temperature of 58. we're looking for a chance after couple of showers as we head into the nighttime hours but we should be dry for the day. you can see those patches of clouds. one passed overnight. there's a pretty quick moving one coming out of kentucky and west virginia that's going to be racing toward us. we'll get some of those for a few showers. temperatures a big, big range. manassas is 30. but petersburg, west virginia is 52 right now. we've got 36 in winchester with 45 in la plata. baltimore is 3. easton is 43. and at the pangs river nave -- pax river naval air station we have 46. our high temperatures under sunshine and southwest breeze will make it to the low 60s in a couple of spots like culpeper, manassas. around 06 here in -- 60 here in washington t. is 5:00 a.m. straight up monika santami is in with your time saver traffic. good morning, everybody. i'm really happy to say we're starting off this early morning rush hour really well. no problems to report. all around town i'm going to

start off with the west side on the dulles toll road out of leesburg. 66 out of haymarket. there are absolutely no problems. we'll take a live look at the beltway on the west side of town at the american legion bridge. the volumes are still light between bethesda and tysons and all that overnight construction pretty much gone for the day. we're going to go back over to the maps and this time on the south side of town at 95 at the occoquan river coming up from triangle. you're fine. you can see all the green. that means traffic is moving at or above the speed limit. in springfield on the northbound side, just a few people out at 5:01 in the morning. we'll end with a live look on 395 at the 14th street bridge. no problems to report heading into downtown across the potomac river. coming up in my next report, we'll go into maryland at 5:09. it is 5:016789 we're going to start off -- 5:01. we're going to start off this hour with the money report. >> the dow topped the 13,000 mark for the first time in nearly four years. jessica doyle has more.

>> it's come a long way. we were in the doldrums a couple of years ago. we've definitely come back. the dow topping the 13,000 mark in trading yesterday before giving back those gains. happened about two hours into the trading session thanks in part to the greek debt deal as well as better than expected earnings from macy's and home depot. the dow has nearly doubled in value since hitting rock bottom on march 9, 2009, up 98% since that low. hasn't been this high since may of 2008 right before the collapse of leiman brothers. >> it was so close you could touch it. the tension was building. when it finally hit, we got a little bit "at last" cheer. >> it has been a pretty good year for stocks. the dow was up more than 6% from the start of the year. s&p 500 and the nasdaq are up 8%. and 13% respectively. here's where we start from today. 12,965. at the end of the session the

dow was up about 16 points. nasdaq dipped by 3 and the s&p 500 was up by a point. looking ahead to today, asian stocks closed higher but europe is trading in the red this morning. we're waiting on some new economic data here at home and we're going to have to see if it's strong enough to help close out above 13,000 for the dow. that's the thing we're waiting for now. >> 401(k)s are coming back. >> we like that. what do you have for us in the next half-hour? >> we're going to take a look at a newcomb petter for net -- new competitor for netflix. the woman killed when her bmw hit a kfc in landover, maryland had recent driving infractions. police have identified the driver as 29-year-old hellena luis smith of the district. it flipped numerous times before hitting the restaurant. investigators are looking into reports that smith might have been going as fast as a hundred miles an hour. smith's passenger and another man were injured.

state police charged smith with driving on a suspended license a few weeks ago after an officer clocked her going 91 miles an hour. virginia is one of states taking part in super tuesday primaries on march 6 but if you want to vote absentee using mail-in ballots your deadline is less than a week away. applications for absentee ballots need to be submitted by 5:00, february 28. only two candidates are on the ballot. mitt romney and ron paul. they are the only ones qualified to be on the virginia ballot. virginia governor bob mcgon donnell says he will sign a beam that essentially let's private adoptions discriminate based on religion. agencies can deny placements of children that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs. the house committee passed another controversial bill that requires drug testing of virginia welfare recipients. however, that bill is expected to die in the state senate. this morning president obama will attend the groundbreaking for the latest smithsonian museum on the national mall. >> it's a national museum of

african-american history and culture. delia goncalves joins us live from the museum site. she has a preview. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning, mike, andrea. what an important day and an exciting one for so many people who will come here to the mall and so many others who will be watching on the web cast a little later this morning. it does a -- it is a first of its kind, the groundbreaking for the new future museum will be held inside a tent you can see behind me. it is a prime location here on the mall i should tell you between the american history museum and right next to the washington monument. the 374,000 square foot museum will sit on five acres of the mall and house about 20,000 african-american artifacts. the museum's mission, to explore all aspects of the african-american experience, even those that are very difficult to remember from slavery to the 1920's culture

renaissance to civil rights and contributions to the art. $100 mill in private funds have -- million in private funds have already been raised for a $500 million project slated to open in 2015. the museum of african art is over on independence avenue between the castle and l 'enfant plaza. this museum will explore people of african descent. back to you, mike, andrea. >> delia goncalves reporting live from the mall. we're expecting some breezy conditions around here for the next few days. >> but hopefully it won't be nearly as bad as what happened when high winds hit the rockies. that story coming up.

plus, we'll show you the last festivities of mardi gras.

it is 5:08 on this wednesday morning. jackets out there for the morning hours with 30s and 40s.

this afternoon we're going to make a run towards 60 degrees. here's a look at our day planner. we'll have some clouds here and there at times with temperatures this morning in the mid-40s at 9:00. mostly sunny, 55 at noon. but look at that wind out of the southwest. almost 15 miles an hour gusting to 20 at times this afternoon with highs around 60. i'll be back in just a few minutes. we'll look toward the colder weekend. right now monika is in with time saver traffic. thanks so much. we're going to take a look at northbound 95 a delay after route 619 with a disabled tractor-trailer in the right lane. expect it right through triangle. i'll have more on this situation and virginia roadways coming up at 5:17. making news now at 5:09, police are trying to determine what provoke add deadly shooting inside -- provoked a deadly shooting inside a pa. it happened in an atlanta suburb in georgia. a man walked into the spa shooting four people to death before himself. investigators recovered a gun

at the scene. a high wind warning expired overnight in colorado but not before those gusts caused plenty of problems for drivers. police responded to accidents with tractor-trailers, school buses that got blown from one lane to another and into cars. the tourists are starting to leave new orleans on the first day of lent. fire trucks and police officers, including some on horseback drove through the french quarter just after the clock struck midnight bringing the official end to mardi gras celebrations. police want teenagers to make sure their partying does not end with drinking and driving. a local police department is letting minors try out these things called beer goggles so you can experience drunk driving without consuming alcohol. head in sports at 5:23, highlights from a handful of area college basketball games. howard puts a much colder temperature in the forecast. he has the details right after

this.

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now. it is 5:13 and howard is here weampt already in the 40s. -- we're already in the 40s. how much higher are we going to go today? >> 30 degrees. it will be up towards 60, maybe the low 60s this afternoon. winds are going to be up as well. we could have gusts over 20. it's going to be even milder on thursday. tomorrow is going to be the

warmer day of the week with maybe upper 60s in spots. here's a look at your bus stop forecast on this wednesday morning. you'll need the jackets. 30s and 40s to start. skies aren't bad. partly to mostly cloudy. high clouds are coming in from the west. sunrise at 6:51 setting at about 5:54 this afternoon. our day planner we will have more clouds early than late. temperatures in the low 40s at 8:00. mid-50s at noon. 59 at 4:00. one thing i want you to notice the speed limits pick up, 15 miles an hour. that means a breezy day with gusts over 20. by 8:00 chance for a few showers, especially south of d.c. we'll have temperatures still up there into the low 50s. average highs now up to 49. some of the clouds we're watching, one batch overnight we cleared out for now but there's another batch trying to run toward us itself next few hours. -- the next few hours.

36 winchester. 43 gaithersburg. mid-40s at pax river and fredricksburg is at 47 already. across the bay our friends in easton at 41. locally cold spot is manassas at 30 with 35 haymarket. lighter winds there. they dipped to the low to mid- 30s in prince william county. 40 in privilege. we have generally -- in privilege. we have -- in prince george's county. we have generally clear -- this has been a long, lingering cold, monika. 50s in little rock and atlanta. the relative warmth is going to lift up to the north for the next couple of days. that's our source of the milder air. as the jet supreme is well to the -- stream is well to the north. some of these areas in the northern rockies and montana down to northwest colorado looking at a couple of feet of snow with winds at times gusting 60 miles an hour. for us we're going to get some cold air in canada to drop

down. a pretty good front is going to head our way that will happen on friday probably midday. behind the front we start to cool off. ahead of it winds out of the southwest. occasionally you see some showers and storms popping like this one down here toward memphis in the last couple of hours. all of this action is going to push through and bring us some colder weather for the weekend. so in the short term a really fine wednesday around here. here comes some showers, though, for tonight. they're going to lift across virginia here at 8:00. come up toward the north but southern areas may be getting a better chance of showers for the first part of evening then in d.c. overnight showers come through. tomorrow morning we'll be okay. midday okay. even in the afternoon not bad. just a slim, slim chance that we see a stray shower but we really have to wait for this front late thursday night, early friday morning to come through with the showers and then the colder air behind it. but today look at these temps. upper 50s to the north. rockville 59. perhaps 61 toward fort belvoir. a very mild day and even milder

day tomorrow. here's the look at your forecast. today about 60, breezy. tonight we're dipping into the 40s. that's it with those showers around. tomorrow 67, maybe 70s south and west. a stray shower possibly late but better chance tomorrow night into friday morning. a colder afternoon on friday after a mild start and the weekend looks chilly. we'll be in the 40s, maybe even a few flurries around on saturday. it's 5:17. good morning, monika. good morning, howard. good morning, everybody. it is a great start to the morning rush hour. i'm really happy to say. it's been like that all week long. we're going to start off with one problem on the northbound side of i-95, a disabled tractor-trailer just north of route 619. you see all that yellow. we'll take a live look there. eight causing a bit of a backup trying to get through triangle just because of a disabled tractor-trailer. it is not an accident but it is blocking the right lane. we'll go a little further north into springfield on the northbound side of i-95. once you're beyond that sticking point, things are fine here as you can see. just a tiny bit of volume in the main and hov lanes heading

up on to the beltway or 395. back to the map. this time to the north side of town. no problems to report on the beltway between college park and bethesda. 270 is looking great out of frederick. we'll take a live look at the beltway at university boulevard as you make your way around 270 across the american legion bridge to the dulles toll road in tysons you're going to be okay. speaking of which, metro wants your input on its extension to dulles international airport. so it's taking a public survey about what to name the stays on the silver line -- stations on the silver lane. phase one of the line is scheduled to open next year. here are the rules for the station names. it needs to be relevant building off geographical communities. you can't just say tysons because there are several in tysons by the way. you need to keep your ideas to 19 characters or less and tie to make the station name unique. the deadline to submit ideas on metro's website is march 21. coming up in my next report at

5:24, more on area roadways. back to you. the battle for the -- for a position in the acc pits two teams against each other. >> the hoyas could drop out of the top ten after a bad loss. 5:19, another look at the question of the day. it 178% of married men say they -- 78% of married men say they want this one thing for their birthday. is it a, a sports car, tickets to see their favorite sports team, or c, a day alone. >> melissa wrote b, torts tickets. hockey and a -- sports tickets. hockey and a day of fishing. the word is swapportunity. can i have the definition? swapportunity: the opportunity to swap a higher calorie snack for a yoplait light. can you use it in a sentence? mmm. swapping a 300 calorie donut

for this 110 calorie strawberry shortcake is a good swapportunity. that's not a real word. oh haha it's real. [ female announcer ] delicious, creamy, yoplait light. over 30 flavors each around 100 calories. do the swap today.

>> 5:22 on this wednesday morning. it's chilly in spots. some places cold, some not so cold. 30 in ma manassas to mid and upper 40s in southern maryland. patchy high and mid-level clouds. we'll be in the mid-40s here. we'll head toward lunch time. lots of sunshine. 55 for d.c. 52 for winchester. 55 also down at the pax river naval air station. as we head into the afternoon, partly sunny. highs are going to be close to the 60-degree mark. it will be a little breezy, though, even warmer tomorrow. back to you. >> thanks, howard. virginia and virginia tech

square off just two weeks before the acc tournament. >> while maryland faces george mason's former coach in another conference matchup. kristen berset has highlights in your morning sports. good morning, everybody. heading down the final stretch, the maryland terrapins need to muster every ounce of strength they've got to head to the tournament. their final four games include virginia which just stomped the terps. double overtime earlier this month. there's a familiar face jim larranaga back in town. john mosley comes up with the big 3. 45 seconds to go, terps down two. a big rebound. time winding down. miami's last chance. mosley secures the ball. a big win over miami. john thompson iii not going to be happy with his hoyas'

performance last night. tying things up at 22. that was his only 3 of the night. the night belonged to the pirates. a career high 29 points. seeton hall upsets eighth ranked georgetown 73-55. another big game virginia tech hosting virginia. a nail biter in this one. in the 2nd, up 5. eric green extends that by 3. he had 19 last night but the cavaliers come back, up 4. mike scott gets the ball to fall. picks up the end one. they beat the hokies 61-59. a good night on the hardwood. that's going to do it for your morning sports. have a great day. still ahead, artwork or yard debris. a debate that is pitting a local homeowner against local officials. we preview today's ground breaking for the smithsonian national museum of african-

american history and culture. 5:25. here's monika with the traffic update. leaving done kirk, an accident closes route 4 at route 258. more details on that coming up in my next report at 5:29. you're watching 9news now. stay with us. ♪

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now on this wednesday morning. happy you're with us. i'm andrea roane. you're halfway home. grab another cup of coffee. we have a lot to tell you. we're glad you're here. i'm mike hydeck. monika santami with your traffic momentarily. we start with howard bernstein first. it is going to abmild afternoon. -- to be a mild afternoon. average high 49. warmer on thursday. here's a look at our day planner. temperatures are going to be climbing pretty quickly here. 44 now. we'll be in the mid-50s by noon. this afternoon around 60 if not low 60s in spots with 58

degrees. still a good deal of sunshine at 5:00 p.m. tonight some showers will be moving in during the night. first down south and then it will come through the metro probably a little later than that toward the middle of the night and overnight. here we go. some cloudiness overnight. a patch of clearing here, but a few more clouds out to the west. so patchy clouds at times for the next few hours. look at the big range in temperatures. from the low 30s for manassas to catlett at 34. culpeper 34. it's 36 in winchester but go south and east, we have mid-40s in many areas, like here in washington at 44. and this afternoon we're looking at highs anywhere from the upper 50s to the low 60s. and a breeze at times gusting to 20 out of the southwest. here's monika at 5:29 with time saver traffic. thank you so much, howard. good morning, everybody. we do have one issue in southern maryland on route 4 as you leave dunkirk at route 258. there is an accident blocking all the lanes and i suggest that you use route 2 instead of route 4 through that area on

the northbound side at route 258 bay front road. otherwise out of brandywine, route 5 looks okay. no problems on route 4 closer to the beltway at andrews air force base. we'll take a live look outside right now. if you're planning to head on the northbound side of i-95 in virginia, you've also got this delay into triangle. that's because of a disabled tractor-trailer blocking the right half of the roadway. that's why you've got this early morning delay on the northbound side of i-95. we'll go back over to the maps. this time over to the north side of town. no problems on 270 out of gaithersburg to rockville and bethesda. you're doing fine over to the west side of town. the american legion bridge or bethesda, excuse me, route 355 in bethesda looks great. coming up in my next report, an update in anne arundel. a jury in charlottesville will start deliberations in george huguely's murder trial. >> huguely is charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and fellow lacrosse player

yesterdayly love. -- yeardley law. prosecutors say the former lacrosse player killed his ex- girlfriend in a drunken rage but the defense says it was accidental possibly related to alcohol and drugs. the man accused of planning to -- of plotting to blow up the u.s. capitol will be in court today. the 29-year-old amine el khalifi was arrested on friday in a sting operation. they say el khalifi planned to commit a suicide bombing inside the u.s. capitol but the weapons and explosive vest he bought from undercover agents were fake. d.c. police are investigating a string of robberies committed over the last 12 hours. three of the holdups happened in the second district in northwest washington. two of them happened at metro stations. one near woodley park station and the other near dupont circle. overall there are at least nine robberies in the city. in several cases the robbers had guns. fortunately no one was injured in any of these situations. today the issue of sexual harassment on metro is expected

to be raised at a d.c. city council meeting at a hearing. the group collective action for safe spaces is pushing metro to start public service campaigns with the goal of informing passengers what behavior is inappropriate and how best to report any harassment incidents. in frederick county, maryland the county board pass add bill last night to make english its official language. according to our sister station, the bill will help deter illegal immigrants if settling in the county. however, the ordinance includes many exceptions including for health and public safety matters. it is 5:32. time for another your money report. >> jessica doyle is back with more on the fees you pay to the banks. >> overdraft fees sometimes you get hit with these really high fees that come from your bank account. the government's new consumer watchdog agency is launching an investigation into these fees. the consumer financial protection bureau plans to ask banks for information about how overdraft fees affect

consumers. how overdraft protection is marketed and what information consumers actually receive. the move could result in new rules or even lawsuits if the banks are accused of violating consumer laws. overdraft fees didn't even exist 15 years ago but by 2009 they were generating tens of billions of dollars to banks. look out, netflix. comcast is hot on your heels. the cable service provider is launching a new subscription video service. it will allow customers to instantly view movies and tv shows both in and out of the house. xfiny is -- xfinity is available this week for customers. barnes and noble has rolled out a new version of its tablet. the nook. there's an entry level version at $99. getting a little bit competitive in that tablet space. >> it is.

>> first it was the brick and mortar assault on each other and now we're finding in virtual space almost. >> exactly. >> pretty wild. thanks, jess. this morning president obama plans to attend a museum groundbreaking on the national mall. >> it's for the smithsonian national museum of african- american history and culture. 9news now reporter delia goncalves is live overlooking the sight of today's ground breaking with more on this new museum project. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, andrea. pretty exciting day for lots of folks, including the president and the first lady. they will be among the 600 guests -- invited guests i should say who will be celebrating this major achievement a century in the making. this groundbreaking will take place around 10:00 inside a tent that you see behind me. it's on 14th street, a prime location right next to the washington monument. the $500 million museum is slated to open in 2015, 100 years after it was first requested by black civil war

veterans. in 1929 congress passed legislation for an african- american museum but that was never funded. then congress revisited the project again in the '80s and '90s but the late north carolina republican senator jesse helms blocked the bill. finally after helms left office, president bush signed the authorization for this museum in 2003. $100 million in private funds have already been raised. the 374,000 square foot building will house about 20,000 artifacts and is expected -- get this -- to draw 3 million to 3.5 million visitors annually n. museum is expected -- annually. this mao seem why is expected to be -- museum is expected to be the largest of its kind anywhere in the united states. i'll have more on the growing concerns coming up in my next live report in a half-hour.

>> thank you. we have a look at some bargains coming up. daily deals time very soon. three actors at a local museum show and tell the stories of black men and women during the civil war. we'll be back.

it is 5:38 out on the weather terrace this morning. jackets needed. we're if the 40s with a light breeze out here. some spots out to the west and southwest down in the 30s. your day planner, get ready for a spring like day. we'll have those breezes out of the south and southwest at times up to 20 miles an hour. mid-50s by noon. near 60 at 3:00 and maybe even a couple of showers showing up to our south by 6:00 p.m. temperatures still in the 50s. your seven-day forecast coming up in the next five. we'll get colder this weekend. right now here's monika. if you're planning to head over in anne arundel county, you want to watch out for a serious accident blocking route 4 in both directions between route 258 and 408. police are directing traffic

around it and a medevac helicopter is its way. i'll have more details on this coming up in my next report. we've been combing through the day's daily deals, e-mails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts. here are some of our favorite daily deals with spring right around the corner, how about some al frescoe dining by the fire. target's daily deal is for a 13- inch smith and hawkin copper fire bowl going for 89.99 plus free typing. the outdoor fireplace normally goes for $119.99. that is a 25% savings. doing some car maintenance, kgb deals is offering this one. $17 for an oil change. normally $38. $69 for a front brake pad change. that's normally $140 and it's $75 for the back brake pads. that's normally 150 bucks. finally having some fun, groupon is selling a go-carting package for two. $55 you get a one-year

membership to summit point cart and one session credit. this package usually sells for $126. so you're getting a 56% savings. there's also a larger package for eight people. if you have an offer you've seen or you're a local merchant, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. >> thank you, jess. the virginia historical society has launched a project called unknown no longer. it's an online database of previously unpublished historical records concerning enslaved virginians. some records only contain the names of slaves. others have more details about family members, occupations and dates of births and deaths. the database can be accessed through the virginia historical society's website. costume reenactors are sharing some little known stories at the african-american civil war museum. it's on vermont avenue in northwest. they talked about individual stories of trial and

perseverance of blacks, both slaved and free as the north and south fought. that led up to a presentation by historians. tonight the three trailing republican presidential hopefuls get a shot at the new front-runner. thattory is coming up. plus, police give teenagers the sensation of what it's like to drive drunk with beer goggles. it's 5:41. let's see who's celebrating a birthday today, february 22. jonathan demy is 68. dr. jay, basketball great julius irving is 62. white house advisor david axelrod is 57. actor kyle mclaughlin is 53. >> clinton kelly is 43. drew barrymore is 37 and james blunt is 35 today.

if it's your birthday today, happy birthday. we'll be back. denny's new sizzlin' skillets are here for a limited time. so strike while the iron's hot. starting at $4.99.

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now. it's 5:45. mike is looking at who the birthday people are. i want to say happy birthday to jeri again now that i know who she is. >> welcome to the club, mike. weather wise, we've got a pretty good day around here. a little breezy at times but temperatures well above the average. average is 49. we're going to be pushing 60 this afternoon and even warmer tomorrow. here's a look at your bus stop forecast. definite jackets this morning. we've got some areas in the lower 30s out to the west but with the lighter winds, the winds have been up, we have temperatures into the 40s. well up in the 40s this morning and your sunrise 6:51.

partly to even mostly cloudy out there. overall a good deal of sunshine and a breeze today. 9:00 mostly cloudy, 44. these are going to be high level clouds. noon 55. the wind direction, these are the hours out of the southwest. they'll become southerly this afternoon and 14 miles an hour so at times gusts toward 20 with the highs around 60. give or take a couple degrees. this morning you can see from culpeper up to manassas, catlett 30 to 32 down that way. fredricksburg the winds are up a little bit so they're in the mid-40s along with pax river. baltimore 38 this morning. we have to say hello to our friends in easton across the bay. 41 this morning. we've got partly cloudy skies out at reagan national. good visibility here on our michael & son weather camera with 44 right now. slight windchill. it feels like 40. the dew points are in the 30s this morning. we're looking at a couple of things across the country like this big storm along the northwest. this jet stream is just coming

on shore. very fast winds here. we've had some problems in the higher elevations, not just with snow in the one to two- foot range but when you throw winds gusting 60, 65 miles an hour, a real, real bad situation with the snow and the blowing snow. some rain showers and snow showers in the northern plains. cold air starting to build again in canada. that's going to dive south. we're going to be sharply colder as we get into friday night and saturday and for sunday as well. so the 60s that we're seeing today and tomorrow and even early friday, they're going to be gone pretty quickly. this morning a few snow showers up across new york state and new england. around here other than that patch of clouds, relatively quiet. sunny by noon. the afternoon features a few more clouds, maybe some showers well south and west of us by 4:00. but this evening the showers roll in south first. then overnight we're going to see some showers. here we are, i'm stopping it at 11:00. watch what happens overnight. the showers come across the region. tomorrow morning we should be in pretty decent shape. tomorrow the southwesterly winds ahead of that strong cold front are going to drive

temperatures well up in the 60s. not out of the question. if we get enough sun, somebody south and west of us could touch the 70-degree mark. here come some rain showers for late thursday night, early friday. that's with the strong cold front. that will clean us out and also cool us down for the weekend. 60 today, breezy. tonight some showers in the 40s. 67 tomorrow. stray shower late but more likely overnight into friday morning. friday an early high in the low 60s. then colder for the weekend. maybe a flurry on saturday. it is now 5:48. here's monika with time saver traffic. taking a long road in. >> that's right, howard. we've had a serious situation developing over in anne arundel county. you're taking a live look now from our sky 9 shot of route 4 coming up from dunkirk. it was a single vehicle into a pole. a medevac helicopter has just arrived on the scene. one person seriously injured in this accident and it's been blocked since i would say about an hour now on route 4 between

route 408 and route 258. again you're taking a live look from sky 9 at the accident scene in waysons corner. you want to know what to do to get around it. let me take you over to a map. again on route 4, everything is blocked off between route 258 and route 408. that's about a one to two-mile stretch. if you were planning to head northbound, you want to go ahead and take route 2 to 422 to sands road. that will take you over to central avenue and on the southbound side go ahead and use route 301 as your alternate route. to 66, two separate accidents. these just came in on the inbound side at route 123 causing major backups here. authorities are just headed to the scene. we'll take a live look on the the inbound side of 66. again two separate accidents, several vehicles involved. i will keep you posted on that situation as we. coming up in my next report at 6:00. back to you. thanks, monika. here's what's making news at 5:49. today the defense is making its closing argument in the trial

of the former egyptian. he's accused of allowing his forces to kill unarmed protesters during last year's protesters that eventually led to his ouster. the life-threatening mrsa super bug got its resistance from farm animals injected with antibiotic. they say it began as a basic staph infection but migrated from people to animals where it developed a resistance to antibiotics. and the more dangerous form of mrsa migrated back to people. all four republican presidential hopefuls will take part in a debate in arizona tonight n. is their last face- to-face meeting before next tuesday's primaries in arizona and michigan. it will be the first debate since rick santorum surged past mitt romney in some of the national polls. it could be close to impossible to explain to a young person just how dangerous it is to drink and drive. >> but montgomery county police have come up with a way that's pretty cool to show teenagers what happens when you drive

drunk and it actually keeps them safe. andrea mccarren explains and takes us for a wild ride. >> reporter: on a wind swept evening in damascus, we sent some montgomery county police interns on a mission to attempt a driving course wearing goggles that simulate alcohol intoxication. >> you had a few drinks. you're ready to go home. >> reporter: julian was up first. >> you realize things aren't quite the same and you drop the keys on the ground. so pick up the keys. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: now he'll get behind the wheel of a john deere gator. >> it doesn't have the power the car does so it's safer and the gator is actually equipped with a kill switch. >> reporter: desperately trying to focus, he knocks over cone after cone after cone. >> he just rammed somebody over there. >> i don't think kids recognize how difficult it is and they think they can handle it. i think they should go through this to learn that they can't. >> you okay to drive? >> i'm not getting in the car with someone who has had a few

drinks. >> you get the keys in? >> yes, no problem. >> reporter: sarah is pretty confident about her driving skills. >> i consider myself a fine driver. i would never consider driving after a drink. i wouldn't think about it. >> reporter: sarah fairs even worse. i know i hit a lot. >> reporter: she hit seven cones. would you ever have even a single drink and get behind the wheel after this? >> no. it just wouldn't make sense. >> reporter: finally we put victoria to a field sobriety test while wearing the goggles. >> hands down by your side. once you start, i don't want you to stop. >> reporter: watch what happens. >> one, to, three -- two, three. >> hands down by your side. >> four, five. >> reporter: it is neither straight or steady. >> it was so hard to maintain my balance. i think it's really ridiculous how people think they're sober enough to drive like this. >> reporter: what do you make of this if she was a driver? >> she's under arrest.

no question. >> reporter: in damascus, andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> montgomery county police work with school and community groups using those goggles to demonstrate the dangers of drunk driving. for more information, you can go to our website wusa9.com and look under our special coverage section at the top of the page. you can see it right there. 5:53. time for another look at the question of the day. it is 78% of married men say they want this one thing for their birthday. is it a, a brand new sports car, b, tickets to see their favorite sports team, or c, a day alone, my choice. >> our facebook friend travis wrote all of the above. >> log on to our facebook fan page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer during the 6:00 hour. we'll be back. before we go, this morning construction officially begins for the latest smithsonian museum on the national mall. more on that story coming up.

one man's effort to turn his property damage into a work of art gets him into trouble. are you really saving money by making coffee at home? maybe yes. maybe no. we're crunching the numbers coming up at 6:05. you're watching 9news now.

it is 5:56.

we'll have clear to portly cloudy skies today -- partly cloudy skies today but a lot of sunshine. we head toward lunch time it's going to get breezy. 55 in town. low 50s north. mid and upper 50s. this afternoon under partly to mostly sunny skies, highs near 60 but look at this. some showers move in tonight. mike and andrea? >> thanks, howard. itself saying goes one man's trash is another man's treasure. except in this case change the word "treasure" to "art." >> a montgomery county home owner is coming under fire for trying to turn a fallen tree into a massive statue in his front yard. >> this is the tree whether it came down. >> reporter: this is a picture of the 400-year-old tree that came crashing down? jason's front yard during a strong storm two summers ago. >> i lived here my entire life. this is the tree i used to sit under when i was young. >> reporter: to jay -- so jason hired a different jason to turn it into a work of hart. >> the sculpture here, we have

a majestic eagle trying to land on a branch. >> i'm trying to do something that's patriotic. i want to make this a commemorative that honors our soldiers. >> reporter: jason the artist has been working on this 11- foot tall statue for the last six weeks but jason the homeowner has been getting grief from the county since november and he's got the paperwork to prove it. a county housing inspector cited him for fame lure to remove solid waste from their property. >> it's never been called rubbish. >> reporter: they were threatened with a court date and fines up to $750 a day. >> we have a government official who's abusing his power and misreading what the law was intended for. >> reporter: it's been four months since they received that first violation. that's four months of stress and legal fees but just this afternoon, i got an e-mail from a county spokeswoman and it reads, since i spoke to you this morning, we've received correspondence from the property owner indicating that

the remaining standing tree section will be converted into a piece of art carved work. we're dismissing the citation. >> it's shocking back in december when we sent them the contract, they didn't read it but as soon as there's a news crew out, evidently they learn to read. >> reporter: in silver spring, 9news now. >> the county has notified us that they are dismissing the citation. but they still have not contacted the homeowner or his attorney. the statue should be finished next month. >> if t would be nice to see the finished work. thank you for watching us do our work here on 9news now at 6:00 a.m. >> a serious accident in anne arundel county. >> details in a second. >> over to you. >> weather pretty decent today. we have breezy conditions but mild temperatures. going to be pushing 60 degrees. tomorrow well up in the 60s. if you ke