november to build a house for his family there. the young victim and aldana live in the same apartment complex. at the nearby kfc where aldana worked, the manager says he was a friendly reliable employee. when he didn't come to work yesterday, she learned of the tragedy. >> i feel bad, because it's a little kid, eight years old. i feel bad for both families, because he's very young. and he ruined his life. and they ruined the life of the other family too. the victim's family is relieved aldana is being held without bond and they hope for a maximum sentence when he's tried. victor is due back in court on february 13th. in a footnote, both the victim's mother and grandmother, knew victor, both had been his customers at the kfc. coming up at 6:00 i'll tell you what his roommates had to say about what he was doing on sunday. back to you. >> thank you, julie. five more bodies have been found sub merged in a part of that italian cruise ship that ran ashore off italy's coast. that brings the death toll to 11. 24 people are still missing, hundreds of rescuers are continuing to work their way into every room and cabin of that massive ship. this as more survivors are beginning to make their way home, and they're now talking about this harrowing experience. >> it just felt like the titanic all over again. it was a scary experience, seeing everybody panic the way they did, it felt like, you didn't know what to do. all your stuff is in your cabin, you lose everything. >> the captain of the ship was questioned in court today, francesco is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. he denied all of those charges. a norwegian passenger is claiming she saw the captain in the dining room when the ship first hit the reef and taking on walter. we have a dramatic drop just ahead. where are we today? >> today we're on the rise. we're at 58 degrees currently as we look outside now, very warm, very mild, many areas in the 60s right now, with the winds out of the south-southwest at 18 miles an hour. we had rain that came through earlier today, we're in a little bit of a break, could see a few more showers. look at these numbers, 60 in martinsburg, 57 in lees burg, culpepper and fredericksburg coming in at 60 degrees right now. a very warm afternoon. there's the rain on storm four doppler radar, can you see that in the western counties, now into southern louden county, and right along i-81, the rain will try to move to the east. most of this on the lighter side. there are heavier storms, moving well down to the south, we will see showers this evening. this is what you can expect spotty showers around 9:00, maybe 11:00, as the front moves through. here comes the chilly air, tomorrow, waking up to a temperature of 38 with windchills in the 20s for just about everybody. another big swing in those temperatures, i'll talk about what's next in the forecast. and a chance for a snowflake or two. you. >> got our attention again, doug. thank you. congress is back in session today, and a new poll out suggests lawmakers have work to go in the court of public opinion. the cnn international poll finds the congressional approval ratings are now at a record low. the telephone survive of more than 1,000 americans find that only 11% approve of the way congress is handling its job. a whopping 86% find that they disapprove of the way congress is working. the previous all time low for congress was 14%. that record was set in august at the end of the debt ceiling debate. >> with what you makers back on the job, members of the occupy movement turned their sights to the capitol. >> reporter: occupy congress was billed as the largest began iring of occupy activists to march on the capital and there are still a few on the west lawn behind me. at its height, they had about 1,000, according to organizers. they marched, they met, they chanted, they carried signs and they sang and then they went inside, we have pictures to show you as they tried to lobby members of congress, bring their message that congress is representing the richest 1% and not the 99% that the occupiers say are unrepresented in this weak economy. the question tonight remains, is anyone here on capitol hill l t listening? americans from across the country occupied congress on the first day the house of representatives reconvened after returning from their holiday recess. >> we're going to do some legal info. >> the occupiers held this general assembly, they say, to show congress this is what democracy looks like. >> to show congress that the people want their voice back. they're supposed to be speaking for us. but they're not. so we're here trying to speak for us. >> these occupiers say 90% of the country disapproves of congress, which they say is bought and paid for by wall street and banking interests. >> last year was the least effective year in congress's recorded history. so we need to talk about why people aren't legislating, why people haven't been held responsible for the 2008 bailout, and what type of corrupt pipeline is running from wall street to washington, d.c.. >> reporter: they say more than 6 million americans are disenfranchised. >> washington. >> washington. >> d.c. >> including the district of columbia, which has no voting representation here on capitol hill. >> 600,000 people don't have any representation in the federal government. that's completely unacceptable. >> there were a few moments when the occupiers challenged the lines maintained by the u.s. capitol police, and there were a few arrests during the day. overall, occupy congress was peaceful, they came to have their voices heard, they plan to march on all three branches of government and the local courthouse to express their frustration with the way things are run here in washington. >> at this moment, members of occupy congress are on the move in the district. we just saw a group go down independence avenue. they're marching on the white house, marching on the u.s. supreme court where they will rally at 6:00 tonight. they were followed by motorcycle police officers from the district. there may be some disruptions of traffic this evening. that's the latest from capitol hill, back to you. >> thank you, chris gordon. new charges are added tonight against the man accused of firing several rounds at the white house. he damaged federal property. hernandez was already charged with attempting to assassinate the president. he was arrested last november, and is being held in jail pending a trial. a personal plea today from the city's top cop as we learn more about the death of a baby girl in northeast washington. she was found late sunday night, left out in the bitter cold temperatures. pat collins joins us live from d.c. police headquarters in northwest with more on the story. pat? >> jim, the age of that babe by girl is estimated between a newborn and one-month-old. we still don't know the cause of death, we still don't know who put her on those cold concrete steps. >> anything dealing with children, especially babies, elderly folks, it's really difficult for us. they are the victims that can't speak for themselves and are truly defenseless. >> moved by what happened to that little baby found on these cold concrete steps. kathy lynn ear today makes a plea for he. >> there is somebody who knows or has some suspicions of who may be the patient of this baby girl, we need them to come forward, because we can't answer those questions right now. we would like to offer assistance and avoid cases like this in the future. >> reporter: it was sunday night, a baby girl found on the steps of a home on channing northeast. she had no clothes, no diaper, she was wrapped only in a thin towel. she was pronounced dead later at children's hospital. police have been trying to find the baby's mother, trying to determine how she ended up here. the place where this happened is a community called gateway. it's a small community bordered by south dakota avenue on one side and bladensburg avenue on the other. many people who live here have lived here for 20, 30, 40 years much they're not accustomed to something like this. >> i've been around here maybe about 40 years now. we've never had any incident like this at all. >> people are definitely keeping like a definite eye out for stuff now. i guess when something like that happens, it hits people kind of hard. >> this is councilman tommy wells. he helped craft the safe haven law, which allows parents to drop off unwanted infants at police stations or fire stations without any fear of consequences. >> i think of all my years in child well fare in the city, i only heard of this happening once in d.c. we passed the law just in case, to try to prevent something like this from happening. if you know anything about this case, text police at 50411 or give them a call. 202-727-9099. 202-727-9099. they really need your help on this one. jim, back to you. >> pat collins, thank you. still ahead on news 4 at 5:00, a violent past of a man charged in those recent string of home invasions. why do police say he was out of prison. >> a key ruling on efforts to cultivate marijuana in the district. >> what has people so sick this winter? the stroke of luck that led to a dramatic rescue of a mother and her daug it seems everywhere you look people are hacking, coughing, sniffling, explaining. it's not the flu doctors are seeing when they come into the office. >> doesn't it feel like just yesterday we were all talking about the h1n1 flu virus? things have changed. the flu has been relatively mild this year. it hasn't stopped other winter viruss from affecting lots of kids and adults here. >> miserable weak. coughing nonstop. >> feeling horrible, achy, everything. all the stuff that comes with the season. >> reporter: doctors say they haven't seen many cases of the flu. there's been about 15 cases each month since the flu started. >> flu hasn't hit year. our experience with flu right now, it's kind of flat, and it's going to tick up shortly. >> dr. john howell a physician at fairfax hospital's pediatric emergency room says he expects flu cases to spike by the end of january. right now, though, he's seeing lots of kids coming in with a viral infection in the lungs that typically affects babies ages 2 and under. >> the illness lasts up to about 2 weeks, and it's cough, a little bit of wheezing, maybe some trouble breathing, runny nose, fever. >> reporter: he's seeing 15 cases of bronchiolitis a day. in adults, there are respiratory viruss that are leaving people coughing for week. >> there's no antibiotics for it, there's no silver bullet to stop it. >> children and adults that are sick with these viruss need to ride them out. lots of sleep and over the counter medications if needed is the prescription. >> i get lots of rest, drink plenty of fluids and follow the doctor's orders and stay home. >> we all want a pill. nobody wants to hear, have you to ride it out. the best thing can you do is pry vent yourself from getting sick in the first place. the most important thing you can do to make that happen is keep watching your hands. >> and don't touch anything above your neck. feed yourself with tongs. >> that's good to know, it's running through our newsroom. >> if there is any good news, the flu has not been so popular. some people are blaming the weather guy for this roller coaster ride we've been on. temperatures freezing today, today we're warming up. >> we're near 60 out there right now. ? is the kind of weather that gets a lot of people sick. i blame my kids. >> is that it? >> yes, not only do they bring it home, they touch you everywhere, and then they don't let you sleep at night. daddy, are you sick? wake up. outside right now, some areas are dealing with snow, you want to see a snowstorm? >> yeah. >> talk about a topsy-turvy winter. this is an area of the country that gets about six inches of snow a year 37 they're looking at the potential of seeing more than 2 to 3 times that amount. this is seattle washington believe it or not. we get three times as much snow as seattle gets. from this storm, they could see up to 15 inches of snow before it's all said and done. talk about a topsy-turvy winter. very cold and wet toward portions of the northwest. 58 degrees the current temperature here, winds out of the south-southwest at 18 miles an hour, those winds are helping us kick up. we saw some sunshine today, 39 on saturday, 36 on sunday. 42 yesterday. 58 today, and then why not go right back down to 42 degrees as we step outside tomorrow. the roller coaster will continue for sure. 60 in martinsburg, 61 in fredericksburg. out there toward annapolis coming in at 60 degrees too. winds gusting upwards of 25 to 30 miles an hour. 28 in washington, we saw some areas over 35 miles an hour, the winds beginning to decrease a little bit. shower activity also decreasing, coming through portions of falk ear county, you're seeing a couple light showers there, also around manassas, a few sprinkles. they'll continue to move on through, this is ahead of the cold front, can you see where the cold air is, here's the front boundary. where's the cold air? up by chicago. chicago seeing snow today, and that cold air is going to filter in overnight tonight, by the time you wake up, we'll be going right back down on that roller coaster, windy and warm today. here comes that front, in behind it, breezy and cool conditions, highs tomorrow into the 40s. we're going for a high of 41. windchill all day long will be in the upper 20s to low 30s. thursday you want to see some flakes here? there's a chance for some flakes with another frontal boundary, this one, one of those alberta clippers that come through. friday will be the coldest day of the week, only a slight chance of flurries, the mountains have a much better chance of seeing snow, but don't expect a lot of it. this evening, expect temperatures to be on the warm side. 53 to 58 degrees with those gusts upwards of 35 miles an hour. tomorrow morning, you're going to see those temperatures on the cool side. windchills in the 20s as you step out the door tomorrow morning. here's the next couple days, 44 on your thursday, with an afternoon flurry. 35 cold on friday, and then 44 on saturday. another storm system moves in. that storm on saturday, kind of interesting here, if it's cold friday night into early saturday morning, some areas could start off with some ice. that's something we're going to watch closely. >> and your kids are on the phone, they're not too happy with dad, you just trashed them. >> they probably just said, dad, come home, where are you? >> we want to touch your face. >> i'm sending them to your house when i get sick, dad, dad, hey, dad. dad, dad. >> that's you where don't see us with children. we figured that out. >> hey, jim, jim, jim, jim, jim. >> that is incredibly annoying. >> it is. speaking of incredibly annoying, actress lynnedcy lohan. >> still in the news and back in court. is lindsay fulfilling the terms of her probation? >> and why some doctors believe you may be addicted to your smart phone. a consumer alert tonight about a scam involving shipped packages. find out how con ♪ i'm feelin', feelin' a sunny day ♪ ♪ sunny day ♪ i'm feelin', feelin' the taste i crave ♪ ♪ subway ♪ i'm makin' it, makin' it how i like ♪ ♪ it's meant to be ♪ i'm feelin' subway ♪ i'm feelin' subway today [ male announcer ] hey, capital area! are you feelin' subway®? then heat up your day with the big hot pastrami melt! it's fresh toasted and piled-high with pastrami, then topped with pickles, mustard, and cheese. head into a subway® restaurant today for this melty, mouthwatering sub! ♪ i'm feelin' subway ♪ let's go the u.s. postal service is issuing a crime alert about shipping. and ways to protect your personal information when shopping online. plus, a new place to look for the best hotel rates. and the u.s. makes the best and worst lists when it comes to airport terminals. here's liz. tell us about that. >> best and worst. first, we start with the crime alert from the u.s. postal service. they say customers are receiving bogus e-mails about a package delivery. the e-mails claim to be from the united states postal service, but they are fake. they contain a link that when open contains a malicious virus that can steal information from your pc. the postal service says just don't click on the link. in light of online shoe retailer zappos.com recently being breached by hackers. consumer reports is warning folks about online shopping safety. it gives us the following tips when using passwords or e-mail addresses. never use the same password for multiple sites. using different passwords, minimizing the chances the hacker can get into your other accounts. never use any part of your name or another easily guessed word. and use a strong password. that means, use phrases that are a mixture of letters and numbers, even symbols that a criminal might not guess. being delayed at an airport may be uncomfortable if you get stuck in a terrible terminal. a recent study ranks the best and worst airport terminals worldwide. domestic terminals make boast lists, the choices were based on cleanliness, services and on time departure and arrivals. terminals in iceland and south korea round out the top three. only one u.s. terminal made the best list, jet blue airways terminal five at jfk airport came in fifth on the best list. when it comes to airport, new york jfk airport terminal three topped the list, it's an old facility currently being use by delta. newark's terminal b, and the usairways terminal at laguardia also make the top worst list along with chicago midway airport. a website called roomkey.com. companies behind six of the largest u.s. hotels created the site. it works like travelocity, exceed ya or other bits. the site links you directly to the hotel's booking page. owners of the site include hyatt, hilton, march yoriotmarr. so far roomkey.com serves only the u.s. market. may be a place to find a good deal for a hotel room. >> terminal 3 is trouble at jfk. i've been up there. they're blowing it up and making all beautiful. >> let's go up to terminal 5 and have dinner. >> or run over to saudi arabia. or korea. >> thank you, liz. coming up at 5:00, efforts to grow medical marijuana in the district get rolled up into a controver controversy. the arrest of a man in a wheelchair leads to a lawsuit. a man charged he's being held without bond. a man charged in the series of home invasions in maryland. prosecutors reveal graphic details of the crimes. darcie spencer is live outside the courthouse in rockville, darcie? >> reporter: prosecutors described kevin ray as a dangerous man with a violent past. we were able to get our hands on these court records dating back to a 1995 home invasion. there was a sexual assault that happened in 2005 fp he w. he was released from prison in september of 2010 after serving his entire sentence. according to prosecutors, kevin ray confessed to committing a series of home invasion robberies and sexual assaults. >> he did admit his involvement in montgomery county cases. >> he committed the crimes in wheat wheaton, bethesda and temple hills where he was captured saturday 37 he appeared before a judge for the first time today. his face bandaged and he's using crutches. police say he was injured while resisting arrest. >> prosecutors provided harrowing details of the crimes. in the wheaton case, they say the victim was holding her infant child when ray confronted her in the garage. i told her, don't scream, don't make a sound or i'm going to shoot you and your baby. he locked the woman and her baby in the closet and then drove off in her car. he sexually assaulted a housekeeper in the shower, then turned on the water to wash away his dna. in the temple hills case, he raped the victim two times. as a registered sex offender, his dna is on file. >> there were threats to kill not only the women who were the primary victims in these cases, but also their children. >> ray has a criminal history dating back to 1995, when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of theodore newby. five years later he was back in prison, this time for the sexual assault of a woman in clinton. his criminal record also includes robbery. why did rkevin ray allegedly go on this crime spree? what set him off. he shed some light on that in his interrogation with police over the weekend. i'll have more on that coming up at 6:00. howard county police tonight are searching for the owner of a home where they found 40 dead pets. police discovered the 40 dead animals yesterday afternoon in the 9600 block of lamberth court. the property manager reported odors coming from the home. four animals were found alive and taken to a veterinarian. police tell us the home owner is involved with a nonprofit animal rescue group. investigators want to interview her, no charges have been filed yet. the american civil liberties union is suing metro transit police. the suit was filed today on behalf of lawrence miller. he witnessed an incident back in may of 2011, where a man was thrown to the ground from his wheelchair. the suit filed today says officers violated miller's first amendment rights, when he was arrested for questioning the officers involved in the incident. charges against miller were later dropped. the officers involved in the incident are now back on the job after being cleared of wrongdoing. metro says it does not comment on cases currently under investigation. a third person is set to testify tomorrow in a case against harry thomas, jr. a special election has been scheduled to fill the remaining three years of a vacant term. >> reporter: more fallout from the harry thomas, jr. corruption case. prosecutors filed a former information felony against james gavin. gavin is accruesed of receiving tens of thousands of dollars in city grant funds and transferring them to thomas who used them to fund his lavish lifestyle. his attorney says he'll plead guilty. garvin could face up to three years in prison. last week, 73-year-old marshall banks who has run a nonprofit like garvin pleaded guilty to a similar charge. one felony count of transferring fundsp the disgraced former councilmember pleaded guilty in the use of city funds. thomas resigned his ward 5 council seat. he's awaiting sentencing may 3rd. >> also tuesday, the d.c. board of elections formerly declared thomas' ward five seat vacant and scheduled a special election for tuesday may 15th. >> all in favor? i. >> thomas cleaned out his offices over the weekend. the ward five seat is located in northeast washington. the special election could draw a dozen candidates or more. all vying to fill the final three years of thomas' term. local residents are anxious to vote. >> it's for the people. hopefully we get a better leader for this ward. >> reporter: tom sherwood, news 4 washington. still to come, some doctors say the joke about being addicted to the internet may be truer than we know. >> i think it's wonderful, because these are stories that should be known, they should be heard. the widow of a tuskegee airman two local elementary schools are among six in maryland being honored. the rachel carson school has made significant advancements in school assessments. 98% are efficient or advanced in reading and math. the second school is whitehall in buoy. parents are also commended for their involvement in the school and activities. you hear about people who can't live without their smart phones. there may be some truth to people being addicted to the internet. a study was done and found abnormalities similar to people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. there should be further studies to determine whether the brain irregularities happened before or after the onset of the addiction. when our broadcast continues tonight. what a deal today means for the medical marijuana industry in d.c. a judge rules on whether lindsay lohan is satisfying the terms of her probation. we'll get a state of the redskins report from one of their players who b ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] combine a pnc cashbuilder visa credit card with a pnc performance select checking account and get up to 1.75% cash back for just about every purchase. learn more and apply today at pnc.com/cashbuilder. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. action today from d.c. councilmembers that will limit medical marijuana in their neighborhood. >> the i team has been following the debate for months now. tisha thompson joins us with the latest. >> to understand what happened today, we need to explain the two different kinds of licenses available for medical marijuana. people who want to grow marijuana have applied for a cultivation center license. people who want to sell marijuana have applied for a dispensary license. for two hours, jacqueline sat quietly in the chambers. her neighborhood is ground zero for medical marijuana. >> i would like to see them located in other areas outside of ward 5. >> reporter: she first learned about the people that wanted to set up in her ward after our story. >> we're looking at our ward moving forward, not being a dumping ground. >> reporter: after our story aired, manning and her neighbors pushed the d.c. council for an emergency bill, eliminating dispensaries all together in ward 5. >> an emergency bill to declare -- >> councilmember vincent orange introduceded bill. others were quick to oppose it. >> it could render the program impossible. there won't be enough cultivation centers. >> i'm frustrated we're at this point of an emergency -- this bill was passed many yearsago. we're right here at the 11th hour, now it's to be changed up. >> realizing he didn't have the votes and the bill was going to die. orange shot back. >> don't tell the citizens of ward five this is not an emergency. and the councilmembers that are speaking out against this don't live in ward five. you don't have to zeal with it. >> a last minute compromise between orange and at large member david catania who heads the committee saved the bill. no more than six cultivation centers in one word. >> it's a step forward, but not a good step. >> the city still hasn't decided who will get any of the licenses, it started with nearly two dozen applications for just the cultivation centers and recently whittled that list down. can you see the new list along with all the maps created where they want to set up shop on our website. >> thanks. >> very interesting. >> it's a debate. >> thanks, tisha. lindsay lohan is on track to complete the terms of her 3r0 base. that's according to the superior court judge today. a judge told her she received favorable reports from probation officials. lohan's probation includes cleaning dudeties at a morgue and therapy sessions. the punishment is for a drunk driving case and the theft of a necklace from a jewelry store. she could be done with her probation by the end of march. anticipation is soaring. the new george lucas movie red tales opens on friday, it's about the tuskegee airmen during world war ii. >> we have the right to fight for our country, the same as every other american. so you shut us down or you let us fly. >> evelyn johns isn't widow of raymond johnson. he was drafted out of rotc at howard university. she's grateful their story will finally be told on the big screen. >> i think it's wonderful because these are stories that should be known. they should be heard. they're inspirational to young people. and particularly young black people. >> evelyn johns isn't wade doe of a tuesday key gee airmen. her husband died three weeks shy of the movie's debut this weekend. >> saw the trailer of that in theaters yesterday, the crowd just went wild. >> we're losing all of our world war ii vets now, and this is a story that needs to be emphasized. first we tumble, then we bundle up. another night in the negatives? >> i think our temperatures are going to go down about 20, maybe 30 degrees. right now we're sitting very warm at 58 degrees, with a dewpoint of 44. winds out of the south-southwest right now, gusting upwards of 25 miles an hour. most of these starting to fall apart right now. still seeing showers into falkear county. we'll continue to see those, watch out around i-95. 38 in washington, 35 in manassas, 36 in gaithersburg, that's not too brad. you add in the wind, we're talking about a windchill between 25 and 30 degrees. it's going to be on the cool side. tomorrow afternoon, about 15 to 20 degrees colder tomorrow. 40 in gaithersburg, and 40s in leesburg. i'll show you the extended forecast once again coming up at 6:00. >> thank you, doug. dan is here with sports. is it common for a current player on a team to be this candid about the state of the team? >> i don't know how common it is. but i think it's a good thing, because it means you have a true sense of reality in terms of what's going on, and this is a guy that's certainly trusted by fans, and i think by teammates. the redskins lost a ton of games this season. they also lost a coach. luke spanos leaving to become the coordinator. as we all know, they need one. lorenzo alexander, one of the longest tenured redskins. he got his take on everything from a new quarterback to a crummy season. >> you were a standout this season on special teams. my question for you, as a team, where do you think things went wrong this season? >> well, the thing i've been saying all along is inconsistency. we have the talent, the coaching as far as skiing. you saw we competed with guys like the patriots, the giants. that's been the story since i've been here. i think we have to find that gap to where we have to play those high games. once we are able to do that, we can be a competitive team and a playoff team. >> does it start with a quarterback? >> i think so. you see around the league, all the quarterback plays is phenomenal. you can go on and on the list, all the playoff quarterbacks. guys talk about rg, iii, peyton manning, there's a lot of name dropping right now. hopefully during this offseason, the coach and gm will get together and find out the best fit. >> what makes you confident mike shanahan had kuturning this tea into a win summer. >> he has a great track record, all those years in denver. i see him working every day, the due diligence, just how detailed he is, i think he's going to put the pieces in place to do it for us. >> talking about the draft. do you share the opinion that the redskins need to go out and get robert griffin, iii. >> he's definitely a phenomenal athlete. do you leverage your future with picks. if you give up, how many number one picks you have to give up, number twos, to get one guy. he's a great guy, but can you find somebody like a matt flynn who's a free agent sign him and add other pieces to your opportunities as well. >> if it was up to you, what would you do? would you draft rg, iii? >> i might go matt flynn and maybe get a guy like blackmon and add another piece to the offensive line and solidify that offensive threat. >> playing good gm, i love it. probowl alternate teammate london fletcher, he had a phenomenal season, led the nfl with 166 tackles, he's going to be a free agent this yoof season, how important is it for the team to resign him. >> number one priority on defense. what he does on the field and off the field transcends what anybody else does. he's our leader. guys lay on him, he creates the emotional advantage for us, psychological. what he does day in and day out, it can't even be said. we need to get him back, sign him back, give him whatever he wants. he's playing at the top of his game right now. leading the league at 36, 14 years in, who does that. they want to call him old, he keeps defining it, we need a guy like that in the locker room. >> i think everyone wants to see london fletcher back here. i would like to hear his ideas on the quarterback situation. that seemed to make a lot of sense. it's good to see him firing off those opinions. >> still ahead, the people involved in the dramatic rescue of a mother and her it seemed like a scene out of a tv drama, but it played out in real life for a california mom and her two young daughters. >> an accident left their car dangling from a bridge with them in it. it was an amazing stroke of luck that saved their lives, take a look. >> kelly lynn groves pleaded for help. her two young daughters were in the car. her sedan was mangled beyond recognition. and the big rig struck that police say rear ended her lay in a ravine 100 feet below. rescuing anyone in the car looked to be difficult and dangerous. >> we really felt the car could fall at any time. >> reporter: she was conscious the whole time. she responded to instructions, pleading for rescuers to save her two daughters. seat belts, air bags and the baby's car seat had all done their jobs and dozens of first responders did theirs at great risk. >> each time we tried to pry her out, the car kept slips over the side a little more. >> reporter: then a team of construction workers happened on the scene and in their convoy a heavy duty forklift with a telescoping arm. >> it was a turning point for us. we knew the vehicle wasn't going to fall. it also gave a platform for our rescuers to work from. >> reporter: now with the wreck stabilized, the girls could be rescued and finally the mom. a seeming miracle they're alive. >> wow! >> that's intense stuff. >> i got chills while listening to that. that's it, we hope we thrilled you on news 4 at 5:00. >> stay right there, news 4 at 6:00 starts right now. the captain behind a deadly italian cruise ship disaster appears in court as new audiotapes reveal what happened moments after the ship ran aground. an 8-year-old boy killed, his mother seriously injured. the drunk drive er who hit them was well over the legal limit. >> congress is back in session, but outside, occupy demonstrators are fighting to have their voices heard. >> good evening, everyone. >> jim vance is off tonight. we begin with presidential politics and the republican race for the nomination. mitt romney's political fortunes continue to rise. the latest national gallop poll of republicans finds romney has a commanding 23% lead. he's currently in the i