there is no investigation. >> there's nothing real. this is about an extreme agenda, people trying to promote an extreme aend that has to do with women's access to reproductive healthcare. reporter: 9 news now did not receive a call back from the komen people but a spokesman said, "while it is regretable when changes in priorities and policies affect any of our grantees, we must continue to evolve to best meet the needs of the women we serve and most fully advance our mission." >> i was outraged. reporter: rosemary cutting runs the falls church healthcare center and believes the decision came about because of karen handle, komen's new senior vice president of public policy. she ran unsuccessfully for governor of georgia and reportedly viewed to defund plan the parenthood. >> when you turn your back on that many women, then this does become a war against women. reporter: planned parenthood of metropolitan washington receives no money from komen,

but many smaller planned parenthood centers across the country do and they depend on that komen money for breast cancer screenings and treatment for women who don't have insurance and can't afford it. >> clearly this is about caving to an extreme agenda and caving to an extreme anti-choice agenda. so i think it's very unfortunate. reporter: peggy fox, 9 news now. >> virginia congressman jim moran has released a statement calling on comb ton reverse that decision. on -- komen to reverse that decision. wusa9 has been komen's washington d.c. partner the past few years but a few months ago komen decided to end that relationship. a controversial abortion pill now one step closer to becoming law of the land in virginia. today the state senate passed a measure by a three-vote margin that would require any woman wanting an abortion to have an ultrasound first. that woman would be offered but not required to see it or even listen to the fetus' heartbeat. the bill heads over to the

house of delegates where previous bills have been passed and the governor said he would sign the bill if it passed. fresh off his big win in florida mitt romney carrying momentum into minnesota and nevada. both those states hold caucuses between now and next too much the former massachusetts governor stopped off in minnesota today before he rolled off west and the rest of the gop pack got a jump auto campaigning in nevada. -- on campaigning in nevada. their messages were about as different as their routes. romney campaigning as frontrunner and the other guys trying to figure out a way to stay in this thing. >> this is an exciting time. i'm happy for a little celebration. this is confetti. we just won florida. we're just going to win the white house next. >> it is my real issue is to make sure everybody's liberty is equal and equally defended regardless of which group we belong to. >> romney has got almost twice as many delegates as the other three candidates put together,

but gingrich, paul and santorum will have a chance to catch up quickly. nevada, maine, colorado, missouri, all hold caucuses over the next nine days. do the other candidates have a shoot or is the whole deal all done except for the voting? bob grunbolt is a republican advisor back to share his insights with us. last time we chatted mitt romney was on his way to south carolina and i think he used a phrase if he finds a way to lose it. he did but are there any other stumbling blocks out there for mitt romney? >> in this season, economist a seesaw up and down, the answer is yes. however, with his organization resources, his financial resources it's tough to see in the next couple weeks where he could stumble. he goes to nevada which he won big time in 2008. he has maine which is in his backyard and you have minnesota where he's very strong, missouri where newt is not even on the ballot in missouri. he didn't get enough signatures. so the first place where i see he could trip up again could be

super tuesday, but that's not until march. >> wow. you know, you get the sense at least for now a lot of republican voters have gotten past whatever problems they had with mitt romney and they're saying okay, this is probably our guy. >> you say him in florida mitt romney won the senior vote, the hispanic vote, cuban american vote, the women vote. he won every place except where? northern florida which is the most evangelical conservative portion of florida, the one place where the people didn't believe mitt romney was a true conservative. >> when you talk to people who are actually in florida, the one thing they say over and over again was how nasty this race was. romney says hey, it prepares us for the fall. it doesn't weaken us. do you agree? >> i was there up until the vote on tuesday and it was very nasty. i can't remember a primary, maybe the last time was jimmy carter and ted kennedy where it was that nasty. >> it went way beyond obama and hillary clinton? >> i think it actually did. i thought it was one of the

nastiest primaries i've seen. having said that, i think romney has now pivoted again to concentrating on the general election. we'll see if that's the wise move or a mistake. >> i've watched most of these debates and the man who i thought has done so well but gets so little credit for it is rick santorum. why is he getting no love from the voters? >> no money, no real organization, bit he has performed absolutely magnificently in these debates. i think he's done great job. he is a true believer, sticks to his values, really has no baggage, but he has no money and organization either. >> he did just raise $4 million. maybe that will make a difference for him. romney keeps making these little rhetorical mistakes like today he said he's not in favor of the very poor people, only the middle class and have to run back and correct it. how much of a problem are those little slip ups for him? >> not too much in the primaries. we've seen many of that on both sides of the aisle. people expect those. people expect less from romney because he ran once before and expect less from the speaker

because he was speaker of the house, but i don't think they're any big deal up to now. >> thank you, sir. we appreciate the insight. folks, tough choices, that was the gist of the maryland governor martin o'malley state of the state address today. he told the joint session of the general assembly the state of maryland is strong, but it is still in recovery. there's been a recession, after all. the governor submitted a $14 billion budget to try and keep the recovery going and he plans to pay for all that in part with a variety of tax hikes. today o'malley urged lawmakers to make the difficult decision and pass them. >> asking our fellow citizens to do more will not be popular. without anger, without fear, without any meanness let's ask one another how much less education do we want? how much less public safety? how many fewer jobs? >> but marylands who speaker michael busch, a dem --

maryland house speaker michael busch, a democrat says, there are questions about those tax issues. the senate 9th leader e.j. pipkin gave the gop response and said now -- senate minority leader e.j. pipkin gave the gop response and said new is not the time to raise taxes. >> governor o'malley's taxes are not anything new. they're nothing more than the tax policies that slowed our economic growth. the citizens of maryland deserve better. >> they claim the governor's proposals would only hurt the middle class. today in annapolis it was a family touched by tragedy versus the motor vehicle administration. the only question? how often is often enough to test older drivers for their competency behind the wheel? nathan kransnopoler, a cyclist, was hit by an 86-year-old driver. right now the department of

motor vehicles will let people go eight years without testing before renewal. >> there are examples of other older drivers having poor competency and not being safe on the roads. >> the mva says it's trying to save money extending the term for renewals. the administration says it will depend on families, doctors and police to refer older drives who may need more testing. so should -- drivers who may need more testing. so should elderly drivers face more cute any on their competency in renew -- scrutiny on their competency in renewing their driver's license? send in your opinions to mail d.c. balance at wusa9.com. coming -- mailbag at wusa9.com. coming up the end of the war in afghanistan, the u.s. defense secretary hinted just when that could happen. that's up next.

the united states and nato will end their combat mission in afghanistan next year. defense secretary leon panetta said wednesday the goal is to transition from a combat role to an afghan training role hopefully in the mid- to latter part of 2013. the obama administration had set a deadline of 2014 to end the war in afghanistan. france just announced days ago it will withdraw its troops next year. an army veteran suing the federal government because she

and her same sex wife are being denied military benefits granted to heterosexual couples. that lawsuit was announced today here in d.c. and it involves tracy cooper harris who served in the army for 12 years and who married maggie cooper harris in california in 2008. two years ago tracy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. >> facing ms made me take a step back and examine my priorities. that is why i wanted to make sure maggie would be taken care of after my death. i applied for disabled veterans benefits for my spouse, the same benefits available to spouses of other disabled veterans, but the department of veterans affairs denied those benefits simply because maggie is not a man. >> the couple's lawsuit argues that the difference in the way the heterosexual couples and same sex couples are treated is unconstitutional. all good things must end and for us, well, it is the spring-like sunny days we've

been experiencing. topper tells us when the rain and, of course, the cold will be back, his forecast in a minute. but first a music, fashion and entertainment legend found dead in his home. a look back at the life and legacy of don cornelius is up next. ♪ 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.

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that brings back some memories, doesn't it? that sinken voice that wished us the peace -- silken voice that wished us the peace, love

and soul has gone silent. this morning we learned don cornelius appears to have taken his own life, the 75-year-old found dead in his l.a. home this morning and our bruce johnson has local reaction to cornelius' death and the contribution soul train made to the music and fashion and dance we love. ♪dancing dancing dancing she's a dancing machine ♪ reporter: the show was must see tv on saturdays. soul train, with show creator and host don cornelius. >> the music of earth, wind and fire and mighty mighty. reporter: it started out way before cable and way before mtv and b.e.t. as a place to showcase r and b talent, dance and fashion. >> i used to be in front of the tv with my bowl of cereal watching the soul train line. >> loved to see the people dance and their clothes. reporter: don cornelius got the idea for soul train from american band stand which aired

from philadelphia. he only had $400 his program was to be syndicated out of chicago. radio stations throughout the d.c. area immediately went into a soul train theme upon hearing of don cornelius' death. >> when i first heard about it, i was stunned. i was shocked and then immediately i started thinking about all the memories. >> find out about the latest music, the latest dance steps, latest clothes. reporter: what do you still have in the closet, bell bottoms, platform shoes? >> i think i may still have the bell bottoms, can't get in them. ♪i'm asking you baby to get it on with me ♪ reporter: from motown to atlantic every performer wanted to be on their label. >> like junior walker, you're able to see them on gladys knight. at benally chili bowl nearly everyone had a soul train

memory today. it didn't take a lot of convincing to get the staff and some customers to form a soul train line. bruce johnson, 9 news now. >> cornelius was a part-time announcer when he started soul train. he emceed the show until 1993. after that he brought in guests to host it until he finally sold it. some trees are starting to bloom and it's a lot earlier than it usually is for them. the flowers and trees with all those blossoms, well, you know, they come with allergies. local allergy specialists report patients are actually suffering their allergies at least a month sooner than usual. >> this week we've actually had patients call in to say i'm having symptoms. can i come in and start my medications or see you? >> the thing is that stuffy nose could just be a cold, could be allergies. sometimes it's hard to tell because it's still winter out there officially. one of the main differences with allergies is you'll have the itchy eye thing going which

doesn't really happen when it's just a cold. >> speaking of cold, topper is back to tell us when the cold is going to show up again. >> it's going to be a gradual change, nothing crazy, but there's no arctic air. we talked about that. it's backing off. >> we like to hear that. >> 72 today, record high was 77 set back 10 years ago, 2002. let's start with our live weather camby michael and son, live shot of the capital, still a very nice evening with temperatures factored in, really nice, 63, dew point 45, pressure still rising at 30.02 inches of mercury. so these temperatures, a full 20 degrees above average. we should be in the low 40s. satellite picture radar combined, we'll zoom down to the southeast, big thunderstorm pushing through little rock in arkansas, another line pushing through the panhandle of florida up into georgia. this is the same system that will give us a glancing blow overnight, early tomorrow morning. most of the activity will end up south of us. right now it's moving into

southwestern virginia approaching richmond. we'll be dry through at least midnight. the activity probably gets in here around 3:00 in the morning, at least points north. in the meantime clouds are rolling back in and it's a very nice evening with temperatures in the upper 50s, low 60s, 59 rockville, 58 bethesda, 57 reston, 59 springfield and 63 in beltsville. so we'll cool down, but we'll end up being mild, dry evening commute, wet morning commute south of town. by that we mean south of 66 and south of route 50, particularly. still mild on thursday and a very nice finish on friday. late tonight 1:00, 2:00 in the morning there are the showers south of town, manassas, andrews, back into southern maryland, certainly down 95 towards fredericksburg. we'll put this into motion, hugs the southern viewing area. by 7:00 maybe showers as far north as frederick that. might be overdone. we do see heavier activity. most of the stuff in the

morning will be light, enough to wet the roads. then it rolls out quickly. by 1:00 we're seeing clearing skies in the west and a few leftover showers extreme southern maryland. you will clear out later and a little cooler air moves in, just enough to turn a little rain to snow showers back into western maryland and also into west virginia. tonight mostly cloudy, chilly, light rain by dawn, lows 38 to 46, winds out of the northwest at 10. most folks will hold in the 40s tonight. tomorrow an early shower possible, but partly cloudy, cool, temperatures in the 40s and by afternoon a very nice day, partly cloudy, cooler, but still mild. everything is relative, high temperatures around 55, winds out of the northwest at 10. hard to believe we're going to lose 20 degrees and still be 55 degrees. we'll break it down. 40s tomorrow, some showers, light rain possible. by noon we're in good shape, 50 to 55, by evening 51 to 56, a little cooler, yes, but still

pretty darn mild. now the next three days we're looking at a beautiful day friday, temps low 50s, sunshine, rain coming back late saturday or saturday night with temperatures around 50. now the next seven days we do have rain sunday and some of that rain could end in snow briefly north and west of town. temperatures around 40. then we get into next week. it's not bad, 50 on monday, upper 40s on tuesday and low 40s with sunshine on wednesday. so again all that arctic air locked up into alaska staying there. >> still locked up there. how early on that rain saturday, do you think? >> probably evening, get through the day dry. >> good thing. we'll be back in a minute. >> we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mailbag. 9 news now will be right back.

in the mailbag tonight lightning reaction to our debate at 5 p.m. regarding seniors and how often they ought to be tested to retain the right to drive. ron agrees with those who say do not single out the older drivers. i see daily 1/3 of the drivers

mostly under 40 on their cell phones texting and my wife sees speeders big time texters and et cetera flying down south on i-270 and when it rains, only about half the people use their headlights. bottom line, distracted driving is a major epidemic, not a disease attributable to older folks. ron, the real problem is for younger and perhaps healthier people if you put down that phone or that makeup, your driving will markedly improve. however, if eyes or reflexes are failing because of old age, unfortunately for all of us, that's a much different story. then there was yet another comment on the ruling in federal court yesterday saying authorities have to give notice if they want to move in and force out the occupy protesters downtown. dean calls that pathetic. if a homeless person tried to sleep there, they'd be moved or arrested for trespassing on federal property which makes it illegal for the occupiers to even be staying there in the first place. they vandalize, trespass, hold illegal protests, yet they are praised by the administration. well, you know what, dean?

they also have first amendment rights. that's why the court is trying to balance that against everything else you mentioned. mention whatever you like in the mailbag. the address is mailbag at wusa9.com. that's our report. i'll be right back here tonight at 11:00 along with anita brikman and tonight 9 wants you to know each year thousands of people under the age of 21 die or are hurt because of underage drinking. when they're getting all that booze? andrea mccarren has a special report at 11:00. we'll see you then. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. demi's wild night caught on camera. did this public display drive ashton away? plus, new details on demi's reported drug use and her obsession with staying young and thin. then -- ♪ >> soul train don cornelius suicide mystery on mulholland drive. the latest. brad with glasses and a beard. george, casual in jeans. >> there are so many themes at play here. >> the oscar nominees in the new "vanity fair." plus, charlize theron in a gucci swimsuit, posing on the streets of hollywood. the stars of "the hunger games," are they the next big