with it. >> reporter: vice president baden is certain a solution can be found. >> we're not going over the cliff. we're determined not to go over the cliff. i think better heads will prevail. >> reporter: finding a solution in a lame duck congress could prove complicates. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. >> the budget office report says that if congress cannot find that solution and the fiscal cliff happens, unemployment would increase back up to 9.1%. virginia's governor isn't waiting, bob mcdonnell already making plans in case we fall off the fiscal cliff. he's ordering all department heads to prepare to cut their budgets by 4%. >> transportation, health, the dmv, you name it. every state agency is being told to get ready. gary nuremberg has more. >> reporter: if those 4% cuts actually happen, state legislators say it is education that gets hit hard. that its transportation that gets hit hard. >> right now we don't have the money we need to invest and

this will make things worse. >> reporter: on across the board cuts -- >> the impacts will be severe and you're talking about a budget that already has been cut significantly over the last four years or so. to the point where we are cutting into the bone of our human services. >> reporter: they react to federal cuts when you get state budget cuts. >> fairfax, arlington, alexandria, all of the northern virginia localities, they're going to be the ones left holding the bag. >> reporter: worried about that federal fiscal cliff, the fairfax school board thursday night passed a resolution urging congress to stop it. if congress doesn't it could mean a $6 million hit to programs that serve the county's 36,000 kids learning english. >> this has a major impact on fairfax county public schools and our ability to be able to work with those children. promoting interaction with employees, us not being the teachers -- the teachers not being able to work with the children in traditional ways. >> reporter: back on the state

level the virginia governor mcdonnell is asking department heads to plan for the 4% cuts but it appears to be on the tinnientsy plan -- contingency planning. gary nurenberg, 9news now. the number of people in syria who need humanitarian aid could increase from 2.5 million to 4 million by next year. a report from the united nations' humanitarian office also says if the fighting continues at its current rate, the number of refugees leaving syria would go from 400,000 to 700,000 just in few months by early -- in a few months by early 2013. the fighting appears to be getting worse every week. the pentagon says iranian fighter jets shot at but missed is u.s. drone that was flying surveillance mission off the iranian coast. the u.s. says that drone was over international waters when it was targeted. penalty gone spokesperson says iran was intentionally trying to shoot down the drone. seven navy s.e.a.l.s have

been reprimanded and docked two months' pay for helping make the new game medal of honor. they provided classified information to the publisher electronic arts. they paid the s.e.a.l.s to work on the war fighter game. all serve were accuse -- seven were accused of showing their official combat gear. they'll be ineligible for promotion and essentially ends their careers. some disturbing details from the case of a u.s. soldier accused of participating in a nighttime massacre in afghanistan. 16 afghan civilians were killed last march during the incident. yesterday an army dna expert says robert bales had the blood on him. christine said the blood of more people could be discovered if more testing were performed. the hearing in seattle will help determine whether the case

advances to a court-martial. a deep breath and get back to the clean-up. that's in new york and new jersey today. hundreds of thousands of people are still without power after the big storm sandy last week and the nor'easter this week and the snow and the wind from the latest storm pushed down more trees and power lines this week and also interfered with the relief efforts underway after sandy. in new york city leaders there are taking steps to reduce the gas lines. beginning today drivers with license plates ending with odd numbers can get fuel. tomorrow it will be people with even numbers that can fill up. only 25% of the gas stations are are open right now. and getting to new york city by rail is still a challenge but amtrak is hoping to have three of its tunnels to new york's penn station back open by tonight. amtrak's goal is to restore all of its service and commuter rail in and out of the station by monday. many of us here across the mid-atlantic are learning some pretty hard lessons after the superstorm.

>> our own bruce leshan is living the nightmare, trying to rebuild after a tree nearly destroyed his home. he hopes it will help others. >> i'm learning a lot about how to come back after a huge tree nearly destroyed my home. and i'm hoping what i've learned is going to help some other people. a week ago i lived in a forest of tulip poplars. but all around the neighborhood now, the chainsaws are buzzing, the cranes are lifting the logs out of people's backyards. my neighbors are all scared that what happened to me -- might happen to them. and so they're taking out this tree now, later in the afternoon this one will come down. luckily my wife had decided to ride out the storm down in the basement because this was my bedroom.

this crisis had convinced me that my friends and neighbors are the best ever. they helped me move into this house just a few blocks away. my wife and my kids and i are all thinking the sun room is going to be a really nice place to spend the winter. in bethesda, bruce leshan, 9news now. you can help people struggling to recover from sandy with just the click of a mouse. log on to facebook and like our wusa9 page and we'll donate $1 to the american red cross. this morning, former arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords came face-to-face with the convicted shooter jared loughner in court yesterday. he was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences and plus 140 years in a federal prison. he pleaded guilty several months ago to the shooting rampage in arizona. other victims spoke directly to loughner and they shared their thoughts on that experience with the cameras after sentencing. in sports the awards continue to roll in for the

washington nationals. three nats have won silver slugger awards for best offensive player at their position. adam laroche led all first basemen with 33 home runs and 100 rbis. ian desmond was the best shortstop with 25 home runs despite missing 32 games with a torn oblique. stephen strasburg has a battle average of .277. he hit the most doubles by a pitcher. the nationals are the only team with three winners. 4:37 now. we had temperatures near the 30s earlier this week. >> oh. >> tack on 30 more. that's what the weekend is going to look like. howard's got to weekend forecast in about two minutes. >> and we're learning the exact financial cost of sandy and how long it may take to recover. >> and priceline.com buys a rival website for nearly $2 billion. the story is coming up at 4:41. >> 9news now returns in two minutes. stay with us.

just about 4:40 on this friday morning, you'll need a jacket this morning but it's going to be nicer. you know yesterday in spite of the wind we got to 56. today we're looking at a high around 60 degrees at 3:00 and boy nice and clear this morning. monika? on the northbound side of i- 95, and 395, we're looking good right up the line from dale city to the 14th street bridge all lanes are open and no big delays early on this friday morning. i'll be back with more traffic coming up at 4:47. back to you. thank you monika. 4:40. time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> looking down at the dow. >> yeah. >> sky fall remember? >> right, right. >> that's right sky fall fiscal cliff. we're sky falling off the fiscal cliff as world markets -- it just keeps going. overseas markets down yet again

this morning. that follows a two day selloff on wall street. the dow has fallen 432 points since election day. they are worried about the ability to work together. because they've worked together so well so far. they also remain concerned about europe's debt crisis. checking the numbers for you if we must, close your eyes -- put your seat belt on -- in the meantime, sandy could wind up costing new york state $33 billion. that would make it the second most expensive storm in u.s. history behind hurricane katrina which battered new orleans in 2005. airlines are assessing the impact of sandy on their bottom lines and united airlines says it lost $90 million in sales last month. priceline.com is buying rival online travel research

company kayak. the deal is worth $1.8 billion. now kayak allows users to compare hundreds of flights travel sites rather while looking for flights hotels and rental cars. the deal still needs the approval of shareholders and regulators for kayak. some combinations there. >> i've never tried that? so much bigger than the other ones like orbitz and travelocity? >> it's the same type of thing. i find sometimes that i find lower prices on kayak. i don't like the user interphase quite as much but you can find some pretty good deals on there. >> i'll have to give it a shot. >> not bad. movie shoot coming up. it's expected to slow down traffic in a big way in a key part of western montgomery county. we'll tell you where. >> we'll have more on that story, plus your weather, the warmup when we return in two minutes.

good morning. it's almost 4:45 this friday morning. howard has some good news for the weekend. >> yeah, nice and mild and i

know we've had kind of a -- >> heart walk saturday is going to be greet for that. >> tomorrow morning at nationals park. anita brikman and i are coemceing that event. 60s in the afternoon. >> also one quick reminder, scouting for food. everybody's picking up the food tomorrow so if you have those bags fill them up. me and the scouts will be out in the neighborhood and all over the d.c. area. >> watch it. >> you can drop it off where? >> at every safeway. >> all right. you're welcome mike. >> thank you howard. >> let's get you going with that bus stop forecast, we help each other here. you'll need something toecap you warm early because we start in the 30s and 40s although we've got generally clear skies. sunrise happened at about 6:45 and it sets at 4:59. this afternoon. we won't see a 5:00 sunset until january 4th. 55 at noon. that will be nice. northwesterly winds at about 10 miles an hour. 59 for 4:00 with a high right around 60. and i think that happened

3:00ish and at 8:00 p.m. back down the 51 degrees and we'll have light winds tonight and that means 30s and 40s once again but the winds are turning to the south and that's going to bring milder air our way. but culpeper on the flip side 30. richmond 35. and gaithersburg 37. outside on our michael & son weather camera, clear skies this morning. good visibility and a little bit of a breeze. you know national's been gusting over 20 miles an hour still. but the rest of us really are seeing much lighter winds so the 44 feeling like 37 here in town. and the humidity 55%. dew point near 30. yesterday some of the dew points had fallen into the single digits which is really quite unusual for this time of year. cold air moving in from the rocky asks still in the morn plains -- rockies and still in the northern plains today. but see the 80 in oklahoma city and dallas 82? into saturday only 11 in great falls but the warmth st. louis

74. then into sunday the warmth scoots east and we'll see near 70 in greensboro with 17 in bismarck. the cold from the west, the warmth from the east and that's why we're looking at potentially 70 or better here on sunday and around that on monday. there's that storm which is raging on the waste coast. big storm, center's now in california but the cold air in place and the moisture coming up into the cold. we've got snow in the rockies especially in the mountains here. they're going to be parts of montana that get 2 feet of wind driven snow. for us we're saying good-bye to the nor'easter. it's right there. and slowly scooting off toward the east. high pressure's building in. and we're going to be in great shape the next couple of days. in fact our futurecast nice and quiet. little warm front late tonight early tomorrow may produce a few clouds and even a stray shower across pennsylvania. but tomorrow morning, notice a couple of clouds here and there coming across the region. they should be passing by lunchtime and a sunny and milder afternoon as the winds kicking up out of the south as we head -- and southwest into

sunday. that's going to boost temperatures even warmer for sunday. so the forecast today, 60s this afternoon. mild. tonight back in the 40s and some 30s again. outside the beltway. tomorrow 65 with perhaps a few more clouds in the morning but a sunny afternoon. sunday dry, great day. about 72 degrees on veterans' day. skins are off on sunday. but the ravens are home. so going up to baltimore for that. going to be very comfortable. next chance of rain tuesday before we cool it down into the 50s again on wednesday. it's 4:48. monika samtani is that a big list or something else? something else. you want to hear about this too. but in the meantime there's no list. things look great all around town. the beltway and all the major thoroughfares including 270 and 95. the map just went -- away from me. there we go. and if you're planning to head on the beltway here college park, to silver spring, lanes are ohm right into bethesda and no issues on 355. great seneca highway. all look great this morning.

in fact a live look outside remember what this looked like yesterday at this time? 95 northbound at route 32. well, you're good to go. no overturned box truck this morning. no problems heading up into baltimore. back to the maps and this time to southern maryland. route 4, route 5, route 301 everything is fine up to the beltway. leaving andrews to oxon hill and across the wilson bridge. one more look outside this is at northbound 95 in lorton. no delays yet on to springfield and 395. back in a few minutes but first drivers in the potomac section of montgomery county prepare for more delays along river road near falls road because they are filming a movie starring dame judi dench at a home in the area. the whole morning show knows about this. it didn't work out for me. the filmabling is expects to run from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. today and do be prepared. the upcoming three day weekend means some metro stations will be closed on the orange line,

buses will replace trains between east falls church and clarendon so crews can work on the switches at the ballston station. the stations will be closed there and work on the green and red lines will also mean some single tracking and be sure to leave yourself plenty of time on metro. thank you monika. in health news researchers say many doctors don't know their patients' wishes when making treatment decisions. a study looked at women with breast cancer. in 71% of cases, doctors believed keeping breast tissue was the patient's top priority. but that was only true in 7% of cases. the british medical journal also found in many cases patients chose different treatments once they learned all the risks and benefits. australian scientists are using a new targeted therapy which kills cancerous tumors. doctors grew mini cells and filled them with chemotherapy drugs. the therapy is safe and doesn't have the same toxic side

effects as traditional chemotherapy. and some people may be allergic to their cell phones. >> right? >> how about that? new york allergists found most of the older flip phones contain cobalt or nickel. about 10% of americans are allergic to the metals. doctors also found nickel in one-third of blackberries. there were no traces of the metals in iphones or droids. >> that's funny. i never heard that before. okay, waistlines they are growing worldwide and it's just not people. apparently our pets are packing on the pounds. >> in fact an estimated 54% of dogs and cats in the u.s. are overweight or obese. reporter monica villamizar reports from london. >> reporter: 7-year-old jack was out of breath and overweight. the supersized spaniel was so big he could barely move. when mack and rose welsh adopted him. >> he couldn't close his legs at all. they were that wide apart.

>> reporter: so they sign up their dog who -- signed up their dog for britain's pet fitness class. with more than a third of dogs overweight or obese in england the group is helping pets transform their bodies as part of a six month fitness program. just like people obese pets are more likely to have heart problems, diabetes and other complications. veterinarian pendableberry says you should be able to feel the ribs through the skin. >> the ideal shape is to have the waist coming up like that. you have that svelte appearance there. >> reporter: one of the biggest mistakes people make is overfeeding their pets she says. >> it's ideal if you're a couch pro typo, one biscuit for me and one for the dog. but when you think about it the requirement for a dog is very much smaller than ours. >> reporter: one human treat alone can give a cat or dog a quarter of the calories its needs in a whole day. >> unbelievable. 15 inches. >> wow. >> reporter: jack's measuringments and weight are

taken each month. ten months after starting the plan he has lost nearly half of his body weight. he was even crowned champion of the program's diet competition. monica villamizar, cbs news, london. >> veterinarians say obese pets tend to die two years sooner than healthier animals the get out there and exercise with your pets. good work jack. it's 4:53. here's the question of the morning now. >> it is -- >> you have got to be doctor. log on to our facebook fan page. what do you think? want to hear your response. we'll have the answer to the question in our 6:00 show. we will be right back.

sunday morning on "biocentury this week", the elections are over, but

politics isn't. congress and the president return as the fiscal cliff clock is ticking. watch "biocentury this week" sunday at welcome back. your weather first, will:55 on this friday morning -- 4:55 on this friday morning. some 30s in a few spots but a nice day. a lot less windy than yesterday. sunshine all day long with 52 by 11:00 and 57 at 1:00 and we're going to make a run towards 60 even warmer coming

up this weekend. sweet. monika? on the inbound side of i- 66, no issues here inside the beltway at glebe road as you head to the roosevelt bridge. a good indication of all your major thoroughfares inside the beltway including 395 and 295 as well. back with more traffic in a few minutes. get your stamps the u.s. postal service is going to be working pretty much around the clock during the holidays. employees have already decked out the friendship heights branch. check this out. it's really cool when you go by. trying to announce the year's pickup and delivery services for the holiday season. they forecast a record-breaking year with door to door mailing and shipments. >> the postal service this year will deliver over 365 million packages this holiday season. and that's up 20% over last year. >> which should help the budget shortfall hopefully and there are some dates the usps wants you to mark on the calendar. one of them december 17th.

the busiest shipping day of the year and december 22nd is the last day for express mail. if you want your packages there by christmas. well, you don't have to wait until black friday to get the holiday seals. sears says if you are a shop your way member, you can stock your cart with savings five days earlier this year. starting on november 18th. you get the same deals. but if you want to work off the turkey meal, during the world's largest retailer, wal-mart says it is going to open its doors on 8:00 p.m. thanksgiving day. the day before black friday. this is the first for wal-mart. it made the move because more and more customers said they want to shop early so they can have more time to sleep later. >> early voting and shopping. a local nonprofit is slicing up pie for the holiday season. food and friends is hosting a community pie day in support of a thanksgiving campaign to benefit people who are critically ill. the campaign a slice of life funds nutritious home delivered meals for people in need. this year's goal is to deliver

over a million healthy meals. singer adam lambert is in the company of divas. >> and blithe danker is heading to broadway. alexis christoforous has those stories and more in this look another entertainment. ♪ >> reporter: adam lambert is on board to host this year's vh1 divas. he'll also perform. the event honors current and classic divas of dance music. he says quote it will be the most fabulous concert of the year. "twilight" fans are camping out in los angeles. they have guaranteed viewing spots of the red carpet for monday's premiere. it's the last installment in the "twilight" saga. spanish actor javier bardem got a piece of america with a star on the hollywood walk of fame. he won an oscar in his supporting role for "no country for old men." he's won numerous honors and he stars next in "jay fall" out in

theaters today. actress blithe danker is joining the broadway cast of "nice work if you can get it." she will play the mother of matthew broderick's character. danker starts the 12 week run next month. the cast of "rust and bone" walked the red carpet for the film's new york city premiere. french actress marion cotillard is a killer whale trainer who has a terrible accident. >> you have a goal to find the authenticity in something and then you just work to get there. >> reporter: it opens november 23rd in new york and nationwide next month and that's your eye on entertainment. alexis christoforous, cbs news, new york. all right, wipe the sleep from your eyes, good morning, it's time to get up. you're watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. >> and good news, as you wake up it's friday. that's in the bad eight? one more day and -- not right bad? one more day. hi monika. >> very well. >> mr. bernstein the good news. >>