it's about 80 miles north, northwest of downtown l.a. all right, let's talk about sat lit picture and radar combined. there is some snow in the mountains that we showed you early at 5:00. they got hammered in the mountains. some areas had up to 26 inches. there is a fair amount of moisture here. it is training off to the north and east and we'll move into the plain states tonight and tomorrow. eventually, this will get to us. the good news is, it won't get to us until late thursday. it's not going to have much punch. and even though we are in mid december, it's still green. not any cold air anywhere. a little bit of a mix north of minneapolis and that's it. it will be rain for des moines and chicago and detroit. for us, a few high clouds moving in tonight. the meteor shower. you want to remove yourself from all light to see that. 44 right now in rockville. 41 in bethesda. temperatures are falling. 44 in arlington. 40 in beltsville. out to the west, well we have a 39 in reston. and go up to the north, we have 38 in reston. so, it's going

but in downtown l.a. now 43 miles an hour. generally, anything above 35, 40. we're talking about gale force winds. ask they can get stronger tonight into tomorrow morning. they still have a risk of stronger winds with -- which could cause more trees, downed power. and some of the more high- profile vehicles we saw certainly can be tipped over. looks like things will calm down. but that low won't be until later tomorrow afternoon. >>> federal averages -- agents uncover an elaborate tunnel. manuel gallegus reports for wjz with an incredible look inside the operation. >> reporter: it's being called the most elaborate and sophisticated drug tunnel ever discovered along the u.s.- mexico border. a600-yard passage way, linking warehouses in tijuana and san diego. >> goes all the way back to tj. >> reporter: it's equipped with lighting and ventilation, a hydraulic lift and electric rail cars. >> reporter: all considered, a highly-efficient mechanism to move narcotics in an underground environment. 76 >> >> 76. 77. >> authorities recovered a total of 32 tons of marijua

authorities recovered that ring and the 1985 super bowl ring of chicago bears wide receiver from a downtown l.a. jewelry store. in 1983, you might recall the skins beat the dolphins 27-17. the offense back then features joe. john riggins with that terrific run. the defense, charles manning,. >>> coming up on 9news now this saturday night, lots of potential delays for riders. we'll break down what you need to know just ahead. >>> and we are going to take you to a unique holiday prayer service from here to bethlehem. >>> and you'll need your holiday gear, your winter gear as you are heading out this weekend. a very cold start for your sunday morning. here's your wakeup weather. a couple flurries are possible north and west of town. mostly cloudy conditions and sun later in the afternoon. temperatures starting out in the 30s. we have your seven-day forecast when i come back. >>> the washington, d.c. veteran's affairs medical center and wusa9 salute all who serve at home and abroad this holiday season. >> we are stationed in germany and we are saying a big >>> we have breaking news in montgomery co

the fire started just after noon on interstate 60 in monte bello, 10 miles east of downtown l.a. the driver and passenger onboard the tanker escaped without injury. the freeway is still closed at this hour. no word on what caused the fire or when the freeway will be reopened. >>> lindsay lohan appeared in a los angeles courtroom today for a progress report on her probation. >> ms. lohan, you have actually done the work. and done it not only on time, but early. >> the judge complimented lohan on showing up for a community service job at the los angeles county morgue. lohan performs janitorial work there. her probation comeses from a 2007 drunk driving case and a grand theft case from earlier this year. >>> a bribery probe involving san francisco restaurants is blown open. david stevenson tells us about the alleged scheme which landed two health department workers behind bars. >> reporter: the general manager says she got burned in what prosecutors are calling a city wide bribery scheme by two former public health department workers. >> we lost our $200 and had to pay again. and we

it's been a very difficult time for the commuters here trying to get to and from downtown l.a. the inland empire area. so again, caltrans saying that saturday is the day that they are looking for this to be reopened. and then it's going to take several months for them to repair this bridge. but for now, they're just looking to demolish the bridge and reopen the 60 freeway. >> wow. amazing story. bob de castro in montebello. thank you. >>> guess what? christmas comes early for some children thanks to santa claus and the oakland police department. >> i'm going to pull over vehicles that have unsuspecting youth that might enjoy a present before christmas. >> this is brand-new video in, and opd annual operation momentor santa. an oakland police officer playing santa's hyperion a motorcycle riding autopsy over the city, passing out toys along the way. >> first i thought something was wrong. but then i thought santa and the police pulled us over and they said that they were going to give us some presents. >> by the way, it's a great story. the toys are paid for with money donated by

there is a homeless shelter not too far from here in downtown l.a.r i go down there and eat turkey. they give it away for free. one guy who didn't have a great thanksgiving is our current "american idol," scotty mccreery. scotty was part of the thanksgiving day parade in new york city. they had him on a float singing his new song over and over again, and just to be clear by singing, i mean not singing. >> here to sing "the trouble with girls" is the bigger-than-life reigning "american idol," ladies and gentlemen, scotty mccreery. ♪ the trouble with girls they're a mystery ♪ >> jimmy: i can't believe i voted for him 1,800 times. i tell you, that's some parade. i don't know who's watching this parade. i was watching it, but all i could think of watching the parade was how much must matt lauer hate doing this every year. my guess is a lot. pat robertson got into the thanksgiving spirit last week on his show "the 700 club." you know pat robertson? he's got a co-host named kristi watts, and they're quite a pair. she got an interview with former secretary

the wind in southern california is actually calm in downtown l.a.he ridgetops in the l.a. and ventura county mountains. but we are going to see another gradient drop down into the southwest. with that, there will be more strong wind developing late friday and into early saturday and again a second time over the weekend. but it's not going to be a repeat of what we just saw. snow coming down in flagstaff right now. new mexico getting hit hard. good news for the ski resorts, 6 to 10 in flagstaff. 3 to 5 in albuquerque. it continues to be just beautiful in the east, above-average temperatures, a lot of sunshine and some much-needed rain on the way for texas. back to you. >> carl parker, thank you so much. >>> here's a look at some other stories people are talking about right now. honda is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles worldwide because of airbags that could inflate with too much force in a crash. honda says there have been 20 accidents related to the problem, including two deaths in the u.s. the recall affects the accord, civic, odyssey, pilot a

but, first, we travel 40 miles north of downtown los angeles as we continue our look behind the walls of l.a desert mountains and a 40-mile bus ride north of downtown los angeles is the peter j.pitchess detention center. named after a former sheriff, the pitchess detention center is comprised of four jails on 2,500 acres. south facility is an outside jail for low to medium security inmates. north facility is a modern-looking maximum security jail. east facility, or old max, is the oldest jail in los angeles. and lastly, the crown jewel of the l.a. county jail system is the north county correctional facility, or nccf, which houses murderers, rapists and drug offenders. >> we find that the linear jail doesn't work for us anymore. what we have here is more of a podular design, with the staff in the middle and the inmates around the outside. >> a single facility comprised of five jails housing 3,800 inmates, nccf was designed in 1983. nccf first made headlines in march of 1990 when the first president bush helped dedicate the jail's opening. >> one of this nation's founding father said, "if men

here is a live picture now of what's going on in downtown l.a. thanks to our ktla affiliate there.haking in the breeze. this will continue throughout the day today. maybe calm down a bit. briefly. then kick up back again tonight and it will probably be worse tonight than it was last night. here are numbers as far as the official wind gust in and around the los angeles area. 97 miles an hour. you go higher in the sierras and mammoth mountain reporting winds over 140 miles an hour at times this morning. incredible stuff there. high pressure in the basin. what makes this situation unique is we have a little storm that's also developing across southern california and it will be heading through the rockies and getting that right now. air moves high to low. gets squeezed through the canyons and forced down the mountains and heats up and it cruises and that's why we have those winds. as mentioned, a big event getting into the nevada, utah. winds gusting over 80 miles an hour. snow now falling as the conditions start to take shape across parts. east of the mississippi we are looking good a

downtown for a reported fight this morning. that is where they found a 22 ear old and another boy bleeding from stab wounds. they are critical, but stable tonight. occupy l.atheir home this week, but the push for change is continuing and one of the new actions, they pictured a foreclosure auction today. they said that the crisis was because of big banks and that they did not get enough to help with loans. that is what is happen wing the groupd over the country. on tuesday, the occupy camps will look at protesting at for hosed home over the united states. >> if you don't listen to our call, expect your tents in our lobbies. >> in january, there will be plans to pitch a tent outside of the u.s. congress. >>> the former democratic candidate had a serious call in front of his lie prayer. that was prior to a scheduled television appearance on friday. the 89-year-old was taken to the hospital. he ran against the president in -- president nixon as an anti- war candidate. >>> when the president ordered almost all american troops out of iraq by the end of the year, it made the stay shorter for thousands of troops and that is is 140 soldiers from one group. >> on th

downtown atlanta. the organizer say group is doing it to mark thursday's anniversary of rosa parks refusal to give up her seat on a montgomery, alabama, bus in 1955. >>> meantime, the occupy protests in l.aphiladelphia are over at least for now. police in both cities cleared out the occupy camps in their cities early this morning. in l.a., 1400 officers arrested 200 protesters who disobeyed the orders to get up and leave. the city installed fences and concrete barriers to keep the protesters from coming back. up in philadelphia, police cleared out the camp, arrested 52 protesters. the workers used the front end loaders to clear out the tent and trash and other debris. >> meat protesters are free to slaughter horses and sell that meat for human consumption. congress reinstated federal funding for usda inspections of horse meat. a recent study by the accountability office says horses have been abandoned or neglected since the economy went south and thousands were sold for meat in other countries. congress has an ally in that decision. it's peta. they would like to see a been on slaughter and export of horses, but since that's not likely to get done, funding inspections will at least make s

downtown los angeles. police evacuated the busy train station last night. a suspicious backpack was found on one of the trains. the l.a. bomb squad gave the all clear after about three hours. the owner of the backpack was named bang bang. >>> and there is a fight over how much urge kill sam -- uncle sam takes out of your paycheck, they have voted to extend the tax cuts and some say it is already dead on arrival. allison. >> reporter: it is the partisan bitterness we have seen all year and now it could cost all of us at congress if they do not reach an agreement. they voted to extend the 2% payroll tax cut and would keep $2,000 in the paychecks of many americans but there is a need for approval to bring oil from canada to the u.s. republicans say the pressure is on the u.s. senate to pass this bill. >> if senator harry reid wants to hold up the job's bill, he will go on santa's naughty list. >> and the payroll tax cut is raising fears of a government shut down funding for scores of agencies runs out on friday and democrats say they will not move on that until the pay tax cut issues is resolved. i will have more on reso

l.a. as of this hour, around 40-mile-per-hour gusts downtown los angeles. and it's not just southern california. it slides east. and new mexico, wyoming, impacted with the 80-plus-mile-per-hour gusts. this is going to be an interesting day for much of the southwest. but it will be interesting, too, waking up in the southeast. from florida up to new england, it's around freezing. not right for florida, in case you're wondering. freeze warnings and advisories around there. we're looking at an outlook to have some snow in the center. blizzard warnings with that wind in parts of wyoming. sunny and 35 and laurel. this is from laurel high school. 38 degrees downtown and cooler cumberland that the freezing point. we are on our way to the low with total sunshine. temperatures are average for this time of year. the upcoming weekend and will warm up toward sunday. by tuesday, that is our next chance of rain >> the question i get more than anything else is, what will this winter be like? i'm going to have an answer to that in the next half hour. >> really? >> is that

l.a. as of this hour, around 40-mile-per-hour gusts downtown los angeles. and it's not just southern california. it slides east. and new mexico, wyoming, impacted with the 80-plus-mile-per-hour gusts. this is going to be an interesting day for much of the southwest. but it will be interesting, too, waking up in the southeast. from florida up to new england, it's around freezing. not right for florida, in case you're wondering. freeze warnings and advisories around there. we're looking at an outlook to have some snow in the center. blizzard warnings with that wind in parts of wyoming. >> the question i get more than anything else is, what will this winter be like? i'm going to have an answer to that in the next half hour. >> really? >> is that a tease? >> yeah. >> can you give us a hint? >> oh, no. >> i like that. ginger. >>> tis the season, though, to go shopping. holiday season. and a lot of consumers are tackling a big frustration, packaging. a huge hassle to open. abc's david wright has more about this rage. ♪ >> reporter: tis the season of new stuff. bu

police evacuated a busy train station in downtown los angeles after a suspicious bap was found on one of the -- backpack was found on one of the trains. the l.aad gave the clear three hours later. they say security was heightened because the word "bang" was written on the bank. however, there is an innocent explanation. the owner of the backpack, his nickname is bang-bang. >>> some new numbers are out showing 2.5 million more adults have health insurance. now, under the new law children can stay on their parents health insurance plan until any turn 26 years old. family members have been eager to help their children making the transition to the workplace. >>> :-- 8:34. planned parenthood has set up a mobile clinic until a permanent site can be found. it operates out of the parking lot of the human services building on middlefield road. the mobile clinic is only open on tuesdays. it will offer limited services like pregnancy tests birth droll and treatments for seengs you will -- birth control and treeglnlts for sexually trans-- treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. >>> mothers are happier spending their days out than in the home. the a

l.a. that is where this big event is being held. set the scene for us. >> reporter: well, it is a crisp morning here in southern california, downtown langs, suzanne. crowds are here. the broadcast will be sunday night at 8:00 eastern. they're working hard getting the cameras in place, working on staging and lighting. we want everything to be perfect when we honor these incredible individuals who are making such a difference in the lives of others. now just a short time ago i spoke with the great actor hill harper from "csi new york." . 's made an incredible difference. he's officially a cnn heroes alumn who was with us last year. i asked him why this event is so important to him. watch what he told me. >> cnn heroes to me, when i got asked to be on the blue room panel last year, i was honored. you're talking about celebrating individuals that you otherwise wouldn't know about. people who are doing great work, inspirational work. when you hear the stories of all the people that are being honored, it makes you want to be a better person. in news we hear so much negative stuff so it's great that cnn is doing something like this. >> reporter: to that