disagree. a defense neuropathologist told jurors that he saw some swelling in her brain put no obvious wound, nothing like the lacerations and bleeding in the typical victim of a closed head injury. huguely's leadoff witness suggested yeardley love's blood alcohol would have been around .18 when huguely broke through her bedroom door. the 219-pound lacrosse player told police his much smaller ex- girl friend was freaking out, aggressive, unwilling to talk and the expert said that much alcohol would have impaired her judgment, her reasoning, her emotional control and her coordination, but yeardley love's best friend testified for the prosecution that it was huguely who was acting strangely right after he returned from love's apartment. the friend finally asked him three times what is wrong with you? all he got, a blank stare. dr. jan ledsma, the defense

expert, blamed cpr for the injuries in yeardley love's brain, tough cross-examination by the prosecutor. if emts were pumping so hard on her heart, why was there so little damage here and so much more up here? in charlottesville, bruce leshan, 9 news now. out in l.a. investigators are still trying to figure out just how whitney houston died, but for now they are focusing on the singer's prescription medicine. the l.a. coroner's office issued subpoenas for houston's medical and pharmacy records. investigators found medication in the hotel room where whitney houston was found dead, but the coroner says it was all in her name and actually less than is usually seen in overdose cases. meanwhile the singer's family has chosen to keep saturday's funeral private. long time family friend and gospel singer marvin winens will deliver that eulogy. >> if you scratch the surface, it didn't take you long to find out she was still that little

girl from new jersey. >> just because the service is private doesn't mean fans won't see it. it will stream live on the internet. nine people died back in the near 2009 when two metro trains collided over on the red line and for the first time since then metro now admits the crash was its fault. >> reporter: i'm scott broom at ft. totten where families of metro victims are unimpressed by metro's admission of liability. june 22nd, 2009, a train crash that killed nine that metro and its electronic equipment suppliers now say in new legal filings was undoubtedly their fault. kenneth hawkins' brother dennis was among those killed in the accident. >> here we waited 2 1/2 years for them to finally come out and say this and which we've known since day one. >> reporter: in fact, admitting liability may be a shrewd legal maneuver if a judge accepts the stipulation it was all metro's fault. there's no need for a jury to hear all the shocking details.

according to washington trial lawyer jeff jakabovitz. >> it's unusual, but by doing that they're trying to take the issue away from the jury. >> reporter: with no emotional testimony about fault in front of a jury it may end up that the victims' families get less. at ft. totten, scott broom, 9 news now. a visitation held tonight for joshua weissman, the alexandria paramedic who died last week while responding to a car fire on i-395 in arlington. his colleagues are now rallying around his family. >> joshua's family is our family. so we're doing everything from at the upper echelon all the departments are getting together doing mutual aid. >> that's one of the reasons we're here is to take care of his family and make sure that every need is met. >> weissman's funeral is tomorrow afternoon. all alexandria city schools will be let out early and alexandria police say commuters can expect some traffic congestion near king street and

braddock road and seminary road while the funeral procession goes by. maryland governor martin o'malley proposed shifting half the cost of teacher pensions from the state to the counties. that's a lot of money and counties would have to come up with it, so it's no surprise the governor's plan is not sitting so well with a lot of local officials across the state. today prince george's county executive rushern baker joined with other local officials to speak out against that idea. >> in prince george's county we're facing $126 million deficit now in fy '13. this shift comes to us, you're talking about another $34 million. we're already making cuts. >> governor o'malley says shifting some of those pension costs is the only fair way to fill the state's budget gap which is $1.1 billion. over in virginia some lawmakers want drivers to pay more for a gallon of gas. the state senate passed the transportation bill that would index virginia's gasoline tax. that means it would increase

with inflation. money raised will go to the state's transportation fund. that bill now heads over to the house of delegates where similar bills failed in recent times. in just six years drivers could see tolls triple on the dulles toll road all because of the metro silver line. the metropolitan washington airport authority released the new projection today. it would raise the one-way rate from the current 2.25 to $6.75 in the year 2018. the tolls are used to fund the dulles metrorail project. drivers could run into big delays tonight on that toll road. at 9 :00 the three left lanes on the eastbound side will be closed between reston parkway and wiley avenue. crews are placing the final striping for a temporary road shift due to the metrorail dulles project. all lanes reopen at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. every day this week the weather has just gotten better. top, any chance it will keep on like this through the weekend? >> well, maybe through the

week. how's that? can i say that much. it's pretty nice out here, not that cold, clear skies. in fact, let's start with temperatures because we're looking attaches 48 downtown, 41 gaithersburg -- temp is 48 downtown, 41 gaithersburg, 48 manassas. tonight clear skies early, increasing clouds late, chilly, one blanket night, lows 35 to 40, winds southeasterly at 10. most of the metro stays above freezing tonight and this is mid-february. we'll come back. we will have a blip in our nice weather tomorrow. we'll talk about that and the potential for a bigger coastal storm over the weekend. how's this sound for lunch? turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, apple juice and chips? one north carolina state employee says that is not healthy enough. in fact, a preschool student in hope county had that very homemade lunch confiscated after the state inspector said it did not meet usda guidelines. the school replaced it with one of them from the cafeteria which the girl ate just three

chicken nuggets. administrators also charged the mom $1.25 and sent her a note about healthy lunches. okay. that just sounds crazy to some of us. are schools getting out of hand with this health thing? it's not like that lunch had candy bar sodas and a burger and who is to tell a parent in any chase to feed their own kid. feed your thoughts to -- case to feed their own kid. feed your thoughts to mcginty's mailbag. heavy snowfall has people digging out not just their cars, but their homes. but first the smell of a brand-new car, a new study says drivers may not want to have that, the toxic results up next. [ 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? ♪

that new car smell, it's a scent almost every driver loves and covets and one a new study says is actually toxic. this study was released today by the ecology center and the nonprofit group analyzed the chemical content of the interiors of more than 200 brand-new cars. what it found was 275 different chemicals, some of which are linked to birth defects, liver problems and even cancer. one positive note?

researchers say the concentration of those chemicals is decreasing every year. if your refrigerator kicked the bucket, maryland is giving you a way to save on buying a replacement. the state is holding its annual tax free weekend on energy efficient appliances and that means you will not pay sales tax on washers, driers, air conditioners and other appliances with the energy star logo and also a mights to programmable thermostats and -- applies to programmable thermostats and compact fluorescent light bulbs starting 12:01 saturday morning till midnight monday. the ikea in college park took energy efficiency to a whole new level unveiling its new solar energy system. look at. this 5,000 solar panels covering 148,000 square feet on the roof there. that system will produce more than 1.5 million kilowatts of pure green energy every year. that's enough to power 135 homes for a full year. we had to know the warm sunny days would not last

forever. topper tells us when the rain is coming. the full forecast is coming up. but first deal done. congress reaches an agreement to extend that payroll tax cut, but winners, losers? a 30 year white house press corvette ran weighs in when we come back. -- press corps weighs in when we come back.

9 news now is brought to you in part by your local toyota dealers. toyota, moving forward. this is not win for those

people who enjoy unemployment benefits and the people who enjoy the benefits of the payroll tax cut. >> we made a decision to bring them to the table so that the games would stop and we'd get this work done. >> wow, there's something you don't see every day, politicians on both sides of the aisle with nice things to say about the agreement to extend the payroll tax cut. lawmakers are working on the final details and hope to introduce it tonight so the house can vote on it friday and send it to the senate and congressional leaders hope to get it to the president before next week. so in a town where the word compromise has become akin to profanity, what could induce our lawmakers to actually make a deal when they actually still had a couple weeks left before the whole thing fell apart? john gizzi is a political editor and white house correspondent for human events and is here with some answers. welcome. it's like a teenager getting the term paper two weeks early. it just doesn't happen. what's going on? >> my editors would say it would be like john gizzi

reaching a deadline not crashing on thursday. very simply this was a relatively easy point to make and an easy vote to cast. the president and members of congress wanted not to be seen as against raising taxes on anyone and i well recall being in the old executive office building as we got very close to christmas and the president read letters and brought in individuals who were personally affected by it. i recall distinctly him talking about a father who had two daughters and this meant he couldn't take them out for pizza night. >> i remember this as well, but i also see today this being characterized as a republican blinking on this because they wanted to make sure there was cuts in place to pay for this and they had to give up on that. >> well, they also did not get any kind of tax increase or any more spending and that's very important. do you realize, derek, that ronald reagan in 1982 and the elder george bush back in 1990

both blinked when it came to increasing taxes. both were promised tax cuts or spending cuts rather in return and both didn't get them. this congress whatever one thinks of it and its republican leadership have said that they would not raise taxes, period, and they have held the line on that. >> fair enough. the president's people seem to think this may be the last big thing to get done in this election year. do you agree with that or have politics completely taken over even now? >> well, i tend to agree with it because look at the nonstory that this budget is becoming. the president unveiled it monday. there was virtually nothing new in it, major cuts in defense, a call for raising taxes on americans who make more than $200,000 a year as one of the minnesota republicans put it, about the equivalent of a policeman married to an executive secretary, and republicans are just not going to go along with that or

increasing taxes on anyone. to engage in the budget -- >> so not much is going to get done is your basic point. we're out of time. thank you for joining us today. >> it's a pleasure. we'll move on. topper, what do you got for us? >> we got 55 for a high today. here's a look at the live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, 48 downtown, dew point 29 and pressure continues to rise at 39.20 inches of mercury. satellite picture radar combined, here's our storm. it looks pretty impressive now, big thunderstorms in louisiana, even the chance for severe weather overnight down there, but in the meantime just some rain and light rain and showers pushing northeastward through kentucky into the ohio valley and it's going to fall apart much like yesterday's storm by the time it gets here. nothing tonight, very little, if anything, tomorrow morning. the best chance for light rain and showers will be tomorrow afternoon. 44 bethesda, 46 rockville, 39 already in gaithersburg, 43

great falls, 41 reston and 43 out toward beltsville. temps falling relatively quickly because we still have clear skies, but this is another weak system tomorrow, just chilly tonight, mainly dry for the morning commute, a low risk if you want to leave your umbrella home and a great finish to the week. that said the only caveat will be a bit breezy friday. here's the futurecast, 11:00 tonight that last walk with the dog, dry, clouds rolling in and we get into the 9:00, 10:00 in the morning hour and showers and light rain possible in the metro area. we make it through the early morning rush before this rolls in for the most part. this is all light activity. there's not much yellow until it gets across the bay. that's moderate activity. by this time tomorrow night most of it will be east of us or south of council 95 and across into prince george's county, anne arundel and into charles county. we clear up nicely setting the stage for a very nice friday and still mild. this is not going to bring in any cold air either.

so for tonight clear skies early, increasing clouds late and chilly, lows 35 to 40, i'd say a one blanket night. tomorrow morning mostly cloudy, cool, a couple showers possible, high temperatures in the 30s and 40s, need a light coat. by afternoon not too bad, light rain and showers, a little breezy, high temperature still around 50, winds picking up out of the southeast at 10 to 15. we'll break it down. in the morning generally by 6:00, 7:00, dry, mid-30s to low 40s and showers or light rain possible at noon, 47 to 51, showers and light rain possible by evening, 48 to 53. the next three days, a great finish friday but albeit breezy, temps in the low 50s. saturday clouds begin to roll in. we start out with sunshine and warm, temperatures in the mid- 50s. don't let that fool you. here's the next seven days. we still have this coastal on here. it will roll in we think at least a glancing blow. yes, the cold air is marginal,

but the track is favorable. so it will say rain possibly ending in snow or a mix of snow and rain, temperatures cooler monday. we knock presidents day down to the mid-40s put we're back in the mid-50s tuesday -- but we're back in the mid-50s tuesday and wednesday. let's get to our -- what do you got here? >> check in out. it's heavy snowfall across eastern europe that cut off hundreds of villages tuesday and some of the people were evacuated in the romanian area whose homes were smothered in snow, not cars, homes. one man northeast of bucharest dug for hours to uncover his home in the snow. that's like 6 to 8 feet of snow. that means 6 to 8 inches of liquid locked up in that snow, bad enough on your roof. i'd be in a panic all spring when it melted. >> this is all the snow we didn't get apparently. >> if we could have 10% of that, it would be good. let's get to our weirdness file. what do you do in the dead of winter when your car's heater

breaks down? i'm willing to bet 100% of you would say you'd get it fixed, but not in switzerland. to zurich where a man faced a broken heater in his volvo. he installmented a woodburning stove. you can see it right there. there it. is now the car heated with a wood burning stove and some kind of ventilation system so he doesn't choke to death. it's built into the front end and it's so cold there this winter the government is putting out warnings saying if you go on a long drive, take precautions because you might get smothered in a blizzard. this man's only precaution, got to make sure he's got enough wood. >> that's one warm car. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mailbag, the address mailbag at wusa9.com. 9 news now will be right back.

in the mailbag tonight reaction to our debate on 9 news now at 5:00 regarding the proposed new virginia law that would allow private adoption providers to discriminate against gays and lesbians. matt says he is flabbergasted. i can't believe we as gay

people are trying to prove we're no different than anyone else. i know of many gay families that have raised normal smart and well grounded men and women. the religious right needs to back off. starting to believe all gay men and women should move out of virginia. i understand that frustration, but if you were to do that, you concede the state to those who might rather see you move out. personally i wouldn't give them the satisfaction. then there was this on today's washington post story regarding the hostility facing our own andrea mccarren as we continue to air her series exposing the growing tragedy of underage drinking. dennis says i can't believe parents today. how many more roadside flower memorials will we have to see due to this blatant lack of responsibility? where have all your morals gone. be proud of your reporting. we got similar sentiments from john, i was almost sickened this morning when i read in the post threats of reprisal from youth and parents had become personal in your face.

i think this is a manifestation of what some parents are raising today, that is, an entitled do whatever you want and it's okay generation with no thought of accountability and responsibility even when somebody wraps a car around a tree and somebody dies and that last is exactly what andrea and all of us here are trying to prevent. our e-mail address, mailbag at wusa9.com. well, that's our report. i'll be right back here tonight along with anita at 11:00. see you a bit later. have a great evening. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. ♪ didn't we almost have it all >> whitney houston's funeral. will bobby brown be banned? the battle brewing today. will jennifer hudson and aretha franklin be part of an all-star choir? is this where whitney houston will be buried? then -- the whitney tribute plus -- >> whitney's first grammy performance and her backstage tension with her parents. then -- >> whitney is having a baby! >> from happiness to heartbreak, whitney on the three pregnancies that she lost. >> i had a miscarriage during the filming of "the bodyguard." plus, opening up to oprah