. hello and thank you for joining us. i'm jc hayward. many of us are under a winter weather advisory. >> it's north and west of us through 8:00 in the shenandoah valley through 10:00 for

howard, montgomery and baltimore counties. those areas dealing with the winter weather advisories. this is not a big event. it's warm out there. the warm surfaces are warm and this is why i don't think we'll have too many problems. it's 41 right now. it's going to have a tough time sticking. north of town, hagueerstown, win chester, low 30s. those areas could see the slick spots developing late this afternoon and this evening. hoor comes the -- here comes the snow system throwing snow up in pennsylvania. you see snow from west virginia. a lot of what we're seeing isn't even reaching the ground because the air is dry. this is the a sign that things are going to be lowering. while we're looking at this and you can see some of that snow in frederick, no reports that it's reaching the ground. there may abfew flakes out of -- be a few flakes out of this. cumberland, maryland they've had pretty decent snows out

there. i don't know how well you can see this. they have some snow coming down. i think we have a little bit on the lense. a another stop clearer than that west of winchester, we can take you out, they have had snow in spits and spurts. how much snow we're going to get? a quick look at the map. i think maybe a trace to an inch max. could see closer to an inch in upper montgomery county and maybe two toward frederick and a little more in the mountains. we'll talk more about timing and i'll show you this map again when i see you in a few minutes. >> thank you very much, howard. federal agencies in washington are open. employees do have the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. nonemergency employees may ask a supervisor to rearrange their work schedule. emergency employees are expected to report on time unless otherwise directed by their agencies. this morning in charlotteville, prosecutors and defense attorneys have been

exercising their strikes in the george huguely murder trial. it is the final step before a panel of 12 jurors and three alternateses is seated. our 9news reporter bruce leshan is outside the courthouse with an update. bruce? >> reporter: we've got through that. they've seated a jury and now we're on to opening statements. i just walked out of opening statements just a couple of minutes ago, and i will tell you it is depressing. it is distressing. the prosecutor is taking his first turn and he's told us the fact that we really didn't know up to now. he says that youngyardley -- young -- young yerdley love survived for about two hours lying in her bed in an off campus apartment here at uva after being horribly, horribly injured. he says that her carotid artery and the nerve around it was

shut down, consistent -- an injury cost end with the hand on her throat. he says that pressure doesn't take long to stop the heart there. was severe damage to her brain stem, her ability to control her breathing, the time of primitive things that just keep you alive. that apparently shut down, but there was something for some two hours until her roommate came home. he says that george huguely, a big guy, 6'2", 209 pounds shoved his foot through her bedroom door, came in, and killed her and he also detailed this e-mail that he says george huguely, her ex-boyfriend send to yeardley love. we actually have some video. this is the first shot. i'm not sure when you're seeing it but this is from the daily progress, the newspaper here. and this is the first photograph that we've had of george huguely since the trial started. he looks much smaller now than

he did then. but he says that they sent -- he sent this e-mail to yeardley love saying i should have killed you two days before he did kill her. that's what the proctor says. we had a chance to talk to a juror here who was rejected. sounds like the defense has a real uphill battle. >> i think it's very interesting and very sad. >> reporter: you think he's guilty? >> of something, yes. >> reporter: of something, yes, but you don't know that he murdered her? >> well, no. i think that's -- i'm not sure if it was first and second degree. i don't think it was premeditated. >> reporter: that's what one of the rejected jurors said. the defense is going to get its chance to speak to the jury. opening statements here. their theory is that george huguely may have beaten yeardley love but that he

didn't killer. he told police all he saw was a bloody nose. the prosecutor said one of the few parts her body that was not injured was her nose. terrible other injuries. jc, back to you. >> bruce leshan reporting live. thank you very much, bruce. 9 wants you to know that montgomery county is announcing an important new initiative whether it comes to underage drinking. this is after 9news now started doing stories on this very important irk. the department of liquor -- important irk. the department of liquor -- important issue. the department of liquor control will direct licenses to every establishment that serves alcohol. it will help determine if a customer is 21 years old. our andrea mccarren shows us some troubled lives that began with early alcohol abuse.

>> i'm trying to make myself feel better. that was my medication. >> reporter: on a cold december night at a montgomery county police station, we met jim shackled to a table. he'd been picked up on his fourth dui. >> yes, i could hurt somebody. >> reporter: he confessed that some day he will probably kill someone, not with a gun or knife but by getting behind the wheel loaded with alcohol. >> i might do the same thing and go out and kill somebody. i don't want that. but i know it's in me. it's in me because i'm sick. >> reporter: the self-described worthless loser agreed to share his story because he doesn't want young people to make the same mistakes he has. >> i almost died two weeks ago. >> reporter: how? >> i drank a fifth of vodka and i was puking in my own puke and it was going down my esophagus.

>> reporter: worst of all it was witnessed by his own son. >> my wife said, he's all right. he's just drunk. my son said no, mommy, he's really in bad shape. >> reporter: jim is 55 years old though he looks significantly older. he started drinking when he was 14, drinking he said for fun. how do you describe yourself now? >> pathetic. i find myself pathetic. look where i am. >> reporter: he's lost his job, his home, and his marriage is in shambles. hours earlier another life ravaged by alcohol. we were riding in a montgomery county police cruiser in downtown silver spring. what began as an apparent hit and run escalated into a wild high speed chase. for more than five minutes, we followed the speeding driver as he barreled on to the beltway

and then i-270. until word came over the police scanner that he had crashed after hitting another car and spinning out of control. transported to suburban hospital, we learned he was 42 years old and had just been released from prison after serving a 23-year sentence for armed robbery. when he got behind the wheel that night, he was legally intoxicated. this time he didn't kill anyone. next time he might. andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> to watch the entire video from the high speed chase involving the drunk driver, go to our website wusa9.com and click on 9 wants you to know at the top of our home page. coming up ahead, a sweep in yesterday's political contest changes the landscape in the republican presidential race. plus, one local leader

hopes california's proposition 8 decision will affect the push for same-sex marriage in his state. we'll be back.

as the city council has passed a bill to let same-sex couples that married in d.c. to get divorced if they have moved some place else. under current law, one member of the divorcing couple has to live in washington for six months before starting divorce proceedings. a federal appeals court has overturned california's proposition 8. that's the statewide voter referendum which outlawed same-sex marriage. however, same-sex marriages will be on hold while this ruling is appealed. maryland governor martin o'malley says he hopes the ruling will influence maryland lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. republican presidential candidate rick santorum is in texas today after sweeping three contests last night. the former pennsylvania senator won caucuses in colorado and minnesota as well as missouri's

primary. even though no convention delegates were at stake, santorum's sweep puts mitt romney's status as the front- runner in question. >> i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> i want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we'll keep on campaigning down the road but i expect to become our nominee with your help. >> when the dust settles, i think there's a very good chance that we're going to have the maximum number of delegates coming out of minnesota. >> texas congressman ron paul placed second in minnesota. newt gingrich wasn't even on the ballot yesterday. the former house speaker says he is focusing on winning super tuesday next month. we have been airing andrea mccarren's reports about underage drinking here on 9news now at noon. coming up, montgomery county executive ike legal g.t.e.

is going to -- ike leggett is going to join us and talk about the new initiative to try and stop underage youngsters from buying alcohol. and howard will be back with details on how much snow and who's going to get it this afternoon. stay with us.

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this morning maryland's state lawmakers nixed another proposed blastic bag tax for our area. the prince george's county council had endorse add five- cent tax on plastic bags but now it appears the county will not get the special approval from state lawmakers needed to enact that tax. an important forecast from howard. >> we have snow coming in. i want to stress surface temperatures are warm. road surfaces mainly wet. road crews were out yesterday. see the stripes on the road? that's the brine solution

pretreating the roads. we're going to see some snow but i think very little is going to stick on road surfaces locally. well north and west of town toward i-81, the northern shenandoah valley, those areas are colder and have a better chance of seeing a few smick spots -- slick spots later this afternoon and this evening. a rain-snow mix moving in across the region. we'll see temperatures slowly drop off in the upper 30s here in town as we go through the afternoon. that means snow for the evening commute but again i'm thinking mainly wet roads out there which is going to be enough to slow you down. by 7:00 36 and winds go north to northeast. by 9:00 still a couple of areas of snow left over, mainly d.c. points north and west. we're looking at the winter weather advisories tell 9:00. south and east you may see snow but nothing is really going to stick down there especially in places like st. mary's, calvert and charles. don't think it's going to happen. the snow and rain moving in. the critical time between 4:00 and 9:00. i think that's the best chance we'll see some areas with some

slick spots especially north and west. the roads are going to be mainly wet. the slick spots north and west. hagerstown, martinsburg, frederick not out of the question. we've been watching the moisture move in. a lot of this east of 95 is not reaching the ground. it's evaporating. it's tending to cool and moisten the atmosphere. as we switch it to live doppler 9hd, fredricksburg could see a couple of sprinkles but north of town, we know it's snowing. hearing from people in frederick and smithsburg and hagerstown and myersville. i want to take you to maryland right now. the. our meteorologist storm chaser knows a lot about weather. route 17, this is right by interstate 70 out there. you can see the snow is coming down but you also notice the wetness on the road. i think this is what we'll be dealing with for much of the afternoon. temperatures in the low to mid- 30s. 34 hagerstown to winchester. it can be above freezing.

where the clouds are it's got to be cold enough but at the surface upper 30s. a lot of melting. cloudy skies. it's not doing anything yet in town. 41 degrees. dew point is 29. a 12-degree spread. so that first batch of moisture has to come in, evaporate that will cool things off a bit and we'll see the rain and snow move in later this afternoon. by 3:15, we should be seeing snow. we may be seeing some snow develop here over the next couple of hours. be around for the evening commute. look at south of town, though. 6:00 p.m. you go south of fredricksburg, there's not much going on. we get into the nighttime hours, 9:00 p.m. still some lighter snows hanging up out north. that's why we could have some slick spots. after that things start to wind down with light snow around midnight. we're going to clear out overnight. as far as the amount of snow, not a lot. my map just might be a little bit on the high side. we'll go back and show you this before we go. trace to possibly an inch in

upper montgomery into loudoun county but i think most areas here just a trace. could see an inch or two up toward frederick. maybe two-plus in some of the higher elevations between route 15 and 81. in the mountains of western maryland, green castle, pennsylvania, 2, 3, ietion lated 4 -- isolated 4 would abworst-case scenario. today we're looking at temperatures from 40. upper 20s to low 30s tonight. 48 tomorrow. is a lot of melting. friday still around 50. we've got a shot of colder air for the weekend with a few flurries saturday and a cold day on sunday. stick around. we're not going anywhere. you're looking at snow falling in myersville, maryland. 9news now returns right after this.

if you saw andrea mckaren's story earlier in the show, then you heard that montgomery county is launching a new initiative to try to stop more teens from buying alcohol. i'm one on one today with our county executive isiah leggett to talk about that and some other issues that are affecting residents in montgomery county. the series of reports that andrea has been doing are mind boggling. number one, we have liquor stores selling to young people and number two, we have parents who approve of it. this is incredible. we've got to do something to stop this. too many young people are dying. >> first of all, we need to make certain that we follow the law.

it is against the law to sell to underage young people. and we need to make certain that our merchants who are doing this are held accountable. you cannot substitute for that. now, we can do some things to assist them. the initiative we have now is to get the calendar out so they can calculate the dates, make sure they go through the checklist of things they need to do. but at the end of the day, it requires a merchant who's diligent and committed to doing it. it requires parent to make sure kids understand the law and obey the law and it requires the government to hold people accountable. if we don't, we certainly can take appropriate action for parents and others who provide liquor to underage people. so it requires all three of those things working in harmony to make sure we get to the bottom of this problem. >> i was just so surprised when i heard parents were saying well, it's okay for my teenager to drink at home because it's a secure environment. it's not right for a young person to drink any place

that's underage. >> certainly because it expands beyond that. the teen will continue to do so when they're not home, when they're potentially driving, behind vehicles and those kinds of things so we want to tell them. >> what else is happening in the county? >> we're moving forward. we're concerned about snow. whenever there's snow in the washington, d.c. area, it is a real challenge for all of us. so we are out on the streets now making sure that we preprepare streets in a way that we can have assurance about the rush hour. but people need to be mindful. tune into the county's website or go back to your website to make sure they have the appropriate information to ensure that people are prepared for today. but we hope that we can get through this rush hour and ensure that people are safe and sound. >> if i have snow on my street and it's there two or three days later, can i call you? >> people call me at any time. we have a website that you can go now and look at the website and determine when your street will be cleared.

you can even see various intersections. it's a good site to look at. >> i'm going to put it on jchayward.com. come back and visit us at 5:00. thanks for being with us. bye-bye.