state of the union address. it is just three hours until the commander in chief fires, what in some ways opens to the opening salvo and republicans are offering it mixed reviews. i thought this was supposed to be a nonpartisan speech, bruce. >> what the heck is nonpartisan in an election year? reach millions of people and kind of frame the debate for the general election. but republicans are saying that it's just another rehash of the same old failed policies. >> the president has been telling his donors that his policies are working, but just not fast enough. the speech will try and set the agenda for his reelection. >> that's no secret that those of us here tonight have had our differences. >> his advisers call this a make or break moment for the american middle class. and they hope to focus the

national conversation on inequality. >> in america where everyone gots a fair shot. everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> we saw what happened when we saw an economy built on bad debt and financial instruments. that didn't work. it caused a crash and we are still recovering from it. >> but republicans hope to make the upcoming election a referendum on the president. under a sign that said obama isn't working, gop presidential candidate, mitt romney, blamed the president for the country's economic struggle. >> and what's critical is that we make today barack obama's last state of the union address. no more from barack obama. >> look for the president to outline new plans to revive housing, to boost american manufacturing and help educate workers for the 21st century. but the speech is already getting bad reviews from republican congressional leaders.

>> it sounds to me like the same old policies will be seen. more spending, higher taxes. more regulations. >> as the american people look in that chamber tonight, they don't want a repeat of last year. we have to find every opportunity to make progress. >> now the white house had an embargo on excerpts. it's after 6:00 so we can read some of them. the president expected to say, we can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of americans barely get by, or restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot. everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. now in the first lady's box will be warren buffet's secretary who famously pays a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss. kind of a visual reminder of the points that the president tried to make.

anita. >> it's actually lesli, and i'll take it back from you, bruce. thanks so much. a quick reminder that all the roads you see here are going to be closing in an hour due to the state of union. they will reopen after the speech is over and everyone starts to leave capitol hill. anita. >> well, these folks have been camped out for months and lawmakers wanted to hear why. occupy d.c. has been allowed to set up shop in mcpherson square. >> this is bruce johnson. if you want us to leave, give us a place to go. >> federal law says the occupy d.c. protesters can demonstrate with a permit. they cannot camp out in mcpherson square. >> camping is defined as sleeping or preparing to sleep at the site. is there sleeping going on in mcpherson square? >> yes, we believe there is. >> ahead of the national park service under tough questioning from republicans admitted he has been looking the other way and allowing occupy protesters

to camp out in order to help keep the peace. >> if you want to change the rules, that's fine. just let me tell my constituents who want to visit d.c. that they can come to any park they want to and bring their tent as long as they say they are protesting. >> national park service director says he'll begin to enforce the no camping law, but he won't say when or how. >> we are not evicting mcpherson, the occupiers under any circumstances. unless there's some sort of major health or emergency. you need to make a distinction here that camping is a violation on an individual person's case. >> bruce johnson, 9news now. >> a man charged with trying to assassinate president barack obama has pleaded not guilty. oscar ramiro hernandez is accused of firing shots at the white house last november. the president wasn't home at the time and nobody was hurt. prosecutors allege ortega

harbors conspiracy theories and fantasies of killing the president. residents in northwest d.c. are on high alert over another armed robbery. there have been three armed robberies within three miles of the metro. >> in northwest washington where d.c. police chief, kathy lanier is hosting a community crime meeting about this recent rash of armed robberies. the latest took place last night. >> 8:00 monday night, a man walking along this quiet section is held up at gunpoint. the suspect approached from behind demanded money, then fled on foot along with two other men who were standing nearby. >> wow, i'm really shocked. i work nearby. i walk to and from the metro every day. >> it surprised me that it's in this area. normally the police coverage is fairly good. i think the economic times

force people to do desperate times. >> the majority are related. and that they are being conducted by a group of two to three men. police have already increased paroles in the area, but they don't have a good description of the suspects. in northwest washington, kristin fisher, 9news now. >> also today, police agencies taking a careful look at a supreme court ruling that says gps tracking cannot be done without a warrant. tonight, nine wants to know what the implications will be for crime fighting and your privacy. that's where scott broom steps in with answers tonight. >> it was a gps tracking device like this attached to the car of suspected d.c. drug kingpin antwon jones. netted a million dollars in drugs and cash and now, the supreme court has ruled it was all unconstitutional. >> this was a devastating decision by the supreme court. this is going to set law enforcement back tremendously. >> the university of maryland

center for health and homeland security. tonight, he has new advice for law enforcement agencies everywhere that want to track anything, cell phones, vehicles, or otherwise. >> with this ruling, i think, you know, law enforcement has to proceed cautiously and if there is an opportunity to get a warrant, to get a warrant. >> until this ruling, warrants were not required. and warrants are not required for certain other types of gps tracking of a suspect's cell phone, for instance. just tracking is played critical roles, chasing down the killer of william mcquain in williams board. >> agencies everywhere is don't bother waiting for the supreme court to rule again and clarify all this. in this new digital age, just go get a warrant. in washington, scott broom, 9news now. >> and we're going to continue to talk about issues that impact your privacy.

tonight at 7:00, big changes to dpoog l's google privacy policy. >> that's a little daunting. still to come in this half hour, the wizards make a change at the top. we'll tell you more about flip saunders departure. dave. >> we are live at the verison center. the real story is basketball. flip saunders out, randy whitman in. i'll have a live report coming up in a few moments. well, i don't have a jacket on. temperatures mild. here are the numbers that go in the books. 54 at national today. 43 was the low. the low was higher than the average high. record high is 73. record low 3 above. we'll come back and talk about some cooler air moving in tonight. talk about the northern lights and when the next time you're going to need your umbrella. >> and the major route through northern virginia shut down for hours this afternoon. the latest on that gas main

leak along gleeb road. that's next on 9news now. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn.

♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

back now with a commuter alert for drivers in arlington, virginia. right now the northbound lanes of gleeb road are back open between north persian drive. the southbound lanes are still closed as crews work to repair a gas leak. try to avoid that area if you can. still pretty congested. in three hours, crews will start closing the exit ramp from i-95 south to the interloop of the beltway in virginia. traffic is going it be detoured along 395 until that ramp opens back up. that's tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. this is part of the high occupancy toll lanes project. today, thousands of people gathered at ben state university to remember the late football coach, joe paterno. he died from cancer sunday at the age of 85. so many lined up for public

viewing today and another one will take place tomorrow morning followed by a private funeral thursday afternoon. a memorial will take place on penn state campus. still ahead, a storm millions of miles away may mean a unique show for us tonight. we'll talk about that.

exactly what the state of our union is. it's the hot topic on wusa9.com tonight. gary breaks it down. log on to our website to see his full report. after pressure from his political rivals, mitt romney released his tax returns today. the republican presidential nominee's records show he made more than $40 million in the last two years and paid $6.2 in federal income taxes. most of that money coming from

investments. making his effective tax rate 15% this year. >> i have fully dissatisfied the responsibilities and obligations to taxpayers. >> the romney tax rate is half of that of newt gingrich. the records also show the romney's donated $7 million to charity in the last two years. in richmond, a house of delegates subcommittee has snuffed out a proposal to raise virginia's tobacco tax. the bill was introduced by patrick hope. it would have boosted the tax on a pack of cigarettes. that increase would have brought virginia's tax up to the national average. instead, the tax will remain among the country's lowest. the federal government ponied up $116 million toward construction of metro rail service to dulles. the money will help pay for phase one of the project. that calls for building 12 miles of rail line stretching

from the current west falls church station through tyson's county attorney and reston. five new metro stations will line that route to the airport. >> the air and space museum is preparing to welcome the space shuttle discovery. the orbiter is scheduled to arrive this spring on the back of a 747 airplane. it will eventually end up at the smithsonian's massive hanger at the center in shantily. two days before the welcoming ceremony april 19. it may have been absolutely beautiful outside today. but would you believe that we are in the middle of a major solar storm? this is what the surface of the sun looks like and flairs on that surface could cause some problems for us down here on earth. lindsey mastis explains. >> it happened sunday, but it's affecting earth now. a solar flair eruption so big that it is sending strong radiation our way. >> the biggest eruptions can disrupt the satellite

operations. they can disrupt gps. >> nasa research scientist says it can also affect flight. in this case, disruptions are only affecting a certain part of the earth. >> radiation from the solar flair is traveling to the poles of the earth and that is where flights are affected. >> as for our gps unit. >> this storm is most likely not going to impact the gps too much. >> some people in places like canada might notice their gps units are inaccurate. the best part about this storm is happening in canada and possibly states bordering canada. there will be spectacular horas, i'm lindsey mastis, 9news now. >> you're saying we could see those northern lights. >> there's a slight chance.

it's clear tonight, so we have the lack of cloud cover, which is important. they are heading at us at 14- mile miles an hour. this was the biggest since september of '05. it's going to peek not tonight, but tomorrow night. tonight is probably your best chance to see the northern lights. let's look outside live and look down, not up. we'll look across to the white house. this is our live web cam and it's nice outside. temperatures are, you know, 55 at national. can you believe that? that's actually the new high so far. 37 is the dew point. some dryer air has moved in. the dew point was 40 earlier. we are going to fall into the 30s tonight, but nothing crazy cool. the cold front did move through today. pretty much unnoticed. we're going to zoom into our next storm, which is down along the gulf coast. normally when we see storms, we get excited. there's no cold air anywhere. we are looking at rain developing thursday morning and may bleed into friday morning. good news for texas.

it had a very dry last year. any time you see rain in texas, it's a good thing. we have some early clouds tonight, they have moved out. we're looking at clear skies and temperatures are still pretty mild for this time of night and for this time of year. 48 in bethesda. but 51 in rockville. 50 in college park. crazy. 48 in springfield. all right, so a little bit cooler, but nothing crazy. chilly tonight, you'll need your shades for tomorrow morning's commute. some clouds come in. it stays dry. and you will need your umbrella by thursday as the system moves in. tonight, clear to partly cloudy. a one blanket night. lows in the 30s. winds will pick up after midnight. by afternoon, mostly sunny and chilly. by morning, grab your shades. 30s and 40s. winds light, northwest at 10. by afternoon, still a very nice day. partly cloudy and cooler.

some clouds come in late. high temperatures 45 to about 50 and winds northwest at 10. winds not a factor tomorrow at all. all right, next seven days. there's the rain on thursday. 48. it may bleed into friday. cooler on saturday. i'll keep the chance for rain in on saturday. and then colder on sunday and monday. we are back in the 30s on sunday and monday. maybe a flurry on sunday. and then as been the case all winter, look what happens tuesday. we bounce back into the low 50s. >> we cannot sustain those cold temperatures. >> cannot get a winter pattern. >> we're going to go down to the verison center. dave owens is there. first and foremost, head coach of the wizards, big change. dave. >> yeah, anita. it's a busy day. one of the tenants going through changes. flip saunders is out. randy whitman is in. we'll hear from gm, ernie

grunfeld. is he safe? that's up in sports, next.

and now, 9 sports with dave owen. the best sports in town. >> welcome back to the verison center. the firing of flip saunders comes as a surprise of no one. not all of it was his fault, but immediate changes had to be made and they were made today. general manager, ernie grunfeld making the announcement this afternoon that the saunders era is done. he added, quote, players were not responding and developing as much as we'd like. he made the firing recommendation last night. >> we have to get consistency throughout the lineup and everybody is responsible for this, including the players. we thought it was time to do some different things to take advantage of the talent and the talent of the players on the team. >> flip's overall record in two plus seasons, 51 wins, 130 losses. 2-15 this year and 0-7 on the

road. randy whitman takes over. he coached before. but he is also a good friend with flip and says it's an emotional day for him. >> is this a happy day? no. by any regard, you know, a good man walked out the door today and you know, it's always hard. you know, i didn't come here to washington to be the head coach. i came here to help him. >> his first game will be tomorrow night right here when they remove the ice and take on the charlotte bobcats. there is a good hockey game coming up tonight and the caps will be facing the stanley cup champion without alex ovechkin. why? he is serving game one of three for this hit that he had on sunday against pittsburgh. he wasn't penalized in the game. he is going to skip the all- star game. here are comments today. >> i was surprised and disappointed. >> i think it sends the wrong

message. it's unfortunate. three of our best players in the lineup. >> nats were hoping to land prince fielder today. but the free agent signed a deal with the tigers instead. his dad played with detroit back in the 1990s. that's going to do it for us here at the verison center. they are darkening the lights, this means it's time for us to go. we'll have a full wrap up tonight at 11:00. guys and lady, back to you. >> it would be hard to concentrate with all that going on. way to go, dave. a lot to do. that's all for 9news now at 6:00. stay with wusa9 for the cbs evening news. at 7:00, lesli is here with our area's only local newscast and don't forget to join andrea, mike, howard tomorrow morning. as always, wusa9.com is always on. stay with us on wusa9 for the state of the union address. we will be carrying it live and

anita brikman along with topper. we'll see you at 11:00.