planner for this thanksgiving. temperatures will be climbing to the lower 50s by noon. 55 to 60 for a high. by 50:00, still -- by 5:00, still clear. if you have plans to go anywhere or want to be outside, go for it, no issues. had a second batch of rain in the afternoon come through. this morning, we've cleared out nicely. it is chilly out there. got temps in the 40s south and east of town. martinsburg, still reporting lots of 30s. lur ray still 40. the winds are fairly light. some areas feeling closer to the freezing mark. highs will make it well up in the 50s. andrews air force base and out toward culpepper. beverly farmer, happy thursday to you. >> happy thursday. happy thanksgiving. happy ride throughout for the most part, no big deals to tell you about. we're checking in with the folks to the north, to the south for the long haul travelers down toward richmond, i-95 incident free.

we're northbound on the left side of the screen heading up to springfield on 95. hov lane open to northbound traffic. the hov restrictions lifted. virginia, maryland, i-270 for the federal holiday. hov rules are always in effect on 50 between bowie and the beltway. check the ride in maryland headed for the wilson bridge, nice, light traffic here. no early problems to the north. i-270, i-70 corridor, lanes are open to or from the beach head in toward annapolis. your next timesaver traffic at 5:09. >> this morning, there are people hard at work making sure someone else has a good thanksgiving. >> one of the biggest operations is going on at food and friends, the organization which provides meals year around to seriously ill people throughout the d.c. area. 9news now reporter surae chinn is at their huge kitchen in northeast washington with more on the story. good morning, surae. >> reporter: good morning. happy thanksgiving, everybody.

we have volunteers all set to go right now. look at them. they're packing the turkeys. these are meals that are going to feed those who need it. who are suffering from a.i.d.s., h.i.v., cancer, other illnesses. i want to show you statistics right here. 9,000 pounds of roast turkey. and that's equivalent, i believe to -- tell me about what's going on? this is a huge, huge operation. >> happy thanksgiving. we're getting ready for thanksgiving 2011. it is about to start. we've been preparing for this for three months. >> reporter: ok, let's go to the board and show how much food we're talking about. >> this is about seven tons of food altogether. i mean it is a monumental amount of food. but the thing that's important to know is that there will be 3,500 people who are living at home critically ill or the guest of our clients and family

members who will be hosted by our clients for thanksgiving 2011 thanks to 800 volunteers this week. >> we've got eight or so teams going out, 500 volunteers alone today. several teams going on delivery. the others are in the kitchen prepping. i'm going to show the kitchen again because they're in a hurry to get this done because 9:00, they're out of here. they have to make their runs. >> that's right. we've got 300 people doing deliveries today. 200 people approximately doing the packing but we have had hundreds more cooking food all week. we started on sunday. you could smell turkey in the parking lot. you could smell turkey on your clothes when you went home. i'm looking forward to a piece of fish. >> hey, we still need the turkey though. we're smelling good here in the kitchen. we'll have much more coming up in the next couple of hours. back to you. >> that was funny.

thanks, surae. well, many, many other groups have been distributing thanksgiving meals this week. the food center in gaithersburg says demand has never been higher. staff and volunteers packed up hundreds of boxes, each holding about 70 pounds of food. in addition to turkeys for today's meal, the boxes are full of nonperishable foods so families have meals to prepare for several weeks to come. >> d.c. police are looking for a man they say carjacked an suv with a baby still inside. this was wednesday afternoon, the exxon station kennedy street in northeast d.c. the woman was getting gas there, a strange err ran up, jumped in the driver seat and took off. fortunately, he pulled over just a few blocks away and bailed out. the baby was not hurt. maryland state police are investigating a deadly late night accident this morning. sky 9 was over the crash scene, i-270 near park mills road in urbana. only one car was involved. the driver died at the scene. investigators also tell us the

car had been stolen from a pizza place in virginia. well, if you are driving around the strict in the coming days, be aware there are new speed cameras! one of the new ones monitoring drivers at the 2800 block of calvert street northwest. another one taking pictures in the 2300 block of connecticut avenue. in all, there are nine new cameras. the district's speed camera program took in $30 million in the first seven months of the year. >> time for the latest "your money" report of the morning. jessica is off today as is the u.s. markets. they're on holiday. many of the 23 million people flying over this thanksgiving holiday would have liked a vacation from all of the baggage fees. travelers are packing as much as they can into carry-on bags. thankfully, congress might consider a bill that would limit or do away with the checked bag fees. travelers can't wait! >> everybody carries everything on instead of checking it. instead of paying $20, $30,

$100 bag fee, they lug it on the airplane. >> they have some legal briefs and my computer, a bunch of clothes and presents for my family. it is all crammed in there. >> all of that carry on luggage is doubling the wait time for security screening. the tsa now says it needs another $260 million of your tax dollars to process all of the extra bags. the occupy d.c. protestors have cost the district government and its taxpayers more than a million dollars so far. the members of occupy d.c. living in mcpherson square have been there since mid september. since then, metropolitan police have provided 20 duty officers per shift every day to monitor the protestors. add in sanitation costs and traffic control officers and the cost of the city runs around half a million dollars a month! there are some new allegations in the penn state scandal. that story is coming up. >> plus, find out where they're having a thanksgiving full of

fresh snow this morning. ahead in sports, not one but two area teams come away with some thrilling overtime victories. check out the highlights. keep it here.

just about 5:09 on this thursday morning. happy thanksgiving. weather will be fantastic for the next several days. a littlechyy this morning. -- a little chilly this morning. nice day. winds not bad northwest to westerly at 5 to 10 miles per hour. we're already in the low to mid- 50s. we top out 55 to 60. no concerns of that.

by 5:00, clear skies and 56. looking ahead toward the weekend, we're look toward the traffic if there is any out there this thursday morning, beverly. >> it looks great for folks who have to head out on the roadways. live at 395 getting past duke street, incident on the ramp. not causing any problems right now. through lanes open on northbound 395 heading up toward the 14th street bridge. back to you. thank you, beverly. making news now at 5:09, clashes between protestors and police continue in egypt. last night, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators demanding the country's military ruler to step down. so far, human rights group says more than 3 dozen people have died in the violence. jerry sandusky is facing more allegations of child sex abuse. two new people are coming forward to claim he molested them as children. one of the new accusers is a

relative. but his attorney says the accusations are unfounded. about an inch of snow per hour fell in parts of maine on wednesday. that is not even some of the experienced snow driver that caught experienced snow drivers off-guard. they had to rely on others to get them unstuck and on their way. >> we're in for a really beautiful holiday weekend. howard has the details next. >> at 5:18, we'll let you know about one fun and free destination you might have forgotten is open today. >> run-down of when the stores are opening for your black friday, thursday, a lot more days we're starting to learn now. that's coming up in a little bit.

>> happy thanksgiving. i know a lot of people are up setting the table, getting the turkey into the oven. and maybe going out for a walk or a jog and it is going to be a fine morning to do that. >> it is going to be great. if you get the stuffing in the oven early, you've got some time, enjoy the weather because it will be pretty nice today. even nicer as we head toward tomorrow and the weekend. >> my festival of lights can go off. >> andrea is in fredericksburg

tomorrow. >> 6:00 p.m. >> at the festival. you're lighting the whole thing up? >> 27 acres of lights. >> one of those things where you can drive through and see the lights and the decorations. >> worth the trip to fredericksburg. >> let's talk about weather. this has a fine stretch coming in here. today will be good. by noon, we'll warm up into the lower 50s. winds will be a light lighter than yesterday. northwest in the 5 to 10 range turning westerly late this afternoon and by 5:00 p.m., 56 degrees under clear skies. sun sets now in about 10 minutes until 5:00. we did have some showers again in the afternoon. there they go here. 5:15 yesterday. boom, that's the last of it. we've cleared out overnight. this morning, lots of stars out there. clear skies, lighter winds. temps down in the 30s and 40s. near 50 in norfolk. 38 in new york. locally, we've got 32 for gaithersburg. 42 in lovettsville. 37 in springfield and

alexandria. columbia is 34. crofton is 37. here in washington, right on the potomac river, reagan national, 43 degrees with north- northwesterly wind at 5. wind chill a little bit out there. the dew point down to 30. this thing was way up yesterday in the 50s with all of the -- early in the morning before the front went through. looking nationally at temps -- you don't see anything horribly cold except up in caribou, maine. they have fresh snow cover with the heavy snow they had with the same system that brought us the rain. we go to the west coast, one branch coming up south to north there along the west coast. another couple of storms in the pacific so a very unsettled pattern there. the middle of the country looks good. then you go to the east coast. we're also looking good, too. with high pressure in control. got one of those coughs that doesn't want to go away. here we go. high pressure, tennessee valley. that's going to build in.

we'll be fine for the next couple of days with some very quiet, benign weather around here. today, 58. we're back in the 30s and 40s tonight. tomorrow, 663. saturday, 66. look at this. sunday and monday, sunday, 62. next week, unsettled. very different answers coming from our long-range guidance on early next week. shower chances increase. confidence be level i wish was higher. beverly farmer, good morning. >> enjoying the drive if you do have to head out for the long haul, maybe you do have to go to work, some people do. maybe you're at home preparing the meal and waiting for the out-of-town traffic. left side of the screen, hov lanes open to northbound traffic. the restrictions lifted on the interstates because of the federal holiday. up north head up to the 14th street bridge, volume has been light. no trouble to report downtown. the roadways that normally reverse for rush hour, clair

barton parkway, canal road among them, they will carry two- way traffic all day today. that tends to be a confusion for folks on holidays, just a reminder for you. no incidents to report, maryland beltway, we're looking good. prince george's county, montgomery counties, the beltway in bethesda, no early problems, i-2750, 95 corridors to the north in maryland. our next traffic update is at 5:24. >> beverly, thank you. >> if you're hoping to get the kids out of the house while you make thanksgiving dinner or looking for a place to walk off calories or get your blood going before you eat the food, how about a trip to the national zoo. >> the zoo is open today! the animal exhibits are open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. you can visit the baby cheetah cub or hang out with the giant tortoise. don't get your fingers too close to its mouth. if you go to the orangutan enclosure, you can wish kiko a happy birthday. he's the oldest male in the group turning 24. >> pretty cool. we love the zoo.

tomorrow, the annual lights festival kicks off at the zoo, too. the display will be powered by thousands of environmentally friendly lights and it is free, f-r-e-e to the public. you can catch them this weekend and the weekends of december 2, 4th, 9th and 11th. the hours, 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. beginning december 16th, they will be on every night until january 1st except for christmas eve, christmas day and new year's eve. >> which capital has become an overtime hero this time around? highlights coming up in sports. >> here's another look at our question of the day. it is 70% of people say their favorite place to hide money is under a mattress. b, in a freezer or c in a shoe. >> anderson wrote i put mine in a shoe. place it in the freezer with a mattress covering the freezer. you never can be too careful these days. >> log on to the facebook.com/wusa9 fan page. leave your response.

we'll review the answer during our 6:00 a.m. hour.

good morning, happy thanksgiving. little chilly to start as we look at the future cast for the day. as temperatures in some spots near the freezing mark. we're holding near the 40 degree mark here. as we go into the morning hours, you'ring really going to see a good deal of sunshine. 51 degrees in washington. 47 hagerstown. 53 for fredericksburg. we'll get into the afternoon, temperatures, 60 by 2:00 in manassas and baltimore. we'll be in the upper 50s. mike and andrea? >> thank you, howard. georgetown scores an upset in hawaii. with. >> the capitals get pushed into overtime. dave owns has the highlights in your morning sports. >> good morning, everybody. it was called a healthy scratch but make no mistake, alexander simmons got benched because his play had only been so which doesn't cut it when you're a $6 million guy. he was back on the ice as the caps took on the winnipeg jets.

simmons took the demotion well. i'll say. russian to russian, stick to net. 1-0 caps. they couldn't put away the jets. brian little coming up big. we're heading to overtime. wideman to jason chimera. there goes my hero! caps win 4-3. an offensive outburst for chimera. seven goals. what's up, j? >> gotta wait until my mid-30s to get it early. i don't want to peak too early. >> if takes a lot of -- i don't know if the word is fortitude or character or whatever but i was proud of him tonight. >> some college basketball, georgetown, memphis, maui classic in hawaii. final seconds of regulation. henry simms misses but whittington, the air up there is rare. sent into overtime. final minutes. jason clark, the three-pointer, drops it. he had 26, a game high. hoyas win it 91-88. that is going to do it for

morning sports. have a great day and happy thanksgiving, everybody! >> same to you, dave. we have one more college basketball game for you. virginia tech taking on syracuse last night. the hokies were draining threes early and had a slim lead going into the second half but deion waiters came on strong for the orange. both with assists and making his own shots. fifth-ranked syracuse goes on to beat the hokies 69-58. if you consider black friday a sporting event, it is time to start your stretching. starting times are coming up soon. >> you may think you're fast with the bird but we'll tell you how long it took our local competitive eating champion an entire turkey. beverly, you won't believe this one! >> absolutely not. we're going to take a look at the drive along the 270 corridor headed out or waiting for someone to come into town? here is the 270 corridor in germantown. father hurley boulevard. nice, light volume around town. we'll take a complete look at the timesaver traffic. good morning and happy

thanksgiving. you're watching 9news now! we'll be right back.

good morning! happy thanksgiving, welcome back to 9news now. we're up with you early and hope this is a great day for you. i'm andrea roane. >> i'm mike hydeck. get up and do your jumping jacks because you may will have burn off the calories ahead of time. we're glad you're here. beverly farmer is in for traffic. monika is off. howard bernstein is in for weather. we have a great day coming up. >> yesterday was a rough day. had the winds and the rain. smithburg, camp david, northern maryland and three and a half inches of rain over the last couple of days. charlie, fauquier county, some hefty rain totals from this. mondaykylet's talk about today though. we have a really good thanksgiving ahead with sunshine all day. temperatures will be climbing

into the low 50s by noon. topping out 55 to 60 this afternoon. by 5:00, we're still clear and 56. one of the differences about today is we're looking at winds much lighter. only out of the northwest at 5 to 10 miles per hour. that second batch of rain, you can see it well out into the atlantic. pulling away. behind it, high pressure is building in. that's giving us a chilly morning with temperatures right now which are down in the 30s to low 40s. again, we're going into the 55 to 60 range a little bit later. >> beverly farmer now. >> we're checking in with folks near and far. the d.o.t.s around the area, no incidents or accidents reported. no big obstacles. 66 moving freely through falls church each way in past route 7. heading out toward haymarket, beyond 81 have checked in a-ok. northbound on 95, the hov,

restrictions lifted. the hov lanes open in your favor from dumfries, dale city. on to 395, the volume is nice and light. southbound, headed for fredericksburg or points south to richmond, 301 down at the bridge checking in all right. accident-free in maryland. the beltway over in college park and the 95 corridor north toward baltimore and points beyond. your next check of timesaver traffic at 5:38. back to you. many people are volunteering a little of their time this holiday to help everyone enjoy a good thanksgiving meal. >> those volunteers include the first family. president obama, the first lady and their two daughters as well as mother-in-law visited the capital area food bank in northeast washington yesterday. they dished out a helping of thanksgiving dinner and the capital area food bank and helped distribute millions of pounds of food a year. >> an army of volunteers treated people to a thanksgiving eve lunch. the annual feast of sharing held at the washington

convention center. the volunteer waitstaff served turkey with the trimmings to senior citizens and others on fixed incomes, low incomes and those with no incomes and a shout out to safeway which has organized all of this for the past 12 years. oh, my! in a lighter thanksgiving tradition, alexandria's own black widow, competitive eating champ sonia thomas beat the stuffing out of her fellow contestants by devouring an entire turkey in ten minutes. she's 42, weighs about 106 pounds and holds 24 world eating records. 9news now reporter surae chinn is live at one of this morning's big thanksgiving feeding efforts. food and friends in northeast washington. happy thanksgiving, surae. >> reporter: happy thanksgiving to you. we're seeing our eyeballs filled with turkey right here at food and friends. look at all of this going on right now. these are 12 to 15 pound turkeys to feed about four to six people.

so, 3500 people in the district, maryland and virginia. so, we're having a lot of fun here and we're doing a lot of work. we've got phillip here volunteering. tell me about what it means to be here on this day, thanksgiving. >> it means a lot. giving back to the community and helping those that don't have the opportunity to get out and see family or the ability to cook, you know. people are terminal illness and things like that. >> reporter: we have some statistics, too. 9,000 pounds of turkey. we've got 18 going. look at this huge tray going past me right now. they have so much turkey. 1,000 pounds of pie and sweet potato. so, we're doing so much work here. all of this has to be packed by 9:00. it could be delivered by thanksgiving lunch. we'll be here working hard and all of these volunteers, happy to be here on this thanksgiving. i'll send it back to you. thank you, surae. dozens of montgomery county police officers wrapped up a

special enforcement push early this morning. it is called operation turkey chase. it targets underaged drinkers and drivers. the night before thanksgiving is traditionally one of the top nights for alcohol-related accidents and crimes. our crew says officers test and one person they spotted drinking outside a licker store. he was not legally drunk but was cited for drinking in public. no word on the total number of arrests so far. police are looking for a kidnapper who snatched an elderly man outside a wheaton grocery store. the 75-year-old man was coming out of the westfield shopping center giant yesterday afternoon. this is 2:30 when a man holding a weapon forced his way into the victim's car. the victim was forced to withdraw money from several atms. police say eventually the suspect took off without physically harming the man. blackny is almost here -- black friday is almost here especially since stores are opening later today. jessica doyle is taking a little time off to watch her money and prepare for the

momentous event. so, for all of you shoppers with plastic in hand, chomping at the bit, here is a quick run- through of when the stores are opening in our area. today, kmart opens at 6:00 a.m. that's in about 25 minutes. toys "r" us opens at 9:00 p.m. and walmart opens at 10:00. next round of openings at midnight when best guy, gap, hh gregg, kohl's, macy's and targets all open their doors as do the following shopping centers... sears and jc pepny kick off the traditional black friday openings at 4:00 a.m. on friday. they'll be followed by sports authority in pentagon city at 5:00 a.m. fair oaks in springfield malls open at 6:00 a.m. nordstrom's opens at 7:00 a.m. just go to wusa9.com and click on our black friday map for guides to the major stores including floor plans. you'll also find links to all of the stores, malls and their

black friday deals. we know of at least one local politician who will be greeting black friday shoppers late tonight. montgomery county executive ike leggett plans to hand out reusable bags to people waiting in lines at washington center and then outside the best buy. leggett is using the big shopping day to remind montgomery county consumers about the county's new carry out bag law. starting january 1st, businesses will charge shoppers 5 cents for each paper or plastic carryout bag they have to provide. you may be up early putting your turkey in the oven. there are some restaurants working very early this morning to help out people in need. we'll check in at one of those coming up. still ahead, a closer look at a relatively new tradition. the president pardoning a turkey. we'll get a great look at how this whole thing started.

welcome back. 5:38 this thanksgiving morning. clear skies, light winds but chilly temperatures out there. got the gloves and the jacket on. without the wind, don't need the earmuffs this morning. here is a look at today. a very fine thanksgiving across the region. plenty of sunshine. temperature in d.c. about 58. some areas west of town, likely to touch that 60 degree mark. milder tomorrow. i'll have that weekend outlook in a few minutes. right now, here's beverly farmer with timesaver traffic. >> we are looking so good. good weather for that drive. folks that wait and are heading out on the roadways, you get a break this morning. 395 northbound heading up past duke street. earlier incident on the ramp is gone and the volume is light up to the 14th street bridge. no early problems around the region. we have a complete look at the timesaver traffic coming up at 5:47. back to you. we took you to food and friends just a few minutes ago. but, of course, they're not the only ones serving thanksgiving meals to the less fortunate. >> absolutely not.

so is carolina kitchen and lance london, the guy in charge is taking a little time out to chat with us this morning. happy thanksgiving, lance. >> good morning, good morning. >> i'll bet you're a little tired. how many meals will you be serving today? >> we'll be feeding around 300 to 400 people here at the carolina kitchen. it is definitely a season for giving. we're excited about just giving to the less fortunate. incredible day. >> we're scanning your food tray there. it looks absolutely fantastic. how many people came in to help get all of this together this morning? >> we want to say thank you to all of the volunteers. once i announced i was going to feed the less fortunate, so many people responded. we probably had about 100, 200 people coming down to help us today. come down to carolina kitchen. we start at 11:00. folks who are coming to help, come in at around 10:00 right next to the theatre.

now you're partnering with an organization called enchanting women's foundation. why is that a good fit for you on a day like today, a holiday like today? >> these young ladies are doing wonderful things in the community, helping women and all people out in the community. we tie it in. we felt like they were already in the community so they helped us reach out to the community to bring them to this wonderful event. >> wow, lance. our executive producer has been bragging about your place for awhile. i think we want to come over! >> you're welcome. come on down! >> lance, is the restaurant open today or after you do all of this, you're going to give everybody a break and enjoy the holiday yourself? >> the great thing is yesterday and the day before yesterday, we put up over 600 different catering orders, packages for thanksgiving. so, we closed today, just for giving. we closed both of our locations today, largo as well as the hyattsville location. we close down just to feed the

less fortunate. >> oh, my goodness. that's incredible. >> again, when will the feeding actually start? you gave us some times. tell us again. >> those that are coming in to help at 10:00 today. and the actual feast starts at 11:00 today. >> what a feast it is. >> looks great. >> carolina cooks. >> thank you. >> happy thanksgiving. >> the true spirit. >> absolutely. >> coming up, we're going to preview today's turkey bowl which includes the first woman's coach to ever coach a high school football team. >> thousands of people turned out to watch the macy's day parade balloons go out from flat to ready to float. we'll be right back.

welcome back to 9news now. 5:45 this thanksgiving morning. it is going to be a fine day

for us. >> thankful for that. so many other things. we'll talk weather right now. no complaints for the next few days. some concerns early next week. some of the long-range guidance is going like this. i've got two separate answers so the confidence level beyond sunday is not high. that could change. let's talk about today. very confident about today's forecast. sunshine all day. we'll make it into the lower 50s by noon. winds will be a lot less than yesterday. yesterday, gusted over 40. today, northwest to west at 5 to 10 miles per hour. by 4:00, 57 degrees. that will be close to the high today. forecasting a high of 48 in d.c. by 8:00 p.m., we're talking 51 degrees there with a west wind at about 6 miles per hour. looking at the satellite and radar, had some showers last night. second batch in the afternoon. that has quickly pulled away. this morning, we're left with clear skies, light winds. that's some frigid temperatures. down in the 30s.

i checked up in frederick, down to 32. we've got 43 in southern maryland. culpepper and winchester, 34. 38 in hagerstown and when you add in the winds, thankfully, not too windy. the wind chills only slightly less than the actual air temp with one of the colder wind chills up in gaithersburg at 30. fredericksburg feels like 36. right now, reagan national at 43 degrees with a north wind at 5 miles per hour. feeling more like 40. good visibility. if you are one of the folks who is traveling today, i know somebody going down to florida today, looks great on the east coast. regionally, lots of sunshine. boston, 47. virginia beach, 58 going up to the burg for the holiday. 49 detroit. atlanta, a gorgeous day there at 68. chicago, 55. one of the reasons the east is doing so well, the storm has left, the high pressure is building in and the next storm that we're watching, a series of storms actually. that's out of the west coast and into the pacific. you can see northern california

through the northwest seeing the rain and the mountain snows but there's one, two -- another storm out there. so, yeah, they're lined up in the pacific like jets landing in o'hare in the afternoon. the east coast though is fine. high pressure is over the tennessee valley. that builds in. the winds stay light. we'll get a good deal of sunshine here for the next few days. comfortable temperatures. right now, northwesterly wind with the high there and the low pulling away through parts of the canadian maritime and with the high building, the winds stay light again today and tonight. in fact, tonight light winds will be down in the 30s and 40s. clouds well to our north and west. for friday, look even better. lots of sunshine. temperatures come far out even warmer than today. we should be in the low to mid 60s on friday. 55 to 60 this afternoon. here's the next three days. sunny, delightful. tonight we're in the 30s and 40s with light wind. tomorrow, 63 degrees. winds turn to the south. saturday, 66. for sunday, a couple more

clouds. then next week, i told you the confidence level isn't high. right now, i'm thinking chance of a shower monday and more showers tuesday into wednesday. temps cooling into the 50s. beverly farmer, thursday morning. some folks are out there. >> absolutely. a few folks do have to hit the roads and find the turkey. we're looking good if you're traveling northbound on 395 across the inbound 14th street bridge. one note downtown, an incident d.c. fire and police have been be on the scene north capital street south of missouri avenue near hamilton street. a vehicle went into a building. minor injuries and damage to the building. they've got traffic getting by on north capital south of missouri avenue. northbound lanes remain blocked with the cleanup in the investigation. interstate travel, 95, virginia beltway have been in good shape. 95, no incidents to report heading south out of springfield. northbound, the left side of the screen looks good heading up to the beltway. if you travel it the 66

corridor, maryland beltway, incident free, no accidents to report as you're making your way around prince george's county and montgomery counties. nice, light volume here. your next check of traffic at 6:00. mike, back to you. we'll talk to you in a bit. >> here's what's making news this morning. some new photos show huts built by one of the world's last uncontacted tribes of amazon indians. of the tribe hasn't been spotted by outsiders in nearly 25 years. it is estimated just over 30,000 indians live in the remote venezuelan brazil border region. a decade of planning, cost overruns and a launch delayed for two years, nasa is set to launch its next mars rover on saturday. curiosity cost $2.5 billion to build. it will look for evidence of life on the red planet. the macy's thanksgiving day parade is so big that crowds even show up the night before just to watch the balloons get inflated. and it shows little kids just how big they really are because

they can get up close. today's 85th annual parade will showcase 15 character balloons. >> she's the first woman to coach a boy's high school football team and today, natalie randolph will showcase her coolible high players in the 42nd annual turkey bowl. >> after enduring a pretty tough first year, bruce johnson reports coach randolph is leading her team to victory both on and off the field. >> you guys going to beat dunbar tomorrow? >> we'll beat dunbar. >> what a difference a year and a winning team can make. this time last year, natalie randolph was ending her first season as the country's first female to coach a boy's high school football team. >> i had obstacles like any other coach in the city. the same things they deal with, i had to. it was just the extra attention, that's all. >> the coolidge high coach said she always wanted to be graded on her coaching but her players at the d.c. school admit having a woman coach in a brutal male

sport was not easy to accept at first. >> what did she have to overcome being a female coach? >> the male -- and also the negativity and hate. >> guys didn't want to play for a woman. >> coolidge high coach hit bottom in 2010 finishing well below .500. this year with the same players, natalie randolph and team finished the season with eight wins and two loss. >> it has been great. it is still hard. still the same issues. >> play tomorrow for the city title in the turkey bowl against perennial powerhouse dunbar high. >> the kids have been wonderful. football has been great. >> she shows us more love and more enthusiasm. she gives us more personally than a male coach would. >> her players were helping serve up free thanksgiving dinners today. under the tutelage coach, also winning in the classroom these days. >> 3.0 average. >> the whole team? >> the whole team. >> average 3.0. >> the coach has 19 seniors on

her squad this year. every single one is going to college. now that the national spotlight has faded over her gender, she hopes to be able to focus on just being another good coach. bruce johnson, 9news now. >> wow, great story. congratulations, coach! today's coolidge/dunbar match- up follows a game that was close between the two. dunbar won that one in overtime. dave owens is calling the game today. we'll have highlights at 11:00 tonight. >> we're visiting one of the busiest kitchen where is they're preparing to serve thousands of meals. >> plus, we'll explore the tradition of the president taking time to pardon a turkey. we'll be right back. w

we're going into the upper 50s, a few spots will hit 60 today. a real fine day. even warmer as we head into friday and saturday. more on that coming up during

9news now at 6:00. back to mike and andrea. >> thanks, howard. some may think of it as nonsense but the annual thanksgiving eve tradition at the white house of pardoning a turkey goes on. >> absolutely. our own gary nurenberg says he can hardly believe where we've reached the point where this absurd practice is expected. a year in now, every one of the candidates wants to be in a position to do what this candidate did. here's what they have to say. >> are you hereby pardoned. give a round of applause. [ applause ] >> reporter: give him a round of applause and they did! you know what they used to do? the turkey industry used to present one to the industry. harry true sann saying i'll greet it and eat it and then they did. they gave john kennedy a bird with a sipe around its neck good eating, mr. president. jfk said no, let it live.

>> they're as feisty as tasty. liberty the turkey lunged at president reagan and tried to escape. subsequent reagan turkeys were more subdued, prompting reporters to ask if they were drugged into submission. "the washington post" reports a nixon administration turkey had its feet nailed to the set. the post says no nerve endings, no pain. this one looks like it wants to eat president clinton's suit coat button. the official pardon business began with the first president bush about 23 years ago. maybe the best take comes from the potomac and hollywood show, the west wing. >> where the hell is he. >> one annoyed president bartlett. >> by the power vest in me by the constitution of the united states, i hereby pardon you. ok. >> no. it is not ok. >> morton, i can't pardon a turkey. if you can i can, then you have to have back to your school. >> you can't pardon a turkey?

>> no. i'll tell you what i can do. i'm drafting this turkey into military service. >> kind of makes sense. the pardoned turkeys end up at the home of the first commander in chief at mt. vernon. >> when the president was at the food bank, he gave out baby carrots. little baby carrots that had done nothing to anyone except  try to grow in the cold ground toward the warm sun and be the biggest and best little carrots they can be. presidential care routes but no pardon for them. the president gave them away and said here, eat these little guys, have a nice thanksgiving, little, innocent baby carrots that later today will have been ripped to shreds by human molars and dropped in stomach acid and nobody, nobody at monday's presidential debate had the leadership skills to say we're going to stop this! enjoy your dinners! [ laughter ] >> thank you, gary nurenberg, our producer says channeling a little andy rooney there. thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. happy thanksgiving. i'm andrea roane. >> nothing beats creative

writing. that was fantastic. i'm mike hydeck. beverly farmer is in for monika. she'll have traffic in just a moment. >> righteous indignation. >> in a relaxed, casual-looking way, fit for the season, howard bernstein has our forecast first. >> happy thanksgiving, guys. it is going to be a great day ahead. and the weather today, tomorrow, saturday, even into sunday looks like it is going to cooperate for your plans whether you're staying in town, going out of town, returning to where you came from, i think it will be good for you. this thursday, thanksgiving, 2011, starts out chilly. 30s and 40s. by noon, the sun will warm us up to 53. midday walk. exercise and get out and love life. 56 at 5:00. highs between 55 and 60 degrees. had several batches of rain yesterday. some areas had anywhere from one, two, three inch rain totals this week. well, that's all gone. high pressure is building in. and it is a chilly morning out there. it is in the 30s in the

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