afternoon. but some of the rain again as i mentioned can be steady at times. so, our temperatures aren't going to fluctuate too much. right on doppler radar, we're not seeing much in the immediate metro area. we'll see a little bit of rain begin to move on here as early as 10:30, 11:00. most of the metro area should hold off to right around lunchtime. temperatures will slowly ease out of the lower 40s and into the middle 40s by noon. then in the afternoon, we'll peak with the south winds close to 50 degrees by late afternoon. we should taper off on the rain as we get in toward the 5:00, 6:00 hour. right now, it is very cool to start. the next three days don't look so bad behind that front, we shift our winds to the northwest which means the temperatures tomorrow much more chilly only into the lower 40s and we will see some winds tomorrow, 10 to 20 miles per hour. monika? >> good morning. good morning, everybody. i'm happy to say i think although today will be a little bit heavier than yesterday, it will not be that bad. a lot of people still on vacation for the rest of the

week. here's 66 on the inbound side looking great from gainesville to the beltway. let's take a live look on the inbound side of 66. no problems here at nutley street. we'll go to the traffic land camera on the inbound side of 66 near nutley street. no problems to report heading for the beltway. if you're heading to the beltway down into springfield, you will be ok. here's what it looks like at the american legion bridge. back over to the maps and this time, let's go to the other side of town over to southern maryland looking fine on route 4, route five, route 301. no problems to report heading for the wilson bridge through oxon hill. the overnight accident in case you heard about it on the inner loop of the beltway, just south of the bw parkway has been cleared and all lanes are open here at the good luck road overpass. coming up in my next report, another look at area roadways. mike? >> thanks, monika. a man suspected of killing two people and kidnapping a 2- year-old boy on christmas eve is in police custody in richmond. a police spokesman says 27- year-old jamal clemons

surrendered yesterday afternoon. police believe clemons shot edward bowmer jr. and robin clapp saturday night and stole their suv trying to escape. however, there was a toddler sitting in that suv. kaden burnside. he was found unharmed hours later in the abandoned vehicle and returned to his family. detectives do not believe clemons discovered kaden was inside until after he stole the suv. he is facing a list of charges now. he's been in a cuban prison for two years. family and friends of alan gross are calling on his jailers in havana to let him go. they gathered in d.c. to show for for him. tpwroáes is a u.s. government contractor held in cuba for over two years. he's accused of trying to undermine the government there. cuba recently announced plans to release 3,000 prisoners as an international goodwill gesture. but gross is not among them. that's why they're protesting. we told you yesterday morning about a maryland woman who donated her kidney to her

daughter. now, sasha webster of landover is also out of the hospital. sasha was released yesterday. her mother, marilyn, donated the kidney. she was released on sunday. webster suffered kidney failure caused by type two diabetes. shortly after she was put on a waiting list, doctors discovered her mom was a match. how would you like to share in a $6 billion windfall? that's how much taxpayer money has been wasted in the last year according to a new report from senator tom coburn. 9news now reporter jessica doyle is at an ihop in northwest d.c. that's mentioned in this report. jess, wow. >> good morning to you, mike. we're here in columbia heights, very much a revitalized portion of the district of columbia. we're in front of this ihop that opened about a year ago that found itself on the congressional hit list for being built in part with american taxpayer subsidies. senator tom coburn is a

conservative republican from oklahoma. very fiscally conservative. he's put out his annual waste book, a list of ways he says the government has wasted american taxpayer dollars. $766,000 went to the anacostia economic development corporation to build this ihop franchise and to train its workers. some say that's just a waste. >> unfortunately, the federal government has subsidized directly or indirectly not only flapjacks but grass fed cow butter, beef jerky and mushroom pizzas. after a menu like that, it is taxpayers reaching for the act acid. >> reporter: now, other projects on this list include elmo. $10 million to produce a pakistani sesame street. $120 million in retirements aboutability benefits to federal employees who have

died. $30 million to help pakistani mango farmers. back here in columbia heights, people are saying that's a waste of money. the owner a year ago said this is building the community here that 95% workers live here in the community and this is an area that needs the jobs. mike, i'm going to send it back to you in the studio. >> wow that, will be one bit of interesting reading that, report. thanks a lot, jess. >> now to a couple more stories about your money making headlines at 5:05. u.s. senators are hoping for a positive week to cap off 2011. it may be a bit difficult with most asian markets closing down. traders returned to work after a nice end to last week. the dow finished 124 points to the upside closing at 12,294. nasdaq picked up 19 points and the s&p 500 gained 11 points. >> businesses around the verizon center are feeling a bit better this morning because the d.c. wizards are back in town. the team hosted their first regular season game last night

after the nba lockout delayed the start of the season for two months. kristin fisher has more. >> reporter: back playing ball and back bringing the fans to the home court after the nba lockout. >> when you hear the word lockout, we definitely get scared. we were hoping they would resolve this as quickly as possible and come back. >> scott shirley is the general manager of the district chophouse and brewery. it is located just one block away from the wizards home court. the five month long nba lockout was a brutal wait for all of the bars and restaurants near the verizon center, especially clyde's gallery place which is literally next door. >> of course we were concerned about the lockout. we look forward to any event coming into the verizon center. >> the wizards average roughly 16,000 fans per game last year. that's far below the league average but that's still almost 700,000 people a season parking, eating and drinking at these bars and restaurants. >> there is definitely a noticeable spike when the wizards play next door. >> it what's important is the

washington wizards are for these restaurants, the only thing worse than an nba lockout would have been an nhl lockout. almost every bar and restaurant in this area isn't afraid to admit their biggest source of business is the washington capitals. i'm kristin fisher, 9news now. so, the businesses around verizon center are a little happier, breathing a sigh of relief. what about the wizards? were they pleased with their performance in the first game of the season? highlights coming up in sports. >> plus, a parade celebrates the beginning of the week-long kwanzaa holiday. we'll be right back.

welcome back.

i'm olga breese in for howard bernstein. we're revising the forecast as we speak. on our radar though, the moisture is coming in more quickly so some of that rain could hit some of the western locations as early as 9:00 a.m. this morning. so, be prepared. just as you're heading into work. you might see some of the rain showers begin to fall. forecast today looking pretty good. we'll get rid of the dampness after 5:00. monika? >> we are going to take a live look at 270 and falls road heading southbound in clarksburg at 121. you'll find a bit of volume down toward this point at 5:09 in the morning. a little heavier than yesterday. i don't think we'll encounter big problems this morning. more on maryland roadways coming up at 5:15. making news now at 5:09, a 9-year-old indiana girl who disappeared friday night has been found dead. police in fort wayne have charged alaina lemons baby- sitter with her murder. the suspect, 39-year-old mike is scheduled to be in court today. the white house is

considering now whether or not to allow yemen's outgoing president to seek medical treatment in new york city. ali agreed to step down last month after months of violent protests there. now elections are scheduled for february. he said he's coming here to the united states to help reduce tensions in his country. the week-long kwanzaa holiday is underway. celebrations kicked off with a parade in los angeles. the holiday was created 45 years ago to honor and preserve african-american culture. each day represents a different principal as highlighted and today is self-determination. the iowa caucuses are one week from today and as we approach the official start of the presidential primary season, you might be surprised which candidates lead in the recent polls. at 5:22, drew brees breaks an nfl record that's stood for three decades. >> a lot of sunshine in the

seven-day forecast. olga will be back with that. we'll be right back.

welcome back. 5:13. olga breese is in for howard bernstein. is it true that ratio that one inch of rain equals ten inches of snow. >> yes, we have that

opportunity. >> which opportunity? >> for snow. but at least today, our temperatures are in our favor. i'm thankful for that. not that a little snow in december would be nice. i don't think we want that this early in the morning especially when people are getting back to their daily routine. forecast will feature a pretty good amount of rain. moderate rainfall. even heavy at times as we head through late afternoon and early evening but the day planner this morning is featuring moisture along our western suburbs as early as 9:00 this morning. our temperatures right now in the lower 40s. we'll hover right around mid- 40s to midday and in toward the afternoon. but by very late afternoon, we'll see a subtle wind shift behind the system and that should help us to get closer to the 50 degree mark and even as we get past 7:00, 8:00 this evening, we should start to dry out and even clear out to partly cloudy skies as we head through the overnight period. we do have to get through quite a bit of the dampness first. plan ahead if you're stepping

out this morning. the rain should be here within the next couple of hours. could be heavy at times and most areas will get anywhere from half an inch to under one inch and then behind the system, we'll shift the winds out of the northwest bringing in cooler air for wednesday and thursday but again, the silver lining is the sunshine that will return. our new year's forecast looks pretty good. if you're going to be out at midnight on saturday night, it will be on the chilly side. at this point, the forecast stays dry until monday. here's how we look on our doppler radar, the moisture a little bit off toward our west. not quite charlottesville yet. we are starting to see on our doppler 9000, just a few specks off to the western portions of i-66. nothing major yet for our region until the steadier rain arrives. temperatures are in the 40s. we'll be feeling much colder than that this morning. a bit of a wind chill working right now. reagan national, it does feel like 36 degrees with the south winds beginning to pick up as that low pressure system gets closer and closer. here's what it has been doing

across the south and eastern u.s. from little rock, arkansas all the way to atlanta. this is moving on up toward -- from the south to the north. it is tapping into some more of that gulf moisture. it will be fairly steady, even some severe weather possible in coastal carolina. it should not be severe coming up to our region. our future cast, forecast model has socked us in with the clouds so far this morning. we'll pull in the opportunity for more widespread showers as we head from 4:00 to 5:00, some of the steady rainfall should begin to taper off as we get late into the afternoon and the evening hours. here's how the short term forecast looks for you over the next several days. a forecast that's basically going to feature a lot of rainfall moving on in. the potential should be about just under an inch as we head in toward the afternoon. the seven-day forecast is actually not too bad. breezy and cool on wednesday. a little bit chilly for thursday and friday. but we'll slowly build back some more sunshine and keep the forecast dry through saturday

and sunday. monika? >> good morning. good morning, everybody. really it is all around good news this morning. we had a bit of a problem on the inner loop of the beltway in greenbelt, south of the bw parkway at about 2:00 this morning, everything was cleared up before 5:00. good to go in greenbelt over in frederick coming down on i-70 or 270, everything is fine. no delays to report down in the clarksburg and germantown. let's go over to a live picture of the beltway northside of town near colesville road. no problems to report through silver pring spring on the outer loop of the beltway. a live look of that. no problems to report as we leave 95 heading for colesville road. you can see a bit of volume building here. no big deal yet as you head into bethesda here. back over to the map, this time, the bw parkway and route 50 inside the beltway through cheverly also looking fine. no problems into northeast which is where we'll go live right now. new york avenue at bladensburg road. we're looking good here in the northeast corridor, all of the

potomac and anacostia river crossings are incident-free. another look into virginia this time at 5:24. mike? >> thank you, monika. new uniforms, maybe a new result. wizards play their home opener last night. saints quarterback drew brees throws a legend's name out of the record books on monday night football. highlights coming up in sports. >> let's take another look at the question of the day. according to a recent study, what is the most annoying everyday phrase? is it a, my bad. b, sorry about that. c, no big deal. one of our facebook friends mark writes none of the above. it is d, it's like. however if i'm stuck with the original three choices, mine would be a. post your guess on our facebook page. we'll reveal the answer in our 6:00 hour. we'll be right back. ♪

[ female announcer ] during the holidays, there's a lot to get done. and safeway select appetizers help you rise to every occasion. ♪ from delectable to amazing. there are over 20 affordable safeway select appetizers ♪ to make all of your gatherings just as merry as can be. ♪ only at safeway. ingredients for life. welcome back, everyone. we're off to a fairly calm start in the immediate metro area. i'm tracking showers and storms starting to move in from the south and the southwest. this is part of a low pressure system easing on through. that means overcast skies into

the afternoon. current temperatures in the 40s. we'll move into the lower 50s by late day but your weather planner will remain damp. highs today only into the lower 50s with the rain until about 6:00 p.m. it does look like over the next three days, we'll start to clear things out as we get into wince. much more sunshine but cooler with winds out of the northwest and a bit of a breeze by tomorrow afternoon. mike? >> thank you, olga. there is a new name in the nfl record books this morning. drew brees broke dan marino's single season passing record of 5,084 yards set in 1984. last night, he beat the mark late in the fourth quarter with a 9-yard touchdown pass. brees becomes the first nfl quarterback to pass for more than 5,000 yards in two seasons. saints crushed them. now, here's kristin berset. >> good morning, everybody. they may be a month late but the nba back in action last night. the wizards open their

shortened season against new jersey. and the first half, it was like a dream state. the wizards were dominating, up 21 at one point. who were these guys? the nightmare began all over again. wizards finally getting the season underway. andre black puts the ball underneath. slams it in. wizards up 20-10. in the second, nick young puts the wizards up 26-13 up by as much as 21 just in the first half. darren williams with the fake to kris humphries for the dunk. under 2:00 left, williams to morrow for the 3. don wahl with a chance to tie it but turns the ball over. wizards blow a 21-point lead with a 90-84 loss to the nets in their season opener. the caps also in action up in buffalo. the sabres, well, they came out on fire. jason scores in the first minute of the game. matt ellis, 2:00 later. sabres go up 4-0. second, matt

hendrix watches the shutout with the goal and then alex ovechkin, goal on the power play. they get within two. the caps can't complete. sabres beat the caps 4-2. >> rough day after christmas in washington sports. that's going to do it for your morning sports, i'm kristin berset, have a great tuesday. residents near a government facility say its expansion plans will harm the surrounding environment and make a negative impact on their property values. plus, a new report tallies up just how much of your tax money the federal government has wasted over the past year. quick check of traffic now, monika. >> traffic all around looking pretty good, mike. i want to give you a heads up. mark brunswick line 892 is cancelled this morning. this just in. they will honor your metro ticket. coming up in my next report, another look at area roadways at 5:29. you're watching 9news now. stay with us. alright everybody, get your heads up.

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it is tuesday. two days after christmas. hopefully you're getting a chance to relax, take a deep breath. maybe you're off today, maybe you're getting to work. >> i saw all of the people at tysons yesterday. >> i didn't go in. i saw everyone trying to go in. >> i'm mike hydeck. she's monika samtani. traffic momentarily. olga breese is in for howard. she says rain is on the way. >> we'll see some of the wet stuff coming on down later on this morning. right now though, things are not too bad. cloudy skies. temperatures not too cool. most of us sitting in the 40s. over time, that rain will start to creep on in. it could be heavy at times. your planner today will feature a lot of rain coming down. we're calling moderate rainfall and then heavy in a few locations. doppler radar not picking up on any of that in our immediate area just yet. but hold on. after about 9:00 between 9:00 and 10:00, the earliest areas

west of the beltway should start to see moisture push on through. the system is sitting down toward our south and west. by the afternoon, temperatures should make it close to the 50 degree mark. not too much higher than that. we'll keep it fairly mild because of the southwest winds. behind that system, we switch to northwest winds. by wednesday, we have plenty of sunshine moving back in. temperatures tomorrow though will feel much colder. although we'll get to 43 degrees under mostly sunny skies tomorrow, the wind chill will be a factor with winds out of the northwest at 10 to 20 miles per hour. monika? >> well, the good news is that a lot of people off this week so if you do have to go to work, you'll see a little bit of volume outside. really no big deal. you will get to work on time if you're leaving right now. along 95 coming up from the occoquan river, all the way into springfield. let's take a live look there on the northbound side of i-95. this is what it looks like. a bit of volume coming up from route 644 to the beltway. if you're heading up toward

annandale and 66, you will be just fine. 395, a live look at the 14th street bridge on the northbound side. very light volumes into the district. using the interstate here. we'll go back down over to the maps and into southern maryland, no problems to report on route 4, route 5, route 301 this morning. by the way, if you're a marc train rider, 382 is canceled. you can use the metro train instead. 892 is canceled. the federal government spends billions of dollars on items like defense and entitlement programs. one lawmaker said he found $6 billion of our taxpayer money going toward wasteful projects. 9news now reporter jessica doyle is live outside an ihop in columbia heights which is part of this story. good morning, jess. >> reporter: good morning to you, mike. that's right. we're talking about republican senator tom coburn who has a reputation for being a fiscal conservative out with his annual waste book. this is a list of 100 projects

he says has wasted the taxpayer dollars to the tune of $6.5 billion for all of 2011. and that's right. this ihop here in columbia heights is on the list. $766,000 in taxpayer subsidies went to local developers to revitalize the spot. the ihop opened a year ago. it is a 24-hour pancake place. some have turned it pancakes for yuppies and critics say this waste should be blamed on congress. >> well, this is a list of shame and the ones who ought to be ashamed are not only the bureaucrats who might have misspent the money but the members of congress who were failing to oversee these programs in the first place. >> now, the report is talking about some ihop, the location that has been revitalized and of course, revitalization is very much in the eye of the beholder. this used to be a parking lot that was frequented by drug dealers we're told, by people

here in the community. the restaurant employed 150 people at opening a year ago. 95% of them are d.c. residents in an area that was very much blighted with high unemployment. now, in contrast, across the street, the building i'm staring at, these are luxury apartments. a one bedroom goes for $1800 a month. on the other side of the scale, we did this story in the fall, about 100 people who waited overnight for a chance at just ten spots in subsidized housing. very much a situation politics again, yet again coming down to a matter of opinion. what is revitalized a what is not. mike, back to you in the studio. >> thanks, jess. i would love to see that report and see if things in his home state would be on the report as well. thanks a lot. tonight, a viewing party is going to be held for u.s. park police sergeant michael bain. the sergeant collapsed and died earlier this month while he was on duty and assisting with

another person's medical emergency at the c & o canal. the funeral will take place tomorrow. a holdup took place along bladensburg road. one man served as a lookout. two others jump the counter and start raiding through the register. police say this trio also recently robbed a wendy's in hyattsville and a family dollar in mt. rainier. if you recognize any of them, please call prince george's county police. >> what happens when a community's quality of life and environmental concerns run into a post-9-11 national security argument? that's an unresolved question in bethesda on the site of an old government matching agency that may soon house several thousand intelligence workers. gary nurenberg went snooping for some answers.

>> reporter: 40 acre site of the old national geo spatial intelligence agency is near macarthur boulevard in bethesda overlooking the c & o canal. looks deserted now that the agency has moved to fort belvoir. >> we've seen a drop in business because the defense mapping agency, they've slowly taken their employees away. >> some area businesses did not survive. merchants hope to move 3,000 intelligence workers to the site. >> i'm all for it. i think that the more industry that comes into the area, the better. >> we were excited to hear about 3,000 jobs coming in. you know. the quicker, the better. >> some neighbors strongly disagree. >> the first is the tremendous traffic issues because they're proposing a 44% increase at least in the traffic. and beyond that, significant environmental issues about how

clearing several acres of trees back over there will affect the national park area. >> reporter: neighbors argue a planned six story parking garage near this lot will damage views of the potomac river from their nearby homes and will damage views from the potomac river when those trees fall for that garage. >> the community has risen up significantly. >> but not unanimity of opinion. >> i'm more than happy that they're home near where i am. i think is necessary. >> opponents of the plan and its accompanying loss of trees argue that it defies the long established policy of protecting the river valley from erosion and point to a build-up of sentiment already. things could change. there is a planning meeting for february. given the national security implications, that may not be positive. gary nurenberg, 9news now. >> time for a few more money headlines this morning. the manufacturer of a widely

used baby formula, enfamil says its testing shows the product is free of bacteria blamed for the death of a missouri baby. two tests of samples of enfamil found no sign of the bacteria. the company says the samples were tested and were taken from the same lot as the formula given to the baby who died. the missouri case prompted the retail giant walmart to pull all of the cans of the same size and lot number from its shelves. another newborn baby was sickened in illinois but is recovering. state authorities, the fda and the cdc are also running lab work on the formula. the after christmas sales and frenzy of returning gifts well underway, you may be reluctant to try to return a gift card that you don't really want. but do you have another option. web sites like plasticjungle and giftcardrescue will buy unwanted gift cards for a fee, of course. plastic jungle gives you up to 92% of the value of the card

while gift card rescue gives you quotes for your gift card. then you can exchange it for cash. a plea for help on facebook may have saved a woman's life. that story is coming up. plus, a group of scuba divers may have discovered a piece of military history off the coast of florida. we'll be right back.

>> we're dry right now. a bit of a breeze coming out from the south. radar shows the moisture moving on through. we'll have overcast skies today. rain heavy at times and yes, your day planner will be damp. temperatures will move out of the 40s near 50 degrees and we'll taper off on the rain around 5:00 or 6:00. monika? >> olga, heading out of the northeast, northbound on kenilworth, an accident just reported. this is eastern at kenilworth

avenue just nearby for the accident. another accident on the beltway in virginia, that's coming up in my next report. >> scuba drive divers may have discovered a world war ii plane off the coast of florida. a small group was offshore when they discovered an upside down plane at a depth of 185 feet. they videotaped the plane and sent their images to the war bird information exchange. experts believe this aircraft could be fb2c which flew in the early 1940s. pretty cool. a huge construction project is underway in colorado and even though it will be gone in six months, every day, the builders are adding to their ice castles in the town of silver thorne. they run a sprinkler every night to create the icicles, harvest the icicles then place each one individually to build the castle walls. the castles range between 20 and 30 feet high right now.

but they'll be up to 60 feet tall when they're done. weather permitting, the castles should stick around until about april. that's neat. one week to go until the republican candidates are starting their big push in iowa. plus, we're lucky to be missing out on a powerful storm system and it is causing some major problems in parts of europe. >> before we head to break, let's see who's celebrating a birthday today. actor john stamos is 42. girard depardieu is 63. former wcw champ turns 45 today. and cole hammel turns 48. if it is your birthday, happy birthday.

>> big weather time. howard bernstein is off. olga breese is in. earlier this month, we had rains that were so serious, i

hydroplaned on the way to work. are we expecting something to that level today? >> not quite that bad today there. will be pockets of heavy downpours coming down. right now on the satellite and radar, you can see a little bit of blips of red and yellow. not in our immediate area but in the larger storm system. for us, for today, we'll hold off on the rain until about 9:00 this morning. then we'll start to see it creep on through. this is part of a low pressure system that is sliding off toward the east and the northeast and it is going to traverse our area. we'll go from mainly cloudy skies and dry this morning in the lower 40s. we'll hit the middle 40s by mid afternoon. but then the rains will be fairly steady. i call them moderate in toward the afternoon with some pockets of heavy downpours. then as we get to the afternoon, evening hours, things should start to taper off a little bit. we'll have a little bit of a wind shift as well. temperatures will start to move on up. we'll hopefully make it to about 51 degrees at reagan national airport.

behind the system, a definite wind shift to the northwest. that will bring in the cooler air for both your wednesday and thursday forecast. so, if you're getting out this morning, take your rain gear with you. you'll definitely need it within the next couple of hours as that rain continues to move in our direction. it could be heavy in certain pockets though if you are commonly in a flood prone areas, you do want to be careful because there is a potential we could see some streams overflow. the cooler air again comes in on wednesday and then the weekend looks pretty good. a mix of sun and clouds. at least we'll keep it dry. fairly cool for your new year's day. with doppler radar, looking fairly active. i mentioned the red and green. heavy downpours we're seeing now. still in west virginia. there is potential for some of the heavy rain to move on into our area. we have not yet seen it hit the washington beltway just yet. we will continue to see our cool temperatures this morning so if you're just getting back into the routine, headed back to work, it is about 42 degrees at reagan national right now. 40 in bethesda.

it is feeling much cooler with the wind chill in place. satellite and radar shows just how massive the storm is. this is a low pressure system that has tapped into some gulf moisture and it means it will definitely bring some severe weather across portions of georgia in through south carolina and north carolina. there are no -- there is no risk of severe weather in the immediate viewing area. at least our temperatures are warming up. this will be an all rain event for us. here's how future cast bears it out. by 11:00, we'll see rain across the entire metro area, even out toward the eastern shore. steadier rain will come through late afternoon and in toward the evening hours. then by 6:00, 7:00, we start to dry out and clear out so things will be improving behind that system. the rain potential should be anywhere from a half an inch in some locations to closer to under an inch by later on this afternoon. finally, the outlook for your extended forecast is not too bad. cooler behind the front. tonight's low only gets down to 39 but tomorrow, with northwest

winds very breezy, almost 20- mile-per-hour winds for tomorrow afternoon. will only be in the lower 40s. monika? >> well, if you're planning to head over into prince george's county out of northeast, there is an accident northbound on kenilworth avenue north of eastern avenue. authorities have arrived on the scene. overall, the beltway is doing fine except for the inner loop of the beltway, north of route 236 here in the annandale area. right shoulder. it is attracting some attention. let's go ahead and take a live look at 66 on the inbound side. no real significant delays to worry about here in centreville as you head toward fairfax, i think you're good to go right now. we'll head back over to the maps. this time on the northside of town, the beltway is fine. no problems through silver spring on the inner or outer loops. live look at 270 where you've got a bit of a slowdown leaving route 109. on the southbound side, traffic is moving well into germantown. coming up in my next report, another look around the area at

6:00. mike, back to you. thank you, monika. making news now, a california family is at the bedside of army specialist chris sullivan. sullivan returned home safely from afghanistan only to get shot at his welcome home party friday. doctors fear sullivan may be paralyzed from this. the suspected gunman turned himself in yesterday. the utah woman may have facebook to thank for saving her life and the lives of two children. she was held by her boyfriend for days and attacked repeatedly. the woman apparently snuck a laptop into a closet, posted a cry for help and the boyfriend is now jailed. she's recovering from her injuries. a powerful storm system in northern europe disrupted train traffic and halted cruise ships in norway, sweden and finland. authorities asked people to stay inside because falling trees and other debris flying around in the strong winds, the system is weakening however.

one week to go from today, iowa republicans will caucus to pick their favorite presidential candidates. most of the g.o.p. hopefuls will start their final push today in iowa where many polls have a political maverick in the lead now. duarte geraldino reports. >> i'm almost considering myself a resident here. >> rick santorum was the only republican presidential candidate campaigning in iowa, spending part of the day pheasant hunting but the real hunt for the top spot in the iowa caucuses will intensify today. >> i'm going to do something for government. i'm going to make it simpler and smarter and smaller. >> mitt romney released a tv advertisement as he tries to sway undecided voters. with only a week to go until the caucuses, the latest polls show a three-way race between romney, newt gingrich and ron paul. rick perry is trying to improve his position. he'll launch a bus tour today and also released a fresh ad in iowa. >> if washington is the problem, why trust a congressman to fix it? >> paul, at the top of many

polls in iowa, won't be campaigning there today. his next event is scheduled for tomorrow. gingrich and michele bachmann will make numerous stops as they hit the final stretch of campaigning. historically, a victory in iowa does not guarantee lasting success in the race for the republican nomination. but it often forces some candidates who finish in the back of the pack to drop out. possibly fitting the field before the new hampshire primary a week after the caucuses. duarte geraldino for cbs news, washington. let's take another look at the question of the day now. according to a recent study, what is the most annoying everyday phrase? is it a, my bad. sorry about that or c, no big deal. one be of our friends on our facebook page writes if you ask me, they're all kind of impersonal however, my bad is the worst! every time i hear people say it, it is done in a tone like it's no big deal and that really annoys me. >> that's kind of funny. we'll reveal the answer about

an hour from now. well, there is something especially hearty about rural new englanders who endure the tough winters. even when they're faced with a summertime weather disaster, vermonters have banded together to rebuild thes green country state.

welcome back, everybody. i'm olga breese in for howard bernstein this morning. it is about to get wet and messy across the metropolitan area. mainly cloudy skies this morning. the moisture is moving in from the south and west. should hit the metro area and get to the beltway around about 9:00 this morning. we're already seeing rain along i-95 closer to richmond. currently our temperatures are in the 40s. we'll push that up to near 50 degrees for reagan national later on this afternoon. we'll definitely see that rain heavy at times into the afternoon and early evening but we should taper off on that rain after about 5:00 or 5:30. next three days, an improvement. sunshine on wednesday. albeit a little bit on the

breed breezy side. at least we stay dry through wednesday, thursday and friday as we head into our holiday weekend. i'll have more details on your seven-day forecast in a couple of minutes. mike? >> thanks, olga. well, it has been a relatively quiet woeupbter around here so far. perhaps that's the makeup for the disasters mother nature threw at the east coast including hurricane irene back in august. in vermont, just three months after irene caused the worst flooding in the state's history, they've rebuilt roads, bridges, even rivers there. and as those behind all of that work tell us, they did it for a fraction of the original estimated costs. >> we're the engine in this local economy in the winter time. after irene left, the next morning was a beautiful, sunny day. and we began assessing our damage. and immediately started putting our people to work to bring her back to get ready for the ski

season. >> we literally had such extraordinary damage that we felt like we had grand canyons in many places, 90 foot, 200 foot drops thafrp just created by small, little teeny brooks and rivers. we had over 500 miles of roads cut out. we had 200 bridges, 34 that were entirely shut down. >> we were 16, 17, 18 hour days, seven days a week for the first four weeks. the small little brook was over 300 feet across at the height of irene. i've learned there is no challenge too big for vermonters. every place we lost the roads, the river was now running where the road used to be. before we could reconstruct the road, we needed to relocate the river. >> the rocks have been strategically place to create the habitat so we haven't harmed the environment at all. >> we have one road left that really, there was nothing left. only a riverbed and we're making great progress there. >> the wet stone bridge flooded

its banks. came across the road here. watched everything out. when the water left, there was a foot of mud left in the restaurant. all of my restaurant equipment was totally ruined. >> this particular case, the water was a very, very serious threat. the water level was up to here. all the way down through. at that time, there were about 6,000 or 7,000 pair of shoes down here. it probably took us eight weeks to get back to where we were fairly comfortable doing business. >> today, we've got a volunteer crew, mainly staff and friends and patrons of the pub coming in, cleaning up this area here, hopefully we'll be able to get everything cleaned up. we hope to open thursday, friday, saturday. >> it is very important for us to get our business up for the holidays. if we don't get it up for the holidays, we could create a problem for the whole year. >> this year, compared to last year, it is the same time

period. we're actually head of last year with prebooking for lodging stays and our season pass sales are ahead as well. >> good old vermont ingenuity. it is people that work hard and work together to make things happen. we rebuilt this state faster than anybody thought possible and frankly, we did it for 25 cents on the dollar. >> talk about that for togetherness. 25 cents on the dollar on what they estimated that was going to cost. amazing story. thanks for joining us. you're watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. i'm mike hydeck. andrea is off this week. >> i'm monika samtani with a check on traffic in a moment. >> howard bernstein is off this week. olga breese is nice enough to join us. >> it is almost here. it is moving quickly. the some is going to get here as early as 9:00 this morning. we're already seeing it showing up on the satellite and radar. doppler radar, a different story. the tighter view, very, very quiet. the cloud cover is here to st