hello and thank you for joining us. i'm j.c. hayward. well, it is the day that the republican presidential candidates have been working toward for months. tonight, iowa voters will cast the first ballot of the 2012

election. danielle nottingham reports from des moines. [ applause ] >> reporter: mitt romney rallied supporters in des moines hours before the caucuses begin. >> ly go to work to get americans back to work. >> polls show he has a slight lead in the race but he's facing stiff competition from rick santorum and ron paul. enthusiastic crowds greeted paul monday as he stuck to his message of smaller government. >> what we're talking about are real cuts and the shrinking of the size of the federal government. >> reporter: rick santorum's momentum has been building for days. if iowa's evangelicals turn out in big numbers, he could pull off a win. >> trust what you have seen, what you have heard, trust the interactions you've had with the candidates. >> reporter: after months on the campaign trail, more than a dozen debates and millions of dollars on political a-ds, it all boils down to tonight when iowa voters get the first say in the 2012 presidential

contest. newt gingrich trailing in the polls had harsh words for romney on "the early show." and the front-runner claims he has nothing to do with negative attacks on gingrich. >> i have to ask you, are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> you're calling mitt romney a liar? >> well, you seem shocked by it. yes. >> reporter: still, gingrich won't rule out an upset nor will perry orbachman. many undecided caucus-goers say they won't choose a favorite until tonight. danielle nottingham, cbs news, des moines. the caucuses will start at 7:00 p.m. central time. in all of the state's voting precincts. polls show that rick santorum is currently third among the candidates and is gaining ground in iowa. the republican tried to stir up support during an appearance at the pizza ranch in newton. it remains to be seen whether

santorum will be hurt by.comments he made during a stop at a welfare office in souix city. >> i don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families. >> we called the santorum campaign yesterday to ask why he singled out blacks in the statement. as opposed to anyone receiving welfare. at first, a spokesperson said he didn't recall the candidate saying anything like that. he later said he would love to comment but he doesn't know the context in which the statement was made. president barack obama and the first family are back in washington. air force i touched down at andrews air force base this morning following his flight from hawaii. the president is scheduled to spend the day in various meetings and then later tonight, he will appear in a

videoconference during a meeting with supporters in iowa. montgomery county police are asking for our help to find a robbery suspect. we're going to take a look at some surveillance pictures taken from a cvs in montgomery village. police say the suspect was disguised with bandages when he implied he had a gun and he forced employees to hand over drugs on christmas eve. montgomery county crime solvers will pay a reward up to $1,000 for information leading to a suspect. fairfax county police are investigating an accident involving a teenager in a wheelchair. sky 9 was over the scene in mclean this morning. police say that the young male was struck by a car on davidson road at symphony court. the driver of the car remained on the scene. police say the injuries to the wheelchair-bound teen are not life-threatening. commuters in northern virginia had some extra company

on the roads this morning as 6400 federal workers began moving in to the new mark center. the massive high rise is right off i had been 395 at seminary road and that's where our delia gonsalves picks up our story -- delia, with a look at the first day of work for many. >> commute sucks. >> reporter: you wouldn't think michael humphries would say that considering the big smile on his face. >> i got to go from the pentagon to here. it is -- it is consistently an hour and a half. >> but you have a smile on your face. it can't be that bad. >> reporter: i guess i'm happy to have a job. >> humphries is among the latest round of federal employees to move into the mark center. despite the fear of heavy traffic, some commuters were lucky saying many folks are looking to return from their

holiday break. >> about 20, 25 minutes at best. >> reporter: another main concern is the massive high rise is open for business years before any improvements to the roads can be made. including a ramp directly to seminary road from the hov lane. that project won't be complete until 2016. congress's 2000 limit forcing many to take shuttle buses until road improvements are complete. there is no metro access to the building. >> it took me less than five minutes to walk to work. now i've got an hour commute. >> is there an upside to all of it? maybe you can read the newspaper on the way in? trying to think of a way to end this interview on a happy note. >> well, i've organized all of my e-mails, all of my personal e-mail accounts and caught up on e-mail. >> hey, then you can't beat that. >> can't beat that. >> reporter: in alexandria, delia gonsalvess, 9news now. the building is expected to be at full capacity in

september. police are looking for the suspect behind a series of hate crimes in new york. surveillance video shows a car pulling up to a hindu temple and then a firebomb being thrown. three other locations were hit in similar attacks. one was a mosque. >> nobody here in this area. otherwise, it would be big damage. >> a composite sketch of the suspect has been released. meanwhile, police have stepped up their security at the four locations that were targeted. a hearing is scheduled today for a german citizen arrested in connection with a series of car fires in los angeles. 24-year-old harry burkhart was taken into custody after a sheriff's deputy spotted him in a van similar to one seen at several of the fires. the sheriff's deputy is being recognized for a job well-done. >> with key information, deputy

standing next to me, a full- time attorney and a part-time reserve deputy sheriff although for the past four days, he's been working full time for a dollar a year. >> give him a raise. >> i'll give him a raise. another dollar a year. >> burkhart remains behind bars this afternoon. police estimate that the car fires caused almost $3 million in damage. authorities say that the former iraqi war veteran wanted in connection with two shootings in washington state likely died from exposure. benjamin barnes was found in a snow-filled creek in mt. rainier national park. the 24-year-old was wearing a t- shirt, a pair of jeans and one tennis shoe. authorities say that barnes shot and killed a park ranger who tried to prevent him from entering the park. he was also wanted for a new year's eve shooting that left four people dead. the mother of barnes says that

he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. coming up on 9news now at noon, balking at the -- some montgomery county residents aren't happy about having to pay for their shopping bags. we'll have that story just ahead. plus... it is a super show and companies are paying dearly to be a part of the super bowl. we'll have those stories and more when we come back.

the fist playoff game has not been played but the super bowl ad time has already been sold out! the eagerly awaited commercials like this one by volkswagen were reportedly gone by thanksgiving and they are not cheap! a 30-second spot sells for $5 million. bigger companies have avoided paying for ads in recent years in order to save money. well, the new year brought with it a new tax in montgomery county. paper or plastic. it really doesn't matter. consumers will now have to pay 5 cents for a shopping bag. scott broome reports the tax could set the stage for a similar movement across the rest of maryland. in montgomery county to date, some people just could not bring themselves to pay the new 5 cent per bag tax filling the car with unbagged groceries. >> i think it is all a hoax, something else to get our

money. >> i had no choice. i had too much to carry on my own. >> enter the number of bags used. >> it is the new bag tax in montgomery county. 5 cents per bag expected to raise at least a million per year to be spent on water pollution mitigation. with bags considered the bad boy of the litter world, plastic fluttering in trees and fouling water ways, bag taxes are seen as a way to reduce the damage. washington's bag tax on food and liquor retailers reduced use from about 22 million a month to about 3 million a month but montgomery ups the ante by taxes all retailers and paper bags, too. >> that's a good idea because i'm from india. we have been carrying these things back in india. i'm used to this. >> at the new safeway in bethesda, customers got a free reusable bag for every $50 in groceries they bought and a lot of customers have already got themselves in the habit. >> that's a problem when you first start getting used to it. you forget it in the car. we've been doing this.

yeah. we think it is a great idea. >> and there is momentum for this bag tax trend to expand here in maryland. prince george's county has tried and failed but they'll try again this year. some legislators in annapolis think the bag tax should go statewide. in bethesda, scott broome, 9news now. 'tis the season to recycle old christmas trees. residents with trees less than eight feet tall can put them out on the curb in fairfax county over the next two weeks. other jurisdictions have similar programs. county officials want to remind you to make sure all of the ornaments and lights have been removed from the tree before you put it out. coming up on 9news now, winter in new england. warm temperatures are making for a miserable season at the ski resort. howard has our forecast. >> it has been a tough go here in our local ski resorts. they're getting snow in the

mountains. they're making snow. the cold is here. look at the temps as we go to break, people. it is cold! upper 20s to around 30 in springfield, college park, 32. that doesn't even factor in the winds. we'll break down the flurries, the snow showers. live doppler 9000 hd and the wind chills all coming up when 9news now at noon returns.

>> it was cold this morning. >> this is one of the few cold days we've felt this entire winter. it has been an unbelievable december. we didn't have a high in the

30s once. we were in the 40s, 50s, 60s, first time in recorded history that's ever happened. it has been warm up and down the east coast, up to new england and in vermont, that means it has been a tough time for the local ski areas. >> skiers across vermont are sharing a similar story about less than ideal conditions out on the slopes. >> there is some grass poking through and some sticks. >> it is really icy. and there's not many trails that are open right now. >> a mild start to winter has been bad news for skiers and boarders taking to their favorite mountain. at bromley and sugar bush, fewer than 50% of trails were open monday. at smuggler's notch, it was less than 25%. and at mad river glen and bolton, the percentage is below 15%. this time last year, all of bolton's trails were ready for action. >> it has been a slow start as far as national snowfall goes. for us, visitation has been

down a little bit over the past few weeks. a softer cushion. >> i'm a summer person so it wasn't that big of a deal to me really. but i like to ski. so, i'm wishing for more snow. >> at sugar bush, the slopes that were open weren't pack and there was plenty of seats in the dining room for folks grabbing lunch. president and own erwin smith says the look of snow has meant a 5% to 8% drop in business. his team is using social media to get the word out trails are open. >> people come here. they post on facebook and post on youtube and that makes it believable there is snow here even if it is not in the backyard. >> families sticking to their vacation plans in the green mountain state are making the best of the weak start to winter. >> we've had similar problems here in our area. snowshoes doing ok. they're starting to make a lot of snow with the cold air that's moved in in places like

whisk and up toward blue knob. the pattern doesn't look like it will stay cold very long. for skiers, let's get the best we can. it will be maybe a tough winter around here. we did get some snow though. want to show you these pictures from sky 9. the snow showers that were falling, the streamers have been going since this morning. caused some problems. it is kind of neat where you can see where one area is sunny and you get under one of the bands of snow. we had coatings put down. caused problems with accidents out toward i-81 especially. that's the view from sky 9. the snow was flying. we're going to see more flurries and showers. you'll see temperatures, they're about where they're going to be for a high. they'll be falling this afternoon. a windy day. scattered flurries and snow showers. temperatures dropping off to around 30 by 5:00. the winds will going to -- are going to be subsiding.

we've had winds about 39 miles per hour. that's making it that much more unpleasant to be outside. 7:00 p.m., 28 degrees. partly cloudy at 9:00 and 27. we have the meteor shower tonight from 3:00 on. if you're up real early tomorrow morning, should be able to see it. i think skies will be clear enough for that. here are the snow showers, pennsylvania into west virginia. and a live doppler 9000 hd, we've got a couple still north of town, especially in howard county. where we're seeing some of this heavier banding here from east of mt. airy. i'll zoom into howard county. we've got the scattered, heavy snow showers there. look at this from glen oak down toward clarksville and route 32 and 95. watch out for the brief, heavy snow showers here and there. the other thing we're concerned about today, the winds still gusting to 37 at national and leesburg and the 20s in the valley. 38-mile-per-hour wind gusts with temperatures queen where from 250 at haegers -- 25 at

hagerstown. mid to teens to 18 in d.c. and in the low 20s in southern maryland. officially, 32. mostly cloudy with a northwest wind at 28 and the dew point has dropped to 7. a sign of the arctic air that's moved in. the cold is in eastern canada coming down toward us. milder the middle of the country. it will be pulling out here in about 24 hours. if you can hang in there for another day, day and a half, milder air will return. low 30s. tonight we're dropping into the teens and 20s. still breezy. not as windy. tomorrow, 36 and late tomorrow, tomorrow evening may be another round of flurries and snow showers before we get milder on thursday. 45. by friday and saturday, we're back in the 50s. sunday looks like it is going to turn wet. maybe ending as a little snow. colder monday, highs near 40. we have a treat in the kitsch when 9news now returns.

if you missed my hero central report, go to jchayward.com. you want to hear about them doing some fabulous work. right now today, i have with me rick, the kitchen operations manager for the mid-atlantic region for one of my favorite cheesecake factory. we're not even going to talk about cheesecake today because everybody is trying to lose weight because they've been eating and drinking like me during the holidays. we have a skinny licious menu. >> yes, we do. >> can you believe at the

cheesecake factory because i love cheesecake factory. they give you so much to eat but you can be on your diet and counting calories by going to the cheesecake factory, right? >> our skinny licious menu has almost 50 items for a calorie conscious guest. >> is that so? >> 50 items? >> that's right. today we're going to cook the skinny licious grilled chicken. i have a chicken breast. we'll get this done in our pan. this is a great dish. it is rich in flavor. low in calories. and if you're watching your weight for the new year, it is a smart option. >> ok. you gave us the recipe, it is going to be on jchayward.com. for this skinny-licious dish. you have some boneless chicken breast. you brown them. >> yes, ma'am. >> we took these. we're going to season them to your liking. >> little salt, little pepper. >> when these are all done, we'll start building our skinny-licious grilled chicken over here.

we'll go with some white rice. two ounces of white rice. >> two ounces. >> two ounces. >> that's not much. >> no, not much. but delicious. >> all right. >> we have some fresh, steamed asparagus. right here. >> okey-dokey. our chicken. >> recipe again is on jchayward.com. it is so simple. >> even i could do this. it is not that complicated. we have about 30 seconds and i see you have some nice tomatoes. >> we have the tomatoes. they're warming with our skinny-licious mustard vinaigrette. you can get all of our skinny- licious dresses at any of the restaurants. you can find the closest restaurant to you at cheesecakefactory.com. >> you're selling the dressings. >> we are. as well as our other dressings and sauces. we add a little bit of parmesan, the tomatoes and the

arugula. >> that's it. this is the finished product right here. it looks beautiful. >> not many calories. you say you have 50 items on the menu. >> this is a separate menu, the skinny-licious menu. >> yes, ma'am. >> this is the one the waiter should give to me. not the other one that has the cheesecake in it. >> all have under 590 calories. >> happy new year. visit us at 5:00. good-bye.