montgomery, arlington, fairfax, and prince george's counties as well as much of maryland and virginia and west virginia. some of high spots in virginia, some of the mild air has moved in. petersburg, 50 degrees. 41 degrees northern part of the valley in winchester, 37. martinsburg at 41. some of the milder air already sweeping up the shenandoah valley. blue ridge east a little bit colder. fredericksburg at 43. southern maryland near 40 degrees, as is much of the northern neck and parts of the eastern shore, the lower part. we've got a few high clouds drifting over us now. we do have this warming trend. yesterday's highs near 50. these are the highs yesterday into today. these are the highs expected this afternoon. into the low to mid-60s throughout much of virginia. around the district and into maryland, upper 50s to around 60 degrees. we're not alone. much of the eastern half of the nation going to be well above normal throughout the rest of the afternoon. not record heat. the record high is 73. we'll get up to near 60 by midafternoon in the metro area with a lot of sun. evening planner in ten minutes. here's a look at friday traffic. good morning, danella. >> good morning. the crash at the intersection of woodfield road and ridge road in damascus involves a single vehicle into a pole. police were on the scene there, and they still are. you can see the flashing lights behind the vehicle here. just waiting to get the car towed out of the roadway. if you are able to get out of this intersection, please follow police direction as well as use caution as you're making your commute this morning. chopper 4 is live over the beltway right now. this is the outer loop you're looking at, the tail lights at bw parkway. and the inner loop as well bustling along. not really seeing any accidents for you. no big delays at this time. going to keep watching the roadways and let you know if that shifts. and on the rails, traveling on the marc train, a minor delay. this is on camden south train number 841. you have a six-minute delay. metro and vre aren't reporting delays at this time. joe and eun, back to you. >> danella, thanks very much. the big story this morning, a political fall from grace. the son of a well-liked politician admitted to using city money to fund a lavish lifestyle. harry thomas jr. resigned his d.c. council post and in a few hours will plead guilty in federal court. melissa mollet is live in northeast outside thomas' home with the latest developments. melis melissa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. i've been keeping a close eye on the house all night. some people have come in. a couple people have left. looks like family friends. we know his wife, at least one child is inside. no signs to this point of thomas himself. you might remember this house being raided back in december by both the fbi as well as the irs. you remember they seized a luxury vehicle as well as some other items from inside the home. once thomas was charged thursday, it took just a few hours to step down from his post on the city council. the 51-year-old democrat said he will plead guilty today for stealing more than $350,000 of government funds and filing false tax returns. the money was supposed to go to youth sports programs in the district. thomas was previously accused of spending it on a luxury car, travel, and rounds of golf. he's the first council member in recent history to resign for criminal reasons. thomas sent out a statement through his lawyers on thursday night. it said in part, "i made some very serious mistakes. i was wrong. i want to apologize to those i have let down." he is scheduled to be in district court in washington at 11:15 this morning. if he is indeed found guilty of everything, the total amount of jail time he could face would be three years behind bars. back to you. >> melissa mollet live in northeast this morning. melissa, thank you. harry thomas jr. was born and raised in the district. he graduated from woodrow wilson high school. he holds a degree in public relations and marketing from bowie state university. thomas served as the advisory neighborhood commissioner and was elected to the ward 5 council chair in 2006 with 85% of the vote. his father harry thomas sr. occupied the same seat from 1987 to 1999. thomas jr. is not the only district leader under scrutiny right now. mayor vincent gray and council chair kwame brown are both involved in their own federal investigations. the mayor is being investigated for allegedly giving campaign cash and a city job to a mayoral candidate in exchange for attacks on then mayor adrian fenty. brown is under investigation for spending $300,000 in campaign money back in 2008. d.c. residents say corruption seems to be a part of politics these days. >> i'm really sad about it honestly. it's a sad situation when you vote people into office and then they abuse your trust like that. >> well, it's what politicians do, it seems to me. these days at least. a lot of people are getting caught up in corruption and things. >> ahead at 6:30, reaction from other district leaders, including some facing their own investigations. republican presidential hopeful jon huntsman picked up a major newspaper endorsement this morning. the "boston globe" endorsed the former utah governor, snubbing mitt romney who was the governor of massachusetts. huntsman is putting all of his campaign chips on new hampshire. during his 157th event, he slammed romney for leaving new hampshire for south carolina. rick santorum ran into a group of combative college students in new hampshire. one student asked him why does he oppose gay marriage? >> how does it affect you personally that two men and two women get married? >> the law for 230 years was that marriage is between a man and a woman. >> the audience and santorum went back and forth several times. santorum left the stage as students booed. santorum has raised $2 million since his strong showing in iowa. and santorum is shrugging off reports that the vote count from the iowa caucuses may be wrong. it appears not to change the fact that he and mitt romney were nearly tied. santorum tells fox news that an iowa republican official says the two cases in question nearly cancel each other out. virginia governor bob mcdonnell wants his party to drop plans for a voter loyalty pledge at the gop presidential primary in march. virginia primaries are open, which means people from both parties can vote. republicans wanted anybody who voted for a gop candidate to sign a pledge to vote for the same candidate in november. many believe that will backfire and lead to low voter turnout. the issue will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting. today we'll get a better picture of how the economy is faring. the labor department is ready to release its jobs report for november. some 150,000 jobs were added last month, but they expect the unemployment rate to jump from 8.6% to 8.7%. that higher unemployment rate could actually be a positive sign because it might mean that more people have resumed their search for work. the government only counts people looking for jobs in their unemployment1 the new space g! weather and traffic on the ones at 6:11 this friday morning. good morning. tom kierein in stormcenter 4. here are your temperatures as you head out the door. it's near 30 degrees through much of the region. mid and upper 30s in washington and the chesapeake bay. as we look at what's been happening the last 12 hours, a few high clouds drifting over. they'll be with us from time to time through the rest of the day. sunrise at 7:27. 40s at 9:00. 50s by noon. 60 degrees during the afternoon. maybe a bit warmer across parts of virginia. here's your evening planner. cooler under a clear sky tonight. down in the low 40s by midnight. a look at changes on the way for the weekend. a look into next week too. that will be in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. if you're traveling along i-270, start to go see some delays. as you make your way southbound on i-270 past urbanna, heading towards clarksburg road, pretty slow trip. you'll start to see delays yet again once you make your way towards father hurley. watching these cars, they are hitting the brakes just a bit as you make your way southbound and head into rockville. not seeing any accidents on i-270 north or south. chopper 4 is live over the beltway. outer loop past route 1, you're in the clear so far, getting a little bit busy as you make your way towards new hampshire avenue. no accidents to report at this time. inner loop as you pass route 1, make your way towards greenbelt. you're in the clear. joe and eun, back to you. >> danella, thanks very much. ♪ 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 dog with a big will welcome back at 6:15 this morning. casey anthony's lawyers say they're worried about her safety after a new video surfaced online. her attorneys say she did not post that video diary, and instead somebody hacked into her computer. >> it's just a little surreal how much things have changed sin since july and how many things haven't changed. >> this video blog shows anthony, who now has short blond hair, talking about various topics but not mentioning her daughter caylee. anthony has been in hiding since being acquitted of caylee's murder. however, she does say she has a new companion, her dog she's adopted. her lawyers say, if someone hacked her computer, then they have her ip address, which could be all they need to find anthony. they say, if they find the hacker, they will pursue charges. internet experts say it's possible anthony accidentally posted the video online herself. she is currently at an unknown location in florida serving a year's probation for writing bad checks. the man suspected of killing an american teenager, natalee holloway, will stand trial for another murder in peru. joran van der sloot will admit to killing stephanie flors es ia hotel room in brazil. his attorneys say he was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome caused by the allegations against him in hollow holloway's disappearance. for the first time in four years, penn state football will start without jo paterno as head coach. penn state has hired bill o'brien as their head coach. he is the offensive coordinators for the patriots. he is best known for getting into an argument with tom brady about a month ago. he also coached for the redskins for 14 years and a stint as maryland's running backs coach. maryland terrapins fans can look forward to seeing this star running back in college park next season. running back wes brown just committed to university of maryland. brown is from baltimore, but he rushed for more than 1,300 yards and 22 touchdowns this past season while playing for good counsel high school. out of a tragedy comes an incredible story of survival. a dog is back with his family this morning after being trapped in an avalanche that killedis owner. meet ali. ali and his owners david and carrie gallard were cross-country skiing near cook city on saturday when the avalanche occurred. david gallard died. his wife survived. the family thought the dog died as well. but the welsh corgi showed up at the alpine hotel on wednesday. the family said having ali back really cheered them up. >> i was like what happened? she was like ali survived. >> it was a nice moment because we all had a moment of happiness. it was nice to share that. >> and rescue workers say ali was tired and hungry, but he'll be fine. now another dog, this one out in new mexico, has rather expensive taste. this bassett hound named tap coraline gulped down a woman's wedding ring. rachel atkinson takes her ring off when she goes to bed every night but couldn't find it one morning. she noticed that coraline was acting rather strangely and kept looking the other way and was considered immediately the suspect in the ring theft. after ten days, the ring didn't come out naturally. so she had surgery to get the ring out. now rachel has her ring back, but she keeps the ring hidden at night. good advice. >> she has good taste. she saw something valuable. put it in reach. >> it's a good thing she didn't keep it on her finger and have the dog chew her finger off. that would not be good. >> i take my ring off before i go to sleep too, but i put it up high. just so my kids don't hide it. could you imagine? i would never find it. >> your kids would go out and sell it. >> i know. a new study says brain function could start declineing in your mid-40s. >> oh, really? that's much earlier than researchers previously thought. researchers say the brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45 years old. previously research suggested cognitive decline at the age of 60. the study assessed the memory, vocabulary, and comprehension skills of 7,000 men and women ages 50 to 70 over ten years. a russian space probe is expected to fall to earth next week. it launched about two months ago on what was supposed to be a mission to one of mars' moons, but it got stuck in earth's orbit and will soon come crashing back down. the 14-ton spacecraft is expected to hit next sunday, but experts believe most of it will burn up in our atmosphere before it can reach the ground. i always love how they say most likely, you know, probably. 14-ton space probe. >> the rest of us are all stuck in earth's orbit too. how soon are we going to crash and burn? hopefully not too soon. here's tom with a look at the forecast. tom? >> here's capitol hill under a partly cloudy sky on this friday morning. pensively waiting for a warmup on the way that will be occurring later today. right now around the region, it's feeling like a january morning, but it won't be feeling like a january afternoon, i can guarantee that. right now it's near 30 in prince george's, montgomery, arlington, fairfax counties. in the district, mid-30s. mid-30s right near the bay. away from the waters, eastern shore, right near freezing. much of virginia, maryland, west virginia, most of the rural areas in the upper 20s and low 30s. in the cities, generally above freezing. last 12 hours we've had a few high clouds drifting in from the west and southwest. winds shifting into the southwest. that will bring in the warmth. sunrise at 7:27. by 9:00 into the 40s. noontime 50s and near 60 degrees around the metro area by early to midafternoon for a couple of hours a cross parts of virginia, may actually make it low to mid-60s. fredericksburg over towards charlottesville down to richard mond. later tonight under a clear sky, we'll be down into the 30s on saturday. tomorrow another cloudy day. sunday turning cooler. a lot of clouds around. highs in the 40s. sunday night into monday morning, some clouds around that may produce a few sprinkles south of the metro area. rain coming in wednesday into wednesday night and thursday morning. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. if you're traveling i-95 eastbound as you connect to bw parkway, we have a crash blocking the left lane. choppers en route to this accident now. still seeing the vehicle into the pole. this is in damascus. if you're at woodfield road and ridge road in that intersection, you are able to pass. police are still on the scene. i hope you can see them in the background there. follow police direction, use caution at that intersection. and on the rails, just a minor delay on the marc, brunswick east train number 872. your delay is just five minutes. joe and eun, back to you. >> thanks, danella. ♪ when life gets busy... there are days where you want to give your immune system some support. try airborne. each serving contains 14 vitamins, minerals and herbs including zinc, echinacea, ginger, and a blast of vitamin c. it's the easy, great-tasting way to help support your immune system. try airborne. in fast-acting effervescent formula, and new super-convenient chewable tablets! ahh... so much better than last year. 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[ growling ] never again. everyone deserves a great vacation at a great price. get on board a carnival cruise and get more fun for all. district for martin luther king jr. day. so i said, golly, i bought a ticket at that store. so i started, you know, immediately going through my tickets. and, of course, the numbers matched up, and i said, holy moly, this can't be right. >> but it was. 2012 is turning out to be a lucky year for at least one maryland man. warner ashby is a chauffeur from rorbgville. get this. he is not giving up his day job, so he may just be picking you up. i think our producer matt said he showed up at his own door to take him to the airport. he won $1 million in the virginia new year's millionaire raffle, and he told us initial le he didn't want his name getting out because he doesn't want his customers to stiff him on tips. ashby plans to visit his daughter and granddaughter in tennessee and then take a trip to hawaii. in ten days the country will celebrate martin luther king jr. day. this year it takes on sperb meaning right here in the district. this is the first year visitors will be able to visit the new king memorial since it was dedicated last fall. the national park service will lay a wreath at the site and offer educational programs on the holiday on january 16th. the national cathedral will also hold a special service that afternoon, and the smithsonian's anacostia museum will hold a commemoration of the civil rights leader. rights leader. il, any luck finding a car? not yet. i want to buy used but how do you know what you're really getting. check out carmax. all their used cars are guaranteed. that's where henderson found the one for him. way to go, henderson. finding the perfect car is easy at carmax because each car is carefully selected, inspected, thoroughly reconditioned and backed with a five-day money back guarantee so come find the one for you today, at carmax. way to go, neil. why not save on car insurance? 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[ normal voice ] you're welcome. get a free quote at progressive.com. ix taking responsibility this morning, the investigation into harry thomas jr. will end with a guilty plea. thomas owning up to misspending district money. now the question is what will his punishment be? good morning. welcome back to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang. let's take a live look outside. it is 6:30. it is 41 degrees. warmer yesterday and only getting better. the forecast looks terrific. meteorologist tom kierein here to tell us about a little touch of spring we're experiencing. >> i predict more people on the tow path than in your office today. we're going to have a wonderful friday. be prepared for it. right now it's certainly feeling like a january morning. there's capitol hill under a partly cloudy sky. it's chill y 37 at reagan national. we've got a calm wind. the general flow of the atmosphere is out of the south and west. that will warm us up later. right now it is freezing throughout much of virginia and maryland and around the bay and eastern shore. through the shenandoah valley and farther west, there's warmer temperatures. that will be arriving into the metro area later today, enhanced by sunshine through high clouds. sunrise at 7:27. by 9:00 into the 40s throughout most of the region and then into the 50s by noontime to near 60 degrees around the metro area through much of maryland by early to midafternoon. but much of virginia, areas from fredericksburg to charlottesville down to richmond, up into the low to mid-60s by midafternoon. closer to washington, much of maryland, near 60 during the afternoon. and then turning chillier tonight. a look at your evening planner for your friday night festivities. that will be coming up in about ten minutes at 6:41. let's check on traffic for this friday morning. good morning, danella. how's it going? >> good morning. chopper right now is live over i-195 at bw parkway. here we have an accident blocking the left lane. police are on the scene. it's also in the right shoulder lane. right now they have stopped traffic to relieve some of the cars that were involved in this accident. according to chopper, your backup, as they're showing you right now, is at least a mile long, and it's growing so far. again, police have to stop traffic to allow the cars that are in the accident to get out of the roadway. going to keep watching this accident for you and let you know when you will see some relief. if you're taking the beltway in montgomery county, you are starting to hit the brakes at new hampshire avenue. you're starting to slow down just a bit as you head towards georgia avenue. no accidents in the roadway for you there. taking 66 east, growing from sully road. it starts to be a slow trip for you as you make your way towards route 50. i'm not seeing any accidents on 66 either inside or outside the beltway. on the rails, a minor delay. camden south train number 845, the delay is just seven minutes. over to you. >> danella, thanks very much. a developing story this morning. in just a few hours, harry thomas jr. is expected to plead guilty to two federal crimes. the embattled council member resigned after federal council members charged him with stealing more than $350,000 from government funds and filing false tax returns. thomas is the first council member in history to leave office because of legal problems. he released a statement saying, "i made some very serious mistakes. i was wrong. i want to apologize to those i have let down." here's a look at thomas' political career. he was elected to the ward 5 council seat in 2006 with 85% of the vote. his father occupied the same seat from 1987 to 1999. in june, they released a report accusing thomas of misusing the funds on an suv, travel, and rounds of golf. in december fbi agents raided his home. thomas resigned just a few hours after prosecutors charged him. this morning we're hearing from members of the city council, including council members who called on thomas to resign weeks ago. news 4's megan mcgrath is live outside the courthouse in northwest washington with more. >> reporter: good morning, eun. the federal investigation with harry thomas began back in june. as the months dragged on, several of his colleagues on the council began to call for his resignation. on thursday thomas did just that. he stepped down, his resignation effective immediately. we caught up with several council members, and they say this really was the only outcome that could happen given the seriousness of the allegations and given the plea, they say that thomas simply had to resign. they now hope that the city can move forward. >> the only positive thing out of this is that finally there will be some resolution. it's been a cloud hanging over the council for some months now. >> the option is now to move forward, and that is to get the message out and to look at residents and say, we're going to restore integrity to the council in the district of columbia and to this city and do everything we can to work every day as hard as we can to do that. >> reporter: and with his resignation, ward 5 will be without a council member until a special election can be held. that has to take place within 114 days. somewhere at the end of april, beginning of may. council member vincent orange says that he will try to step into that void. he used to represent ward 5. he says that he'll pay special attention to the constituents there until the special election can be held. again, harry thomas jr. due in court later today at 11:15. back to you in the studio. >> megan mcgrath live at the federal courthouse in northwest. megan, thank you. stay with news 4 this morning for updates on the harry thomas plea and tune into news 4 midday for coverage of the court proceedings. today a virginia woman will learn her fate for killing her 2-year-old granddaughter. carmela dela rosa was found guilty last november for throwing her granddaughter from a sixth floor walkway at tysons center. prosecutors recommended she be sentenced to 25 years in prison. the jury agreed it was an act of revenge against her daughter's husband. police are investigating an armed robbery at a movie theater. it happened last week at the movie theater at potomac mills mall. three teens say three unknown people approached them and forced them to enter an empty theater. one of the suspects said they had a gun and dend manded the ts hand over their money. the suspect is wanted for two counts of armed robbery and two counts of abduction. a fire broke out along ash box road in brandywine. firefighters say an electrical short caught the tree on fire. a woman suffered burns on her face. 6:39 is the time. 41 degrees here in the nation's capital and brightening skies on the horizon. you can see clouds out there very far away. let's go to tom kierein in stormcenter 4 to take a look at the forecast. >> good morning. right now feeling like january, but later today it's going to feel like april. right now we are down near freezing throughout much of the region. 37, though, at reagan national. a little bit above freezing right near the bay waters and the tidal potomac, but elsewhere it's right near 30 degrees. farther to our south, milder. fredericksburg 43 right now. and frederick, by contrast, about 15 or so degrees colder. it's down to the upper 20s there. out in much of western maryland, it's near freezing, but parts of west virginia are in the 40s now. and it's in the upper 30s, parts of the shenandoah valley. as we look at the view from space, we've got quite a bit of high cloudiness drifting over. that will be with us from time to time. we'll see sunshine through the high clouds. sunrise at 7:27. 40s throughout most of the region. by 9:00. 50s by noontime. near 60 degrees in the metro area and much of maryland. that will be early to midafternoon. through much of virginia, low and mid-60s through the afternoon. here's your evening planner. sunset at 5:01. quickly cooling down at sunset. under a clear sky at midnight down to the low 40s, a look at the weekend and into next week in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. chopper 4 is still live over 195 especially. the crash has moved to the right shoulder lane. earlier, it was blocking the left side of the roadway. still you're going to see congestion. it starts about a mile back. luckily, it's out of the roadway. but please use caution. again, you have several police officers in the right shoulder lane, and the accident is still active in the right shoulder lane. but your lanes are open, and you are able to get by. traveling 270 southbound at shady grove, start to go slow down. the delays actually start at i-370, and they slow as you make your way towards the spur. no accidents on i-270 at all. >> thank you, danella. metro riders hoping for a smoother commute. everything back to normal on the blue and orange lines after a rough commute yesterday afternoon. riders saw major delays after crews repaired a crack along the tracks at the stadium armory station. some riders tweeted their commute took an hour longer than usual. this is the second time this week that cracked rails caused delays. it happened during the wednesday morning rush hour as well. and metro riders should expect delays on all lines this weekend because crews will be fixing the tracks on four of the five lines. on the red line, trains will single track between dupont circle and friendship heights as well as between takoma and forest glen. on the blue and orange lines, trains will single track between the smithsonian and eastern market stations. on the green line, trains will single track between georgia avenue, petworth, and ft. totten. yellow line trains will operate every 15 minutes to help alleviate some of the congestion on the green line. getting out of downtown d.c. will get easier this weekend. the district department of transportation will open the second phase of the 11th street bridge project. it hopes to open the outbound span tomorrow. drivers will then have direct access from the southeast/southwest freeway to i-295. the inbound span opened last month. the 11th street bridge project is the largest ddot project the organization has ever undertaken, costing about $300 million. it's expected to be completed next year. the hot lanes being built on the beltway in virginia are not going to be called hot lanes after all. they're going to be called express lanes to comply with federal highway administration standards apparently. the company that will operate the lanes just released the pictures of the new signs that will line the express lanes. as you can see, you will need ez pass to use them. you won't need to pay a toll if you have three or more people in your vehicle, though. the new express lanes are set to open later this year. this morning administrators at one loudoun county middle school are deciding how to punish six students found drinking on campus. officials at j. michael lunsford middle school say five boys and one girl started drinking on a school bus. they kept drinking once they all got to school and they walked through the main hallway and into the cafeteria. the students were not legally drunk, but school officials say two of the students had consumed enough alcohol to register on a breathalyzer test. a fed rick county bus driver will be punished for leaving a 5-year-old girl alone on a school bus. she was found 45 minutes later, but her parents weren't notified until wednesday. school officials apologized and met with the entire staff to discuss the communication breakdown. prince george's county police are investigating the county's first murder of 2012. it happened yesterday afternoon around 2:15 in the 2000 block of brooks drive in suitland. police say they found an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound. he was pronounced dead at the scene. right now police do not have any information on the victim's identity, possible suspects, or a motive for the deadly shooting. police in prince george's county hope you can help identify this man suspected of three burglaries in laurel. this thief has been pretty busy this week. he may be linked to more than a dozen burglaries since the start of the year. police say he also stole a 2005 jeep cherokee early tuesday morning at a gas station on laurel bowie road. and now to decision 2012. republican presidential hopeful jon huntsman picked up a major newspaper endorsement this morning. the boston globe endorsed the former utah governor, snubbing romney, who was governor of massachusetts. huntsman was putting all of his campaign chips on new hampshire. he focused on the iowa caucuses. during the event in the granite state, he slammed romney for leaving for an event in south carolina. >> people in new hampshire don't want a coronation, you know what i mean? they want people to earn the vote as opposed to sitting down in south carolina tonight so certain of a victory. >> it's an important weekend for the candidates with two debates in new hampshire. they'll debate saturday night and then again on sunday morning on meet the press. you can watch that coverage of "meet the press" right here on nbc 4. rick santorum ran into a combative crowd of college students during a town hall meeting in new hampshire. it started when a college student asked him why he opposed gay marriage. >> how does it affect you personally if two men and two women get married? >> the law for 230 years in this country was marriage was between a man and a woman. >> the audience and santorum went back and forth several times. santorum then left the stage as some students booed him. santorum has raised $2 million since his strong iowa showing. santorum is shrugging off reports that the vote count from iowa's caucuses might be wrong. he said the errors will not change the fact that he and romney were nearly tied. santorum said an iowa party official said the two cases in question nearly cancel each other out. virginia governor bob mcdonnell wants to drop plans for a, quote, voter loyalty pledge at the gop presidential primary in march. virginia primaries are open, which means people from both parties can vote. republicans want anyone who voted for a gop candidate to sign a pledge to vote for that same candidate in november. many believe the campaign will backfire and lead to low voter turnout. the decision will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting. wall street will be closely watching the monthly jobs report. cnbc's brian schactman is live with what's expected. >> an important day for everyone to pay attention to. right now stock futures are slightly lower. the december jobs report comes out at 8:30 a.m. less than two hours from now. economists do expect hiring was solid last month, but a little sluggish to make a huge dent in the unemployment rate. forecasts call for an increase in 155,000 in company payrolls while unemployment edging higher to 8.7% as more people started looking for work again and entering the work force and hence influencing that number. some auto news. gm is recalling finally that chevy volt to fix the issue that caused batteries to catch fire after crash tests. gm will reinforce the battery case to make sure it doesn't rupture in an accident. there are only about 8,000 volts on the road. the recall will take place sometime next month. u.s. safety regulators say they are still investigating the matter. we just have seen that story evolve, and now finally they're going to recall it and take care of it. back to you guys. >> brian schactman. thanks so much. have a great weekend. united, continental, and u.s. airways are joining delta airlines in adding a surcharge to one-way tickets to europe. a $3 surcharge will now be tacked on to all flights to europe days after the european union began requiring airlines to pay a fee for carbon emissions. occupy d.c. is moving indoors. protesters at freedom plaza are moving into a pair of houses where they say they'll continue their protests. organizers of the move say this has nothing to do with avoiding eviction or the winter temperatures. they describe is as phase two of their protest and say they're working to raise money to start a public television access show. protesters at mcpherson square say they have no plans to head inside. dawn here in the nation's capital. beautiful view of the skyline on the horizon. looks like we have clouds above us as well. 40 degree. here's tom. >> last sunset, and we'll have a flaming sunrise quite likely this morning. those clouds getting in the right position at reagan national. temperature just down river to the right at 37 degrees. it's a little more humid. you won't need as much of the skin lotion as we've been needing the last couple of days. right no around the region, we're generally a little below freezing in virginia and maryland. however, central virginia from fredericksburg, charlottesville, down to richmond, upper 30s to 40s. montgomery, fairfax, prince george's county, near the district of columbia, mid-30s. mid-30s right by the bay. eastern shore near freezing. up in the shenandoah valley, many locations there are above freezing as well as much of the mountain region of west virginia and western maryland. we do have a few of the high clouds drifting over us right now, setting the stage for a glorious sunrise. yesterday's highs from the southland, the gulf coast, all the way through the norng plains were in the 60s. and then eu charlottes an 8's;g to begin t{. theno 50s. much of the area, from fredericksburg down to charlottesville and the south, low to mid-60s this afternoon. >awaythat unusual to get toasty. sunrise 7:27. temperatures by 9:00 should be in the 40s. put away your puffy coat. you'll have morrell bow room on the bus and on the metro. it will be near 60 by this afternoon. set your out of office auto reply. overnight, we'll have temperatures down into the 40s in the evening under a clear sky. sunset at 5:01. then on saturday morning, a chilly start, mid-30s. another mild afternoon, partly cloudy, into the upper 50s. then on sunday in the mid-30s in the morning and chillier weather with a northeast wind on sunday and clouds around. highs in the mid-40s. and cloudy sunday night through middamon dy monday. tuesday some sun back. highs into the mid-50s, and mild rain may be moving in on wednesday, wednesday night into thursday morning. right now after that, looking colder and windy. now let's check the traffic. good morning, danella. >> good morning. today may be the perfect day to call out sick. the weather's nice, and you want to avoid situations like this. on i-270, very slow as you make your way towards the spur. your delays start around shady grove, and again you're slow approaching the spur. no accidents to report at this time on i-270. on i-66, it's a different story. eastbound you're jammed at route 50. there you're going to find your right lane blocked by an accident. again, you're bumper to bumper. i'll give you a look right now at fairfax county parkway. that's where you really start to slow down as you make your way toward route 50. it's a slow commute for you. hey, call in sick. i would have if i would have known. tom, i'm blaming you for not telling me it would be so warm today. back to you, joe and eun. >> you can take off tomorrow. >> okay. in the news, a political fall from grace. the son of a well-liked politician admitting now to charges he long denied, using district money to fund a lavish lifestyle. harry thomas jr. resigned his d.c. council post and in a few hours will plead guilty in federal court. melissa mollet is live in northeast washington outside thomas' home. melissa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, joe. it's been fairly quiet at the thomas home in northeast washington overnight. a couple of people have come and gone. we have not spotted thomas himself. the 51-year-old democrat says he will plead guilty today for stealing more than $350,000 of government funds and filing false tax returns. the money was supposed to go to youth sports programs. he was previously accused of spending it on a luxury suv, travel, and rounds of golf. now, thomas is the first council member in modern history to resign for criminal reasons. you might remember the fbi raided his home here last month, seizing a luxury vehicle and several other items. once thomas was charged thursday, it took just a few hours for him to step down from his post on the city council. he did send out a statement, though. part of the statement reads, i made some very serious mistakes. i was wrong. i want to apologize to those i have let down. of course, he is scheduled to be in u.s. district court in washington downtown at 11:15 this morning. he faces up to three years behind bars for these charges. in northeast washington, melissa mollet, news 4. back to you, joe. >> melissa, thanks very much. harry thomas isn't the only city leader under scrutiny right now. mayor vincent gray and council member kwame brown are both involved in their own federal investigations. the mayor is being investigated for allegedly giving campaign cash and a city job to a mayoral candidate in exchange for attacks on then mayor adrian fenty. brown is under investigation for how he spent campaign money back in 2008. d.c. residents say corruption just seems to be part of politics these days. >> and be sure to stay with us all morning long for coverage of the harry thomas court proceedings. he is due in court at 11:15. be sure to tune in to news 4 midday at 11:00 for updates from inside the courthouse and reaction to follow. >> let's take an out the door gander at the beautiful sky out there. getting ready to have a glorious sunrise this morning. here's tom for a look at our forecast. >> good day to ride the motorcycle maybe even put the top down on your car later. starting off feeling like january, though. right now we're near 30 degrees throughout much of the region. it will feel like an april afternoon. as we climb into the low 60s throughout much of the virginia, closer to the district and much of maryland, upper 50s to near 60 with clouds in and out. overall quite a bit of sunshine. then a mild day again on saturday after a chilly start in the mid-30s. afternoon highs, upper 50s. and then chillier weather does return on sunday. looks like mid-30s in the morning. a lot of clouds around sunday. maybe a little morning sun. then cloudy the rest of the day with highs mid-40s. cloudy sunday night through middamon day. during that time, there's a small chance of sprinkles just to the south of the washington. as we get into monday afternoon, some sun returns. tuesday, a bit milder again, into the 50s. into the 50s on wednesday. looks like rain may be moving in on wednesday, into wednesday night, perhaps early thursday morning. here's a look at friday traffic. danella? >> good morning. if you're traveling 66 eastbound at 50, tail lights are bumper to bumper. had an accident blocking the right lane. it's now moved to the right shoulder lane. you're still feeling the effects. very slow as you make your way towards this accident and towards