ann and me, and i'm not going to let you down and i'm going to get this nomination. >> we have won in the west, the midwest and the south, and we're ready to win across this country. >> tonight, two republican candidates declaring victory on super tuesday. ohio is still out, and there's a telling story in virginia. >> gas prices hit new highs and thieves hit new lows and cars are empty without leaving the driveway. the investigation is widening after three members of one family in maryland died from the flu. a fourth is fighting for her life in the hospital. first to the big picture as super tuesday is winding down. it's now clear the republican nomination fight will stretch until june, and that is not good news for mitt romney or rick santorum. what will be good news? a win in ohio. the big prize of this night, but as state at this point is too close to call. steve begins our coverage in the capital city of columbus. >> reporter: rick santorum

needed to show he can win, and he did on super tuesday appearing early to celebrate victories in oklahoma and tennessee. six wins since january, plus leading tonight in ohio. >> we have won in the west, the midwest, and the south, and we're ready to win across this country. >> reporter: santorum, a fiscal and proud social conservative, can make a new claim of electability. >> we need a person running against president obama who is right on the issues and truthful with the american public. >> reporter: mitt romney had to talk up his uncontested wins in virginia, vermont and at home in massachusetts. >> i'm not going to let you down. i'll get this nomination. >> he had to wait to get all the-important verdict from ohio. >> i stand ready to lead our party and nation to prosperity. >> reporter: now romney faces a

fresh challenge from nut newt gingrich who georgia heading into mother southern primaries. >> i want you to know that in the morning, we're going on to alabama. >> reporter: with ron paul hoping for delegates tonight, mitt romney's facing the old question. why can't he close the deal and end the race? rick santorum, a new question can he see solid front-runner standing in a republican race sure to be dragged out because of the super tuesday split result. but how dragged out, and who wins could depend on the answer to tonight's big question. who won ohio? i'm steve handlesman, nbc news, columbus. >> in virginia tonight mitt romney won 59% of the vote throughout the state. ron paul came in as 41%. julie carey now with a look at the numbers. >> there's no surprise that mitt

romney won big in virginia over ron paul, but a closer look at the vote totals across the commonwealth shows it's not all good news for the republican front-runner. he has to shore up support if he's the eventual nominee and faces president obama in battleground virginia. first of all, the good news for romney. in this two-person primary, he found some of his strongest support in northern virginia, an area crucial to anyone with their sights set on statewide victory. in fairfax county romney grabbed 65% of the vote, in lou done county 62% and in prince william county 61%. that shows romney would have a strong base of support, but here is romney's challenge. while he captured all of those counties in red, the counties you see in blue ron paul won those today. here's just one example of that. let's take warren county, that's where front royal is located. paul clobbered romney there 59%

to 41% and one party leader tells me if he's the nominee, romney has to find a way to win over those pockets populated with conservative independent-minded voters. if republicans want to beat president obama in battleground virginia they must have the energy of the ron paul supporters behind them. wendy. news 4 along with nbc news will watch the ohio returns all night long. watch nbcwashington.com for updates. we'll be back on the air live with news 4 today at 4:30 tomorrow morning. president obama appears to be in campaign mode and took some spotlight away from the gop today by holding his first news conference of the year. he announced a plan to cut refinancing fees for fha loans by half. he talked about syria defending his decision to use sanctions instead of military action against iran. >> if some of these folks think that it's time to launch a war, they should say so.

they should explain to the american people exactly why they would do that and what the consequences would be. everything else is just talk. >> reporter: the white house claims it's just a coincidence that the president decided to hold his news conference on what some call the gop's biggest day of the year. gas prices could be a central theme in the presidential election this fall. they are already driving some people to steal gas right out of other people's cars. we have more on this story. >> reporter: jim, this is a growing trend that police want to put a stop to. i'm here at a fairfax gas station and people have been filling up her tanks all night concerned about gas prices. the national average is around 7 3.76. you start up your car in the morning and realize your needle is on e. as gas prices go up, desperate

thieves target drivers. jason bought gas this past weekend and drove home and parked in the driveway. a day later his tank was on empty. police say someone siphoned his gas. >> i was going somewhere and it was completely gone. i had just bought the gas, so it was almost a full tarng. >> reporter: they say thieved pried up a gas xap and stole several gallons. >> it's terrible people are siphoning gas. >> they recommend you go to a auto parts store and get a locking gas cap. the thieves will have a tough time siphoning your gas. >> i work for a living, so whatever money i have left i have to use for gas. gas prices are too high as it is. >> reporter: according to aaa the price of gas dropped for the first time in 27 days to 3.$.76 per gallon. experts predict prices could go

up. >> the price going up, it will be more common. >> reporter: now, one of those $15 gas caps costs around 15 bucks, which is a quarter of what it costs to fill up your tank -- to put a quarter in your tank. well, the punishment now fits the crime, at least that's how constituents feel after police cite a local councilwoman with reckless driving today. she must pay more than $500 in fines and get six points on her driver's license. two weeks ago you may recall an officer gave her a warning after he clocked her going 105 miles per hour on the beltway. police are insisting again there was no favoritism. >> i take no pleasure in this additional action but know that it's the right thing to do for our county. >> the county council took away the county vehicle that she was driving at the time and she has pledged to take a driver improvement course. hazmat suits, masks, it was

neither a suspicious powder nor dangerous chemical that sent teams to a house in maryland today. it was the flu, and it is proving deadly. jim handly here with a widening investigation. jim. >> jim, the cdc is involved in this investigation into the deaths of three members a calvert county family, blood and tissue samples were removed from their home today. they're being sent down to atlanta for further testing. this began back on february 23rd. that's when 81-year-old ruth blake became sick with a respiratory illness. she died seven days later. all three of her children were also sick, her 58-year-old son and 56-year-old daughter died yesterday. doctors say they tested positive for the flu. >> what we believe is that these individuals ended up having what we call super infection, so they had typical flu-like symptoms and instead of getting better 48

hours later, they ended up getting worse. >> the cause of the mother's death has yet to be determined. the 51-year-old daughter still hospitalized tonight. health officials tell us the illness appears confined to that house, and there is it no threat to others. however, doctors say to protect yourself from the flu, again, wash your hands often, get a flu shot. they say if you do get the flu and don't get better within 48 hours, you should contact your doctor. jim and wendy, back to you. >> okay. tonight, the mortuary director at dover air force base is blaming top military leaders for dumping the remains of 9/11 victims in a landfill. he told "the washington post" he wanted the remaining buried at sea, but the military leaders decided otherwise. he did not name names. families of pentagon crash victims thought their loved ones were buried at ar ling tong cemetery. tonight eight current and former service members are suing the u.s. military claiming they're tolerating a, quote,

staggering level of sexual assaults. the lawsuit includes graphic charges by two form erma reason corps officers. one of the women claims she was gang raped in 2010 at the marine barracks in southeast d.c. another claims she was raped on barracks row by a superior in 2006. both women are claiming the military ended up blaming them for those assaults. >> i felt like it was me on trial. they said i welcomed the sexual harassment by wearing makeup and running shorts. >> the retaliation i experienced was horrible and ongoing. >> we own this problem. we need to fix this problem. i'll tell you the ma jorts of your commanders out there absolutely want to do the right thing by any victim of sexual assault. >> the pentagon is estimating that 19,000 sexual assaults take place every year within the u.s. military. officials at the marine barracks in southeast strongly dispute the rape allegations named in that lawsuit. a large crowd lined the

funeral procession today. he was a student killed. he spent some time living here in the d.c. area when he was younger. he still has family here. we spoke with his father today about the painful experience of losing his son. >> you will never get a phone call like i did, you know, saying that something happened at school. your son has been shot. that's a phone call that no parent wants. >> in court today a judge told t.j. lane the teenager charged with the shooting he might be tried as an adult. property taxes may be going up in fairfax county. the board of supervisors today approved the advertising of a real estate tax rate of $1.08 per ever $100 it's $345 a year

on average for homeowners. it would add almost $20 million to the coffers. there could be some big crowds at apple stores tomorrow. the company is widely expected to unveil its new ipad tomorrow morning. theyl do that out in california. many tech bloggers are reporting that it will include that new ipad, hd video. some think the new ipad could go on sale as early as next week. that means that the ipad2s could be marked down tomorrow. a nasty brawl inside a courtroom caught on fap. just ahead tonight we'll tell you who went after the accused murderer. the government came out with a strong warning for the makers of a caffeine inhaler. a new form of ploip suction that uses ultrasound. it arrives here in washington. we have cool temperatures tomorrow morning. temperatures then go up big-time. [ female announcer ] with xfinity,

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♪ love can be so mystical ♪ a courtroom brawl interrupted a hearing in massachusetts. an accused murderer walked into the courtroom. within seconds there it goes. the victim's family went after

him. that murder happened in springfield, massachusetts saturday night. aa woman was killed in the brawl. two men were taken down by guards, and the accused murderer was rushed back to the holding cell and that hearing delayed. major concerns today about a new inhaleable caffeine shot calledaero shot. they call it a revolutionary nye way to get energy, but the fda says the product is mislabeled. they worry it's targeting teenager. the government could take it off the shelves. there's a newly aapproved treatment that promises to trim your gut, your love handles and thighs everything else you you hate without surgery. they show a procedure with a option that kills fast cells using ultrasound. >> when you hear the word ultrasound the thoughts babies

come to mind. >> this one is actually a high intensity ultrasound. what happens is the energy turns into heats and bursts those fat cells. >> reporter: laser surgeon tina alster is one of the first to use liposonics. it uses ultrasound technology to melt fat. on the outside amber ryan doesn't appear to need work, but she has a trouble spot. >> muffin top on the front and not so much the sides. i want to contour the front of my body better. >> amber did not want to go under the knife in hopes to lose a whole dress size. the procedure is speckally for the stomach and those love handles. the dr. uses the marker to map out the plan of attack. it's no surgery or suctioning but just an ultrasound. alster says patients can feel

hot jabs and zingers, too. on arch they lose one inch of fat in one session. they must have an extra inch around the mid-section to be treated. >> most everybody feels like they've dp gained some room in their pants or their skirts, usually within a month. >> full results could take six to 12 weeks. for amber the countdown to slim down it is on. >> i'll being happy to be in my bikini. >> angie goff, news 4. >> it costs between 2500 and $3,000 per session. this grandmother in rhode island who is a millionaire 200 times over tonight. it's because she had a craving for rainbow sherbet. she came forward today. she's the winner of that powerball jackpot last month, the one worth $336 million. she bought the ticket just a few hours before the drawing while she and a family member went to pick up some dessert.

after realizing she'd won, she put the ticket in her bible. >> i'm very happy, and i'm very proud. this will make my family very happy. we are truly blessed. thank you. >> mrs. white took the lump sum option after taxes comes to $210 million. >> that's lovely. >> rainbow sherbet is lovely, too. >> isn't it? takes you back. >> i like the strawberry the best. >> i think that's raspberry. we're going to be able to get outside tomorrow? this chill is going away, huh? >> tomorrow is going to be a spectacular day and an even better day on thursday. we are talking about some of the -- i would say the nicest weather we've in a while. i was thinking about it. we saw fantastic weather a couple of days ago. that's what we've seen this entire winter. very nice weather. temperatures today below

average. 29 the low this morning. today only the fifth day since february 1st we saw temperatures below average and only the first dpa in the last three weeks we've been below freezing at the airport. current temperature at the airport is 41 degrees. winds out of the south at 11 miles per hour. that southerly component keeps up warmer than last night. an 11-mile-per-hour wind with 41 degree temperatures put our windchill around 35. a little bit of a windchill out there, but not much to write home about. 31 below freezing in martinsburg and culpepper at 37 degrees and 40 down towards fredericksburg. we'll see a cool night and chilly tomorrow morning. we warm up rapidly. storm 4 radar, nothing to show you right now except notice all this green that is ground clutter here. this is not any rain out there. it shows you you the atmosphere is very, very dry. we had a warm front across parts

of new england. that warm front will prois us with warmer air tomorrow. it helps our winds shift to the south. look at the temperatures down to our south. 73 in yackson, 72 in memphis, 75 in st. louis and it was near 70 in chicago. all that air is moving our way. we're in for a couple of spectacular afternoons. high pressure today gave us the sunshine and cooler weather, but that's an area of high pressure that will continue to move out. warmer up temperatures tomorrow and then stronger southwest winds on thursday as temperatures approach 70 degrees in most areas. that will be ahead of a frontal boundary. that comes through during the day on friday, at least early on friday, and right now i think a pretty good chance of showers, most likely late thursday night into early on friday morning. behind this front we get cool, not cold but cool. tomorrow morning, temperatures on the cool side, 25 to about 34 degrees when you wake up and you step on the out the door tomorrow. tomorrow afternoon not bad at all. sunny, breezy and milder feeling

more like spring. 61 to 66 degrees. here's the next couple of days showing you near 70 on thursday, 58 on friday with that rain, and a little cooler toward the weekend. once again, nothing too cold as the case has been all winter long. >> love it. thanks, doug. ahead tonight a teenager wins the lottery after his mom forces him to clean his room. force[ male announcer ] room. this was how my day began.

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i'd like to read dan's copy that the caps called tonight a must win game. >> help us out. >> it did happen for the capitals tonight on home ice against an inferior division oppone opponent. the caps did not which is why the playoff aspirations continue to hang in the balance. military appreciation night at verizon center tonight. we're going to pick it up.

tied at 2-2. dennis whips at the puck. sutter off on the break away and beats him. caps were up 2-0 at one point in this game, now down 3-2. same score with three minutes to go to marcus johansson to like and he's talk taiing care of business. he ties it up at 3 identify 3 and this game is going into overtime. in o.t. he turns it over in his own zone and here comes carolina two-on-one the other way. sutter to justin falk and that is game time. hurricanes win it o.t. the capitals have now dropped three straight all at home. so it makes you wonder, is this desperation time? >> oh, it is. every game is. so it's -- in the next game it's all desperate. it took a great play to tie the game up. the award was on his game tonight, and we fired a lot of

shots and rebounds that we wanted. he's a good goalie. we have to keep firing as many shots that we can and hope for the best. >> one more at home for the capitals. peyton manning's career with the colts is over. they cut him to avoid paying him $28 million in bonus money in the next week or so. manning will joan jim irsay at a press conference tomorrow afternoon to make the announcement. that should be announcing. thanks for joining us peyton, you're fired. manning plans on playing elsewhere next season. meanwhile, george stark and dexter mannelly both said joe gibbs paid bonuses for big plays as head coach of the redskins. gibbs said that he did have an incentive program. he rewarded players with cash, gift certificates and even la-z-boys for plays within the parameters of the game. during that period the nfl allowed teams to reward players

with extra money. there was no salary cap at the time. gw falls to dayton and howard beats north carolina at a.t. and georgetown playing tomorrow at 2:30 against pittsburgh. before leaving for new york yesterday his thirst message to the teams was very clear to the players. >> he goes out for there. we're going out there to win games. we're going up there, and it's winner go home so we go up there to win games. >> at thpt point of the year there's no excuses. i don't want to hear who has a cold. i don't want to hear who is figts with the girlfriend. right now it's -- every team has nagging injuries. everybody is hurting, so now it's time to play. >> a young team that's been ranked in the top ten for most of the season, and hope they do some good things.

>> i don't

teenager over in scotland is getting a big payoff because he did what he was supposed to do. he listened to his mama. his mom pestered him for two weeks to clean his room. when he did, he found old lottery tickets. one is worth $78,000. says he plans to thank his mom by treating her to a vacation of her choice, don't you know that his mom it going to get more than a vacation out of that $78,000. he is still a teenager, after all. she's in charge. "the tonight show" is next. >> see you tomorrow. dinner's ready.

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