politics, paul wellstone told us, is about the improvement of people's lives. i know that the work i have been able to do has improved people's lives. i would do it all over again in a heart beat. for a decade, now, every time i would get tired or discouraged or frustrated, i would think about the people i was doing this for and would get me back up on my feet. i know the same will be true for everyone who decides to pursue a politics that is that he would decide to he said that this was the best experience of his career. and that he would fight on for the rights of all americans as a private citizen. i want to go to our nancy cordes. chief congressional correspondent who's on capitol hill. you've been following this since day one. quite an emotional speech from the senator who up until a couple of weeks ago believed that he could still caponize job. >> reporter: right it's a big -- keep his job. >> reporter: right, it's a big blow to the democratic party at large. democrats who though they believe this is definitely the right thing for him to do, take no joy in it. you know al franken is one of very few democrats in congress who can truly claim to have had a nationwide progressive profile even before he came to the senate in 2009 because of his air america radio and that led to him having you know, a true ability to raise money for other lawmakers. he had a national voice, he was sought after as a campaign surrogate and he was even viewed as someone who could potentially run for president in 2020. so to have him fall so fast and just a matter of weeks is very disappointing to the entire party. and there were a number of democrats in the beginning who felt that perhaps he could pull through. perhaps they could wait for the results of an ethics investigation. who felt that what he had done was not the same as say a harvey weinstein or even a roy moore and they felt that that should be made clear. however, as the number of women who accused him piled up, it became clear to them that what he was alleged to have done was disturbing in its only right and that he needed to go -- own right and that he needed to go. >> he didn't ask if there had been any other incidents he had known or was aware weeks ago. he said no but he couldn't say there were none that were going to be coming forward in the days and weeks ahead. he also said i have used my power to be a champion of women. there has been a different picture but i know who i am and he didn't spare a moment to go on to say that he was well aware of the level of irony with regard to these types of accusations. leveled against the president of the united states and of course roy moore, running for senator in alabama as well. >> reporter: right. and so speaking to people close to him, he does still appear to believe that he did nothing wrong. but that in itself has been something of a disappointment to democrats particularly democratic women here on capitol hill. you heard in his speech just now that he feels that all women should be believed and yet, he doesn't seem to feel that these particular women who are accusing him should be believed. he saime he said that the accusations just aren't true and in other cases, he remembers what happened differently. so this could potentially have gone a different way. if he were willing to acknowledge that he had sometimes crossed the line. that something that some democratic women in particular were hoping to hear from him. but he still maintains essentially that he either doesn't remember doing any of this, or that he simply didn't do it. and that is disappointing. even to a number of his friends. >> yeah, it was a game changer yesterday when we heard from six democratic female senators spur headed by senator gillibrand that he should step down. in their opinion. nancy cordes our thanks to you. to minnesota his home state and get reaction there from jamie yuccas about what the next plan is. the reaction at home. from those who voted for him. those at home who maybe thought that he ou the ground? >> reporter: you i can tell you the word i keep hearing over and over again is disappointment. there are number of people who didn't want to see him step down. they thought there was something the republican party kind of pushed and wanted him to just continue on as a senator. and have that ethics committee kind of look at things. i will say the state is so proud. there are people who really like being in the national spotlight for good. and so this is very disappointing that he is resigning for this reason. i'm standing right now at @ hubert a. humphrey school of public affairs a vice president. when you look at senator al franken's career, paul wellstone he talked about died in a plane crash. people here were so saddened by that, that was a tragedy for the people of minnesota. walter mondale a former vice president ran for the seat and lost to a republican. that is when senator al franken in2002 stepped in and as he there was a difference of 300 votes. norm called the loss by 312 votes and al franken then took the seat. he then ran again in 2008 and people were very proud of the work that he was doing within the senate. the people here in minnesota specifically. so this is a very disappointing day for people here. i can tell you that moving forward, the governor of minnesota has the opportunity to appoint someone. it sounds like from a number of circles i talked to many people in politics here in minnesota, who say that person will be the lieutenant governor. her name is tina smith. she is somebody who is widely known within both the republican and democratic party here in minnesota. she has worked with the governor for several years is a very well liked in both the democrat and and republican party here in minnesota. she did tremendous work after the i-35 w bridge collapse and she did that work with governor polenti who was a republican. someone who may not run for seat later on. because she's so well connected. >> that would be two female democratic senators from the state there serving until the special election again that will be next year. next november. in 2018. his successor and referred to her as her, that's who he was talking about likely tina smith the governor mark dayton will likely appoint her as the interim senator. that's it the end to a potentially storied career- ending by sexual accusations the accusations of course against al franken say leg will be resigning from -- he will be resigning from his seat in the coming weeks and more on this on the local news on the cbs station and on our 24 hour streaming news service cbsn and on cbs "evening news" with jeff glor reporting from los angeles where he is leading our coverage of the wildfires. i'm bianna golodryga, cbs news, new york. thank you. we're sticking with wusa9 news. i'm andrea roane. as you just heard amid growing pressure from members of his own party after sexual harassment claims, al franken just went to the senate floor to announce his own resignation. >> serving in the united states senate has been a great honor of my life. i know in my heart that nothing i have done as a senator, nothing, has brought dishonor on this institution. and i am confident that the ethics committee would agree. nevertheless, today i am announcing that in the coming weeks, i will be resigning as a member of the united states senate. >> a series of women accused the minnesota democrat of inappropriate behavior that ranged from nt the first charge came last month when a radio host says franken forcefully kissed and groped her in 2006 after a uso tour. franken's quasi denials left him colleagues unsatisfied and at one time he was even considered a potential presidential candidate in 2020. congress seems set to prevent a weekend government shutdown. you're looking live at the capitol building. the house plans to approve legislation today financing federal agencies through december 22nd. the senate seems ready to follow. without the legislation, many agencies would run out of money after midnight friday. the two week spending measure is aimed at giving both parties bargainers more time to reach longer temple budget degrees. congressional leaders are set to meet with president trump later today to discuss their spending priorities. turning now to those unprecedented wildfires in under evacuation orders this afternoon. four large fires are burning north and west of los angeles. kenneth craig has more from ventura, california. >> reporter: firefighters faced a wall of flames early this morning at the thomas fire in ventura county. it is the largest of four wildfires that have been devouring homes and it's notelettening the city of -- threatening the city of ojai. winds could hit 80 miles an hour today lifting the danger rating system to uncharted territory. >> today is the first time a purple rating has shown up. and it indicates that any spark can and will start a fire and fires that start will be almost impossible to contain. >> reporter: with the fires spreading quickly, authorities are issuing new evacuation orders every day. the fires forced upwards of 200,000 people from their homes. and some communities like one in ventura, some residents are returning to find their home leveled and the home next door untouched. at least 200 homes have burned to the ground. laura sanders has been searching for cherished belongings in the rubble of her shadow hills home. >> i found a whole bunch of books looked like books and as soon as you touch it just fell apart. >> reporter: they are disrupting the lives of thousands of people in the los angeles area. numerous freeways are closed and with smoke drifting for miles, dozens of schools are shut down for the rest of the week as crews fight hard to get the massive blazes under control. kenneth craig, cbs news, ventura, california. >> at ucla students are circulating a petition arguing that the university waited too long to cancel classes and called for administrators to review emergency management procedures. and while california battles fire, we are battling the cold here. temperatures now in the 40s. we're up to 48 in d.c.. and 44 degrees in gaithersburg. lovely afternoon unfolding with temperatures between 47 and 52 degrees. under partly to mostly cloudy to skies. we still have our winds coming in out of the west-northwest at up to 10 miles per hour. turn your attention to what's going on happening tomorrow night -- to be happening tomorrow night. the weather is active once again. all day friday you'll notice clouds out there. this is friday at 8:00 a.m. your drive into work dry. but as you're heading home if you're going to be heading south you'll run into the rain. just south of easton and southern maryland around ocean city. those areas are looking at rain and also a rain/snow mix by later on friday night into early saturday morning. well, coming up, we'll continue to look at our chance to get snow around here this weekend. and if you want the very latest on the forecast, you can always stay informed with the wusa9 weather a never before seen photo of bonnie and clyde is on display in dallas. the photo until now undeveloped shows the legendary crime duo kissing in joplin, missouri. shortly before they were gunned down in an ambush. the iconic outlaws ruthlessly robbed banks can killed 13 people -- and killed 13 people during a two year crime spree. they ran out of luck in 1934 when ambushed by police officers in louisiana. authorities unleashed 107 rounds in less than two minutes. killing the duo in their car. new on 9 this afternoon, a clinton, maryland woman says she has video evidence of a porch pirate. denise crawford was recovering from surgery tuesday and received a phone alert that packages were dropped off at her door by u.p.s.. well, 30 minutes later, someone came to her door and walked away with the packages. she says they were christmas gifts and included two invicta watches. call person seen in the video here. all right, get out the coats. get out the hoodies. get out the gloves. it's turning colder. >> humidifiers because the air gets drier. don't forget the humidifiers. your nose and nasal gets dried out and we have for cold air. are you ready for it? >> as i can be. >> i know. it's going to be -- >> it's coming you got to do it. >> yeah nothing much we can do about it. but she is alluding to we're having more cold air pushing in along with the chance to see some flakes and flurries around here. who's excited habit that? so -- about that? to first up friday night is when we start to see the active weather push in. rain and snow especially in southern maryland and then saturday night and even as early as saturday morning we're looking at showers and flurries possible but the best time is going to be saturday night. and then sunday, flurries that morning, that diminishes and then tuesday a forecast holding steady to get more flurries around he we'll be watching out for that to see if there are any changes to that timeline. 48 degrees now. a mix of sun and clouds out there. we'll see the temperatures topping out in the mid- to upper 40s to low 50s. around d.c. and surrounding areas. and we're talking about the battle of basically fire and cold here. our fire and snow out west is what we'll take a look at in just a moment. really dry air our jet stream which is a -- atmospheric river of air that separates the colder air to the north and the warmer and drier air to the south and that's what we're seeing that set up across california. so chilly in the northeast, dry out west. dry air gusty winds out west. for us, rain and the potential for snow because that jet stream has dropped down. dumping that cold air across our area. we'll continue to see more cold air diving in. i want to show what you that active weather looks like in the coming days. this is friday at 8:00 a.m., your weekend is off to a very nice start. but by the end of it, you'll notice that if you're going to be heading south, so you want to spend the weekend in ocean city. rau will run into rain and a and then by saturday morning, this is a gfs model. it's one of the most aggressive ones this is one of the only ones showing the potential to get a few of those snow flakes early saturday morning. along with the rain/snow mix. it might be a little too aggressive but it's the potential for that. the better chance is going to be later on saturday night when we get another round of that colder air and so saturday at 8:30 p.m., this is not too plausible to get rain or rain/snow mix. the southern areas will see a little bit more potential to get some snow around frederick and of course out west over the mountains we'll definitely see that potential for some snow to form. so bottom line, there are several slight chances to get some flakes and flurries around here. in the coming days. seven day forecast calls for a high right around 50 today. 42 degrees friday. we will see that chance for showers and snow mainly to our south and then saturday a chance for some flakes and flurries around here. not talking much in terms of accumulation and sunday just really cold with the temperature right at 37 degrees. welcome back to the news at noon. we are following some breaking news have very little information but authorities are telling us three people are dead after a high school scooting in new mexico. -- shooting in new mexico. of course we'll continue to follow the story and you can follow the story at our mobile app or at wusa9.com. also today marking a day of infamy. today is the 76th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. later this afternoon, world war ii veterans will remember the 2400 americans killed in the bottoming raid on -- bombing raid on that u.s. naval base. the i haven't will be in a half hour at the -- event will be in a half hour at the world war ii memorial. the deadly attack by japan on december 7th. 1941 changed the nation and pulled the annual wreaths across america rolls into arlington national cemetery next week. the mission, placing a wreath on each of the 245,000 grave sites. this has been going on for the last 26 years and is always the organizers need your help to place those wreaths and they can use more wreaths as well. it's easy if you'd lightning to help. -- like to help. no signing up no tickets, just make sure you're at the gates at arlington cemetery at 8:30 in the morning. that's next saturday, ♪ music i was diagnosed with hiv in 2016, but i didn't want my life to just...stop. i wondered if starting treatment would put my life on hold. my doctor and i chose triumeq, the right fit for me. triumeq is one pill a day. any time of day. with or without food. now, i'm moving forward with triumeq. triumeq treats hiv-1 in adults, and does not cure hiv or aids. don't take triumeq by itself if you're resistant to any of it's ingredients. don't take triumeq at all if you're allergic to any of its 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tiredness. i'm moving forward... ...with triumeq. to learn more, get this free kit at positivestepskit.com. and ask your doctor if triumeq is right for you. the cold air sticks around and the weather gets active starting tomorrow night. look for a high of 42 and later tomorrow night rain and snow mixing in especially going to get hit with that tomorrow night. >> that's it for wusa9 news at noon. more reaction to al franken's resignation and the shooting in new mexico at a high school there tonight at 5:00. have a great afternoon. we'll see you tomorrow. 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