we had a little rump web newsroom and then the big traditional newsroom.make them oneefunctioning entity so that the same journalists were producing what goes up on the website and thinking about it, as we're providing the print paper, was wrenching and i mean the. >> smith: well, ffr a long time journalists who werr traditionally journalists resisted. >> keller: they did. >> smith: being integrated into the web operation, right? >> keller: they did. i mean, people say, you know, were there, was there a consensus? were people unanimously behind this? and i say sorry, these are journalists. there's never a consensus on anything. >> smith: they're not behind anything. >> keller: there is there is what i refer to as an ambient level of discontent. [ laughher ] that kind of defines a newsroom. so the transition in some ways the kind of psychological and cultural transition was more ú&fficult than the, you know, organizational and financial one becauss there's this sort of existential question, can you feed a medium that wants to know everything right now? file

>> welcome back to the special hour of the "cnn newsroom."ay to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders in their words out on the campaign trail. the political bickering, however, continues in washington, just a day after president obama praised a senate vote to extend the payroll tax cut. house speaker john boehner is expressing his opposition. the republican leader says the two-month extension is just, quote, kicking the can down the road, end quote. earlier this week, newt gingrich touted his own record on the economy. >> i think it is very, very important that we get the deficit under control. you can't run up multibillion dollar debt on the scale president obama has. it simply doesn't work. and the credential i offer you is that i have had four consecutive balanced budgets came out of the policies i developed. it is the only time in your lifetime that we had four consecutive balanced budgets. i think we can get back to it again and it requires increasing economic growth and controlling spending and reforming the government. i

we'll welcome the governor here tomorrow on "america's newsroom." we'll talk to him coming up tomorrow. there is merry news for retailers. bill did a little bit of shopping over the weekend that helped out. consumer spending is on the rebound, folks. americans buying more during the start of holiday season. retail sales up .2%, 2% would be nice. .2% is modest gain. that means sales have gone upper to the last six straight months. what does that say about the state of our economy? stuart varney, joins me, anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. good to see you as always. >> don't get carried away, martha. martha: unemployment numbers ticking down, retail sales are ticking up. we're seeing encouraging signs. >> everybody walked in seeing high hopes. a lot of economists are saying right now the economy is performing better than it performed in years. then we get the retail sales numbers for the month of november of. up .2%. nowhere near what was expected. and that is not a signal of a truly robust economy. .2% is not a shopping bonanz

acknowledged for its role in paving the way for jan and for me and hundreds of others to be working in newsrooms across the city. it took activism by chinese for affirmative action and other organizations in the early 1970's to get apa's hired into radio and television stations. ever since it turned out to be more than just the right thing to you. it has improved the quality of journalism and the quality of coverage for the audiences we serve. today, we have apa's in all aspects of this production and decision making, and it all started because of you. on behalf of all of us who get to tell these great stories day in and day out, thank you for recognizing the importance of what we do, and we are all very grateful for your recognition tonight. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. each of the winners of this evening in addition to the trophies and many proclamations from officials and each receiving two round-trip tickets contributed by southwest airlines. we want to thank southwest and hope you all have a good trip. [applause] and somehow, this guy never got introduced. i want to thank the members

this is a direct connection between you and the newsrooms. go to reporters' center, where you can see what kind of stories they're looking for. news organizations like abc news, huffington post, and npr. post your video, and they can use it on their news shows. last is current.com. this site has news made for the internet that may end up on tv, a site that combines citizen and professional journalism. current.com started in 2005 by co-founder al gore, and viewers vote on the news that they see online. they vote for it here online, and the story may end up on current tv. that's the tv network part of current.com. current wants their viewers to have an ongoing discussion about what they watch because they want their programming to be interactive and an experience. frank. >> thanks, sonya. john, how'd she do on that magic wall there? >> she's very good. she's very, very good. i might be out of work. >> uh, back to all these different choices and all these different places. john, when you're doing television now and realizing that many of your vi

more in the newsroom straight ahead with don lemon. [ both ] ♪ rocket man ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone? ahh. [ male announcer ] crystal clear fender premium audio. one of many premium features available on the all-new volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ and i think it's gonna be a long, long time ♪ let me get you a free tank of gas -- how's that sound? progressive saved me money, and i'm saving you money. [ chuckles ] now these guys are protected with progressive. come on around. we'll fill up your tank for you. free gas! 5 more inches. now you're lined up for some free gas and savings, eh? [ horn honks ] hey, we're trying to save here. i came in for this. yeah, fill it up, too. thank you. don't thank me. i'm just the messenger.

darcy spencer is live in the newsroom with more. darcy. >> he had just left police headquarters. he was on duty in an unmarked vehicle when he came across rodney edwards on the ground. police say as the officer approached to help, edwards pointed a gun at him and that's when the officer fired his weapon. 35-year-old rodney edwards shot and killed by a prince georges county police officer saturday night. family members say edwards was sitting here on a curb in front

this is just coming into the newsroom.round state ohio, set to hold its 2012 primary in may a bill is quickly moving through the state legislature there. earlier lawmakers said separate primaries for local, state and federal primary elections but this bill will consolidate all that. the critics said the maneuver would cost more and confuse voters. candidates balk at resolution of that issue. may in ohio. bill: meantime, new recommendations urging all states to band the use of mobile devices behind the wheel, even a hands-free device like an earpiece that would go in your ear while you drive. this is one of the reasons. look closely here, in the middle of this mess is a pickup truck and the driver was texting moments before he rammed a tractor-trailer. two school buses then crashed into them. the 19-year-old driver of the pickup is dead. so is a student on one of the buses. 38 others were injured. the ntsb chairwoman is with me now. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: i imagine you've been working on this for some t

myranda steppens is streaming live tonight in the newsroom to explain how crooks are using your emotionsst you.myranda? they typically see a spike in online scams around the holidays... when folks are in tte giving mood. and now the scammers are getting even more clever... using your social networr.. to net you right into their trap. 3 nats of keyboard it's one of the most popular social networking sites out there. but police warn ... not everyone on facebook... is really a friend. 55:46 what we're seeing is sort of uh, a reincarnation so to speak of the older scams we saw with the emails, 53baltimore police say they've seen an increase recently in online scams - specifically targeting people on facebook. authorities say the scaas are similar to the email scams that plead for some type of financial help - scammers actually pose as one of your facebook friends. 5642 they take the name off of your friends' list. post something on your page and says you know i've been arrested or i've been mugged and now i need to either get bailed out of jail or to retuun home from a flight overseas 54 inv

. >>> welcome back to this special hour of the "cnn newsroom." we're taking this time out every sunday to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders in their words out on the campaign trail. most of the republican presidential candidates joined former arkansas governor mike huckabee for a presidential forum on fox news last night. with herman cain now out of the race, the remaining candidates participated except for jon huntsman. here are the contenders in alphabet cal order. >> i would abolish the department of education. that's how i got into politics in the first place. we had foster children, i was very concerned about their education. we also need to have a full scale repeal of the federal education law. that's really what needs to be done. >> you can't get the scale of change that the tea party wants. but just appointing good people who have no understanding of the fight they're about to be in and no understanding of how difficult and hard washington is. and i think we have to have a very clearly philosophically driven program that

newsroom for reaction from law makes. >>> 8:05. bay area airports are bracing for a rush of holiday travelers today to get to their christmas destination. allie rasmus is at sfo. you've been out there all morning. so allie, what is it like now? >> reporter: conditions appear to be pretty good. you can get an overhead view. you can see there's probably about a dozen or so cars and taxis unloading passengers. but it looks pretty sparse. inside, the line are not crazy either. now, this is despite that today is the buzzciest travel day. 154,000 air travelers coming through. san francisco airport and that's up 5% from a year ago. >> more care yes come in -- carriers come in. we have more available seats. all of these factors and some of the -- that's where we're seeing a lot of our growth right now. >> reporter: now, san francisco appears to be bucking the national trend when it comes to air travel. at most airports nationwide, air travel is down 10%. i did have a chance to contact a sporesperson in oakland international airport. they s

brand new hour of "america's newsroom," i am martha maccallum.ng with us, today, and you, mr. bill hemmer. bill: good morning, everybody. scott rasmussen just broke the news to us, he sees a lead change yet again in iowa, so hold on. right now newt gingrich leading the pack by a healthy margin according to this poll. now, mitt romney and ron paul nearly tied for second, that's the latest when you average all the polling together at real clear politics. we'll see whether or not the average is right or whether rasmussen is right in the end. martha: we just showed you rasmussen now has romney ahead in iowa which is fascinating. steve brown joins me now from sioux city, iowa. newt gingrich says he's committed that his campaign is not going to go negative, steve. a lot of negativity has come his way, though, in the last few days, so what do we expect tonight? >> reporter: well, we expect the candidates to be, perhaps, even more aggressive than they were on saturday. you mentioned this is the last opportunity before the straw poll or, excuse me, before

surae chinn is in our newsroom with more. good morning, surae. >> reporter: good morning to both of you. house speaker john boehner expected the bill to pass before christmas. it could happen as early as today. that means our paychecks will not shrink come january 1st. republican lawmakers caved under enormous pressure to pass the two-month extension on the payroll tax duty and unemployment benefit. the turning point came when the senate's top republican mitch mcconnell urged the g.o.p. to get on board with the bipartisan plan. some house republicans reluctantly agreed. >> sometimes it is hard to do the right thing. sometimes it is politically difficult to do the right thing. but you know, when everybody called for a one-year extension of the payroll tax deduction, when everybody wanted a full year of extended unemployment benefits, we were here fighting for the right things. >> well, the g.o.p. only agreed to this measure only after insisting on some tweaks to the bill, protecting small businesses and a promise from the sena

he came into the newsroom and he was just a little guy with the tweed jacket and he didn't have a swipe card to get into his old building. he got stuck between two doors. i thought my god, his guys in charge of the biggest media empire in the world and campaign to the newsroom. >> the sort of intervention you mentioned with the divine brown story, was it usual to have an intervention, or was that an exception? >> well, he spoke to his editor who was rebecca brooks or piers morgan. apart from them having looked over my shoulder one, you know, just to see what i was up to for no particular reason, he would've never spoken to some of his lowliest. >> moving on to the topic of the theory of journalism, i understand this you have, for example, covered the gulf war. >> kosovo, yeah. >> immigration stories such as bank at. >> yeah, i spent a night and i think pretty well given up the investigative journalism about five years ago when i got hit in the head with a lump of concrete who are pretty intent on killing me. before that i smuggled myself across the channel just about about everywhere im

>>> you're in the "cnn newsroom." i'm fredricka whitfield. topping the news this hour, herman cain has suspended his presidential campaign. that means he can continue to raise money but he is effectively out of the race. cain has been battling serious image problems. he's accused of sexual misconduct and have a 13-year extramarital affair. here is how cain ended his campaign. >> so as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, i am suspended my presidential campaign. >> given the recent accusations of extramarital affairs, was this cain's best recourse? cnn's wolf blitzer joining us now on the phone from hollywood, florida. wolf, was this cain's best option? >> you know, under the circumstances, he really didn't have any other choice. his poll numbers had really gone down over the past few weeks since the first allegations of sexual harassment by four separate women came forward and when this other woman alleged a 13-year extramarital affair. the money was drying up, the poll numbers were going down. in october, he was in the mid-20s

>>>xd scottç"reece in theko co newsroom. it's a buzzword, culture.oing to work and throwing it down. 14 on the night and action.i]ok for the injured curry, brandon rush and the dubs take a one-point lead andÑi monty elli to david lee. back to monty.én(-22 for ellis win convincingly and a 923w'y a lot of#bq history between the sharks and the canucks. not much is good for san jose going back to last year's playoffs. playoff atmosphere and 2-0 with patrick marlo. the 16th of the year, makesmy 2-1. have ourselves a new game at 2-2 and this is overtime, but there is kevin. throwing it for the mets and andrewjf deflect and the canuck win 3-2 over the sharks forc th second time this season. check out kenny leaping over the would beok blockers. may nard on the back. the bears turned it over four times, qcu a recipe for success. jackson and the wide receiver 7-3. cody johnson four yards and in. and the hornsesok hoand it's 5- since 2002002. the latest to be shipped out of town. oakland shades the closers to dq red sox with lpoutfielder in exchange for the o

send us a message to the ktvu chan 28 newsroom. we get to take a break. i understand we're gonna check in with sal and see how the morning commute is going. >> we're having pretty good commutes here. this is the east shore freeway and westbound there was an earlier -- westbound. there was an earlier crash. it recovered nicely. the peninsula on 101 and 280 looks good. at 8:10. let's go to steve. >> thank you. everything continues to go offshore on the peninsula. a lot of pockets of 20s, 30s. a little breezy out towards crockett, vallejo. but 30, 40s. 46 raquel said 46 but it feels colder. i would say 44, 45, 46 all over san francisco. so that's right. high pressure will continue to be our fair-weather friend. pockets of fog. cold morning. even though the days are really short. we still get temperatures that aren't too bad for a couple of hours and the extended outlook which has bur yckd -- which has your weekend in view. the wind kicks up again on thursday. and looks mild to warm. cooler sunday. >>> 8:11. right now about 200 people lining up to get some ea

newsroom. carl, you talked with romney today and is he going after the new republic frontrunner, right? >> yeah. you are talking about newt gingrich. romney made it pretty clear that he will go after gingrich not only on public policy but also on more personal matters and when i spoke to him, he sort of listed a whole series of issues on which he intends to criticize gingrich. >> speaker gingrich has said that we ought to get rid of our child labor laws. that, i think, is a mistake. he has indicated that for people who have been here a certain length of time, we should let them stay in the country with a form of amnesty. i think that's a mistake. the list will go on and on as we get a clear indication of exactly where the speaker stands. >> the list will go on and on. and in a new ad launched today, romney focuses on himself, his wife of 42 years and he he pledges to be true to his family. it's an intentional values in character contrast gingrich who has admitted affairs and been married three

. ♪ >>> all right, welcome back to the special hour of the "cnn newsroom."re taking this time out every sunday to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders as they go head to head. a lot of sparks were flying at last night's republican debate in des moines, iowa. let's bring back cnn's senior political analyst ron brownstein in washington. so, ron, the question of fidelity came up at the debate. the question posed by the forum was, should voters consider marital fidelity when making their choice for president? and all the candidates answered, including a perry and gingrich. take a listen. >> if you will cheat on your wife, if you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner or why wouldn't you cheat on anybody for that matter? >> i made mistakes at times. i had to go to god for forgiveness, i had to seek reconciliation. i'm also a 68-year-old grandfather and i think people have to measure who i am now and whether i'm a person they can trust. >> ron, with newt gingrich's three marriages, he was easy prey, but it did

>> andrea mitchell in our washington newsroom. thanks. >>> we're fortunate to have the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory here with us in our new york studios. david, it seems to me when you break down the videotape through this week on up to this afternoon, if you were looking for clues that this might ultimately be his decision tomorrow, you'd find them. >> cain has been telegraphing this all week long. in andrea's reporting it's right there. his own wife didn't know about ms. white, that there was any kind of relationship or he was trying to help her financially. i talked to somebody close to herman cain tonight who says he's got work to do at home. he has got a lot of discussion to have with his wife just over this. that really is factoring into his decision about wanting to shield his entire family from more to come on all of this. these allegations and the others that have been out there. he's also facing the grim political reality. his support in iowa has plummeted, taken a nose dive. he's facing reality on all fr

>> diana olick in our washington newsroom. diana, as always, thanks. >>> we turn to the weather front, the snow is moving out and away from the plains. after leaving some lasting effects, really, from the first big blizzard of the season. dashing through the snow, mike seidel was able to mike it as far as garden city, kansas. mike, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian, it was a storm that impacted and virtually shut down parts of five states, and stranded thousands at the beginning of a busy holiday travel week. it was the first blizzard of the season, bearing down on the southwest and high plains states just days before the official start of winter. in northern new mexico overnight, snow and icy road conditions made for treacherous travel. four people were killed when their vehicle collided with a pickup truck in blizzard like conditions. and in colorado, where 50 mile an hour wind gusts created ten foot drifts, still more traffic accidents, including this prison van which lost control, killing a guard and an inmate. in the

in the newsroom, sherry lee, fox 5 news. >> fox 5 is monitoring metro 24/7. you can send us your story ideas, pictures, and video. still need a flu shot? might be able to get one for free. your fox 5 top 5. >> haven't gotten your flu shot yet? if money is the problem, we have good news for you. wall greens is teaming up with the u.s. department of health and services to offer free flu shots this year. available to americans without health insurance and for those who have insurance and are still unable to afford a vote. you can contact your local health department for more information. number four, antitobacco groups say states cut funding on prevention programs for 12% this year. it's the lowest level since 1999. states will get more than $25 billion in taxes and legal settlements from big tobacco this year, but spend less than 2% on programs to stop or prevent tobacco abuse. number three, it worked for the office of tax and revenue and the dmv. so the library is launching an amnesty program from december 5 through february 5, the library will forgive fines o

live in the newsroom. >>> fans won't be able to get as close to the ravens during the sum ir. they won't hold their training camp in westminister. the team said the decision was not made easily because of the nfl lock out they practiced at its camp in owings mill and said their training went much better there. they said they will have at least three open practices off site. the team said it's aware of losing that connection with the fans. >> our training camps at mcdaniel and westminister are special, special to us and the community the last time we were out there 110,000 came to practices. we didn't want to loose that but we also realize that football wise it was better to train here. >> the college released a statement saying we respect the decision of the organization and are ready to well kem back to the college if and when they decide to return to their training camp here. the ravens say they will still do something in westminister, they are floating the idea of a clinic in that city so children can have access to coaches and players. >> winds already turning out there to

ly live in the newsroom with the latest in the race for iowa. >> reporter: good morning. the republican hopefuls are vying to unseat ron paul, who just might win. with one week to go, paul continues to enjoy strong support there and other republican contenders are taking aim. the texas congress map has a slight lead over mitt romney in polls while michelle bachmann, rick perry and newt gingrich are playing catch-up. rick santorum is getting new well-timed buzz as well but it is paul who may have the edge. his campaign is organized and energized and right now, political pundits see this as a two-man race. >> all of the talk about the ron paul surge and the support that he has out there, the momentum he has potentially going into these january 3rd caucuses is real. >> he will take new hampshire by storm and do very well there. that will propel him into south carolina where he will have problems. i don't think it is over yet. i still think the southern states are problematic for romney. >> reporter: in new hampshire, the nation's first primary on january 20th, romney maintai

we are in the newsroom to take it from there. >>reporter: instead of citing and argue some 250 kids the elko police chef just let them continue on to utah saying getting names and matching the kids to the cop from band would have been a logistical nightmare and with 20 bed at jawvie hall where would he put them all. pipe. bong. booze. pounds of marijuana. all this confiscated tuesday from buses full of bay area hay school students heading to yacht for a ski trip. the bus his stopped for food in elko, nevada and that's when the trouble began. >> some of them apparently were smoking or maybe, maybe even smoking marijuana outside the bus and it appeared suspicious to the people at the maverick. >>reporter: so they called police. >> so our officers went with our canine units and sheriff's department canine there as well to assist us and the drug dog hit open all 5 buses. >> pretty much found an astonishing amount of marijuana and alcohol. >>reporter: trip organized by swat. summer winter action tours. swat owner and president wasn't

we are in the newsroom to take it from there. >>reporter: instead of citing and argue some 250 kids the elko police chef just let them continue on to utah saying getting names and matching the kids to the cop from band would have been a logistical nightmare and with 20 bed at jawvie hall where would he put them all. pipe. bong. booze. pounds of marijuana. all this confiscated tuesday from buses full of bay area hay school students heading to yacht for a ski trip. the bus his stopped for food in elko, nevada and that's when the trouble began. >> some of them apparently were smoking or maybe, maybe even smoking marijuana outside the bus and it appeared suspicious to the people at the maverick. >>reporter: so they called police. >> so our officers went with our canine units and sheriff's department canine there as well to assist us and the drug dog hit open all 5 buses. >> pretty much found an astonishing amount of marijuana and alcohol. >>reporter: trip organized by swat. summer winter action tours. swat owner and president wasn't

i must tell you our newsroom is buzzing about this. when you're a wedding planning website, how many employees do you have? >> we have over $100. we broke 100 at the end of december. >> and how are you offering over 100 employees and when is that time off? >> thya -- they have to ask for the time off. >> and that is work something. >> you plan the time off and ask your boss for the time off and they approve it if the time is there and the department is stacked and you take the time when you need it. you don't have a bucket of time to draw from. >> i understandsta -- understand there are requirements. i can't decide i'm going take a week off. i have a desk full of work to finish. >> sure, exactly. you have to make sure your work is taken care of and the work is done. if you're a sales person and the group is a lot of sales people, half of the ocean failed and wherever you have met your -- organization failed and if you met your quota the rest of the month, you could take the month off, you really could. >> i love that. unlimited vacatio

and welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom."'m heather childress in for martha maccallum. gregg: i'm tkpwraeu gregg jarrett. heather: carl cameron live from des moines. what do you look for at the campaign event? >> reporter: the intensity of the crowd and the side of the crowd. as chris christie just said, people who win election -r are ones who turn out the vote on election night. there were 500 and a thousand people who came out in 6-degree weather in a drizzle in order to root on and cheer mitt romney, who is once against the frontrunner, having watched ron paul and newt gingrich make a run at it in the past several we can. this is a year and a half long of essentially keeping iowa at arm's length. he's on his ninth swing. a big, big time for mitt romney. by contrast you see crowds for newt gingrich, a hundred or so, much smaller. it's clear that mitt romney has the momentum and wind in his sales as he heeds into all o heads into all of this. he came in second here four years ago with about 25% of the vote. he's had about 25

and now, the news from the new york city newsroom. what are we learning?icial fire report is due today but the mayor is saying problems with the family's fireplace started the deadly flames. 9-1-1 was called and police and firefighters were able to get into the house christmas morning but the flames were so intense they were not able to save the victims. the mayor said that many of the first responders broke down in tears as the scene counseling is being offered to them now. here is audio of a 9-1-1 call placed by a neighbor who saw the flames and called right away. >> a huge fire. the house next door, the whole house is on fire. we are at 2241, and it is house next door. >> the two who got out, the mother and her acquaintance, she was treated and the other man is thought to still be in the hospital but we have yet to hear but you can only imagine the grief of the mother who lost so much. >>trace: tell us more about the grandfather, a sad deficit to this tragic story. >>guest: he spent his entire career ironically as a safety and security chief for a big s

let's go to andrea fujii now in the newsroom with more. andrea? >> reporter: well, kai, that accident at puty hill avenue and wilson road, parkville, remains under investigation. officers say 15-year-old ryan chase was crossing the street when he was struck by a car, which then pushed him into the path of an suv. drivers of both vehicles stayed on the scene, where chase was pronounced dead. he was a student at parkville high school. students and staff at the school are wearing red today in his memory. kai, back to you. >> wjz is at parksville high school today. and we'll have a live report on this story coming up new at 5:00 and 6:00. >>> maryland's department of education will receive an infusion of cash from the federal government. maryland and eight other states will split $500 million in federal grants as part of the race-to-the-top program. the grant will pay for early childhood programs designed to keep students from falling behind their classmates. maryland is eligible for $50 million in funding. but the exact amount has not yet been announ

and now, jennifer is live in the washington, dc newsroom. what can you tell us about this group?uest: well, this is a group of iranian disdens based in iraq since the we 1980's. i went to their camp in 1995 and saddam came them protection because they were fighting against ayatollah and the mullahs in iran. after saddam fell the iranians have been trying to push the iraqi government to push them out which led to violence against the catch. this is a complicated group. they are still on the state department terror list because they allegedly killed six american diplomats during the time of the shah but they have helped the united states in recent years providing information about the secret uranium enrichment facility, a key intelligence breakthrough for the rest. iran is so threatened by them when an agreement to resettle them was signed, a militia fired rockets at their camp in iraq. >>trace: why does the united states have a responsibility to them? >>guest: well, because after saddam fell, the u.s. military got them to disarm in exchange for u.s. protection. the u.s. military w

audrey barnes is in the newsroom now with more. >> those two fires caused an estimated $130,000 damage to the garages of two homes just blocks apart. investigators have uncovered some key evidence that they hope will lead them to the people responsible. the first fire was reported at about 10:45 last night on singleton terrace. the detached garage and all of its contents went up in flames. within minutes a second call came in about a garage fire on addison woods road a few blocks away. the homeowners there lost two of their cars in the blaze. investigators say they haven't determined the exact cause, but it does appear that both fires are linked and they were both deliberately set. >> i feel like i feel bad. >> there's no way that. had to be premeditated i think. >> i just spoke with the lead investigator on the case, corporal jason west. he says detectives found the caps of marine flares, the time used for distress signals -- the type used for distress signals, all over the neighborhood and they may have been used to start those fires and are now part of the investigation which also i

it is thin but i look around the newsroom and there is definitely fewer people. all doing double time because everybody he isless off so we he have v. to work more. if you feel like you're the only one working, you are not alone. 64% of workers this week have business as usual. so everything will be the same for them and that comes from an office space company called rigas. another company, wright management, says that 07% of us have not use the all of our vacation days yet for 2011 and don't plan on it. that is up dramatically from 50% would said they didn't use them last year. so i guess with this unstable job market, people think face time will work out for them in the end. so lots of vacation days not taken this year. >> a lot of folks who were off yesterday spent the time shopping. did we have another massive shopping day. >> apparently yesterday was called megamonday. a big shopping day and ib much is giving us the latest numbers. they said that on christmas day, online shopping activity rose more than 16% from christmas 2010 so it is amazing how much of us

and mary is in the newsroom with the story. mary is this. >> reporter: well -- pairy?porter: well, denise. president obama announced we will fight. and announced an additional fund will go toward combattling -- combatting hiv and a.i.d.s. the mission is 2 million more than the original target. the president also urged other countries with major economies, including china, to give money to the global a.i.d.s. fund. over the last decade, the pandemic has claimed 30 million lives. >> while the rate of new infections is going down elsewhere, president obama night noted it -- president obama noted it is not going down in america. >>> and shutting down schools causing widespread damage. about 300,000 have lost power in southern california alone. >> reporter: this southern california gas station was mangled, after hurricane- strength winds toppled a nearby tree. >> looking what goes through your head. >> thank god nobody got hurt. >> roger ferodge owns the business and estimates his damage will top $200,000. >> of course we'll be closed and will lose a lot of revenue. >> the

vic is in the newsroom with what was accomplished. vic? >> a preliminary psychiatric screening. ortega is accused of using an assault rifle. president obama was out of town at the time. federal prosecutors asked the judge today for more extensive tests. friends of ortega say he was acting strangely, just prior to the incident, suggesting he was jesus and president obama was the devil. mary, back to you. >> all right, vic. no one was hurt when the bullets peered the residence of the president's private residence. >>> demonstrators say the group remains strong. mike hellgren has more on what's next for local protestors. >> reporter: mceldon square. the square has been reopened to the public. and occupy baltimore plans on meeting here tonight. >> reporter: one day after police cleared mceldon square, members of occupy baltimore say the movement will continue. the mayor made the decision to raid their encampment. so they brought their latest gathering last night to city hall, planning their next move. >> i've maintained my passion throughout this, the ups and the downs. i've maintai