2013 budget monday and launched an election year battle over the deficit. he is pitching a $3.8 trillion plan that includes $350 billion to stimulate job growth. the president told a crowd of supporters at a northern virginia community college that $8 billion would be dedicated to help schools train workers. >> at a time when our economy is growing and creating jobs at a faster clip, we have to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track. >> the president renewed his call for tax hikes on the wealthy and he wants to end tax breaks for big corporations. he's also selling $4 trillion worth of spending cuts. all designed to trim the deficit over the next decade. but the president's budget does not stand a chance in congress. republican lawmakers quickly shot down his proposals dismissing them as bad for job creation. >> rather than treading water,

he makes things worse. >> and they say his budget actually does nothing to cut the deficit. >> somebody asked me if this budget was dead on arrival and i said no, no, it's not dead on arrival. it's dead on arrival. >> republicans refuse to accept new tax hikes. they demand bigger spending cuts and a medicare overhaul. the budget debate is expected to drag on until after the november election. the president's spending plan forecasts a $901 billion deficit for 2013. at the white house, danielle nottingham, now back to you, derek. >> thanks danielle. in what could be seen as an omen about the bill's future, the cart carrying the document actually got stuck in the doorway at the house of representatives. however, it's worth noting that congress hasn't passed any president's budget resolution since 2009. getting back to the plan itself, raising taxes on households earning more than

$250,000 a year will generate $1.5 trillion. also calling for eliminating saturday mail delivery. that would help save $25 billion over the next 11 years. >> the mayor of d.c. is applauding one item president obama included in his budget plan. it is language that would grant the d.c. government greater control. in essence, the district would spend its own money without waiting for congress to approve as it has to do now. >> we think this would be the most important advancement since the home rule act was passed in 1975. >> but the economy was protected in the event of a federal shutdown. >> gruesome testimony about smothering, choking, and an injury to yeardley love's head as the trial starts in charlottesville. reporter bruce leshan has been

there listening and joins us live with what happened in court today. bruce. >> yeah, anita, the medical examiner testified that there were bruises all over yeardley love's body. but what we have yet to hear about is an injury significant enough to clearly be the cause of death. the fact that the injury may be more subtle than that may be what has given george huguely's lawyers an opening to offer alternatives of her death. >> medical examiner told jurors, bruises consistent with smothering, but he found no evidence of asphyxiation and said smothering was not the cause of death. he found bruises all over her body, including around her neck and he described how choking off the artery could slow, even stop the heart. after a brief time it will

usually restart, but cut off for long enough and the victim will die. the medical examiner also told jurors he found a bruise on yeardley love's scalp, but no fracturing and on the surface of the brain, only a little bleeding. george huguely's lawyers have suggested love died not because he smacked her head against the wall, but from some kind of seizure brought on by a fatal combination of alcohol and the adhd drug, aderol. >> now on a grizzly day like today, it may actually be a blessing, but the public and the media are unable to see those autopsy photos of yeardley love or for instance, were unable to see the video tape, the statement that george huguely gave on the hours after the murder. today, 9news now and other media outlets are going to the virginia court of appeals to push the judge to provide a

second tv monitor here in the courtroom so that the public and the media can evaluate things like george huguely's body language in that video taped statement. we'll let you know how it turns out. anita. >> bruce leshan live in charlottesville. thank you. >> a firefighter is dead tonight after his father lost control of their fire truck on an icy route 50. it started this morning when men were helping fight a fire in west virginia. >> i'm scott broom in gore, virginia. the young firefighter was zach whitacre who was on a tanker truck that rolled over hustling to get water to save a house. the driver of the truck was whitacre's father. >> it adds another layer of sadness to the whole event. i can't imagine how that would feel being a father. >> page whitacre spoke to the 30 member fire rescue company

draped in black. zach whitacre grandfather was a volunteer, also. this is the house in west virginia that volunteers from two states were trying to save at 3:30 this morning. >> there are no fire hydrants down this country lane, which is why the whitacre's were called to truck water in. the truck overturned on u.s. route 50 as the whitacre's hustled to get a second load of water after a first trip to the house. in gore, virginia, scott broom, 9news now. >> today we learned the entire alexandria fire department will go out of service between 7:00 wednesday night and noon on friday. that is so the first responders can attend the various services for joshua. he died while responding to a car fire. the funeral for thursday and during that time, other local departments will cover any 911 calls in alexandria. >> we are also starting to

hear tonight about the arrangements for whitney houston. the singer's body will be flown to new jersey tonight where the family will hold a funeral later this week. beverly hills police confirm that houston was under water and apparently unconscious when she was found in a hotel bathroom this weekend. but they say it could be weeks before they know how she died. at the white house today, president obama honored several artists, writers, and organizations for their contributions to the arts and humanities. the president actually bees bestowed in the east room. among this year's recipients, poet, rita, country music singer and the united service organization or uso which holds performances for american troops stationed all around the world. >> coming up, the virginia house advances two bills that have pro-choice supporters up in arms. we'll tell you what the person hood and ultrasound bills are

trying to do. lesli. >> all right derek. coming up in this half hour, gripping video of a little girl rescued from an avalanche a day after it happened. top. >> wide range of temperatures today, but a pretty nice mid february day. here are the numbers. 50 was the high and 24 was the low. average is 45 and 28. again, the averages are coming up. record high 72. we'll come back and talk about one storm system tomorrow and a stronger one on thursday. and up next, some say efforts to correct the mistake at the memorial to dr. martin luther king, jr., could actually make the problems worse. we'll talk about that after the break.

a 9news now update. more concerns about plans to correct a paraphrase on the new memorial to martin luther king jr. the president of the mlk memorial project foundation says plans to change an inscription would actually

threaten the design, structure, and integrity of the new monument. his concerns echo those made by the foundation's architect. the national park service announced it will correct the quote by inscribing the full quote as dr. king said it. today marks one month since the costa concordia cruise ship ran aground. the coast guard took family members of those missing to the ship and many of them tossed messages or flowers into the water. 15 people are unaccounted for since the ship hit a reef january 13. now to safety concerns. federal safety teams are investigating reports of fires in the driver side doors of chevy trailblazers. model years 2006 and 2007. the national highway safety administration says more than 300,000 vehicles could be affected. now you may recall last week we told you about similar problems with certain toyota camrys. so far, there's been no recall

on any of these vehicles. the fires appear to start in the driver's side power window switch and some of the parts related to it. gm says no one has been hurt. a bump on the knee may not seem like anything, but still ahead, how one trainer's keen eye may have saved a local girl's life. ♪

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♪ 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? ♪ taking a look at news where you live tonight. alexandria is being recognized as one of the most romantic cities in the country. amazon.com ranks second on the list. the website factored in sales, data on romantic movies and books. right in time for valentine's day. we've got some romantic ideas for you. everybody on the set is cracking up right now. for valentine's day, wusa9.com.

thanks for sharing. >> yeah, it was the way that our producer wrote it. eloquently. she wanted to see me laugh. an indiana third grader, he's not laughing, but he is excited about his new pen pal, because it's president obama. >> he said, you're my hero. he included his terrific report card and one day he came home from school and found a letter waiting for him. >> he started jumping on top of my bed and said it's from the white house. president obama wrote me back. he wrote me back. >> i encourage you to set your sights high. >> she is hoping to take her son to d.c. and he is hoping to meet the president in person. >> most times it's a family doctor that encourages a patient to get screened for cancer. but for marine, a junior in mcclane, that recommendation came from her school's athletic trainers. as kristin fisher reports, their actions likely save

maurine's life. >> two years ago, maurine was the only freshman on the varsity valley ball team. >> after practice, i would hurt a lot. >> her doctors told the 14- year-old that it was growing pains, but then, her high school's trainer got a look at her aching right knee. >> never thought it would be cancer, but i had noticed that her patella was offset and something didn't seem right. >> two years later, that trainer is getting a kiss from congressman jim moran. >> thank you. you see, turns out that aching knee was cancer. bone cancer. rare and rapidly spreading. >> i was pretty shocked. i never broken a bone. i've never really been sick. so it was a shock. >> after 20 weeks of chemotherapy and a full knee replacement surgery, maurine isn't just back at langly high school, she's back playing volleyball. >> just come in and go for it.

>> but her family says equally impressive was the school support. >> we had never had it before. you helped us. >> the successful lobbied congressman moran to recognize the schools in virginia's congressional record. >> i'd like to recognize the administration, teachers, coaches, and athletic training staff for the care and compassion they show. they caught it in time, saved her leg. she is now a straight a student and she is a star volleyball player. and she is a survivor. >> kristin fisher, 9news now. >> we wish maurine well. throughout her chemotherapy, she stayed in school and she's going to graduate on time in may of 2013. >> kudos to her. quite a rescue yesterday in kosovo. a little girl whose home had been buried under snow from an avalanche that hit the day before. that same avalanche killed at

least nine people. across europe, snow and bitter cold killed more than 500 people. that's hard to fathom, topper. >> it happened every year, when you have cold snaps. cold snaps and heat waves kill more people than you think. it's sad, but it's true. that's where all the snow is, in europe. it's not here. we have the chance for a little bit of light snow or flurries north and west, but that's it. in town, we won't see anything. including rain drops. let's start with a live look outside. brought to you by michael and son. beautiful shot of the white house. and really, we have clouds rolling in, but it's going to stay dry. it's not that cold, not that windy. 46 degrees. pretty good deal. dew point 13. that's troubling because when you add moisture to the air, this temperature drops. this temperature rises, and end up somewhere around freezing and that could be the deal for our friends north and west of town in terms of some light snow or flurries. not be a travel problem. zoom into the system. it looks pretty good right now,

but it's going to fall apart as it moves eastward. big time convection in through louisiana pushing into mississippi and alabama. as we said all winter, it's like an early april map. most of it is green, which means rain. clouds rolling in right now. we'll stay dry through the night. could see some light snow or flurries break out north and west of town tomorrow morning. we'll zoom into the radar and you can see tremendous thunderstorms through jackson. crossing over now just west of 65 into western alabama. a little bit of snow in portions of st. louis and also eastern missouri and southern sections of illinois. i'll tell you what, it dries up as it goes eastward. temperatures, 44 in rockville. 39 already in gaithersburg. 44 arlington. 43 in springfield. because the clouds will come in and keep temperatures up a little bit and looking at a mild week. not as cold tonight. more clouds and showers tomorrow. mild and nice on wednesday. grab the umbrella for thursday.

stronger, more organized system comes at us on thursday. walking the dog tonight, notice there's no green or blue blobs. it's just cloudy. even tomorrow morning, we see a couple snow flurries just blast through. hagerstown, that's about it. and maybe a couple sprinkles, but nothing is heavy and probably nothing falls inside the beltway. at least through the early afternoon hours and then by 6:15, 6:00 on wednesday morning, everything goes away. increasing cloudiness tonight. not as cold. a 1, maybe 2 blanket night. tomorrow morning, sprinkle or flurry north and west. temperatures in the 20s and 30s. by afternoon, we're looking at mostly cloudy skies. maybe a few showers, that's it. a light coat will take care of you. high temperatures near 50. despite the cloud cover. next seven days look like this. temperatures hovering around 50 through the week. so looking at a gorgeous wednesday. rain, but still mild on thursday. a gorgeous finish to the week. yes, i tucked a snow flake in there on sunday morning.

a little colder over the weekend. >> not bad at all. thanks, top. there is a mass going on at the university of maryland. what is going on? >> i don't know. i don't know if another college had an issue like this before. i don't know if any of you guys have. they are just dropping like flies in college park. three more players decide to leave the maryland football program. we talk to coach, what does he have to say about the state of his program? plus, capital look to get back in the playoff race coming up next in sports.

9sports with kristen berset. the best sports in town. >> oh, less than a week after inking one of the nation's top ten recruits, maryland terrapins now dealing with losing three more key players. among them, quarterback and 2010 acc rookie of the year. that makes 24 players left sing randy took over the program a year ago. according to the terrapin insider, they can't play for 16 schools, including acc schools and vanderbilt. we talked to randy earlier today, he didn't confirm nor deny that information, but what

he did say is despite all the loss, the program he thinks is still in good shape. >> i think everything is very stable here. take a look at the class that we just put together. they say it the best. if you listen and see their comments, you see what they believe and what this program is all about and i think that's the best statement we can have. >> oh, we'll see what happens. the capitals are back in a regrouping stage. maybe a little panic. a pair of losses are threatening their post season aspirations. the capitals are four points behind the florida panthers and sit 9th in the east. they desperately need points to stay in the race. they are back home tonight where they tend to have more success. they are facing san jose who leads the pacific division. it's becoming do or die time for the reds. >> best for us, we aren't going to get in there. if guys want to make the

playoffs, you know, we'll have an early summer. >> we win our game, you know, to make it. we are out right now and we need a big win tonight. >> and mike expected to be a healthy for the third game. just tree goals and eight assists. his benching has trade rumors twirling and michael sits out with the flu. time now to reveal our game of the week poll. this week among the choices, orchard at rockville, a special game honoring a special young girl, lilly. she's the daughter of rockville's tennis coach, who is fighting a rare form of bone cancer. and girls hoops and hd woodson. so good game. >> absolutely. that's it for us, the cbs evening news is next. >> and derek is back with your area's local newscast at 7:00. have a good night.