a new rule for millionaires, a higher tax rate, over 35%. mitt romney fired a shot from tampa. >> the president will do what he does best, give a nice speech, a lot of memorable phrases in, he won't give you the hard numbers like 9.9% unemployment here in flori florida. >> reporter: newt gingrich agreed. >> he has shifted from yes, we can, to why we couldn't. >> reporter: the president will argue tonight that more americans are back at work, but if millionaires paid more the government could do more to help. >> we need to stimulate our economy, we can retrofit our schools and buildings and create jobs. >> reporter: congressional republicans are already rejecting the speech. >> the president's policies are going to double down on what hasn't worked. >> reporter: mr. obama will push new plans to revive the home mortgage market and bring factory jobs from overseas. gabby giffords will attend before she retires from congress to focus on her recovery. recovery will be tonight's theme, how best to fix the u.s. economy and who is best to manage that recovery. steve handlesman news 4, live from the hill. doreen, back to you. >> there will be one empty seat at the state of the union address tonight. republican senator mark kirk of illinois will not be able to attend as he suffer he covers stroke he suffered over the weekend. joe manchun and mark kirk westbound planning to attend. if you're going downtown tonight, the state of the union address could make it a bit difficult to get around. beginning at 7:00, police will block off every street within a two or three block radius of the capital. the entire capital square is also offlimits to pedestrians who don't have special credentials, all of the restrictions are expected to last until the state of the union concludes later tonight. the man accused of firing shots at the white house pleaded not guilty to trying to assassinate the president. oscar ortega hernandez is accused of firing a rifle at the white house on november 11th. the president and mrs. obama were not home at the time. he was arrested several days later in pennsylvania. ortega hernandez also faces charges of assaulting federal officers and damaging federal property. he's being represented by a public defender. flip saunders has been fired. the wizards head coach is gone today after that terrible loss last night that brought the team's record to 0-7 on the r d road. they only have two wins this season, it's the worst record in the nba. >> reporter: last night wasn't the sole reason for saunders dismissal. the decision was made to fire saunders after two plus seasons in washington. effort, the most disappointing thing for the wizards this season. they were candid they were going to be in a rebuilding process. but progress was expected. the most disturbing thing is the regression of nearly all of the wizards young stars. the team president and interim head coach randy whittman shared their thoughts on the move this afternoon. >> yeah, i think everyone's responsible. of course we're responsible. we take responsibility, any time you rebuild, you have to go through some tough times, that's what we're going through right now, tough times. as we said before, we think our future looks very bright. >> a good man walked out the door today, and it's always hard. i didn't come here to washington to be the head coach. i came here to help him. if i didn't think this team had any positive ahead of it, i would have walked too. we can't compete at a higher level more often night in and night out. >> whitman did also say he will retain the entire coaching staff including flip's son ryan saunders, you have to wonder if the way things have been going, if it's almost a sigh of relief for flip. >> thanks. on capitol hill today, some lawmakers gathered to talk about the difference between occupying and camping. members of the occupy d.c. movement are breaking the law by sleeping on federal property. as chris gordon reports now, they want to do something about it. >> occupy d.c. protesters have been living in tents since october here in mcpherson square. the national parks service says it recognizes the protesters first amendment rights to occupy the park. but at the capital, the house subcommittee on health care for d.c. conducted this hearing asking why is camping allowed dispute it's apparent illegality. >> they have a clear ability and requirement to prohibit overnight camping, according to their own rules and they are not doing it. and i'm deeply disappointed. >> the distinction is, for a 24-hour vigil is that they are awake at all times providing information or signs or whatever associated with their first amendment activities. >> elinor holmes norton says the city is fortunate that u.s. park police have exercised restraint with the occupiers. >> i'm not about to second guess the park police, they have kept violence from occurring in downtown washington which could have torn up this city. >> reporter: police monitor occupy d.c. when it marches on city streets and makes arrests only in extreme cases. >> there's no change for us. we deal with the protesters on public space every day, and that will stay exactly the same as it is. >> reporter: the national parks service says it will issue one last warning to occupy d.c. that camping in mcpherson square will not be allowed. >> they seem like they want to continue to work with us not to put us out, to make every measure not to have us removed from the park. that's what it seems like to me. >> reporter: this is not the first time protesters have occupied federal land. in the 1970s, farmers drove their tractors and lived on the mall for seven weeks. in the 1980s it was resurrection city, and now occupy d.c. taking its place in d.c. protest history. chris gordon, news 4. >> the national parks service is notifying occupy d.c. that their temporary tents can stay up as long as there is a 24-hour around the clock vigil. governor o'malley says his state's same sex marriage bill is more protective of religious freedom than any other state's laws. he says there will be a distinction between civil and religious marriages in maryland. the governor added that religious leaders will not be punished for refusing to perform same sex marriages. neil parrot says he's working to stop the legislation. police are asking for the public's help to track down two gunmen and a car linked to an unsolved murder in the district. police say this surveillance video shows the suspects running to their car after killing an 18-year-old. the shooting happened on november 26th. the car is either a gold or tan mitsubishi galant. the video shows the car waiting in the parking lot for a gunman to return it there's a $125,000 reward right now for information that leads to an arrest in this case. coming up tonight, crews are preparing to remove fuel from that cruise shipwreckage in an effort to prevent yet another disaster in italy. some 10,000 people turn out too pay tribute to joe paterno. they were high school sweethearts and now dead. victims of an apparent murder suicide in prince georges county. a spectacular solar storm hits earth, and it could create trouble for drives today. weather out there, simply gorgeous on our tuesday, the next couple days, we have some changes coming up. what you're going to need to pack coming up in a a hearing scheduled tomorrow for a man suspected of being the east coast rapist has been postponed until march so he can undergo a mental health exam. an examination for aaron thomas will determine if he's mentally fit to stand trial. his lawyers say he's self-destructive and won't communicate with them. he's in jail in prince williams county right now. >> fans and former players were among those lining up to pay their respects to joe paterno today. the public viewing was held on the campus. despite all the controversy that clouds the end of paterno's life and career, he remained a popular figure beyond state college. michelle franzen has the report. the line stretched around the block as hundreds waited to pay their respects to legendary coach joe paterno. >> he is penn state. he's the face of penn state to me. >> the public, faculty and former football players returned to say farewell. he says to a man who was more than just a coach. >> he was everything to me up here, and i think to a lot of people, my kids, he's still a rock star. >> reporter: rock star, mentor and father figure to so many, including interim head coach tom bradley, who took over to finish the season when paterno was fired. >> i was lucky enough to play for him, and work with him and be able to call him friend and he had a great impact on my life in so many ways, i've been quoted as saying this, next to my father, he was the guy. >> reporter: paterno's son jay also spoke publicly today. he said despite his father's battle with lung cancer, and the controversial firing in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, his dad stayed up beat until the end. >> it was never a situation where he felt sorry for himself. he was very positive about the way he wanted the rest of his life to go. how he wanted to build penn state and make sure justice was done for the victims involved. >> former assistant pen coach mike mcqueary was greeted with handshakes and hugs by former players and colleagues, all who had one purpose today. to remember and honor paterno's life and legacy. the public viewing also continues tomorrow, and will be followed by a private family funeral. then on thursday, thousands are expected to gather here on campus for a public memorial. in university park, pennsylvania, michelle franzen, news 4. doug's here with a look at our weather. so hard to come into work this afterno afternoon. gorgeous outside. >> it's absolutely beautiful. i came home last night to knee on the ground and this morning it was all gone. temperatures rose last night. they're going to fin to rise for the next 15 minutes or so, and then they're going down. >> 55 degrees, the temperature has gone up over the last hour. that is our high temperature of 55. some of you made it into the low 60s across the area today, really just spectacular weather out there on this tuesday, january 4th. 43 degrees, the average high is 44 degrees, our low was almost as high as the average. this is the 14th of 24 days above average this month. take a look at these temperature swings. 34 on saturday, we did have the light snow and the freezing rain early saturday morning. 44 on monday, 54, now 55. we have to change that number. tomorrow we'll go back down a little bit. we're still going to be on the mild side of things. temperature swing for sure. there's the current number out the there. temperatures around the rest of the region, 52 in fredericksburg. 46 in gaithersburg. starting to fall off, and we'll continue to fall off through the rest of the evening hours. let's take you through the metro area and show you what's happening in fairfax. 50 degrees in resten, currently. camp springs and andrews air force base coming in at 47. up toward college park, temperature around 50. storm 4 doppler radar nothing to show you as far as rain is concerned. we're going to stay dry through tomorrow. we're going to watch the storm system down to the assuming and west. this one bringing very heavy rain and thunderstorm activity around the dallas area, houston, new orleans. all of this moisture coming out of the gulf of mexico will make its way our way during the day on thursday. let's take you through the next couple days, high pressure dominating the area, we saw that warm air today, tomorrow, it will be on the mild side. not quite as warm, temperatures about five to ten degrees below where they were today. we'll see a few more clouds during the day tomorrow. the high moves out, here comes the storm on thursday. we'll see shower activity first. the area of low pressure will wait to move in until late thursday night. that's when we'll see the heaviest rain. we could see rain late thursday and again on friday morning. friday morning's rush hour could be wet with heavy rain moving on through here. and then the weekend. we'll talk about that in a second. clearing skies, nice and mild, get out and enjoy, 46 to 51 degrees, tomorrow morning cool but not bad for this time of year. 34, 35 in the city. a really nice start tomorrow. you'll step out the door tomorrow afternoon to sunshine, but more clouds moving in late. high temperatures in the mid to upper 40s, some areas down to the south could reach the 50 to 52 degree mark. your four-day forecast 53 on thursday. 52 on friday. that's when the rain moves in. we dry out for the weekend with a high of 48 on saturday. most of us will stay in the 30s all day long. i think around the died. area, at least around 40 degrees, that cold snap and that's it, a day doesn't last long, monday 44. 46 degrees coming up on tuesday. out of the next 7 days, we will see it looks like 6 of 7, above average. not bad. >> this afternoon, the weather highlight of the week for sure. >> fantastic. yeah, it really was. if you missioned today, you you had to work today, you missed it. buried alive, a helmet camera captures the dramatic rescue of a man buried in an avalanche. metro riders tired of walking up and down escalators, relief is coming, but not quickly. these are the design in italy today, rescuers were back in the water searching for passengers missing in that shipwrecked cruise liner. now the difficult task of removing half a million gallons of fuel to prevent a possible spill there. >> reporter: another body was recovered from the wreckage from the costa concordia today bringing the confirmed death toll to 16. the u.s. ambassador to italy where he met with relatives of a missing minnesota couple. among the 17 still unaccounted for. >> i think it's a tragedy. we feel very badly for all the families and for all the families, not just the american families. >> new video has been released showing the hazards the divers face in their search for the missing. floating furniture and debris blocked the divers in corridors blanketed in darkness. a barge has now been attached to the ship to grin the begin the f the half million gallons of fuel before it starts leaking into the sea. >> at this stage, we don't see a big risk in the oil spill. if it deteriorates, nobody can tell what the vessel will do. >> reporter: the pumping isn't expected to begin until saturday. it will go around the clock barring heavy sea s or technica problems. financial relief is finally on the way to virginians hit hard by that earthquake last summer. state and federal officials will hold a town hall meeting tonight. they'll provide information on how to apply for disaster aid. the federal government has already approved more than $25 million in aid for virginia residents, businesses and local governments. metro riders at dupont circle station might do well to get ready for what might be a short term inconvenience with long term benefits. they're going to take out the escalator there, beginning on february 1st. and it's expected to take them eight months, during which crews will work around the clock to pull out those escalators and put in new ones that will be easier to repair. the south entrance at that station on 19th street will shut down. riders will have to use the north entrance on q street during the construction period. still ahead on news 4 at 6:00 a family desperate for answers tonight after a teen mother is found dead pmt victim of an apparent murder/suicide. a controversial requirement about what people could soon be forced to do to cash their welfare check. a candid look at life in the white house just months before john f. kennedy's assassination. the wizards make a change and the coach is always the first one to go. plus, we'll tell you why alex ovechkin's suspension could cost the league more than ovechkin himself. president obamatonightwill deliver his third state of the union address at 9:00, before congress and the american public. he's expected to press for economic fairness for the middle class, which might include tax hikes on the rich. education and clean energy also are expected to be addressed. critics of the current tax rates are seizing on the returns mitt romney relesioned today. he paid a tax rate of about 15%. he also donated more than $7 million to charity, more than half of it went to his church. some members of congress want occupy protesters removed from mcpherson square. they want to know why people have been allowed to camp out on federal property since october. camping is not allowed, they will remind occupiers of that before they move in and remove them. relatives want to know what caused a tragic murder/sue wayside. >> the parents were separated but still on friendly terms. pat collins has our report. >> reporter: the victim's sister. >> very shocking. still kind of unbelievable. >> the shooter's friend. >> i spoke to him saturday morning. and he seemed fine. >> reporter: nobody knows what drove adam to do what he did inside this laurel apartment. no one knows why he killed the mother of his baby and then turned the gun on himself. the mother was a nurse ago sift ant. the gunman was an employee at the goddard space center. friends say he was a member of the national guard. former high school sweethearts met at laurel. together they had a little boy named dwayne. and even though they broke up about a year ago, friends and family members say they still remain friends. for police, this was an open and shut case. but for family members on both sides, what happened last weekend will likely haunt them for a long time. >> what do you think about this. >> that's the thing that's probably plaguing everybody, nobody knows. >> saturday around 11:00, adam comes over and picks up ayers, they're going shopping for some things for their son. saturday afternoon no word from adam. no word from ayres. saturday night, still no word. sunday the concern begins to build. the bodies found behind a locked bedroom door. kahlib was there when the discovery was made. >> i was shocked. >> reporter: now there is another victim here, that little boy. 2-year-old dwayne left now without a father or mother. >> he's too young to kind of, you know, know really what's going on. with both families, he will definitely be well taken care of. >> reporter: police and friends say that adam also left behind his new girlfriend, who they say is expecting his child. i'm pat collins, news 4, prince georges county. there is a bill making its way through the virginia general assembly that would require drug testing for welfare recipients in the state. people who refuse to test or who failed it would forfeit their benefits for at least a year. the bill is sponsored by republican vicky bell. the state has a responsibility to check for drugs. opponents call the bill an attack on the poor. they say it's also unconstitutional in that it violates protection from unreasonable search and seizure. customsing agents at dulles national airport say a passenger swallowed 86 pellets of heroin in an attempt to smuggle it into the united states. the new york city man was arrested on thursday after taking a flight from nigeria. during inspection he asked to use the restroom where he passed 55 pellets of heroin. then he was taken to a hospital where he passed 31 more pellets. this was the second arrest in two weeks at dulles for attempted heroin smuggling. a new plan in place to transform tyson's corner from a place people work to a major city center. it's all outlined by the fairfax county board of supervisors. >> reporter: tyson's transformation is already underway. construction of the new metro line the most eye catching sign of change. check out these images, examples of street scapes, pocket parks and plazas that will some day be part of the tyson's redevelopment. contained in a 250 page design guideline manual just approved by the fairfax county board of supervisors. >> we are transforming what has been a commercial and retail area into a livable community where people will live, work, play, and the guidelines will -- they do provide some examples of how that could look. >> the book spotlights urban design in other parts of the country that could serve as a model for tyson's developers. other guidelines get specific. here is the preferred streetlight and this shows the type of park bench, trash can and bike rack strongly encouraged for the tyson's east area. in tyson's central, it's a different style. >> it's going to be a hybrid for a long time, we always recognize that each of the different areas have its own characteristics, personality and it's own sort of flavor. redevelopment is moving ahead around the sheraton hotel. jay klug's company is at work here, landowners and developers will use the guideline to create different identities in tysons. >> there will be distinct neighborhoods in tysons, without having real disjointed property by property. >> still, those who work around tysons say it's often hard to imagine the green, pedestrians friendly urban downtown that county leaders envision. >> it's not walkable, no. it's not walkable. >> do you believe that day is coming? >> i wacan't see it yet. >> reporter: the designs take years to become reality. the total transformation won't be complete until 2050. a plan was designed to take advantage of four new metro stations being built in tysons. 70% of the projected growth will be within a half mile of the stations. can you take a look at the plan if you log on to nbcwashington.com and search tysons corner. there's a proposal to install cameras on school bus stop signs to catch drivers who brakt law. more than 1600 drivers drove right past school buses with activated stop signs. some of the buses are equipped with cameras outside, if someone is caught passing the bus they're sent a letter. there's no enforcement. there's a debate over how much drivers should be fined. >> as far as i'm concerned right now, it's not worth the paper it's printed on, it's an accident waiting to happen. and i just don't want to see that. >> we're working with the police department and with judges here in montgomery county, to try to work out how large the fine should be. >> initially the county counsel proposal was to fine drivers $250 for passing a school bus. now they're looking at a fine of $100. coming up, friends racing to rescue a man buried in an avalanche. it was all caught on tape. it hasn't happened in six years, why a solar storm could create some confusion for drivers today. and countdown to super bowl. we're following breaking news out of texas an armed man was detained outside the home of former president george wchltd bush. he told the secret service agents he was contacted spiritually to pick up a package from the bush house. neither mr. or mrs. bush were home at the time. now, to doug for a check on our forecast. >> a nice evening out there, you could see the shot, beautiful shot this evening. take a look at some of the monuments out there right now. 55 degrees at the airport, as of 6:00, that number is starting to fall off just a little bit, most areas right now into the 40s and overnight tonight. 34 i think in the district, 29 in gaithersburg, 27 in frederick, and down toward northern virginia, manassas coming in with a temperature around 27. it will be on the cool side when you wake up tomorrow morning. today we were in the 50s and lower 60s, tomorrow we'll be in the upper 40s to lower 50s. we will see sunshine early, and then those clouds will move on in across parts of the area. you want to watch unite for that. right now the storm system is down toward texas. down around dallas and houston. a lot of rain associated with that storm, it will start to move our way tomorrow, i think it will get here during the day on thursday into the day on friday. that's when you will need those umbrellas once again. the extended forecast coming up in a couple minutes. something else to talk about, you may be able to see those a little bit in our area. >> i hope we can, those things are fascinating. we're talking about a solar storm sending charged particles toward earth. and we're told they could disrupt your gps device. there's some video here of the storm which started on sunday. scientists say the radiation began hitting the earth at about 6:00 this morning, and that it will last all day. it is the biggest solar storm in six years. scientists say it should not cause any other problems except perhaps with your gps devices. final preparations are underway for the space shuttle discovery to join the collection of the national artifacts of the smithsonian. the shuttle will be flown on the back of a 747 in april. the final details aren't set yet. but there may be a flyover above the nation's capital as discovery makes its way to its final home in northern virginia. a formal welcome ceremony is planned for april 19th in chantilly. another head coach is on his way out, so we're going to see new wizards head coach randy whittman as he tells us how he plans to flip the script. alex ovechkin reacts to his suspension. and a prince gets a king's ransom from a baseball time but not the nats. so another one down bites the dust. and you know, nobody ever wants to get fired. in flip's case, he has a guaranteed contract. he's getting paid next year. he may as well. he didn't want to leave his house for a while. >> things weren't working. >> yeah, he really was dealt a bad hand when he got to washington. nothing went as planned from the gilbert arenas gun craziness to a 2-15 start this season. saunders leads the wizards with a record of 31-130. it's the worst winning percentage by a coach who coached in at least 150 games in franchise history. the poor guy didn't have a chance. he came here with a veteran team expecting to make a deep playoff run. last night the wizards were down by 30 at half time in philadelphia. that was the final straw. the wizards lack of effort and penchant for getting blown out left ernie grunfeld with no choice. >> i don't know if the players were responding the way we thought they should have been for the first quarter of the season, and we felt like a different voice was needed to do some things a little different. and maybe to play a little bit of a different style than we had been playing. >> is this a happy day, no. a good man walked out the door today and it's always hard. >> if i didn't think that this team had any positive ahead of it, i would have walked too. i believe that this team does have a lot of positive. i'm not the miracle maker here. we've got to change our outlook on how we play, can't live with it if you're going out there and going through the motions. knowing that i'm a young guy and they're supposedly supposed to develop me, i'm going to get this no matter what kind of effort on the floor. that's got to change. randy whittman the wizards interim head coach. he was part of that staff, so it's going to be interesting to see how these young players respond to him. they have eight players in their first or second season, have you to play some of the young guys. >> and that's flip saunders who is still on staff? >> yeah, he's still here as well. >> does he stay on through the rest of the season? i mean, the same owner brought in a new coach pretty quickly, when he changed with the caps? >> that's a good question, my guess is things are going so badly right now, nobody would want to come into this mess at this point. they would rather wait until the end of the season. >> they're going to blow it up. it's not going to be pretty. it was fun to dream, wasn't it? prince fielder, one of baseball's top sluggers. the dream is over. fielder has agreed to a nine-year $214 million contract with detroit. he's still dreaming. the tigers were in stealth mode on this one, no one thought they were even in the mix. the nats and o's both talking with scott boris. fielder hit 38 homers with 128 rbi in milwaukee last season. the nationals now plan to use adam laroche and mike morse at first base. capitals hosting the defending stanley cup champion boston bruins without alex ovechkin tonight. the suspension runs until february 4th, which means it runs through all-star break. today he said if he's suspended he's not playing in the all-star game. the biggest healthy name in the game not going to be at all-star weekend because of his suspension that seemed overly aggressive, the caps were expecting punishment for ove after this hit. they were expecting one game, not three. i was disappointed, actually. most things, it's going to be like that. my game is played -- i didn't think it was a dirty hit. he don't get hurt. he doesn't feel that because he's a suspended player, he doesn't feel like he deserves to be there. so he's not going to go. he doesn't want to be a distraction to the event. >> my heart is not there. i love the game. it's a great event, i love to be there, i'm suspended. i feel i'm not deserving to be there right now. if i'm suspended i have to be suspended. down in mobile, alabama, the redskins coaching staff get a head start on draft preparations. mike shanahan is coaching one of the team's senior bowls. the two qb's on shanahan's squad, arizona's nick foals and brandon wheeden. don't be surprised if you see one of them in burgundy and gold next season if shanahan likes what he sees down there. just being around the players and learning about their practice habits is invaluable for the redskins coaches. >> trying to evaluate all the players they have here, last year there were 83 people drafted from the senior bowl and every one of the blairs that was in the senior bowl was on an nfl team. there's a lot of bad players here that will get a chance to be in the nfl, like i mentioned, 83 people drafted, everybody was in camp. a lot of talent here. >> that's mike shanahan, the veteran of d.c. coaches now. he's the longest tenured head coach of any of the big four sports after just two seasons. >> wild times. there's about two weeks now before super bowl 46. it's going to air right here on nbc 4. and we have no shame whatsoever in begging you to watch. ♪ >> oh, yeah, we're going. >> all i have to say is, if that's how you're getting to indianapolis, you better leave tonight. >> if there was a top on that thing, it would be all right. we need an indianapolis forecast. we have kind of a -- we got dealt a bad hand here, in indianapolis instead of phoenix or miami. >> you're getting to go to the super bowl, i don't want to hear any complaints about where it is. >> good point. and we're looking forward to it, and we're looking forward to the giants doing what they did last time. even though there's no perfect season on the line. wouldn't that be something? >> it was five years ago, i was on the giants sideline for the game winning touchdown, it was absolutely amazing. >> i can only imagine. >> if it will be anything close to that -- >> that was a game. up next, hugo tops the list for oscar nominations, a look at the other films and actors in the running for the academy award. award. a new look into the whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! the final 45 hours of audio recordings that president kennedy secretly made while in office have now been released to the public she include a wide range of discussions including a chat with his children on october 10th, 1963 in the oval office. he introduced them to the soviet foreign minister. >> you can just open the door there. just say hello to my daughter and son. come in a minute and say hello. you you want to say hello to the minist minister? you want to say hello to john? >> there are also chats about vietnam, the 1964 democratic convention and other key events in the final days of hi presidency. the last one was made just two days before his death. the recordings were released today by the john f. kennedy library. the race is on for the oscar, the motion picture academy announced its academy award nominations this morning. two films jumped to the head of the pack. >> the artist. >> the makers of a silent film made plenty of noise this morning. >> we're happy, very happy. >> the artist won ten nominations. >> we made this film really by passion and with our hearts and never thought it was possible to go so high. >> the black and white homage to the silent movie era also earned a best actor nod and best actress nod. the most nominations of the day went to hugo. >> chances are that the best picture winner will be one of the two love letters to american cinema. >> moneyball. >> even with the change in voting procedures, seven other films still managed best picture nominations, including the decendents, steven spielberg's war horse and midnight in paris. >> a lot of different films connected with the academy members and that's why you saw movies like the tree of life and extremely loud and incredibly close in there with the expected ones like hugo, the artist and the help. >> the drama brought a best actress nod for viola davis. she's up against rooney mara, glenn close, michelle williams and meryl streep. it's meryl streep's record 17th oscar nomination. >> she has two academy awards, it's been almost 30 years since she's won. a lot of people think she's overdue for an oscar. >> reporter: now, george clooney is among desjardins's kpet tigs. >> i think it's going to be between them, there's also the potential for brad pitt to sneak in and win for moneyball. >> gary oldman or damian bashir. the oscars will be handed out february 26th. mark barger, nbc news. coming up tonight at 11:00, we have a crew on the way to resten where they are reports of a shooting near southlakes high school. also, how a piece of art that was stolen from a museum in france in the '80s ended up here in washington. and the new local app specially designed to fight crime in maryland. a group of buddies went snowmobiling in washington state, they had a perfect day. all of a sudden it was an avalanche. a guy just got off his snowmobile. you can see his buddy trying to warn him. but within seconds he was swept off his feet and buried. his friends raced to him, they started digging with their hands and shouting for people to get them shovels. one saving grace is they knew exactly where swanson was buried. they were able to dig them out p.m. he was not seriously injured because there was so much snow packed on him and around him, he was suffocating. he said he felt like someone froze h