we have been sitting near 60 degrees for most of the overnight. we're seeing just a tiny bit of a drop in temperatures prior to sunrise. but behind the front that's on the way that's when we're going to see the dramatic changes through midday and late day as temperatures go back down into 40s and then creep back up into the 50s. right now though we have our winds mainly out of the west and northwest which begins to indicate that shift ahead of the front. behind that front though we'll have some solid winds out of the north and pull in more cloud cover and temperatures should make it back into the middle range 40s. even push those upper 50s for -- 40s near that 50-degree mark by the 1:00, 2:00 hour. that's about it for today. then into the afternoon and evening hours we will see temperatures start to drop off after sunset and we should bottom out into the 30s overnight tonight. so another cool night in store. i'll have details on that seven day forecast and let you know when our next chance of rain is coming your way. monika? good morning olga, good

morning everybody. overall thing aren't looking too bad on the beltway. most of the overnight construction has been cleared up so you should be okay around town. there's one accident i want to tell you about. maryland state police continue to work on an accident on the eastbound side of route 50 right after route 201 kenilworth avenue. the last chance to exit is kenilworth 201, use the vw parkway and maryland state police would appreciate that as well. less work for them in that area. in the meantime it continues to be blocked and keep that in mind for your travel plans. and inbound side of vw parkway in the cheverly area. to the other side of town if you're planning to head northbound on i-95. incident-free to springfield and a quick look as well at the roosevelt bridge. no troubles on 66. coming up in my next report, another look around the area. back to you guys. we may have some good news for federal workers and rest t rest of us -- the rest of us. the federal government will not

partially shut down at midnight tonight. >> it could happen, really it could and lawmakers are making progress to extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. surae chinn is live on capitol hill with the developments. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, there's nothing like home for the holidays to inspire these lawmakers to get this deal done to avoid a government shutdown. >> congress should not and cannot go on vacation before they have made sure that working families aren't seeing their taxes go up by $1,000 and those who are out there looking for work don't see their unemployment insurance expire. >> no more show boats. i think it's just time to legislate and i think america needs to see us earning our paychecks. >> reporter: well, both sides seem to be toning down their rhetoric. two major bills are in the works. there's been a compromise on that massive $1 trillion spending bill that will fund

the government through next october. the second major issue of course, that needs a lot of work still is extending that payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. the house is expected to vote -- [ no audio ] >> we had some technical problems, lost our signal. republican presidential candidate newt gingrich stirred up some controversy. this wasn't the first time and it won't the last of course before last night's gop debate. the former house speaker shared his thoughts on homosexuality with editorial board of the des moines register. >> i think people have a significant range of choice within a genetic pattern. and i don't think there's -- i don't believe in genetic determinism. >> one can choose many things, you can't choose your orientation or your eye color and certainly can't choose if you're bald or not. being gay is not a choice. and newt gingrich has a half sister who is gay. she says her brother is on the

wrong side of history and that she's going to vote for president obama in 2012. we'll show you what happened last night coming up in the next half hour. its is 5:04. a police incident that forced a local college to cancel classes yesterday afternoon ended peacefully late last night. fairfax county police say man with a gun was threatening to commit suicide. he was in a high-rise apartment building on george mason drive which overlooks the campus of northern virginia community college. after about several hours officers talked the man into surrendering. a police officer and another driver are recovering this morning after a crash in chevy chase, maryland. the village officer collided and look at his car. it landed on its rooftop. it collided with her car. her car landed on another car last night too. the officer was not seriously hurt and the other driver is not believed to have life-

threatening injuries. an investigation is underway. d. c. councilman marion berry will make sure an irs lien against him for unpaid taxes is resolved. the irs filed the lien on berry's orange street house in southeast back in september. it was for more than $3,200 in unpaid federal taxes. berry who is no stranger to tax troubles released a statementing saying he has -- statement saying he has established is repayment plan with the irs on schedule. more legal trouble for tiffany aleston. a grand jury indicted her thursday for theft and misconduct in office. she's accused of adding an employee from her law firm to the maryland payroll even though the person's work they were doing was for the firm. this is aleston's second indictment in the last three months. in september she was indicted for allegedly using campaign money to pay for her wedding expenses. it is 5:05 and time for the latest your money report of the morning. jessica doyle is off today. well, maybe, just maybe we could be in for a nice end to what's been a bad week for investors.

most of the major asian markets closed slightly up this morning. and the early numbers from europe look promising. things went a little better state side yesterday. the dow climbed 45 points closing at 11,868. the nasdaq edged up nearly two points and the s&p gained almost four points. find your soul mate at 37,000 feet. yes, it can be done. a dutch airline is hoping to do some match making with its seating assignment. klm will soon let passengers select their seat mates according to facebook and linked-in profiles. the social seating policy will allow people access to other passengers' social media information when they check in to find a neighbor with similar interests. travelers will be allowed to opt out of the program. >> online dating in the air. >> klm? after more than nine months there's a sign of greater stability this morning at japan's crippled fukushima nuclear power plant. we'll explain coming up. plus the clean-up of a

fiery crash in the los angeles suburbs could be a long-term nightmare for commuters. and in sports the scoring didn't start in last night's capitals' game until they were less than two minutes left in regulation. we'll let you know how it ended up.

5:08. i'm olga breese in for howard bernstein in morning. we have balmy conditions out there right now. temperatures for most of us stayed in the upper 50s to 60 degrees. that's where we're sitting right now for reagan national airport but we have a conference coming through. that's going -- cold front coming through. that's going to clothings down.

by the 9:00 hour we're in the middle 40s and rebound a little bit under mostly cloudy skies to 50 degrees by noontime and then we slide back down overnight tonight. i'll have details on your seven day forecast and what that means to a possibly wet weekend when my next report. monika? a live look at 95 at the prince william parkway. this is incident-free heading up into springfield. there's an accident though westbound on the prince william parkway at head lee road in dale city. more on that in the next report. back to you mike. making news now at 5:09. the fukushima nuclear power plant is in a shutdown right now. which means the reactors crippled in the earthquake and tsunami have stayed at temperatures below the boiling point which is a good thing. it should end the radiation leaks but there's still a very long clean-up ahead they say. in washington state, debris from the japanese quake and tsunami is starting to wash ashore nine months later. the items found so far include

a large black buoy. they believe most of the debris is still in the pacific ocean. a tanker truck fire could keep haunting california commuters long after cleared away. fortunate no one was hurt in there. when the truck caught fire, but the flames were so intense the bridge has to be torn down and the roads needs repairs. a mild night but in for a cooldown this weekend and could some of us see flurries? details next at 5:14 in the seven day forecast. if you want to hide from the chill in the movie theater we'll preview the new films coming up at 5:38. teenagers looking to speak english come up with some amazing documentaries to help them do that. that's in today's cool schools. stay with us.

good morning, wipe the sleep from your eyest 5:13. time to get up if you have to go to school or work this morning. saw a lot of nice people who came up last night. they start their with us at 5:00 a.m. good morning to and you thank you? happy holidays to you. >> olga breese is here. >> i need to start with a little coffee this morning. calf fine gets me motorcycle --

caffeine gets me going. but the sunshine that we've had and the mild temperatures. those south-southwest winds were cranking yesterday. a little bit on the breezy side but we had temperatures in the 60s. very unusual for december. even overnight tonight most of us have stayed high into those upper 50s, to near 60 degrees and we've definitely seen the opportunity to have some of that cloud cover start to move on through this morning. but what i have my eye on today is the cold front and you can see it here on the wider mid- atlantic temperature spread. we basically have a lot of cooler air just behind us and it is going to be sliding on through here. i would say over the next two hours. we'll see not only that shift in our winds mainly out of the north and the northwest, but we'll also start to bring in most of that cooler air which will remain in place today into tomorrow and over much of the weekend. that's going to impact us when the overnight lows begin to slip below freezing and could see some flurries before the weekend is out. in and around the region right

now, we have 61 from richmond through charlottesville and even 43 degrees in cumberland. that front is just now passing through the panhandle of maryland. as it continues to move on through, some more of that cloud cover as well. right now we have partly cloudy skies in and around the washington region. a few clouds and some moisture moving on through the hills of west virginia. but i'm not expecting any moisture for the day today. but later on tonight, into the later evening hours and overnight, we could see some sprinkles a little bit south of town. for today, we're calling it officially partly cloudy. particularly as we get into the afternoon it will become mostly cloudy. and then again that cooler air will start to move on through. so here's what your day planner looks like for today. 9:00 hour features a little bit of sunshine. along with that cloud cover. temperatures should be around 45, 46 degrees by the 9:00 hour. that's as the front comes through. behind that front with our winds out of the north and northwest, we'll get the opportunity to pull up our temperatures a little bit closer to the 50-degree mark.

by the time we get to the 1:00 hour but then later on this evening i'm tracking some moisture that will be moving on through. right now most of the showers will stay south of town and our temperatures will be too warm for flurries today. however things are going to be changing in the seven day forecast. as of now though. 5:00 temperature should be quite comfortable into the middle range 40s. so here's how we look for that seven day forecast. the next three days ahead not too bad. 50 for today but then again we will start to drop off later in the afternoon. you'll feel the difference in the saturday forecast. very chilly air moves in place and some of the coldest air we will see overnight saturday night into sunday morning and we'll definitely keep some cool temperatures into sunday. there's an opportunity on your seven day forecast for a few flurries to come our way on sunday. that's mainly in those areas where the temperature does dip down near 30 degrees. monika?

well, it's kind of a good news bad news situation. the good news the early morning accident in cheverly is cleared. i'll show you that in a moment. the bad news, i just got word of the accident southbound route 270 at route 28 in rockville. that one in the left lane. more on that as the information comes in. but here we go eastbound on route 50 at route 201 kenilworth avenue that accident was finally cleared. it a bit slow in and around that area of cheverly right now. planning to go into the tyson's corner area, on the outer loop of the beltway after route 7 but before i-66 slowing down here because of a disabled vehicle that's in the left lane and again statue right to get around that if you're -- stay to the right to get around that if you're going south on the beltway here. to 95 on the northbound side in newington things are fine to the beltway but in dale city, westbound on the prince william parkway, there's an accident authorities are on the scene. that's west of i-95. 95 itself is incident-free and we'll go a little further north to the 14th street bridge.

taking a look live on 395 onto the bridge span. all lanes are open. mike and andrea? the capitals keep the fans hanging until the last 75 seconds if regulation. >> plus the wizards are focusing their efforts to improve around the team's youngest player. more on that coming up in sports. now let's take another look at the question of the day this morning -- >> well, cheers. liz wrote -- >> log on to wusa9's facebook fan page and leave your response. we will have the answer coming up in our 6:00 hour.

and welcome back. i'm olga breese. we're looking at a very mild morning across the region. some cold air, yes, is off toward our west and it's going

to be sliding on through. but for right now, we're looking good around the region. reagan national airport just dropping off a little bit now down to 59 degrees but still 60s up to charlottesville and even up to the north as well. forecast for today definitely going to be on the cloudy side. partly cloudy this morning and temperatures will drop into the 40s behind that front. by about the 11:00, 12:00 hour, back up into the 50s but today's highs won't get much warmer than that. thank you olgament one of the redskins' top defensive talents will be sidelined for the rest of the season. >> kristen berset has highlights in your morning sports. >> reporter: good morning everybody. canada has not been friendly to the capitals this season. they're just 1-4 north to have border. they're only win -- their only win coming against ottawa. as of late the issue has been goaltending and pretty much lack of defense in front of the

net. last night michal neuvirth getting the start. in the second still no score. the jets trying to change that but new vy says i don't think so buddy. alex ovechkin, the captain got one to go in caps shut out winnipeg on the road 1-0. the redskins announced yesterday that safety laron landry will be placed on season ending injured reserve. he has been plagued by a lingering achilles injury and has been told surgery is his best option. d. j. gomes will get the start for the rest of the season. at media day yesterday for the wizards, the theme was about continuing to rebuild this team around second year point guard john wall. wall is the youngest player on the wizards' roster but that hasn't kept him or his teammates from embracing that role. to the college game. second half, tony taylor with the three puts the colonials up but bradley fought their way

back. ties the game at 59 and bradley squeaks by george washington 67- 66. that's going to do it for your morning sports, i'm kristen berset, have a great friday. it is 5:24 and barring any last-minute complications capitol hill lawmakers have struck a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown tonight at midnight. that story coming up. and still ahead in today's cool schools local students make some professionally looking documentary and it helps them learn how to speak english. really cool. monika? a live look at the american legion bridge on the outer loop of the beltway into tyson's after route 7. watch out for the disabled vehicle in the left lane with authorities on the scene. more on area roadways coming up in my next report. you're watching 9news now. we'll be right back.

welcome back to 9news now. i think you know this. it's friday.

>> yeah! >> i'm andrea roane. >> and i'm mike hydeck, wow that sounded like music didn't it? it did. here's monika samtani. she is the traffic lady. but weather though, olga is in for howard. we've had a pretty calm start. it's been very uneventful in the weather world. we like it like that in december. temperatures this morning if you're heading out in the next two hours though, you have quite a bit of a treat. still upper 50s at reagan national and yes we will drop a little bit in about two hours or so with the next cold front but for right now things calm. forecast for today is going to feature a mix of sun and clouds to start off this morning: you will notice though through the day and into the afternoon cloud cover will start to build in. in fact by noontime temperatures will rebound behind the front with that daytime heating top out around 50 degrees for the high today.

but at sunset they start to cool off dramatically into the 40s and even 30s overnight tonight. i am tracking so much moisture on the way. that could arrive tonight but even better chances for that over the weekend and the details ahead. monika? overall you know things aren't too bad all around town. generally speaking it's friday morning light. i love saying that. overall the beltway is fine. we have one little hot spot in tyson's and i'm going to get to that in just a moment. first up north all the way up to frederick. no problem on i-70, 270 heading south from the frederick area. we'll take a live look closer to gaithersburg and shady grove road. no problems all lanes are open and we'll take a live look there as you head southbound from shady grove road down to the point where the lanes divide. no problems to report and over to the beltway. let's stick with the maps if you're planning to head other to the -- there's shady grove road, no problems here. back to the maps on the outer loop of the beltway after route 7 in tyson's, there's a disabled vehicle right before you get to 66. it's in the left lane. and i mentioned it because

although volumes are light it's in the roadway. you want to be very, very careful with authorities on the scene. a quick look into springfield. on the northbound side of i-95. same story. things are looking fine up to the beltway and if you're planning to take trains everything is running on time. in my next report another look around the area. mike? thank you monika. another hearing scheduled today in the penn state child sex abuse scandal. >> this is a preliminary hearing for tim cur lee and gary schultz. they include perjury. they're accused of failing to properly respond to reports they received that former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky sexually assaulted a young boy at the campus sports complex. our reporter scott broom will be in the courtroom. watch his reports tonight on 9news now. later this morning, the army intelligence analysts suspected of passing government secrets to wikileaks appears in a military court in fort meade, maryland.

today's hearing for private first class bradley manning is the equivalent of a grand jury convening. prison are expected at the -- protestors are expected at the hearing site. this afternoon the house and senate are expected to vote on a deal to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government at midnight tonight but the budget compromise will create some problems with how the district government spends its own funds. 9news now reporter surae chinn is live on capitol hill with more. good morning surae. >> reporter: good morning. it's usually the case right? the d. c. government loses out but you know the threat of working through the holidays could be helping motivate congress to move on these bills and finally come up with a resolution. >> we can come up with something that would get us out of here at a reasonable time. in the next few days. >> mr. president, i might just echo the remarks of the majority leader, we have been in discussions, useful discussions about how to wrap this session up.

>> reporter: well, nothing assigned officially but a deal wouldn't mean 600,000 federal employees won't be furloughed tonight. the spending bill would get us to next october but this usually means d. c.'s government loses out and republicans insist it not have the right to spend its own funds on abortion services. >> i've seen this nonsense go on forever. republicans do things in the district they wouldn't do in their home jurisdictions. do it. but don't use the district as a sacrificial lamb. >> reporter: the senate later on tonight will vote or tomorrow morning. they have the issue of extending the payroll tax cut and funding unemployment benefits. back to you. >> all right, thank you surae chinn reporting. the republican presidential candidates wrapped up the final debate before the iowa caucuses on january 3rd. >> and now they have two and a

half weeks. susan mcginnis reports. >> reporter: newt gingrich is trying to prove he's presidential material. >> i believe i can debate barack obama and i think in seven three hour debates barack obama will not have a leg to stand on. >> reporter: the gop front runner spent much of last night's debate plugging his conservative record and fending off attacks from his rivals. >> we can't have as our nominee from the republican party. they need to be shut down. not built up. >> reporter: michele bachmann accused gingrich of being a washington lobbyist for accepting more than $1.5 million from troubled mortgage giant freddie mac. >> what she just said is factually not true. i never lobbied under any circumstance. >> reporter: gingrich now leads the polls in iowa but the support dropped in recent days leaving him in a tight race with mitt romney and ron paul. >> anyone up here could probably beat obama so.

>> reporter: like paul romney kept the attacks focused on prosecute obama last night -- president obama last night. >> the proof is in his record, it's terrible. >> reporter: he steered clear of targeting gingrich despite calling him zany earlier in the week. >> i'm very concerned about not appearing to be zany. >> reporter: many of the candidates will couldn't in iowa -- continue in iowa today trying to round up the votes before next month. susan mcginnis for cbs news, washington. he stalked, raped and then beat one of his victims to death with a 76-pound rock. now more than a decade after that gruesome murder, police are renewing their efforts to find the potomac river rapist. montgomery county police are releasing a new composite sketch of the attacker police say struck randomly. they have linked him to eight rapes through dna evidence found at the site where 29-year- old christine mars january was

murdered in 1998. that august officers found the 29-year-old woman's body in some woods off canal road near georgetown university. police say some of the other attacks took place in the victims' own homes with children inside. they've been talking about it for months and it looks like it's going to happen now. fairfax county school board approved installation of surveillance cameras in schools. high schools specifically. the cameras will be placed in the the cafeterias and other common areas. this is brought about because of a couple of food fights last spring. principals were frustrated because they couldn't identify the students that started the fights and they injured several students and teachers. the meeting last night lasted more than hour fours before the -- four hours before the vote on the cameras. if you like a superspy, is supersleuth or just some supercute cartoon animals, all arriving arrive in theaters this weekend. >> they all have something in common. we have more on that coming up.

and we are looking at partly cloudy skies this morning. a little bit of a breeze is moving on through. so although the temperatures are mild for this time of the 2 year, yeah, it's a -- the year, yeah, it's a little bit breezy. keep that in mind. cold front is on the way. these temperatures are on the cool side and the coolest air is moving on through. right now in the 50s we'll drop down into the 40s as we head through midday and late day. but our day planner will feature more clouds by later on this afternoon. high today about 50 degrees. monika? well, we're going to take a live look in the college park on the outer loop of the beltway. things are beginning to slow down a bit in silver spring. in college park cherry hill road at route 1 a water main break just reported. more coming up in my next report. back to you. what's old is new again at theaters this weekend. >> all of the main films

opening are sequels. are there any new ideas people? sherlock holmes isn't the smartest guy in the area anymore. in a game of shadows, excuse me. he proves to be his equal. his name is professor james moriarty. robert downey jr. and jude law reprise their roles. tom cruise is back as ethan hunt in mission impossible ghost protocol. he's blamed for a bombing of the pentagon. he joins fellow fugitive agents to clear the agency's name and prevent another attack. for the younger folks, alvin and the chipmunks "chipwrecked." the chipmunks and the chipettes. accidentally go overboard and end up marined in a tropical paradise. they discover their new turf is not as deserted as it seems. >> the plot thickens.

tonight, an effort gets underway to help everyone stay stay on the roads two -- safe on the roads into 2012 even when they've had too much to drink. plus the one stop in the united states where they are upset because they want more snow. it is december 16th. here's are some of the people celebrating birthdays today -- if it's your birthday, have a great day celebrating. we will be right back. >> take the day off.

good morning and welcome back to 9news now. it is 5:44 this friday morning. olga breese is in for howard bernstein and she has today and the day ahead. >> today not too bad. yesterday gorgeous, today very, very nice starting off. temperatures at this hour are just now starting to slip intact into the 40s. we anticipated this with the cold front moving on through. later on in the morning though, even more cloud cover start to fill on through. and that means that well our day planner is going to be a little bit on the cool side for most of the day today. so the early start yes, you probably will only need a light jacket but take something more substantial for you with you especially later on in the evening hours. morning temperatures will bomb out into the 40s -- bottom out into the 40s then rebound just

a little bit. midday and late day i'm talking 1:00 to 2:00 we should hit temperatures closer to the 50- degree mark. and then later on this afternoon, we're going to start to drop back down into the 40s. but notice the winds are going to be shifting. ahead of that front we'll start to see a little bit more of the north and northwest wind moving on through ask definitely keep us in the chill. not only today but for tonight and headed through most of the weekend. big picture on the satellite and radar can, moisture stayed to the north and west. we're going to get a break in the cloud cover through the mid- morning but by late morning, clouds will overtake that sunshine and we'll be mostly cloudy by later on tonight. for cast does call for the mild care to continue to slide off to the east. 59 at reagan national. 43 already in hagerstown where the front is crossing at this hour. for the rest of us delayed just a little bit. in and around the beltway feeling pretty good so far but again that's not going to last too much longer. the futurecast breaks it down like this from about the 5:00 hour this morning, we go in toward midday and late day,

cloud cover starts to increase. i'm anticipating moisture across southern maryland. a few late day showers through portions of the region but most of this should stay just south of the beltway with just a few stray showers moving on through and then clear out overnight meaning we have the opportunity for the temperatures to fall back down again early saturday morning. it is here to stay and we could even see some flurries some of the blue moving on through by sunday. but we're not expecting significant accumulation around the region. here's the forecast for highs for today. around 50 degrees for the daytime high at reagan national. only 47 up towards frederick and out toward annapolis or andrews air force base. 50 degrees as well. for most of us though a very chilly night tonight. temperatures at or below freezing off to the north and toward the west and around 36 degrees in the city center and we will definitely see the opportunity for that cooler air to stick arnold. here's -- around, here's your seven day forecast.

looking pretty good for most of us around the region. more seasonable temperatures are starting to move on in for us and that definitely means 40s for both saturday and sunday. chilly conditions with mostly cloudy skies as particularly by sunday afternoon and even that seven day forecast will keep the cooler air around. we will continue to see partly to mostly cloudy skies if we head in to saturday and sunday but with those overnight lows into the 30s, definitely have the opportunity for a few of the snow flakes to come moving on through. monika? well, overall the beltway is looking great. if that's where you're headed you shouldn't have too many problems with the exception of the normal delays. but in southern maryland i want to give you a heads-up. there's an accident there one just just came in on -- just came in on the northbound side of route 5 at surratts road. be aware of it northbound on route 5. a live look at the beltway at route 4. pennsylvania avenue. this is fine. heading down south to oxon hill and the wilson bridge, in

reports -- from problems to report here -- no problems to report here. 270 southbound, planning to head past father hurley boulevard closer to route 124. an accident. this one just came in. it's not affecting your ride here in jermantown as of yet but just be aware of it going south to montgomery village avenue. also a water main break as well on cherry hill road at route 1. more traffic in the next report coming up at 6:00. but for now, the holiday season is upon us. that means parties, the consumption of alcohol, and the increased risk of drunk driving. joining me this morning for the extra mile to talk about one of the deadliest times on america's roadways is kurt eriksson president of the washington regional alcohol program. thank you for being with us. >> happy holidays. >> how have you kept the numbers down? >> it's a team effort. i think people know us as sober ride. behind the scenes there's a three person charitable organization that runs sober

ride fighting drunk driving and underage drinking through programs in greater washington. >> we're going to get to that in a moment. i really like the check point strike force td spots. in fact we're going to show a little clip right now. >> no. it's funny but it's not. tell us about these spots and the posters as well. >> well, it's an effective  campaign, it started back in 2002 which all the mid-atlantic states are participating in. d. c., maryland and virginia amongst them. but we're really -- it's really making a tremendous difference in the ten years that's been in existence look at virginia as an example. since the campaign started drunk driving injuries in the state have gone down 32% and drunk driving fatalities 62%. it's absolutely making a difference. >> the free cab service starts tonight. sober ride. that's what you were talking about. explain to us how that works. >> you captured it.

it's a free cab ride service we're offering to anybody of legal drinking age 21 and older, they can call a simple number. 1-hundred-200-taxi. every single night between 6:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. you can still get this program. we're expecting similar ridership this year. >> you have to be 21 and you can use it as many time as you like in the two week period? >> we pay up to a $30 fare but the average fare is really $26, $27. >> amazing program. really quick this morning, their law enforcement awards and campaign caver. tell us about this. >> no matter how good the prevention efforts might be the ones in the area schools, we recognize that if t men and women in -- the men and women in uniforms, they're the ones that are making unfortunately 16,000 annual dui aid rests just in the -- arrests just in

the greater washington area. we recognize them for the last 14 years and doing that again this morning and make sure they get thanked. >> that's this morning, i'll be joining you there. kurt eriksson from r. a. p.. here's to a safe holiday season. >> absolutely. thanks. >> you can go to the website for more information on sober ride as well later this morning. in the meantime we're going to go back to andrea. making news now, today the guy nicknamed the barefoot bandit is expected to plead guilty to theft charges in washington state. 20-year-old colton harris-moore already pleaded guilty to federal charges including stealing a plane. his attorneys presented evidence of a troubled childhood in hopes of a lenient sentence. barry bonds is expected to be sentenced today in a san francisco courtroom. the home run king was convicted last april of one count of obstruction of justice for giving evasive testimony about his alleged steroid use. he could face 15 months in prison and confinement at home or just probation.

skiers and snowboarders are complaining about the lack of snowfall in california. a couple of inches fell early thursday but most resorts are using tens of millions of gallons of water instead to make the artificial stuff. okay, before we head to break, another look at the question of the day -- >> on our facebook fan page, dana wrote -- >> log on to wusa9's facebook fan page and please leave your response. we'd love to hear from you. we'll reveal the answer to the survey if about an hour. it is free shipping day. more on that story next. and next in today's cool schools, mike shows us how

producing a documentary on a computer is helping students who immigrated to the u.s. learn the english language. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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and welcome back. i'm olga breese in for howard bernstein this morning. a great finish to the friday. the workweek is looking pretty good. we had mild temperatures yesterday and starting out mild this morning. but that cooler air is on the way. temperatures the last hour continuing to dip. we're now down into the middle 50s but inside the beltway looking at the lower 50s and upper 40s off to the north and toward the west. that's as the front gets closer a little bit we're going to see more of that cooler air start to move on through. here's what the planner is looking like for today. definitely see some cool temperatures by late in the afternoon, temperatures should bottom out in the middle 50s for the daytime high that is and then the 40s for both saturday and sunday. mike? thank you olga. we have an international

edition of cool schools this week, it's stopping in springfield, virginia at robert e. lee high school. that's where students are creating their own multimedia documentaries and it's helping them learn english. >> take a trip with me to explore this culture. >> he sounds like a narrator from an historical documentary. >> one of the most mysterious civilizations was created and nowadays we now about it. >> high school junior connected the content, the images and the music all on his own. >> you're very dramatic. >> discovery. discovery, thyme a -- i'm a fan of. >> but his efforts weren't for a history project. the multimedia presentation was meant to help him learn english. the english speaking for other language class at robert e. lee high school is one of the first in fairfax county to try the project and it's really connected with students. >> it's helped me a lot of

things. it helped me in learning english. and it's fun. >> we have a lot of similar -- >> the native languages in the class include arabic, vietnamese and many others but the one thing these teens have in common? their love of technology. what was it like when you had to present this in front of everybody? were you nervous? >> not really. >> in addition to learning english perhaps something more valuable was learned. thousand study more effective -- how to study more effective in the future. >> you have to make it in your own words or cite it. >> i've had quite a few students who've cleated the project come back and tell me they did a research project in english nine and oh, it was so easy. >> students were concerned with perfecting their own product so much they learned the editing software in the computer lab. so now, future documentary-type reports will be a breeze. but some students already seem

to have a natural talent for it. you get an a. on it? >> oh, yeah, i did get an a. on it. >> just checking. he didn't get an a., no one was. it was a fantastic presentation. if you have a cool school, e- mail me at -- and we hope to be at your school soon. good morning and thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. this friday morning. i'm andrea roane. >> and i'm mike hydeck. thanks for joining us, happy friday monika samtani. >> it is happy. >> she will have traffic momentarily. >> olga breese is in for howard. good morning. >> yeah, there are no complaints here in the weather department. i like it calm. i like it quiet. and i do like it -- warm. >> another person who sits in that chair? >> we get enough excitement regularly. >> yeah. i think so. >> today though -- >> tell them olga. >> today is a pretty good day. usually see around mid 40s for the high, we sat in the 60s most of the overnight. at reagan national 56 degrees but the winds ar