gear and something to keep you on the warm side with temperatures even though they're above average, it's still chilly at 43 in town and some areas in the 30s. look at the wide radar image. we have the light stuff here, even a little bit of a wintry mix in central pa. a lot of this is not reaching the ground around us but it is reaching the ground when you get the darker greens, oranges, places in west virginia. locally still relatively quiet. had a couple of showers toward baltimore. maybe a few more showers between harrisonburg and charlottesville. live doppler showing a couple of sprinkles trying to get toward warrenton. monika is in now with time saver traffic. good morning, everybody. if you're planning to head into owe den top. here's what you have to -- odenton, here's what you have to deal with. a tractor-trailer and a van ended up in one fatality. that's idea investigation is taking so long. you're being diverted on to chapel road here southbound on route 3 in odenton. so keep that in mind for your travel plans.

we'll go over to the maps right now. if you're planning to ed inbound on route 50 -- to head inbound on route 50, you're not affected by this. back over to the other side of town. if you're planning to head on the northbound side of i-395, here's what it looks like at seminary road right now. still pretty light up to the 14th street bridge. we'll go back over to our graphics so you can give you the heads up about the funeral procession later today at temple bethel in alexandria. seminary road east of 395 is the location of the temple. road closures along seminary road, jannings lane king street from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. use the shuttle service. king street station is nearby as well. we're keeping an eye on the amount in your paycheck. republicans gave in to most of the democrats' demands. the. says it will make a real

difference in the lives of millions of americans so what's inside this compromise bill? jessica doyle joins us with a look at that and how much people with expect to see in their paychecks. >> that's right. you're not actually going to get more money in your paycheck. instead you're just not going to be losing any money. and this keeps unemployment checks going a little bit longer for people out of work. the biggest part of this deal, the 2% cut in how much we all pay in social security taxes. for the average american, that's going to save about $80 a month. the deal also keeps unemployment benefits from going away. however, they're not going to last as long. democrats agreed to the republicans' idea to cut the length of time you can collect unemployment. it drops from 99 weeks to 73 weeks. but in states like maryland and virginia, the maximum length of time for people in states with an average unemployment rate, that's going to drop to 63%. about 10% of the cost for all of this will be picked up by auctioning off a portion of the airway spectrum to wireless companies. that's after some of the

spectrum is put aside for first responders. in an overnight press conference, republican congressman dave camp of michigan said there is a lot of work to get down but he's sure it will all get double. >> these are a lot of technical things. obviously these are important issues as the senator said. these are complicated issues to put in writing. this is a compromise so there are technical issues but we're going to -- those are going to continue to be worked on so we'll be able to move forward later. >> both the house and senate expect to vote on this either today or tomorrow and it could be on the president's desk by this weekend. he of course says he's going to sign it. >> we know they want to get it done because the lawmakers go on vacation for the holiday weekend. they got it done, a compromise. >> they did. >> amazing. >> mike? >> thanks, guys. today the final farewell to joshua weissman, the diser der ya paramedic who died last week in a bizarre accident. his funeral is going to have a

big impact across northern virginia this morning. delia goncalves is live in alexandria with what you need to know about this. delia, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mike. a very big impact indeed beginning first with traffic. you can see cars are driving by seminary road now but just in a matter of few hours, around 9:00, portions of seminary road will be shut down surrounding temple beth el. that will shut down till about 4:00 p.m. today. schools will dismiss early but most notably, the biggest impact on this city, this is the first death in the alexandria fire department in 100 years. 33 jearld joshua we -- 33-year- old joshua weissman helped create the program i'm told and was just promoted to a supervisor role in that department. weissman died one day after falling off an overpass 30 feet on to a rocky creek below as he crossed 395 to reach a burning car. his brother spoke on behalf of the family at weissman's

viewing yesterday evening. >> josh excelled in a career that reflected the person who he was. strong and fearless under pressure but rooted in compassion and kindness. these characteristics define not only him but so many others who dedicate their lives to helping when the circumstances are most dire. >> reporter: coming up in a half-hour, we'll have more from josh's brother who spoke so eloquently despite the very difficult time that whole family is going through. he does have a wife as well. josh weissman i should say does have a widow who has not spoken but the brother is speaking on behalf of the whole family. we'll also tell you a bit more about what firefighters are now proposing that they do to that portion of 395 to prevent a similar tragedy like this from happening again. we'll have that in my next live report in a half-hour. mike, back to you. >> see you in a little bit. delia goncalves live in alexandria this morning. for a complete list of the road closures and detours because of today's funeral, go

to wusa9.com. the story is right on our front page. one day two bizarre incidents along interstates in maryland and a lot of people are wondering if there's a curse. >> police are watching up finally this morning an -- wrapping up finally this morning an investigation into one of those incidents. the traffic is indeed flowing again on i-95 and 895 in baltimore. last night both roads were shut down when a truck carrying an additive for concrete crashed on southbound 95 just before the fort mchenry toll plaza. the material dripped down to the lanes on 895 below, closed that highway. we were first told it was ink but we've since learned this morning it was the additive for concrete. police believe alcohol may have played a role in this. in the other incident, dozens of birds were found dead along northbound 95 just past the icc interchange. the birds were starlings. peter with the department of natural resources thinks they were sitting on power lines when about 200 of them decided

to move at the same time. >> they probably got together, formed a flock and were flying around and probably ran into a tractor-trailer on the side. >> the dnr will perform autopsies on some of the dead birds later today. we should know right away exactly how the birds died. in just a few hours, lawyers representing george huguely will try to chip away at medical testimony in the murder case against him. he's pleaded not guilty in the murder of fellow uva lacrosse player and ex-girlfriend yeardley love. she was found dead in her off campus apartment in may 2010. police say it was huguely that killed her. prosecutors say the two had a volatile and abusive relationship which she apparently tried to end. an autopsy says she died of blunt force trauma but wednesday the defense said that huguely didn't kill her saying she was asphyxiated by lying in a bloody damp pillow.

more than 85 george washington university students are sick. they are dealing with the norovirus. that can cause vomiting and cramps and other unpleasant things we probably shouldn't talk about over breakfast. sorry. the cases have been reported among students who are living both on and off campus. among the sick, our intern kate. she has an idea how this may have spread. >> i don't really know how i got it. i know it lives on surfaces and being at school, you touch a hundred surfaces a day like public surfaces. you touch the elevator buttons, desks and door knobs. it spreads pretty quickly. >> so plenty of opportunities. gw is planning to step up its sanitation efforts and students can help themselves and others by washing their hands regularly. maryland governor martin o'malley is not enthusiastic about a push to expand gaming in the state to include games like poker or blackjack. prince george's county lawmakers are pushing for it saying it would bring jobs and money. maryland has two slots parlors

open with a third opening this summer. 6:09 now. when you're not even a teenager and you can impress the president, that's pretty cool. inventors of the heads up helmet say it can reduce traumatic brain injuries in u.s. troops. the inventer? just 11 years old. grab your umbrella before leaving the house. howard says we will have a few showers with high around 50. get your full forecast when 9news now returns.

we are back at 6:12 with a check on the stories making news now. iran says it's ready to resume talks over its nuclear program. that's according to a letter obtained by the associated press. it comes 24 hours after iran said its nuclear program took a big step forward. iran forward. china's vice president will meet with farmers in iowa today and head to california. last night he was the guest at a special dinner hosted by iowa's governor. just one camera will be allowed inside the funeral for whitney houston. the funeral for the late singer will be held saturday in newark, new jersey. bobby brown will perform in upper marlboro tonight but he will not be there with new

edition. good morning, everybody. as you can see, the beltway is looking fine all around town. we're going to zoom into 270 as you come in from frederick and urbana all the way down to the point where the lanes divide. the lanes are open but you see this yellow here. that means it's slow. once you reach 121 it pretty much looks like this until you hit the point where the lanes divide. a little slow there as well. we'll go back over to the maps and this time to the other side of town all the way here in odenton where work continues in the investigation of an overnight accident southbound on route 3 at rydell. wasn't to work your way around that investigation. it did involve one fatality. let's take a live look outside at the beltway. pennsylvania avenue. all the major corridors trying to come up from southern maryland to the beltway look good. we'll wind a live look northbound on i-95 here in springfield. overall delays in woodbridge, then lorton to this point at

the beltway. coming up in my next report, another look around the area in a few minutes. in the meantime, back to you. in that shot we can see that the lanes are open and dry. >> dry. >> so when will we expect to see rain? >> later this morning, especially this afternoon we'll have a better chance of showers. had a couple of them overnight but, you know, those were pretty tiddley as far as showers go. with very heavier showers in west virginia right now. it's all moving off toward the east. the bus stop forecast spotty showers. kind of chilly. we have a lot of 30s, mid-to upper 30s. some areas in the low 40s. a little bit of a breeze which will be picking up as the day wears on. sunrise 6:59. don't expect to see it, neither the sun set. as we head toward the lunch hour, a better chance we'll see showers. in fact, mid- to late morning from west to east i think the showers will start to pick up. this afternoon 4:00 could be raining pretty heavily in many areas, 49. south winds at 10 miles an

hour. but by 8:00 most of it if not all of the shower activity will be east. southern maryland, the eastern shore, you might still be hanging out with a couple showers. here in the metro we'll be done with t. you can see it out to the west moving across the region. the stuff we had earlier really didn't amount to much. we see some yellows toward roanoke. these are heavier showers that will be reaching the ground. here's another look on doppler radar. it really is coming down pretty leftly north of charleston. some showers trying to get toward the shenandoah valley near charlottesville and harrisonburg. you guys out to the south and west might be seeing a few sprinkles in the next little while. it's 45 in luray. it's 40 degrees in baltimore where we had a shower last hour. gaithersburg coming in at 39. here in washington we've got the cloudy skies. good visibility. temperature of 43 degrees. the windchill of 39 thanks to the wind at 6 miles an hour out

of the east, southeast and the barometer starting to drop off. so the rain is going to be coming in by 9:00, especially toward the shenandoah valley and points west. toward the middle of the day showers still west. the afternoon and evening, look at the rain that's going to be with us through 5:00. starts to pull away from us tonight. we'll see drying conditions and then sunday is when we'll have some rain and i think rain and snow north and west of town. could be a hefty snow. 50 degrees this afternoon. tonight we dip into the 30s. tomorrow 54, breezy, good deal of sunshine. nice way to finish out the workweek. saturday the clouds are going to increase in the afternoon, a cool day, 52. still above average. then sunday rain and snow. pay attention and by president's day we're at 46. mike, back to you. >> thank you, howard. 6:16, thursday. that means it is time for this week's cool schools. he made two stops for this report. one in leesburg, virginia, the other at the white house. these students so impressive. their goal? saving lives and reducing

serious injuries of u.s. troops. and this team of middle schoolers came up with an invention so impressive, the president of the united states even noticed. >> reporter: learning about the war in afghanistan can be pretty daunting for a fifth grader. >> get down. >> reporter: the graphic scenes can be scary but for these 11- year-olds, it was motivation to do something positive. >> our inspiration for this project was -- [indiscernible] >> reporter: which spurred virginia fifth graders to look for ways to reduce traumatic brain injuries on the battlefield. >> we took ideas from other people and did a lot of research on our own. >> reporter: their invention? the heads up helmet, new technology to improve existing headgear for troops. >> we used plates to distribute kinetic forces. >> reporter: it even has an air

bag. >> it goes completely around your neck and if it feels the heat or air pressure, it will completely inflate. >> reporter: their research and design won the toshiba science fair but their amazing experience didn't stop there. jack and sid not got -- sydney got to show off their project at the white house. their helmet made it to the secondage white house science fair. >> when you work and study and excel at what you're doing at math and science, you're getting america in shape to win the future. congratulations. >> reporter: students from 45 states were there. jack and sydney and their team were the pride of virginia. >> i couldn't believe it. i thought i was just the average girl. >> reporter: their parents couldn't be more excited. >> it has to do with an environment and when you put these kids in a setting, it's amazing. imagination is just unlimited and there are no boundaries really for them.

>> reporter: jack dudley's mom was the team mentor. the science teacher was their coach. as specialist warren works on his long road to recovery, his inspiring story has created another. young scientists using their brains to make a difference. >> if you have a cool school, please e-mail me. a great experience at the white house for them and it was great to be there and cover it. >> i bet it was. our time 6:19. next in sports, the wizardses head to lob city while a group of d.c. elementary students get ready to run a marathon. time to check in once again on our question of the morning. what do you think? according to a new survey when a woman goes through a tough breakup, what's the number one thing she turns to for comfort? is it a, chocolate, b, wine, or c, ice cream. >> a lot of you are offering your own answers which are funny but can't be repeated on tv. so we're going with facebook friend amanda's answer. she says all of the above. or maybe a float made with chocolate flavored ice cream.

>> keep the guesses coming. we'll reveal the answer at 6:53. we'll be back.

welcome back. 6:23. your weather first. we're looking at a lot of clouds this morning. a couple of sprinkles out there but a better chance of showers as the morning wears on and especially this afternoon. as we look at day planner, temperatures starting in the 30s and 40s. we'll be 45 by 9:00 here in washington. better chance of showers later this morning, 48. this afternoon with the showers around in many areas, high temperatures will approach 50. michael and andrea? in sports the wizards might be a little past earning moral victories but they didn't look too bad. >> they were in los angeles taking on the clippers. they only trailed by 3 at half time. d.c. falls to l.a.102-84.

nick young and john wall both had 18 in the loss. the wizards visit the jazz tomorrow. a note to college teams visiting d.c. you do not want to face american university at home. au hosted navy last night. they win easily 69-47. the eagles are now a perfect 11- 0 at home. au visits army this weekend so army might have a chance. 500 elementary school students from the district are tackling a unique marathon challenge. and you can tell by their volume they're pretty excited. >> let's go! >> these students kicked off the fifth annual ing kids rock d.c. marathon. they are going to run 25 miles both at school and at home. not all at once. they have a month to do it.

they'll run the final mile on race day march 16. the kids' race will take place friday, march 16, 5:30 p.m. you can find out how to register on our website. go to wusa9.com. the next day the sun trust rock 'n' roll marathon is a day later on st. patrick's day. we'll be hosting once again and carry it live on 9news now. straight ahead, the chairman of the d.c. city council weighs in on that not so nice war of words between two city councilman. the price you pay for gas is up 50 cents per gallon in the last year. ahead, the wide reaching impact it's going to have on the entire economy. right now monika shows us if anyone is wasting gas sitting in traffic. >> well, luckily, not really on 66. i'm happy to say that you have delays in manassas to centreville and route 50 to 123. it's generally been good on 66. more on area roadways coming up once again in my next report. you're watching 9news now. we'll be right.

good morning. thanks for joining us. this is the place where you can get your live look at weather. 52 degrees. dry now but may not be for long. thank you for starting your thursday with us. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. we're glad you're here. howard bernstein on the weather terrace. no umbrella. >> no umbrella but i would not leave the house without it. we will be seeing some showers. already had a couple but the shower chances will be going up as we go through the morning and especially this afternoon. here's a look at your day

planner. plenty of clouds around today. a couple of showers over the next few hours and then increasing activity later this morning into the afternoon. 48 at noon. probably raining pretty good in many areas through the mid- to late afternoon. 5:00 p.m. temperature of 48 degrees. you can see this moisture that's coming out of the ohio valley. the light stuff over us now. a lot of that hasn't been reaching the ground. as you zoom in, you see one little area of rain northeast of baltimore. then some new showers between harrisonburg and richmond. i zoomed in. you can see how it's approaching madison right now. probably some light showers there. you'll also notice the chill as you go out. 43 washington. 42 in fredericksburg. i'll come back in a few minutes and talk about the weekend forecast. but right now inside to monika and time saver traffic. i'm happy to say since the roads are dry, we really haven't had any major incidents on the major thorough fair heading down to the beltway -- thoroughfares heading down to

the beltway. overnight there was a tractor- trailer accident. there was a fatality involved so the investigation continues southbound on route 3 at chapel road. you want to keep that in mind for your travel plans. i'm going to step out and show you a live look from sky 9. the right side of your screen exiting on to 495 looking pretty good. just a bit slow and heavy which you're pretty much used to this time of the morning. 641 heading for the beltway. a last live look on the beltway north of town. outer loop delays begin closer to 95 past new hampshire avenue heading toward silver spring westbound on the beltway. coming up in my next report, more on area roadways at 6:42. back to you. 6:31 now. all month long we've been bringing andrea mccarren's stories on the problem of underage drinking. from the kids who do it to the places that sell the booze and the police trying to stop them. >> incredible reporting job and some of the responses, though, have been negative and aimed at andrea. the backlash is one of the topics coming up on cbs this morning. charlie rose joins us live from

new york with a preview. good morning, charlie. good morning. we're going to talk to andrea mccarren about her series and the strong reaction to it. we'll take a closer look at her heart hitting reports, the firestorm they created and how and came's family was even put -- andrea's family was even put at risk. we know she took a break because of the concerns but is now back on the air. >> we'll definitely be watching for that. again, she's done an incredible job trying to save lives and inform parents and their children about the dangers of underage drinking. >> very valuable reporting. >> absolutely. this morning thousands of firefighters will descend on alexandria, virginia. they'll say goodbye to paramedic josh weissman. >> this is going to have a significant impact on the roads and schools in the area. delia goncalves is live in alexandria with the story. delia, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. let's start with the traffic since it's a big issue here in northern virginia. portions of seminary road,

surrounding temple beth el will be shut down in just a matter of a few hours beginning at 9:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. today. area schools even will dismiss around noontime today. get this. 2,000 people are expected to attend and 200 fire vehicles will all come here to this area to attend today's sfs. 33 -- today's services. 33-year-old josh weissman, a decorated paramedic is the first member of the alexandria fire department to die in the line of duty in a century. last week he fell 30 feet off the 395 overpass by glebe road. firefighters now want that large gap in between the guardrail separating those two spans of the bridge to be covered with a chain link fence to prevent someone else from falling through. weissman's brother says it is those same firefighters who have helped the family cope through this massive unthinkable tragedy. >> the hundreds in the alexandria fire department and

with other emergency service units if near and far have shown us with their steadfastness and compassion why josh loved what he did so much. if it's possible to take anything positive out of something so tragic, it would be how thankful we feel that there are people like josh who are unflinchingly there in the most trying of times. >> reporter: though we are expecting folks to begin arriving here at the church in just a matter of a few hours, the funeral officially begins at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon followed by a procession down seminary road. they will pass by weissman's firehouse for a brief ceremony there before heading to his final resting place on king street. we'll have much more on this story throughout the day on our broadcast. back to you. >> such a sad story. thanks, delia goncalves live in alexandria this morning. if you are headed out for your commute and you need a complete list of the road closures associated with this service today and the detours,

go to wusa9.com. we have it right there on our home page. now to another story happening today. debate over same-sex marriage in maryland. the house of delegates takes up the issue this morning. governor martin o'malley, a democrat had made it a key issue this year but support fell apart last year when some prince george's county democrats withdrew their support late. o'malley is hoping for a yes vote from some republicans this year grz now an update on the war of words between db councilman dave catania and marrion barry. cantania -- catania swore at barry during a retreat. neither man will face any discipline but the code of conduct will be amended and remove council members from meetings if they cross the line in debates. >> this is unacceptable. now that we have open meetings and people can see exactly what takes place, the council should conduct themselves in a proper manner. >> councilman barry told our bruce johnson the two have had

a contentious relationship since the debate on same-sex marriage in 2008. coming up on 6:36, jessica doyle is watching your money and your gas tank. >> 70 bucks to feel up my minivan yesterday. if your business relies on gasoline to get the job done, it's going to have an impact. >> just whether we were starting to see the economy gain momentum, consumers are getting clocked by things like a $70 fillup at the tank. that spike in gas prices is about a month two early. the reason why? tensions with iran are raising the threat of disruptions in global supplies and that's pushing up energy prices. it has consumer confidence dropping all of a sudden. higher oil and gas prices affect virtually every aspect of the u.s. economy. consumers cut back on their discretionary spending. manufacturers face lower profit margins and "the wall street journal" reports a long-term increase in oil and gas prices. that could drive up inflation and drive down hiring. you know those annoying automatic phone messages that

always seem to ring during dinner time? well, federal regulators are cracking down on these sow called -- so-called robo calls. the fcc will require telemarketers to obtain written consent before placing a cool. a loophole is being eliminated that would allow them to place calls if they've done business previously with a consumer and tell martyrs now have to provide an opt -- telemarketers now have to provide an opt out of future calls by pressing some keys. most dependable cars in the world are made by lexus. that's the finding of the latest report. lexus was followed by porsche, then cadillac, toyota. american cars are growing more dependable but consumers still think they breakdown more. so they haven't been able to bridge that gap yet. >> i could weigh in but i'm not going to because i'll get in trouble. our time is 6:37.

in nine minutes the good black list. a celebration of black history month. showers around. high of 50. howard gives us a look at the weekend including a little blip on the radar for sunday. we'll be right back.

welcome back. we're going to take a live look from sky 9. this is inside the beltway 295 at route 50. you can see the traffic exiting on to 295 right there in the right center of your screen. it looks like traffic is moving well as you head toward the cheverly and northeast areas inbound on route 50 this morning. let's go to the maps. no problems to report on the beltway all around town i'm happy to say. this time we're taking a look at 270 from gaithersburg down into rockville and the point where the lanes divide. route 85 to 121, that's a long, slow stretch. then let's take a live look at 270 at falls road.

it's just going to abfew brake lights -- to be a few brake lights through this area and toward the beltway. we go back over to our graphics. want to leapt you know the marc brunswick line 892 is running 10 to 15 minutes late this morning. coming up in my next report, another look at the big picture at 6:58. in the meantime back to mike and howard. >> thank you, monika. take a deep breath. springfield interchange, you see temperatures coming your way. temperatures in the low 40s. that is in and around the metro area. not sure how it's in the outlying areas. >> 30s out there. >> locally here in town balmy for a little while. change is coming. >> sunday could be a very interesting day around here. we really haven't had much of a winter with 2.0 inches officially. >> nothing yet. >> that's nothing. but we may get more than that in spots. maybe a lot more than in spots on sunday. north and west looks to be in a better spot than south and east. there are a still a lot of things that have to come together and we won't be talking real consume layings for another day or two -- accumulations for another day or two. the temperatures this morning

ranging anywhere from the mid- 30s to the low to mid-40s. a couple of spotty showers will be around so just take a rain jacket to be on the safe side and also something to keep you warm when it's damp and cold. so at 8:00 a couple of showers, 44. as we go through the morning, especially later this morning into the afternoon, rain showers will be picking up. noontime temp 48. winds south to southeast 10. maybe even 15 miles an hour. so could be a bit breezy at times. 4:00 p.m. 49. pretty good bet that many of us will be seeing showers then but by 8:00 pretty good bet that most of us won't be seeing showers. i think even by 6:00 p.m. much of the shower activity will have already passed through the region and even earlier out to the west. things are moving from west to east. you can see in west virginia and into southern ohio some of the yellows and oranges, hefty showers over there. for us some occasionally darker green. low levels of the atmosphere still a little dry so some of

this is evaporating. there's the heavy stuff north of charleston into west virginia. locally from roanoke headed up toward charlottesville and madison, almost to culpeper, seeing a couple of light showers developing. showers today on our weather headline. nice, though, friday and saturday. as we head to saturday night into sunday, that's when the storm approaches and it will bring a mix of rain and snow to the region. south and east of town the better chance for rain. 40 degrees in crofton at this hour with 39 in columbia and gaithersburg. out to the west leesburg is 37. haymarket is 38 along with reston. south of us alexandria is 42. springfield 41. we've got the cloudy skies. you can see the light in the sky. we're a few minutes before sunrise at 6:59. the u.s. capitol looking good there with good visibility and 43 degrees. windchill this morning at 39. so as we show you the future cast, you'll see the moisture coming toward us. i think this is a little underdone midday. probably going to be closer to us. then for the afternoon the showers will be around through

the late afternoon leaving us this evening. today we're in the 50-degree range. scattered showers from late morning to late afternoon. 54, breezy tomorrow but sunny. saturday 52 with increasing clouds. that rain-snow mix sunday. it will be out of here by president's day. monday not bad, temps in the mid-40s. photographs of dozens of african-americans are on display at the smithsonian's national portrait gallery. they are actors, politics, athletes who have all been put on the black list but it's not a traditional black list. tommy walker joins me, the producer of the blast list to explain the exhibit and thank you for getting up at this hour of the morning. when we think of black list, we always think of something negative but this is not negative. >> it's a bit of a spin on the term. we wanted to create a documentary film about positive images of african-american life. so we took the black list, the negative connotation and turned it on its head. and we created a documentary

series. we filmed 50 of some of the most influential black men and women in american society talking about their experience and how they got to where they are. it was an hbo documentary and then we did a museum tour as well as a book of all the portraits that we shot. the director is a renowned photographer and he took all the portraits and they are now on display at the national portrait gallery which is being sponsored by at&t. >> why did you want to do this exhibit? you say to turn the tail on the term "black list" which is negative and show these positive images. we've seen positive images over the past decade since the start of black history week and now month. what specifically said we need to do this? >> well, i think typically when you see documentary films about the civil rights movement and about the black experience, they're often about kind of the struggle to get to where people are, but they're also about --

less about positive images and more about -- we felt if we could tell people's stories of success, we could bring that to the forefront and celebrate the experience. >> how did you choose the people in the photograph? >> that wasn't very glez i bet. -- very easy. >> i bet. >> we sat together as a group, the director, the interviewer and our production team. we pulled from connections we had as well as people we thought across the board because it's really people from walks of life from all areas. >> so it's not necessarily that we'll recognize every face because they're in the news or entertainment or sports or something like that? >> we wanted to stay away from some of the stereotypical elements of entertainment where we see a lot of people -- blacks who are successful in sports and other elements of entertainment. we wanted to be able to go into all areas, walks of life. >> congratulations on this and

much success. 's going to go into other areas looking at latinos and women as well. look for that but this exhibit is on display at the smithsonian national portrait gallery through april 22. in this morning's daily deals roundup, we have some big savings on coach, kitchens and pizza. check these out. head to coach.com, sign up for the newsletter and they're going to e-mail you discounts for online sales. right now a two-day sale with discounts up to 70% off. an example, the soho leather tote normally sells for $378. right now $120. a 68% discount. want a new kitchen? living social has a deal with squash blossom remodeling. pay $9, 999. you're going to get a kitchen renovation valued at $25,000. that's a 60% savings. new granite countertops, maple or oak cabinets, new sink, new floor and a lifetime guarantee. who wants pizza? pay $10 and you get $20 worth

of pizzas, subs and pasta at pizza boli's in arlington. if you have a deal you want to share with our viewers, get in touch with me on my facebook page. 9 news now will be right back.

we've got cloudy skies. a couple of sprinkles out here and there. that will be itself case over the next -- the case over the next few hours. but increased rain chances later this morning and especially this afternoon. highs around 50. today is thursday, february 16. here's a check of the news before you go. the house and the senate reached a deal on extending the payroll tax cut through december. it was announced just after midnight. the deal does cut unemployment benefits, however. 99 weeks now will go to 73

weeks. also maintains funding levels for medicare to doctors. think the dulles toll road is expensive now? just wait. tolls could triple to $6.75 by the year 2018. the airport authority says toll hikes may be needed to pay for the metro extension to loudoun county. all five starters for the clippers scored in double figures last night against the wizards. lake griff firn was on top. d.c. falls to los angeles. 6:54. time to reveal the answer to our question of the morning. the question was, when a woman goes through a breakup, what's the number one thing she turns to for comfort. is it a, chocolate, b, wine, or c, ice cream? >> well, you need a corkscrew. the answer is wine, believe it or not. >> shopping wasn't on that list. we'll have one more check on traffic and weather when 9news now returns.

one more thing. we were talking about this big story jeremy lin. some people are making negative comments about him because of his ethnicity. >> it seems they're trying to bring race into the deal. "the new york post" had a thing causing a little controversy. amasian. people are celebrating a great story. >> then there is the fighter who was a bust on "dancing with the stars." he said plaque players do this -- black players do this all the time and they don't get credit and they're only talking about him because he's asian. but he's known for throwing around homophobic and racist comments. >> consider the source. >> the guy who was cut twice and coming off the bench and

he's a star. it's fun to watch. >> what he's done in the first five games of his career off the bench, i don't think anybody has done that since the merger. >> go jeremy. grab the rain gear. wish he was on the wizards. we have showers around, especially later this afternoon. tomorrow sunny. saturday increasing clouds and rain and snow likely on sunday. i'll show you one camera in alexandria on the northbound side of 395 with the funeral procession later today, you want to be aware there will be road closures along seminary road, jannings lane and king street between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. you'll get all that information on our website wusa9.com. i am sounding like a broken record. we are looking lower because of greece. thank you, everybody. cbs this morning is next. you'll want to watch because andrea mccarren will be talking about her powerful series on underage drinking. actor ryan reynolds is in the studios. >> and howard and i will be back with an update on traffic and weather. see you