million americans will see taxes taken out of their paychecks. >> today president barack obama and vice president joe biden will mark the end of the war in iraq in a ceremony at joint base andrews. mr. obama marked the end of the iraq war last week, meeting with troops at ft. bragg, north carolina. today the president and vice president will take part in a special ceremony welcoming home u.s. troops from iraq. the withdrawal ends a nine-year war in which 4,000 americans were killed and 32,000 were wounded. >> taking a look at our forecast, tom, kind of balmy out there. >> did somebody say it's winter? >> it actually felt nice walking into the building. >> we're going to stay above freezing through the weekend. a bit of a mild pattern but a wet pattern as well. no rain around the region. at reagan national, it's 49

under a cloudy sky. a very light breeze out of the north/northwest. it's become a little more humid. not quite as dry as it's been the last couple of days. temperatures in the region in the 40s. shenandoah valley, upper 40s to around 50. from the blue ridge to the bay and eastern shore as well, most locations in the mid and upper 40s. we will hold steady here in the 40s for another several hours and actually maybe hit the low 50s later this afternoon. over the last 12 hours, we've had a few sprinkles showing up on radar. right now they're into the northern neck of virginia, far southern maryland, eastern shore. those sprinkles are heading off to the east. a few breaks in the clouds out over the northern shenandoah valley this morning. overall, it's going to be quite cloudy through the day. sunrise at 7:22 and a cloudy day. temperatures through the 40s in the morning. during the afternoon, may briefly touch the low 50s, maybe mid-50s through central virginia.

this evening it does look like we'll stay cloudy. we'll look at your evening planner in a few minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> we have an earlier accident resulting in downed wires. this is at owensville road at salmon road. elsewhere, not seeing any congestion at all. here's a look at the beltway at route 1. if you're traveling on the inner loop, you're clear as you make your way into greenbelt. on the outer loop, looping your way to the beltway in montgomery county, no issues. here's a live look at van dorn street. inner loop and outer loop, nothing standing in your way. travel speeds, you're at 66 miles per hour as you make your way from the wilson bridge to van dorn street. that trip will only take six minutes. angie and joe, back to you. >> thank you very much, danella. this morning police are trying to figure out who shot and killed a man at a busy mall and why. it happened last night just outside the nordstrom store at

townsend town center. many continued shopping without even knowing the shooting happened. no one could leave the mall as people searched for shooter. mall officials did turn over surveillance videotape to the police. we do not know if security cameras caught the shooting. police have not released the identity of the victim. >> d.c. police are also trying to figure out who's responsible for a deadly shooting in northeast washington. last night homicide investigators were called out to the 1000 block of taylor street northeast. d.c. police aren't releasing much information, and no arrests have been made. this morning two juveniles are recovering from a shooting. they were shot in the 3400 block of 22nd street in northeast washington. the two were conscious and breathing. no word on their condition. police have made no arrests in the case. d.c. police are asking for your help to solve a sexual assault case. detectives say a woman was walking along blaine street northeast sunday night when she was approached by a man who forced her into an alley at knife point and sexually

assaulted her. the man is described as a thin african american, about 40 years old. he was last seen wearing blue jeans and a red hooded sweatshirt. if you know anything about this case, please call police. the white house says it's too early to tell whether the death of kim jong-il opens the door for better relations with north korean. right now they're keeping an eye to see how the north's army of more than 1 million will adapt to the newest leader kim jong eun. meanwhile, jong-il's body is lying in a glass coffin draped in a red sheet inside the memorial palace. his father is also on display elsewhere in the building. tv shows people learning of the death of kim jong-il. people bursting into tears and crying hysterically.

the government says that kim died of a heart attack on the weekend while on official duty. he was 69 years old. his funeral is set for next wednesday. now to decision 2012. exactly two weeks from today, iowa republicans will head to their caucuses beginning the process of selecting the party's nominee. who that person will be is still very fluid. a new national poll shows a dead even race between two candidates. a new "washington post"/abc news poll shows newt gingrich and mitt romney tied nationwide. gingrich will be in virginia to headline a breakfast for virginia republicans. tickets range from $25 to $150. virginia governor bob mcdonnell will also be there. members of the occupy d.c. movement will be meeting today in mcpherson square to talk about their future plans.

the meeting comes after a number of protesters were arrested outside the white house. take a look at this scene last night on pennsylvania avenue as police arrested about a dozen protesters. they were led away when they'll likely face charges for disobeying police orders to leave the area. the group was protesting part of a defense bill that allows the president to detain people suspected of terror activities indefinitely. today defense lawyers plan on calling at least three more witnesses in the hearing for the army private accused of spilling secrets to wikileaks. bradley manning is charged with treason. yesterday a digital crimes investigator says he found more than 10,000 diplomatic cables and other classified information downloaded on manning's computer. the hearing is to decide whether manning will face a court martial. if convicted, manning could face the death penalty or life in prison. today the man who confessed to trying to bomb a martin luther king celebration will be in court.

a judge is expected to sentence david harfum after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. police arrested him in washington state after march. the 36-year-old confessed to planting a backpack bomb along a parade route in spokane. the bomb was discovered before it could explode. and this morning the man accused of shooting a high powered weapon at the white house is waking up in prison. a judge ordered oscar ortega hernandez to remain behind bars until a grand jury decides whether he will be indicted. he's charged with trying to kill the president in the shooting last month. president obama was out of town at the time. hernandez's attorney says the government has no witnesses identifying him as the gunman. a maryland community wants to know why the streetlights along a busy stretch of road remain off despite a pair of deadly accidents this weekend. people in wheaton say at least a dozen streetlights are out along veers mill road between

connecticut avenue and randolph road, leaving the community in darkness. two pedestrians were killed in separate accidents along that stretch of road. neighbors we talked to are worried about more accidents. >> a lot of times i see women and children with strollers. at this time of year, it gets dark early. there's no visibility for them. >> we called pepco about the problem, and they sent a crew to check out the lights. they have not repaired or replaced the bulbs, so the streetlights remain off. >> the national hanukkah memorial will be lit during the ceremony on the ellipse that begins at 4:00 this afternoon. after the ceremony, traditional potato pancakes given out. free menorrah kits and dradles will also be given out. hanukkah is the jewish festival of lights and lasts eight

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weather and traffic on the ones. good morning at 4:41 on this tuesday morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein in stormcenter 4. right now around the region under a cloud country sy sky mo. mid and upper 40s, montgomery, arlington, fairfax, district of columbia. we've got quite a bit of cloudiness. a few sprinkles are showing up in southern maryland, northern neck, and the lower eastern shore. those are drifting off to the east. we have a few other sprinkles way out in northern west virginia, and there's a slight chance of a sprinkle today. otherwise just a lot of clouds around. we'll stay in the 40s through the day, maybe even briefly low to mid-50s by early to midafternoon. sunrise 7:22. sunset at 4:49. a cloudy evening in the mid-40s through much of the evening until around midnight. a look at rain on the way for tomorrow, the rest of the week, and into the weekend. that will be coming up in just a couple of minutes. danella, how's traffic?

>> good morning. still pretty quiet in our area. if you're traveling along i-95, we'll look at it together right now. still seeing a lot of green in both directions. cameras show the occoquan pretty light. southbound not seeing any issues for you. traveling northbound, a little volume, nothing significant. travel speeds 63 miles per hour. to make your way from the occoquan river bridge to the beltway, that trip will only take 11 minutes. continuing on to 395 at glebe, you're clear. making your way to the 14th street bridge, i'm not seeing any issues traveling north or south. northbound speeds, you're at 64 miles per hour. angie and joe, back to you. >> thank you, danella. looking at the time right now, it's 4:43. >> still to come, the winter weather storm causing dangerous

welcome back. a string of armed robberies targeting 7-elevens in the district. two armed robbers hit a 7-eleven in northeast. they stole a cash register and pointed a gun at the cashier. one is also seen robbing a 7-eleven in bladensburg northeast an hour later. police are trying to figure out if the two men are responsible for robbing two other 7-elevens in november. soon people will get help to live where you work. gallaudet president will announce a new initiative called live where you work. it encourages employees to move closer to work by offering help on down payments and closing costs for home buyers.

the d.c. office of planning adopted the matching homeowners grant program. today a waterfront committee is expected to present its final report to the city council today on the proposed redevelopment. the city plan would connect and increase the open space along the potomac and add public piers while allowing three warehouses to be converted to hotels or housing. opponents have blocked the plan several times concerned about the rezoning and increased traffic. they want the warehouses torn down and turned into parks. the waterfront committee report is said to address some of those concerns. a new way to boost revenue for maryland according to "the washington post." the state lottery saw more than $1.7 billion in sales during traditional sales. more than $19 million was directed to maryland's general fund. that money is directed to

several programs, including public safety. hector and teresa detomo organized a dinner in memory of their son. he died while responding to a call in southeast washington in october of 2010. they chose to have the dinner in prince william county because that's where their son lived and to show their appreciation for police in their hometown. >> we are having this dinner to remember our son and to show appreciation to other police officers in our own area. >> businesses, organizations, and individuals all donated the food, drinks, and desserts, and some 300 police officers turned out for the dinner. they plan to make the dinner a holiday tradition. the clock is ticking to send out the christmas cards and presents for the holiday. today is the deadline to send first class mail in time for

christmas. tomorrow is the deadline to signed priority mail than reach your loved ones. and thursday is the final day to send packages by express mail. the longer you wait, the more expensive it will be to mail your pack anls. santa can get his shopping done any time. toys r us stores will welcome at 6:00 this morning and will remain open for 112 hours. they'll close at 10:00 p.m. on christmas eve. the company is offering this round the clock service to help shoppers find all the toys topping children's lists this holiday season. the lights are back on at candlestick park in san francisco after two power outages delayed the monday night football game. the first outage delayed the start of the game between the steelers and 49ers by about 30 minutes. there was also a second outage in the second quarter of the game, which made the stadium go dark and suspended play for several minutes. the 49ers say the preliminary cause appears to be a transformer failure.

the 49ers went on to win the game 20-3. >> you know what they did not have? not a single candle. police in fredericksburg, virginia, are looking for the person who vandalized a baseball field. it happened just days after the field was resodded. the cal ripken ball field all part of a program that seek to improve the lives of at risk youth in the area. police say someone drove a vehicle onto the baseball field. as you can see from this video of chopper four caused lots of damage to these beautiful baseball fields he built up there for the kids. two teenagers are safe this morning after being rescued in a steep canyon. the cousins were hiking when they got lost in a narrow section of echo canyon just outside of phoenix yesterday. lucky for them, they had their cell phones on them. the boys, ages 13 and 14, tried to call their parents first but then called 911. firefighters were able to reach

them using a long rope line. no one was hurt. >> wow. severe winter weather in colorado is to blame for at least one deadly accident. icy conditions caused this prison van to lose control and roll over on a highway, killing a guard and one inmate. eight other prisoners and other staff members were taken to the hospital. they had serious injuries. several other accidents were also reported around the state. southern colorado is expecting between 8 and 16 inches of snow from this particular storm. and parts of new mexico are also getting hit hard by this winter storm. police were forced to close highway 25 and several other highways because of poor visibility. the los alamos national laboratory and several schools forced to close down as they cleared 16 inches of snow off the roads in other areas. consider ourselves lucky. >> the snow here is nonexistent. >> conversational. is that what we call it so far?

>> it's not even in the conversation. >> it's off the table. >> it's been tabled for the time being. tis the season we get to use the word 'tis. it's not very often we do. unfortunately for snow lovers, it doesn't look like any chance of snow in our region here at all all the way into the weekend. looks like we'll stay above freezing. it's a mild morning comparatively. right now at reagan national, the temperature is at 49, and we've got a light north/northwesterly breeze. elsewhere, temperatures are well above freezing from the mountains to the atlantic beaches. most locations in the mid and upper 40s to near 50 degrees. we'll hold steady for the next several hours all the way until midmorning. later this afternoon, a little warmer. over the last 12 hours, a few sprinkles in southern maryland. some of the roads are wet in southern calvert, charles, st. mary's, northern neck, and lower eastern shore. farther to our west, it's mostly

cloudy. we're going to stay cloudy through the rest of the day. there's a small chance of an isolated sprinkle. otherwise, a lot of clouds around. we'll stay in the 40s this morning. maybe briefly low 50s early this afternoon. sunrise 7:22. sunrise at 4:49. then by dawn tomorrow we'll start off in the low 40s, and it does look like rain likely developing during the day from the morning all the way into the evening. highs upper 50s to near 60. partly sunny thursday morning. does look like a chance of rain thursday night perhaps lingering into early friday morning and drying out a bit early friday afternoon. as we look at the holiday weekend, it does appear on saturday we'll have increasing clouds, highs in the 40s. right now the timing is we can get some rain saturday night christmas eve and then perhaps on christmas morning and drying out perhaps a little bit on sunday afternoon and into monday. danella, how's traffic? >> 'tis the traffic for you. happy holidays to you. if you're traveling on i-270, some congestion because

of construction. if you're traveling northbound on0 in urbanna, you'll see the construction on the left side of the road. you have to stick to the right to get by. further down i-270, not seeing any issues, any major congestion at all. this is the view at west montgomery avenue. southbound, you look really good. northbound, you're good up until around route 80. traveling in d.c., this is new york and 14th street. no issues here. not seeing anything to report right now. the time 4:54. coming up, a girl's emotional comiwe could never all agreel on what kind of pizza to get.

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hello. my name is fontaine jones in germany. i want to send a hello to my family and friends and delta sigma incorporated in washington, d.c. and special hello to my boo joseph. thank you, mr. president. kids are calling this the best christmas every. tamara and kevin masseola were

recently surprised at school by their deployed father. they cried as he walked out on stage at the st. columba catholic school. >> a lot of things were going through my mind. oh, my gosh, it's my dad. should i give him a hug or stay in my seat? >> i was just happy, and i gave him a hug. >> god is good for letting him come home now, and i'm very excited of the i'm very happy to see my dad. >> what a wonderful story. masseola is working with the afghan government to help set up their court system. >> that's terrific. as shoppers try to knock out last minute lists, one man made a record breaking donation, $20,000. >> that's a wonderful story. all of it went to help people who have items on layaway at kmart. a man store employees are calling an angel provided $20,000 to pay for christmas layaways for about 150 people.

layaways for things like toys and clothes. this woman showed up at the kmart to make her payment for christmas gifts only to find the $300 bill had been paid in full. >> how surprising or shocking? >> i am so shocked. i'm sweating. i feel like crying. i'm just really blessed right now. >> the man who gave the donation told kmart to take care of the kids and make sure that they had a very good christmas. wow. >> a lot of good going around this season. >> a lot of examples of wonderful christmas spirit. >> and i'm so happy to see this happen in our area. we've heard of these stories happening nationwide, and generosity has made its way to the metro. >> stay with us. "news 4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. right now deal