healthcare reform for the american people. >> the president of the united states. >> the president was introduced by a 20-year-old maryland student, rachel, who was just diagnosed with cancer. >> you are worried you might not be able to get health insurance next year or the year after? >> yeah, it's kind of like, i have been marked, you know, what health insurance company is going to take on someone who could cost them hundreds and thousands of dollars? >> the president's biggest problem right now is one of simple math. how to hold the 59 democratic senators together and attract one republican to get this 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster? >> peggy fox in mcclane y virginia's candidate faced off in a lively debate at the capital one building. >> i wrote the legislation that created the fund that put it into law that created 78,000 jobs since we put it in the code. i wrote the most progressive program in the country.

i wrote megan's law. >> normally campaign donations are a good thing for a candidate. with the infusion of money from big unions, creigh deeds has to walk a balancing act. >> when the independent business made up of thousands of people said that i have an a rating and they endorse me and they look at my opponents rating and said he has an f, i think that is an important factor. >> but deeds lack of a clear transportation plan may be problematic for him. >> mcdonald clearly won. he had the answers. he had specifics. that's what people want. >> i'm dave in bowie, maryland. it took the fire department 11 minutes to get to this home. it was meant for improved safety. >> i wish i could thank the fire department. i could thank my neighbors. >> neighbors used garden hoses to control the fire. the public safety director blames the response time on

dispatchers taking 3 minutes to comply with the policy that reduces the number of fire truck on the call. this was an effort to improve road safety. >> this was a result of recent staffing reductions. >> even without the dispatch issues, the closest fire station was not staffed and the second closest only had two firefighters available. >> the delay had nothing to do with the cutbacks. >> dave, 9news now. the loss of $1.3 million may force one maryland city to replace all of its firefighters with volunteers. cumberland's fire chief says he is searching the budget line by line trying to avoid that change. and the house passed a bill today that will fulfill nearly all of the president's campaign promises on higher education in one swoop. the largest overhaul of college aid programs since they were created in the 1960s would oust

private lenders. the measure increases the maximum pell grant by $1400 and it creates a grant program to improve community colleges. the senate takes up the bill next. an attachment to that bill is an update on the story we brought you last night at 11:00. the house voted to deny the group acorn any more federal funding. senators made a similar decision three days ago. the group has been under fire since a hidden camera video was released on monday showing two acorn employees advising a couple to lie about her profession and launder her earnings. two days ago, the chairman of the joint chief said this country needs to send more troops into afghanistan. but today, the secretary of defense said not so fast. >> given the importance of the decisions that the president faces, we need to take our time and get this right. >> at this point, the general in charge of u.s. operations in

afghanistan is not asked for any additional troops, but that request is expected to come soon. >> compassion, perseverance, strength. a love for his fellow soldiers. those are the values that define jared's life and the values he displayed in the actions that we recognize here today. >> president obama awarded his first medal of armor today. jared was killed as he tried to save a wounded comrade in 2006. his parents were there today for the white house ceremony. >> veterans of the vietnam war were barely welcomed home. many found themselves facing protesters just for having served their countries. but now, as digital correspondent tells us, 34 years later, an ambitious campaign is here to hear their stories and honor the 58,000 killed in that conflict. >> jackie brant is a history

teacher in fairfax county. >> jimmie maylor from massachusetts. >> today she brought pictures of her classmates and those who came from a texas school, to make sure no one forgets about them. >> they gave so much more than i did. >> the vietnam memorial fund invited folks to visit any of the 1600 fedex office stores to scan photos of loved ones whose names are on the walls. there is now an opportunity to put faces to the 58,000 names on the vietnam memorial. the pictures will be placed in an education center to be built underground near the vietnam wall. >> so that the value for which people like my dad and my uncle served and sacrificed are going to continue. >> my dad's picture, he is wearing his 100 mission patch. he is kneeling in front of his

plane. >> he holds several sports teams. today his focus is off the sports to make the education center of the wall a reality. >> there are 54 names of people i served with, that died in a 12 month period of time. this is a way for me to give back. >> and hoping to gather 58,261 pictures of fallen vietnam veterans. in washington, 9news now and wusa9.com. >> and that education center at the wall is expected to be open in the year 2013. let's take a quick look at this picture. see if you can help police find jeremy taylor. the 16-year-old was last seen yesterday afternoon near the safeway on main street in maryland. he was wearing a light brown t- shirt. if you see him, call the cops. a home was invaded. police say four or five suspects actually kicked in his front door wearing masks.

>> who were all dressed in black utility style uniforms, outfits. they had on hats that said fbi insignia on them. >> a nine month old infant, man, and woman were not harmed. the suspects fled in a beige or tan cadillac escalade. it is drizzly, kind of cloudy, but it's about to go away. >> we have the payoff coming, but we have to get through tonight and tomorrow. remaining mostly cloudy. drizzle ends, and some fog may develop after midnight. as we get a couple breaks in the clouds. low temperatures, upper 50s in the suburbs and mid 60s downtown. we are looking at temperatures right now, we never made it out of the 60s today. 66 in washington, of course 32 in frederick. 64 in manassas and 67 in

fredericksburg. satellite picture, radar combined, a lot of clouds, little in terms of precipitation. we'll come back and talk about when the clouds go away and look ahead to the weekend coming up. >> the first of its kind, surgical procedure is bringing sight to one woman. find out what surgeons used to treat her blindness. but first, an investigation into billions of dollars soaring into smaller local municipal airports, including nine in our area. we'll be back.

welcome back. you may not have known 15% of every airline ticket you buy goes to a special federal tax, which raises billions of dollars to modernize and maintain america's airport. but what may shock you is that a hefty chunk of that change is going to tiny local airports that you will almost certainly never use and hardly anyone else does either. nine of our smaller airports adds up to $123.5 million and counting. published a report detailing the situation and joined by reporter, tom frank who broke the story and tom, welcome. how much money are we talking? how many airports? >> we are talking about a billion dollars a year going to 2800 airports that have no commercial traffic. no airline flights that you and i might take if we are going to visit somebody. >> these are airports you haven't heard about before.

>> you couldn't find them, probably. it is not dulles, it's not national. >> so who does use these airports? >> it's used by people who own private airlines and the recreational pilot who's might own a small cessna or businesses that own larger corporate jets. >> i was struck by some of the figures. you said in some of the airports, are used less than 10% capacity. >> that's right. you might have an airport that could handle 200,000 flights a year and it is handling 10,000 a year. >> so a lot of these airports don't need to be open. why are they? >> well, it's a political issue. congress likes to pay for these airports because you have 2800 airports and 435 members of congress. so every member has at least one airport and they like to bring money home and it is the way the aviation system evolved in this country. >> is there any move out there to try to come up with a way to shut down some of these airports that are less useful

than others? >> in a word, no. because there's a strong lobby of the people who use them. they are very active. private pilots are very politically active. they have a very active political action committee and you also have municipal officials in these small towns. they call up the member of congress that say we need a million dollars and they get listened to. >> and this is taking money away from the big airports that could use it, correct? >> the airports raise a lot of money on their own through another tax that is charged every time you land at an airport, you are paying $4 every time you land. >> okay. >> so it's an interesting situation. may not be hurting the big airports, but it's draining some money that could go somewhere else. >> it could, yes. tom frank from the u.s.a. today, thank you so much for your time. we appreciate that and u.s.a. today is owned by guinett, that also owns this tv station. this woman has been pulled over by police for 30 times.

why she thinks it keeps on happening and her interesting plan for doing something about it. plus top is back with your full forecast. keep it right here.

the washington post calls bob mcdonnell a "culture warrior." and what does that mean for virginia? it means: bob mcdonnell introduced 35 bills to restrict a woman's right to choose. he wants to outlaw abortion-- even in cases of rape and incest. and mcdonnell opposed birth control for married adults. learn more about bob mcdonnell's crusade to take virginia backwards. i'm creigh deeds, candidate for governor and my campaign sponsored this ad.

in tonight's living smart focus, some money saving. forget the long distance plan if you use your cell phone to use those plans. yews cash instead of rewards cards. and a free checking account is actually a better deal than an interest bearing one. you won't be charged a maintenance fee if you don't maintain a high minimum balance. we have a complete list on our website, wusa9.com. just click on living smart. well doctors in miami have given a woman back her sight by using her tooth. it is the first time this incredible and highly complex procedure has been performed in this country. >> sharon lost her sight nine

years ago when a bad reaction to a drug scared her corneas, the clear covering of the eye. it was so bad, even a transplant wouldn't help. she kept believing a medical miracle might be possible. sharon never dreamed it would involve her own tooth. a tooth helping someone see again, when the doctor at the eye institute in miami first heard of this procedure, he couldn't believe it either. >> i said oh my god, how can people do that and that seems to be a very farfetched idea. >> first, the doctor removed the scar tissue from sharon's left cornea, because it was blocking her vision. he took her canine tooth and went to work. he sculpted a hole in the tooth, which a lens fits right in. the tooth acts as a base for the lens and is placed under the skin. for the first time, she can see her best friend, rick. >> he was the prettiest thing

i have ever seen. >> this procedure won't work for most blind people. sharon can't see perfectly, but her vision continues to improve. in the meantime, she is thrilled by what she can see right now. with this living well report, i'm anita brikman with 9news now and wusa9.com. >> tonight at 11:00 on 9news now, fighting gravity to fight the damage caused by strokes. anita has the special living well report on a local rehab center that is getting people back on their feet. plus a stroke warning sign this man completely missed. that's tonight at 11:00. top, we are going to hear about the weekend weather and i'm thinking there is little sunshine in our future somewhere. >> sunshine. and i think if you were to take a bike ride tomorrow morning, you would be okay. the pavement would be dry and we will improve tomorrow. may take a while tomorrow, but the weekend, that is a reward. here's your forecast first. the next three days, clouds to start and becoming partly

cloudy on friday and much warmer. highs in the upper 70s. we were 67 today for the high. beautiful on saturday. 77. terps in town, the festival at wolf trap and sunday, we are in good shape. clouds may come in late in the day, but we are in good shape. upper 70s and partly cloudy skies. tonight, drizzle ending, mostly cloudy, some fog possible late. it will take some breaks to get fog in here. temperatures tonight, some areas may just kind of peek in the upper 50s, but 62 in bethesda and silver spring. and 63 in oxen hill. right now, temperatures, we haven't moved much today because of the cloud cover and the easterly flow. 64 in brookville. 64 in annapolis. everybody is pretty much in the mid 60s. now tomorrow morning, mostly cloudy and cool. there will be some breaks in

the morning. 50s and 60s. winds southeast at 10. partly cloudy and pleasant. high temperatures in the upper 70s. satellite picture, radar combined, a lot of showers and thunderstorms. eastern texas through louisiana, arkansas, tennessee, and the deep south, that moisture for the time being will stay in the deep south and may play a part in our weather next week. in the meantime, a lot of low level clouds, but very little in terms of precipitation and the low level clouds will go away once the winds switch and become southwesterly. zone forecast, all six zones are on our website as is interactive radar. 76 in charlestown. 79 in springfield. stafford, you might hit 80 tomorrow. other side of the river, well 79 in downtown area. upper 70s in laurel. a little bit slow to clear in the east. annapolis 76. may take a while to get the sunshine there. next seven days, upper 70s

friday. partly cloudy. beautiful day. clouds come in late. we'll hold the showers and a thunderstorm off until monday and may see those thunderstorms linger into tuesday and wednesday. some of that moisture from the south moves north. the temperatures are warm, low to mid 80s through next thursday. >> sounds good. let's get to our weird news file because we heard the stories of attractive women talking their way out of a traffic ticket. one pretty lady says she is sick and tired of getting pulled over for driving while beautiful. she has an odd sign on the back of her car. it says do not pull me over just because i'm pretty. the woman who identified herself only as dasha told one reporter, police pulled her over more than 30 times in washington state and she has only gotten two tickets, both were dismissed. she has this sign and since then, it has been about a month. the cops have been leaving her alone, which brings us to this extraordinarily rare, weird news mail bag question. ladies, have you ever used your

good looks to get out of a traffic ticket? how does that work and does it work? we want to hear what you think, send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. we'll be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, former president, jimmy carter stirring the pot with his comments, blaming much of the animosity against president obama on folks who have a problem with there been a black president. the episode is problematic. it is shameful that anyone should base their political opinions based on race. it is reprehensible that politicians should use accusations of racism. they are being labeled as racists. and joan says much of the rage is based on nothing but a big

misunderstanding. carter blamed the animosity on racism. he is saying the clear and obvious venn anymore and cruelty with some people express their addition agreement may deal with racism. there's a huge difference. indeed there is. the question arises because it would seem that policy differences would be unlikely to inspire that level of sheer rage, and even fear at the 44th president t. is possible, i guess, but unlikely. you can direct your e-mails to mailbag@wusa.com. that is our report. i'll be back tonight at 11:00. tonight we are taking a look at the possible sides of the h1n1 flu shots and the soldier who received today's metal of honor. and don't forget, log on any time you like to wusa9.com.

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"entertainment tonight" in high-definiti high-definition. >> inside patrick swayze's will. >> we was quite wealthy when he died. >> it's already paying for building this recording studio. >> was he ready to die? intimate new confessions from inside his memoir. >> i am ready to be a dad. >> his heart breaking dream to star a family. >> it's 4:30 in the morning. >> the lost voice mail. >> please help me. >> slurring words. >> i sound so sleepy. plus,