veronica? >> brian mooar in washington.an, thank you. >>> well, the white house is condemning a series of terror attacks in nigeria that killed nearly 40 people on christmas day. an explosion at a catholic church near the nigerian capital claimed the lives of at least 20 people who had just finished observing christmas mass. it appears to be a coordinated assault. a bomb exploded amid gunfire in a city in the central part of the country and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the northeast. a muslim sect responsible for holiday bombings that killed 90 people last year reportedly claimed responsibility. >>> new violence in iraq this morning as a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint leading to the interior ministry in baghdad, killing six people. on sunday, vice president joe biden talked by phone to prime minister nuri al maliki, offering condolences after last week's violence killed up to 70 in baghdad. their conversation comes amid fears of a sectarian split after al maliki's coalition issued an ar

veronica? >> brian mooar in washington.an, thank you. >>> well, the white house is condemning a series of terror attacks in nigeria that killed nearly 40 people on christmas day. an explosion at a catholic church near the nigerian capital claimed the lives of at least 20 people who had just finished observing christmas mass. in what appears to be a coordinated assault, a bomb exploded amid gunfire in a city in the middle of the country, and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast. a muslim sect responsible for a bombing last year has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks. >>> in iraq this morning, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint leading to the interior ministry in baghdad. killing six people. on sunday, vice president joe biden talked by phone to prime minister nuri al maliki, offering condolences after last week's violence killed up to 70 in baghdad. their conversation comes amid fears of a sectarian split after al maliki's coalition issued an arrest warrant fo

veronica? >> brian mooar in washington, brian, thank you. >>> the white house confirmed monday it is considering a request from president saleh to travel to new york city for medical reasons. he's seeking treatment for injuries he suffered in a near-fatal june bomb blast in his presidential complex. the issue is a hot potato for the administration because many in yemen who hoped to see ali prosecuted for the deaths of hundreds of anti-government protests fear he'll seek asylum here. if permission is granted, the white house is expected to stress it will only be for medical treatment. >>> as iraq struggles for stability without a u.s. presence, there are new calls within maliki's own shiite government for a shakeup. al sadr wants the current parliament to be dissolved and new elections held but maliki may not want to start over after the last elections. >>> iraq is dealing with a new wave of violence, believed to be the work of sunni insurgents with ties to al qaeda. >>> well, voters feeling a d

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with many happy returns. christmas is officially over, but for many americans, there is one more tradition to observe. millions of shoppers will head out today to return unwanted gifts. and if retailers get their wish, they'll spend more money on post christmas sales. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, veronica. everybody out there in tv land, did you get what you wanted for christmas? >> santa. >> reporter: after speeding around the globe to deliver all his gifts on time -- ♪ jingle bells jingle all the way ♪ >> santa and friends spent time surfing in cocoa beach, florida. foul weather left u.p.s. scrambling to get tens of thousands of packages delivered on time. speaking of scrambling, it's now crunch time for the republican presidential candidates. just eight days left before iowa. president obama and the first family are chilling in sunny hawaii. this is, of course, the season of giving. and many spent their christmas day doing just that. 1800 meals served at a church in north carolina

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with many happy returns. christmas is officially over, but for many americans, there is one more tradition to observe. millions of shoppers will head out today to return unwanted gifts. and if retailers get their wish, they'll spend more money on post christmas sales. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, veronica. everybody out there in tv land, did you get what you wanted for christmas? >> santa. >> reporter: after speeding around the globe to deliver all his gifts on time -- ♪ jingle bells jingle all the way ♪ >> santa and friends spent time surfing in cocoa beach, florida. foul weather left u.p.s. scrambling to get tens of thousands of packages delivered on time. speaking of scrambling, it's now crunch time for the republican presidential candidates. just eight days left before iowa. president obama and the first family are chilling in sunny hawaii. this is, of course, the season of giving. and many spent their christmas day doing just that. 1800 meals served at a church in north carolina

i'm veronica de la cruz. three days to go, the final stretch of the iowa caucuses is going on right now across the state with gop candidates making a mad dash to rally supporters. let's go live right now to des moines and peter alexander. peter, for many of the candidates, this morning is just the start of what's is sure to be a whirlwind weekend, if you will. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. to give you a sense where the confidence is right now, it's with ron paul and mitt romney. ron paul now back in texas to, his family. and mitt romney is already in the next state to vote. he's made it very clear that he expects to be the nominee. more than 1200 miles away in new hampshire, mitt romney was already focusing on the next primary state friday night. >> i want you to bring friends to the voting booth. i want it loud and clear message. >> reporter: earlier romney's message was reinforced by popular new jersey governor chris christie who offered iowa voters this playful jab. >> you don't do what you're supposed

>> veronica, thanks so much. >>> 6:53 now. a major traffic alert if your commute takes you through potomac. as we've been telling you, the clara barton parkway closed in both directions because of a serious accident at macarthur boulevard. news 4's melissa mollet is live on the scene. melissa, good morning. >> reporter: as you can see behind me, we have flares and flashing lights. park police still on the scene taking measurements, waiting for a tow truck here. as you said, clara barton parkway shut down in both directions between carter rock and here, where we are this morning, where it dead ends into macarthur in potomac. this all started at 4:41 this morning, a single vehicle accident. we understand this vehicle flipped over. at least one person was transported with serious injuries. there may have been one other person in the vehicle. again, park police handling this investigation. there was a bit of confusion just a little while ago down at the carter rock side of this closure. the flares on that end went out, and there w

veronica? >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. >>> also a night on "the rachel m maddow show" she asked if you could remember a time in politics when the outcome was as uncertain as the iowa caucuses? >> we had times when we were not sure who would win, but not on this scale. the polls are pretty much out of date now. i suspect pollsters went back into the field after christmas to give us a sense of where the race is. no. it's a great race. media people can't figure it out. pollsters have to dig deep into the electorate to find likely caucus-goers. it's 3 million people, about 600,000 republicans. and down here below that, 120,000 likely caucus-goers. they can be hard to find. secondly, there's lots of new people. ron paul is attracting new people. some polling shows about a third of likely caucus-goers say they are first time caucus-goers. those people are hard to find what it means is that this is difficult, impossible to predict and it's great. we'll have a real race in a week. >> don't

veronica johnson said at some point they could be pretty heavy. isn't that right, veronica? >> that's right for the afternoon. >>> here for the morning rush, at least it's going to be an easy going getting to workment g. getting back, that might be a different story. the rain isn't going to last long at all. after sunset, that rain will be ending. but a good dose for us for a year where our surplus is almost seven inches. that's right. we're above average on rainfall by nearly seven inches, and we're going to get another half to an inch of rain out of this. we're at 42 degrees right now. overcast skies. the showers are broken to the west coming in over fredericksburg and west virginia. the heavier rain sitting much further back. that's going to come into the area around 2:00 p.m. high today of 49 degrees. play planner forecast, 40 degrees at 9:00 a.m. noontime 45. still holding at 48 degrees by 9:00 p.m. because of a southerly wind. the rain will be ending and moving out of here fairly quickly by 10:00 p.m. down in the low 40s by 11:00 p.m. a look at the four-day forecast on

veronica johnson is here to share more. >> our ears perked up. you said it could get nasty. >> we've got clouds right now. we're talking about fewer than 12 hours of rain and the fact we can get a half to an inch of rain in that short time period. you know the going to be nasty and coming down pretty good today. >> uh-oh. >> big uh-oh. galoshes, whatever it's going to take to keep you dry today. we're at 42 degrees. yes, it is dry right now through the area. temperatures throughout the area, leesburg continues to be our cool spot at 37. then we've got 39 in clarksburg and gaithersburg just north. virginia, manassas, you're at 39 degrees. capitol heights currently at 40 degrees. not a bad start. the showers are starting to make their way from frederick, maryland, down through fredericksburg. that's the leading edge of the light showers. it is pretty broken back into west virginia and just getting well moving into areas of southwestern virginia, some moderately heavy rain. that's a couple of hours away. i think the moderately heavy rain starts now

veronica, thank you.hink. >>> in silver spring, eastbound east-west highway at connecticut avenue, we have a water main break. chopper 4 is there with a live look. eastbound lanes are blocked. look at the size of that hole. it is absolutely humongous. over on route 7 past columbia pike, this one in baileys crossroads. westbound lanes still blocked by an accident. fire department there on the scene. 270 over at 28 picking up volume and moving. dulles toll road at sunset hills, we are smooth sailing. eun, chris, back to you. >> thank you, carol. >>> today metro will be running extra trains this afternoon to help commuters leaving work early for the holiday weekend. metro says it will be open its normal hours this weekend. there are also a number of changes on marc. for marc riders. be sure to check the marc website to see when trains will be running this afternoon. >>> with the new year comes some new laws, and it means you will be paying a little more at the groesry store and on the roads. in montgomery co

we're going to enjoy it, veronica. >> definitely enjoy it. that's the way we'll be shutting down the year. in fact, even the first day of 2012 is going to be really nice. you know what, while all this nice is going on here, winter's brewing, getting its act together, then whammy. >> ski slopes in our area are hungry for this. >> a lot of them still closed. even the ones that are open, only a third to a half of the actual slopes are open. >> with long lines. >> exactly. but they'll be able to make some snow starting monday night, tuesday of next week. >>> 36 our temperature currently. 29 degree dewpoint. that dewpoint was low yesterday, but enough vigor in the atmosphere to give us some flurries. today dry, at least during the daylight hours. 28 in gaithersburg. 27 warrenton. 26 degrees in waldorf, maryland. temperatures will rise to the low 40s by 9:00 a.m. by noontime today, 52 degrees the temperature with a high of a5 4 degrees today. we will have again a partly sunny sky today. mostly cloudy. after midnight, we do have a chance to get a fe

carol. >> thanks so much, veronica. if you're just joining us in silver spring, an accident, a fatal has university boulevard and piny branch avenue. the investigation is still ongoing. expect some delays. the pace is good, but a lot more of your neighbors are joining us on the road now. on maryland at the beltway at new hampshire, absolutely nothing in your way moving well. >> thank you, carol. it's now 5:12. >>> still to come, outrage at the humane society, how the death of a cat is leading to animal rights activists to pull their support for the organization. >>> and criminal charges may soon be filed in connection with last year's gulf oil [ female announcer ] they've been off limits to dieters since time began. not anymore. fiber one is bringing brownies back. at 90 calories, the only thing between you and chocolaty brownies... ♪ ...is a nicely designed package. ♪ you can have brownies again. fiber one 90 calorie brownies. in the granola bar aisle. caramel...pretzel 90 calorie bar. ♪ >>> welcome back. at 5:16, fami

warmer but windy today, veronica. >> yeah, a mixed bag. sunshine and clouds and probably more wind than most of us want to feel out there. we will see wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. of course, you will feel that more when you are out in an open area. your high today, right around 50 degrees. probably low 50s in some of the neighborhoods down across southern maryland today. so coat required. this evening, 36 to 32. we are expecting to drop all the way down to the 20s by tomorrow morning. can you see 5:00 a.m., 28 degrees for a temperature and 27 at 7:00 a.m. in fact, a lot of the neighborhoods up in the areas like loudoun county and faulkner county, they will start 24 to 25 degrees tomorrow morning. a look at your seven-day forecast here. 55 degrees on friday and 53 for saturday. we continue to ride the roller coaster. we took a dip and we will head back up by the end of the week. a few showers will be passing through early saturday morning, but for the big celebrations, you should get to the parties on a dry note for late sunday morni

any more rain today, veronica? >> no more rain today. it's the wind we have to deal with today. and the fact that temperatures aren't going to rise very much, i think this will be one of our coolest days for the month of december, which is hard to believe when you consider we'll be at around average for the date. we're right now at 44 degrees. we've had a few clouds out there currenty, and again the wind is out of the west at 15 miles per hour. it's a dry wind. as i drove in, i could really tell that wind has done a very good job of wicking away the moisture off the roads. 35 our cool spot in ft. belvoir. 43 now in college park. there's a look at the rain moving away. the clouds breaking up, and then a few clouds now moving back into the area. day planner forecast, mid-40s for highs. by noontime, it will around 42 degrees. we're going to see the temperatures dip down before they start rising again. all in all, it will be a mostly sunny to partly sunny type of day. tonight we're going to see a few more clouds move back into the area. we're not going to get any rain. what we are g

>> veronica, the weather is cooperating, and so is the traffic. look at this.thing is moving so well. if you're heading out to the mall to get the nike christmas shoes or return or exchange, take a look at the vw parkway right around 32, you're moving no problem. on the beltway west of connecticut avenue, smooth sailing. and heading down the 66 look at this shot at sudley road. how often do you see it looking like that? angie, eun? >> all right, carol. thank you. >> we haven't seen anyone catch santa on tape, but one family in utah may have caught one of his deer. check this out. a deer came crashing into a home in bountiful, utah, on christmas eve. the family spent two hours peeking through the door and taking pictures of the 5 foot tall deer and its huge antlers. wildlife officers were able to get the deer out without having to put him to sleep. >> he's probably so confused. what the heck is going on? >> he's checking out what's in the cupboards. he's hungry. >> i'm surprised he's not going crazy in there. >> i don't know if i'd be taking pictures at that poi

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with one week to go. from bus tour to fresh tv ads, republican hopefuls are pulling out all the stops in iowa as they make their final campaign push. ahead of that state caucuses one week from today. nbc's brian mooar has the details. >> reporter: good morning. it's been a rough primary season, but the republicans are about to face their first official test. one week before the iowa caucuses, ron paul is leading the gop presidential pack. . but it's still anyone's race. >> usually the iowa caucuses aren't completely defined until very close to the end. >> reporter: while rick santorum is hunting for votes -- >> you're not electing someone to cast votes. you're electing a leader. >> reporter: michele bachmann is getting ready to hit all of iowa's 99 counties. rick perry released a new attack ad. but it's aimed at washington. >> let them get a job like everybody else back home. thank you so much. >> reporter: mitt romney is still trying to convince iowans he's conservativ

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with assessing the damage. newt gingerich is still standing after his republican rivals pile on to personalize his personal and political past. but mitt romney may have tripped himself up at the worst possible times. the latest polls show on gingerich ahead in the first four presidential contests. and making headway in the fourth. trace good morning to you. >> republicans and democrats are criticizing mitt romney for the $10,000 comment. in terms of the polls, the one to watch seems to be newt gingrich. gingrich is widening his lead and republicans are going after him. on conservative views. >> there is not a dime's worth of difference. >> and personal attacks. >> if you will cheat on your wife you will cheat on business partners. >> people have to render judgment. in my case i have said that i made mistakes at times. i have had to go god for forgiveness. >> but romney took the harshest criticism. >> $10,000 bet. >> i'm not in the betting business. >> of all the things

thanks, veronica. >>> now to medical marijuana. for sale in the district. >> tonight, the news 4 i-team has the list that shows where patients may be able to buy it. tisha thompson joins us now. >> reporter: when it comes to medical marijuana, the d.c. government is handing out two different kinds of licenses. we've already shown you the proposed sites to grow medical marijuana. they're called cultivation centers. now we have a list of dispensary applications or where people will be able to go to buy medical marijuana. if you want medical marijuana in washington, d.c., you will need to get a prescription from a doctor and buy it from a licensed dispensary. the news 4 i-team has mapped out where 17 different dispensaries want to locate. neighborhoods like the pallasades and tacoma park. >> it's a facility to provide medication to patients. this isn't for some people to run out and get high. >> reporter: former talk show host montel williams wants to set up a dispensary. he's applied for two cultivation center licenses in this buildi

right, veronica? we have. >> thank you for that. >>> a traffic alert right now on the roads. take a look at this. this is traffic backed up. it is a slow going right now heading towards potomac mills and prince william county. and likely all these people are probably trying to get bargain prices at the mall out there. i-95 southbound near the occoquan bridge. traffic is backed up for at least eight miles to interstate 395. wow. this is a slow week for many workers unless you work for the aaa. organization expects to assist about 800,000 motorists during the final week of the year and will include retrieving more than 100,000 sets of keys locked in the car. aaa says towing is a service it provides most often and not followed by jump starts or replacing dead batteries. >>> what if you can make sure your teen never texted while driving again. one company has an idea that would make it impossible for you or your teen to use your phone in the car. bob hanson has the story. >> when chuck cox gets in his car

veronica, were there any big surprises in this list? any emissions? >> the olson twins are still rocking it, robert they? >> i think they are -- rocking it, aren't they? >> they are in their 50s. and they are not doing well. >> lady gaga, i just hate her. i have nothing funny to even say. i just hate her. >> that's funny in its own way. tucker, here is the thing that bugs me, this young achiever stuff sucks. thisy pick people whose careers they are supposed to achieve when they are young. pop stars are supposed to be 25. show me a 50-year-old who kandahar -- a 15-year-old who can perform open heart surgery. >> or a 25-year-old can a human rights activist. >> and you are mia farrow and woody allen's kid. >> when i think about it, that's a bigger achievement is being able to survive woody allen and mia farrow. that's an achiever. much bigger. >> this is the year of the protestor. i don't know if you have heard. >> was there anybody you would nominate? >> well, i would scratch from the list lil wayne. who is lil wayne? >> i don't know, actually. >> that

i think the answer is no, right, veronica?rect. >>> today is going to be another dry day, guys. as we get ready to round out the rest of the year here, the last weather system is going to be a rain maker, not a snow maker. sorry about that for so many kids, and even adults that want some snow around here. 45 degrees our current temperature. we dropped a degree in the last hour. the air is dry, as you can see from the dewpoint temperature. the humidity running at 34%. the wind, that's been the one thing that a lot of us early risers have already felt. the wind has been out of the northwe northwest, gusting as high as 30 miles per hour already. it's going to be breezy throughout the day. low 40s up to the north. mid-40s right in the middle. some of the outlying areas, 43. lee leesburg, manassas, and down to la plata and waldorf. speaking of the south, there's the next weather system tracking to the north and northeastward bringing us rain tomorrow. that rain starts at noon, continues into afternoon and evening, even into wednesd

and veronica is here to explain. i am not asking for snow. >> sometimes it's good to look back. >> perspective, right? >> well, last year was a real challenge for us here in storm center 4. many forecasters were forecasting the storms, and they were trick 83 guys. this is philadelphia, pennsylvania. last year on this date, they were cleaning up and digging out. why? they had 12.2 inches of snow in philadelphia. there were so many areas that got hammered, and it was the 2010 northern american blizzard. and central park, 20 inches of snow. in fact, it went down as a snowacane. and there was 95-mile-per-hour winds in new york city. why haven't i mentioned how much snow we had in d.c.? that is because here in d.c., we were under a snow hole, and the system developed down south and then waerkenned and redeveloped north of us, and that's what the snow cover looked like between the 25th and 27th. philadelphia got 12.2. edison, new jersey, 32.5 inches of snow. and raleigh, north carolina, seven inches of snow and here in d.c

come on, veronica.wo polar bears were born in china and they are doing well and will soon be able to walk on their own. they don't have names yet. they were a gift to china from finland. you remember monday, we were introduced to siku, and his mother could not produce enough mill tok feed him. you can't get enough of these guys. >> i thit individunk the video s the one -- >> the twin bears. >> yeah, and my son reminds me, yeah, they grow up into a big bear. >> that does it for "news4 midday," and be sure and tune in to news at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00 for all the day's news. hope you will join us then. and until then, have a terrific

veronica johnson can answer that question in the storm center. hi, veronica. >> this weekend, we went with a high temperature of 47 on saturday. sunday, 43. today, not much higher at all. it's been sticking around. feeling cold out. i don't know about you guys, but this weekend i went outside helping put christmas lights up. my fingertips were numb. today, again, quite cool with clouds moving through the area. here is a look at the radar and satellite showing the clouds making their way through. down to the south around richmond, a few light showers with an easterly wind. as far as the temperature goes, 44 degrees. we have a cold evening coming our way with a very light wind. as far as other locations around the area, 43 degrees now in gaithersburg. montgomery county, 46. you folks in charles county there. 46 in la play da. 45 in warrenton off to the west of the area. the good night forecast, a few clouds sticking around. they will clear out by tomorrow morning. heading down, once again, into the 30s. 38 degrees by 9:00. last night, and overnight

>>> veronica de la cruz, this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> the rain may be gone but we're still feeling the effects of the latest storm on the backside. we will look at hd doppler and you can see there are some snow showers from west virginia all the way into upstate new york. as for the mountains in maryland, light snow showers this morning with hardly any accumulation. ay, butbaltimore, a dry d you'll be feeling the wind. >> 4:57. 42 degrees on tv hill. a bus accident in anne arundel county and police are reporting a carjacking. >> today marks the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of phylicia barnes. >> six days and counting until the iowa caucuses. latest on the final push. >> an accident on u.s. 50. will check on some [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good m

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with no more mr. nice guy. republican presidential campaign newt gingrich lambasted two of his top gop rivals tuesday. despite earlier claims he would stick to a positive campaign. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the very latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the candidates are sprinting toward the starting line. >> what's going to happen in this process -- >> reporter: with six days to go before the iowa caucuses, the gop presidential campaign is getting personal. mitt romney mocked newt gingrich's failure to get on the primary ballot of his home state of virginia. >> more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. you know, you've got to get it organized. >> so, our campaign is going to stay positive. >> reporter: gingrich insists he's going to be positive, his supporters have launched attacks on romney, asking whether a moderate can be trusted and a new text message campaign, recalling romney's once pro-choice views. rick perry portraying the other candidate as washington insiders

>>> veronica de la cruz, this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> good morning, everybody. welcome to wednesday. we are waking up to another cold morning, and it looks like wind is going to be our headline when we're talking weather today. hello, everyone. i'm angie goff in for joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this wednesday, december 28th, 2011. >>> north korea has begun funeral services for leader kim jong-il. >> the procession was led with a car carrying a huge portrait of the late leader followed by a huge floral wreath and another car carrying his coffin. kim jong-il died of a heart attack on december 17th. he's been lying in state since then. kimman kim's youngest son, his successor kim jong-un, walked next to the car. >>> the obama administration is mulling over whether to allow yemen's outgoing president into the country for medical treatment. abdullah saleh was injured in an assassination attempt. while he is considered an ally in the war against ter

once again, veronica, no snow, really, in the forecast this week. white christmas could be tough for a lot of us. oh, i never thought i'd say this, but 46 degrees, i'll take it. >> not bad. >> it's not 08, but 46 is not bad. >>> europe makes a deal, england is left out. and the latest tv conflict with a boycott threatened against a home improvement chain. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, alec baldwin apologizes to himself? we'll explain. >>> coming up, a giant comeback. the texans clench and six in a row for tim tebow. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. marathon u.n. climate talk in south africa have added five more years to the expiring kyoto protocol. countries agreed on a new time treaty that would force all major polluters to targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2020. that would include china and india. a major demand of the obama administration. the u.s. has yet to ratify the kyoto

veronica? >> it's not bad now. it's not going to be bad tomorrow morning. going to drop ten degrees overnight. we stay above freezing. mild tomorrow at 57. the warmest temperatures we have had in more than a week. it's cloud cover and rain. for the weekend, sunshine. >> all right. sounds good. thanks. >>> tmz and around the clock 24/7 coverage of everything, everybody in hollywood does. we have the glamour and passion of liz taylor and burton. they married twice and divorced twice. that ain't easy to do. a 33 ct diamond sold at auction in new york for nearly $9 million. it's three times what it was expected to fetch. >>> then there was the 55 ct pearl. burton paid $37,000 for that back in 1969. imagine what $37,000 was back then. taylor later fashioned it into

angie. >> thank you, veronica. breaking news now in skill ver spring where two people are dead in a horrific accident. it happened around 3:00 this morning on university boulevard at haron drive. melissa is live on the scene with new information about the victims. melissa. >> good morning to you, angie. just a horrible accident and a terrible, terrible morning for the family and friends that were out here for several hours just waiting for word this morning, absolutely excruciating seeing them out here. now, take a look at some of this video. investigators still out here on the scene this morning. the northbound lanes did reopen about a half hour ago. the accident reconstruction team almost wrapped up. they had been taking photos and measurements trying to determine exactly what happened. police say they believe the three women in the suv were heading eastbound on university when the driver for some reason lost control coming around a turn expended up about five feet off the ground in that front yard. now, police b

hi, veronica. >> that's right, we are. a little rain out there to go along with the mild temperatures today. it was kind of spring-like. i don't know, that may be pushing it. the numbers were way up today. here is a look at the temperatures today. d.c., foggy bottom, the high 63 degrees. falls church, 64. up to 66 in culpeper. 68 today in fredericksburg. those kind of temperatures are more like late november and early november around here. we dropped five degrees. we are at 58 degrees. well above the average, still. we are going to stay high for much of the evening and overnight. the rain that's out there is moving out of here in the next two to three hours. some very light showers around bowie and waldorf around areas around waldorf. the rain moving out of here. the clouds, that's not going to move out of here. those are sticking around. mostly cloudy at 11:00 p.m. the temperature at 11:00 p.m., 53 degrees. that's a very mild evening. a mild overnight coming our way. light showers out there now. the other thing, folks wan

veronica. >> duncan, thank you. >>> three u.s. citizens are among those killed when gun men attacked buses on thursday, killing some passengers and robbing others. >>> thousands of people in the syrian capital are taking part in funerals for the 44 people killed in twin suicide bombings. dozens of other people were wounded in the attacks on friday. there has been no claims of responsibilities. >>> russia's opposition forces are mounting a new wave of protection today against election fraud. good morning to you, jim. >> good morning, veronica. it's critical for anti-putin protesters here to show their movement has not petered out, despite recent promises of political reform coming from the kremlin in these subfreezing temperatures. today, numbers do appear to be in the tens of thousands. it's hard for us to judge just how many. we're hearing something between 60 and 120,000 have turned out today. now, the named events are still to null the december 4th parliamentary election which were apparently and massively marched by fraud and

>> thank you, veronica. overnight, we had a fatal accident at university boulevard and piny branch road. you can see in our cameras, all the lanes blocked in both directions. you may be experiencing some delays. >>> moves on to 66, outside and inside the beltway, you have absolutely no company yet on the road this morning. back to you, angie and eun. >> thanks so much, carol. 4:43 now. cold out there. >>> still to come, outrage at the humane society. how the death of this cat is leading to animal rights activists to pull their support for the organization. >>> and criminal charges may soon be filed in connection with last year's gulf oil spill. >>> welcome back. more now on that break news at silver spring where a deadly car accident has shut down university boulevard in both directions at herring drive. melissa is live on the scene now with what happened. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. i'm going to step out of the way here so you can see what's happening behind me. the accident reconstruction

veronica is here with good and bad news. i guess that's how you like the rain and snow. >> some folks on twitter are saying i want a little snow, it's winter. i really want to go through the specifics here in the next three days. there's a big difference between today and tomorrow and then thursday and friday. today, 58 degrees. light scattered rain out there right now. that's all we are going to see today. light scattered showers around the area coming through. 60 to 65 degrees. so today we will be walking with the umbrella. tomorrow we will be walking with our shoulders in and on the tiptoes, because the rain will come down a little more tomorrow. and then take a look at the seven-day forecast. tomorrow, 55, and a lot of rain through the area. we could get one to two inches of rain by late tomorrow. when this system pulls out on thursday, another big change, we drop another ten degrees. look at the start to the day on thursday. 32 degrees, and that's inside the beltway and that means outlaying areas starting out in the mid

veronica? >> thank you so much.eveloping story out of nigeria this morning. an explosion ripped through a catholic church during christmas mass near the capital killing at least 25 people. explosions went off later near another church where it is feared a radical muslim sect is to blame. >>> now to russia where tens of thousands protested in the streets of moscow yesterday demanding that prime minister vladimir putin step down. they are receiving support from former president mikhail gorbachev who resigned as president of the soviet union 20 years ago today. >>> finally, you can't see enough of these pictures. iraq veterans coming home for the holiday pulling off one more secret mission by surprising their families. now let's get a check of the national forecast. showers and thunderstorms across the south today with snow in the texas panhandle. scattered snow showers in new england and the great lakes with highs in the 30s. here is your local forecast. that is the news. merry christmas everyone. let's send it back t

. >> storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson has the details. so veronica, it's been chilly today. what's coming up? >> it's been pretty chilly today, but did you like the sunshine? guys, a lot of tweets i've been reading today. folks saying they love today. the fact i can get by without a coat. that is nice because it's winter, right? it's winter. you're going out to get the tree. well, you expect to be all bundled up. we're doing just fine today. we talked about those winds out on the west coast, the santa ana winds. i saw an official report overnight. a wind gust of 167 miles per hour. those winds out west, at least for today, really calming down as you've heard. let's talk about what's happening with that weather system. it's making its way eastward. for us, though, today awfully, awfully quiet. you can see some high clouds. we remain in the clear here. that means that we've got a clear night coming our way. 54 degrees is where we are right now after a great friday evening. it's going to be chilly here. temperatures will be dropping from the 50s down to the 40s. we're at 54 deg

veronica? >> thank you so much. a developing story out of nigeria this morning. an explosion ripped through a catholic church during christmas mass near the capital killing at least 25 people. explosions went off later near another church where it is feared a radical muslim sect is to blame. >>> now to russia where tens of thousands protested in the streets of moscow yesterday demanding that prime minister vladimir putin step down. they are receiving support from former president mikhail gorbachev who resigned as president of the soviet union 20 years ago today. >>> finally, you can't see enough of these pictures. iraq veterans coming home for the holiday pulling off one more secret mission by surprising their families. now let's get a check of the national forecast. showers and thunderstorms across the south today with snow in the texas panhandle. scattered snow showers in new en s >> good morning and merry christmas. we are off to a son is stark but chilly temperatures. better to the afternoon. highs in the that i

veronica? >> today, we got up around 50. tomorrow, likely to be the warmest day in more than a week. get ready for tomorrow. a warm up. wet. 49 degrees. cloud cover overhead. no rainfalling. dry for the overnight. dry to start things off tomorrow morning. we are starting out at 40 to 39 degrees. higher humidity in the air. don't expect the rain until late. partly cloudy late tonight into tomorrow morning. 38 the overnight low in waldorf, maryland with a high of 55 to 60 throughout the area. really liking that. here is a look at the four day forecast. 57 tomorrow. not much rain at all. 50 with clouds for friday. a great looking weekend is coming our way with sunshine coming back to the area. back to you. >> thanks, veronica. >>> we have developing news out of montgomery county. a hospital worker is convicted of murdering a colleague inside the hospital new year's day. he hated his supervisor. he was found in the boiler room of the hospital with 72 stab wounds. prosecutors argue that little was annoyed because he would not all

our thanks to veronica de la cruz and bill karins.e plaza and give you a sneak peek. >> plus, tips for returning unwanted gifts. that will do it tonight for nbc nightly news. so long, everybody. thanks for watching and have a merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal tv news today in baltimore. >> good morning, here's a look at some top stories. the search continues this morning for a suspect after a double shooting in east baltimore. happened thursday night and officers found a 19-year-old man with a gunshot wound, and a woman with a gunshot wound. ed hale is now a retired man. making that announcement yesterday with new york base premium fund, that will provide $30 million into the bank, and the bank president will serve as c.e.o. state transportation officials announced a pilot program for emergency parking for select park n rides. only for certain inches of snow. coming up next we have answers to the pet questions. i love this song, a maryland holiday classic, celebrating its 30th anniversary

midnight temperature, carol, about 42 degrees. >> thank you, veronica. i wonder if everybody is going to scoot out early today for new year's weekend. around the area things are looking very, very good so far. 66 beautiful. it is moving so well this morning. look at it inside the beltway. or rather outside the beltway at 28 and inside the beltway at glebe road. back to you, chris and eun. >> all right, carol. thank you. >>> it's 4:42. your new year's diet hasn't started just yet. coming up, we'll tell you how you can enjoy one more final burger today without paying a penny. >> i like that. >>> a missing man has been spotted in new jersey. mitchell smith was last seen taking a train from d.c. to birmingham, alabama. police say he got off the train in charlotte, north carolina, but never arrived in alabama. a new jersey police officer helped smith, who is legally blind, into a cab a few days ago. detectives in new jersey are investigating where smith went during that time, and police in charlotte have closed the case. >>> a lot of verizon wireless customer