hello. thank you for joining me. i'm jc hayward. last night lawmakers passed a measure preventing automatic tax hikes from hitting millions of americans. but tara mergener explains that

deal did not include spending cuts, and lawmakers will soon be fighting over the debt again. >> reporter: president obama landed in hawaii this morning to resume his holiday vacation. he left washington late last night after lawmakers approved a bill that prevents a middle class tax hike and delays automatic spending cuts. congress and the white house struggled to get the deal done, and neither republicans or democrats seem pleased with the outcome. >> someone stop hitting you in the head with a hammer and you're supposed to say thank you so much for the relief. >> reporter: many voters are upset it took lawmakers so long to reach a compromise. >> i think we needed a deal. i'm not necessarily all together happy. >> reporter: the measure raises taxes on families making more than $450,000 a year and extends long-term jobless benefits for a year. but the package does not include spending cuts as many republicans voted against it. >> i would like to be speaking for this bill but i can't.

>> reporter: congress steered away from this fiscal cliff at the last minute, but another showdown is just around the corner. in two months the treasury will need to increase how much the country can borrow and lawmakers must approve it. the last time congress fought over the debt ceiling, america's credit rating was downgraded. the president says that doesn't need to happen again. >> the one thing i think that hopefully in the new year we'll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship. >> reporter: the president will be trying to reach a debt ceiling deal with a new congress. winners from the november election will be sworn in tomorrow. tara mergener for cbs news, capitol hill. it is a small step to getting our fiscal problems in order, but only for a couple of months. the stopgap measure appears, however, to be having a positive effect on wall street. the dow above 200 points and

both the nasdaq and s&p 500 are up. of course there is reaction from taxpayers. our surae chinn is on capitol hill with more information. >> very dysfunctional. >> it's exciting. it's a little frustrating there's some kicking of the can. > reporter: even those who work and live close to capitol hill are frustrated at the procrastination of congress passing a late night bill to avoid falling off the fiscal cliff. but there is some satisfaction. >> a relief and that the stocks are showing -- [indiscernible] >> more than 98% of americans and 97% of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up. >> reporter: but oliver says he's part of the small group who will be paying higher taxes on his small business. >> it's all right. we've got to move forward somehow. >> reporter: all this does is set up more showdowns in the future so expect more late night faceoffs on capitol hill

in the coming months. while the bill taxes the wealthiest families earning more than $450,000, the intensely divided house must now tack him what's not addressed in the bill, including raising the debt ceiling and sequestration reasons why democratic congressman jim moran voted against the measure. >> the problem is we set up three more fiscal cliffs, and all that's left is spending cuts. the only question we have to ask ourselves what programs do we cut them and how deep do we cut them. we'll look back at this night and regret it. >>it's frustrating to see the people go through the tough times and congress is not getting its job done. >> at least they're doing something. better than nothing. >> reporter: on capitol hill, surae chinn, 9news. the bill includes an extension of unemployment benefits for about two million americans. the bill does not include the payroll tax cut. so workers will be paying about 2% more in social security taxes and that means a smaller

paycheck each month. the first same-sex marriages were performed at the montgomery county courthouse this morning. yesterday marked the first day that gay marriages were legal in the state of maryland. and among the first to tie the knot, a couple who got married at the black walnut-point inn on tillman ie -- on tilghman island. they stayed awhile to cheer on other couples. >> it was so quick to be such a ruckus through society and everything -- voting and everything. why was that such a big deal. >> this was truly a gift to us to see them being married and see them being able to express their love in a way that's recognized. >> at least seven couples got married at the black walnut point inn yesterday. traffic is moving through vienna, virginia again after someone discovered a hand grenade. it was in a dumpster. someone found the ec pleasive

-- explosive behind the merchant tire store on maple avenue west this morning. bomb experts used a robot to render the device harmless. no one was jurld. authorities -- injured. authorities are now investigating how that grenade got there. one person is dead after a fire in anne arundel county. this was the scene on box street near bruce street in maryland city. right now the victim's name has not been released. investigators are trying to determine what started this blaze. a devastating start to 2013 for parishioners of a prince george's county church. it was destroyed by fire on tuesday. this is the silhouette of a cross that was burned into the brick wall of the first wesleyan church of oxon hill. the sanctuary is completely charred. investigators say there is a chance that the fire was caused by a midnight power outage at

the church. more than two weeks after one of the worst mass shootings in our history, students from sandy hook elementary school are getting ready to return to school. the youngsters will attend classes in the neighboring town of monroe. workers have been moving furniture and they've been painting in order to get that school ready. classes will start tomorrow. for the first time in years, the redskins fans are cheering for their team. coming up later, a tale of two cities. washington, d.c. and seattle, washington. >> but first, a deadly car bombing ushers in another violent year in iraq. we'll have details when 9news continues. [ male announcer ] when your business is powered by verizon,

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we have breaking news because we have just learned that moments ago, the circuit

judge handling justin wolfe's appeal has granted his release. our peggy fox has been covering this story. we're going to go to her live for an updated report. >> reporter: her name is judge mary grace o'brien. just moments ago she agreed with justin wolfe's defense team to release him as of tomorrow at 5:00. that will be ten days -- a ten- day limit that federal judge jackson gave last week. he ordered that justin wolfe be released because the commonwealth did not -- the commonwealth did not retry him soon enough, within a 120-day -- 120 days of when they were supposed to retry him. justin wolfe was convicted back in 2001 on murder for hire of the killing of danny petroli. he has spent the last 11 years

on death row. then last year, that conviction and death sentence were thrown out. judge jackson found prosecutorial error. he said that the prosecution in the case had withheld very important evidence that would have helped justin wolfe and said that the man needed to be retried. that did not happen within the time frame and last week he ordered his release and today the judge agreed to release him. so that ten days is up tomorrow and he may be released tomorrow at 5:00. if a stay is not granted. that stay is requested right now by the attorney general ken cuccinelli in the fourth circuit court of appeals. we'll find out tomorrow. we'll stay on this case and we'll have more for you this evening. back to you. i'm a little out of breath running down the stairs. >> peggy fox reporting live. we'll continue with this story throughout the evening. coming up, olga has the forecast. stay with us.

i've been combing through the day's daily deals to find you some deep discounts. here are my favorites. here's one to go with the new xbox you just bought. bestbuy.com is offering a membership that allows you to go online and play games with your friends. you can instantly watch hd movies, tv shows and sports.

the price $12.99. that saves you 12 bucks, 48% off. lots of people love the website threadless for cool t-shirts and accessories. gilt city has this deal. pay $22 for $40 in an online credit to spend on the site. there are deals for iphone cases and hip artwork. how about barbecue delivered from pig of the month club right to your door. google offers has this deal. pay 29 bucks for $60 worth of barbecue. you could also pick out some sausages or specialty bacon at 51% off. that's right. bacon. if you have an offer you've seen or you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. i'm jessica doyle, 9news. many families spend new year's day taking down their christmas decorations and that means that many people will be putting their christmas trees in the trash. governments around the metropolitan area have put

their pickup plans into effect. in the district of columbia, you can put your tree on the curb where you would normally put your trash and trees will be picked up now through sunday, the 12th of january. in montgomery and prince george's counties, trees will be picked up through the end of the month. in virginia, alexandria, and arlington county, they have scheduled curbside pickup and recycling between january 7 and january 18. trees that have been put out after that date will be thrown away with regular garbage. now, fairfax county will pick up trees on the curb for the first two weeks of january. in all areas make sure you remove all your tree stands, all the ornaments, and decorations before putting the tree out. you can learn more about tree recycling and drop off centers

in loudoun, frederick, and charles counties by going to our website wusa9.com. we're just four days away from the biggest football game. washington has seen in a long time. talking about the redskins. we're going to host the seahawks on sunday. playoff starts at 4:30. while we will not know for sure who the better team is until they take to the field, our reporter matt jablow is sizing up the two cities: seattle, washington, and washington, d.c. ♪ i feel like busting loose ♪ >> reporter: let's start with the sound tracks of the two cities. d.c. has go go and the inimmable chuck brown. seattle has grunge. washington has the wonderful wharf, a seafood lover's delight while seattle for some reason the lights and throwing their fish around, the pike

place fish market. >> there's is a little more entertaining but we have really good fish here. >> reporter: washington has the monument. seattle has the needle. they make pleadges. we make legislation -- planes. we make legislation... slowly. >> so far we like it. >> reporter: washington has tourists. >> actually this is our first time to washington and it's lovely. >> reporter: seattle has techies. seattle actually has the wealthiest techy of all bill gates. while washington has one of the most notorious gates of all, watergate. and at the end of the day, seattle has a nice hot cup of starbucks coffee. >> 54-year history, one location. >> reporter: while we here in washington have a nice hot bowl of ben's chili. which is the better city? >> oh, no question, always washington. always washington. >> that was matt jablow reporting. guess what? this is the reds skins first home play -- redskins first home playoff game since the 1999 season. the last time we were nfc east

division champs. we do know who the better team is. we do. i don't know about matt but i know it's the redskins. and even though some people grew up-- >> west coast. >> some people grew up -- i'm not saying any names but olga in washington. she loves the redskins now. >> but the redskins need this. >> yes, we do. >> and i want the redskins to win. let me be on the record. the forecast includes a look at that sunday game because it is a very, very important one for us and, you know, the game conditions do play a factor in the outcome of that game. for us today, we've really changed things up since this morning. we started out with overcast skies and chilly temperatures. we're still in a chill. it's become a little more breezy but our weather cam shows that the sunshine has broken out. into the afternoon we'll be mostly sunny. you'll want the sunglasses,

especially for the drive time home but temperatures right now are pretty much where they're going to be for the remainder of the day. 36 at reagan national airport. we should hit a high round about 38 degrees. that's at the city center. that should happen near that 3:00 hour. that is it. by 6:00 we're still mostly sunny with just a few passing clouds, but once the sun sets, these temperatures plummet below freezing. if you have any evening plans, make sure you dress accordingly. earlier satellite and radar loop from the earlier hours has all that moisture pushing off shore. there's a stalled front down to our south and off toward the east. that's been the focus of some rain showers, but most of that staying in the carolinas. so we're looking pretty good region wide. holding at 36 right now for reagan national. maybe a couple of degrees. but if you notice, gaithersburg at 34. it's actually feeling like 26 because we have these gusty winds out of the northwest. winds sustained at 15 miles per hour but we're already seeing gusts close to 20 miles per hour into the afternoon. an 18 mile per hour gust this hour for andrews, dca and for

manassas. so this is what we're going to see for the remainder. it does look like high pressure will remain in control for the next couple of days. we've cleared the way behind the front for some cooler and drier air. so by the drive time home, lots of sunshine. into the overnight hours, a passing cloud or two but for the most part we clear out for your forecast on thursday. looks like plenty of sunshine into thursday afternoon and evening and even friday is looking pretty good as well. we're going to stay cool and primarily dry as we head into the weekend. yes, it will be a little bit chilly for the redskins forecast as well. here's how we are looking so far. the highs today i'm projecting about 38 for reagan national. we'll stick to about 34 out toward rockville. a little bit warmer down toward the south. upper 30s to near 40 degrees. in all a chilly night tonight as we back down on those winds and clear our skies, all of us are going to plummet into the 20s. it will be middle to lower 20s for most of the metro area. 29 for the city center. but the good news is we're

keeping our forecast in the green. so the seven days ahead look like this. 38 for friday. slight chance of a brief sprinkle or snow flurry early on saturday morning. but great for the reds skins game. stick around -- redskins game. stick around. we'll be back after this. [ male announcer ] when your business is powered by verizon,

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that's the powerful difference of verizon. visit verizon.com/smallbiz or call 1-888-610-8090 for other offers. verizon. today i'm in the kitchen with chef ryan. and he is executive chef of thunder burger in bow day ga -- bodega in georgetown. he just came back from hawaii and he just got engaged. i've got to share with you the story because it is so interesting how he proposed to his fiance. how did you do it? tell them. >> i had a shell made that would ask her if she would marry me. took her to the beach and asked

her to marry me. she said yes. >> you call herschely -- her shelly. >> yes. >> and it was written on the shell. >> yes. you went out snorkeling and brought the shell back and said look at this shell and her mouth fell open. i love that i love stories like that. this is national meat month. >> yes, it is, national meat month. what we want to focus on are different marinades that can be utilized in many different aspects. so what we have here are onions, a little bit of orange zest. we're just going to throw all this in your blender. a little bit of soy sauce. we have some ginger. and garlic. a little bit of black pepper. >> did you give me the recipe? >> yes, the recipe should be online. you just ciensdz of blast -- you just kind of blast this a little bit. once this purees, you're going to dump this on top of the chicken here. >> you didn't put anything on

this chicken. >> it's just like that. it's clean. none of these actually have salt in them so what you're going to want to do is you're going to add salt after you're getting ready to cook it because salt will draw the moisture out of the meat. next we have wild boar so i have some onions. we toss that out there -- that on there. we have olive oil. >> all of this is on jchayward.com. >> fresh herbs. we throw that in there. >> i don't think i've had wild boar. >> it takes similar to pork. it's leaner. it's actually a little more healthy for you. so you're just -- -- you're just going to coat it with a little bit of white wine. you'd leave this in your refrigerator for overnight or just a couple of hours. >> the same thing with the chicken? >> the same thing with the chick gln we have the finished product. it looks very good. that's the chicken. >> last but not least we have our lamb. we have shallots, garlic, a little bit of smoked paprika,

saffron, a sherry vinegar and olive oil. >> again it's on jchayward.com. you let it marinade in your refrigerator. overnight would be great. this is the finished product. boy, it looks so good. congratulations. >> thank so you much. >> i want to come to itself wedding. -- to the wedding. come back and visit us at 5:00. have a great day.