. travel advisory. h1n1 concerns have led the feds to enact new travel rules this holiday season. afghanistan war, the president is still contemplating the future of afghanistan as he prepares to once again sit down with his war council. rally for respect. students, teacher and their supporters prepare to rally in support of teacher and school workers who lost their jobs last week. good morning. i'm andrea roane. thanks for joining us. it is thursday, october 8th. it is kim martucci's favorite day of the week, and what do you have in the forecast? i don't have flying lawn chair furniture. is that a nice change in pace? >> good.

>> yeah. we can thank southwesterly winds at three, very light miles an hour, as opposed to the wind gusts that were rivalling 50 miles an hour yesterday. it is 54 right now. so it is a lill little nip in the air but we can handle it. it is fall. take you back with the time lapse tower cam from the netherlands carrailon. other numbers are coming up. 51 martinsburg, 45 cumberland. as we look ahead we will keep it mostly sunny for you. don't worry about rain today and lower 70s before illing back to 69 at 5:00. angie is back wearing her tights. >> i am. i'm running. i'm late, i'm late for a very important date and that is to get you the traffic. hold on one second, having technical difficulties. we have an accident on the ohio drive on ramp. you want to watch for crews that way. keeping things moving and take you to 395.

delayed in two spots. the first is from 495 from seminary and again from the pentagon to the 14th street bridge. next stop is 86, still slow from nutley over to 495. that's about 30 minutes. and can't leave out 270 southbound. we are looking at a 26-minute drive from father hurley to the split. we will wrap up with the beltway real quick. the outer loop jamup from new hampshire to georgia. i'm going to go catch my breath and send it over andrea. students are walking the halls of st. vincent pallotti in laurel, maryland again. the principal ordered the campus shut down yesterday and brought in cleaning crews to sanitize the building after five students were diagnosed with the h1n1 virus. 9 news digital correspondent alex trevino is live outside of the school with more. >> reporter: students are in the second class here at st. vincent pallotti. no one seemed terribly nervous about the h1n1. we talked to a mother of the student who was diagnosed with

the virus. >> my daughter has the swine flu. she did. but she is feeling much better. it is very intense for a few days but then they seem to recover fairly rapidly. >> reporter: she feels confident to bring her 16-year- old daughter back to school after contracting the virus. >> completely recovered. still a little tired but she's before fever free two full days. >> some parents offered basic tips to. >> keep her hands out of her mouth, use the sanitation things they have everywhere and she will be fine. >> reporter: most parents aren't second guessing the school's decision to close for one day and students are on board with the call. >> i think it was a good thing. great to clean up the schools and get everything clean so we come back to a fresh school. >> reporter: tyler says some of her friends who have been ill are looking forward to returning to school today. the exact attendance numbers here at st. vincent pallotti are not out yet, but school principal says it looks good.

live in laurel, alex trevino, 9 news now and wusa9.com. >> thank you. with the holiday season around this corner, federal and leakal health officials are concerned about the spread of the h1n1 virus. at airports across the country, security screeners will be looking out for people who look like they may have the flu or the h1n1 virus. under a new government guidelines some passengers may be asked to pass through a screening device, have their temperature taken, answer questions about their health and even be quarantined if someone on your flight shows symptoms of h1n1. >> i'm all for it because i know that if people cough on the plane, guaranteed all of those germs will be spreading all around. >> reporter: so far, there are no plans to enforce the policy aboard greyhound buses or amtrak trains. transit agencies in large u.s. cities including here in washington are posting signs to remind customers to keep their sneezes and coughs to themselves. learn more about h1n1 by going

to wusa9.com. we have a special page set up both in english and spanish. get the vote by going to the living well section. in other news, the war in afghanistan continues to be the focus of the president's attention this week. president obama is considering whether to raise troop levels in afghanistan based on the recommendation of the nation's top commander there, general mcchrystal wants 40,000 additional troops to fight the war. the president is expected to discuss the request with war advisers. one of the 8 u.s. soldiers killed last weekend in afghanistan was from loudoun county, virginia. 21-year-old stephon mace last visited his family in august and grieving relatives say he was apprehensive about returning to combat. mace and the seven other soldiers killed were in the same unit based in fort carson, colorado. the federal budget deficit has hit record numbers. the congressional budget office estimates the deficit has

tripled hitting $1.4 trillion for the 2009 fiscal year which just ended. the dramatic increase can be partially explained by a drop in tax revenues because of the recession, the economic stimulus bill and the wall street bailout. a vote could come as early as next week on a health care reform plan being drafted by the senate finance committee. congressional budget experts estimate the measure will cost more than $800 billion, but the bill would cut the deficit by more than $80 billion over the next decade. that would mean the president's goals of a health care plan which would reduce the number of uninsured people in the country without increasing the deficit. thousands are expected to meet at freedom plaza to denounce last week's dc teacher layoff. students and other protesters earlier week rallied in front of city hall and at chancellor rhee's offices. the teacher thes union filed a lawsuit against the firing. we're learning more about dc councilman marion barry's

health. right now he is in intensive care at howard university hospital. he is being treated for dehydration and a blood infection. barry underwent a kidney transplant earlier this year. this is the third time he's been hospitalized since then. dc police need your help involving a 12-year-old murder case. 25-year-old sharon moskowitz was killed in ' 97. police have video of someone using her credit card less than 24 hours after her death. police want to know if you recognize the person. they are asking for a -- they are offering a 25 thundershower dollars reward. metro now says it has finally finished repairing the tracks near the fort totten station. metro replaced all the dated equipment and trains can once again run at full speed. early morning earthquakes raised new fears of a possible pacific tsunami. and calm weather is helping firefighters out west to gain ground on a within wildfire.

it is seven after the hour. we'll be right back.

here's a look at some things in the news right now. three strong earthquakes this the south pacific caused tsunami warningser the second straight week. the earthquakes were centered northeast of australia and north of new zealand. residents fled for higher ground and we have file video of the island and showing a small tsunami wave reported

there. since then there have been no reports of injury or significant damage. japan is assessing the damage from a typhoon. the typhoon made land fall on the main island tearing off roofs, halting train service and cancelling hundreds of flights. two death and dozens of injuries are blamed on the storm. more than 11,000 people are in shelters. the weather is expected to cooperate with firefighters fighting a blaze in the san bernardino mountains. winds are can'ted to be light and temperatures should only reach 58 degrees. the fire is 85% contained and stopped growing. that's good news there and good news we have calmer winds here after yesterday with trees blowing around and everything, kim? >> not to mention all of the cushions off of our lawn furniture on the weather terrace. i want to give you a quick heads up. weekend is the green festival at the dc convention center. i will be there on sunday afternoon at 3:00 and i hope you will join us.

howard and topper and i. click on living green for the entire scoop at wusa9.com. west to northwest winds are at 9, not 45 miles an hour like they were yesterday and humidity is 55%. a trip back in time over the last six hours. beautiful sunrise. now a few clouds outside, bright sunshine. it will be a gorgeous day and not nearly as windy. the big wind maker has pulled away north and east in to atlantic, canada. there's the bin band of clouds from the last couple of frames we saw on the time lapse tower cam. the temperatures have moved. 58 now. 52 frederick. 57 toward manassas. we will work on 71. bright sunshine. tomorrow clouding up. may have a stray shower in the morning but you will notice 82 for the high. most of the rain in to saturday and saturday night unfortunately. a lot of heavy rain across kansas city, st. louis, eastward toward champagne and

urbana, illinois this will be along a warm front that moves over us tomorrow. that's why we will be cloudy. a couple of showers to the west may skirt by the mason dixon line. if your commute comes down from emmittsburg or coming down from pennsylvania, you may have a morning shower but most of us should be dealing with clouds and warmup tomorrow. today we are all about the sunshine. we will keep it for now. quickly show you the seven-day forecast reveals that rain mostly getting in here on saturday and saturday night especially. sunday will be the cooler of the two weekend days, 65 and looking in to next week, yeah, that is barely high temperatures of 60 and lows inside the beltway of 46. andrea? >> thank you, kim. the horrifying tour solve -- story of a maryland man accused of drowning his children in a bathtub is become played out in court this week. in a few -- a few days ago another man was sentenced for shooting his estranged wife to death outside of a church.

what being done to stop domestic violence? with me are montgomery county's two top prosecutors. yeah, it is good to have you both here. having the two of you here just underscores the importance of stopping domestic violence, at least getting laws in place to help to make a difference and that's how this month started off in maryland with laws being enacted dealing with at least stopping the gun violence from getting out of hand. how much of a difference do these new laws make? >> the new law you are referring to, andrea, is a law that allows judges in maryland, in some instances mandates judges, to take firearms away from individuals who come under a protective order. this typically happens when a victim of domestic violence go to the -- goes to the court and they are trying to order the abuser out of their home, get custody of their kid. the judges have the order to remove firearms during this tense time frame when they are

subject to potential lethal use of the weapon. >> that's a huge step in the right direction. the general assembly should be commended for passing the law but we face this challenge every day and i think the idea to have strong enforcement but also increase public awareness and make sure when survivors of domestic violence reach out for help they have access to it. >> reporter: you have talked before about temporary restraining orders, filing them and holding fast to them, not letting these alleged abusers come back in the home and the story about the man going to the church in silver spring and going after the woman and killing her there. that's where you go. are you still taking part in project safe sunday. >> project safe sunday is coming up week. it will be our seventh year. we will be starting on saturday at that church. people's baptist in montgomery county and we will visit a variety of churches and hopefully expand to other places of worship, as well. the key is to get the state's community to reach out and speak out on domestic violence

so we can spread the word. >> reporter: john, glenn ivey said it is a step in the right direction, the new law signed in to legislation. what else needs to happen to make a difference? how do you stop this all together? >> first public education in every forum you can possibly get to. number one. the second step we have taken which we are proud is the establishment of the family justice that opened rockville. it is a collaboration of government and private partners that are have come tome in one- stop-shopping at an umbrella location where women of domestic violence and their children can come and we can provide them with counseling from 40 different agencies that ultimately were spread out all over the county and we are trying to remove barriers to women. >> and men. >> but unfortunately more often than not it is women. but we want to remove the bare overs to help them get out of the situations and those are in

place at the family justice center. >> 22 years we have been observing domestic awareness month. are we seeing a diminishing numbers or is it the same or getting higher? what's the change? >> i wish i could say it is going down but i don't think it is the number of cases we handled last year has been an increase and it has been increasing in previous years, even though other types of violent crime like homicides have decreased. >> is the economy playing a role, the tensions with that. >> i don't know if that is the case. part of it maybe that under reporting is reducing and maybe people are reporting more. that's a good thing. the system is being more responsive and helpful but it is an ongoing challenge and we need to ramp up our efforts and address it. >> there are resources. take advantage of them. we'll be right back.

we know everyone's looking for ways to save. why not save on car insurance? [ coin drops ] [ high-pitched voice ] thanks. [ normal voice ] you're welcome. get a free quote at progressive.com. welcome back to 9 news now. this is a live look at the white house. our time is 9:20. give those space heaters some space. the advice could be a lifesaver as winner sets in. with me now is dc fire chief rubin. chief, always good to have you with us. >> good morning. this is fire prevention week but these are rule and regulations we should be practicing all the time and you have a smoke detector in your

home. every home should have one. >> i do and it is critical. what you said in the opening to remember it takes at least three foot of space to make certain that space heater, remember its name, space for space heater so it doesn't get surrounding combustibles to fire. so thank you for that great introduction. it is so important and families tend to forget that as soon as the temperature drops we are reporting story and usually the culprit is the space heater that's been improperly placed in the home or apartment. >> another thing that happens is the care seen heaters, they are questionable at best but sometimes during the year we will have one that was filled with gasoline and that is essentially a bomb waiting to explode. we are taking precautions to only use k 1 kerosene. it is as clear as water and not as volatile and doesn't expand as rapidly as gasoline but

gasoline in the space heater, the types that use care seen is deadly. >> one of the simple things to do besides installing a smoke detector is making sure the batteries are working. >> maintain it, install it properly and keep up with the maintenance over time. we ask people to test it once a month and change the battery once a year. we are coming up on standard time, moving the clocks back, fall back, what a great reminder to simply change the battery. a dollar or 99 cents 9-volt battery maybe the difference between life and death. when you go to sleep so is your nose. you don't know there is a fire unless you have one of these devices and if you live in district of columbia you can call us at 311, the information number, easy to remember. stop by any fire house or go to the website and we will install it for free, andrea. >> if you live in the district

of columbia. there are a lot of residents concerned about our fire hydrants the supply and flow of water and there was a recent meeting of the judiciary committee. phil mendleson. he says there is a lot of fingerpointing going on but he is questioning your leadership as far as getting fire hydrants in working condition. your response to that? >> i think that is completely inaccurate but the council member is certainly welcome to his opinion. the reality of it is, we have six vehicles that go out. it is the most aggressive program in the united states and we're proud of it and they check those fire hydrants twice a year. it's amazing the work they do. we are ensuring the system works. when a fire hydrant needs repair, there's a particular marker we place. our partners, wassa gets right out and fixes it and if in fact it needs repan red means it is out ice ker pl

d een meaneeds maanthe'norert inthe tion th do the level of now, i think frustration ngis the fact that the infruc very pipes arexceind yes stem anwawoing ed ity to pathe hard tstripping the bi. there inyear build make em ithes u ughout the thinis woso to those systems eclydateat is r n >> we have lee it there. thverych. and again ta predogses -- precautions tosafe

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we will see at4:55 friday morning.