>> live and in hd, this is abc 7 news at noon. on your side. captioned by thenational captioning institute-- www.ncicap.org-- >> news out of the vatican as announces hexii is stepping down at the end of the month. this is the first time in nearly 600 years that a pope has resigned.--

he is saying his old age helped him make the decision. pope gregory xii will step down at eight o'clock at night 28th.ora .his may come as a shock his older brother said he has he planned to retire. said heear-old pope have the energy anymore. he said being pope requires the strength of mind and body. he was 78 years old when he was 2005.d back in was the oldest and 300 years. no specific medical condition the decision. he had slowed down in recent years and cut back on his foreign travel. the announcement sets the stage

conclave in march to reelect a brand-new leader. they hope to have a new pope in place by easter. word of the resignation is there an up opinions in our area. a signaled the catholic church considers to be infallible. d.c. arealics in the he could quit. others except that it could be a humble and sincere gesture. father david began his morning at. john's with announcing common message. some heard the news or the first time. the unexpected decision comes on and two days before

ash wednesday. it is considered to be the holiest month of all christians. the news quickly spread throughout the diocese in washington. >> it is a sign of the humility of this pope. catholic's are how could you quit. ced.rs call it for the decision has caught the church off guard. he is not surprised. he says the timing is quite perfect.

two days before lent. is a good time to reflect and what is godestion, asking from all of us? .> thank you so much we have more on the story tonight on abc seven news at 6:00.nd delaware man suspected of shooting and killing his and injuring two others is dead. woman to mayor dennis williams says the shooter was killed by lice.ease -- po he began shooting. the condition of the two other people who were shot is unknown. afterrson is in custody inside an apartment building in alexandria. police say the suspect and the victim knew each other. is recovering from

non-life-threatening injuries. than a dozen people are a tornado touched down in mississippi. look at this massive funnel cloud. it ripped through hattiesburg. the town is home to the of southern mississippi. professors say the students were out for a mardi gras rate -- break. several people were hurt and widespread damage. no one was killed. another day of digging out and cleaning up for thousands of . aple in the northeast regiond slammed the to three feet of snow. it brought some of the highest recorded.ons ever is being blamed for at least 15 deaths. the 130,000 customers remained without power. bans have been lifted. flights are resuming in major airports. in our area, we are looking 's temperatures in the 50

.oday we are waiting on that sunshine to help heat things up. -- nice showers orning. you are getting sunshine's in .agerstown it is impacting the temperature. 44 and d.c. petersburg, 62 degrees with that sunshine. a couple of hours away. look at how gloomy it is. the conditions are wreaking at the airports. flights coming into reagan national are average in two hours. what other along the golf -- gulf coast.

a little bit of clearing by late this afternoon. the mid-50's.n .e are uncertain on the snow we will have details later. with new technologies behind a huge spike in traffic tickets .n rockville it is making roads safer. drivers feel it is over the top. red light tickets are on the rise in rockville. brian stephenson says he has been nabbed twice in the last week. , nearly 18,000 tickets thanissued, twice as many the year before. the price tag for each ticket $75.

>> they should enforce the rules and another way. >> police say new technology is increased.for the august, they were capture new violations. drivers can be taken before intersection on a .teady red light have to pay of forgoing ore than 13 miles per hour making a right-hand turn on red. .olice have had complaints they say they are just enforcing the law. police say all violations are -- reviewed before any tickets are sent out. reinventing -- the white house would get how to control gun

olence as is president joe needs with officials, one president obama gives .is state of the union address he will push for stricter gun .roll measures developments on the manhunt in california. there is a one million-dollar reward for information that leads to the arrest of dorner, suspected of killing three people. police evacuated a store in san fernando valley. he laid out a hit list he calls targets that police and their .amilies out forators say he is back in 2008.ired there was a bond hearing for a charged in white oaks seven-month-g his old baby sister. 14-year-old johnathan aguiluc -- told police he

sister lasting his , hit her, and covered her nose and mouth before she start crying. her to start utop he will be charged as an adult. for works mother left thursday night. and she got back to the , that is when she and the carfant .eat unresponsive >> an antiabortion group came together to mourn a woman who'd died after a loaded term -- rm abortion procedure. representatives from several antiabortion groups from around comeountry were on hand including religious organizations from d.c. and marilyn. stucknds of people are in the gulf of mexico. the rescue efforts

underway to save that stranded cruise ship. more than 500 miles offshore. >> the grammy awards brought down the house in la. atsandy hook survivors are the white house with a message .or president obama

>> you're watching abc 7 at noon with scott thuman and cynne simpson. this is abc 7 news at noon. on your side.

>> a special ceremony today -- afor me former soldier. fight off an attack from taliban insurgents in 2009. claimed the lives of eight americans. first lady -- he will be first lady michelle obama's guests. a group of superstorm sandy will meet at the white and deliver minutes urging president to tackle climate change. he will be carrying the state the union address tomorrow night at 9:00. on thes check in

weather. there is a potential for two systems that could bring conditions wednesday and this weekend. where is the sun? yes, it is. overcast conditions. to our arrival delays at reagan national because of the low clouds. the sunshine is coming. northern maryland westhe panhandle of virginia. we will make some progress in the district. couple ofve to wait a hours. .4 degrees 39.wind-chill at warm side.l on the 54 in winchester. 55 in culpeper.

a cold front will slide off to east for today. you can see the showers. inch ind up about 1/4 term of rains. severe weather across the deep south. we are watching the end of this new areas of low pressure to develop. that will come at us for wednesday and thursday morning. here is a satellite image from nasa. this is the snow cover all northeast and new england. .ou can see lake ontario the snow cover cuts off. the cloud cover sticks around .oday we will make progress overnight. tomorrow should be a partly day.y really nice. can see the system coming at us. the models indicate we could get . wintry mix

there is uncertainty on the .recipitation type could pick up a couple of snow. if it is all , mostly cloudy, mild, 52 and 58 degrees. tonight, clear skies, 32 to 38. wednesday, we will have to watch , because if we see be an uglycould mess. good.ay and friday look this weekend, a big question mark. the one that has been forced to -- forecasting the other say it will head out to see. we will not panic yet. the music was honoring its best and brightest at the 55th grammy awards.

there is justin timberlake. a tribute to bob marley. it was a wish folk rock band who performed and the, album of the year for their album. >> we figured we would not win black keyscause the have been sweeping up all day. there was not an artist who walked away with a lot of trophies. black keys were the top winners. >> you're watching abc 7 at noon. on your side. a new report is out that his trouble for millions of credit card holders. your credit score could the skewed. your fault.e who is to blame? >> a push to honor the crew of ship.

you will want to keep an eye on your credit report. a new report out says as many as have toon americans in their credit reports. it specifies nearly 20 million are significant mistakes, big enoughcould be keep you from getting a major loan. 98% of credit reports may be accurate. >> gas prices are on the way up.

it shot up $.25 over the past two weeks. the national average price for a $3.50. is 74.ally, in d.c., $3. investigators are looking into a tragic accident involving a the canary off of islands. a boat from a british operated fell upside down into the drill.uring a safety members were killed. three others were injured. 1400 passengers were on board. there were not involved. >> a tugboat is on its way to toe the carnival cruise ship stranded in the gulf of mexico. a fire in the engine room power. out the triumph has spent the past

more than 500t the coast of texas. .assengers have plenty of food is in anyboard danger. a new effort is underway to honor the crew of the hms .ounty to install ashing memorial to the ship along the hudson river. that is where the bounty often docked. the replica ship sank off the north carolina last year. the captain and another crew were not found. hearings will begin tomorrow in portsmouth, va. the whiskey distiller is -- watering down its to meet global demand. is now 42% by volume. that news with skepticism as well as complaints. the company insists the company the same.

drinkers to set -- detected no difference during tests.

this is a story of endurance from sweden. >> two women and four men are's 48ring money after spending sitting on top of lots of ice. competitors say the worst part the boredom, not the cold. were below -18

one point. they were allowed bathroom .reaks is the 12th year for the .ontest i hope you are inspired. there are similar contest in washington. >> taking a look at the weather. a big cool-down by the weekend. >> today, we should get up to 57. peaks of sunshine, especially to the west. a potential storm this weekend. we will keep you up-to-date. i just want to see sun today. >> thank you for joining us this midday. will see you tomorrow for

"good morning washington."