so ever. we never compromised our principles and we can leave this race knowing we ran it with utmost integrity. we made an impact on this race. >> michele bachman backseat out. romney and santorum are claiming victory in the closest vote ever. i'm barbara harrison in for pat lawson muse. >> i'm jim handly. we start with the photo finish in iowa and the sprint on to new hampshire. romney beat rick santorum by eight votes in the caucuses, one of the slimmest margins in the state's history. romney won. ron paul came in third. now the candidates are off to new hampshire. that's where we find steve handelsman on this big day after. steve? >> reporter: jim, thanks.

good evening from new hampshire where mitt romney is on track to pull off something no presidential candidate has been able to achieve, a victory in iowa followed by a victory here. mitt romney in new hampshire after his slim win in iowa. >> it felt very, very good when the final numbers came in. >> reporter: beating santorum by eight votes. gingrich is going after romney. >> they say he's the most electable republican when he can't break out in his own party. >> reporter: the republican party's last nominee, john mccain endorsed romney. >> new hampshire is a state that will catapult him on to victory in a short time. that's why i'm here.

>> you think we can get more than an eight vote margin here? i'll try. >> we are in secondplace. they were tied for first. >> santorum admits he can't win new hampshire. he will focus on south carolina. he says he will still be in the top tooer tuesday. >> we have been to new hampshire more than anyone other than huntsman. >> reporter: perry said he'll fight on. michele bachmann, sixth in the caucuses quit the race. >> last night, the the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice. so, i have decided to stand aside. >> reporter: even else is in, gunning for mitt romney. here in new hampshire, mitt romney's polling now at 41%. none of his rivals have even half that. live in manchester, i'm steve

handelsman. jim, back to you. >> what other opportunities will those rivals have to go after romney between now and voting day in new hampshire? >> reporter: there's going to be a tv battle. gingrich has some money. he's made it clear he is going to say a lot of nasty things about romney and throw up the kind of ads he charges the group supporting romney. ron paul through up to take him, newt gingrich down in iowa. look ahead to saturday and sunday. unusual back-to-back political debates here in new hampshire. gingrich is going to be there. he's going to lead the attacks on romney and look for everybody else to join in. >> yeah, he is fired up, safe to say. steve handelsman live for us in new hampshire. thank you. president obama meanwhile is out pushing his message to the middle class saying he is on their side. mr. obama visited a democratic

district near cleveland, ohio today. the trip brought a controversial move. he used his recess power to appoint a director of the consumer financial protector bureau. >> without a director in place, the watchdog agency we set up doesn't have all the tools we need to protect consumers. that's inexcusable. it's wrong. i refuse to take no for an answer. >> the nomination was held up by republicans. the new agency is too powerful and unaccountable. well, another day to keep it indoors. we have another night. one more of bundling up. >> it was so cold this morning, it got down to single digits. veronica johnson is in the storm center with the forecast. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. it was cold this morning. busted pipes around the area. temperatures started out very,

very low this season. down to the east in florida, we'll look at that in a moment. the temperature is 33 degrees, just above freezing. we have wind out there. the wind is blowing at 8 miles per hour, giving a windchill of 26. windchills in the area are between 23 and 28 degrees. look at the morning temperatures, started out at seven degrees in virginia. 12 in leesburg, virginia. the numbers, you want to laugh. it's so low, it's ridiculous. starting this morn iing in culpeper, virginia. right now, we are just above the freezing mark. d.c. to fredericksburg, 36. culpeper at 36 degrees. what's showing up on radar? there's a few more flurry that is will come through the area. a few to the north. some coming in. we have a chance from 7:00 on. a better chance from midnight to 4:00 p.m.

we are going to go down to 29 degrees inside the beltway by 11:00 p.m. we'll talk about, what could be nice temperatures coming our way for the weekend. a bit of a warm up heading this way. barbara? >> thanks. the d.c. council held their first meeting and ward 5 councilman was missing. he misspent $300,000 in city funds. as darcy spencer reports, his future is still unclear. >> reporter: members of the d.c. council sat down for a breakfast meeting this morning. missing from the table, harry thomas. sources say he's in negotiations with federal prosecutors for a plea agreement that could result in criminal charges. thomas offered to resign as part of the negotiations. the sticking point is prison time. thomas does not want to go to jail.

authorities want him to serve up to three years behind bars. i guess you heard the rumors he may resign? >> they are rumors. we have to wait to see how things play out. either way, as i told him and folks, i am pray iing for him a his family. >> reporter: he's not charged with a crime, but reached and agreement to repay $300,000 he avert ed for a lavish lifestyle that included golfing trips. he failed to make a required $50,000 payment on tuesday. they are considering legal action on him to get the money. >> i did call for his resignation. i don't know how he came to find himself in this position. it's tragic for him and his family and the district of columbia, really. >> reporter: the fbi and irs raided his home taking away expensive vehicles and other items. the council is expected to pass a bill stemming from allegations

of corruption. >> i think folks look to it as a silver bullet. much of what has garnered criticism, his behavior that is criminal. no ethics bill is going to fix that. >> reporter: one of the provisions of the bill is setting up an ethics commission. harry thomas did not show up for the first meeting of the year. darcy spencer, news 4. stocks wound up on a flat note. concerns over the yur euro, the dough ended up 10 points. 2011 was a good year for u.s. auto makers. chrysler, ford and gm saw an increase in sales. we have a look at why they did so well. >> reporter: for car dealerships

happ happy days were here in 2011 for domestic and foreign brands. all driven by a more confident consumer. >> the big story is the economy. the economy is improving and we ended the year on a high note. >> reporter: the strong december set sales up 11% for the year selling fords for the first time since 2007. general motors sold over 2.5 million new cars and trucks last year. a 13% increase over the year before. >> every single one of our brands, chevy, buick, gmc and cadillac was up. chevy started to drive the business. >> reporter: chrysler sales were up 26%, selling more than 1.3 million vehicles. auto industry analyst says demand and the desire to finally replace ageing autos are helping the sales increase. >> there's about 4 million buyer that is haven't bought since the

recession hit. those people are slowly coming back into the marketplace. it's helping sales. >> reporter: imports had a good year, too despite experiencing disruptions after the earthquake and tsunami that struck japan in march. nbc news. u.s. airways is expecting flights and services at reagan national airport. they will add 11 new destinations. it's expanding service to three existing cities. it began march 25th. they will add more gates, build a u.s. airways club and hire 125 people. there's a list of new flights on our website. go to www.nbcwashington.com and search u.s. airways. a bus overturned this morning outside new york city. 16 prisoners and three

corrections workers were on board. they were taken to the hospital with no life threatening injuries. they were on their way to prison after court appearances. officials have not said what caused the crash. when news 4 at 4:00 continues, 18 celebrities are competing to hear donald trump say, you're hired. we'll hear from two of the celebrities, coming up next. lady gaga gives mayor michael bloomberg a smooch. how he compares it to his girlfriends. >> an american treasure. >> an american treasure. >> an unwanted treasure for a

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an all new celebrity apprentice debuts next month. >> donald trump visited the "today" show to announce the new cast. >> we are joined by clay aiken. nice to see you. >> we have the indy legend, michael andretti. >> we have the star, one of the stars of "real housewives of new jersey." nice to see you. >> a friend of mine and a friend of yours, victoria gotty. one of the best we have ever had, diana mendoza. >> rock star d. snyder in the

house. good to see you. >> a charismatic guy, "american chopper" star, paul. nice to see paul. >> it's a big group this year. you have tea ka rare, incredible hulk, debbie gibson, arsenio hall. it's a big group. >> there's a lot of old school there. >> where are brad and angelina and justin timberlake. >> big names there. >> we know them all, pretty much most of them. >> this afternoon, we caught up with clay aiken and d. snyder. >> i use the function on a very individual level making decisions myself and having them carried out by people. now you are in a room starting

out with nine team members and they are all those same kind of people used to making decisions and having them implemented. >> believe it or not, there are people louder than us. >> yes. you have to make adjustments to work together as a team. >> my wife is a mofia princess. >> don't miss "celebrity apprentice" at 9:00 here on nbc 4. in other celebrity news, after a series of break ups and make ups, justin timberlake and jessica biel decided to tie the knot. they have been dating for four and a half years now. he broke the question in the mountains. they split up for three months last year, then patched things up. >> did you get your invitation to this, yet?

an '80s bash for kate middleton's birthday. her party planning sister pip pa planned it for this weekend. she asked guests to donate to charity in lieu of buying gifts. prince harry has an oil portrait instead. >> you put pip pa and harry in charge of the planning, anything can happen. >> yeah. >> fun times. michael bloomberg isn't going gaga over his first kiss of the year. he says the best smooch of the night came from his long-time girlfriend. they shared their kiss earlier after leading times square in a countdown to midnight. bloomberg calls gaga a lady. >> that was quite a kiss his

girlfriend gave him. selma hialma hayek is getti knighthood. clint eastwood and robert redford also received it. some critics say the award should be given to other who is are more deserving, such as soldier who is have given their lives in afghanistan. yesterday, they canceled tv ads that featured alec baldwin. today, they decided to put the baldwin spots back on the air. he was booted from the flight after refusing to turn off his cell phone. some customers complained they were using him as a spokesperson. he was hired for the ads after he mentioned his mother is a loyal customer. mariah carey and hubby are

spending new year's in a hospital room. her husband is recovering from mild kidney failure. she told fans, they are trying to be as festive as possible under the circumstances and asked everyone ento keep nick in their thoughts. they had twins, a boy and a girl last year. the broadway musical "spider man" is turning over a new leaf. the show made more than $2.9 million for the week ending january 1st. the take is the highest single week gross of any production in broad way history. >> spider man, turn off the dark opened. the $75 million musical is the most expensive show ever produced on the great white way. when we come back, what makes d.c. rank high on a list

of top single cities? of top single cities? a cop is in hot water

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for anyone looking for love in the new year, you don't have to look too far. >> not at all t. daily beast website released the list of best cities to find a date in 2012. d.c. makes the top ten. atlanta is considered the best city when it comes to the dating game, followed by gainesville, florida. seattle washington is the sixth best. madison, wisconsin. ann arbor, michigan. alexandria, virginia was 21st. no cities in maryland made the list. >> to rank the cities they considered the available number of singles t cost of dating and mental and physical health of each city. according to that, d.c. is made up of 69% single men and 74% single women. the median salary is 5$52,000 ad

the cost of a movie ticket, 11 bucks. >> this morning, it was cold. >> it's a snuggle up city then. >> there you go. maybe it is good for finding a date. this cold air went all the way down to the south. record low temperatures this morning in florida, as you'll see in a moment, some of the numbers there. as far as our area, we are not going shiver for much longer. let's take a look at see what's going on outside. we have 33 degrees. a lot of folks shivering today. a light wind at 8 miles per hour is giving us a windchill of 26 degrees. clouds out there currently. we are going to see more clouds move into the area. it could give us a few flurries starting at 9:00 p.m. going up to 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. up until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

chance for flurries. 28 degrees by tomorrow morning. it will be a start below freezing. still above what the numbers are this morning. 17 degrees is the start this morning. some of the flurries come from this system here. it's just to the west. a areas of western wf wv right now. by the time it makes its way to the east, 9:00, we'll see activity here. morning temperatures, 19 degrees in raleigh, north carolina. 20 in georgia. 18 in jacksonville, florida. other readings, tallahassee started at 18 degrees. a bit of a warm up, we are just above freezing. 40s in raleigh and 50s in the deep south. well, this cold air is going to be short lived. we'll have milder air rolling in by the time we get to the end of the week. for part of the weekend, it's going to be very nice with highs rising to the low and mid-50s. as far as snow activity that we

get, it comes from a passing disturbance. quickly tomorrow, by 10:00, we'll be into a lot of sunshine across the area. friday, another day with sunshine. it's been a cold start to the week. milder air for the end of the week. very nice conditions, too. for your evening, cloudy, continued cold. south wind at 10 to 15. morning forecast for you, possible flurries for 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 p.m. through tomorrow morning. 25 to 29 degrees. it could be enough snow, too, in the counties north to coat some of the roads, once again. keep that in mind for tomorrow morning. clouds and sunshine tomorrow not as cold, 40 to 45 degrees. a look at the four day forecast from mid-40s to low and mid-50s on friday. 52 for saturday. 45 for sunday. the mildest day of the weekend is saturday.

we'll look at the extended forecast in a minute. >> thanks, veronica. when we come back on news 4 at 4:00 -- ♪ >> what's going on. >> when you are proposing to your girlfriend in front of a crowd, you have to be certain she is going to say yes. >> plus, outrage after wedding dresses are tossed

welcome back at 4:30, everybody. i'm jim handly. >> i'm barbara harrison in for pat lawson muse. following a tight race in iowa, the republican pack is off and running in new hampshire today. the iowa caucuses ended late last night with the narrowest margin of victory ever. romney won by eight votes over santorum. he nailed down an endorsement from john mccain. >> it's the end of the road for michele bachman. she came in sixth with 5% of the vote. she dropped out saying the people of iowa spoke with a

clear voice. >> 2011 was a turn around year for auto makers. gm, chrysler and ford sauz gains. chrysler says their sales were up 26% last year. gm up 13% and ford up 11%. auto makers expect more modest gains in 2012. al flat on wall street. couldn't capitalize on yesterday's strong set of the year. the nasdaq and s&p 500 remained unchanged. the number of u.s. women having twins is increasing. a report showed twin birthrate rose 76% from 1980 through 2009. older moms who get fertility account for this. >> reporter: babies are being born two at a time now more than ever. one in 30 newborns has a twin brother of sister. a new report shows the twin

birthrate rose 76% since 1980. women are waiting longer to have children and twins are more likely to occur naturally in older moms. fertility drugs account for the majority of multiples. >> invitro is becoming successful. >> reporter: the cost is so high, couples implant as many as possible. three is generally the max. >> the consequences of increasing multiple birth is not a good thing. one needs to find a way of controlling that. >> reporter: those unintended consequences can include low birthrate and preterm birth. aztecnology improves, so does success rate. >> we can do well with the pregnancy rate with a single embryo going back.

>> reporter: the twin birthrate slowed since 2005. australia's biggest snake is getting bigger after failed attempts to help it lose weight. it weighs 302 pounds. it took six people to carry the python to way her today. a half hour later, betty gained four pounds. zoo keepers are not too upset. the 21 foot snake is still growing. >> we have had her on a bit of a diet. she only had three or four goats this year. it's okay. she's big enough. >> wow. officials say they will continue to feed betty three to four goats every year. those are mean looking eyes. wow. >> if you have a new smartphone or tablet computer for christmas, there's a chance you downloaded the game angry birds. the popular game was downloaded

6.5 million times on christmas day alone. that includes free and paid versions of the game as well as angry birds season. the news comes after rovio, the maker of the game, hit the 500 millionth down load. a police officer in illinois is being sued for asking a women on a date after issuing her a speeding ticket. he pulled her over in a suburb of chicago then left a note on her car outside her apartment asking her for a date. part of the message was quote, i did cost you $132. the least i can do is offer you dinner. he violated her privacy. she's seeking unspecified payment in damages. it's not unheard of for

somebody to propose at a sporting event. >> a college basketball game may not be that ideal of a spot. >> i knew i was going to marry you from the first time i met you. [ applause ] >> the couple appeared on the kiss cam at a ucla game last month. the video just appeared on youtube this week. some speculated the proposal may be a fake. a ucla spokesman told the l.a. times, it was not staged. hmm. >> it looked a little staged to me. maybe she wanted privacy. >> maybe she wasn't sure he was serious. we can come up with a whole

story around this. >> much more to come on news 4 at 4:00. why priscilla boston was turns to winter

and brings in the cold. because of our economy, millions more will feel that chill than ever before. they're the forgotten ones. the big boys have abused the system to enrich only themselves, while workers are still hurting. it could be a layoff after 22 years of working for the same company. or choosing between food and heat for a sick child. or after working your whole life, you don't have what you need to stay warm. you played by the rules, but who changed them? even though oil prices are soaring to record levels, in washington, fuel aid for the poor was cut in half. citizens energy asked big oil companies and oil producing nations to help. they all said 'no,' expect for citgo and the people of venezuela. for the last 7 years, citgo has helped struggling families in the united states in good times and in bad. so if you need help staying warm this winter, give me a call. because no one should be left out in the cold.

all right. four days into the new year, how are you doing on your resolutions? if one of yours is to lose weight, we have an app to hold you to your goals and make a few bucks. it's free and offers to pay you cash only if you stick to your work out goals. start by creating your pact. your commitment pact. say you want to commit to three days, four days, five days. we are going to go, you know what, i'm not feeling it this week, two days. then put your stakes in there. $10, let's up it. you can go up to 100 bucks to hold you to it. let's say 25. then pick your work out. you have to check in. you have to stay at your gym, which is found on your iphone

through gps. if you don't check in and stay for a minimum of 30 minutes and meet your goals, then you have to pay up. a minimum of $5 per day that you missed. here is the win, though. if you meet your goals, you get cash rewards, usually a couple dollars a week by papal paid by those who don't meet their goals. it's always available on your iphone. this requires a little motivation. if you are a cheater when it comes to work outs by february and march like i am, you might need this. if you have a cool app, tweet me. back to you. when news 4 at 4:00 returns, joran van der sloot is days away from a murder trial in peru. why so many people are fuming after a bridal store spray painted and threwout

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well, i don't think the sun did much to warm things up today. >> no, we had that much of it this morning. ironically enough, we have the closest pass to the sun. take a look at the animation we made here. it's up for you from now until thursday we will be closest to the sun. that means because of the earth's orbit around the sun, there it goes, we come closest in perihelion, 91.4 miles away. on the other side of things, the farthest distance is in july. right now, close pass up until thursday. there you go. something about the earth and the sun today. let's take a look at what's going on around the area now. 33 degrees.

the temperature we came out of the deep freeze from early this morning starting out with a range that was between ten and 18 degrees this morning. a light wind at eight miles per hour. now, the windchill, 26 degrees. it's plenty cold out there and will be for another morning. by the afternoon, by this time tomorrow, ten to 13 degrees higher through the area. flurries were in the forecast for 9:00 this evening. 30 is the temperature. cold enough to sustain the snow as it makes its way to the ground. there could be slick spots on secondary roads deep overnight. 11:00 p.m., more flurries coming through. up to about 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. temperatures drop to 28 degrees inside the beltway. other locations north and west 23 to 24 degrees. frederick, maryland, 24 degrees tomorrow morning. 25 in leesburg.

24 degrees in culpeper. we'll have passing flurries. as the system comes through, i think we'll quickly move into sunshine by 9:00, 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, a lot of sunshine across the area. breezy for tomorrow morning. 43 is the temperature in frederick, maryland. 43 around gaithersburg and germ germantown. charlottesville getting up to a high of 48 degrees. so, all right. we are talking about warm up, right? we have the cold for a couple days here. 54 expected on friday. sunshine throughout the area. nice southwest wind. for saturday and sunday, 50s. low 50s on saturday to mid-40s on sunday. as we go through the next couple days, you can see a dry pattern, too. not much of a chance of rain, very, very slight passing shower, we could have early monday morning. that is looking more and more

like it's drying up as it passes through the area. tuesday and wednesday, low 50s again. for the winter, so far, this has been it so far. the little cold we have gotten with our highs in the 30s today and of course yesterday. >> we survived it! >> until the next one, which, my gut tells me by the time we get to february, we are talking deep cold, broad cold. that's right. >> the year is young, thanks, veronica. an upscale bridal boutique went out of business. what happened next stirred outrage. >> thousands of dollars worth of bridal gowns and dresses were destroyed. we have the report. >> it was terrible. it was a terrible sight. >> reporter: she can't believe what she saw friday. >> i'm seeing gowns, thousands of dollars of gowns being spray painted. >> reporter: right outside

priscilla of boston, workers were destroying the merchandise. these are pictures sent. >> it hurt me physically to see that. it was sad. >> reporter: she works at a salon nearby. they tried to grab some of the gowns. customers were doing the same thing pulling dresses, slippers mannequins out of the trash not to keep, but salvage. why? they all have the same thought? >> why don't they donate them to needy people. >> reporter: we contacted them and got this statement. we have always donated quality bridal gowns to a variety of charitable causes. we do not donate unsalable dresses that are damaged. aside from the spray painted embellishments, the dresses could have easily carbon to charity. much of the other mer ch diz was still in boxes. whatever the reasons, those who

witness it say it was nusing short of wasteful. >> let's spray paint a dress. give it to somebody who doesn't have the money. >> see that price tag? 4,300 bucks for that one. coming up, ford shows off the new compact suv. plus, taking the polar plunge. why they took a swim in an icy river. coming up tonight on news 4 at 5:00, cold weather causes problems for commuters in the region. a new bill which means punishments for prank callers. most of us prefer to sleep on a certain side of the bed. what i

the murder trial of joran van der sloot begins friday. he's accused of killing stephanie florez back in may of 2010. investigators say he met her at a casino, then took her to a casino where her body was later found. he's also the key suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway. ford unveiled a sport u tilety vehicle in india. it's aimed at young, urban buyer who is want more than a hatch

back, but more than a sport utility vehicle. it's the second of the eight models they plan to debut in india. it will be built overseas. it could go into production in six months. >> you think we'll dealing with cold temperatures? 13 below zero temperatures for a dip in china. a makeshift swimming pool was cut out of a layer of ice. swimmers used jelly to protect themselveses from frostbite. they do it several times over the winter for good health. they will be the host of several winter swimming competitions. brave stuff there. >> indeed. >> still ahead, what may have triggered a man setting dozen ofs fires in los angeles. follow news 4 online, search nbc washington on faceb

we are learning more this afternoon about what may have driven a man to go on an arson rampage. mike taibbi has more on a 24-year-old's possible motive. >> reporter: when harry was arrested early monday morning, he shouted, i hate america.

the reason, officials say it was anger over his mother's pending ext extradition. she blurted out, where is my son, he's mentally ill. her son is the lone suspect in 52 car fires over four nights, several scorching occupied buildings. he revealed his anger and made himself memorable last week. >> he entered the courtroom and made quite a disturbance. there was a lot of cursing in english. words that i won't repeat here. he was detained momentarily by court security personnel. >> reporter: within a day, the arson rampage began. sunday, this surveillance video was released along with a description of his van and details. hours later, with more fires burning, a lawyer dubbed the

citizen hero recognized the van and the driver. >> i shined my spotlight on the car. i saw the ponytail. that was a big key. >> reporter: a big relief to a whole city. not one more car fire since the arrest. that's news 4 at 4:00. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now. tonight at 5:00, mitt romney wins the iowa caucuses by eight votes. >> this is campaign night where america wins. we are going change the white house and get america back on track. in new hampshire let's get the job done. >> we have the latest from the campaign trail. who is in the race, who is dropping out and what to watch for in decision 2012. the chill is on. >> it's freeze egg.

>> people woke up to a bitter, painful cold. the kind that makes your eyes water and fingers ache. when can we expect this winter blast to thaw? new developments for d.c. councilmember harry thomas. >> hello, i'm jim handly. >> i'm barbara harrison in for wendy rieger. private talks are under way to have thomas plead guilty in a corruption case. it's close, but not yet in hand. >> the ward five councilman is under federal investigation for diverting $300,000 in city funds to spend on his own lifestyle. tom sherwood is here with the new developments today. tom? >> there's a rush of rumors and reports. one thing is clear, this thomas corruption case is near the conclusion. harry thomas jr., his home was