Bad weather and extra last minute Online Shopping br to blame. On its website ups said the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network. Some angry customers complained on the ups Facebook Page while others took to twitter with the hash tag ups fail. But many took the delays in stride. In boston gary expressed symphony for deliver drivers working late on christmas eve. I saw ups and Federal ExpressTruck Drivers out there at 10 00, 11 00 at night doing the best they could. Reporter some online retailers including am son. Com are offering gift cards and refunds for shipping fees for items that didnt make it on time. Ups officials told Bloomberg Business week the Company Expected to ship more than 132 million items the week before christmas. Late packages were the least of peoples problems up north. Hundreds of thousands of people from the upper midwest to new england and canada remained without power after last weekends huge ice storm. Tree limbs snapped power lines as subzero temperatures and more snow added to the misery. Help was brought in from hundreds of miles away, even our area to try to turn the lights back on as quickly as possible. Today is the day eem usually day people usually head back to the store to maybe return or finally get what you were hoping for but there are rules for those not so happy returns. Reporter hours after the holiday rush, the race to return is under way. And this season many retailers have adopted stricter return policies. Even cutting their holiday return periods in half. The stores now require you to show i. D. If youve returned more than a certain number of items over a 90day period, the next time you wont be able to return. Reporter retailers are battling the problem known as wardrobing. When a customer buys a suit or dress, wears it to a party and then tries to return it. So bloomingdales, for example, has a special tag at the bottom of the hemline, kind of a plastic tag. If its removed, they will not accept the return. Reporter be sure to read the fine print before you head to the store. Remember, some items, especially electronic, carry a restocking fee. Video games and movies are among the items that cant be returned once theyve been opened. And finally, be aware that some stores will not accept returns for items that were purchased online. Andrea mccarren, wusa9. Retailers face a heavy loss with return fraud. The National Retail federation says stores will lose an estimated 3. 9 billion during the Holiday Shopping season alone. Dont you hate it when everything you bought over christmas is now half off or 75 off . A number of stores are already posting Christmas Day discounts. Many of those deals are online. Retailers tell us to expect bigger price cuts on clothes. The site says deals will be better than expected on tvs and christmas decoration. Five New Zealanders are facing another night stuck on the ice in antarctica after the weather closed their ship and trapped it in the ice. 75 people are aboard the ship that put out a distress call yesterday morning. Reporter they are exploring and carrying out environmental reseven in one of the most challenging terrains on earth. They were making Good Progress before pack ice stopped them in their tracks. Its a low pressure system. We have wind speeds on average of 50 kilometers an hour reaching in excess of 70 kilometers an hour. The vessel hasnt moved for the last two days and were surrounded by sea ice. We just cant get through. Reporter three ships answered the distress call and should reach them by tomorrow evening weather permitting. Five New Zealanders are on board including two chefs who provided christmas lunch and jane wilson who is enjoying some down time. Everyone is happy. Our program is continuing. We were quite pleased to have a break. Reporter the team are retracing the steps of australian explorer Douglas Morison after a hundred years ago. After visiting his hut, they plan to compare how the landscape and wildlife have changed in the last century. The crew sitting tight for now but theyre itching to get on with their research before landing back in bluff at the beginning of january. For one family christmas began with cheer but ended in tragedy. Thats because the home they built was completely engulfed in flames last night. It happened in the 14000 block of Rolling Meadows road of Prince Georges County. You see the fire right there on your screen. That is an unincorporated section of the county which means there are no fire hydrants in the area. Fire crews were able to battle the flames relying on a Tanker Task Force to provide water. But the second floor of the house was already tried leaving a family in disbelief. We have children up here, grandchildren, his great grandchildren. Weafn joyed this weve enjoyed this place all of our lives coming back here. But to see this, its devastating. It really is. Luckily no one was home during the fire. Theyre still investigating what may have caused the blaze. We now know the cause of the twoalarm house fire in Silver Spring yesterday t. Began in the Early Morning at a home on narrows court. Investigators say the fire began when someone inside the home used a flammable liquid to start a fire in the fireplace. Three people, including two firefighters had minor burns. Theyre all expected to be okay. Five people were displaced and an estimated 750,000 worth of damage was caused by the flames. Investigators are searching for the cause of another house fire this in calvert county. It happened early yesterday morning on the 6500 block of lower marlboro lane. Firefighters found the victim dead inside the home after putting out the fire. The pictures of the fire came to us from the baynet. Com. Federal prosecutors in new york say they cannot produce documents for news of immigrants who have been detained nationwide for months or even years. Last week a federal judge criticized the government for Holding Immigrants too long as their status was reviewed. The American Civil Liberties union said some are detained in jails longer than six months. Prosecutors were asked to hand over court papers on the matter but it will take six months to get all of the records together. Houston, mission accomplished. Nasa said a series of space walks to repair a problem on the International Space station was successful. The last walk happened on christmas eve. Astronauts removed and replaced parts of a cooling system that broke two weeks ago. The repairs took seven hours to complete. It was a special christmas for a woman in virginia beach. Thats because she reached a milestone. She turned 100 years old. Nanny hardy was the guest of honor at a family celebration yesterday. Great, great grandmother of four she shared pictures from her life and reminisced over the good times and the bad. [indiscernible] god bless nannie hardy. Her words of wisdom are pretty simple. She says love your neighbor as yourself and dont be an enemy to your neighbor or your family or your friends. Good words. Cell phones were a hot commodity this christmas. But its not just for adults. Well have that coming up in your first report of the morning. And will snow impack your shopping today . Olgas first weather alert forecast is up next. Keep it here. Good morning. Olga breese in for Howard Bernstein right now. Partly cloudy right now. Well see a few passing clouds till about midday. Then well break out sunshine this afternoon moving out of the 20s through the 30s. We should hit a high in the city center close to the mid 40s. It will be a chilly night tonight as well. Monika . On the northbound side of i 95, hov lanes are open for Business Today on december 26. Things look good both in the main and hov lanes as you head for 395 and the 14th street bridge. Back to you. Time right now is 4 41. Time for the first your money segment of the morning. The markets are back open today after a day off for christmas. Investors will see if the winning streak on wall street is going to continue after closing higher on christmas eve. Checking the numbers for you, the dow finished up 63 points to close at an alltime high. The s p 500 got a fivepoint bump and the nasdaq rose by six points. Later this morning investors will find out how Many Americans are applying for first time unemployment benefits. About a Million People already received checks and will soon lose them. A program that expanded benefits during the financial crisis expires on january 1 and returns to prerecession levels. The Unemployment Rate or rather the unemployed will now get six months of payments. Cell phones pretty popular holiday gift this year, not just for teens and adults. The kids are getting in the act as well. Its estimated about 60 of u. S. Kids between 8 and 12 have a phone and they start them even younger in some countries overseas. A recent survey showed 10 of 5 yearolds in britain actually have a cell phone. Our computers ruining one of the best parts of the are computers ruining the best parts of the holiday . Well answer that when we come back. Olgas first alert forecast it is a chilly one out there. Olga breese has your forecast and it may involve a hat, glove, scarf, the whole nine yards. I think people will need their winter gear. Not the sloppy stuff but well have the cold sticking around for most of the day today. When we take the winds out of the northwest, thats going to add a feels like factor as well. Lets take a look outside with our michael son cam. Its been fairly quiet. We cleared out overnight. Were starting to pull in agent bit more cloud cover this morning. Im calling the morning forecast partly cloudy and clearing into the afternoon. Check out the day planner. Right now were sitting in the 20s. Well hit the 30s by about that 8 00, 9 00 hour, the lower 30s. We will push on through. Once the clouds get out of here, well bump from the 30s to the 40s by noontime. Then in the afternoon plenty of sunshine. I think the city center should make it up to about 45 degrees late in the day. Some areas will stick to those lower 40s but still it will be quite pleasant heading on out and sunset around 5 30, 6 00 well see those temperatures dip, heading back to the 20s, even 30s overnight. A few clouds still lingering in the area. All the snow showers remaining at the Higher Elevations and mountains so portions through west virginia, southern pennsylvania and panhandle of maryland you will see snow moving on through but the metro center is safe. We will get the opportunity, though, to bundle up, stepping out this morning. Right now 29 at reagan national. 21 for manassas and down in the 20s in portions of southern maryland. So a chilly start but a lot of sunshine moving on through. Futurecast breaks it down like this. Morning clouds till about the 11 00 hour. Then by noon were looking at a pretty good dose of sunshine. Into the afternoon and evening hours it will be calm, clear and quiet. So go ahead with those evening plans. But if youre stepping out on friday morning, its going to be cool and clear again. So another chilly start is on tap for us. Lets take a look at how things break down temperature wise. 40s for most of us. Well see some of the lower 40s the further you go up to the north and way off toward the west only the middle range to lower 30s for highs. The good thing about this forecast is it stays green. For today and for tomorrow well keep our temperatures in the 40s but look whats happened by the time we get to that saturday forecast. We bring in a little bit more sunshine. We bump the temperatures up with southwest winds into the lower 40s and the sevenday forecast will feature a little bit of moderation once we hit the high on sar. Sunday is not too bad to start but sunday afternoon we could see some showers develop and some of those lingering into monday morning. Minnesota avenue east of pennsylvania avenue, im just getting word that it is closed down because of a structure fire. So you want to keep that in mind. That just in. And water main work now closes Michigan Avenue eastbound between franklin street and irving street and thats been there since about 2 00 this morning. If youre planning to in in from the north, were in great shape, no problems on route 1, route 29 out of columbia. All of the northern corridors look great coming into the beltway. On the north side of town in college park, this is basically what the beltway in Prince Georges County looks like. Both loops on the east side of town. Lets go back over to the maps and this time into the bridges. Roosevelt memorial, k, 14th street bridge, they all look really good across the potomac and anacostia crossings. Well take a look at American Legion bridge on the west side of town which is very quiet. If you practice ton take Public Transportation if you plan to take Public Transportation, marc, penn and brunswick lines are on an s schedule. No camden trains. Vre is on an s schedule as well. You probably sent or received at least one holiday greeting card this year. They might have come in a variety of different forms. According to hallmark, sales of handwritten christmas cards have dropped 25 in the last decade. And that doesnt necessarily fill everyone with holiday joy. Reporter there are many ways to say merry christmas. You can mail a song and dance. That is, email. You can post your seasons greetings on facebook for all those to see. There are mass Text Messages. I have noticed some Text Messages that ive gotten today, and they have my initials in there somewhere or my name. I have more respect for the people that do send them rather than those who send like mass texts. Reporter if its the personal touch youre after, theres always the old fashion way. Handwritten. You say you still write your own cards . Still . Reporter a lot of people dont. Wow, she is serious about her cards. What do you do when you get a card by email . Do you answer it . Its disgusting. Reporter but can your card do this . I mean, it even opens itself up. So its not a matter of money. Its just the convenience. Lazy. Reporter writing out all the greeting cards can be hard work. Write out a personalized message. , deal with paper cuts, stick it in the envelope, write down the address and mail it out. Exhausting. The last couple of years ive just written but in the past i have used ecards. Reporter why . Because its convenient. Reporter but convenience can come at a price. It gets lost in a box. Reporter some say writing is just worth it. Its personal. And its not done by a button. Sometimes its nice to get a handwritten card to know the person on the other end spent the time to write out their name, think about what theyre going to say and get the post, send t. Its a big deal. It means more. Reporter however you like it, what is perhaps more important than how you send your seasons greetings is that you send your seasons greetings. After all, its the thought that counts. Industry experts for those greeting cards say sales are only expected to continue to drop. In todays health alert, could the risk of getting Rheumatoid Arthritis be in your d. N. A. . Scientists have uncovered new genes, pathways and cell types that could increase the risk of all tied arthritis n. Is a chronic inthat place disorder inflammation. The study looked at more than 100,000 people of european and asian desent. A definitive list of major genetic variations could lead to new therapies to treat the disorder. Sign tises from the United States and mexico have discovered a new genetic clue that could determine if a person is at risk for type 2r7 diabetes. Type ii diabetes. People who have the newly identified gene are likely 20 are 20 more likely to get the disease. It may explain why latin american populations are at greater risk of developing type ii diabetes. Do you hate eye dops . Researchers in drops . Researchers in boston have developed a new treatment for dry eye disease. It can simulate the function of the cells of the gland that play a role. Time right now is 4 52. Were going to take a look at the question of the morning. According to a survey, the top three christmas villains in movies and tv are the grinch, scrooge and who . Is it a, the wet bandits, b, satan, or c, the gremlins. Go to our facebook and tell us your answer. Well share some of the comments throughout the morning. Welcome back. Its 4 55. Im olga breese in for Howard Bernstein. Were building in cloud cover calling it partly to mostly cloudy till about the 9 00 hour. Then well see clearing into the afternoon. Our winds will keep it fairly brisk and blustery, though. High temperatures making it into the middle 40s. Monika . No problems on the beltway north of town. But there are a couple of closures downtown youll want to know about. One in southeast d. C. That one just reported. If youre planning to head on Michigan Avenue as well, thats closed in northeast between franklin and irving. Ill have more information in about three minutes. Pope francis was spreading blessings during these first christmas as head of the catholic church. He prayed for people suffering from conflicts and natural disasters around the world. He broke supertradition and delivered his entire address in italian. Previous christmas messages have been delivered in multiple languages. While many of you were enjoying the holidays with friends and family, the men and women who work to keep us safe spent the day deployed overseas. Soldiers in afghanistan celebrated the day with a holiday feast. For many of their soldiers, its their first tour overseas. The price to send your mail is going up. A panel that overseas the u. S. Postal service has approved a 3 cent hike to 49 cents from the current price of 46 cents. The hike includes a onecent increase to keep pace with inflation. The additional 2 cents are to help recoup the losses of the Postal Service suffering during the recession. The charge is expected to be temporary. The stamp price change will take effect on january 26. Some of you may have spent your christmas watching the nba basketball games but we often forget the one one of the most underappreciated parts of the game, whether their team is winning or losing, the leagues professional cheerleaders still need to energize the crowds. As Andrea Mccarren reports, the women on the court here in washington are juggling careers with also cheers. It can be a really, really long day. Reporter her alarm goes off at 5 45 every morning and leah happily begins her day with a classroom of special ed students. I know why you love the mountains. You always have to be on. Youre putting on a show for your students and especially for special education students, you have to engage them the whole time. One, two, three, down four. Reporter engaging 10year old boys is not unlike her other job. Firing up a Washington Wizards audience. I am my students biggest cheerleader so its similar. Reporter dancing since the age of 3, she says shes lucky to combine both her compassion and teaching. When you see the light go off in their heads and you see them really be successful. Reporter shes among an entire squad of educated career women. Out, in, boom, boom. Wait, wait. Reporter theres joanna, a corp. Trainer and michaela, a Government Contractor who works at d. C. s navy yard. And many others. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Reporter the nbas professional cheerleaders arent always appreciated for the long hours they put in. At practice, games, and countless public appearances. At games and practices, they make just 12 an hour. I want you to listen to the characters description of show, not tell. Reporter leahs students knows she goes to a lot of wizards games but they have no idea shes a cheerleader. Her secret may not be safe for much