this afternoon we'll probably be wet around 3:00. they'll be here most likely for the commute home. this morning clear skies. look to the south and west. some clouds starting to move in toward roanoke. showers well out to the west, west of lexington, kentucky. strong thunderstorms over there. we'll be watching for take threat of thunderstorms as well tonight and early saturday. some upper 20s and low 30s in many of the suburbs. we have a cold, frosty start. 40 on the day in annapolis. 35 cambridge and 42 in d.c. as we look at the forecast highs for today, 54. down at patuxent river. maybe 06 in fredricksburg -- 60 in fredricksburg and 58 in d.c. let's go to monika santami. she has your time saver traffic. still no notes. no notes. in georgetown yesterday, it was sliewflly -- absolutely beautiful. there's an accident here right near wolf trap on the westbound side of route 7 in the eastern

section ever -- or intersection of colvin run, a minor accident but i wanted to give you the heads up since i mentioned it last time around. i think we may have a shot from sky 9 of the accident. if you're planning to head through that area. the good news is that on the eastbound side of route 7 all lanes are open as you can see here live on our sky 9 shot. again no problems to report through this area. let's go over to the northbound side of i-95 in springfield. still looking pretty good as you head northbound leaving the occoquan river. again it's just bunching up exiting to the beltway. a little slow traffic as well a 395 forming now at duke street but that looks good as well to the 14th street bridge. coming up if any next report, let's take a look at maryland at 6:12. same-sex marriage is now law in maryland. the new law signed by the governor yesterday takes effect in january 2013. >> but the celebrations have already begun. delia goncalves is live in our satellite center with details on the historic move. delia? >> reporter: this makes

maryland the eighth state to recognize same-sex unions and same-sex couples that we spoke to say this certainly validates the fact that the state supports their relationships. the governor signed the bill just after 5:00 yesterday evening surrounded by a number of supporters, including dozens of same-sex couples. the measure barely passed the general assembly, though. you may remember with a very tight vote in both the senate and the house. in fact, in order to get the bill through the house, supporters wrote in a condition allowing opponents to take the issue to the voters. >> we are one maryland and all of us at the end of the day want the same thing for our children. the way forward is always found through greater respect for the equal rights of all. >> definitely proud to be marylanders and we're very excited. >> i knew it would come. just had to have a little patience. >> it's an amazing thing that the governor and legislature have done for us. >> however, as we mentioned the

celebrations may not last too long. opponents, including the group maryland petition are already vowing to fight the bill. they're gathering signatures trying to get this bill up to a referendum vote and put it on the november ballot. we'll have more on their effort. plus, how their efforts to oppose the bill could affect president obama. more on that coming up in my next live report in a half- hour. back to you. we'll see you then. >> thank you, delia. a win for the obama administration in the birth control fight. >> the senate voted to keep the controversial contraception rule the administration put in place. the rule is part of the president's health care plan. it requires health insurers to cover contraception for employees of some religious institutions. yesterday democrats voted down the blunt amendment introduced by missouri senator roy blunt. it would have given employers a chance to opt out of providing health care coverage. they disagree with it on moral grounds. republicans in congress and catholic church leaders wanted to cancel the rule all together arguing it was a matter of

freedom of religion. radio talk show host rush limbaugh has put a georgetown university student in its crosshairs. sandra fluke testified about the importance of colleges and universities providing free contraceptives to students who need it for existing medical conditions. she also talked about the cost of birth control saying it could cost uninsured women over $300,000 a year. limbaugh took issue with that statement. >> essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. what does that make her? it makes her a [ bleep ] right? makes her a prostitute. she's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception she wants. what does that make us? >> he went on to challenge her to post the videos online so they can all watch so they can get something out of the deal. fluke said in a statement no woman needs to be disrespected in that manner. she says that type of language has been used throughout

history to try to silence women. a convicted rapist was sentenced to another three life terms for rapes he committed in maryland in the 1970's. yesterday in a montgomery county courtroom, four of timothy buzbee's victims faced their attacker and told the judge what he did to them all those years ago. >> i'm an 18-yard lifeguard -- 18-year-old lifeguard that you raped. that guy doesn't define me. he didn't and he doesn't. >> buzbee was already serving two life sentences after admitting to raping more than a dozen women in maryland in the 1970's. but he was eligible for parole when new d.n.a. tests on old evidence tied him to five more attacks. the judge told buzbee he's an evil man who should spend the rest of his days behind bars. buzbee is eligible for parole when he turns 65. he's currently 54. what's good for the goose seems to be good for the gander.

>> newt gingrich taking a page from rick santorum by launching robo call attacks. they'll begin calling voters in tennessee and oklahoma blasting santorum for previously supporting labor unions. the prerecorded automatically dial calls are expected to reach 150,000 households in each of the targeted states. santorum launched robo call attacks in michigan. rick santorum says mitt romney's home state changed the rules. the former pennsylvania senator says he should have been awarded half of the state's 30 delegates but michigan republicans gave romney an extra delegate saying there was confusion over new rules and they were just making a correction. >> have to change the rules after the game so they can win. that's pathetic. >> right now santorum is leading romney in the polls in ohio. they'll both be campaigning in the buckeye state this weekend. meantime romney says he's the

candidate who can win in november. >> if i become the nominee, i'm going to beat barack obama and take america back. >> romney is looking to extend his lead in the race for the g.o.p. nomination next week. ten states and more than 400 delegates are up for grabs on super tuesday. newt gingrich who was campaigning in georgia says he has to win his home state to be credible in the race. the time right now 6:07. i'm watching your money. will this morning help launch the dow back up 13,000? you'll have to play wait and see. stocks started the new month with modest gains of the better than expected reports on unemployment and consumer spending helped offset another jump in oil prices. crude hovered above $110 a barrel. the dow starts this morning from 12,980, added 28 points in trading yesterday. nasdaq was better by 22 points and the s&p 500 was up by 8. some good news for those of

you out there looking to buy a home or maybe refinance. mortgage rates are back to near record lows. freddie mac says the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan fell to 3.9% this week, slightly above the 3.87% record low we hit just two weeks ago. bank of america considering a new monthly fee for some accounts. it would require customers with basic checking accounts to pay a fee unless they agree to bank online, buy more products or maintain certain balances. wendy's is hoping a sleek new look for its restaurants will heat things up for the restaurant. the new look coupled with the revamped menu features a hot and juicy burger. it's expected to rejuvenate its image as a high end fast food chain. the changes are ebt expected to be put in -- are expected to be put in place the next three years. montgomery county shoppers are shelling out their nickels for bags. in the first month of montgomery county's bag tax, 15 -- $154,000 was collected.

the controversial bag tax charges customers 5 cents on paper and plastic bags. and $1.2 million is expected to be made this year. if the january rate continues, the county would make about 50% more than expected but county officials say they expect the use of bags will drop over time. a bank standoff with a host an ends like a scene out of the wild west. also, students are preparing to head back to school after a shooting. how some students honored the victims. howard will have your weekend forecast. a little bit of spring, a little bit of winter when we return in just two and a half minutes.

we're up to a chilly but sunny start today as temperatures are in the 30s and 40s early. by lunch time, though, you'll notice a few more clouds. temps in the mid-50s. we'll get into the upper 50s but by mid- to late afternoon some rain moves in so grab the rain gear along with the sunglasses. the full weekend forecast coming up in the next five minutes. we're going to take a live look from sky 9 on the inbound side of i-66 here at route 7100. it's that slow traffic you deal with pretty much every day leaving the fairfax county parkway off and on toward fairfax and the beltway. lanes are open. coming up in my next report, another look at virginia roads at 6:18. back to you. making news now at 6:12,

classes are expected to resume today at chardon high school. >> last night the victims of the school shooting were honored at a basketball game. >> the cheers were loud last night as chardon's basketball team played an emotional game for their friends who were killed or injured in the shooting earlier this week. yesterday students and their parents marched back to the school as a sign of solidarity. the alleged shooter was charged with three counts of aggravated murder. prosecutors say there is a chance he'll be charged as an adult. more disturbing details have been released in the sex abuse case against former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky. court papers filed yesterday say sandusky allegedly abused ten of the eight boys on penn state's campus. sandusky's home in florida and texas. court papers also say the alleged victims' ages range between 8 and 17. prosecutors say the abuse happened between 1996 and 2009.

sandusky who is on house arrest denies the allegations. his trial is scheduled for may. a dramatic bank standoff in california ended in a hail of gunfire. it all started yesterday morning when police say a lone gunman walked into the bank with seven customers inside. he took the bank manager hostage, released everyone else. police say they tried to reason with the suspect before gunfight erupted. three officers were injured but all are expected to make a full recovery. very scary situation there for sure. we had a gorgeous day yesterday but it's all changed today. a little frost on the windshield. >> it's cold out there. >> we're back to winter. thanks a lot, howard. >> and then spring and then winter. >> even a few flurries are possible by sunday afternoon, sunday night into monday. but then we'll be back milder again next week. >> i'll try not to be so disappointed. >> remember it's early march. we get these ups and downs and

will experience a lot of it the next couple of days. this morning clear, cold, frosty. your bus stop forecast we've got temps in the 30s and 40s. so jackets, gloves, sunglasses to start. and grab the rain gear, too, because we'll have some showers moving in here for the mid- to late afternoon. so i think we have a wet ride home. temperatures will be climbing into the mid-50s by midday. that's not too bad. we can't complain about that. southeast winds 10 to 15. the clouds thickening up. by 3:00 upper 50s. after the 3:00 hour in fact by 3:00 west and southwest of town we may have some showers. by 5:00 we're raining. temperature for the drive home right about 56 degrees. this morning clear and cold. 35 at pax river. 34 easton. lots of areas to the north and west in the upper 20s to low 30s. outside right now looking at our michael and son weather camera a little bit before the sunrise. a good looking sky. clear up there with 42. 34 on the dew point giving us a relatively humidity of 73%. with the calm winds we've been able to get a lot of frost to

form away from town. look at all the cold out west. teens and 20s in the rockies. in the south we've got 60s and 70s. we have a storm system here. big temperature range. you get this in the springtime. that's a problem because this time of year these storm systems can generate lots of severe weather. this morning one severe thunderstorm watch box in missouri could have some cases maybe two to three-inch size hail approaching st. louis this morning. and then look at all the showers that have broken out from south carolina all the way up through kentucky and southern indiana in the last few hours. that is all marching off to the northeast. we're looking at a moderate risk of severe weather across parts of the ohio and tennessee valley with the slight risk getting in toward western maryland and parts of western virginia and west virginia. this could be more for the storms late tonight. the storms later today, this afternoon, could have some large hail and even tornadoes across cincinnati, columbus, down through lexington, louisville. so you know people in that part of world, just make sure they're up on the weather

today. for us a quick look as the clouds are rolling in this afternoon and those showers will be here for the afternoon rush. most of the rain will be gone by mid-morning tomorrow. 58 degrees today. late showers, some showers and storms tonight into tomorrow morning. tomorrow afternoon partial clearing, breezy, 62. but by sunday a colder day. upper 40s. a couple of flurries moving in then. as we head toward monday, even colder but mild again by wednesday. let's go to monika santami, 6:17. not too much going on yet. it's friday morning light. things are looking great outside. we've got no major delays or problems to report. let's just hope it stays that way. it's still relatively early. if you're heading down on i-270 coming from frederick and i-70 looking great. i don't even see any slow traffic between urbana and clarksburg right now so that's good news for you as well heading southbound on 270. we'll take a live look at the legion bridge on the west side

of town. a good indication of what it looks like the entire western stretch between 270 and 66 and the dulles toll road. things are looking great on the west side. inside the beltway on i-66 and 395 running at or above the speed limit. even on 295 this morning no problems across the wilson bridge. we'll end with a live look at the roosevelt bridge, and this is a good indication of what all the potomac and anacostia crossings are looking like this morning. coming up in my next report we'll go into maryland at 6:25. back to you. >> thank you, monika. time for another look at today's question of the morning. since it's friday we're having a little fun today. a little racy. according to a recent study, it takes around 20 dates before a couple does this. what is it? a, sleep over, b, kiss, or c, exchange house keys? >> sharon, one of our facebook friends writes c, because after 20 dates, you're almost married she says.

>> what? really? >> i don't know about that. >> tell us what you think. maybe we'll air your response and the correct answer in about 30 minutes.

welcome back. just about 6:22 on this friday morning. looking good. a little cold. fos in spots. grab -- frost in spots. grab the rain gear, too. we'll have some rain as you come home. by 4:00, 5:00 i think some showers will be here. this morning sunny and quiet and chilly. we've got 30s and 40s in town. we'll be about 46 by 9:00. partly to mostly cloudy by noon, 56. highs in upper 50s to near 60. look at those showers. a possible storm for the afternoon commute. jessica and peggy, over to you. >> thank you so much, howard. big doings around here at channel 9. an alum has joined cbs news. >> i remember watching james brown when i was growing up in the area. he's been named special correspondent for cbs. jb will still be host of n.f.l. today and football season but

now he willle contribute reports to everything -- will also contribute reports to everything from 60 minutes to the cbs evening news. here's kristen berset with the rest of your news. stephen strasburg was able to make his way back to the mound after undergoing surgery. he said the five starts he got at the end of the year did wonder for his self-confidence and preparations for this season but the nationals have made it clear they're going to limit him to around 160 innings this season. the question has been asked why don't the nationals start him later in the year so they can use him down the stretch? well, strasburg in an interview with espn 980 yesterday said that just doesn't make any sense. >> as a competitor, you work all off-season to prepare for the season. i don't think there should be any separate treatment for myself for not necessarily playing one year specifically

-- [ inaudible ] >> bryce harper will face his first major league team. he'll start against the astros against the nationals. adam la roche says he expects to play sunday. it was senior night in charlottesville. uva taking on florida state. unfortunately this would be one the cavs would like to forget. eeon miller, time winding down hits the game-winning three- pointer at the buzzer. seminoles escape with a 63-60 win. the ladies won yesterday so they face maryland in the next round. that's a quick look at sports. have a great friday. a 70-year-old woman arrested at bwi. what security found in her carry-on bag. also, marylanders are opening their hearts. what you can do to help those who need something to eat. it's 6:24. northbound i-95 near dumfries road. an accident. looks like it may be on the shoulder but just a heads up.

police are headed that way. coming up in my next report, i'll update you on that and other virginia roads at 6:30. you're watching 9news now. stay with us.

hi, everybody. it's 6:28. a loot at the ution capitol. >> a little -- u.s. capitol.

>> a little chilly out there. we want to thank you for joining us. i'm jessica doyle in for andrea roane. i'm peggy fox in for mike hydeck. howard bernstein has our forecast. good morning. it's chilly out here. got a lot of reports from our weather watchers all over the place from southern maryland up to northern virginia, frost out there. you'll be scraping the windshield if you park outside in many areas. we have clear skies this morning. that will be the skies for a few more hours. as you look at the day planner, you're going to notice the increase in clouds, especially by midday as we go partly to mostly cloudy for noon. we'll climb into the mid-50s and expecting rain around here maybe by 3:00, 4:00 so the afternoon ride home unless you leave early, you might be -- you might be slowed down by the weather. this morning the clear skies up here. clouds up north by the turnpike in pennsylvania. look at the clouds increasing for us. we've got showers and storms

out west. temperatures in the 20s in martinsburg and frederick. mid-30s in so many areas this morning. even low 30s with the frost. a look at the forecast highs. a lot of this depends on how quickly the clouds roll in but i still think we'll make about 58 or so here in washington. i'll be back in about 13, 14 minutes and talk about the weekend. changes coming our way again. there is one accident i'm happy to say it's minor in nature on the northbound side of i-95 in dumfries. if you're planning to head on the northbound side, you might -- it might be just the activity on the shoulder did you no big deal as you head up the okay quain river into -- occoquan river into lorton. no problems on 395. just a bit of the slow stuff through landmark off and on to the 14th street bridge. we'll take a live look as well on the northbound side at

college park. lanes are open. coming up in my next report, a look at the big picture at 6:45. back to you. contraception and abortion rights have been center stage here in the d.c. area. >> also becoming a big priority in the election. erica hill joins us with a look at what's coming up on cbs morning. good morning, erica. >> good morning. happy friday. just ahead on cbs this morning, we're going to take a look at the fight for the female vote. it is taking center stage in the presidential race. with us this morning is former senate candidate carry. she'll join us at the table and we'll talk to her about what she sees about the key to winning a woman's vote. plus, the wild high speed chase on a philadelphia airport runway raising a few questions this morning about airport security. john miller is here with a look at that and steven van

necessary talking about his -- ness talking about his new spring tour and his new role playing a mobster. we're all very much -- very excited to have him here. hope you can join us as well as 7:00. >> we'll be watching. as of 5:00 yesterday evening maryland became the eighth state to recognize same- sex marriage. the governor signed the his historic bill just as opponents were gaining momentum in their effort to fight it. we have more on the plans and how the president can be affected. >> reporter: an interesting turn of events. this puts president obama in a very tight spot and in between a potentially nasty fight between two groups of supporters that are vital to his reelection. we're talking about the gay community and the black church. in fact, supporters of maryland's new bill yesterday including gay rights activists are trying to get the president to give his blessing on this measure while the main group opposing the bill, the black church, has long supported mr.

obama. in the maryland general assembly, supporters wrote in a clause allowing opponents to work towards a referendum vote. that language has already been approved by the board of elections in maryland. 56,000 signatures are needed to be gathered in order to put the referendum on the november ballot. >> for whatever reason the governor is pushing this on the state, pushing it beyond what they want to deal. i think when it goes to the ballot in november november the marylanders are going to say in just about every other state, about 34 of them, when asked to keep it one man and one woman, they'll say yes. >> i don't think the validation of our families' respectability should be put up to a popular vote. >> whether it comes down to holy matrimony and that's the word, holy ," hole matrimonial, i -- holy matrimony, i think the governor has made a grave error. >> a lot of the black

ministers, including the reverend who are in prince george's county and throughout maryland say these petitions will be circulated during church in the pews. so you can expect a lot of energy to be focused on getting all of those signatures. however, they need to move quickly because they need to get 56,000 signatures on that petition by june. if not, if they're unsuccessful, this law moves forward and it takes effect january of next year. back to you, peggy, jessica. >> thank you, delia. delia goncalves. a 70-year-old woman is facing charges after having a gun in her carry-on luggage at bwi. maryland transportation authority police say the 38 caliber gun was found wednesday just before 9:00 a.m. when the women went through airport security. investigators say the woman stored the weapon in the bag and simply forget it was there. virginia public schools will continue to be required to get the state department of education's permission if they want to open before labor day.

the senate education and health committee voted 9-6 yesterday to kill the legislation that would have let all public schools to determine when they start the school year. also the tim tebow bill died in that same committee 8-7 yesterday. the legislation would have let home schools children play public school sports. supporters of the bill say parents who home school their children pay taxes like everyone else so their children should have the opportunity to compete in sports. opponents say parents who choose to teach their children at home know the rules and it would be unfair to let those kids play without meeting eligibility standards that public school students must meet. a statewide food drive gets under way tomorrow in maryland. it's the 26th annual harvest for the hungry. the food drive encourages marylanders to donate healthy food for the week starting march 3. marylanders residents can leave donated food by their mail bocks for mail carriers to collect. they can also drop off food donations at one of 20 local

caldwell bank or residential brokerage offices or buy $10 bags of food at any safeway store and leave is in a donation box right there at the store. the time right now is 6:36. i am watching your money. there are limits to everything in life, even so-called unlimited data plans. at&t is changing its unlimited plan that long-time customers have been grandfathered into. the company will no longer let customers use more than a set amount of data each month without a penalty. at&t says customers will get a text message when their usage approaches three gigs in one billing cycle and slow customer's data speeds for the rest staff billing cycle. -- rest of that billing cycle. the gas spike is driving customers to buy smaller cars. chrysler, ford and g.m. all saw gains as did toyota, honda and voc wagon. compact cars are claiming a

bigger chunk of sales. other trends helping sales include improving credit availability, rising consumer confidence, and an aging fleet. you'll continue to get some big name movies quickly when you rent from red box. the discount dvd kiosk operator says it's renewed a deal with universal pictures to carry its films 28 days after dvds are available for sale. hollywood studios differ on how long red box should wait to rent movies. warner bros. says it won't sell the kiosk giant until 56 days after dvds are released but red box has been able to get the disks through other sources so now warner bros. titles are available seven days after release. you might say this is a great daily deal. >> free pretzels. when and where you can get yours. we'll have that coming up at 6:46.

welcome back.

it's friday morning. you're watching 9news now at 6:41. 42 degrees. looking live now. if you're planning to head on the northbound side of i-95 at route 7100, there was an accident in dumfries on the northbound side of i-95. it was causing about a two-mile delay although it's been sitting on the shoulder the whole time on the northbound side of 95. i just got news. by the way, in maryland if that's where you're headed on the westbound side of route 450 just west of the bw parkway, long-standing water main break issues and a huge sinkhole that's all been fixed up. you are good to go if you're heading over into maryland on the westbound side of route 450. again this is northbound side of i-95. very slow and heavy coming up from dumfries as you head northbound on i-95. let's take a look at a map. on the westbound side of braddock road at burke station road, a vehicle hit a pole. caused a bit of a fiery crash. i'm hearing there aren't any major injuries but crews on the scene in burke so keep that in

mind. some slow traffic on 66. i was watching all the cameras. let's take a look on the inbound side where you just got a couple of slow stretches. no big deals this morning heading for nutley street and the beltway. i think you'll be absolutely fine and no problems on the beltway through annandale and tysons right now. over to the northbound side of 395 where the brake lights begin at edsall road heading toward seminary roads and the 14th street bridge. just a bit bunched up across the potomac river but no big deals on 395 this morning. we'll take a look at maryland at 6:58. first, howard and the lovely ladies. >> i like that. >> thank you, monika. >> hey, howard, how is it going? how is it looking? >> clear, cold, frosty now but later this afternoon it is going to be raining. so the morning commute clearly the better of the two. i think as we get into the afternoon hours, yeah, you'll need the rain gear. kind of a day where you feed everything. sunglasses, the jackets, the gloves and the wet weather

gear. here's a look at the allergy update because that's been kind of annoying the last few days. we've had a warm winter so we're already getting tree pollen. had some grass pollen a couple of days ago. trees up to 57. it's medium in that range. the 21,000 count on the mold spores is in the high category. grasses and weeds were absent. at the bus stop this morning it's clear and cold and frosty in many areas. temps in the 30s. and some low 40s but mostly 30s this morning. the sun rose just a few minutes ago at 6:38. looking at our day planner sun now but by midday we'll be partly to mostly cloudy, 56. this afternoon showers already by 4:00 p.m., 57. by 8:00 showers. we might even have a couple of claps of thunder going on as temperatures will be in the lower 50s. not getting much cooler than that tonight. we'll get down to about 50 or so. you can see in town we're a little bit warmer. get that urban heat island, all the asphalt and the cement and river keeps it warmer here but you get into the suburbs we're

into the upper 20s. places like lovettsville 29. 30 in respectton. 33 fort belvoir. a lot of these areas near 33, 35 you could still have some frost. as we look on the weather camera, the sun glimpsing off the capitol dome. got a temperature of 42 at reagan national with calm winds and the dew point at 34 degrees. strong thunderstorms out west. one severe watch box in missouri. may get another one out here a little later this morning. look at the storms really popping in kentucky down in towards south carolina. all of this activity will be blowing in our direction. slight risk that severe thunderstorms get here late dan but during the day today, a moderate risk for severe weather. we're talking hail and tornadoes with these storms. so there's going to be quite a severe weather outbreak today and around here, we won't get the severity of the storms so we will get some of those later this afternoon, especially tonight and early on saturday.

by 3:00 we're cloudy. showers out to the west spread over the region for the afternoon commute. this evening showers, rumbles of thunder by 10:00. the showers and storms with the front itself by 5:00 a.m. saturday morning. notice west of hagerstown, west of 81 things are quieting down. this stuff by 10:00 or so, 11:00 mainly off to our south and east. some partial clearing in the afternoon. so the forecast today we're looking at near 60, upper 50s. depends how quickly the clouds move in with some later showers and some storms tonight through the first part of saturday. partial clearing in the afternoon. we get down to about 50 tonight. 62 tomorrow. again a mght breezy, -- a little breezy, especially the afternoon. colder sunday. maybe some late flurries. a few more flurries on monday before we start to warm up again to 60 by wednesday. jessica, i'm so jealous. please save me some. >> you bet you, howard. tomorrow free pretzel day at aunt annie's. this is going to be a big day for you guys. they're expected to give away a million of the original or

cinnamon sugar pretzels. we've got bob with us. tell us about the event. >> tomorrow is free pretzel day which is an opportunity for anyone who may not have had a pretzel to be able to come by and get one. absolutely free. there are no strings attached whatsoever from 10:00 to 3:00, an original pretzel when is salted or a cinnamon sugar pretzel, probably the two most popular we have. >> i love them. i dream about it. you'll teach us how to roll some pretzels. >> we are. we have two doughs we made. that he proved for over an hour. we'll start with what looks like a pizza cutter. you want to cut on the size about an eight-inch strip. >> i'm going to do this badly, bob. i'll tell you that straight away. >> you look like a pro. that looks fantastic. >> i took my ring off because i don't want it to get doughy. >> you can stretch it a little bit.

you want to roll from the center out to the edges gently. if i learned to do this, my daughter is going to insist i make these at home. that's going to cause some work for me here, bob. >> we have some pretzel kits. we'll send you home with some. >> tell us about the event. there is a charitable aspect to this. >> there is. we're raising money for alex' lemonade stand which is a nonprofit organization that helps kids with cancer. you want to hold your left hand up and kind of a lass sow, you want to lasso around it. >> mine doesn't look like yours. >> that's okay. we'll start you off with a different-- >> look at that. i made kind of a little flower. it's not exactly the same thing. this is a wonderful event you're doing. there's also a facebook aspect to the event tomorrow. >> if you go on facebook, it will have all the information there. if you just hold the left hand

up and go around. >> try one more time. >> there you go. just drop it down. that's fine. if you want to, you can -- i'm going to give you a little -- we're going to move some of those. you can move those up like this and then just pull them down over the edge. >> that's like the cheater version. >> it's great. if you pinch those, that will look fantastic. >> we ran out of time but free pretzels from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much, bob. >> we'll send it back to peggy. >> let me tell you this, time now for another look at today's question of the day. according to a recent study, it takes around 20 dates before couples do this. what is it? sleep over, kiss, exchange house keys? stacy wrote on our facebook page, exchanging house skis? -- house keys? seriously. keys come with rings, weddings.

cheapover? sorry, stacy, the correct answer is c, exchange house keys after 20 dates. very interesting. we want to thank everybody who logged on to our facebook page and gave us what they thought was the answer. we appreciate it very much. we'll be right back after this. today's daily deals. we're taking a look at some stuff for you to do this weekend. if you're seeking an underwater experience, quantico scuba is offering a discovery scuba diving experience. $20 through groupon. this deal includes all the necessary equipment and instructor. it teaches students basic skills and safety rules. to double take deals is offering $50 worth of open bounce passes at sports bounce of loudoun for $25. you'll get a total of five passes. finally, looking for some family fun? sword is offering $9 tickets for the washington wizards versus golden state warriors.

tickets normally go for 37 bucks so this is a 76% savings. the deal ends today. if you have an offer you've seen or if you're a local merchant with some deals for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. a check of the news before you go that is up next.

6:54. we've got clear skies this morning, cold, 30s and 40s. clouds roll in toward midday. 56. highs 55 to 60. we're like lie driving home with the raindrops falling. here's a check of the news before you go. one person dead, another injured after a double shooting in southeast d.c. last night. the shooting happened in the 5000 block of benning road

southeast. so far no arrests have been made. a cyclist hit by a truck at 11th and u street earlier this week has been cited. the cyclist was hit and dragged about 30 feet. police say it was the cyclist who was at fault. he was cited for failing to yield for running a red light and for not wearing a safety helmet. this is probably no surprise. the cherry blossoms are going to bloom a little bit earlier this year thanks to all of that mild weather we got this winter. the national park service predicts peak bloom between march 24 and the 31st, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the cherry blossom festival. this year's festival will run for five weeks instead of the normal two from march 20 through april 27. we'll be back with one more check of weather and traffic when we come back. stay tuned.

welcome back. 6:58. 58 today. clear this morning. rain by mid- to late afternoon of showers and storms tonight into early saturday. colder on sunday. could be flurries before the weekend is out. taking a look live from quantico to dumfries, an accident on the shoulder. all lanes are open. there is an accident closing westbound braddock road at push station road in burke. you'll be diverted through the area. for wall street we're looking lower at cbs this morning. that's up next. howard and i will be back in just 25 minutes with a live update on traffic and weather. >> you can always join us on- line and get your latest news, weather and traffic by hitting wusa9.com. thank you so much for joining us. we'll see you next week. have a great weekend, everybody.