home through the rear basement door, tying up a man along with the adopted daughter. the two attackers wore the black clothes, ski masks, showing a rifle or shotgun. they stole money from the house and they made off with a couple's distinctive gold jaguar sedan. >> the suspects had broken into the windows, in the basement area. they tied up the victims, and proceeded to take money out of the residence. >> i'm grateful that they did not take a life. >> neighbors are shocked. this is such a nice neighborhood. i could imagine something this heinous happening across the street from here. so you know, that is probably somebody who is watching the house. >> reporter: and neighbors, they also say that the couple is known for fostering or adopting the known adults. one called the house like a group home. now, they do not believe that

this was a random attack, they are looking into the possibility that the attackers may have known the victims. although nothing has been ruled out. now, it is a golden color, 1999 jaguar sedan. golden plates. that is the kind of car that you would notice on the road. police do believe if they can find it, it may lead them very quickly to the people responsible for the ski mask, the gunman attack in this morning. reporting live, scott broom now. >> thank you, scotty. now, his lawyers are hinting at an appeal after jurors last night recommended the sentence of 26 years for the former uva lacrosse standout in the second-degree murder of yeardly love. bruce leshan has been talking

to jurors today. some of the jurors would like to go with the first-degree felony murder or first-degree pre-meditated -- premeditated murder. and then came out one of the jurors. the fellow by the name of ian. he's negotiating with the big tv area. wanting the donation to yeardly's foundation, in exchange for the exclusive interview. giving us some quotes. now, they tried really hard. in the end, justice was served, but declined to say if it was a compromised verdict. he did not talk about that, but the most horrible parts of this, he said there were three

things. just awful to see the pictures of yeardly love's battered body. that is traumatizing for the jury as well as the family in the end. they will be there every day for the rest of their lives. in charlottesville, bruce leshan, 9news now. and now, they claim to do that some time after mid april. they could reduce the sentence in jail from the 26 years. but they could not go beyond that and what the jury has recommended. >> well, sky 9 out over here today, a major disruption of the local high school.

and they lost control here at cropper road, turning over and spilled a load of metal out on to the road way. but the injuries were non-life threatening. all right, for the last thursday in february, i'll tell you what, it doesn't get much better than this. and neither one of us are complaining about the weather today. can you believe it? it feels like april now. and now, let's take a look at temperatures. they are not near record high. and we are 64 right now.

61 in gaithersburg. even martinsburg checks in at 60. a strong cold front. high wind watch is in effect for them there and the west. now, that means the winds, they could gust over 58 miles per hour.

the classified documents in the u.s. history. manning was expected to enter the plea during that hearing today. now, however, he decided to delay the decision. and he also failed to say whether or not he wants to be tried by the military jury or agonal alone. manning allegedly gave more than 700,000 secret documents and video clips to the anti- secrecy website. the defense claimed that he was a troubled soldier who shouldn't have had classified material like that. investigating an accident that killed about seven marines overnight. two helicopters have collided in a remote area near arizona's yuma training range. the aircraft will be conducting the routine night training ops. the cause of the crash is being investigated. there were no survivors. tonight, two american soldiers training in afghanistan were killed. tina krauss reports on the escalating violence surrounding

the controversy. >> reporter: afghan police fired on protesters during a third day of violent demonstrations that have now claimed the lives of two u.s. soldiers. cbs news has learned that the afghan soldier gunned down two american troops at a military base in the province of eastern afghanistan. and the afghan officials say that the shooter killed the soldiers in retaliation, for the burning of the korans at the u.s. air base. and the killings, they came hours after the taliban and some radical lawmakers called on them to retaliate against the foreign troops. president obama has sent a letter apologizing for tuesday's incident, calling the burning of the holy book an accident. the afghan president says that the u.s. military officer, burned the holy books out of ignorance and with poor understanding. he is pressing nato to put those responsible on trial. outrage is spreading across the country.

these protesters, they say that the foreign forces, they have insulted their culture and they don't respect their religion. huge anti-american demonstrations, they are expected to sweep across the country on friday after a day of prayer. tina krauss, cbs news. >> and those protests are spreading to more cities. at least 11 people have died so far in all that violence. lesli? debate is underway to make maryland the eighth state along with the district to recognize gay marriages. the 47-member senate is considering amendments to the legislation before casting votes. the full house has passed that same-sex marriage bill. the senate is expected to follow suit and forward the historic measure to governor martin o'malley for his signature. opponents will try to put that issue before voters in a november referendum. ever seen one of these blue bins to collect the books for charity? coming up, our investigation reveals your donations, they may not all go to charity

afterall. web companies are making it easier to let users take back some of their privacy. we'll be coming up next with that story. a partial victory for the abortion rights in virginia. we'll have the latest from virginia when we come back.

they will not become law this year. the virginia senate, they voted 24-14 to carry the so-called bill back to committee, meaning it will not be considered until 2013.

the bill would define the length as starting as conceptions. and the senate's top republican called for the bill to be shelfed, saying there needs to be more done to it with all democrats voting against it. the same committee also approved an amendment bill requiring for pre-abortion external ultrasounds. that bill passed the house of delegates after the governor urged it to be rewritten, to not require the ultrasounds to be evasive. you know the ads that show up on your internet browser and they seem to be tailored to me and you? >> well, we'll, plain how internet providers -- will explain how internet providers are providing trust. >> reporter: the sports fanaticstar uses her iphone for everything. she's not surprised she gets basketball ads through her browser. >> everybody has your information. what can you do? >> reporter: federal officials say that internet users should

be able to choose whether or not they want their personal information collected and sold to advertisers. >> thanks for being here. >> reporter: on thursday, white house officials announced a coalition of internet giants have agreed to add a do not track button on their web browser. they will still track you, but not use that information to send you customized ads. the american civil liberty's union says it's a start. >> now they need to take that next step to make it real meaningful by making do not track me, which means you will not be tracked. >> reporter: they will still collect information about your internet habits and use it for market research and product development. >> it doesn't make me more comfortable, not at all. >> reporter: they have agreed to make opting out easier. right now, it takes several steps and can be confusing. mozilla firefox offered a do not track last year. microsoft followed, google resisted, but the search engine now says they will be following the industry agreement. the internet companies have

nine months to build "do not track" buttons into their browsers, nine months to find other ways to appease the advertisers. cbs news, new york. >> ultimately the aclu want internet providers to provide a true "do not track," button. they would like congress to make it a federal law. a tasty new option. grand opening ceremonies were held this morning for the new safeway on spartan road. the large store includes the sushi bar, open-flame oven, european-style breads are baked daily and expanded cheese sections. there is an in-house starbucks, cafe seating with free wifi and safeway's only beer and wine department in montgomery county. all right, guys, should we just go to the grocery store and hang out? because you know, i think we do have that outside. >> yes, absolutely. >> maybe they need to eat outside. set up the tables. >> that will be the fresco type. >> yeah, tomorrow too.

it feels like april now. what will be feeling like that tomorrow and then big changes as we have all kinds of wind tomorrow. >> that will be deteriorating lately. >> yes, they will. [ laughter ] >> all right, now, let's take a look at your satellite picture in the radar combined to start. we're looking at the warmer front pushing on through in the ohio valley. that's what's really going to usher in the warmer air. hard to believe that we're talking about temperatures in the 60s, even warmer air, but we are. now, i see the showers in ohio, pushing on into portions of pennsylvania. there is a slight chance that you could see a shower out of this tonight. we'll take the chance of the shower or the thunderstorm on in. in the meantime, we're looking at a very nice evening. just a few clouds are moving in. the warmer front here. that will be about it. but all the showers are back in west virginia. some of it will be making into oakland and cumberland out in the panhandle of west virginia and also maryland. now, a closer view, showers in pittsburgh, pushing on through columbus. but this will be the warm front, lifting northward. closer to home, just the clouds. the we're in pretty good shape.

not reaching the ground from gaithersburg to frederick. it looks like a pretty nice evening. again, we'll keep the chance of the shower in all evening. 62 right now. bethesda here, 63. 64 downtown in arlington as well. even 61 up in gaithersburg. 63 out at college park and 62 in beltsville. all right, here's the deal. high-wind watch, frederick county, and loudoun county west. gusts could be at 58 miles per hour or higher tomorrow. it doesn't mean we're not going to see the big winds in town. we will. our gust could see 40 to 50 miles per hour winds. so here are some things you can do. secure those loose objects. bring the small tables inside. and put that basketball hoop on its side. you know what i'm talking about. the ones that have sand in the bottom. the ones that are not sunken in concrete. high-wind watch, north and west on friday. and again, a gust even in the metro area. 40 to 50 miles per hour, colder over the weekend. so for tonight, mostly cloudy,

breezy, mild. a few showers. maybe a thunderstorm after midnight. low temperatures between the 50 to 55-degree mark. and that is just a view of the winds to come. next seven days, well, we're looking at maybe a thunderstorm tomorrow late in the afternoon as the cold front pushes through. then we're looking at strong winds, colder tomorrow night. the temperature correction over the weekend, back in the 40s on saturday and sunday and then look, it does not last long. temperatures go back to the 50s and then 60s next week. i've got another thunderstorm on for wednesday. all right, it is thursday. look at this nice shot. this is mike conners from rockville. mike conners had this in. a bird in flight. that's a pretty nice shot with the reflection. nice job, mike. you want to send something to us? just go to our website, wusa9.com, click on weather, and then please include your name, location, description. the little snow we had last sunday, we had a great picture

of the snowman, but we didn't know who sent it and we kicked it out. sorry about that. temperatures in the 60s tomorrow, 70s tomorrow. you know that the cherry blossoms will be coming out earlier. the earliest that they have ever come out was march 15, 1990. the question is will it happen this year? we'll take you down to the cherry blossom and take a look at kristin fisher and what did you find out about this? >> reporter: well, we are just going to have to wait and see about these cherry blossoms, but you know, i was out here today, just trying to chat with people about how gorgeous this weather is. you would think that would be a pretty easy task, right? not so because most of the people we talked to were so afraid that their boss would see them skipping work or perhaps playing beach volleyball shirtless in february. you wouldn't know it was still winter in washington by watching brad morrison and his buddies. hi brad, it's february, what are you doing out here with your shirt off? >> it's crazy, i mean, we are

trying to take advantage of the weather. i mean look at it, the weather is beautiful. it couldn't get any better. >> reporter: the area is packed with people. running, biking, sneaking out of work for an afternoon game of golf. >> oh, it is quite crowded. everyone is taking advantage of the weather. i don't blame them. >> reporter: according to careerbuilder.com, last year, three out of ten workers called in sick with a fake excuse. that number always spikes with the start of spring. but brad doesn't need an excuse. >> we are all working right now from here. the luxury of having the iphones and everything is that you can just work from the volleyball court if it is like this. >> reporter: while most of them love the warm spell, the organizers of the cherry blossom festivals are starting to sweat. >> what we have seen in the last month to six weeks is sort of a ping-pong event of the temperatures. >> reporter: it's 70 degrees today, but it's forecast to be freezing this weekend. the back and forth makes the bloom schedule tough to predict. >> the likelihood of them moving along a little bit

faster is probably greater this year. >> reporter: but most locals don't seem to care if the peak bloom coincides with the annual festival, as long as the weather stays like this. >> no, i would take this weather every day if i could, absolutely. >> reporter: now, you can see that these are some cherry blossom buds, and there's absolutely no green on them right now. that's a good sign. we don't want them to bloom too early. but the national park services will be watching these very closely, especially over the next week because next thursday is when they make their big announcement about what their prediction is going to be for the peak bloom date. now typically, that is may 4, but this year it's likely going to be a few days earlier. not a few weeks earlier, just a few days. it might impact the festival a little bit, but hopefully not too much. anita, lesli, derek? >> kristin, we have seen you in a lot of different situations and your creativities always

come through. we were struck by the chest microphone today. we didn't notice that there was no place for the guy to put a microphone. >> yeah. we discussed clipping it to his chest hair, but thought it might be a little bit inappropriate. we just left it hanging down. >> i think you did the right thing. >> absolutely. >> we didn't see much hair anyway. >> good stuff, kristin. all right, coming up, a father learns his lesson for letting his 9-year-old daughter drive while he was drunk. she was the designated driver. but up next, what many are blaming as the cause for yesterday's deadly train crash in argentina. it's time to get going.

to put more giddy-up in our get-along. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's... ... and mix a little more hop in our hip-hop. with the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles ... you'll want to get up and go. many are blaming outdated and poor maintained equipment. the government has declared two days of mourning in memory of the victims. well, you know, any landing that you could walk away from is a good one. but tell that to the passengers on to the flight in rochester last night. their plane skidded off the runway.

people on the flight said that everything seemed normal until it wasn't. >> it was going really fast and not slowing up as they normally do, until they came to a complete halt and we were in the grass. >> it was typical. you know, sort of a rough landing. the pilot announced that they had gone off the end of the runway. >> reporter: well, that is definitely not typical. in fact, the passengers were stuck on that plane for about 20 minutes until the help got there. no injuries, the plane was not even damaged. anita? a fast-moving fire killed five people today. most of them kids. the flames broke out around 3:00 in the morning in the home in south plainfield. a grand mom and four children did not make it out. theyinvestigators are still trying to determine what caused this deadly fire. sentencing handed down for a michigan man who let his 9-

year-old daughter drive because he was drunk. shawn weimer was arrested. surveillance video shows him bragging about his daughter's driving skills. he was sentenced to two years behind jail. where were you six months ago today? the damage still left behind by the east coast earthquake. and also ahead, wait until you see what happened behind this reporter's shocking view. you may think that you're donating them to charity, but where do the books really go once you drop them in the blue bins? we'll have the answers coming up. it's time to get going.

to have the energy to turn a "to do" list into a memory. to put more giddy-up in our get-along. to keep stepping up even in overtime. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's... ... and mix a little more hop in our hip hop. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, your feet will feel so good... ... you'll want to get up and go.

that growing debate where at least one state investigation happened. >> one day they said that it will be time to take the relative. >> reporter: at the reading center in prince george's county, putting words together is like taking a final victory lap around the track. >> so you guys are doing real good in your reading. >> reporter: they operate thanks to dozens of books from theliteracy organization. some of them come from blue bins like this virginia parking lot. marked with words like book for

charities or donate books and cds and dvds. >> i was extra sensitive to the appearance of this box. >> reporter: pamela chin is a bin skeptic. she wanted to know more about the boxes that she says resulted in a 20% drop in donations to the weston regional library. >> what i found was very little information on who and what reading tree is. >> reporter: they call themselves the non-profit group based in utah. and they send the books collected from bins, purchased from the drift stores and the libraries to other schools and organizations that have served low-income children. they partner with a company called brief recycling management, based in washington state. here at their maryland plant, workers sort through books to be donated, reed sold, or recycled. that will not be clearly explained on the bins. >> is there a problem with the bins as they are labeled? >> well, i think that there has been. you know, it was not our intent to create a problem.

>> reporter: but the bins are not the only problem. their financial reports raise questions too. in 2009, reading tree reported more than $10 million in contributions and grants during its first year of operation. >> that is basically $3 per book that reading tree determined was appropriate for irs purposes. >> reporter: reading tree says they overestimated the values of their books, submitting the amended 2009 return to show that they have taken in less than $1 million. >> i'm not sure that it smells right. >> reading tree is a non-profit group. totally separate entity. as i can imagine, that is a for profit enterprise. we have a social mission. >> reporter: trm president jeff mcmullen says that mission is to put a book in the hands of needy children across the country. but critics are questioning what percentage of the books actually go to children and what percentage are resold or

recycled. mcmullen says for every book that is sold, another is donated. >> when you get a box of books from a thrift store and half of it is magazines or encyclopedias, then half of those are recycled. sometimes it is more or less. >> reporter: outcries about the bins are growing across the country. the state of oregon is investigating complaints about how they are labeled. others are not waiting for the officials to step in. the library group protested so strongly that the reading tree bin that was once here at the safeway, it's now gone. >> reporter: the french group at the southeast d.c. branch has a different view. >> i was delighted to see them. we always needed more of an outlet for our books. >> there is no dispair as to where the -- despair as to where the money is going to go through line by line. >> reporter: we realize that we have given you lots of information, but the issue is really the way the bins are

labeled. they made a mistake, planning to roll out brand new bins in march. and they hope to talk more with library groups to find better ways to work together. derek? well, it was six months ago today, lesli, that the 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the whole d. c. area. guess what, the impact is still being felt around here. who could forget this surveillance video from inside the monument. folks are just running down the stairs, right as the quake is hitting. the monument has been closed ever since that day and then the repairs will be going on until at least, well, next year. but the national cathedral sustained more damage than any other building in the washington area. so we sent our peggy fox to the cathedral to find out how the repairs there are going to be happening. >> i'm here in the stone carver shop of the washington national cathedral, where the stone carvers, they have been working to repair the damage from that earthquake six months ago. sean, can you tell me about

this large piece right here? >> sure, this is one of the grand events, the surviving ones. when the earthquake hits, three of these, three out of the four fell. this one shifted, but did not fall. >> yes, there's some damage there. that's till cal damage for a lot of them there. this is the intermediate view, which will be topping the view. >> i understand that it will look like this piece over here? >> i'm using tools that i will be shaping here to create that there.

>> reporter: it'll take at least five years for all the repairs to be made because it costs $18 million. all the scaffolding that needs to be built is what's costing so much. peggy fox, 9news now. meanwhile at the epic center of the earthquake down here in virginia, it was not until earlier this month that students, they finally got back to the normal schedule. however, they still have work to do on the damaged schools. repairs are expected to top about $50 million there. >> ask me about d.c. that was the slogan today as the congressional delegates hosted the tours summit on capital hill. members of congress and the staffers have sampled foods from many of the restaurants. local experts also answered questions about tourism, sharing insights on their night life. metro will be dialing back some of the aggressive track repairs during the cherry blossom season. they will have no scheduled weekend track work for march 24

through april 15. metro seized a 15% increase in ridership when all the tourists come to washington to see the trees in full bloom. they plan to add eight-car trains during the off-peak hours and on weekends to accommodate the crowds. they are getting praises from around the world and even from outer space. coming up, what some area students are doing that is getting the attention of nasa. i'm meteorologist, topper shutt. a beautiful evening. we'll show you temperatures still in the 60s, just about everywhere. 64 downtown of manassas. 69 down in gaithersburg. we'll come back and talk about the warmer air tomorrow and the possibility of the damaging winds. but up next, a teacher scrambles her students to safety, realizing that they were caught in the middle of the hold up. don't forget we are always on at wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll be right back.

caught on tape. two masked men held up a busy mcdonalds right in the middle of the afternoon. this happened in tucson where one of the robbers had a gun. he held it to a woman's head while she emptied that cash drawer. even though she is doing what she has been told, the other one reaches over and punches her in the face. all of this happened when a teacher and her six students were having lunch in the restaurant. >> these are my kids. their safety came first. they had no idea. i said everybody, get up, let's go. they all followed me, and we left. >> fortunately no one was hurt. they believe that the robbers had staked that place out and that they might be behind other crimes in that same area. far different story in

spokane, washington, where a pharmacy employee takes matters into her own hands. the wood-be robber walks into the medicine shop and demands prescription drugs. the worker walks to the back. instead of coming back with medication, she pulls out pepper spray and sprays it right in the man's face. >> wow. you go, girl. okay, he runs out, police eventually arrest him outside the store. listen to this, investigators believe that the same guy is responsible for three other robberies since december. i'm thinking she was ready. >> right. don't mess with the pharmacists. anything could happen when you are on live tv. this next video proves it. >> check out what happened behind a tampa reporter in the middle of the live shot about high gas prices. >> reporter: oil and gas prices go up, slight cost go up too. so we could see people driving. >> it spun out right behind you, did you see that, adrienne? >> reporter: i did, but now i will.

yeah, it looks like they have gotten into an accident out here. >> and probably shocked by the gas prices. [ laughter ] >> oh man. >> was that me? the reporter was so focused on her job that apparently she had no idea that the car and the taxicab crashed behind her. the driver suffered some minor injuries. oh my goodness. >> but much more embarrassment. >> yeah. easy to get distracted with video like that. still ahead, remember that hearing last week on birth control that made headlines with the all-male panel? well, the revised version of that group met today. we'll tell you what happened. coming up next, the internet is as addicting as drugs. what the psychologists are saying now ahead in our health alert.

for some people, it could be harder than to resist cigarettes or alcohol. experts are seeing a rise in internet addiction. >> reporter: this man is a recovering add digit. digit -- addict. addicted to the internet and video games. >> i was in a different world for two years. >> reporter: he was a promising

college pitcher with hopes of turning pro, but instead of baseball, he played the game world of war craft obsessively. often 100 hours a week. he became depressed, quit the baseball team, and eventually left school. >> i wasn't going to class for weeks on end. my baseball conditioning, all that suffered tremendously. it got to the point where, you know, i was sitting at home playing wow 16 hours a day. >> reporter: his parents took him to see dr. kenneth wu. saying that it could include social media, web surfing, and video games. >> basically the addiction that we're talking about is the same addiction in many ways as drugs. >> reporter: the medical profession now recognizes internet addiction as a very real and growing problem. the american psychiatric association is debating whether to classify it as a distinct disorder, that could be diagnosed for depression oring anxiety. addiction to the internet affects pleasure centers in the brain, just like drugs and alcohol. >> and the withdrawal from the computer could be a withdrawal from any kind of an addiction. it could be very difficult.

>> reporter: you're treated with psychological therapy. he also uses this device, automatically shutting off the computer or gaming console after a pre-set time so you can lean yourself off your addiction. it worked for this man. >> it's crazy thinking about it. how different i was. >> reporter: and dr. lukes says the younger your child is, the less parents should let them be online or play video games. you should have no more than 25 hours a week on your favorite electronics. that means everything. guys? >> 25 hours a week sounds like a lot. [ laughter ] >> yeah, it does. can you manage that? yeah, i'll tell you. well, we could manage another few days that feel like today. >> yeah, just one more. how about that? 70s tomorrow? >> okay, we'll take it. not a record high if you're thinking, wow, it's pretty warm today. well short of the record high. and the record high was 78. so we were about 67 today. all right, let's look outside. this is brought to you by michael and son. we'll put it in motion for you over the past couple of hours.

a nice sunset, kind of cool. clouds are coming in, although most of the showers will be staying to the north and west of us. again, that is also there to protect our lens. that's why you see the black dot there. and right now we're looking at temperatures downtown, actually we're still in the 60s there. in the burbs, they are falling to the upper 50s. 64 at national. winds are north-northeast at 6 miles per hour. dew point stands at 37. now here is the deal. a warm front is lifting northward. it is generating a few showers in central and northern ohio and also southwest tern section -- and also in the southwest section here. that's about it. that's because the front needs to move on through overnight. if you want to walk around and enjoy the warmer air, then do it. 60 in bethesda. 59 in gaithersburg. still 60 in reston, still 61 in arlington, and still 64 in college park. we do have a high wind watch

for you. frederick county, maryland, north and west. that means winds could gust over 68 miles per hour. even in the metro area, you'll see gusts 40 to 50 miles per hour. what can you do? well, secure the loose objects. bring in small tables. bring in smaller light chairs. especially the plastic chairs. put that basketball hoop on the side that has not been weighed down by sand. showers, maybe a thunderstorm tonight. high-wind watch tomorrow, north and west. the winds could gust 40 to 50 miles per hour. colder over the weekend. little temperature correction. in fact, they should be average over the weekend. breezy with a thunderstorm tomorrow. 50 to 55, that's it for lows. winds are southwest at 10 to 20. partly sunny, windy, mild. temperatures to start. 50s and 60s. winds are south southwest at 15 to 25 miles an hour. then by the afternoon, hang on to your hats.

partly cloudy, windy, warmer, we should see a thunderstorm. highs between 70 to 75. winds are westerly at 20 to 40 miles per hour with higher gusts. we'll break it down. 6:00, temperatures in the 5:s. noon -- temperatures in the 50s, noon, falling into the 60s. even a thunderstorm late in the day. all right, next seven days. it will be colder over the weekend. upper 40s to near 50s on saturday and sunday. still a pretty good weekend to go skiing west of the divide. and then look what happens back to the mid-50s on monday. back to the 60s on tuesday and wednesday. and yes, that is a thunderstorm. showers and storms are possible on wednesday with highs in the mid to upper 60s. >> thanks, topper. just a few weeks removed from the super bowl festivities. indianapolis is all a buzz once again. >> this is the nfl's scouting combine, where the draft hopefuls will be having a chance to talk about it. >> the latest on who the redskins are looking at. it better be a quarterback. >> reporter: it's one of the most crucial weeks for college

players, joining me from indianapolis and from lucas oil stadium. grant paulson, the redskins reporter. all the excitement and the buzz surrounding robert griffin iii. now, he said earlier, "i am the ceo of robert griffin enterprise. "a big week for him. what's the buzz like up there surrounding him? >> reporter: the moment that he will be number two overall and that there will be a sweepstakes to required for his services. they are on the ground floor of the rebuilt. they will probably be offering that take off. the washington redskins, along with the cleveland browns are the two most likely teams, according to most people, to trade up and try to acquire him. the question for the redskins becomes how badly do they want to do that? >> is that a good gamble to give up everything for robert griffin iii? >> the coach of the carolina panthers say yes. they drafted cam newton number

one. both he and this man, minnesota vikings had to get their own quarterback for the future. last year, they were talking here at lucas oil stadium. now, if you like the quarterback, you've got to take that player. washington evaluates robert griffin iii, you know, they need to get him. they need to upgrade that position. they will be a better football team. >> whether or not they get r.g. iii, the rumor still behind peyton manning, what's the latest on that? >> the new general manager spoke at the combine today. he did not provide any new insights. saying that peyton manning and the owners continued to have dialogue. would not provide an update whether or not he is healthy. they do not know about him throwing. there is a deadline that they need to make a decision on manning coming up on march 8. the speculation, the chatter around the combine that peyton manning will not be an indianapolis colts next year. if he becomes available through washington's coaching staff, they will have interest. it will be a quick fix way of

saying they need to get better positions for them for the next year or two. it's my belief that a lot of people should not exclude them from still drafting the quarterback in the first round. >> the quarterbacks go tomorrow. we'll be able to see robert griffin iii and what other quarterbacks and who is still left. grant paulson, thank you so much. enjoy your time up there. we'll be back in touch with you. >> looking forward to it. take care, kristin. >> all right, back to you in the studios. still ahead tonight, metro riders are getting a great park in the mail. what the transit agency is warning them about coming up. and a little later, the smallest of our three local airports is marking a major milestone. but first, using ipads and early tablets, kids are using them as early as pre-school these days. that might be paying off. we'll tell you why.

now tonight, we're taking you to a cool school. >> ever since then, their programming skills have not only gotten their work to outer space, but the competition right here on earth that has gotten them even more attention. we never thought that we would be doing something like this. >> reporter: it started just as a contest. but soon, it went beyond that. way beyond it. >> we're going to be moving the sphere. >> reporter: they may look like they are playing a video game, but they are working on something much bigger. writing a computer code that will be controlling a satellite for you in outer space. >> to be able to work on the real life satellite, you know, who gets to do that, you know? it's crazy.

>> reporter: these budding programmers, they placed fourth in a world in a contest called sphere. the goal to get students excited about science. students write in the c programming language and then their work gets beamed to the international space program. this is a previous competition. that will control the jet program of the blue sphere you see floating right there. programmed by another school. >> we have involved the physics that the kids have learned. involving calculus that the kids have learned and computer science and they pulled it all together. >> reporter: and did they ever. now they will get to see if they can win the whole thing, taking a trip to m.i.t. later this month. they will have a pretty good chance. their mentor is a retired astronaut. he knows a little bit about satellites. he has repaired the hubbell

scope telescope. >> their row not will perform here. >> reporter: he says the most valuable lesson for these students, learning systems engineering, which is breaking down the complex task in a small part and then having the teams come together to create one solution. >> very often they will graduate from college, they never worked on the complex program, involving lots of different angles. they have done it successfully. >> pretty cool, huh? students, they are programming the satellites in outer space. >> wow. >> and that is just like a little something, you know? >> mike hidak, 9news now. >> they did it. the students from riverdale won the whole contest. this is a picture of them with the astronauts. congratulations team rocket. if you have a cool school, let mike know about it. send him an e-mail on wusa9.com. right now, the maryland state senate, they are in the

home stretch of the debate as to whether or not to legalize the same-sex marriage. we are live in annapolis at the state house with the latest. gary? >> reporter: lesli, the bill passed the house of delegates a week ago. the governor says he will sign it if it passes the senate. they have spent the day arguing over amendments, trying to slow down the progress of the bill or to kill it. one of those amendments would have allowed that broad exemption for the photographers, the wedding planners, orflorists who would have provided that on the moral grounds. that amendment died an hour ago. now, if passed, they would become the eighth state in the united states to allow the same- sex marriages. and the washington, d.c. area, of course, they have allowed it for some time now. but if it passes, opponents of the bill say that they will be taking it to a referendum, by getting enough signatures, believing that the state voters would pass it. if it passes that senate and signed by the governor and becomes law, then