it means forcing them. brown is proposing each student be required to take the a.c.t. or s.a.t. before graduation. his proposal will require every student to apply to at least one vocational school or to a college. >> we're going to do everything we can to ensure that they have the option, if they want to go to college. if they don't, we'll do everything we can to get them ready for employment. >> brown's proposal would create a workshop to teach students how to apply to schools and get financial aid. haase of his office says the cost of all of this would be $300,000 to $400,000 tax dollars. >> virginia republicans will control the evenly-divided state senate during the general assembly session. bill bowling says he plans to use his tie-breaking bowl on bill and organizational efforts. virginia democrats weren't happy about it.

they sued over bolling's vote saying he should only break ties in certain types of legislation and not the makeup of senate committees. the judge threw out the lawsuit last month. d.c. police are investigating the city's second homicide of the year. it happened in the 1500 block of 45th street northeast just before 6:30 last night. when officers arrived, they found a man with several gunshot wounds to the chest. police have not release a man's name or any information on possible suspects. tensions continue to grow between iran and the united states after iranian military leader issued a new threat to a u.s. navy war ship. >> it is the latest in a series of steps iran decided to take after the u.s. passed new sanctions. tara mergener has more. >> reporter: iranian military commanders are talking tough, saying a u.s. aircraft carrier that left the pershing gulf should not come back. the white house says the bold warning shows iran is in a position of weakness. >> it is the latest round of

iranian threats and it is confirmation that tehran is under increasing pressure for its continued failures to live up to its obligation. >> the threat came as iran wrapped up navy drills in the strategic strait of hormuz which included test launching new missiles. pentagon officials shrugged it off saying america won't change its presence in the persian gulf. >> tensions have been building since president obama siped tough new sanctions into law. they're designed to punish iran for moving forward with its nuclear program making it harder for the country to sell its oil. a spokeswoman for the state department says iran's threats are a sign that those sanctions are working. >> they're trying to divert the attention of their own public from the difficulties inside iran. >> iran has also threatened to shut down the strait of hormuz where 1/6 of the world's crude oil passes through. experts say iran's navy isn't capable of closing down the

waterway and that tehran depends on oil sales to fund its government. tara mergener, the white house. some of america's european allies are possibly debating similar sanctions on iran's oil sales. italy, spain and greece all import large amounts of iranian oil. our time right now, 4:38. at 4:41, the rising cost of fuel is going to impact just how much you pay for that morning latte. and at 4:49, cleaning up the chesapeake. isn't just helping the environment. it could also make a positive impact on the economy. >> we're back in two minutes with your weather first. you're watching 9news now.

4:40 on this frigid wednesday morning.

temperatures feeling like zero to 10 above with the wind chills. lot less winds today. we'll get into some clouds this afternoon with a chance of a few flurries not expecting the snow showers like yesterday with highs approaching 35. milder days ahead. your seven-day forecast in the next five minutes. monika with timesaver traffic. >> unfortunately, we have an accident on the beltway. here it is. live on the inner loop of the beltway. it is northbound 495 before river road. as you can see, only the right side of the road is squeezing by northbound and on the left side of the road, fire and rescue blocks the left lane as well. so, watch out for delays building quickly in bethesda. i'll keep you posted on this situation coming up in my next report. back to you guys. >> it is 4:4 is and time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> good morning, jessica doyle. how are you? >> i'm doing well. so is wall street. i hope you guys are doing well as well. we had a big party on wall street yesterday. new year's day party if you will. >> it was triple digits. now it could just be a new year's party. the so-called january effect.

and a possible hangover could come later. we'll get a better idea today and later in the week when more economic figures come out. checking the numbers, the dow starts today at its highest level in more than five months. 12,397. it surged almost 180 points or 1.4% yesterday. the nasdaq added 43 points or 1.7% and the s&p 500 gaped almost 20 points or about 1. 5%. >> your credit cards are friending facebook. citibank customers can use facebook to merge credit card reward points. the bank has launched an app that lets users team up to use their points whether for charity, a group gift or a personal ghoul. the app builds on the service citi introduced last year that lets customers transfer points to one another after getting positive feedback, the bank decided to expand the project. well, everything costs more these days. if only we didn't have the addictions to caffeine and pretty soon that trip to starbucks for the java fix is

going to cost you more. the seattle coffee chain is raising prices by 1% in the northeast and the sun belt. that means your tall coffee is going to go up by 10 cents. good news for your grande fans, the prices for those will stay the same. starbucks says tough competition, the need to pay more for ingredients and rising gas prices are behind the price hikes. or we could stop drinking coffee. >> starbucks fans are so loyal, 10 cents isn't going to mean a thing. >> glad i only do it on big holidays. >> thank you, jess. >> sure thing. an antiobesity campaign in georgia is starting to spark some controversy across the country. and find out why critics say that psa featuring overweight kids is misleading. >> that story plus your weather first in two minutes.

4:45 this wednesday morning. you're going to feel the cold snap when you step outdoors. it is very cold this morning. >> it is not nearly as windy, a. while this is the coldest morning of the season so far, milder air is not that far away. >> let's look at the bright side.

it is wednesday. two more mornings then toward the weekend. planning on going skiing this weekend. there may be snow on the slopes. some areas had over a foot of snow. they're making snow big time. let's talk about today. bus stop forecast. boy, bundle them up, people. it is cold out there. the hats, the scarves, the gloves, all of it. you'll need it. temperatures down in the teens. some low 20s. sunrise at 7:27. calling it frigid out there. but thankfully, not as windy as it was. some sunshine early though but more clouds, especially this afternoon. temperatures by noon around 30 and highs today about 35 with a 5:00 p.m. temperature of 33. we could see a few flurries this afternoon. not expecting what we had yesterday when we had some of the heavy snow squalls which did drop a coating in spots. today, a weather headlines, cold but not as windy. yesterday, some of the winds gust to close to 40 miles per hour. afternoon flurries will be possible. seasonable tomorrow.

that means mid-40s. about 45, 46 for the high. as we head toward friday, we'll be in the 50s, maybe well in the 50s. still looks like we'll start the weekend with 50s before colder air returns by sunday. this morning, we're talking temperatures, not wind chills but air temperatures as cold as 20 in pax river. as cold as 9 in winchester and oakland. culpepper, 16. it is 17 here in d.c. with wind chills making it feel like 7 above zero in town. 4 in easton. zero in hagerstown. so, clearly one of the coldest mornings we've seen in a long time with the coldest so far this season. officially, 17. feeling like 7. that dew point is 3 below zero and i ran a calculator, tweeted this a couple of minutes ago. you take that 3 and you heat the air up without using a humidifier, your indoor humidity, not 491% outdoor but the indoor is 70 degrees is about 5%. this is one of the reasons you heard topper talking about it in the evening. get a humidifier. add moisture back in your house

because it is bone-dry at the moment. the core of the arctic air, you can see the white pink area across quebec province and canada. that is starting to pull away. out to the west, normal cold, kansas city, 34. denver, 31. the milder temperatures will be returning in the next couple of days. with this push from west to east. you can see it as we go to the northwest. another storm system coming in toward british columbia and the pacific northwest. this is keeping the jet stream well to the north. it is going to keep the cold stuff bottled up in canada. the mild air will come in. it will push the cold out of here. while it is frigid this morning, about 24 more hours of this at most. maybe 18. before the heart of the cold really starts to pull away. cold this morning. we're watching a weak disturbance, might bring us a few flurries or snow showers late this afternoon, this evening. this thing will pass pretty quickly. not expecting much with it. mountain snows are picking up again late tonight into thursday. just on the ridges there. as we head into thursday

though, not a bad day. late afternoon, mid-40s. the bite of the cold will be gone tomorrow. then as we head into friday, more sunshine, just a couple of clouds but sunny and milder. friday's highs should make it well up into the 50s the way it looks now. it is going to be pretty nice here. as we finish the week. looking at the next three days, today, 35. could be a flurry. we'll call it partly to mostly cloudy this afternoon with a little sun this morning. tonight, 25 to 30. not nearly as cold as it was this morning as it will be tomorrow morning. tomorrow, milder, 46. nice on friday. 57 for saturday. i expect highs in the low 50s. by sunday, slight chance of a little morning snow on sunday. we'll watch the system. see whether or not it can creep up from the south and then just some normal cold the way it looks monday and tuesday. highs in the low 40s. monika, you're laughing when i say normal cold. >> i like the pattern of winter so far. you know what, you won't like this very much. there is an accident on the

beltway. it is on the inner loop right here before river road. and on both loops of the beltway, you've got fire and rescue and equipment on the scene. both loops along the west side of the road, be aware of that in the bethesda area. there is also construction on the beltway down in tysons and at i-66. a couple of things to contend with on the beltway west side. let's take a live look at the accident. fire and rescue and flares set up as well. both loops of the beltway affected. minely the inner loop trying to get by with everyone squeezing by on the right side here. on the inner loop northbound 495, i'll keep you posted. apparently it was a single vehicle accident. they were just in the process of transporting a patient as well. this time, northbound i-95 in virginia not looking bad. there is construction on route one in woodbridge right near route 123. 95 seems to be clear. north of the rest area, heading all the way up into springfield and on to 395, right now, the lanes are open. coming up in my next report, i'll update you on the accident

in bethesda at 4:55. thank you, monica. cleaning up the chesapeake bay could prove to be good for the economy according a new report by the chesapeake bay foundation. storm water and sewage plant upgrades would create 240,000 jobs near the bay and the areas surrounding. the bay foundation commissioned the report to dispute criticism that environmental regulations would actually cost jobs. montgomery county executive ike leggett stopped by a safeway store in the hillandale area yesterday to promote the county's new bag tax. he handed out several hundred free reusable bags to shoppers. the goal is to help county residents get used to the new bag tax law. free reusable bags were handed out to stores in king farm. a number of stores including safeway shoppers, whole foods, giant have donated reusable bags for distribution. most of the bags are going to low income residents. parking rates are going up in downtown silver spring and north bethesda. this includes areas along

rockville pike, seven locks road, veirs mill road, montrose road and randolph road. parking rates have jumped by a dime an hour. about 600 meters are affected. there is a new ad campaign in georgia and it is targeting childhood obesity and it is getting some criticism. the ads showed chubby kids talking about their bodies. in one tv ad, a boy asks his mom why he's fat. in another, obese little girls talk about how she is bullied about her weight and how it hits her feelings. she's pictured on a billboard that says it is hard to be a little girl if you're not. they're trying to do a public good but what they're ultimately doing is really shaming and blaming both kids and ultimately parents. shame and blame doesn't work. it just makes people feel bad. >> dr. scott caan at johns hopkins says shame and blame approaches never work. what's needed to address the country's obesity problem is

multi-facetted campaigns including education, marketing and price incentives. a new break through could help infertile men have children. researchers in germany and israel were able to grow mouse sperm in a laboratory dish that took cells from the mice responsible for sperm production and grew them in a special compound creating sperm. scientists will now try to repeat the process in people. a new study finds weight loss surgery can reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. the research in the journal american medical association shows bariatric surgery can improve your overall health. significant weight loss can lower cholesterol levels and cure type two diabetes. preschoolers who go to day care centers are not getting much physical activity. a new study in the journal pediatrics has some reasons why. researchers say parents have asked them to restrict physical activity to reduce the risk of injury. they also found that because of new licensing codes, new

playgrounds have become less challenging and less interesting to kids. >> ok. before we head to break, time for the question of the morning right now. >> the question is a recent study found this has 60 times the germs of a toilet. is it a, a keyboard. b, a cell phone. we're shake our heads on that one. c, the kitchen counter. >> my bet is on the cell phone. log on to facebook.com/wusa9 and leave your comments. we'll give you the survey answer in the 6:00 a.m. hour.

we're down in the teens this morning feeling like single digs in many areas. we'll see temperatures into the 20s in d.c. by 9:00. both teens in the suburbs. mostly cloudy skies midday. as we approach the low to mid- 30s with highs with a chance of a couple of flurries this afternoon and much less wind than yesterday. that's a good thing. monika? >> well, on the inner loop of the beltway in bethesda, i've it's been telling you about an accident for the last 20 minutes or so before river road, right here, work continues on the accident along the left side causing delays northbound on 495. coming up in my next report, i'll update you at 5:01. three hollywood heavyweights team up for a new "vanity fair" cover shoot. >> demi moore takes on a feminist icon about the film

industry. >> reporter: demi moore signed on to play feminist gloria steinem in the upcoming film lovely. it depicts linda lovelace who rose to fame in the movie deep throat. she detailed how lovelace was forced into the industry. >> california's medical board is making dr. conrad murray turn over his medical certificate. murray had his medical license suspected automatically when he was convicted of a felony. the disgraced doctor is serving four years in prison for the death of michael jackson. the new "vanity fair" cover features a ton of star power. a listers daniel craig, george clooney and matt damon pose for photographer anny liebowitz. the trio filled out the post- questionnaire where clooney admits his dog lives better than he does. craig says his least favorite body parts are his knees and matt damon lists his marriage at his greatest achievement. >> came and clooney rank among the top box office draws. the descendants star came in

second. damon, fifth. >> you can't start pena first tonight. >> in first place, brad pitt who starred in the movie money ball and the tree of life last year. theatre owners and film buyers say he did more than any other star to fill seats. that's your eye on entertainment. i'm edward lawrence, cbs news, hollywood. until ghost protocol, i'm sure that's going to fetch tom cruise back in the top spot. thank you for being in your seats or getting out of bed watching us at 5:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. >> he always likes to make a dramatic entrance. >> i'm mike hydeck. >> here's monika samtani. she was ready to go. howard bernstein, i'm sure was probably messing with the computer. >> exactly. >> we have school delays. >> we do have a few school delays. >> all in west virginia. >> two hour delay? >> two hour delays grant, hampshire and hardy counties. they're going to play it safe