gary nurenberg, 9news. >>> it is 4:51. a new study finds radio waves may be an effective way to control high blood pressure. research published in the journal circulation looked at patients who weren't responding to medication. it found that directing radio waves of the nerves around the kidneys lowered blood pressure for at least six months. more than 78 million americans battle high blood pressure which could be a major risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. >>> people tend to overindulge around the holidays. we've heard that before. an article in the british medical journal measures the possible consequences analyzing population studies, the article says each day of smoking, indulging in a couple of drinks, eating red meat and watching television can take 30 minutes off your life expectancy. luckily each day of healthier habits can reverse the trend. >>> the number of teenagers who undergo weight loss surgery has leveled off in the past decade. bariatric surgery jumped in popularity in the early 2,000s. researchers i

the vote in the news room tonight was to have gary nurenberg fill us in. gary? >> reporter: derek, how absurd is this? almost no one wants the country to see that combination of huge spending cuts and tax increases, but month after month after month, congress has been unable to cut a deal to avoid them. how absurd is this? so absurd the president is quoting yogi berra to describe it. >> this is deja vu all over again. america wonders why it is that in this town for some reason, you can't get stuff done in an organized timetable, why everything has to wait until the last minute. we're now at the last minute. >> reporter: the president spoke after a meeting where republican and democratic senate leaders agreed to try to find a solution. >> we're out of town. we've got to do it now. the next 24 hours will be very important. >> reporter: a rare phrase these days, bipartisan effort. >> in the hopes that we can come forward as early as sunday and have a recommendation. >> reporter: but if they don't. >> then i will urge senator reed to bring to the floor a basic packa

gary nurenberg talks with a man who believes many americans have never been taught how to avoid violence and embrace peace. >> reporter: call of duty black ops 2 violent video game made $500 million on its first day of release last month. going to be under a lot of christmas trees. how about sunday afternoon's for tens of millions of americans? >> it's a violent game. a national sport is a violent sport. >> reporter: and how about the shoot them up on this tv station the night before connecticut's horror? violence as entertainment. does a culture that celebrates and enjoys violence lead to sandy hook? why are we so violent? >> one reason is we are not taught alternatives to violence. so people go through all our schools and never hear that there are other ways to solve conflicts without using fists guns or armies bombs and nukes. if you don't know how to do it then you can't do it. >> reporter: he has been teaching alternatives to violence for 30 years. >> left and right and came from originally? >> reporter: his students at bethesda made this tribute video and posted it on youtube. he s

now part of our deal here at 9news is having gary nurenberg follow these fiscal cliff developments.is here with tonight's wrap- up. >> reporter: an knit tax you are right, the president and the speaker got on the phone but as if to signal the lack of progress the house got out of town. the republican controlled house left town wednesday saying it has nothing to do. >> we need a response from the white house. we can't sit here and negotiate with ourselves. >> reporter: the president's treasury secretary said there's no room for negotiation on its demand for tax rate hikes for top income earners. >> is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> absolutely. there's no prospect for an agreement that doesn't involve those rates going up on the top 2% of the wealthiest members. >> reporter: republicans insist they can get the revenue without increasing tax rates. >> the revenues we're putting on the table are going to come from, guess who, the rich. >> reporter: but the president says that won't work. >> it is not possible for us to raise the amount of revenue that's requ

gary nurenberg joins me with the latest as we actually just heard from president obama. >> after a long meeting the president came out to say he is still optimistic that a deal can be done reminding the country that we are only now three days away from the point where everyone's taxes go up and huge spending cuts kick in, saying that would be wrong for the economy and wrong for the country. the president said he is urging the senate leaders, reid and mcconnell to come back to him with a plan by sunday. he says if they're unable to do that, then he is demanding that his backup proposal from last week allowing tax rates to rise for those making $250,000 and extending unemployment we was for 2 million jobless americans whose benefits will run out on january 1st, he wants that proposal to go to the house and the senate, the senate first, and demands an up or down vote. >> if you can get a majority in the house and a majority in the senate, then we should be able to pass a bill. so the american people are watching what we do here. obviously their patience is already thin. this is deja vu all

gary nurenberg talked with a man tonight who thinks it may be because we haven't learned how to avoid violence or more particularly we haven't been taught how to find alternatives to violence. tell us about this, gary? >> anita, resorting to violence so often in the united states, maybe we just don't know any better. what you buy your kids for christmas. what you watch on tv. call of duty black ops 2 violent video game made $500 million on its first day of release last month. going to be under a lot of christmas trees. how about sunday afternoons for tens of millions of americans? >> the violent game on national sport, it's a violent sport. >> and how about the shoot them up on this tv station the night before connecticut's horror, violence as entertainment. does a culture that celebrates, that enjoys violence lead to sandy hook? why are we so violent? >> one reason is we are not taught alternatives to violence, so people go through all our schools and never hear that there are other ways to solve conflicts without using fists, guns, armies, bombs and nukes. so if you don't know how t

gary nurenberg is here with details. >> reporter: you hit the highlights. president and speaker of the house continue to say they want a big deal that makes a real long-term dent in the deficit and keeps everyone's income taxes from going up in two weeks but they don't have a deal yet and it does not appear tonight that they're close. so speaker of the house john boehner is proposing a fall back plan, plan b, that kills most of the scheduled tax increases. >> our plan b would protect american taxpayers who make a million dollars or less. and have all of their current rates extended. >> reporter: president obama had campaigned on a plan to raise the taxes of those making more than $250,000 or more. but he's offered republicans a scaled-back proposal, limiting tax increases only to those making $400,000 or more. >> the president has already moved exactly halfway on revenue. and more than halfway on spending cuts. so that is by definition what compromise is about. >> reporter: boehner says not good enough. >> we do not have a balanced plan when the president's

gary nurenberg is here with that. >> derek, the harshest words came from senate majority leader harryeid when he accused house speaker john boehner of both running a dictatorship, and then of being unable to control his caucus. bottom line with four days left -- >> i don't know, timewise, how it can happen now. >> the senate democratic leader blames republican house speaker john boehner ?ea.'s waiting until january 3rd to get re- elected as speaker before he gets serious. >> of boehner's house, reid said -- >> it's being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker. >> the house remains on vacation. >> we're not working. every democrat, every republican ought to be here. >> president obama returned to d.c. thursday after his hawaiian vacation, met with aids, and called congressional leaders to the white house. cbs quotes sources saying, reid is ready to introduce a plan that would extend the bush era tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year, but not until republicans agree not to block it. >> republicans aren't about to write a blank check or anything senate democrats pu

gary nurenberg, 9news. >> fingers crossed for them because we all feel their pain. >>> turning our attention now to health news. women who eat a diet loaded with fruits and vegetables could reduce their risk of breast cancer. a new study finds micronutrients found in fruits and vegetables have cancer fighting properties. researchers say the micronutrients keep tumors from growing. >>> researchers at the university of california berkley have pinpointed a gene that helps turn carbohydrates into fat. they found when the gene was disabled in mice, carbs did not turn into fat. doctors say this is a significant finding because it may lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes. >>> if you love football, channel 9 is where you need to be this weekend. right here on wusa. it all starts on saturday. army-navy game at 3:00. we'll have a complete wrapup at 7:00. game on. then this sunday you can watch the skins welcome the ravens to fed ex field. very important game. playoff implications there. it will be followed by a special game after that. putle dear prize winner journalist george lardner remin

gary nurenberg, 9news. >>> well, get ready for $100 billion in spending cuts. that's what the white house budget office is telling federal agencies to do if there is no agreement on the fiscal cliff. we have dedicated our entire news department to track this story and be ready with alerts on the air and on the web. every day we feature stories that will show you how you will be affected if the federal government does go over that fiscal cliff. you can get alerts sent straight to your phone about the fiscal cliff on our cliff notes by texting "the cliff" to 25543. >>> our time is 4:31. intelligence officials in pakistan say three suspected militants were killed in a u.s. drone attack. in the last few months, american officials have privately admitted the strikes have killed several al qaeda and taliban commanders. >>> three people were killed overnight in clashes in egypt. supporters of president mohamed morsi battled protesters outside the palace. demonstrators are trying to stop a referendum on the new constitution. the constitution was written by conservative

as gary nurenberg tells us, the hope died when the house members decided just to get out of town. >>rter: the republican controlled house left town wednesday saying it has nothing to do. >> we need a response if the white house. we can't sit here and negotiate with ourselves. >> reporter: the president's treasury secretary said there's no room for negotiation on its demand for tax rate hikes for top income earners. >> is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> absolutely. there's no prospect for an agreement that doesn't involve those rates going up on the top 2% of the wealthiest americans. it's only 2%. >> reporter: republicans insist they can get the revenue from reforming the tax code without increasing tax rates. >> the revenues put on the table are going to come from guess who? the rich. >> reporter: but the president says that won't work. >> it is not possible for us to raise the apartment