our gary nuremberg is monitoring the campaign trail for us tonight. reporter: mitt romney won by eight votes. for rick santorum last night with ron paul in third. the iowa caucuses are over, but the name calling isn't. we'll work this from the bottom to the top of the pack. although back mann is standing aside she's -- bachmann is standing aside she's not going away. her minnesota house seat appears secure. >> i will continue fighting to defeat the president's agenda of socialism. reporter: rick perry dissed by iowa voters with a fifth place finished dissed back as he vowed to fight on. >> we'll go into places where they have actual primaries and there are going to be real republicans voting. reporter: fourth place finisher newt gingrich congratulated santorum. >> i also admire how positive he was. i wish i could say that for all the candidates. reporter: he meant romney whom refused to congratulate and then gingrich congratulated third place finisher ron paul

with this. >> his views on foreign policy i think are sunningly dangerous for the survival of the united states. reporter: paul a former flight surgeon responded by calling gingrich a chicken hawk for avoiding service in vietnam while advocating the use of the military overseas. former utah governor john huntman took a pass on iowa and has already had 150 new hampshire events. santorum splashed from behind to a near win and is charged up. >> with your help and god's grace we'll have another fun night a week from now. reporter: but romney is well financed, ahead in the polls and got an endorsement today from 2008 republican candidate john mccain. >> i'm really here for one reason and one reason only and that is to make sure that we make mitt romney the next president of the united states of america. reporter: mccain laughingly congratulated romney on his landslide win. >> and the question i have for you is can we do better in new hampshire? yeah, yeah. [ cheering and applause ]

reporter: well, all the politicians are saying he better do better in new hampshire. he's well organized, got plenty of money, had property 2349 state for years. if he wins that -- had property in the state for years. if he wins that one, everybody will call take loss. john huntman and rick santorum are joining rick perry's lawsuit to get on the primary balance plot. a u.s. district -- ballot. a u.s. district judge in richmond granted the request this morning. virginia's republican central come teal says it will take a close -- committee says it will take a new look at a rule requiring voters to pledge support for the party before voting march 6th. the group plans to meet january 21st to discuss this new loyalty oath. voters who do not sign it would not be allowed to vote in the primary.

new information on a story we brought you last night at 11:00. sources tell fox 5 news that embattled d.c. councilman harry thomas jr. told his staff they should look newer jobs. this comes after we reported that thomas is telling his associates he's negotiating a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. our bruce johnson has been all over this story, broke it last night, worked it throughout the night and day. you've got the latest. >> now it's on the fast track. this could be over by the end of the week i'm told. there are signs his staff is already making moves. there are a few people at his office today and when we stopped by. ward 5 d.c. councilman harry thomas jr. is telling associates he will resign from the council. he'll plead guilty to at least one federal tax charge. the legislator is telling friends he could face up to two to three years in prison. >> i've heard speculations. i have not spoken to councilman thomas. reporter: councilman harry thomas jr. was a. >> show today where the mayor

and -- a no show today where the mayor and others gathered that they'll lobby for d.c. statehood. >> the justice department has given them a fair way to work and if councilman thomas chooses to resign, he is taking that action. we hope to make sure the residents of ward 5 are well represented. reporter: a check of his office found just a handful of people as the councilman has told his staff to look for new jobs. some have already been taken on by other council members. the plea agreement stems from allegations that thomas stole some $300,000 from a youth baseball program. that's public money he converted to his own use. >> there is hurt and disappointment, but we will get past this. we will come together as a ward and we will move forward. reporter: and as we reported last night, sources tell us again this evening there is no formal plea agreement in place as yet, no court date or press conference scheduled at this time.

harry thomas jr. and his legal team expect to neat with prosecutors, negotiations to continue as soon as tomorrow. >> so if harry thomas resigns at the end of the week, what happens to his seat? what happens to his constituents? >> the seat is vacant for a while. there's a special elections not just open to democrats, but to all voters and of that special eve leks when his term expires -- election when his term expires, in the general election they'll have the contest to fill his seat, kwame brown said today guard 5 residents is one of the highest vote -- ward 5 residents is one of the highest voting wards in the city. they will be taken care of and have representation. the temperature at reagan national airport this morning dropped as blow as any day all last winter. topper is in the weather center with more on the cold. >> the low this morning at national was 17 degrees, the

low it's been all winter and as low as it went all last winter. 14 was the low at dulles. let's start with radar. we have a little snow to talk about. one area is to the north of us near york, pennsylvania, kind of moving down i-83. that will stay north of us, might kind of graze baltimore. there's another area of snow, much larger, more concentrated, and that is back into west virginia. this is what we're thinking could get into here going through the nighttime hours, probably after midnight, certainly before dawn. you see a little snow on top of us, but that's not reach being the ground. it's just too dry -- reaching the ground. it's just too dry. 30 in manassas and 30 in leesburg. we'll come back and talk about when the milder air rolls in and if this snow leads to a dusting by morning. three months in jail for a man who used a pay phone scheme to ring himself up $4 million.

nicholas cansartid pleaded guilty last september. he used more than 100 local pay phones to make phantom calls, some ate million calls in all, and rigged the -- 8 million calls in all, and rigged the phones to collect 50 million in fees overall. an arlington man pleaded guilty to first degree murder. he is project irk. clark, iii. -- roger k. clark, iii. police found carl diener's body in a straight in a clarendon neighborhood. it took a year and a half to make an arrest. clark will be sentenced in april. see if you recognize this man, 76-year-old john mawkins, who was last seen leaving his house in temple hills last night and hasn't been seen since. hawkins was driving a 2005 green chrysler 300 like this one with a maryland license plate of the letter a and numbers 056455. if you've seen john hawkins or

his car, please call police. a 4-year-old boy is blamed for starting a fire in waldorf. investigators say the child was playing with a lighter when he lit a mattress on fire tuesday and the flames spread from the bedroom causing major damage to a duplex there. nobody was seriously hurt, but the fire spread to the home next-door where neighbors say they barely got out in time. >> a lot of smoke and it was hard to breathe and i was trying to run. we have five animals. i was trying to run and get the animals out so they wouldn't get hurt. it was pretty scary. you don't leave lighters and matches and that sort of thing out to where a child could get them. >> good advice. the house where the fire started will be torn down completely. the neighboring home can be repaired. tonight at 7:00 more help for virginia for the flooding from tropical storm lee, how a new grant from the feds will pay for recovery of that major

storm. our bitter chill didn't just mean busting out the scarves, hats and gloves, it also caused major problems for commutedders. up next openings and cozy -- commuters. up next open beings and closings, which businesses are open -- openings and closings, which businesses are opening their doors.

after 58 years in the area hidden camera announced today it's closing five of eight stores. the decision is part of a failing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. customers that may have had repairs or processing done at one of the shuttered stores are asked to call the locations on e street in the district as well as rockville and tysons corner to pick up their items. we also learned today macy's is planning to close nine of its macy's and bloomingdale's stores this spring and that includes the macy's in laurel mall and the

bloomingdale's in white flint mall. the company says it's part of the normal opening and closing of stores and they plan to take advantage of some new opportunities. a complete opposite type of announcement from dunkin' donuts today. the company plans to double the number of its stores in the u.s. in the next 20 years. dunkin' donuts already has 7,000 stores in this country. kiplinger is out with its list of 100 best values in public colleges and we've got two winners here in the washington area. the university of maryland at college park comes in at no. 8 and the total in-state cost is $19,400 then coming in at no. 50 is george mason university. the total in-state cost there is $18,700. the university of north carolina was rated no. 1. you can see the entire list at www.wusa9.com. coming up, though, tower region ranked among the worst in the kun -- our region ranked among the worst in the country when it comes to traffic.

we'll have a look at some of the best places to work if you commute. health alert.

mri's were studied to look at eating braked or broiled fish which reduces the -- baked or broiled fish which reduces the chance of alzheimer's disease or dementia. >> this health alert sponsored by cancer treatment centers of america, care that never quits, cancercenter.com.

the national center for transit research, that's a mouthful, is out with its list of best places to work for commuters. locally the state department, the u.s. house of representatives and national geographic society made the cut in the district. in maryland discovery communications and the food and drug administration offices in silver spring as well as montgomery county's government get the nod and in virginia the consumer electronics association in arlington and alexandria plot are on the list as well as 10 different -- alexandria hospital are on the list as well as 10 different companies. go to www.wusa9.com and click on where you live. not such an easy commute this morning for some metro riders and the system says weather is to blame. surae chinn in fairfax county with more. reporter: metro found cracks on its train tracks. the same thing happened in long island transit system and amtrak is looking into if seeing weather was a problem when power lines came down in

philly causing delays here, all causing havoc, but not only the transit system, but our cars. here is a mechanic who changed his seventh battery today because the battery advised they need a new one and it's mapped to the best of them. >> i'm -- happened to the best of them. >> i'm thinking about tires, you know, traction of. reporter: leanne cooper wants to make sure her car is winter ready. tires can lose pressure in a matter of hours. >> the battery when you get to freezing loses about 20 percent of its ability to hold a charge. >> aaa has come to save me more than once. reporter: but who can aaa mechanic dennis turn to? >> i had to jump start my own truck. reporter: he found both diesel batteries dead in his own truck. shouldn't you know that? >> i'm too busy working on other people's vehicles. >> we went from 50 degrees to in the teens. every car out there that has regular air pressure in it has

lost pressure in their tires '. reporter: mechanics say check those tires to see if there are any cracks around the rim because that can be weather- related as well. back to you. >> thanks so much. as the temperatures drop, the district wants to be sure anyone in need has a way to stay warm. if you see someone that you think may need help call 800- 535-7252. got to get through one more cold night. >> not nearly as cold as last night. the clouds and southwest winds will help us out and ironically a little bit of snow may help. we're looking at temperatures this morning, 17 at national, 14 dulles, nothing like that tonight. let's start with a satellite picture and radar combined, a storm in the pacific northwest is sending energy to the rockies and four corners area early next week. when it does, that may set the stage for a bigger storm for bus this time next week.

in the meantime -- us about this time next week. in the meantime it's not a very big system. our snows don't come from the west, clouds all day, snow showers now in the mountains. west virginia, this is the best chance making it into the immediate metro area later tonight. we have snow above it evaporating before reaching the ground and that's not going to be a problem. tonight we could see a period of light snow or some snow showers after midnight and before dawn tomorrow, but the very fluffy snow, not a big deem here's a look at live doppler. -- big deal. here's a look at live doppler. it's not snowing. the air is simply too dry, but when this rolls in late tonight is will add some moisture to the air and allow some of that snow to reach the ground. temperatures aren't tanking like they were yesterday at this time, 31 arlington, 31 bethesda, 30 rockville, 34 downtown. that's as warm as it's been all day at national. here's the deal. light snow possible midnight to

6 a.m., a dusting is possible, very dry snow not causing any problems for the morning commute tomorrow. then just chilly on thursday. we're back in the 40s which is pretty nice for january. not as cold tonight, light snow or snow showers, dusting possible, low temperatures 25 to 30 and winds increasing out of the southwest 10 to 15. that's a warmer win that will keep temperatures up a bit -- wind that will keep temperatures up a bit. tomorrow morning partly cloudy, cold, 20s and 30s, winds out of the west at 10:00 and by afternoon partly cloudy, chilly but seasonal, high temperatures near 45. winds will turn northwesterly at 10 but stay in check, no strong wind like yesterday. let's break it down. 6:00 in the morning 25 to 32, clouds left over but partly cloudy at noon, chilly, 37 to 42 and then 40 to 45 under partly cloudy skies by evening. now the next three days guess what? we tack on 10 degrees on friday, 54, partly cloudy

friday, even saturday pleasant, 51 and clouds come in, maybe a sprinkle or shower saturday night. the next seven days, another piece of energy comes at us sunday into monday. there's a slight chance of light rain or snow monday, temperatures struggling to get to 40, but we see milder air return. we're 50 on tuesday and next wednesday clouds on the increase. some of the energy out west gets here, puts on a pretty big storm, but it's going to be warm accident rain and 55. >> all right. -- warm, rain and 55. >> all right. we're turning up the heat a bit because kristen berset is down at the verizon center. the hoyas hope to really heat it up on the court tonight. reporter: they've been red hot lately. tonight they host 20th ranked marquette. can they extend their win streak and remain perfect in the big east? plus west virginia joins the warmth of south florida. we'll look at the match-up coming up next in sports.

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. reporter: welcome back. we are live at the verizon center. in less than an hour georgetown will host 20th ranked marquette. now mind you, georgetown was the team that wasn't even ranked in the preseason poll. they were considered to be in a rebuilding year. the hoyas weren't really thought of as a big east contender, but there's still a lot of games left to go. right now the hoyas are proving all the naysayers wrong.

jp3 and gang are riding a 10- game win streak. they're now ranked ninth in the country and despite having 10 freshmen and sophomores to make up most of the squad, they face another tough task tonight against marquette. the golden eagles have struggled lately but are still a darn good team nonetheless. >> it's going to be a hard game. it's not going to be pretty. they're going to mail as hard as we are. we'll try to play harder than them and stay together. >> it's a physical team. it's going to be a good game. both teams are going to play very hard, so it should be a good one. reporter: the hoyas are on the hardwood. the mountaineers are back on the gridiron down in miami. luckily a lot warmer there than here for them. west virginia will face clemson tonight in the orange bowl and as we have seen with some recent bowl games this could be an offensive shootout. the mountaineers love to pass the ball, their offense ranked

seventh in the nation for yards per game and they like to run it a little more. it's the tigers' defense that could pose a problem for the mountaineers. >> the guys offensively that are better players and shoot, that's going to be a challenge for us defensively. >> they've got some guys that can play really fast, really aggressive and it's just one of those deals where you have to kind of take what they give you. reporter: in case you missed the ending last night, virginia tech trying to prove they deserve their bcs bowl bid fell to michigan in overtime 23-20. they're lucky they even got that far. special teams created so many mistakes, fumbling a punt return, running into michigan's kicker allowing the wolverines to hang in there. the caps following their fourth straight win to calgary dispute losing nicklas backstrom early on who was elbowed in the jaw

forced to leave the game. he apartmented in morning skate today but has been undergoing -- participated in the morning skate today but has been undergoing concussion tests. the caps don't play again until saturday night in san jose. the wizards are in action tonight in orlando. as for georgetown, again looking to extend their 10-game win streak and stay perfect in the big east, playing tonight against 20th ranked marquette. live from the verizon center i'm kristen berset. back to you in the studio. >> we'll have to play hard tonight. thanks. >> they'll play harder than the guys from marquette. heats knock on wood so we don't jinx them. -- let's knock on wood so we don't jinx them. >> let's talk about the season- day, possibly light snow tonight, chilly tomorrow, 44 friday, weekend okay, maybe showers late and a bigger storm monday. we'll talk about that on 9 news now at 7:00. >> maybe at some point we'll get some snow. >> maybe. >> we've got nothing for you

now but the ending of the snow. the cbs evening news is next. have a great night.