Just days away from the fiscal cliff right now. Can lawmaker reach a last minute deal in time . A live report from capitol hill coming up. Plus, a u. S. General way memorable military career has passed away. A look at the life and legacy of desert storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf. A redskinscowboys preview with dave ross a little bit later. Fox 5 morning news continues right now. Right now. You can see how clear it is. Clearly. Friday, december 28th. Good morning. Im sarah simmons. H simmons. Lets talk to Tucker Barnes about the weather. We are looking fine. It is chilly out there. Kind of seasonbury chilly. Temperatures back in the low to mid30s and well be in for a decent day. About maybe 40, 42 today, partial sunshine. So friday looks good. Tomorrow, things get a little more interesting as weve got this winter event on the way. Not a huge event but it is an event. It is an event but not quite an event. Okay. Im just excited about it. You are allowed to be excite about it. We dont want to scare people. I know. I wont. 33 this morning at dulles and bwi. It doesnt take much, you know. There is a look at the satelliteradar. This is the makings of our next storm system. It is going to be a quick mover so it will get started here by day break tomorrow. It will be out here by tomorrow afternoon. We are looking at the potential for a couple of inches of snow. That will be about it. And the heaviest amounts will be north and west of the city where it stays all snow. There is some indications, still some question marks about where the rainsnow line sets up early tomorrow morning. Lets worry about our friday. You are just fine. If you are going to work, your afternoon and morning commute are fine. Highs in the low 40s. Nice day today. Thank you. Time now to check in with jeff newman. Good morning. Well start in virginia as i mentioned. A light commute but the accident just north of the occoquan has thinged backed up to dale city. It is not impossible. It is not stop and go. Just running a bit under speed. Here is your look as you are passing 123 on the way up to the accident scene which is just after the occoquan. Once past this juncture, it has moved over to the Left Shoulder there in the main lanes. Your hov lanes are running at speed. Once past this and through springfield off to the lanes of 395, no problems to report. Around theener loop, springfield passing tysons over to the legion bridge. Around the inner loop, springfield passing tysons over to the legion bridge. No problems to report as you are heading down from baltimore passing columbia and laurel to the spli at the beltway. Not exactly a clear camera. I ap see with the headlights that the volume is a lot less than it would be at 6 00 on a weekday. And laurel to the split at the beltway. Thats a check of your fox 5 ontime traffic. This mornings big story is the fiscal cliff. With the clock ticking, president obama is inviting top lawmakers to the white house today. He will meet with both republican and Democratic Leaders to try to find an agreement on avoiding this fiscal cliff. Sherry ly is live at the white house this morning with the latest. Reporter good morning. The tone here in washington hasnt really changed much since before christmas. Now, with days to go before going over that socalled fiscal cliff, the president is hoping todays 3 00 meeting here at the white house with democratic and Republican Leaders will help avoid this standoff. Both sides continue to play the blame game though. Senate majority leader harry reid attacked House Speaker john boehner for blocking a vote on a potential deal while the gop led house isnt due back until sunday, just one day before the deadline to avoid the automatic tax increases in spending cuts that could send the nation into recession. The differences between the two sides remain intact. Democrats want to raise taxes on everyone earning more than 250,000 a year although the president has offered to up that to 400,000 in negotiations with boehner. Republicans have rejected any new taxes even those the House Speaker proposed on people earning morning a million dollars. Instead, gop wants deeper spending cuts to address the nations deficit and with the clock ticking, neither side is giving up ground. The American People i dont think understand the house of representatives is operating without the house of representatives. It is being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker. This is a conversation we should have had months ago and republicans arent about to write a blank check for anything Senate Democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. Reporter the president has called on lawmakers to pass a scaleddown legislation that would spare tax increases on the middle class and leave more sweeping spending cuts and tax hikes to next year. House majority leader eric canter says the house could be in session all the way up until january 2nd dealing with this issue. That is the day before the new congress is sworn in. Now, todays meeting here at the white house is the first face to face meeting between the president and gop leaders since december 16th. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has indicated that he is eager to hear from the president who is hoping to be able to jump start the negotiations. That is the latest here at the white house. Back to you. Thank you. We want to know your thoughts on all of. This what do you think about congress not reaching a deal so far on the fiscal cliff . Share your comments on our facebook page. Just search for fox 5 morning news. No space between fox and the number 5. We may share your comments on air. Also in the news today, remembering an american hero. Desert storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf has died. The retired general died yesterday from come indications of pneumonia. He was given the nickname stormin norman. President george h. W. Bush from his hospital bed described him as quote be a good and decent man. The elder bush is still in intensive care in houston but his long time chief of staff says put the harps back in the closet. She says the former president is expected to be in the hospital identify long time but is getting the best care. And his family is still optimistic the 88yearold will make a full recovery. President Vladimir Putin just signed a bill banning americans from adopting russian children. It is in retaalation United Nations for a new law passed by congress that punishes officials for human rights abuses. Still ahead, redskins mania here at fox 5. Dave ross is here all morning long with a preview of the sunday matchup. In the 7 00 hour, some trash talking with our counterparts at the fox station in dallas. At 9 15, some of the redskins cheerleaders will join us live in studio. It is redskins all day here on fox 5. Well be right pack. Well be right back. uno the United States is ordering all Embassy Staff in the country of the Central African retubal to leave and last night, a u. S. Air force cargo plane evacuated the American Ambassador and about 40 other american citizens. It is because rebels have taken over more towns near the capital this week. Da vip which i equine emergency transport based in poolesville, maryland is helping a group of miniature horses make their way to newtown, connecticut. The therapy horses typically visit sick, at risk or abused children. Davinci volunteered to transport the and medicals so they can provide comfort and distraction for the victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting. A celebration at the National Cathedral today honoring the nations 28th president. Plus, all 50 states have an official flower and bird but what about a state sandwich. Maryland wants to add that to the list. Can you guess what kind of sandwich it would be . Maybe some crab mixed in there. Could be. Weve got the answer coming up after the break. welcome back. You got over here just in time. Of a been very busy. Ive been waiting patiently over here for 15 minutes to tell everybody what is going to be happening. What is going to be happening . It will be beautiful today. Are you all adjusted now . Im ready to go. All right. It will be a partly sunny day but less windy, low 40s. It will be kind after typical late december day today. Okay. Is what that you want to know about . I want to know about tomorrow. Thats it, wisdom. Thank you for playing along. Couldnt get sarah to play along. Other things to do. 32 seems to be the winning number. 32 in gaithersburg, frederick, hagerstown and winchester. Low 40s today. Maybe 40, 42 here in town. Partial sunshine, less windy than yesterday. All in all, a good looking friday. All fridays are good looking but this one well be just fine. Not going be for a perfectly sunny day. We have a lot of clouds out to the west so just some sun for your day today. Makings of our next storm system right here down to the south pushing into tennessee now. This storm system will be a quick mover. We are looking at several hours of Winter Weather early tomorrow morning probably just in time for sunrise, maybe 7 00 tomorrow morning. It will be out of here by tomorrow afternoon. It looks like parts of the area, particularly washington north and west will stay primarily as snow tomorrow. We could be looking at a couple of inches of snow tomorrow during the day. Right now, the National Weather service has put out a Winter Weather advisory for the Northern Tier of maryland, eastern portions of well, it looks like more than eastern portions. Much of West Virginia as well. This is where you are most likely to hit the criteria of a couple of inches of snow. Tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. , want to point out a couple of features here. Notice that the snowrain line a little further south this time. We are pushing down into calvert county, down towards southern maryland. You too might get even a little bit of accumulating snow tomorrow. By 11 00 that, rainsnow line working up to the district. It will be a quick mover but the potential is out there for a couple of inches of snow. Maybe one or two inside the beltway as you get farther north and west, you might get three or four as you get up to the pennsylvania border tomorrow. Nice timing on the storm. 42 today, partly sunny. Becoming cloudy with light snow developing late. If you have evening plans tonight, you will be just fine. These snowflakes will arrive tomorrow morning, early tomorrow morning and there is your accuweather sevenday forecast. Cold for the game sunday night. And if you are going out monday night for new years eve celebrations, it should be dry but it will be cold as well with overnight lows in the 20s. Lets do traffic with jeff newman with the latest on the friday commute. Good morning, tucker. We are looking at 95. It does say south there but you are looking at the northbound lanes which are hov lanes toward the center of your screen. Slow from dale city up to the accident point which has moved over to the left side of the roadway. Moving at a much better pace right now. No problems to report on 395 through alexandria and arlington over to the 14th street bridge. And from centerville, a bit of volume but i wouldnt call it congestion. Inside the beltway, 66 moving at speed through falls church and arlington. Well head over to the other side of the beltway coming in from anne arundel county, route 50. Light volume to and through Prince Georges County on to the lanes of new york avenue. We have no problems in Montgomery County on the beltway. Thats a check of your fox 5 ontime traffic. E traffic. Thank you. Today is the 156th birthday of the late former president Woodrow Wilson and to celebrate, the National Cathedral is holding a wreath laying ceremony. Wilson served from 1913 to 1921 and is from Augusta County in virginia. Could deciding on the official state sandwiching on the plate of maryland lawmakers. A new bill would make soft shell crab the official state sandwich. In 2008, the smith island cake was named as the official maryland dessert. That sandwich looks good even at 6 21 in the morning. I know. I could take two of them. A look at just how desperate wall street is for a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. A special tribute to the late dick clark on the new years eve ball that will ring in 2013. The ball is inscribed with his name. He had hosted the annual times square new years eve broadcast for the past four decades until 2011. wall street is sengd a message to lawmakers. Stop playing around and start dealing. Dennis neal has more. Lets start off talking about the mark the and how the fiscal cliff talk keeps affecting the market. That is the tail wagging the dog, wisdom. Yesterday, in a sign of just how wobbly everything is, the dow was down 150 points. It fell below the key 13,000 level and then, in the last hour of trading, it rebounded almost all the way back up. In fact, did go back up and ended up down 20 points or so on the mere report that the House Republicans have scheduled a session late sunday to vote on something. Then came word that the white house has a meeting set for this afternoon with all the major players. So stocks could gyrate wildly. Futures are down. With the slightest little glimmer of hope, you could see stocks rocket back up again. Traders want to see a deal. They have been betting all along what happened. They are scared that it wont. About 30 seconds left here. Tell me about this must see tv list that is just out. There is a web site that tracks illegal pirated downloads. If you look at the top downloads of 2012, it end up h bos game of thrones is the most downloaded show at 4. 3 million. Pretty impressive. Thank you very much. Happy try. Good to see you. It could be a make or break day for fiscal cliff negotiations. Still ahead, what is happening in just hours that could produce a lastminute deal. The countdown is also on on sundays big game. The redskins and cowboys, so much on the line for both teams. Dave ross is here with a closer look at the rivalry and match up. Well be right back. welcome back. The northeast starting to dig out after a massive winter storm dumped up to two feet of snow across upstate new york and northern new england. Heavy rain and strong winds pounded coastal areas already devastated by superstorm sandy. The storm system is now blamed for at least 16 deaths nationwide. Here in our area, maryland is reporting a death of a man in Frederick County due to hypothermia. This has been a mess. Been a busy week. So weve done round one and round two. Are you ready for wound round three . Bring it on. Not going to be a major event but we do have snow back in the forecast for the day saturday. That was kind of a letdown there. There we go. A little late. A little delayed reaction. Were kind of over it now. Early in the morning around day break, well get some snow in the area. Should be out of here by tomorrow afternoon. Well have more on tomorrows event coming up. Lets worry about today first. We are fine. A little cool out there. 36 right now at reagan national. 33 at dulles and bwi marshall. Your friday looks fine. Partly sunny conditions. Filtered sunshine. You can see we have a left clouds out to the west and those will be moving in from time to time today. It wont be a Beautiful Day. There should be a little bit of sunshine. Less windy than yesterday. The makings of our storm. You can see the rain showers down into western tennessee. That is the origins of our next storm system moving in later tonight. A decent amount of sunshine. More sunshine than yesterday. Low 40s. Okay. Thank you. Traffic time with jeff newman. Newman. Good morning. Well start over at the wilson bridge traveling at speed in both directions. Lighter volume than normal. We are expecting that for the remainder of this mornings rush hour. Well head down to 95 where the early he accident north of the occoquan had things pretty slow for about a half hour, 45 minutes now as you are traveling north from stafford county. Both your hov lanes and the main lanes are moving at speed. On the approach to the 14th street bridge, we have no problems to report as you are traveling through arlington and passing the pentagon. Again, lighter volume on to the southeastsouthwest freeway and 14th street and things are looking good in maryland. Problemfree as you are heading down 270 from gaithersburg to the split at the beltway. No problems on the beltway itself. Prince georges county, you are looking good on route 4, route 50, beltway and route 50. Thats a check of your fox 5 ontime traffic. E traffic. Our other big story now is the fiscal cliff talks. Later on today, president barack obama will sit down with top leaders from the house and senate at the white house. He is trying to find an agreement to avoid automatic spending cuts called for in the socalled sequester. And the bush tax cuts are also expiring. They have to agree on raising the debt ceiling as the governments Borrowing Limit will be reached next week. House Speaker John Boehner is calling the house into session sunday night. We are getting great comments this morning from you who have logged on it our facebook fan page. Karl rose russell writes, if i dont do 199job, i would get fired. The same should be for them. Thank you for sharing your sentiments on this. Share your thoughts with us on facebook if you will. Search for fox 5 morning news. No space between fox and the number 5. Number 5. Wisdom. That music takes me back to my childhood. It was that nfl films music. It was an era. I wont say which era. Speaking of going back. Well go back to turkey day. That is what you overeight and that is why i got you that shake weight for christmas. Can we talk about that some more . If you go back to thanksgiving day and you remember this, beating that shake weight into the ground, this is robinson and what a day it was for rg