now. this is more like the dead of winter rather than still, astronomically it's late autumn. right now 27 at national airport. but it is only in the teens. most areas outside the beltway. d closer to washington right near the beltway and inside the beltway, just in the low 20s, right around the bay, and eastern shore. it's only around 20 degrees. we do have windchills not as bad, though, as they were yesterday, but still even a little b of a breeze makes it feel like it's in the low teens in many areas. right now temperatures in the mountains of western maryland, westirginia in the teens and just near 20 around virginia's tidewater as well. we do have a clear sky here now. just a few clouds over western maryland. up in pennsylvania they're getting a few snow showers there. and here's today's forecast. sunny this morning, just a few clouds this afternoon. temperatures will stay below freezing until noontime. then by midafternoon reach the mid 30s. sunrise 7:14, sunset 4:46. a look at friday and into the weekend in ten minutes. ashl how is the traffic? >> out of maryland, major arteries, 95 a 270 all in great shape right now. here's the pace on 270 out of clarksburg. head lights are continuing down towards 9 belty. as you travel out of virginia along 395 northbound you're in the clear all the way acro the fort. just beyond seminary those head lights are continuing into the district. on the bottom side of the beltway as you make your way along, you will find the beltway is qui headed over towards the wilson bridge or springfield. joe and eun back to you. >> thank you, ashley. today, thousands of people will gher outside the white house for an annual holiday tradition. it is the lighting of the national christmas tree. president obama and the first family will light the tree on the ellipse. this year's celebration includes performances by hip-hop artist kamen, bbk and maroon 5. the ceremony officially kicks off at 5:00 right at the peak of rush hour, and just before that several streets will shut down to traffic. 17th street northwest between new york and constitution avenuewill be closed. 15th street will aso be closed between e street and constitution avenue. and parking restrictions ll also be in place along 15th and 17th streets, beginning at 6:00 this morning. those with tickets are being advised to take metro to the mcpherson square or farragut north station. tickets to the tree lighting are free but it now appears as if dozens of people are trying to sell them for big bucks. 13,000 tickets were distributed through the online lottery system last month. the national park service has strict rules that the tickets are not to be sold. however we did find some people trying to sell those tickets onlineor up to $100 apiece. >> before you submit your information, you have to rd the information that's in the rules that say that the tickets are not to be sold, that they're not to be made for profit. these tickets are to be free. the spirit is of the season, that they are free. they should not be sold. >> the park service admits it would be difficult, thgh, to prosecute any offenders. we're following breaking news from the uk. there are report this morning that convicted lockerbie bomber abdel basset al megrahi is close to death. he was released from a scottish prison last september because the doctor said he only had three months to live. he has terminal prostate cancer. but after his release the doctor said he could live for another decade. now sources are telling the british tabloid "the sun" that al megrahi is on his death bed with family by his side. al meghi served eight years of a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 as it flew from london to new york. 270 pele were killed. firefighters in prince george's county were busy after a massive fire broke out at a home in buoyy. this happened at normal school road. we don't know how that fir broke out but we do know that the family of five did make it out alive and unharmed. however, their family pet was killed i the blaze. we'll have a live report from buoy coming up in the next hour or so. and in montgomery county, investigators are looking into what caus a huge fire at a mansion in potomac. news 4's john schriffen reports the firefighters had more than just the fire to worry about. they also had to battle mother nature. >> reporter: chopper 4 captured this fast-moving fire that completely engulfed the first and second floors of this expensive mansion in potac, maryland. montgomery county fire and rescue said it happened around 5:20 wednesday evening on query road. the couple renting this house dinot wish to go on camera but said all four ack pants and the dog made it out okay. but fire officials said it took about an hour to get the thick smoke, and fire under control. >> the weather conditions played complete havoc on firefighting activities. it makest very hard coupling hose and uncoupling hose, get water out of this and it freezes and it provides, if you will, a hazard. >> more than a dozen fire trucks took over this wealthy neigorhood all night which left residents coming home from work worried. >> this olneighborhood has no fire hydrants. there are no water so we have to rely on the fire, you know, trucks. >> reporter: but firefighters came prepared with an elabore water transportation system. at the closest water location, nearly a quarter of a mile away, tankers loaded up the water, then on scene poured it into a dump site that there was always enough on hand to put out the blaze. fire officials now want this scene to be a lesson to others. >> one, check the smoke alar. two, make sure you have an escape plan. and three, we are now entering one of the worst times of the year right now with respect to cold weath, and we usually have a lot of fires, unfortunately, during this type of weather. >> the estimated damage is about $1 million. now at this point fire officials are not sure where or how the fire started. but everything is under investigation. here in potomac, news 4. one person is dead and another in critical condition after a car hit them and then the driver took off. it happened around 5:00 last night along walker mill road in district heights. police say a group of people was crossing county road to walker mill road when a car hit two of them and then sped off. the area where they were hit is very poorly lit, and six overhead street lights are out, as well. police say witnesses d see the car that drove off. they are looking for a gold-colored early 1990s honda accord, with extensive front e dage. republicans are calling for more debate before voting on "don't ask, don't tell." the senate postponed a test vote on the military policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military. democrats say they want to hold more discussions with republicans but some gop members say they feel the legislation needs more open debate. a vote to extend tax breaks could come as early as next week. many believe president obama gave away too much leverage to republicans by agreeing to cut taxes for all americans. the agreement would extend the cuts for at least two years. this week vice president joe biden s been on capitol hill trying to work out a compromise. meanwhile, the president is encouraging debate. >> i think democrats are looking at this bi, and they've already had a whole bunch of them who said, this makes sense. and i ink the more they look at it, the more of them are gointo say this makes sense. >> at least 50 democrats have signed a letter opposed to the legislation. some evenhreatened a filibuster to delay the vote. >> our time is 5:08. we have 26 degrees. ahead, what an orioles player said about the president that's raising some eyebrows this morning. >> plus the officers involved in the cheating scandalt a local police academy fighting back. and next the roaring 20s are sticking around this morning. some areas a even falling into the teens. weather and traffic are next. time for weather and traffic on the 1s early on this thursday morning. good morning, i'm meteorologist tom kierein. right now, th coldest morning of this late autumn, early winter season. right now, down into the teens in most areas. it's 27 at national airport but that's on the warmer waters of the potomac river. but just a few hundred feet away from the waters, it's down to just near 20 degrees and teens in the rural areas. windchills are down into the low to mid teens with even a light wind around five to ten miles an hour. which is what we have now. and we'll have lighter wind today and lots of sun. highs only mid 30s. windchills, 0. and tonight increasing clouds. not as cold tomorrow morning, and then warmer weather as we get into the weekend. looks like rain likely on sunday. a look into next week at 5:21. ashley, how's traffic? >> we do have a couple of issues this early morning. it's just a disabled vehicle but it's there nonetheless. southbound lesville at university that was blocking the far right side of the roadway there. elsewhere around the region as you make the trip on east/west highway at 17 they're doing some water main work. so because of that there's going to be some icy conditions. what we're looking at here is going to be 95 northbound out of newington up towards the belty no problem. you can see that the hov over towards the far left is startg to pick up volume headed to springfield but no problem along 395. we're running delay free on vre, marc and metro this morning. >> thank you very much, ashley. >> 26 degrees, ahead on "ne 4 today," what a d.c. staple may soon be closing its doors. >> also a cer attack on sarah palin. why she says she's being targeted by wikileaks. >> and next new developments in that cheating scandal at a local police academy. ♪ ♪ you can find your feet and you can find your way ♪ ♪ you can find yourself in bed at the end of the day ♪ ♪ you can find some fun on a tropical isthmus ♪ ♪but you'll never find my... ♪ you can find it in your heart to be patient with me ♪ ♪ you can find a new star for the top of the tree ♪ ♪ i don't mean to be coy and i don't mean to be vicious ♪ ♪ but you'll never find my christmas ♪ just shake it. 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["stir it up" playing] stir up a smile with hershey's syrup. 5:15. here's a look at the top stories we're following this morning. thousands of people will gather on the ellipse tonight when president obama lights the national christmas tree. ticks to the event were distributed last month through an online lottery. a former student at laurel high school is being banned -- is behind bars this morning, that is, for allegedly plotting to blow up a military recruiting center. investigators say that antonio rtinez drove an suv with what he thought was a bomb to an armed services center outside baltimore. the device was actually a fake given to him by an undercover fbi agent. there are reports that lockerbie bomber abdel basset al megrahi is close to death. al megrahi was released from prison last sepmber because a doctor said he only had three months to live. he was convicted in the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 with 270 people were killed. a public memorial service for elizabeth edwards has been scheduled for saturday in raleigh, north carolina. the wife of former presidential candidate and u.s. senator john edwards died on tueay, six years after doctors diagnosed with her breast cancer. two former prince george's county police training commanders who were transferred after cheating scandal are now suing to get their jobs back. according to "the washington post," the officers have accused rmer chief roberto hylton of wanting to ignore the problems for political reasons. after raising questions about their class, the two training officers were briefly suspended and then transferred to another departments. an investigation is currently under way into what happened, this comes just days after hylton was fired by new county executive rushernbaker. sarah palin says she now knows why wikileaks targeted her. the former alaskan governor told abc news, described a cyber attack on her political action committee website as retaliation for exercising her first amendment rights. last week palin called the founder of wikileaks julian assange, quote, an anti-american with blood on his hands. she made the statent after wikileaks released tusands of secret government documents. palin aides said that they moved fast to keep hackers from doing any damage ther website. >>and this morning, wikileaks hackers are claiming responsibility for targeting a number of popular credit card websites. mastercard, visa, paypal and a swiss bank are all reported all did report cyber attacks yesterday. someustomers couldn't even logon to the sites. last week each website stopped processing donations to wikileaks after it released those government reports. hackers called their takedown operation payback. a u.s. governor says he is headed to north korea for diplomacy talks. new mexico governor bill richardson will visit north korea next week. he's a former ambassador to the united nations, and served as a roving diplomatic trouble shooter. his trip comes two weeks after the north launched an artillery strike on a south korean island, killing four people. north korea's kim long ill made diplomacyefforts of his own. he met today in his capital ci with china's top foreign policy leader. today the ntsb is putting booster seats safety under the microscope. they're hosting a public forum and therere reports they could recommend wholesale changes to the way we think about strapping children in. the board is asousing the meetings as a reminder to parents to strap in children, even if they are on airplanes on this busy travel season. baltimore orioles outfielder luke scott is in some trouble for comments he made about president obama. the orioles slugger told yahoo! sports that he is convinced the commander in chief is t an american citizen. he says that the president continues to dodge requests of presenting his birth certificate, even though it's been made public multiple times. the orioles have already put out a statement saying his comments do not reflect the opinion of the organization. the albert haynesworth saga goes on. he is now appealing his season-ending suspension. the 'skins were back on the field for the first time since the surprising announcemt of his four-game season-ending ban. and now we've learned that head coach mike shanahan made the decision and that owner dan synder did not play a role in that move. shanahan spoke to reporters and said the move to end haynesworth season was anot too difficult. >> i ally had to pretty good relationship with him. it wasever argumentative. pretty good for the most part. a lot of drama. you know, when someone dictates when they'll go in, when they won't go in, you say enough is enough. >> next up for the ainsworth-less redskins, home game again the buccaneers on sunday. a beer staple in the district with an unrivalled selection of beer may be closing. the brickskeller on 22nd street northwest has been around since 1957. the owner says the bar will probably not open next year, but has not said whether the bar is being sold. the family that owns brickskeller also runs regional food and drink rfd in chinatown. the brickskeller has about 1200 different beers on its menu. enough to get it listed in the guinness book of world records. around the world this morning, wild ather is creating major problems this morng. this video, take a look at this, comes from australia. relentless rain there is causing widespread flooding, forcing people out of their homes, and in some cases forcing their homes themselves to be moved. it has rained for ten straht days there. far from australia, more rain and high waters forced the panama canal to shut down. the canal closed duringedday yesterday it is, of course, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world collect being the atlantic and pacific oceans. this is the first time the canal has been closed since the u.s. invasion in 1989. closer to home now, winter has come early for people living along the great lakes from ohio to the northeast. this video comes from cleveld, which is blanketed with snow this morning. more of the same in new york, where there is a lot of shoveling going on in syracuse. more than 30 inches of lake-effect snow have fallen there since the weekend. >> yikes. >> rough go of it. a lot of water in those lakes to be turned into now. >> that's right. and the lakes are wide open. no, they're not frozen yet, and a lot of evaporation, lake-effect ow machine continues there this morning. in fact some places north and west of syracuse have had four feet of snow. here, well, having snow but it certainly is cold. down into the tns in much of the region. many of the rural areas down into the low teens right now. closer to washington in the 20s, as well as around the bay. lots of sun, lighter wind today, clouding up later tonight. a cloudy start to friday, mid 20s. afternoon highs tomorrow low 40s. mostly cloudy friday, highs mid 40. it does look like a chilly rain for the 'skins game on sunday. this rain may end as a bit of some paing snow showers sunday night and aew flurries monday as much colder air surges in on gusty northwest winds. it will be frigid on tuesday and remaining cold thughed in week next week. ashley linder, good morning. how's our traffic now? >> good morning. due to some earlier water main work along eastest highway west of briggs we've got icy conditions. as you travel southbound, it was a disabled vehicle along the right side. not going to add any time but you do see flashing lights to get beyond it. out of springfield, 95 northbound volume on the increase up towards newington. you're going to be on t brakes before that headed up towards 123. we do not have any big issues to talk about right now, along 66. you'll find that for the mst part, we're at speed right now as you travel through the manassas area doors the capital beltway. vre, metrorail, and marc trains are all runng on time this early morning. joe and eun, back to you. >> ashley, thank you. >> our time right now is 5:23. coming up, the motives behind the hollywood murder mystery. who police say killed a high profile publicist. >> also a local mans family pleadingor his release. why he's been heldprison in cuba. >> and next, what the royal couple is doing that shows their, they won't be marriefor a few more months but the royal couple is already undergoing marital counseling. british newspapers are reporting that prince william and his fiancee kate middleton are being counseled by senior british clergy on how to handle marital pressures. that typically includes discussions on how to deal with disagreements and how to prepare for parenthood. the couple has been together for eight years now, and will wed on april 29th at london's westminster abbey. police in beverly hills think they may now finally know whourdered a popular hollywood publicist. ronni chasen was shot to death in her car last month while heading home from a movie premiere. now police say she was murdered by on ex-convict who was likely trying to rob her. the suspected gunman is the same man who later shot and killed himself when police went to question him in the lobby of his apartment building. investigators say ballistics showed the gun he was holding was the very same gun used to kill chasen. 5:26 is the time now. 28 degrees. still to come, a homegrown terror plot. what federal investigators say a baltimore man had planned. >> plus new repos this morning on the health of the lockerbie bomber. >> and next a busy night for firefighters. two raging fires within hours [ mom ] my son only wanted one toy this year. i want a bosan 4000. mom ] the one no one could get. toy stores are reporti long lines and empty shelves. a robosan 4000. 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[ laughs ] near death. this morning reports the lockerbie bomber's health is failing. plus a smiling face of terror. investigators say this maryland man plotted to attack a military building, and how they stopped him. and devastating fires. two homes devoured by flames within hours of each other. good morning, welcome back to "news 4 today," i'm eun yang. >> good rning to you, i'm joe krebs. this is thursday, the 9th day of december. let's take a live look outside. one would ha to say it's a little cool out there this morning. 27 degrees. the smoke or the steam is freezing in the air out there. >> i know. a little cool. >> a little cool. >> yeah. >> scraping frost off the windshield. and all around most of the region, this is the coldest morninof the season so far. we are down into the teens, in ch of the region. especially the rural areas. closer to washington, right near the beltway, it's oly near 20 degrees. downto washington, and throughout much of the areas inside the beltway, it's in the mid 20s. as you get toward the bay, it's cold in southern maryland. but right now onhe waters it's in the mid 20s. eastern shore, weather watchers reporting only the upper teens ere. also weather watchers checking in around the blu ridge, shenandoah valley in the upper teens. a lighter wind but even with a light breeze the windchills are in the teens right now. and outf the mountains, only in the teens. in western maryland, and west virginia where they have a few clouds, virginia tidewater only near 20 degrees. is cold air mass stretches from the atlantic seaboard all the way to the midwest. we will have highs today just in the mid 30s with lots of sun. sunrisat 7:15. a look at friday and the weekend in ten minutes. ashley linder how is our traffic now. >> good morning. a problem out of bailey's crossroadst columbia pike. we've got water across the roadway. police have not yet gotten to the scene but safe to say it's a broken water main. 95 headed northbound we are on the brakes. hov in the center of your screen is heavier than the main line. both slow towards newgton and into springfield. the trip along 270 headed southbound from 109,eaded down towards the truck scales we are below speed this early morning. no marc train delays to report, vre isinreat shape, as is metro. joe and eun, bck to you. >> thanks very much, ashley. a family of five is displaced after a gigantic fire stroyed their bowie home. take a look at this video. it happened overnight in the 8600 block of normal school road. it is the second major fire in our area in just a matter of hours. news 4's tracee wilkins is live in bowie with the latest. tracee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. this is what this home looks like now. the family did make it out safely. as you pointed ou but, when it gets this cold, this is the time of year that unfortunaty we see house fires increasing. for numbers of reasons. this fire on normal school road in bowie is still under investigati investigatn. we're told three children and two adults made it out safely but the family pet died in the fire. yesterday evening in montgomery county in potomac, a large home was engulfed in flames. this happened in a neighborhood with no hydrants. fire officials say the cold weather didn't help. >> weather conditions payed complete havoc on firefighting activities. it makes it very hard coupling hose and uncouplinghe hose, get water out of this and it freezes, and it provides a slip and trip hazard. >> again, the causes for both of those fires are still under investigation. but the bottom line is, that folks really need to be careful this time of year. there's so many things that can lend to a possible home fire, if you are using a space heater, specifically the older kind without the automatic shutoff, be very careful. even with the newer spac heaters, watch where you place them and make sure you're in the room with them when they're on. watch the christmas lights and also the christmas trees. make sure you keep the trees watered, et cetera. definitely this is the time of year folks need to be very conscious. tracee wilkins live this morning. backo you. >> good reminders. tracee, thank you. we are following breaking news from overseas thismorning. there are reports that convicted lockerbie bomber abdel basset al megrahi is close to death. al megrahi was released from a scotsh prison last september because the doctor said he had only three months to live. he has terminal prostate cancer. but after his release the doctor said he could live for another ten years. now, sources are telng the british tabloid "the sun" newspaper that al megrahi is on his death bewith his family by his side. al megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 as it flew from london to new york. 270 people were killed. the former student of laurel high school is behind bars this morning accused of plotting to blow up a military recruiting center. 21-year-old antonio martinez was arrested outside of baltimore yesterday. investigatorsay he drove an suv with what he thought was a bomb to an armed services center in catonsville, maryland. when he tried to detonate it he was taken into custody. the device was actually a harmless fake given to him by an undercover fbi agent. authorities say the public was never in danger. >> i heard this boom, you know. i thought maybe it was just -- but when i got ready to leave, this whole parkingot was swarming with police. >> it's scary. it's close to home. so it's a very scary thing when it's that close to home. >> martinez drew the attentn of the fbi after telling people that he wanted to be a martyr for islam. a potomac woman is pleading for her husband's release. he's been held in a cuban prison for more than a year. she says he was helping to set up internet access for members of the jewish population there. he was arrested as he tried to return home. cuban officials have not officially charged him but they have accused him of being a spy. >> he is absolutely not a spy. i mean, that is so pposterous. and we need to bring him home. i wake up in the morning, and it's the first thing on my mind and it's the last thing on my mind at night. the unknowing is awful. it's awful. >> the state deparent released a statement saying it is using every channel tory and free allen gross. judy gross ss he has lost 90 pounds sce being imprisoned. a senate vote repealing "don't ask, don't tell" is on hold for now. senate democrats decided to postpone a test vote so they can holdurther negotiations with republicans. the policy bans gays from serving openly in the military. senate majority leader harry reid said he wantedto win the support of republican senator san collins of maine. she and other gop members support the repeal but want an open debate to address controversial issues in the legislatn. the white house hopes to regain the support of senate democrats as tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year. many in the president's party believe he gave away too mh to republicans by agreeing to an extension of all those cuts. the agreement would extend tax breaks to al americans, including those who make more than $250,000 a year for at least two years. this week, vice president joe biden haseen on capitol hl trying to work out a compromise meanwhile, the president is encouraging debate. >> i think democrats are looking at this bill, and you've already had a whole bunch of them who said, this makes sense. and i think the more they look at it, the more of them are going to say, this makes sense. >> a vote on extending the tax cuts could happen as early as next week. a memorial service for elizabeth edwards will be held this weekend. a family friend says shewill be honored in a public ceremony saturday at a church in raleigh, north carolina. the wife of former presidential candidate john edwards died on tuesday, six years after docto diagnosed her with breast cancer. mourners were asked to make donations to the ade/edwards foundation that was created in honor of edwards' son who died in a car crash when he was just 16 years old. >> 5:38 is your ti now. 26 degrees. reports outhat legendary soul singer is fighting her own battle with cancer. >> plus a holiday tradition. the first family gettingeady to fp the switch on the national christmas free. >> and if you'r begun of the lucky ones adding tothe list to see the ceremony, it is the coldest day o the season, so far. you better stay withs and get your latest on the weather and traffic. the moment you feel run down or achy nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum. get oscillo and feel like yourself again. osllococcinum, nip it in the bud. it is cold. good morning at 5:41, we are down into the teens in much of the region on this thursday morning, under a clear sky. thankfully we've got a generally calm wind. the winds, though, just around 5 to 10 miles an hour. brings windchills down into the teens. highs, mid 30s. thankfully, though, gentle winds. tomorrow a bit warmer after a cloudy start. mid 40 saturday, mostly cloudy. looks like ra likely, looks like a wet day for the game at fedex field. certainly going to be wet and chilly. might even end as a few snow showers. the look into next week in ten minutes. ashley linder how is our traffic? >> out of fairfax county use caution out of bailey's controls roads headed for columbia pike. water was reported all across the roadway. 270 southbound fortunately no matter. it's just cold and slow leaving 109 headed down past the truck scales you're on the brakes. we had a brief accident at 118. at has been very quickly cleared and no delays left because of that. on 95 headed northbound, volume on the increase. woodbridge through reporten, heavier still, newington into springfield and here's the pace in the springfield interchange toward the beltway, along vre we have one delay 342 at ten minutes. >> ahead today, the new place where driverswill see speed cameras. >> also the generosity of a local community credited with helping save dozens of cats now in need of homes. >> and next few some people are trying to cash in on the national chr ♪ it comes along just once a year ♪ ♪ on ws rear, ahha humbug faces come and dear ♪ ♪ then appears at perfect christmas time. ♪ ♪ a tiny tree, christmas, tinsel, the lights ♪ ♪ the star that sings, top your tiny tree, yeah ♪ taking a look at your top stories this morning. a public memorial service for elizabeth edwards has been scheduled for saturday in raleigh, north carolina. the wife of former presidential candidate john edwards died tuesday, six years after doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer. police have arrested a former laurel high school udent who alledly tried to bomb a military recruiting center. investigators say that antonio martinez drove an suv with what he thought was a bomb to the center outside baltimore and then triedo detonate it. it was actually a fake, given to him by an undercover fbi agent. lockerbie bomber abdel basset al megrahi is reportedly, quote, close to death. al megrahi was released from a scottish prison last year because a doctor said he only had three months to live. he is convicted in the bombing of pan am flight 103 in which 270 people were killed. a vote to extend expiring tax breaks to occurext week. president obama's deal with republicans would allow tax breaks for all americans for the next two years. >> thousands of peoe will brave the bitter told tonight to watch president obama light the national christmas tree. it is an annual traditionthat started back in 1923. the ceremony begins at 5: tonight and just before that several streets will be shut down to traffic. 17th street northwest between new yorknd constitution avenues will be closed. 15th street will also be closed between e street and constitution avenue. parking restrictions will also be in place ong 15th and 17th streets all day long. and this morning crews will finish setting up the stage for tonight's big event. >> news 4's megan mcgraths on the ellipse this morning with a closer look at the preparations. pretty cold down there, megan? >> it is very cold down here. if you're headed down to the ceremony tonight to see the show you're going to definitely want to bundle up, very, very chilly and for a period of time you're going to have to just be in place for security reasons, so you're just ing to be standing there. you're not going to be ae to move around a whole lot. so keep that in mind and dress accordingly. now i'm joined by bill lyon with u. park police -- i'm sorry, park service, rather. talk a little bit about this year's program. and what folks can expect. >> well, it's the audience is rgeted for a little bit younger crowd. komen from chicago is the hip-hop artist and master of ceremonies. beyond that we have b.b. king, sarah boralis, songwriter and pianist, the talent, a 10-year-old miss evancho from "america's got talent" and a number of other people. so it's a wide range of talent. >> now everybody has to have a ticket. you can't just show up to this event. and, you're going to be in place for aheil. kind of talk about that, and in light of the temperatures. >> absolutely. dress warmly. loweyour clothing. if you're going to wear long johns or something underneath so that you can trap some of your body heat. when you're sitting, when you're sitting for abt an hour and a half, you're going to lose body heat. keep that in mind. certainly bring gloves. you can bring hand warmers, whatever you can to keep yourself warm. think of layering yourself is really the best way to do it. >> and you can get in place beginning at what time? >> yo can be getting in place at 3:00. for the tickets on the 15th street side. for the standing room only on the 17th street side, everybody has to go through a magnetometer. >> thanks for joining us. you've got to be in your spot by 4:30, and you have to stay in place until thshow ends at 6:00. so definitely, definitely bring a blanket, dress appropriately. back to you all in the studio. >> it's going to be cold. megan mcgrath live on the ellipse. >> to reiterate you must have a ticket to attend tonight's ceremony. it now looks like dozens of people who won those tickets for freere now trying to sell them for big bucks. 13,000 tickets were distributed through an online lottery system last month. the national park service has strict rules that the tickets are not to be sold for anything. however we found some people trying to sell the tickets for up to $100 apiece. the park service says lottery winners do agree not to sell the tickets, but they admit it would be difficult to really prosecute any offenders. and we'r talking about the tree lighting tickets on our fabook site. what do you think about people trying to sell their national christmas tree lighting tickets conline for as much as $100 apiece? well, joanna miller posted boo, nasty, nasty. we take that to mean she disapproves of people doing that. let us know wh you think. just go to "news 4 today" on facebook and enter a comment or a rant or whateve police are looking for the driver of a car that killed one person, and seriously injured another, then drove off. the accident happened around 5:00 last night along walker mill road in district heights. news 4's jackie bensen hasmore, including what kind of car police are looking for now. >> reporter: shoes and other clothing remained in the road where the fatal impact occurred. police say that about 5:00 p.m. a small group of people had crsed county road in district heights and were attempting cross the ramp to walker mill road, when two of them, a man and a woman, were struck by a car. they found two individuals lying the rdway unconscious. they were transported to a local hospital where one is listed in critical condition, the other has passed away. >> reporter: police believe the victims were coming from a nearby library, a little less than a mile away. the intersection where the collision occurred is very dark, and made more so by the fact that a half dozen of the overhead street lights that are supposed to illuminate it are ou >> just drive carefully, especially in poorly lit areas. if you are walking home, make sure you're wearing some sort of light clothing so individuals driving could see you. >> reporter: police say some witnesses did see the vehicle and were able to describe it as a gold colored honda accord, an early '90s model. investigators say it shoulhave extensive front-end damage. anyone who sees thatar is asked to call prce george's county police. jackie bensen, "news 4 today." a northern virginia animal shelter is trying to find homes for mre than 160 cats. authorities say a woman hoarded all of the animals in her annandalehome. the fairfax county animal shelter says it does not have space to keep them all. community members have donated money and other resources to help care for the cats a g them ready for adoption. many of them will be ready for adoption in the next few weeks. >> nice of the community to come together to helphose cats out. >> it is. finding homes is going to be difficult. 160 cats. >> that's going to be tough. tom, tell us about the tough weather. can barely stand it anymore. >> one more day of incredibly cold weather, and then it actually is going to be warming up a bit tomorrow into the weekend. let's look forward to that. right now, yes, you need to layer up this morning from washington's berry farm neighborhood to capital heights andsandy spring. a clear sky, 2759 national airport. so far this december we' running 5.2 degrees colder than average. onof our coldest decembers, early decembers in seven years. this is our coldest early december. right now it is down io the teens, in many locations. prince william county, manassas down to 12 degrees. out at dulles it's at9. andrews air force base only 23. and just near the low 20s in southern montgomery county. loudoun and frederick county in theteens. only teens to near 20 around blue ridge. and the windchills are in the teens, although the winds a lighter this morning. generally around 5 to 10 miles an hour. southern maryland is only 12. quantico's windchill 10 degrees right now. that's what it feels like when you step out. out of the mountains, in the teens, around virginia's tide water just near 20 degrees. a clear sky here. high pressure moving in will give us plenty of sunshine today, but a cold bus stop forecast. upper teens and low 20s here for the next several hours. even after sunrise, thankfully we'll have a light wind. today's forecast, afternoon highs, mid 30s. our sunrise, 7:15. sunset at 4:46. dy dawn tomorrow dn into the mid 20s. and we'll have our temperatures warming above 40, finally, on friday afternoon. after we get some sun back. and some clouds in the morning. then saturday ostly cloudy, mid 40s. like chilly rain likely sunday. then colder air surges in sunday eving. in fact, might even have some snow showers sunday night and promise on sunday. and windy and cold, fridged again as we get into next week. ashley linder, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning, onhe brakes you go. 270 headed southbound, the truck scale passing 109 down towards the capital beltway. beltway itself is in relatively good shape but starting to hit the brakes from college park headed for the mormon temple. out of virgia, no big issues to report. here's the pace, a little congested. delays along 95 headed northbound. very heavy from the prince william parkway headed up through woodbrid and into springfie springfield. along 66 in the eastbound direction, well, we did he no major delays to report. a little bit of volume leaving massas towards the beltway and traveling along the rails we do have a vre delay, 322 is running ten minutes late. back to you guys. >> thank you, ashley. >> the baltimore-washington parkway is the latest local roadway to get speed cameras. according to "the washington post" those ceras were put up this week just south of i-695 the baltimore beltway in anne arundel county. the parkway is being widened in that area so the posted work zone speed limit is 55 miles an hour. those caught exseeding the speed limit by 12 miles an hour will receive a warning up until december 29th. after that it will be a $40 fine. a murder mystery may finally be unraveling in beverly hills. ronni chasen was shot to death in her car last month while heading home from a movie premiere. now police say she was urd dered by an ex-con who waslikely trying to rob her. the suspectedgunman harold martin smith later shot and killed himself in the lobby of his apartment building when police came to question him. instigators say the gun he used to kill himself was the same gun used to kill chasen. wesley snipes is s to start a federal prison sentence for failing to file his taxes. he was convicted for failing to file federal tax returns from 1999 to 2001. he faces a maximum sentence of three years in a pennsylvania federal prison. snipes says he is, quote, a victim of shady accountants, and sayshe irs is trying to make a high profile example of him. there are reports aretha franklin has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. the singer canceled all her shows through may but has not said why. last week franklin acknowledged that she underwent surgery in november. family members tell "usa today" she's doing better than doctors expected but would not discuss her illness. if you think an occasional cigarette will not hurt you, think again. a new report from the u.s. surgeon general says that even a small bit of so-called social smoking or even inhaling secondhand smoke could be enough to block your arteries and trigger a heart attack. regina benjamin says the 7,000 chemicals in each cigarette begin poisoning your body immediately. a private firm hired to turn around a troubled d.c. high school is out. the nonprofit firm friends of bedford has been running dunbar high school. the group was supposed to help increase security and order, giving students a better and safer place to learn. but recently the school has dealt with claims of gang violence. now interim school superintendent kia henderson and steven jacks, the school's former principal will once again lead the school. and live from d.c., it is the correspondents dinner. officials from the annual event have chosen saturday night live star seth myers to host the dinner. a ten-year veteran of "snl" is currently the host of weekend update. this isn't the first big gig myers has hosted. he was the emcee of the 2010 espy awards on espn. the dinner will be at the washington hilton on april 30th. what albert haynesworth said to one of his teammates following his suspension this week. >> also next at 6:00 a.m. supporrs of the wikileaks fire the next shots in what's becoming a cyber war. the financial companies and politicians ey are targeting now. >>6 degrees right now. we'll have a live look at our forecast, and the traffic when "news 4 today" continues at 6:00 a.m. stay with us. okay, which piure for the card? hellllllo...that one, everyone looks great. 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