moments after the gavel came down, we talked to a couple from baltimore. >> this is incredibly exciting. it's an incredibly wonderful day for us. and we have been working on this for 10 years. we are very excited to have the marriage equality in maryland. >> reporter: now, how old will it make life for you? >> well, i will be getting married. i never thought it was possible. >> reporter: the vote today, it was clearly historic, but it may not be decisive. opponents of the bill say that they will send it to the state referendum in november, trying to get the 66,000 petition signatures that have been necessary to put that issue on the november ballot, convincing that maryland voters, they will vote it down. governor o'malley says they will vote in favor of the bill should it go to a referendum.

their fight is not over yet. >> we'll be watching, gary, thank you for that. now down in virginia, the state senate has shelved a bill, at least for now or this year that would define life at the beginning of the deception. now, they find that bill back to the committee on the 24-14 vote. that committee continued into a discussion until the 2013 session, saying that more studies are needed. earlier in the day, they approved an amended bill that is requiring for the pre- abortion for the external ultrasound exams. that sent the bill to the senate floor. but the senators chose that path by that bill into the late debate for at least today. for now we are just weeks away from the primary. the top two candidates were slugging it out once again, trying to swing them for their support. rick santorum, he held fundraisers in texas, trying to paint mitt romney that is less

in conservative. >> they voted to fund the planned parenthood. even though that will be against them there. instead they will be focusing on the deep south in super tuesday. tonight, they are looking for two men that have been accused of breaking into a house in bowie earlier this morning. this happened on henderson chapel road and police, they said that two the -- that the two masked gunmen kicked in that couple and their daughter before stealing money and their car. >> i'm scott broom, where police are investigating the early morning invasion for the elderly couple, and authorities, they are saying at least one of the suspects in this case. >> it happened at 5:45 in the morning. attackers burst into the home through the rare basement door and tied up a man in age 75 in

poor health. along with the 64-year-old wife and the adopted daughter. they wore black clothes, ski masks, showing the rifle or shotgun. they stole money from the house and they made off with the couple's distinctive gold jaguar sedan. >> i'm grateful that they did not take a life. >> neighbors are shocked. that will be a great neighborhood. the couple are known for fostering or adopting young adults. one called the house like a group home. and that they do not believe that this was a random attack. in bowie, scott broom, 9news now. well, lawyers for the family of the frederick county man who died after being tasered are now asking for a new trial in the case. his family had sued the former frederick county deputy for wrongful death, saying that he had used excessive force. and last month, the federal jury, they cleared torres of any wrong doing. but lawyers for the family asked that it be set aside. they argue that it was

inconsistent that the jury said the deputy did commit that assault and battery and use excessive force. now, the lawyers say that he might be up for an appeal. jurors last night recommended a sentence of 26 years for the former uva lacrosse player now convicted in second-degree murder for the death of yeardley love. in the meantime though, 9news now, they have spoken off camera with one of the jurors. he says that it was tough on the jury to see the pictures of the crime scene and loves the battered body. they also said that it was traumatizing to watch the tape of that police interrogation. but also traumatizing as well to hear love's family talk about the pain they feel each day from losing yeardley. metro transit police reported a 30% dip in crime in their parking lots last year.

>> reporter: i'm matt jablo where police say that these yellow postcards are helping to prevent the car break ins and robberies. the captain of the metro transit police department spends a good deal of his time scanning metro parking lots and garages, trying to see things before they are stolen. things like coins, gps devices, cell phones that have been left in cars and clearly visible. now when he finds them, he'll take down the cars and their license plate numbers. he finds the owner's addresses and then mails them a postcard, telling them what he saw. and asking them to secure their personal property in their cars where they cannot be seen. a new crime prevention program that has been started late last year by metro. >> we have passed in a huge success. >> reporter: according to metro, there are now only two parking lots for every 1 million metro passengers. and a seemly impressive stat that metro says could be attributed to better policing, better awareness by the metro customers. recently to these yellow postcards as well.

matt jablo, 9news now. and now to a heads up event about the road closures, causing big delays for you this weekend in northern virginia. starting tomorrow night. 9:30, vdot will be shutting down the westbound side of the leesburg pike right at the beltway. that's so the crews could get to work on the traffic shift for the beltway express lanes. the detours will direct drivers around the closure. route 7 west will reopen 5:00 a.m. saturday morning and then the whole mess will be repeated again on saturday night. the calendar may say february, but apparently nobody told mother nature, topper i saw somebody with their convertible top down this afternoon. >> reporter: i like their thinking. even right now, it's still very comfortable outside. let take a look at temperature -- let's take a look at temperatures. still reading 61 in manassas. but 68 downtown and gaithersburg and 65 in leesburg. and 58 as you go all the way down i-95 and fredericksburg. pretty comfortable. now, there's a high wind watch for tomorrow. and frederick county maryland north and west and loudoun

county virginia north and west. they could exceed about 60 miles per hour in the watch area here. i think even in the metro area. we'll see the wind gust, 40 to 50 miles per hour. so tonight, mostly cloudy, breezy, mild. maybe a shower, maybe a thunderstorm. and you might revisit at this tonight. lows are in the 50s to the 55- degree mark. we'll come back, derek, talk more about the potential for damaging winds tomorrow and some things that you could do now before they roll in tomorrow afternoon. >> thank you, top. well, our d.c. area has seen about two inches of snow during this mild winter. but that has not saved the state of maryland on snow removal costs. kind of amazing, huh? the state highway administration says that they have spent more than $30 million of the $36 million that they had budgeted this year to move the snow. the reason? the agency has dispatched the crews 14 times to pre-treat roads and remove any snow that did fall. a spokesman for the agency told wbal radio that missing a storm just isn't an option. he says the crews have to cover17,000 miles. they have to be ready even if

the forecast changes. coming up, warmer weather brings an early spring-like feel to d.c. but could it also bring a bloom down to the basin area? you might not like that. but what they have to say. but first, protests continue claiming the lives of two u.s. soldiers.

we are going to talk to andrea mccarren about the

series to it.

in afghanistan, anti- american protests will be going from bad to worse. and to deadly. they learned that the afghan soldier gunned down here at the military based. and they have encouraged them to attack that there. they have been in turmoil this week over news that the nato forces, they accidentally burned the copies of the koran and the holy book. the military commanders have apologized and today, president obama, he sent a letter of apology to the president of afghanistan. they are calling for a three-star air force general to be court marshaled after he included the two references to god in their presentation. that is according to our sister publication of the air force times. now, the military rights advocacy group claimed that the lieutenant general, he violated his oath to the constitution. he says that it could be used as the propaganda tool against

the u.s. troops. and that issue, well, two slides of that presentation titled ronnie's rule. they stated to always put god first and stay within his will. and the last thing to remember that god is good all the time. and he told the air force times that the rules, they were taken out of context, he says. "those two slides were in no way the directive or expectations, that rules are my own personal guide post for the moral compost." he says that ronnie's rules are just personal. but if that is the case, why put him in a presentation at work and how are any of these areas to know that? or is it really just the case of the world unfairly trying to crack down on anything that smacks the respect for the higher power? and you've got my respect in the mail bag. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. well hopefully you got out to enjoy all the wonderful week of weather. we're going to pay for it over the weekend. topper will tell us when the mercury will plummet. your forecast is coming up.

but first, the government steps in to try to keep your every move from being tracked online. we'll tell you what that means when you surf the web.

he says that frustration lead him to make the facebook comments. the posting suggesting that his wife was keeping him from seeing their son. >> i kind of think that, you know, it was having a simple drink at the bar, telling them how to take things. but on facebook, it is me telling how i feel. now, they are saying that it violated the protection order. the judge said that he could avoid jail time, just post an apology on facebook every day for 30 days. websites like facebook and google have come under fire recent months due to privacy issues. now, the obama administration is trying to do something about that. now, they have teamed up with the internet companies to keep your information from being tracked. the companies are hoping that the move will win back some consumer trust. >> reporter: this woman uses her iphone for instant accesses

to nbas scores and other information. she's not surprised she gets basketball ads through her browser. >> everyone has your information. what can you do? >> reporter: but the federal officials are saying that internet users, they should be able to choose whether or not they want their personal information collected and sold to advertisers. >> and thanks for being here. >> reporter: on thursday, the white house officials have announced a coalition of internet giants. they have agreed to add a do-not-track button on their browsers. they will send you customized ads. the american liberal unions say it's a start. >> now they need to take the next step to make it real meaningful, by making do not track areas that actually mean that you will not be tracked. >> reporter: the web providers will be collecting information about your internet habits to use it for the market research and the product development. >> it does not make me more comfortable. not at all. >> reporter: the internet providers have agreed to make opting out easier. right now, it'll take several steps and it could be confusing.

and mozilla's fire fox offered that last year. microsoft followed. google resisted. but the search engine says that it will be following the industry agreement. and the internet companies have nine months to build the do-not- track buttons into their browsers. nine months to find other ways to appease them there. cbs news, new york. >> reporter: and now as we noted, the aclu wants the internet providers to provide a true do-not-track button. they would like congress to make it a federal law. not just the voluntary measure. we wish we had a mandatory law violating things like this. today, it is showing a lot of folks on out there at the title basin. but what about the cherry trees? will the warm weather coax them to blossom early? the national parks service says yeah, that's likely, but just how early? well, it's too soon to tell right now. but for the record, the earliest cherry blossoms to come out was march 15, 1990.

i don't think it will be that bad this year. >> it really is close. we have been below freezing 15 times since january 1. maybe we could sneak in a 30, 31 over the weekend. warm today, 67. warmer tomorrow. >> warmer tomorrow. now, let's take a live look outside. the weather cam brought to you by michael and son. looking at wisconsin avenue. to your left there is northbound wisconsin avenue. everything is moving along smoothly. now, why wouldn't it be with temperatures still in the upper 50s to around 60. and 58 for you now officially at national. wind out of the east at 6. pressure is 29.63. falling a little bit. the humidity is very comfortable. 44%. all right, satellite picture, radar combined. a storm out in the midwest, which will pass well to the north and west of us. any time that happens, it brings up milder and warmer air temperatures for us. most of the showers associated with that will stay in ohio and pennsylvania. i've got to keep the chance in though for a few more hours. we'll kind of revisit that tonight at 11:00. but for the most part, we're

going to hold it in the 50s tonight because of the strong southwesterly flows both at the surface and aloft and also because of the little bit of cloud cover rolling on in as well. all right temperatures, 55 bethesda. 58 in arlington. 57 in rockville. a cool 48 in gaithersburg and 52 in reston and 53 in great falls. but all in all, it's some kind of mild day. good day-time temperatures. the high wind watch for you, frederick maryland county. low down county, virginia, winds could gust over 60 miles per hour out there. even in the metro area, winds will be a problem. but what can you do? secure the loose objects. bring the small tables inside. bring in smaller light chairs and put the basketball hoops on in that are on out there on their side that are not in concrete. basically trying to keep things going for tomorrow afternoon. so now windy and warm on friday. showers, maybe a thunderstorm tonight. high-wind watch for you. north and west on friday. we should be under the wind advisory though tomorrow, even in the metro area.

the winds are gusting 40 to 50 miles per hour. and then it will be colder for you over the weekend. but really, it will be average for you over the weekend. and tonight, mostly cloudy, breezy, mild. maybe a shower, maybe a thunderstorm. 50 to 55. and winds are out of the southwest at 10 to 20. now tomorrow morning, winds are increasing a little bit. early shower is possible. partly sunny for you and windy and mild. 50s and 60s in the morning. winds are now west, southwest at 15 to 25. by the afternoon, partly cloudy, windy, warmer. we could see an afternoon shower or storm. high is 70 to 75. winds are now westerly at 20 to 40 and gusty. the westerly winds are down sloping. coming out of the mountains, compressing a little bit. warming us up. it will be warmer before it gets colder. and the start is the 50s at 6:00. windy at noon. 70 to 74. in the 60s by the evening. maybe a shower or the thunderstorm with the passage of the front. all right, the next seven days. it will be colder over the weekend. i mean, nothing crazy. we actually, you know, boosted temperatures a little bit, near

50 on saturday and sunday and then back to the 50s on tuesday. wednesday, oh yeah, that's a thunderstorm. 68. these are downtown temperatures. the blossoms will be popping next week. >> yes. we'll be back.

regarding the national museum of african american history that is about to go up and down on the national mall. president obama broke down on the grounds yesterday. the federal government is putting in $250 million and brian shanon says that the whole thing is just crazy. he is sorry, $250 million? they don't see a need to cut spending, the country cannot budget their money or pay their bills and as a result, besides dropping millions on the new

museum is the right thing to do now? well, obama has got to go. he is out of control. regardless of who pays, that sort of museum is a bad idea. okay, now, how about on the smithsonian national museum of white american history and culture. but i'm sorry, i'm forgetting that it would be racist. and i am just so sick of this. what do i think of obama and the association of the museum that will be recognizing the black history only? racist, racist, racist. the same cry that would be heard if i organized the white's only anything. okay, guys. now, that whole argument reminded me of when i went to ask my mom if there is a mother's day and a father's day. when is children's day? she told me every day is children's day. that is the point. you don't need to have a white history museum when for so many years that history, they recorded it through the eyes of the majority. and that is the default situation. there is already plenty of museums that will be able to tell that story and it is wonderful. i would argue, however. that this will be an important addition to that narrative.

as for the expension, he signed that bill back into -- expense, well, he signed that bill back into law. well, that is our report. i'll be back here at 11:00 along with anita brikman. don't forget that we are always on wusa9.com. have a great evening. the we'll talk tow yo later on -- we'll talk to you later on. bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. new outrage over the photo of whitney in her coffin. >> clearly it was sold for money. plus, the latest on the death investigation. focusing on the surveillance tapes inside the hotel. why were several hotel employees just fired and is whitney's daughter part of the police probe? >> i do believe that bobbi kristina will be questioned. then, whitney on the church set of her final movie. and the strange connection to her funeral. plus, unguarded moments in between takes. >> help mommy. brad with gwyneth and jen. jen with john mayer. katy and russell. high heidi and seal. the couples