and howard county, northern anne arundel and frederick county a few showers moving slowly east. temperatures start in the 40s and low 50s. going up to 59 to 64. it is 5:00 a.m. it is wednesday, time for traffic. >> that's right. we have on the move early, washington. but overall take a look at the maps. not much going on as far as incidents or problems are concerned. 270 southbound, we are tracking it. 121 to the split. it looks like we are all clear. moving in to dc, we will take you to pennsylvania avenue and 15th, very nice and quiet. traveling 395, good morning, virginia. we are tracking the northbound trip. taillights are moving at speed to shirlington and beyond. a quick look at 95 past quantico up to 395. we are finding lanes way open. back to you. this morning, the u.s. supreme court begins hearing oral arguments in the battle pitting the privacy rights of grieving military family

against the free speech rights of protesters. albert snyder is suing fred phelps, founder of the west borough baptist church. kristin fisher is live outside of the supreme court with more on this case. oral are good morning, kristin. >> reporter: good morning, jessica. members of the church have been all over the news for protesting at military funerals and today their actions will be looked at by the highest court in the country, the u.s. supreme court a and the big question is who's right? are their actions protected by the constitution and the first amendment, or do the military families have the right to privacy, the right to bury their loved ones in peace? now, this case all started more than four years ago in maryland where seven members of this kansas-based church protested across the street from st. john's catholic church during a

marine killed in iraq. they believe that u.s. soldiers are being killed because god is punishing america for homosexuality. snyder one even gay but members carried picket signs at his funeral, that read thank god for dead soldiers. for matthew's father, he says the protesters were clearly in the wrong. >> my son and hundreds of thousands of men an women have died to protect their freedom of speech and to have a group of 80 people degrade it and mock it is disgusting. >> reporter: al snyder subsequently sued the west borough baptist church for causing him extreme emotional distress and a baltimore jury later awarded him $5 million in damages. but an appeals court later overturned the ruling citing

freedom of speech. and that brings us to today, right here at the u.s. supreme court. justices will begin to hear oral arguments at 10:00 this morning. coming up in a half hour at 5:30, we will let you hear the other side of the story and we will hear from somebody who sides with the baptist church and what they are fighting for, which they call their right to free speech. jessica? >> thank you, kristin. laughter mixed with tears at another arlington cemetery burial yesterday. they bid a final farewell to ralph campbell. campbell coe founded the group of cross dressing redskins fans wearing pig noses. they made their way to the hall of fame and a lot more. to help

wherever we can. >> campbell was right. they have raised an estimated $100 million for childrens charities. he became known as grandpa hoggette but he served in vietnam and earned a sendoff with full military honors. fairfax county investigators say unintended candles are to blame for a house fire in lorton lorton. 4:00 firefighters suffered minor injuries. they say power had been cut to the family's home. a hostage standoff that involved shots fired, an alleged attack ended at midnight. it happened on short hill road near round hill. police say the suspect was holding his girlfriend, along with a male and female acquaintance against their will. the standoff began around 9:00 after a neighbor reported someone firing a gun at his home. police arrested the suspect three hours lair without

further incident. the suspect is facing three counts of abduction, malicious wounding and discharging firearms at a residence. the dc city council has tentatively approved the wildlife protection bill. as we reported yesterday morning the bill will toughen the standards for animal and pest control companies. if passed a wildlife removal business here in the district would have to make every effort to keep animal families together. that means companies must try to find the young of any mother raccoon or skunks they recover. a final vote will come in two weeks. the dc board of elections had hoped to allow several hundred city residents cast votes on- line in the mid-term elections but the board decided to test the plan and things didn't work out so well. students at the university of michigan were able to hack in to the system and embed a file to let the board of education know they succeeded because it played the michigan fight song ♪ [ music ] >> this is exactly why we had

this public examination period so we would discover these issues now, not when ballots are being transferred. >> reporter: so only the first half of the process will be on- line. absentee dc voters will be able to down load ballots but then will have to snail mail them back. the testing was done with $300,000 in federal funds. timeer the latest "living $mart" report. wall street would like more of the same today. stocks hit a five-month high after the central bank cut the interest rate to boost that country's economy. they are announcing the federal reserve will announce similar steps when policymakers meet next month. the dow is at 10944 after gaining 193 points in trading yesterday. the nasdaq climbed by a 5 and dc -- 55. this is bad news for seniors and their bank accounts. for the second year in a row, social security beneficiaries, not expected to see more money

in their checks. experts say there hasn't been enough inflation to justify a bump in benefits. you want the perfect gift for a person with everything. the neiman marcus christmas catalog suggests this. the special edition, 2018 chevy camaro or $250,000 houseboat that comes complete with viking appliances and a hi-def projector. coming up, what you can snap up at a very deep discount. right now that summer is over. dc students may be in class for another half hour a day. that is a proposal from mary che. she says dc has the shortest school day in the area and increasing it will help students. look to see who is shuffling a lot of feet this morning, it is walk to school day. it is designed to keep students healthy and help the viral. they say the percentage of students walking or biking to

school in the u.s. has dropped in the last few decades. if you decide to walk with your child to school today, let us know about it. log on to wusa9.com and click on the where you live section to upload photos. you can find your community and show us your little ones on the way to school an we will have a live report on walk to school day in our 6:00 a.m. hour. an admitted terrorists who tried to attack new york city is defiant as he heads to prison for life. a new attack on alternate convoys trying to deliver supplies from pakistan to troops in afghanistan. and a shoplifting suspect making a getaway from a local mall caused a hazmat situation. no

. this morning gunmen attack and set fire to 20 trucks

transporting supplies from pakistan to alternate troops in afghanistan. militants have been striking alternate convoys with increasing intensity since last week when pakistani authorities closed a supply route in response to repeated insurgents. the pakistani immigrant who tried to set off a car bomb in times square is definal as the judge sentenced him to life in prison. during the hearing he said if he had 1,000 lives he would sacrifice them all to allah. he pleaded guilty in june to ten counts of terrorism and weapons charges. police are looking for the woman who caused a hazmat situation. police say a manager chased the suspected shoplifter in to a common area and then the turned and discharged mace or pepper spray. five people were treated at the hospital. this morning a new group is forming here in washington to

step up the fight against alzheimer's. that story is coming. plus severe storms cause flooding in a western city known for its sunshine. anything for us to worry about? >> a chill and a chance of showers on then on this wednesday. we will look at live doppler 9000 hd, a few specks of green out there. we will detail the forecast and i will tell you to get the sunscreen ready. 9 news now returns in just a moment. uote at progressive.c.

from his frere jacques... [ speaking french ] [ mom ] ...so he decided to study in paris. ♪ to see french masterpieces with his very own eyes. we even linked our citibank account to his so when his account ran low we just transferred funds. i just hope the language isn't a barrier. bonjour. [ mom ] my ryan can be very shy. [ male announcer ] from linked accounts to citi mobile we make it simple to manage your finances. what's your story? citibank can help you write it.

we make it simple to manage your finances. my dad is the supervisor of a train station and my mom's a teacher. my dad's an auto technician. my mom's a receptionist. i'm not sure i would have been able to afford college without the tuition freeze. while tuition in other states is rising out of reach... governor o'malley made the tough choice to freeze tuition. he made my dream of going to college into a reality. i'm the first in my family to go to college. my brother and i never would have been able to afford college. even though times were tough... governor o'malley kept his promise. there's never a doubt... there's never a doubt whose side he's on. martin o'malley... moving maryland forward.

gun take much rain to flood the highways in arizona. a severe thunderstorm dumped an inch of rain south of phoenix -- rather around phoenix, leading to a rescue. this morning we are dealing with a few cool showers out there. even in the mountains cool enough for wet snowflakes to mix in. going 0 the weather computer, you will see a storm that is starting to bug us. still spinning here on

wednesday morning. centered over southwest pennsylvania bringing moisture from ontario and ohio in to west virginia and even around maryland now in parts of northern virginia we have a few light sprinkles. live doppler 9000 hd, you can see the action, maybe you can't. let me point it out for you. it is near winchester area and to our north. those showers in southern maryland, they are gone. they have dissipated. we still have a few on the eastern shore from easton to cambridge. you will notice in the immediate metro all is quiet this morning urn mostly cloudy skies. out to the west, stevens city to winchester, berryville, south of cross junction looks like a few light sprinkles here and these are going to flint hill as well frederick to mount airy, we are seeing a scattering of or dotting of the land scape of very light showers. the momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, isolated showers. i was optimistic when i say a

few showers, very isolate. sun is up at 70 t. today mostly cloudy. some peeks of sunshine but a threat of a hour throughout the day. 59 for the drive home. with highs 59 to 64. tonight looking at evening hours, mainly north. otherwise partly cloudy lows 42 to 50. and a nice, breezy, sunny, warmer thursday with highs in the lower 70s. winds 10 to 15. upper 40s hagerstown to martinsburg to gaithersburg. not a lot of red in the systems. winds are out of the west southwest, fairly light. dew point at 45. nationally the chill comes down to tennessee. 40 in nashville. it is colder in nashville. three inches of snow in tennessee yesterday thanks to this northwesterly flow. they are clear now, but the moisture continues to flow around this. this storm, which is in new york at the surface but overhead here in western

pennsylvania will pull out over the next couple of day answer we will be much, much better. in fact, look at the seven-day forecast, 62 today but 73 tomorrow. friday 77. going to be a great night for football. saturday and sunday, upper 70s and sunshine. next chance of rain looks like it will come in next tuesday. time for traffic. good wednesday morning, everybody. right now we are taking a wide view of the area. a lot of green on the maps. like what we see. 95 northbound. actually start with the beltway in virginia. i want you to know both loops look clear from the wilson bridge up to 95 and continuing past braddock to 66. peeking of 66 this interstate is okay from the fairfax county parkway traveling to the beltway. speaking of the outer loop, this time we move it to maryland. we want to show you the shot here. no accidents to report between new hampshire and georgia avenue making your way in to virginia. a shot of route 4, route 5,

crane highway. all three roadways remain incident free. jessica, back to you. the living well headlines coming up at 8 0, a.m. at charlie palmer steak in northwest dc a group of dignitaries will announce the formation of u.s. against alzheimer's. the goal is to develop a treatment for the disease within the next decade. the formation come as the first wave of 78 million baby boomers is set to turn 65 next year. 10million baby boomers will die from alzheimer's without the development of better cure and treatments. they believe $2 trillion will be spent caring for ail timer patients in the next decade. if your work place is noisy it may be adversely affecting your health. a report from the university of british columbia found people who work in noisy places for a year and half could triple the risk of having problems. 6,000 people took part in the

study in a five year span. the use of mris and ct scans in emergency departments is way up in the last ten years and it may be imaging overload. they say the scans haven't paid off in picking up an equal increase in life-threatening conditions and may be exposing patients to too much radiation and the length of time it takes to do cts can contribute to overcrowding in emergency rooms. dan snyder talks about some of the mistakes he's made since becoming the owner of the redskins. and the wizards try an unusual lineup in the first preseason game. we will tell you how it turned out coming up in sports. let's see who's celebrating a birthday today. the leader of northern israel ireland's political party -- [ music throughout ] [ male announcer ] looking for a complete picture of your money?

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good morning. ever since the wizards drafted him they wonders how he would start. wall arenas and kirk starred last night. this would be mr. wall an this is what 20-year-old legs can do. end to end. two of his 21 points in his debut. for dallas a couple of old friends, butler dunken all over mcgee. he had nine. haywood had seven. tied at 94. ten seconds to play in the game. who would the wizards call on to take the final shot, wall, arenas, no, lester hudson. you bet ya. the no name reserve nails the three. wizards beat the mavericks 97- 94. the big three lebron wade and chris barb making their debut for the heat last night and it is what you thought it would be. lebron coast to coast and 18 mellow points in the game and

get ready for this combination, king james to prince bausch underneath. not a lot you can do about that. heat cruise by 16. dan snyder has done a better job the past two years of making himself scarce. snyder has largely stepped in the background and let shanahan become the faces of the franchise. last night he was center stage once again. snyder granted a rare sit down interview or in this case walking interview to e-60 program talking at length about a variety of topics from his childhood to the death of his father to the myriad mistakes he made when he took over the franchise a decade ago. >> there's no instruction manual. i was 34 when i bought the team. >> can you believe that. >> i condition believe they would give a team to a 34-year- old. i'm not sure i would now. >> neither are we. finally if you watched the bears and giants game on sunday night you saw the carnage that

was cutler getting sacked nine times in the first half. we have a theory as to why that happened. you see cutler was the only player on the field in that game not wearing any pink accessories to commemorate breast cancer awareness day in the nfl. you can see everybody else was out there wearing pink and karma, as you know is a -- well, you know what karma is. that's a look at sports this morning. i don't need to say it, right? i'm brett haber have a great wednesday. a superstar delivers an important message to maryland youngsters. that story is coming up. plus ford is planning a makeover to one of the best- known brands. details in in the next "living $mart" report. one local county executives says residents will have to pay for ambulance service to avoid more cutbacks in services. we are finding lanes wide open on the dulles toll road traveling eastbound to tysons corner. more realtime conditions an the midweek weather with mao we b

is next. [ son ] my parents have always lived in the states.

until two years ago, when my dad transferred to istanbul. they settled in quickly. found their local deli. a few shortcuts. and a neighborhood hangout. but there's one thing they miss. their beloved hometown team. so i asked citi -- how many thankyou points it would take to give them something special. their old seats, 5 and 6, row c. [ male announcer ] citi thankyou points can be used for almost anything you choose. what's your story? citi can help you write it.

welcome back. i'm jessica doyle. andrea roane is off. thank you for joining us this morning. angie, of course, is going to have the traffic in a moment, but first here's howard with our forecast. a little warmer than yesterday. >> not in the 30s in spots but 40s and low 50s out there. some clouds and in a couple of areas, not too many, we have an isolated shower 0 two. the storm system that started on sun with the showers moving in is still around here on wednesday. day number four of this thing. there's some mixing snowflakes at snow shoe. they had the first snow of the year yesterday. in winchester green is showing up. move to northern virginia and you can see from winchester to east of stevens city, upperville, see how everything is move east. berryville, a shower on top of you. that's it for northern

virginia. temperature-wise, jess, you are paying attention well, upper 40 fund-raise haymarket, gaithersburg 48 to the mid-50s in college park at 54 in fairfax. 55. we will climb to 60 by noon. upper 58s for the -- 50s for the drive home with an occasional shower throughout the day. time for traffic. no complaints early on as we look at the viewing region out there. virginia, maryland, dc, you are getting a thumbs up. zoom in to 95 an the bw parkway. the construction has cleared and lanes are back on these roadways. as we move it outside and open the door. 270, hello. heading southbound you are fine from father hurley to the split. no incidents along the way. moving at speed. the same situation was we track the trip in northeast dc. here's inbound new york avenue. drivers are stopped at a light here at bladensburg road. back to jessica. this morning the u.s. supreme court begins to hear oral arguments in the battle pitting the privacy rights of

grieving military families against the free speech rights of families. snyder is suing think founder of the west borough baptist church. kristin fisher is live outside of the supreme court with more on this case. good morning, kristin. >> reporter: good morning, jessica. the supreme court will begin hearing these oral arguments at 10:00 this morning. and this case is really shaping up to be a battle between the right to free speech and the right to privacy. i want to show you the pictures that really sent shock waves across the country when this all started. this is the sign that started it all. it reads thank god for dead soldiers. four years ago in maryland, members of this kansas-based church protested across the street from a funeral of a marine killed in iraq, lance corporal matthew snyder. they believe that soldiers are being killed in afghanistan because god is punishing america for tolerating homosexuality. snyder wasn't gay but members

of this church have been tar getting the funerals of all soldiers not just gay soldiers and his father says the protesters are clearly in the wrong and he sued the church for causing him extreme emotional distress and a baltimore jury awarded him $5 million in damages but an appeals court overturned the ruling citing freedom of speech. >> most speech will offend somebody, and we just need to be able to protect them that. we can't have rules that make speech illegal or subject to incredible penalties just because it offends people. >> snyder's attorney doesn't think this is a freedom of speech issue. he believes it is a matter of whether an individual can sue for the infliction of emotional pain and invasion of privacy. the crux of the question that the supreme court justices are going to have to decide is are these protesters protected by the first amendment, by the freedom of speech, or do these military families win the right

to privacy? the right to bury their loved ones in peace. now, it's a question that will be debated. it's going to take, jessica, at least probably several months before the justices do indeed make a decision on this case. back to you. >> thank you. we'd like to know what you think about this controversial case. this morning's web poll questions asks whether the protests at military funerals should be banned. you can log on to wusa9.com to take part in our opinion poll. you will find it in the lower right of our home page. an investigation by a local blog called arlington now is finding what it calls a critical shortage of paramedics in arlington county. the county runs out of available medic you knows almost every day and he says solving the problem is one of the highest priorities. ike lech get says cutting firefighter jobs may be necessary if voters reject ambulance fees in november.

the county wants too charge people up to $800 each time they call in an ambulance. he says if voters reject the fees the county will face a $14 million budget cap which would mean laying off 8 t firefighters and eliminating 18 ambulances. >> we will have cuts in all areas, including public safety. we will try to avoid as many layoffs as possible. when you feel with a budget in the magnitude of $14 million it is virtually i want possible. >> reporter: the cuts are only a proposal right now. the county council will have the final say in what is eliminated. it is almost 5:35. time for a "living $mart" report. the treasury department says the $700 billion financial bailout will actually cost far less than previously thought. a new report on the program says the tab for taxpayers will be about 580 billion. it is -- 50 billion. it is lower than 66 billion. the report is after two years

of criticism about the program that rescued banks, automakers and other failing companies. ford may 35 -- cut 35% of lincoln dealerships as it tries to revive the luxury brand. they would eliminate 175 of the 500 lincoln dealerships. the average inch of a lincoln owner is 66 years 'ole. ford wants to change that. it has new plans including the first lincoln compact car. it is time for the money saver. if your old grill isn't getting the job done anymore this a time to snap up a deeply discounted one. chains are slashing prices to get rid of summer inventory and may want to buy locally rather than shopping on-line. also, many stores used to charge $50 to assemble the grill but offer the free for free now. for more check out my blog, the financialista.com, follow me on twitter and i'd love to be your friend on facebook. you would never guess he

evidence was in the hospital this time last week. former president carter started in dc on monday an moved to baltimore yesterday as part of a week-long push by habitat for humanity. that is the organization carter helped to found to provide homes for low-income familiar families. some maryland elementary school students got to meet one of their favorite characters, elmo. he paid a visit to john eager howard elementary in west baltimore. there he encouraged students to put their nose in a book as part of maryland public televisions raising reader initiative. it uses the power of the media to prepare children to enter school ready to learn. >> it is very important to me because you learn a lot of things and use your imagination. >> love elmo. hundreds of children are benefiting from the program. parents say youngsters are recognizing bigger and bigger words and starting to read

earlier. the project is funded with a grant from the u.s. department of education. today is walk to school day in montgomery county. we'll head out live now, about an hour from now and that is coming up at 6:00 a.m. plus, the fbi is using a disturbing demonstration to better train some of its agents. cameras around the region, here at 27th street, everything is all clear out here. more news is next. stay with us.

the first civilian trial of a former guantanamo bay detainee opens today. he will be tried in manhattan's federal court. he's accused of playing a key role in the 1998 bombings of two u.s. embassies in africa. a dramatic looking but staged terror attack yesterday near dallas, texas. the fbi blue up a bus and three smaller vehicles as part of a training exercise. the remains are being used to

teach bomb tension in additions and crime scene investigators how to collect evidence from an explosion. a horse in california back up above ground this morning after spending 24 hours in the bottom of a well. the horse fell through plywood covering the well opening. 30 emergency workers and four agencies finally got the horses dated and pulled it out. they are monitoring the horse to make sure it is okay. now, metro may interfere with your holiday plans for the weekend. that's coming up. plus, how much it will cost one city to keep its faulty parking meters from nickel and diming its customers. another chilly start out here. i don't have an umbrella. i would keep one with me today. showers will be around from time to time. we will talk about how warm it will get today and what is in store as we head to the weekend when 9 news now returns. ♪ to see french masterpieces with his very own eyes.

we even linked our citibank account to his so when his account ran low we just transferred funds. i just hope the language isn't a barrier. bonjour. [ mom ] my ryan can be very shy. [ male announcer ] from linked accounts to citi mobile we make it simple to manage your finances. what's your story? citibank can help you write it.

a popular tourist site is

about to shut down for two years to make improvements to the reflecting pool's water circulation system. it is funded by federal stimulus money. some green renovations will be in the works at the white house. the plan is to install solar panels on top of the living quarters by next spring. the panels will heat water for the first family and supply electricity. the decision comes as the administration makes another push for a legislation to reduce global warming. of course we have our green guy right here, who's also doing our weather. >> jimmy carter had a bunch of sol par panels in the ' 70s. this is the next generation of panels. they are better than 30 years ago and they have a space for it. so they can use it and help us. we like to see that. >> we do. >> weather wise we like to see what is coming. maybe not today but after today you will enjoy tomorrow through monday. this morning we are still talking about the storm system that's been around since

sunday. like a bad cold taking its sweet time to leave the region. we have rain showers and wet snowflakes at snow shoe mixing in ohio and west virginia. a few across movie maryland and virginia. and zoomed in to the northern virginia area from winchester east getting in to upperville. you see how the showers are moving along 50 from clark county approaching southwestern loudoun. may clip northern faulkier county here, well north of 66. but stevens city up to winchester, you have showers moving in coming out of the mountains from wild acres as well moving east at 20 miles an hour. the momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, isolated showers. more than a few. isolated showers. otherwise mostly cloudy and cool. upper 40s to mid-50s. not as cold as it was yesterday morning and the winds right now are pretty light. that's a good thing. temperatures by 9:00 mid-50s. 59 for the drive home with an occasional shower or two.

better chances will be north and west of washington than south of town. tonight also better chances north for evening showers. partly cloudy, 40s to around 50. sunset 6:43. it is up at 7:09. tomorrow the sun returns. it will be breezy and definitely going to feel good with those temperatures in the low 70s, which is right where they should be for this time of the year. with the breeze northwest at ten to 1 a. low a 0s, annapolis 53. fredericksburg 52. and upper 40s in the shenandoah valley to 36 in oakland. yeah, it is a chilly start to their day. 54, winds light out of the west southwest and a barometer of 30 inches even. what we are watching on the bigger picture. this storm here. look at the rain in to new england and boston today. it will be a wet day. this will start to pull out as we go through the next 24 hours. so as we watch the future cast in motion, there it goes. look by 7 tonight, still some showers in our northern areas

from dc north. you have the main threat today and this evening. this will pull out overnight and then the front comes but it falls apart as it approaches us. won't be much with it. maybe a reinforcement of the west northwest flow tomorrow. as we head in to friday, the winds will turn more southwesterly. the warm air, that's going to return also by the time we get to the day on friday and well in the 70s. here's the seven-day forecast. still cool today. 59 to 64 be with a couple of showers here and there. breezy tomorrow and 73. friday nice, dc high school high school the place to go for football scores. and a beautiful warm sunny weekend with highs in the upper 70s. thank you very much. 15 minutes from the 6:00 hour. and right now it has been a pretty easy morning on the roadways across the region. let's take you outside and show you 95 northbound. no accidents. nothing going on here. a lot of volume is starting to

build early on mainly between the prince william parkway over to 123 and then you look at an extra five minutes from lorton to newington. on 395, if you continue on to that interstate from duke to seminary slowing down a bit. 495 in virginia. you are checking out okay on both loops between the wilson bridge past 95 to the american legion. finally the outer loop in maryland, your delay is a small one starting around the colesville road area past this point heading to georgia avenue. now we will head to jess. a major commuter alert about metro this columbus day weekend. track work along the blue and orange lines will close the farragut west and mcpherson square stations and won be any blue or orange line service at metro center. the work is scheduled to run from 10:00 on friday night until the system opens on tuesday morning. another reason for commuters to beware, preparing

for battle and may ruin your day. the cast and crew of transformers three will be in town next monday to film scenes for a robot war. that will mean a slew of closed roads and parking restrictions and most likely affect areas in and around the national mall. you can see the closings at wusa9.com. just click on the 9 news extras. you'll need an e-zpass if you want to drive on the new intercounty connector. the maryland transportation authority says there won't be traditional toll booths when the road opens later this year. so drivers who don't have the electronic pass will get hit with a $3 fee on top of the cost of the toll. a sharp channel 9 viewer alerted us to an odd situation with parking meters in one local jurisdiction. we learned the city government plans to remedy problems in the next six months. andrea mccarren shows us what is about to change in old town alexandria. >> reporter: utter the words parking meter and even the mild mannered can simmer over.

>> it's crazy, crazy, just straight crazy. >> reporter: we met him minutes after he lost a pocket full of coins in an old town alexandria parking meter. >> i have to put coins in for the company vehicle and i lost over $3. i was coming from the store getting change so i could put it in the machine so i wouldn't get a ticket. >> reporter: davis not alone. the city's parking meters display specific instructions, valid coins only but nowhere do they say what constitutes a valid coin. >> i was trying to put in nickels an the time one going up. so i lost a couple of nickels in there. >> we took our questions to abby learner of the transportation department. >> the meters do not specify the coins that you can use. however, if you try to put in a dollar coin it will not fit through the slot. >> reporter: the alexandria city council has authorized the replacement of all of its single-space parking meters in old town at the cost of $1,250,000 to taxpayers.

>> we feel that we are going to address the problem, the issue by replacing those meters. >> this is a classic case of literally nickeling and diming taxpayers to death. make bad meters, tell them to figure out the instructions and then say don't worry about it because we will spend more money to replace the ones we have any way. >> reporter: city officials insist the new multi-space meters like this will pay for themselves in two years and will be customer friendly by accepting credit cards. andrea mccarren, 9 news now. for more stories like this one from where you live, go to wusa9.com. find your community in the where you live section and keep up with what is happening in your neighborhood. got a story or news tip? we want to hear from you. contact us and be part of the wusa 9 team. who's the most eligible female celebrity? that's coming up in entertainment news. plus, 'tis the season to go

in search of the great pumpkin. hey ove, i'm gonna need a bank. any ideas?

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single women in entertainment has been named jennifer aniston topping the vote. halle berry and betty white are next in line. courtney and kim take new york debuts in january 2011. levi johnston doesn't seem too heart broken over his break up with bristol palin. he stars in a steamy bedroom scene with a plot line involving tension between a young woman and her mother. sounds familiar. rachel submitted the next video. it was an emporium for parents for all things baby in gaithersburg, maryland. the even hosted 30 even tores. in addition to winning $10,000 this raffle prizes, guests got to scope out the latest in

child safety technology. it is breast cancer survivor month and one group is dressing up in hopes to uncover a cure at the pink masquerade 2010. the tiger lily foundation host the second annual gala to raise awareness about young women with breast cancer. one woman was honored and spoke about the push in congress for more funding to help fight the disease. a dc image consultant is out to prove you can feel great. women came out to get a copy of her book called flaunting it. it has tips on building a wardrobe with tips to flatter what they have. we have videos and events where you live. as always you can send me ideas

on the facebook page. >> thank you so much. 'tis the season to be in search of the great pumpkin. so we sen mike on the road to find his. he thinks he may have found it in berryville, virginia. >> little heavier. >> it is all about the lifting. >> s that how you get the weight. >> guess within a quarter of a pound. >> you got bad advice. only 32. >> reporter: and you get the pumpkin free at this market. >> goes as long as five days with no winners and then we will have days with one after the other. i think they have scales this the car. >> reporter: there's a limb to his generosity in this game. you see the ones that really would be the grand prize aren't liftable. >> they are all for sale 303- pounds, 405-pounds, 864-pounds and that's not even the grand daddy of them. this one is. , 1324-pounds. , which is not for sale.

>> this pumpkin did all of its growing in 40 days, 1300-pounds in 40 days. >> this pumpkin comes from a long line of champions. it was trucked in from pennsylvania. the grower legend in pumpkin circles. larry checkin. >> he claims he spends four to five cures a day, seven days a week taking care of one pumpkin. >> too big. >> the unique thing is the growers will come down a week before halloween and take the seeds our of it. >> hoping for more great pumpkins down the vine. >> mike tells us while the pumpkin is impressive the world record for a pumpkin is 1725- pounds. that one was grown last year in ohio. if you have a pumpkin or jack- o'-lantern picture to share with us, log on to our website at wusa9.com and click on our great pumpkin story under virginia news or send it to us on facebook. >> that's a lot of pumpkin pie. >> it is and you are watching 9 news now at 6:00 a.m.

i'm jessica doyle. andrea is off today an howard has the forecast and maybe in the next couple of days a good day to go pumpkin picking. >> this weekend is looking fantastic for whatever you have planned. there is a golf tournament at the herndon course. get out and enjoy tomorrow. looking at live doppler 9000 hd, you are going to see a couple of sprinkles out there. to our west we have had them scattered about. southern maryland some earlier up north n. the winchester area you will see the showers moving down 50 to the east toward berryville. zoom in for you and show you we have the showers our of winchester, heading to bear i haveville. maybe -- berryville. maybe doppler will cooperate later on. upper 40s to low a 0s. richmond, new land and 30 in the mountains. low 60s today but much nicer off the bat. more coming up. it is time for traffic. looking good, washington. we managed to