. instead of raising this tax or that tax and legalize marijuana and sell it. >> right now a new push in virginia would allow state and liquor stores to sell pot legally. plus, topper is tracking a wintery mix of weather that could create some dangerous roads. but first tonight, the eyes of the political world turn to the debate in south carolina.

this is 9news now. and those eyes just may have been popping out of their sockets at the republican presidential debate in south carolina where a bombastic and combative newt gingrich responded to the claims by a former wife that he had asked her for an open marriage. >> so gingrich blasted the news media for making it an issue and his opponents on the stage handled it in all kinds of ways. gary nurenberg is here with some of the highlights. >> reporter: lesli and derek, a roller coaster of a political day. we goofed that rick santorum won and not mitt romney. a former gingrich wife makes headlines with claims that he wanted an open marriage. >> let's make it clear, the story is false. >> reporter: his second wife claims he came to her saying he had begun a relationship with his current wife while he was still married to mary ann. >> he was asking to have an open marriage and i refused. >> reporter: it was the first

question in the debate. >> i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate with a topic like that. >> reporter: and he won't done. >> i'm tired of the media protecting barack obama. >> reporter: so is it an appropriate issue? >> the people have to sort this out, but i think setting standards are very important, and i'm very proud my wife of 54 years is with me tonight. >> john, let's get down to the real issues. >> reporter: but the opening remarks a decision to make a distinction. >> i've been married 42 years. >> reporter: santorum on gingrich's suggestion he get out of the race. >> i don't want a nominee that i have to worry about going to the paper and figuring out what is he worrying about what is he going to say next. >> reporter: and santorum questioning romney and gingrich opposition to national health care. >> i have been fighting for

health reform, private sector, bottom up, the way america works best for 20 years while these two guys are playing foot sees with the west. >> reporter: gingrich released his tax returns during the debate and says to romney who hasn't. >> if there is anything in there that is going to help us lose the election, we should know it before april. >> reporter: paul won't release his. >> for a different reason, i would be embarrassed to put my financial statement out. >> reporter: there were some light moments, but it was also heated. gingrich needs south carolina and the conservative voters. the questions about his marriage will hurt. there is two new polls. one released this evening showing gingrich ahead by six. too early to tell what the comments from his former wife will be. we'll get sense on saturday when voters go to the polls. >> thank you, gary. it looks like we could see a snow or a rain shower?

>> yes. but no problems overnight. i don't know why i've seen all of the roads treated. we talked about this on facebook. they are treating the roads like the end of the world is coming. it ain't. let's start with temperatures. it's above freezing. still 40 at national. we've been sitting on 40 since about 5:00 this afternoon. mid 30s in gaithersburg and in frederick. 36 there. and we're looking at temperatures a little closer to freezing. 34 in cumberland. and you jump the divide in oakland and temperatures there are in the mid 20s. so here is a satellite picture and the radar combined. most of the snow pulling off to the north. again, late tonight just before dawn tomorrow, we could see a rain or snow shower. not a big deal with temperatures right around freezing or a little bit above. look at live doppler 9000. well, most of the activity is just north of frederick. and, again, it's not all going to be snow. and most of the activity is drifting off to the south and east headed towards baltimore. for the most part, it is light and most of us won't see anything tonight. so your wakeup weather looks like this. cold to start. a flurry early in the morning. temperatures in the upper 20s to mid 30s. and then it kind of stays cold.

28-33 at 7:00 and then temperatures primarily in the 30s by 9:00 with some sunshine returning. now, we will come back and we will talk about a much better chance of winter precipitation tomorrow night. we'll talk about it if impacts the evening commute, late tomorrow night and on saturday. >> all right, topper. dozens of concerned parents sat down with alexandria police tonight hoping for more details about some frightening incidents involving school children. matt jablow joins us live outside of clermont elementary school with the story. >> reporter: lesli, scary stuff for students and parents where the search is very much on tonight for the man who has been approaching young children. >> we're on this. >> reporter: the cafeteria of clermont elemey school in alexandria was crowded tonight with concerned parents eager to hear from fairfax county police about five disturbing incidents over the past month or so. >> we have five events all very similar. >> reporter: according to

police, each event involved a white or hispanic man between 30-35 years old with a goatee and driving a red pick up truck. the man has approached children on their way to and from school in the neighborhood around clermont elementary. the man has tried to get the kid's attention. in some cases he has spoken to the kids. for investigative reasons police won't reveal what the man said. >> at this point that information the detectives are holding on to. >> reporter: so far the man has not committed a crime. >> this is strictly a suspicious event. >> reporter: but they're still interested in talking to him and have significantly increased patrols around the school. >> it's a little scary. >> reporter: needless to say, parents are hoping the man is quickly identified. >> just the fact that he is approaching kids is kind of scary. >> reporter: should you have any information about the man in a red pickup who has been approaching young children here in alexandria, you are urged to

call fairfax county police at 703-691-2131. once again, because it's so important, fairfax county police 703-691-2131. now, new at 11:00, dozens of people come out to remember the baby who died left on a sidewalk. >> at first i didn't want to do the interview. the person was cold hearted. you don't know what they were thinking. >> that is the man who found the little girl wrapped only in a towel in 28-degree weather. tonight they held a vigil, the same spot where the baby was found. dc police are exhausting every lead to try to find the baby's mother. so if you've got any information, please call the police. well, long gone are the days of prohibition on alcohol. and now one virginia lawmaker is

looking to do the same thing with marijuana. if that happens, pot and booze may be sold at the same place. one delegate talks about why this may be a good idea. >> reporter: all of the liquor stores in virginia, including the one behind me, are all operated by a commonwealth. now they want to know how much money could the commonwealth get if they sold pot legally at these places. >> if we did legalize marijuana and sell it through the abc stores, how much revenue would we get. >> reporter: i spoke to virginia house representative through skype. he says the commonwealth needs extra dollars. and regulating the sale of legal marijuana may be a way to get the money. >> a surprising number of constituents have asked me instead of raising this tax or that tax, if we need more revenue, why don't we legalize marijuana. >> reporter: if it passes, england' current 's current plan would get

a committee to examine the profitability of legalizing marijuana sales. currently there is plenty of debate over the issue. there is no data or hard numbers to back any argument either in favor of or against legalizing pot. those we spoke with who liked the idea wouldn't speak about it on camera. others who opposed it were quick to attack the delegate and his plan. >> david england is so intent on raising your taxes. >> very poor idea. i mean, how many people do you see running around saying the best thing that ever happened to me is when i started smoking marijuana. >> reporter: liquor sales bring in about $140 million to the fund annually. he wants to see if that kind of cash would come from regulated pot sales. >> we've had marijuana prohibition for many, many, many years, and what we've done is we're lining the pockets of criminal rings and criminal conspiracies. >> reporter: you know, england told me he has never smoked

marijuana before because it's illegal. he says if it was made legal, he would consider giving it a try. now, if his plan moves forward, if it is approved, the results of that study will have to go before the general assembly before their session in 2013. we're live in alexandria, ken molestina, 9news now. >> and that is a general assembly session a lot of us would like to see. thank you, ken. that will be an interesting debate. tonight two metro employees are charged with stealing thousands of dollars from the transit system one nickel, dime and quarter at a time. they were designed to collect cash from the machines. they would arrange the schedules so he would be keeping an eye on each other. the two men conspired for years to siphon off a hundred of thousands of dollars. the police officer put unexplained money in his bank account. >> i am disgusted by the events that have taken place by these

two employees. >> metro has relieved the supervisor of his duties and has lost a top to bottom audit. metro is doing everything they can to make sure this never happens again. an update now on the elderly victim robbed in prince george's county. today police issued an arrest warrant for linda mccorckle. they believe she targeted an elderly woman last week. she had three small children with her when she approached the victim saying she needed help to cash a check. after a victim agreed to help, a second victim led the children away when the other two drove to the victim's bank and that's when the victim said the woman threatened to shoot her if she didn't withdraw several thousands of dollars from her savings. good news. david reuben steen announced today he is donating $7.5 million to help cover repair costs needed after last year's earthquake. you're looking at some video from a helmet camera from one of

those difficult assessment team members as they repel down the washington monument last september. now, they found about $15 million in damage. chips and cracks up to an inch thick in several of the marble stones. the washington monument was built with $1 private donations. now it will be repaired with money from a man who says he's lived the american dream. >> i come from very modest circumstances and i'm very fortunate to have achieved wealth beyond what i ever expected. i kind of want to repay a debt i had to the country, and that's legally what is behind it. >> those -- really what is behind it. >> those repairs will take between 10 and 12 months, so it will be june of 2013 at the earliest before the monument is back open. still ahead tonight. >> i'm just asking to be with my partner. >> a seizure causes a woman to wreck her car. >> she was not allowed to see

loved once at the hospital. that is coming up next.

imagine watching a loved one get into a car crash right before your eyes. now imagine not being able to see them once they get to the hospital. that's what one maryland woman says happened to her. and not only did she say it was immoral, she also claims it was

illegal. last november she had a seizure while driving along maple avenue in takoma park. her partner, linda cole, was driving right behind her and watched as she slammed into a telephone pole. >> after a seizure, a person is very disoriented and very scared. it was a very terrifying situation for me. >> when linda tried to see her, the front desk clerk said no. >> you would think this wouldn't be a problem. somebody who has sheer terror and love and concern on their face, you would think that just even just the human part of the woman at the front desk would come out and say of course you can be together. >> they were kept apart until cat's sister arrived. a decision that would seem to violate federal hospital visitation policies. a year ago, president obama ordered hospitals receiving federal funds to allow patients to designate their own visitors during a hospital stay. that includes same sex couples.

but the hospital president for washington adventist tells 9news they did nothing wrong. >> the care team is assessing and treating the patient and they need the space and the time to do that before anyone accompanying the patient is allowed back in the emergency department. we did not communicate that well, i'm very sorry for that. >> today the human right's campaign, the largest organization, called on the hospital to review its policies to avoid this kind of miscommunication and says they can help. >> their discrimination and in cases visitation and outright denial of service sometimes hostility. and so we developed this process by which we found the best ways to educate staff on their lgbt clients. >> the organization is asking the hospital to participate in their health carry quality index survey. that is something they hope will happen soon. >> i'm just asking to be with my

partner. that's it. in a time of need. >> now, the hospital has agreed to take that survey. here is a side note. a few weeks after cat's crash, she had to return to the er. but she says rather than go back to washington adventist just three minutes from her home, she chose to go 20 minutes away to gw hospital for treatment. the parents of annie mccan are blasting baltimore police for the way they handled the case of her death. detectives believe she killed herself by drinking bactine. the parents don't buy it. and then they lost her organs. >> they have no right by carelessly losing her brain, her heart and her very essence. >> the state medical examiner's

office wouldn't comment specifically. and as for the police, they say they spent thousands of hours on in case and they never found any evidence to find she was a victim of homicide. federal agents today were at a top internet services provider and it's linked to federal investigators today shutting down megaupload.com. that is one of the world's largest file sharing sites for those that don't know and it's founders are now accused of violating anti-piracy laws. since the shut down, hackers have tried to retaliate by going after department of justice website as well as websites where the recording and motion pictures industries. plans to make dc's china town more like new york's time square have been put on home. owners of the verizon center had planned on putting in signs for the building. but after opposition, they are rethinking the idea. they want more time to share their plans with the community. a district council hearing on the topic is set for monday.

>> that would have been cool. >> it could have been. >> cool. >> we'll see what happens. >> okay. all right. should i run out and get snow tires on my car? >> no. i don't know why they're pretreating all of the roads. >> because if they don't pretreat them, then we'll talk about the fact they didn't pretreat the roads. >> there is no threat. maybe they're getting ahead of the game for tomorrow night. that's all i can assume. i don't know which data they're looking at. i wish i could see it because it's pretty depressing. i don't see much coming. here is our live weather camera. live shot of the capitol. temperature is just stuck on 40. it's been 40. that's the high so far today and it's been 40 since about 5:00. dew point 22. winds out of the southwest still at 13. humidity only 49%. pressure beginning to fall. temperatures haven't moved much either. 38 in arlington. 38 in bethesda. 37 in rocksville. upper 30s in reston and

sterling. over to the east, 41 in college park. 39 in beltsville. 37 over in laurel. okay. satellite picture radar combined, we'll zoom in and we're looking at most of the snow as we mentioned going to our north. it will snow west of the divide tonight. in fact, probably a couple of inches for some of the ski resorts. but we have a couple of rain showers not reaching the ground just north of frederick and north of gaithersburg and just to the south of frederick. that's about it. i think as we get through the night, the cold front will come through. you may see a shower or snow shower. that's about it. for the morning, we'll have morning clouds, sun and then afternoon clouds. you go to lunch and you'll see the clouds returning. both commutes will be fine. the morning commute is fine. the evening commute is fine. the mix will get here by about 11:00 tomorrow night. and the farther west you go, you back that up by about an hour or so. you head into the mountains, get there by 6:00 or 7:00 in the

evening. the mix will go to light rain on saturday. but overnight friday and into early saturday morning there is going to be some slick roads around the metro area. all right. here is a look at our future cast now. tomorrow morning in the early morning just a few clouds. 3, 4:00 in the morning. then we get sunshine. not bad. then the clouds come back very quickly from gaithersburg and leesburg southward by about lunch time. then they thicken up through the day. then by 6:00, you've got snow from lore ray over to oakland. that's why i said get across the mountains and the divide before 6:00 tomorrow. then it rolls through. initially a burst of snow. that's the blue. then the magenta is a mixture of sleet and freezing rain. and notice south and southern maryland. the good news, if you get out of here by saturday evening. overnight, we'll keep the chance of a rain or snow shower possible. low temperatures 28 to 34. next seven days much like this. saturday the mix goes to rain. sunday i cleaned up a little

bit. little sun early on sunday and then another system comes at us. temps don't move much sunday night. we pop in the mid 50s on monday. could see a shower, maybe even a thunderstorm. we're in the mid 50s tuesday. wednesday night some more rain into thursday. but, my goodness, it stays mild. >> all right, top. all right. high schoolers, time now to reveal the winner of this week's high school game of the week's poll. you voted and chose georgetown. highlights tomorrow night at 11:00. coming up next, our redskins insider david elfin will join me in the studio when 9news now returns. ♪

pierre! your fashion is so "right now," but your banking is so last season! earn more with high yield free checking at capital one bank. instead of some unfashionable rate, your checking could be earning five times the national average. and free atms anywhere. five times the interest? that's hot. oooooo! let's catwalk! you want more interest? open an account at a capital one bank. what's in your wallet? does this make my tuches look big?

welcome back to 9news and double coverage. joining me is david elfin. of course we have to start tonight with the redskins rumors. is peyton manning to washington rumors keep going. the redskins are making a push for peyton, whether it's release and sign or a trade. can you put this to rest once and for all? >> i would like to. i thought i did last week. it makes no sense for either side. peyton wants to play for a good team. the redskins tried this with

mcnabb who was healthier and younger. it makes no sense for either side. but i think they have to do something because robert griffin the third is not a sure thing because they may not get a chance to pick him. if they don't, they have to go with rex grossman again. you don't want to be there. >> that's enough with the redskins news. get this out of the way. there you go, chris. let's focus on the game at hand. afc championship this week well-respected player teammate of the ravens came out and criticized joe flaco for being nervous and not having a grasp on the game. what is your opinion. >> this guy is going to the hall of fame. ray lewis has been a fan for a decade. joe flaco i'm a little shaken. he apologized it's all over with. we'll see. if that doesn't buy out joe flaco, i don't know what will. >> tom brady sat out of practice

yesterday with a sore shoulder in his non-throwing shoulder. how much would those injuries maybe impact those two players on sunday? >> both those guys will see each other in a few years in the hall of fame. >> right. >> guys of that quality unless they really, really can't go are going to go a game in a game of this magnitude. there is no way they don't play. reed may not be able to jump as high. brady if he gets hit by the pash rush it could a fet -- pass rush it could affect him a little bit. >> all right. who do you have, ravens? >> i picked ravens in august. i don't like the way flaco is playing. new england is at home. >> okay. going for patriots. now to the nfc game, you have giants and the surprising 49ers. who do you pick for that game? >> a really good game. 9ers by a field goal. >> all right. so you're predicting the patriots and niners super bowl. we'll see how right you are. you can see right here the

championship. it's the first game. kickoff at 3:00. david elfin, thanks so much. 9news will return right after this.

that's 9news. >> letterman is next. have a great night. the decision was made - we were making a move. we had to. we knew that if we came in too high, it would cost us big time. we had to stay low. and boy did we.

we locked it in and rode that low rate from navy federal credit union all the way to our first house. it's a split-level ranch. so cute! 3 1/2 million members. 3 1/2 million stories. navy federal credit union.