they're hunting. this is him, benjamin colton barnes, 24 years old, believed to have military experience and an assault rifle somewhere in the sprawling national park. and there's one other thing. police say barnes is their only person of interest in a shooting earlier today that left four people wounded outside seattle. so, let's get more on this story today mt. rainier national park we go and to the latest on the manhunt from john hum bert. >> reporter: we just had a briefing before we came on air here and they're trying to tell us the severity of barnes, the danger and power he poses. they have not officially named him as a suspect, but the only person of interest in this shooting and, obviously, the shooting earlier this morning, when it comes to the new year's eve shooting. barnes has a military background, definitely familiarity with military weapons. we were told that the car he owns was found at the location. that had a cache of armor, also other weapons and survivalist gear, what they're telling us, the pierce county authorities are saying. and so, this is a guy that definitely knows what to do with weapons and has a background. we're going to have some pictures later this evening for you as well of a tattooed barnes with his shirt off, posing with weapons. we've just been handing some of those pictures. we'll try to turn those around for a little later, but this person definitely has some power and danger, and they want to make sure that if he is out there and is in these mountains right now walking around, that hundreds of people that are up there right now locked away in some of the lodges and cabins and visitors centers are going to be all right. >> well, that's got to be terrifying for them, to think that somebody could be in their midst with an assault rifle. what else do you know about the shooting earlier in the day in skyway, that he could be part of, according to some reports? >> reporter: according to what we've been told by sources, this was a situation, a typical new year's eve party. obviously, seattle's a big spot for that up and down the sound. and so, what happened was, according to what we've been told by king county, was there was some sort of fight at this party, and apparently, the suspect in this case, barnes, was asked to leave. there was some sort of fight and then there was, apparently, someone who came back with weapons and started firing, hitting four people. and from what we've been told, three of them are dead. and so, this is a serious situation that this man has been on the hunt essentially from the very early-morning hours and coming to the park, if it is the same man involved in both cases as authorities believe, this is a man who definitely wanted to do nothing with any sort of authority figure, even so much as a gentle, docile park ranger. >> yes. thanks so much. we appreciate it, jon humbert out of seattle. thanks so much for your information. now on the phone from near mt. rainier, park spokeswoman lee taylor is with us. ms. taylor, first of all, what about the visitors now in the park? are they aware of the manhunt? we know this is a very large park and there are a lot of people there on a holiday. >> yes, it is. it was a busy day today, one of our busiest winter days ever. luckily, we've been able to evacuate most of the people who were in the park safely. and those who are remaining are hold up in our primary visitors center, the jackson visitors center at paradise. there's over 100 people there. they are, we believe, in a safe location. they've got everything they need for their physical comfort -- food, water, et cetera. and they are in the presence of five law enforcement officers who can provide some, you know, some security and protection. and we are going to keep them there until we believe that it's safe to travel down the road. given everything that you just heard about the suspect in this case, we don't want to try to have those people get to their vehicles and carry down the park road where there could be dangers of being sniped at by a gunman. so for now, they're going to sit tight in the visitors center. >> absolutely. what kind of square mileage are we talking about as far as the mt. rainier park, and what are conditions like for a person that would be on the run in this park? >> well, the park itself is huge. it's hundreds of square miles. the paradise area, the area that's accessible by road this time of year is substantial, and the terrain that the suspect is traveling in is mountainous terrain, there's a lot of snow on the ground. in fact, there's about, oh, gosh, probably four or five feet of snow on the ground, including about two feet of fresh powder, so it would be difficult to be able to move through quickly. and it's heavily forested. >> good news. tell us about the park ranger, margaret anderson, who was gunned down. how long was she at the park and what can you tell us about her personally, her commitment to the job that she was doing? >> margaret worked at mt. rainier for about four years. like other park rangers, she was in the job not for money or for glory but out of a love for the wild places, the national parks, and because she believed in providing good service to the public. she was a person with a quick smile, a very gentle person, a very competent ranger, and i might add that she's also -- was also a young mother with two small children at home. so, this gunman took the life of somebody who had a great deal to live for and was making great contributions to society by being a national park ranger. >> absolutely. such a tragic loss. we thank you so much. we know it's a very sad day for you and you've got a very serious situation on your hands with this gunman on the loose. park spokeswoman lee taylor. again, the suspect they're looking for right now, benjamin colton barnes, 24 years old. fled on foot through mt. rainier park. also tonight, police in a san diego suburb believe a shooting that left four people dead may be a murder-suicide. officers responded early sunday to a call of shots fired inside a condo. they found one body in a doorway. inside there were three more bodies, two men and a woman. police did not take chances when they got to the scene. >> upon the initial arrival of the coronado police department, they observed the male lying in the walkway, the doorway of the residence. our s.w.a.t. team did respond to the scene, and with the assistance of a robot, entered the residence and discovered the bodies of two additional deceased males and one deceased female. >> police do not believe there are any outstanding suspects, although they caution, it is early in the investigation. a 12-year-old florida boy is in critical condition after being hit by a bullet apparently fired during a new year's celebration. the boy was sitting in the front yard of his home in ruskett, south of tampa, watching fireworks when he was hit. relatives and neighbors say no one was firing a gun near the house. police believe the shot could have been fired from miles away. well, the new year began in flames and smoke as an arson spree in southern california intensified. seven more suspected arsons overnight bring the total to 39 that have scorched neighborhoods in the hollywood area since friday. los angeles investigators say cars are being torched with the flames spreading to houses, and one of those homes once belonged to jim morrison, lead singer for the doors. >> every lead, every possible rumor, you know, perception, whatever it is, our investigators are active. they're taking this, as we've talked about, real personal, and they're going to commit themselves. they're not going to just discard any kind of rumor whatsoever. >> so far, only one injury to a firefighter. the mayor of west hollywood, the site of seven of the fires, says his city is densely populated, and burning a car next to a house is like setting off an explosive. >> many of these buildings or open car portis are rent-controlled apartments, they're very dense, they're in parts of west hollywood and los angeles where we have 20,000 people living per square mile. each of these buildings contains hundreds of residents, many of them frail seniors, many of them families with children that can't move as quickly as young people. and so, it's this new form of urban terrorism that we are seeing in our community. >> a $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. in the wake of saturday's earthquake, state officials in ohio have ordered four wells be blocked from opening out of fear they could cause earthquakes. the wells pump fluid deep underground and were supposed to open in the next few weeks. an official explained the fear. >> what happens is the water acts as a lubricant. so, they are pumping water down at about 9,000 feet, and it was working its way down in, and it wound up serving as a lubricant, which then reduced the friction, and we had the earthquakes. >> a magnitude 4.0 tremor struck ohio saturday. it's 1 of 11 to hit in the past year. well, the first test of the 2012 election season is less than 48 hours away. the iowa caucuses could set the tone for the rest of the race for the gop, but those who are strong in iowa may not be as strong elsewhere. the cnn political team is here to break it all down for us in two minutes. man on tv: ...rbis and 36 homers. swings at the first pitch and fouls it deep back into the stands. [ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. less than 48 hours left until the very first votes are cast in the 2012 presidential race. the iowa caucuses are tuesday night, and many of the republican hopefuls spent their holiday making their last sales pitch to voters. here's how the field looks in the latest closely watched "des moines register" poll. check out the top three. mitt romney in the lead, 24%. ron paul close behind at 22%. rick santorum, one of the biggest surprises, now up to 15%. i'm joined in the studio by cnn political director mark preston and in des moines, iowa, dana bash is standing by live for us. dana, to you in a moment. mark is fresh off the airplane from des moines here in atlanta, so welcome. >> thank you. >> and you have the front page of "the des moines register," so you should know what the pulse is and what the feeling is back in iowa. >> absolutely. i spent the last weekend in iowa. this is what's going on out there right now. voters are trying to figure out who they want to support in this race for the republican presidential nomination. and out of nowhere, multiple story lines right now all working their way out in des moines, but out of nowhere, rick santorum has shown that he is a strong contender right now. we started with the cnn poll earlier this week, backed up by the nbc poll, and of course, the "des moines register" poll, considered the gold standard for the iowa caucuses, shows that rick santorum has a shot. >> he said he hasn't been speed dating in the state, either, as he's accused other contenders. he's been on the ground, boots on. back to you in a moment. dana, ron paul is running very close to mitt romney in iowa, but why won't some in the republican establishment support him? they just won't. >> reporter: oh, where do we even start? look at the things he supports, natalie. the fact that he supports legalizing drugs, the fact that he wants to bring all troops that are stationed abroad home to the united states. the list goes on and on from there. the issue, though, with ron paul is that he does also and has for a very long time, before it was cool, supported antigovernment, antidebt kinds of ideals and positions. and so, the electorate, the republican electorate has sort of moved in that sense, economically, towards him. and that's why he has gained popularity, because he talks about things that we saw the republican voters go for back in 2010 when they elected a republican house. so, that's the issue. but look, you definitely see so many republicans in the "establishment" trying very hard to stop his candidacy, particularly because of his views on foreign policy. >> we'll see what happens on tuesday. mark, let's talk about 12:01 wednesday morning. who's going where after iowa, do you think? >> well, you know, traditionally, what would happen is the winners out of iowa, first, second or third, would head into new hampshire. that would be the traditional path. however, what we're going to see this time around is that michele bachmann, who's the minnesota congresswoman as well as texas governor rick perry, they're going to go south to south carolina, because that's where they feel that they have a stronger bond with those voters down there. meanwhile, rick santorum just said a short time ago on our air that no matter how he does in the iowa caucuses, he will go to new hampshire and compete in new hampshire. the problem for rick santorum in new hampshire, perhaps it's not a problem, is that mitt romney is considered to be the walkaway favorite in new hampshire. and if rick santorum can show pretty well up in new hampshire, that could even provide a little more fuel to his candidacy. he doesn't need to win new hampshire, but if he places well up there, he could go a long way to help his campaign. >> he's got to show where he's in the polls. iowa perhaps is helping him move towards new hampshire. dana, newt gingrich has deflated in iowa. how much of that has to do with newt turning the other cheek after his rivals went negative on him? >> reporter: oh, it has a lot to do with that and a lot to do with the fact that these outside groups, these "super pacs" spent so much money with a strategic hit, really a hit, on newt gingrich. and he actually said today that he was -- he actually told our jim acosta he was too slow to respond, but listen to what he said. >> well, i was just struck by the politico analysis, this sheer volume of anti-gingrich ads run by romney's pac. i'll let you decide how you would describe it. it's pretty -- for a state this size, to spend that number of dollars in negative ads by one candidate, it's pretty amazing. >> reporter: and natalie, i think he said he got romney boated, an illusion to really the first time we saw these clandestine groups go after a candidate, that was of course in 2004 when john kerry got swift boated. i'm sure mark can attest to this, that actually was intentional, that the romney campaign, they're very nervous about newt gingrich doing so well, so they basically took him out. and now, even if mitt romney is second or third, if the top three are mitt romney, rick santorum and ron paul, the romney campaign thinks that they're in pretty good shape going forward. >> dana bash, we thank you from iowa. thank you for coming to atlanta and we'll see you as our coverage, of course, presses on, mark preston. thank you. tuesday night, the country's first real votes, the candidates' first true tests take place in the iowa caucuses. cnn's live "america's choice 2012" coverage begins tuesday night, 7:00 p.m. eastern. well, we have been talking a lot about who the voters of iowa will support, but what about the power brokers, the people on wall street who have the clout and the cash to make a huge difference in this election? our susan candiotti dug into the numbers to find out who they're supporting. susan. >> reporter: wall street is already flashing plenty of green for presidential contenders. here's a look at the latest numbers for the gop. so far, mitt romney is way out in front. the center for responsive politics says the former massachusetts governor has received more than $3.8 million from wall street stock brokers, brokerage companies and bond dealers through december 5th. romney's take is about five times more than the rest of his competitors combined. next is texas governor rick perry, followed by utah governor jon huntsman, texas congressman ron paul and minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann, with the rest trailing her. >> well, you want to make nice with everybody if you're a donor at this early stage in the race. i think typically, when you talk about the financial sector, you're going to see donors giving more broadly to the sort of establishment-friendly kind of republicans, your mitt romneys, jon huntsman, rick perry. all those candidates raised a lot of money on wall street. >> reporter: who are the top donors? remember, these are not necessarily the companies themselves, they could also be people working for these companies or their political action committees. at the top, goldman sachs, $2 million. goldman is also romney's top wall street donor. next, bain capital, whose specialties include takeovers. romney still has tooid ties there. but they give their majority to democrats. how is president obama faring? certainly, he's been at odds with wall street from time to time because of regulations in the wake of the financial crisis. so far, gop candidates, including house and senate leaders, are getting nearly three times more than the democrats. still, president obama is cashing in, collecting $1.8 million so far. that trails romney, of course, but it's still early. natalie? >> susan candiotti for us in new york. thanks. well, we warn every new year's eve about the dangers of fireworks, but this may be a new one, revelers injured when they swallowed fireworks. we'll have that in two minutes. new year's celebrations got out of hand in the philippines. health officials say firecrackers injured around 450 people in the capital manila. another 18 people were hit by stray bullets fired into the air. four people became sick after apparently mistaking fireworks for candy and swallowing it. on the bright side, officials say the number of injuries is down from last year. 2012 is off to an ugly start in syria. government opposition activists say at least ten people were killed today. the arrival of arab league monitors the past week has apparently done nothing to end the violence. and now critics within the arab league say the monitors should leave. mohammed jamjoom is watching developments for us from cairo. >> reporter: reports of more violations and demonstrations in syria. the city of homs reports that people gathered there new year's eve, into the new year, for an antigovernment demonstration in which they were chanting antiregime slogans and saying that they wished for a new year free of the bashar al assad regime. there are also amateur videos showing cakes that were baked on display, wishing syria a new year without its president bashar al assad. also reports of demonstrations in homs, also demonstrations in another province. also, reportingly on january 1st, a huge funeral procession for a child who was reportedly killed. meanwhile, the arab parliament with its 88-member advisory committee to the arab league called on the arab league to withdraw its mission to syria because violence continues even though the arab league monitors are on the ground there. the arab league issued a press release later in the day, in which they said it was only the arab council who could stop that mission, who can withdraw those observers, and that the observers on the ground there remain committed to their mission. mohammed jamjoom, cnn, cairo. the new year is ushering in tens of thousands of new laws that could affect you, from the funny to the not so much. we'll run through some of them next. along with the new year comes a slew of new laws. nearly 40,000 of them. they range from the controversial to the, well, quirky. josh levs has highlights for us. >> a couple interesting ones. hawaii and delaware begin allowing same-sex civil unions today, and in honolulu, some couples gathered for a ceremony. take a look. >> we now pronounce that you are legally joined as partners in life. [ cheers and applause ] >> that was just after midnight there in honolulu. five states now have same-sex civil unions, and about six states, plus washington, d.c., have same-sex marriage. that's not including california, where same-sex marriages are currently not allowed. that followed a big debate. now also controversial is this, a new law in new hampshire requiring parental notification for a minor who wants to get an abortion, or that minor can seek a court order to avoid parental notification. governor john lynch vetoed it, saying he wanted an exception for rape, incest or abuse. the state legislature then overrode that veto. so, that's new hampshire. one more really interesting controversial one, this is about immigration. different states have new laws that contradict each other, that showed the split in this country over the e-verify program, used online to check citizenship or immigration status. louisiana, tennessee, south carolina and georgia are all requiring businesses to enroll. california, meanwhile, is saying state and local governments cannot require employers to use that program unless they have to to receive federal funds. supporters say the program helps businesses make sure they're not hiring illegal immigrants. opponents say it's not 100% accurate, it's expensive to operate and it pushes undocumented workers further under ground. so, natalie, all those enacted today. some of the most controversial ones for you right now. >> well, the subjects of some of these laws are as varied and interesting as americans themselves, right? >> i like that. >> two others involve pets and tanning beds. >> yes. >> tell us about that. >> yeah, pets and tanning. no, i didn't see this coming. when i was looking through this list of what's coming out. this california law makes it a crime -- i have the words here -- to sell a live animal on any street, highway, public right-of-way, parking lot, carnival or boardwalk. the reason for this, i'll tell you what -- as we look at these pictures of pets. animal rights groups have pushed for this, because they say that often, animals that may have problems that are ill, some people will try to sell them on a boardwalk and then impulse buyers will buy the pet but then regret it later, and then you end up with abandoned pets. so, they're hoping that will lessen abandoned pets with these restrictions. we'll see how that plays out. tanning beds, one my favorites on the list. check this out. it's now illegal in california for minors to use ultraviolet tanning devices even with parental consent. for a while, they had to have parents' permission. now, even if your parent says it's okay, you cannot use a tanning bed in california if you are under 18 years old. so, that's just a few of them. i want you to see the language on these and see thousands more, which is why i posted them online for you, this mega list. it's at my page, cnn.com/josh, facebook and twitter, joshlevscnn. >> happy reading. 40,000 new laws there. fireworks go up and dozens of birds go down dead from shock, apparently. we'll have that story right after a break. and maybe you're one of the lucky ones getting another day off monday. if not, we have your back-to-work travel forecast. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. ♪ fare thee well ♪ farewell ♪ mr. gloom be on your way ♪ ♪ though you haven't any money you can still be bright and sunny ♪ ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah some headlines across the country now, starting with a mystery in arizona. birds falling dead from the sky on new year's eve for the second year in a row. wildlife officials say about 200 dead. blackbirds have been reported. the same thing happened, you may remember, last new year's eve, but on a much bigger scale, 5,000 birds dead in a square-mile area. in both cases, officials believe fireworks startled the birds. last year's incident was considered an accident. this time around, investigators think someone intentionally went into the birds' roost and set the fireworks off. a north carolina man is in federal custody, charged with trying to board a commercial flight with an explosive device. it happened saturday in midland, texas. tsa agents say they spotted a suspicious item in the man's carry-on bag. they arrest ed trey scott atwater, briefly evacuated the airport, then declared an all clear. he was carrying military-grade explosives but did not have a detonator. the source tells cnn this incident is "nothing nefarious." in other news, banana sam is back. you may remember the squirrel monkey that was taken friday from the san francisco zoo. our affiliate ktvu reporting a good samaritan spotted the 17-year-old animal in a tree in a park and coaxed it, somehow, into his backpack, then notified police. zoo staffers noticed the little guy missing after spotting holes cut through the mesh fence of banana sam's exhibit. in florida, a pirate-themed party boat ran aground saturday hours before midnight, and the planned ship for a new year's eve celebration. another boat tried to ferry passengers to shore but also hit bottom. about 101 pirates ushered in the new year on shore, not as planned. we're thinking they probably still had a good time. and town officials in western pennsylvania are letting down the law on sledding in local parks in beaver borough. sledding is banned altogether in one park following an accident. in another park, it is still okay to sled, but it's restricted to local residents only and kids under 12 must wear helmets. no real commute headaches expected monday. it is a federal holiday, but there's still severe weather to keep an eye on. meteorologist bonnie schneider is here with that. so, if there is some sledding weather out there, you have to wear a helmet some places. >> absolutely. looking back, when i used to go sledding as a kid, that probably would have been a good idea. >> we're still here somehow. >> yes. we are looking at snow, unfortunately, not the fun kind of snow. for the morning commute, we're facing a lot of lake-effect snow into parts of the great lakes. and in michigan, a dangerous blizzard. let's get right to your morning commute tonight and we can show you what's happening. we're going to count down five cities where we're looking at some of the worst weather that may cause you some slowdowns. like in seattle, of course, some rain. that may give you a little bit of a slowdown. atlanta, believe it or not, it's the wind. we've had wind here, but wind will be strong with an advisory in effect monday. new york city, blustery, the high about 43 tomorrow, but it will feel like it's in the 30s because of that brisk wind. and of course, that will likely cause slowdowns at the airport. all right, now we're getting to the big stuff. cleveland, heavy snow, blowing snow. when you have wind and blowing snow, you're looking at the potential of high snow drifts. it's fascinating about cleveland, i want to mention, it was 50 degrees there earlier today and now it's 38 with a high of 29 tomorrow. buffalo, same for you, blowing snow. accumulations will start tonight and a very, very strong wind, so that's a look at your commute. unfortunately, it is going to be a tough one due to this. it doesn't look as messy on the radar, but i can tell you, with the wind whipping, the snow that's hitting michigan right now, upstate new york and ohio is just fierce and problematic. it's actually dangerous in many locations as that wind works its way across the warmer waters of the great lakes and pulls up that warm, moist air and then just plummets it down as heavy, heavy snow as soon as it hits land. and some of the worst of that will be in michigan, places like traverse city, where there's a blizzard warning in effect straight through tomorrow night. so look for blowing and drifting snow and very high snow drifts that could be well over two feet. >> stay indoors. if you're there, just enjoy the day off, perhaps. thanks, bonnie. he was once considered a candidate and now is top of the polls. we'll ask our analysts, is it because he's gaining traction or because the leaders are losing it? for a limited time, passages malibu will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. in the most recent polling, santorum is in third place behind mitt romney and ron paul. so, is santorum's rise an indication of growing popularity or is it a result of so many of his rivals falling flat earlier in this campaign? i posed that question to lz granderson, a contributor to cnn.com and senior writer at espn and cnn contributor will cain. >> santorum's rise is equal to newt gingrich's fall, so some of the support is going to santorum, but let's not ignore what he's accomplished. he's put in a lot of hard work. he's visited every county in iowa. his campaign seems tailor-made for iowa -- social values, family values, social observism. that plays well to iowa. so, you could expect he could do well in iowa and now it looks like he is doing well. >> well, i want to play this sound from nbc "meet the press" this morning. david gregory pressed santorum about his endorsement of mitt romney back in the 2008 campaign. >> the nominee -- >> you said compared to -- >> well, of course i'm not going to say compared to. i'm trying to advocate for his candidacy at a time -- >> so you didn't mean that then? >> i meant relative to john mccain. remember, it wasn't like i was an early supporter of romney. i endorsed him seven days before he dropped out. >> does he have conservative values, principles? >> of course. everybody on that stage that is in these debates has conservative values, vis-a-vis president obama. >> elsie, do you buy his explanation there, that he endorsed romney purely for political reasons? >> absolutely not. you know, rick santorum -- i've been trying really hard not to call him a knob, but i don't know what else i can do besides say that, because the guy continues to just put himself in these positions in which he looks like a very weak leader, he looks as if he's always flip-flopping, even with his own principles. i mean, he criticized romney and his flip-flopping. well, he had very similar views about abortion as romney did, and then he flip-flopped his own views with regards to abortion when it got time for him to start to run for president. so i don't understand the guy. i can find very little of him talking about the economy, very little talking about jobs. it's always about abortion, and he thinks about gay people more than i do, and i'm gay, so i don't get the guy. >> let's turn to ron paul. we'll leave it there for santorum. let's turn to ron paul, second in the "des moines register" poll. there's always been a question about whether he's too outside of the mainstream to be electable in a general election. here's what he said this morning on cnn's "state of the union." >> i've been pretty electable. i was elected 12 times once people got to know me in my own congressional district. so, i think that might be more propaganda than anything else. so, we'll wait and see. we'll know a lot more about how the election goes tomorrow. >> will, is ron paul letting the iowa poll numbers get to his head? >> no. i mean, that's perfectly rational reason that he just gave. look, here's my issue with ron paul, is he electable? tim ferris wrote a book called "the four-hour workweek," and he talked about prieto's principle. that's that you can break most of the things in the world down to an 80/20 proposition. 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clientele. simultaneously, 80% of your problems come from another 20% of your clientele. i think this applies to ron paul. 80% of what he says is great. small government, constitutionalism, dedication to liberty. but 20% is a total deal-killer. the interesting thing is, that 20% is different for everybody. for some, it's that he would legalize drugs. for others, he'd pull troops out of afghanistan, iraq, germany, japan and south korea. and for others, it's that he would kill the federal reserve. it's different for everybody, but it's always a deal-killer. that is why he's not electable. >> there you have it, from our guests earlier. tuesday night, the country's first real votes, the candidates' first true test take place in the iowa caucuses. our special "america's choice 2012" coverage of the iowa caucuses begins tuesday night, 7 eastern. please join us. 2011 saw plenty of gadgets come on the market. did you keep up? so, what will the new year hold in the world of technology? you've got more gadgets to look at. find out about them in two minutes. 2012 is only a few hours old, but amazing, new technology is already on the horizon for the year ahead. new computers, cameras, gaming consoles, gadgets everyone's going to be talking about, and we've got tech reporter katie linen doll to tell us about it. >> reporter: 2011 was all about the year of the tablet, and get used to the buzz word of ultrabooks, because 2012 is the year of ultrabooks. that's a buzz word meaning light, portable, compact and efficient. according to intel, who's trademarked the word, they say by the end of 2012, a lot of the laptops sold will be in ultrabook. certain specifications make it an ultrabook, and we talked about how light it is. less than 0.8 inches thick, less than 3.1 pounds, five to eight hours of battery life. great for college students and people that love to travel. first on the list, ultrabooks. >> yes. lighter than your starbucks, perhaps, or headed that way. of course, we can't talk about tech without talking about apple. i'm an apple freak myself. >> yes. a lot to talk about on the apple side, and these are merely guesses, but i will tell you probably the biggest question i get is when is the ipad 5 coming out, probably fall for iphone 5, maybe february for ipad 3, but let's talk about something that a lot of people didn't expect, and we got a little insight of steve jobs' biography written by walter isaacson, talk of an apple tv. not the settop box most people know, the apple tv, an apple television. what's exciting about this is apple could really shake up the television market. a lot of rumors speculating that there could be use of siri, so you might be able to control your television with your voice, and also have an a la carte channel programming lineup. now, we know that would be very tough to do with cable and licensing, but if any company has the clout to do it, it is apple. so, looking forward to that itv probably later in 2012. >> i got that book for christmas. i haven't gotten to that part. i'll have to flip ahead and see. sounds intriguing. also on your list, a new kind of photography? >> yes. no camera got more attention in 2011 than one that isn't even on the market, and this is going to be out early 2012. this is lightro. it's a $400 camera that uses a whole entirely different kind of photography. it only has three buttons on it, no settings. it has a zoom, a shutter and a power button. but it's all about using light field photography. what that allows you to do is with this little gadget -- and again, it doesn't really look like a camera, right? it gives you the capability to take a photo and then go back to any photo that you've taken and change the focus, which looks really cool and it gives you more power than an amateur photographer. so a nice option. it has a high price point and doesn't take video or have an sd card, so you'll have to use the desktop software, which is a little bit of a setback. i want to go right from photography to gaming, because we can't talk about tech in 2012 without talking about gaming consoles. one of the most anticipated is the wii-u console system, the successor to the wii, which came out in 2006. it's nintendo's six console. what's different about this is not only does it give you the capability to have 1080p graphics, which is cool, it's all about the touchscreen controller. the wii-u will have a controller you can use separately. tv doesn't even have to be on. you can use it in conjunction with the tv. you can do video chatting with it. it will also be backwards compatible with the wii and wii games in the balance board. so a lot of people looking forward to the wii-u coming out later this year. >> lots of good stuff. try to keep up with it. the night's top stories are next, and a major league baseball player risking his life for a cause. but by doing so, he could lose his multimillion dollar contract. man on tv: ...rbis and 36 homers. swings at the first pitch and fouls it deep back into the stands. [ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. checking some of our top stories. we're watching washington state tonight. that's where police are fanning out all over mt. rainier national park. the man they're hunting, benjamin colt barnes, is believed to be armed, military training, and the man they say shot and killed u.s. park ranger margaret anderson. police say her killer fled into the forest and is still on the run. the national park is immense, nearly 400 square miles. visitors to the park this holiday weekend, one of the busiest weekends they've had in a while, have been either evacuated or taken to safe locations on the mountain. seven more suspected arson fires in the los angeles area have boosted the total to 39 since friday. investigators say cars are being torched with the flames spreading to houses. so far, there's only one reported injury to a firefighter. a $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. ohio officials are blocking the opening of four wells after an earthquake in ohio. the magnitude 4.0 quake struck saturday. it is 1 of 11 to hit in the past year. the wells pop fluid deep under ground, leading some to suspect they are causing an increase in seismic activity. a professional baseball player for the new york mets is trying to take slavery awareness to new heights. on tuesday, pitcher r.a. dickey will begin climbing mt. kilimanjaro to raise money for the bombay team challenge in india. the group helps rescue and rehabilitate victims of the sex trafficking industry in mumbai. i spoke with dickey on saturday and asked if he was ready for the climb. >> i feel as prepared as i can be, you know. you don't have experience -- i don't have any experience climbing, so i don't have an expectation, but i certainly have gotten myself in good shape and used an oxygen deprivation mask to help me train. but you know, it's all going to come down to can you do it or can you not. and if i start experiencing some symptoms of altitude sickness, i'm not going to try to push through. i'm just going to stop right there. i've got a lot on the line. >> right, absolutely. you have a huge contract with the new york mets. what has been their reaction to you taking on this challenge? >> well, the mets publicly, you know, can't really get behind it because i'm one of their assets, and if they support an asset that goes over to kilimanjaro and gets hurt and can't be of use to them on the field, you know, it certainly doesn't make a lot of sense. i completely empathize with that position and i've talked to the owner and the general manager, and they're both, you know, kind of -- they're encouraging, if not supportive publicly, they're certainly encouraging. and you know, there's no acrimony there. we're all on the same page. >> well, i certainly know, we all know a few people who have gotten to the top of mt. kilimanjaro, and some people are just born to want to get up there and to do this and to have this achievement. i know that you were in part inspired by reading hemingway as a young boy. tell us about that. >> yeah. you know, in seventh or eighth grade, i can't remember which, i picked up the short stories of kilimanjaro by hemingway, and i was struck by his description of the mountain and, you know, the frozen leopard carcass on the west summit. and just, it was somewhat mythical to me, so i kind of filed it away as a young boy and thought, you know, i'd like to go visit that place one day. and the opportune moment has arisen, and i'm just trying to seize it. >> when do you start? what's the day you start your ascent and how long will it take? >> i start on tuesday. and we fly out via detroit, amsterdam, down to kilimanjaro. it's about 18 hours on a plane. and then we actually step foot on the mountain on january the 5th. and that ascension will take us probably about 8 1/2 days. and we just want to ensure that we're going to have the best chance to summit, so we're taking a little bit longer and i'll be writing a blog and an article in diary form for "the new york times," so you can track the climb on there. but again, everything needs to point to the bomb bi-team challenge and the work those guys are doing in mumbai. >> r.a. dickey, we wish him well in his climb. i'm natalie allen at cnn headquarters in atlanta. have a good night and a great week and a good year. thanks for watching.

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