who joins us now from fairfax with more on how the cold is causing problems on the roads and rails across the region. reporter: it just so happens this mechanic is switching out batteries because the cold is affecting batteries. he's switching out the old and then putting in a new one. aaa says that calls for the emergency assistance have gone up 21% from normal in the last couple of days. so yesterday you might have thought your car is fine, your battery is okay and your tire pressure is right, but overnight that could be a different story. >> i had to jump start my own truck because both batteries were dead and they're only two years old of. reporter: a little ironic because aaron dennis is a aaa mechanic. >> i'm busy working on other people's vehicles. reporter: that's your excuse? >> the best i development. reporter: the cold snap not only catches -- i got. reporter: the cold snap not only coughs the best off guard, but even the -- catches the best off guard, but even the transit system is affected by

the cold. the red and yellow lines came to a standstill on the morning rush. aaa mid-atlantic attributes the high emergency call volume to the coldest day this season. >> when we went from 50 degrees to in the teens, of car out there that has regular air -- every car out there that has regular air pressure in it has lost tire pressure. that tire is measuring 25 psi, it's supposed to be 30, so it needs to be corrected of. reporter: mechanics have seen a rise in calls with newer model cars that have automatic tire sensors. the cold snap can cause false alarms. >> the sensors get moisture in them and freeze. when that happens, the sensor itself can fail permanently. >> i know when i start my car, i hope that it turns over. reporter: with temperatures dropping and fluctuating this week your battery can lose 20% of its charge. >> cold weather will kill a battery standing still. >> lesson learned. >> yup. newberrys are on their way. new batteries are on their way.

reporter: new batteries are going about into these cars as we speak. always a good idea to winterize and check. you want to look at your fluids. make sure your battery is charged up. it's easy. when you get your oil changed, have the mechanic go ahead and do that. when it comes to the automatic tire sensors, this is actually attached to the tire usually. what happens is water gets inside there and it can fail. so that false alarm can go off. that means the system is faming or you just have to drive it a while so that air dries out the fluids and everything and it will be okay. some good things to think about as we head into winter. back to you. >> great information. i certainly didn't know about the tire pressure. thanks a lot. embattled d.c. councilman marry thomas jr. was a no show -- harry thomas jr. was a no show at work today following our report last night he will resign from office. it is all part of a plea agreement between the ward 5 legislators and the his

attorney trying to hammer it out with federal prosecutors tonight. you broke the story last night. what's new today? >> harry thomas didn't show up to work today based on an agreement he had with his attorneys and we also learned today harry thomas decided to let his council staff go. when the d.c. council posed with mayor vincent gray today, councilman harry thomas jr. was a no show. >> i have not spoken to him. reporter: harry thomas jr. seen here late last year decided not to report for work today after 9 news now reported last night he's telling associates he's being forced out of office. the fbi and irs raided his home last year as part of a federal probe into allegations that he stole public dollars from a youth baseball program, thennoused about 300,000 of that rev -- then used about 300,000 of that revenue on an suv, motorcycle and other personal items. there were alleged golfing trips and vacations. reporter: did you use up the money for yourself instead of going to kids in the baseball

program? >> absolutely not. i think the body of work that my life represents will defend that. reporter: after that public denial harry thomas jr. agreed to repay the funds, $50,000 at a time following a civil suit by the d.c. attorney general. he continues to deny any wrongdoing. reports say he's yet to make the second payment now due. >> this is the councilman's father, harry thomas sr. he represented the residents of ward 5 on the d.c. council over a dicked a. back there is the council -- a decade. back there is the councilman's office. he has not shown up for work today and word is harry thomas has given his staff permission to find work elsewhere. >> there is hurt and disappointment. we will get past. this. reporter: sources say thomas is telling close associates as part of a plea deal that he would resign from office, plead guilty to at least one felony tax evasion charge and maybe more and the councilman says he would be facing two to three years in prison. >> the justice system has been given an opportunity to work and i think that's the fair way

to do this and if council member thomass coulds to resign, he is then taking that action -- chooses to resign, he is then taking that action. whole the residents of ward 5 are well represented. >> this is big news throughout the district and probably beyond the city's borders. the mayor, council chairman have their own investigations underway, more on that later. what else we know about harry thomas is that his legal team and federal prosecutors are set to meet probably as early as tomorrow to iron out, you know, the final elements of this plea bargain. we could know something before the end of the week. >> what a steep fall for someone who is really steeped in this community, had carried the legacy of his father's name. let's talk about the legal bills. those are not going to be small. >> i heard a half million dollars today and he hasn't made the $50,000 increment, you know accident on this second installment. he also agreed to pay back a

$17,000 student loan. talk about a guy with big money problems, you're talking about marry jr. the gop presidential -- marry jr. the goped about thal -- harry jr. the gop presidential field is changing and now most of the presidential candidates are trying to chip away at mitt romney's lead. we have this report. reporter: mitt romney who won a very close race in iowa is on the ground and running with the other candidates. he did not receive a here pro's welcome when he arrived here, but -- a hero's welcome when he arrived here, but did he get a key endorsement. mitt romney picked up a major endorsement at his first campaign stop in new hampshire. >> i'm really here for one reason and one reason only and that is to make sure that we make mitt romney the next president of the united states of america. reporter: senator john mccain

won the gop nomination four years ago and is now helping his one-time rival try to take back the white house. >> it's time for barack obama to go home and for someone who understands our economy to lead this country. reporter: polls show romney enters new hampshire with a double digit lead. >> game on. reporter: but rick santorum is looking to shrink that and capitalize on his second place finish in iowa. newt gingrich also has a lot riding on the new hampshire primary. today he launched this full page newspaper ad attacking romney. he says voters have a choice between himself, a reagan conservative, and romney, a massachusetts moderate. the competition has changed in new hampshire. >> i have decided to stand aside. reporter: michele bachmann quit after a poor performance in iowa. >> this is a quirky place. reporter: rick perry called the iowa caucuses a quirky and turned his attention to south carolina 36789. >> we're going into places where they have actually primaries and near going to be

real republicans voting. -- they're going to be real republicans voting. reporter: jon huntsman is on the campaign trail after skipping 0 would. >> you've got to be on the ground shake -- skipping iowa. >> you've got to be on the ground shaking hands. reporter: the people utah governor has already attended 150 events here. rick perry and newt gingrich are both already looking forward to south carolina to keep their efforts afloat. in manchester, i'm randall pinkston, back to you. ron paul who finished third in iowa is back in texas today but will head to new hampshire in the coming days. again that, primary is next tuesday. d.c.'s mayor vincent gray and other city leaders are taking their case for d.c. statehood to new hampshire as part of an outreach effort to get state legislatures to pass resolutions supporting statehood. last year new hampshire lawmakers introduced such a resolution and now d.c. leaders are pushing to make sure it moves forward. >> being able to have the ability to control the resources generated here in the district of columbia so that

the $5.5 billion contributed to the wherewithal of the city by the citizens of this city will be used not only for the purposes of this city, but the decision about those resources will rest solely with the people in this city. >> council chair kwame brown and members michael brown and david catania were among the other local leaders attending today's announcement. health anyone inspectors are expected back oocyst occupy camp thursday. the washington examer says health inspectors visited the occupy kitchen yesterday and found pratts. mayor gray ordered in -- found rats. mayor gray ordered inspections at both of the sites. in the medical world tonight it appears the battle against some cancers is being won bit by bit by bit. the american cancer society's annual report shows disease rates and deaths are down again this year. better treatment and screening

have saved more than a million lives in the last two decades, but there are still some cancers on the rise. 68-year-old enrique lencheske knew something was wrong. he felt pain every time he ate. >> it radiated through the back and then my shoulder. reporter: a c.a.t. scan revealed pancreatic cancer, one of several diseases still to the rise according to a new report from the american cancer society. >> we're seeing a rise in cancers of the thyroid, cancers of the esophagus, liver, pancreas and cancer of the throat. reporter: it's estimated there will be more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer and more than half a million people will die in the u.s. this year alone. obesity, lack of exercise and high high caloriic intake are

the common causes. breast, cross day, lung and co low recollect -- prostate, lung and colorectal cancer diagnoses are going down. thanks to rapidly improving and advancing treatments, lencheske has kept hispanic 8thic cancer in check more than two -- panic a young cancer in economic more than two years now. obesity could actually overtake smoking as the no. 1 cause of cancer in the next decade, a trend we have the power to reverse. coming up a throwdown caught in baltimore caught on tape, why this man attacked police during the middle of an arrest. believe it or not there's another battle over a treehouse here in fairfax county. i'm lindsey mastis. that story is coming up. >> the coldest night so far this morning, see what it did to our carefree roads. temperatures got down to the upper teens, around 20 downtown we'll show you temperatures

now. they're still cold but not as cold, 33 national, 28 gaithersburg, 32 manassas. we'll come back, talk about the prospects for a bit of light snow.

9 news now is brought to you in part by your local toyota dealers, toyota moving forward. caught on tape a man attacks a baltimore police officer setting fry a suspect who was under arrest. all this -- free a suspect who was under arrest. all this happened on new year's eve. video shot by a bystander shows a man attacking an officer as a

second man was placed under arrest. the come from behind assault allowed the other guy being arrested to break free. today a baltimore police spokesman 2 the act cowardice. the 40-year-old attack -- spokesman called the act cowardice. the 40-year-old attacker is now in custody and there's a warrant out for the other man who ran through. another man in fairfax county is trying to keep the treehouse built for his son. the county says he violated zoning laws. lindsey mastis has more on this latest treehouse battle. reporter: right before he deployed phillip levins built this treehouse for his two sons. >> the the treehouse itself is environmentally friendly. reporter: two weeks later his family got a letter from the zoning board saying the treehouse was too close to the property line. >> it kind of popped my bubble sitting overseas knowing that a local government was trying to ruin stuff for my kids and for

the neighborhood kids to live their childhood dream. reporter: if the story sounds familiar, it's because it also happened to mark grapin who also lives in fairfax county. he won the right to keep the treehouse built just last month, but not until after a highly publicized fight with the zoning board. blevins says he called the county before he started building. they told him over the phone they had no problem. then someone complained and now the county is stepping in. >> they're saying it has to be at least 1 foot away from the fence line for every foot tall that it is. reporter: it's about 15 feet tall. the blevins spent thousands of dollars building the treehouse. if they have to take it down, it will be destroyed and so will the trees. >> it's attached to four live trees. reporter: in a statements fairfax county says the treehouse just needs to be moved back or lowered so it's under 7 feet tall. blevins says it just doesn't seem fair. he's planning to get a lawyer.

after all, it's supposed to be for the kids. >> they're very upset over the possibility of having to take this down. so we hope it doesn't come to that. reporter: in springfield, virginia, i'm in in, 9 news now. >> so what do you think? who blevins be forced to move or lower his treehouse or is the county being unreasonable? log onto facebook. the man accused of setting over 50 fires in los angeles might have also torched his family's home in germany. that's according to german prosecutors in the case of harry burkhart. he was ordered held without bond today in a los angeles courtroom. investigators now suspect he set fire to his family's home near frankfurt in october, six days before arriving in the u.s. burkhart's family later filed an insurance claim. the los angeles arson attacks caused about $3 million in damage. a corrections bus carrying about 16 inmates flipped today on the new york state freeway. the driver of the bus and some of the prisoners had to go to

the hospital. we don't know the extent of their injuries. investigators are now trying to figure out why the bus turned over. traffic in the area was backed up for miles. citrus farmers in florida are keeping a close watch on the coal temps worried this week's deep -- cold temps worried this week's deep freeze could damage their crops. farmers like john arnold in clermont are particularly focused on the cold. >> during these stressful times during freeze and hurricanes and things it just goes with the part of being a farmer. >> well, the good news is that up until now it had been an unseasonably warm winter. arnold says juice prices could still fall next year if the warmer weather returns. i'd invite him to come here because it was probably even colder. it might put his temperatures in perspective. >> it might. it was our coldest night so far of the season and since last

january, about a year. the good news for the citrus crop, it is getting not nearly as cold tonight and they're in fine shape. we have a little disturbance to the west. if you've been here any length of time, you know big snows don't come from the west, but every once in a while we can get a little dusting. we've had clouds all day. it does appear we see snow overhead, but the atmosphere is just too dry. it's evaporating before reaching the ground. however, later tonight we see a stronger batch of precipitation back into west virginia. this is what we think will roll through tonight. best chance after midnight certainly. right now we're just looking at clouds and a couple flakes in the mountains. we'll zoom in on the radar. you can see this is the activity we're really beginning to watch. elkinss up into western maryland -- elkins up into western maryland and garrett county and over the mountains. as it rolls across the mountains, not much gets

across. snow showers are a possibility after midnight. time frame of height snows midnight to 6 a.m. a dust -- light snows midnight to 6 a.m. a dusting is possible and tomorrow just chilly on thursday which will be kind of nice with temperatures in the 40s. tonight not as cold, light snow or snow showers possible, some areas that see snow, some areas that don't see anything, low temperatures in the 25 to 30- degree range and the winds southwest 10 to 15. that will bolster the temperature a little bit. we get into lows, everybody will be below freezing, but we had some single digits and low teens this morning. now we're talking 26 gaithersburg, 30 downtown, 28 college park and bowie, 27 toward reston and fairfax. that's 10 to 12 degrees above this morning. partly cloudy and cold in the morning. clouds go away. you'll still need a coat and sunglasses, 20s and 30s. by afternoon partly cloudy and chilly but seasonable, high

temperatures near 45. winds turn northwesterly at 10 but don't become strong in the afternoon. next seven days we gain another 10 degrees on friday back up to the mid-50s. saturday we have a little piece of energy coming in. so clouds come in late, maybe a sprinkle saturday night, back to the low 50s. a break on sunday and another system comes at us sunday night and monday. this is what we kind of had combined as one system yesterday, maybe a little light rain or snow monday, back to 40, 50 tuesday, mid-50s wednesday. that looks like a match bigger storm but a rainstorm next week. >> crank it up. >> big time. still ahead the new study that may have you rethink what side of the bed you like to sleep up. up next if you're in the market for a new car, we'll tell you the top rate the family sedan according to consumer reports.

from the bedroom you could see the fire and that work me right up. and it was absolutely terrifying. we got out of there as quickly as we could. i'm watching the house burn up and i'm sitting there saying, there goes everything. these days you don't have to lose your house in a fire to know what it's like to be left on the edge in the cold. the shelter gave us a place to stay. and citizens energy helped the shelter with heat. i'm excited to finally have a place of my own. citizens energy is helping us with the oil. citizens energy was created to help the forgotten ones keep warm. we asked the big oil companies and oil producing nations to help. only citgo and the people of venezuela said yes. and this year, in spite of soaring fuel prices, congress cut home heating assistance nearly in half. while people need help more than ever. for the last seven years, citgo has helped families and homeless shelters in good times and in bad.

thanks joe and thanks citgo. so if you need help staying warm this winter give me a call because no one should be left out in the cold. retailers have something to celebrate in the new year. a surge of shoppers helped to boost sales during the last week of the holidays. the international council of shopping centers reports store

sales rose 5.3% after christmas. the mall trade group says the increased use of gift cards, mild weather and federal holiday contributed to the christmas week sales surge. the big three u.s. carmakers predict this will be a good year for auto sales. today they announced their sales numbers for 2011 and chrysler closed out the year with the biggest bump, 26%. gm sales were up by 13% over the year and ford posted a 9% gain. but toyota did not meet its expectations last year. it was hurt by supply problems after the tsunami in japan. the company said its sales dropped 7% in 2011. sales of its best selling camry, though, did jump by 7% in december and consumer reports named the redesigned 2012 camry the top family sedan. 2011, though, will go down in the books as the most expensive year ever for natural disaster losses. a report released by munich re

shows devastation from earthquakes in japan and new zealand totaled $105 billion knocking out the previous $101 billion record set in 2005 for insurance claims filed after hurricane katrina. you'll have to pony up just a bit more to buy all the news that's fit to print. the new york times is going up by 50 cents. the paper plans to charge customers $2.50 for its monday through saturday edition. there will be no price change for the sunday times or digital subscriptions. what side of the bed do you typically sleep on? a study finds which side of the bed could determine how happy you are. plus a thief with the crime and the confession caught on tape. president obama visits the state of ohio for an announcement that has republicans crying foul, the latest coming up. reporter: i'm scott broom in

glenmont, montgomery county, maryland, outside of a school badly in need of renovation. when we come back, i'll tell you what school it is and why the money for jobs like these might be running out.

in montgomery county today students and teachers celebrated moving back into three renovated schools, but the money to refurbish more

aging schools is just not there. we have a story about one of the schools next in line for repairs and a look at what's at stake there. we kind of see what they need. reporter: it's a bit of a mess. this is weller road elementary school in the glenmont section of montgomery county. it's typical of a lot of the old schools that need renovation. here's some of the old windows that are leaking energy. the paint is coming apart. back here is the part you don't see. the front of the school looks great but back around all the utilities the paint is just peeling off things. a lot of the kids here at weller road have been going to school in portable classrooms as well. the good news is weller road elementary is about to get a $25.5 million facelift and get rid of those trailers. the bad news is there are at least 17 more schools in montgomery county that need the same kind of work in the next six years and there's not enough money to do it. montgomery county just asked the state for 184 million.

the state's offering just 24. to demonstrate that the investment is worth it, school officials cut the ribbon today on montgomery county's three latest renovations. this is garrett park elementary school. >> good morning. now are you? reporter: where kids will get a gym for the very first time in an energy efficient be that even has a green roof to save -- that building even has a green roof to save money in the long run. parents are excited. >> it's like a high school with two levels. the kids are impressed with the lockers and a gym! reporter: it's a steal of two schools, the ones in the 21st sent -- a tale of two schools, the ones in the 21st century and the ones that aren't. county superintendent joshua starr is hopes to pry loose at least 40 million more from the state to keep the renovation program on track next year. >> we have about 2,500 kids every year coming in and it's important that we have the 21st facilities that they need to

meet that growth. the fact is it's also costing 25% less to build now than five years ago. we want to take advantage of the market forces now. reporter: and the kids at weller road have moved on to another school while the renovations happened here and there were two other ribbon cuttings in montgomery county today. that was at seven locks elementary and cannon road elementary. so things are moving forward, but the list is long and the money that's available in the coming years is growing very short. scott broom, 9 news now. >> you've shown us why it's so important, scott. thank you. today the maryland board of public works decided to demolish the president's residence at the university of maryland. the residence was built in 1956, hasn't been renovated in decades and it doesn't meet current safety codes. plans are in the 2, to build another residence right next to the current -- 2, to build another residence right next to the current site -- works to build another residence right

next to the current site. ann maria johnson's mother said after her 1st grade daughter somehow got access to a peanut product at her chesterfield county elementary school and died. she's questioning if the school could have done more to save her daughter's life and if access to the peanuts could have been prevented. >> i've heard two different stories. one was that it was unsupervised and a kid gave it to her and the other was that someone made her eat it. she has an allergy action plan at the school if she breaks out in hives, if she comes into contact with something she's allergic to. the first thing you do is give her been drill. they didn't give her anything. -- benadryl. think didn't give her anything. >> anna rya's mother said her meeting with the school officials was canceled. they're not commenting on anything other than looking into how the little girl got into the peanut problem. an 8th grader in brownsville texas was shot to

death today after a confrontation with police. it happened this morning in a school hallway. police say the 15-year-old took out a weapon shortly after school started. when police got there, investigators say the student engaged the officers and was shot. the school was placed on lockdown. nobody else was hurt. u.s. airways is expanding its service out of reagan national airport. the plan is to add new daily nonstop flights to 14 cities starting next month. those new routes will include washington to birmingham, alabama, fayetteville, north carolina and islip, new york. there's a push in one prince george's county town to allow beer and wine sales at some grocery stores. lawmakers in bowie, at least some of them, believe that's the way to lure stores hike trader joe's. they want to lure a new anchor

talent at bowie plaza, but so far no comments. breaking news out of bowie. right now sky 9 is over the scene of a water main break on hull road. we're told it's a 24-inch water main break. you can see it's left a pretty large hole in the roadway. crews are busy working to repair it, no word whether any customers are affected. we'll have more information as it becomes available, again hull road and bowie. water main breaks are at a greater risk with the colder temperatures. a day after the iowa caucuses president obama is reminding americans he's the other candidate in the 2012 race for the white house. the president traveled to the swing state of ohio today for an announcement the republicans didn't want him to make. here's a report from the white house. >> it is good to be back in ohio. reporter: president obama looked and sounded very much the candidate as he greeted supporters at a cleveland high

school. >> you're the reason why i ran for this office in the first place. [ cheering and applause ] >> you remind me what we are still fighting for. reporter: but he is also reigniting a fight with republicans. the president announced the appointment of former ohio attorney general richard cordray to lead the new consumer financial protection bureau. >> his job will be to protect families like yours from the abuses of the financial industry. reporter: corps tray was first nominated to the position -- cordray was first nominated to the position last summer and republicans said the new office had too much power and no oversight. the nomination was blocked by the gop just last month. >> we're not going to let the president but another unelected czar in place unaccountable to the american people. reporter: but with congress not in session the president used a recess appointment to give cordray the job for at least two years without congressional approval. it's a move republicans are

calling arrogant, but that the president says was necessary since congress refused to act. >> i'm not going to stand by while a minority in the senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve. reporter: the senate is holding a pro forma session friday, but no actual business is planned. republicans say that means they're not technically in raises. cordray will start the new job -- in preases. cordray will start the new job -- in recess. cordray will start the new job later this week. >> president obama bypassed gop opposition to make three more appointments to the national labor relations board. friends and family to the late vincent cohen said a final good-bye today. he was 75 and died from a pulmonary embolism. cohen became the first african american partner at his law firm and worked at the justice department and the equal employment opportunity commission and he was an all- star all american basketball player. coming up what parents with

little ones in daycare need to ask about their day to day activities. but up next a thief who stole packages from a man's front steps has change of heart and both the theft and return are caught on videotape. we're always on for you at www.wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll be right back.

consumer reports found trace amounts of arsenic in apple juice. what's more, nutritionists say this particular fruit juice has

very few nutrients but lots of calories and sugar. >> this health alert is sponsored by cancer treatment centers of america. care that never quits. to learn more visit cancercenter.com.

caught on tape a surprising twist in a case of stolen christmas presents on staten island. surveillance cameras caught the thief in action and his apparent change of heart. mike maloney took video of a stocky man making off with packages from his front porch and took the video to the police, but two days later the thief returned to the home with a bag filled with packages and a cardboard note. maloney says he's convinced the man saw the video on the news and it sparked a change of heart. >> the note says this is all i took. i'm so sorry and happy new year. i just want to do right for this new year. to me i kind of felt wow, this person does have some redeeming qualities. >> the package did contain some expensive clothing and despite the fact the suspect did not return one of them, ma money any is not pressing charges. -- maloney is not pressing

charges. one discovery in a florida homeowner's kitchen. >> tens of thousands of bees were stuck in the ceiling. she called an exterminator and apparently those bees had been hiding up there and multiplying fors. >> i see what -- for months. >> i see what these bees can do. we're talking thousands of bees. >> the family quickly moved out of the house not to return until they're sure the bees are all gone. fortunately no one was stung. a texas shopping center is dealing with an unwanted invasion. grackles, hundreds of loud messy birds forcing shoppers in fort worth to literally duck for cover. some store owners say the birds are ruining their businesses. >> from about like 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. every night business is slower. reporter: why do you think that is? >> because the birds are just so overwhelming. >> a little scary when i got out of the car. i didn't know what to think at first. i was ducking and dodging. she were flying low over my

head. >> i'm serious. you can't park near a tree or anything. they lay right on your cars and everything, do their business. >> get out of there. >> yuck! bird abatement experiments say there's not much that can be done to get rid of the pesky birds. businesses and shoppers say they're waiting for spring when the birds spread out to raise their families. i guess right now they'll perfect that sprint to the door and the car. coming up on 9news the hoyas host marquette. >> kristen berset at the verizon center reporter: georgia ninth in the nation. a pleasant surprise this season. coming up later we'll hear from coach john thompson, iii. >> we'll show you live doppler 9000, a little snow just creeping down from the pennsylvania border into maryland north of baltimore. that's a little bit of snow. we'll come back and show you where our snow may come from in the next 24 hours. if you're waking up in a

bad mood, you might want to switch sides. >> here's today's deal just for you. dealchicken.com hatching deals daily.

we're just not getting enough outdoor activity for kids. kids at daycares one study found are only spending 2 or 3% of the eight-hour day playing outside. ideally kids should spend 1 1/2 to two hours involved in vigorous play. why the decrease? researchers think many early childhood centers are putting more of a focus on classroom learning while parents expressed more worries about injuries on the playground and that has had the boomerang effect. there's been an astounding increase in the number of twins. the cdc says one in 30 babies born in the u.s. is a twin, a huge jump since the 1980s when it was about one in 50. why? older moms and fertility treatments. more american women are waiting until their 30s to have kids when for some unknown reason

twin pregnancies are more likely. experts say the rest of the increase comes from advances in fertility drugs and in vito fertilization. if you often wake up in a bad mood, you may want to change sides of the bed because peggy fox found there's a new study that shows the side of the bed you sleep on can affect your whole personality. >> that's right. now the study was done by a major hotel chain in the united kingdom and they found that people who sleep on the left side of the bed are happier than people who sleep on the right side of the bed. so there really might be such a thing as the wrong side of the bed. >> i normally sleep on the left- hand side of the bed and i'm pretty happy. so i guess there's something to it. reporter: the uk's biggest hotel change, premier inn, studied 3,000 adults and found those who sleep on the left side of the bed are generally more cheerful and positive than people 2 sleep on the right. we asked -- who sleep on the right. we asked the premier inn people who do they mean by the left

side of 9 bed? is it this side of the bed -- left side of the bed? is it this side of the bed when you're lying down or facing it? they say it's this side of the bed. the study said 25% of those that snooze on the left have a positive outlook on life compared to the 18% of the right side. so the right side is the wrong side. allison schaffer who sells mattresses and sleeps on the right side doesn't see it that way. >> i'm not sure how much validity it has. we both seem pretty happy. we get up early, get out and on the go. reporter: it's not all bad for those of us on the right side. the study found people who sleep over here make a little more money than their more chipper counterparts. mitch levine who is buying a mattress for his daughter doesn't buy the study, but that money thing may have some merit. >> the right side makes more money, but he also gives more those daughter. >> i would think personally it

just spends now your bed is set up and the arrangement of your room, how you get in, if you sleep by yourself like me, you're in the center. >> maybe if you slept on one side, things would change. >> true. >> now the study for premier inn was done by the marketing company one pulse. so it's really more of a survey than scientific study. what if people whether or not are happy just tend to sleep on the left side of the bed? we don't know that. >> you know what? i'm with you. i sleep on the right and wake up and seize the day, very happy. >> i won say that, but i'm happy. >> are you a righty or lefty? >> i'm a lefty. >> i would have to say you guys fit the bill. are you happy? >> generally optimistic people. >> righties can be happy, too. >> i think what peg said the configuration of the room is important, where the bathroom is. >> where's the bathroom? that's what i say. >> where's the door? >> more importantly now is the weather? >> i tell you what. i would close the doors and

windows tonight. not as cold as last night. we were 17 this morning at national. we'll start with radar. we had light snow and it's up to the north of us in york, pennsylvania, moving down i-83. that little batch will miss us, but there's another batch to the west in through west virginia and into western maryland now. this has a much better chance of making it into the metro area, all bee it not till late tonight. this is the activity -- albeit not till late tonight. this is the activity we're watching now. we're just talking light snow or flurries. time frame is midnight to 6 a.m. a dusting is possible, very dry snow, no problems for the morning commute and then chilly thursday with temperatures rebounding back to the 40s. tonight not as cold, light snow or snow showers possible, maybe a dusting, 25 to 30, winds out of the southwest 10 to 15. that's keeping the temperature up a little bit between the wind and clouds.

partly cloudy, cold to start, 20s and 30s. you'll still need a coat and sunglasses tomorrow, still chilly. high temperatures are near 45 and winds tomorrow turn northwesterly at 10 but don't become strong at all. we'll break it down then. to start 25 to 32, maybe leftover clouds early in the morning and then 37 to 42 at noon, partly cloudy and then 40 to 45 under partly cloudy skies by evening. now the next seven days we'll tack on 10 degrees to that friday. we're back in the mid-50s, low 50s saturday. clouds do come in on saturday, maybe a sprinkle saturday night, not a big deal. then another piece of energy comes at us sunday into monday. that may stay south, kind of graze us, light rain or snow, temps around 40 and back in the 50s tuesday and wednesday and looks like a pretty big storm wednesday. just looked at new data, still looks like rain. >> poke. keep it that way. -- okay. keep it that way. the top 10 ranked

georgetown hoyas play their big east home opener tonight. >> our kristen berset is live at the verizon center with the look at the hoyas' early season success. reporter: tonight they tip off against 20th ranked marquette. they're ranked ninth in the country now, a pleasant surprise and joining me to talk about the success of his team, head coach john thompson, iii. thanks for joining us. i was just talking about your team ranked ninth even though at the beginning of the year many predicted you'd finish 10th in the big east. are you surprised with the success so far? >> i think it's too early to talk about success just two games into conference play. so rankings aren't relevant. we're the same team we were a couple weeks ago. so we have to make sure we continue to keep playing like it. reporter: a lot of attention has now been turned to your team especially being ranked in the top 10. how do you keep your guys so focused on moving forward especially in the midst of big east play? >> we try to turn off our tv,

radio and computer. just keep focusing on what we've been doing. we have to say just as hungry and determined. reporter: tonight you host 20th ranked marquette who struggled lately, but i think you'd feel the same about them, that they're still a pretty tough team. what do you expect tonight? >> they're the same team they were a week ago when they were ranked eighth in the country. numbers don't mean anything. they're a terrific team. we have to come out and play. reporter: good luck tonight. that was head coach john thompson, ii. i'm kristen berset, back to you guys in the studio. >> spud be a good game. still to come -- should be a good game. still to come with iowa out of the way more candidates focusing on the upcoming primary. later bad news for two companies with stores in our area, a lot to talk about on the economic front. up next an about face by a big name grocery chain about a

big name actor's participation in their ads.

an update on one grocery plan's chain to pull ads. wegmans stop running the ads after getting complaints because the ads used to feature

alec baldwin after passengers had complaints with him. wegmans will start running the as again after getting more of a ground swell asking for them. now we'll talk about the video you just say. are you sure you want to go with that defense department. this is an odd claim from pepsi. an illinois man is suing claiming he found a mouse in his can of soda. the company's defense is no way you found a rodent in our soda because the body would have dissolved long before it was discovered. pepsi says the acid in mountain dew would have caused the mouse to disintegrate into a jellylike substance. >> is that what it's doing to our body? >> you got to think it might ab effecting your stomach lining. >> some of the carbonate -- might be affecting your stomach lining. >> some of the carbonated stuff. we told you earlier in the hour mitt romney won the iowa

caucus by just eight votes. >> back in 1776 just one vote was the difference between us declaring our independence from england or not. that same year it was one vote that made english the official language of america and not german. the push to use german was led by a group of germans in virginia. and just one vote cost james monroe a second presidential term in the 1820 election. in 2002 it was the tie photostat on a nevada county commission. so each -- tie for the seat on a nevada county commission. so each candidate pulled a card out of a deck, and the one with the spade bested the person with the diamond. so each vote does make a difference. >> it can change history in some cases. >> absolutely. >> let's check back in with topper on this arctic cold and when we can get symptom relief. >> let's start with a -- some relief. >> let's start with a live done

learn and have some activity to the west of us -- doppler and have some activity to the west of us. there's another batch of activity through west virginia and that's our best chance for flurries, snow showers or even a period of light snow probably after midnight well before 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. this is going to be the last of the arctic air. once this rolls through we'll see temperatures rebound nicely thursday and perhaps again even more so on friday. we're watching a couple storms over the weekend. we'll talk about that. we're watching a bigger storm next week. we'll also talk about that. stay tuned. 9 news now at 6:00 begins now. >> this is 9 news now. and then there were six, michele bachmann withdraws from the republican field today in the presidential race while her former competitors turn their attention to