horrible situation. >> well, monika, this is a horrible, horrible car accident. i want to take you to the scene behind me. you can see that the car, what's left of it, is unrecognizable as a car. it is up about three feet on that brick wall in front of a house here at university boulevard. police are currently in the process of reconstructing this accident trying to figure out how it could have even gone airborne and wound up there. there is a curb and there is an embankment that it may have somehow jumped off to wind up in that position. this is a fatal accident. as you can see, the wall behind me, a very tough situation officers are dealing with here. now, we spoke with the uncle of a victim as well as captain robert ballista. he updated 9news now about this fatal accident. >> all of the occupants we believe are adult females. two of the individuals have

died. one of those individuals is alive and is at a local hospital receiving treatment at this point in time. we have no idea right now if alcohol or speed were a factor. that's currently under investigation. because of the extent of the damage, we right now don't know who was driving. >> she works in and goes to school. she just graduated from high school. thinking about going to college. >> that's the uncle of tamara johnson, 19 years old. she was in the car at the time of this accident. we do not know of her condition. the family members have been gathering at this location all morning long. they're now starting to leave. they have been crying and hugging. very, very tough situation for them to deal with. now, as the officer said, they do not know if alcohol or speed were factors in this accident. they do believe that the three women were coming back from a club in d.c. when this accident happened. we've also heard that a second vehicle may have been following

behind, maybe possibly a member of their group had it been out earlier in the evening. in the meantime, the accident reconstruction is going on right now. it should probably take place we hear for a couple of hours on that one lane of the highway. so, they're still dealing with with this situation. still pulling together the details of exactly what happened at this scene. monika, i'm going to send it back to you in the studio. >> thanks so much, jessica. we could see behind her on the westbound side of university boulevard, crews opened up the lane. the eastbound side of university boulevard that remains closed. we're taking a live look here from sky 9. now, if you're planning to head eastbound, you can go ahead and use wayne avenue, to flower to sligo creek parkway to get around it. again, on the eastbound side, the lanes remain closed. westbound is open. i still suggest you go ahead and use your major routes to get around it including route 29 as well. here's what it looks like on the beltway, west side of town, american legion bridge. on the outer loop of the beltway, virginia state police

are telling bus a motorcycle accident after the dulles toll road. watch out for a bit of a slowdown in that area. we'll update you on everything going on around the area at 6:14. mike? >> thanks, monika. >> rockville pike in bethesda is back open this morning. it opened around midnight after a deadly crash involving a metro crash in the afternoon. it collided with a pickup truck wednesday along 355 along ellesmere drive in bethesda. we spoke with a person who was riding in the bus at the time of the crash. i was reading a book and all i knew was that -- there was a loud noise and we were careening across the road. i didn't even see anything, really. >> now, a crane was called in to help get people out of the bus. police are investigating the cause of the crash. metro has not released the driver's name but says she was a 13-year veteran of the agency. she was also hurt in that

crash. well, there is one occupy protestor still involved in a hunger strike this morning. his name is adrian parsons. he hasn't eaten in three weeks. he's trying to draw attention to the lack of voting member in congress for the district. the 29-year-old said he's lost 25 points so far. protestors in freedom plaza will be able to stay through february now. that's because the national park service says the occupy protestors applied for a permit extension and it was granted. the protest is different from the larger occupy group protesting in mcpherson square which is just blocks away. people involved in that mcpherson square protest will take their cause to capitol hill. they plan a major demonstration january 17th. when the house returns to session. organizers are predicting the largest unionification of occupy protestors on that day. the group says it has applied for a permit. the park service says it hasn't received that application yet. it has been 20 years since

felicia barnes disappeared while visiting her sister in baltimore. her body was found months later. barnes was visiting maryland from north carolina and wednesday, classmates and friends gathered to celebrate her life with a memorial. barnes' mother, the occasion was bittersweet. >> it made my heart sing because they really cared enough about her to do something like that and all of the hard work that they put into it. but it bleeds because it reminds me of the tragedy all over again. >> maryland state police say they have made recent progress in finding barnes' killer but they've chosen not to release any details on the investigation at this point. nationwide, a group of mothers took part in a nurse-in protest against retail chain target. it includes women from our region, too. they were upset after a target employee reportedly told a mother to go elsewhere to

breast-feed. annette sosa reports. >> reporter: not every woman visiting a target store on wednesday was there to shop. on the heels of an alleged incident in texas, women around the country took to the retail giant's locations to breast- feed in plain sight in what was dubbed nurse-in. >> are you going nurse for mommy in. >> last month, michelle hickman said she was nursing her 5- month-old at a target outside houston. she was in a remote area and using a blanket for cover but employees told her to move to a fitting room. weeks later, she was among the mothers protesting. >> it is about women everywhere, all over the world that this is having an effect upon on a daily basis. >> displays by what they heard, women showed solidarity with the 35-year-old by holding nurse-ins in other cities. >> it is not about my convenience. it is about his health and comfort. >> responding to the incident, target spokespeople say patrons are welcome to breast-feed in

public areas. >> target is a family-oriented company. so, if a guest chooses to breast-feed in our store, target supports it 100%. >> the minneapolis-based chain apologized over the incident in texas and said they have spoken with hickman. i'm annette sosa for 9news now. >> we're told more nurse-ins happen. 45 states, the district and the federal government have rules allowing women to breast-feed in any public or private location. time now is 6:07. coming up in about eight minutes, we're going to cool schools time. we'll check out an after school program that helps kids make formal dinners and learn some life lessons. meet the woman behind it all. cold start to thursday this morning. how much is it going to warm up later? your weather first when 9news now returns. when it comes to getting my family to eat breakfast,

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we're back this thursday morning. here is a check on what's making news now. owners from the arab league are in syria looking into the suspected killing of unarmed protestors. on or abouts want to make sure the syrian government complies with the guidelines to end the

crackdown. more than 100 tows people in north korea gathered for the memorial ceremony of kim jong il. his son, kim jong-un leads the country. he's the third to run the country. >> both disneyland in california and disney world in florida had to close the gates wednesday. it got too crowded. so they had to stop letting people in. those who are inside said the lines for the rides were more than two hours long. wow! >> what recession? >> olga is in for howard. 33 degrees here at northwest. that's 11 degrees cooler than it was yesterday. >> we're still slipping down into the 20s. we're definitely going to see more cloud cover as we get later on in the day. we're looking at a forecast today that is going to be fairly nice. we'll stay in the 40s today with some milder air on the way. but in time, our december temperatures will return. we'll get a little bit of a break for the short term. right now, we're looking partly cloudy at reagan national airport. there are some pockets of clear

locations in and around town. most of us are sitting in the 20s, upper 20s to near 30 degrees. we'll pull into the 40s around lunchtime. we'll top out middle 40s to a few upper 40s down across our southern zones but in all, it will be a fairly cool day because of that cloud cover. tonight, if you're heading out, make sure you bundle up. it will be another chilly one as we get into the early morning hours of your friday. here's how we look overall. very cold start for this morning. we'll pull in a little bit more cloud cover by the afternoon. but no rain associated with that. milder temperatures are coming our way for friday and then the weekend for both new year's day and new year's eve looking pretty good at this point. here's how we look on satellite and radar. just a few of the high clouds moving on through. all of the moisture is staying well off to our west and that's not going to be impacting us for today. right now, 33 at reagan national. 25 up toward frederick. 23 in manassas. 25 down in southern maryland. la plata. we're definitely feeling cold.

feels like the teens if you're just getting up and about in gaithersburg. in the 20s elsewhere around town. future cast is quiet. just a few clouds coming on through. moisture tries to pop on through. not making it past the mountains for today. tomorrow, we start off with mostly cloudy skies. later on in the morning. by tomorrow afternoon and evening, we should see overcast skies heading into the beginning of the holiday weekend. here's how we look for highs for today. about the middle range pushening the upper 40s in and around town. it will be much cooler. look at the mild air that moves on in. with the south and southwest winds, we stay in the 50s for both friday and saturday and then on sunday for the big holiday, expect temperatures to top out right around 56 degrees. monika? >> well, if you're planning to head over to the langley park area, you may have heard of a fatal crash that happened overnight in langley park on university boulevard just north of piney branch road at herrin drive. the good news is the westbound lanes have been reopened. let's go to a live picture if

you're planning to head through the area just so you can get some perspective. this is a live picture from sky 9. westbound lanes have been reopened through the area. eastbound, you'll have to use wayne avenue to flower to sligo creek parkway to get around the situation and with the investigation and the reconstruction, it is going to take awhile for that closure. now, here's what it looks like from our mdot camera, a little closer in. again, the eastbound lanes remain blocked. westbound has been reopened. let's go over to virginia. on the northbound side of i-95, overall, you've got delays north of newington, more like springfield as you head up for the beltway and on to 395. you're absolutely fine heading through landmark to the 14th street bridge. authorities are on the scene of an accident on the outer loop of the accident. sitting on the left shoulder involving a motorcycle but volumes still remain significantly light. coming up in my next report, we'll talk more about langley park at 6:24. mike? >> thank you, monika. coming up on 6:15, most of the students are off for the week

but the cool schools bus keeps on rolling. this week, we're stopping in the district. can making fettucine teach you something about life? it sure can. you'll see where when you meet the stars of this week's cool schools. we got a taste of an after school program called classy kids cook. >> hi, come on in! >> put it on your hand like play-doh. >> s squish it, mash it, pound it. >> it is kind of rough. >> you're looking at the beginning of fettucine alfredo. >> you're going to make a dough ball. it is going to look like pasta. >> i do like pasta. >> how do you like it best? >> i just like it plain. >> classy kids cook, a summer camp and after school program where measuring ingredients is just the beginning. >> what does this say over here? >> tablespoon.

>> we need one tablespoon. >> she spent two decades in the financial services industry and decided to give it all up to follow her dream. out of this garden level condominium in d.c., she teaches kids life skills through her love of cooking. >> they practice math. right. they're measuring. they learn to cook which is a life skill. they learn generosity because typically, when somebody is cooking, they're cooking for other people. >> they also learned hosting duties and the proper way to set a table. >> so, that's a spoon. what's next. >> the knife. >> ania is 53/4 and she has it down. >> when you turn it right side up, you're asking for... >> milk. >> when kids learn how to cook, they make healthier eating choices later in life. >> registered dietitian lorraine butler. >> in the short term, they tend to eat a more variety of foods. they choose to try healthy

foods that they might not have tried. in the long-term, if you learn how to cook, then i think that makes a positive impact on your diet. >> it seems to be working. >> the only thing i knew how to cook before i came here was scrambled eggs. >> now, lisa says her new knowledge makes her think of becoming a chef some day. and what's really cool, classy kids cook students are being featured in a usda video on healthy eating! >> i'm going -- you want to use this? >> with pupils like anna, it is sure to be a hit. >> crush those graham crackers. if you have a classroom program you think is cool, send an e- mail to me at mhydeck at wusa9.com. wasn't she cute in. >> they'll be stars in a video. i love it. it is 6:17. next in sports, the capitals dominate one of the nhl's best teams and georgetown dominates one of the best college basketball teams.

>> right now, before we head to break, another check of the question of the morning. according to a new study, the average person craves one of these things at least five times a day. is it a, candy. b, a nap. or c, a hug. >> that, too. >> our facebook friend ian says it is all of the above. we crave candy bars because this is america. and sugar is 90% of our diet. because working for a living stinks. and sleep is awesome. and we crave hugs because the extra pounds from the sugar and being sleep deprived depresses the average person and makes them need a hug. boy, rell thought about that one. >> ian took some time. keep the guesses coming. we hope they're as creative as ian's. we'll be right back. ♪

[ man ] we've been in the business over the course of four centuries. [ woman ] it was a family business back then, and it still feels like a family business now. the only people who knew about us were those in new england,

that moment that we got our first web order... ♪ ...we could tell we were on the verge of something magical. all of a sudden it just felt like things were changing. we can use this to advertise to bakers everywhere. [ man ] browns summit, north carolina. crescent city, california. we had a package go to kathmandu once. the web has been the reason this entire section of the warehouse exists today. we were becoming more than this little flour company in vermont. [ woman ] we're all going after one common goal, which is to spread the joy of baking throughout the whole world. ♪ ♪ ♪ a chilly start.

we'll sock in more cloud cover later this afternoon. bundle up if you're stepping out. temperatures are in the 20s in and around town feeling like the lower to mid-20s when you factor in the wind chill. the day planner today, not really warming up too much. we will make it out of the 30s and into the 40s but mostly cloudy skies by later on this afternoon. we'll hold our temperature down for the short term. an improvement in the seven-day forecast. and more details on that in my next report. >> announcer: now, 9 sports with kristin berset. the best sports in town. >> good morning, everybody. we're all well aware of the capitals post-season struggles the past few years but the only team they they have been able to beat then are the new york rangers. so, if they were going to get back in the win column, it was going to be last night. caps hosting new york. john carlson with a shot. troy brower with the deflection. caps go up 2-1. later in the second, alex with the goal. caps up 3-1. simmon would add another one. capitals hold on and beat the

rangers 4-1. wizards in atlanta looking for their first win of the season. hawks, well, they get off to a fast start. joe johnson with the three puts the hawks up 11-0. wizards try to come back. miss to mcgee. follow-up dunk. atlanta pulls away late. wizards drop to 0-2 with a 101 opinion 83 loss. georgetown last night proved why they are good! taking on fourth-ranked louisville. louisville with the pressure caused a turnover. hoyas thinking upset. tied at 63. henry sims with the miss. potter said that one i'll get you to. watch that guy. georgetown. fourth ranked louisville. 71-68. >> alex flynn finally making his terps debut with maryland hosting albany. the comcast center. howard to lynn for the dunk. look at the big man. terps up 23-13.

then the two hook up again in the final seconds of the first half. maryland beat albany 83-72. that will do it for your morning sports, i'm kristin berset. have a great day. >> it was all about offense wednesday at the military bowl at rfq stadium. air force trailing with a minute left. jefferson jr. for the touchdown. all air force needed was the extra point to tie it up. the falcons decide to go for a sneak play for the two-point conversion and fail. toledo tops air force 42-41. that's a lot of points on the board. there are just two weekdays left in december. just two more days to show off your holiday displays. >> write to today's morning lights. another one with the wow factor. >> check out the home of doug bryant in clifton, virginia. that is an explosion of holiday color. all the bushes are lit up. lights around the house. a big christmas tree in lights right in the front.

there are also a few lit up reindeer as well. >> would you like to see all of the homes we featured this month? go to wusa9.com and type in morning lights in the search bar and you can see all of them. they're all beautiful. thanks for pitching them in. >> we'll show you the most watched video on youtube from this year and it is one that people watched because it was so bad. >> look being to exchange the unwanted gift cards you got this holiday season? we have some advice so you can avoid getting scammed. what's going on with traffic, monika? >> we'll take a look live at the scene of a fatal accident from overnight here on university boulevard at piney branch road. westbound side has been reopened. eastbound remains closed. we'll have more on this situation in silver spring coming up in my next report. you're watching 9news now. stay with us.

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3 1/2 million members. 3 1/2 million stories. navy federal credit union. at 6:30, we're following breaking news out of montgomery county. two women are dead after a car crash on university boulevard east just north of piney branch road. a third woman was seriously hurt. jessica doyle just spoke to the montgomery county police captain. we'll get an update from her in a moment. and monika will tell us about the impact regarding your morning commute. she'll have that on traffic. thanks for joining us and starting your day with us. i'm mike hydeck.

andrea and howard are both off this morning. olga breese is live on the weather terrace with a much chillier look at the forecast. good morning, olga. >> good morning, mike. you'll have to find a way to keep yourself warm this morning. our temperatures are in the 20s. we have partly cloudy skies. we'll get more clouds in here later on this afternoon. our day planner stays on the cool side. only in the low to mid-40s by late afternoon. mostly cloudy skies this evening and then another chilly night tonight. monika? >> we've been talking about a deadly crash in silver spring inside the beltway on university boulevard at piney branch road. right here inside the beltway. our jessica doyle has been live at the scene. jessica, what's the latest? >> well, monika, we just were speaking with captain paul starks, montgomery county police gave us more information about this horrible accident that you see behind us. the victims' names and ages, janeese richards, apparently the driver of this vehicle, 22 years old. jones, 18. she's been transported to the

hospital. as well as tamara johnson, 19. two fay at fatalities. the third female in the car taken to the hospital. let me show you the scene behind us. accident reconstruction is going on right now. seems the vehicle swerved and wound up about three feet up on that embankment back there. we want to bring you what captain paul starks told us earlier about five minutes ago. take a listen. >> on arrival, they found the vehicle that had left the roadway and ended up in a resident's yard. they also soon determined there were three occupants of the vehicle. two of them deceased. they all appear to be young adult females and again, two of those are deceased. one was transported with serious injuries. >> now, they're still in the process of doing accident reconstruction. it is unclear at this point if speed or alcohol were factors

in this accident. two bodies we're told are still in the vehicle. the bodies of the two deceased women. perhaps this is an suv. it is very hard to tell by looking at it from this distance what kind of vehicle that even is. apparently they may have been coming back from clubbing in d.c. when this accident occurred. damage to the vehicle of course extensive. victims families were here earlier as well. we were able to speak with the uncle of one of the victims, tamara johnson, 19 years old. had just graduated from high school. hads aspirations of going to college at some point. obviously a very tragic situation here. the families have since left. but earlier, they were openly wailing, crying, hugging each other. very, very emotional scene here on university boulevard. i'm going to send it back to you in the studio, monica. >> thank you so much for that information, jessica. and if you can see behind jessica on the westbound side of university boulevard, all lanes were reopened about 40 minutes ago.

on the eastbound side, lanes remain blocked here in silver spring inside the beltway. choose your alternate route. one suggestion for you is wayne avenue to the sligo creek parkway. of course, you can use colesville road instead. if you're traveling on the beltway, there no issues passing university boulevard on the inner and outer loops of the beltway. here's what it looks like if you're planning to head on to 66. no problems to report coming in from gainesville and centreville right over to the beltway. we're looking good as well. now on the beltway, there had been a crash on the outer loop near the dulles toll road. virginia state police were on the scene of that. traffic is doing well across the american legion bridge and into virginia. coming up in my next report, we'll update you once again on the situation in silver spring at 6:45. all week long at this time, we've been showing you the best of 2011. mike, guess how many hits the most watched video on youtube got this year. >> a million. >> a lot more than that. the video picked up more than 180 million hits.

check it out. ♪ it's friday, friday ♪ gotta get down on friday ♪ everybody's looking forward to the weekend ♪ >> that is rebecca black and her truly awful song friday. your favorite singer justin bieber gave her the thumbs up. it became popular because it is so bad, people had to show their friends how bad it was. now the second most watched youtube video, that one had people laughing. >> you no he that bacon that's like maple, got maple flavor? >> the maple kind, yeah? >> so, i took that out. i thought i know who would like that. me! so, i ate it. >> oh! >> that is the ultimate dog tease. 78 million hits done by a canadian voice-over artist. >> i feel bad for the dog. >> i do, too.

>> cute. >> he's so cute. >> really neat. >> ok. war games and saber rattling in the middle east could be driving up the amount we all pay for oil. iran is moving its war ships into the strait of hormuz. it could cut off a route through which 1/3 of the world's oil supply passes. now, that threat comes ahead of american sanctions aimed at getting iran back off its nuclear program. an advisor at the u.s. institute of peace calls it a war of words. >> the iranians are really angry at us. they're going to pay a high price for the new sanctions. they know it. they want to send a signal to the u.s. they're trying to get us to back down. >> the u.s. navy said any attempt to block the strait of hormuz will not be tolerated. >> frederick county police have four people in custody for a series of arsons. all four are 16-year-old boys. investigators say they used marine flares to set fire to

garages in urbana monday night. the fires cost $135,000 in damage. police tracked them down using surveillance video from a local walmart. they stole the flares from there. >> the man accused of slashing hinds of behinds of women is in trouble. they believe he's the one that used a razor blade or box cutter to slash nine women on their behin s while they shopped. >> we are watching your money. a lot of us get the gift cards for the holidays. web sites giving. >> chance to swap the unwanted ones are getting pretty popular. not all of them are trustworthy. karen explains how you can avoid getting scammed. >> eight in ten americans plan to give gift cards during the holiday season and the weeks after christmas can make the

difference between gift cards getting cashed in or collecting dust in a wallet. web sites where consumers can sell and trade unwanted gift cards or purchase them at a discounted rate have become more popular. that's probably why scammers want a piece of the action. scams can include sending buyers expired gift cards, stolen gift cards or fake gift cards with zero store value. stick to those with an established reputation or seek out online reviews of the web site where you plan to do your gift card commerce. be mindful there may be fees attached to your transactions. know whether the web site acts as a facilitator between consumers or overs more protection. and just because you don't plan to use a gift card in the next week or next month doesn't mean you have to unload it. federal law says gift cards are good for at least five years if they have an expiration date at all. >> that was karen caper reporting. when it comes to retail sales overall this holiday, things are looking up.

shopper track said we really hit the stores in the last week. christmas eve sales jumped 15%. the sales the day after christmas were up 25%. it is 6:38 on the nose. while you're out partying this new year's eve, police across the region are trying to keep you safe. in nine minutes, monika tells us how fairfax county police will be going the extra mile. and it is definitely a lot colder throughout this morning than it was yesterday. what about when you have to ring in 2012? what will it be like then? your forecast is coming up next here on 9news now.

good morning. just about 6:43 if you're just waking up, time to plan your day if you're heading out to work today. good morning, thanks for coming back with us. i'm mike hydeck. olga breese is in for howard bernstein today. how are we looking? >> a little bit on the cool side. temperatures have dropped down into the 20s but it is feeling several degrees colder than that. partly cloudy skies so far but clouds will be moving on in midday, late day. we'll be overcast by the time we head home in the evening. for right now though, mainly in the 30s but noontime hour, most of us should hit 40, 42 degrees. highs today being held back because of that cloud cover. 45 to 47 degrees should be the norm in and around the beltway for today. but tonight, if you are heading on out, we'll cool down significantly so another chilly start tomorrow as well. today is kind of a primer for what we'll feel tomorrow when temperatures go even lower into

the 20s. by the afternoon though, we become mostly cloudy. we'll keep things dry for today. and even see some milder temperatures moving in tomorrow. as we keep our south and southwest winds for the next couple of days. in fact, we're looking fantastic, even through new year's eve and new year's day for that holiday weekend. here's how we're looking in and around the region right now. satellite and radar, fairly quiet and calm. few clouds moving in from the west will overtake the area later on this afternoon. although our temperatures are sitting right around 33 degrees at reagan national, it is feeling more like 29 once you factor in that wind and that cool air moving on through. the future cast forecast model is very quiet as well. just a few clouds for the short term. a pop of some moisture tries to work its way in. that's primarily early morning hours on your friday. most of that will miss the entire metropolitan area. just a little raindrop on the forecast for that day to cover that. forecast for today, not too bad. middle range 40s for most of

us. upper 40s across our southern zones. as we go into the next extensive forecast, it looks pretty good. milder air is on the way. notice on friday and saturday when our temperatures move into the 40s, 50s, that means our overnight lows are getting a little bit warmer. so, we won't have quite as much of a chill starting on early saturday morning. as we go into sunday and even monday, we start that transition back to the cooler air for tuesday and wednesday of next week. monika? >> olga, the big story of the morning has been the horrible deadly crash in silver spring inside the beltway. we've been talking about it all morning long inside the beltway right here at university boulevard. it happened just north of piney branch road. crews, police continue to investigate and reconstruct at the accident scene. right now though, the westbound lanes of university boulevard have been reopened. let's take a look live from the mdot cameras. on the eastbound side of university boulevard, you'll still find the closure in place. i suggest you plan early, use

colesville road as your art route. you can use wayne avenue to get around it. again, i think this is going to take several hours before the lanes are reopened there. let's take a look into rockville. word of an accident in the rockville mixing bowl. you can see it here on route 355 at veirs mill road in the heart of rockville. luckily, volumes are light this holiday week but you still want to keep this in mind as well. in rockville, route 355 at veirs mill road, let's take a look at the northbound side of i-95 in virginia, slow traffic. i don't think it is anything you can't deal with. on the northbound side, leaving newington into springfield and on to 395 here at seminary road, again, traffic is moving fairly well. we'll talk about the situation in silver spring at 6:58. this week, we've been talking about preventing drunk driving and an increase of police enforcement. always the goal of keeping you and your loved ones safe. joining me nor the extra mile to talk about the safe december program in virginia is colonel

david roehr, the chief of police in fairfax county. thank you so much, colonel for joining us this morning. >> thank you, monica. >> we all know the dangers of drinking and driving. we know the seriousness of the situation and yet during safe december, you've had at least one dui arrest every night? >> at least. we actually have more than that. we average over 300dwi arrests every december. for the month. just this campaign alone, we'll arrest over 200dwis. >> i know that you've partnered with checkpoint strike force and also the national campaign drive. tell us about the steps that fairfax is taking. we'll put up a full screen. >> certainly, fairfax county like many regional police departments, we do the sobriety check points which are very good for prevention and education. we do saturation patrols where we put out a team of top producers, the dwi arrest officers and they patrol areas that are more prone to dwis.

they make a lot of good enforcement actions. we also do business compliance checks. we have underage cadets attempt to purchase alcohol and we also do what we call shoulder tap operations where again, underage person cadets will try to use somebody to buy alcohol for them. >> the directed patrols are in the areas where you could find some problems. >> yes and again they're targeted primarily for enforcement. we use the top reducers to make the rests. >> i know that silver ride is available. we've been talking about that for several weeks during the holidays. it is fairly easy for people to find a taxi if they need one by calling 1-800-200-taxi. colonel, i know you have a more personal message. file this is about making choices not only during the holidays but really always. >> absolutely. it really is a personal responsibility. i appreciate you bringing attention to this. one of my biggest frustrations in my career as we continue after 30 years of being in policing, we continue to have far too many alcohol-related

fatalities. the numbers speak for themselves nationally in 2010. 10,228 persons died on our highways due to alcohol. in virginia, 211. in maryland, 154. in d.c., 5. those are the numbers. at the end of the day, it is about people. the numbers represent lives. i want to make it more personal. i want us to reflect, these are our sons, our daughters, these are our parents. these are our brothers, our sisters, coworkers, friends, neighbors. >> right. you're saying this is not just a law enforcement issue. have a good time but plan early. especially during the holidays. >> the time to plan is not when you're sitting at a barstool after two hours of drinking. it is before you leave your house or apartment. have a plan. designate a driver. be ready to call a taxi. have someone drive for you. have a plan. >> here's to a safe holiday season. thanks for all of your work and good luck for this weekend.

>> thank you very much. >> the time is 6:49. a check on the news before you go is up next. when it comes to getting my family to eat breakfast,

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time is 6:52. cold morning start. we do have partly cloudy skies this morning. but cool temperatures in the 20s in and around the region. day planner brings in clouds later on this afternoon. we'll see a high of about 44 to 47 degrees and we'll keep it cold tonight. back down into the 30s. mike? >> thank you, olga. it is 6:53. thursday, december 29th. here is a check of the news before you go. a live look now at university boulevard east north of piney branch road in silver spring. the investigation is still going on into a deadly crash which killed two young women this morning. those women, 22-year-old janeese richards and 19-year- old tamara johnson. an 18-year-old woman was hospitalized in this. police are still on the scene trying to figure out the cause of the crash. investigators will be turning to the scene of this deadly crash along rockville pike in bethesda. a man was killed when his pickup truck slammed into a metrobus yesterday. ten people on the bus were rushed to the hospital. a huge sediment plume in the chesapeake bay did not

cause as much damage as the experts first feared. the plume was caused by hurricane irene and tropical storm lee. you see all of the debris there. the experts say it did not destroy the nesting and feeding places for the blue crab, thankfully. it is time to answer our question of the morning. according to a new study, the average person craves one of these at least five times a day. is it a, a candy bar. b, a nap. or c, a hug. >> the answer is c, a hug. aww! five times a day people crave that. you would think it would be a candy bar but monika -- there you go. >> there you go. >> traffic and weather is next on 9news now. we'll be right back. ♪

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6:58 now. we have one more thing before we go. probably one of the cutest baby animals on video sweeping the world right now. meet siku. how cute is he. tiny, tiny polar bear cub in denmark. if he wasn't cute enough, he has like five little fingers on his paws. >> can i take him home? >> he has a cute story. zookeeper ins denmark took him away from his mom because he was always screaming. his mom wasn't producing milk so with help of the zookeepers and several warm bottles, he's now a growing cub. his name means ice in greenlandic. the videos have already picked up over a million hits on youtube. >> i used to put my baby in the car seat and drive him around.

i would do that for that cub. >> weather time? >> feel right at home with our morning temperatures this morning. chilly outside. we have partly cloudy skies but we'll bring in more cloud cover later on in the afternoon. highs today not too bad. about seasonable. middle and upper 40s. we'll be down in the 20s again tomorrow morning. milder as we head into the weekend. dry for new year's eve and new year's day. >> we've been talking about a deadly crash in silver spring. a live look on the mdot camera, university boulevard north of tiny branch road eastbound remains blocked. one last look, southbound 355 is blocked here. plan for that as well. >> make sure you join us tomorrow starting at 4:25. we'll get a preview of the first night's celebration in alexandria. >> hear from presidential canada dath jon huntsman and learn why female veterans have a hard time finding a job after they come home from war. >> monika and and i will be back in 25 minutes for a live update on weather and traffic. >> see you tomorrow rn