ALBAWABA – Apple’s first product in the realm of Virtual Reality, $3499 Apple Vision Pro has just been released with plenty of online figures praising a
A Breakdown of the Tesla App's Newest Features thestreet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestreet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
washington still trying tothaw out after a wier weather wallop. shovelinging snow is not my definition of fun. for some, it was a dream come true. for others, it was an utter nightmare. we re on the streets and at the airport to find out when your neighborhood will be clear and if you ll be able to make it home for the holidays. news 4 midday starts now. good morning, everyone, and welcome to news 4 midday. time barbara harrison. i m pat lawson muse in for joe krebs on this monday, december 21st, 2009. the blizzard of 2009 may be long gone, but the washington area is just now beginning to dig out of it. we have team coverage of the aftermath of the storm this midday. megan mcgrath is in forestville, maryland, checking out just how dangerous the roads are this monday morning. and kimberly suiters is at reagan national airport, keeping tabs on what you can expect if you re trying to get out of town for the holiday but fit, let s check with meteorologist tom kierein with a check of the forecast. we are still dealing with the aftermath of saturday s blizzard. and unfortunately, the consistency of the snow has gotten denser. it was nice and fluffy and dry on saturday. now, it s getting heavier and harder to deal with. temperatures are getting above freezing, though. now at montgomery village, up to 35. we do have a melting under way. and temperatures elsewhere are now 35 at reagan national. we are getting above freezing all around the region for the most part. we ll continue to see some melting here for perhaps another six hours or so. that will help. that will reduce the snowpack, but also make it heavier to shovel a heavier to plow. so the earlier you get out and shovel your sidewalk, the better it s going to be, because as the day goes on, it s just going to become heavier and heavier. all around the region, above freezing, except out in the mountains, still in the 20s. a few snow flurries out there. here, some clouds are passing through from time to time. those will be with us throughout the afternoon. on the bay and on the shore, a few clouds this afternoon. light breezes out of the northwest and highs reaching the upper 30s. a look at the rest of the week and maybe a little more inclemency for christmas day. maybe a little wintry mix. details on that coming up. barbara and pat. thank you, tom. well, tons of snow on miles and miles of highways. chopper 4 was above the beltway. ews were hard at work trying to clean the mess. jerry edwards is in the news 4 traffic network with more on the road conditions. good morning, jerry. good morning. and unfortunately, while authorities are cleaning up all that snow and ice, they have to close up some travel lane. we re seeing, this is the beltway right at the american legion bridge. the right side is the outer loop, leading maryland into virginia where crews continue the cleanup. here s a closer shot coming down from the bradley overpass. so we are looking at good-sized delays on 270 beginning just after montrose road. this is the capital beltway from before 270, as you try to head on down toward the american legion bridge. again, it s the cleanup on the outer loop of the beltway after the american legion bridge near the g.w. parkway, the right side. elsewhere, the drive north along 395 as you head for the 14th street bridge, no worries there. both inbound and outbound on the 14th street bridge, pretty much wide open. not a whole lot of folks downtown at this hour. we ll keep you updated. barbara? thank you, jerry. well, today is our first real chance to see how much of an impact this weekend s blizzard had on the roads with many area residents venturing out of their homes for the first time since the snow began to fall. megan mcgrath is live in forestville, maryland, with more on that. megan, good morning. reporter: well, good morning. we re seeing a little bit of a thawout here. the sun is up. you can see it s very sunny outside and we re seeing the temperatures go up. so this stuff is popping up. instead of ice, we are now starting to see slush on some of the road surfaces. a lot of these apartment complexes here in forestville, they were sheets of ice earlier. so we are seeing the impact of the sunshine starting to melt things out a little bit. but you can see, still very, very sloppy. we ve got a lot of slush here. same thing on some of the side roads. now, of course, a lot of the local governments were closed today. schools were closed and a lot of folks got a day off. you can see this person hasn t ventured out. they haven t yet dug out their car. the spot right next to them, those folks probably had to get out of dodge, probably going off to work and they had to dig themselves out. and there were a lot of folks that actually did ha to go into work this morning. earlier, there were some very dicey scenarios out there on the roadways. a very close call between a pedestrian and a car on walters lane in forestville. with sidewalks covered in snow and ice, people were literally walking in the streets. not a great idea in the early morning darkness. if you re going to walk in the roadway, try to wear something light colored, because most folk s winter coats are black. we can t see them. reporter: stay at home. that was the message repeated all morning. but for some, it just wasn t an option. they had to go to work. but getting there proved to be a real challenge. whatever wasn t cleared away yesterday turned into ice overnight, and many a car got stuck. i m stuck right here in the slush right here. i can t get out. i m trying my best to get to work, but other than that, i ll get there when i get there. reporter: but before you could get stuck, you had to dig out, and that proved to be quite a workout. how long have you been at this? about an hour. my coworker helped me out last night and he shoveled some snow in the front so i can try to get out, but i just put my defroster on, so hopefully that will help the process. reporter: while some were determined to drive, others left their cars at home. metro service was back up and running today, with the exception of a few metro bus routes that had to be canceled. riders were told to expect long waits at the bus stop. i came out at 6:15 to catch the early bus. no bus. i went back in the house. i just came back out again, still no bus. people still standing at the bus stop. one lady has been standing there for an hour and a half. reporter: and metro access is offering limited service today, up until 5:00. but only for trips to medical-type appointments. things like chemotherapy appointments, kidney dialysis, life-sustaining types ofthings, and only until 5:00 tonight. barbara, back to you. looks like that near-accident you showed us, the driver swerved to avoid someone in the street, and they both could have been killed. reporter: oh, that was a very dangerous situation. the driver, frankly, looked like they were going way too fast for the road conditions. almost took out that pedestrian, and then lost control when they tried to avoid that person all right. well, thank you, megan. thank. reporter: sure. from the roads to the skies, the blizzard shut down the runways this weekend, leaving many flights cancelled and delayed. now all local airports are open, but they are playing catch-up today with stranded passengers. kimly suiters continues our team coverage from reagan national airport where it s been a long morning for a lot of folks. kimberly? reporter: oh, pat, you and i are both optimists, we look for the silver lining, and this is a real reach, but the one upside here is that because of all the no-shows, there are rental cars available. the downside, of course, is a huge one. this marks day three for people trying to get to their final destinations. more than 1,000 people spent the night like this, in chairs, on the floor, on top of heating vents at reagan national airport. i was down in the baggage claim on the floor because i needed an outlet to plug my phone in and it was pretty cold. i actually found a spot in one of the chapel. i got a ticket frp from a lady ticket counter. go to the chapel, it s quiet and you can turn the lights off. reporter: at the end of this line, 150-people deep, college sophomore kirk roberts, on his way home for christmas. we don t have a flight right now. we re still trying to book a flight, deferent airline. i don t know. we have moved nowhere. reporter: this will be his third line since 5:00 a.m. how long have you been waiting? ten minutes. reporter: actually, it s been more like an hour and a half, says jayden s patient mother. it s crazy. with the weather, i m just ready to get out of here. got the boarding card from home? reporter: if you were lucky enough to have one, airline personnel plucked passengers out and expedited them through. stuck here for the past three days, the proctor family, wanting their week in orlando. we spent quality time shopping and sleeping and talking. i wanted to drive friday. we would have been stuck in snow. we would have been through it by now. reporter: are you saying, i told you so? yes, yes. reporter: and then there was the snag getting sckers ticketed. he could not buy his ticket ahead of time because they wanted to make sure he wasn t a 45-pound pit bull. reporter: eventually every passenger we talked to got a reservation. remember kirk the college kid? his sister brought him this news, after his mom spent two tearful hours on the phone with the airlines. we ended up getting rebooked, get booked at noon. we ve been here for six hours. eporter: all the way down to jacksonville? yes, straight through. so good ending to a pretty miserable story. reporter: so what did the airlines say that apparently made mrs. roberts burst into tears? they told her, lady, you re not going to see your kids until christmas day. well, she did cry and magically, two seats appeared for those two kids and they re on their way home. tips that we learned today, if you have to travel today, allow at least three hours, even for domestic flights. print those boarding passes out before you leave your house. bring some good food, bring a great read and expect to wait in some very long lines. reporting live from reagan national airport, kimberly suiters, nbc 4. at least in that one lady s case, the tears worked, or appeared to have worked. reporter: can you imagine if your two babies couldn t come home for christmas? i don t blame her. good for her. we re following breaking news that could be great news for travelers today. the federal government is setting limits on how long passengers can remain stranded on the tarmac. they re allowing passengers to get off the plane for more than three hours. more than 600 flights were delayed on tarmacs for more than three hours during the first five months of this year alone. the new requirement will take effect next spring. most kids in our area certainly don t mind the storm. almost every school system in our area that isn t already on winter break is closed today because of the blizzard. some schools including fairfax, stafford, loudoun county schools have already canceled classes for tomorrow as well. the federal government is also closed today. stay with news 4 and nbcwashington.com for continuing coverage of the blizzard of 2009. we ll have live team coverage throughout the morning and the rest of this day. our time is now 12 minutes after 11:00 a.m. still ahead on news 4 midday, a cop brings a yes, i did. i got hit with a snowball. that s right, a policeman brings a gun to a snowball fight. the video that shows it all and how d.c. police are trying to explain. plus, we still haven t finished digg eging out from th weekend s storm, but could more winter weather be on the way? tom s forecast, just ahead. and it s the 12 days of giving. today we re spotlighting potomac city resources. make a donation by calling 202-686-nbc4. it s time now for the 12 days of giving. each d we re focusing on another local organization that s making a difference in our community. today, it s potomac community resources. the organization provides therapeutic social and educational programs for hundreds of people with developmental differences. with more on how you can help this great organization, let s go to news 4 s pat lawson muse. hey, pat. reporter: hey, barbara. this is day 11 of our 12 days of giving. and our focus today is the organization called potomac community resources. it s located in montgomery county, but has served the needs of those around the region and they need a lot of help from you today. you can call the volunteers who are manning our phone banks here at 202-686-nbc4. they re waiting to take your calls. and we would like to introduce you to jim sullivan, the board president. jim, thanks for coming today. and tell us about your organization. well, thanks, pat, thanks for having us. our organization was started about 16 years ago in a kitchen, where we had maybe seven or eight members. today we have 400 members and about 800 of their caregivers. and we provide and try to create programs to fill the needs and daily lives of teenagers and young adults with developmental differences. reporter: and your programs range from the therapeutic to the recreational to the educational? yes. we have, for example, we have respite care program for people who are multiply handicapped, so their caregivers can have time, and also so the members can get some therapy from various sources that we have. reporter: and you mentioned that you need volunteers and you need resources, from those who are watching. yes, as i said, we serve 400 members. we only have three or four employees. we have about 80 to 150 depending upon the time of the year of the program, volunteers. so the volunteers are really at the center of what we do. so we need volunteers, and of course, we need cash. everybody needs cash. we get less than 10% of our budget from governmental agencies. so we depend upon the community and we depend upon individual giving to help us run our programs. all right. jim sullivan, thanks so much. you ve heard the story and you ve heard the need. potomac community resources needs you today if you can volunteer or donate. call 202-686-nbc4. and we ll be back a little later. barbara? okay. thank you, pat. we re going to take a look at our forecast now. tom is here. sounds like we weren t the only ones having this kind of weather. i mentioned the you that someone called me from florence, italy, to say, hey, we ve got the same weather here in the u.s. they got a foot and a half of snow in florence, italy, on the same day we had that similar amount here in washington. just incredible. all up and down the atlantic seaboard, this was a storm very similar to the storm in 1983 in february when reagan national got 16.6 inches of snow. and on saturday, we got 16.4 inches of snow, altogether. now, look at this time lapse of the snowfall sent into us by one of our viewers in westminster, maryland. you can see the full 20 hours go by and you can see the snow piling up. it wasn t, maybe, more than an inch. let s go to the beginning and watch it pile up as we go through it. you can see, as the snow comes down, we re squeezing 20 hours down to just about 15 seconds. and look at it growing there on the deck. wonderful time lapse sent into us by taylor robinette. thank you so much. well, look at this view right along the banks of the potomac river. the water s frozen there. washington is snow bound. saturday s snow, 16.4 inches. the winter average is 15.4. so we got an entire winter s worth of snow in about 20 hours. and don t really see anymore snow in the foreseeable future. might have a little inclemency coming up on christmas day. talk about that in just a second. talk about the lows we had this morning, certainly was cold, got down to 24 at reagan national. temperatures farther to our west and north down into the 20s. but south and west of washington, it was even colder. got down into the teens in fairfax county. even single digits through central virginia and the central part of the shenandoah valley. now at this hour, we re getting above freezing. so everything that froze solid that melted yesterday is now melting again. so we re going to have a lot of water, a lot of roads are going to be wet and you re going to have a road spray situation as that snow melts. as we take a look around the neighborhood network, montgomery village, they are up to 35 degrees right now. and elsewhere around the neighborhood network, now in fairfax, virginia, they re at 32. st now getting above freezing there, from their morning low of 21. and they got a gentle wind there. and elsewhere at montgomery village, 35. andrews air force base, prince george s county now is at 34 degrees. and as we look at the regional temperatures, right now on the eastern shore, they re in the mid-30s. out in the mountains, though, still below freezing there. as we look at what s been happening over the last six hours, we ve had clouds coming in from time to time from the west. mostly sunny now, but quite cloudy farther to our west and around the mountains where they may be get a little bit of light snow later on today. picking up moisture off the great lakes. we re seeing high pressure beginning to build in from the west. as this high pressure moves on in, as we go forward over the next 48 hours, we ll see this high come right over our region, keeping us dry and keeping our weather settled. so we ll have warm, mild compared to overnight, temperatures during the afternoon. it will warm us above freezing. after this high heads farther to our east, as we get into wednesday morning, we ll see an area of low pressure beginning to move in from the central plains. and that may gave us a little wintry precipitation o christmas morning. for today, partly sunny with some melting, highs reaching the upper 30s this afternoon. and for the game tonight, at fedex field, they should be ready. they had 1,200 people there shoveling out 25 million pounds of snow, apparently. i don t know how they calculated that, but they did. that s going to be clear and cold for the game tonight there and it will be down below freezing and we ll be seeing everything freeze right back up again tomorrow morning, then melt again tomorrow afternoon with highs in the upper 30s. and then freeze up again tuesday night, more melting on wednesday, although maybe a bit colder. then on thursday, for christmas eve day, up near 40 degrees. on christmas day, though, in the morning, we could have some freezing rain and sleet, maybe a little wet snow. but it does appear that it will change right over to rain for most of the rest of the day and continue perhaps off and on friday night into saturday. and dying out on sunday. jerr how s our traffic? we re following breaking news in virginia with an accident. overturned car, this happened just minutes ago. this is the inner loop of the capital beltway near van dorn street. fire and rescue crews are on the scene. what you can t see, just out of the shot, is a snowbank that impinged on that far right lane. very possibly, the vehicle hit that snowbank and flipped over. that s why we say, be very, very careful and look down the road and be alert. because we do lose travel lanes under the snow. that s the story on the inner loop. now the outer loop, the right side of your screen, notice that s jammed as well. that s where crews continue to block a couple of travel lanes on the outer loop while the cleanup operations of snow and ice continue. so both directions on the beltway, northern virginia around van dorn street, tough going. we ll keep you upat a time eupd accident with the overturned car. time now is 11:22. coming up, open 24 hours a day. the local store that s working overtime to help you find that perfect gift. and why congress could meet the president s deadline for health care reform after all. and a hollywood starlet found dead. the clues that could help investigators figure out what happened to this week on kids post on tv, the north pole, a presidential treat and the joining us once again is tracy graham of the washington post with kidspost . good morning, barbara. let s start with santa s hometown. what s going on? in monday s kidspost, we know kids are thinking an awful lot about the north pole, so we tell them some things about where santa lives. for example, santa is working in the dark as he finishes up these toys, because the sun won t shine in the north pole until march. and the average temperature in the north pole, as cold as we think it is here, it s much colder there. it s minus 30 degrees fahrenheit there. wow. we hope that rudolph s nose is a heater as well as some light for them there. absolutely! and let s talk about the treat at the white house. every year the white house creates a replica gingerbread house. and this year, it s going to go on display so that kids can see it at the white house visitor center. and it s really worth seeing, because it s a remarkable creation. it s gingerbread covered in white chocolate. it s almost five feet long, almost three feet high. and in the front garden, there s bo, made out of marzipan. will they be able to eat it? no, no. this is a look, don t touch. and there s a wonderful exhibition up at the maryland science center featuring da vinci. and great for kids ages 8 and up and their parents. really something that everyone can marvel at. kids may be fascinated at why the mona lisa doesn t have eyebrows. i ve never noticed. they ve actually probably worn off over time. da vinci probably painted her with eyebrows. it s up through january 31st, so a good thing to do on the holiday break. that does sound like a great thing to do. thank you, tractracy. for more fun and family activities, visit nbcwashington.com or washingtonpost.com and click on kidspost. right now we re going to take you live to the white house where president obama is talking about ways to make the government run more efficiently. let s listen in. payments to contractors, organizations, andindividuals. to put these in perspective, these mistakes, and in some cases, abuses, cost taxpayers more each year than the budgets for the education and homeland security departments combined. we ve done what some said was impossible, preventing wasteful spending on outdated weapons systems that even the pentagon says it doesn t need. and i ve insisted from the beginning that health care reform will not add one dime to our deficit. and as i just noted, not only is it not adding to our deficit, it s actually reducing it. finally, i ve issued a challenge to every man and woman who works for the federal government. if you see a way that government can do its job better or do the same job for less money, i want to know about it. and that s why we started the save award, to draw on those who know government best, to improve ow government works. we asked federal employees to submit reform proposals, based on their experiences and in a testament to the seriousness with which these folks are taking their jobs, we received more than 38,000 proposals in just three weeks. from these submissions, four finalists were selected and put to an online vote. nancy is here because she won. her idea stems from her experience at the va medical center where she works. she noticed that whenever patients left the hospital, leftover medications, like eyedrops or inhalers were just thrown away, and often veterans would ve to go right back to the pharmacy to refill what was discarded. so the va is paying twice. it s waste, plain and simple. and thanks to nancy and to secretary shinseki and the folks at veterans affairs, we re putting a stop to it. the change is already underway. of course, nancy s proposal was just one of many great ideas that came to us. we ve already begun to impleme a host of suggestions made through the save contest, and while promoting electronic pay stubs or scheduling social security appointments online or repurposing unused government supplies may not be the most glamorous reforms in history, when taken together, these small changes add up. they add up to a transformation of how government works. and that s why we re going to turn the save award into an annual event. that s why we re holding a forum at the white house next month to seek more ideas from the private sector. specifically about how we can better use technology to reform our government for the 21st century. president obama at the white house, announcing a program to help cut waste in the federal government involving federal employee getting their ideas about ways to do that. if you have high blood pressure, like me, and get a cold. .you need a cold medicine with a heart. only coricidin hpb has a heart, right here. it s the only cold and flu brand that won taise your blood pressure. coricidin hpb. powerful cold medicine with a heart. laxatives? i ve tried all these. this one s gritty. this one can make you bloated. clearly, miralax is the one for me. it relieves my constipation with no harsh side effects. miralax. restore your body s natural rhythm. let s take another look at the weather out there. tom kierein is manning the storm center this morning. tom? thankfully, we re getting above freezing now. temperatures have climbed into the mid-30s, so we re getting some melting. that is certainly welcome. and as we look for the rest of the day, we should peak near 40 degrees. some clouds in and out. then it s going to refreeze tonight. what melts today that s untreated will freeze right back up. and tomorrow, we ll melt again by the afternoon. highs about 40 degrees. more of the same wednesday and thursday. as we get into christmas morning, though, we might have a little ing. some freezing rain is the likely weather situation at that time in the morning. it may be a little sleet, a little snow, but looks mostly like a little period of freezing rain, and then all rain after that into friday afternoon and ending on saturday. barbara? let s get a check on the traffic. recklessness on the roadways. we shot this video in forestville this morning. a car spinning out of control, barely missing a pedestrian and avoiding a pole. we ve been advising people since the start of the weekend to stay off the roads if possible. for some, though, that meant pushing back a task it already pushed back to the last minute. and that s holiday shopping. megan mcgrath is live in forestville with more on how these last-minute shoppers are adjusting their plans. megan? reporter: good morning, barbara. over my shoulder, you can see donald drive, the main shopping district here in forestville. you ve got the mall as well as the target. and people are hoping that they ll be able to dig themselves out today and do a little bit of shopping. of course, the weekend before christmas, a very big and important shopping period. a lot of people were stuck at home, though, couldn t get out to get that shopping done. we encountered this woman digging her car out this morning. she was chipping away, chipping away. had been at it about an hour before we saw her. i figured she was going to work, no, she was going shopping. she was digging out so she could head to the mall. her plans had been thwarted over the weekend, she had stuff to get done, so she was headed to the mall. and she was not alone. we saw quite a few people venturing out and they say, they just need to get this done. put it on the delay for the weekend, but i m finished, today. it s over. reporter: you braved the snow and now you re done. yes, it s over. i had wanted to do it saturday, but that wasn t the case, so, yeah you ve got to finish it up? ah. reporter: so you just heard that first gentleman, he is done. he is finished with his christmas shopping. but i bet a whole lot of people are not. there were a whole lot of folks that were relying on last weekend to get their shopping done. mother nature had deferent plans. no doubt we ll start seeing those mall parking lots begin to fill up. barbara, back to you. thanks, megan. let s take a look at whether there are any big problems on the roads this morning. jer jerry edwards is in the news 4 traffic network with more. we still have continuing problems on the beltway, with the accident, overturned car. this is on the inner loop of the beltway near van dorn street. you can clearly see the car on its side. vdot s there, no tow truck yet, but hopefully that will arrive before long. right now, the right side of the lanes blocked, the left side will get you back. on the outer loop, they are blocking two lanes for continuing snow removal. we re seeing that in many locations across the area. as you head out to the malls or unerrands, just be warned that crews are out there and they re definitely blocking lanes trying to get that ice and snow out of the roadway. one more quick mention, if you re going to the redskins game tonight, no more parking spaces are available for tonight s game at the copper or gray lots. so take redskins road on in, show your pass, and they ll help you out. something to keep in mind if you re going to the game tonight. barbara? thank you, jerry. give me your badge number. what? so we can report [ bleep ]! detective bailer. you brought a gun to a snowball fight? yes, i did, because i got hit with a snowball. this youtube video was shot on saturday on 14th and yew streets in northwest d.c.. it apparently shows a d.c. police officer getting out of his suv, when it is pelted by snowballs, and then he pulled a gun. internal affairs is now investigating this case. natalie morales reports on how this incident snowballed out of control. you don t bring a gun to a snowball fight! reporter: don t bring a gun to a snowball fight was the chant from hundreds of young adults at a snowball fight gone terribly wrong. throw another snowball. throw another snowball! reporter: after snowballs slammed this red hummer, the man inside got out, and as you can see, drew a gun. at first, it was unclear he was affiliated with law enforcement at all. so people were just kind of confused and said, he s got a gun, he s got a gun. and people started kind of freaking out. reporter: tensions flared in the freezing temperatures as yet another snowball pelted the man, an off-duty detective, in the face. get back up on the curb. get up on the hey, hey, hey! reporter: uniformed officers soon arrived on the scene. a uniformed police officer came on to the scene and he also had his gun drawn, because he d gotten reports that there was a man there with, you know, an armed man and he didn t realize that it was a plains clothed detective. reporter: once police realized it was one of their own with a gun, they put their own gun away. and while no shots were fired, strong words were exchanged between the detective and the crowd. [ bleep ]! reporter: the incident all captured on tape by reasontv, which was on the scene because there d been a viral call to action on the internet for a good old-fashioned snowball fight. a snowball fight that is now drawing a crowd on the internet, because it clearly got out of hand. that was natalie morales reporting. d.c. mayor adrian fenty says the officer is now being investigated by internal affairs and he s now on what police refer to as noncontact status. in past cases, this has meant working in andmintrative position until the investigation is complete. an overnight breakthrough in health care reform. the senate democrats won an early test vote that puts them on track to pass a reform bill by christmas. lawmakers voted along party lines, 60 to 40, early this morning. the senate plans extends health care coverage to more than 30 million americans. it cuts the deficit over ten years, according to congress s budget office, and bars many insurance abuses. but republicans say the price tag is too big. our friends on the democratic side seem determined to pursue a political cam kazy mission towards an historic mistake. we are not going to give up after this vote. there are two more votes to go in the senate. the next set for tomorrow morning. well, it s time now for the 12 days of giving. each day, we re focusing on a local organization that needs your help. today, it s potomac community resources. this nonprofit group provides various programs for teens and adults with developmental disabilities. with more on how you can help this great organization, let s go to news 4 s pat lawson muse. reporter: it s a group that has made all the difference in the world to family members who have developmental differences in montgomery county and around the region. and th need your help today. our volunteers are standing by to take your calls at 202-686-nbc4. please give them a call. patricia is the mother of a 16-year-old daughter who has a developmental difference, and elizabeth has been at the community resources has been a member for two years now? for about two years and she participates in a number of pcr programs and special events throughout the year. reporter: tell us about some and how big a difference this organization has made in her life and in yours if . for her, it allows her to have a place where she can socialize, make friends, learn a new skill, have fun, in a safe environment. for me, it means that, for example, when she participates in our respite care programs on sundays, i get a five-hour break. and my husband and i have time to do whatever we need to do and she s in a safe environment having fun. reporter: and she s in respite care on sundays, but she has some involvement in other programs that are a lot of fun for her, the rest of the week. yes, on monday nights, she participates in our music therapy group, which is a whole lot of fun with all of our members playing instruments and singing and playing games and it s just a wonderful place for them. reporter: how many options did you have when you were looking for some place for her? very few options. our community has a wealth of the opportunities for people without disabilities, for people with developmental differences, there are really very few places where they can go and pursue a new interest, socialize, have fun, and be safe. reporter: all right. patricia, good luck to you and to elizabeth. and if you can help potomac community resources with donations of dollars or if you can volunteer your time, they need your help, your manpower. they need your heart. 202-686-nbc4 is the number to call. our volunteers are standing by and they ll be here through the end of the newscast. barbara, back to you. thank you, pat. our time right now, 11:43. shop till you drop. where you can pick up last-minute gifts 24 hours a day. and we have continuing coverage of the blizzard afterm washington snowscape on this monday after the weekend blizzard. the roads are still pretty difficult to navigate and a lot of folks are still trying to dig out. we ll have the latest on the weather. chopper 4 crews caught clearing fedex field, shots of the field being cleared over the weekend. there s a big game, as you know, taking place tonight. washington is taking on the new york giants. and this will be the first game since the big shake up in the organization last week in ashburn. well, all that snow made it tough to get around for many of us. imagine driving a fire truck through it. we re joined by d.c. fire chief, dennis ruben, with more on how the department is dealing with this winter weather. thank you for being with us today. what an honor, as always. thank, barbara. so how big a job was it? it was really a busy weekend, as you might guess. we had more calls than we had without snow. so we do about 425, but we did about 5520 calls. we delivered about three children. we had a collapse in georgetown that couldn t withstand the snow load and many, many automobile accidents. i m very proud to say the firefighters, the emts, the paramedics and the police officers, i ve got to get them in there as well, just performed outstandingingly. so you were prepared. you knew the snow was coming, and this is always a big time for the fire department. it really is, but there s probably not a better department in the country as prepared as we are, when you think about the things we have to deal with. this was small compared to the 2,100 calls we did during the inauguration. of course, we had to go to our snow chains, which is another dimension, which creates a little bit slower response time. the fire trucks leave the station just as quick and the call gets processed as quick, but you drive a little bit slower because of the change and the risk involved there. so we added additional fire trucks. the mayor was coordinating with conference calls on probably about a four-hour cycle. so i think we were really well cover. i m very, very proud of how well all the city government performed. tell me the answer to something a lot of people may wonder. why do there seem to be more fires when you ve got this kind of weather, this snowy weather. i ll tell you a little secret that all fire chiefs learn. there are three causes of fire, men, women, and children, and i know that might make you laugh, but when we re inside of buildings and have nothing else to do, the potential goes up exponentially. the thing i want to mention too, don t forget the check the smoke detectors. we ll be doing a lot more staying inside and it looks like the long-term forecast is for a little bit more precipitation. and also don t forget those carbon dioxi carbon monoxide detectors. we had four or five responses for folks who had carbon monoxide sickness. you better have a detector to determine that. and i think because we re inside is the final answer is why we haveore responses. and during the holiday time, we ve got trees and candles and a lot of things people can become aware of. the christmas tree can become a potential fuel source, and we ask people to be very careful with that, especially with any kind of open flames, as they celebrate accordingly. the other thing, if you make sure, if it s a fresh tree, the bottom is freshly cut off and add water to it each and every day and keep it away from the heating elements. congratulations on those babies you delivered. we had several. that s always twiexciting. but it speaks to the fact that people couldn t easily move around. and you did great coverage as well. we watched as much as we could when you weren t out on calls, but you provided great advice as well. tv 4 is always there. we re so grateful you came in to talk to us today. chief dennis ruben, as always, great to see you. pat? all righty. you might have been able to use the blizzard as an excuse to put off your holiday shopping until now, but now there are no excuses. toda especially if you shop at macy s, that s because the macy s in tyson s corner will be open 24 hours a day until 6:00 p.m. on thursday, which is christmas eve. the store opened bright and early at 7:00 this morning. it s one of a dozen macy s nationwide to offer the shopping marathon. and now let s check in with bc s hampton pearson on more on retailers hopes for the holiday shopping season. they had a rough weekend, hampton. they did. in fact, pat, christmas may be coming early on wall street. dow s been opup since the openi be el. among the leaders, health care insurancestocks. with no public option in the senate plan, insurance companies will face less competition for that potential new pool of 30 million customers. other economic news, gasoline prices keep dropping. a new survey finds regular unleaded is down nearly 4 cents in the past two weeks to a national average of $2.59 a gallon. gas, of course, is $1 higher than it was this time last year, when the financial and economic crisis put a lot of pressure on prices. today is the busiest day of the year for u.p.s. the company expecting to process about 350,000 packages per hour at its headquarter facility in louisville. u.p.s. has added more than 300 daily flights in louisville to keep up with demand. and as you mentioned, this weekend s snowstorm here in the east coast caused headaches for retailers, hoping for a final push for holiday sales. analysts say it may not be a total disaster. stores reopen sunday. anwhile, online shopping continues to surge. mastercard says its web sales are up 13%. finally, with unemployment topping 10%, a record deficit and a firestorm of cricism over bank bailouts and bonuses, the economy has emerged as the top new story of the year in the associated press s annual poll. pat? barbara? back to you guys. not a surprise at all. thanks, hampton. this morning, a major recall involving a popular cold medication. procter & gamble is voluntarily recalling 700,000 packages of vix day quil cold and flu, the 24-hour count bonus pack liquid caps. the company says they contain acetaminophen and the package is not child proof. no injuries have been reported. if you have the product, contact the company for a refund. family, friends, and fans are mourning the death of actress brittany murphy today. murphy was rushed to a california hospital sunday morning after her mother found her in cardiac arrest. the coroner s office says it appears murphy died of national causes, but they re planning to do an autopsy. murphy starred in a number of movies, including the hit clueless, as well as 8 mile, and just married with ashton kutcher. brittany murphy was 32 years old. our time now, 11:53. meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check of the forecast. and it s the 12 days of giving. today we re spotlighting potomac community resources. a group that helps people with developmental differences. make a donation by calling 202-686-nbc4. we re working on several new stories coming up this afternoon on news 4 at 4:00. first at 4:00, it seems everywhere you turn this time of year, there are treats, cookies, cake, and other holiday treats. but before you reach for one, you might want to know how much exercise you re going to have to do to burn off all those calories. then tonight at 5:00, it promises to give you a great hair cut, but does the floeby really do that? those stories and all the day s latest news coming up tonight on news 4 at 4:00 and at 5:00. that looked kind of scary, the floeby. and a final check on today s forecast. tom? thankfully, it is now melting. temperatures have now hit the mid- and upper 30s in a few locations. right now, 37 in annapolis, 35 in washington. and elsewhere, we are getting above freezing in most locations. so that is welcome. temperatures, eastern shore, mid-30s now, out of the mountains, still below freezing. and they re getting a few flurries and a few passing light snow showers out there coming off the great lakes. but those are tending to dissipate and we re getting a few clouds coming through now. for the rest of the afternoon, we should be partly sunny. and the melting continuing. we ll probably get back down below freezing after 6:00. so certainly a nice, long period of above freezing temperatures will really help to reduce the snowpack and the winds out of the northwest around 5 to 15. for the game tonight, skins and giants at fedex field. kick off, 8:30. by then, it should be near freezing and mostly clear for the game. but dropping back into the upper 20s by the end of the game under a clear sky. by dawn tomorrow, mid-20s. whatever melts today will freeze right back up again tomorrow in the morning. and for a few more hours in the morning, up through 9:00 or so, it will be below freezing, so we ll be dealing with more patchy ice and snowpack that freezes back up again, and melting by late morning tomorrow and getting to near 40 again tomorrow afternoon. and then, freezing back up again on tuesday night. and the snowpack is still going to be around here, probably all the way into thursday. so we ll have the melting and freezing scenario wednesday and thursday as well. now, as we get into christmas morning, we ll have an area of low pressure, most of which will ss just to our west. that will draw warm air in, but there may be enough cold air at the surface on christmas morning for it to begin as a period of some freezing rain, maybe a little sleet is the way it appears right now, and then go to rain after that by late morning on christmas morning, and perhaps some passing showers from time to time, friday night into saturday before it ends maybe midday saturday and drying out after that. we ll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early. start at 4:30 tomorrow morning. we ll see you then. okay, tom. thank you. that s news 4 midday for today. we thank you for being with us and invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, and then tonight at 11:00. and as tom said, join us tomorrow morning for the early edition of news 4 today. we ll start at 4:30 in the morning. and we hope to see you then. until then, have a great monday. see you in the morning.