first, to another fire, one that started when a young child was left home alone and we just learned where the mother went. we have that story from bethesda. >> reporter: the little girl told them her mom went to kickboxing class. about 7:20 tonight police and firefighters were called here for a smoke alarm. they frased it to one particular apartment. a 6-year-old girl who police say had been left home for an hour had decided to make toast in a toaster oven. now, sometime after firefighters and police arrived, the mother returned home. she told cops she had been grocery shopping. she is going to be cited for leaving the child alone, and the case is being referred to the state attorney's office, and the little girl has been returned to her mother tonight. back to you. >> thanks, jackie.

now to the big fire that destroyed a house and continues to burn at this minute. we are live in a neighborhood. >> reporter: well, the scene is very active. firefighters are putting out hot spots behind me. they have been battling this blaze over the past three hours. let's look up above from the shopper. orange flames shot out of the home, and fire crews received the call around 7:30 tonight. the grandmother was in the house and when the fire started she ran out screaming. she grew up in the house and tonight she is heartbroken. >> just kind of in shock right now. i don't know what to think. it's just kind of numb, but glad everybody is out. >> reporter: now the family is

also searching for their dog. it was inside when the fire broke out. they hope the dog ran out of the house. they are trying to determine the cause of the fire and they believe it started on the first floor. the ta the tallest building in the nation could be closed for the rest of the year. >> the earthquake repairs may take at least a year to complete, and tonight a private donor chipped in the money to make it all happy. julie has the details. >> reporter: the national monument has been closed since the august earthquake that left cracks behind. last month there was a call for a financial donor to make the repairs possible, and that call has been answered. the damage assessment that

followed the earthquake put the repair bill at $15 million. congress recently approved half, telling the national park service to find donors for the rest. the park service is set to announce the cofounder of the karl lyle group, he gave $4.5 million to the national zoo's panda program, and he announced the restoration project could take up to a year. >> it's good news that the moneys are in place to continue with the renovation and get the monument back open again, and from a tourism perspective it's good for us overall, but the fact that it's closed right now does not detour people from coming to washington. >> and carolyn barber was disappointed her friend from colorado could not get a close-up view of the landmark,

and both women look forward to the reopening of the monument. >> it would be an encouragement to come back definitely. >> reporter: no word on when the repairs will begin, but expect to hear more about that tomorrow. now back to you. >> thank you. there were three more aftershocks today around mineral, virginia. that makes more than 80 aftershocks since august. there are no reports of new damage tonight. outside tonight, temperatures are more than 30 degrees colder than they were last night at this time. veronica johnson is in for doug. what is going on? >> the front came in and came through the area, and our temperatures fell today and they are still falling out there, doreen. the mercury now at 21 degrees in frederick. a lot of locations at 21. and germantown, 21 degrees right now. as you might imagine, the mercury is going to continue to drop. there will be quite a few

locations north of us that will start out in the teens by tomorrow morning. around eldersburg, and brunswick and damascus, and it's mid-january, and how about a little winter snow? details on that coming up in just a few. a man was found dead in the woods behind an apartment complex in hyattsville tonight. somebody called 911 after seeing a body on the banks of a small canal here that runs behind the queens town apartment. the identity of the victim has not been released. and then an attack, a teenager beaten so badly he had to go to the hospital. it happened just after 1:00 this afternoon behind glass manor elementary school. and now investigators say arson is to blame at the home of

a federal judge. the judge's homes here on massachusetts avenue and mcclain. a teen was home at the time but got out safely. investigators won't go into detail about how the blaze began or who they think set it. and then the board is facing growing criticism from former citizens and students on how they fired paterno. one member says she was shaking the whole night after the firing. the board will meet friday for the first time since november. the scandal of penn state is having an impact on local child sex abuse cases. in fairfax county the number of cases reported in december doubled the number reported the year before.

they believe the sandusky case is causing more victims to come forward. >> they will refer back to that and they will say, this happened there and here is my situation, and do i have a case? >> in pennsylvania, there's no statute of limitations on prosecuting child sex crimes. and two piracy bills are losing steam fast. 7,000 web domains protested, and two senators withdrew support. craigslist and wikipedia shut down for the day. the concern is the builds could limit free speech. one would target foreign sites. and then administrative leave, accused of beating up a

woman working a bar in a club in southwest. sergeant washington got in a physical fight with a bartender on mlk avenue earlier this morning. washington screams expletives at her and grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. he was arrested and charged with domestic violence. the bartender had cuts and bruises as a result of the fight. take a good look at the woman in this tape. she robbed an 84-year-old woman, and she was with another woman and three young children who she said had not eaten in days. after agreeing to help the woman cash a check at a nearby bank, the suspect told her she had a gun. >> were you squared? >> i am still scared. i keep looking around thinking they are watching me and they are going to follow me home. >> police say she forced the victim with with draw thousands

of dollars of cash from her life savings, and after the withdrawal the suspect walked away, cash in hand. and the latest story from the captain of the cruise ship that crashed off italy. and then not yet a mom for two weeks, and find out where beyonce is expected to make a grand entrance tonight. now, talking about

tonight concern about their own safety, rescue teams have halted the search for victims in the crash off the coast of italy. a storm front is expected to bring big waves to the area. the ship's captain is also trying to defend his actions to leave the ship, and he now claimed he tripped into the lifeboat in evacuations. authorities say he could face manslaughter charges in the wreck. there are 11 confirmed deaths and 21 people are still missing. get ready for a bigger bill if you are an at&t wireless customer with a smart phone. there are new data plans all with heftier price tags. there's a 300 mega bite option for 20 bucks, and a 5 gigabyte

option for $50. at&t says the price hike is needed because people are using more data than ever. the parents of a woman from northern virginia found dead in baltimore are planning a news conference tomorrow. she was found dead in november of 2008 in an east baltimore housing project. officials say mccann died from a lethal dose of line acane from a bott bottle. the secret service tonight is still working to figure out who threw a smoke bomb over the fence at the white house. it hpened last night during a rally involving about 1,000 occupy protesters. the secret service briefly locked down the pennsylvania avenue side of the white house. nobody was arrested. the president and first lady were not home at the time. they were out having dinner for michelle obama's birthday.

a fight over jumbo tv screens is heating up around the verizon center downtown. the council is allowing a bill that would allow nine jumbo tehr trons outside the building. the hearing on this is scheduled for monday. new mom, beyonce, is set to make her first outing at a club. she is expecting to attend the grand reopening of her husband's club. the paparazzi is out in force tonight, hoping for a glimpse of mom. and buzz is building over target's next designer collection. and this time it's coming from the first lady's favorite. the collection is a limited

edition and expected to sellout quickly. >> i think american women, they are telling us that they want beautiful clothes, something versatile and something timeless and what they can enjoy for not just one season but for a long time. >> prices range from about 20 to $60. and a reporter accepted an award for one of the washingtonians of the year. tom had the misfortune of having his good friend, jim vance, introduce him today. >> nobody is perfect. there's a dark side to tom. here is the dark side of sherwood. he tweets!

he's too old to tweet. >> the neooews in all that is advance knows what a tweet is. >> take that! >> there's always got to be a little roasting involved. >> and tom sherwood, too. >> yeah, he probably tweets more than all three of us put together. >> you know he is doing it right now. >> we are happy for him. it was a very nice celebration. congratulations to tom. >> yep. it's freezing out there tonight, veronica. >> it's freezing out there. i just tweeted a few minutes ago, yeah. we have a pattern change here. the weather pattern is going to be picking up the pace, and that means every couple days we will be getting a weather system, and by early february, when that line comes out there at target, folks may be standing out in line in real cold air. we're complaining about it already for sure. this is a time lapse from seattle, washington, of the snow that they got there.

yeah, they were due to get about ten inches of snow and they have gotten less than that, and they picked up four to five inches. and still snowing there lightly, but pretty cool time lapse when you can see it pileup. looks nice, and we don't have to drive through that. 29 degrees and cold enough for snow, but we have wind left and very low windchill readings, and wind out of the north at 8 miles per hour, and the windchill reading 21 degrees, so even with a light wind it's going to be very cold tomorrow morning. we have a clear sky and already the windchills are at 21, and gaithersburg, and frederick, maryland, 16 degrees, and that's what it feels like now in culpepper, virginia. a lot of locations starting out in the teens tomorrow morning. and the radar has nothing going on, but tomorrow at this time we could see flurries coming through the area. we start tomorrow with a clear sky. a cold start for us. a little weather system for us in the midwest, and will bring

flurries after sunset tomorrow, and closer to, there's the midnight hour, and flurries possible coming through with a very fast-moving weather system. and then friday, sunshine to start the day and clouds by the afternoon, and in fact clouds that move through seattle, washington, it's going to start heading eastward, and as it does so look at this, that's the pink showing up on future weather, and that means we could look at freezing rain, a little sleet, the white and snow and we could see the mix moving in, 11:00 p.m. on friday, and let me zoom in and show you what will take place. that friday night into saturday morning. a freezing rain chance gone by 6:30 in the morning on saturday, and then we will start to see the blobs of green, and that will be the rain moving through. most of which i think will be before noontime, saturday. but still it could be a little dicey for friday night, and early saturday morning. let me give you the forecast here. we will go through it tomorrow morning. definitely a cold start.

mostly clear, 23 to 28 degrees. at least we will have a very light wind around the area. tomorrow afternoon, partly cloudy. we will see more clouds tomorrow afternoon, and then the flurries likely to come after the sunset. we are seasonal at 42 to 46. i think it will feel better tomorrow than today did. and from the 40s tomorrow, to highs in the 30s on friday. yet, every time we get one of these weather systems moving through, the temperatures drop. for the weekend, mid-40s. we have 45 for saturday and sunday. early morning, we will continue to take a look at that system, the possibility of a travel impact especially if we are headed northbound up in maryland and pennsylvania for early saturday morning. we are at 55 on monday and rain back into the area, and then 40 degrees on tuesday for a high and near 50 on wednesday, so still no real, real cold air, but i think by the time we get to early february, we will start

to see bigger changes taking place with cold, and maybe -- maybe a little snow for this winter. >> are we ever going to see it? >> exactly, the winter that wasn't. >> that's. coming up,

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okay, people, let's get started. pete, did you forget yours? me pete, me use pen! (laughter) sorry i'm late, i was in the 16th century looking for pete's pen. (laughter) guys, guys. take it easy, ok? pete's mom is videochatting me, and she wants her pen back! ok, alright, well. i just got one. so... yeah, you've got a little... yep, i can feel the wet patch. don't look at it. when it's on your mind, it's on ebay.

been a while folks. wizards fans on their feet down there tonight, huh? >> it was just a fun night. they were on their feet for the last ten minutes of the game. >> i guess the thunder -- >> yeah, a really, really good team. perhaps the best team in the league. i guess you could say the meek shall inherit the earth, at

least for a night for the fans. they were very prevalent tonight and proved to be the winning recipe. the verizon center actually buzzing for the first time this season. john wall and the wizards taking on durant and the top team, the oklahoma city thunder. durant to westbrook, and back to durant. he had 33, and westbrook 36. you just have to get out of the way when that is coming at you. ahead to the fourth quarter, and wizards down by two. and it's the alley-oop. and it's tied at 76. later in the fourth, john wall trying to get his shooting guard involved, and nick young pulling the trigger, and he's never afraid. he had 24-21 in the second half. and how about five minutes to go in the game, and wizards up by three, and a big defensive play from wall, and takes the charge

from durant. that's huge. oklahoma city unable to come back and the wizards pull off the upset and win it 105-102, and they get a standing ovation from the fans. what do you think about that, nick? >> it's a great feeling. we bet the best team in the league right now, so it shows a lot in us, and it was a great feeling. nobody expected it. that's what it was. >> he could chop those earrings up and get about three different ones. >> a lot of bling on young there. and then the capitals decided to pitch a shutout of their own. a welcome change of pace for hunter's squad. the capitals got on the board early in montreal. first period, capitals on the 3

on 2. they beat the goalie, price, and that's first goal for him. and then the capitals are on top, 2-0. and that was johanson's second goal of the year. and price doesn't have a chance. the capitals shut out the canadians 3-0 as the final, the caps are at carolina on friday. and folks, things are going to get interesting in the prince fielder sweepstakes. it's believed they will now decide on whether or not to make a run at fielder. it's the rangers and the nationals that are the two most talked about teams with fielder, who is the best free agent on the market right now. back to the hardwood.

pearson and may sun on the home stand. and he is going to finish it up on the other end. nice night for him, 24 points in the game. later in the first half, bennett with the alley-oop, and mason running away with it. and he throws it down. mason all over. and final score, 89-63. mason improves, and they sit atop the acc standings. >> good night for hoops. >> yeah, good night for everything. >> good night to share goo

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doctors and emergency responders in montgomery county say they are equipped to treat heart attacks faster. they got a demonstration of the system of the ekgs this afternoon. they are web based and save critical time during an emergency. they say a heart attack patient's vitals can be sent during transport from the ambulance to the hospital. doctors can receive the information on their desktop, and even a smart phone. the district also uses the same technology. a woman in washington state has an incredible story to tell about the birth of her new baby, because she got stuck in the elevator in the hospital. they made it to the hospital in tacoma in the snow, but when the nurses met her and they all got in the elevator, one of them

malfunctioned. katie's husband was in the other elevator that made it up to the floor, and the other elevator with katie and the nurses got stuck, and that's where the baby boy was born, the 13th floor. the elevator doors finally opened after two hours, but the elevators were still stuck between floors, and the father climbed down into the elevator

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[ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. >> announcer: it's "the tonight from "chelsea lately," ross mathews,