One thing weve been seeing time and time again is gaza is densely populated. Even when israel tries to carry out precision strikes as it claims, it ends up affecting the civilian population who bears a bankrupt of the air strikes. So people are very much concerned that in the coming days, the situation could worsen. They say that the fact that israel has amass eed thousands soldiers on this territory is an ominous sign a Ground Invasion is imminent. Supplies are dwindling for the population as gaza is still a territory very much under siege. Its difficult to get basic supplies in and out. Nbc news, gaza. Nbc nightly news with Brian Williams will have more on the escalating violence. Team coverage is coming up at 7 00 tonight right after this broadcast. Today, former cia director David Petraeus told lawmakers what he knows about the attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. He said the Intelligence Committee chose not to disclose the al qaeda connection to the attack, in order to avoid tipping off the terrorists. Steve handelsman is on capitol hill now with a special treatment that Congress Gave to the retired general. Steve . Reporter hi, jim. It wasnt a hot seat, it was more a warm welcome up here on capitol hill tonight. Some republicans are still charging that somebody played politics with what the public was told about benghazi. Petraeus testified that if that happened, it wasnt the fault of the cia. Former cia director David Petraeus kept out of sight until he got home. Lawmakers had cleared the way for him to get to the closeddoor hearing without walking through halls. A favor to the general, who apologized to lawmakers for his affair. Petraeus testified the cia figured immediately it was al qaeda that attacked the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. Killing the u. S. Ambassador and three others. How the cia with an eye on libya missed the threat is still under investigation. But petraeus testimony helped. It added to our ability to make judgments about what is clearly a failure of intelligence. Reporter it did not end the fight over u. N. Ambassador susan rice, who five days after the attack denies it was al qaeda. Using cia public talking points that dropped the al qaeda reference. And she did entirely the responsible thing in answering questions based on what was unclassified. Reporter but rice had a motive to spin the story on meet the press. Barack obama running for reelection, he might name her secretary of state. This is an administration led by a president who said when he ran for office that he would take the fight to al qaeda. We have decimated al qaeda. Reporter republicans still charge rice with distortion. She knew at that point in time that al qaeda was very likely responsible in part or in whole for the death of ambassador stevens. Reporter petraeus knew it was al qaeda. He agreed to put out the different account. But not, he said, for political reasons. Petraeus told lawmakers up here today, u. S. Intelligence wanted to keep secret what it knew, and how it knew it. But republicans up here are not buying that that was rices motive. Steve handelsman, news4, capitol hill. There is news tonight about the highlevel connections of joe kelley, the woman who helped launch the petraeus scandal. Joe kelley and her sister visited the white house complex three times this year. Twice they ate in the white house cafeteria. They were guests of a midlevel worker at the white house, who met the kelley family on a visit to Mcdill Air Force base in florida. Developing news now, a fire on an oil platform in the gulf of mexico is not expected to become an environmental emergency. The fire is out now. But rescue teams are still searching for two missing crew members. The coast guard Officials Say workers were using a torch to cut an oil line this morning when there was an explosion. Four members of the crew were critically injured. Authorities say the well was not producing oil at the time of the fire, and any oil that went into the water was probably in the pipe the crew was working on. The platform is owned by a Company Called black elk energy. A man teaching in the d. C. Area for more than 45 years is in jail tonight. Hes accused of molesting students. Christopher kloman is 73 years old now. He was arrested today in mclean, virginia. A Woman Told Police kloman molested her back in 1968 when she was 12 years old. She says it happened when he was her teacher at the potomac Elementary School. Investigators say they sofrd kloman also molested three other students at that time. Klomans accuser today said she decided to go to the police after running into him at the Washington Episcopal School in bethesda. A principal in the d. C. Schools is out of jail tonight after she pleaded not guilty to a charge of simple assault. Derrick ward is at the d. C. Superior court now with details about a brawl that led to the arrest of the principal. Well, shes the principal with 19 Years Experience in the d. C. Public school system. Today here she was in court pleading guilty to that simple assault charge, pleading not guilty, that is. And this all stems from an incident that happened at homecoming on november 2nd. Coolidge senior high school, all of the action was not on the gridiron. A former staff member, two current staffers and the principal were all involved in a dustup in the High School Parking lot. Accounts of just what happened vary, but Thelma Jarrett turned herself in yesterday on simple assault charges. This has been a terrible ordeal for principal jarrett. The facts on this case just seem to be incredible. Rorter according to the police report, the victim, former School EmployeeRasheeda King hicks said she had been talking to others at the game including principal jarrett when donna pixley started calling her names. A crowd gathered and pixley soon came up and struck her, after she said principal jarrett yelled to get her followed by an expletive. Soon hicks said she was on the ground and besieged by kicks and punches. The victims husband said his wife doesnt know why she was attacked. She dont know why she was attacked. She was punched blindsided. You know . Kicked after that. Reporter but attorneys for principal jarrett say their client was not the aggressor nor even a combatant. They say she was trying to break it up. Principal jarrett was doing her job in maintaining the security and safety of the stadium. She is, after all, the principal. Reporter she and the other two School Employees, donna pixley and Bridget Stevens are all now on administrative leave. Were very confident that once the facts are at least stated at trial, which we intend to do, that principal jarrett will be fully exonerated. Now, no court date has been set. But jarrett is expected back in court on the 29th for a status hearing. Live in d. C. Superior court, derrick ward, news4. In just a few more hours, the new i495 express lane will open in virginia. It runs between the dulles toll road and springfield interchange. Transportation reporter adam tuss explains the new rules of the road. Reporter if youre going to use these new express lanes here on the virginia side of the beltway, youre being told to do your homework. Its time to study up. This is going to be a significant change out there on the beltway. Its the biggest traffic shift weve seen in this region since i66 opened more than 30 years ago. Reporter and this isnt just a normal highway. There are plenty of rules. We took one last test drive today to get a feel for the road. Two new express lanes in each direction, now in place between just north of the dulles toll road and the springfield interchange. If you want to use the allelectronic lanes, and do not have a car pool of three or more people, youll have to pay an ezpass toll rising and falling on the amount of traffic in the lanes. Your promise is a commute of at least 45 Miles Per Hour even during rush hours. If you have a car pool of three people, you can ride in the lanes for free but you must have the new ezpass flex. That allows you to switch to car pool mode. You can get that flex in both virginia and maryland. So how will project leaders make sure drivers are hov 3 . When they enter the lane, if they have their ezpass flex in car pool mode, that will indicate to us that they have three people in the car. Well have alerts on the toll entries and other means to be able to notify the Virginia State police that will be out there enforcing that hov 3, so they can visually check and ensure theyre following the rules. Reporter the fines for violations can range from 50 to 1,000. 18wheelers will not be allowed in the new express lanes. If you thought about cutting around the regular beltway traffic and weaving through the protective posts, think again. That can carry up to a 2,500 fine, and a reckless driving charge. Remember, this road will be monitored constantly. Now, project leaders do expect some initial confusion with these lanes. Your best bet, plan your trip now. Along the beltway, in tysons corner, adam tuss, news4. Weve created a set of questions and answers about the 495 express lanes on our website, nbcwashington. Com. When you get there, search express lanes. A little chilly out there today. But all in all, with the sun shining, a pretty nice november day. Doug . Thats exactly right, jim. I think thats exactly what were going to see during the day tomorrow, too. We just saw the Capitol Building from one vantage point, talking about the temperatures that are falling down today. We saw a High Temperature of 55 degrees out at the airport. So a little bit warmer than it has been the last few days with a low of 42. Yes, continued chilly. We saw some sunshine today. How much more will we see over the weekend . And what about your thanksgiving . All in the forecast in just a minute. Coming up, a parade float is hit by a Freight Train. Well tell you about the final acts of heroism for some veterans. There are signs of compromise as congressional leaders meet with the president to try to avoid the fiscal cliff. A very calm 4yearold in virginia makes a phone call that saved her mothers life. And Steven Colbert is seeing double in the district. Stories of heroism are now emerging from that disaster of a train crash down in texas. Four American Veterans were killed when a Freight Train plowed into their parade float. It happened down in midland, texas, yesterday. Investigators from the ntsb are on the scene there now. One of the soldiers on that float pushed his wife off the trailer just before impact. He saved her life. But he was killed in the accident. It was a chaotic scene. It was loud. It was noisy. People were panicking. That was the doctor we just heard from, he was volunteering at the event and rushed to help. He served both in iraq and afghanistan. Investigators will look at whether stop lights on the road had backed up traffic which left a float unable to get all the way across the tracks in time. Theres new optimism regarding the deficit deal today. President obama and top congressional leaders said theyre ready to compromise on a budget and avoid the looming fiscal cliff, as danielle lee reports now. They face growing pressure from the voters to get it done. Reporter president obama and leaders of congress sat across the table for the First Time Since the election to take on americas growing debt. My hope is that this is going to be the beginning of a fruitful process. Reporter without a deficit cutting deal, the americans will get a onetwo punch to their bank account in about six weeks. To show our seriousness, we put revenue on the table. As long as its accompanied by significant spending cuts. Reporter republicans who have been adamantly against tax hikes are willing to talk about increasing revenue. And democrats who have opposed cuts to programs like Social Security are recognizing theyll have to give a little, too. Were both going to have to give up some of the things that we know are a problem. Reporter meanwhile, theres a new voice outside the capital. How are you doing today . Reporter while it may sound odd coming from a guy dressed in a can, this campaign led by young people is pressuring lawmakers to answer the very question on just about every americans mind. Do you have a plan to address this countrys debt . Reporter ryan is the founder of the campaign, the can kicks back. The Congress Kicks the can down the road. The can is our generation, so starting now were kicking back. Reporter lawmakers seem to be listening with just one meeting down, they say a deal may be in sight, a deal that just wont kick the problem down the road. Both sides will meet again after thanksgiving. Heres some hope. They say they wont wait until the very end of december to find a solution. On capitol hill, danielle lee, news4. At the start of that meeting, the president took a moment to wish House Speaker john boehner a happy birthday. He turned 63 tomorrow. The president congratulated boehner and joked that the white house staff didnt get them a cake because they didnt know how many candles they might need. The president gave boehner a bottle of italian wine as a birthday gift. At least theyre talking. Yes. For a birthday, you can talk. Nice sunshine out there today. Yeah, we needed to see that sunshine. I think were going to see a similar day tomorrow. If you liked today, youre going to see another one tomorrow. That comes on an allimportant weekend. Look outside right now. What youre seeing out there is a pretty nice night. Yes, its on the cool side. Youll need the jacket as you step outside, but other than that, not bad at all. You can deal with the chill. Its going to be a nice evening. 47 degrees the current temperature at the airport. Winds out of the north about 7 Miles Per Hour. That breeze, well call it a breeze instead of a wind, but that breeze will make things feel a little bit cooler. 37 down towards culpepper. 39 in gaithersburg. Temperatures are going to fall fairly quickly now as the sun has gone down. Expect to see chilly numbers when you wake up tomorrow morning. No rain on the radar. Not rain down to the south, just ground clutter is what we call that. The storm system passed us by early this morning, thats why we saw the cloud cover early yesterday, and showers early this morning toward portions of southern maryland. Now were just seeing the clear skies moving in. Well continue to see clear skies. Sunshine today with High Pressure. Watch what happens tomorrow. This high goes over here, the cool weather comes down here and the sunshine sticks around. So not a whole lot of changes during the day tomorrow. The High Pressure area on sunday will start to shift off to the east, though, on sunday. That will bring more of a northeasterly wind. Still on the cool side. We may still have sunshine. I think the clouds will be on the increase on sunday. And on monday, northeast winds really start to kick in. And that comes right off the ocean. We are going to see rather cool and cloudy conditions potentially on monday. Monday does not look like the best day. There could also be coastal flooding, even along the potomac, especially out towards the jersey shore, delmarva, could see some. The coastal storm is going to be out to sea. Well still have a little bit of impact due to the High Pressure to the north. Mostly clear, chilly this evening. But nice. Temperatures 39 to about 45 degrees over the next few hours. Overnight tonight, thinking about heading out to watch the leonid meteor showers . Which will peak after midnight tonight. Temperatures will be cool. 27 in frederick, maybe 31 in fredericksburg, 37 in washington. This will be on the overnight hours. If youre thinking about getting out there, could be a pretty good show. This is normally one of the better meteor shower events of the year. This one taking place between the hours of midnight and dawn. Face east and you want to look straight up for this one. On average, could be ten meteors per hour. As far as tomorrow morning goes, clear skies, a chilly start. Temperatures 26 in the coldest temperatures to about 37 in the city. Through the day tomorrow, we will see the sunshine tomorrow. Another nice day. Another nice afternoon. Still cool. Temperatures about five degrees below average for the most part. Winds out of the northeast at about 5 to 10 Miles Per Hour. Something else going on, the finnish christmas bazaar between the hours of 11 00 and 3 00, right there, at the unitarian church. 50 degrees, temperatures in the low 50s for the most part. Plenty of sunshine. Get out and enjoy that one. Next couple of days, here you go. 53 on sunday. A lot of clouds potentially on monday. At least early. A high of only 52. Then we start to get our temperatures going back in the right direction. Highs in the 50s on tuesday. Mid to upper 50s on wednesday. And possibly near 60 just in time for thanksgiving. Of course, thats when Everyone Wants to see partly sunny skies. Looks like next week will be a little warmer than what we saw over the past couple of details. Finnish christmas bazaar, they always bring us cookies every year. They made us this beautiful, beautiful gingerbread house. It smells delicious. Its fresh gingerbread. Youre our chief suspect, doug. They donated 500 in our name for nbc 4 to the childrens hospital. Fantastic. Wonderful. We hope people will follow your google map and head on out there. Theres that tree. See . Thanks, doug. Coming up tonight, some people getting nostalgic after learning theyre not going to have their twinkies anymore. A student is murdered by another student at Bowie State University. Hear the 911 calls in the case after the accused killer was set free. 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