thank you for joining us, i'm j.c. hayward. another guilty plea today stemming from the corruption scandal that brought down former d.c. councilmember harry

thomas, jr. the 55-year-old james garvin admitted his role in helping to funnel more than $300,000 in city funds to the ward 5 democrat. garvin is a golf pro at langeston golf course. he's the third person charged in the corruption scheme. garvin faces up to three years in prison and he will be sentenced at a later date. the special election to fill the ward 5 seat is going to be held may 15th. the district's board of elections met yesterday to certify the vacancy and to set the date. it will be an open election to candidates of any party. the winner will serve out the remainder of the term which goes to 2014. well, people looking for information from online encyclopedia wikipedia are out of luck today because one of the internet's most visited sites has gone dark for 24 hours to protest proposed anti- piracy legislation before congress. the stop online piracy act is

backed by the motion picture and recording industries. it gives the justice department the power to go after rogue websites and it is designed to eliminate online theft. critics, however, say that the legislation goes too far. >> these bills give the attorney general and private companies and rights holders unprecedented power to take down websites, to force search engines to make domains disappear. you know, it's trying to crush a bug with a sledgehammer. >> the bill's sponsor says the legislation will not harm wikipedia, domestic blogs or social networking sites. music and movie executives say these piracy sites cut into their profit and can affect jobs. d.c. police say that they are looking for the owner of a dog they were forced to shoot last night. officers say they opened fire on the animal near 14th street

and tuckerman street northwest after it attacked three people. the dog was killed. and the people it attacked, however, will be okay. the secret service wants to find whoever threw an apparent smoke bomb over the fence of the white house. it happened last night during an occupy protest outside the presidential mansion. >> it's the crack house! >> it's uncle sam! >> at one point the secret service says more than 1,000 people were protesting outside the white house. the president and first lady were not home at that time. hours before that occupy protesters crowded the west side of the capitol. several hundred people were there speaking out about what they called the influence of corporate money in politics. one person was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer. lawmakers were back in session tuesday after the winter

holiday. efforts of ramping up for a massive recall in wisconsin. more than 1 million signatures have been collected asking for the resignation of the governor, scott walker. the move is fueled by the republican lawmakers' cost- cutting moves which included the effective elimination of collective bargaining rights for public workers. the government accountability board will begin reviewing the petitions immediately. it's just three days until the south carolina primary. the candidates are intensifying their attacks on the frontrunner, mitt romney. the former massachusetts governor is giving them fresh ammunition with new information about his taxes. susan mcguiness has more. reporter: newt gingrich is making the case to south carolina voters that he's the candidate to stop frontrunner mitt romney. today gingrich jumped on the multimillionaire for his admission that he pays a 15% income tax rate. >> we're going to name our flat

tax to mitt romney, 15% flat tax. reporter: it's not yet known whether the tax issue will get any traction with voters. a new national poll shows romney holding a solid lead with three days until the south carolina primary, his opponents are trying to convince voters he's too moderate to beat president obama. >> how do we win elections? by nominating john mccain and bob dole who appealed to moderates? >> i do not believe a moderate has a very good chance of winning for a practical reason. this is the gap between obama care and romney care. reporter: the candidates trailing romney are not just attacking the frontrunner. in an effort to grab conservative voters, they're also going after each other. >> rick santorum is a good man, but he hadn't always been a good conservative. >> that's why ron paul's few of -- view of freedom is a flawed one. reporter: newt gingrich is hoping sarah palin can help his chances in the primaries. >> if i had to vote in south carolina in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt. reporter: but if south

carolina republicans give romney the win, it gives him a clear path to the gop nomination. susan mcguiness, cbs news, washington. the president and first lady spent a night on the town last night for michelle obama's birthday. the two went to blt's steakhouse. it's just blocks from the white house, and the first lady turned 48 years old yesterday. fans of gothic rider ed -- writer ed garallen poa are planning what could be a final vigil in baltimore to watch for a mysterious visitor. for decades an anonymous man has visited the office grave on his birthday and left a rose and a cognac tribute. but the visitor has not appeared since 2009. last year's vigil attracted impofters, including a man who arrived in a limo gleen. the curator of the poe house says he will wait one more time tonight before calling an end

to that tradition. rescue work on the giant cruise ship that ran aground off italy has been suspended. the vessel has been sitting on rocks in the water and the movement poses a danger to divers. anna matringa is in italy. she has more. reporter: hope of finding survivors aboard the costa concordia is fade fading. crews suspended their search after the vessel shifted in rough seas wednesday. rescue teams say it's very difficult to maneuver through the murky water inside the wrecked cruise ship. >> you can see your hands in front of your mask, nothing more. reporter: they've been searching the cabins of the missing passengers and crew members. >> the possibility to find the survivor now are very, very, very, very low. reporter: family members are starting to arrive on giglio island looking for their loved ones. kevin rabello is from india.

his brother worked as a waiter on the costa concordia. >> i hope they are safe somewhere on the island somewhere. reporter: the ship's captain, francesco schettino was released from jail and is under house arrest at his home near naiples. italian media reports that during a three-hour hearing, the captain told investigators he didn't flee the ship, but he actually tripped and fell into a lifeboat when the cruise liner started to tip over. schettino faces charges of causing the ship wreck, manslaughter and abandoning ship. >> he has done work. he will pay for his wrongdoing, he will pay for his wrong decision. reporter: dutch salvage crews are moving equipment into place to remove 500,000 gallons of fuel from the ship. extracting the fuel could take as long as four weeks. anna matranga, cbs news, giglio, italy. >> so far the death toll stands at 11 and 22 people are still

missing. still to come when 9 news now continues, maryland governor martin o'malley unveils his new budget. we'll tell you about some of his priorities. plus republicans on capitol hill are set to vote on raising the debt ceiling again. will it set the stage for another grueling battle? we'll have details on these stories and more just ahead.

house republicans will vote on a bill today blocking uncle sam from raising his borrowing limit. under the law passed during the standoff last summer, the ceiling is automatically raised 15 days after the president notifies congress the government is near the limit. but even if the vote passes today, it will be blocked either by the senate or by president obama's veto power. also today maryland governor martin o'malley unveils his new budget plan. the largest part of the proposal would shift spending on teacher pensions from the state to the counties. maryland is one of just a few states that picks up the entire tab for teachers. the governor would also raise taxes on people, making more than $100,000 a year. maryland is facing a $1 billion shawf this year. -- shortfall this year. lawmakers in annapolis will also be hearing from people trying to save the

swimming and diving teams at the university of maryland. parents and students say they have a plan to raise $11 1/2 million. they met with the athletic director last night. supporters say they already have $1 million in pledges. >> we're very confident in our ability, not only what we've already done in 10 short weeks in terms of raising $1 million, 50 key prospects, we're putting together a legitimate business plan that we are fully confident we can execute over time. >> choosing this school, i never, ever thought about this might happen or obviously, i think it would have helped to change my decision. but it is so shocking to everyone. no one saw it coming. >> supporters of the maryland swim and dive teams have until june 30th to come up with $11.5 million, a total of eight university of maryland sports programs are on the chopping block because of budget shortfalls. long-awaited improvements

could be coming to clarksburg because county executive ike leg et unveiled a capital spending plan yesterday, providing $15 million to complete three roads in clarksburg village and aurora hills. the county wanted to head off a plan by developers to charge homeowners for construction of the new roads. >> we've moved forward with a plan that i think will get us beyond this difficult point. that is now before the county council and it's my hope and expectation that they will approve this request. >> the new budget does not address incomplete projects, like the clarksburg town center. construction on it is still not complete, even though ground was broken more than a decade ago. mishandling snow can be political suicide for the seattle mayor. when we come back, we'll have details on that and annie will have the forecast. >> j.c., talk about the snow,

we have a chance for some snow showers or some flurries. we'll talk about that when 9 news now returns coming up after the break.

seattle and parts of the pacific northwest are being battered with winter weather. ben tracy has more now from

olympia, washington. reporter: snow has been coming down across washington state for the past four days. from puget sound to the cascade mountains, an icy blast is blanketing the area. slick roads are making driving treacherous. >> all kinds of conditions, ice, cold, frozen, people sliding all over the place. it's pretty bad out there. reporter: snow plows not often seen here are working overtime all over the state. >> we'd handled about 160 collisions, that same time period last week we handled 14. reporter: according to the national weather service, the city of seattle is bracing for as much as six inches of snow. they normally average eight inches for an entire winter. the city itself has very few snow plows and its drivers are not used to icy roads. back in november 2010, a crippling snowstorm paralyzed parts of the city. city officials are taking this storm seriously. the emergency command center is already up and running. >> it takes time to remove a significant accumulation of

snow. we're going to focus on priority routes and ones that police and fire department need, ones that people need to get to the hospital. >> thank goodness we don't have that here, not right now. >> yeah. well, the skiers and snowboarders may want that to come to our mountains. we got a little bit overnight and this morning, j.c., but, yeah, they have some crazy winter warnings. much of washington state, oregon and even through idaho, montana, they are really getting hammered with a lot of snow. speaking of snow in our area, well, we may see some tomorrow. we'll talk more about that. but, first, here's your michael and son weather camera where we've got beautiful blue skies out there. it looks pretty, but it doesn't feel pretty. we've got chilly temperatures and temperatures are dropping throughout the afternoon. right now it's 42, but it feels like 33 because of that cold northwesterly wind blowing through here at 20 miles an hour. that's a sustained wind. we're seeing gusting up to 25 and over 30 miles per hour. here's a look at your forecast

for the rest of today, lots of sunshine and temperatures only getting into the lower 40s today, upper 30s, though, by 5:00, and then this evening already down to the mid-30s. so it's going to be a cold one. here's a look at the satellite and radar picture, the cold front came through overnight. now the northwesterly winds are just bringing in that cold air to our area. we see some snow showers and lake effect in parts of pennsylvania, upstate new york, into eastern ohio. but around our area we only saw a little bit of light flurry activity in western maryland around hagerstown and fredrick early this morning. so for the rest of today breezy and chilly, clouds returning for thursday, cold again on friday, and the weekend looking to be milder with a chance for some showers. wind gusts, take a look at this, 33 in downtown, 35 in gaitersburg, even leesburg 39, almost 40 miles per hour. so it is blustery out there, our patio furniture and cushions were all over the place this morning. right now temperatures in the

lower 40s in downtown, but just 37 in gaitersburg, out toward cumberland down to 32 degrees. you factor in that cold northwesterly breeze, it feels much colder. 20s in cumberland, even oakland, down to nine, single digits in washington. here 33, gaitersburg 30, laray 29. definitely a day you want to bundle up because it is cold. here's a look at the futurecast. now, we're not worried about snow showers or any precipitation today. tomorrow, though, a different story. we see increasing clouds, then this storm system here bringing in snow mainly north of us. but because of the proximity of it, we may get a little flurry action, a snow shower tomorrow night and potentially overnight. we're not expecting any major accumulations, but you may see a little bit on the grassy surfaces basically by friday morning. so your highs for today, we pretty much hit it. temperatures now dropping, in the low 40s today.

gaiters 47, leesburg 49, fredricksburg around 43 degrees. overnight lows are going to be colder compared to last night, in the 20s for gaitersburg, 26 in downtown, fredricksburg 23, manassas in the lower 20s. here's your next three days, breezy tomorrow once again with a chance, again, for some flurries or maybe a sprinkle, basically at night. friday mid-30s. here's your seven-day forecast. saturday and sunday a little bit milder. some afternoon or evening showers possible on saturday, sunday in the lower 50s. monday, though, back into the mid-50s. we'll be right back with j.c.

it's getting cold and so i want comfort food, something that makes me feel warm inside. so why not go to mona in bethesda where the executive chef andrew flushour is there. and today he's going to prepare a wonderful soothing comforting meal. and what type of meat is this? >> this is a beef short rib, a boneless beef short rib. we're going to braise it in some red wine. the first thing we want to do is take it and put it in the red wine with some shallots, some bay leaves, some thyme and some mushrooms and we want to let that sit overnight. so then once it sits overnight in all that wonderfulness, we want to take it out and pat it dry. season it up with some salt and pepper real nice. put it in a pan and get a good sear on it and some oil, nice

hot pan. when we sear it, we lock in all the juices and the flavor of the meat, so when we braise it, all that stays in and it doesn't leak out in your cooking liquid. >> this is not an expensive cut of beef. >> no. it's a great piece of meat because it's very economical but it has a lot of flavor. it's really one of my favorites to do. so once we have a nice sear on it, we want to take that out of the pan. we take our red wine from here and put it into the pan, cook it down with some onions and some mushrooms, about 3/4 of the way, and then we put the short rib back in. what you'll have is this pot here with the red wine and some veal stock or chicken stock, put that in a 275-degree oven for five hours. >> five hours. >> until it's nice and tender. you don't have to check it, don't fuss over it. just let it be and it'll come out all wonderful like that. >> and tender. look at that. >> i'll pull that right off like that.

>> you gave me the recipe, it's on jchayward.com. so you can prepare that at home. go to jchayward.com to get the recipe. but go to the restaurant and see chef andrew. by the way, next week starting monday is the bethesda chevy chase restaurant week where you can get some great three-course lunches or three-course dinners for a wonderful price. >> absolutely. >> and so you'll want to go visit because that's great. i always like restaurant weeks when they have it because you can go to so many different restaurants, get introduced to them and fabulous meals for a great price. >> right. and you can come by mona tonight. we'll be serving these beef short ribs. we serve them every wednesday night. >> oh, you do. with with -- >> mashed mashed potatoes. >> and that gravy on top. chef, thank you. don't forget that next week is the bethesda chevy chase restaurant week. of course you make your reservations.

you can get a three-course lunch and three-course dinner and really a great, great price. when you go into mona, just tell the chef that i sent you. he'll be happy to hear that. thank you, chef. >> thank you, j.c. >> thank you for being here. thanks for joining us. come back and visit us at 5:00. have a great day.