see the sun this morning. thursday morning february 25th and we're glad you're with us. i'm steve chenevey. >> i'm allison seymour. we're not feeling the pain this time, our neighbors to the north are. that's a little bit better. sorry to the north. >> that's all right. we have to share. they shared with us last time. >> it's their turn. if you are -- but i will tell you this -- good morning to both of you -- if you have plans or business up toward new york city, boston and philadelphia, you need to check those plans because they are going to have problems up there and delays and cancellations being reported at area airports for flights into some of the big cities because they will get blizzard-like conditions. not here. a fine looking morning. we did have some light snow and rain this morning and that has pushed off to the east and that is dissipating and continuing to push out to the east but portions of eastern maryland are seeing snow there. just read a report that not much of it is sticking to the road surfaces or anyplace like that but some of the grassy

areas getting a nice coating out there and that is about it. we cannot rule out another snow shower or two popping up. look in frederick, maryland. you see how the precipitation is moving down from the north. that's what we're going to see during the course of the day today. a few scattered snow showers, maybe a couple of rain showers here or there. here is a look at the big picture so you can see the whole storm. it is another big winter storm with blizzard-like conditions and snowfall totals of a foot or more. but we are talking about in portions of new jersey, pennsylvania, new york, massachusetts, connecticut, places like that. not so much here. although we could see some accumulating snow from this, eventually across eastern maryland and some portions of southern maryland and delaware and places like that. right now in washington here is what we're looking at. temperature 35 degrees. humidity 82%. the winds right now blowing at 12 miles per hour. we'll keep an eye on those because we do expect them to increase dramatically during the course of the day today and

it should become quite blustery this afternoon and tonight winds blowing up to 35 miles per hour. today some snow, some rain, some clouds, some sun. i'm not playing. you'll see a little bit of everything. winds pick up and high today of about 40 degrees. now let's get an update on traffic with julie wright. tony, right now we're checking on what is reported to be a stalled car along southbound 29 toward stewart lane. we know that traffic is slow through the traffic lights southbound toward four corners. still looking to see if anything in the road but this is the inbound commute off of 29 toward white oak and continuing toward university boulevard. outer loop in montgomery county, that's where we had reports of a stalled car near 355 and we also have a stalled bus inbound 214 central at the beltway tieing up the right side of the road. eastbound 66 from 7100 to 50 fair oaks lanes are open but heavy and slow into the beltway. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. look, we get it. we know you are tired of the snow but it is back just a

little bit in the d.c. area. >> it might as well be a dirty word around here now. that four-letter word. sarah simmons joins us live from silver spring. i don't think it's cute any more, sarah, for a lot of eople. >> reporter: i don't think i have to talk about that dirty little s-word this morning because right now we're not seeing any snowflakes. but what we are seeing is a beautiful sunrise behind us right now. but we're at salt dome here in maryland where they are prepared for anything possible today. you can see the front-end loader is back here and he's been waiting in case there are trucks waiting to come in. maryland state highway administration did restock the salt domes so they were prepared for this. i can also tell you i just spoke with a spokesperson with the state highway administration asking them about what it looks like on the eastern shore. he's telling me what he' hearing from his crews, is that there is just a moderate amount of precipitation and the

pavement temperatures are still above freezing. so the salt and brine mix tour -- mixture is going good. and things looking good so far. and the other thing to worry about is the winds later on. in virginia, they have crews on stand by for any trees coming down later on in the day for the wind that could kick up. but right now clear skies, a few clouds -- a few clouds in the sky, but i think we'll take that over the snow any day right now. back to you guys. >> got that right, sarah. thank you so much. and if you do have travel plans to the northeast tay, tony mentioned, you better call your airline. reagan national, dulles and bwi are reporting several cancellations between d.c. and major airports across the northeast. for links to the airports and live traffic cams and up to the minute radar, go to our website at myfoxdc.com for the latest.

now to some of the other big stories that we are following this morning. the sister of the sea world trainer who was killed by a killer whale yesterday says that woman, dawn brancheau, would not have wanted the animal harmed and she loved the animals like children. you're looking at home video taken moments before the attack which happened in front of park visitors. she was rubbing the whale named tillicum when the whale grabbed her and pulled her into the water. >> when he pulled it, i knew he pulled her. it wasn't the show had ended. i shouted he took her under. >> it seemed surreal. a nice day at sea world and i couldn't believe what we were seaing. >> the orlando park will be open today but the killer whale shows at all of the sea world parks have been suspended. officials say the whale involved in the attack was previously involved in the death of two other humans and no word what will happen to him

now. and another chapter in the health care battle starting today as the president hosted a bipartisan summit at the blair house. >> that is across the street from the white house. but it seems like democrats and republicans are still miles away from finding a common ground. doug luzader has the later from capitol hill. >> reporter: the white house has high hopes for the summit, but in reality there isn't common ground on this and republicans aren't sure whether this is substance or show. the protests have already started here in washington. union activists calling for a massive rework for health care. >> the time has come to finish the job and finish it right. >> reporter: it's not likely anything will be funnished at today's summit at the blair house across the street from the white house. in attendance, nearly 40 members of congress, along with the president who told business leaders yesterday that a solution is an economic necessity. >> and i hope everyone comes with a shared desire to solve

this challenge. not just score political points. >> reporter: and the president will try to push through his health care plan, a 10 year, $1 trillion effort to expd coverage. it's a rework of a plan that passed the senate late last year before the wheels came off. and republicans today will argue that everyone should just hit reset. >> this isn't a republican position, this is a position of the american people who said stop this, let's start over and let's see what we can agree to. >> reporter: but they may not agree to much of anytng unless the president makes some kind of sweeping gesture. >> i think what has to happen for anything to move is to have a game-changer, meaning obama would come out and do something sort of radical like saying let's put tort reform on the table. >> reporter: and tort reform or cracking down on lawsuits is something republicans have been pushing for but the real problem for the white house is going to be congress where there may not be enough support among democrats to get this

through. in washington, doug luzader, fox news. and the latest out of the metro crash hearing. final day of testimony begins in hours. and now it appears metro had a written record that something could go wrong but did nothing about it. the company that made the automatic train controls in use at the time is telling the ntsb that it told metro, quote, you here is morfrom fox 5's will thomas. >> reporter: although a definitive cause of the june crash of two metro trains hasn't yet been established. investigation remains focused on apparent partial failure of a device to keep trains separated. the original review of equipment revealed the company had sternly warned customers in 2004 not to mix equipment from different manufactures. >> the absence of rigorous design and safety standards presents not only a customer

quality issue but constitutes a serious and increasing risk to signaling system safety. >> reporter: the now retired chief engineer at metro couldn't recall getting a letter but he says he remembers hearing from maintenance crews about -- crews about mixing parts from different manufacturers. >> i was aware of concerns. >> and what were the concerns. >> about compatibility, as you stated. >> reporter: many family members of crash victims are -- victims are attending hearings and are angry that nothing was done about the automatic train control. >> they should have done something. these are people's lives lost because of this. >> i am in shock. i don't know anything about this type of thing, but the stuff that i heard today, i know i don't want to get on metro any more. my grandkids cannot get on

metro any more. >> here is the scene at friendship heights metro overnight. don't be afraid. it's only a test. officers swarmed the station as part of a drillo see how the emergency response would handle a crisis. it simulated gunfire between shooters and multiple passengers who are shoot or killed. the goal is to see how metro works with fire and medical services from d.c. and montgomery county. after the break, the latest on snow removal and te reports from the mayor at d.c. schools. it's fenty on fox coming up next. and as we take you to break, a live look outside. how does that look, steve? >> it looks good. >> thupdates forecast and traffic just ahead. time now is 7:10. we'll be right back. dreams are amazing things.

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welcome back. it's 7:13. time for fenty on fox. we're joined as we are every thursday by mayy fenty. >> thanks for having me back. >> dodged a bullet this time. no snow. but there is snow out there and there is an everybody's mind. but from the district review, how is the big equipment that you brought in, all of that, how is it going thus far? >> well i think it went as well as you can -- it can go with that much snow in a short period of time. after getting a large accumation and then freezing up had to turn to really big equipment. we kept that equipment, which is quite expensive, for a long period of time to get up as much snow as possible. the plows only push it but this equipment can carry it and take it places. so as i go around the city and

as i have for the past couple of weeks, i see streets that were cleared, and without any question there are still mountains of snow in d.c. and in maryland and virginia an those are somewhat of an inconvenience to people, but we'll figure out different ways to move snow around both for the rest of the winter and then going forward in the future winters. >> folks are still out there talking about getting their trash up and the trash bins more so not resident shall also. word is trash removal pick up as far as trucks getting into the allies now, are they able to do that on a wide scale basis. >> for the most part we are. on this past monday we started going back into the alley. there are still some to get to but the show must go on and we'll find a way to get to the trash. >> and one more thing about snow. and we had a couple of e-mails but they came in not at the height of it, but perhaps last week so some of those issues

have probably resolved themselves. a person from rigs park said it wasn't hardly touched over there and then what about the shoveling law, which seems to be pretty straightforward. eight hours after the snow stopped falling you're expected to get out and clear, is that right? >> yes. that is the law. it's a law like that in other jurisdictions. we've had more success actually just encouraging people to help their neighbors and to do these snow-shoveling block parties. we've gotten better at this as a city and it's reminding people to be a good neighbor is the best way to get people to keep going. >> hopefully we won't have to deal with that. i want to touch on a council issue and we heard from rion barry and his dealings with the contract issues. of course the allegations are providing a contract to a former girliend. he said he apologized for poor judgment, but he also said that he didn't do anything wrong because there was nothing in the city codes as far as what

he alleges. so a couple of questions out there that have been floating around. one, is there changes possibly to city code to try to make sure this doesn't happen again and does action like that on council hurt d.c. government's issue at all? >> well one of the things that we did on our side of the government, the executive branch, is we put in much more strict requirements for house grants will go out. and so hopefully this will cover most of the government because a lot of these grants that are approved have to eventually be dolled out through agencies. so hopefully we've done a real big sweeping reform and we had a press conference about it maybe eight weeks ago that will cover all of this. it's never good to have reports of abuse or even allegations of it in government. but when they do happen it's up to all of us public officials

to let you know that there are investigations go on and that the work of the government will not stop. people still expect their services to be delivered and in an excellent way and that's what people are doing for me. >> and what about employment contracts to people who may be in a relationship with a person awarding that contract? >> you know, that is a good question. and there is always opportunity for abuse, but i think if -- the more you check to make sure that the grantee is aboveboard, a professional organization and been in business and the time of company that has done what they say they want to do for the government, the less chance there will be tat they would take government money and then do something different with it because they have a good reputation. and i will -- i would be the first to say that we haven't had a huge percentage of problems -- of problems but our

regulations were not strong enough for dolling out grants and they have become stronger since we put in the new regulations eight weeks ago. >> and a disturbing report out of d.c. public schools and chancellor rhee disclosing more information and in all some 68 incidents reported to police from the beginning of her tenure in 2007. we're talking about incidents like sexual misconduct and corporal punishment out of d.c. teachers. and your response to the report and to getting the teachers out of the classroom perhaps as well. >> well two things. any report is extremely serious. any report of physical abuse to a child certainly if it went beyond that to sexual abuse has to be investigated immediately under the chancellor leadership it always has been but i would say that people who ran the school system before us took it just as seriously. two, from what i have been briefed, even though every instance is extremely serious, i haven't been told that this

is outside probably what most school jurisdictions face. that there are probably examples and problems like this in our region throughout the country and we need to make sure that we just keep with training. and also when someone does do something wrong that they are held accountable and the police department will help us out with that. the third thing is percentage wise, this is still a very, very small percentage of our teachers. it is the bad apple, if you will, and we should all remind everyone that the huge majority of our teachers not only would not do anything like this, but do a fantastic job educating our children and we appreciate their work and i think even though this is getting a little bit of attention, this probably -- there are probably a thousand times more great work being done each and every day in our school system and we're glad for that. >> want to quickly get to an e- mail from monica, a constituent

and she wants to know what is to establish -- the littering enforcement the city still looks dirty before the law enforcement could ticket litter bugs. when you started passing the cell phone law, why can't you enforce the littering statute just as much as the cell phone statute. >> there ve been tickets written. i don't know what percentage we're writing. so the law is being enforced. a lot of this stuff it becomes habitual. as a jurisdiction we have to get better. and i always think about jay walking and cars that don't yield to pedestrians. you should not litter, you should not jay walk, you should not fail to yield to a pedestrian just because it detracts from the quality of life in our community. we shouldn't have to enforce these things. but in order to get people thinking about it, we will.

so we're going to keep enforcing it. we'll keep using the care and hopefully we won't have to do some situation where every single person gets a fine in order for them to stop. but we could get you the numbers on what -- what has been. and this e-mailer, i don't know if we have her information, we would be glad to look at her area to see if there needs to be more enforcement or if there is some systemic issues we can do a big fix-it in her neighborhood. >> good. thank you, mayor. we'll be back with a look at the forecast and talk to tony coming up. .  hey hi

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welcome back. the recent snow partially to blame for the speed bump in construction of the icc. a spokesperson said work is behind schedule because of the rough winter and last year's

rainy spring. no word exactly how far behind schedule the highway project is. the hope is to open the first 7- mile section later this year. the icc will eventually stretch 20 miles through montgomery and prince george's counties. the annual white house easter egg roll just around the corner and starting today you can enter the lottery nine for a chance to go. >> the white house will open the south lawn for kids 12 and under for music and activities and of course egg rolling. this year's event will be held april 5th. you can go to our website myfoxdc.com and look for links to find out information. and we had a few flurries earlier this morning but not looking so bad in northwest d.c. we'll update the latest weather and traffic conditions coming up next. plus are you just sick of all of the snow, the ice, the cold, are you sick of the brown snow? >> that just sums it all up.

>> just about everybody is dealing with snow fatigue but there is one upside to the weather. we'll look at that ahead. >> that i'm sticking around for. dreams are amazing things.

and in hard times, sometimes, a belief in a dream, a belief in what is possible - can transform everything. at at&t, we've never forgotten that our company began in a small laboratory, with a dream and a belief, in the future. today, our wired and wireless high speed internet networks are connecting small businesses across america - in cities and small towns - to markets around the world. we know that investment in broadband high speed internet can create hundreds of thousands of new american jobs. small businesses are being formed - dreams are being launched - and real jobs are being created. at at&t, we're investing billions to upgrade and build out our wired and wireless networks. now is not the time to stall momentum or to stifle innovation or investment.

dreams, and jobs, and the future are at stake. at at&t, the future, are at stake. at at&t, the future, has always been our business. at&t... your world... delivered. here is the deal. we thought we were going to get some snow and some places did get some snow. in the district we kind of lucked out because the snow that we had was pretty much out

of here early this morning and now look what it's been replaced by. some sunshine. >> i like that. it looks like a jig saw puzzle picture. >> it could be. but it's 35 degrees and sunny and nice. >> i don't know where he got that. >> it sure does. >> and that is a nice tie too. >> thank you. let's look at what is going on out there. there is still a little bit of snow out toast -- out to the east and we are no longer unde a winter weather advisory and it's pulling away and things are looking good. you saw the live picture there. now here is what i do want to show you with the hd radar. a couple of things. look off to the east and we are seeing some snowfall but it is light in nature at thispoint. and it's pushing off to the east so delaware is now seeing heavier snowfall. but i keep mentioning, we might see a few more snow showers or a little bit of precipitation here or there, can't ule it out. right now you see a little band

moving down across frederick, maryland and likely will move south. so it will be a mixed bag. we see some clouds, we see some sun and can't rule out a brief flurry or two here or there or even a sprinkle or two as the big storm continues to spin and send some bands through the region. current temperatures look like this. we are 35 in d.c. 35 in fredericksberg. 36 in annapolis. winchester is at 31 degrees at this hour. here is a look at the satellite radar composite. there is the precipitation that we had overnight. we saw a fair amount of sprinkles and snow flurrs, including in washington, d.c. no accumulation. all of the accumulation is off to the east and it's been light. it's been hard to get any of that to stick to cement surfaces or the road or anything because of the warmer temperatures. now as we continue to watch how this is developing. there is your big storm. and no doubt about it, this is a big storm. it's a blizzard. but we're on the edge of it.

they're going to get hit up in philadelphia, maybe up to a foot of snow. manhattan the same thing. upstate new york and much of pennsylvania and into new england, they're getting heavy rain right now but gradually much of that will turn to snow as well. forecast for us for today looks like this: a few snow and rain showers here and there, mostly cloudy today, but as we've been mentioning all morning with the sun breaking through. not bad. our big story later today is the windy conditions that develop. winds out of the northwest at 15-20 miles per hour, gusting up to 35 miles per hour this afternoon and this evening. for tonight, overnight low of 30. still quite windy. in fact even stronger. winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour, a couple of snow showers are possible here and there but no accumulation. five-day forecast, still can't ule out a few snow showers and we might change that if the system is moving quickly. saturday and sunday look quiet. more clouds on saturday than sunday. highs in the low to mid-40s. that's the latest on what is happening with the weather and now let's good to julie wright

and get the latest on traffic. julie. making the trip in virginia along northbound 95, you talk about seeing sunshine. we found some of it. the rays peeking at you out of bid bridge. leaving 123 it's heavy and steady. more slow traffic out of newington toward the pentagon and traffic slow against crossing the 14th street bridge. southbound along 270 delays in the main line and the local lanes. talk about winds picking up and they are shacking the traffic camera around. southbound on the brakes leaving germantown toward the lane divide. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. and remember, if you want to check out the live traffic cams you can, as well as up to the minute radar and check traffic delays at the airports, it's all online at myfoxdc.com. so are you sick of the

snow. snow magedden, snow mg. >> what is snow mg? >> like snow my god. >> oh. well wisdom mardin has more. >> reporter: after digging out of two major snowstorms there is another round of snow on the horizon. >> i'm tired of it. >> this time it's a few inches and not several feet like the previous snows. >> two inches or two or three feet. two or three feet i would be concerned. i'm just buying food because i need it. >> we're not concerned. we're from new york and so we're used to it. >> reporter: people are rushing to store to scoop up milk, bread and eggs and others. add rotman's it was just another shopping day. although there were a run on these. >> the shovels we got in this week are half gone or three quarters gone and people are panicking with shovels. >> reporter: and panicking with

the idea of more snow. for some the thought of one more drop of snow is too much to deal with. >> what happens is the experience we had over the past three weeks now, it imitates helplessness and nobody wants to be helpless. >> reporter: psychotherapist janis berry edwards said to some it's associated with icy roads, dangerous ice conditions and constantly shoveling and scrambling to fight crowds in grocery stores. >> that's a natural reaction and natural response to fear. nobody wants to be without food, nobody wants to be without the things that make them feel comfortable. so it's a healthy thing and it's a defensive reaction. >> reporter: doctor's edwards advice to cope -- find a way to entertain yourself and realize -- >> this will not be forever. it will go away. >> reporter: wisdom martin, fox 5 news. he has personally and repeatedly apologized for the toyota troubles. appearing on capitol hill to

assure customers and congress that his cars are safe, akia toyota said the company is working around the clock to mix fillons of cars and -- fix millions of cars and said it is not due to electrical issues. lawmakers said the apology is not enough. >> there seems to be some discrepancy - again we're trying to get at what did we know and when did we know it. >> it seems as if there is no end to this series of -- of promises and then promises that seem to come short of reaching the goal of safety. >> reporter: 39 people have died because of sudden acceleration in their toyotas. some angry lawmakers blasted toyota over an internal investigation about stopping a investigation into sudden acceleration. it is not a recall, but a safety improvement campaign.

that's how chrysler is describing it. they have found a potential defect with crash sensors that control the airbags on more than 350,000 minivans. the sensors can crack and fail and in 2005 and 2006, town and country grand caravan models and they said you need to contact your dealer in june to have the sensors replaced and they need time to distribute the parts. state agencies have been asked to recognize out of state marriages for now. there was a document written about the issue. some lawmakers feel gansler's view is unfair. the city says march 3rd is now when they will likely start accepting marriage license applications, however couples will have to wait three full business days to receive the license. the d.c. council legalized gay

marriage back in december. and coming up, the u.s. hockey team continuing a great run. >> and one high school basketball player's incredible story of determination is coming up next. time now is 7:38. o

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olympic update now. the u.s. men's hockey team still marching on with a 2-0 win over switzerland in the quarter finals. in the meantime ovechkin and his russian counterparts out after losing last night 7-3. and the u.s. holding on with 28 medals. norway rounding out the top three, and germany. and a high school student's appearance in one basketball game delivered a moment no one will forget. >> his teammates rallied around him to make it happen.

beth parker with the story. >> reporter: it's one thing to win -- it's another thing to win the tyler deverys way. it's been quite a journey. tyler has cerebral palsy. each year he tried out for basketball and never made the team. instead he worked as the team manager but never gave up. >> i always wanted to come and like you know, storm the court. that was one of my dreams. >> reporter: tuesday night was senior night and the final game of his career. his coach tom craft gave tyler's the one left over uniform and near the end of the first quarter put him in the game. >> it was like the best day of my life. >> reporter: but tyler missed both of the shots. with the playoffs on the line, the coach never planned to put him back in. >> you could see he felt like he had failed and i said tyler, are you all right. and i said tyler, we're going

to get you back in. >> i tell the kids, rebounding and defense is in your heart and how hard you want to work and there was no question they were working hard. >> the crowd was chanting tyler's name. with a bigger lead and minutes left in the game and tyler did go back in and with just a few seconds left. >> i was pretty wide open so he passed to me. >> when the coach saw the pass, he thought only one thing -- >> shoot. >> reporter: and tyler did and he scored at the buzzer. [ cheering and applause ] >> i can't believe it happened. i felt like michael jordan. >> his family and friends tackled him. >> i want to thank my coach and all of my players for making this dream come true because this is like all i've ever wanted. >> reporter: what did the coach feel at that moment? >> like i was one of the luckiest people in the world at that moment, because i knew what that meant to tyler. >> i got teary-eyed when i saw him make the shot and because

he lives down the street from me and when you would walk down the street you would see the ball bouncing and knew it was tyler. >> reporter: and this is gym class the next day. the score of the game still up there on the board. eventually the numbers will disappear. but there is no reset button you could hit that will erase what people have learned here. >> i want to go out there and focus on all of the people who have a disability and all of those people who tried out for the basketball team and never made it. >> reporter: lengenor high heads to the playoffs and they may win but they may never score more than that. beth parker, fox 5 news. >> good story there. 7:44. nice day outside. i didn't know if we would be expecting to see the sun so much today but it's shining brightly in some placei expecte if you go back to the tapes yesterday, i believe i said it at 7:30, we'd start seeing bright sunshine. >> and that's the one time we weren't listening.

had the other 17 times in the morning. >> you pissed that one. >> we know why, tony. we can read lips. >> the skys are quite pretty right now. and a good amount of sunshine. may slow your roll in some places. mixed bag today. clouds mixing with sun and still you can't rule out afew more snow showers here and there but nothing significant for us. here are the current temperaturessality the area airports. 35 at reagan national. at dulles dropped down to 33 degrees. bwi marshall remains at 34 degrees. here is a look at future cast. with this in motion, i'll show you this big storm. and yes, it is a big storm. not for us. we're on the edge of it. but in new england and the northeast, they're going to get, some places will get a foot or more of snow, maybe 16 inches. this is very much like what we got last time. it will be super windy so blizzard-like conditions in the northeast. and we're on the edge of it. we'll get some winds and some snow showers coming through here and there but like this

morning you'll see gaps in the clouds as the system spins around. here is a look at the five-day forecast. we want to see more of this. and there are the windy conditions that work their way in. and our winds could gust up to 40 miles per hour tonight and into tomorrow. so pretty windy. a high today of about 40 degrees. tomorrow 39. right now we've got a chance of snow showers, but if that system pulls out, we'll probably take those out. saturday and sunday quiet days. still a little breezy. highs in the low to mid-40s and next week we're going to cross our fingers and hope that we can get to 50 degrees at some point next week. >> that would be great. >> we're going to try to make that happen. >> we would appreciate that. >> thanks, tony. >> see what you can do. check in with julie and find out what is happening on the roads. >> we stted off the showbizzy and we still have. delays westbound along 66 toward sycamore street due to a crash. eastbound traffic past lynn street and toward the tr bridge, the lanes are open. 23rd street between h. and i.

is blocked off because of a utility problem. south on 270, leaving rockville toward the split, lanes are open with no incidents to report. you're going to find traffic volume heavy out of germantown toward the lane divide. d.c. route kenilworth slow off of 50 near pennsylvania avenue, new york avenue traffic slow through the traffic lights leaving northeast to northwest. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. >> did you hear that? >> julie, thank you so much. >> are you ready to play again or are you going to get caught up in tony? >> she was talking to me. some of the best and the brightest high school students are putting their smarts together to make life easier for everyone. >> this is the one time we do listen to you. holly is at the fashional engineering design challenge in arlington. holly, we always listen to you. >> reporter: you shouldn't be listening to me. you should be listening to the young people i'm with and because they are truly are the brightest and best. coming up we'll tell you about the engineering design challenge and not only will we show you what they've come up

with but i think you'll be impressed with who the devices help. it's all live next on fox 5 morning news. stay with us. pillsbury crescent rolls, so warm, light, flaky...

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think green and sporty. honda's new crx hybrid goes on

sale. it will go into distribution in the u.s. midyear. prices haven't been decided yet. a new weapon in finding terror at the nation's airports as new body machines are being rolled out starting at the boston logan airport. they can detect objects hidden under a passenger clothes and show a detailed view of the body. >> i think anything to keep us safe they should do. >> i guess i think there should be different levels of how invasive authorities get with people when they are traveling. >> the push to use the machines was increased after the christmas day bombing attempt over christmas. high school students from around the united states competed in the fourth annual national engineering design challenge. >> holly is with the five final teams to learn more about the event and the competitors, holly, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning to both of you. i love the engineering challenges. i'm always amazed by the young people but this one is particularly impressive and it has everything to do with who the devices are helping. i want to introduce you to stephanie to the engineering national design challenge. and give me an overview of the challenge so people understand what is going on here. >> absolutely. it started back in september and teams from all over the country go out and find someone with a disability and use a device to help them in the workplace. >> and this is something that could be practical. >> all of the things wind up in use for the person they were designed for. >> reporter: and i want to check in with the kids because they have something to tell here and they are presenting to the judges just later this morning in a couple of hours before they find out who the winner is. and there is no bias in terms

of who i am interviewing first. but the first team is from cincinnati. it's the walnut hills. quickly tell me about what you came up with? >> well our device is called the button-up d it's to lp people with arthritis button up clothing. many jobs require a uniform or nice clothing and it's helpful to be able to dress yourself in the morning. >> reporter: well sure. >> before you go to work. >> reporter: and this would give someone with a disability a sense of independent they may not have had before. >> definitely. i think everyone should be able to dress themselves in whichever way they choose and if they can't, you're losing a sense of independence. >> reporter: so what was the biggest challenge to overcome in designing your device. >> we went through a couple of different prototypes. we had trouble getting the handle to move up and down

smoothly. >> reporter: show us how it works. >> you grab the handle and guide it through the button hole and release the loop and wrap it around and just pull the button through. >> reporter: that is fabulous. good for you all. and so i saved the most important question for the guys of the group. did either one of you bring me any skyline chili? >> i didn't think about that. >> reporter: darn it. i stumped him. thank you very much. i want to introduce you to another team. this is the bishop kelly design team from boise, idaho. tell me about your device. >> we have the pod. the portable assist design. we worked with a local developer from our town and for the past five years he's not been able to write and he's a business man and he needs to write a lot in his work and he found it to be very hard to work without that ability.

>> reporter: well sure. absolutely. can someone show me how it work, demonstrate how it works, someone over here? >> sure. what we have here is, if it's the shape of the hand and you put your hand on it and you have a tab to press down to write and basically you just start to write, just like that. >> reporter: so jamie, i see that you hve come up here, now are you one of the judges? >> i am. >> reporter: now i don't know, because this is just happening on live tv and i didn't expect you, i don't know if this is fair or not, you can give us your initial onion to the device here. >> sure. i'm just taking a look at everyone's displays right now. and it's exciting to see all of the effort and work that this team has put into thinking through thoroughly the design and how to assist this individual with writing. and technology will make this individual productive at work which is the goal. and it's fantastic.

and these young people are our future leaders and i'm excited and pleased to be a judge here today. >> reporter: i'm excited to see that young kids like this exist out there. >> indeed. that's right. >> reporter: the smarts are here. and what do you think your chances are of winning. it can be between us and everybody watching. >> i don't know. i think we just do the best we could and have made a difference. >> in someone's life. >> reporter: i think you have done that. good luck to you all. thank you very much. myfoxdc.com is our website. we have a link to the national engineering design challenge. it's in the fourth year and if you're interested in finding out more that's the best way to do that. and we introduced you with two teams and there are three finalists left and we'll look at their designs in the next hour. back to you guys. >> that's engineering at its best from where we sit. holly, thank you so much. time now is 7:56 on this big day for the president, he and his democratic allies makes a case for health care reform. >> what can we expect?

we'll tell you coming up after 8:00 foo and then last night it 8:00. and coming up next, the men of american idol. [ male announcer ] if we knew more about our food,

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a killer whale kills its trainer in front of visitors at sea world and we're learning it's not the first time it's happened. and then a scary scene on metro but its all a drill. metro police practicing what they would do if a gunman was on the loose. people waking up to rain and some seeing snow and some seeing sunshine. good morning. i'm steve chenevey. >> and i'm allison seymour. up first in the 8:00 hour we want to let parents know that garret county public schools are closing three hours early today because of the weather. and for those of us here in the district we got the bad stuff out of the way overnight and things look better already. >> don't be surprised if you see another snow shower pop up here and there over the course of the day, but for the most

part we are done. we do have to deal with winds yet to come. they will pick up quite strongly as the day progresses. but here is a look at the satellite radar composite. most of the precipitation off to the east and pushing well up to the north and east. we are still seeing some light precip in some portions of eastern maryland but most of that has pushed into delaware, new jersey, pennsylvania, up into new york and some of the areas are getting heavy snow at this hour and windy conditions. here is what is happening at the area airports as far as temperatures go. they've been part of the story this morning. it's been just warm enough that we have not had any accumations or much freezing precipitation. 35 degrees at reagan national airport. 33 now at dulles. 34 at bwi. it is a mixed bag for today. yes, we could still see a snow shower or even a sprinkle today because that big storm system will continue to spin and it will send a few bands through here. our skies will be mostly cloudy, but with good amounts

of sunshine peeking through at times as is happening right ow this morning. it will become quite windy and winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour later this afternoon. our high today about 40 degrees. so really a mixed bag. but that's the kind of day it is. >> thanks so much, tony. going to head out to the roads now. and in d.c. crews starting to work 12-hour shifts last night in precipitation of this winter weather. we're told roads were not pretreated since the rain would wash it away. >> virginia was ready. more than 1,000 trucks out treating the roads. and since the high winds could still be a problem, tree crews will be monitoring things throughout the day today. >> and in maryland, 200,000 tons of salt stocked up ready to go with 2400 pieces of equipment. our producer spotted 16 trucks and plows on 270 between gaithersburand bethesda this morning. the flakes are falling and there is another storm targeting the east coast. but for once we'll dodge the brunt of the big storm as tony

was talking about. sarah simmons with more on the winter weather at silver spring where they are ready to go regardless. sarah. >> reporter: there are no flakes in the sky right now but we are seeing sunny skies. but the maryland state highway administration are prepared for anything. there is a front-end loader on stand by for any crews that need to come back in and fill up trucks. and also the state highway administration has filled all of the salt domes in precipitation for the storm. it is quiet here and in talking with the maryland state highway administration they have spoken to the crews on the eastern shore where they are reporting moderate precipitation right now and claiming that the pavement temperatures are high enough that things are not freezing, so the salt and rine mixture has been able to work and reporting no problems out there right now. v-dot crews have been out in force pretreating roadways, bridges and ramps. everything is moving smoothly out there right now. but there are also tree removal crews going to be out in full force as winds are expected to

pick up later on today. they will be there to remove any tree limbs and branches that may fall down on roadways. in silver spring, maryland. sarah simmons, fox 5 news. and it might not be snowing here, necessarily but it will be throughout the northeast and if you plan on traveling today you better go online and see if your flight is still on schedule. we checked a number of websites but reagan national, dulles and bwi marshall are reporting a number of cancellations between d.c.s and newark, la guardia, boston and providence just to name a few. a horrifyingscene at sea world, orlando. a kler whale attacked and killed a trainer. and this is the third time the whale has been involved in the death of a human. gurvir is here with more details. >> reporter: good morning. the sister of the sea world trainer said dawn brancheau would not have wanted the killer whale harmed. she said she loved them like

children. she was rubbing the whale called tillicum when the whale attacked. it happened in front of several horrifying visitors. it was a horrifying scene. veteran trainer dawn brancheau was in the holding area. and the whale appeared to jump up and grab the trainer, thrashing her around. >> the fire and rescue responded to a report of an injury at the shamu stadium. units got on scene and realized that the ictim in this case was deceased. >> reporter: sheriff's deputies are investigating what appears to be an accidental death. sea world officials say tillicum is the same whale connected in two other deaths. dan brown of sea world spoke after the death. >> we have never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this and all of our standard operating procedures will come under review as part of the investigation. >> reporter: records show this is not the first time a while has attacked a trainer at a sea world park. in 2006, a trainer was bitten and held under water at sea

world in san diego, escaping with a broken foot. in 2004 a whale at the san antonio park attempted to bite a trainer able to escape. >> they had told us that something was wrong and that they were cooperating and trying to let them regroup and try it again. and so we knew something wasn't right with the whales. >> experts are not sure what set off the whale at sea world. they have suspended the killer whale shows at all parks. allison, back to you. and there are also some problem this is morning at a shark-filled aquarium in t middle east's biggest shopping mall. part of the mall in dubai have been closed to fill a leak. security employees were scene entering the scene wearing life jackets. and metro kicked off emergency response drills. the first one overnight at friendship heights location. what you are seeing is a drillp

and it simulated injured or killed passengers. metro transit police and police from d.c. and fire and emergency medical services personnel from d.c., montgomery county and the fbi all participated. >> we're looking at communication, collaboration and we want to test and evaluate that and then talk about it after this exercise is over and look at what we can do better and what went well. >> metro police and montgomery county police also taking part. there will be two more exercised in a few weeks, one in d.c. and one in roslyn, virginia. today federal investigators wrap up a three-day hearing into the metro woes. the question is how the devices failed before the deadly crash in june. during testimony yesterday we learned the manufacturer warned metro not to mix their equipment with parts from other companies but metro did it any

way. toyota has vowed to repair its cars and image but experts say congressional testimony by the head of toyota doesn't approach closing the book on safety concerns that have prompted millions of recalls. akia toyota apologized yesterday and said the rapid success of his company is partly to blame. >> quite frany i fear the pace of which we have grown may have been too quick. >> toyota insisted the sudden acceleration problem as a result of sticky gas pedals and floor mats and not electrical issues. it's not a recall, it's a safety campaign. that's how chrysler is describing an alert. they have found a potential defect with crash sensors that control the airbags on more than 350,000 minivans. the sensors can fail in town

and country and dodge caravan models. contact your dealer in june to have the sensors replaced. the company needs time to distribute the parts. and up next we'll check out other stories making headline this is morning, including a major step toward marriage equality in maryland. and then last night it was the men of american idol's top 24 that sang on stage. american chatter is up next. it's 9 minutes after 8:00 now. stay with us. brendon: did you know that last year walmart contributed to every eligible full-time and part-time associate's 401(k)... ...whether the associate contributed or not. vo: which makes a good job even better.

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that when you include all the full-time and part-time associates or the palm pixi plus for $79.99. and their family members covered under walmart's healthcare plan, that's over 1 million people? brendon: and that's a healthier outlook for everyone. save money. live better. walmart. it's 8:12 right now and we look at stories making headline this is morning. former v.p. dick cheney now out of the hospital. today he'll have coffee with president john bush. it will be the first time they've seen each other snce they left office last year. virginia is recognizing same-sex marriages from out of state. the attorney general has directed state agencies to give gay couples the rights they are entitled to in other state. some believe this will be steps

toward having same-sex marriages legalized in the state. and the city now says march 3rd it when the city will accept marriage licenses and then couples will have to wait three days to receive the license. d.c. legazed same-sex marriage back in december. and top of the -- the top story is the weather. >> not good for anyone with the winter doll drums and some people are clearly ready for spring. it's significant and long- lasting. >> it's like shoveling lead, only white. it's heavy. >> reporter: meteorologists sending that warning to people along the east coast. >> you have to slice it way a little at a time -- slice it away a little bit at a time. >> reporter: it could be the last stand. >> whatever comes at us, we'll handle it. >> reporter: part of the region

slams on wednesday. power to thousands knocked out and air traffic snarled from boston to atlanta. and in philadelphia -- >> enough already. >> reporter: you're ready for spring? >> definitely ready for spring. >> reporter: they're not feeling the love. >> i can't. not another day. not another day, not another minute. >> reporter: and this new jersey snowplow driver says he's just plain over it. >> pretty slick and everybody is tired and i think we're ready for winter to go away. >> reporter: at least three traffic deaths have been blamed on the storm. wind gusts of 40-50 miles per hour threatened to come along with the storm system as well. in new york, ainsley earhart, fox news. 8:14 right now. and fortunately we dodged it here so far. not so bad out there. >> it's not indeed and it's about to get better. >> it is. we're going to see the precipitation has moved out. we'll tell you about that and show that to you in a moment. but first it is time for the my first 5 photo of the

day. take a look. she's a star. this is olivia. she loves to sing and her favorite song is jg vampire's state of mind. [ music ] >> turn it up. >> can we listen to this music for the rest of the hour. >> it makes us feel great. ovia you're a star. you look great. to send us youmyfoxdc.com and click on mornings. let's take a look at hd radar. where is the precipitation you're wondering? it's well off to the east and continues to push off to the north and east and things are actually looking pretty good around here right now. as i keep mentioning, we cannot rule out a stray ow shower or even a sprinkle at some points during the day because the big storm well off to the northeast will spin around and it could shoot a little bit of energy here or there for some of our viewers. so that's what could happen. right now let's go to the

graphics. right now at reagan national airport, temperature is 35 degrees as we go to max 2, the max 2 graphic system coming right up. 35 degrees, 76% humidity, winds out of the northwest at 14 miles per hour. they'll pick up later on today. here is a look at the national map. there is the big storm in the northeast. hey, what else is going on across the southern plains and into oklahoma, we have another little storm system that we'll keep our eyes on that and see what it wants to do. five-day forecast, high today of about 40 degrees and maybe light snow here or there. and becoming more windy as the day progresses. winds could gust up to 35 miles per hour this evening. tomorrow still quite windy. maybe a snow shower tomorrow, 39. saturday and sunday not bad but quiet and breezy. 35 on sunday and monday and 46 degrees for the high. that's what is looking with the weather. right now let's go to julie wright and find out what is happening with traffic. >> what did the name change? >> i got a late queue so i

wasn't sure if it was you or not? >> well who else would it be? >> sometimes we go to steve or allison. >> one of my multiple personalities could pop out at any moment. >> th's true too. have a great day. traveling inbound along 66 and problems at sycamore tieing up the left lane. no accidents at the tr bridge. lynn street toward the key bridge, a slow roll along the left side according to callers toward m. street and toward georgetown but again all lanes are open. southbound 270, no incidents to report out of germantown headed out toward the split. traffic slows through the rockville inrchanges headed for the lane divide. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. [ singing ] >> american idol. and okay. >> dial idol.com that measured busy signals said and rue garcia got the most said he is

likely safe from tonight's elimination. juno joiner is with us and said don't worry about that. and no offense. any way, this is the panel again today. it's a special two day week this week and jag diamond, and jeanne jones, good morning and marcus is out in l.a. about to win his image award. so we saw andrew gacia. now here is my thing with andrew, he had so much success with straight up and paula's song and they didn't give him the love that should have followed him. let's look at him. [ singing ] >> now i realize watching idol, i don't know what sounds good, because i didn't mind his performance. but they did not give it any love. >> it was very karaoke. it was not written it be done

acoustically. and one thing i noticed is lack of confidence, looking down and look at the glasses, they drove me crazy sliding off his nose. i wanted to push them back up on his nose. but i will say this, he needs some work, but i like him. he's a likeable guy with a nice voice. he has a nice persona. and i'm thrilled that this year idol has an asian contestant, latino, black, white, young, older. >> now this poppy, i like him. he's somebody i would stroll with on u. street. the confidence level needs to be boosted. and if that doesn't happen, i'm not sure. >> i think he'll be around for a few weeks. >> i want him to be the man of this house because he kind the mr. mom thing going on. >> right. >> so i'm voting for you. bring home the bacon. >> let's look at tracy. i think this is cara's guy.

>> look at all of this. but here is casey james. [ singing ] >> to me, i didn't care for his bravado. it was a little -- a little too much for me. >> but it worked. >> don't be mad. don't be mad juneau. [ laughter ] >> compared to the other performances last night only, he was just more female friendly. and bottom line is it worked. >> and that's a tough song. again, we're picking brian adams who sings in a high key. the guy brought a good game. he's liable and it was very distracting what was going on on the judge's panel. look at the smile and the eyes. look at cara. >> but the problem -- what is going on. she was like bring on the

catnip. >> i love to step out early and make predictions. this guy will be in your top three. >> and i think andrew will. >> he certainly could. >> say what you will aboubig mike lynch, but i thought did a good job. once again, i'm in the minority. here is big mike. [ singing ] >> don't you love this song. >> i think so. >> i was not impressed in the least. i just wasn't. >> why not? >> he just -- he looks like somebodies that in my band right now that is doing break timell of the time. >> see i see big mike going home with the baby and the wife in pampers. and as sweet as he can be, but it's too much up beat. it's like he's swallowing the

guitar. >> and he can't help that he's big. >> and he's not sexy. >> he's a personal trainer and that surprised me. >> that surprised me about being a personal trainer. >> they call it the training table and apparently he and i haven't pushed away in a while. >> he has a nice persona. i think he'll be around. i don't think he's getting bounced. i don't think it was great but i don't think it was horrible either. >> and that was the good. let's talk about the bad. first of all, 70s guy, i'm sick of it. i'm tired of it. baby mcjager, it's time to go home. this is taylor mcgrady. [ singing ] >> he's a cross between trent and jim morrison and everybody from the 70s. >> gimmick isn't working and i don't think he'll work. you know lady ga ga may be gimmicky but she can sing and

write. elton john doesn't roll out with just anybody to play piano and sing and that performance was special. and this is gimmicky in the wrong way. style over substance. >> and do you agree? >> i thik he's going to be around. don't know how long. but he's not that bad. he's not that bad. the personality impressed. >> and this is an epidemic. these para suitos for men. >> you would not wear skinny jeans? >> no. >> there is a problem that mike has at the prep table. >> and these two guys, come on. i'm tired of them too. this is jermaine sellers. i feel like he already feels like he's almost even better than the whole competition. >> i don't think he's singing.

[ singing ] >> wasn't he too breathy without any control. >> because he thinks he's better than -- >> he was charming at his best. >> he's got compassion and he gave the camera what i wanted to see. >> well what do you think? >> i think he was okay. i thought he was very breathy and didn't he control. i'll tell you todd rick hall impressed me more who came out at the top of the show. >> he entertained me. >> and i'll tell you who the worst was and i don't know that he have tape of him. tim urban who they called back. >> and they were saying we shouldn't have called you back. >> trying to do apologize -- the song was a falsetteo and we have that band live on the jack diamond morning show. and even the lead singer had trouble hitting those notes for

him to true to sing out the song was a mistake. >> he's out of there. >> and we've enjoyed our guests so much. juno, tell me what you're doing. >> i'm doing my album in the studio 8121 and doing stuff with marcus johnson and if you want to follow me, twitter, facebook. juno. >> okay. a little jermaine breathy sellers. juno. thank you so much. come back and see us. you're in the rolodex now so there is no escaping. we'll see you next week. >> look forward to it. >> absolutely. >> thanks for watching. time now is 8:25. on this big day for president obama, he and his democratic allies will try to make their case for health care reform in a summit and so what can we expect? that's coming up next. and holly will hang out with high school students

changing the lives of those with disabilities. we'll talk about that coming up later this morning. it's now 8:25 on this thursday morning. dreams are amazing things. and in hard times, sometimes, a belief in a dream, a belief in what is possible - can transform everything. at at&t, we've never forgotten that our company began in a small laboratory, with a dream and a belief, in the future.

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>> i don't think so at all. especially when you're talking philly and new york getting a bunch of it. one of the unpleasant side effects has been damage from the snowplows. if your curb or property was damaged, who pays the bill. >> the local transportation department will. but you have to take documents, pictures and note the time, explain the cause of the damage and get an estimate for the cost of repairs and keep in mind that you might not be able to prove fault. as always, beware of scam artists. >> what i want people to do is

take their time. if the tree is not laying on the house, it's just ugly, not dangerous, let things cool off a little bit. the prices will settle down and you'll end up getting your issue repairs and resolved much better, much safer and much cheaper. the insurance information institute says winter storms cause a billion dollars worth of insurance claims every year and most of that is from heavy snow and ice damage. >> talked about the problems. and we dodged most of them today. could have wind damage later today. >> yeah. the first was the concern of the snow but we have the wind. and we'll have a windstorm around here over the next 24-36 hours. winds gusting 40-50 miles per hour and i wouldn't be surprised if we have an advisory late today and that will be late this afternoon and tonight and into the morning hours tomorrow. but as far as snow, at least here in the immediate washington area but not too far away. >> it makes you want to cut down all of the trees around your house.

>> it will be so beautiful in a couple of weeks when they bloom. 35 right now at reagan national. and we did get snow overnight but most of it didn't stick becau temperatures were in the mid and upper 30s when it tarted falling at 3:00 a.m. and 35 at reagan national. 33 in quantico. freezing temperatures in gaithersburg at 32. and 34 in manassas. so again the temperatures actually i think with a little sunshine, and we do have some sunshine out to the west, we'll probably see highs in the low 40s in many spots. winds sustained at 14 and as i mentioned they will gust today at 30-3miles per hour as we watch the storm wrap up and intensefy very rapidly off the coast. there is your satellite radar. i'll get out of the way. still snow flying across the eastern shore north and east of the washington toward the northern chesapeake and you can see the snow flying in philadelphia. rain changing to snow in new york. let's take a closer look. and again this is going to be the sweet spot with this storm

right across northern new jersey, into central portions of new york and upstate new york will be expecting blizzard conditions and it's up here where we could get 12-18 inches of snow over the next 24-36 hours. as this storm intensifies, i mentioned the winds will kick up out of the west and northwest and could throw snow showers back into the washington area, not only today but tonight and during the day tomorrow. so the storm will be with us, at least the effects, will be with us during the next couple of days. plenty of clouds out there and could be a snow or rain shower over the next 12 hours. you might see one today. becoming windy and that's the other real important thing to tell you about in this forecast today with gusts to 35 miles per hour. windy as well tomorrow. high temperature tomorrow only in the upper 30s. the weekend right now looks quiet with highs in the middle 40s. i mentioned earlier, we may have some 50s in the forecast by the middle and end of next week. so spring is around the corner. and i know somebody will be very glad to hear that. and we're going to give it to her with on-time traffic, ms. ulie wright. well right now we have our hands full if you are traveling

along the top stretch of the beltway, trying to make your way from college park toward 270, definitely some slowdowns there. travel ago long 395, northbound leaving shirlington, and continuing up toward the capital beltway, slow traffic there. this is a live shot of the george washington parkway headed up toward 14th street bridge and national airport and again all of the lanes here are open with no other incidents to report. and again backing out of the camera shot and show you what else is happeningment on the south side of town from springfield toward the 14th street bridge. we started off with an accident there for the duke street. all of that activity has cleared. and again as we just mentioned, college park all the way around toward 270, heavy slow and steady. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. it may be a last ditch effort for a health care overhaul. the president hosting a bipartisan summit hoping to break the log jam. joining us, bob cusak, the managing editer of the hill.

what is going to happen today? >> this is an exciting day. this is a big showdown between obama and congressional republicans. an unlike the republican retreat in baltimore, there going to be -- is going to be other democrats there, nancy pelosi, harry reid. could it be a bit of a letdown? this is a six-hour negotiation. will america continue to watch this until the end. it could get a little wonky. >> and republicans said scrap the plan and start over or we won't play along but the democrats said we won't do that. so with those two arguments going can we keep this going for six hours. >> i don'tknow where we'll go when republicans say we won't go with this. and president obama will be the moderator and they'll be around the table. what could happen? will they walk out? who will be playing for the cameras? will they go too far.

this is obama's home turf. will republicans did he deferal to t president. >> the president me out with his own plan and now there are democrats that don't agree with that. how will they respond to what he has to say? >> well i think obama has -- he's got the microphone now. congress tried to pass a bill last year and they did not succeed. so obama is now leading and congressional democrats need to give some ground to him. and a lot of republicans think this is just a trap. he's setting us up to use the part shan reconciliation to slam a -- partisan reconciliation to slam a bill through. >> and do you see that as happening? >> i think that will be the next step because democrats and republicans will not agree and there will be no big deal they reach today and the next step is obama will make the case, i tried to reach out -- out to republicans and they didn't agree and we have to get this

past. and if america was tired of the partisan rhetoric before, now watch. >> does that create a greater backlash through the mid terms and beyond? >> either way a difficult position for democrats. and john mccain said they have two choices ram it through and risk a backlash or don't get anything done. and he preferred not getting anything done. but democrats have to get this through because it shows that they don't -- it shows they can't govern. and so even though there could be a backlash, i think they have to do this and get it through because otherwise what will they run on in november? >> now is there any chance that the house -- they got their plan and the senate built their plan, the president's plan is similar to the senate plan when it comes to this. any chance on any more changes coming down the road though before we go ahead and push something through, if they go the reconciliation route. >> i don't think there will be many changes. i think today obama will offer

changes. maybe i can move something on medical malpractice but he won't commit to anything unless he votes for it. and when the cameras are rolling, the republicans will be on the spot. how they hand thal will be -- handle that will be interesting. >> and do they not care? >> the republicans picked an additional few republicans to go to the summit. obama invited some. and of course republican leaders did not pick any senator from maine. whether it be collins or snowe. but the lunch is going to be interesting and they have a buffet and so this is going on for a while and we've never seen anything like this. but the good thing for democrats is this is a new beginning. you had scott brown and the failures of last year and missed deadlines and now can that generate momentum, we'll see?

>> and on a political fireworks scare, where do you rank what could happen today. >> i think it is a good nine. >> we look forward to seeing it. bob cusak, managing editor of the hill. it's 35 degrees on this thursday morning. praises for some of d.c.'s finest. up next we'll tell you what one cop did to earn the title of officer of the year. stay with us and we'll be back with that and more. we're the watchful ones. we like to know where things stand. we keep a close eye on what we have and what we spend. suntrust would like to applaud our solid financial ways. now when you pay your bills online you'll not only gain more control of your money, you can also earn up to one hundred and fifty dollars. find out more at suntrust.com/solid live solid. bank solid. suntrust.

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welcome back. if you're looking for work check out our job shop on myfoxdc.com. and our job of the day is at lati corp, looking for a program manager. for more on this job and many other goes to myfoxdc.com and click on the job shop tab near the top of the home page. i hope i said that right. logicore. special praises for one local police officer who has

gone above and beyond the call for protect and preserve. alex varvounis has been named the officer of the year. only on the job for four years but playing a pivotal role making an arrest after an innocent woman was shot and killed on 14th street last year. >> the officer knew the person because he was on the beat and knows the good and bad people and helped us find the person in a matter of days. >> this was a woman struck by a stray bullet. the officer has come a long way in a short amount of time. two years ago he was driving a tow truck and a repo man and now a police officer. and up next you'll meet some inspiring teen-agers. holly, good morning. >> reporter: it will change your mind about teen-agers out there. and there are medals on the

line today. we are live this morning at the finals for the national engineering design challenge. coming up, you can see it's getting buzz here. we're going to talk about the important creations the kids are coming up with and the difference it will make in the lives of some people. it's all up next on fox 5 morning news. stay with us. 

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and good morning. i'm tony perkins live in the fox 5 news room getting set for the 9:00 hour. coming up. we might not be getting snow around here but d.c. travelers are feeling the impac of the storm impacting the northeast. we'll get an update on the cancellation and delays affecting our local airports. and we catch up with kris allen from american idol and we'll see him tonight on the first results show of season 9 and hear more from him about his recent trip to haiti. and we tackle a problem most people don't like to talk about. smelly, stinky feet. also athlete's foot. our skin expert will be here with remedies that work. allison and steve, we'll have that and more. >> we're glad you're doing this segment. >> and keeping us out of it. thank you, tony. and the national engineering design challenge asks high school students to create a device to assist a

person with a disability. >> and this morning holly is with the teams and the invention prototypes that will improve lives. >> reporter: and if you had to get this down to one sentence in terms of the challenge, it will be designing dreams for people with disabilities because the things they have come up with will allow people with a disability to perhaps perform their job better or maybe even get a job that they wouldn't be able to get because of their disability. so we have three more finalists we want to introduce you to this morning and show you what- been working on this whole past school year. i'm going to store with apgy online high school. and explain to me what an online high school. >> what we've done the last two months is made it through online counseling software to create a device. and it's sort of like skype. you have video and text and you can speak -- when you speak, your voice will be sent over the internet and you'll also

have a webcam. so it's sort of like a conference. >> reporter: so you guys are meeting in person for the first time here at the finals. >> yeah. >> reporter: that is so cool. manufacture you are. so quickly tell me about what you guys came up with? >> it's a device to help people with blindness, to use an office telephone. it uses light sensors on the phone to attach to a office phone and go into a micro controller which processes the lights and transfers them into vibrations like what is on your cell phone on a glove that have different vibations on each finger. so when it -- when you have a call on line one, it vibrates on your thumb and then a call on line two, it vibrates on the next figure. >> and you worked with someone to get feedback. how did that work. >> brenda is the receptionist that we worked with, who had blindness. and she was able to have instant feedback and didn't have to monitor it. it's very hands-free.

>> reporter: i wish i could talk to you more. i have two other tes to get in. good luck. and i know the finals are coming up in a short amount of time. and i'm making my way over to gullver prep. we're not the only news channel here. and they're from miami, florida. and tell us what you came up with? >> we came up with the open device and our role model was scott dor fin and he has trouble opening doors so we came up with this device. >> and can you demonstrate. >> first emove it from the holsters position and move this level and extend the telescopic arm and then have it locked. >> reporter: so what was the biggest challenge to overcoming yourself in coming up with this. > when we took it scott, it didn't really help him and we had to take the design back and

re-engineer it so that the functions he needed were able to be put in. >> reporter: it was important for him. >> and especially for his situation. and we were able to go to his company where he works and make a great connection and help scott. >> reporter: very good. thank you very much. and one more school to get in. from weathersville, connecticut. and they are meeting with the judge at the minute. who wants to tell us about their design. >> well it's a walker that can go upstairs. >> reporter: and how did you come up or why did you feel this was needed? >> we came up with this idea because there were staff at our high school that needed a device like this as well as a local group with people with disabilities that needed a walk thaer could go upstairs. >> reporter: so you didn't have to look very far. you looked at someone within your own school.

can someone show us how it works. >> so this -- the walker is here, level on the floor. and let me level it. matt, it stalled. there we go. so now you're going to get it -- to your regular floor height. it's stable on the floor. and then when you want to go on your stairs and put the lid on it. and just drop the front legs so it's leveled on the stairs and then go up the stairs once it gets down. >> that is amazing. >> reporter: you are too smart for your own good. and look at him just taking the stairs with that walker. i love it. myfoxdc.com is our website. we have a link to the national engineering design challenge. it's in the fourth year here but they would love to have more people get involved. the actual finals start at 9:00 a.m. so in the next hour we'll be seeing the five finalis undergo their final judging. i'm not sure when the winner will be announced but we'll see what we can find out.

>> it sounds like they're all winners. thank you very much. and some places in the area seeing winter weather but also signs of spring. >> and details on that when we come back. stay with us.  make me yours, sebastian.

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well one sure sign of spring is going to be around soon. >> today you can sign up for tickets to the white house easter egg roll. it will be held on monday, april 5th and tickets will be handed out by an online lottery system. you can sign up today through sunday. go to myfoxdc.com and look under web links for more information. >> hopefully you're one of the lucky ones that gets on board and maybe holly will see you there this year. 8:55. we still have a lot more coming up in the next hour of fox 5 morning news. coming up at 9:00, i'll be leaving but tony will be here to join allison. >> you'll be with us in spirit. and the latest on the big story out of florida. it's a tragic story. the killer whale that kills one of its trainers in front of a stunned audience. we'll go live to florida. stay with us. have a good day, steve.

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welcome back. we have much more ahead on the next hour of fox 5 morning news. we're going to talk about this death at sea world. just stunning. a trainer killed by a whale during a show there. witnessed by the crowd. it is not the first death associated with this particular whale. we have a live report coming up from orlando. and also our weather. i mean i think everybody is just braced for what is happening next. so we'll look at if the snow threat is over now and what we really can expect. plus the travel delays caused by winter weather because they are getting hit with it further north. so how does this affect us. >> and also talking about smelling, dare i say, stinky feet. not pleasant but it is a common problem. and athlete's foot also a common problem. we'll talk about some ways that you can treat the