. >> thank you, bret anderson, mike whalen and john alison, next, how obama care will force people who oppose birth control or abortion to pay for things like birth control or abortion coming up. if you have high blood pressure, like me, and get a cold... ...you need a cold medicine with a heart. only coricidin hbp has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. powerful cold medicine with a heart. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure musc

. >> thank you, bret anderson, mike whalen and john alison, next, how obama care will force people who oppose birth control or abortion to pay for things like birth control or abortion coming up. >> now, obama care and freedom, individual freedom, if you think abortion is murder, should you have to pay for it? how about birth control or a morning after pill. you know the pill women take after sex to prevent pregnancy. or what about sterilization should you have to pay for that? the leaders of this college say no, we shouldn't have to pay for it, but obamacare will force us to pay for some of it. >> it's not just about-- this is about you, about everybody watching this, you're next. >> and students here say though chose the college because it supports their on moral values and now they're saying the government is trying to force their school to do something they don't believe in. >> i believe we should uphold our catholic moral values and to stand for what we believe? >> she joins us now, with the bucket fund a law firm defends religious liberty and helping belmont abby to sue the gover

johns reporting. let's check in with alison kosik. >>> attention, k-mart shoppers. where to go. unmerry christmas. what went wrong? i'm going to have details in the next hour. >>> arab league observers finally arrive in the city as thousands of demonstrators there stage a huge rally calling on help from the international community. i'll have a live report at the top of the hour. >>> after an internal debate, the obama administration has decided to allow yemen's embattled president to come to the u.s. for medical treatment and i'll have more at the top of the hour. >> thanks very much and also next hour, by the way, you're going to hear from jordan romero. he's been to the top of everest and kill man jar owe and to the top of the mountain on each continent. he's 15. that's a record. >>> checking stories across the country, survived a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan and got the purple heart even. today, christopher sullivan lies paralyzed in the hospital in california shot twice at his own homecoming party. the alleged gunman surrenders to police. his mother says a fight broke

john? >> i did get a lot of those e-mails today? alison kosik, thanks. >>> folks in the desert southwest don't have to dream of a white christmas this year. take a look at this. el paso, texas, had blowing snow, icy roads this morning. snow and ice closed parts of 10 and 25 across new mexico. on the other hand, parts of the country where traveling is usual brutal this time of year, things aren't so bad. chad myers has the getaway forecast. where do you need to get away from, chad? >> need to get away from parts of new mexico, john. finally, though, in the past hour, i-40 has opened back up through new mexico and i-10. i can't tell you the last time i've ever heard of i-10 being closed because of snow. i-10, this is mexico. this is southern new mexico and arizona right here in el paso. you showed the pictures earlier. that's where the trouble was this morning. i-25 is still shut down for another couple of hours till they get the plows out. where is it going to be a white christmas? not very many spots. you have to go to the mountains, be up

alison. >> reporter: no one can object for the tax cut extension to pass this morning opinion most members of congress have gone home for the holidays. house speaker john boehner will use a procedural move called anonymous consent. house republicans almost derailed the tax break holding out for a yearlong extension instead of a two month extension. speaker boehner changed his mind last night under pressure from senate leaders and the president. >> doing the right thing for the right reasons is always the right thing to do. and while everyone asked for a full year extension of these programs, a lot of people weren't willing to put the effort in as the holidays were approaching to get it done. our members were. >> reporter: the votes today are on just a two month extension of this 2% payroll tax break. so a bigger fight is looming in the new year about a longer term extension and how to pay for it. we'll have live coverage of the vote during my next update in about an hour. for now we are live in washington, d.c. alison burns. >>> time is 6:15. new zealand southern island is being rattled by more earthquakes. there you see them ducking for cover. several

alison kosik. >>> time to talk politics. one of our favorite subjects here at cnn. joe johns is life from the political desk in washington., let's talk about ron paul. he's closing the gap in iowa. what's happening there? >> i tell you, this is american research group poll. there's a whole bunch of story lines in it. 22% of likely republican caucus goers in iowa say they are, you know, supporting house speaker newt gingrich. that's one story line. 17% say they support mitt romney. 17% say they support ron paul. so, yes, that would put mitt romney and ron paul tied. a lot of people have said, well, yeah. i can see ron paul doing pretty well out there for a variety of reasons. texas governor rick perry at 13% which would mean he's picked up about 8 percentage points in this poll. he's been pushing hard out there, running a lot of tv ads and so on. probably one of the things you want to watch most in this poll, just one poll, just one snapshot, newt gingrich has dropped about 4 or 5 points. he was at 27% in the november poll and we do know that mitt romney's been going hard after gingrich's negatives, but other polls aren't

john, antone and ramone. it's anybody's guess who will be crowned winner during tonight's live season finale. host alisons angeles. alison, good morning. >> good morning, al! >> these guys are really closely matched. this could be anybody's game today. >> oh, absolutely. it's a really exciting finale, because all three guys are so close. they have both worked -- they have all worked so hard for it. but you know, ramone is really young and maybe that energy that youthful enthusiasm will push him over the edge. and john has wanted it from day one. i mean, he has literally wanted to win from the moment he set foot on campus. and antone's an athlete. he's a former nfl player, so, he's certainly got game, too. >> and antone, there's a 26-pound suppressent between antone and john. do you think he can close that gap? >> oh, i think if anyone can, antone can. he definitely knows what he's doing, he knows how to compete, he knows how to aim for the finish line. so, he's got it in him, you know? it's going to be a great show tonight, al. we have train performing. we have a lot of fun stuff, some good surprises, to

wolf blitzer, john king are in washington, dan lothian is at the white house, kate bolduan on capitol hill and also alisonrk stock exchange. i want to start off with you, wolf. clearly the political stakes are very high in this showdown. less than two weeks away from the iowa caucuses. this president has to win 2012 on the state of the economy. what does he need to say today? >> well, he's got to get a deal going, he's got to get this tax cut for 160 million americans approved. because a lot of the economists out there are suggesting that if it is not improved, that would have a negative effect overall in the economy next year and if the economy is moving in the wrong direction, it's not going to help president obama get re-elected if things look like they're going from bad to worse. so the immediate need is between this week and next week, the president and republicans and especially in the house of republicans and democrats, the house and the senate, they need to get together and work out some sort of deal that allows it to go forward, whether it is for two months or the entire year. i suspect they'll g

alison burns is live in our washington, d.c. newsroom why there won't be many lawmakers voting today. allison. >> reporter: claudine the house and senate have adjourned for the holiday. so this morning house speaker john boehner asked for a dramatic turn around on the tax cut extension will use a procedural move to allow the tax break to pass without any lawmakers being here. the only snag would be if someone shows up and rejects. in that case all of the house members would have to return. the white house is still keeping up the pressure. this is a live look at the countdown clock on the white house website. warning that taxes go up for 160 million americans in eight days and 15 hours. if the house doesn't act it's a 2% tax cut that the obama administration says will save a working family about $40 every two weeks. we're going to have live coverage as the house and senate take up the tax cut extension. for now we are live in washington, d.c. alison burns ktvu channel 2 news. >>> the country's most prominent military burial ground. that is about 65,000 sites. errors range from improper recordkeeping. congress ordered on it last year after the discovery of misidentified remains. a new warning about brea

alison burns has more from our washington, d.c. newsroom. >> reporter: tori, we were all waiting to see if anyone was going to object this morning, as house speaker, john boehner, used a procedural rule. most have gone home for the holidays. here's what happened just a few moments ago. >> without objection, the bill was engrossed, read for a third time and the motion to reconsider is on the table. >> reporter: taxes would have gone up for 160 million americans in eight days if the house didn't act. it's a 2% tax cut but the obama administration says we'll save the working family about $40 ofry two weeks. president obama put off his holiday trip to hawaii. while lawmakers struggled to reach a deal. we are anticipating that we will hear from the president. it's important to note that this is a two-month extension. reporting live from alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> 7:15. several strong earthquakes shook new zealand. >> it was inshaking -- it was shaking quite loud. >> quite loud. >> look at these pictures. several hours an esche hit -- an earthquake hit new zealand. >> we'll be sending out damage to assess the damage. >> this aim say ya still re--