Transcripts For WRC News4 At 6 20121218

Classmates while students from other schools here went back to class for the First Time Since the tragedy. The pain offing goodbye has become a part of every day now in newtown. This grieving community buried two more first graders today. Jessica rekos loved horses and asked santa for cow girl boots and hat for christmas. First born, she liked to plan and organize so much her family called her their ceo. James mattioli, nicknamed jay, loved math, sports and games on his ipad. Early riser, he usually ended his days cuddled up on the couch next to his mom. There are so many here holding one another tight right now unable to sthak the horror. For gene rosen the panicked words of six young survivors echo over and over in his memories from that day. They kept saying in one of the boys said he had a big gun and a little gun. I ii could not fathom what they were talking about. Reporter he found the boys huddled in his yard after they ran past the gunman to escape. They were very upset. And i two boys just started talking. Hi noed were what happened. And they said we cant go back to the school. We cant we cant go back to the school because our teacher is gone. Reporter students in newtown did go back to school today. Except for those from sandy hook elementary. Every campus opened with extra security and grief counselors on hand. The parents whose 7yearold wrestled with jake pinto, one of the victims, says it is tough but time. I dont think you are ever ready to send your child after to school aftering . Like this happens. As much as we can get him back to normal we have to. Reporter most understand normal means something very different now. What can really be normal when you are talking about burying 6 and 7yearold kids here. Tomorrow victoria soto, one of the teachers who died trying to protect her students, will be the first adult from the tragedy laid to rest. Live in newtown, connecticut, im jay gray, news4. When shadows fill our day dozens of students and staffers at George Mason University gathered today for a vigil to remember the victims of the connecticut shooting. A flower represented each of the victims as their names were called out. Speakers urged the crowd to make the most of the lives they have. We have the opportunity to empower others, students, our peers to spread this light. Please join me in choosing life so that we all may live and our children may live and that we may continue to add light into this world. The people participated in a procession alto the George Mason Statue for a moment of silence. You can get up to the minimum updates on the shooting investigation any time on nbcwashington. Com. Also, coming up at 6 30, the debate over gun control and the Virginia Governor considers plan to arm teachers. 1 days now until the fiscal cliff deadline and there is at least one thing president obama and House Speaker john boehner agree on and thats a tax hike on the rich. Theres Month Celebration yet. Lot of work still to be done. Steve handelsman on capitol hill now. Law make verse not quite agreed on how to define the very rich. Steve . Thanks. Here on the hill, little more optimism. Still the hangup over which of the rich might get a tax rate hike starting january 1. People, families, making a million or more a year or much larger group making 400,000. What do we want . Reporter protesters came to the capitol dempedding republicans agree to tax hikes on the top 2 of americans. The original obama plan that he campaigned on. But Speaker John Boehner is pushing a new compromise to the calling plan b. Taxes on the wealthiest 1 would go back to the clinton era rate of almost 40 on income over 1 million. In trade for taxes on everyone else, not rising january 1. Our plan b would protect american taxpayers who make a Million Dollars or less and have all of their current rates extended. Reporter but president obama studded obama says not good nuf. His new proposal is to hike taxes on earners over 400 thousand how and cut spending an additional 1. 2 trillion. The white house says boehner ought to buy that. It seems like folly to walk away from that opportunity because you dont want to ask somebody making 995,000 a year to pay a dime more in income taxes. Reporter briefed by boehner at the capitol, some republicans said the speaker is going too far. Agreeing to raise tax rates on anyone. I hate it. I hate it. Once you have crossed that line and say, like, some people, it is okay for some peoples tax tows go up, i think it is not i think it is a mistake for the republican party. Reporter most republicans realize the top rate will rise. Period. Beyond that, i tell you, we just have to get more cuts. Reporter democrats say just got to get tax hikes on more of the rich. Deal to avoid the cliff could still get spoiled by the disagreements over taxes and spending. Steve handelsman, news4, living from the hill. Thanks, steve. Senator Patrick Leahy of vermont, formally assumed a position in the line of president ial success. Today he was vorn in as the new president pro tem. It follows the death of daniel inou. He lahey moves to third place in the line of succession behind Vice President joe biden and House Speaker john boehner. Developing story tonight. The suspected butt slasher, a guy that targeted women at Fairfax County Shopping Malls, is on his way back to Northern Virginia tonight. He was extradited and flown from peru to the u. S. Today. Police in peru took him into custody near a Shopping Mall in january. He is accused of cutting ten young women with a box cutter or razor. None of the victims were seriously hurt. An active search under way for a shooter in aspen hill, maryland p. M. At about 4 30 this afternoon a 19yearold was shot in the eye. The police tell us it happened in a park near the intersection of connecticut avenue and grand prix road. Once again, Police Searching thatrea now trying to find the shooter. We just learned the name of a man found murdered near a d. C. Elementary school. Police identified the victim as 5yearold anthony rice of northwest washington. A dog walker found rice shot to death at ft. Lincoln park yesterday. Thats right behind Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in northeast. The school notified parents and planned to hold all activities indoors until this investigation in the park was wrapped up. Vicious murder still unsolved after seven years. Today the Culpeper County sheriff released an open letter asking for any information on the death of cheryl warner. Back on december 18, 2005, warner was killed in her home. She had been on the phone with her father, a man knock order her door claiming his car had broken down. She was later found tied up and hanging in the basement with her home set on fire. The officials do not believe the killer was alone. They are hope somethi one will provide the tip they need to make an arrest. It is official the district government has for now given up on its plan to set aside hundreds of special red top meters for disabled drivers. But the decision leaves a lot of confusion about just who can park wear and who has to pay. Tom sherwood is here to rye to sort all of it out. Sounds like a mess, tom. Doreen, it is confusing. More now any driver can park at any meter at any time. These are just two of 1,500 red top meters. D. C. Planned to install them all over town for disabled drivers to pay to park. But only 450 of them are in place now. The others will stay in storage. The new red meters were designed to cut down on thousands of fake handicapped placards. But confusion over the plan forced the d. C. Council to delay the whole idea. The concept of it was completely reasonable that we would reduce the number of scoff laws. Any time there sun fairness, whatever is it is, in this case the parking you know, it just creates a lot of resentment. Disabilities groups complained not enough red meters were being set side. Less than 10 of the 18,000 city meters. Heres the big question. If the city is not going to go made when with the red top parking meter for disabled motorists, does that mean anyone can park here . In short, yes. Any motorist can park at any meter for from the allowed time whether it is silver, red, or even the old blue meters once used for disabled drivers. Driver was handicapped placards still wont have to pay. Many drivers are unsure of the rules. Saying i can get handicapped ticket now . Reporter that means you dont get a ticket. They dont enforce the red top meters for handicapped now. Sounds great to me. Reporter the city says it is not enforcing the red top meters. Really . Reporter have you gotten tickets. I have seen two people get tickets. Reporter but month more. These red meters could become soughtafter spots. The red meters give you twice the time for the same price of a regular meter. Council members say they will try again next year to clarify new rules. Door evening . Thank you, tom. Former president george h. W. Bush should be home in time important the holidays. A spokesman important Methodist Hospital in houston, texas, says the former president is getting better. And he could be released in the next few days. Mr. Bush has been in a hospital since november 23 for treatment of a cough related to bronchitis. Doctors say his physical therapy sessions are going well. And they are increasingly confident he will be home in time to celebrate christmas with his family. Strangely weirdly warm weather out there today and windy this afternoon. What can we expect tonight . Chief meteorologist Doug Kammerer is here with the scoop. We are still on the windy side. Winds gusting right now to 30 miles an hour at the airport. 50 degrees after seeing highs in the low 60s earlier today. Winds out of the westnorthwest now. Sustained at 14. Again, gusts to 30 at this hour. Little cooler to the west. 42 in hagerstown. 49 in la platta. A cool night tonight but much above average continuing across the area through the night tonight. Lets head into georgetown. Thinking about walking around, looking good for you. Temperatures around 50 around 7 00. 47 by 11 00. 40 when you wake up in the morning. Still breezy tomorrow. I will talk about when we see the cold air finally move in. Next at 6 00, held captive for five days. Tonight nbc news Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel is safe and talking about his days as a prisoner. Lot of psychological torture. Threats of being killed. They made us choose which one of us would be shot first. When we refused there were mock shootings. We will tell you how you can help vdot come up with the next big traffic master plan in Northern Virginia. 30 life and death experience important nbc news chief correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew has ended and ended well. The journalists were kidnapped in northwestern syria last thursday. They escaped into turkey last night in the middle of a fire fight between their captors and syrian rebels. As we were moving down the road, a group of gunmen justly rally jumped out of the trees and bushes on the side of the road there, probably 15 gunmen and they kept us blindfolded and bound and we werent physically beaten orator toured. Lot of psychological torture. Threats of being killed. They made us choose which one of us would be shot first. And when we refused there were mock shootings. As we were driving along the road, the kidnappers saw this checkpoint and started a gunfight and two of the kidnappers were killed. We climbed out of the vehicle and the rebels took us. Engel believes their kidnappers were loyal to al assad whose regime had been facing an upriding since 2011. Nbc news said there was no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors. And no requests for ransom during the time that the crew was missing. Tonight russia is getting ready to evacuate its citizens out of the syria. Russia deployed warships to the mediterranean. Syrian refresh else claimed victory today over a Palestinian Group loyal to syrian president al assad. The Syrian Military stepped up its attacks with bombings in did a mass cass suburbs. Syrias Vice President says he hopes the rebels will negotiate for peace. The former mistress of general David Petraeus will not face federal cyber stalking charges. Her name is paula broadwell. Today the Justice Department announced it is dropping its investigation into whether she stalked a woman she perceived to be her romantic rival. An fbi investigation into the matter uncovered broadwells appear with petraeus. He was forced to resign as cia director last month. Law enforce many Officials Say it is also unlikely broadwell will Face Criminal Charges for having classified information on her computer. Comments made on a social media website set off a school riot in sweden today. The police say somebody went on instagram and asked people to post pictures of sexually active girls in the city. People responded with about 200 pictures and names. Some of the girls were as young as 13. Teenagers upset by the posting organized a proceed tis on facebook. The police say the teenagers then went to a high school to attack the girl who put up the posting originally. About 27 teenagers were taken into custody. Three people are in custody tonight in connection with a massive theft of maple syrup. Police in quebec, canada, say the arrests are part of the breakup of a huge trafficking ring in syrup. About 16,000 barrels of syrup was taken from a warehouse there. Those thefts happened over a year but they werent noticed until an inventory check back in august. That stolen syrup is estimated to be worth about 30 million. The thefts put a dent in the Global Supply of sear up wow. Thats a lot of pancake. Thats a lot of pancakes. I knew there was something wrong out there. That was than syrup. Never heard of anything like that. How dhaus happen . Go figure. What weird weather was today. I left my car the reading in my car was like 65 degrees at 10 00 this morning. Right. We hit 62 for a High Temperature today. Thats really very warm. Some areas into the mid 60s today. We talked about that yesterday. And that we would see these warm temperatures but wow was it nice. A little bit earlier and winds kicked up and even with the winds we stayed on the mild side after a code front. We are warmer behind the combed front and it doesnt happen very often. We have seen it a couple of times this year. Actual high today was 62 degrees out at the airport earlier this afternoon. If you were out and about, low this morning, 48 degrees. And the record high, nowhere close to that. That was 74 set in 2006. Very interesting. December 18, 2006, 74 degrees. December 18, 2009, a blizzard. Remember that . Yeah. I think we all do. Beginning our tough winter of 20092010. You can see this time of year does give us one of the other either warm or cold and seeing the snow. No snow right now. Fortunately for many of us, no snow in the forecast either. 50 degrees current temperature. Winds out of the north west at 14 miles per hour. But they are quite gusty. Still seeing winds gusting upward of 30 miles per hour. Cooler to north and west. 41 in cumberland. Cool air starts to slide across the area. Again, this will be cool air overnight and not cold air by any means. The wind is still kicking up. 30mileanhour wind gusts in washington. 18 in fredericksburg. Still 21mileanhour winds towards winchester. We will continue to see rather breezy conditions through the night tonight and through tomorrow, too. Tomorrows winds upwards of 10 to 20 miles per hour. Radar, no shower activity. No rain. We saw a few showers earlier. They were very light. They moved through very, very quickly. Now we are just seeing the clearing skies. We saw the clouds earlier. Now the clouds can no longer make their wooifr the mountains. We have some Winter Weather to talk about. Winter storm watch. Back towards garrett county, maryland. Parts of west virginia. West of the mountains, it is not going to get here at all. We are going to stay on the mild side of things. Breezy conditions and mild. Thats what we saw today. After our front moved through. Tomorrow the storm system moves farther out. What we see tomorrow is sunshine. Again, to the western slope here we are looking at a chance important snow. For us, on the downslope of the mountains, we are going to be on the warm side again. Temperatures into the low to middle 50s on our wednesday. Thursday will be the day of transition. We will see mild temperatures and highs still in the low 50s, i think. Cloud cover and then frontal boundary, that front could give us showers and possibly thunderstorms and then the cold air rushes on in. We are going to see very cold conditions on friday. And on saturday. I think wind chills both days will stay in the 30s all day long bp time that we get cold air in here. And it is coming just in time for the start of winter and also for the christmas holiday. Take a look at your forecast for tomorrow. Partly cloudy and cool and not cold. Temperatures 32 in the suburbs to 40 in the city. Tomorrow afternoon, we will see those numbers back up into the 50s. Once again, about 5 to 10 degrees above average under mostly sunny skies. Your wednesday will be great. If you have anything to do outside, lets say you forgot to do it, tomorrows the day because then we are going to see things change. 51 on thursday. 70 chance of shower and thunderstorm activity late in the day on thursday. Then friday and saturday windy and High Temperatures only in the low 40s. Very, very chilly friday, saturday and sunday and right now looking okay as we head towards monday and tuesday. Tuesday is christmas. We are 7 days out and looks like mostly cloudy skies. Chance of some rain showers late in the day. Early is looking okay. Lot of times you figure that forecast out will continue to watch it for you. Not looking good for our white christmas, is it . All right. Thank you, doug. Still ahead on news4 at 6 00, Georgetown University students come together after one of their own is connected to the awful tragedy in connecticut. You can help plan the next big traffic project in Northern Virginia. Coming up in sports, wizards trying to get back in the win column. Mike shanahan shares his secret to success. And we police are looking for four suspects that broke into a home and shot the owner. This happened in ft. Washington earlier this morning. The homeowner was shot in the back when he tried to confront the suspects. He was taken to hospital with injuries he is expected to survive. He is expected to be okay. Tonight drivers in virginia will have an opportunity to give input to a proposal for a new major road project. It would link Loudoun County in the north and Prince William county in the south. But as Northern Virginia bureau chief julie carey reports now not everyone thinks it is a good idea. Reporter opponents call the proposed road on this map an outer beltway, vdot calls it the northsouth corridor and a rue vdot is studying designed to connect broken stretches of major roadway in Prince William and Loudoun County to create a 45mile corridor making i didnt 95 and Prince William with route 7 in loudoun. Another goal, providing a new path to dulles airport. We are trying to provide a easier way to get to work, mobility for goods getting to dulles, easier way to get to jobs ability for businesses to come in and into virginia and have the ability to get there, people to work and an easy way. Reporter the route being studied would follow route 234 in Prince William county. A new tricounty parkway would run to the west of the Manassas Battlefield park. Taking heavy traffic out of that historic area. Another new connection would continue from route 50 to route 7. We are looking at a Million People coming to the area in the next couple of decades. Ter coming regardless of whether we build the way to get them around or not. And we need to prepare our best to prepare that. Reporter vdot developed its plan without adequate public input. This is done quietly. Here we are a week before christmas and people are starting to leave the area and what do we have . We have them rolling out a plan. Reporter steve heins lived on this property in western Loudoun County for three decades. He says it is more eastwest routes that are needed. And he says that he doesnt hear anyone complain being getting to dulles. To me it appears to be a developers road. It is going through areas that have no housing on them now. So it is a way to open up land important more development. Reporter even if vdot does settle on this plan or Something Like it, there is no funding to build the road. Any ground break would go likely be years away. Prince william county, julie carey, news4. Under one of the alternatives put forward that new road would feature toll lanes. Right now at 6 30 in newtown, connecticut a majority of students returned to class today for the First Time Since last weeks deadly shooting. Those students did not include the students from sandy hook Elementary School. That Community Held funerals for two more of the youngest victims, James Mattioli and jessica rekos. House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged today the tragedy in connecticut has had an effect on the talks to avoid the fiscal cliff. He said that this is now not the time in his words to put americans through more stress. There is no deal yet. 13 days away from the deadline for that fiscal cliff. The district is giving up on the plan to use red top meters for disabled drivers. At least for now. Any driver can now park at any meter regardless of its color. That means drivers with handicap signs sometime wont have to pay. The red meters give twice as much time as the other meters. The d. C. Council could decide to vote on the red meters next year. Tonight the brother of a murder victim is speaking out for the first time. Edward hernandez was almost home when he was shot and killed early sunday morning in aspen hill, maryland. Police believe that the killers were out to rob him. Pat collins spoke to the victims grieving brother who asking for justice. Translator today was my brother, tomorrow might be somebody else. Reporter words of warning from elmer hernandez. The brother of a murdered victim. The two shared an apartment here in aspen hill. Elmer campos hernandez, he had the task of calling their mother in el salvador to tell her that her son was suddenly violent and innocently killed here just steps from his home. Translator ionly have to live for now on with his memory. Reporter the victim, 28yearold edwin campos hernandez, on saturday night they say he went to a Birthday Party in wheaton. He took a bus to the party. Around 2 00, he came home. He took a taxi. The cab driver dropped him off on grand prix road and then he walked the rest of the way. But as he did, he was jumped by two men. Would gunmen. They shot and killed mr. Campos hernandez. Shot him down there. Steps away from his house. They say the gunman, they were looking for money but theres no evidence that they got as much as a dime. We believe this was random. We dont believe there was any known association between mr. Campos hernandez and the suspects. Reporter theres a 10,000 reward in this case if you know something about it, police want to hear from you. In Montgomery County, pat collins, news4. Georgetown university, community is helping a phd student who lost her mother in the school shooting. Katie sherlock was in the Chemistry Lab in georgetown when she heard about the shooting. Her mother, mary sherlock, was the School Psychologist at sandy hook. She died heroically trying to stop the gunman from going on his rampage. Several chemistry colleagues plan to attend sherlocks funeral. Another law professor has also started a website to raise money for Katie Sherlock during this difficult time. The tragedy up in newtown, connecticut, renewed the debate in our country over gun control. As news4s chris gordon reports, here in our area there is a mixed response to dealing with this issue. Reporter here at blue ridge arsenal in chantilly, virginia, members expressed sadness over the murders in newtown, connecticut. But they dont think that gun control is the way to protect the public. I think gun owners are responsible. I think members of the nra, like myself, believe in guns, responsibility, and accountability. And we try to teach that and we try to tell anybody who asks about it, thats the way we feel. Reporter they tell me here that the sale of the firearms are up dramatically this week. A lot of people are concerned about recent events, what may take place if the say salt ban comes back. People are definitely buying things that they wanted to buy in the past. They are doing it a little faster probably. Reporter appearing on wtop radio, Bob Mcdonnell answer ad question saying it is time to discuss allowing School Officials to carry firearms on campus. If people were armed, not just a police officer, but other School Officials that were trained and chose to have a weapon, certainly there would be an opportunity to stop an individual trying to get into the school. Responding to the governor, virginia congressman jerry conolly tweeted bob mcdon alleges suggestion that armed teachers could have stopped newtown tragedy is outrageous. Guns dont belong if schools. I dont have any policy or recommendation that im making on Arming Teachers or anything else at this point. Im simply suggesting that our School Audits need to be looked at. Find ways to implement those better. Find out what the experts say that they they would recommend to protect our schools better. Thats all. Reporter in maryland state senator raskin will propose new gun restrictions when the legislature meets in january. Im hoping that we will pass an assault weapon ban right when we get back in will and we will make the Maryland State Police an effective actor in cracking down on the bad actor gun dealers who are letting guns go or selling guns under the table that end up in the hands of criminals. Reporter hes receivering to gun shows where they dont always do background checks when they sell weapons. Reporting from chantilly, virginia, chris gordon, news4. The National Rifle association issued its its very first statement since the shooting last week. It reads in part we were shocked, saddened and heart broke yen by the senseless murders in newtown. The nra is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again. Coming up tonight on nbc nightly news the random acts of kindness spreading around the world after ann currys idea on twitter over the weekend. Nightly news has that story and more coming up at 7 00. New details tonight in the Murder Investigation of a young woman, 19yearold vanessa pham. An affidavit filed in Fairfax County this morning confirms that finger prints connected Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia to the killing of pham. The affidavit says Blanco Garcia became a suspect when his finger prints taken after a recent arrest for a separate crime matched those taken from phams car two years ago. He was arrested last week. Have ans pham was found dead in her car alongside a road in arlington. The Prince Georges County police chief says hes not seen anything like it in the almost 30 years hes lived in the county. He is talking about the overall crime rate which dropped about 7 1 2 percent this year. Head of the Department Since 2011. In that year there were 95 murders. This year so far there have only been 60. There has been a drop had robberies and shootings and in breakins. He attribute it to a change in philosophy. We are very good at who pulled the trigger. But who prompted that . Is there an organization that prompted that action and if there is, we are going after that organization. Collaboration was the county council and Executives Office helped make his job easier. Evening commute might be a little bit faster tonight along some routes in the district. Thats because the speed limits on five sections of roadway went up today. Parts of new york avenue, eastbound and west bound, north capitol street, bladensburg road, canal road are now five miles an hour faster. The move was made after data from speed cameras in those locations showed that the limits should be higher. D. C. Officials say they are now looking at other areas and might adjust more speed limits if necessary. Nearly 600 jobs will stay in Montgomery County at least the next decade. A Company Called sodexo sign ad new lease on the world Head Quarters in gaithersburg, maryland. It is a Food Services company thats been at that location for 14 years now. Maryland the state of maryland, Montgomery County, and gaithersburg all combined to give sodexo 4 million in loans to remain in the state. Eggs coming up next on news4, toyota pay as record fine. We will tell you why. In spite of what your mama told you i a about whether or not your kids can drink too much milk. She told me i could drink as much as i want. Interesting story. 50 degrees in washington. 37 in elkins, west virginia. Cooler air how cold things will be by the end of the week some russian lawmakers want to ban americans from adopting russian children. Russias parliament already passed stricter regulations for overseas adoptions over the summer. The latest measure would take it one step further. This whole debate goes back to 2010 when an American Woman sent a 7yearold boy she had adopted back to russia. Parents often tell their kids drink your milk, it is good for you. But now there is concern that too much of it might actually be bad. There is a new study that shows too much milk can make kids anemic. It lowers the level of iron. Experts now suggest most kids consume only two cups of milk per day. Im trying remember the chart when we were in school. About how many eight cups of or eight glasses of water and whatever cups of milk, whatever it might be. I think now that that chart that was in my school when i was a kid is probably at the smithsonian. It might be. Thanks for that comment. I think whats on there now would kill us all. Things change ad bit. We are. We are going to go to sports now hi, dan. Hi, guys. We are going to talk redskins if thats okay with you. I dont think anybody will mind talking skins. Rob jackson, you know who he is . Turninging up the heat. Mike shanahan weighs in a hoping to change their luck. Hi, dan. Hoping to change their luck. Welcome back. Im meteorologist Doug Kammerer. A look at a beaut day Beautiful Day today. We are sitting at 50 degrees. Winds out of the westnorthwest at 14 miles per hour. Gusts upwards of 30s. It is on the breezy side. It will continue to be rather breezy throughout the rest of the evening. It is not going to be cold. Just a little chill to the air. 43 in gaithersburg. 48 in ft. Belvoir. 43 in gaithersburg. Thats getting chilly. 15 to 20moil an hour wind have you wind chills in the 30s. You may need to bundle up in a pew places. Especially north and west tonight. No rain to talk about. We are not going to be seeing any chances of rain important the day tonight or into the day tomorrow. Our chances of rain will come on thursday. They will come late in the day on thursday and we could see a good amount of rain. At least initially. That looks good right now. Maybe a quarter to a half an inch of rain. Back to the west, into the mountains, winter storm watch in effect for garrett county, elkins, west virginia. They could see more than 6 inches of snow coming thursday, friday into saturday. That snow will not translate towards the southeast and talking about Clear Conditions tomorrow. And just rain for us as we move into the next couple of days. Turning colder. Again, mild air. Thats when we have seen over the past couple of days. Cold air has been bottleled up. By late they are weekend we will be into n the cold stuff. Talking about temperatures at or below average. And we are also going to see wind chills, think think, all day provide and saturday into the 30s. Code air moving in. Anything but cold tonight. 30 in martinsburg. 40 in washington. Under partly cloudy to mostly clear skies. Tomorrow afternoon, nice weather again. Temperatures in the low 50s and 55 in washington. Partly sunny skies. Tomorrow another nice one. Probably the last really nice mild day of the year. Okay. Thank you, doug. We will take advantage of that. If i get this right we beat the eagles. Ravens beat the cowboys. And we are it is we are thats it . We are in . I mean, it is done, right . If if if and if. There are a couple of ifs. Let me give you this. You win the next two, you take care of business and you have a home playoff game. That easy. Even better. We like it similar. Many there are a couple of formulas for this. It could be very simple. Five weeks the redskins have gone from the outhouse to the pen house, playoff berth gone from pipe dream to reality. All the skins have to do to just guarantee their first home playoff game since 1999, it is simple. Win their last two games start thing weekend in philly. Mike shanahan, as you know, faced a steady stream of outside criticism since his arrival in washington. But now he has his players believing that they can beat just about anybody. One of the reasons i told the Football Team at the beginning of the year that you guys dont know it but you are a lot better than you think you are. And they have obviously proving that now. We lost a number of games we should have won early. I can see specifically. And all of a sudden we Start Playing our best football in the second half of the season. Lot of character and lot of guys going in the right direction. Guys competing every play. When you do have that, you start to turn. I think thats where our Football Team has done. You know, they believe in each other. Every game we go into, we believe we will win. Thats got to be your mindset and once you start winning those close games you expect it. You know in denver, they had a nickname for mike shanahan. The mastermind. That nickname might pop up again real soon if he can win six or seven in a row and get this neem the playoffs. We will call him whatever he wants us to. Your highness. Get news the playoffs. We can talk. The reason the redskins have a chance to extend their winning streak to six games for the first time in 16 years, the defense. Offense has been their there most of the team. Has lets defense vastly improved over the last three, four games. This man has been a big part of it. Rob jackson getting more reps than hes producing. Over the last three games jackson recorded three sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. The fourth year linebacker out of kansas state gives the skins a pass rushing presence. Opposite ryan kerrigan. They havent had since brian orakpo went down in the second week of the season. For jackson, the secret to his sudden success is simple. I feel like see everything, you know not too much havent seen now. Winding down towards the end of the season. I feel like im comfortable with what off sense doing and trying to do. Capitalize and make plays on it. Rob jackson is turning into a difference make other the defense. Whats gotten into him . Opportunity. Hes always been great athlete and great football player. Obviously playing behind brian orakpo you will not have too many chances to play. Hes taken the opportunity to jump at his chance to play football and stepping up. You know, great pass rusher. Getting his hands on the ball. Really being a difference maker for this team defensively. Dapper Lorenzo Alexander on outside the linebacker rob jackson. Jason said it best on twitter. I never knew the preseason extend flood december. Thats what it looked like last might when the titans were hosting the train wreck thats the new york jets. After that debacle today the jets benched mark sanchez, bypassed Second String quarterback tim tebow and third stringer mcelroy, their new starter. The jets did not look like a team in the playoff hunt in nashville last night. Two minutes to play in the game. Mark sanchez and company down by four. Sanchez has thrown three interceptions in the game. So this was a really wise decision. Lets go to triple coverage. Why not . Picked off. Thats why. Picked off for the fourth time in the game. Four interceptions. Man. Looks like the jets lost but wait. After a three and out, a punt goes just 19 yards for the titans. Rex ryan is jacked. Jets get the ball back and titans 32. They have a shot. 47 seconds to go. First play of the ensuing drive. Sanchez fumbles the snap. Titans recover. Sanchez has 50 turnovers in the last two seasons. The jets fall 14is on. They are eliminated from the playoffs. Check out ryan and sanchez. Almost like he smell today bad or something. Didnt even look at him. After going to the afc championship game in 09 and 2010, the jets have now missed the playoffs in backtoback seasons. Wizards back at and it hosting the sxhauks for some reason the wizards have been especially back against atlanta. They have lost twice this season. And have taken it on the chin in 17 of their last 18 games against the hawks. That begs the question, randy whitman, what do you do differently against the hawks this time . Not much. They have gotten off to a good start. Not tweaked or done too much with how they have played the First Quarter of the season. Thats a good thing for us. We have been familiar with them twice now in december that we played them. We have been right there, both games. So i think that should be a good thing in or guys minds. What we have to do against this team to win. Tickets Still Available for that game tonight 37. Mistakes making news today. Hiring mike tebow as head coach and general manager. Tebow spent the last ten years with the connecticut sun leading them to eight playoff appearances 37 two wnba finals. Mystics coming off a 529 season. Good for last place in the eastern conference. About this organization that made you attracted to them . Can i tsetung in cheek you only go up . I think in my experience with the interview process and talking to ted that they were going to make a commitment to letting me do it my way. There is a base here to start with. It just needs to be tweaked and added to. And im hoping fans are patient as long as they see great effort. And we can promise that par. And deliver on that part. One final note, maryland cut seven sports but will be able to keep mens track and field through 2014. They raised enough money to have a good night. Here you go. You, too. Im going to dream about that steak. Im going to dream about that tiramisu. What a night, huh . But, um, can the test drive be over now . Head back to the dealership . [ male announcer ] its practically yours. But we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a passat. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. Rare find. Today toyota agreed to pay a record fine of more than 17 million for failing to report a safety defect in the timely manner p Practical Law requires automakers to notify the Transportation Department within five days of finding a deexpect and conducting a recall but Officials Say that toyota waited for a month to recall more than 150,000 lexus rxs. The defect dealt with the possibly loose floor mat that could force down the accelerator. Final check, doug. Final check of weather showing tomorrow still on the mild side. Changes really come on thursday into thursday night. By friday morning, we are going to finally feel like winter around here. 44 on friday. Coo coeven be snow showers in parts of the region on friday. Dont get excited. Windy, though with wind chills in the 30s all day. Same deal goes for saturday. Staying cool as we make our way towards christmas. Right now i think christmas is mostly cloudy with a chance of shower activity. That, though, most likely would be rain. We will continue to watch out for that forecast. We are not dreaming of a wet christmas. I know. Hope therefully it will be way late in the day. Piece of history discovered by chance and lost is now seeing the light of day again. 14 years ago, two people were hiking along a rocky cliff side in spain. They spotted the fossilized remains after dinosaur in a massive stone near the water. That stone was eventually washed out to sea and deposited someplace else. That part is peculiar. Today a spanish Army Helicopter recovered the rock. The plans are to display it at a museum. Experts say that they believe the remains are from a small planteating dinosaur that lived 152 million years ago. Thats about the time that that food pyramid i was talking about earlier. Thats in the smithsonian. Quite a story from one big old rock. Isnt that something . How did it get swept out to