nobody understands it and it's going to hurt confidence in the system more. >> reporter: short-term, long- term question. >> the extension itself doesn't do harm to social security's trust fund but that doesn't mean the trust fund isn't in trouble. it is. its finances are going broke day by day. >> that was gary nurenberg reporting. congressional budget office study projects take social security's trust fund will be depleted in 24 years. the fix is likely going to be very unpopular. therefore, it is unlikely that fix would happen in an election year. a sad day in alexandria. joshua weissman will be laid to rest later today. he's the alexandria paramedic who died last week suching a tragic fall while responding to a car fire on 3935 in -- on 395 in arlington. the visitation wrapped up add midnight. -- wrapped up at midnight. >> joshua's family is our

family. 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 dare of his family and -- care of his family and make sure every need is met. >> the funeral is at 1:00 this afternoon. all alexandria city schools will be let out early and alexandria police say there will be road closures so commuters can expect traffic congestion near king street, braddock road and seminary road during the funeral procession. 4:31 now. we turn to the ongoing murder trial of george huguely, the former university of virginia la cross player is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in other wordsley love in may 2010. yesterday a doctor testified for the defense saying love could have suffocated while faced down in her pillow but prosecutors say she died as a result of a beating at the

hands of huguely. two trains colliding on the red line in june 2009, 9 people died. for the first time metro and three equipment manufacturers admit the crash was their fault. dennis hawkins was one of the nine who died. 9news now spoke with his brother kenneth. >> here we waited two and a half years for them to finally come out and say this and which we've known since day one. >> metro has reportedly settled lawsuits involving seven of the nine deaths. metro spokesman would not discuss those settlements but he says they won't have any impact on metro's operating budget. he's looking for ways to fix a $1.1 billion budget shortfall in maryland. governor martin o'malley says shifting half of the teacher pensions from the state to the counties would really help that as you might imagine, however, that proposal is not sitting well with county leaders across

the state. officials spoke out against that proposed shift. >> in prince george's county we're facing $126 million deficit in fy 13. if the shift comes to us, you're talking about another $34 million. we're already having to make cuts. >> governor o'malley says shifting some of the pension costs is the only fair way to fill the state's budget gap which again is $1.1 billion. campaign 2012 now. the front-runner in the race for the g.o.p. presidential nomination will be battling for votes in michigan today. mitt romney grew up there but rick santorum has the advantage in the latest polls. >> susan mcginnis reports romney is taking firing in michigan to his opposition to the auto bailout. >> reporter: mitt romney is rallying supporters across the state where he grew up. >> i've got lots of old friends. >> reporter: this afternoon he's expected to get a key endorsement from michigan's

governor rick nighter. it -- schneider. it could give him a much needed post. he's taking some heat for criticizing the auto bailout which many credit for saving the state's largest industry. >> my view from the very beginning was that the auto companies should go through managed bankruptcy and get help coming out of bankruptcy. >> reporter: romney said when president obama signed off on the bailout, he caved into the union. >> there were some folks who said we should let it die. with a million jobs at stake, i refused to let that happen. >> reporter: michigan has turned into a battleground state. romney is spending more than a million dollars on television ads there. rick santorum has launched his own tv campaign to capitalize on his momentum. santorum's latest ad calls romney a mudslinger. >> mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire.

>> reporter: but on wednesday in north dakota, santorum focused on job creation and eliminating the corporate tax for manufacturers. >> we want the jobs that are going overseas to china and mexico to come back to the united states and create real jobs again. >> reporter: santorum is expected to bring his job creation message to michigan today. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. newt gingrich and ron paul were not on the campaign trail wednesday. they are expected to making appearances today however. more than 85 students at george washington university have come down with the norovirus. it causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and muscle cramps. the cases have been reported among students living on and off campus. so far no link as to why the disease is spreading so fast but a student at gw and an intern here at channel 9 says she thinks she might have an idea. >> i don't really know how i got it. i know it arrivals on surfaces and being at school you touch 1

-- -- touch a hundred surfaces, elevator buttons, desks and door knobs and it spreads quickly. >> students themselves can help by washing their hands 24/7. funeral preparations are under way now for saturday's farewell to whitney houston. she will be peoplized in her home -- memorialized in her hometown during a private service. saturday's service is by invitation only and 1500 people can fit inside that church. however, we're learning the funeral will now be streamed online. the new jersey governor ordered the flags to be flown at half staff this coming saturday. authorities in los angeles are now waiting for toxicology tests to determine whether or not prescription drugs found in whitney houston's hotel room contributed to her death. a memorial service was held wednesday for legendary coach joe paterno. the penn state coach's son scott spoke on behalf of the

family at a ceremony in harrisburg. the 85-year-old paterno died last month after a brief battle with lung cancer. penn state fired him in november following child sex abuse charges against his former assistant coach jerry sandusky. howard is up with the forecast and monika is checking the roads. see how a mom in new mexico gives super heroes like wonder woman a run for their money n. is a cool story. you'll want to see this one. we'll be right back. n.f.l. great ernie davis was a force to be reckoned with throughout his college and professional career. davis a three-time all american half back and the first african- american to win the heisman trophy and the first black athlete to be chosen number one in the n.f.l. draft. davis set yardage and scoring records at syracuse. he won the mvp title in both the 1960 cotton bowl and 1961 liberty bowl. davis died of cancer in 1962. he was inducted into the college football hall of fame

in 1979. log on to wusa9.com for more moments in black history. people! look at you! texting...blogging... all this technology, but you're still banking like pilgrims! get high yield free checking at capital one bank. why earn bupkis, when your checking could earn five times the national average!! and free atms anywhere. five times the national average!!! that's new school banking. sign up for high yield free checking at a capital one bank. what's in your wallet? somebody help me down.

4:40 on this thursday morning. you're going to need the rain gear today. we have a couple of showers possible this morning but it looks like as we get in the middle of the day, better chance of showers, heavier showers. a little bit of a breeze at maybe 15 miles an hour. by the time we get to 6:00, looks like most of the rain will be east of i-95. a couple of good days friday and saturday and could be very interesting around here on sunday. i'll have more on that coming up in about five minutes. right now let's go to monika samtani with a look at traffic. since about 2:00 this

morning crews in anne arundel county have been dealing with a fatal accident involving a ft. and a van. -- a tractor-trailer and a van. use stevens church road to johns hopkins road to get around t. all northbound lanes are open. i'll keep you posted on this and other area roadways. again it's 4:47. it is time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> that's why jessica doyle is here. >> good morning. greece again for wall street causing more problems. >> i thought they were close. >> they're close but they take a couple steps forpd and a couple steps back -- forward and a couple steps back. they had a meeting. they expect things to happen and then they don't. wall street goes up. that's what's happening again. wall street licking its wounds after the worst sell-off of the year in part on lingering questions of the latest greek bailout plans. asian and european stocks also in the red. checking the numbers from here at home, the dow stands at

12,780. dropped 97 points in trading yesterday. nasdaq was off by 16 and the s&p 500 was down by 7. city group has agreed to pay $158 million to settle claims that it duped the government into ensuring thousands of risky home loans. investigators say the misconduct lasted for more than six years. more than a third of those mortgages went into default and that resulted in millions of dollars in losses for the government because of the insurance claims. you know those annoying automatic phone messages that always seem to ring during dinner or when you get the kid down for your nap? well, federal regulators are cracking down on the sow called robo calls scc will now require telemarketers to obtain a written consent from people before placing a robo call. the new rules also eliminate a loophole that allow telemarketers to place robo calls with consumers they've done business in the past.

you'll have to press a couple of keys during the phone call. >> which means you have to listen to it. >> that's the downside. a lot of people automatically hangup and now we have to wait for press 154. it doesn't work. >> you have the caller i.d. and you say do you know anybody in such and such nef? no. >> or it comes up unknown which has been coming up with me lately. you're kind of like i have to pick it up. >> they've been coming in on our station telephones. time right now is 4:43. a flock of birds suddenly die on a maryland highway. it's baffling investigators. find out how eating chia pet seeds could actually be just what the doctor ordered. we'll explain. >> i'll let you eat first.

welcome to 9news now. this is how we do it. we start with weather first. >> umbrellas today. a couple of showers this morning. going to be afternoon. that is going to be your wednesdayest period and a couple of -- wettest period and a couple of nice days before things get interesting on sunday. saturday will be okay. sunday looks like rain or even snow around here. let's get you started with the bus stop forecast. spotty showers. not too chilly out there though you definitely need a jacket. temps anywhere from the mid-30s to low to mid-40s this morning. although up in frederick, they've managed to dip into the low 30s. sunrise 6:59 and it sets at

5:46. day planner plenty of clouds today. the spotty showers this morning become steadier showers for the afternoon. looks like highs will get toward around 50. south to southeast winds 10, maybe 15 miles an hour so a bit breezy at times. by 8:00 tonight, i think most of the rain will have passed us off to the east so we will be done with that and then done with any precipitation till sometime saturday night, probably overnight into sunday morning. this morning we're watching the clouds which have moved in and then the rain. first stuff you see doesn't really reach the ground. you're still a little bit dry but as you go back into west virginia, ohio, kentucky, western pa, that's where we'll see some of the precip. locally i want to point out the yellow, the darker green and oranges into central virginia. that's really the heart of the showers we're looking at. you guys in the shenandoah valley, parts of western maryland and west virginia that watch us up in the panhandle, you may see some rain showers several hours before we do here in washington. in washington it may hold off till midday. our weather headlines showers

today. we are looking nice tomorrow. even most of saturday i think looks pretty good in spite of the fact we'll see increasing clouds on saturday with the storm system saturday night and sunday. probably overnight saturday night into sunday. rain and snow are likely the farther northwest you are, the more likely that this could be an all snow event. maybe a rain to snow event here in town and rain ending as a little bit of snow east of i- 95. that's the way i see it now. it's still too early to know what exact impact we'll have. 42 in washington with mid-30s toward hagerstown. culpeper is 39. we've got 43 at pax river. 41 in tappahannock. our weather watchers about 40 in bowie. 42 in frederick. looking outside your michael & son weather camera, no problems. cloudy skies but good visibility. 42 degrees. with no winds it feels like 42 and the barometer now 30.27. nice and high from yesterday. high pressure is in control. western u.s. is pretty quiet. looking across the east we've

got the rain to the south and here is comes. this is what's going to be moving into us for the afternoon hours. as i said earlier, most of this by the time we get toward 6:00, 7:00 will be east of 95. the forecast for today, only around 50 with mainly afternoon and early evening showers. tonight we're back into the 30s to near 40. 54 tomorrow. a little breezy. saturday 52. increased clouds in the afternoon. rain to snow i think on sunday, 41. then president's day we're back in the 40s but we're going to watch sunday carefully. that could get -- that could be -- i could be working a sixth day. >> that's good news. if you're planning to head around town, at least we don't have to deal with that this time and that's a good thing. if you're planning to head into owe denton in anne arundel county, the accident on southbound route 3 involves a tractor-trailer. you want to use stevens church road to johns hop kins to work your way back around the accident and again it's southbound route 3 is blocked

at rydell with an overnight tractor-trailer accident. it was a fatal so it may be a little while before things clear up there. on route 50 itself things are fine. there's been construction on the east and westbound side of the freeway between the sousa bridge and 295 so you want to be aware of that. northbound to 395 at seminary road and duke street, things are going to look a lot different here between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. with the funeral procession. you want to watch out for road closures and i'll keep you posted on that situation throughout the morning. coming up in my next report, we'll take another look at maryland at 4:55. sky 9 over the ikea in college park and they're offering more than just furniture and swedish meatballs. check this out. yesterday the company officially plugged in a solar energy system. look at that. it has about 5,000 panels. ikea says it's part of a program of its long-term commitment of sustainability. it's their 15th solar energy

project in the united states. this was something like out of an alfred hitchcock movie. scores of dead birds dropped on to unsuspecting drivers on i-59 in prince george's county. -- i-95 in prince george's county county. we warn you, some of the video in matt's story is a bit graphic. >> reporter: it was right around 2:15 this afternoon when dozens of dead birds crashed on to i-95 northbound just north of the exit for the intercounty connector. we now know the birds were starlings and we think we know what killed them. scores of dead starlings by the side of the road tell the story of a most unusual happening today on i-95. >> they move in one large mass. >> reporter: according to the maryland department of natural resources, as many as 200 starlings were perched on power lines near i-95 when they suddenly started flying down towards the road. >> they probably got together, formed a flock and were flying around and probably ran into a tractor-trailer on the side.

>> reporter: though it doesn't happen often, it's not unheard of for large numbers of birds to be killed all at once. ten years ago hundreds of birds were electrocuted in olney and about a thousand people lost their electricity when a power surge went through the electrical lines that the birds were perched on. today's incident also wasn't the first time that a large number of birds made recent news here in the d.c. area. >> it just gets dark, pitch black. >> reporter: just last month waldorf residents were complaining about large numbers of starlings and black birds hovering above their neighborhoods and leaving their marks below. >> bird dos what the birds do. >> reporter: today's flock of starlings on i-95 also left a mark and left some people saying the birds of a feather just don't flock together but sometimes perish together as well. the department of natural resources says autopsies or necropsies will be performed on some of the dead birds tomorrow and they should know pretty much right away if the birds

died of blunt force trauma caused by flying into a truck. >> if not the truck, the department of natural resources says it's still possible the birds died of some type of disease. that's why they're performing the necropsies. thanks for waking up with us. it's 4:53. do you need extra fiber in your diet? have you considered chewing on chia pet seeds. the gag gift is now considered good food for you, sort of. chia pet seeds are being touted as the new super food. the company claims the seeds provide fiber and can be a substitute for whole grains. some trainers are recommending it for their clients. >> it has a lot of protein in it. also the omega 3 content. healthy fats and oils are consumed with that as well. >> right. i'll pick the fish. the seeds are sprouting up on

shelves all over the country. >> you wonder what design they're growing inside your stomach, right? it is 4:54. time for the question of the morning and this one is a pretty good one. >> according to a new survey, when a woman goes through a breakup, this is the number one thing she turns to for comfort. is it a, chocolate, b, wine, or c, ice cream? >> we're already hearing from our facebook friends. david thinks it's none of the above. he writes her first order of business is to seek the ear of a confidant. only after such will she seek comfort in food or booze. what do you think? give us your thoughts on our facebook page. we'll have more of your responses and the correct answer in the 6:00 hour.

howard here with your weather first at 4:56. we're looking at clouds this morning and showers here and there. the showers are going to pick up midday into the afternoon. temperatures rising toward the 50-degree mark. need a jacket and the umbrellas. winds south, southeast at 10 to 15. a couple of nice days coming up for friday and saturday. more on that in a few minutes. >> thank you, howard. wonder woman has nothing on the super mom in new mexico. >> ronda carlson was standing with her kids at a bus stop in albuquerque. the bus came by but just kept rolling. turns out the driver behind the wheel is having a seizure at the time. ronda faced with a runaway bus full of frightened kids. that is when she put on her super mom cape. >> as the bus is just going, i'm running. i'm running to the bus. and i could see he's having a seizure. >> so scary. she motioned to one of the kids to the bus to swing open the door. she jumped inside, hit the brakes and stopped the bus. the kids were okay. the driver was taken to the hospital where he's recovering.

ronda's kids have something really special this year at show and tell time. >> unbelievable. good for her. speaking of super heroes, nicolas cage is back. >> we have a preview. >> reporter: nicolas cage is once again riding into theaters as the dark hero forced to do the devil's dirty work. he play as former stunt man who sold his soul and is now set to battle with the bounty hunter living inside him. unlike the first film where his alter ego was completely computer generated, cage himself is the man behind the flaming skull. >> a lot of thought went into the body language. i wanted ghost rider to be something entirely outside of your reference point like a bad dream, something you couldn't really understand. >> reporter: the sequel picks up years after the first movie. cage's character is now darker and grittier. he tries to rid himself of the devil's curse while hiding out in eastern europe. cage said he enjoyed his down

time in transylvania but doesn't think his family did. >> i took a tour out to the dracula's castle on my break on halloween night and it was a little intense for my family but i enjoyed it. >> cage isn't sure about making a ghost rider three movie. >> i think the only way to really do it is to completely reinvent it again and v maybe have him going into hell. >> reporter: chances are cage will go along for another ride. cbs news, los angeles. >> i don't buy him as a super hero. i don't know why. good morning. thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. i'm here with my super hero co- an or mike. i'm mike hydeck. thanks for joining us. >> he has a big range. >> nicolas cage has no range in my opinion. >> all