remember to go to pepco.com and check out our pepco power cast. winter storm watches covering the entire metro area going into effect friday night and they go through saturday. where is the storm now, derek? there it is in texas. eventually in the gulf of mexico. and then headed northeast. we will talk about a time frame when the snow will begin when we come back, derek. >> we will wait for that. thank you. the long road back. local toyota dealers are repairing all those recalled models. the plot is thickening. home alone. three children nearly die after their father leaves them in the care of a neighbor who was still down the hall. i'm dave statter at the firehouse where firefighters from rescue squad 3 engine 15 and ambulance 15 say teamwork is behind their efforts to save three children in a fire this morning.

video shows smoke filling the second floor hallway and a neighbor trying to unlock apartment 206. the woman from down the hall had been asked by the father of the three children to check on the kids. he had gone to work 15 minutes early. dc firefighters called by a neighbor on the floor above reporting smoke in the building soon realized it was coming from the second floor apartment. the kitchen was on fire. >> nobody ever said there were children in the apartment when we got there. >> reporter: moments later the firefighters find out for themselves. >> went down the hallway to the right, did our search. we had two children on the bed. >> reporter: all three were rushed down to the lobby and out of the building. they weren't breathing and the youngest's one's heart had stopped. >> all kids were breathing when we got there. they all had pulses. >> i'm peggy fox at the home where a woman and her little boy were stabbed to death. police have now charged the

woman who is the wife of the father of the child. >> reporter: this happened monday night. stabbed in their home on monday night. a friend of the victim said he was worried because his wife had let some stranger in the house. >> it is terrible. >> reporter: police believe that someone was wilson. she and her husband lived in this arlington apartment complex. >> there is a possibility that she may have hired someone to give her a ride or have an acquaintance drive her to the residence. >> i'm scott broom in silver spring where the parts to fix all those recalled toyotas have arrived and the very first recall repairings were performed today. the first? a relatively small metal and graphite tab. >> it is not really difficult. >> our parts were delivered in the middle of the night.

we are in the process of updating our website. >> your vehicle could be considered and we will within the next hour open up the floodgates for our customers to schedule appointments anytime seven days a week, 24 hours a day that best suits their schedule. >> the first customer to get the fix francisco who came in for an oil change and left as a minor celebrity. >> i come to change the oil and they say, well, the car have problems. they say it is fixed already. that is good. >> that is good. in the midst of the recall transportation secretary ray lahood saying at one point today people concerned about their toyotas should stop driving them but then quickly backtracked on that. tonight more questions for toyota specifically complaints about the brakes on the popular prius hybrid. metro is taking a closer look at how it spreads the word after an accident. that decision comes after a maintenance vehicle skidded on icy tracks over the weekend

hitting another rail truck. nobody hurt but metro's own safety office apparently didn't know about the accident for more than 30 hours. this weekend's winter weather pushing back plans to close chain bridge again. that bridge was supposed to be closed last weekend so crews could pour new concrete. the work was pushed back to this weekend because it snowed last weekend. now the dc department of transportation is postponing it again to next weekend. too bad we can't postpone the evening rush. let's take a look at the traffic. >> talk about traffic. wednesday evening's commute off to a pretty good start and continued to look fantastic on i-68. take a look at wide open lanes. no problems reported. let's head out to 270. an earlier accident actually on 495 there clear but we are

seeing delays up on 270. not too bad though. no problems blocking any lanes in terms of accidents or incidents. finally we are going to fly over 95 going south in virginia. just seeing a little bit of congestion. after that the pace improves. no major issues for drivers heading down in that direction. derek, back to you. >> thank you. as he was sworn in for his second term as head of the federal reserve ben bernanke said he is worried about the pace of our economic recovery. he told his staff today the economy is growing but there's still too little bank credit, too many foreclosures and too many people unemployed. meantime treasury secretary tim geithner says congress can claw back what he is calling an outageus new amount of bonuses for aig employees. they are all set to pay out bonuses despite being bailed out by the federal government last year. tim geithner says the

government can recoup the money by instituting the new bank fee that president obama called for in his 2011 budget. but aig says those bonuses were negotiated before the company asked for the bailout. what do you think about that? is it an outrageous failure of policy or do the aig employees deserve the bonuses, after all they were promised them. send your e-mails to me. winning the seat of senator ted kennedy. an attorney wants brown to be sworn in tomorrow. once he is sworn in, brown will end the democrats majority in the u.s. senate. but president obama says that's

not reason for democrats to stop leading. >> all that has changed in the last two weeks is that our party has gone from having the largest senate majority in a generation to the second largest senate majority in a generation. we have got to remember that. >> one of the biggest items on the president's agenda remains health care reform and he says he is hoping democratic and republican lawmakers can find a way to work together and reach a deal. maryland lawmakers meantime are considering a bill tonight that would let people under the age of 30 be considered dependents on their parents' health care plan. they can stay on now until they are 25. parents testifying before the senate finance committee today say raising that age limit would protect young people struggling to find work in the recession. well, nine conservative senators are signing on to efforts to stop the district from enacting its same sex marriage law. they introduced a bill today that would prevent the city

from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples until residents are able to vote on the bill. the city still to come one of washington's favorite sons spends his last day with a few adoring fans. this is sam. he was missing for 14 months. find out how a psychic got sam back home. that story is coming up.

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swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. ♪ today's school closures let more people down to the zoo to say good-bye to the 4.5 year old panda. he will be heading back to china. today some visitors will sharing some heart felt good- byes. >> i wish i would have come down earlier and followed the process a little more. >> got some great pictures. he is rolling down the hill. it is like a perfect morning. it is like everybody there knows he has to go. >> there were pins given out to everybody that came to see the panda today. if i mention the phrase pet psychic you'll problem lrg be a little skeptical and you might even laugh about it but suppose

i told you a cat named sam is back home in gaithersburg after being lost for over a year. suppose we all just take a listen to lindsey mastis. >> reporter: sam is resting up after a 14-month adventure away from his family. >> i looked and looked for months and months. >> reporter: nancy says sam ran out the door one night. >> that was the last i saw him until this january 6. >> reporter: she checked local shelters nearly every day and she put up posters. people sent her pictures of cats that looked like sam. none were. then nancy got an idea. >> i decided to take a chance. >> reporter: she found him online. he is an animal communicator. most people call him a pet psychic. he told us over the phone what he did to help. >> felt the energy. asked a series of questions. can you give me a picture of your surroundings. >> reporter: the psychic said

sam was staying in this neighborhood along chelsey knoll drive. soon nancy got a phone call. >> wednesday i was at work and received a phone call from a gentleman that was doing work. >> reporter: that man had sam at his house in gaithersburg. that night nancy picked sam up. >> he gave a big meow and let me pick him up. >> reporter: not everyone believes the pet psychic had anything to do with finding sam but she says for some reason she was compelled to call and listen to his instructions. in her eyes it worked. in gaithersburg, i'm lindsey mastis, 9news now. >> sam was found about a mile and a quarter away from nancy's house. she says she gave a reward to the man who kept her cat safe. she paid the pet communicator $95 twice for two different sessions all done via e-mail. nancy says that is less money than she spent on the signs and posters. no need for a magic eight ball to know. there is lots of snow out there

and more and more of it is coming. we will talk about how some of you are feeling about that coming up. topper is watching that weekend weather forecast very closely. the final outlook for today when he comes back.

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president obama met with the governors of several coal producing states today trying to get support for his languishing energy bill. you should still want to pursue this agenda. it is good for our national security and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. it is good for our economy because it will produce jobs. >> reporter: the president's plan would retrofit 1.1 million homes to improve their energy efficiency and would also end oil and gas subsidy. how are you feeling about all this winter weather? we are running a poll at wusa9.com. most folks have had it. one third can't get enough of it. and one quarter are looking to get away to somewhere warm. modern body shop in kensington. the business is booming during one of the worst winters i've seen in a long time. one of the most frequent snow

battle scars. wheels knocked clear off axles after skidding into the curb. >> makes you miserable. makes me happy. as long as we can keep the sidewalk shoveled up to the door. we will be fine. >> we couldn't find a single child complaining about the good chance that they will be getting some more days off. and the heavy wet snow coupled with the always picturesque rock creek park made for a really special place this morning. photo journalist meeting him walking with his pet. never seeing the park look so nice. >> this is gorgeous. this is about as good as it has been in years. just walking the dog. this is toby. and this is teddy.

as you walk through the snow the effect around you is just everywhere. it is like a fantasy. i have never seen anything condition like this before. it is absolutely amazing. it is a one-in-a-lifetime experience. >> i don't know about that. we have had a lot of dry stuff. this is wet stuff sticking to everything. >> before the sun came out it was spectacular. i was thinking last night winter is kind of bleak with no leaves on the trees so at least with the snow it perks things up a little bit. maybe it will elevate people's moods. i don't know. >> we can only hope. >> maybe not. after this forecast maybe not so much. here is your forecast first. next three days. do your errands tomorrow. thursday, nice day. low 40s. about dead on average. snow breaks out friday afternoon. 37. becomes heavy friday night. and continues into at least part of saturday.

big storm taking shape. okay. big storm taking shape. weekend storm looks big. time frame friday afternoon through saturday. get your errands done tomorrow. heaviest snow is friday night. there will be some mixing with this storm. we done have that pure arctic air we had in december. it will cut down on accumulations south and east of town. south and east of town a little rain and sleet. now, around the house. mark your down spouts. mark your fire hydrant. mark your storm drains. keep your heat pumped free of snow during the height of the storm. tonight some slick spots after midnight. lows in the 20s. right now, 37 in laurel. temperatures really pretty uniform. 37 for the plains. 36 out in woodstock. temps again pretty consistent. tomorrow morning mostly sunny with a cold start. 20s and 30s. a bit breezy early. northwest 10 to 15. by afternoon, it is a very nice

day. partly cloudy. seasonable. winds out of the north west at 10. not even a windchill to worry about tomorrow. where is the storm? here it is taking shape now in the southern plains and eventually the surface low will be reflected in the western gulf of mexico. classic position for us. classic origin. it is kind of in the beginning stages, infancy stages right now moving into the tennessee value, die out. secondary storm will form on the carolina coast much the only thing we are really lacking is pure arctic air but we have enough air, enough cold air to provide looks like pure snow from say dulles west and probably gaithersburg north to west as well. right now just a few clouds. couple sprinkles early. clouds will give way to clearing skies after midnight. next seven days. 42 tomorrow. nice day. 37 on friday. only good news is on friday when the storm starts it will be above freezing but that will quickly change by evening. heavy snow friday night into saturday. only 32. only 32 on sunday and monday. don't look now, but another

storm comes in here tuesday we will have arctic air. upper 20s for highs. in the wake of that storm highs only in the mid-20s. >> thank you, topper. >> sure. let's get to our weird news file. this will cheer you up. 'twas the night before christmas and all that was certain was a reindeer's poor leg was infected and hurting. it is also in ohio where holiday is living and a new bionic leg. holiday is a pet. they bought him that fake leg. without it he might die. so he is a little gimpy. holiday is practicing. he is going to get back to the reindeer game. we want to hear what you have to say. send your e-mails to mcginty's

mail back. the address mcginty's mailbag@ wusa9.com. we will be right back.

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in the mail bag tonight first up the virginia speed limit. they are about to raise it to 70 miles an hour in some places and martin from virginia says not a good idea. we already have wait too many accidents both fatally and serious injuries on i-81. going 70 sure won't reduce that. plus studies over the years substantiate that 70 uses a lot more gas than slower speeds so here we go. speed up, have more accidents and use more gas. and then there was this on the ongoing toyota recall. bob from virginia suspects a coverup. toyota first attempted to make a quick claim that floor mats were the cause of these crashes then when that seemed illogical to so many. now it is a metal part which sticks which is also very

illogical. i've got some fellow travelers in the i'm tired of the snow club like jason from ashburn who says i hate the white stuff. i grew up in ohio with more than i care to remember. you are not alone. hang tough. but then from maryland a man saying he doesn't mind the snow but he wond eshts about the forecasting. how can they forecast 15 or 20 inches of snow but there is no writing of this on topper's web page. i don't mean to single him out. we have heard probability of a storm. national weather service seems to find a way to predict what will happen. okay, topper. >> first of all, our general rule of thumb is wait up to 24 hours of falling snow. you can't take those numbers back. that's a straight computer forecast. you could probably go get next tuesday's prediction. not really that accurate but that said i've already tweeted

some amounts and when i do tips on the air like locate your fire hydrant you've got a pretty good clue how much is coming your way. >> all right. fair enough. thank you, topper. appreciate that. we will do our best to always address your concerns but you've got to let us know. the e-mail address mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be back tonight at 11:00 p.m. with anita brikman and topper shutt. we are working on defensive driving tips for in the snow. and topper will keep an eye on the forecast as that front moves closer. see you then. bye-bye. captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolorado.com moms know kids need calcium...

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ellen. simon. the first video of the "american idol" judges. this is "entertainment tonight." >> ellen hugging simon. the judges all smiles for the group's first photos. is there trouble behind the scenes? >> he's actually meaner than i thought. inside the ultimate grammy photo shoot and grammy winner patti austin reveals new secrets from "we are the world." and michael jackson's lost moonwalk. then, is michael's doctor about to turn himself in? "the latest news." why the jackson family is upset. did elizabeth edwards harass andrew young's wife? >> tormented the daylights out of me. and was elizabeth punched? the new bombshell headline. >> "john beat me." jennifer aniston at home. her private bedroom revealed. inside the bachelorette pad. and leo's gal bar in a bikini.