other headliners include country singer rodney adkins, one republic, r & b, grammy winner marsha, will.i.am canceled because he is sick. this will be nationally televised. the tree and the pageant of peace, the pathway to peace will be illuminated through january 1st. it will be a great, fantastic show tonight. back to you. >> surae chinn, thank you very much. >>> by the way, the first lady gave a tour inside the white house yesterday. she showed off all of the decorations. of course, 9news now was there and you can see for yourself by going to our web site, web . >> find out what makes this comic be book special. it sold for 10 cents in 1938 but guess what, it is worth more than a million dollars now! >>> tell people -- how people around the world are marking world a.i.d.s. day. i'm heather kovar in london with the story. >>> millions across the globe are commemorating world a.i.d.s. day. 30 years after the epidemic began. the white house is displaying a huge red ribbon to mark the event. and this morning, the president pledged additional support to countries hardest hit by the virus. he's

channel 2 and the american country new year's eve live performers will include toby keith, and rodney adkinsit airs right here after the 10:00 on friday night. and ktvu.com has a list of events around the bay area. >>> a plan to make the legislature gender equal. >>> and >>> only five days to go now before the iowa caucus and the first real test of the candidates vying for the republican presidential nomination. mitt romney has a slight lead, but who follows him continues to change. >> reporter: big crowds are meeting mitt romney in iowa reflecting his top spot in the latest poll. >> everybody wants to win iowa, i'm not going to predict who's going to win. i think it's too difficult to know who's going to show up at the caucuses but i want to get the support of the people of iowa. >> reporter: ron paul still got strong support and he's maintaining his message. >> limited government, free market, property right, contract rights. >> reporter: but it's shake ups with the rest of the republican field that has people talking. >> it's really great to see a big crowd here. >> reporter: rick santoru

channel 2 and the american country new year's eve live performers will include toby keith, and rodney adkinsit airs right here after the 10:00 on friday night. and ktvu.com has a list of events around the bay area. >>> a plan to make the legislature gender equal. >>> and the gop candidates span going into the caucus. >>> and this whale became very ed in a river. tonight we finally know what caused her death. >>> only five days to go now before the iowa caucus and the first real test of the candidates vying for the republican presidential nomination. mitt romney has a slight lead, but who follows him continues to change. >> reporter: big crowds are meeting mitt romney in iowa reflecting his top spot in the latest poll. >> everybody wants to win iowa, i'm not going to predict who's going to win. i think it's too difficult to know who's going to show up at the caucuses but i want to get the support of the people of iowa. >> reporter: ron paul still got strong support and he's maintaining his message. >> limited government, free market, property right, contract rights. >> reporter: but it's shak

rodney adkins will be singing, big time rush one republic. we're going to have the first family here to light the tree. it is a new tree. it is a colorado blue spruce from the great state of colorado. >> and what about the lights on the tree? this is -- again, we're continuing to green tradition, l.e.d. lights, how many? >> we have 65 sets of lights on the tree. they are l.e.d. lights. we continue to make the tree greener and greener every year to express energy efficiency and show people at home how they can light their trees in a more efficient way. >> for people who have not been on the ellipse for the tree lighting or experienced the pageant of peace, you named some of the groups that will be on stage but who else and what else can people do for the rest of the time up to the new year? >> well, first of all, this kicks off a month worth of activities down here at the ellipse. we have a christmas village here. it will be up and available for everybody every day, every evening. we have santa's workshop. we encourage everybody to come down a

performers include toby keith, joe nickels and rodney adkins and airs after the 10:00 news tonight. >rea can expect to see dui check points and officers on the hunt for drunk drivers. law enforcement agencies report more than 600 dui arrests since a crack down began in mid- december. next year there will be a new deterrent, drivers convicted of three or more face the possibility of having their licenses suspended. >>> they are holding a sobriety checkpoint tonight from 8:30 until 3:00 a.m. at new year's day, during their holiday crack down police have arrested at least 84 dui suspects, up from 65 at the same time last year. >> if you are going somewhere for new year's eve several agencies are offering incentives to ride trains or buses. in san francisco muni is offering free rides beginning at 8:00 and lasting until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. there will also be extra service on their overnight owl routes. you can also ride for free on cal train from 11:00 until 2:15. the santa clara valley transportation authority is offering free rides between 7:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. you will still have to