we'll come back and give you a snowfall accumulation map. lesli, back to you. >> schools in maryland will be able to write off five of their snow days from this winter. the state board of education approved a plan allowing schools to go well below the number of days required by law. most districts used 10 days this winter. they must request a waiver before making changes. and any significant snow could cost one area school district its spring break vacation. more on that coming up at 5:15. we have breaking news out of sea world in orlando, florida. late this afternoon, a killer whale killed a trainer in front of a live audience. derek mcginty is live with the breaking details. derek. >> we are still pulling together the details of this awful accident. officials say that female trainer at seaworld orlando slipped and fell into the tank when she was attacked by that killer whale.

a witness said the beast seemed to go crazy, grabbing the trainer around her waist and thrashing her about until her shoe fell off. it was violent. by the time the fire and rescue folks got there, that trainer could not be revived. the preliminary cause of death, drowning. the park was shut down. >> we have never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this in all of our standard operating procedures will come under review as part of this investigation. we extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time. >> well in the reality, these killer whales may look lovable, but they weigh 3 to 4-tons and very dangerous. in 2006, a seaworld trainer in san diego was held under water and bitten by a killer whale. he survived the attack. in '04. another whale, this time in san antonio tried to hit and bite its trainer. again, he survived.

just this past december, a whale drowned a trainer in spain. these whales are no joke. lesli. thanks for that. two men are under arrest accused of raping an 11-year- old girl. she was taken to an apartment on carroll avenue where she was attacked. armando trull spoke with the young victim's family. >> i'm really devastated that kids can't play anymore without feeling safe. >> rape victim's aunt tells 9news now, the family is in shock. >> you know, why would you do it to anyone? you know. >> an 11-year-old girl. >> i mean -- >> she still plays with dolls, doesn't she? >> yup, she does. >> it's awful because a lot of gang members over here and a bootlegger that runs behind there, it's very dangerous and it shouldn't happen to a little girl like that. >> police arrested melquicide

sorto and marcos torres- enriquez. she observed things that were specific to the apartment. police say the 11-year-old victim was playing in this park, which is a few steps from her home. they say sorto and torres grabbed her arms and drug her back to their apartment where she was raped. the suspects are being held on a $1 million bond each. it's a good thing they were caught, said the suspect's neighbor. in silver spring, armando trull, 9news now. >> more charges against the suspect are pending, including kidnapping and federal authorities are looking into the suspect's legal status here in the united states. we have breaking news out of annapolis. effective immediately, attorney general says maryland will recognize same sex marriages performed in other states. maryland agencies will extend all the rights to gay couples.

that will be the law of the land in maryland until his directive is challenged in court. gay marriages marriages are legal in four new england states and iowa. a country on his shoulders. he is long awaited testimony comes after 39 deaths and millions of his companies recalled cars. >> from the sideline to the spotlight, toyota's ceo, toyoda apologized to the american people for widespread safety lapses. he told lawmakers the company grew too fast for the employees to keep pace. >> i am deeply sorry for any accident that toyota drivers have experienced. >> toyoda said he will lead a top to bottom review, but he is absolutely certain they are not linked to the electronic

system. >> i have no question of the integrity of our system. >> toyota recalled 8.5 million vehicles to fix problems with ill fitted floor mats and sticky pedals. lawmakers question why two different pedals were used. one made by a u.s. supplier, another made in japan. >> why the difference? these are going in the same model car. >> there are suppliers that supply parts that supply the same function, we do that. this is another point, i understand your understanding. >> what the committee did not understand is why it took fatalities to get the government regulators to take action. earlier in the day, transportation secretary defended the government's handling of the massive recalls and pledged that safety was the top concern. >> we're not going to compromise when it comes to safety. not on my watch. we just aren't. we are going to hold toyota's feet to the fire. >> toyota and his second in command took a lot of heat, but

so did secretary lahood. they questioned the relationship. one committee member suggested the agency had been a lap dog for toyota. we'll have more at 6:00. more evidence today. metro missed critical signs that safety systems were faulty before last june's deadly crash. we learned the manufacture of one control system issued a key warning years before the crash, but that warning was apparently ignored. scott broome is here to explain. scott. >> this warning came from a company. it's the company that makes those electronic train controls that prevent crashes. way back in 2004, the company warned that modifying the signals with parts from other companies is potentially a recipe for disaster. >> the language is loyal, but the implications are dramatic.

the focus is on signalers and the track that keeps trains from hitting each other. metro had been warned by signal in 2004. do not mix electronic components or they might not work. >> serious increasing risk to overall signaling systems safety. >> i'm not familiar with that correspondence. >> he did not recall the specific warning, but he was aware of the concern. >> and what were those concerns? >> about compatibility, as you stated. >> now the new components were installed just five days before the crash that killed nine. power was also increased to run the new switches, a configuration not tested and approved by them. immediately, the switch showed unusual signs of trouble. bobbing, is what the engineers called it, false signals. but metro ran trains there anyway. june 22, disaster struck when the automatic signal failed to stop an on coming train. families of the victims were stunned by what they were

hearing. veronica was one of nine killed. >> i know i don't want to get on metro anymore. my grandkids cannot get on metro anymore. >> families heard that similar electronic failures were on the root of two near collisions dating back to 2005. the near misses, the letter of warning. >> these are people's lives that were lost. >> apparently, not allowed enough wakeup call to prevent tragedy on the redline in june of 2009. we also learned in the wake of the crash, engineers tested and found this mysterious electrical fault throughout the metro rail system. this is a fault that could cause a failure of an electronic train detection system at any time and it's why they are being run in manual control. reporting live from the information center, 9news now. thank you. gunfire at the friendship heights metro station is the

premise of an emergency drill. this is a drill being held tonight on the dc maryland border. police cars, ambulances, and other response vehicles will be at the station from 11:30 until 3:30 tomorrow morning as part of this emergency drill. vice president dick cheney is out of the hospital tonight after suffering a mild heart attack. cheney was taken to george washington memorial hospital monday night. a spokesman says cheney is getting ready to head back to work. this was the 59-year-old's fifth heart attack. >> a colorado middle school student remains in critical condition after a shooting spree as school was letting out yesterday. the middle school is three miles from columbine high school where 12 students and a teacher were killed 11 years ago. and as thomas roberts reports, quick action may very well have saved lives. >> as students ran for their lives, heroic school staff members ran at the gunman

during a shooting rampage at a colorado middle school. >> those kids are my kids. and it's important and my teachers. we're like family. >> two students were wounded. an alleged gunman seemed ready to take aim at more when teacher, david benke sprang into action. >> i noticed he was working a rifle, and realized that i had time to get him before he could chamber another round. >> he tackled the gunman. he is being called a hero, but says he has one regret. >> it bothers me that i was a little bit late. it bothers me he got the second shot off. >> teacher who is 6' 5 and several others held the struggling gunman down until sheriff's arrived. there's no word on what motivated him to open fire. >> he was cooperative, but the

extent of what he answered the questions we are not going to reveal today. >> eastwood faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder, bail has been set for $1 million. thomas roberts, cbs news. the staff say they acted quickly because of emergency drills they conducted since the columbine tragedy. the attorney for a delaware pediatrician accused of abusing over 100 of his young patients. that attorney says he will try to move the case elsewhere. the sex abuse scandal shocked the communities where dr. earl bradley had offices. his attorney says his client won't be able to receive a fair trial there. this week's 160 page indictment lists 103 victims. prosecutors say there are more likely, but parents may be reluctant to come forward. >> many of them feel very guilty that they didn't do something to protect their children initially and for some of them, they believe the way they can protect their children

now is not allow them to be identified as a victim of the pediatrician. >> dr. bradley is being held on $2.9 million bail. fairfax county police are looking for the driver involved in a deadly hit-and-run accident. a 49-year-old man was struck near the beltway overnight. authorities want you to look out for a silver late model honda accord with extensive front end damage. a tragic story where a man was drug under a minivan for two miles. carol humphries was hit by a vehicle as he tried to cross centerville road in manassas monday night. the car that hit him stopped, but humphries was struck by the minivan while he was on the ground. the driver of the man is 40- year-old ellen marie, he is charged with felony hit-and- run. humphries died on his way to the hospital. the connector today to get a look at why construction is behind schedule. snow has made the ground too

wet for paving and dirt moving work. the project manager say they will add crews and lengthen work days in order to open the first seven mile segment of the toll road on time this coming fall. the national park service has a big cleanup job on its hands. a large tree toppled. it went down by the paddle boats. fortunately, no one was injured. still to come, new developments at this hour, a case of the student who refused it stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> spring break could become a thing of the past for arlington county schools. i'll have reaction in a live report coming up.

on wall street, stocks made up most of the ground they lost yesterday. the dow finished the day up 91 points to close at 10,374. the nasdaq climbed 22 points

and the s & p 500 jumped 10 points. with bipartisan support, the u.s. senate passed a measure aimed at creating jobs. among the highlights, tax breaks, which include a $1,000 credit if the workers stay on the job a full year. the bill goes back to the house which passed a far more ambitious version in december. $33 would go toward easing the county's budget crisis. it's estimated that fee would bring in $27 million in the next year. griffin wants to increase the property tax rate by 5 cents, cut 284 county jobs and reduce library hours. a group opposed to a tax hike in michigan built more than three dozen snowmen to get their message across. came complete with menacing and sad faces and signs reading, don't raise our taxes and that

one, taxes really frost me. michigan is facing a $1.7 billion budget short fall. hundreds of schools are closed and tens and thousands of people in new york and new england are without power today. the first round of this week's double whammy winter storm brought two feet of wet, heavy snow to albany and that storm is expected to drop more snow on parts of new york, new jersey, and pennsylvania. well, many students and parents are watching the forecast anxiously, wondering how is this pending snow going to impact the school year? >> audrey barnes joins us where the school board decided how they will make up those days. audrey. >> anita and lesli, the school board has decided to cancel some conference days, a teacher work day and all of this to make up for 12 snow days. early release days, like on wednesday here and 12 other elementary schools will also be scrapped from march 3 to june 9. and, if they get a lot more

snow, spring break could be scrapped as well. these elementary school kids get out early every wednesday, so their teachers can plan their lessons and hold conferences and meetings. but beginning march 3 through june 9, they'll be in school all day long on wednesdays to make up the snow days. >> it was fun and not so fun, because i don't want to give up my saturdays, sundays, and my wednesdays. >> phase one means elementary and middle school conference days and a teacher work day in march are being scrapped. a little more snow, phase two kicks in. longer school days. > he is wishing for snow. >> what do you think about all those days you missed because of snow? >> awesome. >> you are looking forward to more snow? >> yeah. >> too much snow and arlington county would implement phase three. cancel memorial day monday and spring break. >> we thought of our days off

as our summer break because there were so many. this is like summer, we've had so many weeks off. >> you aren't stressing about losing spring break? >> the part of this plan that may push some kids over a snow bank, weekend classes, if necessary, to make up the time. >> i'm only worried that we might get added saturdays. that's only the thing i'm worried about. >> you don't want to give up those saturdays? >> nope. >> now some arlington county parents may be wondering why the school system didn't apply for a waiver like maryland did. the state mandates that students have 180 days of instruction. that's 990 hours and they have to certify they made every reasonable effort to get all of that instruction time in. the plan they've come up with does exactly that. back to you. i guess if you said there wasn't any major snow coming, at least the kids in arlington would be happy. >> you might ask me, am i going to break out the bread-o-

meter, i don't think so. i may bring it out later tonight, but right now it doesn't warrant it. we showed you yesterday the snow in texas. this is now in kernersville in north carolina. that's the same system that is going to explode off the south carolina coast and move up the coast, but i'm going to show you on the satellite why we are going to miss most, if not all of it. here we go. we may see flurries tomorrow, i don't see any accumulating snow at all. temperatures in the mid and upper 30s. another batch of snow showers is possible thursday into friday. that may be our best chance for accumulating snow. colder on friday. back in the mid 30s. and flurries are still going to be with us on saturday. so, the storm is huge and it isn't going to go very far very fast. this is on our website at wusa9.com. i think a trace to 2-inch ace cross the metro area is a

pretty good estimate at this point. this is through friday night. this is not just tonight. this is through friday at 8:00 p.m. 2 to 4 inches through the border. and 6 to 12 in southeastern pa and the real bulls eye is up toward the suburbs of new york and north and east of philadelphia. again, that is until 8:00 friday night. tonight, breezy, cold, rain goes to snow. light snow, i think it's going to be less than an inch quite frankly and low temperatures 28 to 33. winds northwesterly. let me show you live doppler and pinpoint rain east of town, annapolis down towards laplata and over toward warnton. it will turn to snow later tonight as cold air starts to mix in. we are seeing some rain and up toward warrenton. that's really it. it will push to the north slowly but surely. all right, let's go back to the computer. tomorrow morning, mostly cloudy, breezy, and cold. 20 to 34. and by afternoon, i think

flurries again, more snow showers tomorrow night. high temperatures 36 to 40. satellite picture, radar combined. here's why i think we aren't going to have any real problems. watch this upper level low sitting and spinning in the ohio valley. this is now pretty far east and it's going to keep this snowstorm autoto sea. consequently, it's going to pass far to our east and that means very little snow for us, but still, as we talked about, high winds, it looks like, thursday afternoon, probably right on through saturday. next seven days, 37 tomorrow. another batch of snow showers thursday night into friday and 35. flurries on saturday, still window. could have kept that icon over to saturday and cold on sunday, 42. why am i putting march 1 on the map? because we are excited, meet

meteorology spring. >> it is a court ruling with big implications for internet freedom. >> coming up, three of google's executives are not quickly removing an online video of a group of teens attacking an autistic boy. i'm peggy fox with momslikeme.com. the website looking to improve the lives of local moms. if you get allonge with your mother-in-law, consider yourself lucky. you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family. there are great advice to deal with a mother-in-law that drives you crazy. it's all on momslikeme.com.

up to 70 people are feared dead in indonesia after a landslide on the main island of java. villagers tried to dig out victims with their bare hands before rescuers arrived. hundreds of people are living in makeshift tents. public and private sector unions walked off the job and then scuffled with police. they are concerned the

government's plan to cut budget spending will burden the poor in that country. greece's financial unrest could spread throughout the european union if it isn't resolved. the company is appealing today's conviction. an italian court -- google was instrumental in identifying them. teenagers are getting more creative when it comes to keeping their text messages and what they mean under cover. >> look at the codes every parent should know about. a new development late today in the case of the student who refused to stand during the pledge of allegiance. i'm live in germantown, i'll have that story coming up.

welcome back. let's reset some of the top stories. a female trainer died after falling into the tank with a killer whale. witnesses say the whale grabbed the trainer and shook her

violently. frantic guests were evacuated and it was closed down. two men are arrest the and accused of raping an 11-year- old girl in silver spring. the middle school student was abducted last night and taken to an apartment on carol avenue where she was attacked. toyota's ceo apologized for safety lapses during today's congressional testimony on capitol hill. but despite suggestions to the contrary, toyoda said there is no problem with the electronics on toyota vehicles. we have new information about the controversy over a montgomery county student who refused to stand up for the pledge of allegiance and the teacher who said she was breaking the law. tonight, that student is still not back in class. andrea joins us live from the school with the latest. andrea. >> anita. late this afternoon, a montgomery county school system delivered two letters of apology. one from roberto, the other from the teacher involved in the case.

and this note went home from every student. >> an american flag flies outside the middle school. but when a 13-year-old student refused to stand before it during the pledge of allegiance, a teacher called school security. >> i'm heartsick that we don't care that much about our country anymore. >> the school system sent home this letter, it was the teacher, not the student who broke the law. students were told no one will be permitted to embarrass you if you choose not to participate. >> i think you should stand. i think everybody should respect that. >> for seventh grader, cody smith and his mother, stephanie, this is an important topic of discussion. >> i think they should apologize and they did the right thing by apologizing. i believe when you stand up for the pledge, it's a sign of respect to america. >> i feel like we are in america.

i grew up where you stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> the girl's mother called the american civil liberty's union. >> the way the teacher responded, the fact that he called school resource officers to drag her out in the middle of class while, you know, by telling her what she was doing was breaking the law. >> her actions were based on personal, not political reasons. >> and still to be determined is when the student returns to roberto and whether she'll have the same teacher. 9news now. andrea, thank you. our 9news now web poll asked what should public schools be required to do? 22% say stand and resite the pledge. half of respondents said stand and remain quiet. 17% say students should not be forced to stand or resite the pledge. 11% say students should leave the room if they don't want to

participate. log on to wusa9.com and give us your opinion. delaware police say they have tentatively identified the toddler found abandoned in newark. her name is not being released, but investigators say photos and videos of the girl led to her id. no word on how close police are to locating her parents. the 2-year-old girl was found crying inside a gas station men's restroom. he is in the custody of social services. the brother of nancy kerrigan is free again. mark kerrigan was released on bail after being charged on assaulting his father. a judge ruled mark kerrigan can go back to live with his mother in the family's home. that's where the alleged assault happened last month. two florida teenagers face blarely charges after an emergency dispatcher heard them talking about breaking into cars. that's because one of them accidentally called 911 during the heist. dispatchers listened as the two discussed what was worth taking

while they were rummaging through a vehicle. the teens were arrested on the scene. authorities say it's unclear how they managed to dial 911. a new dress code for a convenience store in montana. a sign on the front door informs customers no hoodies or ski masks allowed. the manager of the store says he was getting tired of being robbed by hoody wearing thieves and some thieves would steal beer twice in the same night without even changing their clothes. much like webster's dictionary adds new words, kids texting are ever changing. 8, or how about 420? if you're the parent of a teenager, these numbers should concern you. in our continuing effort here at 9news now to keep you and your family safe and sound, we crack the latest code of teen instant messaging slang. >> parent alert. >> 16-year-old uses leap

speak, the online lingo that is so popular. >> all my friends use it. i can see why parents can be worried because it can lead to danger. >> that's exactly why internet safety experts are sounding the alert. >> there are too many predators out there that can engage their lives by sending unwanted messages and pictures and things like that, and leap speak is just a gateway to all of that. >> barbra melton are family therapists who specialize in internet issues. they councilled one family whose daughter started a steamy online affair in front of them. >> while the mom was cooking dinner and the dad was watching television, the daughter, who was 11 at the time was carrying on this conversation with this older man. >> so here's a little speak 101. >> nifoc is a term they will use. it means naked in front of

computer. and kpc, keeping parents clueless. and tdtm. >> it means talk dirty to me. if you see that on your child's screen, they are talking to somebody they shouldn't be. >> al with wired safety says there are several online dictionaries and translators to help you. niles has used them and monitors her son's online time. >> get involved with your child and try to stay, you know, stay in the loop of what's going on. it moves really fast. >> peggy fox, 9news now. so here are the answers to the codes that we gave you earlier. cd9, it means code nine or parent in the room. 8 stands for a sex act and marijuana. you need to know these codes. go to our website, wusa9.com and look under 9news extras for a code breaker guide. midweek, time to get a check of the evening rush hour.

>> no codes here, lots of traffic on the inner loop. if you are heading home in this direction, bumper to bumper, starting at the gw parkway and it delays up to 270. earlier accident on the outer loop cleared at georgia avenue. seeing backup all the way to university. heading out to i-66. volume is building up nicely to 7100. estimating a drive time of 20 to 25 minutes, but nothing blocking your travel lanes all the way out to centerville. and heading up north, accident free as well. we are seeing the heaviest traffic between father hurley and the trekway station. back to you. thanks. spring break is only four weeks away. boy do we need it. coming up, great deals on vacations for the whole family. >> plus, super heros come to the rescue of very special kids. i'm howard bernstein with your living green tip of the day. it's been a rough winter, but

that doesn't mean your lawn and garden have to suffer come springtime. all the excess salt can stop the plants from absorbing nutrients. before you spread it on your driveway, consider other options. stay ahead of a storm with a shovel. the sooner you shovel, the easier it will be to move. also, don't go overboard on deicer. its job is to loosen ice to make it easier to move. it won't get rid of all of it. and skip the kitty litter. they will just be messy once all the snow is gone. if you need traction, go for sand or birdseed instead. you can get more tips at wusa9.com. go to living green. 

more than 3,000 care packages, there they are, are being sent to military families. dr. jill biden and the uso kicked off the effort today. the packages contain items like grocery store gift cards, international calling cards and disposable cameras. they will be sent to the families of national guard units deployed overseas later this month. being treated at the cancer center had some super hero visitors today. the young patients got a chance to meet and have their pictures taken with superman and wonder woman. they also got to make capes. the event was organized by the hope for henry foundation. supporting healthcare reform reached the finish line today. on capitol hill. over the last eight days, participates in melny's march walked all the way from philadelphia to washington in honor of melanie. the long time advocate of healthcare reform died of breast cancer after her insurer

refused to pay for doctor recommended treatment. still ahead, we'll introduce you to a woman who thought her health insurance company and won. but first, want to get away? we'll show you where to look to find the best spring break travel deals. plus, an olympic figure skater fights to turn her personal tragedy into triumph. topper. >> no rain in northwest. we'll take you out will live doppler. you can access this on our website. fredericksburg southward and charles county south towards southern maryland. we'll talk about the rain changing to snow and give you a snowfall accumulation map. stay tuned. to help my patients avoid dental problems

i recommend act fluoride mouthwash. act works with calcium to rebuild enamel. to avoid dental problems act daily. spring break is only four weeks away and if you're looking for an escape, you can still get a good deal on vacation. this year, you will need to do some research. >> sick of this?

and this? wantwant to trade in all that snow and ice? your vacation may cost you more. air fare is recently up 12% compared to 2009. but hotels are 14% cheaper. and vivian offers this tip for keeping costs way down. >> all inclusive. there's quite a few all inclusives in mexico. there are plenty of places within the caribbean. >> also, consider those last minute cruise deals. >> there are so many cruise ships that are promoting so many specials and you don't have to worry about your meals. >> some of the best plane and hotel packages can be found in florida. palm beach, fort lauderdale, miami, and orlando. keep costs down. >> honduras is a hot area. beliz, especially for scuba

divers, hot area. triple-a predicts that travel will be down, but the group says deals in mexico and the caribbean will be richer as those destinations try to lure travelers away from domestic beach towns. jessica doyle; 9news now. >> we called all use some sun. >> the national arkansas kiefs starts today. the concern is the flashes of light and ultraviolet radiation are damaging. those include the decloration of independence, the institution, and the bill of rights. the museum says visitors can buy copies of these documents at the archives gift shop. the national museum of women in the arts announce a plan to create a sculpture ally. it will cover an area from 13th street to mount vernon square. features sculptures by a self- taught french artist. 9news now at 6:00 is less

than 15 minutes away and here's what we have now for you tonight. blue cross, blue shield is raising rates by 39% in one state. tune in at 6:00 to see if your family could be affected. and, a major turnover as one struggling school district fires every teacher. and those stories all new tonight at 6:00. can we ban the bred-o- meter? >> we can for now. i might bring it back at 11:00, but given what i looked at, pretty confident, a little bit of snow. mother nature already did that with a couple storms. let's start with your forecast first. the next three days, we'll see some flurries tomorrow. i don't see any accumulation during the day. now there's another batch of some snow thursday night into friday. that could accumulate a little bit. and we still have a flake in the form of flurries on saturday. high temperatures around 40.

so the storm itself will be very big, very intense, and move slowly. almost do a loop, much like the hurricane does. may go into new jersey like this, do a loop, and go back out to sea. it's going to be a winter hurricane for folks to the north of us. all right, through friday at 8:00, a trace to 2 inches for the metro. 2 to 4 inches north of baltimore. 4 to 6 inches in north eastern maryland and you get into the meat of the storm. 6 to 12 inches southern jersey and 12 to 24 in eastern pa and western new jersey. now tonight, breezy and cold. rain changes to snow. it's going to be light snow. less than an inch. winds northwesterly at 10 to 15. let me show you live doppler. everything right now is pretty much rain and working its way northward through laplata, about to cross over 66 and it will be rain initially. let's go back to the computer. we'll talk about what's going to happen in the next 24 to 48 hours. we do see snow midnight tonight, a mix down to the

south. this is our 9 microcast model. it goes away in the morning on thursday. for the rush hour, some flurries. i don't see any heavy snowfalling. with round two, some precipitation comes back down at us, as the storm does a little loop and that will bring us snow showers thursday night, okay, right here, and that could give us maybe an inch or so. temperatures right now, 40 in gaithersberg, we are well above freezing. and more flurries in the afternoon. high temperatures 36 to 40, but snow showers tomorrow night. satellite picture, radar combined, there's the upper level low that is so far east, it's going to push this system offshore and qons consequently, the storm will stay well north of us. even flurries into saturday. 40, low 40s on sunday. meteorology spring on monday. colder next wednesday, but dry.

highs in the lower 40s. >> thanks, top. >> one of the marquee, you know, parts of winter olympics is figure skating. >> in my house, it's like the super bowl. she tells me to put the kids to bed. she wants to be left alone. >> there's fashion, spectacle, the whole thing. >> and great athleticism as well. >> that too. if the essence of the olympics is watching athletes triumph, perhaps no one faced more adversity during this than canadian figure skater. last night in vancouver, the 24- year-old turned in a heart wrenching performance just days after suffering through a horrible family tragedy. cbs's joel brown has her emotional story in vancouver. >> pulled off one of her best performances. despite her grief. tears fell on the ice and on

the streets of vancouver. >> my heart was breaking for her. >> her fellow canadians grieved and cheered all at the same time. >> she came through. it was like, that's all she was thinking. and it just spurred her on. >> for the first time, the 24- year-old olympic skater performed without her mom cheering her on from the crowd. she was here in vancouver to watch her daughter perform at the games. but on sunday, she suffered a heart attack. she was rushed to the hospital where she died. she was only 55 years old. for nearly 3 minutes, she managed to focus in on making her mom proud. >> my mom died when i was really young as well, and for her to go out there and did what she just did is amazing. i don't know how she did it. >> her performance wasn't just emotional, it was solid. >> she earned 71.363 in the

short program. a new season best. >> that score puts her in contention for an olympic medal. a small victory amist her huge loss. joel brown, cbs news, vancouver. >> so she will skate her long program and go for a medal tomorrow night. tonight at 6:00, we'll show you what happened in the u.s.a.'s quarter final hockey game. there was a lot of yelling in the newsroom this afternoon. and tonight, russia against canada, that's ovechkin against crosby. one of those teams is going home tonight. all right. lots going on. up next, a baltimore woman's fight to get a cancer fighting surgery her insurance company wouldn't pay for. where to get help if you face the same type of situation. and we are always on at wusa9.com. tonight's living well segment is next. [ female announcer ] pillsbury grands! biscuits,

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a vaccine that prevents a whole bunch of different illnesses now has more bacteria battling power. the food and drug administration has okayed prevnar, intended to reduce infections of 13 different

types of disease. that can include ear infections, meningitis, and pneumonia. prevnar13 will be given in a series of injections for babies and toddlers. a baltimore woman dying of cancer challenged a denial and got the surgery she desperately needed. >> rickie spencer never thought she'd had to fight so hard to get this far. she's about to go into surgery. it is her only hope of beating the aggressive form of abdominal cancer that is threatening to end her life. >> i'm just hoping they can get a lot of stuff out of me. the cancer. >> the operation was scheduled to take place three weeks ago, but her insurance company originally refused to pay for it. with each day, her condition got worse. >> i couldn't eat really at all. >> she went through a lot of needless suffering. >> the procedure involves

heated chemotherapy. doctors go in and take out the cancerous tumors, then a solution is circulated throughout the abdomen to try to get any remaining cells. the heat has been proven to kill cancer cells more effectively. dr. armando at mercy medical center in baltimore has performed this surgery more than 300 times. >> when you see people alive doing well many years later, that's what makes a difference. >> but rickie's insurance company considered it experiment tall and denied coverage. they turned to the maryland insurance organization. the insurance administration ruled in rubbing ky's favor and ordered her insurance company to pay. >> it's just a battle every single step of the way. every day. >> the doctor says the cancer has spread so much, they couldn't get all of it. but without the operation, rickie could have died any day and at least now her life has

been extended and the hope is that followup chemotherapy with will rid of the rest of the cancer. >> she doesn't like the mushy stuff, but we all love her very much. >> i can't think of a future without my sister. >> the insurance company said a further independent review ordered by the maryland insurance administration showed the treatment was no longer considered investigational and should be paid for. if you need the mia to intervene, we have the number to call on our website. go to wusa9.com and click on living well. thanks for joining us for 9news now at 5:00. 9news now at 6:00 starts right now. >> from the first local station with news in high definition, this is 9news now. >> we are back on storm alert tonight, topper is tracking the storm from the weather center. top, what's the latest? >> very little snow tonight for the metro area. a better chance of snow accumulating snow, anyway